Swanage Railway fears changes to safety regulations at heritage railways across the UK could disrupt its plans to reconnect with the national network.

The safety of heritage railways, which bring back the lost age of steam, has always been the responsibility of the Railway Inspectorate.

But now the Health and Safety Executive plans to replace the highly experienced body, which has existed since the 19th century, with independent inspectors, who will be responsible for green-lighting the safety of new works, such as signal boxes.

Swanage Railway is in negotiations to achieve its long-term goal and reconnect with Wareham Railway Station and the national network, but it claims that under the new system individual interpretations could lead to inconsistencies and hinder its development.

Nick Brown, general manager of Swanage Railway, which is a member of the Heritage Railways Association, said: "It's difficult to understand why this change is happening. We are very concerned because we have a number of works going on. We had this very highly respected benchmark to set our standards to, but now we don't know what to expect.

"At the moment we are proceeding with things as if the old system is still in place. But the new system could be in place this year, which could cause us some problems."

The Heritage Railway Association claims that the HSE, in its interpretation of a European Union directive, is trying to bring in new arrangements requiring heritage societies to employ an inspector of their own.

It believes this could prove costly and could hit the development plans and even the existence of some of the smaller heritage railways.

Director of the Heritage Railways Association Bill Hillier said: "The change of rules is unnecessary."

A spokesman for the Health and Safety Executive said: "The changes give greater flexibility to the railway as a whole.

"In the heritage sector the Railway Inspectorate approved works, but now they will have to do their own safety verifications, which might incur extra costs," he admitted.

First published: February 21, 2006