Sunday, May 07, 2006

3 Trains at Edgware Road? * UPDATED *

The events at Edgware Rd station on 7/7/05 appear mired in as much confusion and misinformation as the train times from Luton that morning.

Below are some accounts of the incident as they were originally reported:
And at 0917 BST an explosion on another Circle Line train coming into Edgware Road underground station blew a hole through a wall onto another train at an adjoining platform.

Three trains were thought to be involved and there were seven confirmed deaths so far, Mr Paddick said.

Source: BBC
Seven people were later killed in an explosion at Edgware Road Tube station at 9.17am. Three trains are believed to have been hit.

Source: Sky News
At 09:17 BST a bomb exploded on another Circle Line train between Edgware Road Station and Paddington. The blast blew a hole in a wall, and another train was hit by debris from it. A third train is also involved. Five are known to be dead.

Source: Wikinews
At 9.17am, seven people died after an explosion ripped through a tunnel wall at Edgware Road station, damaging three trains.

Source: Irish News
9.17am - Edgware Road stationPolice confirmed five people died after an explosion ripped through an underground train as it was around 100 metres from arriving at Edgware Road station. The blast blew through a wall onto another train on an adjoining platform and in total three trains were affected.

Source: Guardian

In an attempt to clarify which trains were affected I had contacted the Metropolitan Police but was stonewalled by DI Neil Smith of the anti-terrorist branch at New Scotland Yard.

The MPS website states the following:
Westbound Circle Line train coming into Edgware Road station, approx. 100 yards into the tunnel. The explosion blew a hole through a wall onto another train on an adjoining platform. The device was in the second carriage, in the standing area near the first set of double doors.

I had requested the following information:
The police website states that two trains were involved in the incident on 7th July 2005 at Edgware Road, when the blast tore through a tunnel wall into a train on an adjoining platform. Was anyone injured or killed in this other train?

So I contacted TFL to find out about this train on an adjoining platform and received the following reply:
Thank you for your request, under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, dated 5 April 2006 asking for -

* The numbers and lines of the other trains involved at Edgware Rd and whether there were any injuries or deaths on these other trains

I can confirm that, on 7 July 2005, 3 bombs exploded on the following 3 Tube trains:

* Circle line train number 204 heading eastbound from Liverpool Street station to Aldgate station;
* Circle line train number 216 travelling westbound heading from Edgware Road station to Paddington station; and
* Piccadilly line train number 331 travelling from King's Cross St. Pancras to Russell Square westbound.

The number of fatalities from these three incidents was as follows:

* 7 from the Aldgate incident;
* 6 from the Edgware Road incident; and
* 26 from the Kings Cross / Russell Square incident;

In total, four trains were damaged. Three of the trains were those where the explosions took place. A fourth train, a Hammersmith & City line train, at Edgware sustained damage, while passing Circle line train 216 when the device exploded. No fatalities or injuries were recorded on the Hammersmith & City line train.

No mention of tunnel walls or adjoining platforms! Another FOI request was then sent to TFL:
Dear Fola Olafare

Thank you for your reply to my FOI request ref: 1340405.

I had asked for the number of the other train involved at Edgware Road, which you have kindly informed me was a Hammersmith & City line train.

1. Could you please supply the number of this train.

The Metropolitan Police web site claim the following trains were involved at Edgware Road:

Westbound Circle Line train coming into Edgware Road station, approx. 100 yards into the tunnel. The explosion blew a hole through a wall onto another train on an adjoining platform. The device was in the second carriage, in the standing area near the first set of double doors.

2. Do I understand that this is not correct and that there was no hole blown through a tunnel wall onto a train on an adjoining platform?
The trouble with the 'only passengers on train 216 were injured or fatalities' answer is that it doesn't explain how Jenny Nicholson was killed travelling from Paddington to Edgware Road.
Jenny Nicholson, who was 24, was killed by the suicide bomber Mohammed Sidique Khan on the westbound Circle line service she had boarded at Paddington station. She had phoned her boyfriend, James White, minutes earlier.

Source: Guardian
From contact that I have made with a source very close to the incident I have the following:
The media reporting of the Edgware Road incident is very strange. All the TV cameras appeared at the wrong station which was the Bakerloo LIne station. There was reported a wall between the trains. Circle line trains operate in a double track tunnel where there are no walls between tracks or trains. You will not see any photos or videos of the Edgware Road incident either. They were all quickly classed as national security items. This is because of the damage done. The second car from the front having been totally destroyed including taking out the floor.

More questions that need answering are:

1. How did Jenny Nicholson die on an eastbound train between Paddington and Edgware Rd?

2. Why do the MPS claim that the explosion tore through a tunnel wall onto a train on an adjoining platform when there was no tunnel between the trains?

3. Why did early reports claim 3 trains were affected?

4. Why did the original time change from 9.17 to 8.50?


* UPDATE *

There is no tunnel wall at Edgware Rd as the MPS stated in their summary of the explosions. This is the reply I received from TFL:

17/Jul/2006

Dear Miss Dunne

Thank you for your request, under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, asking for -

* The number of the Hammersmith & City line train at Edgware Road that sustained damage

* Whether there was a hole blown through a tunnel wall onto a train on an adjoining platform

I can confirm that the train number was 207 and that, at Edgware Road, there are not separate tunnels for trains heading in opposite directions.
Therefore, no hole was blown through a tunnel wall.