Gate 'almost hit' commuters

An unsecured gate that flew loose from a moving freight train almost hit commuters at Woy Woy station earlier this year, a report by the NSW Office of Transport Safety Investigations has revealed.

The incident occurred at around 11.45am on April 11, when a Pacific National freight train was travelling through Woy Woy station and an unsecured gate on a container became detached after hitting the fencing at the southern end of platform one before striking another fence on the end of platform two, according to the report.

"The gate skidded across the platform for approximately 20 metres before smashing a seating bay glass windbreak panel and coming to rest on the platform," the report stated.

"The dislodged gate narrowly missed striking members of the public waiting on the platform but, despite a number of people being showered with broken glass, only one person suffered minor injuries."

The investigation found that the gate became detached from the container because its "locking pins had dislodged from their retaining lugs and it was not adequately restrained from swinging laterally out of gauge".

The report stated that two transport agencies were involved in transporting the container from where it was loaded at the Melbourne Freight Terminal and to where it was transferred onto a railway wagon.

"At no stage was it identified that the side gates of the container were not secured in accordance with the performance standards recommended in the National Transport Commission's Load Restraint Guide - Second Edition 2004," the report stated.

This was despite roll-by inspections occurring at Uranquinty, Junee, Goulburn, Chullora and Cowan.

The investigation also found that a number of inspections had failed to spot the gate, despite CCTV footage showing it open and swinging at 7.02am at Bundanoon, 8.57am at Casula, 10.43am at Eastwood, 11.22am at Cowan and 11.32am at Hawkesbury River before the accident occurred at Woy Woy.

The agency has recommended the introduction of pre-departure inspections of all road transport to ensure that the loading complies with the appropriate performance standards as well as ensuring that any load delivered by another agency that requires on forwarding not be accepted unless it complies with performance standards.

Pacific National conducted an internal investigation and proposed its own 16 safety actions to prevent any further incidents.

The Office of Transport Safety Investigations is an independent NSW agency that aims to improve transport safety through the investigation of accidents and incidents in the rail, bus and ferry industries.

The agency's investigations are independent of regulatory, operator or other external entities.

Report, 7 Oct 2010 NSW Office of Transport Safety Investigations