Salisbury train crash news – Newborn baby pulled from wreckage as 17 hospitalised in rail smash inside Fisherton Tunnel
THE SALISBURY train involved in a crash which left 17 people in hospital had derailed SEVEN minutes before the second train hit.
A newborn baby was one of 100 people evacuated by more than 50 firefighters after the two trains collided in the Fisherton Tunnel near Salisbury, while a train driver was reportedly trapped in the wreckage for two hours.
At roughly 6.45pm yesterday evening the Great Western Rail service from Portsmouth Harbour to Bristol Temple Meads struck a mystery object - causing the rear carriage to derail.
Seven minutes later the 17:20 South West Rail train from London Waterloo to Honiton in Devon sped through the tunnel and crashed into the other train leaving dozens of passengers injured as sparks flew.
Read our Salisbury Train Crash live blog below for the latest updates...
Train driver injuries 'belived to be life changing' says BTP
The injuries suffered by a train driver involved in the crash in Salisbury are "believed to be life-changing", according to police.
British Transport Police said: "Ninety-two passengers were on both train services. Around 30 people attended a casualty centre which was set up in a nearby church, the majority of who were walking wounded and assessed at the scene.
"Thirteen people were taken to hospital by ambulance where they have received treatment for minor injuries. One remains there.
"Unfortunately, the driver of the train was more seriously injured and his injuries are believed to be life-changing.
"He also remains in hospital in a stable condition this morning, and his family have been informed."
Network Rail saftey director will 'do everything' to prevent future crashes
Martin Frobisher, Network Rail's safety and engineering director, said passengers "must have had a really scary experience, and we're very sorry for that".
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "We're obviously starting now a very detailed and forensic investigation into what happened.
"The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) are on site and they're incredibly thorough in the work that they do.
"And that'll help us learn from this, and that's why these events are very rare, because we follow it up very, very carefully, and make sure that we do everything possible to prevent it for the future."
Network rail released statetment 3 hours after crash
Network Rail issued a statement around three hours after the crash which said the rear carriage of the 5.08pm GWR service from Portsmouth Harbour to Bristol Temple Meads derailed after "striking an object" on its approach to Salisbury station.
It went on: "The derailment knocked out all of the signalling in the area. Subsequently, the 1720 South Western Railway service from London Waterloo to Honiton then collided with the Bristol train."
Downing Street statement
Downing Street said the Prime Minister's thoughts were with those injured in the Salisbury train crash but the Government was investing to ensure the railway network remained "one of the safest in the world".
A No 10 spokesman said: "The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) have been deployed to the site and are conducting forensic investigations, obviously the Prime Minister's thoughts remain with those who were affected by the incident.
"It would be inappropriate for me to comment further at this time while the RAIB are working to investigate what happened."
The spokesman added: "I think it's important that we let the RAIB investigate this thoroughly, but more generally in terms of safety standards on the network it's obviously a top priority for this Government, which is why we have allocated £40 billion worth of spending to ensure that the railways continue to be one of the safest in the world."
Joint statement from GWR and Network Rail
A joint statement from Great Western Railway and Network rail last night read: "At 6.45pm a GWR and an SWR train collided just outside Fisherton Tunnel near Sailsbury.
"All customers and colleagues are accounted for and a number of people have been taken to hospital.
"Our thoughts are with them and we thank them for their patience and understanding this evening.
"The railway will be closed in the area on Monday, affecting SWR trains between Exeter and Basingstoke, and GWR trains between Westbury and Portsmouth, while specialist teams continue their investigations."
Transport minister offers thoughts to those affected by horror collision
Transport minister Chris Heaton-Harris tweeted about the collision. He said: "I am aware of a rail incident that took place near Salisbury.
"Emergency Services are on the scene and I am in close communication with Network Rail & operators.
";Our thoughts are with those affected by this serious incident."
Which rail services are disrupted by Salisbury train crash?
National Rail Enquiries said most of the lines serving the Wiltshire city are blocked and "will remain closed until at least the end of the day on Thursday".
This is affecting Great Western Railway (GWR) services on the route linking Cardiff and Bristol with Portsmouth and Brighton.
Several South Western Railway (SWR) routes are also affected, such as London Waterloo-Exeter, Bristol-Salisbury and Southampton-Salisbury.
Passengers are urged not to travel on the affected parts of the network.
The collision between two trains happened at Fisherton Tunnel, close to London Road in Salisbury, at around 7pm on Sunday.
Grant Shapps' 'thoughts' for those affected by collision
Grant Shapps tweeted last night: "My thoughts go out to those affected by the serious rail incident near Salisbury.
