Train Crash in Aberdeenshire...

[Pontius Navigator]

As long as it doesn't get an icy reception.

[G-CPTN]

Track damaged in train crash replaced.

[TheGreenGoblin]

Botched drainage system blamed for fatal Stonehaven train crash
Investigators identify failings by Network Rail and collapsed outsourcing giant Carillion

Failings by Network Rail and collapsed outsourcing giant Carillion caused the Stonehaven rail crash, an investigation has found.

Errors in the construction of a drainage system by the construction firm meant it was unable to cope with heavy rain which fell in Aberdeenshire on the morning of the crash on 12 August 2020, the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) said.

Three people were killed when a ScotRail train derailed at 9.37am after hitting gravel and other stony material washed out from the drain.

They were the driver, Brett McCullough, 45; the conductor, Donald Dinnie, 58; and a passenger, Christopher Stuchbury, 62.

The other six people onboard were injured.

The train smashed into the side of a bridge, causing its power car and one of its four carriages to fall down an embankment.

Carillion, which went into compulsory liquidation in January 2018, failed to inform Network Rail it was adding the bund.

Investigators found no evidence that Network Rail carried out any inspection of the upper parts of the system between when it viewed the completed work in March 2013 and the accident.

They stated that the Government-owned company failed to add that section of the structure to an internal programme which would have triggered routine inspections and maintenance.

The inquiry also noted that the owner of the land where the system was installed took a photograph showing “slight erosion” in December 2012 which he passed on to Carillion or Network Rail.

This was “clear evidence of a problem requiring action”, the report stated.

Between 6am and 9am on the morning of the accident there was near-continuous heavy rain.

The 51.5mm which fell at the crash site was close to the average monthly total for the month of August in that region.

The 6.38am service from Aberdeen to Glasgow was returning towards Aberdeen at the time of the accident due to the railway being blocked.

It was travelling at 73mph, which was just below the normal permitted speed for that line.

The RAIB said no instruction was given by railway controllers or signallers that the train should run slower, with one signaller telling the driver the line was “fine”.

The inquiry found the controllers had not been given the information or training they needed to effectively manage “complex situations” such as the one they were encountering on the day of the crash.

Network Rail’s management processes had not identified or addressed weaknesses in the way it mitigated the consequences of extreme rainfall.

The organisation also failed to implement measures following previous severe weather events.

Mr Hall said Network Rail “hadn’t moved far enough to eliminate” the risk of heavy rainfall.

The RAIB found that the refurbished HST train involved in the crash was designed before modern safety standards came into force.

It concluded “it is more likely than not that the outcome would have been better” if a train built to current regulations was involved.

Some 20 safety recommendations were made to improve railway safety, many of which were directed at Network Rail.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said it would be a “disservice” to the men who died if lessons were not learned.

He said: “I fully expect the rail industry to ensure all the recommendations of this report are actioned and that the vital work to make our network safer and more resilient continues, so no other families have to experience what theirs tragically did.”

Neil Davidson, partner at law firm Digby Brown Solicitors, which represents injured passengers and the relatives of one of the people killed, said the report highlights “a catalogue of failures within Network Rail”.

He went on: “Many now hope further action will be taken against Network Rail.”

Kevin Lindsay, Aslef’s full-time organiser in Scotland, said Network Rail and ScotRail “must be held to account” as they “failed the staff and the passengers who were on the train”.

He also called for Alex Hynes, managing director of Scotland’s Railway, a group of Government and rail industry organisations, to resign.

“Given his involvement in both Network Rail and Abellio ScotRail, his position is untenable,” Mr Lindsay said.

Andrew Haines, Network Rail chief executive, said: “We must do better and we are utterly committed to that.”

He added: “We have invested tens of millions towards improving the general resilience of our railway and how we predict and respond to such events.

The drainage system was built during 2011 and 2012 to address a problem with ground stability.

RAIB deputy chief inspector, Andrew Hall, told the PA news agency: “The sad irony of the accident is that a fairly modern drain that was put there to reduce the risk of a landslip on a cutting slope was in fact the thing that brought the risk to the railway.”

The most significant difference between the design of the drainage system and its construction was the addition of a bund - a structure to protect against leaks - which significantly altered the flow of water.

On the day of the crash, this caused a large amount of water to be diverted into the drain at one location, increasing the likelihood of gravel being washed out.

The RAIB concluded that if the system had been built in accordance with designs, it was “highly likely to have safely accommodated the flow of surface water”.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/h ... 32575.html

One implication of this report (amongst many others) is that Network Rail's inventory of its assets, including the configuration, quality and condition thereof, is inadequate, which was the conclusion that this poster came to, when helping manage an asset audit for Railtrack in the Southern Region some 17 years ago. Different region, same issues. Plus ca change it seems.

[CharlieOneSix]

After the wreckage was cleared there was rectification work going on for many months. The new road that was constructed to get materials and vehicles to the site has now been removed and the farmland reinstated. There's now no visual evidence from driving by that anything untoward ever happened there...

[tango15]

Notwork Rail (as a mate of mine in the industry calls it) and Carillion between them are just about two of the worst civil engineering contractors I can think of. Near where I live they are electrifying the line from St Pancras, eventually as far as Leicester, though at the rate they are currently moving, hydrogen (the fuel of the future for trains) will have taken over. Along the route, bridges had to be raised to allow for the catenary. One bridge, just outside Wellingborough, was taken down with no public consultation. It was a back route into Wellingborough for the likes of me and also allowed access to a large industrial estate. Everyone kicked off, but Notwork Rail said 'there is no budget to replace it'. The local MP (who is very active) got involved, and after much humming and arring, it was agreed that the bridge would be rebuilt. Previously, it was a one-way system controlled by traffic lights - it still is, despite them having built 500 houses up the road in the meantime!

