Stonehaven rail crash: Fatal Accident Inquiry to be held
Three people – driver Brett McCullough, 45, conductor Donald Dinnie, 58, and passenger Christopher Stuchbury, 62 – were killed in the crash while the other passengers were all injured.
Network Rail admitted on Thursday to a number of failings which led to the derailment.
It admitted it failed to ensure, so far as was reasonably practical, that railway workers not in its employment and members of the public travelling by train were not exposed to the “risk of serious injury and death from train derailment” as a result of failures in the construction, inspection and maintenance of drainage assets and in adverse and extreme weather planning.
On Friday Network Rail was hit with a £6.7m fine by the High Court[2], reduced from £7m to take into account the guilty plea.
After sentencing it was announced that a Fatal Accident Inquiry will be held, to examine the full circumstances surrounding the deaths, identify the lessons that can be learned and help to avoid such incidents happening in the future.
The families of the deceased were informed of the plan to hold an FAI.
Speaking after the sentencing, Debbie Carroll, who leads on health[3] and safety investigations for the COPFS, said: “Network Rail’s failings led to the deaths of Brett McCullough, Donald Dinnie and Christopher Stuchbury and lifelong consequences for those who survived.
“The tragic loss of these three lives has had a terrible impact on families and friends and our thoughts are with them and those who were injured at this difficult time.
“This prosecution is the culmination of a highly complex and thorough large-scale investigation by Police Scotland[4], British Transport Police and the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) under the direction of the Procurator Fiscal.
“There have already been a number of lessons learned and industry wide changes made following this incident and the statutory safety investigation conducted by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch.
“To further serve the public interest a Fatal Accident Inquiry has been instructed to examine the full circumstances surrounding these tragic deaths, putting all relevant information into the public domain and help avoid such an incident happening again in the future.”
References
- ^ Network Rail fined £6.7m after admitting fault in Stonehaven train derailment (www.heraldscotland.com)
- ^ Court (www.heraldscotland.com)
- ^ health (www.heraldscotland.com)
- ^ Scotland (www.heraldscotland.com)
- ^ ‘Another disaster waiting to happen’ warning as Network Rail admit Scots crash fails (www.heraldscotland.com)