ANOTHER TE ARO RAILWAY INCIDENT.

Evening Post, Volume LXV, Issue 70, 24 March 1903, Page 4

ANOTHER TE ARO RAILWAY INCIDENT.

It "will cdmo na a surprise, if not ns a .shock, to locnl railway traveller* to learn that notwithstanding tho publicity which wo gave recently to ft railway incidont at To Aro station, which bub for the prompt nnd decisiro action of tho onjjino-driver of nn incoming traiu might easily ho-vo ended in dixustor, nn almost identic.nl incident occurred nt iho same, plnco on tho 15th inst. On this day (Sunday) nt boUeen 2 and 2.25 p.m. ft train wns, it nppcnrs, stundnig on, tlie jnain lino waiting for despatch to tho Lower Hutfc. An arriving trudu had just boon admitted, nnd tho>seinn.phoro which had bean lowered to lot in this nrriving train wa«, it woulß appear, loft lowered. Presumably tho fcim'lo pluintcr-porter engaged nt this station ii> tho proas of hin duties forgot both tho scinaphoro and an approaching empty train, nnd as a consequence -was not nt the point.s where he enould have bcon. Lucidly tho position was realised by a Mitness who comprehended tho fcituation, nnd tilings wero put right boforo danger xtm uctually imminent or ham) avus done, but coming, ns it does, upon tho recent exposure of tho happy-go-lucky or nilo-of-thuinb methods that tieem to take tho place of strict regulation at sumo of our railway stations, tho incident is not reassuring. Ah wo havo^ said ou ptovtotu) uccusiotiH, there is strong ronHon to bolievo ihat tliese horriblo risks nro primarily caused by tho undev htaiiing of tho seivice. If I his )m not ea, how coinc* it tlint the Railway Department docs not insist upon observance of its own Hifety "logulations? For inHtance, if these — as wo understand them — weto observed, when there is a* train landing on the main lino, the semaphore must not be lowevcd to lot another trnin in, becuiuo lou-eiing *ign!(ie« "jnain lino deaiv" but tho incoming train, must ko

| w.ui'd in with a gicen tlag, and in tho mm) of To Aio duly elauntcd off on t<> tho ariival line. This mle, il seems clear, has nob bcon followed nt that fetation iL h.is apparently L,eii regarded there that the vital condition is tilled if tho poiler in chaigo hi lit the points to j>huut tho incoming train from tho main to Iho arrival line. It would seem then, that the practice has boon — should there be a train htanding on tho main line— to let in an incoming train, not by ilag, ua the logulations require, hut by lowering tho semaphore and shunting on to tho arrival Hue. It thus happened that on thu two lecent oreaMoiiK when ulaimmjr accidents were within meubuiablo di.sl.uice that tlic s>enwjihoic was pcimitterl to bo lowered signiiying "main line clear," when it was not clear, lv that event, all ordinary hufely precaution? «ic then reduced to one, the presence of the poitvr in charge — who is nNo shunter — at tho points to put tho incomer on the arrival lino. If ho is there nil goes well, whatever way tho newcomer is* admitted. In tho two recent caecs, to vhah, in the interests of public safety, wo havo considered it ncccsanry to direct nttentii.li wtWi f>o much detail, tho porterBhunter was not at the points, though tho si'inaphoro waa lowerod. 'Iho Railway Department, it would thus seem, makes regulations for tho public safety without any intention of giving them "elleet, or cl*e ignores them to save expense. Ono day Iho disaster that has so far passed by, will claim its victims, and tho public will icaiKo how criminal is tho pursimony that incurs such frightful risks.