Major Incident at Huntingdon (01/11/2025)

[dk1]

Let us hope that the quick thinking, well executed response of the driver/guard/signalman is held up next time the gutter press grumble about the amount drivers are paid.

if history is anything to go by then the press soon revert to type.

 

[35B]

Let us hope that the quick thinking, well executed response of the driver/guard/signalman is held up next time the gutter press grumble about the amount drivers are paid.

Only drivers' pay? Let's just acknowledge that staff, of whatever grade and pay level, sometimes perform outstandingly well and better than we have any right to expect - regardless of whether they are paid like airline pilots or white van men. Last night was one such - and all praise to all involved.

 

[Steve Harris]

It's near Stilton Fen / Holme on the two track section just south of Peterborough. Huntingdon was previously controlled by Kings Cross PSB before moving to York ROC.

Sorry but you are totally incorrect with that statement. The Boundary between Peterborough and King's Cross PSB's (before they both moved to York ROC) was between Biggleswade and Sandy ! See https://www.opentraintimes.com/maps/signalling/ecm2 (K= Kings Cross, P= Peterborough). Huntingdon was under Peterborough's control until the area was recontroled to York ROC.

 

[whoosh]

19:42:37 Signal 352 displays a proceed aspect
19:42:51 1Y90 passes signal 352 and it displays a danger aspect, and then enters Platform 2 at Sandy

Thankyou for your detailed timeline. You just need to edit in Huntingdon instead of Sandy.

 

[Tom B]

Only drivers' pay? Let's just acknowledge that staff, of whatever grade and pay level, sometimes perform outstandingly well and better than we have any right to expect - regardless of whether they are paid like airline pilots or white van men. Last night was one such - and all praise to all involved.

Quite, but very often tabloid papers throw in references to drivers pay for any or no reason in any story involving the railways...

 

[norbitonflyer]

It's been widely reported in the media that the first 999 call was received at 19.39 and BTP received a call at 19.41, so I don't know why you have come up with 19.36 when the timing of calls is already in the public domain

I missed that, but what I said was that it was no earlier than 1936, which is consistent with the actual time being 1939.

 

[stuartl]

BBC are now reporting that one of the people in a life threatening condition is a member of LNER staff who tried to stop the attacker. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cm2zvjx1z14t?post=asset:833aada0-be5d-4dba-b0cd-3c611fa9cca0#post

 

[Steve Harris]

BBC are now reporting that one of the people in a life threatning condition is a member of LNER staff who tried to stop the attacker.

See:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cm2zvjx1z14t?post=asset%3A833aada0-be5d-4dba-b0cd-3c611fa9cca0#post

17:50Breaking

More now from the police update:

"Five casualties have now been discharged from hospital and one remains in a life-threatening condition.

"This casualty is a member of LNER rail staff who was on the train at the time and tried to stop the attacker.

 

[Segedunum]

Quote from the rolling coverage:

"Five casualties have now been discharged from hospital and one remains in a life-threatening condition.

"This casualty is a member of LNER rail staff who was on the train at the time and tried to stop the attacker.

"Detectives have reviewed the CCTV from the train and it is clear his actions were nothing short of heroic and undoubtedly saved many people's lives."

 

[Bald Rick]

My somewhat buggy website gets a mention... I don't currently display route data in that area. Here is a link if anyone wants to look themselves.

Great summary, thank you for posting that.

If it's true that the first 999 calls were recieved at 19:39 that is some commendably and seriously impressive quick thinking and communications between the driver / train manager / signaller which no doubt saved lives.

I think it is reasonable to assume the driver had knowledge of events on the train through passcoms (BBC have reported there were ‘alarms’ going off in the ) which may have been a little before 999 calls were logged. The driver would then have been on to Huntingdon workstation straight away, whilst braking for the turnout at Huntingdon North junction for which the signalling was not yet set.

