The Keighley and Worth Valley Rail-way is demanding compensation for losing hundreds of passengers after blundering pipeline workers damaged a tunnel.
On one day the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway (K&WVR) carried only 15 passengers along the five-mile line between Keighley and Oxenhope.
Passenger numbers for October slumped by about a third to 4,608 after part of the line was closed when brickwork was dislodged at Ingrow tunnel in Keighley. It took 12 days for repairs to be made - a large steel plate was fitted to make the roof safe - and passengers had to catch the bus instead of the train between Keighley and Haworth.
The Yorkshire Water pipeline, which was being fitted by sub-contractors Pipeline Construction, is still not completed and the A629 Keighley-Halifax road above the tunnel is reduced to single-lane traffic.
Solicitors acting for the K&WVR are negotiating with loss adjusters acting for Pipeline Construction in a bid to win compensation for the railway's trading losses.
Railway Society chairman, Graham Mitchell, says: "The figures are calamitous. The daily passenger figures were as low as 15, 16, 22 and 25 on certain days. Never in our 30 years of operating the branch line have we carried as few people as that."
It was particularly bad because it was the half-term holiday and the railway planned to run every day. Passenger figures had been steadily improving throughout the autumn in what had been a bad tourist season.
"Somebody made a mistake and it has had an impact on our business," says Mr Mitchell. "We don't get any subsidies - we don't want any - we pay our way by selling tickets and items in the shops. It was someone else's mistake and we are looking for compensation."
Ingrow Tunnel was closed for 12 days from October 17 to 28 and trains could only operate between Haworth and Oxenhope. The public were confused about the service, despite publicity, and assumed the railway was totally closed and stayed away, claims Mr Mitchell.
It was also revealed this week that a water main may have to be re-lined rather than replaced to avoid causing further damage to the tunnel.
Yorkshire Water experts are currently looking at the best way to carry out the vital improvements to the water pipe under the road.
Temporary traffic lights have operated in Ingrow for several weeks while part of the main road remains dug up.
Although the tunnel is now safe, contractors could not immediately resume work on replacing the ageing water main that lies nearby.
Yorkshire Water is now considering the alternative proposal of laying a special plastic layer inside the existing pipe.
Over the next few days experts will send a robot down the pipe with a TV camera so they can check its exact state. Once investigations are finished, the work is expected to take a further two weeks.
A Yorkshire Water spokesman this week apologised for the delays and inconvenience, but stressed the work was important to improve water quality.
Old train returns, page 11
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