Railway Strategies Issue 141 May 2017

Issue 141 May 2017

Collaborative

working The rail freight sector liberates significant network capacity for all

NEWS

ORR: safety principles for driver only operation Tree census delivers efficiency & safety improvements Designer-made ceilings for Farringdon & Liverpool Street

FEATURE

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Lessons from the firebomb attack on Hong Kong’s MTR

Servitisation comes to rail: the rise of the intelligent train

Improving reliability using root cause analysis

Chairman Andrew Schofield Editor Gay Sutton editor@railwaystrategies.co.uk

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From the Editor

Managing Editor Libbie Hammond Art Editor Gerard Roadley-Battin Advertisement Designers David Howard Fiona Jolliffe Staff Writers Jo Cooper Andrew Dann Advertisement Sales Mark Cawston Mauro Berini Darren Jolliffe Dave King Rob Wagner Tim Eakins Sales Director Joe Woolsgrove Operations Director Philip Monument Editorial Researchers Tarj Kaur-D’Silva Adam Blanch Mark Cowles Darren Foiret Jeff Goldenberg Administration Tracy Chynoweth

Issue 141 ISSN 1467-0395 Published by

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Prevention - better than cure

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ecurity in the UK is at an unprecedented level following the spate of terror attacks across Europe over the last year and the attack on Westminster Bridge and Parliament on 22 March. Those with responsibility for security and safety on the rail network are therefore understandably looking for ways to protect lives and make the network more resilient.

In this month’s issue, people movement and security experts Simon Babes and Fathi Tarada take a close look at the firebomb attack which took place on the Hong Kong MTR on 10 February. The Hong Kong system has a great deal in common with the London Crossrail – soon to be the Elizabeth line. And by learning from this we have the opportunity to make the new railway safer.

The two examine how the event happened and how it was handled, and come up with some interesting procedural and technical suggestions which could make the line much safer in the face of a similar attack.

Further into the magazine our focus this month is on maintenance. Justin Southcombe talks about the rise of the intelligent train – how remote condition monitoring is being used to drive down maintenance costs and increase rolling stock availability. The railway, he believes, is moving quickly toward the concept of servitisation, which was pioneered by Rolls-Royce and has transformed the air industry.

Our second maintenance article looks at the principle of root cause analysis, and how this technique which is commonly used to keep manufacturing plants rolling, can be applied to rolling stock maintenance. By drilling down to the real cause of premature bearing failure, that knowledge can be used to develop a solution.

Please do get in contact if you would like to share any thoughts or ideas with us.

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Features An explosive situation? 8 Using the lessons learned from the Hong Kong MTR firebomb attack to improve security and safety on Crossrail SIMON BABES & FATHI TARADA

ory t s r e v 5Co

Tried and tested? 12 Driver only operated trains have been high on the media agenda over the last year. Are they safer or do they present a greater hazard?

GREIG DUNCAN Patent of the month 15 Taking a look at UK Patent 2516706: Loughborough University’s new REPOINT switching system ROSIE HARDY

News Industry 4 Infrastructure 6 Stations 11 Rolling stock 19 Appointments 23 Conferences & exhibitions 50

The rise of the intelligent train 16 How the aerospace sector’s servitisation model looks set to cross into the rail sector.

Are we about to witness a transformation?

JUSTIN SOUTHCOMBE

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Root cause analysis 20 Tracking down the root cause of premature bearing failure: the secret to solving rolling stock reliability issues STEVE WAKELAM

From the cover

COVER STORY ORR: driver controlled operation Tree census Hong Kong firebomb attack Farringdon & Liverpool Street Intelligent train Root cause analysis

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24 Profiles 24 Powerlines Group 28 Perpetuum 31 Direct Rail Services 33 Lucchini Unipart Rail 36 CML 41 Cubic Transportation Systems Limited 43 Mario Carnaghi 46 Dutch Railway – NS 48 Derby Engineering Unit

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IN BRIEF SNCF enters franchise bid

London Midland unveils new research lab to develop rail technologies

l Stagecoach, Virgin Trains and the French high speed operator, SNCF, are to join forces to bid for the West Coast Partnership franchise. Due to run from 2019, the franchise will include the first few years of operation of HS2, so bidders are required to have high speed experience. The shareholding for the bid is Stagecoach 50%, SNCF 30% and Virgin 20%.

Virgin curries flavour l Virgin Trains is to host the final of the International Indian Chef of the Year Award, now in its 26th year. The award, which celebrates the cuisine of India, is open to chefs worldwide. The 2017 finals will take place on the east coast service between London King’s Cross and York later this year.

O2 partnership for Greater Anglia l Greater Anglia has become the preferred train partner of The O2, London’s premier music and entertainment venue. From 18 April, customers will be able to book O2 tickets from the Greater Anglia website along with reduced price train tickets. They can also book train tickets from the O2 website via the embedded Greater Anglia widget.

Dicing with death is on the increase l Figures from Network Rail and British Transport Police reveal that one person every hour trespasses on the railway. The data, which look at trends over the last ten years, show that trespass incidents are at an all-time high. Last year there was an 11% increase on the previous year. Young people are also the most likely to take a risk, with just under half of those killed under the age of 25.

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Developing the future at the London Midland Labs l London Midland has officially opened a £0.25m innovation centre at iCentrum on Birmingham’s Aston Science Park. The labs are bringing together 10 technology start-ups to work as partners to develop new rail innovations.

These 6 projects have already been moved forward: TransReport: An app that allows rail users to report train faults in real-time and stay informed about progress in fixing the fault.

The passenger sends a picture of the fault/ issue via the app. Sensors on board provide the rest of the information such as where the train the picture was taken and which service the passenger was using.

PopWork: An app driven network of architecturally designed pop-up pods offering on demand meeting and touchdown space.

Users can locate, book and open the pods from their smartphone or computer.

Warwick Analytics: Big data analysis that helps improve customer support during times

of disruption. What would previously have taken a data scientist months to compile, now takes minutes.

Braci: A technology that listens to the train and identifies faults – like a modern day digital wheeltapper. The same technology can also cut in to headphones so that important safety announcements are not missed by passengers connected to their smart devices.

KOMPAS: A new take on city exploration, uses smart algorithms and deep learning to understand the user as an individual. It then presents tailored suggestions, relevant reviews and a hassle-free way of getting people from A to B based on their personal interests.

Touchbyte: Anonymous customer footfall, analytics, recognition and validation software system that uses the latest face recognition algorithms. This has potential to improve assisted travel and to reduce anti-social behaviour as well as provide more accurate and frequent passenger counts.

ORR sets out safety principles for driver controlled operation • Staff should be trained and competent l Working in consultation with rail industry and the trade unions, the rail regulator has drawn up the safety principles it expects train companies to follow when rolling out and managing driver controlled operation.

The six high level principles are: • Trains need to be compatible with the platforms that they use and the method of operation at these platforms • Station platforms need to be compatible with the trains using them and they must support the methods of operation • The nature of the operation with the train and platform need to be assessed. This includes consideration of passenger needs and behaviour

• The implementation should be planned • T he system should be managed through its whole life, with improvements adopted.

ORR chief inspector of railways, Ian Prosser, said: “ORR’s principles are designed to give guidance to industry about how best to plan and implement driver controlled operation.

The most important element is planning new arrangements well in advance, talking with staff and their representatives to address concerns and ensure they are informed about the progress of plans. These principles reinforce our view that suitable equipment, proper procedures and competent staff must be in place for the safe implementation of driver control operation.”

NEWS I Industry

Rail freight industry collaborates to liberate railway capacity

l A massive timetable shakeup is being implemented across the rail freight industry following a collaborative 2 year industry-wide review of rail freight operations.

Together, Network Rail and freight operators identified that half of the reserved paths, or slots, on the rail network for freight trains were not being used. These paths could create capacity for thousands of new passenger and freight services.

Some 4,702 unused freight paths per week have now been relinquished and some have already been taken up by passenger operators, including Virgin Trains East Coast, Great Western and Scotrail.

Of the unused paths, 1,018 are being reserved for future strategic rail freight growth.

Construction and intermodal freight traffic,

for example, are growing and additional paths will be needed to support the economy across Britain.

Paul McMahon, Network Rail’s managing director for freight and national passenger operators said: “This has truly been a collaborative piece of work with the freight operators. Capacity has been freed up for the whole railway but essential capacity is reserved for freight operators. This is important given the need to support the growth of freight on the network to support the economy.”

The spare rail freight capacity has been put down to a number of factors including: more efficient freight operations, savvy timetabling and better freight industry productivity, as well as the decline in coal, iron and steel traffic.

RSSB energy advice could saving the industry £millions l Energy savings worth millions every year to the rail industry are highlighted in new guidance published today by the RSSB. The guidance aims to help companies cut their non-traction energy bills by retrofitting solutions to existing infrastructure and ways of working, as well as in planning new projects. The project also highlights opportunities for the industry to reduce its carbon footprint and improve sustainability.

Although energy use for traction activities accounts for the lion’s share of industry requirements, nearly 20% is used for nontraction purposes including lighting stations, heating and cooling buildings, and IT. Among the successes highlighted in the guidance is how Network Rail made

estimated annual savings of almost £1m for a one-off outlay of £389,000 to install an upgraded energy monitoring and invoicing system across the organisation.

The guidance focuses on potential savings from making organisations leaner, keener, and greener, and walks organisations through the entire process from the planning stage of monitoring and targeting opportunities to delivering more energy efficient solutions.

Detailed sections outline how behaviour change, the remodelling of infrastructure, the adoption of energy-efficient technology and renewables and other innovations can cut energy usage, and explains what technology is relevant to each situation and the typical payback.

IN BRIEF The future of freight l The first UK to China export train departed on 10 April, on a 7,500 mile, three-week-long journey from DP Cargo’s World London Gateway rail terminal in South Essex to Yiwu in the Zhe Jiang province in eastern China. Products on board include soft drinks, vitamin and pharmaceutical products, baby products and whiskey. The service has been dubbed ‘the future’ of freight.

New tram extension opens in Bergen l Services have begun operating on the latest extension to the Bybanen light rail line in Bergen, Norway. This section of track, from Birkelandsskiftet to Kokstadflaten and the airport at Flesland completes the third phase of the light rail project, and puts another 9,000 homes and 13,000 jobs within 600 m of the line.

Atkins in takeover talks l London-listed WS Atkins, one of the two main engineers behind HS2, has received a possible £2.1bn takeover offer from Canadian SNCLavalin. The £20.80 a share offer comes only a few months after Atkins held initial discussions with CH2M, an American engineering rival, about a possible tie-up which came to nothing.

East Coast walk out suspended l The RMT has suspend 48 hour industrial action it had planned for the Virgin Trains East Coast route on 28 and 29 April, and will continue talks about further improving the on-board changes.

Virgin had given assurances on each point raised by the union at the start of the dispute – including keeping the safety critical duties on-board.

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IN BRIEF HS2 seeks design partners l HS2 has launched the search for architects and designers to develop and refine detailed plans for three brand new stations: Birmingham Curzon Street, Birmingham Interchange and London’s Old Oak Common. It is also looking for a development partner for the major expansion of London Euston, and another to advise on home, office and retail space opportunities around Euston.

Trains run through Conwy Valley again l The Conwy Valley line reopened on 10 April, 6 weeks after Storm Doris brought trees and rocks down onto the line between Llanrwst and Blaenau Ffestiniog. A team of specialist geotechnical engineers used small charges of explosives to remove the unstable and dangerous high level rock from the railway embankment so that low level clearance and repairs could then be carried out.

Motherwell signalling reaches half way l The first phase of the £144m Motherwell North signalling renewal project, affecting the Newton-HamiltonUddingston area, has been completed and commissioned. To be delivered over two phases, the project will ultimately enable signalling control to be moved from the Motherwell Signalling Centre to the West of Scotland Signalling Centre. The second phase will be completed in 2018.

A heat map shows engineers potential problem areas

Railway tree census gives engineers the tools to identify problem trees before they become a hazard l The new nationwide tree census database has been completed and rolled out across the rail network, enabling lineside engineers to accurately target their work. The Census, part of the ORBIS programme which collates and analyses data to improve rail operations, will enable engineers to identify and deal with specific trees before they cause problems to the network.

Over a 2 year period, more than 10m trees along the railway’s 20,000 miles of track were catalogued through a sophisticated aerial survey which was completed in December last year. The survey extended for up to 60 metres either side of the railway, cataloguing over 100 different attributes per tree including height, thickness, health, slope angle, proximity to bridges and power lines. These figures are now used to predict the risk an individual tree

Bolton Interchange project given a lift

National Infrastructure Commission l Lord Adonis, who has been interim chair of the National Infrastructure Commission since it was first established in October 2015, has been appointed to the post on a permanent basis, with Sir John Armitt remaining as deputy chair. Four new commissioners will also join the Commission as it develops a National Infrastructure Assessment.

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represents to the railway.

Paul Meads, head of lineside safety at Network Rail said: “Our analysis revealed the majority of trees that fall on the railway during storm conditions are healthy – yet previous inspections may have assessed them as lower risk.”

