Plans were in the pipeline to upgrade the warning system at a level crossing when a truck and train collided at the crossing in 2008, killing two men, a Queensland court has heard.
Truck driver Michael Joseph Nugent, 68, is on trial at the Innisfail District Court, south of Cairns, charged over the deaths of two train drivers - Richard Wetherell and Michael Smithers - who died in the crash near Cardwell.
He has pleaded not guilty to one charge of dangerous operation of a vehicle causing death.
At the heart of the case is whether warning lights at the crossing on the Bruce Highway were flashing when the crash happened or whether Nugent ran the gauntlet.
Crown witness Michael Bougnuda, who has worked as a signal engineer for Queensland Rail for 35 years, told the court that after analysing data from the monitoring system he concluded that the lights were flashing.
The crossing was working correctly up until the time of the collision, he told the court, adding that lights would have started flashing about 25 seconds or 400 metres before the train reached the crossing.
Flashing lights operated correctly for the train, according to Mr Bougnuda.
However, defence lawyer Joshua Trevino challenged his evidence, pointing out that the data only recorded errors and was therefore unreliable.
Under cross examination, the engineer said he was aware of at least one time when the power running the warning system - which was run by batteries and backed up by solar power - at the crossing had failed prior to the fatal crash.
The court heard there was an incident at the crossing in March 2008.
Between then and the fatal crash in November 2008, alterations were made to the system and the maximum train speed limit was reduced from 80km/h to 60km/h.
Mr Bougnuda told the court he believed Queensland Rail planned to upgrade the entire warning system at crossing and one of the reasons for this was that there was only one power source.
The level crossing has since been replaced with an overpass.
On day one of the trial, witnesses who were in two vehicles behind Nugent's truck gave conflicting accounts as to whether the lights were flashing just prior to the crash.
Nugent is expected to take the stand on Wednesday.
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