By Michael Newhouse
THE son of one of the three people killed at St Albans’ Furlong Rd rail crossing in 2004 has expressed his disappointment at the findings of the coronial investigation into the crash that killed his mother and two others.
Merlin Muaremi, the son of 47-year-old Sanuran Muaremi, who was killed when a train crashed into the car she was travelling in on 5 August 2004, said last week he was frustrated that the State Coroner, Graeme Johnstone, had not laid blame for the accident that killed his mother.
“At the end of the day it’s an accident, but accidents are caused by someone’s negligence, but no one was really found in fault,” he said.
A visibly emotional Mr Muaremi was in court to hear the findings of the coronial investigation, along with Anthony Antonio, whose parents, Lilia and Rolando, were also killed in the crossing accident.
Police were attending another crash just metres east of the railway crossing when the fatal collision occurred, and the officers at the scene didn’t notice that traffic was banking up across the intersection.
“That’s one thing I don’t understand when there was police there, and you’ve got the boomgates down, you’ve got the ringing – how no one noticed the car was still on the tracks, that’s what I can’t understand,” Mr Muaremi said.
The coronial investigation has also come under fire from local residents, who are frustrated that the coroner didn’t press the State Government to immediately build an underpass or overpass at the Furlong Rd rail crossing.
A former mayor of Sunshine, Bernard Reilly, said the Government should get rid of the rail crossing at Furlong Rd immediately.
He said the coroner’s recommendations to improve rail safety were an easy way out and didn’t pressure the Government to act quickly. “(They) all play political games, put out reports, and we all move on, and hope to hell nothing happens,” Mr Reilly said.
Transport Minister Lynne Kosky, in a statement last week, said the government’s St Albans Level Crossing Strategy, which plans to eliminate level crossings at Taylors Rd, Main Rd and finally Furlong Rd, was already under way, with $54 million already ear marked for works at Taylors Rd.
Initial work on the Taylors Rd project was set to begin some time this month, and the Taylors Rd underpass is due to be completed early 2009.
A local crossing campaigner and secretary of the St Albans Traders Association, Asip Demiri, criticised the strategy for its backward approach, saying Furlong Rd should be the priority.
“That’s a plan that is back to front, it is a plan that is done without the consultation of the community,” Mr Demiri said.