This more detailed analytical survey should address that issue. By creating a unique heat map that indicates higher priority problem trees or overhanging tree canopies that need attention, lineside engineering work can be accurately targeted, reducing disruption and saving the railways a significant amount in repair and clean-up costs.

So far this year engineers have targeted and managed 900 hectares of hotspots – roughly 2% of the network

l The first steel span of the new skylink bridge which will connect Bolton’s state-ofthe-art transport interchange with Bolton station, has been lifted into place.

The span is 3.6 metres high, 3.8 metres

wide, 20.1 metres long, weighs 30.5 tonnes and was transported to the interchange site last month on the back of a trailer. Since then it has remained at the Newport Street compound for preparation and cladding. The remaining three sections of the 100m bridge will be lifted into place during overnight works in the coming weeks.

Designed to be a far more attractive gateway to Bolton, the new interchange will provide better passenger information and ticketing facilities and a safer, more secure waiting environment.

NEWS I Infrastructure

Easter track connection marks a major milestone for the Tram Train

The Tram Train junction at Tinsley l A pioneering scheme to connect the Supertram network in South Yorkshire with the traditional rail network, creating the UK’s first Tram Train, has taken a significant step forward. The track connection creating the physical link between the two networks was installed at Tinsley over the Easter period.

The Tinsley junction sits at the start of the Tinsley Chord, a new 400m section of track that will allow services to travel seamlessly between Sheffield and Rotherham from 2018. A Tram Train pilot will then run for 2 years while customer satisfaction, passenger numbers, reliability

and costs are tested.

Simon Coulthard, senior sponsor for Network Rail, said: “Tram Train is an entirely new way of travelling for the UK, but it is a challenging project and there is still much to do, including the construction of the tram stops at Rotherham Central and Parkgate and the completion of the overhead line power system.”

Work also began on College Road bridge in Rotherham this Easter. This bridge will be demolished and replaced during the late May bank holiday in order to create space for the overhead line equipment.

Electrostar services reach Maidenhead along newly electrified track

Work in progress on the Thames Valley electrification l Over the Easter period a 12 mile stretch of Thames Valley railway to the west of London, between Stockley Junction and Maidenhead, was electrified as part of the Crossrail project.

The electrification work is set to have a more immediate benefit for the Great Western Railway.

In January this year GWR began running half-hourly new Electrostar trains from London Paddington to Hayes & Harlington. The services will be extended across this newly electrified section of line to Maidenhead from May. In January 2018 the service will continue on to Didcot.

The work was carried out as part of the electrification of the Great Western Mainline and Crossrail, enabling Elizabeth line trains to begin operating on this section of the railway from December 2019.

Over three years, Network Rail has installed more than 1,400 overhead structures and 140 miles of overhead wires to power the new Elizabeth line trains. The vast majority of this huge engineering project had to be undertaken in the early hours of the morning, at weekends and bank holidays to enable GWR and other operators to run normal services as much as possible.

IN BRIEF CBI: Infrastructure key to productivity l Improvements in regional infrastructure will help boost productivity and give England’s regions the chance to improve links with international markets, according to a new CBI report. Shaping Regional Infrastructure, says better regional links will give firms access to a broader labour market pool and better connections to supply chains.

Trackside fire brings Euston to a halt l No trains ran into or out of London Euston in the afternoon of 19 April after a lineside fire near South Hampstead damaged signalling equipment. The power supply to Euston station was temporarily cut as a result of the incident, and the station was evacuated. Engineers replaced 100 metres of 11,000-volt power cables, and services resumed the following morning.

RAIB’s 5 recommendations l The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) has made 5 recommendations for Network Rail.

Improve: procedures and training for those in leadership roles, training of track workers in non-technical skills, competence requirements for people who lead track work in higher-risk situations, make location-specific information more easily available, and improve incident reporting and analysis.

New permanent secretary at DfT l Bernadette Kelly has become Permanent Secretary at the Department for Transport, replacing Philip Rutnam on 18 April 2017, while he has moved to the Home Office.

Kelly has held numerous director general roles in the industry, the most recent being director general, rail group, from September 2015 to April 2017.

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SECURITY

An explosive

situation?

With security at unprecedented levels people movement and security experts SIMON BABES and FATHI TARADA review the lessons learned from the February firebomb attack on the Hong Kong MTR, and how we can build a safer Crossrail

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Above The platform at Charing Cross

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t is a time of rapid change and massive opportunity for the UK’s transport industry. Under pressure to increase the capacity of the capital’s burgeoning transport network, address the salient and changing terror threat and deliver on looming project deadlines, staying abreast with advances in fire safety and rail management must remain a priority. While security breaches are thankfully rare, decision makers must study these occurrences closely, most recently, February’s firebomb attack on the Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway (MTR), to ensure that their trains, stations and employees are best equipped to manage these risks.

Why is the MTR incident of note?

The arson attack, which occurred on 10 February at Hong Kong’s Tsim Sha Tsui (TST) station, injured 19, leaving three people critically hurt, has prompted an internal investigation by MTR. This was not the first such incident, with a similar attack occurring on the network in 2004. The UK Government has currently set the nation’s terror threat level as severe, meaning that an attack on the public is highly likely. As such, there is a distinct possibility that an incident of this nature could happen in London – any incremental improvements that can be made to the safety features of the UK’s transport network

by the European arm of MTR, the Hong Kong-based transport operator that runs the Hong Kong MTR.

Areas for improvement

through the examination of events in Hong Kong could save lives.

Security threats aside, though, this incident warrants particular attention due to the high level of similarity between TST station and the UK’s Crossrail stations, due to open in 2018. The trains themselves are larger than existing tube stock (roughly double the capacity), while the platforms are comparably configured with full height platform edge doors, lengthened and widened island platforms and active tunnel ventilation – Bombardier is set to supply Crossrail’s rolling stock as part of a £1bn contract with TfL. Coincidently, the line itself will be run

The TST incident highlighted a number of areas for improvement, in particular the need for better communication between drivers and the control room to enhance passenger safety. Immediately following the attack, a non-incident train was stopped on the opposite platform with open train doors and platform screen doors – this is contrary to good practice and causes evacuation difficulties, as double the number of passengers are required to escape from the platform to street. If the fire or explosion had been widespread, this may have contributed to significant injury, panic, or loss of life.

While it may have genuinely been too late for the incident to be reported to control in time, CCTV coverage was not available on the incident train, which meant that both the driver of the incident train and central control room, were unaware of the incident, and unable to stop the other train pulling in to the station. Safety experts must push for universal CCTV coverage for this communication gap to be filled.

Furthermore, the smoke extract facilities at the MTR station, which is similar to the smoke extraction to be provided in Crossrail, was of limited use in clearing smoke from inside the incident train. This is because the design of the smoke extraction is undertaken assuming a large fire on the outside of the train, rather than a small fire inside the carriage. Increasing the effectiveness of this system in dealing with this type of incident is another area that must be examined.

It is also likely that passenger injury could have been reduced through the installation of a fire suppression system, or a high pressure water spray, which is not present in MTR trains. Although retrofitting these devices on existing London Underground trains may be impossible due to space constraints, there may still be a chance to introduce them on the Crossrail fleet, although this would have a detrimental effect on capacity – a decision that Transport for London must make in due course.

Finally, the operation of an on-board fire suppression system combined with rapid fire detection system in Hong Kong may have significantly reduced the spread of flames through passengers’ clothes and possessions, and also limited the production of toxic smoke. Lessons have been learned in the analogous field of road tunnels – although traditionally fire suppression systems were not a recommended safety feature in European tunnels, improvements in available technology prompted a change in guidance by the World Road Association in 2008, meaning that asset owners and operators are now encouraged to consider the benefit-cost ratio of installation. The New Tyne Crossing tunnels were the first

Above Fathi Tarada, managing director of fire safety specialist Mosen

Above Simon Babes, managing director of people movement consultancy Movement Strategies

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SECURITY

tunnels to install fire suppression systems in the UK in 2011, followed by the Dartford River Crossing in 2013. On board fire suppression has been fitted to ships to address maritime risks for many years.

What worked well Similar to the London Underground, the interior of MTR carriages are specified to exacting reaction to fire properties and a low fire load density. This means that seats and flooring do not support flaming combustion

unless the temperature of the carriage ‘flashes over’ ie exceeds 600 degrees Celsius. Video footage from the attack shows that the only items burning in the carriage were passengers’ belongings and the Molotov Cocktail, not the internal carriage seats or lining, demonstrating that these fire retardant measures were effective.

The event also provides assurance that the TST’s station and train configuration performs well in terms of smoke handling and the inability of the fire to spread and take hold – information that will be well received by Crossrail bosses.

New challenges

The UK Government has currently set the nation’s terror threat level as severe, meaning that an attack on the public is highly likely 10

It is imperative that metro operators, design engineers and station planners draw parallels from the arson attack on the Hong Kong MTR, identifying both the successes of in-built safety features and areas where contingent systems can be improved – in this case communication between drivers and central command and the potential installation of fire suppression systems.

Each incident highlights new facets of people movement patterns and passenger behaviour which themselves offer opportunities for the further evolution and adaptation of evacuation protocol. For example, this incident drew attention to a new phenomenon; commuters, seemingly assured of their safety, stood on the platform and took photos and videos of the fire, rather than evacuating – tackling this behaviour will be the next challenge.

NEWS I Stations

Farringdon station’s new lattice ceiling

The pinstripe ceiling at Liverpool Street station

Striking new ceilings are unveiled at Farringdon and Liverpool Street Elizabeth line stations l The construction of the new architectural ceilings at Farringdon and Liverpool Street Elizabeth line stations has been completed.

The precast concrete ceilings were designed to represent the stations’ locations and users, and were manufactured offsite and installed in segments.

At Farringdon, over 100 diamond-shaped concrete segments, precast by Evans Concrete in Alfreton, Derbyshire, were pieced together to create a dramatic lattice roof inspired by the

historic Hatton Garden jewellery quarter located opposite the station.

The 25 metre wide ceiling, which weighs over 360 tonnes, is suspended from above to create a cathedral-like entrance that will welcome passengers travelling down to the new Elizabeth line platforms from the western ticket hall.

At Liverpool Street, the ticket halls at either end of the station have grooved, angled ceilings that have been designed to reflect the

traditional pin striped suits of City workers.

The precast concrete segments that form the new ceilings were produced at Laing O’Rourke’s offsite manufacturing facility in Steetley, near Worksop, which also made the 825 structural components that form the line’s new Custom House station.

Once the line opens in December 2018 it will carry over 200m passengers per year, adding 10% capacity to central London’s rail network.

Two new stations opened in the north

Glasgow Queen Street station to get a facelift

Business case for Stirling station revamp

l Network Rail has completed the construction of 2 new stations in the north of England in collaboration with regional stakeholders. Ilkeston station in Derbyshire and Low Moor station in West Yorkshire will serve areas that have not been connected to the rail network for over 50 years.

The new station at Ilkeston was funded

by Derbyshire County Council and will be managed by East Midlands Trains. Low Moor station was funded by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and will be managed by Northern. Low Moor is the third new station to be opened in West Yorkshire in the last 18 months, the others being at Kirkstall Forge and Apperley Bridge.

l Scottish Parliament has passed a Transport and Works Scotland Order, which will enable the redevelopment of Glasgow Queen station, giving one of Scotland’s key rail hubs a major facelift.

The enhancements are designed to enable the station to accommodate longer more economical Class 385 trains and increase capacity to meet future growth in passenger numbers.

In addition to lengthening platforms, the station will also be modernised with an expanded concourse, and improved access and passenger facilities.

The Scottish Government is committing over £5bn to rail improvements across the current funding period, including new Class 385 trains and a full fleet refurbishment.

l The ScotRail Alliance and Stirling Council, have submitted a business case to Transport Scotland outlining its plans for the redevelopment of Stirling Station which they believe should ‘fixing the link’ between the station, city centre and bus station. If approved, the work will be funded by the ScotRail Alliance, Stirling Council and the Scottish Stations Fund, working collaboratively.

The aim is to create a new public space in front of the station, significantly reducing vehicular traffic and enhancing links between the station, city centre and bus station.

Proposed improvements to station facilities include enhanced cycle parking, retail space and a new sleeper service guest lounge.

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SAFETY

Tried and tested?

Driver Only Operated and Driverless Trains – a safer or riskier future for global rail? Ideagen’s GREIG DUNCAN examines the global trends

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Below Greig Duncan, marketing executive for rail, Ideagen

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he global rail industry has gone through a number of positive changes in technology and safety since 1967 when London Underground’s Victoria line was the first line operated with automatic train operation.

Despite automation and technology being tried and tested for the last 30 years, the issue of Driver Only Operated (DOO) – also known as One Man Operation (OMO) trains – has dominated the United Kingdom’s media for the past few months. Recent disputes between employees and union members working for GTR-Southern Railways and the Office for Rail and Road (ORR) has led to similar strikes by Merseyrail, Northern and Southern Rail – a cumulative walkout of up to 2,000 workers.

