Editorial: Accident shock to rail system
SYDNEY’S train system is off the rails — almost literally, in the case of yesterday morning’s potentially disastrous incident at Richmond station.
Opinion
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Sydney’s train system is off the rails — almost literally, in the case of yesterday morning’s potentially disastrous incident at Richmond station.
Sixteen people were injured after a train hit a buffer at the end of the line following an apparent brake failure. Passenger Bailey Hope reported “blood everywhere” in his carriage after the train seemed to “speed up” immediately prior to impact.
Local resident Noel Keogh witnessed the collision at close hand and provided a detailed and vivid description. He said passengers were standing up as passengers do when their stop is close, “and then they were just like Superman when it hit and they were just flying through the carriage.
“I ran, because I thought (when) the carriage came up like that it was going to come off the tracks,” Keogh said. “I just hope everybody is all right.”
Just about everybody will be all right although many were injured. Remarkably composed and professional work from CareFlight’s rapid response rescue helicopter, two NSW ambulance helicopters and multiple Fire and Rescue units saw victims very quickly assessed and then sent to multiple hospitals.
One young man, the worst injured, arrived at Westmead Hospital in a stable condition. “CareFlight’s specialist doctor and critical care paramedic assisted in triaging patients aboard the train, before treating the 21-year-old man for leg fractures and spinal precautions due to neck injuries,” a spokesman said.
This alarming incident can now be added to compounding woes for Sydney’s train system, which began the year with severe staff shortages compromising train availability, and is presently under the shadow of a day-long strike on Monday. Talks to avoid the strike were suspended in the wake of yesterday morning’s buffer crash.
The crash should give everyone involved in those talks, on all sides, reason for extended pause to consider exactly what is at stake here. Running an effective and efficient public transport system requires more than just commitment to meet timetable targets and to keep stock moving. It also requires a profound commitment not only to the transport needs of commuters but also to their safety and wellbeing.
An investigation will seek an explanation for yesterday’s incident and identify if the cause may be something that is common to similar vehicles in our rail system.
Sydney is far too dependent on our rail system to have it be anything less than optimal.
Nigella roasts food snobs
Nigella Lawson is our kind of cook. The TV superchef, currently in Sydney, yesterday took aim at up-themselves food snobs who sneer at time-saving cooking tactics.
“I hate food snobbery,” Lawson said. “It almost makes me want to just eat plastic bread and plastic cheese when people start being so purist and looking down at people.
“Food is used too often as a status symbol. It’s the idea that people feel, ‘I’m better than you because I do this thing to my food and you don’t’.”
As always when it comes to Nigella Lawson, very well said.
Hypocrites of Ozzest 100
There is nothing like the zeal of a new convert. Until very recently musicians had absolutely no problem with Australia Day. Triple J’s annual top 100 countdown was a staple of the occasion. In 2013, Cold Chisel front man Jimmy Barnes put on a storming show in Canberra to mark Australia Day.
But then it suddenly became deeply fashionable among our artistic elites to shun Australia Day. Barnes himself has complained about being included in Australian Conservatives leader Senator Cory Bernardi’s online Australia Day playlist. Darren Hayes seemed to threaten some form of legal action. Musicians are all over the place on this issue. While screaming about Bernardi, none of those likely to appear on a planned Triple M “Ozzest 100’’ countdown on Australia Day has made a complaint to the radio station. “I’d be surprised if any of these snowflakes complain,” Bernardi said. “It’s more about beating up on conservatives than making a statement about Australia Day.”