A fatal train collision north of London has left 28 people in hospital, nine of them in critical condition, after two services bound for the capital struck each other yesterday and killed one of the drivers.
The crash happened in the late afternoon near Bedford, about 90km north of London. According to East Midlands Railway (EMR), the two trains involved were both heading to London St Pancras on the same line: the 4.40pm service from Corby and the 3.50pm service from Nottingham.
Most of the carriages on the two southbound trains stayed upright on the tracks, but at least one carriage came off the rails.
British Transport Police Chief Constable Lucy D’Orsi said: “Tragically, the driver of one of the trains died in the collision.
“Over 80 people were treated at hospital last night. As of this morning, 28 remain in hospital, and nine are in a critical condition.”
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said it was “too early to speculate” about what caused the crash.
“We will make sure that there’s a thorough investigation done to establish how this collision happened and to ensure that lessons are learnt so that we don’t have an incident like this ever again,” Ms Alexander said.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the crash “hugely concerning” and said he was “grateful to the emergency services for their swift response to this tragic incident”.
One passenger, Paul Cavin, told the BBC the impact came without warning after his train had stopped. “We had stopped and suddenly we were hit from behind pretty bad.”
“There were people injured on my carriage,” he said, adding that he saw many wounded passengers making their way from the trains, some with “smashed up noses”.
Another passenger, Brett Byatt, told BBC radio today: “This morning, it feels surreal and I think I’ve moved into the stage of anger now. I’m feeling pretty angry.”
Passenger Pete Knapp said the scene was filled with people “crying, screaming” and described injuries that appeared severe.
Dr Knapp, 40 said: “There was a moment of being flung into the chair in front, and then I saw smoke.
“People were crying, screaming, people were so scared and confused.
“I got up and I saw a lot of people who were unable to speak, had broken legs, and then I managed to get out of the train and because I’m quite thin I was able to squeeze out through the gap in the doors.”
Train crashes of this kind are uncommon in the United Kingdom, where collisions between passenger services are relatively rare.
A crash between two trains in mid-Wales in October 2024, which killed one passenger and seriously injured four others, was Britain’s first fatal accident involving multiple trains in more than 25 years.
