Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander praised the “incredible bravery of the train staff, the train driver who got that train into Huntingdon station, the Network Rail controller, the signaller who got that train to a place of safety”.

She told Sky News: “Most of all, I would like to say thank you to the emergency services and the one individual who is still critically ill in hospital, who is stable I’m pleased to say, but he went into work that morning to work on that train service, to serve passengers and he put himself in harm’s way.

“He went in to do his job and he left work a hero. And there are people who are alive today because of his actions and his bravery.”

Ms Alexander said there would be an increase in visible police patrols at stations but insisted public transport was safe.

“Public transport generally is a low-crime environment – and this incident was absolutely horrific on Saturday night, and I don’t want to take away from that in any way – but generally, our trains are some of the most safest forms of public transport anywhere in the world.

“For every one million passenger journeys that are made, there are 27 crimes.”

She added: “Now for me, one crime is one crime too many, so we will after this review all of our security measures because that is the right thing to do.”