The Zanthus train collision occurred at a

crossing loop A passing loop (UK usage) or passing siding (North America) (also called a crossing loop, crossing place, refuge loop or, colloquially, a hole) is a place on a single line railway or tramway, often located at or near a station, where trains o ...

on the

Trans-Australian Railway The Trans-Australian Railway, opened in 1917, runs from Port Augusta railway station, Port Augusta in South Australia to Kalgoorlie railway station, Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, crossing the Nullarbor Plain in the process. Built to standa ...

between

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

and

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

on 18 August 1999. It is located east northeast of

and east of

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie-Boulder (or just Kalgoorlie) is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder as the surroundi ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

, on the

Nullarbor Plain The Nullarbor Plain ( ; Latin: feminine of 'no' and 'tree') is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its no ...

Incident

On 18 August 1999 an eastbound freight train was waiting at the departure end of the crossing loop for the westbound

Indian Pacific The ''Indian Pacific'' is a weekly experiential tourism-oriented passenger train service that runs in Australia's east–west rail corridor between Sydney, on the shore of the Pacific Ocean, and Perth, on the shore of the Indian Ocean – ...

passenger train to pass through. The second engineman was waiting at the control panel for the

points A point is a small dot or the sharp tip of something. Point or points may refer to: Mathematics * Point (geometry), an entity that has a location in space or on a plane, but has no extent; more generally, an element of some abstract topologica ...

for the opposing train to pass through. Out of habit he had the control panel box unlocked and opened. Unfortunately, out of habit, he pressed the button to operate the points at an inappropriate time, and the opposing train was diverted at a speed of about into the loop where it could not stop in time to avoid a

head-on collision A head-on collision is a traffic collision where the front ends of two vehicles such as cars, trains, ships or planes hit each other when travelling in opposite directions, as opposed to a side collision or rear-end collision. Rail trans ...

. The actual speed of impact as recorded by the locomotive data logger on NR 15 was 27 km/h.

Injuries and damage

Twenty-one passengers and crew from the Indian Pacific were airlifted by the

Royal Flying Doctor Service The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS), commonly known as the Flying Doctor, is an aeromedical retrieval service in Australia and the largest of its kind in the world. It is a non-profit organisation that provides urgent and emergency medica ...

Hospital from the remote Coonana airstrip, from the crash site. Only two passengers were admitted for overnight observations.

Westrail Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) was the state owned operator of railways in the state of Western Australia between October 1890 and June 2003. Owned by the state government, it was renamed a number of times to reflect extra respon ...

provided two

Prospector Prospector may refer to: Space exploration * Prospector (spacecraft), a planned lunar probe, canceled in 1962 * ''Lunar Prospector'', a NASA spacecraft Trains * Prospector (train), a passenger train operated by the Denver & Rio Grande Western ra ...

railcars to transfer the remainder of the passengers back to Kalgoorlie. All nineteen coaches of the Indian Pacific received varying degrees of damage, from minor internal damage to the write-off of luggage/smoking car HM311; some abandoned wrecked carriages are still at the site. At the time, Great Southern Rail estimated the damage to the coaches to be of the value of $5 million.

National Rail Corporation The National Rail Corporation was an Australian rail operator established by the Government of Australia, Federal, Government of New South Wales, New South Wales and Government of Victoria (Australia), Victorian governments in February 1992. I ...

estimated the damage to locomotives NR15 and NR51 at around $1 million.

Aftermath

Since the accident, the operation of the points at this and other crossing loops has been altered so that the point indicator lights will not operate until the access process is completed, and this gives all trains time to stop at the red point indicator lights. The simplified overview of process is: #access box - 120-180 second delay all line points are/changed to red #door opens #60-90 second delay until point control inputs are accepted, points can then be changed. #close door/seal box, lights are changed to indicate point positions. All traffic then proceeds as directed. This accident happened because the points were not fully interlocked, and were merely a kind of power-assisted hand lever, with automatic normalisation.

Notes

External links

Railfan report
*
ATSB Report
{{Railway accidents and incidents in Australia 1999 in Australia Railway accidents in 1999 Railway accidents and incidents in Western Australia 1990s in Western Australia Train collisions in Australia August 1999 in Australia

Incident

Injuries and damage

Aftermath

See also

Notes

External links