Recommissioning after Coronavirus

I assume social distancing still has to be maintained?

 

Yes, looks like we lose that in the last stage (stage 4) see here for a reasonable summary: https://www.theguardian.com/politic...08614ccf103460#block-6033d7098f08614ccf103460

 

Oof! You've rather brutally shortened 'through considered deliberative process, extensive consultation, friends in high places and an expert in tea-leaf reading' there…



Simon

 

Blimey, what's your experience of steam trains?

Tom

 

When the requirement to observe social distancing is dropped, will the requirement to wear masks, be dropped at the same time, or will that have to wait till there is zero new cases?

 

The statement in the Commons said mask wearing would be reviewed independently. Boris was also rather pessimistic about us ever getting a point of being Covid free in Britain

 

Boris talking scientific sense!
We have no more chance of becoming free of Covid than we have of being free of 'Flu. Sooner or later we will have to stop running scared and just get on with it.
Pat

 

True, but let us remember it is quite a bit worse than flu, so let's not get too carried away until case rates are nice and low, and vaccinnation numbers are high enough to keep them that way! Personally I'm still a little apprehensive that scrapping all social restrictions on 21 June will still be jumping the gun a bit...

 

In one of the later sets of guidance/rules, heritage railways were specifically categorised (presumably influenced by representations of the HRA and/or railway parliamentarians). I'd hope that is carried forward to the next batch, and then we'll know.

When trains run the refreshment rooms, shops, museums and the like will seemingly be on different timescales: one that comes to mind is itineraries that allow for museum visits when the museum might not be open. It'll need time for railways to review their plans so I guess we'll have to be patient.

Patrick

 

We will, but we do have to get our ducks in a row first. We need fewer people being admitted to hospital and fewer people dying, and ideally less of it circulating in the population to reduce (albeit not eliminate) the possibility of vaccine-avoiding variants being developed.

I note that today's reported cases are higher than last Monday's, the first week on week increase since the peak in early January. The war might now be heading in our favour, but it isn't over yet.

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What's the consensus then? April, May, June? Fair few conflicting views on Farcebook thus far....

 

If I've read this correctly, outdoor attractions can open from April and indoor ones from May. Take your pick where we fit in, but I'd guess outdoors.

For our sector in general it is much earlier than last year, so hopefully we will all have a better season. On the whole I'm positive about it even if it is May.

Edit - thinking on, April or May re-opening makes competence management a lot easier for those of us fortunate enough to do December turns...another reason for good cheer

 

The answer is 'it depends'.

People can choose to conflict with that as much as they like, but it's just about the most sensible thing the government's said about ending lockdown(s) in the last 12 months…

Simon

 

Indeed, and April re-opening is even just about within limits for those of us who had our December turns knobbled at the last minute!

12th April is only the earliest possible date to get to stage 2 though, if things don't go in the right direction fast enough it could well be put back.

 

svr are starting running from 12th April according to https://www.facebook.com/215794101831633/posts/3957689847642021/

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Just to add that the Engine House will remain shut in the first phase of reopening.

 

Deleted

 

We've booked a compartment on the SVR for 15th April. I do wonder whether it is appropriate to classify an open carriage as an 'outdoor attraction' though I can understand for a compartment given that - except for entry and exit - you are not sharing inside space.

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GWSR to restart operations on 13th April, all being well.

 

My earlier post (quoted here for completeness but which I will now delete) was based on opinion from the Heritage Railway Association. However, having pressed them for further and better information, the e-mail I received (which I'm not going to copy on here) does not convince me that they are right. If you consider that we are public transport, a form of theme park or indoor leisure, the governments white paper says we can. if you consider us simply an indoor attraction, we can't, although I'm not clear of the distinction between indoor leisure and indoor attraction. We'll just have to await the fine detail of the legislation and its interpretation.