Ten wagons out of about 50 came off from the track as the train crossed the Beggs Road level crossing north of St James about 4.20pm on Monday.

The wagons remained upright but their bogies became buried in ballast and wheels cut up sleepers.

The Australian Transport Safety Board is gathering information about the circumstances of the incident.

"Any transport safety investigation into the derailment would be conducted by Victoria's Chief Investigator, Transport Safety," a board spokesman said.

"The chief investigator investigates rail incidents in Victoria on behalf of the ATSB."

The Australian Rail Track Corporation, which manages the line, stated that the removal of wagons and track assessment began on Tuesday.

However, a spokesman could not say when the line will re-open, with another source telling The Border Mail it will be at least a week.

Fortunately it is sometime before the next harvest train is due to depart the Oaklands silos for the port of Melbourne.

"Our next train was booked for two weeks time, so we have a bit of a gap, so it's probably not going to bog us down too much," Michael Ciccia, the Oaklands terminal manager for GrainFlow, said.

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GrainFlow had engaged the Pacific National rolling stock for the journey to Melbourne which had begun on Monday afternoon.

Mr Ciccia said the train runs become more frequent in January as harvesting is fully completed.

Eldorado rail enthusiast Kobey Diamond saw the derailment aftermath on Monday after having photographed the train earlier.

He noticed the locomotive was stopped and its doors were open before driving on to find its rear bogged.

"It was buried right down to the couplers," Mr Diamond said.

"The track was buckled under the back half of the train."

The derailment came hours before a similar but worse incident in NSW early on Tuesday, with grain spilling from 39 overturned wagons, closing the line between Moss Vale and Unanderra.

The crop was being hauled from Cootmundra to the Port Kembla export terminal.

No-one was injured in either derailment.