No opening for closed gates

DEPARTMENT of Transport and V/Line executives gave an update on the progress of re-opening of the Lydiard Street rail gates last week.

The outcome: there’s still no timeline on when both motor traffic and trains will be able to use the crossing.

Thanking the Ballarat community for their patience, V/Line acting chief executive officer Gary Liddle said now that the investigations into the incident have finished, the focus on getting the site open again.

“We’ve been going through the investigations both with the ATSB and the regulator,” he said.

“Absolutely appreciate that the community thinks this has taken longer than it should, but really to emphasise both how complex and unique this area is and the reasons for that delay.

“Lydiard Street level crossing is manually controlled from V/Line’s control room in Melbourne which makes it unique… and

different from modern level crossings where trains are automatically detected.”

As a result of the investigations, it was found the cause for the accident was a lack of traction between the wheels and the track on a train travelling from Melbourne to Wendouree late on Saturday, 30 May.

Mr Liddle said this information among other findings as part of the investigation will be utilised to decide on the eventual solution for the site.

“We’ve also learnt is that the gates being across the level crossing added to the severity of the incident,” he said.

“We need to find a solution that doesn’t have the gates closed to rail traffic at the time the trains can potentially come through.

“We’ve spent a lot of time looking at the final solution and trying to get that resolved, and now we’re looking at the interim solutions to see if we can get something as soon as possible.”

With no official timeline for either the construction or reopening of the gates, Mr Liddle said they are still considering all of the options on the table.

“Getting the investigation out of the way and gathering that information has enabled us to get to this point today… our commitment from this point forward is to offer regular updates,” he said.

“We’re looking at interim options about what can be done, we can’t say there is a timeframe for those to be implemented… the options that we’re looking at involve both manual and automatic, but we need to make sure they’re safe.

“We have analysed a lot of options and all of those options are still on the table… we have no preferred option.”

With the next step forward the appointment of a heritage consultant, Mr Liddle said they’re currently in discussions with Heritage Victoria to get a satisfactory solution.

“We’ve had a heritage advisor looking at the Humffray Street gates because they are part of the heritage for this precinct as well and has given us some advice to reinstate those gates,” he said.

“Heritage Victoria would prefer a different consultant to that, so we’re in the process of engaging a heritage consultant.

“We know the consultant they would prefer for this area and we will engage them immediately.”

The Department of Transport’s head of transport services Nick Foa said the set of requirements for the safety and heritage elements of the project are extremely complex and that if it was a quick fix, it would have already been done.

“As soon as we have an approved solution, which is getting closer, we will be ready to go,” he said.

“Regardless of where this incident occurred, it would have taken the same amount of time whether it was in Melbourne or anywhere in Victoria.

“Because of the contributory nature of the Lydiard Street gates to the overall state heritage recognition of the Ballarat station precinct, anything we do, interim or permanent, will require us to have been in consultation with Heritage Victoria.”