Rail Safety Week has launched across Australia and New Zealand with more than 80 rail, police and government organisations taking part.
Rail Safety Week, which runs from August 12 to 18, is administrated by the TrackSAFE Foundation, to create heightened awareness of the importance of rail safety.
TrackSAFE executive director Naomi Frauenfelder said the Foundation was proud to coordinate the event in its 14th consecutive year.
“We as a community need to be responsible, dependable and forthright when it comes to rail safety,” Frauenfelder said.
“When anywhere near the rail network, we need to take ownership and accountability for the outcome of everything we do. From popping mobile devices away, taking out earphones, standing behind platform lines and obeying the signs and signals, we all have a role to play when it comes to rail safety.”
“I commend rail safety week to everybody, right across the nation,” deputy prime minister and transport and infrastructure minister Michael McCormack said at a Rail Safety Week pre-launch event at Parliament House on August 1, before the winter break.
He added: “What we want to see is more freight on rail, to take more of the trucks off the roads because that just makes good sense for supply chain efficiencies, for productivity, for getting goods to port quicker and obviously on then to the markets that we’ve opened up. But also easing the congestion burden on our roads, which of course makes them safer.”