J7 Incident Analysis: King's Cross / Russell Square

 

King's Cross / Russell Square Incident Analysis

This article presents a detailed summary and analysis of the events reported as occurring around the King's Cross / Russell Square areas of the London Underground on 7th July 2005.

 

Index of Sections

• The official version of events
• The first news reports
• The changing story
• Piccadilly Line train 311 or 331 or both
• Reported problems and closures on the London Underground
• The changing position of the explosion
• The carriage number
• The suicide-bomber theory gestates
• Eye-witness accounts
• Emergency service response
• Removal and identification of the victims
• The Casualty Bureau fiasco
• Images of the Piccadilly Line
• Germaine Lindsay identified
• A summary of unanswered questions, inconsistencies & anomalies

The official version of events

The official version of events at King's Cross - Russell Square suggests that Germaine Lindsay exploded a bomb on or close to the floor between the second and third set of seats in the first carriage of southbound Piccadilly Line train 331, between King's Cross and Russell Square, at 08.50 on July 7th 2005.

According to the Home Office's Report of the Official Account of the Bombings In London on 7th July 2005, the report that Tony Blair claimed would tell us “exactly what happened that day”:

08.23: The train arrives at King’s Cross, slightly late due to a delay further up the line. The 4 are captured on CCTV at 08.26am on the concourse close to the Thameslink platform and heading in the direction of the London Underground system. At around 08.30am, 4 men fitting their descriptions are seen hugging. They appear happy, even euphoric. They then split up. Khan must have gone to board a westbound Circle Line train, Tanweer an eastbound Circle Line train and Lindsay a southbound Piccadilly Line train.

08.50: On the Piccadilly Line, Jermaine Lindsay was in the first carriage as it travelled between King’s Cross and Russell Square. It is unlikely that he was seated. The train was crowded, with 127 people in the first carriage alone, which makes it difficult to position those involved.

Forensic evidence suggests the explosion occurred on or close to the floor of the standing area between the second and third set of seats. The explosion killed 27 people including Lindsay, and injured over 340.

Source: p5 Report of the Official Account of the Bombings in London

'Must have' and 'suggests' are hardly conclusive terms and there is no mention of sighting Lindsay on CCTV from the platform at King's Cross where the report claims that Lindsay boarded this train. Neither does the report mention any eye-witness sightings of Lindsay. The precise location of this explosion is also absent. What all four blast sites have in common is the statement that the explosion happens 'on or close to the floor'.

So, do we know 'exactly what happened that day'? According to our research, far from it.

The sequence of events according to the BBC timeline is as follows:

0940 British Transport Police say power surge incidents have occurred on the Underground at Aldgate, Edgware Road, King's Cross, Old Street and Russell Square stations.

1009 Witness Christina Lawrence, who was on a train leaving King's Cross, tells BBC News 24: "There was a loud bang in the tunnel and the train just stopped and all of a sudden it was filled with black, gassy smoke and we couldn't breathe."

1118 London's Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair tells the BBC he knows of "about six explosions", one on a bus and the others related to Underground stations. He says he believes the six affected areas are Edgware Road, King's Cross, Liverpool Street, Russell Square, Aldgate East and Moorgate, but says it is "still a confusing situation". He advises Londoners to "stay where you are - all of London's transport is currently disabled" - he refuses to confirm any fatalities.

1215 The ambulance service says there are people still trapped at King's Cross station, and efforts are being made to rescue them.

1525 Police confirm that at [least] 33 people have been killed in the London blasts. At least seven were killed in an explosion on a tube train near Aldgate East station. At least another 21 were killed in an explosion on a tube train in the King's Cross/Russell Square area. Five have been confirmed killed in the Edgware Road station blast and there were fatalities on the bus attacked near Woburn Square, although how many is not yet known.

The first news reports

Despite TV news showing scenes from traffic cameras outside King's Cross with emergency vehicles parked up, no official mention is made of an explosion at King's Cross or Russell Square on TV news coverage until around 10.25, approximately an hour and a half after this explosion.

Why the King's Cross – Russell Square blast is not mentioned for such a long time is unfathomable, given that the initial time line states that this was the second explosion timed at 8.56, just 6 minutes after the first reports of an explosion at Liverpool Street at 8.50, which TV News was covering from 9.17 onwards. BBC news had announced at 9.33 that there had been a second explosion at Edgware Road with no mention of King's Cross or Russell Square, the locations from which the majority of victims came -- double the number of victims than any other location affected on 7/7.

Several sites shown on BBC graphics at 10.11 but still only reporting Liverpool Street / Aldgate and Edgware Road.

The Metropolitan Police issue its first press release at 10.20:

Major Transport Incident [10.20]

Police are responding to reports from:

Edgware Rd
King's Cross
Liverpool St
Russell Sq
Aldgate East
Moorgate underground stations.

Source: Metropolitan Police

ITN News first announce an explosion at King's Cross and Russell Square at 10.25, which is shortly after the MPS press release issued five minutes earlier at 10.20. This is also after the number 30 bus explosion has been announced and 90 minutes after 8.50, the time at which the Home Office report states all three underground explosions occurred. No explanation has ever been given for this delay.

These images below, taken from outside King's Cross at 9.25 - as shown by the clock at King's Cross - show emergency vehicles outside King's Cross station and traffic still moving along the Euston Road even though an explosion had apparently occurred some 35 minutes earlier.

Why there's such a long delay before this explosion is reported is even stranger considering that an incident on a train at King's Cross is described on the John Gaunt Radio Show, which broadcasts from 9.00am on BBC Radio London. During a live phone-in at around 9.34, Ian Wade, a BBC London employee on his way into work describes in detail to John Gaunt his experience of an explosion and of being evacuated from a train at King's Cross:

(Ian Wade sounds very callm, not at all traumatised, or as if he has witnessed anything horrendous) – 200m outside King's Cross – an almighty bang – lights went out – screaming - emergency electricity came on - they were walked to King's Cross after 15 minutes by an official – he asked one of the officials what happened and he 'thought one of the electric overhead lights fell down and hit the front of the train' – it was almost like a bomb going off - he thought the windows had come in but that wasn't the case - covered in soot though – in the dark for 15 minutes – the train was absolutely packed - asked by John Gaunt if he saw any injuries or damage to the train - not in the carriage he was on - he describes seeing just one injured passenger at King's Cross station with cuts on his arm - but that's the first and only one he's seen - just people covered in soot - he says he was told that one of the lights had fallen onto the front of the train - he even jokes at the end of the interview that he'll be late in to work!

Compare and contrast the above live account with the same Ian Wade recounting his experiences on the BBC website:

'I've never seen anything like it'

BBC London's Ian Wade was on his way to work when he witnessed horrifying images of mutilation after a bomb went off.

People with their clothes burned off, amputated limbs - those were the horrific images witnessed by Ian Wade who was caught up in the blasts as he travelled to work at BBC London in Marylebone.

Mr Wade was on an Underground carriage on the Piccadilly Line with his wife Evie when a bomb exploded in the carriage next to his around 0840 BST on Thursday.

He said: "We had just got through King's Cross and I heard an almighty 'boom, boom' and the carriage stopped immediately. The electricity went completely and the carriage filled with soot.

"We could just make out what was in front but nothing else. The explosion was on the ceiling of the carriage in front and all the glass from the carriage had caved in. People were trying to kick the windows in.

Mr Wade added: "I could see there were people with their clothes burned off ... people with limbs missing.

"There must have been at least one death in there. I have never known anything like it."

He added: "My wife Evie really thought that we were going to die. It was just 'boom' and that was it. I couldn't think straight."

Mr Wade and his wife were inside the carriage for 15 minutes before they were able to get out.

"When the emergency services arrived, we all had to walk through the carriage in front to get out.

