Network Rail publishes report on strengthening the resilience of the UK's rail network against extreme weather conditions following the 2020 Stonehaven tragedy
The government has today (17 March 2021) published Network Rail’s final report on how the resilience of the UK’s rail network can be improved, in light of the Stonehaven tragedy last year.
The report was commissioned by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps immediately after the incident, in which 3 people died when a passenger train hit a landslip and derailed while travelling through bad weather near Carmont, Aberdeenshire.
The document is informed by the work of 2 independent taskforces – one which looks at weather conditions and the other at earthworks management – and includes a range of recommendations to further safeguard railways from extreme weather.
Network Rail has already started implementing some of these recommendations, building on an acceleration of works and investment in the resilience of the UK’s railways over the last decade.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said:
Rail Minister Chris Heaton-Harris said:
Between 2019 and 2024, Network Rail will make a record investment of £1.3 billion in strengthening the railway’s resilience to extreme weather.
Network Rail’s operations, maintenance and renewals budgets continue to be ringfenced, with the Spending Review committing over £40 billion as part of efforts to increase investment in rail infrastructure.
The final report examines all available evidence about the Stonehaven tragedy, the immediate steps taken afterwards and the current challenges of managing 200,000 earthwork sites over 20,000 miles of track across the UK.
Martin Frobisher, Network Rail’s safety and engineering director, said:
The document builds upon the Resilience of Rail Infrastructure interim report, which was also commissioned by the Transport Secretary immediately after the Stonehaven incident and published in September 2020.
Neither the final nor interim reports pre-empt the outcome of the independent investigation by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) into the Stonehaven incident. RAIB is due to publish its findings later this year.