HMRI RIP

The latest issue of Rail reports that after 169 years Her Majesty's Railway Inspectorate has been abolished.

The Office of Rail Regulation has now dragooned the former HMRI into a new Orwellian sounding body - The Safety Directorate.

As might be expected the Eye is appalled by this latest example of Lèse majesté from a government department.

Of course it comes as no surprise.

What with the monocular Prince of Thieves omitting to invite Her Majesty to Saturday's 65th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

UPDATE: This just in from Sim Harris...

Not so, says the ORR.

It agrees that the Railway Inspectors are now part of its Safety Directorate, but all 100 or so still have a badge with the Royal Crown and are described, as ever, as HM Railway Inspectors.

It also points out that HMRI has never been a standalone body.

In 1840 the first inspectors were authorised by the Railway Regulation Act, and were part of the Board of Trade. Since then HMRI has formed part of the Ministry of Transport and more recently the HSE. Now, of course, it has been moved to the ORR.

But abolished? Nonsense, m'dears.

UPDATE: This rather witty response from no less a body than the HMRI oops ORR...

Thanks for your rather excitable piece on the 'abolition' of HM Railway Inspectorate.

Had you come to ORR for a comment, we could have made it clear that this was less a case of 'treason', more a matter of reason...

HMRI has never had the distinction of being a formal legal entity. The inspectors of the railway have been resident with a number of bodies down the years, with their previous employers (the Health and Safety Executive) adopting the acronym 'HMRI' as a collective noun for them in the early 1990s.

Responsibility for inspecting the railway now lies with ORR, and we employ close to 150 people to carry out and support safety regulation. Each of our inspectors has the title 'HM Inspector of Railways' on their warrant card - and that is not something that is about to change.

The only change there has been is to reflect the fact that ORR is now the integrated safety and economic regulator, and as such is a single entity.

UPDATE: This from Nigel Harris over at Rail...

Oh dear.

Maybe the heat is getting to some Eye scribblers.

HMRI, we are ludicrously now invited to believe, actually didn't exist for nearly 169 years during which time it obviously didn't produce all those accident inquiry reports.

It existed. Now it doesn't. You do the math!

Enough already and please read what we actually reported, which included that the title Railway Inspector will survive.

Whilst others may wish to debate how many angels might dance on a pinhead the editor of RAIL would like to politely point out (as we did to ORR's press office when putting the story together) that the information about the HMRI's abolition' came directly from ORR Chief Executive Bill Emery, in the first instance, and was further discussed and confirmed in a personal conversation with ORR's Director of Safety, Ian Prosser, subsequently.

So as far as I'm concerned those sources are about as impeccable as they come.

Enough said, I think.

Unless of course ORR's own press office has abandoned reason for treason...