Family’s plea

Plea by family of tragic farmer

Campaign under way to highlight serious dangers at un-automated and unmanned rail crossings

Áine Ryan

WILL hundreds of lives have to be lost before Iarnród Éireann (Irish Rail) acts to make safe the thousands of unmanned crossings traversing the country’s railway lines? That’s the question the late PJ McGowan’s nephew, Andrew McGowan, asked politicians from across the party divide last week in the aftermath of the recent tragic death of his uncle while crossing the railway line at Straide.
He told The Mayo News yesterday (Monday) that he and his family ‘are determined that PJ’s death will not have been in vain’. They have initiated a campaign to highlight the significant dangers to the public. Mr McGowan has already written to dozens of politicians, including the Minister for Transport, Noel Dempsey.
“The Irish Government must take the initiative, and do its utmost to prevent similar tragic events from occurring in Ireland,” said Mr McGowan, an air-traffic controller, based in Britain.          
He believes there is ‘a major accident waiting to happen and hundreds of lives could be lost’ the next time, if a crossing vehicle was hit by a train filled with passengers.
Other family members, along with a delegation of people from Straide, met Fine Gael TD, Michael Ring, yesterday morning. Deputy Ring confirmed afterwards to The Mayo News that he will now bring the issue before the Dáil and Iarnród Éireann. He also intends to visit the scene of the accident in the coming fortnight.
“One life has been lost. That’s one too many. I am informed there are only 240 such crossings in the country, while there are hundreds more across fields that are really only affecting animals. Iarnród Éireann should upgrade those being used by people and make them safe,” said Deputy Ring. He said the delegation called for the automation and flashing illumination of the three crossings in the Straide area.
They also informed him that they had been stressing ‘the dangers for years to Iarnród Éireann’ and, moreover, that ‘a 300-metre extension of the roadway at PJ McGowan’s house would have eliminated the need for him to cross the railway line twice every time he went to the village’. 
Retired farmer PJ McGowan was killed instantly after his car was struck by the 10.50am passenger train from Ballina to Manulla junction on February 28 last. Ironically, Mr McGowan had escaped death 40 years ago, in a similar incident at a level-crossing. 
“Whenever my uncle left his home to go anywhere other than to his immediate neighbours – for example, just to go to church, or visit the shop in the local village of Straide, he had to cross this railway line at two, separate, manually-operated crossings on his outward journey, and then twice again on his return – that’s four crossings for something a simple as buying a loaf of bread,” observed Mr McGowan
“Manually-operated level crossings are a 19th century solution – in the 21st century it is high time for a commitment to safely separate rail and road traffic at all times. We already know from talking to local residents that, over the years, there have been many ‘near misses’ involving numerous people in the area,” he continued.
In a detailed letter, citing a number of high-profile accidents in Britain involving collisions between trains and cars, Mr McGowan asked a series of pertinent and hard-hitting questions.
“Are the travelling public fully aware of this risk being taken by Iarnród Éireann each and every time they buy a train ticket? Are the present legal minimum eyesight requirements sufficient to guarantee that a driver will always see an approaching train – every time?”
He continued: “Signs at manual crossings mention that you should listen for trains; should the hard of hearing, the deaf or the disabled be banned from using these crossings? How does the present arrangement allow for a safe crossing every time during periods of reduced visibility during inclement weather, for example, fog, snow, heavy rain etc?”
A spokesman for Iarnród Éireann told The Mayo News last week that the body could not justify the implementation of a project to automate the crossings on all the minor and private roads around the country. Mr Barry Kenny said that Irish Rail exercises a safer regime than many other countries where there are no gates, such as France and New Zealand.