Nine people are in a critical condition after the Bedford train crash that killed the driver of one of the trains, police have confirmed. The chief constable of British Transport Police, Lucy D’Orsi, said on Saturday that of the more than 80 people injured, 28 remained in hospital.
Survivor Recounts Chaos
A survivor of the crash told how bodies were flung across the carriages, leaving people with broken bones and deep wounds after the rush-hour collision on Friday night. Brett Byatt, a teacher from Bedford, was onboard the East Midlands Railway (EMR) service that rammed into a slower-travelling train, resulting in a crash which killed the driver, left 89 with injuries and 33 needing urgent hospital treatment.
Speaking to the BBC’s Today programme, Byatt said the train was not going at full speed and estimated they were only about five minutes into their journey when the collision happened. “The people in first class ended up with stomach and rib injuries, because they went into the tables they have in first class, and EMR trains, the way that they’re structured with seats, was probably the worst way it could have been structured for a train crash.”
He added: “They [the seats] face each other in the three by three and the two by three, and … when people flew into one another, the seats that they were on, like, broke backwards into the people behind them.” Byatt said he believed that 90% of passengers in his carriage were injured. “I’d probably say from three to four of us were uninjured in a full carriage; everyone else had either a serious wound that was bleeding profusely, or a situation where they couldn’t stand, or they couldn’t move their neck, and I saw a woman snap her leg.”
Emergency Response
Immediately after the collision, Byatt and other passengers began attending to people with first aid until emergency services arrived 10 minutes later. He thought he escaped injury because he was standing near the doors, clutching a stanchion. Asked how he was feeling in the aftermath of the accident, Byatt said he initially felt shocked but was now “pretty angry”. “I don’t know at whom, who specifically, but it’s more about the, we’ve got one of the oldest railway networks, and signal failures happen a lot, and now I’m just wondering, why would a train driver lose his life over this?”
D’Orsi acknowledged there would be a lot of questions about what took place on Friday evening and asked the public to refrain from speculating. “Specialist investigators from the British Transport Police are working with colleagues at the rail accident investigations branch to establish the facts and determine what happened.” She thanked the emergency services for their “outstanding” response and local people who showed “immense kindness” to those who were stranded.
Paul Gates, the strategic commander for the East of England ambulance service, said 11 people sustained very serious injuries, a further 32 had serious injuries, and another 56 were left with minor injuries. “Those with less serious injuries were treated on scene or conveyed to hospital as required,” he said. In total, the ambulance service transferred 64 patients to hospital. Andy Hopkinson, Bedfordshire fire and rescue service’s chief fire officer, said it was a “deeply distressing incident”. He added that the ambulance service was called at 5.14pm on Friday, and more than 70 firefighters and officers had attended the scene.
Investigation Underway
Tony Miles, a prominent railway journalist, told Today that the train would have had a black box able to allow investigators to ascertain precisely what happened before the crash. “The signal system has a data recorder, they will know every switch that was pressed, they’ll know every control that was activated in both of the trains, they will have second-by-second data from the trains as to what was going on, so I suspect that there’s probably people who’ve got a reasonable insight into what happened already, but that doesn’t mean they’ll release it,” said Miles.
Buckingham Palace said the king was “greatly saddened” to hear about the crash and was being kept regularly updated on developments. “His thoughts and sympathies are with the family of the deceased and with all those injured or affected by such a tragic incident”, a spokesperson said. A team of rail accident investigation branch inspectors have been sent to the site to gather evidence. Network Rail said on Saturday morning: “We’re deeply saddened that a railway colleague has tragically died following the incident near Bedford. Our thoughts are with their family, friends and colleagues, and with everyone affected. Our teams are on site working closely with the emergency services and industry partners. We want to thank the emergency services and the wider railway family for their professionalism and swift response. In the meantime, we ask passengers to please check before they travel.”
