Tracking analysis shared by an independent rail systems consultant suggests a rear-end collision involving the Corby service and a Nottingham service shortly after 17:11 BST, with the Nottingham train believed stationary. Nine people are reported to be in crit
At around the time the clock turns past 17:11 BST on Friday, a chain of movements turns into a single, catastrophic moment.
Nine people are in critical condition among 100 injured following a fatal rail collision. The question that has kept investigators and the public searching is not only what happened, but how it unfolded in the minutes before impact.
Peter Hicks, a railway systems consultant who runs the website Open Train Times, has analysed publicly available tracking data. His work focuses on piecing together the lead-up to the crash, using the movement of trains recorded in that data.
His analysis indicates that the Corby service collided with the rear of the Nottingham service shortly after 17:11 BST on Friday. Hicks says the Nottingham train was believed to have been stationary at the time of the collision.
The sequence, as described through the tracking data, runs like a tightly timed approach:
The Corby service was travelling on the fast line towards London, then switched to the slow line on approach to Bedford and arrived at platform 1 at 17:07.
The Nottingham train did not stop at Bedford. It passed via the fast line towards London at 17:09.
The Corby train left Bedford on the slow line as scheduled at 17:10 and then switched to the fast line.
Once the Corby train switched to the fast line, it was in motion directly behind the Nottingham train, which is believed to have been stationary.
The collision occurred some time after 17:11.
Railways are built to prevent exactly this kind of scenario. A signal warning of danger ahead is one of the systems designed to stop an approaching train from running into danger.
Now, with nine people fighting for their lives and 100 injured in total, it is up to the British Transport Police and the Rail Accident Investigations Branch to investigate what caused the incident and why those safeguards failed, or weren’t effective, in time.
The tracking picture makes one thing unmistakable: the minutes before the crash show decisions and switches of line, close enough to force the central question into focus—if the Nottingham train was stationary, how did the Corby service come to be moving directly behind it shortly after 17:11 BST?
rail collision Corby service Nottingham train Bedford platform 1 17:11 BST Network Rail tracking data Open Train Times British Transport Police Rail Accident Investigations Branch
How did they not stop? Just seems like the system failed somehow.
I saw 17:11 and immediately thought that’s like right after people got on… so scary. If the Nottingham train was stopped, why was the Corby one even allowed to be back there?
Not gonna lie I’m confused by the “fast line/slow line” parts. So Corby “switched” and then boom… but wasn’t there a signal? Like did the signal just lie or something? Also why is a consultant analyzing tracking data, isn’t that literally what cops do first?
Everyone keeps saying “safeguards failed” but it’s always vague. Maybe the stationary train wasn’t actually stationary and the tracking is off? Or maybe there was construction and they changed something and nobody said. I hate how it says it happened “some time after 17:11” like that’s supposed to help. Hope those nine make it.