The driver of a train was killed and 100 people left injured when two East Midlands Railway services collided south of Bedford on Friday afternoon – a crash that has left investigators asking why one train was stationary on the main line when it was hit from behind.
The collision, shortly after 5pm, involved a Nottingham-to-London service that was stopped or nearly stopped when a Corby-to-London train smashed into its rear, according to early reports. Twenty-eight people remain in hospital, nine of them in a critical condition, police said on Saturday.
“One train driver died and 100 were injured when two East Midlands Railway trains collided near Bedford.”
British Transport Police Chief Constable Lucy D’Orsi confirmed the driver’s death at a press conference near the scene. “His family have been informed and our deepest condolences are with them, his friends, and his colleagues at East Midlands Railway,” she said. His name and age have not yet been disclosed.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander urged caution on the cause, saying it was “too early to speculate” and that inspectors from the Rail Accident Investigation Branch were at the scene “very quickly” to ensure lessons are learned.
East Midlands Railway’s managing director, Will Rogers, called it a “profoundly sad day for the railway community” and said the company was supporting the investigation. “Our thoughts and heartfelt condolences are with family, friends, and colleagues of our driver and everybody else who has been injured or affected by this tragic incident,” he added.
Investigators are now focusing on why the Nottingham service came to a halt on the line and why the following train failed to stop in time. Modern British rail systems have multiple layers of protection designed to prevent such rear-end collisions. Early suggestions of a technical problem have not been confirmed officially.
With questions still unanswered, the rail industry faces a painstaking effort to determine what went wrong.