The Hines Hill train collision occurred on the

Eastern Goldfields Railway The Eastern Goldfields Railway was built in the 1890s by the Western Australian Government Railways to connect Perth with the Eastern Goldfields at Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie. History The Eastern Railway opened in stages from Perth to Nort ...

on 14 January 1996 at Hines Hill, Western Australia. Two trains entered a

passing loop A passing loop (UK usage) or passing siding (North America) (also called a crossing loop, crossing place, refuge loop or, colloquially, a hole) is a place on a single line railway or tramway, often located at or near a station, where trains or ...

simultaneously in opposing directions, although signals at the end of the passing loop were correctly showing red for stop.

Overview

The trains involved were

National Rail Corporation The National Rail Corporation was an Australian rail operator established by the Federal, New South Wales and Victorian governments in February 1992. In February 2002, National Rail was sold to a Patrick Corporation and Toll Holdings consort ...

's 5SP5 intermodal Sydney to Perth freighter, and

Westrail Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) was the operator of railway services in the state of Western Australia between October 1890 and June 2003. Owned by the state government, it was renamed a number of times to reflect extra responsi ...

's 7025 Perth to

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area includ ...

freighter. The National Rail train in one direction misjudged the stop, and went past the red signal, hitting the last wagons of the Westrail train. These wagons were tankers containing

diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engi ...

which burst into flames, destroying the train data recorders that might have explained what speed the train was travelling at. Locomotive AN10 was derailed. The driver and a teenage guest passenger were killed. Another person received severe injuries. National Rail locomotives AN10 and DL37 were written off due to being damaged beyond repair. A relay control room which was close to the fire was also destroyed. The accident happened at night, and there were no distance boards which might have helped the driver of the NR train judge the distance to the stop signal showing red.

Aftermath

In June 1998, Westrail was fined $95,000 with $85,000 in costs. An appeal heard in the

Supreme Court of Western Australia The Supreme Court of Western Australia is the highest state court in the Australian State of Western Australia. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in civil matters (although it usually only hears matters involving sums of A$750, ...

set aside the original conviction and Westrail was awarded $23,000 in costs. The signalling was later altered to prevent trains entering the passing loop simultaneously. The accident illustrates the hazard of having passing loops only just long enough to hold the two trains. If the loop had been longer, the safety distance from the red departure signal to the fouling point with the arriving train would have been larger and the other train would have cleared the single line section so avoiding the collision by some vital seconds.

Loop lengthening

Since the accident, the passing loop at Hines Hill has been lengthened for longer 1,800 m trains. The loop is now 2,304 m long, which is considerably longer than the normal longest train. The extra distance provides both a safety margin and allows a train entering the loop to clear the single line at a higher speed. It is not known if the simultaneous arrival signalling has been restored.

References

{{1996 railway accidents 1996 in Australia Railway accidents in 1996 Railway accidents and incidents in Western Australia Wheatbelt (Western Australia) Railway accidents involving a signal passed at danger 1990s in Western Australia January 1996 events in Australia

Overview

Aftermath

Loop lengthening

See also

References