Less than halfway into February and more than double the month’s average rainfall has already been dumped on the region including 138.4mm at Springwood on Saturday alone.

The emergency services were kept busy responding to calls for assistance right through the weekend but it was Thursday’s late-afternoon deluge that resulted in a citybound train derailing at Woodford after an embankment came tumbling down onto tracks.

The driver of the four-carriage train is understood to have seen debris on the track in advance and slowed down. Police said the front wheels of the train derailed, causing all services to be suspended between Lithgow and Katoomba.

Springwood resident Ed McKenzie was on the train and said the incident was relatively minor, describing it as a “graceful slide over to the left-hand bank” rather than any violent jolt.

He said there was no panic in his carriage as guards came through and informed passengers of the situation. Police and ambulance officers arrived on the scene soon after to ensure everyone was uninjured before the commuters were transferred to buses.

“I thought the whole thing was handled exceptionally well,” said Mr McKenzie. “I think if it had been going any faster it could have been a lot nastier.

Two other railway embankment collapses on Thursday caused more headaches for Mountains commuters. Citybound highway traffic and westbound rail lines were closed after a landslide at the bottom of Boddington Hill, Bullaburra and, later, lanes were affected on the Darling Causeway, Mount Victoria.

A spokesman for Roads and Transport Minister David Campbell defended maintenance of railway embankments on the Blue Mountains line despite the three incidents in one afternoon.

“RailCorp has a continuing program of regular inspections carried out on the Blue Mountains line and across the entire network,” said the spokesman. “Additional inspections were made over the past weekend, given the continuing heavy rain.