TRAIN DISASTER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 December 1940, Page 7

TRAIN DISASTER

DERAILMENT NEAR MERCER BOARD OF ENQUIRY FINDINGS. CAUSE OF THE ACCIDENT. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. The derailment of the WellingtonAuckland Limited express train near Mercer on October 28 is attributed to the overturning of the engine, due to its entering a curve at excessive speed, by the Board of Inquiry appointed to investigate the accident. The report of the board was released last night by the Minister of Railways, Mr. Sullivan. The board consisted of Sir Francis Frazer (chairman), Mr. F. W. Furkert and Professor S. E. Lamb. Evidence was given at the inquiry by 58 witnesses. The board closely analysed voluminous evidence regarding the overturning speed of K class locomotives, and viewing the facts as a whole, it was satisfied that a survey of the derailed locomotive and rolling stock, and the distances over which the several parts of it travelled, entirely supported the opinion that the speed of this train at the moment of derailment was well in excess of 50 miles an hour. The board emphasised that, taking all the available data and criteria into consideration, the speed of the train at the [time of the derailment could not have been less than 55 miles an hour, and this speed was sufficient to cause the engine to overturn. No other cause of the disaster had been disclosed, nor need any be conjectured. The driver of the train drove the engine between Ngaruawahia and the point of derailment at speeds considerably higher than those permitted by the permanent and temporary speed restrictions in force on that section of the line, the report stated. In particular, he entered a curve of 8.2 chains radius in respect of which a permanent speed restriction of 30 miles an hour is fixed, at a speed well in excess of 50 miles an hour.-