RE: Rail staff stop NSW runaway freight train | Gold Coast Bulletin OT
  Noel Reed

Why did the train crew have to contact ARTC control instead of Wollongong control direct to report the runaway ?

Does this incident cast doubts on the efficiency of braking on Chinese locomotives ?

Noel Reed.

From:TramsDownUnder@... [mailto:TramsDownUnder@yahoogroups.com]
Sent: Wednesday, 26 April 2017 4:58 PM
To:TramsDownUnder@...
Subject: RE: [TramsDownUnder] Rail staff stop NSW runaway freight train | Gold Coast Bulletin OT

From the Australian Transport Safety Bureau on-line summary …

On 22 April 2017 the crew of 8960 alerted ARTC train control to their train running away on the approach to Dombarton. ARTC alerted Sydney Trains who were able to clear a path for the train through Unanderra towards Inner Harbour. The train reached a maximum speed of 118.6 km/h and came to a stand on a rising grade at the north fork on approach to Inner Harbour.

The ATSB has commenced an investigation into this accident, which will be undertaken by officers from the NSW Office of Transport Safety Investigations, under the provisions of the Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003. Investigators have commenced collecting evidence and statements from involved parties, which will be analysed and a draft investigation report compiled. The draft report will be forwarded to relevant parties for comment prior to the completion and release of the final report.

The investigation is continuing.

All we have to do now is to await the Report when made public in about a year’s time.

From TV news coverage of the train (at Inner Harbour), the train was worked by two QBX class locomotives.

Hunslet.

From:TramsDownUnder@... [mailto:TramsDownUnder@yahoogroups.com]
Sent: Wednesday, 26 April 2017 12:23 PM
To:TramsDownUnder@...
Subject: Re: [TramsDownUnder] Rail staff stop NSW runaway freight train | Gold Coast Bulletin OT

The item in my source similarly said that the signalperson at the Wollongong Control Centre switched the train to a particular siding at Unanderra and stopped all other trains clear. The train was safely stopped and then proceeded on its way. ATSB was investigating.

The Mountain was always a difficult operating environment. There was a place on the up (downhill) that if your speed exceeded a certain figure then the best course of action was to bail out.

Bob T

On Wed, Apr 26, 2017 at 11:46 AM,prescottt@... [TramsDownUnder] TramsDownUnder@...> wrote:

I can't see any recently installed uphill-graded runaway sidings on Google maps, although a lot of the line is shaded by trees. Perhaps they're getting confused with similar facilities for trucks on the Illawarra escaprment roads.

There was a spectacular runaway in 1963 where loco 4528 lost 17 wagons on a derailment coming down the mountain, then took the remaining 17 wagons on a wild ride out of control down to Unanderra where the signalman switched it onto a dead end siding (perhaps this is the same one?) where it shed the remaining wagons at the station then vaulted a creek before coming to rest in the soil. There was later a grade-separation of the level crossing at Princes Highway in conjunction with the aborted project to Maldon. A few loco crew have been killed on the mountain since the 1960s, from collisions and landslide.

And yes the 1993 bridge at Woolcott St Lavendar Bay is from Dombarton. One of the delights of the old Tin Hare service from Wollongong to Moss Vale was that the guard would let you out at the stop at Summit tank to look at the spectacular view of the Illawarra coast from the nearby lookout.

Tony P

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