Despite ASLEF – the UK union for train drivers and operators – and the RMT – the UK’s largest transport union – holding a number of objections to DOO trains, stating that the presence of a conductor is safety-critical, the ORR declared in January that they were “satisfied that with suitable equipment, procedures and competent staff in place the proposed form of train dispatch intended

by GTR-Southern, meets legal requirements and can be operated safely.”

The pros and cons There are a number of pros and cons surrounding the practice of DOO. Those in favour of DOO argue that the technology is tried and tested – having passed stringent audits and testing towards risk assessments and compliance with rail safety standards and regulations.

It has also been emphasised that safety could be strengthened, as the technology could remove the hurdle of miscommunication between drivers and conductors.

None of the recent research has identified any increased risk from dispatching a train without a guard being present – this is of course all reliant on the correct procedures being followed. Currently 30 per cent of the United Kingdom’s mainline rail network operates on a DOO basis. Driverless systems are also being used safely across many major cities and areas, such as Dubai, Tokyo, Melbourne, Paris, Barcelona and London’s underground and Docklands Light Railway.

The negatives are mainly centred around the

unpredictability of human behaviour in that it cannot be sufficiently handled via a camera, which in some cases may be obscured. Question marks have also been raised towards disabled or elderly passengers who may encounter issues when boarding and alighting the train.

Examples from overseas The subway system in Hong Kong – operated by Mass Transit Railway (MTR) – has invested in the rollout of driverless trains – reaching all 18 districts of the city.

Those involved in the investment and operations around this rollout see this method as less susceptible to human errors – such as driver fatigue and distraction. Subways are of course a much more controlled environment and not as exposed to external factors, such as weather and unpredictable risks (such as trespassing or livestock on lines) that are seen on rural and intercity lines.

Some rail systems in the USA, such as San Francisco’s BART, currently combine both approaches. They use driverless technology to travel between stations, but human operators still handle boarding. The optimum level of Grade of Automation 4 (GoA4) system like the Copenhagen Metro, trains are capable of operating automatically at all times, including door closing, obstacle detection and emergency situations. On-board staff may be provided for other purposes, such as customer service, but are not required for safe operation. The global rail sector is equipped for developing a robust approach to driverless operations in years to come, with India targeting driverless operations on Metro systems by 2020.

We live in an ever-changing technology-driven environment where information capture and the themes of ‘big data’ and on-board engine data monitoring continues to shape the transportation sector, with more and more companies building competitive advantage in this area.

Initial feedback has shown that driverless and DOO systems save costs and help trains run to schedule more frequently – making for a better customer experience overall.

An irresistible trend Change and evolution of transport methods are always a challenge to society and a risk to safety. This topic is being seen across the board – driverless cars, trips to outer space etc, the list goes on. Realistically these things look likely to become common in years to come.

Maintaining a robust and controlled approach to safety on Europe’s railways and the task of interoperability has represented a significant test to the National Safety Agencies (NSAs) and the various legislation parties within the European Commission in recent years – more evidently with the creation of the Fourth Railway Package.

Whilst safety standards on the whole are statistically improving across Europe’s rail sector, (there has been an annual reduction of just under 10 per cent), the majority of recent high-scale tragedies and fatal safety incidents (such as Bad Aibling in Germany, the Santiago de Compostela derailment in Spain and Dalfsen in the Netherlands) could probably have been avoided with a more robust approach.

Ambitious plans revealed last year between Dutch rail infrastructure firm, Prorail and DB Cargo, to trial driverless freight trains on the 90 mile long track, Betuweroute, between Rotterdam and Emmerich in Germany, has also added fuel to the fire in terms of putting controls and testing in place to ensure that driverless shipment of freight cargo is certified as being safe.

The power to make a difference The global rail industry is constantly challenging itself to become more efficient and to make cost savings, which in theory can then be passed back to passengers in lower fares. Controversially, the subject of job security has also been highlighted as a hurdle to any change in rail operations, however many line operators argue that jobs are not lost and savings are made by a reduction in future roles and in less payment of overtime.

Despite the fact that the legacy of the transport industry has typically seen a slow speed in taking a more digitised approach, companies in the rail industry are now recognising that technology has the power to make the rail industry safer and more efficient. As more high speed rail routes are rolled out across many key areas of the world, the rail sector will continue to adapt and evolve its risk-based approach to ensuring safe operations.

There are two sides to every story and there are always risks involved in any form of transportation involving members of the public. Overall, the United Kingdom rail sector has one of the best safety records in the world and, despite ongoing action, this focus on safety makes for better-informed research and statistics – some would say this results in safer trains.

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Unlocking creativity Be part of a dedicated team delivering long-lasting value at every stage of a project. Working in all areas of infrastructure advisory, management and development, we look at challenges from a fresh angle, creating solutions that improve people’s lives.

If you have the drive and talent to prosper go to mottmac.com/careers and find your next opportunity.

We are Mott MacDonald.

We open opportunities with connected thinking.

Innovation

UK Patent 2516706

Patent of the month

Patent attorney ROSIE HARDY explains how Loughborough University’s new REPOINT switching mechanism works and how it’s protected under UK patent 2516706

Rosie Hardy is a patent attorney at leading European intellectual property firm Withers & Rogers

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t present, the UK rail network relies on a track switch design that was first protected by a patent back in 1843.

However, with demand on the railways expected to double by the 2040’s a new, patented track switch system called REPOINT has been identified as a potential solution for improving rail capacity.

The award winning REPOINT system was developed

by Loughborough University, in conjunction with RSSB, after recognising the conventional track switch design is costly to maintain, slow to operate and suffers from single switch failure which causes significant service disruption.

Due to the commercial opportunities, Loughborough University has strategically protected REPOINT with a portfolio of UK patents and patent protection is also being sought around the world.

Thinking strategically From UK Patent 2516706, we find that REPOINT is a form of stub switch with multiple pairs of static stock rails defining different routes, and a pair of switch rails movable between the stock rails according to the selected route. To improve the alignment and interlocking of the rail ends, this patent protects an arrangement where the static stock rails and movable switch rails have a mating profile that aligns each respective switch rail and stock rail and prevents relative transverse movement. The mating profile can have

a V-section or U-section profile and it also allows for longitudinal movement due to thermal expansion and contraction.

According to UK Patent 2516707, REPOINT includes a lift, hop and drop mechanism that includes an actuator to raise and lower the switch rails in an arc relative to different pairs of stock rails. It also features a separate locking arrangement to prevent transverse horizontal movement of the switch rails as they move between the stock rails. The mechanism helps to reduce friction and is much faster to operate, allowing REPOINT to function in under a second compared to the standard four seconds of the conventional track switch.

To address the problems of reliability and rail disruption, UK Patent 2516707 explains how REPOINT uses several lift, hop and drop mechanisms to operate the same switch rails. With this additional redundancy, the failure of a single actuator will not cause the failure of the entire REPOINT switch system, so rail traffic will not be disrupted by an actuator failure.

With patent protection in place, a consortium led

by Ricardo Rail Ltd are now developing a working prototype and planning to install REPOINT on the London Underground in 2018.

With over 35,000 track switches on the UK mainline network alone, REPOINT has the potential to transform the rail network, making substantial cost savings, boosting capacity and improving safety.

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The rise of the

intelligent

With the advent of connectivity and intelligent onboard data collection, the aerospace sector’s servitisation model looks set to transform performance in the rail sector. JUSTIN SOUTHCOMBE shares his views

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rom the station platform to the trains and the track they run on, the rail industry is undergoing a slow, but very real, digital transformation. It is, in part, driven by consumer demand for connectivity and today’s desire for information 24/7. Consumers now manage vast chunks of their lives from their mobile or tablet, not to mention most aspects of their rail journey.

From booking tickets to remotely controlling home heating and lighting before they even arrive home, the passengers’ expectation is growing.

Above Asset manager viewing condition

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The wider angle view To see how far we have come in such a short space of time, think how the passenger experience has changed

in just a few years; stations have become a hub of information, a place to connect, work, shop and meet.

Business passengers now expect the stations they use, and the trains they catch, to be extensions of their mobile office, with Wi-Fi and network connections increasing their productivity. An excellent service with the train being on time may not even be noticed if a train operator’s Wi-Fi system is not working or non-existent.

Couple these consumer expectations with fast development in technological and data analytics and you can understand why many in the rail industry see the potential for transformation. Manufacturers are digitising their factories, products are becoming intelligent and data is beginning to be seen as a powerful tool with which to

already here and in service with train operators around the world. Exploiting the key features of the IoT, connectivity and reduced need for human intervention, Perpetuum has developed and implemented this new technology to provide constant, real-time ‘inflight’ monitoring and diagnostics. This data is turned into clear actionable information about the health of the train on a daily basis by software algorithms which alert train operators of impending problems many months in advance. It’s an approach that’s already commonplace in aircraft and it can now be transferred to trains.

The rise of the intelligent bogie It’s not science fiction; train operators are already using information collected by remote condition monitoring to drive down their maintenance costs and drive up their availability. In fact, we are now in a position to see how products like bogies and wheelsets work as a system, not just on the performance of its component parts. We are at a point where a bogie can now become truly intelligent, collecting and sending data instantly on its condition.

This data can be used to predict failures, increase asset management efficiencies and improve safety, meaning more time on the track for the bogie and a better chance of meeting the increased demands train operators face. The Rail Supply Group (RSG) predicts that by 2020 we’re going to see 20 per cent more passengers using the railways. Transport For London (TFL) is also pursuing 24-hour operations and the requirement for trains and availability is moving significantly upwards.

Improving on rail maintenance

transform services to better suit our habits, or offer us new services we never thought we needed. The advent of the Internet of Things (IoT) is transforming the world: as the connectivity of sensors, technology, communications and software combine, they produce the rich data which can be used to offer new services, monitor usage, manage stations, service demand and so on. This could include the remote condition monitoring of the trains and track they travel on, the collection and analysis of passenger flow information, managing, automating and changing timetables, controlling passenger activity and optimising station operations.

All these advances are already being explored, but the time when trains can self-monitor and act ‘intelligently’ is

Most current rail maintenance regimes are mileage or time based, which means maintenance is done regardless of condition, resulting in both massive waste and unpredictable breakdowns. Looking specifically at wheelsets and bogies, the global industry spends about £8 billion worldwide every year replacing wheelset and bogie components using largely hard-time maintenance cycles. With condition monitoring, train operators can do maintenance only when necessary. They are not risking being caught out because damage is reported in real time before it causes danger or delays.

Perpetuum’s system uses the vibrations in the train to generate enough power for the sensors, microprocessors and wireless transmitters. Self-powered vibration condition monitoring can be used on bearings, motors, gearboxes and, currently with Network Rail, it is being used to monitor track condition too through the critical wheel/rail interface.

It has been fully deployed on the trains of one of the UK’s largest train operators, Southeastern Railways. In Kent alone, over 1.8 million data points are monitored per day. Over 1 billion service kilometres from more than 5,000 sensors have been scrutinised on over 600 cars across 1500 miles of track in the South East of England.

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This means significant statistical models are produced upon which to build and create powerful life cycle management processes, enabling asset managers across the rail industry to save cost, increase safety and plan more efficiently.

Furthermore, a fleet of Turbostars have been deployed with the system on the adjacent Sussex network with the respective train operator, Southern, and Scotrail are installing on their 120 Xtrapolis cars in Scotland. over 9,000 sensors have now been deployed on fleets around the world and on a growing portfolio of bogie components including motors, gearboxes, wheels and bearings allowing them to monitor the vehicle, the ride and the track condition. Operators are seeing at least 60 per cent increase in the mileage they’re getting from their bogies. After 12 months of development work with Network Rail, Perpetuum also secured a contract to provide track condition information for the Kent route, calculated using vibration data from thousands of wheelsets on Southeastern’s C375 and C376 Electrostar trainsets.

Following in the footsteps of aviation As the technology and data allows us to create an intelligent system on every bogie, we have the potential to fundamentally transform parts of the rail supply chain

Above Installation of sensor Right Configuring and cataloguing the system Below Data concentrator

in much the same way as the aviation industry did back in the 1990s. The aircraft industry experienced a fundamental change in the sourcing and purchasing of its key products. Pressure was brought to bear on jet engine manufacturers by airline operators to explain and fully understand why their engines were not performing as well as the reliability specifications had outlined in their contracts with airlines.

Over 10 years, jet engine manufacturers such as Rolls-Royce created a robust, constructive, conditionbased maintenance strategy, which they then deployed.

It was not simply a technological achievement alone, but a commercial one too and a new business term was coined: servitisation.

Rather than being merely a business school theory confined to textbooks, Rolls-Royce completely transformed and adopted servitisation as a new business model. Today it advertises 65 per cent of its business around aftersales service and maintenance, with the slogan Power-by-the-hour. It was truly a transformation, where the interests of the manufacturer and its clients became much more closely aligned, and the Tier1 OEMs like Airbus and Boeing have had to adopt and follow.

