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Action for Public Transport (N.S.W.) Inc.

Little concern for safety at Museum station

posted Tuesday 13 March 2012
For many years, the Bathurst Street exits from Sydney's Museum station have been closed except between 8am and 6pm on weekdays. But illuminated signs on the platforms have continued to show "Way out to Bathurst Street" even when the exit gates are locked. (The locked gates cannot be seen from the centre of the platform).

In March 2011 we complained to RailCorp that passengers leaving the station might read the signs, walk the length of the platform, find the exit gates locked, then have to walk to the other end of the platform to exit at Liverpool Street. They would of course have to walk the length of the platform once again, on the surface, to reach Bathurst Street.

RailCorp said it was arranging new signs. It made no offer to simply switch off the illuminated signs when the exits were closed.

Eleven months later, nothing had changed, so we wrote to the Independent Transport Safety Regulator, seeking urgent extinguishing of the misleading signs, this time on safety grounds.

ITSR has responded, explaining that the station's fire management system unlocks the platform exit gates in cases of fire, and that the erection of new, extinguishable signs will be carried out "as expeditiously as possible".

Some passengers exiting the station will continue to be inconvenienced. In certain cases, a person wishing to escape the unwanted attention of a stranger could be trapped at the Bathurst Street end of the platform. It is unclear what happens should the station fill with smoke from an external source.

What is clear is that this does not overly concern RailCorp or the safety regulator.



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