Two people die after passenger train derails near Wallan north of Melbourne

Police have confirmed two people have died after a train derailed north of Melbourne.

A Transport for NSW spokesperson confirmed the train had come off the rails near the town of Wallan, 45 kilometres north of the Victorian capital.

The train was the Sydney to Melbourne XPT service with around 160 passengers on board.

There are five passenger cars derailed, with the locomotive on its side.

A Country Fire Authority (CFA) spokesman said there were signs of significant damage to the train tracks and three medical helicopters were at the scene.

Emergency services were called about 7.45pm.

An Ambulance Victoria spokesperson said paramedics were treating a number of people after the incident and one person was being airlifted to Melbourne.

‘People started moving around, luggage went flying’

Dr Scott Rickard was in the second carriage of the train and said it was a scary experience.

“All of sudden, we just seemed to be slowing to a very fast stop,” she said.

“Stuff flew off our tables, people started moving around, luggage went flying, that kind of thing.

“Our carriage finished on an angle.”

Dr Rickard said she was stuck on the train for about 10 minutes after it derailed.

“There were people lying all over the place and we had to kind of make sure people weren’t injured,” she said.

She said people in her carriage only appeared to suffer minor injuries.

“Most of the carriage was fine — there were a lot of older people on the carriage so that was really reassuring to see that they’ve come out fine.”

“It was maybe about 10 minutes before we got off but that was because we were just being very careful and making sure everybody was safe.”