The future for rail?

Procurement moved away from its focus primarily on new build engines. Rather, the engine manufacturers’ interests now lie in the business of keeping jets in service, in the sky. This servitisation model drives and rewards performance, performance that can be measured simply and easily in passenger numbers, and by the number of hours an engine is flying, servicing and meeting efficiency targets. Much of the new information that has enabled this model to be successfully deployed comes from the extensive remote condition monitoring that was carried out in the early years on the jet engine system.

There is an opportunity for the rail industry to learn from the servitisation model. The ability to utilise existing condition monitoring technology, in a similar fashion to the aircraft industry, to save cost and create truly intelligent products is within reach, but it is a transformation which will take understanding and coherence from suppliers and clients within our supply chain.

Train operators are already beginning to create intelligent bogies, collecting valuable data at a component level which have been proven to save cost and keep rolling stock rolling for longer, meeting passengers’ service expectations. As we move forward, technology will enable us to reach a point where we no longer see gearboxes, motors, brakes and wheelsets as separate components, but truly as an integrated bogie system.

www.perpetuum.com 18

NEWS I Rolling stock

The past,present and future of train travel takes to the tracks in Yorkshire

l Four generations of trains ran side by side through the stunning Yorkshire countryside on the East Coast main line, in an event organised

by Virgin Trains, National Railway Museum, Network Rail, Welcome to Yorkshire and Hitachi.

The iconic Flying Scotsman ran alongside an

HST Intercity 125 (Class 43), an Intercity 225 (Class 91) and the first new Virgin Azuma (Class 800), which will come into service in 2018.

Rob McIntosh, managing director for Network Rail on the London North Eastern and East Midlands route, said: “This was a

London Midland launches free on-board entertainment l London Midland has unveiled a free entertainment package of movies, TV programmes, ebooks and magazines plus Wi-Fi on its trains. The new service, called Motion, was launched on Tuesday 25 April, and operates independently of the Wi-Fi, liberating bandwidth for the Wi-Fi users.

Motion provides a range of major Hollywood movies, children’s TV favourites, popular Sky and Now TV shows, over 70 ebooks and audio books, games and digital magazines, all accessible via a web browser.

So far, the Wi-Fi and entertainment package has been installed on over half of London

Midland’s long-distance fleet and Birmingham’s Cross City line between Lichfield and Redditch.

By October, it will be available on over 70% of journeys.

London Midland’s managing director, Patrick Verwer, said: “Twelve months ago we pledged to install Wi-Fi on all of our long-distance trains.

We have been able to include an industryleading entertainment package and cover key local routes too. This is the first time that Hollywood studios have given the green light for on-board movies and TV shows to be streamed directly to a browser, rather than through a third-party app.”

Hitachi in recruitment drive for Doncaster rail depot l Hitachi Rail Europe is recruiting the team it requires to maintain the new intercity trains which are due to start running next year. In total it plans to appoint 250 people to work at the newly constructed Doncaster depot, including a cohort of apprentices to start in September 2017.

Hitachi has invested £80m in the new depot at Doncaster, breathing new life into a site which had housed steam trains as early as 1878.

So far 60 people have joined the team,

some joining from sectors such as aviation, automotive, and the military. The next wave of recruitment is focusing on hiring local engineers with experience in mechanical and/ or electrical work.

Geoff Elliott, general manager for east coast maintenance said: “Our newly built depot is a clean and modern environment which will break all stereotypes. We are offering people the opportunity to work on 21st century trains using industry leading technology and tailored training.”

wonderful occasion to help us celebrate our proud rail heritage as well as the ongoing success of Britain’s railways. To have achieved this once in a generation event... without causing any disruption to regular rail passengers makes me immensely proud.”

Beacon Rail Leasing changes hands again l Institutional investors advised by JP Morgan Asset Management have acquired Beacon Rail Leasing from Pamplona Capital Management. Beacon Rail’s CEO Ted Gaffney will continue to lead the company, supported by the existing management team.

Headquartered in Luxembourg with additional offices in London and Boston, Beacon Rail currently leases rolling stock to operators in the UK, Germany, Denmark, France, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Austria, and the Netherlands. Its portfolio includes 225 locomotives, over 1000 freight wagons, 55 passenger train units, 67 double-decker coaches and 13 sets of five-car intercity carriages Gaffney said: “This marks the beginning of a new chapter for Beacon Rail. We remain committed and are now extremely well positioned to continue to provide quality, state of the art rolling stock to the European and UK freight and passenger markets.”

Pamplona originally acquired Beacon Rail from BTMU Capital Corporation in May 2014 for approximately $450m, and has invested over €400m in new equipment and platform acquisitions. In May 2016 Beacon entered into an agreement to supply rolling stock to First TransPennine Express. It also acquired Ascendos Rail Leasing in June 2016.

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Root cause To solve rolling stock reliability issues and prevent the reoccurrence of premature bearing failures, operators need to track down their root causes, says STEVE WAKELAM, senior applications engineer at SKF

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odern rolling stock achieves extremely high levels of reliability, with assets operating for many hundreds of thousands of kilometres between major overhauls. The failures that do occur, however, remain a significant concern, affecting costs, service levels and safety. While detecting problems early and repairing them quickly remains critical, operators are placing increasing emphasis on actions that help them understand and control the underlying causes of those problems.

SKF has been involved in the supply of bearings and other equipment to the rail industry for decades.

Increasingly, our customers in the sector are also making use of specialist root cause analysis to help them diagnose and fix difficult equipment reliability issues.

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A structured methodology Root cause analysis (RCA) is based on the theory that every failure stems from three causes: 1. Physical or technical causes 2. Human causes such as errors of omission or commission, or 3. L atent or organisational causes that stem from the organisation’s systems, operating procedures and decision-making processes.

To identify those causes, our RCA procedure includes five basic elements: 1. Identifying the problem 2. Defining the root cause 3. Developing the solution

The cleaned bearing then undergoes a detailed inspection. Different causes of failure leave clues that can reveal a lot to the experienced investigator. Misalignment during service, for example, can produce excessive stresses in a bearing that ultimately lead to failure. Those stresses can show up as uneven wear on the bearing rings or races. Thermal damage caused by lubrication failure can produce discolouration, or even cause parts to become welded together in extreme cases.

Damage caused by stray electrical currents is a particular issue in some rail applications. Its presence can be revealed by distinctive forms of surface damage.

For example, micro cratering of their surface may result in balls losing their original mirrored finish and taking on a dull, grey appearance, while raceways may exhibit a ‘fluted’ or ‘washboard’ effect.

Analysis of lubricant samples can provide additional information on possible causes of failure. Grease will be discoloured by high operating temperatures, for example, while the ingress of water can cause the lubricant to emulsify. Where a bearing has been damaged by solid contaminants like dust or dirt particles, these will be present in the lubricant.

4. Implementing and delivering the solution 5. Verifying and monitoring its effectiveness.

Identifying the problem A typical root cause analysis project for the rail sector will begin when an operator experiences premature bearing failures on a single vehicle or category of vehicles; and our engineers are requested to commence an investigation into the reasons why.

The damaged bearing is returned to our engineering centre in Luton for detailed analysis. At the centre, the bearing will be weighed and lubricant samples will be taken for analysis before it is washed and degreased. Weighing the bearing a second time after cleaning allows the quantity of lubricant present at the time of failure to be calculated.

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Defining the root cause Inspection and analysis can show how a bearing ultimately failed. Understanding why that failure occurred requires a full understanding of operating and maintenance conditions. That requires close collaboration between our engineers and those of our clients. Damage to axle bearings caused by water ingress, for example, could have been caused by a one-off event, like a flood incident, or it may suggest that bearings are inadequately sealed for operating environment.

Electrical damage may be the result of inadequate bonding arrangements on a particular vehicle, or could be caused by issues with network infrastructure. Where issues are recurring in nature, analysis of a sample of components over a period of time can help to build a more comprehensive picture of the underlying issues, aiding root caused identification.

Developing and implementing the solution The value of root cause analysis comes from the introduction of measures designed to prevent the recurrence of issues.

These measures will typically comprise a combination of technical, process and management changes. There may be several different ways to address a given issue, each with its own costs and benefits.

Bearing problems caused by misalignment during service, for example, can be addressed through improved training and enforcement of appropriate installation procedures. Alternatively, some operators have adopted non-clamped bearing designs that are more tolerant to misalignment. Where electrical damage is the issue, and problems with bonding cannot be identified or resolved,

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insulated bearing designs, like the INSOCOAT range from SKF, can be a cost-effective solution.

Similarly, the impact of problems caused by contamination or water ingress can be reduced by more frequent re-lubrication. Alternatively, better seals – and the installation of rear cover plates on axle bearings – can provide protection and also extend the operating life of the bearing.

Verifying and monitoring The final phase in the RCA process is monitoring the chosen solution to ensure it has been properly implemented and that it has addressed the underlying problem. Where the solution required process changes, like improved installation or maintenance procedures, this must be incorporated into the operator’s ongoing management activities. The performance of new technical solutions may be evaluated by running a pilot program with a small number of assets before rolling out the solution to the whole fleet.

Bearing inspection and analysis can also play an important role in ongoing monitoring activities, for example. Our analysis teams are often asked to inspect axle bearings removed from rolling stock to identify any early signs of developing problems – like water ingress or uneven wear. Where problems are not present, the axle bearings can be overhauled and returned to service.

This same approach is increasingly adopted by operators seeking to extend the operating life of their assets between maintenance intervals.

www.skf.com

NEWS I Appointments New head of innovation for Murphy l Former Crossrail innovation programme manager Will Reddaway has been appointed head of innovation at Murphy, and will be applying the experience gained in Crossrail to the company as a whole.

At Crossrail Will was heavily involved in the award-winning innovation program, Innovate18, and its next evolution, the Industry Innovation Programme.

Will is going to be working across Murphy’s various businesses streams to deliver its innovation strategy, in line with the objectives of Murphy’s ten-year plan.

He will be reporting to engineering director, Alastair Smyth, who says: “Will’s exposure to cutting edge innovation at Crossrail made him the ideal fit for this role. I look forward to supporting Will as we seek to embed a culture of creativity and innovation to improve how we deliver our projects through new technologies and products, and by improving our systems and processes.”

Planning for the future at c2c

Patrick Bossert moves to EY IAI

l Joel Mitchell has joined c2c as delivery director, replacing Kevin Frazer who has been in the role for more than a decade.

Joel will be responsible for the operator’s train crew, stations and station staff, train planning, performance and control functions.

He joins from Hull Trains, where he was director of operations and customer experience. In his 18 years in the rail industry Joel has also previously worked for South West Trains, Southern and for the SWT-NR deep alliance.

l Network Rail’s Patrick Bossert has moved to EY Infrastructure Asset Intelligence to head up its UK practice.

Patrick will lead on asset intelligence strategy and digital business transformation across the UK covering central government, transport and infrastructure. His main focus will be on helping regional and central government get better returns from transport and social infrastructure investment.

Patrick joins from Network Rail where he spent six years leading their asset information and digital workforce transformation through the £330m Offering Rail Better Information Services (ORBIS) and Digital Railway programmes.

Amanda Clack, head of infrastructure advisory at EY, commented: “Patrick brings immense experience and knowledge that will help us to grow our business in a sector facing huge financial pressures and increasing capacity challenges.”

GHD appoints new UK leader l Craig Stockton became managing director–UK, of engineering, architecture, environmental and construction services company GHD on 1 April 2017, moving from the position of operations director at GHD’s Chester office.

Craig took over from Mark Ingram, who continues as general manager – Europe and Middle East.

Craig joined GHD through the May 2015 acquisition of GHA Livigunn, with whom he had been working since 1996.

A Chartered Mechanical Engineer and Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Craig has vast experience in leading process plant projects, including front-end design, plant layout, value engineering and ‘buildability’.

He is renowned within the business for his management skills in leading and building teams, developing and maintaining client relationships, and his knowledge of all things CAD and BIM. GHD employs 300 people in the UK through offices in Leeds, York, Newcastle, Nottingham, Chester, Manchester, London and Glasgow, as part of a global network of 8500 people.

Chairman announced for RIA Above: Kevin Fraser (L), Joel Mitchell (R)

After more than 12 years at c2c working in the roles of route director, operations director and most recently delivery director, Kevin Frazer takes on a new role focused on bid work and business development for c2c’s new owner Trenitalia. Under Kevin’s leadership, c2c set UK punctuality records for both 4-weekly PPM (98.8% in August 2011) and annual PPM (97.5% in April 2013). c2c managing director Julian Drury said: “Kevin Frazer has been instrumental in completing c2c’s turnaround from the days of the Misery Line to becoming the UK’s recordbreaking railway. We owe Kevin huge thanks for the great work that he has done at c2c, and I’m really pleased he will be staying with Trenitalia and we will be retaining his knowledge and experience.

“While Joel has a tough act to follow, I’m delighted that he has joined us to take on the challenge. We’re determined to retain c2c’s reputation for running a punctual railway, and to ensure we meet our customers’ expectations for offering a high-quality all-round service.”

l The Board of the Railway Industry Association has appointed David Tonkin as its new chairman.

