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(Transportation-News.com, November 10, 2012 ) Victoria, Australia - A report released regarding how a five-year-old boy fell from a passenger train has concluded that the locks on the doors are far too easily opened and must be improved.
The young boy fell from the Sunlander passenger train last December.
The boy remarkably survived the ordeal with simply cuts and bruising as a passing motorist found him when walking by the Bruce Highway.
The Transport and Main Roads report stated it appears to be the case that the boy handled the two-stage lock on the carriage door, and likely slipped on the floor.
"The first stage is labeled 'pull'. The second stage is a lever pulled down similar to many residential lever door handles," the report says. "Investigators were able to open the door with one hand with minimal force required for either action.
"It is considered that a child would be able to open the door using two hands with little difficulty."
In the report it stated that the doors were not properly connected to a warning alert for that would allow staff to know a door had been opened. It recommended the Queensland Rail look into engineering a solution in order to improve safety and locking systems.
Queensland Rail has since advised Sunlander rolling stock to be updated, and the existing rolling stock that remains in service beyond 2014 must be given a modern central door locking system.
The report went further in its recommendations, stating that warning systems ought to be established in order to allow staff and drivers when doors have been opened, as was the case with the child.
It noted that safety improvements must be balanced with the requirements for passengers to escape in emergency situations.
The boy stated to police that he was alone when the he opened the right-hand exterior door, slipped on the wet floor, and fell from the train.
The boy then reportedly walked to the nearby Bruce Highway, where he was able to top a motorist who helped him.
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Source: EmailWire.Com 
Source: EmailWire.com
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