NSW:
Glenbrook tragedy inquiry

An Inquiry into an Australian rail accident in which 7 people

Collision between a CityRail commuter train and the 'Indian Pacific' on 2 December 1999

died is to start today (14 February 2000).
The accident occurred at Glenbrook, NSW on 2 December 1999. A commuter train bound for Sydney collided with the rear carriage of the trans-continental train, the 'Indian Pacific'.

The inquiry is to be conducted by a judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Peter McInerney. An inquest into the disaster will run parallel to the judicial inquiry and will have wider terms of reference than the coronial inquiry. It will not only examine the causes of the accident and but also look into risk management and the response of the emergency services. The inquiry will also look at ''safety improvements to rail operations which the inquiry considers necessary''.

Considerable concern has been expressed in recent months about the safety of the railway system in News South Wales.

The head of the Rail Tram and Bus Union, which represents blue-collar workers says that safety on the re-structured railways has been eroded because it is time consuming and costly. He complains "Once upon a time, the whole working environment was based on a set of rules that had to be followed to the letter. Those rules are slowly but surely being diluted by economic rationalism."

Statistics reveal that since 1995 there have been increases in incidents in many safety-related areas. This includes an increase of nearly 100% of incidents of drivers passing signals at danger (SPADs). Other increases are listed below:

• SPADs - up from 49 to 97
• fires - up 76%
• equipment failures -up 66%
• injuries - up 20%
• deaths - up 8%
• explosions - up 20%
• rail buckling - up 26%
• structure failures - up 100%

• collisions - down 11%
• derailments - down 13%
• railfractures - down 5%