He takes over from Gordon Wakeford, managing director of Siemens Mobility in the UK, who has served in the role for more than two years.

David was previously CEO of Atkins UK & Europe, which has a significant focus on the railway sector. David has a long association with RIA as a member of its council for 8 years, Chair of its finance committee and previously overall RIA chair for two years. David is now pursuing a plural career after stepping down from Atkins in August 2015 and is active in a number of advisory or non-executive positions.

David said: “I am delighted to be back formally within the rail industry, an industry that I have always held a particular passion for.”

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Powerlines Group

Reliable system supplier As a European leader in the railway electrification sector, Powerlines Group GmbH operates as an engineering and installation company for the electrification of railway tracks and the construction of high voltage transmission lines.Through its products division, Powerlines also develops and delivers components and complete systems for railway electrification Below Gerhard Ehringer, Powerlines Group CEO

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P

owerlines Group GmbH was founded during 2006 and has since grown into an international organisation that is active in the business segments of rail, products and energy. Indeed, the company today continues to operate from its headquarters in Wolkersdorf im Weinviertel, Austria and further manages a number of subsidiary locations across Austria, Germany, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Benelux, Czech Republic, Hungary, Norway, Poland and Slovakia. In total, Powerlines employs around 850 people across Europe.

Within the rail industry Powerlines Group designs and constructs overhead power lines, which are in

use within local mass transit, standard rail routes and high-speed track sections. To this end the company provides its clients with overhead catenary systems and associated components, all of which are fully compliant with international specifications and delivered from a reliable single source. The range of services provided by Powerlines Group within the rail market encompasses everything from engineering and project planning, product delivery and installation to quality control, final inspection and maintenance. The company also incorporates dedicated teams of experts that provide detailed consultancy services and further offers rail clients

additional support with several relevant training courses.

Indeed, the Powerlines Group incorporates many years of international project management experience, excellent knowledge of the rail sector, an extensive modern vehicle and equipment pool and highly experienced installation teams. All this enables the company to meet a multitude of demanding market requirements.

“We are a specialist total system provider and this is especially true within the rail industry, where we can deliver everything needed to manage complex projects of any size. We provide contracting operations as well as project engineering services and design, installation

and maintenance solutions. We are also able to deliver specialist components through our products division,” explains Powerlines Group CEO, Gerhard Ehringer. “We are committed to providing customers with the whole range of services, which is important because it makes us relatively unique within the market and differentiates us from other companies that might focus on providing only a single part of the overall solution.”

Indeed, Powerlines Group operates within both Central and Northern Europe across the three operational divisions rail, products and energy. In the energy transmission segment, the company installs, engineers

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Powerlines Group

and maintains high voltage power lines up to 400kV, while its products division delivers components that are primarily used within overhead rail systems. Powerlines A][Rail system additionally offers a 3rd rail solution for underground metro lines. In combination with the company’s broader-based service provision within the rail market, these activities allow Powerlines Group to manage a diverse business that is shielded from the peaks and troughs of the power infrastructure market.

This further extends to the provision of professional contracting staff to enable the company to either undertake larger infrastructure projects on its own, or to support clients and sub-contractors to carry out projects that would normally be beyond their typical scope of operations.

“The environment for electrical infrastructure continues to experience both ups and downs, which is normal for

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this market. Our answer to this is further internalisation and we try to maintain a broad international footprint, which allows us to compensate for the volatility of the infrastructure sector. This again makes us fairly unique because we are able to provide equipment suitable for deployment within several different countries. We have many projects throughout Europe that further enable us to manage a very stable business that can maintain a high level of utilisation across the company,” Gerhard says.

“We are also able to assist our clients with staffing options for projects and we have around 450 professional and experienced linesmen within the company. This makes us the biggest provider of linesmen capacity across Europe.

Some of the projects that we have undertaken in the past within both Germany and Sweden - like the VDE 8 high speed route in Germany or Mjölby-Nässjö line in Sweden - have needed hundreds of linesmen and might not have

been viable for smaller local businesses to take on. This ability to handle international large scale projects, along with our local proximity to customers, makes Powerlines unique and successful.”

This ability to provide high-quality products and competent, professional installation teams is becoming increasingly important within the UK, where the rail industry is undertaking a significant programme of electrification. In 2014 Powerlines Group GmbH and Carillion plc. established the joint venture CarillionPowerlines Ltd. to tender for large scale projects on the UK market. Network Rail contracted CarillionPowerlines Ltd. with the framework contracts for the two regions Central East Midlands and Scotland & North East. “Our two major projects in these regions are the Midland Main Line and the Shotts Line,” Gerhard notes. “The big challenge that we face at present is to maintain strong growth in both the UK and Germany and this means that we intend to grow our team with a further 100 linesmen, which of course brings its own challenges in terms of maintaining our high quality and safety standards. For this reason, we are investing in additional education and training and have recently established our

GIPRO Insulators Big names in electrical power distribution as Schneider Electric, ABB, Siemens, Tyco, Powerlines Group, Railtech or Alstom trust in the abilities of GIPRO insulators and bushings company from Austria / Europe. GIPRO offers outstanding consulting know-how, fast time-to-market epoxy insulator solutions and a product quality that customers can rely on for decades.

All insulator epoxy resins for durable outdoor use are tested according the relevant IEC and ASTM standards and over fulfil the technical requirements of professional third rail insulation.

GIPRO manufactures the customer specific insulators under strict quality control solely in its factory in Austria. own internal academy - PowerAcademy - where we can train our people to make sure that quality remains at a high level,” Gerhard concludes. “We see very attractive growth potential in our existing markets and would like to strengthen our position within Eastern Europe. This could be achieved via some strategic acquisitions and we would like to become more internationally established in our transmission lines business, in which our current primary focus is on German speaking markets, and in our product business, where we intend to become a supplier for customers worldwide.”

www.powerlines-group.com

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Perpetuum

Transforming the future of

The world leader in vibration harvester powered wireless sensing systems, Perpetuum is committed to transforming railway and fleet management without wires, batteries or maintenance

P

erpetuum was originally focused on providing industries such as industrial and oil and gas with its award-winning, quick-to-install and maintenance free technology when it was established in 2004 as a spinoff from Southampton University. However, having revolutionised the way vast amounts of information can be gathered perpetually, the company researched target markets and saw immense opportunities within the rail industry and entered the market in 2010.

An expert in vibration engineering, the company is able to supply a total solution to the rail industry, comprising of hardware components, operating software and an information service. In more detail, the hardware is comprised of an energy harvester, sensor,

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RF transmitter and microprocessor; the software, meanwhile, gathers vibration data from the trains via the sensor systems that are transmitted wirelessly to the company’s database. This information service adds real value for customers as the company’s algorithms translate the raw vibration data into simple actionable information in the form of for example a Bearing Health Index and a Wheel Health Index. Data is reduced from millions of temperature and vibration data points that are collected each day into a colour coded and numerical number to signify the level of condition. Automatic email alerts are then sent to the train operator when vibration levels move above set parameters.

“We set out three years ago with a strategy to demonstrate that the solution was viable in three challenging key markets that we identified as progressive railway markets outside of the UK: Scandinavia, the US freight market and Australia; I am pleased to say we have now picked up contracts in all of these locations. Part of converting the railway industry into a railway business is through reviewing the ways of providing maintenance in order to generate more availability and resource savings; the fact we have been able to gain successful trials and fleet deployments in these four markets not only demonstrates to us, but also to the marketplace and our investors that what we have is not isolated to the UK. There is a need and benefit to using our solution that has been seen across the world,” says Justin Southcombe, Commercial Director at Perpetuum.

Since previously featuring in Railway Strategies magazine in August 2016, Perpetuum has seen an increase in demand for its technology within the rail sector thanks to its ability to predict and prevent issues by providing information months in advance. Moreover, since successfully trialling and improving its technology on wheels and bearings, the company has also diversified into other segments of a train’s operations. “We have seen a prolific increase in the interest in track monitoring and ride monitoring, so this is something we have been working on in development with Network Rail and a number of other operators across the globe. The uptake has been considerable and we have gained two further contracts that we signed for track and rough ride monitoring already since August last year,” highlights Justin.

He continues: “While I can’t go into detail on these projects, I can say one is in the UK while the other is in Australia; one of them was an international open tender, which demonstrates the growing demand in the market for remote condition monitoring and information service. I would say, particularly after being awarded this contract, that buying information rather than buying hardware that collects data is the direction the market is moving.”

Additionally, the company deployed on two additional fleets in the UK, one for wheel and axle bearing monitoring on 1000 wheels, and another which was for wheels, bearings and gearboxes across 40 trains – the company’s first gearbox fleet deployment of gearbox monitoring. Another first for the company took place in Amsterdam, where it deployed a system on the Siemens Combino trams, its first tramway application. “This project involved three local trams as the client was looking to identify bearing failure in advance of catastrophic failures,” explains Justin. “The customer didn’t want to compromise the timetable with more maintenance so their strategy was to use predictive maintenance through the remote condition monitoring system, which would allow them to see the damage arise earlier. This project also demonstrated that even in a low floor tram, where there is very little space for modification, we can still equip and instrument a tram with wireless sensors. To me, this is a good case study for the flexibility of our system, even in the tightest of spaces.”

Having now developed a joint venture that is responding to an enormous tender from Indian Railways, sold a hundreds of units to its partner in China for local trials, Perpetuum looks set for further success in Asia and across the globe as it continues to provide clients with true value for money and greater availability of their rolling stock. “In January 2017 we doubled our office size in Southampton in response to us growing four-fold over the last three years. Approximately 90 per cent of this recruitment is in the delivery of the projects we now have in hand and in particular in the field of data scientists, programmers and analysts. To continue growing we are looking at other markets and applications where we can show our extensive proven experience and six information

offerings, namely our algorithms for bearings, wheels, gear boxes, traction motors, track and rough ride.

Because each client has a slightly different issue to solve, this breadth in our offering allows us to address an everincreasing client base,” Justin concludes.

perpetuum.com

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Direct Rail Services

A direct

solution Operating within both the nuclear and rail industries, Direct Rail Services has established a proven reputation in dealing with critical applications

Ast Transport Branding Ast Transport Branding offer complete project management for exterior and interior graphics, designed to enhance your brand. We have a team of in-house designers; highly experienced at helping you make the very best of brand and design. Our state-of-theart production facility has the latest equipment, ensuring high quality, consistent products, and we offer comprehensive warranties with all materials tested to the latest rail standards.

We also provide a full bodywork, panel repair and painting service delivered in co-ordination with graphics.

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ith a history dating back over more than two decades, Direct Rail Services (DRS) was founded by British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. during 1995 in the wake of the privatisation of the UK rail industry. The original remit of the company was to provide a strategic capability for the movement of spent nuclear fuel from both UK and overseas reactors to the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant. “Having successfully developed a national capability for the transport of spent nuclear material DRS began to develop its presence across new markets where critical and bespoke rail transport solutions were required,” explains Managing Director, Debbie Francis. “The company today employs more than 400 skilled personnel and achieves a turnover in excess of £70 million.”

Direct Rail Services today continues to provide services within a broad range of premium markets, while maintaining a core focus on the needs of its parent company in the execution of nuclear decommissioning programmes. Indeed, the firm presently delivers effective services across four key markets, which are comprised of operations relating to nuclear, domestic intermodal, Network Rail and passenger train operating company (TOC) support. In addition to these dedicated services DRS has a strong presence across several major Cumbrian coast construction projects, while further delivering full train operations, resource hire, maintenance, training and consultancy services.

To successfully deliver its extensive suite of complex rail services, DRS currently maintains four major maintenance facilities that are located within Motherwell, Carlisle, Crewe and Sellafield. The company’s 400+ members of staff include as many as 180 train drivers and a further 80 professional fitters. The company manages ten crew depots across the UK that gives DRS full national coverage and the ability to quickly respond to the needs of its clients. This national network is further backed by an in-house series of nine railheads with dedicated lifting capabilities and two fully equipped marshalling yards.

The company has recently also taken delivery of the first of ten brand new dual mode Class 88 locomotives (C88), which are being delivered by Stadler and will enable DRS to strengthen its presence within the UK rail market.

“The C88 is a further development of the C68 platform that was introduced into the UK during 2014. The C88 represents a state-of-the-art locomotive that is designed to deliver the ultimate level of flexibility when operating within either the passenger or freight environments. The vehicle’s applications are therefore many and varied and it is our intention to deploy the C88 across our premium nuclear services and/or the company’s Tesco West Coast Main Line (WCML) operations initially,” Debbie reveals.

“The C88 is a true ‘dual mode’ locomotive that combines both 25kv electric and diesel electronic operating modes.

A further development that builds on the previous C68 platform is that C88 is another technical innovation from

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Direct Rail Services

DRS that provides superior traction equipment to UK rail operations. The first opportunity for the public to be up close with the new locomotive will be at the DRS charity open day at Kingmoor, which will be held in Carlisle on July 22nd 2017.”

Further to the continued development of its national presence, rail technology and rolling stock, DRS embodies several operational strengths that set the business apart as a leading provider of reliable solutions to both the rail and nuclear industries. “Direct Rail Services has developed an industry-leading reputation for providing safe, secure, reliable and cost-effective services within both nuclear and non-nuclear related markets,” Debbie elaborates. “The company received the Golden Whistle Award for the fourth time running in January 2017 and was subsequently declared to be ‘The Best Performing Rail Freight Operator.’ The annual event celebrates operational excellence across the rail industry and the Golden Whistle is awarded in response to consistent arrival times at destinations over the course of 12 months. Direct Rail Services was acknowledged to be more reliable than any of the company’s competitors and the award further recognises the hard work and dedication of the entire DRS workforce. This includes the vital roles that are played in ensuring that our services arrive at the intended destination on time, as well as the company’s continued investment into the reliability of the DRS fleet of locomotives and further assets.”

Debbie commenced her role as Managing Director of DRS on 4th July 2016 and has been quick to recognise the strengths of the business, as well as to implement a dedicated vison for further growing and refining the company during the coming months and years.

“Direct Rail Services is a great company that has grown significantly in recent years. One of the first things that I experienced on my arrival was our open day event, which was held in Crewe during 2016. It was a huge event and it was clear from the people that I met on the day that DRS has maintained a fantastic relationship with stakeholders across the rail industry,” Debbie concludes.

“My vision for the business remains what it always has been for DRS – to be a safe, secure and reliable provider for the movement of spent nuclear fuel across the UK. We

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have developed a 20-year strategy since my arrival that very much focuses the business back on its core mission.

Over the next 12 months the business will be working to getting the most out of its new assets, helping to develop our people to secure the future sustainability of the business and on ensuring that our parent company and customers can rely on us to deliver a first-class service.”

www.directrailservices.com

Lucchini Unipart Rail

From furnace to

fleet

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Below Chris Fawdry, Managing Director at Lucchini Unipart Rail Limited

Changing its name to Lucchini Unipart Rail Limited in February 2015 following a strategic merger in the UK between Lucchini RS Group of Italy and the UK’s Unipart Rail, LUR delivers a one-stop shop for bogie and wheelset overhaul

ith a history dating over a century, the railway wheel facility in Trafford Park, Greater Manchester, has exchanged hands over the years before being acquired by Lucchini UK from Adtranz in November 2000. The company transferred all Lucchini UK operations up to Manchester some two years later. “At this point in our history we were an agency for the Lucchini Group, selling steel products into the UK. We moved everything up to Manchester to focus on our UK manufacturing base, and that is now where we have our head office. In February 2015 we became Lucchini Unipart Rail Limited; this was because Lucchini UK was involved in wheels, wheelsets, axles and gear boxes, so we performed wheel set and gear box maintenance and overhauls but had nothing directly to do with the bogie,” explains Chris Fawdry, Managing Director at Lucchini Unipart Rail Limited.

He continues: “While we didn’t offer a bogie facility, the only available company in the UK that did have one but didn’t have a wheelset facility was Unipart Rail; because of this, we decided to merge the two operations, with all

of Lucchini UK thrown into the melting pot and Unipart Rail retaining its non bogie, non wheelset activities.”

Joining forces to enhance the provision of wheelsets and bogies to the UK market, LUR today operates in both Manchester and Doncaster. With an annual turnover of approximately £60 million, the joint venture employs more than 350 members of staff at its sites; because of the complementary nature of the two organisations, employees of both businesses benefit from greater opportunities within this enlarged and stronger entity.

Established with the goal of having complete control over the supply chain of the safety critical components that form a traction system, such as the wheel, axle, wheelset and bogie, from the manufacture of steel at Lucchini RS’ plant in Lovere, Italy, to the delivery of the bogie at the client’s depot, LUR believes it can deliver the best possible service – hence the strapline: From Furnace to Fleet. “This joint venture enables us to look after the whole traction system effectively, however the key thing is that we must give a service and offer solutions to our customers,” highlights Chris. “The reason

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Lucchini Unipart Rail

I am emphasising this is that if we can’t look after our UK customers in an excellent way then we have no right to be here. We don’t export, to avoid competing with our shareholders, so we must focus on our domestic market, which is big enough – and growing - for us to do what we want to do.”

This commitment to quality in all areas of operation has long held Lucchini Unipart Rail in good stead, as it has accumulated an enviable customer base that includes the train builders Hitachi, Bombardier, Siemens and Alstom as well as London Underground and, through the inclusion of Unipart Rail’s bogie and wheelset business, many train operators as well as freight operators and the rolling stock leasing companies. “The train builders supplying vehicles post-BR privatisation were the traditional Lucchini UK customers; we also had a substantial amount of export business that we built up at various times when we were under the Lucchini UK name. But when in 2015 we put the two businesses together, the Unipart Rail portfolio enabled us to bring the legacy fleets into the business, which Unipart Rail had been dealing with in one way or another since before privatisation,” says Chris.

To further strengthen its enhanced capabilities, the company is investing in its facilities in both locations. In Doncaster, a new office suite attached to the bogie plant brought staff together from across Doncaster and now a third bogie overhaul line is being created. In Manchester the machine shop has received two new wheel machining lathes; manufactured by Sirmu, Italy and augmented by a robotic manipulator that handles wheels both in and out of both machines, these lathes have replaced four old lathes and supplement the seven that remain.

“These machines are what Lucchini RS has put into its subsidiaries, of which there are nine. This means that we can work on best practice with other group companies.

We also have access to common spares and other synergies such as pooling our tooling purchases,” notes Chris. Also in Manchester the company is augmenting its wheelset capability by installing extra lines for both strip down and assembly.

Benefiting from excellent shareholders and partners in both Lucchini RS and Unipart Rail, LUR is preparing for future challenges by focusing on the long-term developments in the market, such as the dwindling of legacy fleets and the potential replacement of these with new vehicles. “The scheduling of that transfer is a grey area, a movable feast, but we have to be prepared

for those new fleets as they will last longer between overhauls and those paying for the overhauls will expect more out of the asset. Because of this, our focus is to work with our customers to prolong the life of the asset, through condition monitoring and innovative products; we are also investing to keep our unit costs down and to increase efficiencies, but we also have to develop in other ways and not just as a supplier of product. We have to come up with innovative solutions to our customers’ issues and be perfect on service, which we can’t always claim to be, however that’s our goal,” Chris concludes.

www.lur.co.uk

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CML

track On the right

By focusing on customer satisfaction, safety and a fast response to the most challenging of projects, CML continues to be in demand within the UK rail industry

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ounded in 1986, Leeds headquartered CML began operations with a focus on the marine and civil engineering market for clients such as British Waterways, Caledonian MacBrayne and British Rail. While still in the early days of its inception, the company developed and patented a concrete filled mattress scour protection solution, which provided costeffective underwater repairs in environments that were

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traditionally challenging to access. Following a number of years of providing civil engineering solutions for problems in water based environments both overseas and throughout the UK, CML secured its first civils framework contract with Railtrack in 1992. “This framework contract provided our business with greater security, which in turn gave us the opportunity to increase investment in our people and equipment; having been able to invest, we

Top CML Drainage Division - STE4 drainage examiner at work assessing a brick barrel culvert following jetting and CCTV operations Above CML’s roped access team in action installing rock bolts and rock netting on the Manchester Victoria to Normanton Line near Elland

Above Earthworks team applying finishing touches on an embankment slope re-grade

were able to continue to grow as a business and deliver larger civils based projects for the rail industry,” explains Charles Mortimer, Managing Director of CML. Since this strategic shift into the rail industry, the company has been involved in a diverse range of projects, including civils and earthworks repairs, building works and scour protection wherever the railway meets rivers or the coastline over the last two decades. “CML has been

delivering works for Network Rail and its predecessors in the capacity of a principal contractor for more than 20 years and through the minor works contract on the LNE route since the early 90s,” confirms Charles.

He continues: “The range of services we offer varies from maintenance works on our minor works frameworks contracts, to the design and build of complex multi disciplinary projects; these include landslide remediation,

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CML

Power-Rite (UK) Ltd Power-Rite (UK) Ltd is a nationwide leading generator hire specialist. Working closely with Construction Marine Ltd over a wide range of difficult and demanding projects, it is proud to be helping reduce their CO2 output. This will be achieved by providing an onsite security camera battery pack system which allows the generator to be turned off for 12hrs at a time whilst still maintaining site security. Not only is this system helping the environment but also saving Construction Marine Ltd an average of 500 litres of fuel a week.

Above The landslide that brought the Newcastle to Carlisle railway to a halt in 2016 slip material being moved from the landslide into rail wagons for disposal Below Rock armour scour protection scheme to prevent further erosion from the River Don

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under bridge re-constructions, depot refurbishments and platform/station improvement works. A substantial portion of work is completed using our own in-house resources, which ranges from multi-skilled site teams through to experienced project managers who work alongside clients on early contractor involvement’ projects; we also have some specialist skill sets, such as our roped access teams, boat handling and open water trained crews, drainage investigation teams and asset condition examiners.

“Furthermore, we have always owned and operated an in-house fleet of plant and equipment, particularly earthmoving equipment. We always have a large demand for versatile excavation and lifting plant, such as 360 degree excavators, as such, our fleet currently consists of more than 20 excavators; this includes six tonne mini diggers up to 30 tonne specially adapted long reach plant. Our fleet also includes plant fitted with various plant control systems that have been installed by Prolec and GKD, which provides programmable slew restriction functions as well as other features that help us to work safely with plant adjacent to the rail infrastructure.”

Due to the effectiveness and quality of solutions delivered, CML caught the attention of the industry and

went on to win six Railway Heritage Awards between 2003 and 2011 for the outstanding work undertaken in the refurbishment of listed signal boxes. “Since then, we have continued to gear our business around the evolving needs of the rail industry, where we have successfully secured multiple framework contracts and tendered projects in several regions around the country,” highlights Charles. “With a healthy order book and an experienced workforce we are delivering approximately 2000 minor works projects per year as well as more than 100 larger civils projects, with larger and more complex multidisciplinary projects up to £5 million in value.”

A recent example of the company’s flexibility and capabilities under pressure can be seen in its response to an emergency on the Milner Royd cutting; with heavy rain causing a landslip that blocked the Manchester Victoria to Leeds line between Hebden Bridge and Halifax, the CML team mobilised equipment to site within hours, with specialist rope access trained teams diverted from a nearby job at Elland to assist. Working through the night to remove approximately 100 tonnes of slip material from the railway, the Down side was re-opened to traffic within 48 hours and the Up restored to line speed. With emergency work completed swiftly thanks to an excellent reactive response, the team is now working on designing and installing a permanent repair.

A trusted and multi-skilled firm, CML ensures optimum safety and quality in all areas of operation by aligning its business objectives with Network Rail’s safety mantra, as Charles notes: “We see the rail industry as leading the way in the development of improving safety behaviours in the construction industry, to not only improve safety, but project delivery performance.” Today delivering work

through the minor works contracts in LNE, East Midlands and East Anglia, which includes tendered projects in LNW, Wales and the western region, the company also delivers larger projects for the Infrastructure Projects team on the LNE route, as Charles comments: “It is on this route that we have two framework contracts for the delivery of 200 earthwork projects as well as over 30 bridge projects over the course of CP5.”

With Network Rail forecasting 100 per cent growth in passenger numbers over the next 25 years, the rail industry will continue to experience significant investment over the coming years. “The forecast growth in rail services will not only demand investment in the major upgrade projects, but continued investment in maintaining and improving the existing infrastructure to handle this additional capacity. The rail industry is a very exciting place to be right now, with some major opportunities out there for suppliers. At CML we believe we are well positioned to continue providing high quality civils projects to support the forecast growth on the railway network in the years ahead,” concludes Charles.

Left Piled cess retention system installed to provide additional support on the Manchester and Cleethorpes Line

www.cml.uk.com

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Cubic Transportation Systems Limited

Proven innovation

With a history that stretches back to 1951, U.S.-based Cubic Corporation, parent company to Cubic Transportation Systems Limited, today represents a leading solutions provider to the defence, security and transportation markets

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Below John Pickworth Business Development Director, CTS Europe

hile the business was originally founded as a small electronics company in a San Diego, California storefront, Cubic today operates as a trusted global partner in the design, integration and operation of systems, products and associated services. The business quickly grew to expand by as much as 588 per cent during the 1960s and subsequently established a presence across nearly 60 countries around the world. During this time, the company continued in its mission to make the world better through innovation, technology solutions and world-class services in defence, security and transportation. Cubic achieves this goal through the provision of a number of activities including: • Solving complex problems with innovative technology, systems and solutions.

• Collecting and analysing large-scale data that is usable to the company’s customers.

• Dedicated efforts to increase efficiencies, reduce costs and improve the experience of the end user.

• Accelerating the implementation of cutting-edge, nextgeneration solutions.

