Interestingly, Granville was about the same time as the Laverton accident
in Victoria. At Laverton, a train from Geelong took a facing crossover at
near to line speed and hit a signal gantry. The gantry fell on a carriage,
inside the anti-telescoping (crash) bar. The car body was sheered from the
frame and reduced to matchwood. However when the gantry hit the trailing
end crash bar, the gantry broke and was carried with the train. That's how
strong the bars are.
However only minutes before, a football special made up of 13 PL cars took
the same crossover, but at medium speed. (IIRC, a defective signal was
showing the wrong aspect for the trin involved in the accident). PL cars
had very weak frames and didn't have crash bars. Had the special been
involved, the death toll would have made Granville look small as the train
was carrying over 1000 people.
Cheers
David