The continuing saga of whether the Snaefell Mountain Railway will be able to resume operation from the end of March has taken another turn with a report in the Railway Herald seeming to confirm that despite claims to the contrary in the local press it will be all systems go after all. No official mention has still to be made of the prohibition notice with Ian Longworth telling the Railway Herald that it will be back to normal with the current primary and secondary braking systems.
It had been reported that a new fail safe braking system was to be installed on the trams but this is part of a longer term project likely to be instituted over the next 18 months. The trips made by officials from Isle of Man Transport to Switzerland are part of a larger project to upgrade braking systems on all railways on the Isle of Man; a project which had been started before the incident at Bungalow in August.
The Railway Herald article states that the Snaefell Mountain Railway will reopen on 29th March using the existing primary and secondary braking systems alongside an “upgraded maintenance and usage regime”.
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