Yesterday's train crash near Bedford has been declared the first fatal collision between two passenger trains on a main line in Britain this century, the BBC reported.
The incident killed one train driver and injured a total of 89 passengers and staff.
The collision occurred on Friday evening at 5:12 p.m. local time (7:12 p.m. Bulgarian time) in the Elstow area, about 2.3 km south of the city of Bedford (approximately 90 km north of London).
The two trains are operated by the operator East Midlands Railway (EMR). One train was travelling from Corby to London (departed at 16:40) and the other from Nottingham to London (departed at 15:50).
East Anglia Emergency Services have confirmed the following details of one fatality. The Railway Workers' Union (RMT) said the victim was one of the train drivers.
11 people were seriously injured, 22 seriously injured and .56 people were slightly injured and frightened.
Local hospitals in Bedford and Luton went into "all-on-board" mode to deal with more than 50 of the more serious cases, and urged people not to visit emergency departments unless absolutely necessary.
The official investigation is being led by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB), whose inspectors have been on the scene since last night. Initial technical reports suggest one of the trains stopped on the tracks due to a sudden fault with the Automatic Warning System. The second train hit it from behind.
Investigators are yet to determine why the line's safety systems failed to stop the second train in time.
Witnesses described the impact as a "bomb blast", and passenger footage showed severely damaged carriages and at least one derailed.
All lines between Luton and Bedford remain completely closed this morning. There are no trains on the East Midlands Railway route to and from the key London station of St Pancras. Passengers are advised not to travel on this route today.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Transport Minister Heidi Alexander expressed their condolences and assured that work is underway to support the victims and clarify the system error.