“In 1971, Cubic made its entrance into the mass transportation market in the U.S. through its acquisition of Western Data Products of Los Angeles, today known as Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS). A year later, the group supplied its first automatic fare collection (AFC) system for Chicago’s Illinois Central Gulf Railroad. Since then, we have gained considerable strength within the world’s mass transportation markets. In transport, we have excelled in the world of AFC, providing leading projects around the world including Transport for London’s (TfL) Oyster system, Chicago’s account-based Ventra system and Sydney’s Opal system. Cubic has since expanded into the development of intelligent transport systems (ITS), mobility and tolling, winning our first major tolling contract last year in New Hampshire,” details Business Development Director, CTS Europe, John Pickworth.

“Cubic is today a leading integrator of payment and information solutions and related services for intelligent travel applications. The company delivers integrated systems for transportation and traffic management, providing a single, consistent experience for travellers,

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Cubic Transportation Systems Limited

ECA Services Having collaborated with Cubic Transportation Systems over the last five years, ECA Services are proud to have the opportunity to support day-to-day transportation operations across London.

ECA’s unique offering included hardware for TVMs, gate upgrades and LU offices as well as a range of services including technology introductions and overviews, system modifications, lifecycle management and technical support.

Looking beyond their projects in the capital, ECA’s experience over the last 15 years has resulted in several successful deployments across the UK’s transportation networks. These have included projects for control, communication and monitoring systems, support with rail compliance and certifications, products for station control and trackside operations, as well as rugged server-grade fault tolerant and signage solutions.

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enabling them to choose the smartest and easiest way to travel and pay for their journeys, while enabling transportation authorities and agencies to manage demand across the entire transportation network – all in real time,” Pickworth continues. “We are privileged to have an inspirational leader in Matt Cole, president of CTS. Cole’s NextCity™ vision is driven to transform the customer’s end-to-end journey while using data to help make operations more informed and efficient and remains a key cornerstone of our strategy. NextCity is the CTS roadmap to develop a co-ordinated framework – centred around three core principles of an integrated customer experience, unified operations and analytics – all provided through a single account.”

The business was previously profiled in the May 2016 issue of Railway Strategies, during which time Pickworth discussed the growing demand for intelligent revenue collection with technologies like contactless payment that have become increasingly integrated into the world’s rail networks in recent years. Over the subsequent months, CTS has been focused on a major enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation programme, which involves modernising many of its internal processes and ensuring that Cubic is ready for continued growth and success. This represents a significant venture and a vast investment that encompasses many, if not all of the company’s day-to-day business processes.

Other key activities across the business are more oriented to product development and responding to

the knowledge that customers increasingly prefer to buy established and proven technologies, rather than bespoke solutions, and that such products represent the route to many major opportunities globally across several markets. “These products can mean anything from a device such as a gate or a ticket vending machine to a full back office solution. The important change is that our solutions now have clearly defined roadmaps, upgrades and future proofing built in that provides long-term resilience for our customers. As part of the product drive, Cubic has cemented significant strategic relationships with partners including Microsoft, Mastercard and Cisco – contributing even further to maximising our combined value to customers in a constantly evolving world of technology. A great example of the strength this brings is the move to the cloud for many of our solutions, such as the recently secured work in Miami,” Pickworth says.

“In 2015, we opened our Innovation Centre in London, following the successful award of the TfL Electra (Oyster).

This has been a hugely successful innovation, changing the way we tackle problems together with our customers and partners and developing a space where anything can be challenged and overcome,” he continues. “In the U.K., product evolution means a lot and we are supporting the Department for Transport (DfT) on the SMART 2018 objective as well as helping demonstrate technological innovation to all of our train operating company customers. Furthermore, we see significant regional development and integration across modes in the U.K. to boost the economy and we are ready to bring our knowledge, experience and innovation to new customers and partners. Our work with TfL has continued to be the cornerstone of our U.K. business, having secured a significant Intellectual Property Rights deal; whereby, Cubic has the opportunity, on a non-exclusive basis, to work together with TfL to sell the London solution to anywhere else in the world.”

With a continued stream of new innovation coming out of the company and a proven product portfolio, the market remains highly exciting for CTS despite a challenging trading environment. “The market is looking for innovators that can deliver and we see this as core to our capability, which has been evidenced time and time again. As a company, we see the need to constantly change to reflect industry needs and to ensure we are leading not following. This has varying successes, but it is the essence of how we operate and need to support the industry in future proofing any investment,” Pickworth concludes. “Around all of this, we will continue to evolve our company and support our people, delivering to a core set of values that makes us attractive to work for, ethically sound and able to deliver against a clear vision.

We are extremely excited by the challenges ahead, and have invested to ensure we are ready to deliver and support the latest advances in transport related technology and service.”

www.cubic.com

Mario Carnaghi Spa

future Manufacturing for the

With over eight decades of manufacturing experience, Mario Carnaghi Spa has faced all possible machining challenges within the railway industry with its comprehensive product range and specialist engineering expertise

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Below Dr Riccardo Fiorani, Sales Manager at Mario Carnaghi Spa

ounded in 1929 by Mr. Mario Carnaghi as a fully family owned venture, Mario Carnaghi Spa has developed over the years to boast a global presence thanks to its high quality machine tools, vertical lathes and milling machines that incorporate moving tables or mobile portals. Committed to its mission of delivering total satisfaction to customers across several challenging and ever-evolving markets, the company seeks to source solutions to specific and complex manufacturing requirements through the provision of increasingly sophisticated machines. Driven by the goal of achieving technical excellence and optimum quality, the company uses its 80 years of expertise to remain at the forefront of both innovation and reputability.

“Mario Carnaghi Spa was founded by the grandfather of the current owner, also named Mario Carnaghi and the business is today in its third generation of family management and operation. We are based in Olgiate, Olona, which is strategically located close to a major airport in Italy. Our plants cover a surface area

of approximately 100,000 square metres, of which around 20,000 square metres is within a covered production area. Since we began operating we have built approximately 3000 machines, which are medium to large in size,” reveals Dr Riccardo Fiorani, Sales Manager at Mario Carnaghi Spa. “Looking at the development of the company, the first type of machines built by Mario Carnaghi Spa were plano machines and half a century later milling operations were introduced so we began to build plano milling machines that could combine these solutions. During the 1970s the first vertical lathe was built by our company, while CNC control has also since been added to every product line and we have also improved the technology of our machines in line with new developments in technology. This CNC application and the development of further measuring systems has allowed us to produce machines that are among the top five brands in the world today.”

Throughout its history Mario Carnaghi has evolved to operate within several technically demanding markets,

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including the aeronautics/aerospace; automotive; chemical; defence/military; energy/nuclear; excavator/ construction; general purpose machining; oil and gas; rail; and shipping industries. Within the rail industry Mario Carnaghi provides high-quality machine tools for both wheel machining and rail and cross machining applications. The company’s wheel machining solutions offer effective solutions in the manufacture of fully rough wheels, rims, hubs, and brakes, which have been the base for the on-going development of its vertical turning lathes for rail applications. Mario Carnaghi has also traditionally produced machines that incorporate table drives of up to 180 Kw, twin ram heads, and pallet changing systems for high productivity solutions required by railways companies while maintaining the tolerances required. The result is a product portfolio that addresses the manufacturing requirements of both heavy and lighter source materials.

The competence of Mario Carnaghi within the application of rail and cross-machining expertise extends to the provision of milling machines that incorporate a moving bridge with high torque spindles, which are further equipped with one or two slide heads by means of hybrid locking systems for the machine’s rails. These can be mechanical, hydraulic or magnetic. The company also offers comprehensive solutions in dedicated wagons machining for bogie-frames, frames for locomotive engines, wagons and the final chassis of the wagons themselves. Mario Carnaghi milling machines can be further equipped with special accessories, such as laser probes for checking the planarity of the metal sheets welded, the height and the width of the welding and afterwards to execute the milling of the weld till the ‘skin’ of the artefact.

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“The machines that we deliver to the rail market are all designed and manufactured to meet the bespoke requirements of our clients and are amongst the longest and the strongest available to the industry. This is an important topic because railway material relating to track and wheel machining is relatively tough and difficult to machine, which means that the corresponding production equipment requires a lot of torque and rigidity,” Riccardo says. “There are also specific manufacturing techniques that apply to the production of train body frames and wagons, which are made using aluminium alloys. Mario Carnaghi is able to provide both equipment for heavy machining, as well as equipment that is designed to work with lightweight alloys. Machining with aluminium alloys is an activity that requires less torque but increased speed from the machine’s spindles.”

Further to developing high-quality machine products that address complex manufacturing applications, Mario Carnaghi is also at the forefront of developing bespoke production solutions to meet the unique engineering requirements of its clients using both lightweight and heavy materials. “We have recently developed a solution for a client that wanted to integrate a wall seal of a

Mario Carnaghi Spa

carriage between two aluminium sheets. To achieve this we applied a special laser probe to test the planarity of the welded aluminium sheets and detect any kind of deflection along the 25 mt length of the frame. This allowed us to create a 3D virtual scheme of the frame and after, to perform the milling of the welds according this “map” without spoil the surface of the train wagon,” Riccardo details. “This solution was developed for a light machining application, while in the field of heavy machining we develop machines that employ hydrostatic bearings that regulate the movement of the portal and linear axes of the equipment. The hydrostatic systems that we employ are able to operate within very extreme tolerances and is a technology that we develop using both milling machines and vertical turning lathes.”

Throughout all of its operations Mario Carnaghi works to increase the manufacturing capability of the business, while developing new solutions to meet the complex demands of its clients. This has enabled the company to engage with several respected rail organisations internationally, including INFRABEL (Belgium), the State Railways of the Turkish Republic, BVV (Germany), Tensol Rail (Switzerland), RFI and FS (Italy) and, among the others, DSP (India). “We continue to work to improve the efficiency of our manufacturing processes across the business and this has been driven by the large amounts of orders that we have received in recent years,” Riccardo explains. “An important step in this direction has been to empower the manpower by hiring new personnel, further, on the mechatronic side, we ensure that all of our machines are equipped with the latest available CNC release. We have updated the capability of our production facilities and due to the size of the machines that we plan to install, has been approved by the our board of managers, the industrial plan of five years aiming to extend the size of our covered facilities to host the construction of bigger machines. This will bring our company towards an increase of around 30-35 per cent of space to allow for increased production.”

Indeed, as clients operating across Europe’s existing rail networks continue to develop ever more demanding

infrastructure there is a sizable requirement for increasingly robust manufacturing solutions. “Within the rail sector there is growing demand for high-speed trains, which means that there is a need for new technology that allows the trains to move faster. While the type of both the tracks and the rails switches are essentially unchanged, the composition of the material and the shapes used in the construction of the components is different.

The material itself tends to be much more tough and therefore, it requires more torque and power to machine and remove chips from rails. Components for high-speed rail also have greater demands in terms of radius across the tracks and trucks, so that the machine tools for high-speed rail become longer because of the increased space requirement to commission the parts,” Riccardo elaborates. “This is a relatively rapid development within the rail industry so it is important that every contractor can implement the new track as quickly as possible.

Therefore it is appreciated by our clients that we offer a pendular production system in which it is possible to place a rail into one side of the machine to be formed, while a second component can also be placed on the other ready for machining once the first rail switch has been machined. This allows for non-stop production by exploiting both sides of the machine.”

As Mario Carnaghi continues to address the changing needs of its clients within the rail industry and beyond, the company is confident of continued growth in terms of both economic success and manufacturing development.

“Twelve months is a short scope of time for our company because some of the machines that we manufacture can take around ten to 24 months to develop, however within the rail sector there is increasing demand that is also matched by our business within the aeronautics sector and this will help us to grow the business over the coming years,” Riccardo concludes. “We remain committed to providing tailor-made solutions that address the specific needs of our clients and this will be a vital component in achieving further success in the future. There is an on-going demand for increased precision in the field of manufacturing, especially for high-speed rail and this is something else that we will be further developing.”

www.mariocarnaghi.it 45

Dutch Railways - NS

Trains like the

With roots dating back as far as 1837, Dutch Railways continues to make a valuable contribution to mobility and progress within the Netherlands, while further playing a significant role in growing the country’s domestic market innogy innogy, one of the leading European energy companies, addresses the requirements of a modern, decarbonised, decentralised and digital energy world. innogy focuses on offering innovative and sustainable products and services, which enables customers to use energy more efficiently and improve the quality of their lives.

Essent, innogy’s Dutch daughter company, is proud to be chosen by Dutch Railways to help fulfill its sustainability goals. The company does so by providing green gas for heating railway stations and offices. Besides being the biggest green gas trader, Essent is the biggest energy supplier in the Netherlands with over two million customers.

