Portal:Trains/Selected article/Week 4, 2007

The Ladbroke Grove rail crash (also known as the Paddington train crash) was an English rail accident which occurred on 5 October 1999, in which thirty-one people died. The disaster occurred at 08:08 and 58 seconds BST, when a three-car Class 165 diesel multiple unit train operated by Thames Trains collided with a High Speed Train (8 coaches with a diesel power car at each end) of First Great Western at Ladbroke Grove Junction, about two miles (4 km) west of the terminus at London Paddington station. The trains collided almost head-on at the junction with a combined closing speed of approximately 130 mph (205 km/h). The first car of the Thames Train, the 0806 from Paddington to Bedwyn, Wiltshire, driven by Michael Hodder, was totally destroyed on impact, and the diesel fuel carried by this train ignited, causing a series of separate fires in the wreckage, particularly in coach H at the front of the HST, which was completely burnt out. 31 people were killed as a result of the incident, including the drivers of both trains; 227 people were hospitalised and 296 people were treated at the site of the crash for minor injuries.