Two people have died and several others have been injured after the derailment of the Sydney to Melbourne XPT train in Victoria, Australia.

The incident occurred on 20 February at around 8pm local time.

The derailment of the diesel locomotive and its five carriages occurred near Wallan station, which is 45km north of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia, on the north-east line.

Reports suggest that the driver numbers among the dead.

The XPT train, carrying around 160 passengers, left Central Station in Sydney at 7.40am. It was due to arrive at Southern Cross Station in Melbourne at 6.40pm.

At the time of the incident, the train was running over two hours late.

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Emergency services were called to the scene of the accident and the authorities closed the rail lines between Melbourne and Sydney.

Emergency services used Wallan McDonald’s and BP station areas as a triage centre for all the passengers who could walk from the train.

According to Ambulance Victoria, one person was airlifted to Melbourne. Four people admitted to a hospital are reportedly in a stable condition.

The Country Fire Authority stated that by 9pm, it had rescued all passengers.

Those killed were travelling in the driver’s carriage.

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