Two runaway incidents on the Manx Electric Railway are being investigated by the Health and Safety at Work Inspectorate.

Brief details of the incidents were revealed in response to a Freedom of Information request.

The Department of Infrastructure has since confirmed that they did not involve passenger carrying trams but small freight wagons.

No one was injured.

An FoI request to the DoI asked how many ‘run aways’ had happened on the MER between January 1, 2025 and September 1 this year.

The department’s response, published on October 2, stated there had been two ‘run aways’ between those two dates.

Some limited further details were provided by the DoI in response to a query from Media IoM but it said it could not give more information as this could prejudice ongoing investigations by the Health and Safety at Work Inspectorate.

A spokesperson for the DoI said: ‘The two incidents referred to in the Freedom of Information response relate to small freight wagons, one of which was operated by a third party. No injuries were sustained in either incident.

‘Both incidents were reported in accordance with regulatory requirements and remain under investigation by the Health and Safety at Work Inspectorate.

‘Providing further details, commenting on the incidents or discussing potential outcomes may prejudice the ongoing investigations.’

The island’s heritage railways have had a good safety record in recent years.

The most serious runaway incident took place in August 2017 when a tram careered out of control 1,400m down Snaefell mountain, reaching a speed of 44mph, after its brakes failed.

A report into the crash was only released following an FoI request from Isle of Man Newspapers.

It took more than three months – and the intervention of the Chief Minister – for the Department of the Environment, Food and Agriculture to finally publish the report.

It revealed that the crew, anticipating a catastrophic derailment, told passengers to ‘brace’ – but their actions in wrestling with the manual brake and ensuring the warning lights came on at the Bungalow road crossing averted a much more serious incident.

In March 2016, another vintage tram on the Mountain Railway was destroyed after running away from the summit station and derailing at Bungalow. Fortunately no staff or passengers were on board.

An investigation concluded that both parking brakes on the tram had failed.

Shortcomings in the maintenance regime at the MER were revealed in a report into the derailment of a tram in July 2021. The DoI was fined £18,000 for health and safety failings in relation to the incident.

The ‘toast-rack’ tramcar was carrying 12 passengers, two of them seated on the driver’s bench, on a scheduled service when it came off the rails between Dreemskerry Farm and Lewaigue.

A passenger who had been seated on the landside of the driver’s bench was ejected during the derailment and suffered a broken leg and bruising.

All other passengers and staff were unharmed but shocked.

An investigation into the incident concluded that speed was not a factor.