The man who caused the Kembla Grange train derailment which led to the driver, guard and passengers being taken to hospital has been jailed.
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Allan Martin Simpson, 47, will spend up to three and a half years behind bars after he caused the crash in October last year.
Simpson caused nearly $8 million in damage when a Tangara train slammed into a van he'd abandoned on the tracks and derailed.
He was attempting to steal a go-kart from the Wollongong Kart Raceway when his partner's van he was driving got stuck on the rail crossing at West Dapto Road at about 2.30am.
Simpson flagged down a passerby to help him get the van off the train tracks but was unsuccessful. Another witness tried to help but the trio didn't have any luck.
Simpson told one of the witnesses not to call the police because he didn't have a licence.
Unable to move the van, Simpson fled and at 4.09am a northbound Tangara train approached the rail crossing at 102km/h.
The train driver saw the van on the tracks 90 metres ahead of him and applied the full, emergency brakes but this did not prevent the train from hitting the van at 91km/h.
The resulting collision caused extensive damage to the van, train and railway infrastructure, calculated at $7,905,500.
The train was carrying the driver, a guard and 10 passengers.
The driver was the most seriously injured and was taken to hospital with a fractured spine, bruised rub, collapsed lung and bruising along his hips, legs and back.
At 1.55pm that day, police went to Simpson's address when he ran to the rear yard before police apprehended him.
Simpson told police he was going to hand himself in, but he was waiting to get his motorbike back from the repair shop.
"I was there stealing copper," Simpson said to police.
Police also found 1.06 grams of methamphetamine.
In sentencing Simpson, Judge Andrew Haesler said that Simpson had spent most of his adult life in jail and was effectively institutionalised.
Prior to the train derailment, Simpson had been able to maintain a relationship and was "doing better than he'd ever done before" Judge Haesler said.
The downward spiral began after Simpson had a motorcycle accident where he injured his leg. He was prescribed pain medication however also turned to illicit drugs and heavy drinking.
This returned Simpson to his previous patterns of stealing and lying to get his fix, a pattern of behaviour which began in his teens.
Wollongong District Court heard that Simpson had grown up in an abusive household and would regularly flee from his home in Western Sydney to relatives in Redfern.
Simpson had no formal education and is effectively illiterate, having been drawn to truancy and delinquency during his youth.
Now aged 47, Simpson has spent over 30 years of his life in some form of custody, the longest period in the community being less than a year.
In October 2021, Simpson visited the Wollongong Kart Raceway and agreed to purchase a part for the go-kart.
Late in the evening of October 19, 2021, Simpson got into his partner's Nissan van, despite being disqualified from driving for two years, and never having held a full licence.
At about 2.30am the next morning, Simpson could be seen on Kembla Grange train station CCTV riding a mountain bike along the rail corridor from the rail crossing.
Simpson stopped at a fence where the go-kart track backed onto the train line and used bolt cutters to cut through the fence. Simpson went into the maintenance area of the go-kart facility and pushed a trolley with a go-kart on it adjacent to the embankment next to the train tracks.
Simpson then return the the train station, put on a face mask and picked up a large wooden stick and pole which he used to move two CCTV cameras so they no longer faced the rail crossing.
Then, Simpson drove the van onto the rail corridor when the van's axle got stuck on the train line, causing its wheel to rise above the ground.
This began the fateful sequence of events which ended with two train carriages lying on their side, powerlines collapsed and the front half of the Nissan van pulverised.
Police charged Simpson with a number of offences, to which he pleaded guilty, but Judge Haesler said the two most serious were endangering the safety of a person on a railway and cause obstruction to a railway locomotive or rollingstock.
Simpson was sentenced for other stealing and driving without a licence matters in November and taking this and Simpson's background into account, as well as the facts of the case, Judge Haesler sentenced Simpson to an aggregate sentence of four years and six months, to date from October 24, 2022.
Judge Haesler imposed a non-parole period of two years and six months, meaning Simpson will be eligible for release from 23 April, 2024.
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