RAILWAY COLLISION

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1832, 17 April 1907, Page 54

RAILWAY COLLISION

GORE, April 9. # The Dunedin express collided at Waipahi with a train from Invercargill standing at Waipahi station at noon. The mail-van was smashed, and the engine was also damaged a little, but not sufficiently to disable it. No one was hurt. The express is said by passengers to have over-run the signal,, and the brakes when applied did not hold it sufficiently t stop before striking the standing train. The passengers were not greatly inconvenienced. INVERCARGiLL, April 9. In connection with the collision between the south-going express and the slow train from Invercargill at Waipahi, the local traffic manager, states that the general practice is to signal the in *.oming expres' if tht line is clear, as tne two trains ert s» at that station. The slow train is timed to arrive at Waipahi twelve minutes before the exnress, and has usually concluded its business at the platform and gone on to a side line before the expr- is is signalled. Should the train -fail to keep its schedule time, the staLanmaster has power to deal with the traffic as ho tninks best. The officer in charge of the mail-van says that the first ir timation he had cf the collision was t terrific bump, which sent him flying from one end of the van to the other. He escaped injury. The van j amped the lines on one side, and when the train stopped was only a few feet away from a steep embankment, at the foot of which was the Waipahi stream. The mail* were removed to a carriage intact.