£25,000 reward to catch vandals who caused Angus train derailment

By ALASTAIR DALTON
Published on 15/11/2012 12:16

A £25,000 reward has been offered today in a new attempt to catch “reckless”vandals who derailed a CrossCountry train by placing an object on the track near Inverkeilor in Angus, British Transport Police (BTP) announced.

The driver of the Edinburgh-Aberdeen service on 4 November suffered a minor head injury while the 36 passengers and the other train crew member escaped unhurt when the front wheels of the train came off the rails.

BTP said the reward, being offered by Network Rail and train operators CrossCountry, East Coast and ScotRail, which use the line, was for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible.

Detective Inspector Kevin McCormack said: “It is hoped that by offering such a substantial reward someone will come forward with information that can help identify those believed to be responsible for such an irresponsible act.”

David Simpson, Network Rail route managing director for Scotland said: “This incident could have caused a very serious accident on the railway and put lives at risk. We are determined to do everything we can to support the police in their investigation and would encourage anyone with information about this stupid and reckless crime to get in touch immediately.”

Andy Cooper, CrossCountry’s managing director, added: “We are shocked that someone may have intentionally set out to injure our customers and staff and utterly condemn this criminal act.”

BTP said officers had found an obstruction at the scene which they believed had been placed there deliberately.