Croc and bugs cause rail problems

<p>The drivers of a Cairns-bound freight train got more than they bargained for on a routine trip last week when a 200 kg crocodile lumbered across the track.</p> <p>The drivers tried to slow the train as soon as they spotted the croc starting to walk across the tracks, QR reported.</p> <p>They also sounded the horn and flashed its lights but were unable to avoid hitting the reptile.</p> <p>A truck with an hydraulic hoist was needed to move the 3.4-metre crocodile’s body from the side of the track.</p> <p>The track was a high point between two wetlands and the crocodile was travelling from one side to the other.</p> <p>Indigenous livestock has also been a problem in Victoria.</p> <p>A plague of millipedes caused train delays and cancellations on the Ballarat line.</p> <p>A spokesman for National Express told the <em>Age</em> that trains have been delayed or halted 50 times in the past month when the sheer number of squashed millipedes has left train wheels unable to gain traction.</p> <p>While millipede migration is seasonal, this year’s numbers have been unprecedented.</p> <br />