Stonehaven rail crash: Train hit 'pile of washed out rock and gravel'
10 September 2020, 08:53 | Updated: 10 September 2020, 09:32
An interim report on the Stonehaven rail crash found that the train "struck a pile of washed-out rock and gravel before derailing".
The document assesses the management of thousands of miles of sloped ground beside railway tracks and sets out plans to reduce the risk of landslips.
The interim report was commissioned by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.
A ScotRail service came off the tracks in Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire on August 12, killing driver Brett McCullough, conductor Donald Dinnie and passenger Christopher Stuchbury.
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Mr Shapps said: "We owe it to those who lost their lives, were injured, and were affected by this incident, to learn and act on every possible lesson to ensure this is never repeated.
"The independent investigation will enable us to understand exactly what went wrong, and make sure it does not happen again.
"We cannot delay learning the lessons. That is why I immediately commissioned this report and am making the interim findings available. I welcome the work setting out the challenges in adapting our rail infrastructure to cope with increasing extreme weather events caused by climate change. The task is now to overcome those challenges.
"We will use the findings of this interim report to improve, shape and accelerate our work to build a more robust and resilient rail network, so that our railway continues to be one of the safest in the world."
