Article: Flustered driver puts Central train on collision course

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Flustered driver puts Central train on collision course

Flustered driver puts Central train on collision course

    EXCLUSIVE by Rhys Haynes
    From: The Daily Telegraph
    June 24, 2011 12:00AM

A TRAIN guard averted a potential disaster at one of Sydney's busiest railway stations after a driver mistakenly entered an incorrect train and set off on a collision course in the wrong direction.

The train travelled about 10m before an alert guard triggered an emergency stop, averting the possibility of a head-on collision. The stunning error - which occurred in the middle of the day last Saturday at Central Station - was exposed by fellow drivers who spoke of their colleague's "stupidity".

RailCorp last night confirmed the serious incident but insisted no passengers had been placed in danger.

However, fellow drivers say the number of safety breaches that allowed the incident to occur defies belief.

It involved a driver who left the train crew office for Platform 21, and was told to drive a train towards Museum, on the City Circle line.

Instead, flustered after an argument with a colleague, he ran up the wrong stairs and boarded a train on Platform 19.

Entering effectively the back cabin of the wrong train, he sat facing the wrong direction and waited for a go-forward signal from the guard.

RailCorp said the driver moved the train forward, before the guard realised the potential danger and triggered an emergency stop.

"When the signal was given to leave, the train moved about 10m towards Town Hall," a RailCorp spokesman said.

"It was immediately stopped by a guard giving an emergency signal."

But sources say to go forward, the driver would have also not seen the red, or stop, signal next to the platform.

A train heading in the correct direction would normally trigger a catchpoint to stop the train, but this breach was largely unexpected and untested, one driver said.

"Why would you test it?" the driver asked. "Why would you think it could happen?"

RailCorp confirmed there was no mechanical safety system in place to stop the incident happening again.

"RailCorp is investigating the incident. However the failsafe system worked as it was designed."

A spokesman later said the failsafe system included the guard on the train.

It is believed under the standard city signalling system, trains are kept two signals apart to ensure they don't run up the back of each other.

"In this instance, what (RailCorp) is freaking out about is that the trains could have collided. There was no signal to keep the trains apart," the driver said.

Despite concerns from RailCorp staff, the incident will not go to the Office of Transport Safety Investigations.

The Daily Telegraph asked RailCorp nine questions about the incident at 2.05pm yesterday. Only four had been answered by late last night.