The incident at Carmont near Stonehaven saw a six carriage service overturn when the train hit a landslip following heavy rainfall and flooding in the area.

The site of the derailment on the line between Dundee and Aberdeen had been identified by Network Rail in 2014 as one that was ‘greatly affected by earth slips’. And last month the Office of Rail & Road warned that more needs to be done to tackle the impacts of climate change on the railway.

ORR’s railway safety director Ian Prosser had written that the last financial year saw “significant increases in flooding, earthwork failures and trains striking trees on the line, which had a big impact on the number of delays on the network”.

The rail regulator pointed out that earthworks remain ‘a real challenge’ and that, due to heavy rainfall, there has been ‘a significant increase in the risk they pose over the last 12 months’.

It added: ‘Although Network Rail has drawn up plans to address climate change and increase resilience to extreme weather, these plans are not keeping up with the frequency and severity of these events’.

The ORR also said there have been over six times more flooding events in the year 2019/20 and earthworks failures nearly trebled. ‘It is nearly inevitable that failures will occur... this is why Network Rail must focus on improving identification of imminent failure by means of remote monitoring and on refining the measures it has to respond to forecasts of extreme conditions’, the report added.

Following last week’s derailment, Network Rail’s chief executive Andrew Haines said:

“Questions are inevitably being asked as to how this could happen and I am determined that we understand the circumstances that led to this devastating event.” He pledged to work closely with rail safety authorities “to make sure this can’t happen again”.

Andrew Haines warned that, while incidents like last week’s derailment are very rare, “our network was designed for a temperate climate, and it’s challenged when we get extremes” such as flooding and heavy storms. “We’re seeing this more and more and although we can address them on the ground with precautionary measures, we are acutely aware we need a long term resolution, and we had already secured additional funding and resources to help achieve this.”

Further measures being taken by Network Rail include discussions with meteorologists to understand how the organisation can strengthen real time information for flash flooding to inform train operations.

The Rail Accident Investigation Branch’s chief inspector of rail accidents Simon French said:

“We have an expert team at the site of the derailment who are gathering the evidence that is needed to understand what happened, and why. Thankfully, fatal derailments are a rare occurrence on the UK’s national network. However, landslips and other earthworks failures remain a risk to trains that needs to be constantly managed – and this is becoming even more challenging for the rail industry due to the increasing incidence of extreme weather events.”

The RAIB’s investigation will cover factors including the sequence of events and the actions of those involved as well as the management of earthworks and drainage in the area and actions taken in response to previous safety recommendations.

A further investigation is also being carried out by Police Scotland, British Transport Police and the Office of Rail & Road.

(Photograph: RAIB)