by Some of Britain’s last steam trains are at risk of leaving the tracks after a row over the door locks on 60-year-old cars.
West Coast Railways, the largest operator of classic steam and diesel trains on the national network, said its business was in the balance after the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) scrapped an exemption that allowed it to use traditional hinges. door carriages.
The safety watchdog banned the popular Jacobite train service – known as the “Hogwarts Express” because of its appearance in the Harry Potter franchise – in January because the doors do not have central locking on his 60-year-old carriages. The ORR was concerned that passengers could open the doors themselves while the train was moving, posing a risk of injury.
The ban threatens not only the Hogwarts Express, which has run every summer for 30 years along the West Highland line, but also many other historic West Coast Railways trains.
The company operates 60pc of all mainline heritage rolling stock in the UK, comprising 125 coaches. It is estimated that it would cost £7m to fit new locks across the fleet, a bill that commercial manager James Shuttleworth said was unreasonable and unjustified and beyond his means.
A cross-party group of MPs supporting West Coast has written to Rail Minister Huw Merriman urging him to contact the ORR on the matter and warning that regulators who operate without checking “the quickly conclude a business they control”.
Mr Shuttleworth said: “Nobody is saying they want to compromise on safety, but we have to keep the historic ambience of the old carriages. Otherwise no one will want to travel in the first place.”
Mr Shuttleworth added that the Hogwarts Express was “a key part of the Highland economy”.
The Jacobite train runs 300 services a year on the 41 mile route between Fort William and Malague, carrying a total of 110,000 passengers.
Most have something to do with the Harry Potter films: a lunchtime Scotrail service stranded 70 people in Mallaig last week, according to Mr Shuttleworth, but the two daily West Coast journeys usually bring in 700.
A petition to save the Jacobite has been started by a businesswoman who runs Harry Potter merchandise outlet Haggard Alley in Mallaig after attracting more than 3,000 signatures in a week.
The loss of the Hogwarts Express would cost an estimated £25m a year in lost tourism revenue, putting not only rail passengers but thousands of other visitors who travel to Glenfinan to see the steam engine and its fleet of vintage coaches at crossing the famous. viaduct. Scotrail’s three-coach diesel unit is unlikely to have the same appeal.
West Coast lost a High Court appeal against the ORR ruling last December and the regulator is now considering a review application from the rail company to resume operations.
The company has also requested a temporary license to allow Jacobite operations during the summer, but the regulator is not expected to respond for at least several months as half the season has already been lost.
Meanwhile, West Coast has been forced to fully refund passengers who bought tickets for the Hogwarts Express. Around 77,000 tickets costing between £55 and £98 each have already been sold for a season which should have started last month, meaning more than £4m will have to be returned to customers.
West Coast said it has been specified by the ORR as other mainline operators are exempt from using the same carriages affected by the ban.
In their letter to Mr Merriman, MPs claimed there was no safety reason to justify refusing to grant the temporary exemption.
The West Coast itself has operated with an exemption for the past two decades, and similar rolling stock is in daily use on dozens of private heritage railways across Britain, where running speeds limited to 25mph mean the rule does not apply central locking. The Jacobite operates at up to 40 mph on parts of the West Highland route.
As well as the Hogwarts Express, West Coast provides locomotives and coaches for the Cumbrian Mountain Express and Dalesman services over the Settle and Carlisle line. It also serves Great Britain, which takes nine days to tour the country and costs almost £4,000 for a prime location.
Ruling in court in December, the judge upheld evidence presented by the ORR that the cost of installing the door locks could actually be as low as £700,000 and could be covered by a £10 increase in ticket prices of the Jacobite service.
An ORR spokesman said: “The law states that companies cannot operate rolling stock with hinged doors for use by fare-paying passengers on the main line, without locking them centrally in a closed position.
“Other legacy charter operators, who use the mainline rail, have made the necessary investment to install central door locking on ‘hinged door’ rolling stock (or have committed to do so over a transitional period) and WCRC is permitted always do it. same.”
A Department for Transport spokesman said: “The ORR is the independent rail safety regulator, so it would be inappropriate for the Department or ministers to intervene in their decision to deny West Coast Railways an additional exemption, which the High Court upheld it. .”
