Investigation launched after Uber driver’s bogged car causes three-hour delay to CBH grain train movements

A confused Uber driver who drove along a rail line before getting out of his bogged vehicle to avoid being squashed by a CBH train has halted grain movements for three hours and sparked an investigation to determine how the mishap occurred.

The bush telegraph went into overdrive on Saturday, July 8, when news emerged of the accident the night before.

The Uber driver was lucky to escape with his life after he drove on the railway tracks — believing he was on the road — and managed to jump out of his hatchback before a CBH grain train wiped out his car.

The driver said that he was following the map and did not realise he was careering towards a freight train on the Eastern Goldfields Railway near Farrall Road in Midvale — in Perth’s east — about 10pm on Friday.

A police spokeswoman said the car was pushed 50m along the tracks.

“I was just following the Uber map and thought it was the road,” the driver, who did not want to be named, said.

“I thought it was the road but it was not the road. I saw it was a train track. I suddenly came out of the car and ran away.”

But the drama did not end there, with a woman approaching the driver to frantically tell him that his car was still on the railway tracks.

“Suddenly a lady came,” he said. “She said my car is on the railway track and she called emergency services.

“And after three minutes . . . like three or four minutes, the train came and hit the car.”

The train slamming into the vehicle caused chaos, with cars forced to turn around as the bell warning of an oncoming train blared out and the boom gates remained down.

Police and emergency services attended, with the car quickly towed and the line reopened to grain movements by 1am.

A CBH spokesman said the train had been travelling from Moora to the Kwinana Grain Terminal and had not been damaged.

An Arc Infrastructure spokeswoman confirmed an investigation had been launched to determine how the incident occurred.

Members of the public that spot an obstruction can contact triple-0 or the Arc network control emergency line at 1300 987 246.