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The Southern Aurora was placed in service in April, 1962, and since that time,
the two 14-car trains which leave
Sydney and
Melbourne simultaneously every
night, seven days a week, at 8 p.m. for the 597-mile journey between Australia’s two largest cities, then one of Australia's worst rail disasters occurred when the crack luxury passenger express collided head-on with a freight train at Violet Town, 105 -
miles from
Melbourne.
The accident occurred shortly after 7 a.m. on Friday, February 7th 1969 on the
Victorian Railways' single - track standard gauge
Melbourne - Albury line, about
half a mile on the south (
Melbourne) side of the Violet Town crossing loop.
The passenger express had an almost capacity load of 192 passengers plus a crew complement of 22 and was running several minutes late when the collision took place.
Nine were killed in the accident and over 50 injured and admitted to hospital.
Included among the fatalities were the drivers of the two trains, a conductor
and a train electrician, both employees of the New South Wales Government
Railways. It is reported that the firemen-observers of both the Southern Aurora and the freight train leapt from their locomotives shortly before the impact. Both received serious injuries,
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Eight of the Southern Aurora's normal consist of 14 cars were derailed and
extensively damaged in the collision. These included the PHN-class
power/brake van, two NAM-class twinette sleeping cars, three LAN-class roomette sleeping cars, the RMS-class dining car and the BCS-class club car.
The remaining six cars (two LAN-class, two NAM-class, one DAM-class deluxe
sleeping car, and the MHN-class luggage van) suffered only minor damage and were not derailed.
The collision crushed the power van and the first two sleeping cars. The third,
fourth and fifth sleeping cars plus the dining and club cars were thrown from
the track and came to rest among the wreckage which included the Aurora's
S-class diesel- electric locomotive and the freight train's X-class hood unit.
Shortly after the impact, an explosion occurred in the power van and fire swept
through several of the damaged passenger cars.
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VR Perway employees who were working near the scene, immediately ran to the train and began to smash windows of the derailed sleeping cars to help the
passengers trapped inside. They were assisted shortly afterwards by local
residents of Violet Town who heard the sound of the crash and rushed to the
scene. Immediately the report of the accident was sent to the VR headquarters in
Melbourne the State Disaster Plan was put into action and within a short time, police, the army, ambulances, the Red Cross and doctors were on the scene. Teams of doctors were flown from
Melbourne in special aircraft. Rail rescue equipment was immediately despatched to Violet Town and a temporary by-pass was constructed around the accident. Rail
services were resumed late that night. Passengers who did not require hospital attention were conveyed to
Melbourne in chartered buses and arrived at Spencer Street station late in the afternoon. The Southern Aurora was scheduled to pass the Violet Town crossing loop at 6.44a.m.
The freight train was No. 4281 through goods which was scheduled to leave Dynon for Albury at 1.25 a.m. and was timetabled to refuge in the crossing loop at Benalla (16
miles north of Violet Town) to permit the Southern Aurora to pass at 6.15.
A post-mortem conducted by the Senior Government Pathologist, Dr. J. McNamara and two other doctors disclosed that the driver of the Southern Aurora had died from heart failure before the collision occurred.