"Luckily there was a lot of straight thinking people on the Tube - there was only a few people who were losing it, screaming, but they were in the carriage where the blast happened, " said Mr Wade.

He praised the ambulance, police and London Underground for the way in which they dealt with the situation.

He said: "They kept checking we were okay then they led us to the Methodist Church nearby and gave us a cup of tea."

Mr Wade summed up his thoughts: "I don't know what to think. I've lived in London all my life and I've never experienced anything like this."

One can only wonder what was put into Mr Wade's tea for such a dramatic change in his accounts, the first given live, and the second posted on the BBC website a couple of days later. He is consistent in both his accounts that he was evacuated within 15 minutes, confirmed by his wife in her account which will be referred to later in this article. 15 minutes is very different to the accounts of other passengers from the second carriage who describe waiting at least 35 minutes before being evacuated and will be discussed later. Despite this live radio broadcast at 9.35, and the eyewitness account of Christina Lawrence at 10.09 which is referred to in the BBC time line, TV news media do not announce an explosion at either King's Cross or Russell Square for nearly another hour. Given that this transpired to be the incident with the highest number of casualties, the complete absence of any mention is curious to say the least.

Transport for London (TfL) fail to mention an explosion at King's Cross or Russell Square, reporting only explosions at Liverpool Street and Edgware Road in its first press release issued at 9.55 and it is not until 14.25 that this King's Cross is mentioned, with the train identified as travelling towards rather than away from King's Cross:

14:25 Transport for London Update

Latest information confirms that there were four incidents on London's transport network this morning, three on London Underground and one on London Buses.

At 09:46, the London Underground was suspended and all stations commenced evacuation following incidents at:

- Aldgate station heading towards Liverpool Street station on the Hammersmith & City line

- Russell Square station heading towards King's Cross station on the Piccadilly line

- Edgware Road station heading towards Paddington station on the Hammersmith & City line

The Piccadilly Line is run under a 30 year PPP (Public-Private Partnership) contract by Tube Lines a consortia made up of Amey and Bechtel and based at 15 Westferry Circus Canary Wharf. Morgan Stanley Dean Witter sublet the building to Tube Lines. They share the building leading to the video wall, built for use in stock trading but used as a Recovery Silver Control for the London Underground in the aftermath of the explosions. Information on the private companies that are involved in PPP contracts with TfL can be read on the J7 Liverpool Street / Aldgate Incident Analysis here. Tube Lines also reported that the train was travelling from Russell Square towards King's Cross in this press release issued on the day.

The Metropolitan Police issued another press release at 12.30 in which 4 sites were identified, as opposed to the original 6 sites, without any mention of which direction the train is travelling or on which line:

Latest news on London critical incident [12.30]

There are four confirmed sites where police are dealing with reported explosions this morning. These are:

1) Russell Square and King’s Cross underground

More details emerge, including 8.56 as the time of this explosion, in this MPS press release at 16.30 in which they claim there were two incidents at this site:

At 08.56 there was another incident at King’s Cross / Russell Square. Both stations were used to bring out casualties.

Walking wounded came up from the line at King’s Cross.

All those who were injured have now been treated, and at 12.30 the London Ambulance Service withdrew from Russell Square.

There are 21 confirmed fatalities and others with injuries from these two incidents.

The explosion on the Piccadilly Line was the most serious of the 4 reported explosions, resulting in 27 deaths and injuries to over 340 passengers. The train was described as being at 'crush capacity' which is approx 133 passengers per carriage, with slightly less in the first carriage due to the drivers cab, and 798 per 6-carriage train.

The first carriage of a Piccadilly Line train. Note that there are 2 sets of double doors and 1 single door on this carriage.

According to the Home Office report 'forensic evidence suggests the explosion occurred on or close to the floor of the standing area between the second and third set of seats', would indicate that this is in fact the standing area by the second set of double doors.

This incident was undoubtedly the most terrifying for passengers due to the Piccadilly Line between King's Cross and Russell Square running along a deep level single-track tunnel. This explosion is also more difficult to analyse as survivors emerged from both King's Cross and Russell Square.

The changing story

The first Home Office reported version carried by all the news media was of tube incidents staggered over the space of half an hour:

The first device exploded at 8.51am on a Circle line train between Aldgate East and Liverpool Street stations. Seven people were killed.

At 8.56am a second device exploded on a train between King's Cross and Russell Square, killing 21 people.

At 9.17am there was another blast on a train at Edgware Road station which blew a hole through a wall into another train on an adjoining platform. Two other trains were affected and seven people were killed.

Source: The Guardian, 8th July 2005

Not only will the timing of this explosion change from 8.56, but the train number and the position of the explosion on the carriage do as well. The timing isn't changed due to Trackernet images, as is the case with both Edgware Road and Liverpool Street, instead the precise time the Tunnel Telephone system was cut is used to determine the time of the explosion.

TfL issued the changed timing from 8.56 to 8.50, in a series of simultaneous explosions, on 9th July, stating the following reasoning:

TrackerNet is not yet live on the Piccadilly line between Hyde Park Corner and Arnos Grove. However, we can also confirm for the affected Piccadilly line train that the explosion occurred simultaneously at 08:50. Our evidence is based upon the precise time the Tunnel Telephone system on the Piccadilly line went out of service.

The Tunnel Telephone system is used to switch off traction current and can be switched off and on remotely, this doesn't mean that the driver has no means of communication, as train drivers have radio communication facilities. A handset can also be used to connect to the Tunnel Telephone system and speak to the Line Controller:

With the advent of train radio, the tunnel telephone wires are rarely used to switch off traction current these days. However, they do offer an alternative means of contact to the Line Controller in an emergency if there is a problem with the train radio. Traction current will be switched off when the handset is used but the Line Controller can soon arrange for it to be switched back on again and using the tunnel telephone wires in this way will usually mean less of a delay than trying to contact somebody by other available means.

Traction current can be turned off by train crews in the tunnel by pinching together the two bare copper wires seen at window level in all LU tunnels. A handset, provided on the train, can also be connected to these wires to allow the train crew to speak to the controller.

Source: Tubeprune

A log of events released by London Underground (LU) to the BBC shows the confusion surrounding the first moments. References to the Piccadilly Line blast in the LU Tube log are:

09:03: The Piccadilly line Duty Operations Manager receives reports of passengers running from King's Cross.

09:10: The Piccadilly line Duty Operations Manager reports to NCC a request for ambulances. In the twenty minutes that had passed since 08:50, the Network Control Centre was now dealing with four separate  issues (power supply, derailment at Edgware Road / person under train,  person under train at Liverpool Street, loss of high tension power cable near Moorgate) and was receiving the appropriate co-ordinated response from LU,  emergency services and suppliers.

09:11: The Piccadilly line Duty Operations Manager reports loss of traction current in Russell Square both east and westbound and that a loud bang had been heard at Russell Square westbound with staff already investigating.

Source: BBC News

The Piccadilly Line Duty Operation Manager's report released to a J7 researcher under a Freedom of Information request states:

At 0850hrs, the tunnel telephone for Holloway Road – Russell Square westbound Current Rail Section tripped. The train service was held whilst station staff checked the tunnel telephones at relevant stations. Early indications were of a serious power failure, with loss of CCTV monitors in the central area. At 0856hrs, heavy smoke was seen issuing from the west bore of the eastbound platform tunnel at King's Cross.

Had the affected train left King's Cross by 08.50, when the tunnel telephone is reported to have tripped or was the line reset and then the train left the platform? According to Richard Barnes, chair of the GLA Review Committee who conducted the only formal public examination of some of the events of 7/7:

"The timelines have indicated that the bombs went off at 8.50am at Liverpool Street, 8.51am at Edgware Road, and 8.53am at King’s Cross."

