Keep in mind that the "wobbly" tracks seen in the Thumbnail is the result after the train had passed through. Prior to this the eyewitness said the track was fairly straight with a slight buckle near the join of recently re-sleepered rail with steel sleepers.
In Tasmania, where this video was taken, the gauge is 1067mm (3'6"). Whilst in other Australian states the gauge varies from 1600mm (5' 3"), 1435mm (4' 8 1/2"), and 1067mm (3' 6"). The main rail corridor linking the main Australian cities from Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Darwin, and Perth is "Standard Gauge" 1435mm (4' 8 1/2").
The train was eventually stopped about 4 minutes later. Some eye-witnesses contacted Train Control (they were train spotters - they had the number) - and Train Control rang the driver to stop. The train driver was not aware because it was wagons at the back of the train that came off.
As the enginemen were unaware of what was happening behind them, the train continued to spray the track off its bed. I'm led to believe the train was doing the normal speed for that section (Derwent Park to Bridgewater) and that Tasrail ruled out speed as a contributing factor to the derailment (see TV News reports).
This was filmed in Australia, on the island state of Tasmania where an 1067mm gauge freight-only system operates. Up until 10 years ago the motive power was dominated by "English Electric" diesel locomotives but in recent times both GM-style and rebuilt EE locos have taken over.
The track was straight before the train approached, except for one small buckle near where wooden sleepers had been replaced with steel ones. The driver (one-man crew) obviously didn't see the buckle, or thought that the train would ride through with no problems.
The sleepers (ties) in this section are steel, and only had recently been inserted a few days before the derailment to replace old timber ties (the removed timber ones can be seen laying on the ground next to the track on the right).
It was a very warm day (early January) and a section of track (not seen until 3:12, left of screen) had very recently been replaced with steel sleepers and was loosely ballasted (my speculation). Sadly the buckle is not filmed before the train's arrival. The zig-zagging track seen after the train has left was probably caused by the combined weight of the 3 locos and 24 loaded container wagons pushing the track around underneath it.
Well that one has been just waiting to happen for a long time! What incredible tracks. They cannot have been laid that way. The bed must be terribly prepared, and totally unstable. One gets these quick, short back-and-forth sways when the bed won't support lateral forces from swaying and turning on curves. This bed's got it BAD!
It's called a BUCKLE (normally caused by extreme heat) & is often prevalent in welded rail sections, where the rail expands but cannot lengthen into (short rail section) "fish-plated" joints, thus is UNDER COMPRESSION which moves outward (often a rapid event) mostly situated at a slightly out-of-line rail joint, near loose/newly-reworked ballast. There had been major resleepering here & in a short distance the "ballast" would have been loosened; as when resleepering the track is often "LIFTED".
Those steel bars were straight before the train ran over it. Just thinking of the amount of energy necessary to turn railroad tracks into spaghetti is mind-boggling.
I'm led to believe that a buckle had formed in the track during the day but went un-noticed as there was no activity on the line until No. 736 had arrived late in the afternoon. (The buckle was located about 15-20 metres past were the camera is positioned, to the left of screen).
Yes, Tasmania has 3'6" (1067mm) narrow gauge system. The same as Queensland and Western Australia. Over history however, Tasmania has had numerous gauge lines around the island, ranging from 2' gauge to 5' 3" broad gauge.
when i saw the thumbnail i thought : " no train can pass through that, whoever made the tracks has no knoledge of how tracks work " >:O and then the unexpected happened : how that train got passed the part at 3:00 i'll never know, regardless of the later derailment ._.
DarkSignal59 The tracks in the thumbnail shows the track after the train had gone through, not before. There was a slight buckle in the track before the train went through (sadly not seen), and when the train went through it, it pushed the track around.
iAmDaos it's not the one who made the track it's the one who made the wheels of the train, . Many tracks become like this one due to hunting oscillation.
ChunkyMagicrug That's and understatement. He was probably on weed, shrooms, drunk, and who knows what other drugs he was on. He was just messing when he designed it. He said "Hey come look at this! Lets see what people would do if they saw that! Huh? What? Oh this is real? It was just a joke!" Now, go to 3:00. That happend because of Mr. Shrooms n' Weed.
