by You are probably familiar with Jacobean Steam Train, even if you didn’t know it. The train has appeared in the Harry Potter films as the Hogwarts Express, speeding along the Glenfinan Viaduct in the Scottish Highlands.
In recent years it has become one of Scotland’s top tourist attractions, and this week Virgin Media polled O2 as the UK’s best film location (out of 2,000 adults polled, it came out on top ). But its future is now under threat due to concerns over its door locking mechanisms.
Watch archive footage of a slam-door commuter train rolling into London Waterloo station and long before the train comes to a stop, half its passengers will be strolling along the platform, apparently desperate not to waste a second working. They could be in danger of jumping off the moving train because the passengers themselves opened the carriage doors there.
It was the then-ubiquitous Mark 1 bearing, introduced in 1951. Since then, however, various reports of accidents involving them have concluded that the design was inherently unsafe.
In the 1990s British Rail began to introduce a system of centrally controlled door locking to prevent potentially dangerous transport. Following privatisation, the government ordered a review by the Health and Safety Executive into the continued use of such vehicles in frontline service and pressured the rolling stock leasing companies to replace them.
As a result regulations were introduced in 1999 to eliminate the problem completely, by ordering their replacement by 2003, unless certain modifications were made to extend their permitted use. The regulation applied to railways with speeds in excess of 40km/h, which excluded heritage railways, but specifically affected the small number of charter and tour operators who favored the use of Mark 1 stock and which were never the primary goal of the regulations.
Among the conditions of their continued use for rail journeys was that stewards would be responsible for secondary door locks, which would be fitted to the four doors of each coach. Exemptions were first issued by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) in 2003 for a period of 10 years, provided that evidence of the structural soundness of the coach was approved and that a satisfactory steward was provided. These exemptions were renewed in 2013 for a further period of 10 years. It was implied in these renewals that, unless there was a significant change in circumstances, similar exemptions would be expected in the future.
In 2021 ORR updated the guidance, requiring any stock operating on the main line to have central door locks after 31 March 2023. Further exemptions would only be issued in exceptional circumstances. Saphos Trains has fitted central locks on its 12-coach air-braked series, and Vintage Trains has agreed a timetable with ORR to adapt them to the same number of vehicles. However, West Coast Railways (WCR) has taken ORR to court, seeking a judicial review of the process underpinning the diktat. Until the judgment is given (unlikely before February 2024), a three-month immunity was granted.
Britain’s largest charter operator, West Coast Railways (WCR), runs around 600 charter trains a year with 120 carriages and estimates that centralizing its fleet would cost around £7 million, which which makes the business unviable. The high cost of fitting central door locks is due to the fact that steam age carriages have a vacuum brake and require an air supply for the central locks – modern trains have an air brake.
As commercial director James Shuttleworth said, “[though] we are pleased that the ORR has issued us with another exemption… this is still a precarious situation to be in…”.
He is concerned about the many small businesses that rely on the West Coast Jacobean Steam Train to attract people to Fort and Mallaig, in the West of Scotland. During the 2023 season, the train carried 110,000 passengers, greatly helped by the publicity given to the scenic line through its use in the Harry Potter films. It is estimated that the total contribution of the Jacobites to the British tourism industry, as a whole, is more than £25 million.
As Bill Reeve, director of Rail at Transport Scotland, said, “We are a strong supporter of the operation of chartered trains in Scotland. Trains such as the Jacobite make a significant contribution to the economy of the routes they serve. People visit Scotland specifically to travel on trains like this which bring good business to hotels and catering establishments.
“Equally, safe operation is an absolute requirement for any Scottish Rail operator, ensuring that the rail industry’s independent safety regulator, ORR, is held to account.”
WCR argues that ORR has not carried out any risk assessment to establish a proportionate and realistic position. There have been no accidents or casualties under the exemptions granted since 2003, and in 2014 the ORR itself proposed repealing the regulations because the danger associated with hinged doors on commuter trains in the south-east had ended when the trains arrived new. No parliamentary time was found to repeal it, but it was implicit in the proposal to assume that the objectives of the 1999 regulation had been met and that there was no need to apply them to the few charter operations.
The majestic sight of speeding steam locomotives on the main line could be at risk if the judicial review goes against WCR’s case. For the country that holds the world speed record for steam engines, with a 126mph Mallard down Stoke Bank between Grantham and Peterborough in 1938, it would be a sad day if future generations could only see steam engines churning at 25 mph.
