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A train driver has died and 89 people have been injured after two East Midlands Railway services collided in the Bedford area on Friday. It has now been declared as a major incident as the service has been suspended on the key route into St Pancras.
The collision happened at around 17:15 BST on Friday, just south of Elstow, near the A421 and A6 road interchange. British Transport Police said one person had “very sadly died”, while emergency crews treated dozens of passengers and railway staff at the scene, BBC reported.
A train driver died and 89 people were injured in a collision of two East Midlands Railway services near Bedford on Friday afternoon, prompting a major incident declaration. Services into London St Pancras were suspended following the crash south of Elstow.
East of England Ambulance Service said 11 people suffered very serious injuries, 22 were seriously injured and 56 others sustained minor injuries. An air ambulance was among the emergency resources sent to the site, where aerial footage showed two damaged trains, with most carriages still on the tracks and at least one shunted off.
Bedford train collision involved two London-bound EMR services
East Midlands Railway said the trains involved were the 16:40 service from Corby to London St Pancras and the 15:50 service from Nottingham to London St Pancras. Both were travelling southbound when the collision occurred at Bedford South.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said on Friday evening that it was “too early to speculate” on what led to the fatal incident, but promised a full inquiry into the circumstances.
“We will make sure that there’s a thorough investigation done to establish how this collision happened and to ensure that lessons are learned so that we don’t have an incident like this ever again,” BBC quoted Alexander as stating.
She added that UK railways are “some of the safest in the world” and described such an incident on the network as “very unusual”. Her comments came as emergency services continued to deal with injured passengers and secure the scene.
RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey said the union was “devastated to learn that a train driver and former RMT rep has tragically died” in the collision. The union said its thoughts were with everyone affected, including on-board staff and passengers.
Passengers describe impact and confusion after crash
Passengers described a sudden impact that threw people from their seats and left carriages in disarray. Dr Peter Knapp, who said he was travelling in the front carriage of the train that collided with another service, described the aftermath as chaotic and frightening.
“When I got up, I saw all of the chairs everywhere. It felt like I’d been in a bomb explosion,” he said. Speaking from the roadside after evacuation, he said police were taking passengers’ details while others were being taken to hospital.
Another passenger, Shola Mene, said she heard a “big bang” before people were thrown across the carriage. “People flew from their seats, the seats were pulling, and then someone just flew across and hit my husband in the face,” she said.
Mene said there was “a lot of blood” and many people appeared to have facial injuries. She also described confusion among passengers immediately after the collision, with many trying to understand what had happened and whether they were safe.
Teresa Itabor, from Wellingborough in Northamptonshire, said she had boarded at 16:57 and was travelling to London to celebrate her birthday. She said the train had left Bedford station shortly before “a massive bang”.
“I didn’t know what was going on. My head hit the seat in front of me,” she said. “I opened my eyes and that’s when I saw people on the floor with blood everywhere.”
Rail disruption expected into Saturday
East Midlands Railway suspended services to and from London St Pancras for the rest of Friday evening. The operator warned that disruption was expected to continue into Saturday, 20 June, as investigators and recovery teams worked at the site.
Passengers were advised to use alternative routes for journeys to and from London St Pancras until the end of Saturday. EMR said tickets could be used at no extra cost on alternative routes and that other train operators had been made aware of the disruption.
The Bedford area is a major section of the Midland Main Line, linking London with towns and cities including Luton, Bedford, Wellingborough, Kettering, Corby, Leicester, Derby, Nottingham and Sheffield. A serious incident on this corridor can affect both intercity and regional travel.
Major rail incidents in Britain trigger investigations involving specialist transport safety bodies, police and industry teams. Their work usually examines signalling, train movements, infrastructure, driver actions, maintenance records and operational decisions before any formal conclusions are reached.