Now that is some messed up track. I wonder if the narrow gauge was part of the problem? At the beginning I was thinking that train looked awfully wide for that narrow track. One problem and gravity takes over, and the next thing you know the train is pulling the rails all over the place.
From the video, it looks as like they have had problems with that section of railway line in the recent past, as evidenced by the loose, crooked tracks, and that pile of ties off to the side. So work had been done there just prior to the accident. Next, it looks to me like whoever paved the roadway at the crossing, left asphalt over the railheads, which might pose more of a problem in narrow gage as the trains are lighter than say, 4' 8 1/2" standard gage. Great video. Mike in Fresno, Ca.
Great catch! Thank you for your comments about it. How fortunate that someone knew who to call to get the train stopped! Did you see that area before the train arrived and rolled over it? Anything unusual about it? Thank you.
Railways come from Great Britain. Why is it that in some countries the engineers can't gauge the track properly! The trains wouldn't come off the tracks in the first place. The GB Gauge is four feet and eight-and-a-half inches or 1435mm. If your country's track is a different gauge, then there are machines available that can lay decent track by computations around the track bed area for single or double track configurations. These machines can also sort out the stability of the track on the ballast. Have a look at Huyton Roby videos. To see how we do this in GB. At one time the track in say the North America was not straight and here in GB we had to build special locomotives at the Vulcan Locomotive Works just to run over North American tracks.
The recently retied track was unstable and went out of alignment under the train. This is called a "Track Buckle" or Solar Misalignment (due to heat). Sometimes they are referred to as "Sun Kinks". Whatever you call them, this track should have had a proper slow order placed on it until it was stable. Or you can distress the track by removing some rail. Usually a couple of inches or so. Somebody was asleep during the tie replacement procedure.
Its apparent that the whole section was so loosely-packed - if not packed at all, that the rail bed has just given-way under the weight of the train. With no-where to go the continuously-welded rail moves side-to-side, creating the "wobble" look.
the track is not laid like that. Thermal expansion in the rails will cause it to deform at the weakest point. ie corners. Same thing with bridges that is why they have gaps in them to allow for the expansion/contraction of the material used during different times of the day/season. In the case of the rail system hot steel will be considerably longer than cold steel. Normally not an issue unless you are dealing with very long lengths connected together.
Apparently there was some track buckling there before the train arrived, although not thought as serious enough to cause concern or at least film it. Some people/enthusiasts who follow and watch trains regularly will often have the phone number for Train Control (it's a publicly listed number), so its not surprising that somebody was able to contact Train Control once they saw that some wagons moving but off the rails.
And of course it's also a "given" that 4'8+1/2 " gauge - WAS the usual gauge at that time.! As "existing" collery railways (using horses as their locomotive power) NEEDED an extra wide "gauge" to allow two horses working SIDE BY SIDE (without damaging their hooves on rails either side) & that George Stephenson was farsighted in realising that individual lines would eventually NEED to be joined together, thus the need to have the same ONE gauge, (which is now used throughout much of the world).
Summer in Australia. It is brutal on rail alignments. The rail looks buckled even before it the train gets to the section of track in question. Concrete ties would help stabilise the rail.
Oh..? And i "think" from memory.. The Japanese hi-speed (bullet) trains.. also RUN on 3'-6" gauge track. Usually the tighter the gauge .. the better kept is the trackwork. As Railway companies actually DO understand the concept of: "good maintenance relates to LOWER operation & maintenance costs".
I think that could be a factor. I was surprised to see that narrow gauge trains are able to transport those huge Maersk shipping containers. They are 8 ft. wide. So on standard gauge they have a roughly 20% overhang on each side. On 3'6", it's almost 30%.
Thank you, that's a great answer to why it jumped off the track. Once it was off the track, why didn't the engineer know immediately? Wouldn't there be tons of drag from 9 cars derailing and being dragged along?
That is interesting, the engineer probably had not a clue as it probably was fairly straight when he approached.. In the engine you rarely hear the trouble behind you. Embarrassing to arrive without some cars.. Glad no injuries, my dad worked a train in the states, the EJ&E, now absorbed by CN and the accidents they used to have always took lives..
