Magical Christmas Train season confirmed cancelled after carriage rollover

THE Magical Christmas Train will be closed for the Christmas period after five people were injured in a carriage rollover, its operators have confirmed

The scene after a carriage on The Magical Christmas Train rolled over in The Gardens

THE operators of Darwin’s Magical Christmas Train have confirmed the ride will be closed for at least the rest of the Christmas period and thousands of customers will be refunded after one of its carriages rolled during a ride in the Botanic Gardens on Monday, injuring five people.

Colin West, director of Total Event Services, the company that operates the train, told the NT News staff had decided to cancel the train’s entire Christmas run in the interests of public safety and to ensure the WorkSafe investigation into the incident could be carried out properly.

“We won’t run the train this side of this year, and chances are we probably won’t run it in the New Year,” he said.

“At the end of the day it’s not worth it if we’re going to put people in harm’s way.”

“We hope we won’t have to cancel it for good, because it’s a wonderful thing to have and a lot of people enjoy and support it.”

“We just have to assess this situation and see it we can move forward and make it safe to win back the confidence of the public.”

The scene after a carriage on The Magical Christmas Train rolled over in The Gardens

He said the Botanic Gardens light show associated with the train had also been stopped for the time being, but may return later this Christmas period.

Four children and one adult riding in the train’s rear carriage were injured when it dislodged and rolled during a ride about 7pm on Monday.

All but one of the people taken to hospital have been discharged though a three-year-old girl remains in Royal Darwin Hospital in a stable condition.

Rachel Warwick, who was in another carriage of the train at the time, said she and her family had seen the back carriage roll over.

“The driver and the first few carriages didn’t hear or know anything had happened until people started yelling,” she said.

“Once it had been alerted to the driver, he stopped and ran down with several other people.”

“There were about 10 people in the carriage, five adults, five or six kids and a baby.

“One little girl had a big gash on her head, my husband gave (her) his shirt to stop the bleeding.

“Everyone else seemed fine, though the mums were a bit shaken up.

“The mum of the small girl had her arm under the train when it happened.

“The other mum had some blood on her face and was in shock really.”

The train in an image from The Magical Christmas Train in The Gardens website. Picture: Supplied

The train has since been moved from the Botanic Gardens to Total Event Services’ premises.

The WorkSafe investigation into the incident is ongoing.

Mr West said Total Event Services would do everything in its power to make sure the train was safe to ride should it return in future.

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“Given the circumstances, we don’t want to risk any further incidents and we look forward to the outcome (of the WorkSafe investigation) so we can correct it, rectify it, improve it and take any other advice,” he said.