Bedford rail crash – time to reflect and time to praise the first responders

On Friday 19th June, two trains collided just south of Bedford. This was a major incident which resulted in the sad death of one of the train drivers, several major life-threatening injuries, and many other injuries.

Thankfully, such an accident is a rare event on British railways, but that does not make it any less awful. If anything, it simply confirms the horrendous nature of the event.

All our sympathies are with the family, friends and colleagues of the driver who was killed. Our thoughts and best wishes all also extended to everyone who is recovering including those who may have long-term consequences and changes to their lives.

Whilst the incident was unexpected, we can be proud of the local emergency services which responded swiftly and professionally.

These included the Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service, Bedfordshire Police, the East of England Ambulance Service, and the Air Ambulance Service. They were on the scene within minutes of the crash helping the injured passengers and assisting other passengers to move away from the trains to safety.

The police received over sixty 999 calls alerting them to the incident in just 10 minutes. Staff worked tirelessly to identify key calls, prioritising critical information and enabling an effective response across all agencies involved.

A major incident was declared, and all agencies rapidly dispatched a significant number of resources to the scene. Every single person who responded to the incident displayed incredible professionalism and courage at what was a complex and difficult scene involving a significant number of casualties, including many who were seriously injured.

This response demonstrated the excellent contingency planning that all the emergency services, the NHS and local authorities develop and have ready to implement at a minute’s notice. I am told that the brigading of support happened swiftly to plan. Such planning matters for public safety.

We owe the first responders from all the emergency services a massive “thank you” as we do those in the control rooms, those directing the operations and those in the hospitals who have been treating those with injuries – and they were allocated to several local and regional hospitals.

Staff and officers who were off duty voluntarily returned to work to contribute their time and expertise. Thank you.

There were many public volunteers and voluntary organisations who stepped up to support and offer refreshments and other vital backing to the professional responders. Thank you.

The incident is now subject to a major investigation by British Transport Police and the Rail Accident Branch, and we should not speculate about the cause until these investigations are completed.

Lessons must be learnt from every aspect of the incident and event since. In this way we all will be safer.