Site of the Ladbroke Grove rail crash (London)

United Kingdom / England / Richmond / London
 railway accident site (derailment, collision, etc), invisible, notable by news
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The Ladbroke Grove rail crash (aka the Paddington Rail Crash) was a fatal head-on collision which happened here on the Great Western Main Line. 31 people were killed and over 500 injured making it by far the worst accident on British railways in recent years.
At this point, there are several crossings here between the approach tracks to Paddington's platforms, and the standard four-track main line. The accident was caused by a Signal Passed at Danger by an inexperienced driver of a local train. This was the eighth time in the last six years that particular signal had been overrun. The signalling centre at Slough assumed that the train would stop as had happened previously.
The local train collided head-on with a First Great Western High-Speed Train coming the opposite way at 08:08, and was totally destroyed in the impact and the wreckage caught fire. Both drivers were killed along with 29 passengers. Over half the injured people had to go to hospital.
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   51°31'29"N   -0°12'55"E
This article was last modified 10 years ago