The day train driver Jamie Della returned to work after a much-needed break to heal after a truck collided with his train, derailing it, it almost happened again.
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On March 8, emergency services were called to Canola Way and Turners Lane at Old Junee at about 8.45am following reports a Southern Shorthaul Railroad (SSR) locomotive and truck had collided.
Paramedics tended to three people at the scene, the driver of the truck - who has since been charged - and two train drivers including Mr Della, a Junee man.
About seven months after the harrowing experience, SSR repainted and wrapped the RL304 locomotive that was involved in the collision with a picture of Mr Della referred to as an SSR driver and survivor.
The image poses as a message to motorists that collisions between trains, trucks and cars are a reoccurring issue.
"It went from a normal day to the train that I was in being on its side in about 30 seconds," Mr Della said.
"My mate and I who were both on the train were sore for about three months after the incident, we are both incredibly lucky.
"It happened too fast to feel fear, but I do remember the feeling of dread in my stomach."
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After having some time off to recover both mentally and physically, Mr Della returned to work where experienced another unfortunate scenario with a truck driver.
"My very first job back it nearly happened again near Griffith," he said.
"It's not a good feeling knowing you could kill someone, or yourself."
A clean stop isn't possible for even an empty train, with its weight and size making it nearly impossible to avoid hitting a vehicle that pulls out in front of it.
"We were driving an empty train about 1000 metres long, 1500 tonnes in weight, which is basically the equivalent of 1000 cars," Mr Della said.
"We were travelling 80 kilometres an hour and I think we managed to drop 15 kilometres in speed before the impact."
A spokesperson for NSW Police said the driver of the truck - a 55-year-old man - was charged over the accident with causing obstruction to a railway locomotive or rolling stock, endangering the safety of a person on a railway and not stopping at a stop line/sign at a level crossing.
He is due to appear at Junee Local Court on November 10.
SSR director Jason Ferguson said the new wrap aims to deliver and promote level crossing safety awareness to heavy vehicle users after an increase in motorists not stopping at railway crossings.
"Heavy vehicles not stopping at level crossing stop signs is a massive issue, with more than half of the vehicles travelling over such crossings driving straight through and ignoring the stop signs," he said.
"The livery on this locomotive will aid in a forthcoming campaign by SSR to lobby for the penalty for a heavy vehicle failing to stop at a level crossing to be increased to the same consequence for the driver as attempting to drive an over-height truck through a tunnel in Sydney ($4,097 fine and six months loss of licence).
"The combined cost of the SSR level crossing crash at Old Junee in March and another level crossing crash involving a heavy vehicle at Katherine in the Northern Territory in June is approximately $45 million.
"This is a major issue for the road industry - most road transport companies only have $20 million of insurance coverage for these events.
"If a heavy vehicle drives in front of an interstate freight train travelling at 110km/h and in the resulting collision the train is derailed at that speed, a damage bill of $40 million to $50 million is not inconceivable, and the gap in what insurance will pay could bring down the largest of road transport companies simply due to the actions of one driver."
Mr Ferguson said while he isn't one for advocating for increased penalties, nothing else is working and he believes heavy vehicle driver behaviour is worse now than ever before.
"If the Xplorer passenger train from Griffith to Junee hits a long heavy vehicle on one of these crossings, we could be looking at fatalities into double figures," he said.
"The average truck driver simply just does not want to have to stop, wait, then restart their truck at a railway crossing."
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