Tamati Grant. But they weren't, the signaller just said they were, and Mr Grant and three other men kept cleaning until just after 1.08am, when a Kiama service screamed into Kogarah, killing Mr Grant, 59, as he tried to climb onto the platform to safety. A report into Mr Grant's death was released this week by the NSW Office of Transport Safety Investigation. It details a catalogue of errors, failures and breaches of process, by the signaller at RailCorp's Sydenham complex, by the leader of Mr Grant's cleaning team, and within RailCorp more broadly. Speaking to the Herald from New Zealand yesterday, Mr Grant's brother, Ken Mihaere, said he was absolutely shattered and shocked to read the report into his brother's death. Mr Mihaere said he hoped the spotlight on the failures would lead to some improvement in safety conditions.

Mr Grant was part of a five-man team employed by Swetha International to remove rubbish from RailCorp tracks. The team had a ''protection officer'', who was in charge of organising the safety of the men, and four cleaners. At about 1.07am on April 13, the protection officer called a senior signaller known as an area controller working at RailCorp's signalling complex at Sydenham. He requested the area controller put up blocking signals for the tracks alongside Kogarah's Platform 1, to prevent a train moving into the area. That area controller, however, had been having a bad time. He had been on sick leave for 11 weeks until the middle of February, being treated for ''psychological conditions and drug rehabilitation''. In that time he asked his manager whether he was fit for duty. But the controller had returned to work, even though he had wanted to call in sick on April 12.

That day, he later told investigators, he had felt ''crappy'' and was suffering from headaches. When the call came through from the protection officer at Kogarah requesting a blocking signal, the controller gave a ''non-cognitive'' response. About 30 seconds later, the controller realised his mistake. He could have used RailCorp's so-called MetroNet Train Radio system to broadcast a more immediate warning message to the train that had just left Hurstville on the way to Kogarah. But he was not confident he knew how. He instead phoned the station attendant at Kogarah to issue a loudspeaker warning that a train was approaching from Hurstville. By the time the attendant broadcast the loudspeaker warning, just after 1.08am, the train was already fast approaching Kogarah station. The protection officer, who should have double-checked the signal block was on, moved into an alcove at the end of the station.

Three of the cleaners scattered to the parallel tracks. Mr Grant, who was about 1.5 metres tall according to his brother, tried to climb onto the platform. After the incident, the area controller went to buy cigarettes and then was taken by ambulance to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital to be treated for shock. He no longer works for RailCorp. In the Sydenham office, meanwhile, phone records show that signallers packed away laptops that they were not meant to use at work. Loading The OTSI issued 10 recommendations to RailCorp this week, and a coronial inquest is ongoing.

''My brother's life should not have to have been taken like that,'' said Mr Mihaere yesterday.