Experimental passenger services

A (hopefully) comprehensive listing

Last update 18 November 2009

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Phil Deaves, Swindon, Wiltshire

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I am always grateful for additional information, whether entirely new records (particularly historical records), or information to fill in gaps or correct errors, via the email address above.  Thank you.

This is a list of British railway services introduced under special legislation.  This legislation allows operators to consider certain services as "experimental", and withdraw them if considered necessary, without going through full closure procedures.  Experimental status usually, but does not have to, lasts for five years, after which any attempt at withdrawing a service must comply with full closure procedures.

Data shown here covers those experimental services introduced since the formation of the Office of the Rail Regulator under section 48 of the Railways Act 1993, or section 36 of the Railways Act 2005 (which repealed the 1993 legislation), and such earlier services for which I have data (under the Transport Act 1962 (Amendment) Act 1981, commonly known as the "Speller Act" or "Speller Amendment").

The "Date" column shows the date of the legislation for post-1993 services, or date of service introduction for pre-1993 services.  Where services have subsequently withdrawn, this is shown in the "Date closed" column, with the service withdrawal date.

The Department for Transport (which holds records collated by the former Strategic Rail Authority) states that no applications for experimental status under the 1993 act have been declined, and no applications have been made under the 2005 act.  It would appear that, as there are few entries since the year 2000, either:

• there is, for the time being, a loss of interest in introducing new services under experimental legislation; or
• franchises are so tightly specified that there is little scope for changing anything.

On the whole, though, given the small number of services withdrawn, Speller's amendment to the transport act seems to have been worthwhile, and shows remarkable foresight on the part of parliament.

Notes

1.  The only place where I've found reference to Bishop Auckland - Stanhope being run under the Speller amendment is in this Stationery Office page.

2.   Not shown in ORR public register, so may not be "experimental" in the sense of the legislation.

If this type of data interests you, you might like to explore the hidden depths of the Office of Rail Regulation (for example, you can read the Railways Act 1993, as amended by the Transport Act 2000).  The government's legislation web site has the Railways Act 2005.  Alternatively, Rinbad may be of interest.  For a pretty complete list of closure dates, this page is hard to beat.  For railway legislation and other important documentation (e.g. the Beeching and Serpell reports), try Garry Keenor's Railways Archive pages.

If you are interested in riding unusual routes (such as the Okehampton line), you might like to visit the Branch Line Society web site, the Passenger Train Services over Unusual Lines (PSUL) pages or Gensheet.

With thanks to...

Douglas Crawford, Roger L Corbett, Richard Maund and Jonathan Cooper for additional information