Railway between Stonehaven and Montrose set to reopen after bridge repair

By Craig Munro

February 17 2021, 4:26 pm

The new wall to replace the collapsed parapet on the bridge between Montrose and Stonehaven. Picture from Network Rail

The railway between Stonehaven and Montrose is set to reopen on Monday, more than a month after part of a bridge wall on the route collapsed.

Network Rail said repair work on the 24-metre section of wall has now been completed – though an investigation into the cause of the incident is still ongoing.

The bridge is located just three miles along the track from the site of last August’s derailment at Carmont, which resulted in the deaths of Donald Dinnie, Christopher Stuchbury and Brett McCullough.

It had last been inspected just three months before the wall collapse, in October last year, and had undergone a details examination in March 2018.

Neither inspection found any deterioration in the structural condition of the bridge, which dates to the 1840s.

The damage to the rail bridge, between Montrose and Stonehaven. Picture from Network Rail

Over the past month, engineers and specialist contractors have been reconstructing the parapet wall, relaying new track and supporting ballast on the affected part of the bridge, and installing additional concrete supports and ties to strengthen the structure.

Trackside and aerial surveys of the line have also been carried out, with final checks to be conducted on Sunday morning ahead of the reopening.

‘A very challenging project’

Kris Kinnear, Network Rail’s capital delivery director for Scotland’s Railway, said: “Our engineers have been working hard to complete these repairs and reopen the railway as quickly as possible for our customers.

“The rural location and height of the structure – coupled with the extreme weather conditions we have seen in recent weeks – made this a very challenging project for our team.

“We invest millions of pounds each year on our bridges and have also carried out extensive additional checks on the line between Stonehaven and Montrose ahead of reopening the line on Monday.”

In response to the incident, Network Rail have carried out precautionary inspections on similar bridges between Aberdeen and Montrose and elsewhere in Scotland.

The rail body said they were investing £376m on structures such as bridges between 2019 and 2024, adding that £10m is spent every year on structure inspections.