stocK ‘conditions exceeded’ on Bittern 90

As anyone observing Tornado’s 90mph run in April (SR479) will know, the plan to run with Mk 1s had to be changed – with the passenger stock being Mk 2s. In contrast, the previous 90mph steam runs – with ‘A4’ Bittern in 2013 – did use Mk 1s. So why the difference? A1 Trust ops director Graeme Bunker worked on the process this time, together with train operator, DB Cargo. “We raised the issue with the ORR with sufficient time to follow a full exemption process, or to follow the route used in 2013,” Graeme said. “Due to staff changes and issues around exactly what was required, this took several months to resolve.” However, he said that while the preferred course of action was to follow the ‘Bittern route’ of a temporary exemption from the 75mph restriction, the regulator “advised us that we had to take the full exemption route that should have been followed in 2013. Unfortunately, this did not allow enough time for a full consultation with industry and the other required elements to be concluded.” So, why did the ORR decide against approving 90mph on a temporary basis – and is Graeme right that the regulator now considers that was the wrong answer in 2013 too? Inevitably, the response to that is a somewhat technical one. ORR spokesman Simon Belgard said that for the Bittern trips a Rail Safety and Standards Board standards committee “agreed to the proposals to run steam plus Mk 1 rolling stock at 90mph on a one-off basis. Unfortunately, everybody, it appeared, forgot the exemption limited Mk 1 behind steam to 75mph, so the conditions of the exemption were exceeded at that time.” What should have happened, he says, was that an exemption application be made “in addition to the application to the standards committee.” RSSB’s Matt Clements agreed with that line. “ORR would have had a seat at the standards committee,” he said, “but the exemption from the regulations would have been a matter for the operator and ORR to handle between them – not the standards committee.” For its part, as what is deemed the ‘infrastructure controller’, Network Rail told me it “has been fully aware of the certification surrounding the exemption of Regulation 4 of Railway Safety Regulations 1999 with regard to the planned 90mph Tornado operations this year. The ORR certificate states that Mk 1 coaches have a maximum of 75mph when hauled by steam locomotives. We duly reminded the operator of this restriction in November 2017, when the initial request was made for Tornado to run at 90mph on a number of runs in 2018 and that this would need to be addressed.” By the time we went to press though, NR hadn’t offered any specific thoughts on 2013. Neither had DB, which we approached as the operator.