KINGSTON, Jamaica – The Ministry of Culture, Gender Entertainment and Sport and the Manchester Municipal Corporation on Friday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the erection of a monument in honour of the victims of the Kendal train crash of 1957.

Portfolio Minister Olivia Grange and Mayor of Mandeville, Councillor Donovan Mitchell, signed the MoU at the ministry’s Trafalgar Road offices in New Kingston.

The monument will be constructed at a cost of $7.9 million with funding provided by the ministry.

It is expected to be unveiled on September 1, which will mark the 68th anniversary of the rail mishap, which was the worst in the history of Jamaica.

In her remarks, Grange said the purpose of memorialising the event is to provide a physical site that persons can visit to pay homage to those who suffered and died in the horrific incident.

“Good governance requires us to promote rituals of memory in circumstances such as the Kendal disaster. We will never forget those who died, were injured and scarred for life, those who survived, and a whole nation that mourned when dawn came the following day and news of the incident spread,” she said.

For his part, Councillor Mitchell said it is anticipated that the monument will be constructed within a six-month period.

“We are expecting it to be ready for the first of September when we have the next commemoration in Kendal,” he said.

A memorial park and museum dedicated to the memory of the Kendal disaster will also be established at the site at a later time. The Institute of Jamaica, the Jamaica National Heritage Trust and the National Library will provide support in the undertaking.

The Kendal Rail Disaster took place on the night of Sunday, September 1, 1957, when more than 170 Jamaicans died when their Kingston-bound train ran off the rail at Kendal in Manchester. More than 700 of the 1,600 passengers were maimed or disfigured.

Many of the victims and survivors of the crash were members of the St Anne’s Roman Catholic Church. They had travelled by train for a pilgrimage to Montego Bay and were returning to Kingston when disaster struck.

Governor-General Sir Patrick Allen has proclaimed the first day of September each year as the national day of remembrance of the victims and survivors of the Kendal rail disaster.

– JIS