Tributes paid to ‘dedicated’ driver killed in train crash near Bedford as update issued on disruption
While authorities continue their investigation into the fatal incident in which 100 people were injured, it was announced that the name of the driver who died in the train accident near Bedford was Shaun Burton.
The 60-year-old man died when the East Midlands Railway (EMR) train he was driving crashed into the back of another train on the same line shortly after 5pm on Friday. In a tribute published by British Transport Police (BTP), his family said: “We are deeply saddened by his loss. Our thoughts are with those affected by this incident.”
Dave Calfe, general secretary of train drivers’ union Aslef, said: “We are all saddened by the death of Shaun Burton, who left a void in the lives of his family, friends and colleagues that will never be filled. Shaun, a train driver with the East Midlands Railway, joined the railway relatively late.
“He loved public transport; he worked on buses and coaches before becoming a train driver seven years ago.”
Mr Burton’s name comes as an investigation continues into how the Luton Airport Express train crashed into the back of another EMR train at around 5pm on Friday. Network Rail on Sunday launched a major operation to minimize expected significant disruption to railway lines, describing the accident as a “tragic, isolated incident”.
The railway disruption will continue until June 28 while a “complex recovery operation” is launched to remove damaged trains and carriages from the railway, the company said.
“Whilst investigations are still at an early stage, current indications are that this is a tragic, isolated incident,” Network Rail Eastern regional managing director Ellie Burrows said in a statement on Sunday.
The East of England Ambulance Service said nine people were in a critical condition on Saturday afternoon. 32 people were seriously injured and 57 people were slightly injured.
As the investigation was ongoing and recovery efforts were planned to last at least several days, rail passengers were urged to travel to and from Bedford only if “absolutely necessary”.
Network Rail said there would be no services on the busy commuter Thameslink line north of Luton and no EMR services south of Bedford, while a limited rail replacement bus service will operate between Luton and Bedford.
The ongoing investigation, led by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch, into what caused the Bedford train crash is expected to examine signal failures and the possibility of human error, an expert has said.
Investigators will examine black box data from both trains, as well as CCTV and existing signaling information.
“I think this is due to human error, system error, or some kind of interaction from the outside environment… It’s very difficult to say. [what happened]rail systems consultant Peter Hicks said Times Sunday.
“Them [the investigators] It will download from the systems on the trains which inputs the drivers made and which outputs they received from the signaling system. And they will be the ones who will be able to say what the root cause is and what the contributing causes are.”
Travel expert Simon Calder said: Sky News He said the train ahead stopped “due to a problem with the automatic warning system that alerts train drivers if there is a red signal ahead.”
On Saturday the RAIB said its investigators were still collecting evidence at the scene and would provide further updates “in the coming days once we have further information”.
Within the scope of the improvement works, the overhead lines that provide energy to the electric trains will be removed and a temporary access road will be built for the crane to approach the railway line.
Two 110-tonne Kirow cranes on the track will then lift the trains and wagons from the line, then a road crane will move them to a trailer for transport by road before engineers inspect the railway.
This work is expected to take days and no EMR services will operate between Bedford and London St Pancras during this time.
Trains that usually start and finish at London St Pancras will start and finish in Bedford instead, and some other lines will have a reduced service.
From Monday, Thameslink from London St Pancras north to Bedford will only operate a limited service as far as Luton.
The front end of a passenger plane traveling from Corby to London St Pancras at 4.40pm on Friday was crushed when it hit the rear of a passenger plane traveling from Nottingham to the same destination at 3.50pm.
The Corby train also suffered damage to the rear of the carriages, which were diverted to the forward carriages.
The crash was the first train collision in the UK in which one person died on the train since two trains collided head-on near Powys, Wales, in October 2024.
