The Railway Industry - Winter 2022

Mark Thurston HS2 Chief Executive sets out how partnership is key to delivering Europe’s biggest infrastructure project.

Unique Very Light Rail Tram The first customers could be boarding a world-first affordable tram as early as 2025.

The official magazine of the Railway Industry Association

ANDREW HAINES Network Rail Chief Executive says: “There is going to be a challenge, but I think there are huge opportunities for rail to grow”.

WINTER 2022

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DARREN CAPLAN

helped to fuel my sense of optimism about the future of our sector and its recovery from the pandemic. And it also augurs well to see positive progress on recent rail user stats too, given the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and the latest Omicron variant.

Welcome to the first edition of The Railway Industry, which is being published to coincide with our Parliamentary Reception on 24 February, where we are looking forward to hearing from the new Rail Minister, Wendy Morton MP.

Before Omicron, UK mainline ridership levels were hitting 70% of pre-Covid levels. As I write, we don’t yet know the latest figures, but the portents, for example, from Transport for London, are positive.

Pre-Omicron, TfL were predicting a return to 82% of pre-Covid levels by this Easter; actual figures published in early February showed tube ridership back up to 76% already.

Introduction to The Railway Industry Magazine

This new magazine replaces our former quarterly RIA Updates. You will still find lots of information about what is going on at RIA, but there is also a wealth of material showcasing the vibrant railway supply industry, and keynote interviews with major rail leaders, such as Andrew Haines OBE of Network Rail and Mark Thurston of HS2 Ltd. The Railway Industry is a members’ magazine, and it is not intended to compete with all the other fantastic railway industry journals, which already serve us well. Rather it is a magazine about and for you, our members in the rail supply community, and we hope you will enjoy reading it.

The contributions contained within this first edition have certainly

It is clear that people want to get back to work, to visiting friends and family to leisure pursuits. Against this encouraging background, now is not the time to take our foot off the pedal on rail investment.

Of course, when the Government’s Integrated Rail Plan was published last November, RIA and our members - whilst supportive of individual projects contained within it - were critical of its failure to follow through on strategic plans for HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail. We still take the view that the complete benefits of HS2 will only be realised if the full scheme is built, and we will continue to make that case. That said, we do now have a clear Government plan, and we and suppliers will certainly be working with the Government to make it happen.

Here at RIA, we are now in the process of rolling out our Nations & Regions initiative, and we are looking forward to working with you in all

Gaynor Pates • Membership & Business Administration Director Katherine Anchorena • Marketing & Events Director

Max Sugarman • Public Affairs & PR Director Kate Jennings • Policy Director David Clarke • Technical and Innovation Director

We would also love to catch up with you at one of this year’s events. The RIA Innovation Conference will be held in Nottingham on 26-27 April; we will have a strong RIA presence at the Railtex/Infrarail exhibition at London Olympia on 10-11 May; the Annual Gala Dinner is set for 14 July; RIA will be at Innotrans in Berlin on 20-23 September; and our Annual Conference will be on 10-11 November.

Meanwhile, I hope The Railway Industry magazine will help convey a real sense of how innovative and forward-looking our industry currently is. There are insights from leading RIA members, such as AECOM, Costain and Porterbrook, an update on Coventry’s unique very light rail tram project, a typically informed industry overview from Roger Ford - the veteran journalist behind the celebrated Informed Sources column - and a nextgeneration view from the most recent winner of RIA’s Future Leader Award.

Do let me and the team here know what you like about our new magazine and what you think could be improved. It is, after all, your magazine.

Darren Caplan Railway Industry Association Chief Executive

Michael Burrell Editor

Neil Walker • Exports Director

RAILWAY INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION

parts of the country to hear how we can better support you. We also hope that you will come and see us in person. Our new offices have been open for nearly a year now and if you haven’t seen them yet, do come and visit.

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Mark Thurston

HS2 CHIEF URGES RAIL INDUSTRY TO WORK IN PARTNERSHIP TO DELIVER EUROPE’S BIGGEST INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT ON BUDGET AND SUSTAINABLY HS2’s Chief Executive Officer, Mark Thurston, has told The Railway Industry that the company’s suppliers have “a huge role to play” in helping to ensure that the new high-speed railway is delivered on budget.

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Mark Thurston Chief Executive Officer HS2

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e said that he had “nothing but positive things to say” about the way in which HS2’s suppliers had embraced the principle of partnership. Commending the Government for “frankly making quite a bold decision to proceed with HS2”, he said “Ultimately what the supply chain knows and must remain focussed on is that there is only so much money and this thing needs to be on budget, and it needs to be value for money. The suppliers have got a huge role to play there, and I see them, frankly, embracing that”.

HS2’s supply chain partners will play a key role in HS2 achieving net zero and a commitment to net zero will be a condition of winning work on HS2.

Thurston, who has executive responsibility for HS2’s sustainability commitments, also drew attention to the company’s Net Zero Carbon Plan. Published last month, the plan says that HS2’s supply chain partners will play a key role in HS2 achieving net zero and a commitment to net zero will be a condition of winning work on HS2. The company will work with its partners this year to set new science-based targets and will require supply chain partners to have their own science-based targets in place by 2025.

Another area where he is looking to the industry for support is in promoting the benefits of HS2. He said that he would “encourage the suppliers, as they have done thus far, to continue to give voice to the value of the programme to them and their organisations, because this is a significant investment by the Government”. Thurston urged the industry not to “lose sight of this being a national endeavour. It is on a scale and an ambition which is once in a lifetime for the industry. So let us seize that opportunity. Let us take pride in what this project means, not just to the sector, but to the wider economy”.

Commenting on December’s award of a £2 billion contract to a Hitachi/Alstom joint venture to build Britain’s next generation of highspeed trains, he said “Hitachi and Alstom won because they made the most compelling proposition.

