NETWORK RAIL has been fined £6.7 million in relation to failings which led to the tragic accident at Carmont in August 2020, when three people died and six were injured after a ScotRail Inter7City high speed train hit a landslide and derailed at high speed.
The prosecution followed an Office of Rail and Road, Police Scotland and British Transport Police joint investigation, under the direction of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.
The accident happened on August 12, 2020, when the ScotRail service – 1T08, the 06.38 Aberdeen to Glasgow – was travelling during a period of heavy rain. Due to a blockage that had been reported on the route ahead, the driver was instructed by a signaller to return towards Aberdeen, but as the train returned to Carmont, near Stonehaven, it hit a landslide at 73mph, causing the lead power car to derail and hit a bridge parapet.
The derailment caused extensive damage to the train and infrastructure, with driver Brett McCullough, conductor Donald Dinnie and passenger Christopher Stuchbury all killed in the accident. Six other passengers on the train – which was lightly loaded, due to coronavirus restrictions in place at the time – suffered injuries.
The subsequent investigation found that the drainage system at the accident site, which was designed to divert rainwater away from the railway, had not been installed properly by contractors employed by Network Rail from the now-liquidated Carillion. Network Rail engineers subsequently failed to carry out a proper inspection on the drainage system after its installation.
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