Hogwarts Express operator spells trouble for rail regulator in court duel over heritage train safety
The operator of Harry Potter’s Hogwarts Express steam train is taking the UK’s rail regulator to court, in a case it claims will be pivotal in keeping iconic carriages on the country’s main line.
West Coast Railways began its judicial review in London’s Royal Court of Justice on Tuesday, against industry watchdog the Office for Rail and Road.
The operator argues a decision to enforce the modernisation of current heritage train locking systems, due to concerns over safety, will wipe out profits for years to come.
The case could put a number of WCR’s iconic heritage trains at risk of being booted off the UK main line. These include Harry Potter’s classic Jacobite steam locomotive, as well as the 100-year-old ‘Flying Scotsman’, the first locomotive to circumnavigate the globe and reach 100mph speeds.
The issues
The dispute centres around long-running safety concerns over the locking systems across UK heritage trains, some of which use old-fashioned bolt systems above each door.
Many in the sector are concerned passengers can poke heads and limbs out of windows, or unknowingly open carriage entrance points.
New regulations introduced earlier this year force West Coast Railway to install so-called central locking systems to run on the UK main line. The company had previously operated under an exemption to central locking rules introduced in 2005, but this ended in June.
WCR argues that installation of the new technology will cost it £7m, a massive hit to profits over the next decade and making the sector “unviable”.
Traditional locks protect the heritage nature of the carriages, while trained stewards address safety risks by monitoring carriage doors throughout the journey, the group says.
James Shuttleworth, commercial manager at WCR, insists one steward to four doors, alongside a “train manager and a guard is enough to ensure the safety of our passengers and colleagues”.
However, the ORR believes the central locking systems are especially important in preventing passengers from opening doors when the platform is too short.
How safe are the old doors?
No major accidents have occurred as yet but inspections have flagged issues in the WCR’s traditionally locked carriages.
The Hogwarts Express service was temporarily suspended over the summer after a surprise safety examination raised concerns around secondary door locks and found passengers risked falling from carriages or being hit when leaning out of windows.
The ORR found passengers were “at risk of serious personal injury,” while train stewards were reportedly not preventing passengers from operating the door locks, or hanging out of open windows while the train was moving.
There is also a fear that the rarity of the old heritage locking system poses risks for naive rail passengers, who might assume all train doors can’t be opened while moving.
“It’s a much rarer situation,” Railway journalist and commentator Tony Miles told Morning Wire “Passengers are not familiar with how to treat a door that doesn’t stop itself from opening until the train has come to a stop.”
“People going on a train as a one off that maybe don’t even use trains, maybe even less familiar, they might assume that you can’t just open a door while a train is going along”
Tony Miles, Railway Journalist
On West Coast’s court case, Miles noted other operators had toed the line. “Operators they are competing against in the sector have decided this is an expenditure they will have to make to carry on operating.”
An ORR spokesperson agreed that the majority of operators had either installed central locks or had a “plan in place to do so.”
“As the rail regulator our role is to ensure that Britain’s railways are run safely. There has been a regulation in place since 2005 which prohibits the operation on the main line of carriages with hinged doors for use by passengers.”
The WCR owns 63 per cent of the total heritage rolling stock in the UK and trains across Scotland and the north of England. A decision is expected over the coming weeks or months.