Source: GLA 7 July Review Committee Final Report [PDF]
p9 Volume 2: Views and information from organisations

which would suggest that this is in fact what occurred, as the journey between King's Cross and Russell Square takes just 2 minutes and the train had travelled less than half that distance at the time of the explosion. If the Home Office report purports to tell us "exactly what happened" how can there be any discrepancy from any other source about the exact time at which the explosions underground occurred?

Piccadilly Line train 311 or 331 or both

On July 9th, Transport for London reported the following blast timings and locations, the direction of the train is now changed to travelling from King's Cross towards Russell Square:

London Underground, the Metropolitan Police and the British Transport Police can now confirm that the three bombs which exploded on three Tube trains on Thursday 7 July 2005 went off simultaneously at around 08.50.

Explosions were as follows (in succession):

* 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.
* Piccadilly line train number 311 travelling from King's Cross St Pancras to Russell Square southbound.

Source: Transport for London

Note the number of the Piccadilly Line train, 311. This was later changed -- without explanation -- to Piccadilly Line train 331, and an independent J7 researcher confirmed this via TfL's customer services:

19/Nov/2005

Thank you for your email dated 5 November.

I can confirm that the Piccadilly train involved on 7 July was the westbound train no 331. The initial reports that we received immediately at the time were incorrect and we updated our records accordingly as soon as we were advised.

Yours sincerely

Fola Olafare
Customer Service Centre

The notion is that Transport for London made a mistake when they originally reported that Piccadilly Line train 311 was involved in the events of July 7th. Somewhere along the line it appears that TfL corrected the original 311 announcement, although not via a published press release, and stated that it was Piccadilly Line train 331 on which the carnage occurred. The following is taken from the TUBE Professional's RUmour NEtwork, Tubeprune.

Update on 7/7 Attack for 10/7/05:

An update of the train identification is that the westbound Piccadilly Line train was actually 331 (not 311) running about 20 minutes late due to an earlier problem at Caledonian Road.

Source: Tubeprune

On 3rd January 2006, the story of Tom Nairn, the driver of train 311, and Ray Wright, his train operator passenger in the driver's cab of train 311 on July 7th, appeared in the comments on a July 7th related blog. The blog author has since chosen to delete this comment, although her response to the comment is still there. The train operator passenger in the cab of the affected train, Ray Wright, wrote this astonishing account of the driver of train 311:

Not wishing to denigrate any of the actions of police on the day, not ONE WORD has been said about the driver of Train 311, Tom Nairn. I joined Tom's train at King's Cross, travelling in the cab with him on my way to work as a fellow driver, based at Acton Town. I took the first couple of batches of walking wounded to Russell Square and was probably the first member of staff to meet any colleague at the station.

Tom stayed behind in the first car, doing what we as drivers are paid to do, looking after his train and his passengers on it. He helped some by applying tourniquets and reassuring others. He saw things that even trained police officers found themselves unable to cope with, but most importantly had to face it on his own before help arrived probably 40 minutes later, a scene of utter devastation in almost total darkness. He has never been mentioned or praised, he has remained dignified and quiet, and has never returned to drive a train.

Recently he applied for some compensation through his union. The response from the Met Police was "We have no knowledge of this person having been involved in this incident and therefore will not be processing his claim further."

Rather odd because Tom and I were interviewed by police for around three hours after the incident. The press coverage of the other 'heroes' has left him feeling completely empty and devalued. Pity when the reaction of Police and certain members of station staff are lauded he has been completely forgotten.

Ray Wright,
Train Operator,
Acton Town Depot

Source: Blogger Comment

Tom Nairn, the driver of train 311 spent 40 minutes in almost total darkness dealing with the injured on his train, yet the Metropolitan Police had "no record of this individual being involved in this incident." If the MPS have 'no record' of Tom Nairn then whose name is on record as the driver of the affected train or did his name disappear when the train number was changed from 311, Tom's train, to 331?

Tom Nairn is not the only train driver that day who remains anonymous and ignored, none of the other train drivers of the affected trains have ever been honoured, named or even interviewed by the media. Other underground worker stories that confirm the Piccadilly Line train number as 311, include that of the Duty Manager at Russell Square tube station that morning, Gary Stevens:

GARY STEVENS, DUTY MANAGER AT RUSSELL SQUARE TUBE STATION

I was meant to start work at 0900 that morning. I woke up early, I couldn't sleep, so I decided to start work early. If I'd have gone in at the normal time I'd have been on the affected train, train 3/11, and I would have been in the first car. I use that carriage every day to exit the station...

I was in my office at work, and at 0854 all the lights flickered in the office... we went down to the platform, couldn't see anything at all, when we noticed there was a light in the tunnel.

We hung on to see what it was and it was the driver of train 3/11 with about 30 or 40 injured customers, who had managed to get out and he led them down the tunnel. Some of them had quite serious head injuries, clothes blown off, things like that...

Source: BBC

The BBC choose to signify train 311 by using 3/11 in this report, almost as if they were drawing parallels with the American date notation for the Madrid train bombings of March 11th 2004.

One would expect that train drivers and station Duty Managers would know the trains they are driving or have passing through their stations, especially as - and confirmed by Clive D.W. Feather - the train numbers are used as radio call signs.

It would seem that Gary Stevens did not see train driver Tom Nairn, or the driver of train 331, but instead Ray Wright, a train operator who travelled in the cab of train 311 with driver Tom Nairn. Ray Wright initially handled the task of leading passengers to Russell Square while driver Tom Nairn stayed on his own for 40 minutes with his train to assist the survivors and injured. Interestingly Gary Stevens, quoted above, also claims: “I spent 40 minutes down there on my own before the fire brigade got there and it was the longest 40 minutes of my life, it seemed like four months.”

Despite Gary Stevens claim, the Fire Brigade never attended this incident from Russell Square at least not in the first hour and there are huge anomalies and inconsistencies in the accounts of which of the emergency services actually attended the scene or arrived first. More on that later.

This leaves us with a train driver, his Train Operator passenger in the cab that morning and the Duty Manager at Russell Square all telling us that the train in question was train 311. Furthermore both Gary Stevens and -- according to Ray Wright -- the train driver Tom Nairn, both remaining on their own for 40 minutes in a Piccadilly Line train.

The changing train number was once again checked by an independent public researcher to ensure that TfL were aware of the discrepancy between the two train numbers. Transport for London replied:

On Tue, 2006-01-17 at 19:16 +0000, Customer Services wrote:

Our ref: 1084546

17/Jan/2006

Thanks for your further email.

As stated in my previous email, the Piccadilly train involved on 7 July was the westbound train no 331. The initial reports that we received immediately at the time were incorrect and have now been subsequently updated.

Thank you for taking the time to contact us. Please get in touch if I can be of any further help.

Yours sincerely

Fola Olafare
Customer Service Centre

When an independent researcher, concerned that the times that the affected trains had left King's Cross were not to be found in any news report or on any official websites, managed to ascertain this information, the number of the Piccadilly Line train was absent altogether:

Subject: Re: train times on 7/7/05

Let me also apologise for the delay in responding to your query on the times of the trains that left King's Cross station on the morning of 7th July 2005.

I have been in touch with the British Transport Police and have managed to obtain the following information:

- the Eastbound Circle line train (204) left King's Cross at 08:35.
- the Westbound Circle line train (216) left King's Cross at 08:42
- the Piccadilly Line train south left King's Cross at 08:48

I trust the above is of use to you.

Vicky
Vicky Hutchinson
Transport Security Directorate
Department for Transport

Information from the Working Time Table released under a FOI request to a J7 researcher shows that train 331 was fresh out of Cockfosters depot on its first trip of the day and running approx 20 minutes late due to an earlier incident at Caledonian Road. Train 311 would be travelling north, (the direction given in the first TfL press release that mentions this incident), between Earl's Court and Hyde Park Corner at the revised time of 8.50 and would have arrived at King's Cross at 9.08. This makes it even more difficult to understand how this mix-up in the train numbers occurred.

