WSR ISSUES STARK MONEY WARNING TO SHAREHOLDERS
Railway chairman describes how series of measures will put the line on the road to recovery.
IF WE GET IT RIGHT TODAY, THEN WE WILL HAVE A RAILWAY GOING FORWARD. BUT IF WE GET IT WRONG, THEN WE’LL HAVE A CYCLE TRACK – IT’S THAT SIMPLE MARK SMITH
West Somerset Railway plc vice chairman and interim general manager Mark Smith has warned the line’s shareholders: “If we get it right today, then we will have a railway. But if we get it wrong, then we’ll have a cycle track – it’s that simple.”
His comments were made at an extraordinary general meeting of the plc on August 10, where a motion was overwhelmingly carried to defer publication of the plc’s accounts. That might not be until early December, because “the 15-month accounts were so poor that publication now could well kill the railway off as a going concern,” said Mr Smith, who took over as interim general manager after the previous incumbent, Paul Conibeare, was suspended on July 16 (see below).
Plc chairman Jonathan JonesPratt told shareholders at the meeting that the deferral was “the start of the recovery process”, in which a raft of measures was being deployed to return the beleaguered line to an even keel, including revising the timetable for 2020 to “avoid running empty trains.”
He said: “After analysing and identifying the peaks and troughs of WSR train services this year, the train timetables will be different in 2020 so that we avoid being busy fools running empty trains.
“A budget is being created to
generate a surplus to invest back into the railway, and the end result will be a better railway which allows for both steam and diesels to operate, but the WSR will always be a core steam railway operation.”
A WSR spokesman could not confirm what form these revisions would take, however, as plans were still being drawn up as Steam Railway went to press.
The EGM took place weeks after the line’s general manager, Paul Conibeare, left the railway following his suspension on July 16.
A WSR spokesman said: “Under employment law, suspension is deemed a neutral act to protect both employee and employer and, as a confidential staffing matter, it would be inappropriate for us to comment further at this time.
“The duties of general manager for the WSR plc will be carried out in the interim by WSR plc deputy chairman Mark Smith, the WSR plc’s last managing director from 1988 to 2006.”
Mr Conibeare, who joined the WSR in 1983, left the railway on July 31, having “decided that the time was right to move on to new challenges and we wish him well,” added Mr Jones-Pratt.