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T

he story of NV Nederlandse Spoorwegen (Dutch Railways – NS) began during the 1830s when the Dutch King, William I launched an investigation into the requirement of a rail network to be introduced to the Netherlands. It was subsequently decided that a railway system was required within the country and by 1835 the Dutch government had granted private individuals permission to construct a railway between Amsterdam and Haarlem. On 8th August 1837 Hollandsche IJzeren Spoorweg Maatschappij (HIJSM) was founded, which is today regarded as the oldest predecessor of NS. Today NS represents the principle passenger railway operator within the Netherlands and operates some 4800 scheduled electric trains everyday. Since 2001, NS has also worked to accumulate an increasing share of both rail and bus transport across Europe through its subsidiary Abellio. NV Nederlandse Spoorwegen today consists of:

• N S Reizigers, responsible for rail transport on the Dutch main rail network, including the High Speed Line, and for the associated sales and service activities. NS Reizigers handles the logistics, provides journey information, sells tickets and manages the Customer Service department. With more than 11,000 employees and revenue of €2.3 billion, it is both the largest and the most high profile of the NS business

units. The international division ‘NS International’ handles the international train operations and international ticket sales. NS International operates trains to Belgium, France and Germany.

• NedTrain, which is responsible for upkeep of the trains in the Netherlands, working on continually maintaining, cleaning and upgrading the company’s trains and making them more sustainable. With 2900 employees, NedTrain’s operations are purely business-tobusiness, primarily within NS for NS Reizigers. Since 1 November 2016 NS Reizigers and NedTrain have merged into NS Operations.

• NS Stations is tasked with providing a good network of large and small train stations. For millions of passengers, these stations are a crucial link in their every day door-to-door journey. Together with ProRail, the authorities and all the carriers, NS Stations and its 5300 staff want to make the train ride and the stay in the immediate vicinity of the station as pleasant and comfortable as possible.

• Abellio, which was founded in 2001 as NedRailways, obtains and operates public transport franchises aimed at consolidating the position of NS in the European market as it becomes more deregulated.

The United Kingdom and Germany have the largest deregulated railway markets in Europe. Abellio won its first contract, Merseyrail, in the United Kingdom in 2003, in a 50-50 joint venture with Serco.

Throughout the business energy efficiency is currently a major area of focus for NS, with the company aiming to use a total of 35 per cent less energy by 2020. This goal is the result of thorough analysis of possible efficiency measures across five areas, comprised of technical (rolling stock); timetabling; load factor; ECO driving; and ECO stabling. “From this analysis we came to the conclusion that a 35 per cent improvement of energy use per passenger per kilometre is challenging – but achievable.

My vision is of a sustainable future as a truly circular and inclusive society. We only have one planet and that is why we need to respect it and leave it behind in a better state for our children and future generations. We need to progress quickly to a climate-positive society to offset the damage of the past two decades and to move towards an economy based on circular business models. At the same time, we need to make society much more inclusive, with respect for differences and dialogue to jointly resolve problems,” explains NS Corporate Sustainability Officer, Carola Wijdoogen. “In technical terms while considering how to lower energy use we included efficiency measures explicitly in the specifications for refurbishment and for new rolling stock, including heat pump/active CO2 level optimised recirculation, aerodynamic improvements, LED lighting with intelligent light control (automatic dimming based on ambient light level) and automatic energy efficient stabling.”

With regards to the development of its ECO driving

initiatives, NS has had a programme in place since 2011, which has enabled the company to achieve an energy saving that currently equates to four per cent of previous usage. During 2017 the company further plans to introduce a simple Driver Advisory System (SDA) for train drivers, which will be integrated with electronic timetables via tablet PC. In the field of ECO stabling, NS has also managed a programme since 2012 that has resulted in a structural energy saving of 3.5 per cent. This saving has been achieved by switching off systems as much as possible in parked trains, while further automated functions within newly refurbished trains will improve these results.

Throughout all of its operations NS plans to make a dedicated transition to produce zero carbon, while introducing renewable sources for all of its energy requirements. In addition to working to enhance the company’s energy efficiency, NS remains committed to improving the travel experiences of its customers. “Our main focus is as always with our customers and we continue to work to keep our clients more than satisfied with the services that we offer,” Carola concludes. “The needs of our customers and society will change over

the years and be different in three years to what they are, but our focus will still be to add as much value for our customers and society as we can. In terms of sustainability, that means that we want to be a climate neutral, circular and inclusive company. That will be our licence to grow.”

www.ns.nl

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Derby Engineering Unit

First class rail For 21 years the Derby Engineering Unit has built a name for itself, providing outstanding engineering solutions to the rail industry

T

he Derby Engineering Unit is a privately owned company that specialises in the rail industry. It has mechanical and electrical technicians that support the company’s clients, by supplying installation and modification teams to attend site and complete work to the highest standards.

At its facility based in Derby, its electrical engineering division has the ability to deliver pre-made looms, build and commission test equipment, wire consumer supplied panels, as well as produce plates in-house. Its mechanical department has the capacity to manufacture

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both fabricated and machined items in a number of diverse materials including nylon, aluminum, mild and stainless steel. It also has a joinery department that is fully experienced with interior trim and accreditation that qualifies it to handle design should its clients need a onestop shop for design, manufacture and installation.

The Derby Engineering Unit specialises in the refurbishment and updating of rolling rock, solely within the rail sector. The highly qualified and experienced engineering team provides bespoke solutions for maintaining a varied fleet of rolling stock, including services to light railways and trams. It supplies to Network Rail, which owns and operates the railway infrastructure in England, Wales and Scotland; Bombardier - the world’s leading train and plane manufacturer; East Midlands Trains, which is owned by The Stagecoach Group; Porterbrook - a specialist provider of rolling stock and equipment, South West Trains; and Knorr-Bremse - a manufacturer of safety systems for rail and commercial vehicles.

Delivering a solution for a complete fleet can be a challenge due to slight variations in the design process.

To counteract this the company offers an entirely tailored service for every stage of each project and is highly praised for offering a price package arranged at the start of each venture as Peter Albon explained in Railway Strategies in December 2013: “A lot of other companies will survey a vehicle and develop a design based on that one vehicle. What can happen is that when it comes to fitting the design to the fleet there are variations that end

Scotrail across its full 170, 380 and 158 fleets of trains and started a similar job for free Wi-Fi on Great Western Trains. “What is interesting about the Great Western project is that they combined the Wi-Fi jumper with the central door locking (CDL) central connection box from underneath the vehicle and what they now use is a single jumper that has Ethernet and CDL running through it,” Peter said in Railway Strategies in December 2013: “Over the years Great Western has had a number of issues with water ingress into the CDL terminal box that is mounted beneath the underside of the vehicle. So what we hope to achieve through intricate design and development with LPA is to remove that element of risk.” The company has also completed Wi-Fi installations for the Heathrow Express and East Midlands and South West Trains.

Derby Engineering Unit has continued to stay ahead of the competition from companies in the rail sector. It plans to continue marketing on board Wi-Fi installations and extend the service into Europe, and thanks to an innovative approach and dedication to precision engineering the company looks on track for further success.

www.derbyengineeringunit.co.uk

up costing the client money. We look at the problem to start with and offer a single quote and that’s what it is. It’s fixed price work.”

While the solutions delivered by the Derby Engineering Unit are driven by its knowledge, experience, staff and reputation, it also works closely with Interfleet, Atkins and dg8 and can draw on their knowledge when needed. The company has formed strong relationships with these subcontractors so it can offer additional services to the ones that it completes in-house, including high quality metal coatings such as powder coat, wet paint and zinc plating.

Occasionally when looking for a second opinion for the best course of engineering solutions it invites one of these strong players to get involved with the project.

Innovation and staying ahead of the game are key to the company’s growth. Wi-Fi installation reached the top of the agenda as in customer focused surveys its lack was identified as the number one concern for business commuters that benefit from using the train travel period to work. Quick to respond, the Derby Engineering Unit headed up a two-year project supplying cab refurbishment kits for Eurostar trains with new features including drink holders, seatback mirrors and free Wi-Fi. The kits were produced on site and delivered to France for engineers to install. Today the 23-year-old trains look as good as new.

The Eurostar Wi-Fi project caught the attention of other rail networks, providing the Derby Engineering Unit with great new opportunities that turned into contracts.

It completed an extensive installation programme for

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NEWS I Conferences & Exhibitions Forthcoming Conferences and Exhibitions This listing represents a selection of the events about which we have been notified. It is strongly recommended that direct contact should be made with the individual organiser responsible for each event before booking places or making travel and accommodation reservations. Cancellations and other last-minute alterations are liable to occur. The editor and publishers of RAILWAY STRATEGIES are not responsible for any loss or inconvenience suffered by readers in connection with this guide to events.

9-11 May Railtex 2017 Where: NEC, Birmingham Organiser: Mack Brooks Exhibitions Tel: 01727 814 400 Email: emma.preston@mackbrooks.co.uk Web: railtex.co.uk/ 15-17 May Global Public Transport Summit Where: Montréal, Canada Organiser: International Association of Public Transport Tel: +32 2 661 3186 Email: hicham.badran@uitp.org Web: uitpsummit.org/home 13-14 June Africa Rail Where: Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg Organiser: Terrapinn Tel: + 27 115 164 000 Email: Tarryn.Theunissen@terrapinn.com Web: www.terrapinn.com/exhibition/africa-rail 21-22 June Railway Engineering International Conference & Exhibition Where: Radisson Blu Hotel, Royal Mile, Edinburgh Organiser: Railway Engineering Tel: 0131 447 0447 Email: exhibition@railwayengineering.com Web: www.railwayengineering.com

21-22 June Rail LIVE Where: Quiton Rail Technology Centre, Wilmcote, Stratford-upon-Avon Organiser: Rail Alliance Tel: 01789 720 026 Email: Info@railalliance.co.uk Web: www.railalliance.co.uk/event/rail-live-2017

4-6 October 2017 European Transport Conference Where: Casa Convalescència, Barcelona, Spain Organiser: Association for European Transport Tel: 01564 793 552 Email: info@aetransport.org Web: aetransport.org/page/open/title/ European+Transport+Conference

22 June UK Rail Station Development and Regeneration Where: Addleshaw Goddard, London Organiser: Waterfront Conference Company Tel: 0207 067 1597 Email: conference@thewaterfront.co.uk Web: www.waterfrontconferencecompany.com/ conference-calendar

14-15 November Railway Revenue World Congress 2017 Including: World Rail Festival, Rail Customer, Rail Ticketing and Rail IT Where: Movenpic Hotel, Amsterdam Organiser: Terrapinn Tel: 02070 921 237 Email: daniel.boyle@terrapinn.com Web: www.terrapinn.com/conference/rail-revenue

27-28 June World Metrorail Congress Americas Where: The Inn at Penn, Philadelphia, PA Organiser: Terrapinn Tel: +1 646 619 1787 Email: michael.ryan@terrapinn.com Web: www.terrapinn.com/conference/metrorail-americas 3-5 October Expo Ferroviaria Where: Rho Fiera, Milan Organiser: Mack Brooks Exhibitions Tel: 01727 814 400 Email: expoferroviaria@mackbrooks.com Web: www.expoferroviaria.com/eng

21-22 November Caspian and Central Asia Rail 2017 Where: JW Marriot Absheron, Baku, Azerbaijan Organiser: Terrapinn Tel: +971 4440 2501 Email: jamie.hosie@terrapinn.com Web: www.terrapinn.com/conference/central-asia-iranrail 6-7 December 2017 Polis Conference Innovation in Transport for Sustainable Cities and Regions Where: The Egg, Brussels, Belgium Organiser: Polis Web: www.polisnetwork.eu/events2/polisconference

Institute of Mechanical Engineers Training Courses Technical training for the railway industry A listing of courses currently available from the IMechE (Unless stated otherwise, all courses are in London) 25 May Signalling overview Common railway signalling subsystems on the UK rail network 10-14 July Introduction to railway signalling technologies An overview of railway control systems, subsystems and technologies used on UK main line and metro railways 7 November Introduction to rolling stock Provides a basic understanding of the role of traction and rolling stock within the context of railway systems as a whole 8 November Traction and braking Principles of traction and braking for railway engineers

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9 November Vehicle dynamics and vehicle track interaction Understand the dynamics of railway vehicles to improve safety, comfort and asset life

16 November Vehicle authorisation, acceptance and approvals Introduction to acceptance procedures which apply across the rail network

13 November Signalling overview Common railway signalling subsystems on the UK rail network

28 November Train structural integrity Structural integrity, fire and crashworthiness systems found on today’s rail fleets

14 November Train communication and auxiliary systems New and existing systems in use on today’s rolling stock fleet

29 November Fleet maintenance - Introduction Improve your processes and fleet maintenance processes

15 November Train control and safety systems Learn of the systems used on UK fleets that provide safety and train operational control

For more information Tel: 0207 304 6920 Email: training@imeche.org Web: www.imeche.org/learning-and-development/ courses/railway

Editor Gay Sutton

editor@railwaystrategies.co.uk Sales Director Joe Woolsgrove

jwoolsgrove@schofieldpublishing.co.uk

www.railway-strategies.com

Schofield Publishing 10 Cringleford Business Centre Intwood Road Cringleford Norwich NR4 6AU

T: +44 (0) 1603 274130 F: +44 (0) 1603 274131