NSW: Rail gas leak due to faulty gearbox, RailCorp

AAP General News (Australia)
02-13-2004
NSW: Rail gas leak due to faulty gearbox, RailCorp

By Vera Devai

SYDNEY, Feb 13 AAP - A gas leak which caused commuter chaos in central Sydney last
week was caused by a malfunctioning train gearbox and hot oil, RailCorp said today.

The suspected leak crippled the CBD's rail network, forcing city train stations to
be evacuated and scores of services to be cancelled during the afternoon peak hour.

The entire city circle line, which comprises seven stations, was closed for nearly
four hours as emergency workers tried to pinpoint the source of the leak, detected at
Town Hall station about 1.45pm that Thursday.

Busy Central Station was also closed as growing crowds and a lack of trains threatened
public safety.

RailCorp Chief Executive Vince Graham said today the most likely cause was an overheated
gearbox on a train which had passed through Town Hall station.

The Tangara train, which had no passengers aboard at the time, was on a test run after
maintenance work by private contractor Goninan, which CityRail has used since 1994.

Investigations this week showed the gearbox, which contained six litres of oil under
one of the train's carriages, had overheated due to an assembly fault and emitted a gas-like
vapour, Mr Graham said.

He said chemical testing by RailCorp and the NSW Fire Brigade revealed the oil, upon
overheating, released a chemical with an odour almost identical to natural gas.

"Out of the thousands of gearboxes we have operating each day this has never happened,"

Mr Graham said.

The train was now under repair to ensure an incident of this kind did not occur again.

Goninan Acting chief executive Paul Long said he took full responsibility for the incident.

"We apologise to CityRail and to the people of Sydney who appear from evidence to have
been impacted by this maintenance problem," Mr Long said.

NSW Fire Brigade Commissioner Greg Mullins supported the actions of CityRail staff
who initiated the evacuation.

"Under the circumstances where the smell of gas was obvious and was filtering through
the city underground, the only course of action was to evacuate staff and passengers in
accordance with well-rehearsed emergency response plans," Commissioner Mullins said.

CityRail has launched an internal safety investigation into the incident and would
be preparing a report for the Independent Transport Safety and Reliability Regulator.

AAP ved/sd/cjh/de

KEYWORD: GAS

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