Derailment of Glasgow to London train near Shap in Cumbria - 3 November 2025

[whole diary]

[TaplowGreen]

BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) News - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/czdrp8mm6jgt?app-referrer=deep-link
Glasgow to London train derails in Cumbria - no injuries reported but 'days of disruption' expected - BBC News

[bradshaw]

Image on X/Twitter shows derailed unit, with crash structure performing as it is designed to do.
https://x.com/rail/status/1985269697265512568?s=61&t=VlafMC5gF9tidw36b1Y8JQ

[a-driver]

Image on X/Twitter shows derailed unit, with crash structure performing as it is designed to do.
https://x.com/rail/status/1985269697265512568?s=61&t=VlafMC5gF9tidw36b1Y8JQ

\

Will be interesting to see the initial findings.  Other pictures suggest its only the front bogie that has derailed and there maybe some fortune that it derailed towards the 6ft and the other running line. 

[Mark A]

The derailed trains, the 04:28 from Glasgow with ~85 aboard after Carlisle, it derailed after 6:09am.

Hat-tip to the staff of the Shap Wells Hotel which was on hand to receive the passengers.

Photos show that the train came to a halt foul of the down line. A service from Manchester to Glasgow, due to pass the location at 06:20, last recorded on Realtimetrains at Oxenholme at 6:05.

Mark

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:W09849/2025-11-03/detailed#allox_id=0

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:C26825/2025-11-03/detailed

[ChrisB]

Watson says around 20 minutes later, staff told them the train hit a landslide, caused by heavy rain at the weekend.

[GBM]

Query to a-driver, please.
How the heck do you, as a driver, deal with this?
You will be badly shaken; adrenaline flowing.
Your training says the safety of passengers and the train.
Who do you call first - as in - the train manager/guard to check on passengers; signalling centre to stop everything; call the regional operational centre; Just where do you start!

[Oxonhutch]

My first reaction would be to get everything else stopped, especially if foul of the other running line - I believe there is an emergency GSM radio button for this. Don't know if track-circuit clips are still used on these routes but if they were, and it is still in the rules, I would get those on the fouled running line too.

[Mark A]

Avanti ticket acceptance between Edinburgh and Kings Cross, between Carlisle and Newcastle among others, but not Carlisle-Leeds, mind.

Mark

[ChrisB]

Quicker going Glasgow/Carlisle - Edinburgh/Newcastle and south than Carlisle/Leeds

[IndustryInsider]

Query to a-driver, please.
How the heck do you, as a driver, deal with this?
You will be badly shaken; adrenaline flowing.
Your training says the safety of passengers and the train.
Who do you call first - as in - the train manager/guard to check on passengers; signalling centre to stop everything; call the regional operational centre; Just where do you start!

From the relevent rule book module:

You must immediately switch on the hazard warning indication where provided.

If you cannot do this, you must display a red light forward.

You must tell the signaller about the accident, and whether the electric traction current needs to be switched off, in the quickest way possible.

You must then check:
• if any other lines are obstructed (if in doubt, treat them as obstructed), and decide the quickest way to stop any approaching trains
• the exact location of your train.

When the signaller tells you that signal protection has been provided, you must place a track-circuit operating clip on:
• every other line that is obstructed, and
• the line on which your train is standing if the whole train has been derailed.

You must carry out emergency protection if:
• the signaller cannot provide signal protection, or
• you have not been able to contact the signaller.

If you need help in carrying out emergency protection, you must reach a clear understanding with the guard or any other competent person as to which lines that person will protect.

Contacting the signaller these days means placing an REC (Rail Emergency Call) on the GSM-R^▸ (Global System for Mobile communications - Railway. A simple mobile phone that has been fitted to the turbos to allow them to operate on lines that are not covered by the cab secure radio (CSR). This allows the Network Rail control centre to send simple STOP messages to the driver or the driver to contact the controller in emergency only. When this system is in operation a guard must be provided when in passenger operation.) which simulaneously sends a 'stop immediately' message to all other trains in the area.  They then acknowledge that they've stopped and can hear the conversation between the diver who placed the REC and the signaller (and join in on that call if appropriate).

Depending on the nature of the emergency, the driver might also then have to deal with emergency alarms being pulled on the train, passengers operating egresses etc. as well as liaising with the guard (if there is one) or other members of staff on the train and potentially speaking to their control and/or the police.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Thank you for your clear and indeed authoritative post here, IndustryInsider.