The density of the stone ballast wasn't sufficiently high, the longitudinal tension because of the rising temperature laterally pushed out the track at at the changing of layers. I can see this from the exactly other side of the Earth. Greetings from Hungary!
The train on this day was unusually long - 49 wagons. Fortunately the train didn't "fall off" the track as nobody wants to see derailments - for both passengers and freight - with the cost burden of line closure and recovery and ultimate inconvenience for customers.
When I saw the empty carts I knew all hell was gonna brake lose because they didn't have the weight, but the good thing is that empty carts hit the weak point
Am I mistaken or do those ties (sleepers) look to be steel? That or a concrete shape unique to Australia. If it's steel then it's hard to ballast them effectively with gravel. Whichever it was they held the tracks together even with a large lateral displacement.
How do you not know your train has derailed? Do you not feel so,e drag in the train? Are you not constantly looking behind the train at your consist as well as ahead? I'm assuming these are not professionals?
I would think that being in the cab of the front loco of three, one would have no idea what has happened halfway along a long train until the drag is enough to slow the mess.
In theory, the cars detaching should have caused a loss of air pressure in the brake lines which would have been noticed in the locomotive and caused the brakes to apply automatically. It is possible however to clamp off a section of the train's brakes - like if you know you have faulty brake hoses. The last cars looked like they were ready for the scrap yard.
The Ballast has infrequently been replaced over the years. The height of the track has also risen substantially over the years because of the higher ballast bed (in some places the track is now the same height as old station platforms along the way). This section of line is scheduled to close in mid 2014
spaghetti track
Keep in mind that the "wobbly" tracks seen in the Thumbnail is the result after the train had passed through. Prior to this the eyewitness said the track was fairly straight with a slight buckle near the join of recently re-sleepered rail with steel sleepers.
i remember when i would run out of straight tracks so i would make do with a few curved ones.
In Tasmania, where this video was taken, the gauge is 1067mm (3'6"). Whilst in other Australian states the gauge varies from 1600mm (5' 3"), 1435mm (4' 8 1/2"), and 1067mm (3' 6"). The main rail corridor linking the main Australian cities from Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Darwin, and Perth is "Standard Gauge" 1435mm (4' 8 1/2").
Wow that track looks like my bad back
I thought the drink was kicking in when I looked at those rails.
The train was eventually stopped about 4 minutes later. Some eye-witnesses contacted Train Control (they were train spotters - they had the number) - and Train Control rang the driver to stop. The train driver was not aware because it was wagons at the back of the train that came off.
Thank you very much Paul, and greetings from Tasmania.
As the enginemen were unaware of what was happening behind them, the train continued to spray the track off its bed.
I'm led to believe the train was doing the normal speed for that section (Derwent Park to Bridgewater) and that Tasrail ruled out speed as a contributing factor to the derailment (see TV News reports).
thank you very much for the upload
This was filmed in Australia, on the island state of Tasmania where an 1067mm gauge freight-only system operates. Up until 10 years ago the motive power was dominated by "English Electric" diesel locomotives but in recent times both GM-style and rebuilt EE locos have taken over.
I Love Trains So Much
The track was straight before the train approached, except for one small buckle near where wooden sleepers had been replaced with steel ones. The driver (one-man crew) obviously didn't see the buckle, or thought that the train would ride through with no problems.
The sleepers (ties) in this section are steel, and only had recently been inserted a few days before the derailment to replace old timber ties (the removed timber ones can be seen laying on the ground next to the track on the right).
It was a very warm day (early January) and a section of track (not seen until 3:12, left of screen) had very recently been replaced with steel sleepers and was loosely ballasted (my speculation).
Sadly the buckle is not filmed before the train's arrival. The zig-zagging track seen after the train has left was probably caused by the combined weight of the 3 locos and 24 loaded container wagons pushing the track around underneath it.
Well that one has been just waiting to happen for a long time! What incredible tracks. They cannot have been laid that way. The bed must be terribly prepared, and totally unstable. One gets these quick, short back-and-forth sways when the bed won't support lateral forces from swaying and turning on curves. This bed's got it BAD!
