The family of a train driver killed in the Bedford crash have spoken of their ‘devastation’.
Shaun Burton, 60, was named as the only fatality of the rail crash that injured around 100 passengers on Friday.
His family said: ‘We are devastated by his loss. Our thoughts are also with those affected by this incident.’
A British Transport Police spokesman added: ‘Shaun’s family are also releasing this picture of him and would now like to ask for their privacy to be respected as they begin to come to terms with this devastating loss.
‘Our thoughts continue to be with them and his colleagues at East Midlands Railway.’
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Mr Burton, from Great Stukeley, Cambridgeshire, started his career on buses before moving into the railway industry.
He was well known for driving the Corby to London route and became a favourite among passengers.
Network Rail said the train crash, which killed one and injured more than 100, was a ‘tragic, isolated incident’, but has warned of significant delays.
Rail services will be disrupted until June 28 while a ‘complex recovery operation’ to remove the damaged trains and carriages from the track continues.
Rail passengers have been warned to expect disruption to services to and from Bedford for another week, and were urged to only travel if it is ‘necessary’.
There will be no services north of Luton on the busy commuter Thameslink line, and no EMR services south of Bedford, with a limited rail replacement bus service in operation between Luton and Bedford, Network Rail said.
Investigators are looking into whether a faulty signal led to the deadly train collision in Bedford, in which a train driver was killed, and dozens of others were seriously injured when two passenger trains collided just after 5 pm on Friday.
Footage from the aftermath shows the incident involved two East Midlands Railway (EMR) services, with one smashing into the back of another, which had stopped on the same line.
One person died and around 100 people were injured, 11 ‘very seriously’ and 22 seriously, the East of England Ambulance Service said.
Investigators are now looking into the circumstances surrounding the crash. The driver of the stopped train from Nottingham had been reporting a fault to staff on the phone when the other train slammed into it.
It is thought the second train may then have failed to trigger its automatic warning system, which is normally used if a train passes a yellow or red signal without braking.
When that occurs, an alarm goes off in the driver’s cab. If that warning is also ignored, the train protection system automatically applies the brakes. It’s unclear if this malfunctioned and led to the deadly smash.
What we know about the crash
At least one train carriage derailed in the crash.
All patients with the most serious injuries were taken to hospital, as were some of the 56 people who suffered minor injuries. Others were treated at the scene.
Passenger Dr Pete Knapp said he heard people ‘crying’ and ‘screaming’.
The 40-year-old described the carnage: ‘There was a moment of being flung into the chair in front, and then I saw smoke. People were crying, screaming, and people were so scared and confused.
‘I got up, and I saw a lot of people who were unable to speak, had broken legs, and then I managed to get out of the train, and because I’m quite thin, I was able to squeeze out through the gap in the doors.’
Dr Knapp said he saw ‘people with bandages’ and ‘people who couldn’t see straight’.
He said: ‘I’ve got blood all over my trousers and my back hurts like hell, but I’m all right.’
He said he had not felt the train slow down before the crash, but other passengers told him they had.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer described the crash as ‘hugely concerning’ and said he is ‘grateful to the emergency services for their swift response to this tragic incident’.
Online train trackers show the rolling stock involved in the crash were a class 360 and a class 810, with the front of the former hitting the rear of the latter.
EMR began rolling out class 810s in December last year, while class 360s are at least 20 years old.
Rail journalist Tony Miles said the crash appears to have been a ‘relatively slow speed collision’.
A spokesperson for Network Rail, which manages Britain’s rail infrastructure, said: ‘We are supporting the efforts of emergency services on scene and our thoughts are with everyone involved.’
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