On 18 January 1977, a passenger train left Mount Victoria in the Blue Mountains for Sydney. Whilst negotiating a left hand curve 250 m west of the Granville Railway Station, the train derailed causing it to collide with the northern trestle supporting the Bold Street Bridge. The bridge collapsed on the train, destroying one carriage and crushing two others. The derailed locomotive demolished the eight stanchions of the northern trestle, sheering a power pylon from its base before overturning. Eight people died when the top of the first carriage was demolished as it caught the power pylon.

The second carriage stopped clear of the bridge. The third and fourth carriages were crushed when the unsupported northern span of the 30 m wide bridge collapsed, killing 83 people. The following four carriages remained on the rails, causing injuries to 210 passengers. A Departmental and Judicial Inquiry found that poor maintenance was a critical factor, with no evidence to support any offence against the driver and the crew. On the twentieth anniversary of the disaster, a memorial was erected at Granville containing the names of the deceased.