West Coast Railways’ refusal to comply with health and safety requirements angers residents

Since 2003, steam trains have been given two ten-year exemptions to use alternative locking systems on the carriage doors. But the Office of Road and Rail (ORR) revoked the exemption last year. WCR challenged the decision in court but it lost the legal fight.

The ORR has a policy for all heritage Mark 1 and Mark 2 carriages to have central door locking (CDL) fitted so they can continue to run their carriages on the mainline rail network in the UK. The Mark 1’s are used on the Jacobite trip.

The basis of this policy is to ensure the safety of rail passengers when travelling in these heritage carriages. At least one other operator has also become fed up with WCR’s stance.

Mr Hosking has been publicly quoted as saying it is unfair WCR has had all these exemptions when companies like his have complied.

This week, Locomotive Services Limited ran some charter trains on the line and it is hoped others will come forward to fill the breach left by the Jacobite.

A Network Rail spokesperson said: "Any operator can bid for what we call train paths on a line so long as they can be accommodated without disruption to services already in the planned timetable.

"So you could have more than just one charter operator running in an area over a period of time.

"Deciding when and where to run trains is a commercial matter for the operators, so we’d not comment on that. Our role is simply to check all the operator’s timetables fit together and don’t disrupt each other."

A WCR spokesperson said: "West Coast Railways has unrivalled long-term experience of operating heritage rolling stock. We have transformed The Jacobite service/route into an international tourist attraction. This has built up local economies and we’re extremely proud of it. We love operating in the Highlands, among exceptional small businesses.

"WCR has always shared the ORR’s commitment to safe railways. But our current dispute has highlighted instances of unfairness that we feel must be challenged. They have said that our hinged door rolling stock is unsafe to run on the main line, however, identical carriages without CDL are being run by other operators on the main line at this very moment.

"Our ask of the ORR is to grant us a temporary exemption to operate on the main line, while they consider our long-term application which could take up to four months. This would allow us to prevent disruption to our customers and allow us to continue being the lifeblood for local businesses in the Highlands.

"WCR owns about 63 per cent of the total heritage rolling stock in the UK and no other company operates as many charter trains as we do. With our substantial fleet of coaches, it would cost £7 million to install CDL, which would wipe out our profits for close to a decade.

"WCR shares the frustration of businesses that rely on The Jacobite and are disappointed that we have had to suspend services at short notice. Without a temporary exemption to operate on the main line, WCR had no other option but to suspend The Jacobite services until further notice.

"We understand that businesses were disrupted and are sympathetic to them. We were unable to give earlier notice as WCR had submitted its application for exemption and was awaiting a response from the ORR as to whether it would be granted a temporary exemption, while the longer-term application was considered.

"This is common industry practice and a wholly reasonable expectation as other operators continue to run Secondary Door Locking carriages (what WCR’s current Mark 1 + Mark 2 carriages are fitted with) on the main line under an exemption. We are disappointed the ORR has yet to issue us with a temporary exemption."