TasRail to reintroduce remote control cement trains on Railton-Devonport line

Two pedestrians were injured in the incident after a train stopped responding to signals and ran on its own for 23 minutes before crashing by the Mersey River.

It could have been much worse, with the Australian Transport Safety Bureau later saying the train ran through 13 public level crossings and five sets of points, mostly going faster than the maximum track speed.

It reached a top speed of 87.5 km/h before crashing into a concrete footing and fencing, with flying debris hitting the two pedestrians.

There was one driver in charge of the train.

According to the ATSB's report into the incident, the driver was using remote control equipment (RCE) to control and position the train to be loaded with cement powder at Railton.

The driver was outside the train and nobody else was on board.

"Having overshot the intended location to load the last two wagons, the driver attempted to use the RCE transmitter to reverse the train," the report said.

"However, the train did not respond to their commands.

"The driver attempted procedures to recover the RCE from known failure modes in order to restore control."

That did not work.

"As the driver began to walk towards the locomotive to attempt to reset equipment, they noticed the train start to move," the report said.

"They attempted several methods to command the train to stop by using the RCE transmitter, but these were unsuccessful.

"Instead, the train, which was on a downhill grade, continued to roll away, leaving the siding and entering the main line toward Devonport."

The crash led to use of the RCE equipment being suspended.

State-owned TasRail is understood to have been using two staff members for each Railton train since, but to be planning to go back to one when the new RCE system is introduced.

There is thought in the industry the new system will cost a seven-figure sum.

TasRail did not answer questions about the cost or whether the move would either cost jobs or free up workers for other tasks.

It did confirm it was planning to reintroduce remote control operations on the Railton to Devonport line.

"The reinstatement process will include the relevant findings of the recently released Australian Transport Safety Bureau report providing a safe pathway for the reintroduction of remote control operations," TasRail said.

"Before the 2018 incident in Devonport, TasRail had safely used hand-held remote control technology for site-specific terminal operations for almost two decades and it has been transparent with all stakeholders, including staff, concerning its intention to reintroduce remote control operations in this section."

It said there had been extensive staff engagement through the reinstatement process.

"TasRail is planning to reintroduce remote control technology that is manufactured by a worldwide proven supplier of train locomotive remote technology, which is deployed throughout Europe and the US," it said.

"The technology is independently assessed to an internationally recognised Safety Integrity level and is also subject to independent safety assessment and assurance in its application to TasRail as part of the rigorous testing requirements prior to reintroduction."

TasRail said representatives from the Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator had been "fully engaged" through the process and were undertaking their own safety assurance process relating to the project.

The rail company recently described the crash as an isolated incident and said it had updated its operating systems.

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