Chris Walton has been a volunteer at SVR since 1969 and has worked as stationmaster at Bridgnorth for 33 years but says he “is not train-obsessed”, having come from a background in business.
Chris Walton took over as chairman of SVR Holdings PLC, the not-for profit company that looks after the operations of Severn Valley Railway, on March 31 after previous chair Mike BallMr Walton has been a volunteer at SVR since 1969 and has worked as stationmaster at Bridgnorth for 33 years but says he “is not train-obsessed” having come from a background in business.
“It’s not a case of change of direction, it’s 'maintain direction',” he said, adding that despite it being a heritage line, SVR had to “operate in a way that makes business sense”.In 2019 the railway saw 240,000 passengers that year but that plummeted to fewer than 60,000 by 2020. "We also did have to let some people go where we had no work for them, but in other areas we are making efforts to retain people.”
The full line of the Severn Valley Railway now stretches over 16 miles from Kidderminster to Bridgnorth, but full line running had to be suspended earlier this year as infrastructure improvements wer being made.
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