Even the Piccadilly Line Duty Operation Manager's report, obtained under a FOI request by a J7 researcher, identifies the affected train as 311 rather than 331, and there is no mention of the position of train 331, the train that TFL now claims was involved on 7/7. Are we to assume that none of the people responsible for running the underground -- the driver of the train, his Train Operator passenger in the cab, the Russell Square duty operations manager, and Transport for London who issued a press release citing train 311 as the affected train -- actually knew which train they were dealing with at the time?

The following is taken from the Duty Operations Manager's report of 7th July 2005:

At 0850hrs, the tunnel telephone for Holloway Road – Russell Square westbound Current Rail Section tripped. The train service was held whilst station staff checked the tunnel telephones at relevant stations. Early indications were of a serious power failure, with loss of CCTV monitors in the central area. At 0856hrs, heavy smoke was seen issuing from the west bore of the eastbound platform tunnel at King's Cross. W311 was stalled between King's Cross and Russell Square, according to the signalling diagram, over the crossover leading from the eastbound to westbound running lines. It was mostly impossible from this point to gather information or make outgoing calls from Earl’s Court due to overloading of the telephone system. At 0900hrs, customers were seen exiting the westbound tunnel onto the platform at King's Cross. Traction Current was discharged from the Russell Square – Holloway Road Current Rail Section at 0900hrs. The Northern Line DOM was contacted and requested to stop train movements in the King's Cross area in case customers got lost and worked their way into the King's Cross loop. At 0908hrs, a report was received from the Russell Square supervisor that a loud bang had been heard on the westbound platform but that there was no damage or debris in the platform area. Efforts were made to hold trains in platforms but a number of trains became stalled in tunnels. These included E302 approaching Russell Square, E301 approaching Caledonian Road, E310 approaching Hyde Park Corner, E317 approaching North Ealing, E366 approaching Alperton and W334 approaching Holloway Road. All trains were worked forward under rule and detrained quickly, apart from W334 which was crush loaded. It was unable to proceed into Holloway Road due to the discharge of Traction Current ahead. The Arsenal station supervisor detrained W271 in his platform and travelled to W334. Many customers were transferred from W334 to W271 but it was impossible to transfer all customers to the assisting train. W271 was therefore worked back to Arsenal, arriving at 1032hrs. W334 was also worked back to Arsenal, arriving at 1049hrs. One customer was treated for the symptoms of a panic attack but no other issues were reported.

Staff at Russell Square quickly made their way to W311. They found that there had been an explosion in the first or second car. Their initial assessment indicated many casualties and a number of fatalities. At 0919hrs, a Code Amber message was sent by NCC, soon followed by a Code Red. Trains were gradually evacuated of their operators and planning began concerning the searching of all trains and provision, if required, of operators to move trains later in the day.

At 1132hrs, smoke was seen issuing from the roof vents of E255 at Barons Court. The station and local area were evacuated and BTP attended to investigate, arriving at 1226hrs. All clear given 13.55.

12.00 Last (Live) casualty removed from train at Russell Square

Source: Piccadilly Line Duty Operation Manager's Report, 7th July 2005

If train 331 is in fact the train that was stalled between King's Cross and Russell Square and not train 311, where was train 311?

Piccadilly line train number 311 becomes history and is replaced by train 331 with no explanation of how this error occurred in the original record of events or the accounts from train drivers, station managers or duty operation managers. The BBC graphic for this explosion still claims the train was number 311, and the GLA final report published on 5/05/06, also refers to this train as 311. The GLA final report differs from the official version on another fact in stating that this explosion happened at 8.53 and not 8.50. Who gave the GLA Review Committee this information regarding the train number and time?

2.1 first explosion on 7 July took place at 8.50 am on eastbound Circle Line train number 204, travelling from Liverpool Street to Aldgate station. Within one minute, a second explosion took place on a Circle Line train number 216, travelling westbound from Edgware Road to Paddington. A third bomb was detonated approximately two minutes later, on a southbound Piccadilly Line train number 311.

Source: 7 July Review Committee Final report [PDF]

In response to a letter to a J7 researcher's MP, Tim O'Toole, Managing Director of TfL, allocates the train number error to the Piccadilly Line Duty Operations Manager:

"I can confirm that the number of the train involved in the Piccadilly Line terrorist bombing on 7th July was 331.

This has been confirmed by matching the unique carriage identification number with the train number allocated on the day within the train depot at Cockfosters. It has also been confirmed by the driver, his duty number and the reports of the station staff who initially attended following the explosion.

The source of the confusion appears to be the incident report of the Piccadilly Line Duty Operations Manager that wrongly quotes train 311 as the incident train.

I hope this clarifies the situation."

Contrary to Mr O'Toole's explanation, we have seen it was more than just the Piccadilly Line Duty Operations Manager that had 'incorrectly' identified this train and his claim that train number 331 was confirmed by both the driver and station staff, who had all previously claimed this train was 311, defies reason. The 'unique carriage identification number' is also another question mark that hangs over this incident, more later. A Freedom of Information request to TfL asking the position of the Piccadilly Line train 311 at 0850 on 7th July 2005 received a reply stating that it was at South Kensington, a stretch of the Piccadilly that would appear to be covered by the Trackernet control system although no Trackernet images have been released by TfL for the Piccadilly Line.

Perhaps there were two trains involved in this incident, whether these were 311 and 331, a notion which is supported by the many eye-witness accounts and reports from the scene.

Reported problems and closures on the London Underground

We know that there had been severe disruptions on the London Underground that morning, including:

At 06.25am a defective northbound train at Balham resulted in suspension of the Northern line in both directions between Stockwell and Morden. The problem with the train meant that there was a strong burning smell and smoke. The passengers were detrained, the defective train was checked and removed and the northbound service resumed at 09.05am. The London Fire Brigade was on site as a precaution in this instance, due to the nature of the defect however no passengers were reported injured.

At around 07.57 Caledonian Road station was closed due to a fire alert caused by a report of a strong burning smell coming from a defective eastbound train. The passengers were detrained (evacuated on to the platform) and Piccadilly line services were suspended between King's Cross and Arnos Grove until 08.28am.

At 08.51 six stations were closed because of a local power failure. The stations closed were Angel, Bank, Camden Town, Kentish Town, King's Cross and Old Street. This resulted in the suspension of the City branch of the Northern line. Following this all stations and train services were suspended after a general security alert across the network.

These disruptions led to commuters wondering if there was something up, as this account by a passenger on an earlier journey into London on the Piccadilly Line muses:

Did anyone travelling in BEFORE the attacks began yesterday notice anything peculiar on their tube journey?

I catch the Piccadilly line at 7.15am each morning from Southgate to reach my work in Kensington by 8.00. Normally, all seats are taken by Finsbury Park and carriages are packed by King's Cross.

However, yesterday my tube journey was eerily quiet. For the first time ever there were spare seats in my carriage all the way through zone 1. It was noticeable enough for me to wonder what on earth was going on. This was at 7.45 - over an hour before attacks began.

I've also heard people saying that the Northern Line was being shut down at the same time.

Is there something that we're not being told?

Reports of the closure of the southern end of the Northern Line between Morden and Stockwell are also described here:

I was due to pick a work colleague up from Balham at 7:15am, but when I got there I was greeted with Tube emergency vans, police and hoards of people being turned away from a closed station.

All very strange they must have known something was going to happen, they surely had a tip off. As I drove along the road, (which also follows the tubes) they were all shut and hundreds of people were queuing for buses.

When I reached Oval, which was open there were two armed policemen in a road next to the station, which for a quiet area like that is extremely rare.

