The train whose driver died in the Bedford rail crash passed a danger signal and was not automatically stopped – while the train it hit had halted on the line because its warning system had wrongly caused it to brake, investigators believe.

An initial report by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch into the crash, which killed a train driver and injured more than 100 people, said it was not yet clear whether the train’s automatic warning system alerted the driver of the southbound Luton airport express from Corby that he had passed a red signal.

He braked nine seconds before impact but could not stop colliding at 49mph with a Nottingham-London train, stopped on the same track a couple of miles outside Bedford station at Elstow.

Investigators said the stopped train had halted unexpectedly because a fault had developed with the automatic warning system (AWS) equipment fitted to it, which caused the brakes to apply.

The collision between two East Midlands Railway trains occurred last Friday.

The stopped train from Nottingham was a brand-new Aurora class 810 model built by Hitachi, brought into service within the past six months on EMR.

The driver killed in the Bedford crash was Shaun Burton, 60, described by EMR as a “dedicated railway professional” who had “touched the lives of colleagues and passengers alike”.

Eight of the 100 injured passengers remain in critical condition, and 53 more remain in hospital, the RAIB said.

Disruption on the line is expected to continue through the week while engineers continue work to access the crash site and remove the damaged trains, and complete any necessary repairs to the track.

The managing director of Network Rail’s eastern region, Ellie Burrows, had earlier said that “current indications are that this was a tragic isolated incident”.

The crash was the fourth involving passenger trains on the UK railway since 2020, after more than a decade without any similar serious incident.

More details soon …