Granville train disaster: NSW government to apologise

It's taken 40 years but the NSW government are set to apologise to the families of those who died in the Granville train disaster.

Family and friends of survivors and those involved in the rescue efforts gather to throw 83 roses off the bridge in honour of those who died. Source: AAP

40 years after it happened the NSW State Government will apologise to the families who lost loved ones in the Granville train disaster.

Eighty-three people died in the tragedy on January 18, 1977 and another 213 were injured when a commuter train derailed near Granville railway station and a bridge collapsed onto the carriages in 1977.

And just now those affected will get an apology Transport Minister Andrew Constance revealed to the ABC.

"Obviously everyone's deeply sorry for what has occurred," Constance said.

"Over the years, people have had to cope with what was one of the most horrific tragedies in the nation's history."

At the time, then-New South Wales premier, the late Neville Wran, described the state of the railway system as "ramshackle".

Investigations and inquiries revealed an alarming lack of investment in maintenance and ageing infrastructure, and following the disaster, the State Government borrowed heavily to modernise the railway.