Railway staff back to full-time working

Staff at a north Norfolk heritage railways are working full time again after a 50pc hours and wages cut in January to try to stave off redundancies.About 18 workers at the North Norfolk Railway, which runs the Poppy Line linking Holt, Weybourne and Sheringham, had their hours reduced last month to cut costs.

Staff at a north Norfolk heritage railways are working full time again after a 50pc hours and wages cut in January to try to stave off redundancies.

About 18 workers at the North Norfolk Railway, which runs the Poppy Line linking Holt, Weybourne and Sheringham, had their hours reduced last month to cut costs.

The company has seen a 6pc downturn in passenger numbers and a significant drop in additional income from the railway's shop and dining car as families tighten their belts and it hoped cutting staff levels for a month would help avoid the need for redundancies.

This week a spokesman for the railway confirmed all workers were back working their normal hours and receiving full pay.

He said the company was still hopeful the measures would mean no jobs would be lost later in the year but added that the difficult economic climate meant it could not take anything for granted.

He said: 'It will depend how the season begins. We have got our celebration gala this month - that should bring in some welcome revenue.

'The situation is under review all the time in these difficult, credit-crunch times. Hopefully the economic situation will get better rather than worse.'