Rail accident report questions drainage
The Scotrail train that derailed near Stonehaven leaving three people dead and six other injured came off the tracks after striking stones and debris, an official report has found.
The Rail Accident Investigations Branch (RAIB) said the train was travelling around 73mph–2mphbelowthearea’s speed limit – when it collided withstoneswashedoutontothe track, raising questions about thedrainagesysteminthearea.
Driver Brett Mccullough, 45, conductor Donald Dinnie, 58, and passenger Christopher Stuchbury, 62, were killed in lastaugust’sderailment,which followed a period of unusually heavy rainfall. An interim reportbytheraibintothetragedy said there was no evidence oftrackdefectsoranyfaultwith the Glasgow-bound train.
However, it said there was no evidencethatadrainupslopeof a catchpit – situated on a steep, gorse-covered slope – had been inspectedbetweenitsconstruction in 2012 and the time of the accident. The slope in question had a "history of landslips and rockfalls", including an incident in 1915 that also led to a derailment, the RAIB said.
Thestoneswhichendedupon thetrackwerewashedoutfrom the gravel-filled crest drain and surrounding ground, the RAIB report concluded.
The report said the “lack of an effective drainage inspection regime” meant that any such indications of future problems upslope of the catchpit would not have been detected.
Three months before the derailment, two members of Network Rail staff, based at its Perth maintenance depot, carriedoutadrainageinspectionin theareausingahandheldcomputer loaded with information from its drain maintenance database.
However, the inspection did not include the crest drain upslope of the catchpit –
designed and constructed by the now-collapsed Carillion Construction Ltd – given it was not included in the database.
It said the design and construction of the drain, plus the "intended and actual" inspection processes, were among the main areas it considered as part of its investigation. The RAIB also said that an earthworks examination report of the site in January 2017 concluded the drain was “flowing freely”.
The examiner who carried out it was not expected to open any catchpits, and and was not required to climb up the slope.
Last month, a taskforce led by Lord Robert Mair, emeritus professor of civil engineering at the University of Cambridge, to examine the managementofrailwaycuttingsand
embankments, said that drainage across the rail network was “often inadequate”.
It said there should be dedicated drainage maintenance teams across all routes, with the updating of monitoring and surveillance methods, particularly on embankments andslopesdeemedtobe“potentially critical.” It also warned thatclimatechangemeantperiodsofmoreintenserainfalland higher frequencies of extreme rainfall are likely.
The RAIB report said there was "near-continuous heavy rain" in the area between around5:50amand9amonthe day of the crash, which caused "significant flooding”.