Pacific National employees repair the split track in Springvale that caused one of the company’s freight trains to derail this week.Top right: Springvale residents would have seen this crane towering in the skyline on Tuesday as it lifted derailed carriages back on to the track.By Shaun Inguanzo
CRANES, trains and automobiles.
That was the scene in Springvale on Tuesday after a seven-carriage freight train derailment.
A Pacific National freight train with 18 carriages taking stones to a concrete factory in Kilmore East derailed in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
The train had been making its way around a bend on a small freight-only bypass track that lay parallel to the Dandenong suburban line when seven carriages derailed.
Pacific National recovery officer Peter Lockwood told Star he received a call at 6.30am to attend to the scene near Newcomen Road, Springvale.
Mr Lockwood said the train was one of the company’s heaviest haulers, and the weight coupled with recent rains had caused the track to shift out of alignment, and the carriages to derail.
“It was coming around the bend and spread the tracks,” Mr Lockwood said. “Seven carriages came off the rails.”
Workers repaired the rail line as Mr Lockwood and staff organised for a crane to lift each carriage back on the realigned track. The 18 carriages were being pulled by two locomotives, Mr Lockwood said.
