Fifteen cattle dead after train crash

Fifteen cattle were killed and several others injured after colliding with a high-speed train in Oxfordshire.

More than 200 passengers were aboard the Crosscountry Trains service between Bournemouth and Manchester yesterday (10 May) when it struck the animals after they had wandered onto the tracks near the village of Tackley.

Passengers were left in tears after the collision, which left a lot of blood spilled on the tracks.

A spokesman for the train company said the train had not been derailed and none of the passengers were injured.

But the train was stranded on the line for four hours, causing major delays on the route between Oxford and Banbury.

The owner of the cattle has been left too distraught to talk about the incident. But the NFU confirmed that the farmer was a member of the union and that he had already reported the incident to insurers.

The NFU said the farmer checked the group of 29 cattle at approximately 2.30pm on Wednesday (9 May), where he found them all grazing on meadows between Enslow and Tackley. The train is thought to have collided with them around 5pm.

An NFU spokesman said: “This incident has been very upsetting for our member, a respected and experienced farmer and we are thankful that there were no human casualties.”

An investigation into the incident is underway involving police and rail accident investigators.