British Disasters, Paddington Train Crash

In October 1999, two high speed passenger trains collided at Ladbroke Grove rail junction, two miles west of London’s Paddington station. The trains met almost head on at a combined speed of 130mph. The impact, combined with subsequent diesel fires in the wreckage, resulted in the death of 31 people, both drivers died.

The crash was blamed on a series of system failures, including inadequate driver training, poor signal visibility and insufficient emergency procedures.

The Great Western Train was the 06.03 from Cheltenham to Paddington, It was travelling eastwards towards Paddington on what is technically known as the "up main line". It was following a previous train along the same route at a safe distance and was receiving green signals.

The Thames Train service was the 08.06 from Paddington to Bedwyn, It had started from Paddington on line 3, then crossed to line 4 before returning to line 3 on the approach to signal SN109.

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