A train has derailed in the UK less than 24 hours after 20 people were injured in a similar incident.
The latest derailment, at Wickford in Essex, involved a Greater Anglia train with pictures from the scene showing it had come off the tracks but had remained upright.
Sixty-two people
were aboard the train and all have been assessed at the scene and discharged, the East of England Ambulance Service said.
The derailment came less than a day after the 2.24pm London Victoria to Eastbourne service tipped off the tracks just outside Lewes in east Sussex on Thursday.
Martin Frobisher, Network Rail’s group safety and engineering director, said the cause of the crash was under investigation. He added that Britain’s railways were facing “exceptional challenges” because of the hot weather.
A spokesman for the Department for Transport said: “Our railways remain amongst the safest in the world and while incidents like this are extremely rare, when they do occur, they are taken very seriously.”
One passenger aboard the Essex train has described how the carriage he was in “swung wildly” for 10 seconds as if it was about to tilt over.
Jon Young, 37, from Brentwood, told the BBC: “It then carried on going for a couple of minutes but there was a horrible vibrating sound, so something obviously wasn’t right.
“Then the train then came to a halt and there was smoke coming from the back carriage.”
He added that people “panicked” and ran up the train, before they “calmed down” and waited for help to arrive.
Frobisher blamed both derailments on the unprecedented weather conditions, adding: “The hot and dry weather that we have experienced this summer has presented exceptional challenges to the railway.
“In response, we have taken several additional proactive steps to manage and mitigate the impact on the railway, including closely monitoring the temperature of tracks, implementing speed restrictions where it is appropriate to do so, and planning track renewals around high temperatures.
“Our continued focus remains on supporting those affected by these incidents, working at pace to understand the causes, and doing all we can to get services back running safely as quickly as possible.”
Separately from both incidents, another derailment happened earlier in the day at Clapham Yard, The Telegraph has learnt.
A South Western Railway train suffered a low-speed derailment, causing some low-level disruption to services in the morning.
