Death and confusion as Auckland trains collide

Press, 24 March 1977, Page 1

Death and confusion as Auckland trains collide

PA Auckland A passenger train believed to be on the wrong track crashed into a goods train in the Auckland suburb of Newmarket vesterda' afternoon, killing the driver.

An urgent inquiry into the collision was launched by the Railways Department as workmen struggled to clear the wreckage from the track. The driver died at 7.40 p.m., nearly four hours after the crash. He was: Brian Farmer, aged about 40, of Mount Wellington.

Seriously injured were Mr G. C. Hunter, of Lynfield, Mrs Dorothy Peachey, of Titirangi, and a man whose name was not available last night. All were admitted to Auckland Hospital. Seven others were admitted with minor injuries.

The passenger train, heading from Auckland, hit a 50-waggon express goods train just south of the Newmarket tunnel about 4 p.m. Witnesses described a loud bang, followed by a cloud of white powder. Dozens of people rushed to help crew and passengers. “I saw the trains coming towards each other, then they hit — the carriages leapt in the air and toppled over,” said 18-year-old Mata Oaariki, who saw the crash. Mata was standing 200 m away when the trains collided. Her first reaction was to run and and find her sister.

Miss Jane Hyde-Hills, of Mount Eden, was one of the first to reach the injured. She was waiting for her fiance in a nearby street when she heard the crash and saw a white cloud shoot into the sky. Miss Hyde-Hills, who has had nursing training, reached the twisted-• carriages minutes later. “I was watching it for quite a while from Middleton Road, almost a minute from the Post Office yard, but I didn’t see the impact because it was behind some trees,” she said.

“The ground was shaking as though there had been an earthquake. When I realised what had happened, I went around there and helped the police and ambulance men. “There were injured people lying on the tracks. Someone walked out on to the track and then collapsed. I helped the people, some of whom were bleeding quite a bit.” Miss Hyde-Hills and others early on the scene tried to ease the pain of those who had fractures, using blankets and other “There was a lot of blood about,” she said. A railways employee tra-

veiling in the second car said that there was a tremendous shock and passengers were thrown about the car, most of them toppling forward over their seats. After the crash, there was silence, then moaning coming from the car in front.

Helpers worked among kaolin powder, boxes of biscuits and other goods strewn about the track. Inside the carriages of the passenger train, articles of clothing and newspapers were littered about.

The first passenger carriage and the guard’s van, right behind the engine, were smashed. Both locomotives were also extensively damaged. Six of the goods train waggons, including two container waggons, were derailed and scattered back along the line. Milk powder from several waggons burst out, covering

much of the scene. One of the passengers who uses the same train nearly every day, Mr Bill Reinsfield. said that the train was just outside the tunnel when the collision happened. Another, Mr M. Santi, said that the train had slowed before entering the tunnel and had then continued on through. One passenger on the train said that there was a sudden bang and his carriage fell sideways. Passengers were flung forward on impact. Cutting equipment had to be used to get some of the passengers out of the wreckage. A DX locomotive was hauling the goods express towards Auckland Central station, while a DA locomotive was hauling six passenger carriages out of the city.

A Television One crew, preparing to film the World Soccer Cup elimination replay tonight between New Zealand and Taiwan at Newmarket Park, were some of the first people on the scene. Mr John Seebcld, with several other members of his crew, ran a ladder over the fence and ran to the heart of the accident. “We ran down there and saw a carriage on its side” he said. “One or two people were staggering out of carriages, bleeding and in shock, and others followed, just milling around.

“We tried to comfort those we could but people were in shock, yelling, crying and screaming.” The crew helped to carrv stretchers for ambulance men and got the badly injured away from carriages balancing precariously, which looked as though

they might topple. As police sorted through personal remains left by injured passengers and thosa transferred to their destination by bus. onlookers crowded for vantage points on the banks of the ditch to view the wreckage. Railway engineers hoped to have the damage cleared from at least one of the two lines by about 6 am. today. The district traffic manager for the Railways (Mr M. C. Hudson) said that an inquiry into the accident had begun already. "An inquiry is tinder way now into why the passenger train went out on the wrong main line,” he said. The goods train could have been travelling as slowly as 6km/h, while the passenger train would be hauling its six carriages up the long haul towards the Newmarket railway station.