A passenger who was on board one of the trains involved in a crash on the Cambrian line in Powys overnight has told how the table he was using was "ripped from its bolts" in the crash.

The line east of Machynlleth will remain closed today while investigators look into the cause of the collision.

One man has died and 15 people suffered non-life-threatening injuries when the 6.31pm service from Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth and the 7.09pm service from Machynlleth to Shrewsbury crashed near Llanbrynmair just before 7.30pm on Monday.

Anthony Hurford, a witness who was on the service travelling towards Shrewsbury, told BBC Breakfast that the train had failed to stop at a signal at the top of a hill in Llanbrynmair.

He added: “The word that keeps coming to my head is just brutal really.

"Just going from, I don’t know how fast we were going, maybe 40, 50, 60 miles an hour, to nothing in the blink of an eye.

“Somehow my body bent the leg of a table and ripped it off its bolts attached to the wall. Suddenly I was on the floor with my laptop strewn ahead of me wondering what the hell had happened.

READ MORE: One man dead, 15 injured after two trains collide in Powys

“We tried to stop at the lights. At the top of the hill there’s a signal that I guess would’ve been a passing place and for whatever reason the train wouldn’t stop.

“There must’ve been 30/40 people from fire (service), there was British Transport Police who had come from Birmingham, there were three helicopters, people had come from north and south Wales as far as I’m aware. I was checked by three or four different medics.”

(Image: PA Wire)

Another witness on board one of the services said the driver ran inside carriages to tell everyone to 'brace' as he could do nothing to avoid the impending collision.

Speaking to South West News Service news agency, Jonah Evans, 25, said:  “The driver ran in and sat on a chair and said brace yourselves - we’re about to hit a train.

“Because the driver told us it was happening, we could kind of get ready.”

He added that passengers on board his train had suffered several injuries, including to their teeth and ribs.

According to Network Rail, leaf fall on the tracks every autumn can lead to a slippery layer on the rail “equivalent to black ice on roads”.

Leaves cause major disruption every autumn when they stick to damp rails and become compressed by train wheels.

This creates a smooth, slippery layer similar to black ice on roads, reducing trains’ grip.

Speed restrictions are often imposed in an attempt to reduce accidents such as the crash between two trains outside a tunnel near Salisbury, Wiltshire, in October 2021 which left 13 passengers and a driver requiring hospital treatment.

A South Western Railway train slipped on crushed leaves, causing it to slide past a stop signal and smash into the side of a Great Western Railway service.