The northern line was shut from Morden to Stockwell. They blatantly knew something was going down, they just got it wrong and are hoping no one mentions anything.

There were also problems on the Bakerloo Line:

Bakerloo line - suspended between Paddington and Elephant and Castle in both directions from 08:07 due to a defective train in Piccadilly Circus northbound platform. Services resumed with severe delays.

Along with various other problems on the Northern Line, including signalling problems at Old Street earlier that morning, there was a security alert at Bank station, both sites were identified in early reports as sites of explosions.

07.05 Bank – station closed due to security alert
Station closed and non-stopped due to an unattended bag on station. Station re-opened 07.27hrs. 22 minute delay.

Perhaps all these problems are just an ordinary day on the tube, but to some of the people quoted, including Emily, a passenger on this train, they do appear to foreshadow later events and appear to be at least some part of the reason for the failure of Government to hold a public inquiry:

‘I personally think the whole thing is suss - if you think about it there were apparent "power surges" all morning, I was even told there was a fire at Caledonian Road - (funny how on that same morning 4 bombs went off) - to me that whole morning was as though commuters were being put off travelling into London it was as though someone knew that something was going to happen on the underground - how funny we haven’t heard anything about the power surges since!!!!!!! No wonder they don’t want a public inquiry....’

Source: Emily, Piccadilly Line passenger

The changing position of the explosion

The initial account on both the MPS website and BBC state that the explosion happened by the first set of double doors on carriage one of Piccadilly Line train 311, (which was later changed by TfL to train 331). Even in their one week anniversary recap of the events the MPS repeat this information:

Piccadilly Line train travelling from King's Cross to Russell Square, approx 600 metres into the tunnel. The device was in the first carriage, in the standing area near the first set of double doors.

Source: Metropolitan Police Service

The BBC were also claiming the explosion happened near the first set of double doors:

BBC News web site reports Piccadilly Line Explosion by FIRST SET of double doors

Establishing the centre of an explosion is not a difficult task and it is makes no sense that this information was incorrect. The official version's account of the explosion on the Edgware Road train has been disputed by eye-witnesses and survivors from this train, and has led them to question the veracity of the report, only to be told by the Home Secretary, Dr John Reid in August 2006 that a final forensics report had not yet been completed.

J7 have submitted a FOI request to the Home Office to ascertain whether a final forensics report has been completed and if so, whether this has changed any of the information contained within the Home Office report as to the position of these explosions. The official report has already been discredited due to the incorrect statement it made that the 4 alleged 'bombers' caught a cancelled 7.40 train from Luton.

The BBC changed the graphic and the information on their website, whilst still claiming the train number was 311, whilst the MPS have never issued a correction or update:

BBC News changes their web site and reports Piccadilly Line Explosion by SECOND SET of double doors

The reason that the centre of the explosion was changed on the BBC web site from the FIRST SET of double doors on the first carriage to the SECOND SET of double doors would appear to be due to an eye-witness account of where she was standing at the time of the incident. The eye-witness maintains she was close to the FIRST set of double doors although, curiously, the same eye-witness has also stated that she was not aware a bomb had exploded in her carriage, or even on her train. Despite this, the eye-witness claimed the explosion could not have occurred at the location stated by the Metropolitan Police and news reports. The following account is taken from her BBC diary after hearing the news about where the blast location:

The rolling BBC and ITV news started saying the bomb at King's Cross was on the first carriage by the double doors going towards Russell Square - near where I had been standing.

When the blast went off I fell to the left into a heap of people, by the left-hand set of doors.

It was too dark to see what was smashed.

We escaped through the driver's cab and walked to Russell Square but the news said most people escaped out the back and walked to King's Cross.

When I started hearing the bomb was in my carriage, I flipped. I started pacing about.

I phoned the BBC to ask them where they got this information from, then I phoned the anti-terrorist hotline and gave a more detailed witness statement.

She then goes on to recount her interview with the anti-terrorist officers:

After a detailed anti-terrorism staff interview I found out some stuff I needed to share.

The King's Cross bomb was placed at the end of the first carriage, not the first set of doors on the front carriage as reported on the news.

The Tube tunnel was very narrow here and the train was very crowded, which was why most of the people were killed and hurt at the back of carriage one and front of carriage two.

Strange indeed that this was not just erroneous news reporting but information from official sources such as the Metropolitan Police and 'reputable' media organisations like the BBC, and that both official sources and the media were stating that the standing area by the first set of double doors was the site of the explosion. Whether any passengers were killed or badly injured in the front of carriage two is disputed by the evidence we have researched.

The eye-witness from the first carriage who hadn't been aware that a bomb had exploded in her carriage reinforces and supports Ray Wright's account that both both he and the train driver initially assessed that the explosion was due to a mechanical or electrical incident:

Tube driver tells of bomb chaos

A Tube relief driver who should have been sitting in the bombed King's Cross carriage has described the panic and disbelief during the rescue effort.

Ray Wright should have ridden near the suicide bomber in the front carriage, but it was so packed he sat in the front cab with his colleague.

"There was an explosion, the lights went, the cab door, we believe, blew in and smoke came in," he told BBC London.

"And the screaming, that's what we remember more than anything else."

Piccadilly Line driver Mr Wright would usually have been sitting in the carriage where Germaine Lindsay, 19, is believed to have carried out the most deadly of the four attacks on 7 July - killing himself and 26 others.

But he told how he sat up front with his colleague because the carriage was packed to capacity that morning.

"We call it crush conditions, you couldn't have got any more passengers on that train," he said.

"We got about a train and a half's length into the tunnel, everything seemed okay, when all of a sudden there was an almighty explosion and I remember everything happening at once."

Back in the passenger carriage, he described a "sea of blackened faces in a state of total panic."

"We were screaming, above the shouting, for everyone to calm down, that we were okay at the front and we were going to get people off."

He said as they got people off the train, he and the driver still thought it was a mechanical or electrical fault.

It was only when the first police arrived he was told other bombs had gone off on two other Tube trains and one on a bus.

While a local hotel brought blankets to the booking hall at Russell Square, Mr Wright watched as doctors tried to resuscitate passengers - "it was evident that there were limbs missing," he said.

"It's not something you anticipate seeing when you come into work, but I think by then the emergency services were there and they were in control.

"I think at the same point we were still standing in total disbelief that this was really happening.

The fact that two train drivers, after rescuing passengers from a carriage that we are told a bomb went off in, believe that this explosion was the result of an electrical or mechanical fault is consistent with many accounts from the other affected underground trains that morning. Ray Wright's description of the first police arriving and telling him that bombs had gone off on a bus could not have occurred until 9.47 at the very earliest. The initial cause identified for these explosions, power surges on the underground, are examined in detail here.

If the explosion did occur on train 331 at the rear of the first carriage why did Andy Hayman, CBE, Assistant Commissioner Specialist Operations, the officer in charge of anti-terrorist operations who was knighted in 2006, tell a press conference on 8th July 2005:

Probably the more complex scene of the four is the explosion on the underground train between King's Cross and Russell Square. The device was in the first carriage, in the standing area by the first set of double doors. I'll come back to that scene in a minute.

I've divided it up into a couple of categories. Firstly, it's the forensic opportunities that will be present in these four scenes. They are very challenging scenes. Our people are working under the most extreme circumstances. And when I describe the scene in Russell Square, it's yet to be the case for us to get near the carriage. There's the threat of the tunnel being unsafe and, of course, given the passage of time, we will be expecting things such as vermin and other dangerous substances to be in the air. And so those kind of challenges complicate what we need to now do.

Mr Hayman is reported as knowing 'instinctively' that these were explosions caused by bombs when he heard 'curious news reports of power surges'. News coverage of power surges were not broadcast until 9.16 at the earliest:

On Thursday July 7, Andy Hayman woke at 5am, travelled from home to central London and went for his daily run in St James's Park, a few streets from New Scotland Yard. A few hours later he was behind his desk on the fifth floor when he first heard that something was wrong. There were curious news reports of power surges affecting London's underground network.

