Severe injuries have been confirmed after a train derailed near Lewes railway station in East Sussex, with emergency services responding to a major incident involving an estimated 150 passengers.
Emergency services were called to the scene at around 3.55pm, with the public warned to avoid the area. It is understood three of the eight carriages overturned after the 14.24 Southern service from London Victoria to Eastbourne came off the tracks.
Passengers were initially trapped inside the overturned carriages, while images from the scene showed people standing on carriages lying on their sides in a countryside area. Footage from inside the train appeared to show a carriage swaying violently before passengers were thrown from their seats. South East Coast Ambulance confirmed shortly before 10pm that ‘two people sustained serious injuries’ and were taken to major trauma centres.
‘Patients have been assessed and treated at the scene, with some transported to local hospitals for further treatment and care,’ a spokesperson for the ambulance service said. ‘A number of passengers who did not require hospital treatment have been taken to a local community centre, where they are being supported by partner agencies. This remains a complex and ongoing multi-agency response.’
British Transport Police added that ‘a further 18 suffered less serious injuries’. While several passengers were initially trapped, all had been evacuated safely by 7.30pm. A ‘major incident’ remained declared as a ‘significant’ emergency response continued.
Eastbourne’s MP, Josh Babarinde, was informed that one constituent suffered injuries to their ribs. Rob Bradley, who was travelling on the train with his six-year-old daughter, Mabel, recalled the moment they ‘felt the train speeding up and starting to rock’.
Travelling in carriage four, with the fifth carriage later going onto its side, Bradley said they felt the train ‘jump vertically upwards’, at which point they knew it was a derailment. ‘The emergency brakes went on the train, and everything got thrown forward.’ Bradley told BBC News the train ‘skidded for quite a while before it stopped’.
‘We turned around, and we saw the whole back of the train was open, and smoke and dust were pouring into the carriage, and we saw the fifth carriage had gone on its side.’ He also saw people with head injuries, blood and cuts. Bradley and Mabel remained on the train ‘for about an hour and a half’ after the incident and described the scene as ‘pandemonium for a while’.
Yana Ludwig, who was travelling alone, told reporters that after hearing banging, everything ‘just went topsy-turvy’. The 56-year-old said she had been propped up over another passenger and was now ‘pretty banged up’. She estimated it took around 20 minutes for emergency services to arrive, saying the location appeared difficult for responders to reach.
A BBC reporter at the scene described a ‘large emergency service presence’, including three helicopters waiting in a field. East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service later said 10 fire engines had been deployed, along with a command support unit, technical rescue teams, officers and other resources.
The witness described the rear carriage as being ‘completely on its side at the bottom of the small embankment’. Passengers were escorted away from the train and ‘walked on a dusty track into a housing estate’. Photos taken afterwards showed people helping one another climb out of the carriages and assisting with ladders.
Southern Rail said the derailment occurred on the stretch of track between Lewes and Haywards Heath. Train services were suspended between Lewes and Brighton, Haywards Heath, Seaford and Eastbourne following the incident. Passengers were issued with a ‘do not travel’ instruction for the affected area for the remainder of the day.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said she was ‘deeply concerned’ by the derailment and ‘grateful to emergency services supporting those impacted’. James MacCleary, the MP for Lewes, described it as a ‘clearly a very serious and developing incident’.
The general secretary of a transport trade union said that, ‘with so many passengers reportedly involved’ in the derailment, ‘the immediate priority must be their safety and wellbeing’. The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) ‘deployed a team’ to the site to begin ‘gathering evidence’.
The cause of the derailment has not yet been established. Photographs appeared to show a section of track that was buckled, but it is not yet known whether this contributed to the derailment or was damaged during the incident. Investigators are expected to examine the condition of the track and establish what caused the train to leave the rails.
