Granville rail disaster

Granville rail disaster
Details
Date18 January 1977
08:10
LocationGranville, Sydney, New South Wales
19.06 km (11.84 mi) WNW from Sydney
CountryAustralia
LineMain Western line
OperatorPublic Transport Commission
Incident typeDerailment
CausePoor track maintenance
Statistics
Trains1
Deaths83 (84 as of 2017)
Injured213

The Granville rail disaster occurred on Tuesday 18 January 1977 at Granville, a western suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 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 inquiry found the primary cause of the crash to be poor fastening of the track.

It remains the worst rail disaster in Australian history; 83 people died and 213 were injured.[1] An 84th victim, an unborn child, was added to the fatality list in 2017.[2]

  1. ^ "The rail disaster that changed Australia". BBC News. 17 January 2017. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
  2. ^ "Unborn child victim remembered at Granville memorial after 40 years".