Rail workers are calling for urgent action to prevent more deaths at level crossings, after two train drivers were killed in a collision with a truck in South Australia on New Year's Eve.
A 75-year-old Queensland man has since been charged with two counts of causing death by dangerous driving, but the Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) now wants to see a "zero tolerance" approach, with cameras at all rail crossings and harsher penalties for drivers who ignore the signals.
Assistant national secretary Shayne Kummerfeld said the "madness" has to stop.
"Anyone who has ever driven a locomotive has probably had a near miss at a level crossing, with someone trying to 'beat the train'," Mr Kummerfeld said.
"The rail industry has been talking about level crossing safety for years, but the tragedies keep happening."
The two men who died in the tragic crash near Broken Hill on Sunday morning have since been identified as a pair of Pacific National train drivers from Port Augusta.
Four people were injured in a similar collision between a freight train and a truck at a level crossing in Katherine, NT, in June last year.
Mr Kummerfeld said government needed to take a tougher stance on drivers who run red lights and take risks in the rail corridor, but improved infrastructure and technology such as in-car warning systems could also be part of the picture.
"Governments should also be putting more funding towards improving level crossing protection - with more warning lights, more boom gates and more grade separations," Mr Kummerfeld said.
"Police already have technology that lets them know that a nearby driver is using their phone, so that sort of technology should be relatively easy to develop.
"Ultimately, it is up to all road users to take extreme care around level crossings and obey the law. Anyone who drives across a level crossing in front of a train is putting lives at risk."
