By AIDAN KNIGHT
OFFICERS attended an incident at Tramway Road, Morwell at noon last Wednesday (December 17), after damage to the railway level crossing.
Witnesses allege a car ran through the boom gate as it was closing, bending on its arm, causing the second to be stuck down, and the flashing lights turned on.
Train services to and from Traralgon were suspended as a result.
V/Line issued an alert at 12.33pm, advising that all services travelling from Southern Cross were terminating at Morwell until further notice, with outbound services also originating there.
The disruption was first flagged in relation to the 9.25am Southern Cross to Traralgon service, which had been scheduled to arrive shortly before the announcement was made.
Four additional Gippsland Line services were also affected. Passengers travelling between Morwell and Traralgon were advised to use replacement coach services, with station staff available to assist.
The V/Line Incident Response crew arrived at the scene around 1.15pm to change over the bent gate and make additional repairs to the crossing. Regular services were restored by 2.26pm.
ONLY a day later, a vehicle incident along the Gippsland Line halted all train services after a motorist came off Wirraway Street, Moe and onto the train line, at such a speed that the tracks were thought to have buckled.
While the rail itself is designed to flex, the impact forced the sleepers underneath out of position. Because the rail is fixed to the sleepers, crews were required to lift sections of the track, realign the sleepers and re-pack the ballast beneath to restore the line to a safe alignment
All trains travelling in either direction were stopped as a result. It is thought to have occurred at around 3.51pm. Emergency services were on the scene by 4.38pm, while V/Line stationmasters announced that replacement buses had been organised for passengers.
Although V/Line incident response were happy to speak to the Express the day prior, those on the scene on December 18 declined to comment.
The vehicle involved was a black Chevrolet Suburban and was removed from a section of track across the road from St Kieran’s Catholic Primary School, less than a kilometre from Moe train station.
The driver suffered a medical episode and crashed through a section of fence onto the tracks. He was transported from the scene via ambulance, and his current condition is unknown.
V/Line didn’t publicly announce the line was down between Warragul and Traralgon until 5.35pm. Trains were partially restored to the line the next morning (December 19), with some services still utilising replacement coaches.
