‘Staycation Express’

Rail Charter Services is planning this summer‘s ‘Staycation Express‘ trains - and is considering running beyond the Settle-Carlisle Line.

Expanding the service to other parts of the UK is one of two trains of thought being considered for this summer’s ‘Staycation Express’, according to Rail Charter Services Director Adrian Quine.

The first consideration is to focus on the Settle-Carlisle route, over which the ‘Staycation Express’ ran as far north as Appleby last year, and which will be served by a High Speed Train along the entire line this year.

Ticketing arrangements have been agreed with Northern to make it easier for passengers to reach Skipton, the southern terminus for the ‘Staycation Express’. This helps with RCS’s aim of serving the day tripper and tourist market for the trains.

However, Quine told RAIL:

“We still don’t know about social distancing and that changes the economics. If you sell with social distancing, then you only sell seats by the window.”

He said that if social distancing rules are relaxed, then RCS would look to sell all seats available on the HST.

And should this summer’s trains prove successful, Quine is also considering running trains during the school holidays along the S&C.

As for the second option of expanding the service to other parts of the UK, Quine told RAIL: “The Settle & Carlisle lends itself to this sort of operation. Skipton and Settle are within an hour of Manchester or Leeds.”

He said that while Cornwall was scenic, it already had HSTs and a good service, whereas the S&C suffers from capacity problems on franchised services during the summer.

Another possibility is Scotland, although Quine suggested that the West Highland Line would be too slow, that a Glasgow

Oban train would only be able to run once a day (meaning the economics would be difficult), and that he didn’t want to replicate what West Coast Railways was doing with its ‘Jacobite’ service.

See Fleet News, pages 26-27.