Dear Waimakariri District Council,

Marsh's Road Railway Crossing, near Rangiora, has been the location of a number of level crossing accidents involving collisions between road vehicles and trains over many years. One was reported in the Press newspaper on 1 December 2020 and others have been reported in newspapers in the past.

It is obvious from examining the layout of the crossing that it compromises safety for road users by failing to address or remediate a number of issues listed below. In addition, the construction of a Pak n Save supermarket is likely to have increased the volume of road traffic through the intersection.

The request is to obtain Waimakariri District Council's safety assessments for the railway crossing and the four way intersection, and for traffic safety resulting from the construction of the adjacent Pak n Save supermarket.

Substantive issues relating to this request are as follows:

* The adjacent four way intersection involving Marsh's Road, Station Road and Railway Road creates a high workload for vehicle drivers. This is likely to result in drivers whose path through the intersection includes crossing the railway, being distracted by the workload needed to safely navigate the uncontrolled road intersection, and therefore being unable to give sufficient attention to the important safety task of safely entering and exiting the uncontrolled level crossing if this is required for their travel.

* The level crossing is uncontrolled with no warning devices. This requires that drivers must be able to stop at the crossing and check there is no train in view in both directions. However this is impossible to achieve for vehicles approaching the crossing from the west side especially if they are turning off Railway Road because they will not have visibility in both directions because the turn is too close to the railway crossing. For vehicles coming off Station Road, they must be able to make this assessment before entering the intersection, at a point where their view of the railway track is likely to be impeded by other vehicles and the workload distraction issue mentioned above is also signficant.

* The crossing has insufficient stacking distance for vehicles approaching the railway crossing from the west. Stacking distance is essentially the distance needed for a vehicle to stop clear of the railway tracks safely. This affects the ability of vehicles approaching from the west to be able to stop clear of the intersection before entering the railway tracks. Vehicles crossing from the east side may be unable to clear the tracks before pulling up at the road intersection to wait for an opportunity to pass through the intersection safely in order to continue travelling in their chosen direction.

* There are a number of railway crossings in Waimakariri District that have similar safety issues including those where there have been accidents.

* Kiwirail has identified at least 362 crossings throughout New Zealand affected by insufficient stacking space.

* Railway Road was apparently upgraded around 15-20 years ago when bare land at the corner of Railway Road and Station Road was used for industrial / business premises, including the development of the Pak n Save supermarket. This must have resulted in increased traffic through this intersection. There must have been resource consent requirements to assess traffic volume impacts on the roads surrounding the supermarket when it was constructed.

Yours faithfully,

Patrick Dunford