[CharlieOneSix]

Notwork Rail (as a mate of mine in the industry calls it) and Carillion between them are just about two of the worst civil engineering contractors I can think of....

Carillion went into compulsory liquidation on 15 January 2018, the most drastic procedure in UK insolvency law, with liabilities of almost £7 billion. They had a presence at and near the site of the Stonehaven crash for well over a year before they went bust, some two and a half years before the accident. The roadside was plastered with their advertising banners whilst they were working there.

[Woody]

Had to deal with Carillion during the building of T5C at Perry Oaks International, combined with HAL

Didn’t exactly come out smelling of roses with Royal Liverpool Hospital https://www.placenorthwest.co.uk/news/w ... -resolved/

[Undried Plum]

Notwork Rail (as a mate of mine in the industry calls it) and Carillion between them are just about two of the worst civil engineering contractors I can think of....

Carillion went into compulsory liquidation on 15 January 2018, the most drastic procedure in UK insolvency law, with liabilities of almost £7 billion.

I bought into Carillion shortly before the bastards admitted that they were bust.

I did so on the basis of an annual report and on the basis of the data therein. Duff data.

The one number in that AAIB RAIB report that I'd put money on is the 51.5mm rain number. That's because I have the inside track on where that number came from.

[1DC]

The first time I heard of Carilllion I had just ruined the unit top in the kitchen of the house we were living in at the time. I took a pan off the gas using a duff oven glove and burnt my hand dropping the pan on the unit top. I claimed on my insurance and they agreed to replace it, it was a large kitchen and their was a lot to do. Carillion got the job, I lived just south of Grimsby they were located in Scunthorpe a 60 mile round trip each day.The top had a fancy oak edge to it that matched the cupboard doors and Mrs 1DC wanted the same edge on the new top,no problem said Carillion pick your top and out joinery department will put one on.Three guys turned up to do the job Mrs 1DC became a hit supplying tea and bacon sandwiches. Mrs 1DC asked the guys if they would fit new tiles if she picked some and paid for them to do it. They gave her the name of a big tile shop in Scunthorpe and told her to go there and pick her tiles.It took two weeks to do the job I have no idea how much it cost and when Mrs 1DC asked how much the cost of the tiles would be they said it was all part of the insurance job because they had to break the old ones to get the old unit top off.She started to panic but they told her not to worry because this was just the way insurance jobs went!!

[tango15]

Notwork Rail (as a mate of mine in the industry calls it) and Carillion between them are just about two of the worst civil engineering contractors I can think of....

Carillion went into compulsory liquidation on 15 January 2018, the most drastic procedure in UK insolvency law, with liabilities of almost £7 billion. They had a presence at and near the site of the Stonehaven crash for well over a year before they went bust, some two and a half years before the accident. The roadside was plastered with their advertising banners whilst they were working there.

Yes, should have used the past tense re Carillion. My mate went to a meeting with Notwork Rail,(in the days when you could have them). Two others went from his office to a meeting in their huge premises in Milton Keynes, along with a couple of other companies who sent two or three representatives each. Notwork Rail sent 15 of their staff, but then it's owned by the guvmint, innit?

[FD2]

Network Rail guilty of safety failings over crash that killed three https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/0 ... ven-crash/

Company admitted it didn’t impose an emergency speed restriction or warn the driver, who died, the track was unsafe because of a landslip
By Daniel Sanderson, Scottish Correspondent 7 September 2023 • 12:30pm


Network Rail has admitted to failures over a fatal train disaster that killed three people.

Train driver Brett McCullough, 45, conductor Donald Dinnie, 58, and passenger Christopher Stuchbury, 62, died in the derailment near Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, on August 12, 2020.

At the High Court in Aberdeen on Thursday, the company admitted a charge covering the period from May 1, 2011, to August 12, 2020.

The crash was caused after torrential rain caused a drain, which had not been properly constructed, to overflow causing a landslip onto the track.

The charge states that on August 12, 2020, Network Rail failed to impose an emergency speed restriction.

It also failed to warn Mr McCullough that it was unsafe to drive the train at 75mph or caution him to reduce his speed.

It admitted it failed to take reasonable steps to ensure that railway workers and members of the public travelling by train were not exposed to the “risk of serious injury and death from train derailment” as a result of failures in the drainage system.

The death toll on the ScotRail Aberdeen to Glasgow service would likely have been far higher had the UK not been in a Covid lockdown at the time, meaning there were only nine people on board. The six others were injured.

As many as 50 would have been likely to have been travelling were it not for pandemic restrictions.

Prosecutor Alex Prentice told the High Court in Aberdeen: “Despite his efforts to slow the train using the emergency brake the driver of the train was unable to stop prior to the debris on the track.

“The train struck the debris, derailed and collided with a bridge parapet. This caused the train to veer off the bridge and down the steep embankment below the bridge.”

The train was returning to Aberdeen at the time of the crash, due to another blockage further down the line.

A Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) report published last March found that errors in the construction of a drainage system installed by contractor Carillion meant it was unable to cope with heavy rain which fell in the area on the morning of the crash.

Carillion went into compulsory liquidation in January 2018.

A Network Rail spokesman said it had made safety improvements and was making changes to how it responded to extreme weather conditions as a result of the tragedy. On the morning of the crash, a month’s worth of rain fell in three hours.

The prosecution comes after the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service considered reports from an investigation by Police Scotland, British Transport Police and the Office of Rail and Road, the independent safety regulator for the country’s railways.

The RAIB report, published last year, found that Network Rail did not inspect the wrongly installed drain for seven years with the error by Carillion going unnoticed.

Had the drain been properly built, it was “highly likely” that the tragedy would never have happened, the probe found.