At the Severn Valley Railway Company Limited Annual General Meeting on Saturday, 9th August, held at the Kidderminster Railway Museum in Worcestershire, members voted overwhelmingly to amalgamate the company, which is the membership organisation, with Severn Valley Railway (Holdings) Plc, following its conversion into a Charitable Community Benefit Society.

For the resolution to be passed, the legal requirement was that at least 50 per cent of the votes cast had to support the amalgamation.

The chairman of the Severn Valley Railway Company Limited, Diane Malyon, and the rest of the board of directors had recommended that members support the resolution.

In June, shareholders at the annual general meeting of Severn Valley Railway (Holdings) Plc, the owning and operating company of the railway, voted overwhelmingly to support its conversion to a Charitable Community Benefit Society; a process to enact the conversion is already underway.

“I am extremely pleased at the strength of support shown by our members for this second, important stage of the One Railway project, and I would like to thank everyone for taking the time, either to attend the AGM or to vote online in advance.”

”At each stage, members have examined the information that’s been presented to them, engaging with it and asking questions. Now they’ve given their mandate for the One Railway project to proceed, and this is a terrific validation of the hard work that has been put into this project by a dedicated team of volunteers. We will, of course, continue to work hard in the future to preserve our valuable relationships with members and volunteers.”

“The benefits and opportunities that the One Railway project potentially brings to the SVR are hugely exciting; it will bring improved resilience, transparency and efficiency.”

Diane Malyon, chairman of the Severn Valley Railway Company Limited

“We knew from the start that what we were proposing was a dramatic restructure of arrangements which were put in place many years ago for what were, at the time, extremely good reasons. However, we’re now operating in a very different commercial and regulatory environment, and it’s crystal clear that we need a radical change.”

“With the backing of our members and the shareholders of the owning and operating company, we can bring about that change. Now the next stage of hard work begins. We must shape the detailed rules for the new organisation, complete the compliance processes and put the arrangements and documentation in place to allow the transition to take place at the earliest possible time.”

Charlie Wright, director of the Severn Valley Railway Company Limited, who has played a leading role in steering the project.