Incident At Hornsby 11/5/99

["Paul Hogan" <pghogan@NOSPAMbigpond.com>]

Can anyone confirm exact details of what happened last night at Hornsby? I
arrived home about 10.30pm, Hornsby station was cordoned off by fire brigade
and Cityrail security, all overhead and station power was off, and all 4
platform roads occupied by suburban sets.

>From what I could gather looking from a distance and talking to stranded
commuters still waiting for buses, the set on the Up Main (3 platform)
brought down overhead at the Newcastle end of the platform, starting a
series of electrical fires around the carriage. Power had to be isolated to
control the fire. Judging by the number of brigades in attendance (including
HazChem!) it was a major incident response.

Possibly co-incidental, but this end of the yard has recently been rewired
(and remasted) during the major upgrade program. However the carriage in
question appeared to have tangled the wiring directly underneath the
passenger footbridge at the northern end.

One of the commuters I spoke to had abandoned a northbound train at
Thornleigh, and walked approx 5km to Hornsby. There were still several
hundred people at the bus interchange at 11.30pm last night.

Regards,

Paul Hogan