§ The Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office (Mr. John Spellar)The report of the inquiry carried out by an Inspector of Her Majesty's railway inspectorate into a train derailment in County Londonderry on 4 June 2002 is being published today. Copies of the inspector's report have been placed in the Libraries of the House of Commons, the House of Lords and the Northern Ireland Assembly and copies will be made available to the public on request. I have also placed copies of the Northern Ireland Railways internal report on this incident in the Libraries and copies will also be available to the public from Translink on request. The HMRI report will also be placed on the Department for Regional Development's websitehttp://www.drdni.gov.uk/transportpolicy/
40WSThe derailment occurred when the 12.50 pm train from Londonderry to Belfast hit a large rock that came to rest on the railway track following a rock fall from an adjacent cliff at Downhill, County Londonderry. Thankfully there were no fatalities and only the driver of the train suffered injuries that were sufficiently serious to require admission to hospital. Following the accident, Mr Peter Robinson MP, the then Minister for Regional Development, made a statement to the Northern Ireland Assembly on 10 June 2002 advising that he had asked HMRI to conduct an investigation into the circumstances of the accident, to report the findings and to make recommendations.
The report comes to a number of conclusions about the operations of Northern Ireland Railways that were a contributory factor to the accident and makes recommendations for improvements. It also contains conclusions and recommendations in respect of the Department for Regional Development's Roads Service, the Department of the Environment's Planning Service, the Police Service of Northern Ireland and other duty holders. The report concludes that rock falls from the cliffs at Downhill were foreseeable, that further rock falls will occur, and that these pose a risk to residents and, to a lesser extent road and rail users.
The conclusions and recommendations contained in the report are actively being considered for implementation by the relevant agencies in Northern Ireland. I will ensure that these bodies liaise closely with each other in this process. I have taken action to ensure that the recommendations are actively considered for implementation.
I wish to express my appreciation to HMRI for their assistance and in particular to the inspector, Mr Gerald Kerr, for his detailed and careful examination of the issues and for his recommendations. I also wish to commend the public spiritedness of the eyewitness to the rock fall who contacted the emergency services and the residents of Downhill for the assistance they gave to the injured.