LONDON (AFP) – A passenger train that derailed in north-east Scotland earlier this week, killing three people, left the tracks after hitting a landslip, investigators said on Friday (Aug 14).

The service from Aberdeen to Glasgow came off the tracks on Wednesday morning near the town of Stonehaven, which had been hit by flooding following heavy rain in the hours prior to the accident.

The driver, conductor and a passenger were killed and six people were hospitalised with minor injuries, while four firefighters were hurt battling the ensuing fire.

“At around 9.40am on Wednesday, Aug 12 2020, all six vehicles of a passenger train derailed after striking a landslip,” the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) said, in its first account of the tragedy.

It added the train had been trying to return to Stonehaven after being alerted to another landslip further down the line when it derailed.

The train kept moving down the tracks as far as 90 metres despite derailing, before one of the two power cars and a carriage fell down a wooded embankment.

Another carriage came to rest on its roof, having rotated to be at right angles to the track, while the next car along also overturned onto its roof and came to rest on the first carriage.

“We are currently collecting evidence needed to identify factors relevant to the cause of the accident and its consequences,” the RAIB said.

The independent agency will publish its findings, including any recommendations to improve safety, once it has concluded its probe.

The British government on Thursday ordered urgent safety checks on the rail network nationwide, amid fears it is not resilient enough in the face of increasingly extreme weather events.

Rail infrastructure body Network Rail said it was inspecting high-risk trackside slopes and working with meteorologists to improve the information it gets about flash flooding.

Britain’s last major rail derailment was in 2007 in Cumbria, in north-west England, which left one passenger dead and 30 others injured.

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