It's called a BUCKLE (normally caused by extreme heat) & is often prevalent in welded rail sections, where the rail expands but cannot lengthen into (short rail section) "fish-plated" joints, thus is UNDER COMPRESSION which moves outward (often a rapid event) mostly situated at a slightly out-of-line rail joint, near loose/newly-reworked ballast.
There had been major resleepering here & in a short distance the "ballast" would have been loosened; as when resleepering the track is often "LIFTED".
Thanks for uploading. Interesting video.
A train with some real twist.
Those steel bars were straight before the train ran over it. Just thinking of the amount of energy necessary to turn railroad tracks into spaghetti is mind-boggling.
I'm led to believe that a buckle had formed in the track during the day but went un-noticed as there was no activity on the line until No. 736 had arrived late in the afternoon. (The buckle was located about 15-20 metres past were the camera is positioned, to the left of screen).
Yes, Tasmania has 3'6" (1067mm) narrow gauge system. The same as Queensland and Western Australia. Over history however, Tasmania has had numerous gauge lines around the island, ranging from 2' gauge to 5' 3" broad gauge.
when i saw the thumbnail i thought : " no train can pass through that, whoever made the tracks has no knoledge of how tracks work " >:O
and then the unexpected happened : how that train got passed the part at 3:00 i'll never know, regardless of the later derailment ._.
DarkSignal59 hahaha, I thought that he swung the camera around just in time to catch it derailing, but nope, she somehow held on thru that chicane.
Show us the farstes and longest trains
DarkSignal59 The tracks in the thumbnail shows the track after the train had gone through, not before. There was a slight buckle in the track before the train went through (sadly not seen), and when the train went through it, it pushed the track around.
iAmDaos it's not the one who made the track it's the one who made the wheels of the train, . Many tracks become like this one due to hunting oscillation.
ChunkyMagicrug That's and understatement. He was probably on weed, shrooms, drunk, and who knows what other drugs he was on. He was just messing when he designed it. He said "Hey come look at this! Lets see what people would do if they saw that! Huh? What? Oh this is real? It was just a joke!" Now, go to 3:00. That happend because of Mr. Shrooms n' Weed.
Now that is some messed up track. I wonder if the narrow gauge was part of the problem? At the beginning I was thinking that train looked awfully wide for that narrow track. One problem and gravity takes over, and the next thing you know the train is pulling the rails all over the place.
From the video, it looks as like they have had problems with that section of railway line in the recent past, as evidenced by the loose, crooked tracks, and that pile of ties off to the side. So work had been done there just prior to the accident. Next, it looks to me like whoever paved the roadway at the crossing, left asphalt over the railheads, which might pose more of a problem in narrow gage as the trains are lighter than say, 4' 8 1/2" standard gage. Great video. Mike in Fresno, Ca.
Great catch! Thank you for your comments about it.
How fortunate that someone knew who to call to get the train stopped!
Did you see that area before the train arrived and rolled over it? Anything unusual about it?
Thank you.
New Zealand has some fantastic railways. In recent years old Queensland locomotives re-built in New Zealand have been operating in Tasmania.
Railways come from Great Britain. Why is it that in some countries the engineers can't gauge the track properly! The trains wouldn't come off the tracks in the first place. The GB Gauge is four feet and eight-and-a-half inches or 1435mm. If your country's track is a different gauge, then there are machines available that can lay decent track by computations around the track bed area for single or double track configurations. These machines can also sort out the stability of the track on the ballast. Have a look at Huyton Roby videos. To see how we do this in GB. At one time the track in say the North America was not straight and here in GB we had to build special locomotives at the Vulcan Locomotive Works just to run over North American tracks.
The recently retied track was unstable and went out of alignment under the train. This is called a "Track Buckle" or Solar Misalignment (due to heat). Sometimes they are referred to as "Sun Kinks". Whatever you call them, this track should have had a proper slow order placed on it until it was stable. Or you can distress the track by removing some rail. Usually a couple of inches or so. Somebody was asleep during the tie replacement procedure.
That has to be the longest train ever in the World. Didn't think I was ever gonna see the end of it !
