This week is Rail Safety Week in New Zealand and Australia, so we thought this would be a good opportunity to remind the community that we are part of about rail safety, especially when it comes to our railway. Recently we have noticed an uptick in people using our railway corridor and surrounding railway property as a walking or cycling track. Such activities, aside from being illegal under the Railways Act 2005, are dangerous, even if you think they are not. Our railway is a 7 day a week potentially 24 hour operation, just because we are not open to the public, does not mean that we are not operating rail vehicles over our track. The days, or any times we are not open to the public are quite often busier than when we are open, with maintenance vehicles in use or being tested, along with charters and training sessions that we run mostly during the working week. Trains and other rail vehicles can be quiet, are heavy and carry a lot of momentum so cannot stop like a car and do not have the ability to swerve to avoid you. Aside from the obvious harm that can be caused to a person trespassing, this behaviour does cause an enormous amount of personal distress to our members
The best and safest way to see our track is by train during one of our operating days.