Stonehaven derailment

The Stonehaven derailment was a fatal railway accident that occurred at approximately 09:40 BST on 12 August 2020, near Carmont, west of Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Of the nine people aboard, three were killed, and six were injured.

Stonehaven derailment
Aerial view of the site, on 13 August
Details
Date12 August 2020 (2020-08-12)
09:40 BST (UTC+1)
LocationCarmont, near Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire
Coordinates56°57′09″N 02°19′16″W
CountryScotland
LineDundee–Aberdeen
OperatorAbellio ScotRail
Service1T08 06:38 Aberdeen to Glasgow
Operated using an Inter7City train
Incident typeDerailment
CauseTrain striking landslip
Statistics
Trains1
Passengers7
Crew2
Deaths3 (including the driver)
Injuries6
List of UK rail accidents by year
A ScotRail Inter7City set, similar to the train involved.

Background

Severe thunderstorms occurred in the area on the night of 11 August, during an amber severe weather warning from the Met Office.[1] The storms caused flooding across Aberdeenshire on the morning of the derailment. Flooding in the local area saw water levels on Carron Water in Stonehaven rise by 1.54 metres (5 ft 1 in) as of 09:00, 12 August.[2] The severe weather had caused significant disruption across East Scotland with a number of other rail services being either curtailed or cancelled.[3] The storms also caused disruption further afield. Perth station was severely flooded, with a train being trapped in the water.[4]

The stretch of railway line—part of the former Aberdeen Railway[5]—where the derailment occurred has had problems with mudslides in the past. On 22 October 2002, it was closed due to a landslide at Carmont, during torrential rain and gales.[6] A Network Rail report from 2014 included Carmont in a "list of sites which in recent years have been greatly affected by earthslips”. The track operator’s report said improvement work had been carried out at Carmont, specifically, "remediation of cutting slope following emergency, after mudslide due to flooding".[7] The Office of Rail and Road, responsible for the safety regulation of Britain's railways, noted a spike in lineside landslips, demonstrating the "vulnerability" of the network, in their 2019–2020 Annual Safety Report, published in July 2020.[8][9] At around the same time of the incident, Network Rail Scotland shared video footage of a landslip across the railway line in the Carmont area.[10]

Incident
Carmont Signal Box, seen in 2006

On 12 August 2020, ScotRail's 06:38 Inter7City service, from Aberdeen to Glasgow Queen Street, had fewer passengers than usual due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Aberdeen being under lockdown at the time.[11] The train comprised of four passenger carriages and a power car at each end.[12][lower-alpha 1] It had two crew members (the driver and a conductor) and was carrying seven passengers, one of whom was an off-duty train conductor travelling as a passenger.[12][13]

Whilst travelling south on the double track main line which runs between Aberdeen to Dundee, the driver stopped the train after the signaller at Carmont Signal Box[lower-alpha 2] passed on a message from the driver of another train that a landslip had blocked the line between Carmont and Laurencekirk.[12] Unable to proceed south, the train was rerouted to return to Aberdeen, crossing to the northbound line at the Carmont crossover,[lower-alpha 3], near the site of the former Carmont railway station about 5 1⁄2 miles (9 km) west of Stonehaven.[lower-alpha 4][5][15] About 1.4 miles (2.3 km) after the crossover the train ran into another landslip and all vehicles were derailed.[5][12]

As the track curved to the right, the train continued straight on for about 100 yards (90 m) and struck and damaged the parapet of a bridge carrying the railway over Carron Water.[12] The leading power car then fell down a wooded embankment.[12] The first carriage turned sideways, coming to rest across the tracks, inverted, with the second carriage, also inverted, and the fourth, lying on top of it.[12] The third carriage ended up lying on its side, also down the embankment,[12] and caught fire.[16] The rear power car remained substantially upright and coupled to the fourth carriage.[12]

The railway employee who had been travelling as a passenger, despite being injured herself,[13] walked back along the track to Carmont Signal Box to raise the alarm.[17] Following the initial incident thick smoke was visible from the crash site.[3]

Three people died; the driver and the conductor, and a passenger.[3]

Response

British Transport Police were alerted to the incident at about 09:43, and a major incident was declared.[3] Multiple Scottish Ambulance Service ambulances, two air ambulance helicopters and a coastguard helicopter attended the scene.[18] Scottish Fire and Rescue Service sent 12 fire engines and specialist resources.[19] One casualty was flown to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary in the coastguard helicopter.[3] NHS Grampian assumed a "major incident footing".[3] Six people were taken to hospital with injuries that were "not believed to be serious".[3][20]

At the time of the accident engineering works were ongoing, to repair and reinforce the foundations of the railway bridge, which had deteriorated and suffering from water scour of the footings.[21] [22] The firefighting and casualty evacuation response was greatly aided by the temporary access road, standing area and ramp constructed as part of these works. Weather conditions after the storm were good.[3] Smoke from the fire was blown away from the emergency services assembly point at the top of the temporary ramp.[3] Helicopter operations were conducted using the field at the top of the ramp.[3]

On 14 August Prince Charles visited the crash site and thanked emergency responders for their bravery.[23][24]

Investigations

A joint investigation by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), Police Scotland and the British Transport Police is being directed by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.[25] In parallel the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) will carry out an independent investigation.[25] Inspectors from both the ORR and RAIB were dispatched to the site on 12 August.[26][27]

