Today marks 45 years since one of deadliest days in Australia’s history – the Granville rail disaster – which claimed the lives of 84 people and injured 213.
On January 18, 1977, the morning commuter train was packed with passengers as it headed from the Blue Mountains to Sydney Central Station.
As it approached the suburb of Granville, the train left the rails and crashed into the pillars supporting the road bridge above. The first carriage was torn apart, killing eight passengers, while the third and fourth carriages came to rest under the weakened bridge. Seconds later, the bridge and several motor vehicles collapsed onto the carriages, crushing them and the people inside. Many passengers were trapped for hours, pinned down by twisted metal and concrete as rescue teams worked to save them. Some were conscious during the rescue but died from their injuries soon after the weight was lifted.
The rescue teams worked for the next 48 hours in extremely dangerous conditions, as the huge slabs of concrete continued to move and settle. They squeezed into narrow spaces, often working in darkness with little air, crawling through the carriages to reach survivors. Later in the day, cranes carefully lifted portions of the bridge while railway sleepers were pushed underneath to form a tunnel.
In all, 83 people were killed, more than 210 injured, and innumerable others affected.
Retired police rescue squad member, Gary Raymond OAM, has never forgotten the tragedy of the 6.09am train from Mount Victoria.
“The train derailed and 30 to 40 seconds later the bridge broke it’s back and came squarely down,” he told the ABC.
“I remember a woman had lost her life and she had the Women’s Weekly open, another lot of people had their monopoly game, there they’d come from the Blue Mountains so they had a fair bit of time to get to Sydney and so there was all these people killed in an instant with what they were doing.”
At the time, then-NSW premier, the late Neville Wran, described the state of the railway system as “ramshackle”.
Subsequent investigations revealed a staggering lack of investment in maintenance and ageing rail infrastructure.
