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NETWORK RAIL is “dragging its feet dangerously” on key safety recommendations, the RMT charged today, on the second anniversary of the Carmont rail tragedy.
The rail union accused the nationalised company of failing to implement 20 safety recommendations — made by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch in March — following the deadly crash on August 12 2020.
Driver Brett McCullough, 45, conductor Donald Dinnie, 58, and passenger Christopher Stuchbury, 62, died when the 06:38 Aberdeen to Glasgow service hit washed-out debris at Carmont, south of Stonehaven.
A series of safety failures led to the accident, which occurred following heavy rain, investigators found.
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said he is “extremely concerned” about inaction from bosses.
“Instead of focusing on improving rail safety, Network Rail is proposing to make matters even worse by cutting thousands of safety-critical jobs across the network,” he said.
“Our railways do not need safety cuts which will make it more likely tragedies like Carmont will happen again.”
A company spokesperson said it would never consider any changes that threaten safety and claimed the firm’s plans to “modernise” maintenance will protect workers and passengers still further.
