Severn Valley Railway to progress its restructure plans
The Severn Valley Railway has confirmed its intention to progress with ‘One Railway’, the radical organisational restructure that it announced in December.
This follows a period of intensive consultation with shareholders of the train operating company, Severn Valley Railway (Holdings) Plc, and with members of the Severn Valley Railway Company Limited, the separate organisation that looks after membership and volunteers.
"We’ve held a series of face-to-face and online meetings for our stakeholders," explained Jonathan ‘Gus’ Dunster, the managing director of SVR (Holdings). "The feedback we got from the many people we spoke to was overwhelmingly positive. People understand why we need to change our structure – in fact for many people, it can’t come soon enough!
"We’ve answered many detailed queries from shareholders and members about the changes, and the overall message we received about our proposals was extremely supportive."
The ‘One Railway’ restructure will see the conversion of SVRH into a Charitable Community Benefit Society (CCBS), followed by an amalgamation with the Severn Valley Railway Company Limited. The third member of the SVR family, the SVR Charitable Trust is wholly supportive of the plan and the way is open for its involvement in the future, but it cannot currently participate in the process.
"Converting to a CCBS will unlock huge benefits for the SVR," said Charlie Wright, a director of the SVR Company Limited who has been closely involved with the ‘One Railway' project. ‘We will be able to access new funding streams and make significant cost savings as a result. It’s important that we move these plans forward at the earliest opportunity, to strengthen the railway’s financial position, in what continues to be a very uncertain economic environment."
Shareholders will vote on the conversion to a CCBS at the Annual General Meeting of SVRH in June. Then, members will vote on their organisation’s amalgamation with the new entity at the SVR Company Limited’s AGM in August.
"This is an ambitious timescale," added Gus Dunster. "And there are challenges. However, it is the clear route to take, so we can unlock the benefits as soon as possible. We have instructed and briefed Bates Wells, the specialist law firm helping us on this project, and are working through their due diligence questions.
"We hope to be able to action the changes by the autumn, with the aim of completing these by the end of 2025."
