WEST SOMERSET ‘UNLIKELY TO RUN AGAIN’ UNTIL 2021
Coronavirus means services on Minehead branch may not resume until March next year.
Passenger trains are unlikely to return to the West Somerset Railway until March 2021, the line’s directors have warned.
In a briefing note issued on June 4, the WSR plc board said that, although three options for restarting operations have been considered, “it is very unlikely that the railway will be able to operate in 2020.”
Although the plc has declared a £311,217 profit for the financial year 2019/20, and the line’s appeals have raised £174,715.15 towards their £500,000 target, it has also warned that staff redundancies may be necessary (see separate story, pages 22/23).
The briefing note added: “We have assessed the costs of restarting the railway after such a protracted period of closure. This means that, in line with our worstcase planning, with staff wages for about a two-month period up to an end of March start up, we will need about £165k in the bank as the start of February 2021.” The £500,000 target of the appeal takes account of this figure, confirmed WSR chairman Jonathan Jones-Pratt.
Three operating scenarios were created against the possibility of the line being able to reopen for the school summer holiday period:
1. Operating the full length of the line with a reduced timetable (one steam and one diesel).
2. Operating between Minehead and Williton as this is the busiest section of the line.
3. Operating between Minehead and Blue Anchor with a simple push-pull steam/DMU operation.
The board stated: “Draft timetables were drawn up, along with a profitability analysis for each scenario. Interestingly, Scenario 1 remained the most profitable, but only if we felt that folks were willing to sit on the train for 1.5 hours despite the risks of being exposed to others on the train. The board had concerns that this might not be the case.
“It quickly became apparent that Scenario 3 would be the only likely scenario on Day 1 – mainly to comply with the guidance that our regulator, the ORR [the Office of Rail and Road] has produced that sets out a ‘keep it simple’ approach [SR506]. We also feel that keeping journeys to a shorter period might be more attractive to young families who may be more willing to make short trips.
“Also critical to the board is protecting railway volunteers from exposure to the virus during their activities on the railway. With a substantial group of older volunteers, some with pre-existing health conditions, this is an issue of great concern.
“Candidly, it’s fair to say that the board still feels it is very unlikely that the railway will be able to operate in 2020. But it has tried to be diligent in considering all the options available to us, especially if there was a dramatic medical breakthrough that would significantly reduce the risk of infection.”