Achi news desk-
The Jacobite train and Glenfinnan Viaduct, near Fort William, were made famous after they appeared in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in 2002.
But the service, which is run by West Coast Railways (WCR), has been suspended as they await a ruling on allowing the train to continue operating in its current state.
The service has operated for more than 30 years under an exemption which allows it to run with hinged door carriages on the main lines, which are not normally allowed.
WCR is now hoping to renew a ‘short-term exemption certificate’ from rail regulator the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) to enable it to continue operating with hinged door vehicles.
The company said passengers with bookings for the Jacobit will be offered a full refund but warned the suspension could cost £50m in lost value.
A notice on their website said: ‘The vintage carriages we use on the Jacobite Steam Train journey require a central door locking exemption certificate in order to run on the main rail network.
‘In recent years this has been granted automatically, but this year that has not been the case and a more detailed application had to be submitted.
West Coast Railways (WCR) the operators of the Jacobite applied to the railways governing body the ORR, (Office of Rail and Road) for a short term exemption certificate pending full consideration of the application.
‘The ORR has refused to publish this and will consider the full proposal but is not sure how long this will take.
‘Because of this, we cannot run our Jacobite service until the exemption certificate is granted.
Please accept our sincere apologies for this potential disruption to our service, however the time when we will be able to resume our service is completely beyond our control.
‘WCR will continue to work closely with the ORR to obtain the necessary clearance for the Jacobite service to resume.
‘Although we have postponed the journey of the Jacobites until we reach an agreement with the ORR, we are hopeful of reaching an agreement and being able to resume our service.’
The Jacobite tours that have been canceled are the 28 to 30 March 2024.
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