WCRC Licence Suspended

Were it not for the election, and the latest breaking news regarding recovery of the 2nd black box on the German Wings Airbus, I'm sure the story would be getting greater prominence.

 

One thing that has become pretty obvious over the last two years, is that WCRC do have some serious holes in their communication departments, specially the one with NR!

 

This from the BBC I find a bit misleading so what will Joe Public think I wonder?

Steam trains operating across picturesque northern routes have been suspended over fears they are a "threat to the safe operation of the railway".

 

It's an interesting point regarding the lack of a Traction Inspector on WCR workings. I remember thinking some time back that it was interesting that DBS always had one, and WCR didn't. Speculation I know, but I wonder if this will change if and when WCR return. Another pair of eyes, and a supervisory pair at that could only be a good thing I'd have thought ?

 

Just been struck by the Irony of this. WCRC refused to use Tornado because of alleged failure to comply with their Safety Management System, and now WCRC have been banned from NR because of holes in their Safety Management System, leaving Tornado to be operated by another company.

Strange world

 

Out of interest when was the last time a TOC was suspended from the whole network?


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The clue is in the word 'unprecedented'. This is the first time.

 

Right, I'm off to enjoy my easter holiday. I don't think there's going to be any new news until Tuesday at the earliest.

 

DBS would appear to be working Cleethorpes-Chester charter for WCRC with 67s so it looks like one or two WCRC-operated trains will run in the short term. Whether this extends to steam is another matter of course..

 

SD's trips on the 8th is postponed. From their website : -


Destination: Salisbury and Basingstoke to Canterbury Locomotive: B1 61306 Mayflower


Wednesday, 8th April, 2015


OUTWARD RETURN

Location Arr Dep Platform Location Arr Dep Platform


Unfortunately this trip has now been POSTPONED.


West Coast Railways (our Train Operating Company) are unable to operate our train on Wednesday, 8 April. West Coast are currently in negotiations with Network Rail to resolve a number of issues. On Thursday evening West Coast informed us that these may be resolved by late Tuesday, but Steam Dreams do not think it is feasible to leave our passengers unable to finalise their travel plans over the Easter Weekend.


We are talking to West Coast Railways about a new date for this train and will let you know by letter or email next week when this new date will be and also what your options are.


Postal tickets were sent out last night before we were aware of the situation so should you have received tickets please ignore these as they are no longer valid.


We are calling all passengers to ensure everyone is aware of the situation.


Please accept our sincere apologies for any disappointment caused.

 

http://www.westcoastrailways.co.uk/download/Important.pdf

Dear Fellow Traveller

Passenger safety is our number one priority.

You may have read or seen news relating to Network Rail (owners of the lines used by West
Coast Railways) and West Coast Railways.

A recent breach of safety regulations involving one of our trains crossing a red light has lead
to discussions by both parties to establish how this happened and more importantly the
preventative measures in place to ensure it can’t happen again. Although no one was
injured in any way West Coast Railways consider this to be sufficient to carry out a full
internal enquiry with the support of Network Rail and at this time will not be running trains
under their current used licence.

However all trips remain unaffected and will run as normal under licence of another
operator, using the same vintage Mk2 carriages, passengers will not be affected and all
schedules including the Jacobite will continue as normal.

Safety is a primary importance to both west Coast Railways and Network Rail and as such
both parties MUST be absolutely satisfied with the safety measures in place to prevent any
such future happenings, through continued discussions and when both parties are satisfied
it is hoped that West Coast Railways will resume operation under licence.

Should you have any questions regarding this please email bookings@westcoastrailways.net

Many Thanks

West Coast Railway

 

MAY be resolved by late Tuesday? I'd place great emphasis on the may.

 

Not just a TI but aren't their firemen also full drivers too?

 

Where's the statement coming from that this may be resolved by next Tuesday?

The NR document gave seven points. For WCRC to get their licence back, they have to comply with five by May 15, and show "material demonstrable progress" towards the other two by the same date. Even if they complied with all seven points right now (and presumably they don't, otherwise why would they have been banned?), it is not down to their own self-assessment of compliance: NR will have to come in, conduct an audit and then make their decision about whether they are satisfied or not. The likelihood that that could happen before next Tuesday (over a long bank holiday weekend) is vanishingly small...

WCRC may be back on the Network by May 15: I'd be amazed if it was much before that date. Certainly not by Tuesday ...

Tom

 

Tom see my quote from Steam Dreams website above. I will put the sentence quoted in bold.

 

I think that refers to Paul42's post #190 referring to SD's note about their train on 8th April. I presume WCR are trying to arrange for another TOC to operate trains for them, which in the case of steam can only mean DBS (AFAIK).

 

No. Don Clarke's son who has just become a driver has been a fireman on trips before he came a driver.

 

Thanks Paul.

Hmmm ... that's not quite how it reads - if you read the text from Steam Dreams Paul quoted, it suggests that WCRC are in negotiations with NR to resolve some issues and these may be resolved by late Tuesday.

Anyway, I'd be amazed...

Very unfortunate that a number of innocent third parties (such as SD, Vintage Trains, various loco owners and most of all passengers) will be inconvenienced and / or out of pocket as a result of someone else's mistakes.

Tom

 

You'd have thought so yes. They're the only other TOC with a safety case for operating steam on NR I believe. I'm a bit surprised how quickly WCR issued that statement of assurance that the operation of their planned work will be unaffected as its being sub-contracted to another operator. Can they really be sure of that ? If so they're assurances to SD that their 8th April train will run is obviously based on that, rather than them having satisfied NR's requirements.

 

So would I be amazed. Unless this is now in the hands of M'learned friends and they believe they can get the suspension lifted whilst they put things right.