Event    From 5/10/1999  To 5/10/1999

Ladbroke Grove rail disaster / Paddington rail crash

Categories: Tragedy, Transport

Also referred to as the Paddington rail crash. At 8.06am, a Thames train bound for Bedwyn in Wiltshire left Paddington station. Two minutes later, as it sped along at 41mph, it went through a signal with the driver failing to see that it was on red. At the same time, a First Great Western train from Cheltenham was heading towards Paddington at nearly100mph. Spotting the imminent crash, the control centre in Slough switched a signal to red, but the high speed train passed through it. Both drivers applied their brakes too late, At 8.10am, the trains collided at a combined speed of 135 mph; the Thames train was sliced in half and both engines burst into flames. 29 passengers and the two drivers were killed, and more than 500 were injured.

The Cullen Report of 2001 blamed Railtrack for the signalling failures, and the company was eventually fined £2 million, which was paid out of taxpayers' money.

Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Ladbroke Grove rail disaster / Paddington rail crash

Commemorated ati

Ladbroke Grove rail disaster - monument

{On the front face of the memorial:} Dedicated to the memory of the 31 people...

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Ladbroke Grove rail disaster - plaques

The plaques are located on a wall overlooking the site of the disaster. Unfor...

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Other Subjects

Mary Redfern

Mary Redfern

Drowned in the 1898 HMS Albion disaster, aged 13. Buried in grave 5 at the memorial in East London Cemetery.

Person, Children, Tragedy

1 memorial
George Frederick Simonds

George Frederick Simonds

For more information about this hero click on the picture of his plaque.

Person, Tragedy

1 memorial
Sam Ly

Sam Ly

On the Hyde Park memorial Sam’s name is given as ‘Sam Son Ly’. Our colleague, Andrew Behan, has researched this man. Sam Son Ly was born on 8 May 1977 in Vietnam, but as a two-year-old child fled ...

Person, Tragedy, Australia, Vietnam

3 memorials
Eun Jung Moon

Eun Jung Moon

Non-British, killed by the Bali bomb.

Person, Tragedy

1 memorial
Geoffrey Mills

Geoffrey Mills

Valuation surveyor involved in the creation of Burgess Park. He was piloting a Cessna 172 light aircraft when it crashed in a field near Biggin Hill Airfield, Kent. Three colleagues from work were ...

Person, Gardens / Agriculture, Property, Tragedy

1 memorial