Four passengers were killed, and 39 were injured, when a tyre broke on one of the wheels of the 8:54am express from Brighton to Flinders Street Station, causing the derailment of five carriages near Jolimont.
The drivers knew nothing of the impending catastrophe until they got within 200 or 300 yards (185 or 275 m) of each other, and, as both trains were travelling at a fair speed, the distance was too short to enable them to avoid a collision.
[7][8] Also on 2 April 1884, the boiler of a locomotive hauling a goods train on the Bendigo line exploded near the Jacksons Creek viaduct, just north of Sunbury station.
[16] However, evidence presented at a subsequent government inquiry indicated that the train had derailed before it reached the bridge, and the broken fishplate was one of the effects of the accident, not its cause.
[21] On 5 February 1910, a double headed goods train from Stawell, composed of 35 trucks carrying wheat, got out of control as it descended a relatively gentle 3-mile (4.8 km) grade into Beaufort station.
[27] On 23 March 1925, eight people in an automobile were killed at the Wickham Road crossing at Highett, when the driver passed through an open gate and into the path of a parcel goods train.
[29][30][31] A Leyland railmotor, running from Geelong to Melbourne, with 17 passengers aboard, derailed at the Wheate's Lead (now Kororoit Creek Road) level crossing, colliding with a lineside telegraph pole.
[36][37] On 27 September 1940, farmer John Ferris was driving across the Kororoit Road level crossing at St. Albans when he was struck by the 3.25pm train from Bendigo to Melbourne.
[38] On 8 May 1943, a bus carrying Australian Army personnel from Bonegilla to Albury for a Saturday night recreation leave was hit by Steam locomotive A2 863 at the level crossing on the Tallangatta Road to Wodonga.
[39] On 30 October, five people were killed when the car in which they were travelling was hit by a Melbourne-bound electric train at a level crossing near Boronia railway station at about 4:30pm.
[48] On 20 March 1960, a railmotor from Maffra, heading to Traralgon station to connect with The Gippslander train to Melbourne, collided with a school bus at the Liddiard Road level crossing.
[49] A man died when a panel van he was driving was hit by the 3:58pm Melbourne to Leongatha train at Green's Road, Dandenong level crossing.
[54] Five people were killed when their car was struck at the Pental Island railway crossing by a train that had just departed for Melbourne two kilometres from Swan Hill station at 5.10pm on Sunday 8 September 1991.
[60] On 10 December 1996, a man was killed when his car was sandwiched between two suburban trains at the Clarke Street, Northcote level crossing, near Merri Station.
[66] At approximately 12:13 Eastern Standard Time on 11 August 2005, a small motor vehicle drove into the path of a Pacific National locomotive, G535, on the Edith Street level crossing at Horsham in Victoria.
[68] On 28 April 2006 a V/Line VLocity train running an Ararat to Ballarat service, struck the trailer of a truck transporting a 14-tonne block of granite, at a passively-protected level crossing.
Police said the 65-year-old woman was a passenger in a Toyota Corolla which stopped on the tracks of the Cherry St level crossing before it was hit by a city-bound goods train at 5:45 pm.
[82] On 20 February 2020, two people, confirmed to be the train driver and a safe working person were killed near Wallan after a Melbourne-bound XPT derailed at approximately 7:45pm.
A large piece of metal from the boiler was found 200 metres from the scene, an adjacent shed was demolished by the explosion, and the windows of nearby houses were shattered.
[91] On 28 January 1906, an excursion train on the narrow gauge Upper Ferntree Gully-Gembrook line derailed on a curve about 3⁄4 mile (1.2 km) past Belgrave station.
[95] On 3 February 1910, the driver of the leading locomotive of a double-headed goods train was lucky to escape serious injury or death when his engine derailed and toppled on to a wood heap, while negotiating a set of points.
[103] The accident was the result of the track spreading under a train travelling at full speed over rails that were being relaid, due to inadequate precautions being taken by the ganger involved.
[108] Three men were injured and a number of freight wagons were derailed when a truck struck a goods train at the North Wangaratta level crossing on the afternoon of 19 April 1935.
From there it continued through the Bunbury Street tunnel and negotiated a number of 40 km/h reverse curves, before being diverted by a signalman at South Kensington into a siding, where it collided with six goods wagons loaded with flour.
[123] On 4 May 2010 a Metro train collided with an Apex quarry freighter (operated by Pacific National) stopped at a signal south of Craigieburn railway station.
[130][131] On 4 October 1904, mischievous children put in motion a railway engine that the crew had left unattended to go for a drink at a nearby hotel.
[129] On 11 October 1979, a wheat train derailed and some wagons ploughed into the station building, partly demolishing it, and causing $2 million worth of damage.
[147] On 18 June 2002, two Connex suburban trains crashed head-on at Epping railway station when a driver, incapacitated by a migraine, went through a stop signal.
[citation needed] At about 15:15 hours on 30 January 2009, northbound freight train 6MB2, owned and operated by Pacific National, derailed near the beginning of a left-hand curve located near the 8.915 track km point in Tottenham, Victoria.
[154] On 29 November 2013 a Pacific National Goods Train en route from Mildura to the Port of Melbourne derailed, with a number of wagons leaving the track near West Footscray Railway Station.