Scotland: several injured after two trains collide in the Highlands

A terrible train accident occurred in Scotland this Friday, September 29. Several people injured in two train collision in a station in the north of the country, Agence France Presse learned from a spokesperson for the Scottish police.

“At around 7 p.m. (8 p.m. in Paris), Friday (…) we received the report of a collision between two trains at Aviemore station” in the Highlands region, said this spokesperson. Two people were taken to a nearby hospital and “a number of other passengers are being treated on site,” he added.

The accident would have occurred on a “private (railway) track next to the main track“, according to a message published by the railway company ScotRail on X (formerly Twitter) to warn its customers that traffic was disrupted.

An accident involving the Flying Scotsman

According to several British media, one of the two trains involved in the accident is the Flying Scotsman, pulled by a century-old steam locomotive restored last year. One of the two trains was stationary at the time of the collision.

According to the Scottish daily The Scotsmanthe collision occurred when the locomotive was carrying out a maneuver to be hooked up to the Royal Scotsman wagons, a luxury train owned by the Belmond hotel and leisure group. A Belmond spokesperson quoted by the newspaper described the collision as “slight”.

In 2020, three people killed in train derailment which linked Aberdeen to Glasgow in the north-east of Scotland. The manager of the British rail network was sentenced at the beginning of September to a fine of 6.7 million pounds (7.8 million euros) for breaches of safety regulations.