Both trains involved in a fatal crash in mid Wales were moving at the time of the collision, investigators have revealed.

David Tudor Evans, 66, died after two trains crashed near the village of Llanbrynmair in Powys on 21 October.

It was initially said that a service from Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth hit a stationary train which was travelling from Machynlleth to Shrewsbury.

Now, the Rail Accidents and Investigations Branch (RAIB) has said both trains were moving at the time of impact and there was conflicting evidence about how fast they were going.

On Tuesday, the RAIB issued an update on the investigation, adding that an automated system that helps train wheels grip tracks failed.

It said initial analysis indicated the 1J25 service from Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth was travelling between 15mph (24 km/h) and 24mph (39 km/h).

The 1S71service from Machynlleth to Shrewsbury was travelling at about 6mph (10 km/h) in the opposite direction.

The RAIB said it inspected the automatic sanding system, which automatically sprays sand via hoses when a wheel slide is detected during braking, in a bid to generate more friction.

It said the inspection of the system fitted to train 1J25 showed these hoses on the leading vehicle of the train "were blocked and apparently unable to discharge sand".

I am reassured when on the Cornish main line that where the double line goes to single
line at Largin East with a 1 in 57 falling gradient towards Bodmin Road, there has historically, for
obvious good reasons, been a trap point and long sand drag.

I would have had some similar questions, but await reports rather than speculating too much.  I don't think that there ARE (real) signals there any more - the whole thing being under ERTMS.  And, yes, it would appear that there are not real trap points either, or if there are they didn't trap when that might have been expected. Interesting from the reports that the train from Aberystwyth seems to have been stationary at the time of collision.

Edit to add - Witham Bobby posted while I was writing the above .. which I have chosen to leave even though it broadly duplicates what he says

I would have had some similar questions, but await reports rather than speculating too much.  I don't think that there ARE (real) signals there any more - the whole thing being under ERTMS.  And, yes, it would appear that there are not real trap points either, or if there are they didn't trap when that might have been expected. Interesting from the reports that the train from Aberystwyth seems to have been stationary at the time of collision.

It seems to me that there is a small but real risk of a similar accident occurring in the future, unless mitigated by by very restrictive speed limits.
Sounds as though trap points would help. It appears that one train was driven correctly into the passing loop, where it should have been held at the signal protecting the exit from the loop onto the main line.
There has been no suggestion of any signalling failure, one may therefore presume that this signal was passed at danger due to poor adhesion.
Trap points, interlocked with the signal protecting the exit from the loop would prevent any repeat. Exit signal showing a proceed aspect=points in the normal position allowing train onto main line.
Exit signal at danger=trap points automatically set to divert the train into a sand drag.

It seems to me that there is a small but real risk of a similar accident occurring in the future, unless mitigated by by very restrictive speed limits.
Sounds as though trap points would help. It appears that one train was driven correctly into the passing loop, where it should have been held at the signal protecting the exit from the loop onto the main line.
There has been no suggestion of any signalling failure, one may therefore presume that this signal was passed at danger due to poor adhesion.
Trap points, interlocked with the signal protecting the exit from the loop would prevent any repeat. Exit signal showing a proceed aspect=points in the normal position allowing train onto main line.
Exit signal at danger=trap points automatically set to divert the train into a sand drag.

Not seen anything saying if the coach's were removed by rail or road.

Transport for Wales (TfW) is in the process of removing the two trains

So why don't these trains have an electromagnetic brake?

NS, the Dutch rail operator, identify the advantages as:
- roughening / cleaning of the rail (also for following trains);
- improved performance of the normal brakes;
- improved train detection.
They identify the disadvantages as:
- uncomfortable brake force when activated;
- wear of railhead;
- a speed dependent brake force;
- safety acceptance (variant / geography dependent);
- high maintenance costs.

Trains are expected to start running again on the Cambrian line between Machynlleth and Shrewsbury on Monday.

Buses have been replacing trains since last Monday, when two Transport for Wales trains collided head-on near Talerddig passing loop.

One man died and fifteen other passengers were injured, four of them seriously, when a westbound train overran the loop and collided with an eastbound train. It has been reported that the man who lost his life had suffered a heart attack.

On board the 18:31 to Aberystwyth as it smashed into another train



On Monday evening, Jonah Evans was relaxing on a train, watching a Netflix drama and completely unaware he was about to be involved in a fatal train crash.

"The driver comes running through the doors and shouts ‘brace yourselves, brace yourselves, we're going to hit another train’," says the 25-year-old.

