12-08-2025
- General
- The Herald Scotland
Stonehaven victims remembered five years on from rail crash
Poor track conditions caused by heavy rain had forced the train to return to Aberdeen Station.
Passenger Christopher Stuchbury, 62, driver Brett McCullough, 45, and conductor Donald Dinnie, 58, died, while six others were injured.
Christopher Stuchbury, Donald Dinnie, and Brett McCullough (L-R) were killed after the train derailed near Stonehaven. On Tuesday, the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), paid tribute to the trio and called on Network Rail to implement all of the safety recommendations made in a 2022 report.
As of the Rail Accident Investigation Branch's most recent report, published earlier this year, 8 of the 20 recommendations remain 'open', which means they have yet to be fully addressed.
Recommendations included taking action to correct faulty drainage design, control room functions, and train crashworthiness, as well as other 'critical safety issues'.
RMT General Secretary Eddie Dempsey said: 'Our thoughts today are with the families of Donald, Brett and Chris, and with those injured and traumatised in the crash.
"But remembrance alone is not enough – there must be action, and it needs to be urgent.
'It is outrageous that five years after the accident took place, and three years since the RAIB set out what needed to change, that so many safety recommendations are still outstanding.
"We demand better – for those we lost, for those who survived and for the safety of every worker and passenger going forward."
Read more:
'Outrageous': Scots rail safety fears after Carmont crash as upgrades 'cut' by £127m
Fatal Accident Inquiry to be held following Stonehaven train derailment
Hundreds line the streets to pay tribute to Stonehaven train conductor
However, a Network Rail statement said that 'meaningful progress' had been made over the last five years.
It read: 'Since August 2020, we've been working hard to make our railway safer for passengers and colleagues.
"We're investing more than £400m in projects to strengthen the railway's resilience to increasingly unpredictable weather."
"Meaningful progress has been made on the recommendations from the Carmont investigation, which includes co-ordinated action across all Network Rail routes, and we continue to work closely with the ORR, train operators, and other key stakeholders."
Network Rail was fined £6.7m in 2023 as a result of the crash, and more than £1m was later paid out to settle a series of civil suits.
An initial Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) hearing into the causes of the derailment is set to be held on August 28th.
