Recommissioning after Coronavirus

True, but looking at it the other way there maybe a new influx of volunteers when this is all over. Pre-Covid most people would probably admit to just being happy doing what they did on a week to week basis, since then a lot of people have had time to reflect on how they previously worked, shop, socialise, travelled, enjoyed hobbies etc , and I'm sure a lot of them will alter their lifestyles in the coming period.
Hopefully when we start to get back to normal or as close as possible there may people who have never experienced a heritage railway despite living on its doorstep, visiting for the first time. The most important thing is to give them an enjoyable experience which will see them return in the future. That is also true of new volunteers, we need to welcome them with open arms, too many instances in the past where people have turned up once and never returned. We've got to remember that the heritage railway of the 2020's is a lot different to the enthusiast railway of the 1980's and not everyone can tell the difference between a Deltic and a 8F, let alone recite off the top of their head the number of the 9F which terminated the station masters cat at Barnsley in 1962! Anyone new volunteering must be made to feel welcome.
Life is changing, the railways who see this change will be the ones to survive and prosper.

 

If the work is to meet safety/regulatory requirements, then you could deem it to be essential.
If it's work as part of business continuity, then you could probably deem it to be essential. (work on stuff that is already used by the business)

Restoring a loco that's a pile of parts & is still years away from running... not essential


I note that you change from 'railways' to 'groups' in the first paragraph.
Railways as an organisation have a H&S responsibility to employees & volunteers (& the public).
An individual, or a non-constituted group of individuals, don't have that responsibility, so if they're working on stuff that belongs to them, in premises that belong to them, it's a lot easier.

 

In all the discussion about what is or isn’t “essential”, let’s not forget that lockdown has never classified work as one of the two. The limitations have been on what businesses are allowed to open to the public, and how individuals may assemble. All other employment has been allowed to continue where impossible to be done from home.

The presence of volunteers will complicate that, but I’d assume the key restrictions are those on assembly.


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France is ahead of the UK. Churches are open for worship and the cafes I believe have now had the green light. However. distancing and masks are mandatory it appears.

 

Thank you for your reply. Indeed I did change from railways to groups quite deliberately, as the cases I have seen have been groups getting back to work on their projects, one being a Barry wreck, on the premises of a railway.

 

Thee are two strands to consider.
The first one is what the law says. You need to look at the The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020, which govern what you can and can't do as a person or business. These have been amended since first coming onto the statute books and now the only real restriction on what a person can do is stay overnight (clause 6). There are restrictions on gatherings except where the gathering is reasonably necessary for work purposes so you can't simply volunteer for social purposes if there are more than two of you.
The second one is your business, which heritage railways are. The railway has to safeguard its business so has to be able to undertake essential work. It doesn't matter that those doing the work are not being paid. What is deemed essential will be up to each railway to decide but I would suggest that it is part of your business plan to do something to maintain viability then that is acceptable. What isn't essential is working on a Barry hulk or some long term coach restoration. The business also has obligations under health and safety legislation so the risks created by Coronavirus in the workplace must have been assessed and a robust method statement for carrying out any work must be in place and adhered to. If you haven't got the risk assessments and method statements, you can't resume working.
I have discussed this with both the HRA and ORR. As far as the ORR is concerned, they have no interest in pursuing the restrictions regulations; that is a matter for the police. However, they are interested in your risk assessments, how you are going to work and what you are going to be doing. The HRA have yet to issue specific guidance but their web page has recently been updated (5th June) and largely reflects what I have said. https://www.hra.uk.com/covid19-coronovirus

 

See my reply above to your earlier post. Working on a Barry wreck is unlikely to find favour with the ORR.

 

Do have to wonder if the 30-50% who are still keeping children home, & those key workers that had to send their children to school, & those that have sent them back because they are now going back in to work, are going to be rushing to do activities where they will be surrounded by strangers.
Even if people do want to get away for a day, it's only going to be a day, & not far away from home. So any lines that are more than an hours drive from major population centres are going to be very quiet.


Note that Butlins have extended their closure until 16th July, & their Music Weekends in September are cancelled. They do however have a guarantee that you can move the booking or get a refund for bookings for 2020/21, so they're prepared for the closure to last longer.

Even zoos don't have any idea when they'll be allowed to re-open, & they're outdoors.

 

We're into the 'known known' problems. All railways can do is survey, plan, hope the goalposts don't change and look to be adaptable if supply of labour (volunteers) or visitors is higher, or lower. And wish for good luck.

Patrick

 

The SVR have very generously published many of the results of their survey of nearly 4700 potential customers.

https://www.svrlive.com/bljun20

 

I bought a large number of disposable masks from a supplier in China right at the start of all this for about £15. Also my wife had made very comfortable washable masks for all of us

 

Some potentially useful results there
(would be good to know the breakdown of the survey respondents)

• More than 80% of respondents would return, based on us putting safety measures in place
  
  
• 73% of people have social distancing as a key concern
  
  
• Overcrowding is a massive concern and is in the top two concerns
  
  
• 92 % of people would be happy with an open carriage if social distancing is in place
  
  
• 91 % of people would be happy with toilets on trains being shut
  
  
• 75% of people would be happy to take litter with them rather than leave it in the carriage
  
  
• 84% of respondents want easily accessible hand sanitizer
  
  
• 79% of people’s booking patterns won’t change
  
  
• 28% of people said that COVID-19 would affect their booking decision
  

 

So regarding running again. The price of oil has dropped considerably. Will that make Diesels more attractive for railways to run due to lower costs, particularly if coal becomes harder to get for steam locos.
Might be the first stuff we see running.

 

There are some very positive sounding results there. Of course without knowing the target audience an enthusiast base may well give a more positive answer than the retiree mid week coach tour brigade. Hopefully it may include some of those in the figures.

 

Not a railway, but I read earlier today that the trolleybus museum at Sandtoft are aiming for reopening to the public from the end of July.

 

Zoos can now open June 15. From BBC "zoos will be told that they must not reopen indoor exhibitions, such as reptile houses, and must ensure amenities including cafes are take-away only".
No news for non essential transport.

 

Do you mean there won't be any camel rides?

 

I think again this is England only but it basically shows that if you can put enough pressure on Boris and he thinks he will get bad publicity he will quickly fold. In the case of Zoos there was going to be a debate in Parliament on Thursday so it looks like he did a quick U turn so he can try and claim all the credit for the decision, It seems a the standard policy of Boris's response to Covid 19 which is when there is some flak flying he promptly announces some relations as good news and hopes it distracts from the criticism.

The heritage industry just need to pile enough pressure on Boris if it wants to have the chance of reopening early in England. Only problem is the public are far more bothered about animals than heritage railways which they probably view as being only of interest to sad old men in anoraks.

 

Boris is very good at playing catch up and reacting too late eg lockdown and track and trace. He follows rather than leads which is a shame as I had high hopes for him when he was elected

 

Certainly not. Camels have a habit of 'spitting'