NSW: At least six dead in Blue Mountains train crash

AAP General News (Australia)
12-02-1999
NSW: At least six dead in Blue Mountains train crash

By Sharon Labi, John Kidman and David Killick

SYDNEY, Dec 2 AAP - At least six people died when a crowded commuter train smashed
into the back of the Indian Pacific at the foot of the Blue Mountains west of Sydney today.

An ambulance spokesman said 51 people were hurt, including eight with serious injuries,
in the crash between Glenbrook and Lapstone stations just before 8.30am (AEDT).

About 1,000 peak hour travellers, including students from Penrith High School and McCarthy
Catholic College, were believed to be aboard the CityRail train.

Wayne Geddes, a spokesman for New South Wales State Rail, said six people were killed
in the crash but expected the death toll to rise.

"This is an absolutely horrific accident between the Indian Pacific train travelling
from Perth into Sydney this morning and an early morning commuter service into Sydney,"

he said.

Mr Geddes said it was unclear why the Indian Pacific was either slowed or stopped on
the commuter rail line and that an investigation would be launched.

Passengers on the commuter train said the driver ran into the carriage seconds before
the impact shouting "get down, get down!".

Lindsay Plim, owner of Glenbrook Newsagency, was in the first carriage of the commuter
train with his daughter, Kate, when it crashed into the rear of the Indian pacific, killing
at least six people.

"We were sitting on the bottom level, when a man came running out of the front ...

it was the driver and he said `everybody get down'," Mr Plim told AAP.

"As soon as he said that we went into this monstrous skid.

"As soon as he said `down', all the seats came forward in the impact."

Steve Bradford, CEO of Great Southern Railways which operates the luxury trans-continental
train, said 159 people were travelling on the Sydney-bound Indian Pacific at the time
of the accident.

He said he understood the Indian Pacific had stopped at a red signal just before the
rear-end collision occurred.

The last two carriages of the Indian Pacific, loaded with cars, and the first carriage
on the commuter train were derailed in the collision.

The trains were evacuated and the injured treated at the scene.

It would be several hours before the bodies of the dead could be recovered from the
wreckage, an ambulance spokesman said.

An ambulance spokesman said the injured had been taken to Penrith's Nepean Hospital
and Katoomba's Blue Mountains Hospital and Mt Druitt Hospital.

Eight were in a serious condition with spinal injuries or major fractures, he said.

Mr Bradford said up to 22 Indian Pacific passengers had been taken to local hospitals.

CityRail said the driver and the guard of the commuter train both escaped injury.

A local resident said the commuter train slammed into the back of the Indian Pacific,
which had been stopped.

"I heard a big bang," he told ABC radio.

"It actually shook my house ... which is about 75 metres from the railway line."

He said the front carriage of the inter-city train telescoped into the rear of the
Indian Pacific.

Another witness Paul Waite, of Glenbrook, was at his mother's house near Glenbrook
station when the accident happened.

"The carriages on impact have jack-knifed straight up," he told Melbourne's 3AW radio station.

"To be quite honest it looks very similar in some ways to the Granville train disaster."

He said there were lots of ambulances and fire brigades vehicles at the scene.

"It appears this is quite a nasty situation."

A NSW Fire Brigades spokesman said around 30 firefighters were at the scene.

They included hazardous material and tactical support units from Sydney equipped with
breathing apparatus.

The Red Cross has appealed for urgent blood donations, saying blood type O is especially needed.

AAP tsm/mo/bwl

KEYWORD: TRAIN DAYLEAD

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