Track Access Charge for Railtours

[SouthDevonian]

I went on Buffer Puffer 15 and was discussing with others the charges that the operator incurred, in particular Network Rail's access charge. Does any member know what NR's rates are?

As an aside, on a tour such as this one, which involved numerous short/shortish sections right across different parts of the south east, would the DRS crew have had a really extensive route knowledge or would many pilots have been required?

 

[deltic]

Network Rail rate card suggests rate is around £1.08 per mile for diesel and electric and £1.09 for steam hauled trains

 

[SouthDevonian]

That seems very low. Someone on the tour thought it used to be £80 per mile for railtours which I thought was very high.

 

[telstarbox]

Can delay be attributed back to a tour operator as well?

 

[221129]

Can delay be attributed back to a tour operator as well?

Yes although I believe there is a 5k cap on it.

 

[221129]

That seems very low. Someone on the tour thought it used to be £80 per mile for railtours which I thought was very high.

It's priced per vehicle per mile.

So say it was £2 per mile for your class 37 TnT then £1 per mile for your 11×Mk1s

That's £15 per mile x your 200 mile trip and it's 3k on track access. NB completely made up example and figures

 

[ilkestonian]

I think you can get the figures straight from the horses mouth, so to speak,

https://www.networkrail.co.uk/indus...ation-operating-companies/cp5-access-charges/

There is a downloadable spreadsheet there which contains the following table:

Charter Variable Usage Charge rates

Vehicle Type £/train mile
Loaded Train or ECS Train hauled by Diesel or Electric Equipment or consisting of EMU or DMU 1.0859
Train hauled throughout or in part by Steam Driven Equipment 1.0967
Light locomotive movement of diesel or electric equipment 0.5876
Light locomotive movement of steam driven equipment 0.6437

I'm not sure if its old, current or proposed but it gives an idea of the scale of charge and ties in with the figures quoted by Deltic.

 

[SouthDevonian]

Thanks for all the replies. Very interesting & charges are cheaper than I expected.

 

[83G/84D]

What about additional charges for these tours?

Some goods lines require staff to clip points, operate ground frames, be present with staff or token etc.

On little used lines staff may have to carry out track inspections and or repairs prior to movements.

Are these costs passed on to the tour operators?

 

[Mag_seven]

Hopefully the charges are "waived" when its a charity railtour?

 

[221129]

Hopefully the charges are "waived" when its a charity railtour?

No. Why would they be?

 

[headshot119]

No. Why would they be?

Some charges for railtours, especially charity railtours are waived. Mainly because there are staff willing to do a bit of over time for free to help out. In other cases the staff involved donate there wages for the day to the charity.