RAILWAY COLLISION

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 6179, 10 April 1907, Page 8

RAILWAY COLLISION

EXPRESS RUNS INTO STANDING TRAIN. ' MAIL-VAN SMASHED. FBESS ASSOCIATION. 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 tho signal, and the brakes when applied did not hold it sufficiently to stop before striking the standing train. The passengers were not greatly inconvenienced. INVERCARGILL, April 9. In connection with tho collision between the south-going express and tho slow train from Invercargill at Waipahi, the local traffic manager states that the general practice is to signal tho incoming express if the line is clear, as the two trains cross at that station. The slow train is timed to arrive at Waipahi twelve minutes before the exnrcss, and has usually concluded Its business at the platform and gono on to a side lino before the express is. signalled. Should the train fail to keep its schedule time, the stationmaster has nower to deal with the traffic as he tninks best. Tho officer in charge of the mail-van says that tho first intimation he had of the collision was a terrific bump, which sent him flving from one end of the van to the other. Ho escaped injury. The van jumped the lines on one side, and when tho train stopped was only a feufeet away from a steep embankment, at the foot of which was tho Waipahi stream. The mails were removed to a carriage intact.