Granville disaster remembered 40 years on

AUSTRALIA'S DEADLIEST TRAIN DISASTER

* The January 18, 1977 Granville train crash remains Australia's worst railway tragedy.

* Eighty three peopled died and more than 200 others were injured after a commuter train derailed and struck the Bold Street bridge near Granville station, in Sydney's west, shortly after 8am.

* The 170-tonne concrete bridge collapsed on the packed commuter train that left Mount Victoria in the Blue Mountains at 6.09am.

* The weight of the bridge crushed the third and fourth carriages, where most of the dead were seated.

* Three cars teetered on the collapsed bridge as the rescue began.

* Investigations revealed a lack of investment in maintenance and ageing infrastructure were to blame.

* The former State Rail Authority paid out more than $10 million to 207 victims of the disaster.

* Many of the rescue workers were awarded a Queen's Gallantry Medal.

DISASTER MEMORIES

* Ahead of the 19th anniversary, commuter Gerald Harvey recalled feeling three distinct shudders, the train stopping and electric overhead wiring falling down on the carriages.

* In 2002 commuter Terry O'Mara spoke of his luck at emerging from a carriage that split in two with just a bruise on his backside and a crushed packet of Lifesavers in his pocket after waking up lying on a woman on what was the ceiling of the train.

* In 1996, Roman Catholic priest Les Campion, one of the first people to reach the disaster scene, entered a carriage to "the awful silence of the whole scene" and "suddenly knew what it was like to be entombed".

MEMORIALS

* Former Campbelltown deputy mayor John Hennessey organised memorial services at the site for 38 years, but died from cancer in May 2016.

* While he was not directly involved in the disaster, Mr Hennessey set up the Granville Memorial Trust and raised money for a commemorative wall opposite the rebuilt Bold Street bridge to commemorate the tragedy, and heroic deeds and sacrifices of rescuers.

GOVERNMENT APOLOGY

* The NSW government has agreed to issue an apology to mark the disaster's 40th anniversary after years of campaigning by Mr Hennessey, survivors and victims' families.

* Then-premier Neville Wran described the state of the railway system as "ramshackle".

* Transport Minister Andrew Constance now says "everyone's deeply sorry" for what occurred.