Glenbrook rail accident

The Glenbrook train disaster was a railway accident in New South Wales, Australia in 1999. It happened at Glenbrook station, which is on the CityRail network between Springwood and Penrith.

In the accident, an interurban passenger train restarted after stopping at a red signal and shortly after collided with the rear of long distance passenger train waiting at a failed signal. A number of factors were involved, from equipment breakdown to poor phrasing of the rules. The most important factor was that the interurban picked up too much speed after restarting from the signal at stop, and was not able to see the rear of the long distance train around a sharply curved and deep cutting in order to stop in time to avoid a collision.

Seven people were killed in this accident.

A Commission of Inquiry headed by Justice McInerny investigated the accident.

See Also