High-Speed Train Derails in Britain; 7 Die

A high-speed train derailed Friday on its way through a station north of London and one of its cars crashed onto the platform, scattering waiting passengers. Seven people were killed in the accident and nine seriously injured, officials said.

At least 45 others suffered less severe injuries, British Transport police said, in the sixth fatal accident since 1997 on Britain’s widely criticized rail network.

The northbound London-to-King’s Lynn train, carrying 151 people, went off the tracks in Potters Bar, a quiet suburban town 12 miles north of London.

It was thought to have been traveling at 100 mph, the regulation speed on that stretch of track, said Robin Gisbey, spokesman for Railtrack, which is responsible for rail infrastructure.

“All of a sudden I saw this train coming toward the platform. The first thing I did was run,” said Andy Perversi, who had been on the platform with about 25 people.

The train car came to a halt on the platform, lodged under the station roof.

Perversi said he then saw a woman lying on the rail line.

“I climbed down to help her. I took her pulse, and that was weak, and I tried to check if she was breathing,” he said. “I held her in my arms to try and comfort her and started screaming for help.”

Real estate agent Jeremy Birchell, 28, saw the crash from his nearby office.

“The train was absolutely hoofing along and some part of it must have been off the rails already, because it knocked away parts of the bridge,” he said.

“It was going at a tremendous speed and when it struck there was a really, really loud noise, and I could feel it as well. I have never seen or heard anything like it in my life.” He said he saw people leave the crashed car.

“There was one gentleman in his suit walking down the tracks with a head wound--he was still carrying his briefcase,” Birchell said.

Inspector Philip Trendall of the British Transport Police said the other cars on the train remained upright and incurred no significant damage.

It was too early to speculate on the cause of the crash, he said.

But Gisbey, of Railtrack, said, “We have no evidence the train has gone through any signals.”

Chief Supt. David Hatcher of the British Transport Police said it was not clear if all those killed had been in the car that flipped on its side. One of the bodies was found under the bridge that takes the railway line over a road.

Ron Tarling, 70, and his wife were in their car under the bridge, but escaped serious injury.

“There was a traffic jam. I was stuck in it. I heard the roar of a train. Then suddenly the roof all came crashing down. The whole of the roof caved in,” he said. “We got out, but we were showered with glass and debris.”

Helen Edmondson, of Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Ambulance Service, said that no one remained aboard the train and that everyone was being treated.

From his hospital bed, 29-year-old Mark Guest, one of the less seriously hurt, described how it felt as the car he sat in derailed.

“I remember falling and then hearing a loud bang and I felt the train coming off the tracks and then I just started rolling,” he said. “I could hear screaming and I was looking down the train and heard the glass shattering.”

As evening fell, dozens of police officers searched the site for clues to the cause of the crash.

The West Anglia Great Northern train derailed about 12:56 p.m., about 10 minutes after leaving London for King’s Lynn in Norfolk, eastern England.

Sixty-five people have been killed in five previous British rail accidents in the last five years.