On 13 August the UK Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps, ordered Network Rail to produce an interim report on the "wider issues" that may have resulted in the crash, due on 1 September. He also asked Network Rail to carry out resilience checks on other areas of the network potentially subject to flash flooding in "the next few days, few hours". A final report is expected in the autumn.[28]

On 14 August, the RAIB provided an initial report on the accident and provided details of the likely scope of their investigation.[12]

On 15 August the chief inspector of rail accidents, Simon French, said the derailment would have been "much worse had the train been more heavily loaded" but that it was "amongst the worst" he had seen over his 16 years with the RAIB. He added: "To be sure about this, we need data from the train, and we are working with the other agencies here on-site to gain access to the data recorder, but given the circumstances it's a difficult task and it will be some time."[29]

Newspaper headline

The Independent Press Standards Organisation received a "high volume" of complaints about a front page headline in the 13 August edition Scottish Sun, referring to the derailed train as the "Death Express".[30] On 14 August the newspaper's editor, Alan Muir, issued an apology.[31]

Notes
  1. Power car 43030 is visible in photographs[3]
  2. Carmont Signal Box: 56.938964°N 2.350288°W / 56.938964; -2.350288 (Carmont Signal Box)
  3. Carmont crossover: 56.93851°N 2.35049°W / 56.93851; -2.35049 (Carmont crossover)
  4. By rail; calculated from Scotland Route Sectional Appendix.[14]

References
  1. Met Office [@metoffice] (11 August 2020). "Amber Weather Warning issued [...] Severe #thunderstorms are possible tonight and for a time tomorrow morning across the east of Scotland" (Tweet). Retrieved 12 August 2020 – via Twitter.
  2. "SEPA Water Levels - Carron Water @ Carron (Stonehaven)". SEPA. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  3. "Major emergency response after train derails". BBC News. 12 August 2020. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  4. Marlborough, Conor. "Scottish train delays: ScotRail cancels nearly 200 services amid flooding after thunderstorms". The Scotsman. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  5. Dalton, Alastair. "Stonehaven: Three dead after ScotRail train derailment in Aberdeenshire". The Scotsman. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  6. "Latest on passenger train derailment near Stonehaven". BBC News. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  7. Route Weather Resilience and Climate Change Adaptation Plans - Scotland (PDF). Network Rail. 2014. p. 28.
  8. Annual Report of Health and Safety Performance on Britain’s Railways 2019/20 (PDF). Office of Rail and Road. 2020. pp. 21, 22.
  9. "Stonehaven crash: Network Rail was warned about potential problems across UK four weeks before train derailment". Sky News. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  10. @networkrailscot (12 August 2020). "At Carmont, we've had reports of a landslip, which means services can't operate between Dundee & Aberdeen. /2" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  11. Keith, Jake (13 August 2020). "Train driver and conductor killed in Stonehaven derailment named". The Courier. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  12. "Passenger train derailment near Carmont, Aberdeenshire". Rail Accident Investigation Branch. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  13. Robertson, Kirsten (14 August 2020). "Stonehaven train crash: Praise for 'heroic' Huntly woman who hobbled miles to raise alarm after tragedy". Press and Journal. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
  14. "Scotland Route Sectional Appendix" (PDF). Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  15. "Coordinate Distance Calculator". boulter.com. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  16. "Investigation into fatal train derailment begins". BBC News. 13 August 2020. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  17. "Stonehaven train crash: Crew member 'walked a mile' along tracks to raise alarm". The Scotsman. Archived from the original on 13 August 2020. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  18. BBC News (television); 1pm 8 August 2020
  19. @fire_scot (12 August 2020). "We were alerted at 9.47am on Wednesday, August 12 to reports of an incident involving a train near Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire. Operations Control mobilised 12 appliances and specialist resources to the scene as part of a multi-agency response. Crews presently remain in attendance" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  20. "Three people have sadly died following train derailment - Scotland". British Transport Police. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  21. Aberdeenshire Council Planning Application APP/2019/1384 APPROVED UB 133/325 RIVER CARRON PROPOSED PLAN https://upa.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=PSW0TNCAL8A00
  22. Aberdeenshire Council Planning Application APP/2019/1384 RIVER CARRON ACCESS https://upa.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=PSW0TNCAL8A00
  23. "Crash investigators confirm train struck landslip". BBC News. 14 August 2020.
  24. "Stonehaven train crash: Prince Charles visits Aberdeenshire site of fatal derailment". The Scotsman.
  25. "Stonehaven train derailment: What we know". BBC News. 13 August 2020. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  26. RAIB [@raibgovuk] (12 August 2020). "We have been notified of a derailment in the Stonehaven area of Aberdeenshire where a five car passenger train has derailed. A team of RAIB inspectors are on their way to the site to conduct a preliminary examination" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  27. ORR [@railandroad] (12 August 2020). "We're aware of an incident involving a train derailment in Stonehaven. Emergency services are in attendance and an ORR inspector will be attending. We will work with @raibgovuk, @BTP and the emergency services to investigate the full circumstances of what has happened" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  28. "Train derailment driver's death 'leaves huge void'". BBC News. 13 August 2020. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  29. "Chief Inspector of Rail Accidents says Stonehaven disaster would have been much worse under normal passenger levels". The Press and Journal. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  30. "Scottish Sun article headlined "Death Express"". Independent Press Standards Organisation. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  31. Webster, Laura (14 August 2020). "Stonehaven rail crash: Scottish Sun sorry for 'distressing' front page". The National. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
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