The Rail Accident Investigation Branch has released its report after a ScotRail train collided with a fallen tree near Broughty Ferry.

On the 27th December 2023, the 10:46 Perth to Aberdeen service collided with a fallen tree at approximately 13:09, around 1 mile east of Broughty Ferry in Dundee.

The train was travelling at 84 mph when it hit the tree and suffered significant damage to the leading driver cab – thankfully no physical injuries were sustained by the 37 passengers or three staff members on board.

The tree was brought down by winds during Storm Gerrit, which had subjected the area to high winds and heavy rain for several hours before the accident.

The tree was located in Barnhill Rock Gardens, which is owned by Dundee City Council and the investigation had found that the tree was in soil that had characteristics that limited its ability to resist the wind.

Around 12 miles before the collision, a member of the public saw that the tree had fallen across the railway and contacted Network Rail using a public helpline.

The helpline call handler tried to pass this information on to Network Rail’s Scotland Route Control but this call was not answered until after the accident.

The RAIB found that the risk of the tree falling on the railway was not effectively managed. Network Rail relies on landowners to control the risks of trees outside of the railway boundary. However, Dundee City Council did not manage the risk of the tree falling onto the railway.

The driver of the cab was found to have only escaped serious injury because he crouched behind the driver seat after applying the emergency brake.

The RAIB has also found that the telephone equipment used by the control centre did not display missed call information.

Since the accident, Network Rail has provided helpline staff with an additional contact number for use in emergency scenarios.

RAIB has made three recommendations as a result of its investigation. The first of these is to Network Rail to consider how technology could assist in the detection of trees subject to altered exposure, including those trees on third-party land.

The second recommendation is that Dundee City Council should review its management of the trees for which it is responsible to ensure that it is effectively controlling the risk of them falling onto the railway.

RAIB has also recommended that the Rail Safety and Standards Board’s Carmont recommendations steering group should review its response to recommendation 19 made within RAIB report 02/2022, following the investigation into the derailment of a passenger train at Carmont, Aberdeenshire on 12 August 2020.