An investigation is underway after a train overshot the end of a rail line in Adelaide's western suburbs.
Public Transport Authority executive director Scott White said the train lost traction about 6:30pm on Tuesday and collided with a buffer stop at Grange Railway Station and derailed next to Military Road.
"Essentially it means the train sort of slips, so it never stopped and the wheels span and the train continued," he told ABC Radio Adelaide.
"And then of course we've got a buffer stop there which is there for this exact reason, it did its job and stopped that train from going any further."
Mr White said there were about 20 passengers on board at the time, who were all uninjured and were able to safely disembark.
Train services between Woodville and Grange had been cancelled, but resumed early this morning.
Mr White said the buffer stops were designed to stop trains travelling at low speeds when entering the end of the line.
"Occasionally they do dislodge the buffer, in this instance they did," he said.
Mr White said it was unclear why the train derailed and a full investigation would take place.
"As always, any recommendations that come out of that in terms of anything else we can do to prevent something like this occurring in the future will be implemented," he said.
Transport Minister Tom Koutsantonis said derailments were extremely serious and it was "very, very lucky that no-one was hurt yesterday".
"We are talking about very, very heavy pieces of machinery on rail tracks that when things go wrong, they can be catastrophic," he said.
"Stopping a train is very very hard, so that is why we always have a lot of focus on safety.
"But I'm just very pleased that no-one was injured, very pleased that no-one was on the footpath or in the way of that train as it came off those rail lines."
