A Ballarat-bound train, carrying 65 passengers, slammed into a vehicle left on the tracks between the townships of Ballan and Gordon in Victoria. The train was travelling about 90km/h when it hit the vehicle. Sixty-one of the passengers were taken to Ballarat and Melbourne hospitals. Three of the injured were trapped inside one of the three derailed carriages for more than an hour. Police spokesman said the vehicle was placed on the tracks about 50m before a bridge spanning a small creek. The impact threw the sprinter service train from the line, with the first carriage coming to rest about 150m beyond the bridge. The other two carriages remained on the track but came off the rails, the second carriage leaning at an angle of about 30 degrees off the side of the railway line. The vehicle was squashed flat and thrown off the railway line about 70 metres down into the creek bed. Up to a dozen ambulances, three fire trucks and an air ambulance helicopter were sent to the scene, along with dozens of police cars and emergency services vehicles. Emergency Services workers set up a makeshift hospital at the crash site. Injuries ranged from serious head injuries to minor breaks of arms and shoulders, neck injuries, cuts, concussion and whiplash. Rural Ambulance spokesman said most of the injured were taken to Ballarat Base Hospital and a 75 year old woman suffering serious head injuries was transported by air ambulance to the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne. Two men were charged over the incident. Police allege one of the men was driving the vehicle to a fishing spot when it became stuck in the train tracks. They allege he left the car when he heard the train approaching. |