Society installs rail crossing sensors, new sleepers
THE Oamaru Steam and Rail Society continues to be proactive in improving safety and infrastructure at a busy rail crossing in the town.
Recently, the society’s volunteers have been busy installing electronic sensors and replacing ageing wooden sleepers with sturdier concrete items on its stretch of rail, which extends from Harbourside Station to the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony.
The sensors automatically trigger warning lights, bells and barrier arms when the society’s train passes through the rail crossing at the busy intersection of Itchen, Humber and Tyne Sts.
Society general manager Harry Andrew said in the past that was done manually and involved a guard who monitored the crossing giving the allclear to activate the crossing’s safety measures.
‘‘We hope it’s going to be safer for our train,’’ he said.
‘‘Our train has the legal right of way on the road. Some of the cars just don’t stop. They come through at massive speed, even when there was a 30km sign there. They have the excuse they don’t see the train . . . It’s not the train’s fault, it’s the driver behind the wheel.’’
A temporary speed restriction for vehicles of 30kmh is in place over summer.
The barrier arms were installed last year in an effort to improve safety and the sensors are the next step in that process, which, along with the installation of the concrete sleepers, have cost ‘‘several thousand dollars’’, funded through ticket sales for its Sunday service.
Mr Andrew said the society had also held informal discussions with the Waitaki District Council about the possibility of speed bumps being installed closer to the crossing to reduce vehicle speeds.
Sensors, sleepers and warning lights will also be installed at a new rail crossing on the Waterfront Rd extension in the harbour area, which will eventually link up with the planned McKeown Group Ltd redevelopment at the harbour.
The work has not affected the society’s Sunday timetable.