Calls to improve Sydney train platform safety after six prams roll onto tracks over three years

Engineering experts say more has to be done to improve Sydney’s platforms as it was revealed that hundreds of them slope towards the tracks including the one that took the lives of a two-year-old girl and her father last month.

Six prams with little children strapped in have rolled onto train tracks at Sydney train stations over the last three years.

Rail engineering experts say more needs to be done to improve station safety as it can be revealed all but one of the platforms where the incidents occurred were designed to slope on an angle towards the train tracks.

The revelations come after Anand Runwal and his two-year-old daughter tragically died two weeks ago while the 40-year-old father was attempting to rescue his twin toddlers after their pram rolled onto the train tracks at Carlton station and was hit by an oncoming train. The platform at Carlton station where the incident occurred was sloped towards the tracks.

The hero father who died while trying to save his children after their pram fell onto train tracks has been identified. Anand Runwal, 40, and his two-year-old daughter, were killed at Carlton Train Station. Picture: Supplied

Prior to the tragic incident, five other prams carrying young children had rolled onto train tracks across the Sydney network, with three of the incidents occurring at Lidcombe station. In fact, prams carrying children rolled onto train tracks at Lidcombe station in April 2021, June 2022 and May 2023. In each separate incident the children only suffered minor injuries with two of the three taken to hospital for assessment.

In December 2022 a pram carrying a young child rolled onto the tracks at Bardwell Park station in Sydney’s south, with another rolling onto the tracks at Strathfield station in August 2022.

According to data from Sydney Trains, two of the incidents at Lidcombe station occurred on platforms sloping towards the tracks, with one occurring on a flat platform. Both Bardwell Park and Strathfield have sloping platforms as well.

Investigations into the five previous incidents found all of them occurred when carers momentarily let go of the pram while attending to another child or juggling luggage.

Platforms at Carlton Station are among 274 which are sloped towards the train tracks. Picture: Rohan Kelly

More than 33 per cent of all station platforms across Sydney’s rail network slope towards the track, for drainage purposes. Of the 817 platforms across the network, 274 are sloped towards the tracks. Older stations were designed on an angle for water to run-off into the tracks, while newer ones are designed with the slope towards the centre, which is deemed to be more safe.

Sydney Trains is aware that the slope of the platforms can be a safety hazard, but estimates major reconstruction work to change the direction of all slopes would cost approximately $1.5 billion and take up to 15 years to complete.

Sydney Trains estimates fixing platform slopes across the network would cost $1.5 billion and take up to 15 years. Picture: Rohan Kelly

A spokesperson for Sydney Trains said Lidcombe station had multiple incidents with prams in the last three years in part due to being one of the busier stations.

“Lidcombe Station is a high-use station and a key interchange for Sydney Olympic Park, where events are held constantly.”

“We remind passengers to be vigilant when travelling with children and be mindful of pram safety.”

Director of the Transport Research Centre at UTS, said regulators needed to take seriously the safety hazard platforms slopes pose. He said more could be done to improve the safety or families without rebuilding the entire station platform.

“This is not something regulators can ignore,” he said.

“We need to have a separate section on the platform for parents with prams and people with disabilities or using mobility scooters so that they can have priority even in rush hour.

“It’s also important to have more friction factors along the edge of the platform making it harder for things to roll over them.”

A spokesperson for Transport Minister Jo Haylen said investigations were still underway into the cause of the latest incident at Carlton Station.

“We are taking this matter very seriously and never want to see a horrific accident like this happen again.”