Recommendation Date
Recipient Name
LTSA
Text
Undertake, in conjunction with Toll NZ, Papakura District Council, Auckland and Waitakere City Councils, a review of all existing railway level crossings within the Auckland metropolitan area, to ensure that their design, layout, signage and warning devices are adequate for current road and rail traffic volumes and will be adequate to meet projected increases in rail traffic on the Auckland rail corridors.
Reply Text
This Authority considers the above recommendation with regards to the LTSA participation is unnecessary because we are already pursuing a strategy for ensuring that safety strategies are being implemented on the Auckland metropolitan rail corridor, including level crossings, during the changes that are now in progress. To further this strategy, the Director of Land Transport Safety intends to meet representatives of the relevant territorial authorities and the Auckland Regional Council within the next few weeks to seek a broad agreement on how progress should be made to develop an agreed set of policies, procedures and plans for:
· Closure of any level crossings that are not essential to the road network;
· Grade separation of level crossings where the safety risks and/or the traffic delays are deemed unacceptable, including the setting of priorities;
· The types of protection to be provided at level crossings that remain open;
· The safe use of the fringes of the rail corridor for walkways and cycleways;
· The design and maintenance of fencing of the rail corridor;
· Land use planning adjacent to the rail corridor;
· Publicity and education about the safe use of the rail corridor; and
· Funding of rail corridor safety measures.
The purpose of this work is to ensure an appropriate level of safety in the use of the railway corridor in the Auckland region.
It is intended that once the councils agree on the methodology, the rail operators and infrastructure provider will also be involved in the development of the policies , procedures and plans. The LTSA will take an observer role, contributing where there is value in doing so, however, the principal responsibility must lie with the railways and the roading authorities. For this reason, it is the LTSA’s view that leadership for the work must come from within Auckland rather than the LTSA itself.
· Closure of any level crossings that are not essential to the road network;
· Grade separation of level crossings where the safety risks and/or the traffic delays are deemed unacceptable, including the setting of priorities;
· The types of protection to be provided at level crossings that remain open;
· The safe use of the fringes of the rail corridor for walkways and cycleways;
· The design and maintenance of fencing of the rail corridor;
· Land use planning adjacent to the rail corridor;
· Publicity and education about the safe use of the rail corridor; and
· Funding of rail corridor safety measures.
The purpose of this work is to ensure an appropriate level of safety in the use of the railway corridor in the Auckland region.
It is intended that once the councils agree on the methodology, the rail operators and infrastructure provider will also be involved in the development of the policies , procedures and plans. The LTSA will take an observer role, contributing where there is value in doing so, however, the principal responsibility must lie with the railways and the roading authorities. For this reason, it is the LTSA’s view that leadership for the work must come from within Auckland rather than the LTSA itself.
Related Investigation(s)