Several injured after train collision

Several rail passenger have been injured, one critically after a train collided with a sewage tanker on an unmanned railway crossing at Little Cornard near Sudbury, Suffolk at about 5.30pm yesterday evening. The two carriage train collided with the tanker, causing it to derail the tanker lorry was also ripped apart, causing slurry to spill at the scene.

One passenger who was trapped on the train is now in intensive care in a critical condition after suffering severe abdominal injuries and another five passengers were also kept in hospital overnight with fractures and cuts, as well as anther fifteen passengers who received treatment for minor injuries. The driver of the train suffered a suspected fractured vertebra and is being treated at Colchester General Hospital.

Witnesses close to the scene spoke of hearing a bomb like noise when the train struck the tanker, and reported seeing passengers wandering around the track dazed and bleeding after.

Jack Barnett, 65, a retiree who lives about 100 yards from the scene of the crash, said:”We were sitting having our tea. There was a very, very loud bang. I’ve never heard anything like it. I thought it was an aeroplane crash or a bomb going off. The train was upright but the passengers had been knocked about. They had cuts and bruises.”

The driver of the ranker has been arrested on suspicion of several railway safety offences after he failed to contact rail authorities to inform them he was using the crossing, a spokesman for network rail said: “The crossing is a user-worked crossing with gates and a telephone. The Network Rail signaler did not receive a phone call from the user of the crossing.”

Incident commander Karl Rolfe of Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service said: “We have handed the incident over to British Transport Police and the Rail Accident Investigation Board. All the serious casualties are off the train and have been conveyed to hospital by land or air ambulance. We assisted with stabilising the train which had derailed. The train came to rest over a small bridge and is at an unstable angle facing down the embankment. The railway authorities are dealing with the recovery of the carriages but that will obviously be a secondary consideration.  It’s being treated as a crime scene and the relevant authorities are gathering all the detail they need.”

The train service which runs from Sudbury to Marks Tey has been replaced by a bus service and the route is not expected to re-open before Friday.

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