The Australian Rail Track Corporation says it has no idea what caused a train derailment in the Hunter Valley this morning.
The wheat train was travelling from the Gunnedah Basin to the Port of Newcastle when seven carriages and one locomotive came off the tracks.
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Where did it happen ??????
The train derailed at Whittingham just south of Singleton
The derailment at Whittingham involved a 27 wagon train and two 81 class locomotives travelling from Port Waratah to Werris Creek.
The derailment occurred during a “CAN BLOCK WARNING” through that stretch of track at Whittingham as ARTC were attempting to finish signalling work that had been “botched” during a recent 3 day rail shutdown.
The train was travelling under a caution stopping at every signal as required by Pacific National procedure.
The driver, a vetran of over 35 years rail experience would have been travelling at around 25 kilometres per hour.
The driver and his co-driver were taken to hospital with minor injuries.
The cause of the derailment is believed to be human error on behalf of ARTC ground staff not winding points correctly.
With the signals non operational, all points have to be wound over manually and in a particular way.
This procedure was not done correctly by ARTC personell.
ARTC have stated they do not know what caused the derailment but as of Saturday evening, ARTC was stating a Pacific National train crossing the set of points earlier was the cause of the derailment.
How would ARTC know this???? They must have a good crystal ball.
Come on ARTC, fess up!!!! You blew it. Your guys didnt wind the points correctly
and you know it. You put train crews lives at risk.
This is on top of the balls up with the signalling at WHittingham.
Some one needs to go from ARTC.
Dont blame Pacific National, they are the victim here and I hope you are compensating them for their losses caused by your negilgence.
It happened 150m from the new overpass on Range Road, Singleton and when I drove past at 12pm Sunday, the crane had lifted one engine fully off the tracks.
Frogs are an endangered species and should not be run over.Glad there was no serious injuries,bet there will be some serious compensation issues though.
John and Brian are spot on. This what happens when you deregulate a railway. You get inexperience throughout the industry from the highest level to the lowest. More than half the people working out there haven’t got a clue about rail work and they are in safety critical roles!! You have Network Controllers with 6 months experience and their previous job was at Bunnings and blokes driving trains after 12 months on the job with no clue about rail culture…..
When it does happen it will be a beauty!!
Mark those swingnose points will get you everytime especially if they are not clipped
@anthony on March 14th, 2010 9:14 pm
Of course derailed trains did not exist during the great days of a ‘regulated’ railway. What is it like to live in the past were all things were perfect?? The culture of drivers not changing light bulbs in cabs because it is not their job and delay a train departing for a couple of hours waiting for a fitter…..mmm the old days or hundreds of signallers being employed to work boxes on lines where a train ran every three days. Yes things have changed and yes there were mistakes which lead to this incident BUT to seriously suggest things would be better if we returned to the past is pure fantasy.
He is talking about experience and the quality of training Anthony, not how much better it was in the past. Seniority was an advantage. Progression was from freight to passenger working, not from high school to controlling 300 tonne at 100kph.
It is applies to all industry. There quality of training is just not there anymore. Take the building industry as a comparable example. Tech College based training was abandoned years ago in favour of on site training. Where once a task took a month to perfect in class it is now a tick on a sheet by your builder employer. As I was told, don’t get a house built in the next 15 years if you want quality and pride of workmanship.
Anthony you make the same old tiresome comment as everyone else, inexperience is the cause of all problems! Being an ex-cop now working in the rail industry i’d like to point out that the public find it totally acceptable that as a probationary constable I, like every other police officer before me, came from a different background, many from retail sales positions and on our first day in the job we were allowed on the streets with a semi-automatic pistol and 30 rounds of ammunition after 3 months of weapons training.
These “guys” with 6 months and 12 months on the job training certainly receive more time learning than our Police and they are in a role which is very far flung from the dangers of policing.
Just remember, we all started out with no experience or a “clue” about the industry and you in your line of employment would’ve made mistakes from time to time. Until you take on a role like this yourself you need to be careful to make comments.
Keep posting stuff like this i really like it