Alison Dellit, Sydney
"I have real concerns that this report will be used to justify a round of cost-cutting and attacks on workers' rights, rather than a genuine investment in rail safety", Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) NSW secretary Nick Lewocki said on January 15. On that day, Justice Peter McInerney's report into the Waterfall train disaster was released. It looks like Lewocki's fears may be realised.
It is almost a year since the January 31 rail disaster left seven people dead and more than 50 people injured, after a train careened off the tracks at Waterfall, south of Sydney. Anxious about his election prospects, Premier Bob Carr pledged a full inquiry into the smash. McInerney was appointed to head it up.
Now the report is in, but the NSW Labor government seems set to ignore its main findings and instead scapegoat railworkers and individual managers rather than spend the necessary money to make the trains safe.
The facts of the accident are outrageously simple. The driver had a heart attack. The "deadman pedal" in Tangara trains have a flaw — which authorities had been aware of since 1988 — and failed to stop the train. The guard, who was not aware of the pedal's flaw and who had, according to McInerney, been "conditioned [by management] to a culture of speeding", did not activate the emergency brake in time to stop the train. The train accelerated towards a curve and derailed, crashing into a rock wall.
Unfortunately, drivers do die or become incapacitated while in charge of trains. McInerney pointed out sharply that the problem was not the driver's heart attack, but that "a pervasive lack of safety awareness" within State Rail Authority's management meant that all the back-up systems failed.
State Rail's failure to ensure that the deadman pedal was functional is responsible for the deaths of those on that train, including the driver. The pedals have still not all been fixed. It will be another year before all Tangara trains have a safe back-up system in place.
For around $200 million, State Rail could build a fully computerised system into its trains, which would quickly kick in if a train was out of control. Similar systems are common throughout Europe, and fitted in some new Australian trains.
This is the system supported by the RTBU, and also by the Action for Public Transport lobby group. "I don't think it is a huge cost to ensure that we have a rail system that is safe", Lewocki said in a media statement. "The real test for State Rail and the government is whether it takes real measures to improve safety — and that means a long-term financial commitment rather than a band-aid solution."
Another critic of the NSW Labor government's spending priorities is Kylie Moon, a Socialist Alliance candidate for the Senate in NSW. "The public transport system desperately needs more money", she told Green Left Weekly. "Huge numbers of people are dependent on rail transport in Sydney. It is unacceptable to put their lives at risk. We need to encourage more people to use public transport, not make it dangerous to do so."
Instead, Carr and his transport minister Mick Costa have announced a much cheaper $30 million "safety blitz". There is certainly nothing held back in the rhetoric: "We are going to shake [State Rail] until its managers become safety fanatics", Carr said on January 14. "There will be a rigorous pursuit and prosecution of management failings and work practices that stand behind the specific causes of the accident."
Two managers' heads hit the chopping block on January 16. Train Services Group general-manager of RailCorp, Arthur Smith, and a project director in the Capital Works Division, Ron Bruce, were sacked without separation payments.
But despite the rhetoric, the "blitz" does not include a real commitment to fixing fail-safe mechanisms and training deficiencies. Instead, Carr and Costa are planning an assault on drivers that may cost many jobs.
In his report, McInerney criticised State Rail's medical examination procedure, given that an examination of the driver not long before the accident had failed to detect his advanced heart disease.
Twisting this out of proportion, on January 16 Costa announced a drive to get "medically unfit" rail personnel out of the service. All guards, signallers, train controllers and drivers will be required to authorise their GPs to pass on their medical histories to State Rail. Those who refuse will be stood down, then subjected to a "rigorous medical examination".
It is clear that Costa expects that the process will cost drivers their jobs — he simultaneously announced a recruitment drive. Outrageously, he also announced that the training period for drivers would stay at its current vastly reduced levels — it was once five years, but is now only 24 months.
"The minister is saying that unless [drivers] are healthy, they cannot get a job", Lewocki said. "RailCorp could do a lot to improve drivers' health. They can do more to protect a driver who becomes incapacitated."
The corporate media, a big fan of Carr's cuts to public transport funding, has been quick to look for individuals to blame. In particular, the train's guard has come under criticism, despite the fact that he was praised in McInerney's report for his bravery.
"[McInerney's] findings are of management failure, not of workers' failure", Lewocki emphasised on January 15. "Any response that turns the work force into the problem will be a grave injustice and risk history repeating itself."
To add insult to injury, Carr is already warning that the "safety blitz" will mean further delays for commuters because of the expected "driver shortage".
"No where in McInerney's report did he suggest that mass sackings would help safety", Moon pointed out. "Commonsense would indicate the opposite. McInerney said that excessive working hours of State Rail staff had contributed to the accident. If drivers are sacked, and others forced into more overtime, this will make things worse. If training is inadequate, because there is pressure to get more drivers into the system, that again could lower safety standards.
"At best, Carr and Costa are trying to cut corners by changing staff, rather than spending the money needed to fix safety. At worst, they are planning to use this as an excuse to attack railworkers' jobs, wages and conditions. It is vital that the unions' concerns are listened to, and workers' expertise is drawn upon to improve safety."
From Green Left Weekly, January 21, 2004.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.