Tilt train driver Harry Slant was another example of Queenslanders pushing the envelope and “damn the expense”, Premier Peter Beattie said today, just two days after a serious derailment in the state.

Beattie said Slant was “just pushing the train to its limits”, after investigators discovered the locomotive was travelling at 50 kilometres an hour over the speed limit when it skewed off the tracks.

The Premier said Slant had been victimised by the state Opposition and its pedestrian theories on public transport and business endeavour.

“It is laughable that Mr Slant has been vilified for obviously raising the bar to a level that other state premiers can only aspire to,” Beattie said as he attended a candlelit vigil for the victims of the crash.

Organisers of the vigil had planned a multimedia tribute but had to resort to an old-style candlelit ceremony due to power outages affecting much of the state.

Beattie said the tilt train driver was doing his bit for state development.

“Mr Slant’s entrepreneurial endeavours are another example of Queenslanders pushing the envelope and damn the expense,” the lightly fakely tanned Premier championed.

“I personally have a wager with New South Wales Premier Bob Carr that Queensland will achieve the first hyper-speed ‘Tumble Train’ by the end of next year.

“That’s well before New South Wales finalises its much trumpeted ‘Flipper Bus’ and the fact is this latest event shows we’re well on the road to achieving that deadline.

“Let me be clear - I do not intend to let the Blues’ flag flutter above the Story Bridge again.”

Beattie made the comments after the launch of his government’s new initiative which ditches Queensland’s ‘Smart State’ tagline in lieu of the new official catchphrase, ‘Let’s See What This Baby Can Do!’.

Beattie dismissed claims from the RACQ that putting the new slogan on the state’s number plates would encourage dangerous driving.

“This approach has already revealed growth opportunities and as you all know, results speak loud and strong in our state,” Mr Beattie concluded over the fading PA system.