Union calls for InterCity trains to be taken out of service to test for rust problem identified in crash report

Scotland’s 45-year-old InterCity 125 trains should be taken out of use to allow scrutiny of a problem with rust identified in a rail crash report, according to a union.

Manuel Cortes, general secretary of the Transport Salaried Staff’s Association (TSSA) has written to Ian Prosser, HM Chief Inspector of Railways, calling for the High Speed Trains (HSTs) to be withdrawn until the problem flagged in the report into an Aberdeenshire rail tragedy is assessed.

Driver Brett McCullough, 45, conductor Donald Dinnie, 58, and passenger Christopher Stuchbury, 62, died when a ScotRail Intercity 125 derailed on August 12, 2020. Last week a report by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) blamed long-running failures in the management of drainage work for the derailment.

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The report noted an area of the front coach had been crushed, and that during its 2019 refurbishment by Wabtec, rust had been found on the collision pillars in that coach. There was no photographic evidence to show remedial work was carried out on the pillars during the refurbishment.

It also noted that after the crash: “Damaged areas of the coach structures were found to have areas of corrosion.” But it said it was not clear if rust had played a part in the collapse of the coach structure, which led to Mr Dinnie’s death.

Cortes said: “The fact that there is no photographic evidence that Wabtec carried out the corrosion repairs on the derailed HST is a red flag for every other HST currently running. We cannot allow possibly unsafe trains to continue to run on Scotland’s railways. I’ve written today to Ian Prosser, calling on him to instruct rail companies across Britain – including ScotRail – to withdraw HSTs from passenger service because of the risk they pose to passengers being able to survive in derailment conditions.”

Ian McConnell, ScotRail chief operating officer, said: “The RAIB report is clear that the high-speed trains were not the cause of the accident and there is insufficient evidence to show that a more modern train would have prevented the derailment.”