Derailed in the desert

Updated

Time stands still at the site of the 2015 Rawlinna train derailment.

Drive east along the Trans Australian Railway line across the Nullarbor and in the middle of nowhere — or between Rawlinna and Naretha, about 350 kilometres east of Kalgoorlie — a kinked dark line appears on the horizon. It is dozens of train carriages and freight containers left beside the train line after a derailment in late 2015.

Just before 3:00pm on December 4, 2015, 39 of the 59 carriages on a train crossing the Nullarbor derailed. The train broke into two sections, with the carriages behind the locomotives rolling onto their sides.

More than half the wagons being pulled behind were also severely damaged. There was a fire in one of the refrigerated vans, and two relief drivers in the crew van were badly shaken.

Months later, train carriages, some still hobbled together, still lie on the pale red dirt. There are sheets of crumpled, twisted metal ripped from the sides of sea containers; the remnants of their contents litter the area.

In places the ground has been violently shoved aside and carriages flung parallel to one another.

Piles of train axles are piled up, parked together in a heavy metal traffic jam, not going anywhere in a hurry.

Bundled newspapers stand as a fading record of time and events of the past, now slowly being swallowed up by the earth.

The small paws of feral animals scamper past, drawn in from the wild by the scent of rotting meat in a refrigerated carriage, its doors flung open. The stink has a thick, fatty quality to it that lingers.

Bags of flour with their sides split open, piles of plastic soft drink bottles, and boxes of premade sushi have been gnawed and pecked by animals.

Seasoned stationhands off the nearby properties have their own recovery team in place for when derailments happen in the area.

"Oh yeah, we used to just dig a big hole and push it all in with a dozer," someone said.

"Nah, you can't do that anymore," said another.

There are tales of someone who knew someone else who ended up with a pallet of Tim Tams in their back shed.

"It's all insured, they don't care."

High winds, no trees

"They don't call it the Nullarbor for nothing," ex-drivers will tell you.

"There are no trees or hills to block the wind, so every now and then you'll get a big gust up from the south that'll catch the side of the train like a sail, enough to buckle one of the carriages stacked two high.

"Going at 110 klicks an hour, she turns into a mess pretty quick."

Frozen in time, for now

The train was running east from Perth to Adelaide. It's a long trip with no time to stop for crew changes, so relief crews live on the train, and swap back and forth from work to rest.

The relief crew's carriage is frozen in time: beds are pulled back like someone had just jumped to their feet.

An assortment of magazines and DVDs lies strewn across the small kitchen and living area floor.

Opening the fridge door snatches your breath away as maggots in the latter stage of their life cycle wriggle in and on every surface.

It won't last long, though. The insurance company is beginning to cut up the ruined containers and carriages and remove them from the site.

For now, though, the transport company's logo on the side of a wagon lying on the dirt of the Nullarbor, still has a pointed irony: "On the right track".

Credits

Words and pictures: Nathan Morris

Digital producer: Terri-Anne Kingsley

Topics: accidents, rail-transport, rawlinna-6434

First posted