That's about how long the average train is here in the US and are, and I believe that is the same with Australia.
Yes, the steel or wooden beams that the two rails sit on, they're called 'sleepers' in Britain, Europe and Australasia.
I agree with you that this was also a contributor to the issue along with the narrow gauge and weight of the load.
oooo I want those level crossing signals!
Great catch too
wow i did not know this happened, its awesome to know the things that happened in our home state
Always amazed how there are no fences along trackside in your country.
Mike in Wales
5:33 He won't get too far with the shovel !
Why were they traveling at that speed on such lousy track? That track is insanely bad.
Fascinating little island...
What shitty alignment work.
It uh, probably wasn't like that before the train went over it.
I've seen some of their tracks though, really poor trackwork. Rough as shit.
Samuel Zelter b
Neddskorg Today's the first day I ever heard of a heat buckle. Will make a serious mental note of that and take trains only when it rains!
Neddskorg Yikes. Better stick to a mule. :)
Its apparent that the whole section was so loosely-packed - if not packed at all, that the rail bed has just given-way under the weight of the train. With no-where to go the continuously-welded rail moves side-to-side, creating the "wobble" look.
the track is not laid like that. Thermal expansion in the rails will cause it to deform at the weakest point. ie corners. Same thing with bridges that is why they have gaps in them to allow for the expansion/contraction of the material used during different times of the day/season. In the case of the rail system hot steel will be considerably longer than cold steel. Normally not an issue unless you are dealing with very long lengths connected together.
Pretty embarrassing being an Aussie with such crappy tracks, not jus there but Australia wide compared to many countries.
Apparently there was some track buckling there before the train arrived, although not thought as serious enough to cause concern or at least film it.
Some people/enthusiasts who follow and watch trains regularly will often have the phone number for Train Control (it's a publicly listed number), so its not surprising that somebody was able to contact Train Control once they saw that some wagons moving but off the rails.
thank you
At 3:12 I was like WTF, are they railway tracks or a rock n roll track ..!!
This train was going way too fast for those horrible track conditions.
And of course it's also a "given" that 4'8+1/2 " gauge - WAS the usual gauge at that time.! As "existing" collery railways (using horses as their locomotive power) NEEDED an extra wide "gauge" to allow two horses working SIDE BY SIDE (without damaging their hooves on rails either side) & that George Stephenson was farsighted in realising that individual lines would eventually NEED to be joined together, thus the need to have the same ONE gauge, (which is now used throughout much of the world).
What did you do to the track to make it do that ? How else would you know to set the camera up at this particular point ? ? ?
That is a long train for the 3ft6 gauge. It is going pretty fast going for those curves before it derailed.
Summer in Australia. It is brutal on rail alignments. The rail looks buckled even before it the train gets to the section of track in question. Concrete ties would help stabilise the rail.
Oh..?
And i "think" from memory..
The Japanese hi-speed (bullet) trains.. also RUN on 3'-6" gauge track.
Usually the tighter the gauge .. the better kept is the trackwork.
As Railway companies actually DO understand the concept of: "good maintenance relates to LOWER operation & maintenance costs".
I think that could be a factor. I was surprised to see that narrow gauge trains are able to transport those huge Maersk shipping containers. They are 8 ft. wide. So on standard gauge they have a roughly 20% overhang on each side. On 3'6", it's almost 30%.
Unfortunately I will never get that 6 min back
I'll admit I was expecting a bit more, but I'm also glad it wasn't worse than this. I never like it when people get hurt.
the weight of the train is kept in the length, width and low to the track making sure that it can run on narrow gauge.
Bad rail maintenance. Good video ;o)
Got any footage of the ex-NZR DC and DQ classes running around?
The speed on that line in the US would be like 10 MPH at most. Yikes !!
Thank you, that's a great answer to why it jumped off the track. Once it was off the track, why didn't the engineer know immediately? Wouldn't there be tons of drag from 9 cars derailing and being dragged along?
Nice video
Those Sherman neckties should have been replaced!
Classic derailing ACTION!
Its really axciting too see thanks to show mee ths
Very interesting footage. Thumbs up! :)
Greetings
Mega
Yeah, one of those things. I know the video guy on reflection knows he should have filmed the track buckle before the train came.
is this narrow gauge?
