Network Rail has announced that work to reopen the railway near Stonehaven will start this week as it begins to recover the carriages involved in the tragic accident.

The ScotRail HST derailed on the 12th August 2020 after hitting a landslip and caused the deaths of the train driver, train conductor and a passenger.

Engineers will use a crawler crane to lift the derailed carriages from the railway over the coming days. Teams from Network Rail and its contractors have carried out work to prepare for the recovery of the train.

A 900-metre long new road and temporary bridges have been built to bring the lifting equipment in.

Plans have been developed by Network Rail, the Police and accident investigators to remove the carriages and power cars in a delicate process, which is expected to take a number of days.

Alex Hynes, managing director of Scotland’s Railway, said: “12th August 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 throughout this recovery process so we can learn from this terrible event and help prevent similar accidents.”

Michael Matheson, Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity, visited the site on Monday (7th September). 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 Rail can take these forward in the future. 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 accident site, rail engineers can assess the damage to the railway and bridge and plan for repairs.

Until all this has been completed, there is no timescale regarding the reopening of the line for passengers, but it is likely to be several weeks.

ScotRail is operating a shuttle service between Aberdeen and Stonehaven to keep passengers moving (more information here), Anglo-Scottish operators are operating a bus replacement service between Aberdeen and Edinburgh (more information here).

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