Chief Minister Alf Cannan says the island’s heritage railways could be run by a charitable trust and that he expects Infrastructure Minister Chris Thomas to update MHKs in April.

Mr Cannan was quizzed on the restructuring of the Department of Infrastructure by David Ashford (Douglas North) in this week’s Keys sitting.

Mr Cannan said that the island’s transport services division is under review, with all options on the table.

When asked further by Mr Ashford for more details on the proposals for the heritage railway, Mr Cannan said: ‘The SAVE programme did highlight and did look at a number of options in relation to services, public transport services in particular.

‘I can confirm that the heritage railways is an area that is currently under further consideration in terms of arm’s-length delivery.

‘For example, it could be moved, possibly, into a charitable trust.

‘That is a model that is operating across the United Kingdom very successfully in many areas, where counties or groups or individuals are operating these types of facilities.

‘I think it is right that we review the situation and that will be part of our considerations.’