Response to RAIB interim report on Bedford rail crash 

The General Secretary for the rail and transport union - TSSA - has responded to the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) interim findings into the Bedford train crash (Friday 19th June), saying urgent clarity is needed on why existing protections did not prevent the event. 

 TSSA General Secretary Maryam Eslamdoust said: “The interim findings suggest that a sequence of events occurred where multiple layers of safety protection, which should be fundamental to safe railway operations, did not prevent a serious incident.  

“That demands urgent and transparent answers about how and why those safety measures failed in practice. We need to understand why they did not perform as intended. 

 “What is also clear is that Britain’s rail network cannot continue to operate under prolonged uncertainty when it comes to investment in safety-critical infrastructure.  

“Decisions that are stretched across multiple parliamentary cycles leave essential upgrades in limbo, and that is not compatible with a modern, resilient railway.

“Rail infrastructure is the backbone of a growing economy. It must be funded properly and in full, through long-term, sustained commitments rather than piecemeal funding rounds that delay delivery and weaken system-wide safety improvements. 

“We will await the full RAIB report, but the priority now must be to establish exactly what failed, why it failed, and how we ensure it cannot happen again.”