He had just seconds to get into position before impact.  "I was thinking… ‘it’s been a good ride, it's been a good life’."

One passenger died, four were seriously injured and a further 11 people required hospital treatment following the crash.

The artist and graphic designer had just spent a weekend celebrating his birthday with friends in Bristol and was heading home to Borth, Ceredigion, when the crash happened at about 19:30 BST.

He says that after his train hit a stationary one, everything felt like it was in slow motion.

Passengers on the 18:31 westbound service from Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth, were thrown from their seats. Mr Evans was uninjured, apart from whiplash.

"Seeing all those people upset was horrible.... it kind of feels like a fever dream," he says.

"This one girl was really crying out, she was at a table seat and it proper hit her in the middle of her body and she started throwing up," he says.  "She started crying quite a lot... it was pretty horrendous."

He recalled seeing people around him with rib injuries, one person with a dislocated or broken arm and another person who had lost some teeth.

Another passenger Bethan Evans, who was knocked unconscious on the same train as Mr Evans, recalled seeing waking up to find passengers "flown out of their seats".

"The last thing I remember is reading one of my books and looking at the time," she says.  "I saw a few people with broken bones and hearing emergency CPR being called and a lot of staff running down."

Anthony Hurford, who was on the other train - the 19:09 train from Machynlleth to Shrewsbury - found himself on the floor "wondering what the hell had happened".

"The word that keeps coming to my head is just brutal really," he told BBC Breakfast.  "Somehow my body bent the leg of a table and ripped it off its bolts attached to the wall.  Suddenly I was on the floor with my laptop strewn ahead of me."

Tudor Evans, 66, from Capel Dewi in Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, who was in the second carriage, died following the crash - which happened near the village of Llanbrynmair in Powys.

On Thursday, his friend Iestyn Leyshon told the Newyddion S4C app that he and his wife had "just begun to travel after years of work and then this tragedy happens".

The couple were returning from a holiday in Italy at the time of the crash.  His family have thanked people for "kind messages and support", and asked for privacy.

How did the trains crash?



The crash happened on the Cambrian Line on a single track, close to a passing loop where opposite travelling trains can pass each other.

The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) said initial evidence suggested the crash occurred at a speed of approximately 24 km/h (15 mph).

It said it had deployed a team of inspectors to the site and on initial inspection found evidence that wheel to rail adhesion was relatively low, suggesting the train may have entered into wheel slide when braking.  It said low adhesion would be an area of ongoing investigation.  But what is low adhesion?

"That’s the jargony way of saying that the trains’ wheels are not gripping the top of the rail properly so you’re getting a sliding situation," says rail engineer and rail and transport writer Gareth Dennis.  "So if the breaks are being applied the train is just sliding along on top of the rail."

He says it could be caused by fallen leaves "or sometimes you get very strange combinations of mist and rain that can end up creating a bit of an oily surface on top of the rail head and that’s extremely slippery.  What will be interesting is understanding why we got to a situation where the rail was so slippery as a train hit another train," he says.  "We have systems in place to prevent that from happening and those haven’t worked so we ned to understand why and that might require some introspection from the industry."

How common are train crashes in the UK?


A full report into the crash is expected to take several months

“The reason rail incidents become big news like this is because they’re extremely rare events and that’s a good thing," says Mr Dennis.

The National Rail website states that train travel "remains one of the safest modes of transport in Great Britain".

One of the UK's most high-profile train accidents of last year was in September 2023, when the Flying Scotsman collided with stationary carriages at Aviemore Station in the Scottish Highlands, injuring two people.

The last train crash in Wales happened in 1991 inside the Severn Tunnel, which allows travel between south-west England and south Wales.  On 7 December, 1991, the 08:30 from London Paddington to Cardiff Central was stopped at a signal at the tunnel’s entrance.  The train’s driver was advised of a signal failure and told to proceed with caution, but about three miles into the tunnel, it was rear-ended by a class 155 Sprinter travelling from Portsmouth to Cardiff.  A total of 185 people were injured in the collision, five of whom were seriously hurt.

It is not yet clear when we will find out exactly what happened on Monday.

Network Rail's route director, Nick Millington, says the investigation is going to be "complex".

TfW chief operating officer Jan Chaudhry-van der Velde says a full report would take several months to be processed.

Mr Dennis says it is imperative the public were given clear answers.

"To reassure the public the industry needs to be honest, not hide behind 'well the regulator said this, the regulator said that' and be honest with the public about how this has happened," he says.

