Confirmation of incident – Fairfield station

At approximately 8pm on Saturday (15 July), a freight train travelling through the Cross River Rail worksite at Fairfield station has struck an excavator.

The excavator was unmanned at the time, and there were no injuries to train crew.

Earlier in the day, contractors had been working in the rail corridor during a scheduled track closure, undertaking works as part of the Fairfield station rebuild.

A dual gauge line, used for freight, reopened to services at around 7pm.

Passenger lines were already scheduled to remain closed over the weekend to allow for the planned works, meaning there were no impacts to passenger services.

Freight services and scheduled construction works were both able to resume on Sunday.

The matter is now being investigated by Queensland Rail (as the rail operator) and the Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator.