WALLAN, Australia — Two crew members are dead following the derailment of a Sydney-to-Melbourne passenger train today.
The Age newspaper reports the XPT train derailed about 7:50 p.m. local time in Wallan, about 45 kilometers ( miles) north of Melbourne. The train, which was due in Melbourne at 6:30 p.m., was running about two hours late because of early signal problems that had delayed the train.
Both crew members who died were in the cab. In addition to the locomotive, five cars were reported to have derailed, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported, with at 12 other people hospitalized with injuries. About 160 people were on board.
The diesel-powered XPT trainsets, based on British Rail High Speed Train designs, entered service between 1981 and 1984, and are capable of speeds up to 99 mph. The trains are scheduled to be replaced with new equipment from CAF beginning in 2023.
