The Broadmeadows Ghost Train
On the morning of February 3 2003, fifteen passengers aboard a stationary V/Line train at Spencer Street station were injured when their train was struck by a ‘ghost train’- an empty, driverless train whose brakes had failed. Incredibly, the empty train had coasted all the way from Broadmeadows, despite the train’s three braking systems and two driver-alert devices.
The incident began when the train arrived at Broadmeadows station at shortly after 9pm. The driver, Brendan Linahan, left his compartment for a short break, until the train’s scheduled departure time of 9:34am. However, at 9:14am, both the driver and a signalman were shocked to see the empty train roll away from the station, toward the city.
At Metrol, the train network’s control centre, staff members were unable to stop the runaway train as it rolled through Jacana to Glenroy station, where a downhill incline caused it to accelerate through level crossings at Oak Park, Pascoe Vale and Essendon, where the three-car train was estimated to be moving at approximately 100km/h, on a track whose normal maximum speed was 80km/h.
The short incline between Essendon and Moonee Ponds served to slow the runaway slightly, but the downward slope resumed at Ascot Vale, speeding the train up again. By this point, the runaway train was close behind the 9:04 Broadmeadows-to-Melbourne train, and the controllers at Metrol planned to divert the runaway at Kensington station. However, a goods train occupied the only available line, and it was instead necessary to divert the passenger train at North Melbourne, allowing the empty train to pass.
By now, the train was approaching Spencer Street station. As it arrived, Metrol attempted to divert the runaway onto an empty track, but, due to its’ speed, the runaway jumped the points and entered Platform 2, moving at an estimated speed of 50-60km/h. A V/Line train was preparing to depart from this platform for Bacchus Marsh, but luckily, the train was stationary- according to an Ambulance Service spokesman, passengers could have been seriously injured, had the train been in motion. Following the crash, eleven passengers from the V/Line train were treated for minor injuries at the scene, while another four were hospitalised. Although the driver’s compartments of the two trains became fused together by the impact, the driver of the V/Line train had managed to jump clear seconds before the crash, and was not injured.
Although the runaway train had a number of fail-safe braking systems, including a ‘dead man’s handle’, designed to stop the train if released, and a driver vigilance button, which must be pressed every 45 seconds, none of these devices functioned during the runaway train’s 17 kilometre journey. It was later found that a fault in the train’s parking brake had not been corrected, although drivers had reported it twice.
In the report of the Australian Transport Safety Board, it was later found that “neither train maintenance nor track maintenance was a factor in the accident.” It was found that the driver’s controls were deactivated during the incident. Because of this fact, and because no driver was in attendance, the fail-safe controls were useless. In its' report, the Board also found that the park brake was not set, and recommended that automatic park brakes be installed in all suburban trains.
References
Australian Transport Safety Board 2003, Runaway of Suburban Electric Passenger Train 5264 and collision with Diesel Locomotive Hauled Passenger Train 8141. Retrieved August 3, 2004, from: http://www.atsb.gov.au/rail/reports/report_detail.cfm?ID=8
Miller, W. & Heasley, A., 2003, ‘Roller-coaster journey of 9:34’, The Age, February 5, 2003. Retrieved: August 3, 2004, from http://reg.theage.com.au/splash.do?site=AGE&server=http:%2f%2fwww.theage.com.au&retn=%2farticles%2f2003%2f02%2f04%2f1044318608885.html
Stavropoulos, P., 2003, ‘Australia: Near disaster as runaway train crashes at major rail station’, World Socialist Web Site, February 18, 2003. Retrieved: February 24, 2004 from http://wsws.org/articles/2003/feb2003/rail-f18.shtml
By Dean Reilly