Crane and engine collide on wharves

Press, 27 June 1987, Page 9

Crane and engine collide on wharves

A mobile crane and a locomotive collided on the wharves at Lyttelton yesterday. The scene of the accident, at the end of No. 7 wharf, has been an area of concern for many years.

The vice-president of the Lyttelton Harbour Workers’ Union, Mr Tony Ashmore, said there would be a very serious accident at the rail crossing if nothing was done. No-one was seriously hurt in yesterday’s accident, when the jib of a seven-tonne Hamilton crane went through the locomotive cab window. The uncontrolled rail crossing was very dangerous, said Mr Ashmore.

“Over the last five years we have asked repeatedly for signals or pointsmen.” The low volume of traf-

fic on the railway at that point — about 6 or 8 trains a day — means the Railways Corporation does not have to provide more signs than are already there. Trains were required to sound the whistle and maintain a loud siren before crossing the junction, said the chairman of the Port Safety Committee, Mr Peter Rea. The freight officer at the Lyttelton Railway Station, Mr Norman Smith, said the corporation had put a speed restriction of lOkm/h on the crossing in June last year in an effort to make it safer. Trains on the route carried motor spirits and if the crane had hit the side of a waggon a derailment might have occurred, he said. “In this case the chance

of derailment was virtually nil, but the possibility was there.”

Mr Rea said the safety of the crossing had been raised at the last three meetings of his committee and all parties involved had checked their responsibility under the law. Yesterday’s accident would be discussed at the next meeting, with everyone involved giving a report. ,

If it was decided that another form of barrier was needed, the issue, he said, would then be who was responsible: Railways, the Lyttelton Harbour Board, or the Marine Division of the Ministry of Transport.

The Harbour Board’s chief engineer, Mr John Bushell, said damage to the crane was superficial. The board had four other mobile cranes.