00:00Early on Sunday morning a freight train stops dead in its tracks in Sydney's
00:06northwest. Its wagons carrying thousands of tons of steel had come loose and were
00:12sent traveling in the wrong direction. Sydney trains did put a stop signal on
00:17it as soon as that was advised that there was an issue. The freight company
00:20Cube says equipment failure led to a decoupling with the locomotive and the
00:25kilometre stretch of wagons rolled backwards along the T9 rail line. There
00:31was a 15 minute break or something between any passenger trains coming onto
00:34the network. The emergency brakes were triggered but the wagons travelled for
00:39three kilometres before finally coming to a stop. I couldn't get to work because
00:44the train didn't well come and go. On the day affected commuters were given little
00:51detail. We have had an issue with a freight train near Stratfield. The incident has
00:57been dealt with. Today many were surprised to learn that the cause of the delays was
01:02in fact a runaway train. Sorry it rolled backwards. That's concerning. The ABC has
01:08been told that freight paths are specifically designed to minimize
01:12proximity with passenger services. It's understood the network operator also has
01:17the ability to derail wagons in the event of a potential collision which wasn't
01:23necessary on this occasion. These things sometimes can be a matter of luck.
01:30The national and state-based rail safety regulators are now investigating what went wrong.
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