A passenger train slammed into the rear of a stationary train near Elstow, south of Bedford, on Friday evening, killing the driver and injuring close to 100 people, a senior police official said.
The collision occurred around 5:12pm local time when an East Midlands Railway service from Nottingham to London St Pancras, halted on the main line after a mechanical fault, was struck from behind by a second train running from Corby, British Transport Police said.
The impact derailed several carriages. Television footage showed mangled wreckage strewn across the tracks, with one coach left twisted against the rear of the train ahead of it. Rescue crews used cutting equipment through the night to free passengers trapped inside.
"Tragically the driver of one of the trains died in the collision," British Transport Police Chief Constable Lucy D'Orsi told reporters. Eleven people sustained life-threatening injuries, nine of them critical, officials said, while another 32 were seriously hurt and 57 suffered minor injuries.
Rescue workers continued combing through the wreckage into Saturday morning. By the next day, 28 people remained in hospital.
One passenger described scenes of chaos inside the carriage. "People were crying, screaming, people were so scared and confused," he said, adding that he managed to squeeze through a gap in the doors to escape.
Roads near the crash site were clogged with ambulances and fire crews. Local hospitals asked the public to avoid emergency departments unless facing a life-threatening emergency.
A spokesperson for the Rail Accident Investigation Branch said inspectors were gathering evidence at the site and that a full investigation was under way. Police said the crash was not being treated as suspicious.
East Midlands Railway suspended services on the route and warned of disruption into next week.
Friday's crash is Britain's deadliest rail accident after the recent 2024 collision in Wales that killed one passenger and injured four others.