These are trains that bring together the expertise and capability of the European high-speed network and that of the Japanese Shinkansen WWW.RIAGB.ORG.UK

bullet trains. They are going to be very fast, quiet and energy efficient.

As a customer experience we are expecting it to be state-of-the-art.

I think they will redefine train travel in this country”. Capable of speeds of up to 225 mph, the trains will be designed and built in Derby and County Durham, supporting 2,500 jobs across the UK. Reflecting on the Government’s Integrated Rail Plan, published last November and including a decision not to proceed with a high-speed rail line from the East Midlands to Leeds, Thurston said “The good thing is that we have clear direction and the Government have come out and said what they do and don’t want to do.

So that I think is positive”.

“We are very focussed on the route to Manchester, and we are well on the way. The Eastern leg to East Midlands Parkway is the next piece of new infrastructure that we are starting to talk to the Department for Transport about and we need to work with Government and others

about how we get high-speed trains into Leeds from the East Midlands.

So, I still think there is a lot to play for”. He said it had always been envisaged that many of the trains that HS2 is buying would operate on a mix of new, dedicated high-speed lines and existing Network Rail infrastructure.

Asked about the biggest risks facing HS2, Thurston cites four: the safety of the workforce, Covid, violent protests and securing local authority consents. “They would probably be my four big ones, as I look into this year and the next 24 months”.

On workforce safety, he said that going into this year the workforce is 20,000 strong and growing; it would peak in the next two years.

He said that, although statistically HS2’s safety performance is good, construction by its nature carries an inherent risk, so that is “a risk that I am very exercised about. Because of the scale of the project and the sheer number of people working on it, the safety of the workforce is, and

7 will remain, a top priority. We need to really dial up our efforts on safety, well-being and the health of the workforce”.

Regarding Covid, he said “Clearly we are not out of Covid yet. It has had some impact on the economy broadly and we are not immune to that. So, we are live to those impacts in terms of workforce absence and all of the issues around distancing and other things that might impact on our productivity and site safety”.

On violent protests, he said “We have seen and continue to see some wellorganised and, in some cases, violent protester action, which has been very disruptive to the work on the ground and exposed some of our security and production workforce

to conditions that are, frankly, unacceptable. So, we are concerned about that as a key risk. It tends to be quite pocketed and targeted, but, nevertheless, when it plays out it can be expensive to the taxpayer to deal with the disruption”.

Finally, he mentioned the need to secure local authority consents for work on the ground. “As we go into this year” he said “we have got good momentum, coming off the back of last year, but we have got a hell of a lot of consents to get through. The Act requires us to consult on local issues and give local authorities the opportunity to opine on either the type of asset, or the nature of our work or things like lorry routes and we are having some challenges

around getting all the consents approved”.

Thurston was speaking to The Railway Industry on the day that HS2 announced the discovery in Buckinghamshire of an extremely rare wooden figure, dating from the early Roman era and carved from a single piece of wood. The find is the latest from the country’s biggest-ever archaeological dig on sites along the entire high-speed route. “HS2 is many things” said Thurston “including the biggest archaeological project we have ever seen in the UK. We are revealing uncharted territory in the history of this country, which is breaking new ground”.

“The workforce is 20,000 strong and growing. Its safety is, and will remain, a top priority”.

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Andrew Haines Chief Executive Network Rail

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Andrew Haines

NETWORK RAIL BOSS FORECASTS TOUGH TIME FROM THE TREASURY AND APPEALS TO THE SUPPLY CHAIN TO HELP MAKE THE CASE FOR RAIL INVESTMENT Network Rail Chief Executive, Andrew Haines, has told The Railway Industry that he expects “a particularly tough time from the Treasury” when the Government considers rail investment plans for the five years from 2024.

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e urged the rail supply community to show that it is delivering value for money and to dial down criticisms of the Integrated Rail Plan.

Haines said “My message is, very simply, that, regardless of what you think about the IRP and the extent to which it fulfilled all your aspirations, a lot of the rhetoric around it was just completely disproportionate. It is a vast scheme financially, in terms of impact and long term in terms of opportunity for the supply chain. The rhetoric that was making it sound so dreadful I thought was completely unjustified.

We had lost any sense of balance in the conversation around it and the thing that disturbed me was that this was coming from so many different sources”. They included business leaders, railway journalists and “you do hear it sometimes from the supply chain”.

Explaining why he thought it was important for him to make these comments, Haines said “If Treasury and other people who are sceptical about investing in the railway see that when you do make unprecedented levels of commitment to investment in the railway and what actually happens is it becomes a sustained negative story, I don’t see how that helps us make the case for rail.

We have absolutely got to make the case and I think we can make a very compelling case in many circumstances”.

Looking ahead to Network Rail’s delivery plan for the CP7 funding period (2024 to 2029), Haines said that, apart from the challenging fiscal context, its most distinctive features would be its emphasis on environmental sustainability and on a whole-system approach.

When Haines arrived at Network Rail in 2018, plans for CP6 (2019 to 2024) were being finalised, but environmental sustainability was

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“the dog that really hadn’t barked at that stage. There were the beginnings of work on resilience and adaption, but there was nothing really on ensuring that environmental sustainability was at the heart of how we run Network Rail. So, I think that is absolutely going to be a key issue for us to embed in CP7”.

The other key area would be “a whole-system approach, which is to say, if you look at the railway as a system, and not just as a set of infrastructure assets, are there more cost-effective ways of delivering services? Are there better value for money solutions? Can we do more for less? Can we take out some of the complexity that fragmentation has inspired?”

Haines’ own view is that “the scope for savings is immense. It is almost every dimension in how we introduce innovation – how we design, how we procure, how we manage and allocate risk and how we work as a system. I am a huge believer that we can deliver material savings through each of those elements, and we are already starting to see some of that in some of our work around Project SPEED, where we are able to partner with train operators because incentives are different, but we are barely scratching the surface thus far”.

He emphasised that for success to be achieved, Network Rail would itself have to change. Discussing early involvement and engagement with contractors, he said “We have got to listen to them. There is no

point in involving them early and then dismissing their ideas because they don’t conform to a prescribed set of requirements. That’s the thing that we are really beginning to poke at now”.

Asked if he thought that Network Rail has “a listening culture”, Haines replied “Not historically, but I think what we are trying to demonstrate through Project SPEED is that it is something we recognise as essential.

I think we have been too arrogant and too cautious historically. Our default mode historically has been ‘We know what is right. You deliver it and the price will be what the price is’. Now that has led to cost escalation and to reputational damage, not least for Network Rail, and it has led to poor delivery. I think we are demonstrating that we are actually approaching that fundamentally differently, but you don’t change those things overnight”.

Giving his views on the prospects for a recovery in passenger numbers post-pandemic, Haines said “We are not yet in a stable environment. It’s wrong to try and call it too soon, but I think you would need to be a wild optimist to suggest that commuting is going to go back to its pre-Covid patterns and potentially business as well. I think that what we will see is strong leisure growth. We will see something more like normality in commuting and business, but I think it will be quite significantly off where we were previously and that means we have got to be a railway that is more welcoming to people. In one sense, the traffic impact of Covid

We are not yet in a stable environment.

It’s wrong to try and call it too soon, but I think you would need to be a wild optimist to suggest that commuting is going to go back to its pre-Covid patterns and potentially business as well.

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Rail safety is genuinely the first thing I think of in the morning and the last thing I think of when I go to bed at night because it is so fundamental to what we do.

can be a gift to us in waking us from our slumbers. There is going to be a challenge, but I think there are huge opportunities for rail to grow in other areas. We just need to wake up to those realities”.

As the interview drew to a close, Haines was keen to discuss rail safety, which he described as “genuinely the first thing I think of in the morning and the last thing I think of when I go to bed at night because it is so fundamental to what we do”. He said he had been “very

transparent about that fact that I think our safety culture in the sector is much more fragile than we have been prepared to admit and all too often we rely on luck”.

He concluded “the thing that I have really learned is that so much of the language of safety of leaders in the organisation goes nowhere near the practitioners out on the ground. One of the things I am personally very committed to doing is making sure that I connect with the people who are actually doing

the activity out on the ground and really encouraging other leaders to do the same thing. We need to meet them on their territory. We need to be genuinely listening and we need to be prepared to act. Frankly we have to regain their trust to understand what is really going on. In too many safety initiatives that I see it’s a classic case of all fur coat and no underwear. That includes Network Rail, but it also includes suppliers as well”.

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Mary Grant

PRIVATE SECTOR IS INVESTING TO BUILD ON RAIL SUCCESS SAYS PORTERBROOK CEO Porterbrook Chief Executive Officer, Mary Grant, believes the railway is refocusing to grow passenger numbers and revenues as well as supporting the Government’s rail reform agenda.

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he former operator turned asset owner boss told The Railway Industry that the private sector is investing to support the Government’s ambitions for rail.

Grant said: “A longer-term plan will allow the private sector to invest strategically and help the rail supply chain unlock its full capacity and capability.”

Grant highlighted the twin challenges for Government of managing the railway through the pandemic and undertaking a substantial reform agenda. She said: “Government has given an WWW.RIAGB.ORG.UK

extraordinary amount of support to the railway which I commend and applaud. But it is at a crossroads at the moment of considering cost and revenue challenges while restructuring the industry. So therefore, some of the longer-term decisions that we would benefit from as an industry are clearly going through that re-evaluation at the centre”.

transition over the next decade.

She emphasised that “ensuring that programme of work is there for rail suppliers will only grow skills in the industry and that is both a challenge and a potential weakness.

We are going to become even more sophisticated in our technology and our delivery. We need to be able to encourage and bring on that skill into the sector.”

Grant, who is also a Board member of the National Skills Academy for Rail, highlighted the potential opportunities to grow skills and jobs through the green and digital

She added “If there is a pipeline of work then businesses can feel confident about recruiting, can go out and get their apprenticeships and their graduates and can upskill.

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Mary Grant Chief Executive Officer Porterbrook

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14 Uncertainty makes it difficult to know how to upskill or how to build the required number of skills into your business if you think you are going to have to lay people off”.

Porterbrook was established in 1994 as part of the privatisation of British Rail and was one of the three original Rolling Stock Companies. Today its 4,000 trains account for about a quarter of the UK rail network’s rolling stock. The company has invested £3bn over the last 25 years and is looking to invest a further £1bn in UK rail in the coming years. In addition, Porterbrook invests over £150m a year in its existing assets which support over 100 UK-based companies and around 7,000 jobs.

the world’s first electric and hydropowered bi-modal rolling stock was on display at Glasgow Central station last November for the duration of the COP26 conference. Grant said the general reaction had been “amazement at the technology and what it means for heavy rail”.

Among “a fantastic array of visitors” were Prince Charles and the Prime

Minister. Recalling their visits, Grant said: “I said to Prince Charles – in fact I even said it to the PM – if we don’t build it and we keep talking about it we are never going to make it a reality. That is why, with the support of the shareholder, we said ‘Let’s just get on and do this’. It was a COP26 supporting UK Government agenda and it showcased what could be done”.

Grant joined the company in 2017, but says that the business is also at a crossroads. “We are at a defining point” she said “where we really have to show our value as a longterm partner to the industry. Or else what is the point of having somebody like Porterbrook? It is incumbent on me and the team over the coming years to articulate very clearly and show very well the value that we genuinely bring to this industry. That is a really important thing that we must never lose sight of”.

Grant highlighted a series of initiatives that Porterbrook has taken over recent years that illustrate the extent to which it has evolved beyond its original role as simply a rolling stock leasing company. These include the development of the UK’s first hydrogen-powered train, the launch of the UK’s first hybrid battery-diesel train and taking over the Long Marston Rail Innovation Centre in Warwickshire.

