ORR PROHIBITION NOTICE ON WCRC LIFTED
Published at 13:16 on Wednesday 23rd March 2016
Tags: ORR,WCRC
Richard Tuplin
The ORR has confirmed that it has lifted the Prohibition Notice that was served on West Coast Railway Company from 17th February.
ORR launched a review of WCRC’s safety certification in December 2015, which followed a number of incidents, the first of these involved a steam locomotive operated by WCRC passing a signal at danger at Wootton Bassett junction, Wiltshire. The train came to a stop across the busy junction on the Great Western main line, avoiding collision with an express train by less than a minute.
Under the terms of the Prohibition, the company was unable to operate trains on the main line network until ORR was satisfied its governance and operations meet industry practice and are fit for the scale of its operation.
ORR has now received evidence of assurances that steps have been taken to remedy the issues we identified. These included the introduction of clearer governance structures with proper accountability for safety, more robust risk assessments, and enhanced processes for managing staff, with a focus on safety culture.
ORR Director of Railway Safety and HM Chief Inspector of Railways, Ian Prosser said: "I am satisfied that WCRC has now taken all the necessary steps to address the issues of concern on safety, such that I am now able to lift the Prohibition. We shall continue to closely monitor WCRC over the coming period to ensure that their approach is embedded into the culture of the company and that they fully comply with all the commitments they have made."
In a letter from WCRC to the ORR, Company Chairman, David Smith, committed to undertake a number of improvements including a strategic review to reduce the business complexity, satisfy itself that lessons had been learnt, and focusing on the "future safe operation of [its] trains including a regular programme of a board subcommittee with an independent Chairman drawn from the UK rail industry".
Mr Smith also commented that all steam charters will have a suitably qualified traction inspector on the footplate, except for regular operations where a suitable and sufficient risk assessment can demonstrate that an inspector is not necessary, and added that the company has successfully trialled the fitting of CCTV to steam locomotive cabs, which the company will work with locomotive owners and staff to ensure "the fitting becomes the norm over time"
From a staffing point of view, the company have assessed all footplate crew and committed to using 29 steam drivers, 24 of whom are WCRC employees.
The lifting of the notice will come as a relief to the charter train industry, however, Railway Herald is advised that the Chief Inspector of Railways, Ian Prossor, is to meet with WCRC on 24th March at which point the company will be served with an improvement notice, which will allow operations to resume while committing the company to continue to review its operations. The ORR has said however that the first journey's undertaken by WCRC will be tightly monitored and supervised.