"Emergency services on scene & we are working closely with & operators.
"The & will investigate.
"We need to understand how this happened to prevent in the future."
Reverend says 'community came together to help with emergency'
Reverend Andy Bousfield continued: "The first people seemed to be absolutely fine, there were a few with injuries, some of them were shaken and just wanted somewhere to sit down.
"We just popped the kettle on and in fact some of the neighbours popped around with biscuits and milk… It’s a real pulling together.
"There were about 100, 120 people.. it was a lot of cups of tea. It was quite nice that the community came together at the last minute for an emergency.”
Reverend recalls 'walking wounded' as 10O evacuated
BTP Inspector Mullah Hoque said that 100 people had been evacuated in the "major incident".
He confirmed that there had been no fatalities, but a number of people were injured and "walking wounded".
Reverend Andy Bousfield took in 120 passengers from both trains into St Mark’s Church and described them as “visibly shaken”.
Boxes of plastic water bottles and blankets were brought to the casualty centre, with passengers being given food while there.
He said: "There were some people who were visibly shaken and others had some injuries and others were frustrated and just wanted to get home.
Safety inspectors investigating crash site this morning
In response to the Salisbury rail crash, an Office of Rail and Road (ORR) spokesman said: "ORR safety inspectors are on site this morning, working with the Rail Accident Investigation Branch and the British Transport Police to investigate how this incident happened.
"It is too early to speculate on the cause, and our investigation will work to understand the full circumstances.
";Our thoughts are with all the passengers that were injured."
When did the Salisbury train crash happen?
At around 6.45pm on Sunday night, a Great Western Rail service between Portsmouth Harbour and Bristol Temple Meads hit a mystery object in the Fisherton Tunnel near Salisbury.
The collision caused the rear carriage to derail.
Seven minutes later, the 5.20pm South Western Rail service from London Waterloo to Honiton in Devon ploughed into the stricken train.
Dozens of passengers were injured, although none critically.
A newborn baby was one of more than 100 people led to safety by brave firefighters.
Passnenger recalls sliding backwards under a table on GMB
Speaking to Good Morning Britain today about her horror when the collision struck, Lucy Gregory said: "First thing I did was message my dad. I've looked back at the messages.
"At 18.42pm I said we're coming into salisbury. At 18.43pm I messaged again saying our train has crashed.
"Just this impact - I actually slide backwards underneath the table on the opposite side of the train which then was digging into my back and my neck."
Schoolboy relives moment trains collided
Callum, from Weybridge, Surrey, had been returning to Warminster School after the half term when the incident happened.
The boarder said: “The train was quite full. I was standing. We felt a jolt and everything went black.
“We all landed on each other and the train was at 45 degrees on its side.
“Then lights started coming on from people’s phones and we started looking around, you see people with broken noses and black eyes and blood dripping.
“Some people had bad legs, there was one 17 year old lad who went to hospital with an injured leg, possibly broken.
“It was just really scary, the smoke was the worst part because you thought it was going to catch fire and you would die.”
Travel chaos caused by train collision to continue for several days
Disruption following a train crash in Salisbury which left several people injured will continue for several days.
National Rail Enquiries said most of the lines serving the Wiltshire city are blocked and "will remain closed until at least the end of the day on Thursday".
This is affecting Great Western Railway (GWR) services on the route linking Cardiff and Bristol with Portsmouth and Brighton.
Several South Western Railway (SWR) routes are also affected, such as London Waterloo-Exeter, Bristol-Salisbury and Southampton-Salisbury.
Passengers are urged not to travel on the affected parts of the network.
The collision between two trains happened at Fisherton Tunnel, close to London Road in Salisbury, at around 7pm on Sunday.
Anonymous senior railway whistleblower claims there was 'major flaw'
A senior railway engineer has claimed there must have been a "major flaw" that allowed the high-speed inter-city service to smash into the first locomotive.
The anonymous whistleblower told MailOnline when the Great Western Service derailed, there should be an "automatic obstruction warning" to stop any train from coming within a mile of it.
"There has been a major flaw within the signalling system within Network Rail," he said.
"According to my system, the signalling system was aware seven minutes before impact. It should’ve automatically stopped the train. It should’ve automatically set all signals to red. If the driver didn’t see the signal, the system should’ve made the train stop."
He said Network Rail has overseen "numerous failures" - and he'd feared such an incident for "two years".
'It all happened so fast' says terrified passenger
Passenger Dimitri Popa, from Romania, was travelling on the train from London to Sherborne when the terrifying crash occurred.
