{"id":26942,"date":"2026-06-08T08:29:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T08:29:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/26942\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T08:29:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T08:29:17","slug":"wa-parliament-set-to-examine-mandatory-train-lighting-minimums","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/26942\/","title":{"rendered":"WA parliament set to examine mandatory train lighting minimums"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rail safety has been declared a priority by the WA opposition, with a new bill to tighten train lighting standards to be brought to state parliament this week.<\/p>\n

The bill would enforce flashing beacons, side lighting and more reflectors on trains and rolling stock, which are not required under the current national act.<\/p>\n

Loading…’We must act now’<\/p>\n

The move aims to improve the safety of “passive” rail crossings, which have a stop or give way sign to alert motorists, rather than a boom gate or lights.<\/p>\n

With more than 20,000 level crossings in Australia, about 80 per cent of which are passive, rail safety advocates across Australia have spent decades calling for stricter lighting minimums<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas said rail safety was a priority for the WA Liberal and National Party alliance.<\/p>\n

WA Nationals leader Shane Love said while a national reform was preferred, state-led change was overdue.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Shane Love says the legislation should be improved from a national level. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)<\/p>\n

“This bill will put Western Australia at the forefront of rail safety reform and provide greater protection for people who live, work and travel in regional Western Australia,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We must act now before more lives are lost.”Decades of grief\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lara Jensen has been tirelessly advocating for rail safety since her brother, Christian, and two friends, Jess Broad and Hilary Smith, were killed 26 years ago<\/a> in a level crossing crash.<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/p>\n

Lara Jensen (right) has been campaigning alongside other families who have lost loved ones in crashes. (ABC Midwest and Wheatbelt: Samille Mitchell)<\/p>\n

WA State Coroner\u00a0Alastair Hope investigated the incident, and at the time recommended strobe lighting on trains.<\/p>\n

Ms Jensen welcomed the proposed bill, saying legislative change was long overdue.<\/p>\n

“I’ve spent more than two decades living with the consequences of a system that has failed to prioritise visibility and safety,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A newspaper article from 2004 urging the then-federal government to mandate lighting on trains. (Supplied: Lara Jensen)<\/p>\n

“For decades, families like mine have been calling for a basic, commonsense change: put lights on trains. We\u2019ve had reviews, recommendations and promises, but no real action.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“That’s why this moment matters.”<\/p>\n

The bill is set to be debated in August.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rail safety has been declared a priority by the WA opposition, with a new bill to tighten train…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26943,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22,21,13628,25016,15150,15168,3218,6436,968,2737,3735],"class_list":["post-26942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-bill","tag-lara-jensen","tag-legislation","tag-level-crossing","tag-parliament","tag-rail","tag-safety","tag-train","tag-wa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}