Facts About the Train Times on July 7th
In Sir Ian Blair's 'largest criminal inquiry in English history', not a single image has been released showing all four alleged perpetrators in London together, or even separately.
At a Metropolitan Police press conference in the days after July 7th, it was announced that the alleged bombers caught the 7.40am Thameslink train from Luton to King's Cross. That the alleged bombers caught the 7.40am train was widely reported in television and newspaper reports the world over. This 'fact' was also confirmed in the official Government narrative of events.
The Song Remains the Same
Ten months to the day after the horrific events of July 7th, the Sunday Observer published The Real Story of 7/7 that claimed to be 'the definitive account of how four friends from northern England changed the face of western terrorism' in which the following claim is made:
"7:40am The four bombers catch a Thameslink train, which winds through the affluent commuter belt of Hertfordshire towards King's Cross."
However, there is one small problem with this story - independent public researchers have confirmed that the 7.40am Thameslink train from Luton to King's Cross was cancelled and did not run on July 7th.
This article discusses the anomalies of the train times based on the independently verified facts about the movements of the trains on the morning of July 7th. The story is in two parts; The Train Times from Luton to King's Cross and The London Underground Train Times from King's Cross.
The Train Times from Luton to King's Cross
The well-known picture of the four ‘bombers’ entering Luton station on the morning of July 7th was released by the police on July 16th. It apparently shows them catching the 7.40am train, as they announced at the press conference.
The image is time and date-stamped as 07.21:54, a few seconds shy of 7.22am.
The police had earlier inspected CCTV pictures of them at King’s Cross mainline station at 8.26 am, or so we were told. The Luton to King’s Cross Thameslink service normally takes 36 minutes, and so the 7.40am from Luton would usually arrive into King’s Cross at 8.16am. This would have fitted in neatly with these two timed CCTV images given out by the police.
Generally, official statements in the wake of the bombings claimed that they had caught the 7.40am train. But, this train was cancelled that morning.
Perhaps because of this, other media reports claimed that the four had caught the 7.48am from Luton, as the Daily Telegraph on the 14th July told its readers:
“After two trains were cancelled yesterday, the eight-carriage 07:48 service was fuller than usual.”
Note that the 7.30am train wasn’t cancelled, it was just running late and the 07.48 claim was likewise made on a Panorama program on October 27th 2005 entitled: ‘The 7/7 Bombers – A Psychological Investigation’. A July 7th Truth Campaign researcher attempted to hold the BBC to account for their error in a programme that overtly offered a 'scientific' approach.
A new book about July 7th by Justice Not Vengeance activist, Milan Rai, echoes this view and states the four young men catch the 07.48 from Luton. However, Mr Rai sourced this information only from a newspaper report and appears not to have bothered to check one of the most easily verifiable aspects of the alleged journey undertaken by the accused.
It turned out however that all trains were severely delayed on July 7th, due to problems with overhead lines in the Mill Hill Area.
These facts only emerged weeks after the event, when two researchers visited Luton station on the morning of 23rd August, and conducted on-platform interviews with commuters.
Computer records of the train timetables were kindly made available both by Marie Bernes at Customer Relations at King's Cross, and from Chris Hudson, Communications Manager of Thameslink Rail, at Luton station.
That gave the following Luton to King's Cross timetable for the morning of July 7th:
| Booked Departure |
Actual departure |
Due in at |
Actual Arrival King’s X |
Delay (minutes) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
07.16 |
07.21 |
07.48 |
08.19 |
31 |
07.20 |
07.20 |
08.08 |
08.15 |
7 |
07.24 |
07.25 |
08.00 |
08.23 |
23 |
07.30 |
07.42 |
08.04 |
08.39 |
35 |
07.40 |
Cancelled |
Cancelled |
Cancelled |
Cancelled |
07.48 |
07.56 |
08.20 |
08.42 |
22 |
It is evident from this table, that this 07.48 train did not arrive in King’s Cross until after the two of the affected underground trains had already departed King's Cross underground station..
Was any train feasible? Let us consider an earlier train, which left Luton station at 07.25, and arrived into King’s Cross Thameslink at 08.23 am; thus, its journey took 58 minutes. This scenario would give the four young men barely three minutes to walk up the stairs at Luton, buy their tickets in the morning rush-hour and then get to the platform. Some have suggested that Lindsay German from Aylesbury had arrived early and bought the four tickets in advance (day-returns at 22 pounds each), to make this feasible. But, from King’s Cross Thameslink, it takes a good seven minutes to walk through the long, Underground tube passage which includes a ticket barrier, to reach the main King’s Cross station, in the morning rush-hour with large rucksacks – in no way could they have been captured on the 08.26am alleged CCTV picture.
Thus, no train that morning is capable of getting a passenger into both of the CCTV images. This could be part of the reason why the police can never release the images they claim to have, of the four at King’s Cross.
This major breakdown of the official story came about through the testimony of a commuter who wished to remain anonymous: she arrived at Luton station that morning at 7.25am, and testified that she had no train to catch until 7.58am, because the 7.30am and 7.40am trains from Luton were cancelled on July 7th. She could only get a slow train at 7.58am from platform 3 to King's Cross, which didn't arrive there until 8.43am. It was so packed that many could not get onto the train at Luton*. (The 07.30 was delayed in arriving into Luton that morning and came into platform 4, whereas the London trains normally come to platforms 1 or 3, which is why she believed it had been cancelled.)
For further discussion of, eg, how long it would have taken at Luton station:
* This interview, temporarily offline, is contained in this 40-minute video:
DOWNLOAD '7/7 A SUMMARY OF THE EVIDENCE' (20MB .WMV via 911truth) or on Google video.
The London Underground Train Times from King's Cross
After a long and convoluted series of inquiries, an independent public researcher managed to obtain the departure times from King's Cross of the bombed trains. The confirmation of the these times was received on September 22nd:
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 08:48I trust the above is of use to you.
Vicky
Vicky Hutchinson
Transport Security Directorate
Department for Transport
Zone 5/8 Southside
105 Victoria Street
London
SW1E 6DT
Tel: 020 7944 2783
Fax: 020 7944 2174
Eight months after the start of Sir Ian Blair's 'largest criminal inquiry in English history' and there is still no credible official story of how the alleged bombers got from outside Luton station to King's Cross.
Is one photograph of the four young, British men alleged to have perpetrated these attacks, apparently taken 30 miles from the scene of the incidents, and in which three of the faces cannot be positively identified sufficient evidence to act as judge, jury and executioner for those that died?
Should any explanation for the deaths and injuries on July 7th 2005 be allowed to start with a train from Luton that didn't run, or a train from that arrived in London too late for the accused to catch two of the affected trains?
The July 7th Truth Campaign thinks not.
