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On 6 November 2004 at 18:12 GMT, the 17:35 First Great Western departure from London Paddington to Plymouth hit a stationary car at an automatic level crossing, located close to the rural Berkshire village of Ufton Nervet. The rear of the 220m HST set came to rest approximately 100 metres beyond the crossing with all eight passenger cars derailing. Six people were killed in the crash, including the driver of the car and driver of the train. One patient subsequently died in hospital, to give a total number of fatalities of seven. Approximately 300 people were on board at the time of the incident, with around half of these injured, including twelve serious casualties. Eleven people had to be cut free from the wreckage.

Background

In Britain, fully automatic "half barrier" level crossings are used on quiet roads where rail linespeed is less than 100MPH. These are unmonitored and are designed so that a car can not get accidentally trapped behind a forward barrier. This also allows a person to attempt to "zig zag" around the barriers onto the track, usually in an attempt to save time. On busier roads bridges or tunnels are preferred, or where this would be prohibitively expensive, a full barrier crossing is built. These are always monitored by CCTV, or less often in person, and the facing barriers are only closed once all cars have cleared the line.

Investigation

A joint investigation has begun between Thames Valley Police and the British Transport Police. The primary focus will be on how the car got onto the track, and why it stayed there. Also under investigation is why the train derailed so catastrophically when it met with points further down the line.

An eyewitness, an off-duty policeman, states that the driver of the car drove onto the line while the barriers were up, and then remained there when the automated warning signals went off in an apparent suicide attempt. He attempted to alert the signallers, but before contact could be made the train collided.

It has been determed through cab data recorders that there was no wrongdoing on the part of the driver.

List of the Deceased

• Stanley Martin, 54 (Train driver)
• Bryan Drysdale, 48 (Car driver)
• Charlie Matthews, 72
• Barry Strevens, 55
• Anjanette Rossi, 38
• Emily Webster, 14
• Louella Main, 9

See also

• List of British rail accidents
• grid reference SU616687

References

• 'Several' die in train derailment - BBC News
• BBC reporter eyewitness report - BBC News
• Seven train crash dead are named - BBC News
• First Great Western press release

• Current events
• Railway accidents