Sobering reading
THE Rail Accident Investigation Branch’s final report into the fatal crash at Carmont in August 2020 makes for a very sobering read. At 298 pages long, with even the synopsis running to 36 pages, it is one of the most comprehensive rail accident reports in quite some time – and RAIB even took the unusual step of organising a press conference on the day of publication, such is the depth of interest to know what happened in this tragic event. First of all I have to say the thoughts of the whole Railway Magazine team are with the families of the three people who lost their lives that day, and also with everyone else directly or indirectly affected by it. I am sure there is no comfort in the media picking over the details of events; we do so in our report on pages 10/11 not to be in any way sensationalist, but rather to help the lessons learned reach the widest possible audience. Our railways today are as generally safe as they are because the rules and regulations that govern operations have been continually improved following accidents in the past, and it is fair to say that any rail crash today receives the coverage it does in part because it is so rare an event. At Carmont, a whole chain of events led up to the disaster, any one of which could perhaps have changed the tragic outcome had it not occurred. However, RAIB found the major factor to be the drainage on the adjacent hillside, which had not been built to the specified design. Indeed, there is a whole section of the report detailing this ‘French drain’, which was installed in 2011/12 as part of a scheme to address a known problem with the earthworks in the area. The chain of events saw the fourcar HST turned back south of Carmont signalbox after heavy rain caused a landslip that blocked the line. It then reversed wrong line to the ’box, where it crossed to run right road back to Stonehaven. But, as the rain continued, debris was washed out of the Carmont drain to above rail height, and the HST running at near line speed was derailed on the approach to a stone bridge over Carron Water. Amongst the many recommendations in the final report is one to look at the safety of HSTs in a crash. RAIB said it believed the outcome would have been better if more modern stock had been involved. HSTs have long been held up as an icon of British Ra il design – but, after five decades of use, many are now starting to question whether it is time they were retired.
“At Carmont, a whole chain of events led up to the disaster, any one of which could perhaps have changed the tragic outcome had it not occurred”