Train Driver Dies, Nine Critical After Collision in Central England

A train driver has died and nine people are in a critical condition after two passenger trains collided in central England, police said.

Police and accident investigators are working to understand why a commuter train bound for London's St. Pancras Station slammed into the back of another train headed for the same destination on Friday afternoon, local time.

British Transport Police Chief Constable Lucy D'Orsi said more than 80 people were treated in hospital after the crash.

Nine are in a critical condition and 28 others remain in hospital.

"There will be a lot of questions as to what exactly happened last night," Chief Constable D'Orsi said.

"I would like to reassure everyone that specialist investigators from British Transport Police are working with colleagues at the Rail Accident Investigation Branch to gather the facts and determine what has happened.

"I would ask that we all refrain from speculation."

Buckingham Palace said King Charles III was "greatly saddened" by the crash.

"His thoughts and sympathies are with the family of the deceased and with all those injured or affected by such a tragic incident," a statement from the palace said.

'People were crying, screaming'

The 16:40 service from Corby to London St. Pancras collided with the 15:50 Nottingham to London St. Pancras train.

Photos and videos posted on social media showed dozens of people, some with bandages but also many who appeared uninjured, standing and sitting among emergency vehicles parked on a road parallel to the train tracks.

Peter Knapp, one of the passengers, described being thrown forward by the impact, then seeing fellow travellers bleeding and with broken bones.

"People were crying, screaming. People were so scared and confused," he said.

"I got up and I saw a lot of people who were unable to speak, had broken legs."

Another passenger, Brett Byatt, told the BBC that only "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 couldn't move their neck, or I saw a woman's snapped leg," he said.

In recent years Britain's railways have had one of the world's best safety records.

One passenger was killed in a collision between two trains in Wales in October 2024 — Britain's first fatal crash involving multiple trains for more than a quarter of a century.