Pictured: ‘Much loved’ train driver, 54, who died in horror derailment

Pictured: ‘Much loved’ train driver, 54, who died in horror derailment which left dozens of passengers injured on the ‘nightmare track’

  • Train driver John Kennedy died in derailment between Sydney and Melbourne
  • The 54-year-old from Canberra died when the train crashed on Thursday night 
  • Train bosses said Mr Kennedy was a ‘very experienced’ and ‘much loved’ driver 

The train driver who died in a horrific derailment between Melbourne and Sydney has been named as 54-year-old John Kennedy from Canberra. 

He died along with another male pilot on Thursday night when his train crashed on its way to Southern Cross Station in Victoria.

It was running more than two hours late, after leaving Sydney’s Central Station at 7.40am.

Train bosses said Mr Kennedy, who was married, was a ‘very experienced’ and ‘much loved’ driver.   

‘He was a very experienced driver, who was well-known across our workforce, and was much loved,’ Transport for NSW secretary Rodd Staples said.

The train driver who died in a horrific derailment between Melbourne and Sydney has been named as 54-year-old John Kennedy (pictured) from Canberra

‘All of our people in TrainLink are absolutely devastated about this loss.’

He said staff had described how trains were Mr Kennedy’s passion, and that he took pride in his work.

‘It was the thing that he loved to do. He’d worked in different parts of the business over the years, and had also driven freight trains,’ he said.

‘He was a very, very experienced driver, and very well regarded and will be greatly missed.’

The section of the track where the crash occurred has since been called a ‘nightmare’ by other concerned drivers, saying it had been an accident waiting to happen.

There were 160 passengers on board at the time, with the crash leaving 11 of them injured. 

The derailment occurred along a stretch of deteriorated track, which V/Line drivers had refused to travel along as it awaited maintenance.

‘Conditions were altered and V/Line drivers rightly refused to traverse this section over the past week,’ Rail Tram and Bus Union Victorian secretary Luba Grigorovitch said.

The express passenger train (XPT) – which can reach speeds of up to 160km/h – came off the tracks just before 8pm on Thursday near the town of Wallan, 50km north of Melbourne.  

A driver, who wished to remain anonymous, told Daily Mail Australia the stretch of track was ‘notoriously rough’ and had been so for months.

Mr Kennedy died along with another male pilot on Thursday night when his train crashed on its way to Southern Cross Station in Victoria (pictured)

Mr Kennedy died along with another male pilot on Thursday night when his train crashed on its way to Southern Cross Station in Victoria (pictured) 

‘It was a bloody nightmare,’ the driver said.

In a joint statement, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Regional Transport Minister Paul Toole said they were ‘heartbroken’.

‘The NSW Government is working closely with our colleagues in Victoria and the Federal Government to investigate how the accident occurred,’ it said.

Passengers recalled the horrifying moment of impact where ‘everyone was screaming’ as they were violently thrown around the carriages.

‘There was almost silence and then an awful thud as the world turned upside down,’ one woman told The Herald Sun.

‘People were yelling in confusion and started gasping like the air had been knocked from their lungs.’

Finley Arkless told how he used a fire extinguisher to smash the driver cabin window in a desperate attempt to free the driver, cutting his hand in the process.

‘I ran over to try and smash the window but I couldn’t get him out,’ he told reporters.

Other passengers said the driver had made an announcement on the PA system minutes prior that they were planning to make up time on the service, which was running two hours behind schedule. 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk