Stonehaven crash: Holyrood minister says 'normal adverse weather protocols were followed'

Scotland's transport secretary says he believes that all adverse weather protocols were followed before a ScotRail train derailed near Stonehaven yesterday - killing three people.

Michael Matheson visited Stonehaven police station this morning to meet emergency services who were involved in yesterday's rescue operation.

The train's driver and conductor died, along with a passenger, after the train left the rails at around 9.40am.

There were reports of landslides on the stretch of track involved after severe weather hit the region.

Mr Matheson was unable to confirm an exact timeline of events - amid speculation the train was returning north due to the conditions on the line, having left Aberdeen almost three hours earlier.

But he says a full investigation into the incident is now under way.

You can watch Mr Matheson's press conference with Original 106 and other media above.

Meanwhile, Network Rail is to carry out specialist inspections of all its "higher risk" earth cuttings with similar characteristics to the stretch of track in Stonehaven - thought to be around 30 or 40 locations.

The organisation is also speaking to meteorologists to improve its real-time information for flash flooding.

Andrew Haines, Network Rail’s chief executive, said: "Tragic incidents, like the one near Stonehaven, are thankfully incredibly rare. Our railway is the safest major railway in Europe but it was designed for a temperate climate, and it’s challenged when we get extremes such as storms and floods.

"We’re seeing more of these types of weather as our climate changes, and although we can usually address them on the ground, by slowing trains down or diverting them, we are acutely aware we need a long-term resolution, even more so after yesterday’s devastating event.

"As more detail emerges around exactly what happened and what went wrong, we will push on with our plans to build even more resilience into our railway so that it can run more safely and reliably."