The Rail Accident Investigation Branch said the East Midlands train in the Bedford train crash accelerated after Shaun Burton received an automatic warning for passing a red signal. The train then reached 76mph before braking began, and Burton died when it hit a stationary Nottingham-London train on the same track.
The updated interim report said 160 people were injured in the crash, which happened at about 5.13pm on 19 June. Burton, 60, was described by East Midlands Railway as a “dedicated railway professional”.
RAIB interim report
The report said Burton acknowledged the automatic warning after passing a danger signal, but the train kept accelerating before he applied the emergency brakes when the stationary train came into view. It slowed to 49mph before the collision.
The Rail Accident Investigation Branch said the accident was the fourth involving passenger trains on the UK railway since 2020. The train was a southbound Luton airport express from Corby, and it was a new Aurora class 810 model built by Hitachi and brought into service within the past six months on East Midlands Railway.
East Midlands Railway and Hitachi
The first train had stopped after braking when an AWS warning incorrectly sounded after passing a green signal. In the weeks after the crash, another class 810 train also incorrectly received an AWS warning indication at the same signal on green.
That sequence leaves the investigation focused on why the Corby train passed a red light and whether its safety systems were working correctly. The timing of the warning, the driver’s reaction, and the train’s rising speed now sit at the center of the inquiry.
Corby to Nottingham
The crash involved a train that had left Corby and struck a stationary Nottingham-London service on the same track near Elstow. The Rail Accident Investigation Branch said it will continue to seek to understand why the red signal was passed and whether the system on the Aurora class 810 functioned as intended.
For passengers and staff tied to East Midlands Railway, the interim report narrows the issue to the minutes before impact. It shows the train did not simply fail to stop; it accelerated after the warning, then braked only when the other train came into view.
