In the late 1960s the Southern Aurora was a premier express train travelling between Sydney and Melbourne. On the morning of 7 February 1969, the express was Melbourne-bound travelling at 120 km per hour with 190 passengers on board when it crashed head-on with an Albury bound goods train. The collision crushed the first two carriages of the express train, which held sleeping accommodation, while the third and fourth carriages were tossed from the track, landing on top of the locomotive.

As the passengers from the Southern Aurora were trying to leave the train an explosion occurred igniting fires in seven of the trains’ carriages. Nine people died and 40 people were injured. Many passengers were located in the largely undamaged dining car having breakfast at the time of the collision and had only recently vacated the badly damaged sleeping cars, otherwise there would have been a much greater number of deaths and injuries.

The coroner found, from comparing speed charts with earlier trips, that the driver had been either dead or in a coma for at least the last 10 kms before the crash.  

As a result of this crash, more stringent medical teasting was introduced for drivers, and other safety measures introduced to prevent future accidents.