Incredible escape after car crashes through railway bridge into path of steam train

By Daily Mail Reporter
Updated:


Three people had a miraculous escape after their car crashed through a railway bridge on to the track below in front of an on-coming steam train.

Two cars collided on the bridge that crossed over the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway near the village of Southam, Gloucestershire, over the New Year weekend.

One of the cars fell 20 feet onto the track below the bridge on Southam Lane and landed on its roof. The train that was travelling along the line managed to stop before hitting the car. No injuries were reported.

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A steam train that was travelling on the track at the time had managed to stop short of the vehicle

A steam train that was travelling on the track at the time had managed to stop short of the vehicle

Firefighters at the scene of the crash where a car fell onto the tracks in the path of a steam train

Firefighters at the scene of the crash where a car fell onto the tracks in the path of a steam train

The car landed in front of this Turkish 8F 45160 on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway

The car landed in front of this Turkish 8F 45160 on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway

A spokesman for Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service said: 'Early reports indicated that two vehicles had collided on the bridge, resulting in one vehicle dropping from the road to the railway track below.

'On arrival the crews reported that a single vehicle had dropped approximately 20 feet on to the track landing on its roof.

'A steam train that was travelling on the track at the time had managed to stop short of the vehicle. All three occupants had managed to get out of the vehicle safely.'

This is the third time that a car has left Southam Lane and landed on the track in the past few years.

After the second occasion, when a car travelling along Kayte Lane failed to stop at the T-junction with Southam Lane and smashed through the fence next to the bridge and on to the track below, the local authority installed large road signs at the junction to make it more obvious.

'At the time, we requested the council to install a crash barrier but it was not considered necessary,' operations manager Neil Carr said.

Three people miraculously survived with minor injuries despite the car landing on its roof

Three people miraculously survived with minor injuries despite the car landing on its roof

Before crashing through the railway bridge, the car is believed to have been involved in a collision with another vehicle

Before crashing through the railway bridge, the car is believed to have been involved in a collision with another vehicle

'After this incident we shall again be pressing the council to make the junction safer. If this accident had happened just a few minutes later, the consequences could have been much more tragic as the car could have landed under the train itself.

'This is an unfortunate end to the 2011 season which has been a very difficult one for the railway.'

The GWR bills itself as offering a 20-mile round trip between Toddington and Cheltenham Racecourse through some of the most spectacular scenery in the Cotswolds.

It runs along a part of the former Great Western Railway's mainline from Birmingham to Cheltenham, via Stratford-upon-Avon.

The line closed in 1976 but by 1984 heritage trains began running again along a short part of the line, with the aim of eventually linking the race courses in Cheltenham and Stratford-upon-Avon.

 

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