Train crash Freight Victoria at Ararat

["Rod" <comtrain@mpx.com.au>]

Well I cannot believe that it could happen on our New Interstate Rail Line!
But there again, with a hostile  Transport Ministry [Road bought?] I guess
you can build a US type multi laned seperated Interstate Freeway network for
the Truck Lobby, and you have just about enough left to provide a Flintstone
Railway between the five Industrial, Consumer regions of Australia!
When I first ran a train to Dimboola on the "new" Western SG, I was shocked
and amazed that the 130 tonne CLP I was driving, at the head of the Overland
was restricted to 50 kph for a better part of the new line!
This lasted for years! We had to pick up a staff and carry it from Pyrenees
towards Maroona, and yet Ararat was CTC in the BG days, they removed track
circuiting! This lasted for a few years, and finally they got rid of the
staff,and the staff [human variety] and used ASW.
The loop that was left was eventually connected to the SG from Maryborough
and beyond. This siding is connected to the main Adelaide Coridor by a
Annett key which is locked in a metal box, [phone?] with a lockwood padlock,
you know the sort, no key? its all right hit it with the shifter!
Safeworking? nope, no Safeworking here!
An informed scenario could be as follows [ I guess we are human, and we want
to know what happened!, but for God's sake this is still not FACT, the
relevant authorities will be charged with the job of piecing together the
complete story!]
     I have not been to this place for five years, but I am reliably
informed that the points were left unlocked and laying towards the main by a
person or persons unknown. The box was unlocked. The Crew on the Ballast
train
had arrived at the siding after another drama just a little out of town,
when they rescued a young toddler up to its waist in a swamp alongside the
track . The child was already the subject of a local search, and was almost
certainly saved by these guys!  They arrived into the siding from the
Maryborough end, in a state of excitement, after their good deed, but were
soon feeling uneasy about something in the yard. They apparently called up
the oncoming train, but it was already near the swimming pool. and expecting
the main at the Dimboola end, running at track speed. The Maryborouh crew
jumped the Ballast and ran, as the wheat train collided with their train at
50 kph. Thank God our Maryborough  Drivers are only suffering minor
injuries, the two Portland Drivers should recover their injuries, severe as
they are.
The Locomotives and the Rolling Stock is another thing. We are going to have
a real problem replacing them.
It seems to me that the Maryborough Crew may not only have saved the baby in
the pond, but their heroics may have continued when the warned the Portland
crew and reduced the impact speed!
We need to know who left the points unlocked and we trust that it was not
another Railway Crew. The other train that could use this siding would be a
Horsham Freight Gate, I am not sure if this train still runs, when it does
it leaves a flat with a couple of containers at Ararat and the rest at
Horsham. But the points would need to be reversed after the passing of the
last National Rail, ASW or Tolls train. As  you can imagine their are many
many more questions than answers at this early stage.
Rod