VINTAGE TRAINS: OBTAINING TOC LICENCES IS ‘JUST A CASE OF WORKING IT THROUGH’

Ben Mason didn’t use the word ‘tenterhooks’ – but it’s fair to say that Tyseley is keen to obtain the licences it’s applied for that will allow it to run its own trains.

Last issue, the Birmingham organisation hoped its new Vintage Trains Ltd might offer a ‘Shakespeare Express’ by the end of August. Closing date for the consultation process run by the Office of Rail and Road was July 27. However, on August 6 VTL Commercial Director Ben Mason told me the organisation couldn’t yet say when it would gain ‘signed and sealed’ passenger and non-passenger licences. “We just don’t know,” he said. Ben suggested that while the ORR hadn’t raised any big issues, “it’s just a case of working it through.” “Unfortunately… we’ve just got to wait until we’ve got the bit of paper.” Not that this means VTL is being idle, for, Ben said, there remains “a huge amount we can do – station access agreements and so on, back office stuff that we can – and are – doing.” He remains confident too that VTL could “be up and running non-passenger stuff in one or two weeks” after gaining an ‘OK’.

“The passenger stuff takes a little bit longer… but you can’t run it too quickly because you’ve got to sell tickets.” “Whenever we’re ready to go, we’re going to go for it. We have a programme of trains… though we’re not going to rush it.

“It’s now probably mid/late September for passenger trains.”