Railways and Tramways of Australia
19 May
Railway east of Robertson, 4 July 2009. The crash on 19 May 1998 was in this vicinity, but not at this bridge.
Foggy crash
An accident occurred in fog near Robertson in New South Wales on 19 May 1998.
National Rail train no. 1BY4 departed from Port Kembla around 3.00 am. It was hauled by three NR Class locomotives, NR3, NR36 and NR57, and consisted of 36 wagons. The train proceeded along the cross-country line between Unanderra and Moss Vale. Weather conditions were wet and foggy.
Shortly before 6.00 am the train derailed at a location where the Illawarra Highway crosses the line on an overbridge, around four kilometres east of Robertson. Locomotive NR3 tipped on to its side, its cab ripped away and demolished. The following two locomotives were also derailed but remained upright.
An old bridge over the line had been replaced the previous year but the supports remained. Reports indicated that an abutment from the old bridge had fallen onto the track, causing an obstruction. When NR3 tipped on its side, a concrete abutment from the new bridge ripped its cab away. Both drivers in locomotive NR3 were killed.
There were no witnesses to the accident. When the train was running over time, the Train Control Centre at Wollongong tried to contact the crew by satellite phone and mobile phone. When contact could not be made, the Track Supervisor from Robertson was called out. He reached the site of the derailment around 6.40 am and called emergency services. A recovery crane later attended the scene.
The area between Unanderra and Robertson has experienced instability and washaways on numerous occasions. Several accidents had previously occurred near Robertson.
Locomotive NR3 was subsequently rebuilt as NR121. NR36 and NR57 were repaired and returned to service.
Two lives were lost in the foggy morning crash near Roberston.
View
Images of the Robertson crash:
www.trainman.id.au/photos/oops/robertson
Bibliography
‘Fatal NRC derailment near Robertson, 19/5’, The Railway News, vol. 50, no. 2, June/July 1998, p 41.
‘Robertson accident’, Motive Power, vol. 1, no. 1, August 1998, p 19.
‘Two drivers killed in Robertson derailment’, Railway Digest, vol. 36, no. 6, June 1998, pp 6–7, 15.
Railway station in fog, Robertson, 13 July 2010. The crash in 1998 was to the east of this location.
