MINISTERS are to begin removing Scotland's older high speed trains one of which was at the centre of a horror rail crash near Stonehaven in which three people died and six were injured.

Transport minister Jenny Gilruth has confirmed a Transport Scotland steering group will look into the safety performance of older rolling stock, including InterCity 125 High Speed Trains (HST).

But she has also confirmed that they will begin a process of taking the HSTs out of service.

The Transport Salaried Staffs' Association is among those who have called for the trains to be withdrawn after investigators found that the refurbished high speed train involved in the crash were designed before modern standards were brought in with design features intended to minimise the damage to the train in case of collision or derailment.

The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) said that it was more likely than not that the outcome would have been better if the train had been compliant with modern ‘crashworthiness’ standards.

ScotRail has dismissed the call to ban the trains saying they were not the cause of the crash. Driver Brett McCullough, 45, conductor Donald Dinnie, 58, and passenger Christopher Stuchbury, 62, died when the 06:38 high speed Aberdeen to Glasgow Queen Street train left the tracks after hitting a landslip in August 2020.

With the Dutch state transport firm Abellio losing control of Scotland's railways as they are placed in the hands of the Scottish Government at the end of the month, Ms Gilruth revealed that it would take action over Scotland's ageing rolling stock.

The HSTs which have been in service on Britain's railways for over 40 years began getting a new lease of life by ScotRail four years ago.

One of the first made, named after designer Sir Kenneth Grange, is on display at the National Railway Museum in York.

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Ms Gilruth told MSPs: "I think it's important to remember that the trains in question were safe to be running. They are older trains, admittedly. They met the standards and the requirements at the time when they were built. We now need to look at that stock and we need to ensure that a disaster like this never happen again.

"The first way we do that is by working with the trade unions.

"I think, looking at a date in the future, we may be able to remove some of these trains from service, but I need to convene that steering group and I need to look forward to what that would mean for the current fleet of trains and what that would mean for the viability of rail travel in Scotland just now, recognising that we are to some extent quite reliant on the current HSTs which are in operation at this moment in time.

"But I give an undertaking that the steering group will absolutely look at this issue... to ensure that we deliver on the safety improvements that are needed and that our rolling stock is up to scratch and that it also provides the protection and a level of security not just for staff but also for passengers."

Twenty-six HST sets, which have four carriages and 17 of which will have five carriages, were to move from Great Western Railway to Abellio ScotRail after being refurbished by Wabtec at Doncaster Works with new interiors, controlled emission tanks and automatic sliding doors.

They were to operate on services from Edinburgh and Glasgow to Aberdeen and Inverness, as well as between Aberdeen and Inverness. The first set entered service in October 2018.

ScotRail's HST fleet operates under the brand name Inter7City.

The last of ScotRail's upgraded Inter7City high speed trains arrived in Scotland last year.

According to the RAIB: "The train that derailed at Carmont was a high speed train set (HST) with four coaches and two power cars. HSTs were first introduced into service in the mid-1970s and are generally seen as having a good safety record.

"Although they pre-date a number of modern standards that are relevant to train behaviour in derailments and collisions, they are authorised to operate on the UK’s mainline network. The coaches that formed this particular set had been recently refurbished by Wabtec at its workshops."

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A train built to modern crashworthiness standards created in July 1994 would have had a number of design features that are intended to provide better protection for occupants and keep vehicles in line should they collide with an obstacle or derail.

These included more robust couplers which are better able to resist the forces which they are subjected to in derailments.

The also include bogie retention features, so that in an accident, they remain attached to the vehicle bodies as far as is possible.

According to investigators, the refurbished HST that derailed at Carmont was designed and constructed before these standards came into force.

"While it is not possible to be certain about what would have happened in the hypothetical situation with different rolling stock in the same accident, RAIB considers it more likely than not that the outcome would have been better if the train had been compliant with modern crashworthiness standards," the RAIB said.

The TSSA said that when the HSTs were bought "they were museum pieces that were not fit for purpose"

"The RAIB report shows that, tragically, this is the case. Their failings played a part in the tragedy, especially in the death of the driver. ScotRail should now seriously consider whether they need to remove all their HSTs from service.”