By CASEY NEILL
A NARRE Warren North man, 70, will face 44 charges over a fatal train crash in Dandenong South last November.
Major Collision Investigation Unit detectives announced the charges on Thursday 17 October, which include culpable driving, dangerous driving causing death, reckless conduct endangering life and driving an unsafe vehicle.
They allege he was driving a prime mover with a trailer west on Abbotts Road when the truck and an outbound commuter train collided shortly after 11.40am on Saturday 3 November.
A 43-year-old Cranbourne West man died at the scene.
A crash at the same level crossing five years earlier claimed a 53-year-old Garfield woman’s life.
Another injury occurred in a collision at the crossing in 2001, near misses in 2002, 2005 and 2007, and a collision without injury in 2006.
But the Abbotts Road-Cranbourne Line intersection is still ranked at 144 on a level crossing risk list.
The collision prompted calls from trackSAFE, the state opposition and City of Greater Dandenong to remove level crossings across the state.
Committee for Dandenong has since been pushing for a toll road to bypass the Abbotts Road level crossing to ease railway crossing congestion.
A pay-for-use road between the two sections of Remington Drive, to link directly with Pound Road and the freeway, would sidestep the need for intense government funding and could fast-track the project.
The truck driver will appear at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on 8 November.
