Steam trains run into safety rule buffers

The future of heritage railways is being threatened by new safety requirements, according to steam enthusiasts.
Under Health and Safety Executive regulations, volunteers could have to pay bills running into thousands of pounds to keep their cherished schemes alive.


Ffestiniog Railway in Wales, which, like other societies, relies on the goodwill of volunteers

"Many of us feel that nothing would make safety authorities happier than to see us all closed down," David Morgan, the chairman of the Heritage Railway Association," told The Daily Telegraph yesterday. "The safest railway must be one on which a train never moves."

There are nearly 100 heritage railway societies, operating 527 miles of track. Run as a labour of love by enthusiasts, they aim to maintain the tradition of a bygone age. Last year, the societies carried around 12 million passengers, mostly on steam trains.

Their difficulties have been caused by the executive's interpretation of an EU directive on rail safety which, the association says, has imposed upon its members an impossible burden.

Safety has been the responsibility of the Railway Inspectorate which, acting on behalf of the executive, inspected new rolling stock, track and signalling.

Mr Morgan said the executive had tried introducing new arrangements requiring the heritage societies to employ an inspector themselves.

"This work was done free by the inspectorate and now you are looking at £200 an hour for something that can take several days," he said. "All this has to be underwritten and we have yet to find an insurer who is willing to do so."

Mr Morgan said the executive had ignored parts of the directive that would allow it to opt out of the requirements.

At the West Somerset Railway, for example, new and expensive inspections will be required when the society installs a new turntable and upgrades the track.

Societies across the country will also face costly inspections when they take on rolling stock recently discarded by train operators. "Today's junk is tomorrow's antiques," Mr Morgan said. "Railway heritage societies preserve our industrial archeology."

For the time being, many societies, such as the Ffestiniog Railway, north Wales, will rely on the goodwill of volunteers who have just retired from the railway industry and inspectorate.

"We could face real problems," said Paul Lewin, its general manager. "With the railway inspectorate stopping doing the work, there is a danger that the number of people with the relevant experience will dry up."

Ian Crowder, for the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway, was equally concerned. "Heritage railways are run by volunteers and any money we make is ploughed back," he said. "It would be difficult to have extra costs imposed on us."

A spokesman for the executive said the new system was in line with an EU directive. It provided greater flexibility and freed the inspectorate to provide the industry with more effective advice.

SOURCE TELEGRAPH.CO.UK