Driver Killed and Dozens Hurt as Two Trains Collide Near Bedford
A train driver died and as many as 89 people were injured when two East Midlands Railway services collided near Bedford on Friday evening. Investigators are at the scene.
A train driver was killed and dozens of passengers were hurt when two East Midlands Railway services collided near Bedford on Friday evening, one of the worst crashes on Britain's railways in years.
The British Transport Police said officers were called to the collision on the line at Elstow, just south of Bedford, at around 5.15pm. One person, the driver of one of the trains, was pronounced dead at the scene, and his family has been told.
"Tragically, one person was pronounced dead at the scene. He is the driver of one of the trains involved and his family have been informed."
British Transport Police
The casualty response was heavy. BTP said 33 people were taken to hospital, 11 of them in a serious condition, and 56 more were treated for less severe injuries; ITV News reported a total of 89 injured. Twenty ambulances and six air ambulances were sent to the scene, alongside Bedfordshire Police, fire crews and the National Police Air Service.
Both trains were bound for London St Pancras: the 4.40pm service from Corby and the 3.50pm from Nottingham. The two routes share the Midland Main Line as they approach Bedford, and how two trains on it came to collide is the question investigators now have to answer.
The Rail Accident Investigation Branch said its inspectors were at the scene near Elstow gathering evidence. Officials have cautioned that it is too early to identify a cause, and no preliminary technical findings have been released. A full RAIB inquiry typically takes many months and looks at signalling, train movements and operating procedures before reaching conclusions.
Fatal collisions between passenger trains are rare in Britain, which is part of why Friday's crash landed so hard. For now the human facts are the only settled ones: a driver who did not come home, scores of passengers treated on a summer evening south of Bedford, and a stretch of one of the country's busiest lines closed while the people whose job is to explain what happened begin the slow work of doing so.
