The family of one of the heroes of the Granville train disaster has attended the 40th anniversary of the tragedy, on what is also, ironically, the first anniversary of his death.
Off-duty police officer Richard Lamb was one of the first people to rush to the scene on January 18, 1977, when a packed commuter train derailed and struck the Bold Street bridge near Granville station.
The 170-tonne bridge collapsed on the train and its weight crushed the third and fourth carriages, killing 83 people and injuring more than 200 others.
The accident remains Australia's worst train crash, and Mr Lamb's wife Elisabeth says he was at the site for three days.
"Many, many rescue workers worked really hard - the scene was absolutely horrific as you can imagine," Mrs Lamb said.
"They had to crawl the very, very narrow spaces and quite often they would have to move the people who were deceased before they could get to the people who were still alive."
On Wednesday, Mr Lamb's family joined victims' families, rescuers and survivors at a memorial event at the site of the tragedy, on what was also the one-year anniversary of his death from bowel cancer.
"I thought it was very ironic that he passed away on this special day," Mrs Lamb said.
The commemoration began just after 8am with the chiming of a bell 83 times as the names of those who died were read out.
After a service at St Mark's Anglican Church, a procession made its way to the Bold Street bridge, where Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Premier Mike Baird joined attendees to drop roses onto the tracks.
For 103-year-old Alex Pedersen, the day was about remembering his son Bruce, who was aged in his 20s when he died on the train.
"My wife and I were travelling to Sydney from Baulkham Hills, and when she heard of the accident, she had a premonition and asked me to take her home," Mr Pedersen said.
"We waited until 9 o'clock that night to hear what happened to Bruce.
"A Rotary friend came and told us, then I had to go and identify the body."
Addressing attendees at a memorial wall opposite the bridge, Mr Turnbull honoured the heroism of first responders and offered survivors his "heartfelt admiration".
Transport Minister Andrew Constance says the NSW government will formally apologise to those affected by the tragedy in parliament when it resumes next month.
