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Wednesday, a passenger train was derailed in Aberdeenshire, a town in Northeast Scotland. The region has seen a large amount of rain and moving mud in recent days. It’s likely this caused the derailment. Scotland First Minister Nicola Sturgeon called the derailment an “extremely serious incident,” speaking to the Scottish Parliament.
The British Transport Police announced the derailment on social media Wednesday morning. Experts believe that landslip was responsible for the derailment, with heavy rains pushing much of the earth in the region around. The derailment, which also derailed passenger’s family plans, doesn’t seem to have resulted in any deaths. However, many passengers sustained injuries from the incident.
At the time of the derailment, only twelve people were on the train. Six were passengers, while six others were staff. The short train only sported six cars. A team of the UK Rail Accident Investigation Branch is investigating the incident. The UK transport union noted that the incident took three hours to be formally reported.
“The accident took place in the Carmont area, south of Stonehaven and was ScotRail’s 06:38 Aberdeen — Glasgow Queen Street train. The derailment was reported at around 09:45am,” said the union.
Nicola Sturgeon took to Twitter to express her thoughts on the incident. “This is an extremely serious incident. I’ve had an initial report from Network Rail and the emergency services and am being kept updated. All my thoughts are with those involved.”
The train derailment comes as the UK is in a strange spot. Brexit has formally occurred, meaning that the UK is now no longer part of the EU. Meanwhile, partisan divisions run deep: many left-leaning people in the country resent the Brexit initiative. Conservatives, on the other hand, accuse Labour members of trying to sell out the country to immigrants. In some ways, the UK’s current divisions look similar to those seen in the US.
Likewise, the UK is still grappling with the coronavirus pandemic. Thankfully for them, the virus has been largely contained and numbers are heading down. The country has seen some 313,000 people sickened and another 46,000 die from the novel respiratory illness. In large part, the EU has fared better than the UK and the US in the face of the virus. This is likely due to a combination of factors, including stricter lockdown efforts in countries like Germany and France.
