TasRail warns public to respect its safety guidelines or lose Christmas trains
The brightly-lit, decorated trains have been a hit with Tasmanians, but TasRail says it will be forced to cancel the Christmas lights altogether if the public does not respect that rail yards are part of a busy working freight system.
North West Coast
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TASRAIL says it will be forced to pull its Christmas train program if sightseers continue to walk on the track and trespass in its land corridor.
The rail operator’s brightly-lit, decorated trains have been a hit with Tasmanians looking for a bit of Christmas cheer after a challenging year.
But TasRail says it will be forced to cancel the Christmas lights altogether if the public does not respect that rail yards are part of a busy working freight system.
“Please confine your Christmas lights viewing to safe positions and public places outside TasRail’s land corridor,” the company said on its Facebook page this week.
“Walking on tracks in front of trains is unsafe.
“If people are unable to respect our safety requirements we will be forced to cancel the Christmas lights altogether.”
The Christmas train is due to pass through Burnie at 8pm on Sunday night, be in Penguin half an hour later and Ulverstone at 9pm.
It is expected to arrive in Devonport at 9.40pm before getting to Railton at 10.22pm and Deloraine at 12.15am.
On Monday, people in Tasmania’s south will get to see the lights at Brighton at 8.30pm, Tea Tree 20 minutes later, Campania at 9.15pm, Colebrook just after 10pm and in Deloraine just after midnight.
TasRail advises if services are running late or early on its Facebook page.
The public seems to be enjoying the Christmas train but fear a few people will ruin it for everyone.
The rail operator’s annual report shows trespassing on the tracks continues to be a problem, with 57 incidents reported last financial year.
Fail to give way at level crossing incidents dropped significantly, with 33 recorded in 2019-20 compared to 85 the year before.
One collision with between a train and a vehicle was recorded.
However, problems associated with livestock in the rail corridor increased, with 104 events in 2018-19 compared to a whopping 167 last financial; year.
Trains also collided with 33 animals.
The number of horn noise complaints fell from 22 to 16.
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