WCRC Licence Suspended

If you are a trustee and therefore "in the know" you should know that it wasn't about the paint!

 

Nice get out clause............."should" not will and "where possible".

Not very encouraging.

 

True, but I think that's just risk averse, cautionary PR speak. Nobody likes to say anything with certainty these days, just in case.

 

Only slightly sensationalised. We are probably talking minutes. The beano says the FGW passed at 17.24 and the WCR stopped foul at 17.26. It was too dam close for comfort[/QUOTE]

 

It seems clear to me, from the Network Rail letter to WCRC, that the main reasons for the suspension have little to do with engineering or the technical difficulties of implementing modern signalling systems on old locomotives. The main issues seem to be about inadequate management "control, communications and commitment" before and after the recent SPAD. The letter says:

"You are aware that Network Rail has had concerns about WCR’s performance of its Safety Obligations for
some time and recent events lead Network Rail to believe that the operations of WCR are a threat to
the safe operation of the railway. Specifically:

• WCR’s senior management response to the recent SPAD at SN45. This ranked as the most serious SPAD that has taken place this year when the industry risk ranking methodology was applied;
• The response by the senior management of WCR to the issues raised in the meeting of 30 March 2015, where WCR demonstrated that its controls, communication and commitment following the recent SPAD were inadequate"

This letter has been published by Network Rail at: <http://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/resources/wcr-suspension-notice>

 

Multi millionaire businessmen rarely achieve that status without being somewhat uncompromising in their approach to dealing with "the powers that be".

 

Its pretty clear NR is concerned about senior management attitude on safety.

True - Even at the expense of putting life at risk. Even Railtrack, being the "power that was" wasn't that good in that respect. The reason Railtrack is no more, its a lesson that WCRC would be wise to study. The pity is of course, even now in this safety litigious regulated world, no senior directors have yet been successfully prosecuted for serious health and safety breaches.

Until that happens there will always be directors and company owners who see safety controls as interference in the way they do business, whereas in reality they are a safety net for them.

 

And sometimes that approach can get them seriously unstuck, whether or not that is relevant to the present situation I do not know.

 

DBS locos on duty today for WCRC tour deputising for suspended WCRC locomotives, DBS Royal Locos 67026/67005 haul the Compass.WCRC tour from Cleethorpes to Llandudno today on time through Deighton at 09:18
67026 Diamond Jubilee
http://railway-photography.smugmug.com/Railtours-Year-by-Year/2011-/2015/WCRCCompass-Tour-Llandudno-441/i-j2sFxd3
http://railway-photography.smugmug.com/Railtours-Year-by-Year/2011-/2015/WCRCCompass-Tour-Llandudno-441/i-ddHfpZb
67005 Queens Messenger on the rear
http://railway-photography.smugmug.com/Railtours-Year-by-Year/2011-/2015/WCRCCompass-Tour-Llandudno-441/i-vFLwB6c
http://railway-photography.smugmug.com/Railtours-Year-by-Year/2011-/2015/WCRCCompass-Tour-Llandudno-441/i-CDv26Bj
Neil

 

Just picking up on the posts by Enterprise and Big Al. Depending on the existing set up at WCR I think the seventh requirement of the NR letter might take some time to satisfy. About ten years ago, my employer, not in the rail industry, had a couple of H and S 'events' and a letter from the HSE saying in effect ' your systems are not all they might be, what are you going to do about it' -- a warning shot across the bows. Among the things they wanted were professional H and S managers with responsibility at local level and a clear chain of command and accountability upwards from them to the Chief Executive. After a bit of huffing and puffing we did this. I'm not qualified to comment on the right solution but to deal with number seven,WCR will have to demonstrate they have a plan which they are implementing and a commitment to it right throughout the organisation.

 

Made the Telegraph today see http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukn...ended-from-railways-over-safety-concerns.html

Rob

 

Its in a lot of the papers today - not very good reading neither, to be fair looking at the reports Network Rail were left with no alternative, a bit too near for comfort, and who knows what the future is now for West Coast.

 

NR has been shrewd to take the initiative in making public its concerns, anticipating the potential for media backlash of elf n safety beating up the poor little guy that gives us Hogwarts Express.
In making plain the seriousness of the near miss NR has mitigated the PR problem for them. Not so WCRC though.

 

Indeed, which is the main point of consideration. That said, two minutes can seem quite a long time if you sit and watch a second hand go round a clockface twice.

 

Its true that managing quality, health & safety etc is the tedious unglamorous aspect of any business where the cost of doing so does not always reflect positively on the balance sheet.
However, as a wise old inspector said many times "if you think managing safety is expensive, try having an accident. Then you'll find out what costly is".

 

There is a huge amount of hearsay out there about the disagreements between A1SLT and WCRC the majority of which surfaced AFTER the meeting when the paint issue edict was issued.
I am not prepared to comment on hearsay.

 

I don't think we want to be airing any of this on here. Suffice to say that these recent events make the whole episode somewhat less surprising now in retrospect!

My MIL has landed today with her copy of the Daily Snail lashed to her broom stick - WCR made the bottom of pg15, so they got off lightly.

 

Everyone is referencing this incident to new tecknology. What about the number one eyeball. Modern electronic safety systems are there to step in when a driver makes a mistake. Forget the electronics the previous signal will have been at caution so the driver should have reduced speed ready to stop. Its basic train control. He should have put the brakes in on the basis of signal aspects alone and didn't.

 

Dunno why all the papers are wibbling on about the Hogwarts Express, all the punters will be expecting to be able to book trips on it when the ban is lifted.!