The Granville rail disaster occurred on 18 January 1977 at Granville, a suburb in western Sydney, when a crowded commuter train derailed, running into the supports of a road bridge that collapsed onto two of the train's passenger carriages. 83 people died, more than 210 were injured, and 1,300 were affected. It is the worst rail disaster in Australian history based on loss of life.
The bridge was rebuilt as a single span without any intermediate support piers. Other bridges similar to the destroyed bridge had their piers reinforced.
The inquiry into the accident found that the primary cause of the crash was "the very unsatisfactory condition of the permanent way", being the poor fastening of the track, causing the track to spread and allowing the left front wheel of the locomotive to come off the rail. How this happened was related to the high turnover of staff combined with a lack of standard procedures for track inspections. The posted limit for the track was not shown to be too great, provided appropriate track inspection and maintenance was occurring.
The disaster caused substantial increases in rail-maintenance expenditure. (Wikipedia, 2012)
References
References
- Wikipedia, 2012, Granville Rail Disaster, Wikipedia, viewed 27 April 2012, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granville_rail_disaster
- Howard, K, 2006, Granville Train Disaster, viewed 27 April 2012, http://www.granvilledisaster.com/
- WestlineDI, 2011, Granville Rail Disaster January 18th 1977, YouTube, viewed 27 April 2012, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFGKs62Wz5Y