HydroFLEX has been developed over the last two years with a number of supply chain and academic partners. With more than £8m invested in the project, WWW.RIAGB.ORG.UK

Mary Grant with Prince Charles visiting HydroFLEX at Glasgow Central station during the COP26 conference.

15 But she emphasised that the challenge for the future is less about the train itself and more about the supporting infrastructure.

Porterbrook is discussing this issue with both industry and the Government. She said the key question is “how do we provide that infrastructure so that hydrogen can be a credible solution for a predominantly electrified network where it doesn’t make economic sense to electrify”.

With around £7m invested so far, HybridFLEX has been developed in partnership with Rolls-Royce in response to the Government’s challenge of removing diesel-only trains from the UK rail network by 2040. Billed as “quieter, cleaner, faster”, the UK’s first hybrid batterydiesel train was unveiled by Chiltern Railways, previously an all-diesel operator, last July. Grant says that it has performed well. It came

The challenge for the future is less about the train itself and more about the supporting infrastructure. into service earlier this month.

Now Porterbrook is working with Chiltern on how the technology can be rolled out across the wider fleet. The Porterbrook CEO sees the rapid introduction of HybridFLEX as another example of the value and the benefit that the private sector can bring to UK rail.

Last June Porterbrook took over the Long Marston Rail Innovation Centre, near Stratford-uponAvon in Warwickshire – a move described by Grant as “again an unusual departure for a rolling stock company to have”. The 135-acre

site includes 12 miles of secure sidings and a 2-mile circular test track. Porterbrook has now started work on an extensive investment programme to upgrade and modernise the facilities at Long Marston, including a digital centre that will focus on predictive maintenance. Grant said: “I am very excited for Long Marston. We have got a lot of spend earmarked for this year on upgrading facilities.

It will allow us to further support our SME and supply chain partners and will play a key part in supporting reliability and performance”.

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Roger Ford Journalist

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Roger Ford

RAIL INDUSTRY FACING UNPRECEDENTED UNCERTAINTY IN 2022 SAYS VETERAN INDUSTRY JOURNALIST Roger Ford has been writing about the rail industry in Modern Railways for 46 years but says he “cannot recall a time when there were so many unknowns flying around the industry”.

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peaking to The Railway Industry, Ford said the sector faces “a period of unprecedented doubt” and went on to list a whole series of questions that don’t currently have answers: “What is going to happen to ridership? Is the Treasury going to keep on funding indefinitely if ridership doesn’t come back? What is going to happen to train services?

Are we going to have to cut back services? Are we going to scrap off-lease trains or keep them for good times? Where are the orders

coming from for the signalling suppliers? What is happening on electrification?”

Ford said that both the WilliamsShapps plan and the Integrated Rail Plan lack detail. Asked for his view on Williams-Shapps, he replied “not very favourable. It is full of wonderful ideas, but absolutely no guidance on how to get there. The more I have gone into it, the more I found that there were so many unknowns.

Because of the Treasury’s insistence on private sector involvement, it maintains the split between wheel

and rail. There is big uncertainty over the role of the passenger service contracts which will actually run the trains. When they talk about fares reform, they don’t have the first idea how they are going to do it”.

On the Integrated Rail Plan, Ford said: “Last year the Government was saying we are backing full HS2, with the Prime Minister’s endorsement.

Now they are saying ‘no, we are going to cut it back and it will give you a better service sooner’. I don’t think that it will. The proposals for the East Coast Mainline are full of

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18 journey times which are a fantasy”.

By contrast, Ford has some warm words for the Government’s role in keeping the trains running during the pandemic. He said the Treasury had been “forking out £500m to £600m a reporting period to keep the railway going and I thought that the Department of Transport acted very quickly and efficiently to keep the railway running”.

However, he said the downside of train operator indebtedness to the Government was that Ministers were micro-managing many of the operators on cost and “if you want to add a new train service it has to be signed off by the Treasury”. LNER, which is in a different contractual position, had been free to boost services and, as a result, are already back to about 80% of pre-pandemic passenger numbers. Looking ahead, Ford said he doesn’t expect business travel to get back to the level it was before and thinks it could take until the end of 2023 to be completely clear about the extent to which prepandemic ridership numbers will return.

On the decarbonisation agenda, Ford rates the industry’s response as “excellent. I think the industry is ahead of the game on this”.

Noting that rail freight is the best way of getting lorries off the roads, he said “It makes the Treasury’s unwillingness to actually blow a whistle and say ‘Yes, go on’, I can understand that the Treasury was frightened off by the massive time and cost over-runs on Great Western, but the RIA work on reducing electrification costs and work elsewhere by Network Rail and other people show that we can do electrification efficiently. It is a really strong point of the railway. The case is rock solid. The Government is just ignoring it”.

Asked for his views on the industry’s most effective communicators, Ford praises Noel Dolphin (Head WWW.RIAGB.ORG.UK

of UK projects at Furrer + Frey) for doing “a particularly good job on promoting electrification”.

Other companies that he mentions for their effective communications are Siemens (‘they have always been good”) and Bombardier (“always helpful”). He singles out Andrew Haines at Network Rail as “very good at communicating”, pointing to Haines’ regular media briefings where “he is quite transparent. You can ask him anything”.

Then he mentions RIA and says, “we have been very fortunate with RIA in having chief executives who do communicate extremely well”.

His overall perspective on RIA is that “It is as good as it has ever been. The annual conference with high-level speakers is very much what you need in the 21st century. Its export work has always been very good, and its Government relations are as good as they could be. I have a high regard for RIA, but I am obviously biased because I have been dealing with it in one way or another for most of my working life”.

