THE RAIL Accident Investigation Branch is continuing to investigate drainage systems in the area of the 12 August 2020 derailment of a ScotRail High Speed Train near Carmont, which killed three people and injured the other six on the train.
The accident happened at about 09.37 when the 06.38 Aberdeen to Glasgow Queen Street – which was returning to Aberdeen at the time – hit a landslip near milepost 221 north of Montrose at a time of heavy storms in Scotland. RAIB reports that from 2009
Carillion installed a new crest drain at the cutting where the landslip occurred, comprising a 0.45-metre diameter perforated pipe buried in a gravel-filled trench. Catchpits were provided at intervals to allow inspection and maintenance.
Just above track level, the crest drain reached a catchpit known as catchpit 18, about 15 metres from the railway, from where it flowed towards catchpit 19 next to the railway. It was completed in 2012, but only the section closest to the track between catchpit 18 and the outfall was listed on NR’s drain maintenance database at the time of the accident. RAIB found no evidence the drain upslope of catchpit 18 was inspected between its construction and the accident.
On 13 May 2020, two m…
