Safety work begins on Babbacombe Cliff Railway after death of engineer

Work has started to improve a historic railway in Devon after serious safety and maintenance failures were found and the death of an engineer.

The Babbacombe Cliff Railway has been running since 1926, shuttling holidaymakers to and from Oddicombe beach.

Emergency services were called to the line on Sunday, September 4, 2022, to reports of an "industrial incident".

One person suffered serious injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene. An inquest into the death is yet to take place.

Multiple failures were then highlighted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and an improvement notice was served on the major tourist attraction in Torquay.

It said these defects were "putting passengers, employees and others at risk from serious injury."

The HSE found that there was not a suitable safe system of work for setting the cliff railway into motion for maintenance operations and that there was no trained out code of signals for using the bell system between stations, to confirm to the driver and others that it was safe to set the cliff railway into motion.

The work currently being done is to comply with the notice. It will see track switches, track bearers and sleepers changed and some of the railway's heritage parts updated, part of a £250,000 investment.

The Cliff Railway is run by The Babbacombe Cliff Railway CIO which is registered as a charity. The board of directors is made up of local volunteers. 

In a statement the trustees of Babbacombe Cliff Railway said they hope the work will mean the railway is preserved 'for future generations'.

The railway is expected to reopen before the end of June.