Absolutely commendable action by the driver a) for pressing yellow rather than red, b) for knowing exactly where he/she was and that Huntingdon was possible and the best option, and c) working with the signaller to make that happen swiftly.

* On most trains when the passcomm is activated a specific alarm sounds in the cab. If the driver makes an announcement (some reports suggest announcements were made during the incident, acknowledging what was happening and that staff were doing something about it), then the alarm will be audible in the background.


EDIT: whilst I was posting, news of the member of LNER staff who tried to stop the sole attacker has emerged. Commendable and very courageous action by him as well, of course.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

BBC are now reporting that one of the people in a life threatening condition is a member of LNER staff who tried to stop the attacker. Police saying that their 'heroic actions' saved lives.

Let’s hope he gets awarded a George Cross.

 

[35B]

Let’s hope he gets awarded a George Cross.

Let’s see - I get the impression that that kind of medal can sometimes be a burden as much as an award.

 

[Vexed]

Thankyou for your detailed timeline. You just need to edit in Huntingdon instead of Sandy.

Thanks, already done

Sorry but you are totally incorrect with that statement. The Boundary between Peterborough and King's Cross PSB's (before they both moved to York ROC) was between Biggleswade and Sandy ! See https://www.opentraintimes.com/maps/signalling/ecm2 (K= Kings Cross, P= Peterborough). Huntingdon was under Peterborough's control until the area was recontroled to York ROC.

Oops . Mixing up the YC (Peterborough) and YD (Huntingdon) train describer boundary with the old PSB boundary there.

 

[6Gman]

Let us hope that the quick thinking, well executed response of the driver/guard/signalman is held up next time the gutter press grumble about the amount drivers are paid.

Or indeed - as I saw online recently - that drivers only need six weeks of training!

 

[KevinBrum12]

For the love of Gresley, I hope the LNER staff member pulls through.

 

[AlterEgo]

However, previous posters have asked why the (mainstream) media were unable to identify the train earlier. At that point, the only official information they had to go on was "a train in Cambridgeshire". It was only us with knowledge of signal berths and reporting codes who were able to quickly identify the train using online signal maps and sites like RTT. Journalists might not be aware of these sites, or how to interpret them properly, in order to 100% identify the service - partly for the reasons I made in the post you have quoted.

They are aware of them and contacted @Tom who runs one of those sites for clarification. Understandably he declined, because he runs the site and is not operational staff; that is exactly what I would do.

Regardless, misinformation spread because journalists were unprepared to state what was a known fact they could source from open data because of their own guidelines. It isn't a criticism of those journalists but it does illustrate how poor the mainstream media is institutionally at keeping abreast of issues and even identifying a train. Anons on the internet know and that is why there were 1000 watchers last night.

Even Reddit had the correct answer.

The risk of misidentifying the train leading to high distress to the public is high.

They BBC was happy to quote - without fact checking - an MP who misidentified it! This is for the sole reason they are an MP.

 

[Nova1]

The BBC on the rolling feed have posted about how the driver and signaller worked together to stop at a station.

Guessing that’s been written from comments here, as there’s been no official source!

 

[adc82140]

Can we raise a glass to @ainsworth74 for his watchful eye on the forum yesterday evening when there were at one point over 1000 people viewing this thread?

Hopefully those visitors lurking will have seen that Rail Forums is the antithesis to the cesspool that is Twitter/X.

 

[Horizon22]

Great summary, thank you for posting that.




I think it is reasonable to assume the driver had knowledge of events on the train through passcoms (BBC have reported there were ‘alarms’ going off in the ) which may have been a little before 999 calls were logged. The driver would then have been on to Huntingdon workstation straight away, whilst braking for the turnout at Huntingdon North junction for which the signalling was not yet set.

Absolutely commendable action by the driver a) for pressing yellow rather than red, b) for knowing exactly where he/she was and that Huntingdon was possible and the best option, and c) working with the signaller to make that happen swiftly.