That is interesting, the engineer probably had not a clue as it probably was fairly straight when he approached.. In the engine you rarely hear the trouble behind you. Embarrassing to arrive without some cars.. Glad no injuries, my dad worked a train in the states, the EJ&E, now absorbed by CN and the accidents they used to have always took lives..
Narrow rail looks so odd when your used to seeing Canadian rail lines standard gauge.
nearing 1 million views!
线很瘫软！感谢您的评论
Thats is one JANKY ASS track!
Looks like we gotta come down there and teach you boys some Gandy dancing!
The density of the stone ballast wasn't sufficiently high, the longitudinal tension because of the rising temperature laterally pushed out the track at at the changing of layers.
I can see this from the exactly other side of the Earth. Greetings from Hungary!
The train on this day was unusually long - 49 wagons. Fortunately the train didn't "fall off" the track as nobody wants to see derailments - for both passengers and freight - with the cost burden of line closure and recovery and ultimate inconvenience for customers.
Unfortunately you will never be an individual.
My God, cant u come up with a more original comment than that.
U are so original dude.
As someone who is British, I couldn't agree with you more! Its like a glorified refugee camp here in the UK!
I should imagine the sun has a part to play in bending the tracks as do the big trains on the narrow tracks. More maintenance is needed here.
The other 3 are 2 supervisors and 1 health & safety observer.
When I saw the empty carts I knew all hell was gonna brake lose because they didn't have the weight, but the good thing is that empty carts hit the weak point
It was caused by swaying motion of the train called "hunting oscillation."
no...that was just rotten sleepers..
Bud Hansen
Reverse curves don't help, especially with rotten sleepers.
For how bent up that track looks there's no way they should have been driving that fast.
you did a very good job!!!!!
This is absolutely right.
they should make the tracks straighter.
nope, a typical Australian railway is the (Stephenson) Standard gauge which is 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in). aka the international standard.
They sound like British class 37 locomotives, I wonder if they have the same engine.
ZA Class, thought i could hear an EE V12 growl
For goodness sake, the tracks were twisted up DURING the derailment, they weren't like that before the train tore it up!
In need of some major maintenance.
Am I mistaken or do those ties (sleepers) look to be steel? That or a concrete shape unique to Australia. If it's steel then it's hard to ballast them effectively with gravel. Whichever it was they held the tracks together even with a large lateral displacement.
where is the derailment?
Yeah.. it ain't Silver Streak.
luchatroka alvarado guajardo
at 3:00
en australya-(BRISBANE) movimiento de tierra (dezlisamiemnto) de terrerno un temblor (hearthcuaque) saludos desde ameryka -¡ republika mexicana
luchatroka alvarado guajardo the derailment is in Tasmania & was caused by the heat
I'm surprised the train didn't get in derailment
How do you not know your train has derailed? Do you not feel so,e drag in the train? Are you not constantly looking behind the train at your consist as well as ahead? I'm assuming these are not professionals?
I would think that being in the cab of the front loco of three, one would have no idea what has happened halfway along a long train until the drag is enough to slow the mess.
In theory, the cars detaching should have caused a loss of air pressure in the brake lines which would have been noticed in the locomotive and caused the brakes to apply automatically. It is possible however to clamp off a section of the train's brakes - like if you know you have faulty brake hoses. The last cars looked like they were ready for the scrap yard.
Powiedziałbym, że jechał wyjątkowo śmiało jak na stan techniczny torowiska. Nie było ograniczenia ? A może nie zauważył ? Kanał SUB.
This looks like the heat issue became too much... Also do they work on the ballasts often?
The Ballast has infrequently been replaced over the years. The height of the track has also risen substantially over the years because of the higher ballast bed (in some places the track is now the same height as old station platforms along the way). This section of line is scheduled to close in mid 2014
Alright, who's idea was it to make a squiggly line track?
Is Australia a small distance between the rails or is it a narrow-gauge railway?
It looks good and sounds great
Wow. It must take so long to crane up all the stock, move them to a safe section and get going then.
That shape on the tracks can't be good.