British Transport Police mentioned on Friday that it was responding to experiences of a practice “collision” north of London, with different emergency providers saying they had been attending the incident amid media experiences of accidents.
“We’re responding to experiences of a collision involving two trains within the Bedford space,” the transport police power mentioned on X, referring to a market city round 56 miles (90 kilometers) north of the capital.
Unverified footage posted to social media appeared to indicate two East Midlands Railway (EMR) trains having collided, with one operating into the opposite, and passengers pictured standing on the tracks beside broken rail carriages.
The trains appeared to have remained upright on the observe, based on the pictures posted.
“Emergency providers are coping with an incident between London St Pancras and Leicester,” EMR mentioned on X, with out offering additional particulars.
The East of England Ambulance Service mentioned on social media it had despatched “a variety of sources, together with air ambulance and our Hazardous Space Response Crew, to a significant incident on the railway south of Bedford”, and urged folks to keep away from the realm.
In the meantime, the Bedfordshire Fireplace and Rescue Service mentioned its “crews are at the moment in attendance at an incident on the railway simply south of Bedford” and likewise known as on the general public to steer clear.
The Every day Telegraph and TalkTV had been amongst British media retailers to report passengers had been injured within the incident.
However the emergency providers had been but to supply any particulars about accidents.
Transport minister Heidi Alexander mentioned in a submit on X that she was “deeply involved” by experiences of the collision.
EMR mentioned it was unable to run providers in or out of London for the remainder of the day, whereas rail operator Thameslink, which additionally serves the area, mentioned on its X account that each one traces between Luton and Bedford had been blocked attributable to an issue beneath investigation.
BTP issued a press release on social media, saying, “We’re responding to experiences of a collision involving two trains within the Bedford space. We’ll share extra data as quickly as potential.”
In accordance with LBC information company, Bedford hospital is reportedly anticipating at the least 50 casualties to reach and has ordered “all palms on deck”. Employees have additionally been warned that fatalities could possibly be anticipated.
LBC added that the collision reportedly concerned two providers heading from Nottingham and Corby to London St Pancras Worldwide station.
LBC reported that the Corby practice “appeared to hit into the again of the Nottingham practice”.
Practice collisions are comparatively uncommon in Britain.
In September 2023, a number of folks had been injured after two trains collided at Aviemore railway station within the Highlands of Scotland.
The crash occurred on the Strathspey Railway, a heritage railway run individually from mass-transit public providers, and concerned a stationary carriage and one other practice within the station.
One of many trains concerned was the record-breaking, century-old Flying Scotsman, the primary steam practice to achieve over 100 miles an hour, the Nationwide Railway Museum mentioned.
In August 2020, an early morning service from Aberdeen to Glasgow got here off the tracks, killing three folks close to the city of Stonehaven, northeast Scotland, after a landslide brought on by heavy rain.
The driving force of the practice, a conductor and a passenger died and 6 different folks had been injured within the tragedy.
Community Rail — an arm of the UK Division for Transport — pleaded responsible in 2023 to security failings at a courtroom listening to and the general public physique was fined £6.7 million ($8.4 million).