Without having to be told, Mr Hayman, the assistant commissioner who is in overall charge of Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist operations, knew instinctively that this was the inevitable terrorist attack that the Metropolitan police had been preparing for and warning of since September 11, and now he would find out whether the force was up to the job.

"I thought we'd better start preparing for the worst," Mr Hayman said. "It's now come to fruition. Normality will never be the same."

An hour later, as he was being whisked to Whitehall for a meeting of Cobra - the government's crisis command committee - news came through that a bus had blown up, and the scale of the atrocity became clear.

Source: The Guardian

It appears that Hayman was not the only person with such prescient abilities, according to Hansard, at a forensics science conference that was taking place on July 7th:

Last summer, I journeyed to Lincoln to speak about the issue at a conference of forensic practitioners. The meeting took place on the day of the London bombings, and the people there knew immediately that it was not an electrical fault that caused the disastrous events that occurred one after the other. It was interesting that some of them disappeared because they had to help out with the analysis of the situation.

Even Tim O'Toole, Managing Director of London Underground could only claim:

"Following initial reports, we had one team concentrating on getting emergency resources to the sites and getting further reports, and we split another part of management to think about what we would be doing later, four hours and 24 hours later, because at that time of course, shortly after the bomb exploded on the bus we knew we were dealing with crime scenes."

This written submission from the Network Control Centre operator to the GLA Review Committee also confirms that the explosion on the bus acted almost as official confirmation of 'terrorist attacks'':

The next thing was a report of smoke coming from a Piccadilly Line tunnel at King’s Cross and this resulted in more calls to the emergency services. The power supply people at Leicester Square confirmed that they had lost one of their major supply routes and were preparing an alternative feed, thus it looked in part that things were similar to the major power failure 2 years’ ago (albeit now caused by a train severing HT cables and with more serious consequences).

The NCC, therefore, issued the “Network Power Failure” blanket message for trains to await traction current recharge, and it’s galling to see how in the media and on the internet the “power surge” theory is being described as an MI5 or Government cover-up put out to avoid panic. Although confirmation that these were terrorist acts had not yet been received, the Information Desk Operator and myself between us rung all London area Train Operating Companies (TOC) to explain the current LU-status and suggested to each TOC that they might wish to review their own security arrangements. Senior managers began arriving in the NCC and the ‘Gold Control’ function was established in an adjacent room.

Once the bus bombing had been confirmed it proved out worst fears, though by this time the evacuation of the entire system had already commenced. Buses were being withdrawn from Zone 1 and National Rail trains terminating short of the capital.

Source: GLA 7 July Review Committee Final Report p239 Volume 2 [PDF]
(Views and information from organisations)

The carriage number

As noted previously, all of the details regarding the original report of this explosion changed over time, this would also appear to include the carriage number of the affected carriage. Tim O'Toole claimed the train number was changed due to matching the unique carriage number allocated to each train. Which carriage number is not known for definite as there are at least three possible candidates.

The Piccadilly Line train, as advised by Clive Feather, consisted of the following vehicles:

"166-566-366-417-617-217, and the first carriage of that train - the carriage that was bombed - was carriage 166."

In an article about the first firefighters that arrived on the scene of the Piccadilly Line incident at 10.00, Blue Watch relive the bomb hell inside carriage 346A, carriage 346A is referred to eleven times, if you include the title of the article. In an Evening Standard article printed on 1/11/05, (only a cached copy exists), carriage 346A is again used to refer to the affected carriage of this train.

Yet carriage 346A does not feature in Clive Feather's train line-up.

From the blog of a J7 researcher:

The impossible carriage: Piccadilly Line 346A

A note on Piccadilly Line 1973 Tube Stock car numbering.

Each car has four axles labelled A, B, C, D. Each car has an A end and a D end. The couplings at the A end are different from the couplings at the D end. Cars can only couple A to D. Three cars couple to form a half train.

For example, 146-546-346. 146 is the A car of the half train. 346 is the D car.

A full train would be: 146-546-346-4xx-6xx-2xx.

346 would be the third or fourth carriage from the front, depending on which way the train was going.

Which train does the physical set 166-566-366-417-617-217 belong to?

The Tubeprune informs me that:

"Unit 166-566-366 was severly damaged, 366 is probably the only possible survivor but it has no other cars to work with at this time."

Since the explosion in 311 was near the rear of the first carriage and also damaged the second carriage, there is a strong presumption that 166 belonged to train 311, the train near Russell Square.

346A is impossible and 346D cannot be the first or second carriage.

Why are there two newspaper reports claiming that an explosion occurred in carriage 346A? J7 have submitted a FOI request to ascertain precisely which train the mythical carriage 346A belonged to:

Could you please supply the following information in regard to the events on the London Underground on July 7th 2005:

1. What were the numbers of all the carriages damaged on each train by these explosions

2. Have these carriages been repaired and put back in service

3. Which train and train number would have had a carriage 346A that morning. If it was not one of the affected trains I would still like this information

By 10th July, the time of the explosion, the direction of the train, the train number and the position of the centre of the explosion have all been changed from those originally reported. The one fact that doesn't change is that this explosion takes place on the floor of the train.

The suicide-bomber theory gestates

The idea that these attacks were carried out by suicide-bombers was first suggested by journalists rather than the police. Furthermore, during the early stages of the investigation the police are at pains to make the point that as the explosions occurred on the floor of the trains there is no reason to assume that they were detonated manually. Andy Hayman at a Press Conference on 8th July 2005, said:

At this stage, we do believe, however, that each device that was put onto the tube trains was likely to be on the floor of the carriage.

Sir Ian Blair, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan police, was countering journalists who were posing the question of whether these were suicide-bombs, at the same press conference:

BLAIR: No, as I said earlier on, Ian, there is absolutely nothing to suggest this was a suicide bomb. There is nothing to suggest that. We can't rule it out. It may have been that. But it may also have been a bomb that was left on a seat. It may also be a bomb that went off in transit. These things are still open to the investigation. And I think the continuous reference to suicide bombing is unhelpful, because it's completely unproven.

QUESTION: Just following on from that, and I have a second question. But just following on that, is it the working assumption at the moment that those on the Tubes were devices which were left? They weren't with an individual when they went off, or can you not know?

BLAIR: I just don't think we can answer this question. As Andy has already said is it looks like the ones on the Tube were on the floor. So that may give you some idea, but that's ...

QUESTION: So, you have no clues as to whether they were in the control of individuals?

BLAIR: We do not at this stage, no.

The fact that the explosions all occurred on the floor of the trains within seconds of leaving stations, indicated they were detonated by timing devices rather than manually, a point being picked up by many newspapers as the suicide-bomber theory begins to wane:

Information which has come out since indicates that a group of terrorists, possibly no more than one for each of the four explosions, could have arrived at King's Cross Underground station and planted bombs on three trains heading away from the station. The police are not ruling out the possibility of a suicide mission, but their latest evidence is that in each case the device was placed on the floor of the train. That heightens the possibility that the bombers simply stepped off as the doors closed, and may have been back on the street when the bombs exploded within 50 seconds of each other.

Source: The Independent

Police believe that a team of at least four bombers using commercial high explosives with sophisticated timing devices mounted last week's attacks in London, and fear they might strike again.

The details are the first to emerge from the massive investigation into the attack. They are based on a detailed examination of the timings of the explosions and early forensic analysis of the four blast scenes.

Source: The Guardian

Police would not comment on claims by US officials that timers had been discovered.

The fact that all the blasts ripped apart trains and a bus that had travelled though a tight area of the city, around King's Cross, has also prompted speculation that a small cell - and possibly a lone bomber - may have been to blame.

