Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Network Rail fails to provide ‘tangible’ evidence to demonstrate steps taken after Stonehaven derailment

The derailment at Carmont near Stonehaven resulted in the deaths of three men in August 2020.
The derailment at Carmont near Stonehaven resulted in the deaths of three men in August 2020.

The Office of Rail and Road’s (ORR) annual assessment of Network Rail has raised concerns about how it is addressing recommendations made after the Stonehaven derailment disaster.

In a report by the regulator, it found Network Rail was able to describe the steps it has taken to respond to safety recommendations in the aftermath of the fatal August 2020 crash, but it was unable to demonstrate this with “any tangible supporting evidence”.

Brett McCullough, Christopher Stuchbury and Donald Dinnie died after the 6.38am service from Aberdeen to Glasgow hit a landslip after a night of extreme rainfall.

Brett McCullough, Christopher Stuchbury and Donald Dinnie.

The incident took place at Carmont, near Stonehaven.

Following the derailment, independent task forces were launched as part of efforts to prevent a similar tragedy in the future.

Professor Dame Julia Slingo headed a weather advisory task force, and Lord Robert Mair led an earthworks management task force.

A number of key recommendations were made in the reports, but the ORR says it needs to see more evidence of action taken following these recommendations from Network Rail Scotland.

Plans not ‘clearly articulated’

Aerial photography of the scene of the crash. Photo: Kenny Elrick.

In the latest ORR report, it states: “We commenced a programme of inspections to assess Network Rail’s response to recommendations made in the post-Carmont derailment task force reports, authored by Dame Julia Slingo and Lord Robert Mair.

“During our engagement, representatives from the region described the steps they have taken in response to their action plans but have subsequently failed to provide any tangible supporting evidence to demonstrate these.

“Network Rail Scotland also did not clearly articulate how each plan will implement the relevant task force recommendations.”

The emergency response to the crash.

The ORR report did find that Network Rail Scotland had improved its “identification of drainage assets”, but noted that its planned inspections of this was pushed back by severe storms at the start of the year.

The report continued: “Improved information about drainage assets is vital for Network Rail to ensure that its resources are correctly targeted to maintain existing assets and invested in meeting the challenges presented by climate change.”

Issues were also identified with Network Rail Scotland’s own internal standards when it comes to examining structures, as well as earthwork examinations that still require completion.

passengers who survive train crash
A carriage is lifted by crane from the site of the Stonehaven rail crash.

The report said: “Network Rail Scotland also has a backlog of earthwork examinations and we are engaging with it on this issue.

“As with structures, there is a potential that failure to examine earthworks and evaluate examination reports frequently enough could lead to an increased safety risk.”

Network Rail’s response

A Network Rail staff member.

A Network Rail statement read: “We are committed to learning the lessons of Carmont and to delivering on the recommendations made by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch as well as implementing the Mair report.

“Since the accident, we have made significant changes to how we operate services during extreme weather and have increased our investment in  new technologies.

“Our control room is also the first in Britain to establish a specialist weather team, and this additional resource is being supported by increased investment in frontline teams.”

Conversation