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Fourteen people have been hurt, three critically injured, as a train derailed in a crash with a lorry on a level crossing in Suffolk.

The two-carriage diesel passenger train collided with the heavy goods vehicle on Bures Road in Little Cornard, Sudbury, at about 1735 BST.

Network Rail said the train driver of the 1731 service from Sudbury to Marks Tey was one of the three seriously ill.

A 38-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving.

A sewage tanker hit the train on the level crossing at Sewage Works Lane.

Suffolk Police have described it as a "major incident". Fire crews are also at the scene.

A police spokeswoman said there were three casualties who could not be moved from the train and it is believed they have suffered spinal injuries.

A fire service spokeswoman said it had been the rear of the train's two carriages which derailed in the crash. Both train carriages remained upright.

Network Rail said the level crossing is on private land and has a locked gate on it.

It said anyone wanting to go across the level crossing needed to call the signaller to raise the gates. However, it said it had not received any calls prior to the crash.

A doctor and medical team went on board the train to provide triage for casualties.

The train was believed to be carrying more than 20 passengers, about 10 of whom were initially described as "walking wounded".

Sharon Smith, 49, who was in her nearby garden when the crash happened, said: "I heard a massive bang. Everybody in the area ran to see what happened. At first I thought it was a car accident. But when I ran up the road I could see two carriages had hit a tanker."

She said many passengers got out of the train and gathered at the sides of the road.

Ms Smith said she stood in the road to help clear traffic.

Network Rail said in a statement: "The crossing is a user-worked crossing with gates and telephone. The Network Rail signaller did not receive a phone call from the user of the crossing. British Transport Police are on scene and co-ordinating the response."

From the BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-11006018):

LEVEL CROSSING INCIDENT - SUDBURY, SUFFOLK - UPDATE 20.05

British Transport Police (BTP) can confirm that a train has struck a large tanker, believed to be a sewage tanker, at an unmanned level crossing in Sudbury, Suffolk.

BTP was alerted at 5.37pm today, Tuesday, 17 August, and police and emergency services are attending the scene.  BTP has a senior detective on scene.

It is believed that there are at least 10 walking wounded and three more seriously injured.

A 38-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving following the collision.

The train, the 1731 National Express East Anglia service, was travelling between Sudbury and Marks Tey with around 20 passengers on board.

The crossing is a user-worked crossing with gates and telephone.

This press release will be updated as soon as more information becomes available.

LEVEL CROSSING INCIDENT SUDBURY, SUFFOLK - UPDATE 20.15

It is believed that there were 18 casualties, two with life threatening injuries.  Two more are described as ^serious^ and there are 14 walking wounded.  All Casualities are being treated at either Colchester General or Addenbrooke Hospital.

Eighteen hurt in train and lorry crash in Suffolk

Eighteen people have been hurt, four seriously injured, as a train derailed in a crash with a lorry on a level crossing in Suffolk.

Network Rail said the train driver of the 1731 service from Sudbury to Marks Tey was one of four seriously ill.

Rather than just "Dangerous Driving" there should be a more specific offence of "Abuse of a Level Crossing Causing an Accident with a Train" or something on those lines, to emphasise the unique seriousness of the of the offence.

German train crashes into rubbish truck

At least 15 people were hurt, one seriously, when a train crashed into a truck after it slid down a hill and onto railway tracks.

The inter-city train travelling between Frankfurt and Paris partially derailed when it hit the lorry carrying bins, officials said.

The train was not travelling at high speed when the collision happened, 80 miles (130km) southwest of Frankfurt.

The driver of the truck was seriously injured. He was flown to hospital.

A British citizen and employees of the railway were among those lightly injured, reports said.

Trains were being re-routed via Strasbourg and the line will be closed for at least a day, police said.

 

Should it turn out - in the case of any road / rail collision - that someone was criminally negligent, then - yes - the full weight of the law should be thrown at them.  But there isn't always a negligent road driver - I'm sure regulars here will recall at least one incident in the last couple of years where causes turned out to be very different.   I also note that there's a contradiction (perhaps just a technical one) even in the reports so far - it's even unclear to me if the train ran into the road vehicle, or the road vehicle ran into the train.

It would appear that the train ran into the road vehicle due to the damage to the front cab of the train.

A sewage tanker hit the train ...

This accident sorry, negligent stupid act, is looking very much the fault of the lorry driver as he didn't phone the signalman, on the guardians website is a picture of the crossing showing the clear "Stop" sign for road users and underneath all the instructions for using the crossing, lets hope they throw the book at this idiot! It looks as if the unit could be a write off looking at the state of the cab, I believe NXEA are already short of DMU's!

Thank god no-one was killed!

SUDBURY TRAIN INCIDENT - ARREST UPDATE 5.30PM

The driver of the tanker involved in a collision with a train near Sudbury in Suffolk will remain in custody overnight after the court granted British Transport Police detectives more time to question him.