He says after the RAIB gives its final report the industry should "respond constructively and in a way that shows some contrition that something has gone wrong".

"Because something has gone wrong here," he says.  "For there to be two trains crashing into one another and resulting people being injured and worse, something has gone wrong."

The crumpled state of one cab is clear. I wonder why one cab suffered such damage whilst the other cab looks almost undamaged.

Passenger who died in mid Wales train crash named

A man who died after the train he was travelling on collided with another train in mid Wales has been named locally as Tudor Evans.

He was in his 60s and from the Aberystwyth area of Ceredigion.

Four other people were seriously injured in the crash near Llanbrynmair, Powys, on Monday evening, and a further 11 required hospital treatment, according to the Rail Accident Investigations Branch (RAIB).

British Transport Police said it did not currently believe his death was as a result of injuries sustained in the crash.

Mr Evans had been travelling on the 18:31 westbound service from Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth on Monday evening when it hit a stationary train heading from Machynlleth to Shrewsbury.

On initial inspection, the RAIB found that the train may have entered into wheel slide when braking.

It said initial evidence suggested the collision occurred at a speed of approximately 24km/h (15mph).

Transport for Wales (TfW) chief operating officer Jan Chaudhry van der Velde said a full report would take several months to be processed.

Politicians sent their thoughts to train crash victims during prime minister's questions on Wednesday.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner sent her "condolences to those affected by the train crash in Powys".

Deputy leader of the opposition Oliver Dowden echoed her comments about the crash.

At around 19:26 on the evening of 21 October 2024, the 18:31 Transport for Wales passenger service from Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth collided with another train on Network Rail’s Cambrian line, approximately 800 metres west of the passing loop located at Talerddig, Powys. Initial evidence suggests that collision occurred at a speed of approximately 24 km/h (15 mph). The second train involved was the 19:09 Machynlleth to Shrewsbury passenger service, also operated by Transport for Wales.

One passenger tragically died and four other people were seriously injured. Eleven more people sustained injuries which required hospital treatment.

RAIB’s initial inspection of the track on approach to the point of collision found evidence that wheel/rail adhesion was relatively low, suggesting that the train may have entered into wheel slide when braking. This will be an area of ongoing investigation.

I should not start reading anything into Network Rail "inspecting" rather than "repairing" the track should I ...

The Sectional Appendix gives a Mileage for Tallerdig at 61m 26ch.  Just on the Machynlleth side of the summit

I believe Llanbrynmair is at around 65m, reading that gradient profile

Earlier on Monday TfW advised passengers its services were running at reduced speeds through Dovey Junction station - which is on the same line - because previous trains reported the track was "extremely slippery".

The operator suspended all services on the separate Heart of Wales line on Tuesday "until further notice" due to "poor rail conditions".

Line profile -  https://www.railwaydata.co.uk/linefiles/route/?ELR=SBA2 -  I am trying to work out where the loop is which (amazingly) this link doesn't seem to tell me!

Jan Chaudhry-Van Der Velde, chief operations Officer for TFW spoke to BBC Radio Wales and says the Rail Accident investigation team arrived at the scene last night and their investigation continues today.

Mr Chaudary said the trains were at a section of the Cambrian Line. The line is largely single line, he said, and where trains need to pass they use a passing loop, like when you have a passing place on a single track road.

He said he thinks the line will remain closed today but trains run from Mach to Aber and Mach to Pwllheli. There are replacement buses otherwise.

The Rail Accident Investigation Bureau team arrived last night but will continue its investigation during the day. Mr Chaudary said they will deliver a short bulletin summary of findings usually in the first few days and a fuller report in several months.

He said disruption will continue until the RAIB have completed their work of collecting evidence. TFW will then need to remove the trains and return them to the depot for repair and Network Rail will have to inspect the track. That will, he said, take a few days and he warned people to check before they travel.

at Llanbrynmair on the Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth line at 19:30pm Monday night,sad to report that one fatality has been reported.

Images are being shown on Sky news.

A man has died following a low-speed collision involving two trains in Wales, British Transport Police (BTP) has confirmed.

A further 15 people have been taken to hospital with injuries not believed to be life-threatening or life-changing, the force said.

All other passengers have been been evacuated from both trains.

The crash happened near the village of Llanbrynmair, in Powys, at around 19:30 BST on Monday.

The services involved were the 18:31 from Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth and the 19:09 from Machynlleth to Shrewsbury.