Network Rail and the Severn Valley Railway (SVR) are today, Tuesday, 1st October, celebrating the first anniversary of their official partnership.

This was Network Rail’s first partnership with a heritage railway, designed to allow each organisation to benefit from the other’s expertise, technology, and facilities.

During the last year, many benefits have been delivered, either through saving time or money or using a heritage railway to make on-the-job training safer when trains aren’t running.

An example of the partnership working was using a drone to inspect the Severn Valley Railway’s iconic Victoria Bridge, one of a few cast iron bridges left in the West Midlands still used by trains.

As it spans the River Severn, routine structural assessments have been expensive and took a long time to carry out

By using a state-of-the-art drone with a high-resolution camera, hard-to-reach parts of the structure were quickly and easily accessed, and the survey took hours rather than days and saved the Severn Valley Railway nearly £10,000 in inspection costs.

Engineers have also used the line as a test environment to further develop longer and more challenging drone flights before they are implemented on the main railway network.

Network Rail has also used the line for refresher and upskilling training on semaphore signalling, which is still in use in Worcestershire.

Colleagues from Network Rail and Severn Valley Railway are meeting today, Tuesday, 1st October, to collaborate in restoring heritage carriages and planning future projects that will be of joint benefit.

During the last year, Network Rail has carried out building and roof surveys, developed training facilities, and tested equipment; in the next 12 months, the partnership will build a new shower block at Bridgnorth for Severn Valley Railway volunteers.

Network Rail will also use the line to test a new high-tech visual inspection train before it is deployed on the national network.

Further information on the Severn Valley Railway is online at https://svr.co.uk/

“As the first of its kind anywhere in the country, it’s clear to see this partnership brings so many benefits to both the railway of the past and the present.
“I’m pleased we have been able to help such an important heritage railway which is loved by so many people. It’s an important community asset which now plays a key role in allowing us to trial new technology and train our staff in a safe railway environment. I’m excited to see the relationship develop even further over the next 12 months.”

Denise Wetton, Network Rail’s Central route director

“’When we set out on this partnership a year ago, we knew it was going to be a positive thing, but we didn’t realise quite how beneficial it would turn out to be!
“The Severn Valley Railway has seen huge benefits in terms of generously shared advice and expertise from Network Rail as well as significant donations of surplus track assets. In return, we’ve been proud to facilitate training and testing opportunities for them. It’s a win-win situation which we look forward to continuing to develop going forward.”

Gus Dunster, Severn Valley Railway’s managing director