CORONAVIRUS CREATES A MULTI-MILLION POUND BLACK HOLE FOR RAILWAYS
Preserved lines launch emergency appeals to ensure survival through pandemic turmoil.
This will cause a cull of railways. I would be amazed if we reached the end of the year without any railway losses,” Paul Lewin, general manager of the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways, has said.
The 40-mile narrow gauge line is just one of many railways calculating the cost of the coronavirus pandemic, which looks set to result in multi-million-pound losses for Britain’s preservation movement, as dozens of lines across the country launch emergency appeals to secure much-needed income. Heritage Railway Association CEO Steve Oates said: “It is hard to estimate
what the ultimate loss to the movement will be owing to the rapidly changing nature of the situation, but we’re talking many millions of pounds.
“Even if this only goes on until May, losses will be colossal. If this shutdown lasts the whole season, we’re looking at hundreds of millions of pounds.”
One of the worst affected is the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, which alone faces a £1 million loss. NYMR general manager Chris Price told Steam Railway: “The ‘Moors’ is a perfectly healthy patient that has just been told it has been put on the transplant donor list. If we’re lucky, we’ll get the organ we need; if we don’t, we could be on life support.
“The railway is not at risk; it won’t close altogether, but it won’t survive without collateral damage.”
In a statement at the time of launching the line’s ‘Crisis Fund’, Mr Price added: “The NYMR is unable to claim insurance compensation for business interruption, and as the situation currently stands, monetary aid has not been offered to charities. The only government help available at present would be to put the railway into significant debt, which could take years to pay off.
“We could potentially lose up to £1 million over the upcoming weeks, and figures of this magnitude could threaten the very existence of the railway, which is why we’re asking, – no, pleading – for help from members of the public.”
Echoing Mr Price’s sentiments was Helen Smith, the newly appointed general manager of the Severn Valley Railway, who said: “Although the Government has announced various support measures for businesses, they offer insufficient help to the SVR at present. We, like many other businesses, are not insured for business interruption caused by the pandemic and the only help currently available to us is through government-backed loans (if indeed we qualify), which would put the railway into significant debt and would take many years to pay off.
“We therefore face a very significant loss of income, over an uncertain amount of time, which through no fault of our own could potentially put the whole SVR’s existence in jeopardy.”
Another railway facing a seven-figure loss is the F&WHR, which expects a £2 million shortfall in income this year because of the Covid-19 outbreak. General manager Paul Lewin told Steam Railway: “There is a risk that we don’t run any trains at all this year, in which case the shortfall could be nearer £3 million. If this carries on until the end of the year, we could be in a very serious situation.”
The F&WHR has also launched an emergency appeal to cover lost revenue and mitigate the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, which comes at a time when many railways’ finances are already limited, owing to the winter shutdown period.
Mike Kelly, chairman of the East Lancashire Railway, echoed the movement’s financial worry:
“As a registered charity this is devastating for us. We rely heavily on our generated income and this is highly likely to have severe financial consequences for us.”
Chris Price added: “There are railways out there that we know are in a difficult financial situation and could go under. It’s the bigger railways like ours that are in a worse position; the smaller lines which have smaller wage bills are probably in a better position to survive this.”