Wednesday, 13 December, 2006

ABC NT Local News

The Ghan collided with a truck 130 kilometres south of Darwin yesterday.

Rail operator FreightLink says it is only a matter of time before someone is killed on the Alice to Darwin railway.

There was no boom gate at the level crossing where a truck yesterday slammed into the Ghan train, 130 kilometres south of Darwin.

Eleven carriages were derailed in the incident while four people were taken to Royal Darwin Hospital.

The driver of the truck, who has been arrested over the incident, is one of two people that remain in hospital.

The other is a woman in the intensive care unit with serious head injuries.

FreightLink is today calling for better protection at all level crossings in the Northern Territory.

The company's chief executive, John Fullerton, says the Territory Government needs to spend more money on improving safety.

"It's only a matter of time that someone will be seriously hurt and killed with these incidents," he said.

The head of Great Southern Railways, Tony Braxton Smith, says while safety gates are important, they do not necessarily prevent accidents.

"Even at level crossings where there are boom gates and lights there are numerous examples of drivers who simply ignore them and ignore them at their peril," he said.

Mr Braxton Smith says the Ghan crash is a reminder to all drivers to be more careful at level crossings.

Meanwhile, the coordinator of the response to the derailment says Darwin's lack of a dedicated medical helicopter slowed the arrival of emergency crews.

Doctor Colin Myers says a helicopter from the Royal Australian Air Force's (RAAF) Tindal base was in the air over the crash site 90 minutes after he was informed of the crash.

Doctor Myers says helicopter crews in larger cities are airborne within 20 minutes.

"It's not as good as you would see in the major metropolitan centres simply because they have emergency air medical helicopters with crews standing by, ready to go at a moment's notice," he said.

Police Commander Greg Dowd says while it took some time to get to the train crash site, emergency crews were glad the accident did not happen on an even more isolated part of the railway track.

"Where the accident actually happened is relatively accessible," he said.

"Whilst it's quite some distance from Darwin, it was relatively flat ground and fairly easily accessible by road."

Meanwhile, opponents of uranium mining say the crash highlights concerns about transporting radioactive material by rail to the Top End.

Natalie Wasley from the Arid Lands Environment Centre says uranium is already transported by rail to Darwin from South Australia's Olympic Dam mine.

She says volumes would increase if a proposed nuclear waste dump were to go ahead in the Northern Territory.

She says there have now been several derailments along the line and there is a risk it could happen to a train carrying uranium.

"I'm pretty sure that not all local towns that the train is passing through, all local emergency services have been aware of all of those transports," she said.

"If the Olympic Dam mine is to expand then that would be three to four times more regularly that uranium yellowcake would be travelling up through towns and if you look at Alice Springs the Ghan train line runs straight through the middle of town."