Melbourne's metro train network faces delays during one of
its busiest weeks following a level-crossing smash that's
left one man dead and 13 people injured.
Police have quizzed and released a 59-year-old truck driver,
seizing his phone and taking a blood sample, after a prime
mover smashed through boom gates and into the path of a train
in Abbots Rd, Dandenong South, around 11.40am (AEST) on
Saturday.
The train, travelling towards Cranbourne with 30 passengers
on board, struck the truck's trailer, which was loaded with
vegetables, causing its front carriage to jackknife, derail
and overturn. Other carriages also tipped and came to rest
beside the tracks.
A 30-year-old Gisborne man found trapped under rubble in the
front carriage died at the scene after suffering cardiac
arrest, while the injured train driver was trapped for an
hour before he could be taken to hospital, Ambulance Victoria
said.
Transport officials warn it could take a week to reopen the
Cranborne line.
Trains on tracks either side of the site will also be out of
action, which will likely affect the entire network as it
enters one of its busiest weeks for the year catering for the
Spring Racing Carnival.
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