The Medway Creek rail disaster occurred on 26 February 1960 when the Midlander, a passenger train service that operated in central-Queensland, crashed while crossing over the bridge above Medway Creek, near Bogantungan, Queensland, Australia. [1]
The disaster occurred at 2:30am when the train was passing over the bridge above the flooded Medway Creek. The pylons of the bridge had been severely damaged by the impact from a 12-tonne gum tree that had been swept downstream in the floodwaters. [2] As the train crossed the creek, the bridge collapsed causing the two steam locomotives and three sleeping cars to fall 7.6 metres into the flooded creek. [2] Seven people were killed including the driver, the fireman and a conductor as well as four passengers, including two children. Another 43 people were injured in the accident. [2] A special train was organised to travel to the accident scene to assist. Emerald doctor, Charles Whitchurch, and a flying doctor from Mount Isa attended the scene. [3]
One of the people credited with helping save injured passengers, including 15 children, at the accident scene was Lawrence Murray, an Aboriginal railway fettler who had been travelling in the last carriage with his wife, children and grandchild. [4] During the resulting investigation, a Board of Inquiry heard that Murray had rushed down to the wreckage which was partially submerged in the floodwaters and helped carry children to the creek bank before entering the other carriages to look for more survivors. [4] Murray suffered minor injuries including gashes to his feet from broken glass after taking off his shoes while working to help survivors. [4] Murray died of a heart attack following the accident, but was posthumously honoured with the Queen's Commendation for Brave Conduct, along with two other passengers, John Bennett and Alan Streeter. [5]
Several anniversary commemorations have been held since the accident. [6] A museum at Bogantungan displays memorabilia from the accident. [2]
The Granville rail/train disaster occurred on Tuesday 18 January 1977 at Granville, New South Wales, a western suburb of Sydney, when a crowded commuter train derailed, running into the supports of a road bridge that collapsed onto two of the train's passenger carriages. The official enquiry found the primary cause of the crash to be poor fastening of the track.
The Eschede derailment occurred on 3 June 1998, near the village of Eschede in the Celle district of Lower Saxony, Germany, when a high-speed train derailed and crashed into a road bridge. 101 people were killed and 88 were injured. It remains the worst rail disaster in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany and the worst high-speed-rail disaster worldwide. The cause was a single fatigue crack in one wheel that, when it failed, resulted in a part of the wheel becoming caught in a set of points, effectively changing the setting of the points whilst the train was passing over it. This led to the train's carriages going down two separate tracks, causing the train to derail and crash into the pillars of a concrete road bridge, which then collapsed and crushed two coaches. The remaining coaches and the rear power car crashed into the wreckage.
Bogantungan is a rural town in the locality of Willows in the Central Highlands Region, Queensland, Australia.
The Violet Town rail accident, also known as the Southern Aurora disaster, was a railway accident that occurred on 7 February 1969 following the incapacitation of the driver of one of the trains, near the McDiarmids Road crossing, approximately 1 km south of Violet Town, Victoria, Australia. The crash resulted in nine deaths and 117 injuries.
The Sunshine rail disaster occurred on 20 April 1908 at the junction at Sunshine railway station when a Melbourne-bound train from Bendigo collided with the rear of a train from Ballarat. 44 people were killed and over 400 injured, almost all of them from the Ballarat train, as the Bendigo train was cushioned by its two locomotives.
The Sydenham rail disaster occurred on 19 December 1953 when a New South Wales Government Railways electric passenger train travelling to Bankstown ran into the rear of another electric train travelling to East Hills at Sydenham.
The Camp Mountain rail accident occurred at approximately 9:48 am on 5 May 1947 when a crowded picnic train derailed on a sharp left-hand curve between Ferny Grove and Camp Mountain stations on the now-closed Dayboro line, approximately 15 km (9.3 mi) northwest of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia.
The Shipton-on-Cherwell train crash was a major disaster which occurred on the Great Western Railway. It involved the derailment of a long passenger train at Shipton-on-Cherwell near Kidlington, Oxfordshire, England, on Christmas Eve, 24 December 1874, and was one of the worst ever disasters on the Great Western Railway.
The Valigonda rail disaster occurred on 29 October 2005 near the town of Valigonda, south of Hyderabad in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. A flash flood swept away a small rail bridge, and a "Delta Fast Passenger" train traveling on it derailed at the broken section of the line, killing at least 114 people and injuring over 200.
There have been a number of train accidents on the railway network of Victoria, Australia. Some of these are listed below.
The railways of New South Wales, Australia have had many incidents and accidents since their formation in 1831..
The Kerang train accident occurred on 5 June 2007 at about 13:40 AEST in the Australian state of Victoria, approximately 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) north of the town of Kerang in the state's northwest, and 257 kilometres (160 mi) north-northwest of the city of Melbourne.
This is a list of significant Railway Accidents in Queensland, Australia.
The Midlander was a passenger train that operated in Queensland, Australia between 1954 and 1993. It travelled on the Central west line between Rockhampton and Winton.