PGA Submission Around Rolling Stock Lighting and Visibility Standard

The PGA has lodged a submission on the draft AS 7531:2025 Rolling Stock Lighting and Visibility standard. The core concern is straightforward: trains crossing public level crossings are held to lower visibility standards than heavy road vehicles, and the PGA argues this cannot be reconciled with the Rail Safety National Law’s requirement to manage public risk so far as is reasonably practicable.

This matters directly to PGA members. Road trains and agricultural machinery regularly cross rail corridors across regional and remote WA, often at passive crossings with limited warning infrastructure and in low-visibility conditions. While those road vehicles must comply with prescriptive lighting, reflector and hazard-warning requirements under the Australian Design Rules, the draft standard treats critical train safety features, including forward-facing visibility beacons and side lights, as optional recommendations rather than mandatory requirements. That gap is difficult to justify.

The submission calls for beacons and side lights to be made mandatory on trains operating over public level crossings. It also seeks higher minimum flash rates for warning lights, tighter reflector performance requirements aligned with heavy-vehicle standards, and a broader consultation process that includes road-user and heavy-vehicle organisations alongside the rail industry.