The 17-year-old recalled: "It all happened so fast...
"I was just sitting in the first carriage and there was a huge crash."
"The carriage was 45 degrees to the right. We didn't know where we were or anything... we were all just so shocked."
NHS trust confirms 13 people treated in hospital
Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust said 13 people were treated at Salisbury District Hospital following the train crash in the city.
It said in a statement: "Following the derailment in Salisbury last night, we can confirm that 13 casualties were treated at Salisbury District Hospital.
"Four of these casualties were admitted. One patient has been discharged and three remain as inpatients.
";We are pleased to report that all are in a stable condition."
Passenger recalls 'being thrown from seat' due to impact of collision
Sailor Morgan Harris, who was travelling from London Waterloo back to his base in Yeovil, said he was thrown from his seat due to the impact of the huge crash.
The 20-year-old said: “It was all going along normally then, all of a sudden, there was this massive bang and all of the lights went out.
“There were sparks and flames from where we had come off the track, and there was a load of ash coming from outside.
“Our train was on its side… I was thrown out of my seat and banged against the table.”
South Western Railway says its 'too early to speculate'
Claire Mann, managing director of South Western Railway, said it is "too early to speculate" about a collision between two trains in a tunnel near Salisbury.
She told Good Morning Britain: "Our focus at the moment is with the customers and colleagues that have been affected by this and obviously working with the emergency services to understand exactly what happened.
"Speculation is really not appropriate at this time. We really need to wait for the investigation to take its course and then we'll know exactly what happened.
"But I would like to say a big thank you to the emergency services who were really swift in response last night, and we moved people from the train quite quickly."
Nosie of train crash likened to 'a bomb'
A mother who was out trick or treating with her family nearby likened the noise of the crash to "a bomb" and "thunder".
Tamar Vellacott said she was walking outside with her young children, mother and partner on Jewell Close, Bishopdown, around a kilometre from the scene.
"It was a noise we've never heard before ... my young ones started panicking thinking it was a bomb and we said maybe a lorry had crashed on the London Road and not to panic," the 25-year-old said.
"There was no screeching like brakes, just a long rumbling sound like thunder hitting the railway line."
GWR says 'specalist teams continue investigations' today
In a statement, Great Western Railway (GWR) said the railway in the area would remain closed on Monday as "specialist teams continue their investigations".
It urged customers not to travel on the affected part of the network, adding the closure would affect SWR trains between Exeter and Basingstoke and GWR trains between Westbury and Portsmouth.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps tweeted: "My thoughts go out to those affected by the serious rail incident near Salisbury."
He said the Rail Accident Investigation Branch and Office of Rail and Road will investigate, adding: "We need to understand how this happened to prevent in the future."
Fire & rescue helped evacuate '100 people' from scene
Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service said in a statement it had helped evacuate "approximately 100 people" from the scene.
The driver had been trapped after the crash but was released from his cab having sustained injuries that were not believed to be serious, sources confirmed to the PA news agency.
A Network Rail spokesperson said: "At around 7pm this evening, the rear carriage of the 1708 Great Western Railway service from Portsmouth Harbour to Bristol Temple Meads derailed after striking an object on its approach to Salisbury station.
"The derailment knocked out all of the signalling in the area. Subsequently, the 1720 South Western Railway service from London Waterloo to Honiton then collided with the Bristol train."
British Transport Police statement in full
The statement said: "We were called to Fisherton Tunnel in Salisbury at 6.46pm tonight following reports of a train derailment which involved two passenger trains colliding.
";Officers are continuing to respond to the incident alongside our emergency service colleagues and the line is expected to be shut for some time.
"Thankfully there have been no fatalities however a number of people have been injured and a casualty centre has been opened at a nearby church.
"Most of these people are walking wounded however a small number, including the driver, have been taken to hospital where their injuries are being assessed.
"A major incident has been declared and this has been a large scale, multi-agency response working closely alongside our colleagues in Wiltshire. We will remain on scene throughout the night working to establish the full circumstances of how this incident came to happen."
Small number of people taken to hospital
A "small number" of people have been taken to hospital following a collision between two trains in Salisbury on Sunday evening.
The incident happened when a carriage was derailed after hitting an object, and a second train then crashed into it when signalling was damaged.
British Transport Police (BTP) said "a number of people" were injured in the incident, which occurred at Fisherton Tunnel close to London Road in the city.
In a statement late on Sunday night, BTP confirmed there were no fatalities in the incident, but a "small number" of people, including the driver of one of the trains, were taken to hospital to have their injuries assessed.