RAIB report into fatal derailment not disputed by Crown, inquiry told

The Crown does not dispute the findings of a Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) report into a train derailment which claimed three lives, an inquiry hearing has been told.

Train driver Brett McCullough, 45, conductor Donald Dinnie, 58, and passenger Christopher Stuchbury, 62, died in the derailment near Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, on August 12, 2020.

Preparations are under way for a fatal accident inquiry (FAI) into the incident, which could start in January next year.

The RAIB report published in March 2022 found errors in the construction of a drainage system installed by Carillion meant it was unable to cope with heavy rain which fell in the area on the morning of the crash.

A preliminary hearing held virtually from Aberdeen Sheriff Court on Wednesday was told that the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has raised some issues relating to the RAIB report.

Andrew Webster KC, representing RAIB, said there should not be evidence led that could undermine the conclusions reached by the RAIB, and raised concerns about “prising the lid of the tin off” in relation to the report.

Alex Prentice KC, representing the Crown, said that it does not take issue with the RAIB report and does not intend to reinvestigate the case, but that relevant matters should be aired at the FAI.

He said: “The ORR is the body which has responsibility and protects the interests of current and future rail and road users overseeing safety, value and performance of the railways and monitoring the performance and efficiency of the strategic road network.

“The Crown observes that when a respected body such as ORR raises some issues which it considers are relevant to its proper function as a regulatory body, then in principle the Crown’s position is that that ought to be aired.

“It is not my submission that if permission is granted for this limited area to be looked at that that means that the lid is off the tin, as it were, for the whole of the RAIB report.

“The RAIB report is not, it appears, disputed by anyone.

“The Crown is certainly not intending to reinvestigate the entire matter or to duplicate matters, but it is necessary to have a public airing of the issues in the case, so for those reasons the Crown supports the submission of ORR for that limited purpose, but that’s not to say the broad principles are disputed by the Crown, they are not.”

The RAIB report made 20 recommendations to improve railway safety, many of which were directed at Network Rail.

Carla Fraser, representing the ORR, said it does not challenge the RAIB report.

She told the hearing: “There is no attack on the underlying conclusions of the RAIB report, all the points raised by the ORR are focused on the future rather than attacking the RAIB report or its conclusions.

“The ORR is firmly focused on what has happened since the report and not on challenging the findings of the RAIB.”

A criminal prosecution saw Network Rail fined £6.7 million in 2023 after it admitted health and safety failings over the crash, which happened on a day of torrential rain.

Network Rail previously said it is determined to build on the “significant changes” it has made since the incident, which have “helped us to manage the risk of severe weather to the network”, and it has invested millions to improve the resilience of the railway.

Carillion went into compulsory liquidation in January 2018.

Sheriff Lesley Johnston said she will give her decision next week in relation to the RAIB report and whether the area raised by the ORR can be looked at by the inquiry.

She set a further hearing for Monday, September 29