Police said a \u2018major incident\u2019 was declared after the crash near Bedford, some 90km away from London.<\/p>\n
One person has been killed and a number of people injured in a collision between two passenger trains north of London, according to British Transport Police.<\/p>\n
Emergency services rushed to the scene of the collision south of the town of Bedford, about 56 miles (90km) from London, on Friday, with photos posted on social media showing victims with bandages around their heads.<\/p>\n
The trains collided on lines connecting St Pancras station in central London to communities in central England. Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue crews responded to the incident, which was reported at 6:45pm (17:45 GMT).<\/p>\n
\u201cA major incident has been declared, and officers are continuing to respond at the scene alongside colleagues from Bedfordshire Police and the local Fire and Rescue and Ambulance Services,\u201d the police force said in an update late on Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that a number of people have been injured and one person has very sadly died,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n
Earlier, an East Midlands Railway (EMR) spokesperson said, \u201cThe 16:40 EMR train from Corby to London St Pancras has been involved in a collision with 15:50 Nottingham at London St Pancras at Bedford South. We are currently on the scene and working with Network Rail to assist the emergency services.\u201d<\/p>\n
The spokesperson added that trains are unable to run in or out of London St Pancras for the remainder of the evening, and that customers are advised not to travel or to delay their journeys as much as possible, with warnings of significant delays.<\/p>\n
The East of England Ambulance Service said it had sent multiple resources, including an air ambulance, to the collision on the railway south of Bedford, \u2060and urged people to avoid \u2060the area.<\/p>\n
Images of the aftermath showed two damaged trains that were still on the tracks. The Times of London newspaper reported that Bedford hospital staff had been alerted to possibly expect as many as 50 injured people.<\/p>\n
\u2018Deeply concerned\u2019<\/p>\n
Pete Knapp, a passenger, spoke to the Press Association news agency about the crash.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a moment of being flung into the chair in front, and then I saw smoke. People were crying, screaming, people were so scared and confused,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw a lot of people who were unable to speak, had broken legs,\u201d he added, noting people appeared to have \u201clife-threatening, major injuries\u201d as well as minor injuries.<\/p>\n
Al Jazeera\u2019s Camille Nedelec, reporting from London, said another eyewitness posted on their social media platforms, describing having a bloodied leg, feeling the impact of the crash in his back, and saying that other people were not okay. The passenger said he did not hear a warning or an alarm \u2013 just the sudden impact.<\/p>\n
Nedelec added that Thameslink trains, going via London Bridge station, were also cancelled as they share a direct connection with London St Pancras and EMR.<\/p>\n
UK Transport Minister Heidi Alexander said in a post on X that she was \u201cdeeply concerned\u201d by reports of the collision.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m grateful to emergency services who are on the scene, attending to those affected. We\u2019re working quickly with the rail industry and local partners to support passengers,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
UK Health Secretary James Murray said he is being \u201ckept updated\u201d following the train collision. \u201cA number of people have been injured and I thank first responders who are helping those affected,\u201d he said on X.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Police said a \u2018major incident\u2019 was declared after the crash near Bedford, some 90km away from London. One…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":647922,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[591,59,57,58,50,557,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-647921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-europe","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-transport","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=647921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/647922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=647921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=647921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=647921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}