Soon after 8am on the morning of January 18th 1977, a crowded Blue Mountains commuter train derailed at Granville, in Sydney's western suburbs, after striking an overpass bridge.
Eighty three people were killed and more than 200 others were injured.
This year, four decades on, the New South Wales Government is to issue an official apology to the victims, survivors and their families.
Two of them have spoken to SBS about the events of that day.
"That particular day I didn't get a seat, I missed it and a little blonde lady got it and strangely I can still see that lady's face today. It's amazing, I remember her looking up at me and that's the thing that stayed with me, after the event of course. And I walked after the event of course and I walked past and I stood at the back of that first class section."
Commuter Rob Garner remembers that day clearly, on his daily journey from Parramatta to Sydney's CBD where he worked at the NRMA.
"I went through into the second carriage because it was pretty packed at the back of the third carriage, went through to the second carriage, found myself a seat in there and sat down about a third of the way down that second carriage I reckon and um as soon as I sat down it just went off the rails. It just went all black, it was jumping and rolling I was just hanging on to the seat in front of me just to you know, staring at the front of the carriage waiting for it to explode. That was the sensation I had .. I'm gonna die here.. it's all going to blow up."
"There's just bodies everywhere, everywhere. I thought was just the carriage under the bridge at first but then I had a look on the other side of the bridge at the locomotives on its side and one carriage, all you can see is the floor, it's on its side, it had the top ripped off it."
The 170 tonne concrete bridge crushed carriages 3 and 4, where most of those killed had been seated.
"I didn't know what had happened so got out of my seat walked to the back of the second carriage, looked down on the track, saw the mess that the first carriage and the engine were in because they were on their side and damaged and everything ..looked back and the third carriage and I said to a fellow beside me I just said how come all those poor buggers are dead? and I'm alive, because that's where I was only a matter of two or three minutes ago. My guardian angel whoever or whatever that is was looking after me that day so I guess the biggest thing is the survivor guilt which I still feel today.. it never leaves you."
The disaster set in motion rescue scenes never before witnessed in Australia.
Barry Gobbe was the first ambulance officer at the scene.
"I looked around and everybody was just sitting in their seats because the side of the carriage had actually blown out and we were virtually walking on the side of the carriage and everybody exposed just sitting in their seats still reading their newspapers, playing cards and whatever they did on a country run and their heads were virtually pushed down into their laps and they were virtually crushed and not being able to breathe. So I'm standing there looking at all these people. I had this feeling of peace and serenity and the silence of death that sort of followed."
He says he and other rescuer workers were overwhelmed by the enormity of the task.
"I just felt rather helpless because there was nothing I could really do .. I'm standing there with a first aid box in my hand and a handful of bandaids, and I've got you know 83 people died in the scene you know I've got basically looking at 20 or 30 people straight off that I couldn't help and I can only assist one or two people and and as the day went on we just had to attend to one person at a time and free one person at a time.
Subsequent investigations into the crash revealed ageing infrastructure and a lack of investment in maintenance.
The former New South Wales State Rail Authority paid out a total of more than $10 million to 207 victims and their families.
"The legacy out of all of this was that the emergency services sort of upped their game you might say you know even for the simple thing of colour coded helmets, fluid replacement , crush injury syndrome, things like that that were developed out of the Granville train disaster and of course rail safety has improved immensely since 1977."
For commuter Rob Garner the state government's formal apology is a welcome move.
"I'm very pleased it's happening specifically for those who lost loved ones and those who suffered badly with injuries and such like and even those who might be mentally still struggling with it you know for them as well so yeah, 40 years too late, should've been done at the time."
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