Severn Valley Railway reveals voluntary redundancy plan

Plans for voluntary redundancies have been announced by a heritage railway, which says the cost of coal, diesel and utilities has "rocketed".

Severn Valley Railway (SVR) said other savings measures included a recruitment freeze and steps to save energy usage.

It added it was facing "a significant drop" in passenger revenue.

The SVR, which runs between Bridgnorth in Shropshire and Kidderminster in Worcestershire, stated it was "working hard to avoid" compulsory redundancies.

It said tourist attractions across the UK continued to be impacted by up to 30% drops in visitor numbers following the Covid-19 outbreak and this had been made worse by the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.

Managing director Helen Smith said: "The current situation in Ukraine means the cost of utilities to heat and light our premises has rocketed, along with the cost of coal and diesel to power our locomotives."

The SVR announced volunteers had been asked to consolidate their working patterns, so premises only needed heating and lighting for "minimal" times, "as well as encouraging work to be put off where possible until the spring and summer".

The railway confirmed it had not ruled out compulsory redundancies.

Chairman of SVR (Holdings) Plc Mike Ball said: "When we planned our programme and budgets for 2022, it was on the basis that we would see a gradual return to 'normal' pre-pandemic levels of activity as the year progressed.

"This did not happen, and the economic outlook suggests that 2023 may well be worse than 2022.

"What we believed were temporary changes are going to be longer term ones, and we must adapt in order to survive now and thrive in the future."

Mr Ball added the SVR, which has run as a preserved railway since 1970, had a "glorious" history and it was "determined to do everything we can now to protect it for future generations to enjoy".

The attraction is currently in its annual maintenance shut-down period and is due to reopen on 4 March.

It is planning a mixture of hop-on-hop-off services along with special excursions and steam and heritage diesel-hauled services.

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