BETTER weather forecasting may avoid a repeat of the derailment that closed a lifeline rail link for seven days, it is claimed.

The Rail Accident Investigation Board (RAIB) has now published its report into the incident that halted trains on part of the West Highland Line in January last year.

The Glasgow-bound train had left Mallaig around half an hour before the incident, which happened as it travelled at approximately 40mph on the single line.

The train travelled through debris from around 30 metres before coming to a halt, with the lead vehicle derailed.

No-one was injured but damage to the train resulted in the leak of an estimated 700 litres of diesel fuel, some of which was carried into Loch Eilt. No travel could take place between Fort William and Mallaig until the line had been cleared and the hillside stabilised.

The safety body says rain and rapid snowmelt helped cause hundreds of tonnes of mud and stone to slide across the track between Lochailort and Glenfinnan, partially taking down a fence designed to catch debris.

The incident took place sometime between 6.40am and 11pm the previous night, when the last train went past, during mild, wet conditions after a cold spell.

However, Network Rail’s extreme weather process “did not consider the additional landslip risk created by snowmelt and thawing of already saturated ground” and the site was not listed as vulnerable to landslips during high rainfall.

RAIB said: “It is unlikely that a greater understanding of snowmelt risk would have avoided the accident at Loch Eilt, but it could avoid or mitigate an accident in other circumstances.

“The RAIB has made one recommendation to Network Rail to promote the development of weather forecasting processes.”