|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
City Rail Operator of the commuter train Great Southern Railways Operator of the Indian Pacific Yahoo Full coverage
Australia's 'Indian Pacific' collision injures 12 18 Aug 99 Human error & unreliable safety system caused Indian Pacific smash 09 Nov 99 Granville 1977
Seven days . . . . . . web focus on rail safety and accidents in the last week |
||||
Signal failure implicated in fatal Glenbrook collisionThursday, December 2, 1999Signal failure may be implicated in the collision between a commuter train and the Indian Pacific
Passengers aboard the Indian Pacific report that the train's conductor had announced that there was a signal failure just moments before impact. The accident occurred at 08:30 on Thursday morning when the commuter train collided with the rear of the Indian Pacific tourist train at Glenbrook in the Blue Mountains. The Sydney-bound Indian Pacific is thought to have been stationary or moving very slowly at the time. The bi-level local train, crowded with commuters was travelling in the same direction. It had started its journey at Lithgow. The number of casualties from the accident is unclear. The official death toll has been put at 5 and 4 bodies have so far been recovered. The New South Wales premier, Bob Carr has suggested that as many as 12 my have been killed. All those who died were in the front carriage of the commuter train. Up to 65 people were injured. One hundred and fifty nine people were travelling in the Indian Pacific and 330 people are thought to have been in the local train. Rescue workers have faced considerable difficulties in cutting through the wreckage of the aluminium bodied carriage which has the rear car, a motor vehicle transporter embedded in it. According to reports, oxy-acetylene cutting torches cannot be used and the decision has been made to tear the two vehicles apart by attaching a locomotive each of them. This is the worst rail accident in Australia since 1977 when 83 people were killed in an accident at Granville insydney. In this incident, another commuter train from the Blue Mountains became derailed and crashed into the support pylons of a bridge bringing it down on top of the train. The Indian Pacific was involved in another collision earlier this year at Zanthus in Western Australia. Forty five people were injured when it collided with the rear of a freight train.
|
|
This file last updated: Thursday, 02-Dec-1999 21:20:16 EST