Network Rail is taking two rail companies to court over a derailment that spilled hundreds of thousands of litres of fuel into protected wetlands in Wales six years ago.
The rail body has filed a claim for more than £5m against DB Cargo UK and Touax Rail over the incident near Llangennech, Carmarthenshire, in August 2020. Ten of the 25 wagons on the train came off the tracks, spilling 446,000 litres of fuel. Around 300 people had to leave the area as a blaze took firefighters nearly two days to put out.
The environmental damage was severe. Of the fuel that escaped, 116,000 litres ignited, while 330,000 litres drained into surrounding wetlands that form part of a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Special Area of Conservation. The line stayed closed for six months and did not fully reopen until March 2021, with 30,000 tonnes of fuel-soaked soil excavated from the site.
In High Court documents, Network Rail argues the derailment happened because a wagon had not been maintained with reasonable care. It is seeking damages from Touax on that basis, and from DB Cargo UK for an alleged breach of a contractual duty to ensure reasonable care was taken in maintaining the wagon. Both companies are yet to file defences, and a hearing is due to take place.
The cause of the crash was established years ago. The Rail Accident Investigation Branch concluded in January 2022 that the derailment was caused by a set of wheels locking, likely the result of a brake defect, after finding inadequate maintenance practices. The RAIB did not assign blame or liability, but made nine recommendations to prevent similar accidents.
Nobody was injured in the incident. That is the part worth holding on to when the numbers start to blur. The train was travelling at about 38mph, carrying up to 75.5 tonnes of fuel from Milford Haven to Theale in Berkshire when the wagons derailed.
Bill Kelly, Network Rail’s Wales route director at the time, described the cleanup as one of the biggest environmental recovery operations the organisation has ever been involved with, and said the incident could have been a total environmental disaster. The £5m claim is the bill for that near miss, plus the cleanup.
The case will now wind its way through the High Court. For the rail industry, the significance is straightforward: maintenance failures have a price, and this is what happens when that price is called in. The BBC reports lawyers for Network Rail expect to recover more than £5m.