A single terrorist would have been able to place bombs on both of the Circle line trains and, by doubling back or by alighting and walking to stations just a few hundred yards apart, place a third bomb on the Piccadilly line train. He or she could then have boarded the No 30 bus, where the final device exploded 56 minutes after the first tube blast.

Source: The Guardian

The Guardian article also notes: In the City, as elsewhere in London, people were waiting anxiously for more information so they could assess whether more carnage was possible. After the explosions battered the financial markets and sent sterling sliding against the dollar, an analyst at one London bank said: "It would make a difference if we knew for sure that these were suicide bombers, rather than an active cell on the loose." The money markets must have been reassured when these attacks were eventually blamed on suicide-bombers.

Examining the events in London on July 7th, it is worth posing the question: 'who really benefited from these attacks and especially the notion of suicide-bombers' as it certainly wasn't Islam or Muslims.

Precisely how Lindsay 'not seated' in a carriage at crush capacity manages to both put his rucksack onto the carriage floor and then detonate it is difficult to fathom. The scene at King's Cross, where Lindsay is alleged to have boarded this train, and the train itself as described by an eye-witness:

All King's Cross trains were running late. I let 2 overcrowded trains go before boarding one at 8.40am. I had arrived at Finsbury Park at 8.30am. Normally there is a train every minute, but they were coming every 3 or 4 minutes. Therefore you had three times as many people attempting to board the trains as normal. So after waiting ten minutes I gave up and got onto the overcrowded train at 8.40am. And stood by the pole in the centre by the first set of double doors.

More people heaved on at each stop. Arsenal, Holloway Road, Caledonian Road, the train was now completely rammed. At King's Cross the platform was 5 or 6 people deep. People surged onto the train. We could not believe that they were even trying to get on, but if you were at the front of a heaving platform you were pretty much shoved on by the crowd. Anyway, on they all squeezed. Including Germaine Lindsay.

And 30 seconds later he detonated his bomb.

Source: Urban 75

Anyone who has ever boarded a train this packed knows they will at best be squeezed up against the door and unlikely to be able to work their way through the other passengers, particularly Lindsay, described as 'a big, powerfully built man, not fat but muscular'. Yet this is what we are to believe Lindsay managed to do. He somehow then managed to place a large rucksack, which according to the Home Office report 'CCTV shows are large and full' onto the floor of the train and manually detonate it, presumably by bending down to reach into it and pull a cord. The method of detonation, which was initially thought to be by a timing device, rather than the mobile phones used to trigger the bombs in Madrid (which would not work in a deep tunnel such as the Piccadilly Line), has never been officially stated. The Home Office report, whilst not specifying either the type of explosive used nor the method of detonation, makes attempts to dismiss the notion that remote detonation was likely, whilst not explaining how the devices were detonated nor specifying if timing devices could have been used, preferring to make the case for self-detonating devices:

* There is no evidence at the bomb sites of remote detonation, nor of any material at the bomb factory which would suggest that they intended to construct remote detonators. The fact that Hussain seems to have bought a battery that morning may provide further indication that they were using self-detonating devices.

Source: p12, Official Home Office Report

Eye-Witness Accounts

Both the BBC and the eye-witness diary extract describe damage and casualties in the 2nd carriage of this train, yet two eye-witness accounts from passengers who were standing in the 2nd carriage next to the adjoining door with the 1st carriage, do not report serious casualties or damage in this carriage:

I'm very surprised that there were so many deaths claimed at the King's Cross explosion. I was standing at the front of the second carriage and apart from a couple of voices that were screaming and praying, there were no cries for help that indicated serious injury or even death. Especially as many as 21 or more as reported. People were in a state of shock but remained calm. Is there any information on how they died or how the explosion could have killed them?
Mandy Yu, London

A J7 researcher asked Steve Lovegrove a passenger in the 2nd carriage standing at the adjoining door to the 1st carriage, whether he saw injuries or damage in the 2nd carriage:

no, I was the only person injured in the 2nd carriage. The damage was concentrated in the rear third of the 1st carriage. This is all in my account even if it isn't clear. The 2nd carriage was damaged though as the end of it took the force of the blast coming from carriage 1.

I can't account for what anyone else saw, I can only say what I saw from my point of view. But again if you read my account you will know there was a body lying in the junction by the third carriage badly maimed by the train. So there was at least one fatality further back up the tunnel. This has been reported by other people so I can mention it.

Despite the tunnel being very narrow, the junction that Steve describes seeing a body in is the crossover tunnel which runs between the westbound and eastbound tracks, and through which many of the passengers from the middle carriages of the train evacuated back to the eastbound platform at King's Cross as can be seen in this image:

Perhaps 'the body lying in the junction by the 3rd carriage' that Steve describes seeing was a passenger who had been thrown out of the 1st carriage? This seems unlikely as Steve describes 'lots of things happened at the same time, there was a massive 'metallic' bang behind me which sounded like we’d hit a train at top speed, we stopped instantly'. A similarly unaccountable sighting of a body, this time in front of the train as a policeman approaches from King's Cross:

They had been walking south along the track for about five minutes when they saw the torso of a man, with no legs or arms, lying on the track in front of the mangled train. "If you hadn't looked hard," Asquith says, "you might not have noticed it was a person at all."

Source: The Guardian

Bodies being seen some distance behind or in front of trains also occurs in accounts of the Edgware Road and Liverpool Street explosions.

Within 2 minutes of the explosion Steve vividly and powerfully paints a scene of silence and darkness from inside the 1st carriage:

People were asking anyone with a phone to try and get a signal, I got mine out, even though it was useless, it was 8.52. We were trying to calm everyone down, eventually our carriage went quiet. The carriages behind were panicking, the one in front was silent, our carriage was eerily calm. I couldn’t see anything through the carriage door which hit me, it was pitch black, it wasn't there any more. I peered in through the window, I thought it was just the blackness of the dark which meant I couldn’t see the full carriage, no, many of them were dead and dying only feet in front of me yet I couldn‘t see it. I could see a man standing against the left hand rear of carriage one, my friend Mark was shining his phone through the window, trying to talk to him and the few people we could see, he never answered, he never moved for half an hour. Either he was deafened by the blast, in shock or unconscious. We were asking if they were ok through the door, and if we could get out that way, no answer. They were deaf, unconscious, dead, or on their way to Russell Square on foot. Course I didn’t realise this, there was no reason for us to believe a bomb exploded the other side of that door ........ After about 10 minutes we had heard nothing and it was getting really hot down there .... The buzzer on the intercom would go off every few minutes and everyone would shout for silence, we would ask for silence from the first carriage, even though it was silent in there. But the speaker would only crackle, and no message came through. After every failed message, people panicked again. Every few minutes a woman’s screams would come from the first carriage, and people would try to calm her from our carriage. I will never forget them. There were heavy bangs coming from both ends of the train, I thought the tunnel was collapsing, people were actually breaking out of the train. .....Mark tried to force the door behind us open to get the people out, he told them to stand back so he could kick it through, but couldn’t, it was buckled and swollen in towards us and jammed shut, the top half was blown through and scattered on the floor. It was so dark it was impossible to see what was happening in there, I could see part of the roof hanging down, which prevented us going through the window. Mark was still talking to the people the other side of the door, holding a woman’s hand through the door and reassuring them. A massive rush of air came through the tunnel as another train was coming down the tunnel and someone screamed out that it would hit us, I waited for the crash, I considered grabbing a man next to me, but it just faded away, They must have been clearing the tunnel to get us out After about half an hour people started to move down from in front of us, as I got to the end of my carriage I looked back and 5 injured people walked out of the carriage behind (the front one), then nobody else. We walked down through our carriage, as I did the tube manager from King's Cross came past us, I walked into the 3rd carriage, the first doors and windows were broken as the train had hit and rubbed the tunnel wall. I got out the 3rd side doors of the 3rd carriage onto the track and down a side tunnel as we had stopped on a ‘Y’ junction........

