Adelaide - how to notify train control about vehicles passing failed crossing boomgates

[camelotswamp@aol.com (Camelotswamp)]

On the afternoon of Christmas day 1999 the Frederick Road crossing on the
Grange line had the boomgates down with the lights and bells operating, and
vehicles had taken to zigzaging past the boomgates. The line has East Grange
station a short distance west of the crossing, and a curve east of the crossing
which would obscure the crossing from trains approaching from the east.

I rang the police attendance line (11 444) as Transport SA had recommended to
me for reporting non-life-threatening emergencies, and they told me that they
knew about the problem, but that all patrols were busy attending to road
accidents. 

I then rang the TransAdelaide transit police (8303 0500) and the person who
took my call claimed not to have heard about the problem, and gave me the
impression that he didn't think the problem was his concern, rather it was a
[road] traffic police matter. No mention of contacting train control to check
that train drivers were aware of the situation.

As I was unhappy with the response I again contacted TransAdelaide's transit
police on Wednesday (yesterday) and spoke with a Sgt Jordan who undertook to
look into the matter.

Yet again, because a problem is not "life-threatening", everyone seems to pass
the buck about taking the simple step of informing drivers of an additional
hazard on the line.

On further investigation with the Adelaide station supervisor, the state of
crossings is known to train control, and faults (like a crossing stuck down)
should raise alarms. I'm not sure that such a system would catch all situations
where drivers or train control should be notified though.

Arthur.