Railway line at Stonehaven to reopen as work completed after crash

The railway line between Aberdeen and Dundee will reopen on Tuesday - following the completion of work in the wake of August's fatal derailment.

The railway has been shut since August 12, when the 6.38am ScotRail Aberdeen to Glasgow service struck a landslip - with the loss of driver Brett McCullough, conductor Donald Dinnie and passenger Christopher Stuchbury.

The incident caused extensive damage to the track, bridge, embankments and drainage systems at the accident site at Carmont, near Stonehaven.

Network rail engineers have been working since then to recover the derailed train carriages and repair and reopen the railway.

The work has included repairing and enhancing drainage systems and flood defences above and below the line, and rebuilding the railway embankment beneath the accident site.

Alex Hynes, managing director of Scotland’s Railway, said: "We continue to work closely with accident investigators as we seek to learn the lessons of this tragedy and make our railway as safe as possible for our people and our passengers.

"Our thoughts continue to be with the families and friends of Brett, Donald and Christopher and with the other passengers and colleagues who were affected by the accident.

"Our engineers have been working around the clock to repair and reopen the railway and we thank all our customers and lineside neighbours for the understanding they have shown during this difficult and distressing event."

ScotRail has been operating a shuttle service between Aberdeen and Stonehaven and between Montrose and Edinburgh in recent weeks. Replacement bus services have also been in place between Aberdeen and Edinburgh, linking into cross-border trains.

After the incident on August 12, Network Rail introduced a range of additional safety measures.

As an immediate precaution, hundreds of sites nationwide with higher-risk trackside slopes, similar to Stonehaven, were inspected.

These inspections were carried out by both in-house engineers and specialist contractors, supplemented by helicopter surveys.

Network Rail has also launched two taskforces, led by independent experts, as part of its long-term response to climate change and the challenge of maintaining its massive portfolio of earthworks (embankments and cuttings), many of which date from the Victorian era.