The 38-year-old man from Ely, Cambridgeshire is being questioned on suspicion of endangering safety on the railway.

A train struck a large sewage tanker carrying ^sludge^, at an unmanned level crossing near Sudbury, Suffolk on Tuesday, 17 August.  BTP was called to the incident at 5.37pm, where 21 people were injured.

Tanker cleared from Suffolk train crash site

The sewage tanker involved in a crash in which a train was derailed has been removed from the scene.

Work has been going on to re-open the rail line in Suffolk where a train crashed, injuring 21 people.

When there is an accident that proves to be the fault of a train driver (a SPAD for example).  There is a clamour to prosecute the TOC and or NR.  Look at what happened to Thames Trains.  presumably here there is a case for prosecuting the lorry driver's employer.  If the rail crossing was a regular acess point to the sewage works then it was a known hazzard and the water company ought to have taken steps to mitigate it.  I wonder if their drivers had been told how to use the crossing and or whether their behaviour on it had been monitored.  If they were train drivers not following the correct procedure wrt the signallers would have been noted and severly dealt with/   

Driver of sewage tanker in Suffolk train crash in court

The 38-year-old driver of a tanker involved in a collision with a train in Suffolk has appeared in court charged with endangering safety on the railway.

Arvydas Bartasius, of Hawthorn Close, Ely, Cambridgeshire, appeared before Bury St Edmunds Magistrates' Court.

The incident happened at an unmanned level crossing near Sudbury when the first of the train's two carriages was derailed, injuring 22 people.

Mr Bartasius was remanded on conditional bail until 1 October.

The 1731 BST National Express East Anglia service was thought to be travelling between 50mph and 60mph as it made its way from Sudbury in Suffolk to Marks Tey in Essex when it was in collision with the tanker.

A 58-year-old passenger remains in a "serious but stable" condition at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge. Twenty-one other people were injured.

The lorry was removed from the line shortly after midnight on Wednesday and railway services on the line resumed on Friday morning.

Investigation into a collision between a passenger train and a lorry on a level crossing near Sudbury, Suffolk, on 17 August 2010

The RAIB is carrying out an investigation into a collision that occurred at Sewage Works Lane level crossing, 1.5 miles south of Sudbury in Suffolk, on 17 August 2010.

The accident occurred at around 17:35 hrs when train 2T27, the 17:31 hrs service from Sudbury to Marks Tey, struck the trailer of a loaded articulated tanker lorry on the crossing, causing the leading carriage of the two-car class 156 diesel multiple unit to derail.

There were about 19 passengers on the train and two crew members (driver and conductor).  It is reported that all persons on the train received injuries as a consequence of the impact with one passenger sustaining critical injuries.

The impact separated the tractor unit of the lorry from the tank causing a major spillage of the tank^s contents.  Some diesel fuel was also released during the accident.

Sewage Works Lane crossing is a ^user worked crossing^, as is often found at the intersections between the railway and minor (usually private) roads.  At all such crossings the road user is required to operate gates or barriers when crossing the railway.

No lights or audible alarms were provided at the crossing to warn of the approach of trains.  However, the crossing was provided with telephones to enable the drivers of vehicles to call the signaller to confirm if it was safe to cross.

The RAIB^s investigation is independent of any investigations by the British Transport Police and the safety authority (the Office of Rail Regulation).

The RAIB will publish a report, including any recommendations to improve safety, at the conclusion of its investigation. This report will be available on the RAIB website.

Driver of tanker in Suffolk train crash pleads guilty

The driver of a tanker involved in a crash with a train in Suffolk has admitted endangering safety on the railway.

The first of the train's two carriages was derailed, injuring 22 people, at an unmanned level crossing near Sudbury on 17 August.

Arvydas Bartasius, 38, of Hawthorn Close, Ely, Cambridgeshire, appeared at Ipswich Crown Court.

Bartasius will return to the court for sentencing on 26 November.

The 1731 BST National Express East Anglia service was thought to be travelling between 50mph and 60mph as it made its way from Sudbury in Suffolk to Marks Tey in Essex when it was in collision with the tanker.

Suffolk train crash tanker driver jailed

The driver of a sewage tanker which collided with a train in Suffolk has been jailed for 15 months.

Arvydas Bartasius, 38, of Hawthorn Close, Ely, Cambridgeshire, admitted endangering safety on the railway.

Ipswich Crown Court heard two train carriages were derailed and 21 people injured in the incident near Sudbury.

Bartasius's tanker collided with a National Express East Anglia train from Sudbury to Marks Tey, in Essex, at an unmanned level crossing on 17 August.

Bartasius was also disqualified from driving for three years.

The court heard that Bartasius drove on to a level crossing and a passenger train travelling at an estimated 50mph hit his tanker.