Asked to look back on a lifetime of reporting on the rail industry, Ford recalls that “before I joined the industry when I qualified as an engineer, I had no interest in railways at all. I was more interested in cars and aeroplanes. I came into railways practically by chance. I knew nothing about trains”. Ford’s big break came in 1976 when he was invited to spend two days a week writing the news pages for Modern Railways, and he jokes that “it all went downhill from there”.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of his Modern Railways

column that became known as “Informed Sources”, deriving its name from anonymous sources within the rail industry who helped him to “make public information that shouldn’t necessarily be secret or was being covered up”. Ford remembers that when it first started, in the days of British Rail, “there were huge witch hunts – ‘Who told Roger Ford this?’ – then people gradually realised that they would never find out. I have never let anybody down”.

He says the column works because “it is a matter of trust. People who wanted to provide information realised that they were safe in giving it and it was a good way of getting it out. At the same time the readers knew that what I said, ‘according to informed sources’, was accurate. It is a two-way trust between me and the reader and me and the sources.

It has made me very unpopular with some people, but it is a personal column. It is what interests me. It draws on a sort of informal network that has grown over 40 years”.

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On the decarbonisation agenda, Ford rates the The Railway Industry Magazine Winter 2022 industry’s response as “excellent. I think the industry is ahead of the game on this”.

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Fi Westcough

INDUSTRY RISING STAR SAYS RAIL INDUSTRY SHOULD DO MORE TO ENCOURAGE YOUNG PEOPLE AND WOMEN The young engineering graduate who is the most recent winner of RIA’s Future Leader Award has criticised “resistance to change” in the rail industry.

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i Westcough, a graduate engineer at Atkins Rail Systems, told The Railway Industry that the rail sector risks facing a “massive gap” in skills if it fails to find ways to recruit more young people and to encourage women to pursue a career in the sector.

Passionate about engaging and inspiring the next generation of engineers, Fi is National Vice Chair of Young Rail Professionals (YRP).

Since she became involved in the YRP, membership has increased by 800, and in the period since being appointed Vice Chair, three new

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corporate members have joined, securing much-needed funds.

in shaping the rail industry for future generations”.

YRP’s National Chair, George Chilcott, praised Fi for her “exceptional ability to both dive into detail and deliver tasks to a high standard, which goes well beyond her years.

I know she has the backing of thousands of our young members who look up to future leaders like Fi and are inspired to follow in her footsteps”.

Westcough herself says that she fell into engineering and the rail industry almost by accident, inspired by the example of her older brother, David. It was only when she arrived at the University of Sheffield to study Mechanical Engineering and found that fewer than one in ten of her fellow-students were female that she realised that engineering is still an uncommon career choice for women.

Her colleagues at Atkins commend her “infectious drive, commitment and tenacity” and describe her as “an inspiring role model, leading the way

Beset by doubts about that choice and considering going into accountancy, she was hugely

21 reassured by a student placement at SNC-Lavalin, where she had a female mentor and role model who helped her to understand that she was wellsuited to engineering and that it was a profession that could offer many career opportunities. That positive experience had led her to “question how many other girls may have been persuaded away from the profession if they perhaps were not as lucky as me”.

After university she returned to Atkins, a member of the SNCLavalin group, where she has had opportunities to work with both Bombardier and Transport for London. Her Atkins Team Leader, Tom Flannery, noted that she “picks up things quickly and is not afraid to ask questions or challenge to improve her and others’ technical knowledge”.

Asked what advice she would give to new entrants to the industry, Westcough said “Don’t be afraid to reach out to others for advice.

Generally, I have found that people are generous with their time, and willing to offer help and guidance wherever they can. That is the biggest piece of advice I would give, because for me, it has often led to either new opportunities, or a new way of approaching challenges. I always try to give back my time or advice for others in return where possible”.

is something that frustrates me. For example, I think other transportationbased industries are quicker on the uptake of newer technologies and as a result, we risk losing talented professionals. This is something the rail industry needs to focus on, and the upcoming transition to GBR and the Williams-Shapps review provides

a great opportunity for us to rethink how we do things, instead of always doing as we have done before. We need to foster a growth mindset and learning culture, rather than blame culture. That way, we are more likely to innovate, adapt and meet our collective industry vision for the future”.

Don’t be afraid to reach out to others for advice. Generally, I have found that people are generous with their time, and willing to offer help and guidance wherever they can.

Fi Westcough Graduate Engineer Atkins Rail Systems

Westcough said it was important to get young people into rail “because we have a massive gap in the rail industry and if we don’t start to recruit and fill that then we are not going to have enough people within the rail industry. I think it is important to show young people why rail matters and why it is a fulfilling career as well. The rail industry provides such a wide variety of roles and that was a major selling point for me”.

Asked what she dislikes about the industry, she replied “Something I dislike is resistance to change and how slow-paced change can be. That THE RAILWAY INDUSTRY MAGAZINE WINTER 2022

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Coventry’s Very Light Rail

UNIQUE VERY LIGHT RAIL TRAM COULD BE OPERATING IN COVENTRY BY 2025 The first customers could be boarding a world-first affordable very light rail tram in Coventry, based on pioneering track technology, as early as 2025.

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oventry City Councillor, Jim O’Boyle, who has championed the project since its inception in 2016, told The Railway Industry that the first city centre route could be operating by 2025 or 2026 and has the potential to make sustainable urban mass transit possible and affordable in smaller towns and cities across the UK. Traditional light rail schemes cost anywhere between £25m and £100m per km to install, but the revolutionary track technology that Coventry has unveiled should enable the cost to be cut to as little as £10m per km. The low installation cost is because the track can be installed by digging just 30cm below the road service, largely avoiding the costly rerouting of water, gas, electricity and telecoms pipes and wires that often result from deeper excavations.

The easy-to-install novel track form has been designed by engineers

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at WMG, the University of Warwick, in partnership with the French engineering company, Ingerop and its UK subsidiary, Rendel. The 50-passenger, zero emission, batterypowered light weight shuttle vehicles that will operate on the track have been developed in partnership with Stratford-on-Avon based TDI International and assembled by Coventry-based, NP Aerospace.

