STATEMENT FROM NETWORK RAIL CEO ANDREW HAINES

"MYheartgoesout to everyone affected by this tragedy, especialltyhe familiesand friendsof the threepeoplewho diedandthosethat areinjured.

"Iwantto express my thanks to mycolleaguesat NetworkRail, ScotRaitlh, e BritishTransport Policeandallthe emergency serviceswho respondedso quickly and professional lay nd continueto do so.

"Question as re inevitably being askedasto howthiscould happenand

I am determinedthat we understandthe circumstances that ledto thisdevastating event.It'stoo earlyto draw conclusionsbut it iscriticalthat we investigate thoroughly and with care, and work closely with rail safety au th or itiest,o make sure this can' t happen again '.'

Mr Hainesadded:"I will not pre-emptthe outcomeof the investigation into this awful event,but it isclearthe weather was appalling and there were floodsand landslipsin the area. "I have asked my teams to put extrameasureisn place, from immediateh, eightened inspectionsto, medium-term workwith meteorologists to improve information and forecasting:'

Mr Ha in es concluded :" Our climate is changing and it is inc rea singlcyh allen ging the performanceand reliabilityof the railwayb, ut incidentslike this devastating accident are incredibly rare, and our railway remains the safe st major railway in Europe. "Our network was designed fora tempe rate climate, and it' s challenged when we get extremes uchasstormsand floods.

'' We' re seeing this more and more, and although we can addressthem on the ground with precautionary measures, we are acutely aware we need a long-termresolutiona, ndwe have already secured additional funding andre sourcets oh elp achievethis'.'

Theme as ureb se ing taken by Network Rail include:

As an immediate pre caution, dozens of sites nationwide with higher-risk track side slopes, similar to Stone havenw, ill be inspected.

Thesewill becarriedout by both in-house engineers and specialisct on tractors a, nd will be supplementedby helicopter surveys.

Inthe lightof the current extreme weather conditions N Rh as mobilised its extreme weather action teams.

They already monitor the networkandwill incorporate immediate learning into their plansassoonasit becomes available.

In addition, Network Rail is in dialoguewith meteorologists to understandhowit can strengthenreal-timeinformation for flash flooding caused by unpredictable xtremeweather to inform train opera ti onsi,n co-operationwith industry partners.

Engineer as re reviewing the current programme for remote monitoringof high-risksitesto testwhetherthis cango faster or further.