3 Trains Pile Up in London; 36 Killed : 150 Hurt; Crews Cut Into Debris to Free Survivors

At least 36 people were killed and 150 injured when two crowded commuter trains crashed outside Britain’s busiest rail junction in London today and a third plowed into the wreckage, creating a vast tangle of crushed metal.

Rescuers reported that several bodies were still trapped in the wreckage of the country’s worst rail disaster in 13 years. Thirty-one of those injured were in serious condition.

In the confusion after the crash near Clapham Junction at the height of the morning rush hour, salvage teams feared that the death toll was higher. British transport police at one point reported 53 killed, and the ambulance service said 42.

One official said the death toll fluctuated because some bodies were dismembered.

Shortly after 8:15 a.m., a train carrying long-distance commuters from Poole in southwest England slammed into the back of a stationary local train from Basingstoke. Each was carrying several hundred passengers, many of them standing.

2 Cars Crushed

The impact crushed two cars and sent others snaking across a neighboring track where they were hit by an empty train heading out of London.

Stunned and bleeding passengers struggled out of the debris and were taken to local hospitals as firemen used cutting equipment to reach those trapped.

Ambulance spokesman Chris Webb said at least two people had limbs amputated as rescuers fought to free them from the wreckage.

British Rail said the Poole train was traveling within the Clapham Junction speed limit of 40 m.p.h. when it hit the stationary train.

‘The Roof Split Open’

A survivor, surveying the first mangled cars, told reporters: “The whole of the buffet car disintegrated. The roof split open like a ripe tomato, and that’s how we got out.

“We tried to find people underneath the rubble, but there was so much debris there was nothing we could do.”

Another survivor, from the Poole train, said: “There was a hell of a bang. The train seemed to shoot backward, and the guy opposite me flew into my face.

“Amazingly, there was not a lot of panic. It was fairly calm, and people were helping one another to get out.”

4 Main Lines Blocked

British Rail officials said the crash blocked four main lines into London from the west and the commuter belt around the capital.

British Rail Chairman Sir Robert Reid said an investigation of the crash will consider the possibility of human error or a signal failure. The engineer of the Poole train was among the dead.

The crash was British Rail’s worst since 1967 when 49 people were killed in a derailment in south London.

The biggest death toll was at Gretna Green in southern Scotland in 1915 when 227 people died in a crash between a troop train and a passenger train.