Cllr O’Boyle, who is the City Council’s Cabinet Member for Jobs, Regeneration and Climate Change, said that the next two years will be spent testing the vehicle, both on a test track at the Dudley Innovation Centre and on a demonstration track within the city centre. The demonstration track testing has been authorised on the basis that it will not involve fare-paying passengers.

The city has been without a tram network since the Coventry Blitz in November 1940. Asked when he

expects the first paying passengers to be boarding the new tram, Cllr O’Boyle said “I believe we can do this in 2025 or no later than 2026 and we are pushing to do this as fast as possible”. The first 7km route will run from Coventry Railway Station to University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire via the city centre.

Work has already begun on identifying the second and third routes, based on an assessment of which will give the best value for money. Ultimately, the ambition will be to identify a route that will link Coventry to the new HS2 Interchange Station at Solihull, close to Birmingham Airport and the National Exhibition Centre. Trains from the station will take just 38 minutes to reach London Euston.

Reflecting on the significance of the project that he hopes will be named COVLAR (Coventry Very Light and Rapid Rail), O’Boyle emphasised its

23 Left to righ: Stuart Croft, Vice Chancellor, WMG Margot James, Executive Chair, WMG and Jim O’Boyle, Coventry City Councillor

The first city centre route could be operating by 2025 or 2026 and has the potential to make sustainable urban mass transit possible and affordable in smaller towns and cities across the UK. THE RAILWAY INDUSTRY MAGAZINE WINTER 2022

24 role in helping the city to meet its climate change objectives. He said “We are going to get people out of their cars. It is all-electric, not only in terms of the electric-powered battery that is going to drive the vehicles, but also, we are aiming to make sure that any of the energy that charges them comes directly from renewable sources. That is a really important objective in our journey towards carbon zero as a city”.

Stressing the project’s unique status, O’Boyle said “We are really excited about this because we are developing something that is unique to Coventry. I am really proud of what we are doing, which is something that no other local authority has done before. We are challenging the industry as well as ourselves. I am creating new jobs for the people of this city, and we are developing an industry that has great opportunities. I have spoken to politicians from other parts of the country, and they can see the potential and the affordability of it”.

The Coventry VLR project has crossparty support both in Coventry and across the West Midlands. A local poll suggested that 90% of the public are in favour of a light rail system coming to Coventry.

O’Boyle said “I think it will be a really attractive option. It is no bigger than a relatively small bus and it will fit nicely with the streetscape.

There are no unsightly overhead wires. The noise will be virtually zero because it is electric, and we are aiming to do away with the squeal of wheels going around corners. That is a really important aspect of the work that is going on now. It will be inter-operable with other forms of transport as well. I think people will buy into it wholesale”.

Asked about potential risks to the successful completion of VLR in Coventry, O’Boyle cites two – funding and legislation. So far funding has come from the City Council, WWW.RIAGB.ORG.UK

The Coventry VLR project has crossparty support both in Coventry and across the West Midlands.

the Local Enterprise Partnership and the West Midlands Combined Authority. Looking ahead, O’Boyle

acknowledged that lack of funding could be a risk, though he added “I don’t think that will be a problem. It will be difficult, but we will get there.

Once we have proved the concept, I think other people will come out of the woodwork. We have already had some great interest from private industry about potentially investing here. When the confidence is there, it will happen”.

O’Boyle said that in his view the legislative framework was “mad”, since local authorities already have the power to take potentially more

25 far-reaching transport decisions, while a light rail scheme must go through a two-to-three-year legislative process. The Coventry VLR vehicles have been designed to be autonomous (capable of operating without a driver), but existing legislation requires a driver. O’Boyle confirmed that “the ambition is to be autonomous. We are in the vanguard of autonomous vehicle trials here in Coventry. The technology is coming on in leaps and bounds, but legislation has got to catch up. Until that happens, we

will have a driver”.

The VLR project has been led at officer level by Coventry City Council’s Senior Programme Manager, Nicola Small, described

by O’Boyle as “a diamond”. She joined the council in 2017 just after the initial funding had been put in place. Describing her job as “quite challenging”, she, nevertheless, says, “when I think where we were back in 2017 and where we are now, we have made phenomenal progress. To have an opportunity in

my career to work on something that has the potential to revolutionise urban mass transit, I can’t complain really, can I?”

Nicola Small Senior Programme Manager Coventry City Council

The VLR project has been led at officer level by Coventry City Council’s Senior Programme Manager, Nicola Small, described

by O’Boyle as “a diamond”.

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27

Costain and AECOM

LEADING RAIL SUPPLY COMPANIES COMMIT TO “BUILDING BACK BETTER, FAIRER AND GREENER” Two of the UK’s leading rail suppliers have told The Railway Industry that they have transformed the way they operate to put environmental, social and governance issues at the heart of their businesses.

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ivil engineering giants, Costain and AECOM who count Network Rail and HS2 among their most important UK clients, say that a post-pandemic commitment to “building back better, fairer and greener” is both the right thing to do and a business imperative, as clients, investors and employees increasingly look for evidence that companies are prioritising ESG issues.

Sue Kershaw, Managing Director, Transportation at Costain and Mark Southwell, Managing Director, Civils Infrastructure

for the UK and Ireland at AECOM, both RIA Board members, gave a joint interview to emphasise their alignment on bringing an ESG approach to their construction, design and consultancy work for the UK rail industry.

Kershaw said “Delivering better, fairer, greener is critical post-Brexit and post-Covid and the only way we can make it work is by collaborating across traditional silos. The principle of delivering value faster was enshrined in Project SPEED, which

Kershaw and Southwell are equally enthusiastic about Project SPEED (standing for Swift, Pragmatic and Efficient Enhancement Delivery), jointly developed by the Department for Transport and Network Rail.

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28 has rightly created real momentum behind ESG. It’s also made infrastructure attractive to investors; the banks are saying we want to invest in you, in ESG, and that is a real dial-changer”.

