‘Bad track made Granville crash almost certain’

Press, 1 June 1977, Page 9

‘Bad track made Granville crash almost certain’

■NZPA Sydneyj Derailment at the site oft | the Granville train disaster! ■ in Sydney was almost inevi-1 \ table while the poor condi-| jtion of the track remained.! 'according to a report tabled tin the New South Wales 'state Parliament yesterday. The report, by the Chief Judge in the District Court .(Judge Staunton) was tabled I by New South Wales Premier (Mr Neville Wran). It states that- the cause| [of the derailment was ! clearly the unsatisfactory icondition of the up sec-! tion of the main western dine. ■ This involved widening of [the gauge, lateral rail movement, and poor track geomeitry. Evidence before Judge Staunton disclosed inadequacies in policy, training, supervision and application in the system, which he said had developed before January 18, 1977. The report recommended that the Public Transport Commission should formulate and implement a clearly

defined policy on regular! track inspections, and give [close consideration to speed [limits applying to class 46 I locomotives, the type involved in the Granville crash. The report said that the' Bold Street Bridge, which! collapsed on the Blue Moun-! tains commuter train, was! not designed to stand on onej set of trestles and its col-i lapse was caused by the re-j moval of one trestle by the! locomotive. It said that by an unfortu-i nate quirk of circumstances the actual weight of the span which fell on carriages of the' train was approximately double the weight envisaged by the designers. Eighty-three passengers were killed in the accident. The report said that an accident in 1967, in which one of the bridge stanchions was damaged, should have been an indication of the vulnerability of trestles of this type. It said that single-span bridges were clearly preferable, but recognises the cost factor.