Sheriff Lesley Johnston has issued her determination following a Fatal Accident Inquiry into the deaths of Christopher Stuchbury (62), Donald Digby Dinnie (58) and Brett George McCullough (45), who died immediately after the derailment of train 1T08 on the East Coast Main Line between Aberdeen and Dundee, between Stonehaven and Carmont Signal Boxes.

Sheriff Johnston found there were precautions which could reasonably have been taken that might realistically have resulted in the deaths being avoided. The sheriff found that there was a defect in a system of working which contributed to the accident resulting in the deaths. In addition, the sheriff has noted a number of facts relevant to the circumstances of the deaths.

The Sheriff has made no recommendations.

Background

On 12 August 2020, the 0638 hours high-speed passenger train service from Aberdeen to Glasgow (1T08) left on time.

At 0700 hours, it passed the Carmont signal box, when shortly afterwards it was stopped by a railway emergency call made by the Carmont signaller in response to reports of a landslip following a period of very heavy rainfall.

Unable to proceed south due to the landslip, the Carmont signaller told 1T08 to return to Stonehaven.

The train was able to move off at around 0928 hours. At around 0937 hours, the train was travelling north towards Stonehaven at around 73mph when it collided with debris washed from a drain onto the track (washout).

The collision caused the train to derail.

Nine people were on board, namely six passengers and three railway employees, one of which was travelling as a passenger.

Donald Dinnie died while acting in the course of his employment as a conductor on the train. Brett McCullough died while acting in the course of his employment as the driver of the train. Christopher Stuchbury died while travelling as a passenger on the train. The other six passengers were injured.

The deaths of Christopher Stuchbury, Donald Dinnie and Brett McCullough were caused by multiple non-survivable blunt force injuries sustained in the derailment of the train.

On 7 September 2023 at the High Court in Aberdeen, Network Rail pled guilty to a contravention of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £6.7 million.

Findings

Carillion Construction Limited (Carillion) had been instructed by Network Rail to build a new drain in the area of the derailment, with the design prepared by Ove Arup and Partners.

However, the drain was not constructed and installed in accordance with the design. As a result, the drain was unable to accommodate the flow of surface water during the intense rainfall in the area on 12 August 2020.

Network Rail was unaware that the drain had not been constructed as designed, and therefore, did not take action to correct it.

Sheriff Johnston found that the following precautions could reasonably have been taken, and had they been taken, might realistically have avoided the accident which resulted in the deaths of Christopher Stuchbury, Donald Dinnie, and Brett McCullough:

• For Carillion to have constructed the new drain in accordance with the design, thereby omitting the construction of a bund at the drain site which formed no part of the design, and which was the significant cause of the washout of the drain on 12 August 2020.
• For Carillion to have prepared “as built drawings” of the new drain and provided them to Network Rail.
• For Network Rail to have complied with its own standards in place at the time of the conclusion of the drain construction that required it to be in receipt of “as built drawings” and a health and safety file. 

Sheriff Johnston also found that Network Rail’s failure to ensure that the drain was constructed properly and in accordance with the design drawings was a defect in a system of working which contributed to the accident, resulting in the deaths.

Recommendations

Sheriff Johnston concluded that The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) had carried out a detailed and thorough investigation, where 20 recommendations were made to the railway industry.

The Sheriff considered that those recommendations were comprehensive and wide ranging, addressing all the ways in which railway safety could be improved in response to the tragic events of 12 August 2020.

It was concluded that most of those recommendations have been implemented, with the few remaining being actively progressed.

Sheriff Johnston was satisfied that the issues identified in both the RAIB’s report and in this inquiry either have been or are being addressed by the rail industry, and did not consider that there are any other reasonable precautions, improvements or other steps that could be taken which might realistically prevent other deaths in similar circumstances.