BRITAIN’S BIGGEST operator of main line steam has had a vital exemption, that previously allowed it to operate BR Mk 1 carriages without central door locking, revoked by the Office of Rail and Road.
The revocation, which came on January 10, followed a lengthy to-and-fro with industry regulator the ORR and a High Court judicial review. The news means that all of the West Coast carriage fleet that operated with ‘secondary’ door locks – controlled by on-board stewards – can no longer operate on Network Rail infrastructure. The carriages were an essential part of West Coast operations, particularly on ‘The Jacobite’, running from Fort William to Mallaig.
A number of exemptions had been issued, most recently to allow the judicial review process to take place. The last exemption was valid from December 1 2023 until February 29, but gave the ORR the ability to revoke it if West Coast failed to win the judicial review claim. The judgement came on December 22, the court ruling that the claim failed on all five counts.
ORR told Steam Railway: “Rolling stock without central door locking fitted or a valid Regulation 5 Railway Safety Regulation 1999 exemption is not permitted to run on the main line. Other charter heritage operators, which use the main line railway, have made the necessary investment to install central door locking on ‘hinged door’ rolling stock (or have committed to do so over a transition period) a
