Granville railway disaster
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On January 18, 1977, Australia experienced its worst ever railway disaster at Granville, a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales. The crowded 6.09 a.m. commuter train from Mount Victoria in the Blue Mountains to Sydney left the rails and hit a row of supports of an overhead road bridge constructed from concrete and steel. The derailed engine car and carriages one and two passed the bridge. The locomotive and carriage one broke free from the other carriages, hitting a metal pole which tore through carriage one killing eight passengers. The remaining carriages ground to a halt with carriage two clear of the bridge, and the rear two-thirds of carriage three and forward third of carriage four under it. With its supports demolished, the bridge and several motor cars on top of it, crashed down onto carriages three and four, crushing them and the passengers inside.
In all 83 people died and more than 200 were badly injured. Many of those who died were killed instantly when the bridge crushed them in their seats. The passengers killed were all in carriages one, three and four. Incredibly, some of the survivors were in the carriages crushed by the bridge and saw people one seat ahead killed. The train driver and the secondman, and the motorists on the bridge all survived.
Many police officers who attended the scene never received appropriate counselling after cleaning up after the horrific accident.
An Australian movie made in 1998, Day of the Roses, follows the coronial investigation.
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Aftermath
The bridge was rebuilt as a single span without any intermediate support piers.
Other bridges similar to the destroyed bridge had their piers reinforced.
Similar Accidents
The Eschede train disaster in Germany had a similar collapse of its bridge.
External links
- Danger Ahead (http://danger-ahead.railfan.net/accidents/granvill.htm)
- A policeman's story (http://www.emu321.com/area51/personal/train.php)
- Day of the Roses (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0176365/) docudrama film about the disaster.