The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Derailed train carriages to be removed from line
STONEHAVEN: Road and temporary bridges built as latest stage of work to start
Work to reopen the railway at Stonehaven is to begin this week after a fatal train derailment on the line.
A Scotrail service came off the tracks after hitting a landslip on August 12, resulting in the deaths of three people – driver Brett Mccullough, conductor Donald Dinnie and passenger Christopher Stuchbury.
A 600-tonne crawler crane will be used to lift the derailed carriages from the rail line later this week.
Network Rail and contractors have been preparing the site for recovery, which has included building a new 900metre road, as well as temporary bridges over the line, to allow the specialist equipment to the site.
The recovery of the carriages is expected to take several days.
Alex Hynes, managing director of Scotland’s Railway, said: “August 12 was a devastating day with the loss of Brett, Donald and Christopher in this tragic accident. While we will now begin the process of recovering the carriages and repairing the railway, we do so with a heavy heart.
“We will continue to work closely with the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) throughout this recovery process so we can learn from this terrible event and help prevent similar accidents.”
Transport Secretary Michael Matheson visited the site yesterday.
He said: “My thoughts continue to remain with the family and friends of those affected by this tragic incident.
“I’m here today to understand the scale of the work being undertaken and to show my, and the Scottish Government’s, continued support for those involved in the investigation, recovery and service restoration.
“The RAIB investigation will ensure that any safety lessons are learned quickly and I will be interested to hear what comes of this and how Network
“
While we now begin the process of recovering the carriages and repairing the railway, we do so with a heavy heart
Rail can take these forward in the future.”
He added: “An investigation of this type is so comprehensive and it will now take time to restore the site of the incident so rail services can be reintroduced as soon as possible.
“As we move towards the recovery phase and given the scale of this enormous challenge I would like to thank all those involved for their efforts undertaken at the site.”
Once the carriages have been removed from the site, engineers will be able to assess the extent of repairs required to the tracks and bridge damaged in the derailment.
Until those inspections are complete, no exact timescales can be placed on the reopening of the line for customers but it is likely to be a number of weeks.
Scotrail is currently operating a shuttle service between Aberdeen and Stonehaven.
A replacement bus service remains in place between Dundee and Stonehaven.