Carnforth Harry Potter train operator loses High Court challenge

West Coast Railways (WCR) which is based in Carnforth, challenged demands for central locking systems to be fitted to the carriage doors.

The owners of the Jacobite - which appeared as the Hogwarts Express in the boy wizard films - said implementing the new measures could cost £7m.

It operates on the iconic West Highland Line from Fort William to Mallaig.

WCR took legal action against the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) after it refused to exempt the company from rules banning the use of hinged doors without central locking.

The company relies on the safety exemption to allow for the continued use of heritage rolling stock.

It said that the cost of adding locking systems to the traditional 1950s slam-door carriages would potentially wipe out about 10 years of profit.

WCR said it was "disappointed" by the High Court ruling and said safety was its "top priority".

A judge dismissed the operator's case and concluded that the ORR had taken a "justifiable" approach.

Mrs Justice Thornton said a feature of the Jacobite was the hinged doors that "can be opened by anyone inside the train even when the train is moving".

She said it was "common sense" that a central locking system was safer than one "dependent on no more than an assumption by the guard that the stewards have locked the doors".

The judge said the ORR had noted that there was no evidence of a WCR investigation or "lessons learnt" after a train left York with a door open in October 2020.

Or an occasion when a passenger overpowered a steward to open the door of a moving train in June 2022.

The ORR told the judge that it did not want heritage train operators to go out of business, but it wanted to ensure heritage trains "meet minimum safety standards" by introducing central locking.

West Coast Railways supplied Warner Bros with the locomotive and heritage carriages used for the Hogwarts Express in the Harry Potter film series.

The Jacobite train makes two trips a day, from March to October, using some of the same carriages that were used for filming.

The WCR's legal challenge centred on an ORR exemption refusal in January and March.