Commuters left stranded after freight train rolls backwards

ABC NEWS (Australia)

An investigation has begun on how a freight train lost its load causing dozens of uncontrolled wagons to roll backwards. Along Sydney’s northern rail line. The freight company has blamed equipment failure for the runaway train which travelled several kilometres.

Transcript

00:00Early on Sunday morning a freight train stops dead in its tracks in Sydney's

00:06northwest. Its wagons carrying thousands of tons of steel had come loose and were

00:12sent traveling in the wrong direction. Sydney trains did put a stop signal on

00:17it as soon as that was advised that there was an issue. The freight company

00:20Cube says equipment failure led to a decoupling with the locomotive and the

00:25kilometre stretch of wagons rolled backwards along the T9 rail line. There

00:31was a 15 minute break or something between any passenger trains coming onto

00:34the network. The emergency brakes were triggered but the wagons travelled for

00:39three kilometres before finally coming to a stop. I couldn't get to work because

00:44the train didn't well come and go. On the day affected commuters were given little

00:51detail. We have had an issue with a freight train near Stratfield. The incident has

00:57been dealt with. Today many were surprised to learn that the cause of the delays was

01:02in fact a runaway train. Sorry it rolled backwards. That's concerning. The ABC has

01:08been told that freight paths are specifically designed to minimize

01:12proximity with passenger services. It's understood the network operator also has

01:17the ability to derail wagons in the event of a potential collision which wasn't

01:23necessary on this occasion. These things sometimes can be a matter of luck.

01:30The national and state-based rail safety regulators are now investigating what went wrong.

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