A deadly game on the Ashburton line
By
ISOBEL RODGERS
Ten people have been killed at railway crossings in Ashburton or Tinwald in the last 10 years: Four Were killed at the Compton Street crossing in August, 1971; one person was killed at Winslow in October, 1974. Another was killed at Racecourse Road before 1970, and a 16-year-old youth was killed at the same crossing in May, 1976. There was a death at the Maronan Road crossing in the early 19705, and another last year. An elderly man was killed at the Havelock Street crossing in May, 1976, and in April of that year, a 14-year-old cyclist was killed at the Lagmhor Road crossing in Tinwald.
It’s mid-town Ashburton, about 5 p.m. on a Friday — late shopping night and the traffic heavy. The railway line, which passes through the centre of town, bounded on both sides by the main streets, east and west, is intersected five times within a distance of about 90 metres.
At one of these intersections, as many as five or six vehicles are parked across the railway line, waiting for the traffic lights on East Street to turn green. Suddenly, the railway warning lights begin to flash; the bells
start ringing. And that, can only mean one thing. A train is approaching. As the barrier arms begin to descend, the motorists panic. One reverses, apparently trying to get off the track, and hits the car behind
him. No exit that way. His only escape is to cross to the wrong side of the road, and drive under the barrier arm. Another car is struck by the arm.
It is a real incident — and one that has been played over and over again by both Mid-Canterbury motorists, who should be used to the
Southerner and fast goods trains passing through, and those from outside the district, who drive through the town when using State Highway One.
Of course, the situation should not have arisen in the first place. It is an offence to enter a railway crossing when the exit is blocked, but it does again raise the question of whether there is a safer way to negotiate the hazard, and to protect the careless motorists from themselves. Schemes either to move the railway, take it underground, or provide flyover bridges have been bandied about, but put aside as being unsuitable, or not economically viable. However, in the case of a lowered line, the Ashburton Borough Council's town planning consultant, Mr T. G. McPherson, who researched the scheme when it was first initiated, almost 20 years ago. believes it could be revived.
He says that, as with any other town planning project there is no simple solution. Every aspect and every factor associated with the lowering of the line must be taken into consideration, and the community must be behind the scheme. When the idea was introduced in the 19605. it was planned to have the line lowered by approximately two metres, and two of the intersecting roads. Havelock Street and Cameron Street, raised about the same distance, so they could run above the line. A third, Burnett Street, would be closed off, removing another intersection. and Kermode Street, closest to the Ashburton River bridge, would cross the line by way of a fly-over. However, at that stage, finance was not forthcoming from the Railways, and, according to Mr McPherson, the town itself was not large enough to support such a major project. So it was shelved.
The next time the project came up for discussion was the Ashburton Borough Centennial year — 1978. Again, the amount of money necessary to implement it was far
too great, and the beautification of Baring Square East was chosen instead as a fitting way to honour the occasion. Mr McPherson thinks it will be some time before the town of Ashburton is large enough to finance a scheme as ambitious as an underground rail tunnel, but in the distant future, the idea may become a possibility. Until then. Ashburton motorists, and others who pass through the town, will have to rely on their wits, flashing lights, bells, and barriers to avoid an unscheduled confrontation with ■ the Southerner or a rattling goods train.
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