One driver suffered a minor head laceration and another driver was uninjured after their train derailed at Bomen beside Byrnes Road early on Thursday morning.

One of two rail lines at the site was buckled and dislodged and freight and passenger services blocked for nearly two days after the locomotive and five carriages overturned.

Dr Natalie Pelham, chief investigator for the NSW Office of Transport Safety Investigations (OTSI), said the train had passed through a red stop signal, after which it was deliberately derailed by the track point switching system.

"The derailment resulted from the positioning of the track points once the train passed the [red light stop] signal," she said.

"The derailment occurred to prevent the train from going any further into the loop past the signal at stop. That action would have prevented a collision if another train had been in that section.

"At this stage, inquiries are ongoing regarding contributing factors. However, the track infrastructure performed as designed."

In other news

The OSTI will examine the train's version of a 'black box' aircraft flight recorder.

"OTSI has requested further information from the rail operators involved in the incident outside Wagga on 15 April including obtaining the data logger, crew rosters, initial crew statements and audio communication," Dr Pelham said.

"The data logger will help in understanding whether the performance of the train contributed to the incident."

Last week's derail incident follows two other similar incidents around Junee and the fatal XPT Sydney-to-Melbourne passenger service derailment in Victoria over the past two years.

Border Rail Action Group chairman Bill Traill said it was an "unacceptable situation" that "at least four major inquiries have yet to report any, but the most preliminary of findings, 15 months after the fatal Wallan [XPT] accident".

Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) interstate network group executive Simon Ormsby said that "ensuring the safety of the community, our customers and staff remains our highest priority".

"ARTC continues to manage the track in accordance with the standards and maintenance codes of practice that are in place alongside a robust safety management system to ensure safe railway operations," he said.

"These standards are supported by regular visual, track inspections by local teams along the entire length of the network as part of monitoring procedures."

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