Burning issue: coal crisis ‘high on agenda’ says hra

Heritage Railway Association intends to protect railways’ supply and right to burn coal.

Coal and its future availability were the main topics on the agenda at the Heritage Railway Association’s autumn management conference on November 8.

In light of the recent proposal by DEFRA to restrict the burning of household solid fuels (see SR487) and the continuing decline of the domestic coal industry, the HRA sought to inform its members about the seriousness of the threat posed to railways’ coal supplies and what steps it was taking to ensure that supply.

According to HRA Chief Executive Steve Oates, a number of railways – including the North Yorkshire Moors and Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland railways – have expressed concerns about the future price and availability of coal, and what consequences DEFRA’s proposed legislation will have on their business, should it be ratified and enforced.

Mr Oates told Steam Railway: “This is a serious issue high on our agenda. We all love railways, but if we want to keep them running we all need to be aware of the threat to our coal supplies. We are trying to bring everyone up to speed on what the situation is and what we at the HRA are doing to protect them.”

Howard Johnson, former managing director of coal merchants Johnson Wholesale Fuels Ltd, was one of the speakers at the conference. In his address to the delegates, Mr Johnson informed them of the present coal situation, what threats both the coal-mining and preserved railway industries

will face in coming years, and what steps can be taken to secure future supplies of coal, including importing coal from Russia.

Ralph Ingham, Locomotive Department Secretary at the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway and who attended the conference, said: “The impression I got, and would wholeheartedly support, was that the strategy should be to fight for planning extensions on the [open-cast mine] workings being contested, which would give us a few more years of supplies while the movement, through HRA, and working with other heritage and commercial users, unite to create a channel for the importation and distribution of good quality coal.

“If done successfully, and if we take care to minimise the areas for potential conflict with environmental interests, then it was

Howard’s belief that coal supplies could continue until the 2030s.”

The meeting took place a day after a delegation from the Heritage Fuel Alliance – of which the HRA is a part, in addition to the National Traction Engine Trust and other heritage coal-burning organisations – met with Bridget Alison, DEFRA’s senior policy advisor. Mr Oates says: “It is my understanding that DEFRA intends to allow heritage coal burning to continue, and recognises the social and economic benefits such activities bring.”

It is also understood that the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Heritage Rail, whose report in 2013 established that Britain’s preserved railway industry contributed £250 million to the economy, is conducting a survey on coal and its significance to

railways, with a report expected to be published in July 2019.