Experts probe London Tube train crash

An investigation was tonight under way into the derailment of a crowded central London Tube train which left more than 30 people needing hospital treatment.

The train, packed with 800 passengers, slewed off the line at Chancery Lane forcing the final few carriages into a wall and onto the platform.

Police and London Underground bosses ruled out terrorism and passengers reported screeching and banging from beneath the Central Line train in the minutes before the near-disaster.

Rail experts suggested that a wheel or axle could have failed causing the derailment which left hundreds of panicking passengers trapped aboard for several minutes.

Doors were ripped from the train and glass showered passengers who were thrown about the carriages as the train slid along the tunnel wall.

Fleets of ambulances were called to the scene and a major emergency operation swung into action following the incident at around 1.50pm.

“As we were going along there were these terrible grating noises,” said Janet Wilkinson, 41, from Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria.

“We sort of fell into each other. It all happened so quickly, smoke, the lights going off, the people trying to get off.

“It just seemed to last an eternity,” she said.

Passengers, some in tears, emerged from their ordeal with blackened faces and were treated on the street by paramedics.

Most of the injuries were minor, with the worst thought to be a broken leg or ankle.

Other passengers described how some doors jammed shut.

Claire Ellis said: “I was absolutely panicking, we couldn’t get out, all the lights went out and we could see people running along the platform.

Referring to the fear of a terror attack on London she said: “We were thinking ‘This is it, this is the day it happens’.”

Shaun MacMahon added: “Something snapped underneath when we were at Liverpool Street.

“When we got into Chancery Lane the doors just ripped off. The thing just started shaking, glass was shattering. I just couldn’t get out, people were panicking.”

Inspector Philip Trendall from British Transport Police (BTP) confirmed that 32 people had suffered minor injuries and said that initial investigations found it was not “terrorist-related or caused by crime”.

LU customer services director Mike Brown said: “We will continue to work closely as the investigation proceeds with Her Majesty’s Railway Inspectorate and of course with the BTP.

“It’s far too early for me to speculate as to what the causes of this incident might be. I have been down and had a look at the site myself.”

He said the train – delivered to LU in 1994 – was coming from the Liverpool Street area to the West End and the rear three carriages had derailed and partially mounted the platform.

He went on: “There is going to be certainly at least three days of disruption on the Central Line.”

But he added: “There is absolutely no evidence of any type of sabotage, vandalism or terrorism. It appears to be an unfortunate accident at this stage.”

The driver and some passengers would be interviewed as part of the probe.

Although police and LU bosses refused to speculate about the cause of the accident Richard Hope, consultant editor of the Railway Gazette, said: “It seems from what I have garnered that we are looking at a wheel or axle failure.

“If the bearing fails ... the axle effectively tries to seize but it goes on rotating because the train is moving.

“You get a build up of heat from red hot, to white hot and the metal softens and twists off.”