The 1996 Stafford rail crash occurred on 8 March 1996 when a Transrail freight train travelling from Mossend, North Lanarkshire, to Willesden, North London, derailed after an axle on a wagon carrying liquid carbon dioxide failed due to fatigue at Rickerscote 1.4 miles (2.2 km) south of Stafford on the West Coast Main Line.
It caused the wagon and adjacent ones to derail, into the path of the closely approaching mail train, which was travelling at 60 mph (97 km/h).
The driver of the mail train had no time to brake and the force of the collision spun the locomotive around and catapulted it up the embankment, where it came to rest against the end wall of a house.
[4] The liquid carbon dioxide formed into a gas as it was no longer under pressure and interfered with the rescue effort.
However, the ambulance service were given a correct head count list from the Royal Mail workers at the lineside.