Violet Town railway disaster

In 1962, Violet Town in Victoria, Australia was the scene of the Violet Town railway disaster, a head on collision between a passenger train and a freight train travelling in opposite directions on the new single line standard gauge Sydney to Melbourne main line.

The trains were supposed to cross at the Violet Town crossing loop (where there are two tracks), but because the driver of the passenger train apparently had died of a heart attack, the train did not stop at the red signals and kept on going until it collided with a freight train headed in the other direction.

As a result of this accident, improved Vigilance controls were fitted to ensure that drivers remained alert, though as the later Beresfield rail disaster in 1996 showed, these were not foolproof.

Nine people were killed.

Similar accidents

• Morpeth train disaster

See also

• List of railway disasters
• List of disasters in Australia by death toll