/data/photo/2014/04/12/1136536kereta1780x390.jpg "Today in History: Australia’s Worst Train Accident, 83 Dead")
KOMPAS.com – Today 45 years ago, or rather on January 18, 1977, happened train accident worst in Australian history, to be precise in Granville, the state of New South Wales (NSW).
Reported BBC, January 17, 2017, 83 people died, and 213 others were injured when a commuter train derailed near Granville train station causing a bridge to collapse on top of the train.
The accident happened in mere seconds, but the actual cause of the accident had accumulated over the years.
The Granville incident revealed a huge shortage in railway maintenance in NSW, which ultimately resulted in disaster.
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We must NEVER forget – The worst rail disaster in Australia’s history occurred on this day in 1977 when a commuter train ran off the rails and slammed into a road overbridge at Granville in Sydney’s west. The bridge collapsed, killing 83 people and injuring another 210 pic.twitter.com/QTud4rz1jW
— Geoff Field (@GeoffField) January 17, 2022
45th anniversary of the Granville Train Disaster – 83 lives lost and over 200 injured in Australia’s worst rail accident on 18 Jan 1977.
Granville will never forget. #nswpol pic.twitter.com/T6ZGjDY3bb– Julia Finn (@juliafinnMP) January 18, 2022
45 years ago Australia’s worst rail disaster unfolded in Granville, 18 January 1977.
There were 469 passengers aboard the train when Bold St Bridge collapsed onto it. Sadly, despite rigorous efforts from rescue personnel, 83 people died.#MuseumofFire #GranvilleTrainDisaster pic.twitter.com/5ZcVWWenPh
— Museum of Fire (@MoF_Sydney) January 18, 2022
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Chronology
The train departed at 6:09 am local time from Mount Victoria, in the Blue Mountains, to Sydney.
The train was carrying at least 469 passengers when it left Parramatta station.
At 08:10, the electric locomotive derailed on a sharp bend in Granville at 80 km/h.
As a result, the locomotive hit the support of the Bold Street bridge above the rails.
The locomotive flipped over and dragged the first two carriages off the tracks.
Eight people died in carriage one, which was crushed when it hit a power line supporting pole. Meanwhile, everyone in the second carriage survived.
Unfortunately again, there were four cars on the bridge, then they staggered for a few seconds, then showered carriages three and four with 470 tons of concrete and steel.
The load crushed the roof of the wooden-framed carriage flat. Some areas of the carriage were even crushed to the ground.
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Evacuated
Within minutes, a massive rescue was carried out, consisting of police, firefighters, ambulance crews, doctors, nurses, engineers and railroad workers.
Field conditions at that time made it difficult for early evacuation access, until finally the emergency stairs could be erected.
The accident attracted the attention of civilians, some still teenagers, to help with the evacuation process.
However, most of the civilians present at that time actually made it difficult for the rescue team to carry out their duties.
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At 08.50, at least 1,500 people crowded the scene of the incident to jostle near the rail.
Some even disguised themselves as rescue workers and climbed onto the wreckage of an unstable bridge for a closer look.
These conditions complicate the evacuation process, and endanger the lives of train passengers trapped under the rubble, as well as rescue teams.
Doctors, nurses and police rescue crews had to crawl into small spaces between the debris of the bridge to reach the injured.
At the end of the evacuation, the rescue team recorded a total of 83 people dead, consisting of eight people in carriage one, 44 people in carriage three, and 31 people in carriage four.
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Cause of accident
After the incident, an investigation into the causes of the accident led by NSW District Court presiding judge, James Staunton, began in February 1977.
From the results of the investigation, it was revealed that the train derailment incident on the Bold Street bridge had occurred twice before, namely by a locomotive in 1967 and a coal train in 1975.
Railroads in the area are reported to be in a “very unsatisfactory condition”. The path has widened wider than the standard size.
At the time of the accident, this caused the front left wheel of the locomotive to fall into the track and cause it to accelerate onto the bridge supports.
One of the survivors of the deadly crash, Tina Morgan said, the scars from that day will never heal.
“That will never go away. For the thousands of people involved, this will never go away, this is a huge trauma,” he told Australian Associated Press.
Morgan, then 14 years old, was trapped for at least five hours with a sore back and a piece of wood through his chest.
On the 40th anniversary of the tragedy, Australian Transport Minister Andrew Constance expressed a state apology for all victims of the incident.
“This is a tragedy that no one will ever be able to forget and it is difficult for many of us to imagine the grief that people experience throughout their lives because of what has happened,” he told Australian Broadcasting Corp.
Every year since the Granville disaster, survivors, members of the rescue team at the time, and loved ones of those who died, gather on the Bold Street bridge on January 18 to commemorate the tragedy.
They sprinkled 83 rose stalks in remembrance of those who had passed away.
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