I looked back at the train, it was forced against the wall, and the sides were scraped. I recall seeing a form on the floor, I later realized this was a dead body. .....I phoned my University tutor to let him know we had been in a crash and would be late. It was now 9.40, I had been trapped underground in the smoke for 35 minutes. I waited in the ticket room on the floor to go to hospital. I phoned home and let my parents know I was ok, and I had been in a train crash ....... Eventually I was led outside, I was one of the last who could walk to leave King's Cross, by this time it was about 10.15, outside King's Cross resembled some sort of war zone, no public, no traffic, endless screeching of sirens and police holding the traffic at all junctions onto the road. Here I saw one of the worst things, a man in a suit, his back covered in lumps of other peoples flesh and sheets of burnt skin, Only now did I realize how bad the situation was. I asked a cop what had happened and he said one word: “bombs”.

Source: Steve Lovegrove

Why didn't Steve or Mark hear Ray Wright and Tom Nairn who ”.. were screaming, above the shouting, for everyone to calm down, that we were okay at the front and we were going to get people off". Why didn't he hear anything from Tom Nairn who 'stayed with his train and passengers for 40 minutes?' Or Gary Stevens who also claims to have stayed with the train for 40 minutes? How did Ian Wade (referred to earlier) and who claims to have travelled in the 2nd carriage, evacuate within 15 minutes, yet Steve claims he waits for at least 35?

Ian Wade's wife, Evelyn, gives a very different account of her experiences to the one recounted by her husband on the John Gaunt radio show, in an interview with the Independent although she also waited just 15 minutes to be rescued:

Evelyne Wade was in the carriage next to where she believed the bomb went off. Trembling and ashen-faced, she was amazed she had survived.

"We heard a big blast. The lights went out, and I thought I was going to die. Everyone was saying it was a fire and I thought we weren't going to get out alive," she said.

"We didn't move for 15 minutes and in that time, people were screaming, crying and banging on the windows, trying to get out. In the carriage next door, people were very injured and I saw a lot of blood on people."

Mrs Wade, 30, an estate agent from Oak Wood, said that when the train first juddered to a halt, she thought that it was just a continuation of delays that had already dogged her journey to work as an estate agent in Knightsbridge. But she soon realised it was more.

"We walked down the tunnel in the dark and there were a lot of injured people, and someone was dead. There was one big man who had lost all his clothes. There was someone else alive with no legs, we heard.

"There were lots of people in bandages and pads. We couldn't see very well because there was dust everywhere and people were panicking and covered in soot."

Were these accounts perhaps from a different train, the one heard by Steve Lovegrove: “... A massive rush of air came through the tunnel as another train was coming down the tunnel and someone screamed out that it would hit us, I waited for the crash ..” Or by BBC reporter Jacqui Head: “But then it sounded like another train had come up behind us and the carriage filled with smoke again and people became really, really frightened”. Or by Weaselbitch who blogged her account: “At one point it sounded like there was another train coming up behind us. There wasn’t, but I’ve still no idea what that noise actually was”.

Another explanation for the 'two-train numbers' and the evacuation within 15 minutes to King's Cross could possibly be a north-bound train:

8.45am King's Cross

As the northbound tube carrying Zeyned Basci approaches King's Cross there is a huge bang and shards of glass are sprayed on to passengers. "There was blood everywhere," she will remember later. "People were screaming and panicking. It was pitch black and then there was smoke. I thought I was going to burn alive." Through the smoke she sees a woman lying on the floor unconscious, her face gouged and bloody. A man is beside her, writhing with agony. There is light, somehow, from a torch, and as it scans the scene she gets flashes of the horror that is happening. Basci is covered in other people's blood. The carriage is filling with thick, black, choking smoke. It is hard to breathe. "Don't panic," says the driver, coming out of his cab into the carriage. But the passengers are not listening. They are screaming. The driver opens his own door and tells them to come through, and step down into the tunnel. The power in the tracks must have been switched off. There are hands in the gloom, helping men and women out and down. Basci is terrified. "I thought we were all going to die."

Source: The Independent

Another account of a passenger on a train pulling into King's Cross:

Another person to be caught in the drama was barrister's clerk, Chris Lowry, 17 from north London, was on [a] tube pulling into King's Cross when an explosion ripped through the station, killing 21 people.

He said: "I was reading my paper when I heard a bang. I don't know if I jumped up or fell forward, but I ended up out of my seat.

"All the lights were off except for one in the distance. Dust started to fill the carriage and I could barely see a thing. Everyone was calm in our carriage but further up I could hear women screaming and men shouting. As the dust thickened, I put my jacket in front of my face.

"I was terrified. I didn't know what was going on and had no idea if help was going to come. I checked my body to see if I was injured. I started to have a rising sense of panic. Someone walked through the carriage and said: "don't worry, there's not a fire, don't panic. We're going to get everyone out. They told us to pass the message on because they couldn't get far down the carriage. When we came out I realised just how serious this was. People had hair burnt off and had deep cuts. I got out of a door that had been taken off but some had to smash windows to get out. We were still in the tunnel when we got out. We had to walk on the tracks to the station. All the time we were being told not to worry.

"Once I'd got out of the train I realised how lucky I'd been there was blood everywhere. At the ticket machine at King's Cross people were lying around being treated by paramedics. There was blood everywhere."

Or perhaps like Hamish MacDonald who works for Channel 4 News, there is confusion over which train was actually affected, as his north-bound Northern Line train was evacuated before it reached the platform at King's Cross:

Our north-bound northern line train halted just outside of King Cross station after skipping the four previous stops. We were evacuated out of the drivers door, only to be met by hundreds of bloody, burnt and distraught passengers streaming off the Picadilly line train which had just been attacked.

The passengers we met, spoke of a loud blast, a flash of light and a smoke filled carriage. Most thought it was an electrical fault or a crash, but emerging from King's Cross station, where the drizzle had subsided momentarily, it became apparent that this was something more.

This eye-witness account talks of the derailment described by Steve Lovegrove:

At ten to nine, southbound on the Piccadilly line between King's Cross and Russell Square, my train was derailed. Obviously a derailment is rather scary but we hadn't heard anything about terrorism or anything like that at the time. There was a flash and a bang (not a big one, I doubt the train I was on was the one that took the direct hit of a bomb) and the train stopped surprisingly quickly. Smoke was everywhere so we were a little concerned about fire but it soon became clear that there was none so we just stayed put and waited for someone to tell us what to do! No one in my carriage panicked which is quite surprising as the smoke was really thick and nasty, everyone was breathing through shirts and tissues. We were stuck on the train for about 25 minutes before an official came and told us what was going on, and we evacuated quite calmly. I don't know what happened up at the front of the train though.

Alexander Chadwick from Enfield in London took this picture in the tunnel at King's Cross:

Many of the casualties at both Edgware Road but especially Liverpool Street/Aldgate describe electrocution, as does Ian in his account of this blast:

Ian
I remember thinking that I've never been on such a packed train. The next thing I remember was reading a paper and then getting a sharp feeling of electrocution, like I imagine anyone who has been struck by lightning gets.

I was knocked unconscious either during or after the electrocution and I maybe came round about 10 minutes afterwards.

Last week I had a go and I did the journey I did that day.

I went through the tunnel where it happened and to Russell Square where I lay injured for two or three hours waiting for an ambulance to arrive.

The one thing it's done is show the best of humanity and the worst of humanity on that day.

What springs to mind is not the worst of humanity because anyone who straps explosive to themselves to blow people up is a murderer.

Source: BBC News 16th October 2005

By October surely even Ian knows that Germaine Lindsay did not 'strap