An interim report on the Selby rail crash that left 13 dead and 75 injured in North Yorkshire today will be given to the British government within the next few days, the Secretary of State for Transport John Prescott has confirmed.
The Deputy Prime Minister told the Commons it was essential there was the fullest possible investigation into the accident.
He said that once the Health and Safety Executive had given him the report, he would make a decision on "what further steps were appropriate".
Mr Prescott said the latest casualty figures were 13 killed, including two train drivers, and 75 injured - 10 of them in serious or critical condition.
Mr Prescott said he had seen for himself the "tremendous efforts" of the emergency services and others dealing with the aftermath and praised their "true professionalism, courage and efficiency in the most difficult of circumstances".He also paid tribute to the way the local community "responded so quickly with help and comfort to the passengers".He added that just 40 seconds elapsed between the driver of the Land Rover involved in the accident telephoning the emergency services and the collision with the Newcastle to London high speed train.Thirteen people died in today's a high-speed mainline train was derailed in a crash near Selby in north Yorkshire.
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The 4.45 a.m. Newcastle to London Great Northern and Eastern Rail 225 electric train with around 100 people on board was derailed when a car reportedly slid off a road bridge on the M62.
Moments later a freight train is believed to have crashed into this wreckage and the passenger train hit this train at high speed.
All the carriages of the passenger train were derailed, one was "completely flattened" and another was flung into nearby fields.
Almost four hours after the crash the exact number of casualties was still not clear. The driver of the passenger train is believed to have survived.
British Transport Police said the death toll could be up to 15 and emergency services reported around 150 casualties - at least 30 serious.
Survivors described horrifying scenes as bloodied passengers trapped in the wreckage waited for help.
The front three carriages appeared to have been smashed from the rest of the GNER train.
The first carriage was almost vertical, lying back on the second one, while a third ended up in a field next to the track which was surrounded by debris.
The freight train, which was carrying coal, was partly derailed with its front end completely off the track and lying on its side. It had slid into the back garden of a house, crushing a caravan.
Assistant divisional officer Graham Buckle of the North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service said firefighters were now working "slowly and methodically" through the wreckage in an effort to find more survivors.
"We know there are dead passengers on board but the awful reality is that you concentrate on the living."
Theinjured are being taken to hospitals across three counties. The worst were airlifted in a shuttle of helicopters.
He said it was estimated 15 carriages on the passenger train had been derailed. One carriage had been flattened completely by the impact and it was believed one person had been killed in that carriage.
"When we arrived on the scene there was a lot of panic and screaming from the passengers."
Many had dialled 999 on their mobile phones but were unsure where they were or what had happened.
A spokesman for the North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service said all the carriages had been cleared apart from the front one of the intercity service.
PA