Network Rail fined £6.7m over fatal crash

(Sharecast News) - Network Rail has been fined nearly £7m for health and safety failings that led to the deaths of three people in a train crash in Scotland three years ago. The ScotRail Aberdeen to Glasgow service derailed at Carmont after hitting a landslide near Stonehaven following heavy rain in August 2020.

The rail operator pleaded guilty to a number of maintenance and inspection failures before the crash at the High Court in Aberdeen and on Friday was fined £6.7m. The fine was going to be £10m but was reduced in recognition of its guilty plea.

The crash - the worst on Britain's railways for 18 years - killed three of the nine people on board: the train's driver, Brett McCullough, its conductor Donald Dinnie, and a passenger, Christopher Stuchbury.

Sentencing Network Rail, judge Lord Matthews said: "No penalty I can impose will come close to compensating those whose lives have been touched by this tragedy."

Alex Hynes, managing director of Scotland's Railway said: "It is clear that our infrastructure was at fault for the accident, so it is right that Network Rail pled guilty.

"Since the accident we have been working hard to make our railway safer and to learn the lessons of Carmont.

"The events of 12 August 2020 and loss of three lives will be etched on the industry's mind forever, and make us determined to keep improving the safety of our network every day."