Southwell said “AECOM are underpinning their strategy with ESG. Investors are looking for organisations where ESG is part of their strategy, part of their fundamental DNA. ESG, which is embedding sustainable development and resilience across all the work we do, improving social outcomes and enhancing our governance, is part of our core business model. It is the right thing to do, but our investors also expect us to do it. It is not just the end product. It is the delivery that is important. What we want to focus on is the design and build and how we deliver a better, greener solution”.

Emphasising also the importance of a company’s commitment to an ESG-based approach in attracting the brightest young people, Southwell said “We have got 400 new graduates that have joined us in the last 18 months and the number one question they ask is about the environment. A lot of the workforce of the future are measuring which companies they join by their principles. If you don’t have the credentials they will go and work elsewhere. At this precise time people are in short supply, so you need to demonstrate that you are a company that is interested in this and that it matters to you. 30 years’ ago, those questions wouldn’t have been asked”.

Giving an example of the social value that Costain has helped to create, Kershaw referenced the company’s work with Skanska on the HS2 enabling works. Together they created career opportunities for young people and helped the homeless to find accommodation and work on the HS2 project.

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Sue Kershaw Managing Director Transportation Costain

Delivering better, fairer, greener is critical post-Brexit and post-Covid and the only way we can make it work is by collaborating across traditional silos.

Independent social value experts estimated that they delivered the equivalent of £115m of value across seven London boroughs.

On climate change and resilience, she described how Costain is working alongside climate experts and supporting Network Rail with its response to the potential impact of weather events on the operation of the rail network and with the development of digital tools and systems to inform enhanced decision-making. Kershaw said, “It all comes down to weather resilience and this reduces the risk to passengers and the network and that to me is going to be of great benefit”.

AECOM helped Network Rail to develop its decarbonisation plan and now has a number of people working in the Network Rail regions to help them take the plan and

turn it into reality. The focus is not on electrification schemes but on Network Rail’s real estate and depots. Southwell said he had been impressed by Andrew Haines’ commitment to the plan. “It is core to what they are trying to achieve.

They are not just paying lip service to it. They are serious” says Southwell.

Kershaw and Southwell are equally enthusiastic about Project SPEED (standing for Swift, Pragmatic and Efficient Enhancement Delivery), jointly developed by the Department for Transport and Network Rail.

Kershaw said it had caused “barriers to be broken and people to really look at things together”. She gave the example of the Gatwick Track Layout Enhancements which has followed these principles and is designed to tackle congestion and speed up services into London from one of the key UK transport

29 gateways and the wider South Coast region.

As she put it, “We drew on our 155+ years of delivering complex programmes in the UK to provide strategic advice on the construction and operation of the Gatwick Track Layout Enhancements. By thinking differently and bringing all partners together, we have significantly reduced the time and cost of the programme. Working in this way is much more rewarding than everyone sitting in their own offices and coming up with something in isolation. Grow it together, grow it organically and you get fantastic solutions”.

Southwell has a similar story to tell about AECOM’s work as part of the integrated programme management team (via the Perfect Circle joint venture) for the Northumberland line, with SLC Rail,

Network Rail and Northumberland County Council. The project is the biggest third-party funded rail upgrade in the UK directly developed and promoted by a local authority. Reversing a 1964 Beeching decision, the completion of the project will see passenger traffic return to 18 miles of railway line between Ashington and Newcastle, via Blyth.

Using Project SPEED principles, Southwell says “the objective here is to get this project in quickly and more efficiently and everyone

starts with that. Traditionally we do design and then we do construction, but with SPEED there has been very much more overlap. We have been designing packages and approving them as we go along, so that a contractor can go off and build, rather than wait to get the whole thing together. The risk is manageable, and the benefits are significant. We have seen significant reduction in time. It is really working well, and I think it has got to be the way forward”.

We have got 400 new graduates that have joined us in the last 18 months and the number one question they ask is about the environment.

Mark Southwell Managing Director Civils Infrastructure for the UK and Ireland at AECOM

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Industry News RIA sets out Unlocking Innovation 2022 Programme

Wendy Morton appointed Rail Minister Wendy Morton, MP for AldridgeBrownhills, was appointed Rail Minister in December 2021 following Chris Heaton-Harris moving to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Morton was promoted to Minister of State in a February reshuffle that also saw Heaton-Harris become Chief Whip.

HS2 launches fourth Innovation Accelerator Programme HS2 Ltd has launched its fourth Innovation Accelerator programme.

Working with the Connected Places Catapult, HS2 Ltd is seeking five innovative SMEs to develop digital solutions to supply chain management, risk management and decision making and information exchange and insights.

Great British Railways (GBR) Advisory Panel meets for the first time The Advisory Panel for the Great British Railways Transition Team, chaired by Keith Williams, met for the first time on Wednesday 19 January 2022. The Panel has been appointed to oversee, steer and advise the transition team responsible for creating Great British Railways.

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RIA has set out its 2022 agenda for the Unlocking Innovation Programme, its initiative to promote innovative thinking within the sector.

The theme for the Programme this year is “Getting Ready for Great British Railways”, setting out how the sector will become more innovative in the new industry structure.

Government calls for transport leaders to help ‘super-charge’ skills The Government is calling for industry leaders and the wider public to help find and train the next generation of transport leaders in a 12-week consultation launched on 7 February.

Transport Labour Market & Skills Call for Views & Ideas

Transport Select Committee hears evidence from regional leaders on Integrated Rail Plan As part of their inquiry into the Integrated Rail Plan, the House of Commons Transport Select Committee heard from Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, and Transport for the North’s Chief Executive, Martin Tugwell, and Chairman, Lord McLoughlin on 2 February. During the session Burnham claimed the North

of England risks being left with “second-best trains for 200 years”.

Search for GBR Headquarters begins Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has launched a competition to find the new location for GBR’s headquarters, calling for expressions of interest for locations “with a rich railway history that are strongly linked to the network”.

