San Francisco Frontiers - Driver killed, 28 in hospital as UK train collision probed

The crash Friday afternoon near Bedford, a town around 90 kilometres (55 miles) north of the British capital, involved two London-bound trains 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 crash while vowing "a thorough investigation ... to ensure that lessons are learnt".

British Transport Police Chief Constable Lucy D'Orsi said in an update Saturday near the scene that more than 80 people had been treated for injuries in hospital and 28 remained there.

"Nine are in a critical condition," she added.

Police had earlier confirmed that the driver of one of the trains had died at the scene.

D'Orsi said that "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".

- 'Suddenly' hit -

Buckingham Palace issued a statement saying King Charles was "greatly saddened" by the crash and sent "his thoughts and sympathies" to the dead man's family and to those injured.

A passenger on one of the trains, 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 he could see many wounded people walking away from the trains, some with "smashed up noses".

The East of England Ambulance Service said Saturday 11 people sustained "very serious" injuries, while a further 32 suffered serious wounds and 56 others had minor impacts.

It dispatched more than 20 ambulances, specialist hazardous area rescue teams, along with six air ambulances.

The area's fire and rescue service said it mobilised over 20 fire and specialist vehicles, and at the height of the response, more than 70 firefighters and officers were involved at the scene.

Another passenger, Brett Byatt, told BBC radio it felt "surreal" the morning after and that he had "moved into the stage of anger now".

"I don't know at whom," he added. "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?"

Officials have not said whether signalling issues played a role in the collision.

- 'Profoundly sad' -

EMR's managing director Will Rogers called it "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, speaking at the scene alongside other officials.

He noted the train operator was "fully supporting" the RAIB probe.

Train collisions are relatively rare in the United Kingdom.

In September 2023, several people were injured after two trains collided at Aviemore station in the Scottish Highlands.

The crash happened on the Strathspey Railway, a heritage railway run separately from mass-transit public services, and involved a stationary carriage and another train in the station.

In August 2020, an early morning service from Aberdeen to Glasgow came off the tracks, killing three people and injuring six near the town of Stonehaven, northeast Scotland, after a landslip caused by heavy rain.

Network Rail -- an arm of the UK Department for Transport -- pleaded guilty in 2023 to safety failings at a court hearing and the public body was fined £6.7 million ($8.4 million).

T.Martin--SFF