Two trains crashed this evening (Sunday, October 31st) between Andover and Salisbury – in an incident that British Transport Police says has left several people injured, but thankfully no fatalities.
Emergency services were called to the incident at Fisherton Tunnel near Salisbury Station, involving the 5.08pm Great Western Railway service between Portsmouth Harbour and Bristol Temple Meads and the 5.20pm South Western Railway service from London Waterloo and Honiton.
A statement from Great Western Railway said: “A GWR and an SWR train collided just outside Fisherton Tunnel near Salisbury. 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 and we urge customers not to travel on this part of the network.
“We’re extremely grateful to the emergency services who attended the scene and helped our customers and staff in extremely difficult circumstances.
“We will be co-operating fully with the British Transport Police and Rail Accident Investigation Branch to understand how this incident happened.”
In a Tweet on Sunday night, British Transport Police said that officers were called at 6.46pm following reports a train derailed. It said that a casualty centre has been set up at St Mark’s Church.
It later Tweeted: “A number of people have been injured, but thankfully no one has died.”
Approximately 50 firefighters were initially working with the police, ambulance service and Network Rail.
Martin Frobisher, safety and engineering director, at Network Rail, said: “Passengers had a rough day yesterday for which we are truly sorry.
“Our engineering teams have battled through the night to repair the storm damage, all of which has been successfully completed and services have resumed this morning out of London Euston and London King’s Cross.
“There will be some residual delays and cancellations today, particularly out of Euston and passengers should check their journey plans with their operators websites for more details.
“The line through Salisbury following last night’s collision, remains closed as investigations into the incident continue today.”
RAIB said it is “deploying inspectors to the site of a collision between two trains near Salisbury Tunnel Junction. On arrival they will commence a preliminary examination of the scene.”
An Office of Rail and Road (ORR) spokesperson said: “ORR safety inspectors are on site this morning, working with the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) 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.”
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