Dagenham East rail crash

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The Dagenham East rail crash was an accident on the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway line of British Railways which occurred at Dagenham in East London. The accident took place at around 19:34 on 30 January 1958 and was a rear-end collision of two late-running trains in foggy conditions at Dagenham East station. The accident occurred after one train had passed signals at danger due to a driver's error. Ten people were killed in the accident and 89 injured.

The trains involved were the 18:20 Fenchurch Street to Shoeburyness and the 18:35 Fenchurch Street to Thorpe Bay. Both trains were steam hauled and consisted of 11 coaches, carrying approximately 500 passengers each. The 18:35 train ploughed into the back of the 18:20 departure which demolished three carriages and derailed several others. The locomotive of the 18:35 train and leading carriage were derailed. Some wreckage blocked the adjacent London Underground line but did not cause any further accidents.

References

[Major Incidents Emergency Planning College] (Excel), Accessed 7 June 2006
[BBC News article (see panel Timeline: Rail Disasters)], Accessed 7 June 2006
[Report of the Collision] (PDF), Accessed 7 June 2006

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