Two women are confirmed dead after an express train slammed into their car at Surrey Hills station in Melbourne. Their car was struck after becoming stuck on the level crossing just before 4pm yesterday.
Two women have been killed when their car became trapped on a Surrey Hills level crossing. #9News https://t.co/pjUUIlDosc
— Nine News Melbourne (@9NewsMelb) September 14, 2016
Though earlier reports suggested that the women, aged 71 and 73, had purposefully navigated around a closed boom gate, police are now clarifying that they do not believe this to be the case.
“They didn’t go around the boom gates at all,” acting sergeant Glen Whitehead told the Herald-Sun,
“The motor vehicle has come across, was on the train line and then the boom gate has come down behind.”
“The driver has been unsure of what to do from there and as a result the train travelling through, an express train, has then collided into the motor vehicle.”
The vehicle was thoroughly crushed by the train after being dragged for approximately 100 metres, and it took emergency services several hours to determine how many people had been in the car when it was struck. The women’s bodies were removed from the vehicle at approximately 6pm.
Trains were delayed by approximately an hour after the incident, and services have resumed at mostly normal capacity this morning.
Rail, Tram and Bus Union secretary Luba Grigorovitch told The Age that this ought to prove that the Union Road level crossing should be removed as a priority.
“The Rail Tram and Bus Union is calling on Metro to take these horrible fatalities seriously and enforce speed restrictions of 65km/h on this piece of track,” she said.
“This would roughly halve the stopping distance and, in future, save a life.”
Source: The Age.
Photo: 9 News.
