Two injured in train derailment at Enfield Town station

On Tuesday, October 12, the derailment of a passenger train at Enfield Town Overground station injured two people.

According to a statement from the London Fire Brigade (LFB), the train “derailed after hitting buffers at the station”. In response to the derailment, Transport for London and station staff evacuated around fifty people from the train.

Firefighters have attended a derailed train at #Enfield Town station this morning. Crews carried out a systematic search of the train to ensure no one was trapped. Two people have been treated for minor injuries by @Ldn_Ambulance crews https://t.co/pdQCXjusvF pic.twitter.com/Bwe3xFVt3H

— London Fire Brigade (@LondonFire) October 12, 2021

The LFB’s statement also confirmed that the London Ambulance Service (LAS) treated the two injured people for their injuries. A separate statement on Twitter from the LAS clarified that these injuries did not result in hospitalisation.

We were called this morning to reports of a train derailed at #Enfield Town railway station.

We sent a number of resources to the scene: including from @LAS_HART and @LAS_TacAdvisor.

Two people were assessed at the scene for minor injuries, but they were not taken to hospital. pic.twitter.com/jTFprW6cz3

— London Ambulance Service ???? (@Ldn_Ambulance) October 12, 2021

A recent report on Rail Safety statistics from the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) showed that: “there were 10 passenger fatalities in 2020-21”. According to this report, another passenger train derailment at Carmont in August 2020 caused one of these fatalities.

The statistics presented in the ORR report showed a reduction from the 13 passenger fatalities seen in 2019-2020. However, the pandemic is likely to have been responsible in part for this decrease. According to the report: “rail safety in 2020-21 was affected by the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, with passenger services significantly reduced and new safety measures introduced”. Regardless, the report also shows that “passenger fatalities have fallen over the last two years”.

National Rail tweeted that London Overground trains are once again running between London Liverpool Street and Enfield Town on October 13.

?CLEARED – Trains are now running normally between London Liverpool Street and #EnfieldTown following disruption caused by an operational incident at Enfield Town

— National Rail (@nationalrailenq) October 13, 2021

This derailment was the first rail accident to occur in London this year. It was also the second rail accident in the United Kingdom this year.