[neil_s_wood]

Three passengers and a truck driver have been injured after The Ghan derailed when it collided with a road train at a level crossing 135 kilometres south of Darwin.

The truck driver involved in the crash of The Ghan passenger train has been arrested.

A spokesman for Great Southern Railways, the train's operator, said the remaining 79 people on board - 16 crew and 63 passengers - escaped major injury. Nobody was trapped in the crash but a rail rescue container with heavy lifting and cutting equipment was sent to the scene. The clean-up job is expected to take two days.

The Ghan is one of Australia's best-known trains, travelling across central Australia twice a week.

The route, which passes through Alice Springs, takes two nights in either direction and covers 2,979 kilometres.

The Ghan's name is derived from the Afghan camel trains that travelled the same territory between Adelaide and Darwin in the years before the railway.

The line has existed in various forms since the late 19th century, and first ran under its current name in 1929.

A final rail link from Darwin to Alice Springs was completed in 2004.

This is quite incredible when you consider how little traffic would be on this road or the rail track for that matter. It's amazing how many rail crashes occur here.

I think it's mainly due to the high frequency of level crossings although there was a recent uproar about the ultra low standard of driving in the Northern Territory. Apparently the worst in the western world.

You would have thought on a route like this driving through empty desert you would only need a driver to stop the train when it got to Darwin.

 

[neil_s_wood]

QUOTE (pedromorgan @ 14 Dec 2006, 16:47) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Really dont know what to say.

I am very glad nobody was hurt but its such a shame. it looks like a case of sheer stupidity.

Peter

On a side note do you know where i can get hold of drawings for those coaches? they look pretty smart.
There are reasonable pictures of a model of the Ghan NR loco here on Austrains website.

I have seen similar coaches at model rail shows here so I may have to do a bit of reasearch for them. The NR class with the Aboriginal painting was a one off and unfotrunately no model of it exists commercially. I will see if I can dig up more drawings though. Heres a couple to be going on with.

These are the same coaches but with the Indian Pacific logo

 

[neil_s_wood]

They haven't yet interviewed the driver as he is injured but it will be interesting to see how this occurred. A road train is a pretty big piece of equipment and so is a lenghty train. It's not like the roads or the track would have been busy. I guess the truck driver is blamed as trains have priority and also it's going to take mile or so to stop a train like this.

 

[neil_s_wood]

Peter

here is a link to some pictures of the Ghan and it's first arrival in Darwin. This should give you enough pictures. I can't post them here as they are too big.

Arrival in Darwin

First Train celebrations