REGISTER

George D Erdos B. Tech Elec, FIEAust, CPEng, FIRSE, FPWI, MIIE

Australian Transport Safety Bureau

Trains and railways have captured the imagination of people for more than 200 years. This is reflected in the huge following of rail enthusiasts who continue to chase trains all over the world endeavouring to capture that last photograph before another piece of history potentially vanishes into eternity.

However, in recent times, Governments' and communities' worldwide have recognised that rail transportation is the salvation for congestion and environmental problems faced by their countries as road and air transport struggle to meet ever growing demands. As a result, we are now seeing a renaissance of both heavy and light rail in many countries.

Today, rail is recognised as one of the safest modes of transport. However, this postulate can be used to resist reform and hide underlying problems of inadequate capital investment, the need for cultural change and/or inflexible management style. Ultimately, have we learnt the SAFETY lessons of the past or will we need to re-learn these lessons through the bitter experience of accidents and collisions re-lived.

In this paper, I will briefly review a history of railway accidents; look at some safety developments with a particular focus on "Signalling & Communications". Finally, I will focus on the Australian scene and examine where I believe we need to go as an industry to enhance our current rail safety performance.