Network Rail will begin work to reopen the railway line near Stonehaven this week and recover the carriages involved in the derailment.
The train from Aberdeen to Glasgow derailed on 12 August after hitting a landslip, causing the driver, the conductor and one of six passengers to lose their lives.
Specialist engineers will use a 600t crawler crane to lift the derailed carriages from the railway over the next few days. For this to happen, Network Rail and contractors have had to do a huge amount fo work to prep the site. The remoteness of the derailment site makes this a complex undertaking. So
far, they have built a 900m road and a temporary bridge across the neighbouring farmland so that the lifting equipment can be brought to the site.
Stonehaven derailment preparatory works The plans to remove the vehicles – an operation which will likely take a number of days – have been developed in collaboration with the police, accident investigators and other partner agencies.