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Borders Railway project halted following serious worker injury

Construction on part of the £294m Borders Railway project was halted for the best part of a week after a worker suffered a serious injury. 

It has emerged that, while laying track on the project section near Galashiels on Tuesday 25 November, a railway sleeper being carried by a piece of equipment broke free and hit a 49-year-old worker on the leg. 

In response, the Health and Safety Executive issued two prohibition notices that prevent contractor BAM Nuttall from using the equipment until the safety issues identified are fixed. 

A  Network Rail spokesperson said: “At 12.30 on Tuesday afternoon, a contractor suffered a serious leg injury while working on the Borders Railway project near Galashiels. We are working closely with our main contractor BAM to support our colleague and his family. 

“The incident is currently under investigation and it would be inappropriate for Network Rail to comment further at this time. The project team took the voluntary decision to stand the site down for the remainder of the week to allow a full investigation to take place.” 

Work on the section of the project near Galashiels re-started on Monday 1 December. RTM contacted BAM Nuttall for a comment on the incident, but at the time of publication had received no reply. 

Track laying on the Borders Railway project began on 6 October – a date that the team had been working towards for two years. Over the next few months, four engineering trains are on a constant cycle delivering lengths of rail from Scunthorpe to the Borders Railway project. Every train carries 24 rails of 108m length, allowing 1,300 linear metres of rail to be installed every day. 

RTM recently spoke to Nissar Mohammed, BAM Nuttall’s project director, and Niek Lentink, the project manager overseeing the rail systems installation. 

(Image: c. Borders Railway)

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