Major incident after East Midlands Railway trains collide near Bedford

A driver was killed and 89 people were injured after two East Midlands Railway passenger trains collided near Bedford, turning the Friday evening peak into a major emergency response. British Transport Police declared a major incident as officers worked alongside Bedfordshire Police, fire crews and ambulance teams at the scene.

The collision happened at about 5.15pm on Friday 19 June 2026, near Kempston Hardwick, south of Bedford. The trains involved were the 16:40 Corby to London St Pancras service and the 15:50 Nottingham to London St Pancras service, and early accounts indicated that one train struck the rear of the other on the same line at Bedford South.

Emergency services were quickly overwhelmed by the scale of the crash. Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service said it was called at 17.14pm and sent seven fire engines and specialist vehicles to the site. The East of England Ambulance Service said 11 people suffered very serious injuries, 22 were seriously injured and 56 had minor injuries.

The death of the driver has placed immediate scrutiny on how two passenger services came to be on a collision course on one of the country’s busiest intercity corridors. The Rail Accident Investigation Branch sent inspectors to the scene to gather evidence, and the incident is now under formal safety investigation. That process is expected to examine the sequence of events, including signalling, train movement, staffing, maintenance and emergency-response arrangements.

Union leaders moved quickly to acknowledge the human toll. RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey said his thoughts were with the driver’s family, friends and colleagues, while ASLEF also expressed sympathy for the driver’s family and the injured passengers. The crash has left railway workers, passengers and emergency crews confronting a tragedy that unfolded in plain sight during the Friday rush, and it will now be judged not only by the scale of the injuries but by what it reveals about safety on a heavily used route into London.