Investigators must not leap to conclusions

At first viewing, the scene of devastation at Stonehaven following yesterday morning’s train derailment is difficult to comprehend.

What is sadly clear is that three people, including the train driver, are dead.

In addition there are the walking wounded who could so easily have also lost their lives.

Our condolences are with the families and friends of those killed, and our best wishes are with the survivors for a speedy recovery both physically and mentally.

But what is less clear is just what went catastrophically wrong and why.

The appalling weather of the previous evening has been pointed to as a likely catalyst for events.

It certainly wreaked havoc across Tayside and Fife, with reports of flash flooding leading to landslips, homes, businesses and schools being inundated with water and parked cars thrown around like pebbles.

And there is evidence, shared by no less than Network Rail on its social media account yesterday morning, of the impact of the torrential downpour on Scotland’s rail infrastructure.

But investigators must be wary of leaping to conclusions. The task of establishing the full facts falls to the British Transport Police and the Rail Accident Investigation Branch, which yesterday flew investigators to the site.

It is key they do their job diligently and without preconceived notions of what might have happened rather than what did occur.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps will visit the crash site today to see for himself the devastation wrought.

It will be a sobering visit.

The Stonehaven crash is the first derailment in more than a decade in the UK that has resulted in a fatality.

That alone demonstrates that rail travel is inherently safe, but Mr Shapps has promised that lessons will be learned from the disaster.

Those must not prove to be empty words from the mouth of a politician.

The tragedy at Stonehaven is raw and the hurt and loss felt by those impacted will take a long time to dissipate.

They will be seeking answers about what went wrong. They deserve to get them.