The ‘crucial’ decision Huntingdon train driver made that saved lives in horror stabbing

The driver of the Huntingdon train where a mass stabbing took place is being praised for a “crucial” decision he made that saved so many people’s lives.

11 people were taken to hospital on Saturday evening after a knifeman began attacking people on the 18.25pm LNER service from Doncaster to London.

Nine of them had life-threatening injuries, but there have been no fatalities. Anthony Williams, 32, from Peterborough, has been charged with 10 counts of attempted murder, the BBC reports.

As soon as the alarm was alerted, the train driver, an Iraq war veteran called Andrew Johnson, “managed to contact the control centre at Network Rail and get the train diverted onto the slow line,” travel expert Simon Calder told the BBC.

Credit: SWNS

“That was absolutely crucial because this train was scheduled to be travelling through Huntingdon station on the tracks with no platform at 125mph. It didn’t stop in the middle of nowhere, which would have been very difficult,” he said.

This decision was vital in saving lives, as the slow track has a platform at Huntingdon. If the train had stayed on the fast track, there wouldn’t have been anywhere for it to stop.

The train would have had to stop in the middle of nowhere or go on to the next station, which would have taken another 10 to 15 minutes. However, his heroic decision meant emergency services could get to the scene a lot quicker, ultimately saving many more people.

Calder said the situation was handled in the “safest possible way” thanks to the “incredible professionalism from the driver and the police”.

Credit: SWNS

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ASLEF officer Nigel Roebuck added:  “He [the driver] didn’t stop the train in the middle of two stations where it’s obviously difficult for the emergency services to reach, but he carried on going until he got to Huntingdon, where the response was pretty much already there.

“The driver did everything he was trained to do, at the right time and in the right way. He showed real courage, real dedication, and real determination in the most difficult of circumstances. Our thoughts tonight are with his colleague who is still in intensive care.”

Speaking to ITV after the incident, the train driver said he was “only doing his job”.

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Featured image by: Facebook and SWNS