AnthonyRail
Established Member
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- 11 Jan 2015
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Few railways looking reopen August . Any news On Swanage?
Like Monty above I hear of issues with relatively low numbers of safety critical volunteers due to age / willingness to operate in the current circumstances. There was a volunteer survey issued somewhile ago asking volunteers to state their willingness to return to volunteering and their views on ppe etc.Not heard any news yet, still waiting to hear back from one of the guards inspectors. But the Swanage has had an issue with low numbers of footplate crew and guards, and of those we have many are what you would consider to be int he vulnerable category from covid so even if the lockdown has eased many of the volunteers aren't too keen on getting right back to it if that makes any sense.
That is good to hear.The railway's website is now saying that the railway plans to reopen mid July subject to government restrictions
Return Fares | ||
---|---|---|
Type | Advance Online | On the Day* |
Window seats 2 persons | £20.00 | £25.00 |
Table for up to 4 persons | £40.00 | £50.00 |
Compartment for up to 6 persons | £50.00 | £60.00 |
Under 5's" (Not occupying a seat) | FREE | FREE |
Noteworthy that discount schemes including discounted travel for Swanage Railway Trust members are not valid.
I can understand the need to maximise revenue given the very reduced capacity but on the other hand "biting the hand that feeds" is rarely a good idea.
Agreed. They need to explain the rationale behind this decision to the members and others entitled to discounted travel.I guess they hope people will understand, especially in light of the save our service appeal, but I agree on face value it doesn't look great. Maybe they'll find a way of doing something later on for members when capacity can be increased.
They are by no means the only line doing this - if you can only offer at most 1/4 normal capacity (one-train service as well as distancing) in peak season you want to maximise revenue.Agreed. They need to explain the rationale behind this decision to the members and others entitled to discounted travel.
I have to say, I'm a member of several heritage railways and I wouldn't dream of claiming my discount at present even if it were offered. I often don't even in normal times.Noteworthy that discount schemes including discounted travel for Swanage Railway Trust members are not valid.
I can understand the need to maximise revenue given the very reduced capacity but on the other hand "biting the hand that feeds" is rarely a good idea.
Reality Bites!
This announcement recently published by the Chairman.
Swanage can't be the first with this sort of announcement and I suspect not the last?
Very sad but underlines the need to support all our railways in whatever way possible.
Still £37,000 to be raised to meet the SOS target.
Staff Redundancies
The Swanage Railway Company has throughout the 2020 operating season been very mindful of the need to address the significant impact of Covid-19 on our business.
Turnover this year is projected to be around 33% of 2019 levels because of the pandemics effect on our services. Consequently how we operate and on what cost base requires detailed scrutiny across the whole business and plans developed and implemented to balance reduced income and our historic cost base, with the need to retain the capability to operate a safe train service.
The Board, having prepared a survival plan shared elements of this with both staff and volunteers. It has also taken a further long and hard look at its future operating plans, building on work it had started in autumn of 2019 i.e. before the pandemics consequences were known and which was indicating even at that time then that change would be necessary. In July 2020 the views of employees were sought on various options under consideration which included voluntary redundancy, taking of sabbaticals in winter months and potential changes to working hours and / or salary options.
Taking the response from staff into account and the data collected during recent summer trading with Covid-19 restrictions in place, The Board has decided that the future financial projections coupled with the need to change the focus of some of our activities meant that the small number of voluntary redundancies received from staff did not address the issues sufficiently. The Board has therefore taken the decision to secure, in compliance with statutory procedures, a further six compulsory redundancies. A total of eight employees will be leaving our employment over the coming weeks.
These roles being made redundant are spread across the Railway Company and Trust in the areas of Business Development, Sales and Marketing, Catering, Permanent Way, Operations, Locomotive Carriage & Wagon departments and Museums.
The Board do not anticipate any further redundancies being required at this time.
Line managers and Directors will share with staff details of these changes in the coming days.
Gavin Johns, Chairman
3rd November 2020
Very. I understand that there are about 40FTE (Full Time Equivalents) so this is about 20% of the paid workforce being made redundant.
I know many heritage rail enthusiasts would like railways to be fully volunteer staffed (and some achieve this or get very close) however Swanage has had to employ staff a) because of the relatively small population and thus volunteers within the area b) the high level of service it operates.
Given they have received over £220K from the DMCS, raised nearly £330K from their appeal and ran a very very successful Flying Scotsman Event in Spring 2019 it does make one wonder how dire their financial circumstances are that they have had to make these staff redundant.
It also makes one wonder how they will manage to operate a service to / from Wareham given the additional trained staff this will require. I wonder what the ORR view will be of granting Swanage Railway a licence to operate on the mainline in these circumstances? It would damage the railway considerably if they had to cancel services to / from Wareham due to staff shortages! They have struggled in previous years to fulfil their advertised timetable.
I do not think it was actually issued. I am not sure if they were very close ie some minor issues outstanding or SR asked for it not to be issued as, as I understand it, once the licence has been issued a service under the licence must be run inside 6 months or the licence is terminated. Either way services to / from Wareham haven't been operated by SR.
Operating licences can be reviewed at any time if the regulatory body believes there have been material changes in circumstances since a licence was issued.
Hadnt realised that the was the service level that originally wanted, but that is really what it needs to be now to make an impact on getting cars of the road. A 1030-1630 service obviously isn't much good for someone working a 9-5 job in Wareham or Poole.Yes operating a regular service to Wareham has been the stated aim since the 1970s but back then the idea was to replace the BR service ie operating something akin to 363 days a year with a 2 hourly service from approx 7am to 7pm.
That is no longer a realistic aim and one has to ask if the 2017 trial service 60 days 4 round trips 1030 to 1630 delivers anything above a day tripper service in the high season. Using 60 year old dmus with their high emission leyland diesels seems to be far from appropriate given the move to phase out ICE as a source of power.
Interesting update of the plans. Thanks.Members received a mailing this week with the AGM papers.
The enclosed news update says that passenger numbers during August and September had been "increasingly encouraging".
Re Wareham services, the newsletter says they still intend to obtain ORR authorisation to run a limited number of trains in 2021.
However the full 90-day trial service that had been planned and funded will be deferred to a later year post-COVID crisis.
The outcome of an application to the DfT's 'Restoring Your Railway' fund ("to introduce a heritage line and potentially a year-round passenger service between Swanage and Wareham") is also still pending.