A truck and a passenger train collided near Bendigo, causing the train to derail.
Wednesday’s collision occurred on the Echuca Line near Midland Road in Goornong, northeast of Bendigo. Emergency services were called shortly after 8 a.m. for the incident of a train heading south.
Inspector Brett Sampson said none of the train’s 37 passengers were injured.
The driver of the truck, a man thought to be in his 60s, suffered injuries to his upper body and was taken to Royal Melbourne Hospital, where he was in serious condition on Wednesday night. The train driver, a woman in her 40s, was taken to Bendigo Health for observation.
Paramedics evaluated several people who did not require hospitalization. The derailed train stood at the scene, with a truck in the rail corridor that appeared to have separated from a trailer.
It is unclear whether the truck driver, described by his employer as experienced and with a good driving history, was at the beginning or end of his turn when the collision occurred.
Sampson said the truck was traveling west and collided with the train after entering a railroad crossing. He said police had “absolute relief” so the incident would not be more serious.
“You always expect the best when you are [and] when you go into those collisions, ”Sampson said.