Insights

Hamish Withington has been driving trains for two decades, from suburban passenger services on the busy Melbourne network to being in charge of thousands of tonnes of heavy freight cruising across broad landscape on the Darling Downs in southern Queensland.

“I love the freedom of being out there on the rail, especially at night. I've never enjoyed the 9 to 5 Monday to Friday routine. So the lifestyle, the train driving has always had a really good variety and diversity for me,” he said.

“I look forward to each shift. I look forward to going to work, climbing on the Loco, working with my workmates and driving the train and doing the best I can.”

Respect the sign. Lives are on the line.

Hamish is one of the faces behind Aurizon’s level crossing campaign, Respect the sign. Lives are on the line. He draws on his 20+ years in the rail industry in sharing his experience and the sheer helplessness he feels when a motorist makes a bad decision or gets distracted when approaching a level crossing.

“It's a matter of life and death. Literally. If you’re in a car or truck and you just decide to pull out and sit on that level crossing, or you take a chance and try beat the train and you misjudge that.

“We're all human. We make errors of judgement. And if you misjudged the timing of that and get clobbered by a train, we can't do anything about, we just cannot stop.

“We've got nothing else. We can't do anything else to make that train stop. We just have to put the handle in emergency (brake), let the train do its thing and hope it stops.”

Bearing down on two-trailer road  tanker

His most recent experience was a two-trailer road tanker that got wedged between a level crossing and an adjacent road where the truck driver could not pull forward sufficiently to clear the crossing.

“Their trailer is in front of us. So we're thinking, what the hell is in that trailer? What is in it? Is it dangerous goods? You don't know. And the next thing you're thinking about is self-preservation, if we have a moment of impact.

“The whistle’s blaring, brakes on hard. It's a heart raising moment, it's terrifying.

“Fortunately, within 100 metres the trailer cleared the crossing.

“What happens then is a huge sigh of relief and you collect your thoughts. You have to recompose yourself. Get back with it because you've got to continue with your responsibilities to drive the train safely and to drive it well.”

Hamish is grateful for the support that various companies have provided to him during his career and to colleagues when dealing with near misses or collisions.  This includes counselling and other services provided under Employee Assistance Programs, together with the support from colleagues.

“With train drivers, we're a bit of a family in a way. We look out for one another and when something happens to one of us, one of the family, we all feel it. We all feel it irrespective of what company you work for. Because for every one of us, none of us expects to come to work and not come home that day.”

A simple safety message

Hamish’s message for motorists is simple.

“Level crossings are your friend. The flashing lights and signs are your friend.

“They're there to protect you as a motorist. Those devices are there for your safety, for you as the pedestrian or the truck driver or the bus driver.

“Having previously been in the long distance road transport business prior to rail, I am all too aware of the time pressures on heavy vehicle drivers. But no deadline is worth dying for. I sympathise, but in our area of operation – our trains take typically two minutes to pass.

“So when considering taking that risk of running the crossing in front of us, please ask yourself – is a two to three minute time saving worth risking your life or ours?”

You can watch the video with these important safety messages from Hamish, other rail colleagues and first responders here. You can also get a range of resources of level crossing safety to share in your community and in schools here.

Aurizon is Australia’s largest rail freight business, operating in every mainland state and the Northern Territory, with more than 80% of our 5,000-strong workforce living and working in regional communities across the nation.