UK accident investigators have begun examining the cause of a train collision north of London that killed a driver and left scores of passengers injured, nine of them critically.
The crash occurred on Friday afternoon near Bedford, about 90 kilometres (55 miles) north of the British capital. It involved two London-bound trains travelling on the same track, according to East Midlands Railway (EMR), which operates both services.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said it was “too early to speculate” on the cause of the collision, while promising “a thorough investigation … to ensure that lessons are learnt”.
British Transport Police Chief Constable Lucy D’Orsi said more than 80 people had received treatment in hospital, with 28 still admitted.
“Nine are in a critical condition,” she said.
Police had earlier confirmed that the driver of one of the trains died at the scene.
D’Orsi said specialist investigators from the British Transport Police were working with the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) to establish the circumstances surrounding the collision.
“Specialist investigators from British Transport Police are working with colleagues at the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) to gather the facts and determine what has happened,” she said.
Buckingham Palace said King Charles was “greatly saddened” by the crash and extended “his thoughts and sympathies” to the family of the deceased driver and those injured.
Passenger Paul Cavin told the BBC: “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 several passengers leaving the trains with injuries, including “smashed up noses”.
The East of England Ambulance Service said 11 people suffered very serious injuries, while 32 sustained serious injuries and 56 others sustained minor injuries.
Emergency responders deployed more than 20 ambulances, specialist rescue teams, six air ambulances, and over 70 firefighters and officers to the scene.
Another passenger, Brett Byatt, described the incident as “surreal” and questioned whether signalling failures had contributed to the crash.
“I don’t know at whom,” he said. “But it’s more about (the fact) we’ve got one of the oldest railway networks and signal failures happen a lot… Why wasn’t that signalled to my train?”
Authorities have not confirmed whether signalling problems played any role in the collision.
EMR Managing Director Will Rogers described the incident as “a profoundly sad day for the railway community”.
“We are deeply saddened that our driver has tragically died, and a number of other people have suffered injuries,” he said.
Rogers added that the rail operator was “fully supporting” the RAIB investigation.
Train collisions are uncommon in the United Kingdom.
In September 2023, two trains collided at Aviemore station in the Scottish Highlands, injuring several people on the heritage Strathspey Railway.
In August 2020, a passenger train travelling from Aberdeen to Glasgow derailed near Stonehaven after a landslip caused by heavy rainfall, killing three people and injuring six.
In 2023, Network Rail pleaded guilty to safety failings linked to the Stonehaven disaster and was fined £6.7 million (about $8.4 million).