West Coast Railways has announced more details of the Jacobite service suspension, which came into effect earlier this week.
The operator says that the Jacobite will not be able to run before the 26th July 2023.
An inspection by the Office of Rail and Road brought up ‘a couple of issues of concern' in relation to the management of the hinged door rolling stock that is used on the Jacobite service.
This means that passenger services have been suspended whilst WCRC reviews the concerns and fixes them to a satisfactory manner.
Passengers planned to be travelling on the train have been contacted already.
A WCRC spokesperson said “Due to operational reasons, we are unable to run our Jacobite service before 26th July 2023 as planned.”
“During a visit by Inspectors from the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), a couple of issues of concern were identified in relation to the management of the hinged door rolling stock on the Jacobite Steam Train. The train operates on the main line under an exemption, granted by the ORR, that allows the continued use of heritage rolling stock.”
As of now, passenger journeys on the Jacobite, have been suspended while West Coast Railways review the concerns raised by the ORR to reach a satisfactory and swift solution to the issues raised and are looking to bring the Jacobite Steam Train back into service as soon as possible. Unfortunately, we are unable to offer any alternative dates to transfer your trip to, therefore our reservations team will process a full refund within the next 5 working days. “
Unless we require every citizen, upon reaching adulthood, to sign an undertaking to use their common sense at all times, the average citizen will be perfectly entitled to blame others for every mishap that befalls them. One prerequisite might be an acknowledgement that we can read and write; but, how many of us can be sure of some of the icons that are appearing, and being perpetually modified, with the intention of forming a parallel system of written communication? Until then, we will need a ‘danger’ sticker on the skin of every banana. In our society, the dream of untold riches is held out towards those who can sue somebody. We have only ourselves to blame for becoming a ‘get rich quick’ society.
WCR now stating no Jacobite trains before 9th August.
Came for a holiday from Dubai to go on the Jacobite. We’ve been planning it for 2 years. All cancelled. Offered a 13 hour coach trip instead. Rubbish. So upset.
As the skipper of a vintage passenger boat, I share some of the frustrations below. I too have to follow sometimes unbelievable rules, like the bucket of sand we carry to throw into the engine room should it have a fire, even though standing instructions are that the engine room doors must not be opened in the event of a fire.
One of the skippers has just been forced to take a medical, even though he has complied with every regulation that shows he does not have one. We have now followed all the new ‘rules’ the regulator threw at us, and so for another year, we can operate.
We do not know the nature of the door issues, there is a lot of speculation here. However, it is always best practice to resolve the highlighted issues and leave the arguing until after the services have been resumed.
Unbelievable, health and safety gone mad, as usual. When will the law makers realise that you cannot apply modern day rules to an historic attraction. Stop interfering and allow people to enjoy themselves. Our parents generation didn’t fall out of the doors.
Having had my train trip ruined and it being the main event of our weeks holiday, I say this. God forbid we don’t have another war. What a controlled life we live now. Its a total disgrace. Surely a bit of common sense could work. Disgusted.
Whilst it is perfectly acceptable to sit in or stand in the corridor of a metal box travelling at up to 140 mph with no seat belt or other protection. Just pick on easy targets
As long as the general belief is that it is better to ruin everybody’s day than risk one person being injured, such rulings are inevitable. It is not ORR’s fault; they are responding to the extreme risk-averse nature of officialdom, and indeed of society in general. That and the fact that if someone is injured, the cry will not be “their fault for being careless”, but “someone must pay, who can we sue”.
As a society we reap what we sow.
Officially M1 rolling stock from WCRC is not supposed to be in use, because the exemption expired on June 26. All the other Heritage Companies fitted central locking on every carriage door.
So is so Special about WCRC that they can’t or won’t fit central locking?
Why doesn’t ORR stick to their word and stop WCRC working.
This is a sorry state of affairs, but I can see where the ORR is coming from, the West Highland line is not a heritage railway, it just so happens that there is a daily steam heritage service operating on that line, but it must operate in line with the ORR, and simply can’t run to the same standards as a isolated private heritage railway.
There are only three stations on the line that a steam heritage service will call at so having appropriate staff at these locations should be easy to put in place, interlocking of the heritage coaching stock is not that hard to put in place, and in long term may come as a standard requirement for all heritage stock on both the national railway network and private heritage railways.
This maybe considered by some to be a nanny state interference, but at the end of the day they are only trying to keep us safe, think about the car you drive, the nanny state mandated that we all wear seatbelts don’t we?
Reading between the lines, I’d put money on its not the doors themselves but the secondary manual locks and the amount of staff/stewards onboard to operate them i,e 1 staff/Steward per pair of doors to ensure they are locked on non platform sides, and both sides prior to departing a station. Then comes the issue of window hangers who will insist on leaning out of the door windows. Now don’t get me wrong, I like to look out the door windows as much as the next man, but some charter operators have a no standing in the vestibule ends policy which links into the secondary door locks (if your not there,you can’t unlock it) let’s hope WC can resolve the issues quickly to ORR satisfaction
The ORR pick and choose who they want to lean on.. ask them about Networkrail policy’s during strike action disgraceful behaviour by them.
Just another example of the nanny state we have to suffer today! Whatever happened to common sense!
Let’s hope these issues don’t spread to the entire heritage railway business.
Will WCRC manage to keep this isolated, or will it spill over into their other operations? Time will tell. Definitely not looking good for 30th September, that’s for certain
Since hinged door stock was first introduced on british railways how many incidents have there been as a percentage of all the millions of passengers using this type of door. Total over reaction.
Well, quite a few. And the problem is that many people simply don’t know how to operate the doors any more. If they don’t know how to use them properly, they’re not going to be used safely.
It’s heritage stock, all part of the experience. What is ORR on about ! People just need to remember to think safe and not expect the world around to do that for them. How many expectant Children (and Adults) have had their holiday trip spoilt. Not to mention the loss of revenue for the train operator.
l along with my parents went on this train last year, l /we found it to be professionally run, the service was very good and the staff professional and friendly.
Sadly today as we in the uk are not evolving but going backwards in every aspect of daily life with government various departments and Quangos doing their best to hinder everyday life in every aspect of everybody’s life. It’s a form controlling us by using scare tactics.
West Highland Line today, all Heritage Railways in the future. Just you wait, it’s the thin end of the wedge.
If that were to happen it would bankrupt the Heritage sector altogether. Its a bout time people got back to being safe without all these rulings. You go to Europe for instance. No or very little railway fenced off, people can lean out of windows. You are responsible for your OWN safety. The UK has gone safety bonkers!!