Hundreds of passengers freed after power cable collapsed on Sydney train

SYDNEY: Hundreds of commuters have been freed after being trapped in a Sydney train on Tuesday when a power cable fell onto the roof, triggering widespread network disruptions.

The high-voltage cable came down on top of a train near the station in Strathfield, 10 km west of Sydney’s Central station, at 2:30 p.m. local time on Tuesday.

About 300 passengers who were on board the train were trapped for several hours while crews worked to shut off power to the cable before anyone could be removed.

The accident triggered a power outage that crippled the heavy rail network, halting services to all but one line and causing delays for tens of thousands of commuters during the evening peak, according to The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper.

John Graham, minister for transport in the state of New South Wales (NSW), said in a statement at 6 p.m. that all passengers had been safely removed from the train as well as from three other trains that were forced to stop.

“This is a very serious incident in a critical part of the rail network, and we apologize to all train passengers affected and trying to get home tonight,” Graham said.

Coordinator General of Transport for NSW Howard Collins said that crews were working to cut the train from the wires and assess the recovery work required.

He said that the fallen cables should be fixed on Tuesday night but that network delays were expected to continue into Wednesday morning, adding that it was not clear what caused the cable to come down on the carriage.

-Xinhua