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The Moorgate tube crash occurred at 08.46am on February 28, 1975 in London, England, with the first emergency call received at 08.53am. A southbound Northern Line tube train crashed into the tunnel end beyond the platform at Moorgate station, killing 43 people, one of the greatest losses of life on the Underground in peacetime.
The train was on the Northern City Line service on short, seven-minute round trips between Drayton Park and Moorgate. At that time, plans were already afoot for the service, previously known as the Great Northern & City, to be transferred to British Rail (it is now operated by WAGN).
When investigated, the driver was shown to have still been holding the dead man's handle, a device that immediately applies the brakes when released. Not only had the driver not even put his hands up to protect his face from the impact, but he had actually increased the speed of the train. Police investigation showed that the driver had no reason to be suicidal, and in fact had £300 in his pocket which he was intending to use to buy a car for his daughter after the end of his shift.
The incident would have not been so bad had the train been in a tube-sized tunnel, as the other carriages would not have been able to rise above the first and land on top of it. Nor would this have been quite so bad had the platforms been those of the average tube station, for similar reasons. However, the train was a tube train, but the platform tunnels were designed for mainline trains which are much larger.
The crash had two results. Firstly, the southern end of the Northern City Line platforms (where the crash happened) was extensively rebuilt. Secondly, automatic systems for stopping trains at dead-ends, such as at these platforms, were introduced into all dead-ends on the Underground. These systems are known as Moorgate Control.
As for the incident itself, the cause was never determined.
External links
- BBC News account of the 1975 crash
- Nightmare on Platform Nine, an account of the crash by the North London Transport Society