Recommissioning after Coronavirus

I suppose that this follows on from events in Somerset, but what - if any plans do other lines have for 'Post Coronavirus' projects.

Presumably there is 'essential work' that will need to be undertaken - I dont know if it is now completed but things like the NYMR's Bridge Replacement projects spring to mind and projects that have already been started like The Swanage Carriage Shed but would I be correct in saying that most of these are now stalled or parked as 'WIBN' until we know what the 'Post Coronavirus' world will look like?

 

I would think that most railways plans would be:

How large of a financial hit they have taken.

How many volunteers return.

What services they can safely run for minimum costs.

See how many customers are returning and what are they spending, cafes, gift shops etc.

Decide if it is possible/safe/viable to run the Santas this year. ( I can't see any railway doing any large Autumn galas this year, so the Santas maybe the first main event if life gets back to somewhere near normal)

Next sit down cross everything, keep watching the income and expenditure, then hopefully sometime in the not too distant tear up any existing plans and then replace them with new ones.

I know personally that the plan with our loco is not to plan until we see where this new way of life eventually takes us.

 

ORR have published their guidance to preserved railways

https://orr.gov.uk/__data/assets/pd...way-recovery-plan-in-response-to-covid-19.pdf

 

Fogging gun spray devices are used for crops.
But if they help disinfect train seats quicker and easier then they might be used more?

I see the ORR has updated guidance.
"Recovery Plan
8. Each railway should:
a. Prepare a suitable and sufficient Recovery Plan prior to easing of restrictions, to allow safe recommencement of operations.
b. The Recovery Plan should contain a robust Risk Assessment that covers all aspects of reopening after a long layoff.
c. The Recovery Plan should be made an integral part of the overall Safety Management System.
9. The Board of Directors of each railway has a key role to play here; ensuring that the
railway’s managers and heads of department have the resources and arrangements in place to operate safely."

Risk assessments will vary for each railway for health and safety and how distancing and cleaning (maybe using fogging guns?) will work.
Also depends who many full time staff will return from furlough in July and potential passengers to run a limited service (maybe DMU to save costs) to gain revenue.

 

Thanks for posting. It's such a relief to read clear, sensible guidance.

Cheers, Neil

 

Z

 

Hello folks,

due to the fact that I am currently working in a maintenance workshop for trams in Austria I would like to share some experiences of disinfecting the rolling stock with you:

Our workshop uses ozone disinfection devices in order to try the best to sterilize the vehicle from inside. It makes far more sense than using fogging gun sprays...
We are quite satisfied with this method, due to the fact that we can safe important recources (especially time!). For sterilizing we use a simple ozone generator und put it into the tram.

A video of ozone:

And some interesting links:
https://www.lenntech.com/library/ozone/comparison/ozone-disinfectants-comparison.htm

I believe ozone generators would be a viable option (I am no salesman of ozone generators!).

What are your thoughts?

Cheers

 

Interesting, There are ozone generators sold in the UK for example from a Google search.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/373001851271
https://www.expondo.co.uk/ulsonix-i...MIw4nhrZ6u6QIVA-3tCh0hZQ2IEAQYAiABEgKAR_D_BwE

 

The furlough scheme is being extended till October and include part working, which will help some Heritage railways where the Risk assessment shows problems in restarting back services

 

Yes it will help greatly, assuming of course that the government are still not advising against travel on public transport later in the year.

 

the problem though is how do you keep passengers who are not in the same party 2m apart? i can't see a way round that, early season it may be possible, if numbers are low, to place some seats out of use, booking staff, can always have clear screens in use, and only take card payments/ contactless, but before any passenger train can run, every railway will have to run ECS training runs to ensure all staff such as drivers, guards are up to standard, and in ticket, coaches will need to have inspections, this takes time.

 

It is a good document about 'what' to do, but it doesn't answer what we all want to know, which is when ? When can volunteers go back and the work start up again. ? Personally I am up for it from now, if the railways management would allow.

 

This is a situation where having a rake of suburban non-corridor coaches comes in handy.

Bob.

 

Our great and good (and our politicians ..... boom-boom!) are talking about a phased return, but noticeably, the older amongst us, i.e. those who form the backbone of volunteer effort, are numbered among 'the vulnerable', and will seemingly be the last allowed to see daylight again.

Damned if I've any answers .... worst luck!

 

If you look at the regulations, heritage railways have not been required to close. However, the regulations require people to stay at home without reasonable excuse. Playing devil's advocate, reasonable excuse includes, amongst other things "to travel for the purposes of work or to provide voluntary or charitable services". Based on that wording, you can carry out voluntary work on a railway. However, I'm fairly convinced that volunteering in this respect is not meant to cover our type of volunteer work or charitable services. You could argue that it is part of your daily exercise but, if you did, you would fall foul of the two person rule.
I think we just have to wait until we get a clearer direction

 

To be fair, I don’t think that is the ORR’s role to say. Their role is to say what needs to be done to get back up and running, but when that is appropriate to do is ultimately down to the management of each railway, based on their assessment of the commercial situation and in the light of Government advice.

Tom

 

There can be few who could argue that the furlough scheme has not been generous and the extension of the full scheme to end of July is to be welcomed. Beyond that the challenges for the heritage railways are potentially very significant if, as seems probable, they are still not operating at a level capable of generating worthwhile income- would a railway be able to afford the contribution (have seen 20% suggested elsewhere) towards that part-time employee?

Edit -meant to say that scheme has been generous- now corrected

Jon

 

One wonders whether charities may be exempt from the contributions? I haven't seen any mention of it, but it sounds plausible.

Running trains still seems a long way off though, as our chairman bluntly put it today, "Social distancing makes it essentially impossible to run our passenger trains." And I agree, it's just not feasible, I'm sceptical it would even be possible with non-corridor stock. What people need to remember is the absolute risk of getting the virus is only one part of the equation, the other being how necessary the activity is. Hence, whilst the risk to catching the virus may be the same on an ordinary train and a steam train, the former is likely to be far more necessary than the latter, and again that was acknowledged and summed up well by our board today, "we have to remember that we are not a critical part of the national railway infrastructure, but a heritage railway enjoyed by so many as a hobby." We were also reminded that although we're volunteers the board still has the same legal requirements in terms of H&S as other employers. Overall it was a very cautious message, and whilst I completely understand and support that cautiousness, it was nevertheless disappointing to read as someone who'd quite like to go back.

 

The ORR guidance does remind preserved railways to risk assess their return to service.

This is not the place for an online Degree in Health & Safety; but a few key points above risk assessment are:-
Legal requirement for employers to do it
RA are a tool for finding the safest, reasonably practicable way to do a task
RA are not about stopping an activity, unless it is not safe
PPE is the last resort for protecting people, not the primary way to protect