Huge infestation of millipedes suspected of causing Australian train crash
- A train arriving into a station near Perth crashed into stationary one
- Hundreds of Black Portuguese millipedes were found squashed on the track
- Six passengers treated for stiff necks following the crash
Slimy: An enormous infestation of millipedes could have caused a crash between two trains in Western Australia. This is a file picture of a black Portuguese millipede
An enormous infestation of millipedes could have caused a crash between two trains in Western Australia.
The crash happened when a train arriving into a station at Clarkson, 25 miles north of Perth, slammed into a stationary one.
It resulted in six passengers being treated for stiff necks following the crash on Tuesday.
But it has since emerged that the crash could have happened after hundreds of Black Portuguese millipedes were found squashed in a slippery mess on the track.
'Millipedes are one of the factors we are going to take into account,' David Hynes, spokesman at the Public Transport Authority of Western Australia, said.
'What happened in previous instances is trains which were travelling at speed have gone over an infestation, crushed them and made the tracks slimy.
'The train loses traction and the train has slipped.' Hynes said.
The millipedes are attracted to moist environments and are seen as invasive pests at high population levels.
In 2009, thousands of them overran 1.2 miles of track, causing train delays and cancellations near Melbourne in southeast Australia.
The black Portuguese millipede is native to Portugal and was accidentally introduced into Australia where it has since become an invasive pest.
The millipede has flourished in Australia because of a lack of natural predators.
They are most often seen in moist conditions, which creates lots of food. They have also been known to enter homes.
Huge numbers of millipedes were crushed crossing the railway tracks at Tallarook, central Victoria in March 2009, causing train cancellations due to the disturbance of signalling equipment.
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