Chris from Nailsea.

[Mark A]

***snip***

You must immediately switch on the hazard warning indication where provided.

If you cannot do this, you must display a red light forward.

***snip***

Looking at the abraded front end of that pendolino, I wondered if some of the inner components should be coated in something passively reflective. It's not likely that they will ever be exposed as a result of an impact, but if they are the reflectivity can deputise for the headlights... a lot of 'Ifs' though.

Mark

[Mark A]

Quicker going Glasgow/Carlisle - Edinburgh/Newcastle and south than Carlisle/Leeds

Given that both are 2 carriages, 30 trains a day Carlisle - Newcastle and 8 Carlisle to Leeds, it might be about the capacity as well as the speed, the S&C^▸ (Settle and Carlisle - a local rail line, or Switch and Crossings - a railway signalling term, depending on context) offers around 25% more train, though perhaps, the two options counted as one, not more seats.

(Taking an October last-train-of-the-day southbound Carlisle to Skipton the other year, and progress south of Kirby Stephen to the summit felt... stately, with a sort of 'Ok, lets do this again' vibe from the 158...).

Mark

[GBM]

From the relevent rule book module:

You must immediately switch on the hazard warning indication where provided.

If you cannot do this, you must display a red light forward.

You must tell the signaller about the accident, and whether the electric traction current needs to be switched off, in the quickest way possible.

You must then check:
• if any other lines are obstructed (if in doubt, treat them as obstructed), and decide the quickest way to stop any approaching trains
• the exact location of your train.

When the signaller tells you that signal protection has been provided, you must place a track-circuit operating clip on:
• every other line that is obstructed, and
• the line on which your train is standing if the whole train has been derailed.

You must carry out emergency protection if:
• the signaller cannot provide signal protection, or
• you have not been able to contact the signaller.

If you need help in carrying out emergency protection, you must reach a clear understanding with the guard or any other competent person as to which lines that person will protect.

Contacting the signaller these days means placing an REC (Rail Emergency Call) on the GSM-R^▸ (Global System for Mobile communications - Railway. A simple mobile phone that has been fitted to the turbos to allow them to operate on lines that are not covered by the cab secure radio (CSR). This allows the Network Rail control centre to send simple STOP messages to the driver or the driver to contact the controller in emergency only. When this system is in operation a guard must be provided when in passenger operation.) which simulaneously sends a 'stop immediately' message to all other trains in the area.  They then acknowledge that they've stopped and can hear the conversation between the diver who placed the REC and the signaller (and join in on that call if appropriate).

Depending on the nature of the emergency, the driver might also then have to deal with emergency alarms being pulled on the train, passengers operating egresses etc. as well as liaising with the guard (if there is one) or other members of staff on the train and potentially speaking to their control and/or the police.

That's a lot to do in a short time for one person! Especially when adrenalin is flowing.
Thank you

[grahame]

The Scotsman has a picture of the actual slip, and some new text .... I'll quote the start of it but the main text is behind their paywall and only visible if you pay or can read HTML^▸ (Hypertext Markup Language) source.

Sensors installed to detect movement in the hillside above the site of the Glasgow-London train derailment in Cumbria appear to have failed to avert the incident, an industry source has told The Scotsman. The first carriage of the 11-coach Avanti West Coast service came off the tracks at 6.10am on Monday when it hit an “object” following a suspect landslip, Network Rail has said. Four of the 87 passengers and crew suffered minor injuries in the incident on the west coast main line near Shap. Network Rail has installed tilt meters or “inclinometers” to detect soil and rock movement since 2022, starting in Scotland. That followed a ScotRail train crashing into a bridge parapet after it hit landslide debris at Carmont, near Stonehaven, in 2020, in which three people died. Network Rail said the sensors sent alerts to control rooms when there was more than a five degree tilt. The industry source said: “The area is very prone to earthworks issues, and getting worse with climate change. “Much of the railway in the fells is built on the side of the hills, so the drainage off the fields is often across the railway. “The area was already staked out with movement detectors, which, for whatever reason, do not appear to have prevented the derailment by stopping train movement in time.” The source also said the Pendolino train had “stayed upright and within the railway alignment, which it is designed to do. The train couplers effectively hold the front vehicle upright and in line. “Luckily nothing was coming the other way and the train hit no obstructions, unlike at Carmont.”    However, another industry source said ...