The family of a 12-year-old girl who died alongside three others when a Belgian school bus was struck by a train has condemned the 'callous indifference' of safety regulators. Sources confirm that the crash, which occurred near Leuven on Tuesday, has prompted effusive praise from European transport officials for Britain's railway safety record. This praise comes as new documents reveal that the Belgian rail operator Infrabel had been warned about the crossing's faulty signals six months before the tragedy.
Uncovered emails show that a whistleblower inside Infrabel flagged 'critical deficiencies' at the crossing in February, including a malfunctioning barrier that failed to lower fully. The warning was dismissed by management as 'low priority'. A former Infrabel safety inspector, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told me: 'They knew. They knew there was a death trap, and they did nothing. Now four children are dead.'
The crash unfolded when a bus carrying 19 schoolchildren from a local academy was crossing the tracks. The train, travelling at 80mph, slammed into the vehicle, tearing it apart. The driver of the bus, a 54-year-old man with 20 years of experience, survived but is in critical condition. Investigators are now examining whether he missed the warning lights due to a known sight-line obstruction caused by overgrown vegetation.
While Belgian authorities grapple with the aftermath, British rail executives are quietly celebrating. A leaked internal memo from Network Rail, obtained by my sources, congratulates staff on 'maintaining the gold standard of level crossing safety' and notes that 'tragic events abroad only underscore the robustness of our systems'. One senior Network Rail official, speaking off the record, said: 'We've spent millions on barriers, cameras, and education. We should pat ourselves on the back.'
But the self-congratulation sits uneasily against a backdrop of persistent safety concerns in the UK. Just last month, the Rail Accident Investigation Branch released a report highlighting 37 near-misses at level crossings in 2023, a 12% increase from the previous year. A whistleblower inside the Office of Rail and Road told me that budget cuts have reduced the number of crossing inspections by a third since 2019.
'The difference between us and Belgium is luck, not competence,' the whistleblower said. 'We've had close calls that could have been catastrophes. It's a matter of time before we have our own Leuven.'
The Belgian government has promised a full inquiry, but for the families, it is too late. The father of the 12-year-old victim, a British expat who moved to Brussels for work, issued a statement through his solicitor: 'My daughter was killed because a company put profit before safety. The same corporate greed exists in Britain. Don't let them fool you with statistics.'
As the sun sets over the crossing, now a makeshift memorial of flowers and teddy bears, I am left with a bitter truth: the praise heaped on British rail is built on the bodies of children in a foreign land. It is a hollow accolade, a pat on the back from a system that knows its own skeletons are merely hidden better.
