re: Granville

[deepmagic@softhome.net]

The Granville disaster was a combination of several faults as found by the coronial inquiry of May, 1977.

Wear on the leading wheels of loco 4620, wear on the tracks of lead 73, poor condition of the track and permanent weigh.

Also, the train was travelling at 78km/h when it derailed. The max top speed for just about every other curve in New South Wales at that time was 70km/h, but on lead 73, the limit was 80km/h.

The train was allowed to travel at this speed to prevent it falling behind a slower city train that joined the Up Main Line (now the Western Line) from the Bankstown line.

As the 108 travelled from the Blue Mountains, it could never be late. Why? Because at that time, the Blue Mountains held the deciding seats in every state election. If the passengers were late for work, they blamed the government.

Also, the Bold Street bridge weighed more that 320T. It was only supposed to weigh 100T. An oversight by State Rail meant that the bridge was lower than the road and had to be filled in by over 200T of concrete. The stauncheons supporting the bridge could barely cope. 

In short, the train and the tracks were in poor condition. On top of that, the Liberal Party wanted to stay in power, so they thought it was an okay risk.

Who knows. Had the bridge been better built and the stauncheons removed, had the loco been in better shape, the track in better condition, the speed on lead 73 reduced and New South Wales not run by power-hungry cheapskates, 83 lives may have been saved.

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