Executive summary
At approximately 2240 hours on Thursday, 25 February 1999, Train 230, a northbound express freight, was travelling on the up main just south of McKays Crossing when dragging brake gear on a wagon near the centre of the train hit the spreader bar of the safety turnout where the line converged to single track. The impact caused the facing points to open and derail 19 of the following wagons. The derailment brought down part of the 1500V overhead traction line and blocked State Highway 1. Fatigue breaks in a brake beam assembly caused it to fail allowing the brake gear to drop. Safety issues identified included quality control of the brake beams to withstand likely cyclic loading. Three safety recommendations were made to the operator.
Related Recommendations
Issue standards and procedures to ensure that the design, construction and repair of type 14 brake beams ensures that they are fabricated to standards to avoid excessive stresses due to the cyclic loadings envisaged, particularly those due to possible resonance.
Continue the inspection of the type 14 bogie wagon fleet on a systematic basis to ensure the integrity of the brake beams until such time as the current frequency of failure is reduced.
Carry out service load tests on the Type 14 brake beams to confirm that the loading assumptions made to confirm fatigue life are reasonable.