ATSB – RO-2018-004
The crew of the accident train, run 150-E, consisted of a driver and guard who had commenced duty in the early hours of 22 January 2018. The driver signed on at the Blacktown Depot at 0312[1] to commence his shift. He was due to finish at 1111. At the start of his shift, he first prepared a train in the Blacktown siding and then operated run 149-B from Blacktown at 0515, arriving at Richmond at 0552. Afterwards, he operated a return service to Blacktown arriving at 0645, and then travelled as a passenger on this same train to Central Station, arriving at 0729. The driver commenced a break until 0806 when he relieved another driver and operated run 286-D to Blacktown, arriving at 0843. The driver then had a meal break, walking into the main street of Blacktown to purchase and consume some food. He returned to the station, waiting on Platform 2 for run 150-E to arrive. Run 150-E had departed Central Station at 0834 and was due to arrive at Blacktown at 0917 where a crew changeover occurred (Figure 1).
Source: Geoscience Australia, modified by the ATSB
The train arrived at 0917, as per the timetable. The outgoing driver verbally provided information about the state of the train. There were no faults reported by the outgoing driver. The driver took
his seated position in carriage (car) 1, closed his cabin door, then received a ‘proceed’ bell signal
› 1 ‹
- ↑ The 24-hour clock is used in this report. Local time was Australian Eastern Daylight-saving Time (EDT). Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) + 11 hours.