* On most trains when the passcomm is activated a specific alarm sounds in the cab. If the driver makes an announcement (some reports suggest announcements were made during the incident, acknowledging what was happening and that staff were doing something about it), then the alarm will be audible in the background.


EDIT: whilst I was posting, news of the member of LNER staff who tried to stop the sole attacker has emerged. Commendable and very courageous action by him as well, of course.

I’m sure that probably 2-3 minutes before the 999 calls the driver was made aware. An 80x stock has audible alerts for passcoms / egresses and no doubt multiple of these were being pressed in quick succession. But I imagine 999s call weren’t far behind.

As you say though, incredibly quick thinking from all involved to ensure the safest possible outcome for everyone on board.

 

[Adam Williams]

Quote from the rolling coverage:

"This casualty is a member of LNER rail staff who was on the train at the time and tried to stop the attacker."

"Detectives have reviewed the CCTV from the train and it is clear his actions were nothing short of heroic and undoubtedly saved many people's lives."

Really hoping they pull through; nobody should have to face something as horrific as this at work.

 

[Horizon22]

Do we know if it was a passenger or rail staff member who made the 999 call?

I would imagine multiple calls in quick succession. Staff would probably go through signaller > route control > BTP but in an emergency on board staff may well call 999 as well (if they can) as they can also providing train running info.

It says 999 calls at 19:39 whilst BTP informed at 19:42, so it stands to reason the local police were advised slightly before via 999. Quite where the operator would have sent people at the very beginning I don’t know, but no doubt within minutes emergency services were redirected to the station.

 

[AlterEgo]

Any news on the grade of the injured staff member? (Please don't identify them of course)

If the message has got through to the driver without a guard (if it is them who was incapacitated) then another staff member has acted very quickly.

 

[455refurb]

Thoughts and prayers for the crew member now fighting for their life. And, undoubtedly the driver and signaller have between them saved a lot of lives with their quick and professional action to get the train rapidly platformed.

I hope their collective action will be recognised in the days and weeks to come.

 

[Horizon22]

Here’s LNER MD David Horne’s statement (via BTP):

https://www.btp.police.uk/news/btp/news/england/investigation-update-following-major-incident-at-huntingdon--cambridgeshire/

“We are deeply shocked and saddened by yesterday's incident and our thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected, particularly our colleague who remains in a life-threatening condition, and their family.

“I would like to thank the emergency services for their quick and professional response and the care they provided to those injured. I would also like to recognise the driver, crew and our operational response colleagues for their bravery and quick actions.

"This is a deeply upsetting incident. Over the coming days we will continue to cooperate with the authorities involved and will do everything we can to support our customers and colleagues during this very difficult time."

 

[VP185]

ignoring everything else, it is without doubt the actions of the traincrew, signaller, control and station staff have prevented a far more serious event. Those individuals whether publicly or privately need recognising for their actions. They have saved countless lives.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

ignoring everything else, it is without doubt the actions of the traincrew, signaller, control and station staff have prevented a far more serious event. Those individuals whether publicly or privately need recognising for their actions. They have saved countless lives.

Amen to that. I totally concur.

 

[800001]

Any news on the grade of the injured staff member? (Please don't identify them of course)

If the message has got through to the driver without a guard (if it is them who was incapacitated) then another staff member has acted very quickly.

Let's just wait until official information is released.

 

[ANDREW_D_WEBB]

Also worth a thank you to the bus / coach staff who got uninjured passengers safely on their way to London and who have today operated rail replacement services to allow the good people of Huntingdon to access rail services.

 

[800001]

ignoring everything else, it is without doubt the actions of the traincrew, signaller, control and station staff have prevented a far more serious event. Those individuals whether publicly or privately need recognising for their actions. They have saved countless lives.

100% this ^^

All of the people involved will of dealt with many situations, but nothing will ever prepare you for something like last night.

Thoughts with the member of LNER staff currently in hospital. You are a hero.

 

[greatkingrat]

National Rail now saying Huntingdon station will remain closed all day Monday.