Aberdeen-Dundee railway line reopens
Network Rail say significant repairs and improvements have been made on the line following the tragic derailment on August 12 that took the life of three people.
The railway line between Aberdeen and Dundee has officially fully reopened this morning.
It's been closed for repairs at Carmont near Stonehaven after the tragic derailment on August 12th that claimed the lives of driver Brett McCullough, conductor Donald Dinnie and passenger Christopher Stuchbury.
Some shuttle services had operated between Aberdeen and Stonehaven, and Montrose and Dundee, but these had been at a reduced rate and many passengers were transported on replacement buses.
The work has included:
Building a new 900-metre road and temporary bridges over the surrounding farmland to bring specialist lifting equipment to the site.
Constructing a 600-tonne crawler crane to carefully lift the derailed carriages from the railway.
Replacing over 500 metres of damaged track, 70 metres of bridge parapets and relaying 400 metres of telecoms cables.
Repairing and enhancing drainage systems and flood defences above and below the line.
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."