No ATSB safety report two years after Citytrain near-miss at Thorneside

A near-miss incident on a southside passenger train line is still under investigation and remains an active inquiry with no public safety recommendations, more than two years after the event.

An early morning near-miss between a Citytrain and a bobcat on a southside passenger train line is still under investigation more than two years after the incident.

Although nobody was injured when the train pulled up just metres from the bobcat on track between Thorneside and Birkdale train stations in March 2020, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau report is still pending.

It is one of only five ATSB investigations into 26 Queensland Rail incidents since 2017 where there is no available information about QR actions taken since the event.

■ NO BRISBANE UNDERGROUND MAP YET

An ATSB summary report said the train, which had been on a journey from Shorncliffe, came within 100 metres of the bobcat just after 1am on March 7, 2020.

The summary said the passenger train had just departed Thorneside station and reached a speed of 88km/h when the driver noticed an excavator on the track ahead and applied full brakes.

A file photo of excavators on rail track. Nobody was injured in the early morning incident on track between Thorneside and Birkdale train stations in March 2020 but the Australian Transport Safety Bureau report is still pending.

“At about the same time, the operator of the excavator saw the train approaching and attempted to vacate the track by rotating the excavator’s boom and moving the excavator away from the track,” the ATSB summary report said.

“The front-of-train camera showed the excavator sliding down the shoulder of the ballast as the train passed.

“The rail operator advised that the recorded train speed at that point was about 60 km/h.”

The section of the track had been closed to allow for maintenance work but that protection order was lifted to allow the train through.

The ATSB obtained operational records and interviewed rail workers directly involved in the incident but said it was not ready to publish a final report.

It said the investigation had to conduct further interviews, obtain and analyse additional track protection records and recorded data and video.

Thorneside train station close to where a passenger train came within metres of a bobcat on the track in March 2020.

A spokesman for ATSB said a draft of its final report, which will outline safety measures, was currently undergoing internal review and would not be available before September.

However, the spokesman said throughout the course of its investigation, the ATSB had “proactively shared identified safety issues and concerns with involved parties so they may take appropriate and timely safety action”.

After the internal review, the draft will be handed to parties involved for their comment and review, before it is made public.

Queensland Rail said it was looking forward to getting the report and would continue to work with the ATSB.

A QR spokesman said new safety procedures and training were introduced immediately after the incident to improve the business’s safety culture and prevent a similar incident.

Since July 2010, there have been four near-miss events and one collision with plant machinery in Queensland Rail’s “danger zone”.

One of the near-miss events was at Park Road station in 2019 when a Queensland Rail Citytrain went through a stop signal resulting in a near collision with another suburban passenger train going in the same direction on an adjacent line.

A tutor driver in the other train and a network control officer averted a major collision.

There were no injuries, however the Citytrain ran across some lines resulting in minor infrastructure damage.