Railway comes to halt at Easter

Railway comes to halt at Easter

13 April 2022

ANOTHER leading tourist attraction in Downpatrick will not be open to the public over Easter.

A week after it was confirmed that the Down County Museum would not be open during one of the busiest times of the year, the Downpatrick and Co Down Railway has announced that due to circumstances outside its control, it will also be closed over the holidays.

It’s a double blow for the award-winning heritage railway which was not able to open on St Patrick’s Day.

It was hoped that a series of maintenance issues that need to be addressed by Newry, Mourne and Down Council at its Lower Market Street base would have been resolved by now.

The annual Easter Eggspress event is hugely popular and railway officials are disappointed that their  plan to open this Easter — after a two-year break due to the coronavirus pandemic — has hit the buffers.

Officials say they had been holding off making any formal announcement about the railway’s opening plans until it became obvious that a series of essential maintenance and inspection issues behind the scenes were not going to be resolved and are “deeply saddened” at the decision they have had to take, explaining the move is beyond their control. 

The buildings at the railway’s base, with the exception of the impressive carriage gallery, are owned and maintained by the local council.

Railway chairman Robert Gardiner explained the attraction cannot open to the public until fire risk assessments and various inspections are carried out, including water testing at the main station, workshop and tearoom. 

In addition, fire alarm systems also need to be tested before the pubic can be admitted, with emergency lighting systems also requiring to be inspected. A series of fire risk assessments at the station and workshop also need to be carried out.

Mr Gardiner explained that since the mid-1990s, the organisation has operated with the local council under a partnership arrangement with the council owning and maintaining its buildings and the railway in charge of operating and delivering services.

Last month, the partnership agreement was revoked with railway officials not involved in any discussions about the termination. In addition, they said they had no prior knowledge that this was to happen.

“Several issues are outstanding, including safety inspections and essential maintenance, and no interim procedures have been put in place to ensure continuity of service,” he said.

“As such, we are unable to let members of the public into the council-owned structures until clarity has been reached. The impact has also meant work on the annual certification of our two steam engines has stalled.”

Mr Gardiner said while officials have tried to arrange meetings with council representatives to discuss the various issues, their efforts have not been successful to date.

He added: “We would like to thank those elected representatives who have worked tirelessly behind the scenes recently to resolve the situation and hope that this situation can indeed be resolved in time for our summer operations.”

A council spokeswoman said that at last month’s meeting of the organisation’s Strategic Policy and Resources Committee, an agenda item was considered by members in relation to the Downpatrick and County Down Railway which related to matters in connection with the issues raised.

She added: “This Committee item was deemed to be restricted by virtue of Paragraph 3 of Schedule 6 of the Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 2014 — information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the Council holding that information). 

“Council is unable to make further comment at this time.”