The Severn Valley Railway (SVR) held its fifty-second Annual General Meeting on Saturday 22 June, with Chair Chris Walton explaining to shareholders that the Railway had faced ‘commercial turmoil’ in 2022-2023 and had made substantial cost savings.

The SVR is continuing its fundraising efforts and recently launched a new appeal.

Chris also spoke of the Railway’s “many successes” in 2023, including steam and diesel events which broke attendance records, winter mini-events for the first time, and the completion of phase one of the Bridgnorth Yard refurbishment project.

SVR resumed running dining experiences returned and cleared its post-Covid backlog of footplate experiences.

The Chair explained how the SVR has diversified its commercial relationships with main line rail companies, the highlight of which was reaching a “landmark” partnership and collaboration deal with Network Rail.

The day before its AGM, the Severn Valley Railway held an event for supporters, with more than 1,300 shareholders, members and Charitable Trust patrons and guardians attending.

They enjoyed rides on an intensive timetable of train journeys, and behind-the-scenes activities, as part of a complimentary day out on the line.

“This has been effectively a year in which we reset what we were doing on the railway, to stabilise it for the future and to provide the foundation on which we can rebuild. Managing costs has been a key strategy alongside that of diversifying our core business and also widening our commercial portfolio to ensure the railway is more resilient.

“The first five months of 2024 have shown how strong these foundations have been, but we must keep our focus, as this is going to be a long project to ensure the railway’s survival.

“Other railways are following our lead. This is a widespread problem, not unique to the SVR, nor indeed to the heritage rail sector. Economic circumstances have changed around all businesses but in particular for those dependent upon discretionary spend.”

SVR Chair, Chris Walton

“There was a tangible, positive vibe across the whole railway, and we were able to showcase the SVR at its very best, to those people who actively support us. Feedback has been universally positive.”

SVR managing director, Jonathan ‘Gus’ Dunster