Mr Williams, a Canberra rail enthusiast and law professor, said he would never share the contents of a private email, but believes the exceptional circumstances and safety concerns this situation raised warranted its release. "John said he half expected to be derailed the first few times he went to Melbourne because of the violent sideways movement on some sections of the track. But he assumed the speed limit had been set by engineers who had calculated the safe speed for trains using those sections,” he said. Mr Williams, who has been campaigning for a fast train service in Australia, said he rode the XPT with Mr Kennedy many times, including from Albury to Melbourne in late November. He said Mr Kennedy, 54, from Canberra, had expressed concerns about the condition of the track, signals system and ongoing maintenance problems with the 1980s XPTs.

The train derailed at Wallan on Thursday night. Credit:AAP "Parts of the Albury to Melbourne track were just appalling. The sideways movement in some areas was extreme," Mr Williams said. Loading Describing the Sydney to Melbourne line as a poorly maintained "goat track", the Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) said the derailment may have been avoided if the XPT had been operating under Victorian rules, instead of national. Victorian rail operator V/Line and Metro Trains Melbourne impose an automatic speed restriction of 25km/h along dangerous areas of track that require a driver to be navigated by a co-driver, called a pilot. National rules allow trains to travel at main line speeds instead of the mandatory 25km/h required under the Victorian rules.

Mr Williams said he sent a text message to Mr Kennedy to check he was all right after hearing of the derailment. "My subsequent reaction was one of anger that federal and state government mismanagement had allowed this to happen," Mr Williams said. The RTBU said rules set by the national authority, the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) had removed the first line of defence against the accident. RTBU Victoria secretary Luba Grigorovitch said "if the ARTC imposed the same speed restrictions under pilot that are applied by MTM and V/Line the incident may have been avoided". The ARTC changed the route for trains through Wallan from the main line to a 15km/h loop line on Thursday. In early February, the Wallan signal box was damaged by fire, extinguishing signals along that section of the rail line which could have warned an oncoming driver to slow down before getting to the loop line.

Loading A Track Authority notice was issued on Thursday calling for a 15km/h speed restriction on trains entering the loop at Wallan where the train came off the tracks at an estimated speed of up to 100km/h. A rail insider said if the train was operating at 25km/h along the Wallan loop line, the worst case scenario would have seen the train "hit the dirt and we would have had a couple of bruises and bumped heads". "Regardless of the signal fault, the human factors, the weather or whatever, that would have controlled that situation adequately," the insider said. The union acknowledged a range of factors could have contributed to the accident but said the track had continued to operate at full speed under a pilot whereas the Victorian rules would have automatically imposed an automatic speed restriction of 25km/h. The ARTC declined to comment on the union's claims until it had more time to consider them. An ARTC spokesman said cranes would start removing damaged carriages from the Wallan track on Sunday.

A Transport for NSW spokeswoman said its crews were on site and working with investigators and the ARTC and "will not enter into a running commentary or speculation on any matters related to this incident". "While we all wish to understand the cause, a thorough investigation is ongoing and we do not wish to make any further comment at this time," she said. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said it had completed "the majority of their on-site evidence collection work" at the site as of Saturday. "The ATSB released the track back to the infrastructure manager, ARTC, on Friday evening, and the rolling stock back to the train owner, Sydney Trains, on Saturday morning," an ATSB spokesman said. A preliminary report will be released in mid-March with a final report due in 18 months. With Ashleigh McMillan