Girl killed in scramble to out-run train
Coroner says seconds between life, death
Ayoung girl killed when struck by a train travelling through Nga¯ruawa¯hia this year could have survived if the locomotive had been going slightly slower, a coroner says.
Which was why Coroner Gordon Matenga ordered KiwiRail to make further submissions on the topic when he reserved his decision into the death of Moareen Rameka in the Hamilton Coroner’s Court yesterday.
The decision was applauded by Moareen’s family, who said trains went too fast through the small North Waikato town.
Moareen, 11, was playing on the tracks with a friend about 5.45pm on March 18 when a train sounded its horn as it rounded the final bend before the rail bridge. Moareen’s friend was slightly ahead of her and jumped to safety in time. Moareen was struck metres short of her escape.
Senior Constable Lisa Herewini told the coroner Moareen was in good spirits when she left her mother at their Great South Rd home that day.
“She had been all day playing with the local kids and was not expected to be anywhere around the bridge area as she had been previously told not to go there.”
Moareen and her friend had been on the tracks for about an hour.
“As the train approached the bridge, the arm barrier on Old Taupiri Rd went down and the bells began ringing.”
Nga¯ruawa¯hia resident Rangita Wilson was running along the car bridge when she saw the train and yelled “run, baby, run”.
The train drivers saw the girls and sounded the whistle continuously.
“Moareen has not been able to run as quickly and instead was jumping from sleeper to sleeper. The train continued and approximately 5m from the end of the bridge, the right-hand side of the train collided with Moareen, causing her to be thrown 5m from the impact and coming to rest 2m down a grass bank,” Herewini said.
Asked by Sergeant Grant Wolland for suggestions to improve safety, Wilson said it would take a mix of initiatives including sounding the alarm earlier and lowering the speed.
“What I did notice is that the train was going really fast. I saw that [Moareen] wasn’t going to make it.” KiwiRail chief operating officer Henare Clark said lowering the speed had potential dangers affecting his staff, who had had stones thrown at them, and would encourage children to jump off the bridge an on to trains.
Waikato district councillor and Nga¯ruawa¯hia community board member Janet Gibb said they had been working with other authorities and agencies on a raft of solutions and suggestions since 2015. Education programmes had already been implemented and proved successful for younger children but older kids had not shown any interest, she said.
Building a platform near the tracks had been ruled out as it simply drew children “like a magnet” to the bridge. Instead, they had been interested in an idea from a former local about building a platform further away.
That would require Waikato Regional Council resource consent.
On the day Moareen died, Mike Fleck was supervising rookie Nathan Anderson, who drove the train. Fleck said 60km/h was a safe speed to travel through the town but they could travel slower.
It was already compulsory for train drivers to sound their “warning whistle” when rounding the final bend before the bridge.
Coroner Matenga said Moareen would likely have been able to jump free had the train been going slower.
“I’ve viewed the CCTV . . . and my perception of it is that a few more seconds would have made a difference in this case.
“One [girl] was able to jump off . . . but there was nowhere for Moareen until she went just a little bit further and she could have jumped. That’s the issue here, can we slow it down . . . and buy even more time for our little ones.”
Outside court, Moareen’s mother, Juanita Lines, said trains travelled too fast through the town and lowering the speed limit was a good idea.
She described her daughter, the tenth of 12 siblings, as “bubbly” and with a “beautiful spirit”.
“She was the joker and loved other children,” Lines said. “She had a real big heart when it came to kids.”