Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee

Meeting date: Wednesday, August 19, 2020

Official Report 628KB pdf

Stonehaven Rail Accident

Welcome to the 17th meeting in 2020 of the Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee. Apologies have been received from Mike Rumbles.

Before we start the formal part of the meeting as laid out on the agenda, I would like to make a brief statement on behalf of the committee. At 9.43 this morning, railways across Scotland and much of Britain fell silent to mark the tragic derailment of a train just one week ago at Stonehaven. The accident resulted in the sad loss of three lives.

Time will tell on what lessons need to be learned from the accident to ensure that it is never repeated but, now, we would like to pass on our thoughts and support to the families of Brett McCullough, Donald Dinnie and Christopher Stuchbury. We know and can appreciate how deeply you will miss them, as indeed will all their friends and work colleagues. To all of you, we would like to say that we share your pain.

I also put on record our thanks to all those in the emergency services who responded to the event. They did so in a way that demonstrated their true professionalism.

I would now like to return to the agenda and move to item 1.