Investigators will examine whether a train that derailed north of Melbourne was speeding to make up time amid union concerns over poor track maintenance.
Australian Transport Safety Bureau commissioner Greg Hood said a preliminary investigation would be conducted within 30 days.
“I know everybody wants answers now but really we’re just beginning our work this morning,” he told reporters at the scene on Friday.
The Rail, Tram and Bus Union state secretary Luba Grigorovitch said on Friday drivers refused to “traverse” the Wallan section of track over the past week.
“The Sydney to Melbourne XPT train derailment near Wallan Station last night occurred over a section of track over which was awaiting maintenance,” RTBU State Secretary Luba Grigorovitch said on Friday.
“Conditions were altered and V/Line drivers rightly refused to traverse this section over the past week.”
The male driver, 54, from the ACT and the female co-pilot, 49, from Castlemaine, were both killed on impact when the Sydney to Melbourne XPT diesel locomotive and five carriages came off tracks near Wallan Station, 45km north of the city just before 8pm on Thursday.
Police said it was a “miracle” more people weren’t killed or injured among the 160 passengers on board, many clinging on for “grim death” as the engine and first carriage slid off the tracks, tipped onto their sides while the remainder are still leaning off the wrecked tracks.
“I imagine as a first responder who turned up it would have been looking like a horrific scene,” Acting Inspector Peter Fusinato said.
“I’m very surprised there weren’t more serious injuries … quite a miracle really.”
There are reports one man was injured while trying to save the driver, while up to 20 people were unaccounted for.
A man in his 60s was taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital in a stable condition with an upper body injury while 12 others were taken to local hospitals with minor injuries.
However, Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack spoke from the crash scene on Friday morning and repeatedly stressed federal authorities wouldn’t allow a train to travel on unsafe track.
“I reiterate no authority would let passengers travel on unsafe track,” he said at the scene.
“We will ensure that proper answers are found for the bereaved families and making sure these sorts of things don’t happen again.”
“I invite the unions to put all those matters to the proper authorities so that we can fully investigate what has taken place beforehand and of course, what took place last night,” he said.
Some passengers claimed they heard an onboard announcement saying the driver was trying to make up for lost time before the crash, but Victoria Police Inspector Peter Koger couldn’t confirm this.
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Shaken passengers were bussed to Melbourne after the crash, while others were picked up by family.
A Sydney couple who were on their way to visit their son in Melbourne said the crash and its aftermath were terrifying. They’ve cancelled their return trip.
“You just hang on for grim death. You’re being thrown around, the thing’s going along tilting over and all you can look out the window and just see dirt and debris and stuff flying up past the windows and the track itself is just twisted and bent,” the man said.
“It probably went about 150 metres before it stopped, there were carriages going sideways – pretty horrifying.”
The man also said train staff had handed out complaint cards to passengers moments before the derailment, after lengthy delays caused by ongoing problems with signals on the line.
He walked back to the site of the initial derailment and said it looked like switches on the track appeared to have directed the train off the main line.
The train left Central Station in Sydney at 7.40am and was supposed to have arrived at Southern Cross Station in Melbourne at 6.30pm.
The federal government-owned ARTC manages and operates the track and is understood to be responsible for the signalling.
The ARTC has been contacted for comment.
NSW Regional Transport Minister Paul Toole said he was not aware of any concerns about the condition of the track.
“I am not aware of that. We can’t speculate as to what the investigation will find, but we are keen to see what comes out of that into the future,” Mr Toole said while in Victoria.
In December, Infrastructure Australia stated the business case for an upgrade of the Melbourne-Albury North East Rail Line “should not be included on its priority list”.
It is not publicly known what speed the train was travelling at the time it came off the tracks, with the cause of the incident under investigation.
The Border Mail has reported the signal hut in Wallan was destroyed by fire earlier this month.
-with AAP
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