Network Rail report outlines risk to UK’s railway from climate change A new report, the third looking at the issue, has been published by Network Rail setting out work done from 2016 to 2021 on climate change and resilience, and setting out what actions need to be undertaken over the next five years. The report is published in partnership with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).

Government publishes report on benefits of Brexit The Government has published ‘The Benefits of Brexit: How the UK is taking advantage of leaving the EU’. Part of the publication includes a section on ‘infrastructure and levelling up’, which has a Rail Chapter on Page 72 along with other chapters on different aspects of transport.

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New report on East Coast Digital Programme highlights way forward for major projects A new report by RIA has highlighted how the programme to deliver digital signalling on the East Coast Mainline could set the path for the delivery of major projects under Great British Railways. The report shares six key lessons which industry can learn for similar complex projects.

Levelling Up White Paper recognises role of transport The Government’s Levelling Up White Paper has recognised the role transport investment will play in supporting economic growth across the UK. It says the Government has already set out plans for “five-year consolidated transport settlements amounting to £5.7bn in eight city regions outside London.”

World Congress of Railway Research launches agenda

Whole Industry Strategic Plan call for evidence closes

The World Congress of Railway Research (WCRR) taking place in Birmingham from 6 to 10 June has launched its agenda, setting out how it will focus on supporting the global rail sector to bounce back from the impacts of Coronavirus through increased research.

GBR’s call for evidence on the ‘Whole Industry Strategic Plan’, the 30-year strategy for the railway sector, closed on 4 February. The Plan will focus on the five long-term objectives of: meeting customers’ needs; delivering financial sustainability; contributing to long-term economic growth; levelling up and connectivity; and delivering environmental sustainability.

New Scottish Transport Minister sets intention to bring ScotRail into public ownership Scottish Transport Minister Jenny Gilruth has confirmed in a statement to the Scottish Parliament that Scotland’s rail services will be publicly run from 1 April 2022. Gilruth also said she wanted to kick-start a National Conversation in creating “an affordable, sustainable, customer focused rail passenger service in Scotland in a post pandemic world”.

Pre-Omicron timetables returning A number of operators have announced increases in services and returns to their pre-Omicron restrictions timetables, including Hull Trains and LNER returning to full services and ScotRail, South Western Railways and Merseyrail increasing services.

HS2 lays bill in Parliament for Western Leg The HS2 Bill to extend the highspeed line from Crewe to Manchester has been laid before Parliament. The Western Leg is set to create 17,500 direct jobs across the North.

Transport for London agree two week extension on funding deal with Government

UK launches consultation on trade with Israel

On 4 February, Transport for London agreed a two-week extension to negotiations, in order to agree a funding deal with Government for the transport authority going forward. At the time of writing, no deal has yet been agreed.

The Department for International Trade has published a Call for Input on a proposed trade deal with Israel.

The 8-week consultation will seek views of business and the public ahead of negotiations starting later this year.

Lord Burns to lead north Wales transport review A new Transport Commission that will develop a pipeline of transport schemes for North Wales has been announced by the Welsh Deputy Minister for Climate Change, Lee Waters. It will be led by Lord Terry Burns, former Permanent Secretary of the UK Treasury.

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RIA WELCOMES NEW MEMBERS Q4 2021 - Q1 2022

AJMS Inspired and driven by a shared desire to place the focus on making the clients needs their goals, Austin, John, Mark and Simon came together to form AJMS Consultants as a platform to achieve this desire. AJMS Consultants believe their company size, structure, knowledge, experience, the professionalism of the core team and their supply chain partners offers a unique range of services and deliverables such that are able to compliment their client’s team and represent them to the highest standards.

ConsultCarr After spending over 30 years in industry, Richard Carr has a level of knowledge envied by many. Now, he shares his knowledge and passion by supporting others. Expertise in Strategy, Marketing and Stakeholder Engagement is particularly strong, giving you an “in-house” expert that will help your business to make the connections to the right people in the right companies.

Cummins Generator Technologies Established in 1904, Cummins Generator Technologies manufactures alternators from 7.5-11,200kVA under the world-class STAMFORD® and AvK® brands for use in a wide range of arduous applications including rail.

EnPro Group EnPro Group provides bespoke, project managed solutions for rail industry clients across the UK. The company was incorporated in 2017, with the head office located in Wolverhampton.

JPL Diversified JPL Diversified help develop rail strategies and plans, developing the necessary program, delivery and sprint plans.

KONUX Konux combines Machine Learning algorithms and IoT to deliver softwareas-a-service solutions for operation, monitoring, and maintenance process automation.

Leeps Consulting LEEPS is an experienced provider of technical electrification and high voltage network training and professional development courses.

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33 L&MS Rail L&MS Rail is the Rail arm of Lancashire Midlands Stations Limited, focusing upon the day to day operation of train station ticket offices and other associated train station services.

Project Control Tools Project Control Tools reduce project spend and increase efficiencies through their services and software.

Rail Diary Rail Diary provides a digital site reporting application creating powerful data-led insights and structured commercial analysis to unlock productivity opportunities in the rail sector.

RazorSecure RazorSecure offers products and services to enhance railway cyber security, by protecting networks and monitoring key systems. We deliver this through our flexible approach to cyber security, designed specifically for rolling stock, signalling and infrastructure systems.

Ridge & Partners LLP Ridge & Partners are a multidiscipline property and construction consultancy.

Story Contracting Story Contracting are a multi-disciplinary civil engineering infrastructure company who believe in doing it right.

They pride themselves on building strong relationships with their clients, supply chain members and local communities to ensure they deliver excellence through a collaborative approach.

Tilt Consulting Tilt Consulting are strategic infrastructure consultants creating partnerships across industry to realise benefits to society.

The Pulse Business The Pulse Business designs and delivers Pulse surveys to produce a collection of fresh perspectives from all types of audiences.

Trainline Trainline is the world’s leading independent rail and coach travel platform.

They sell rail and coach tickets to millions of travellers worldwide, enabling them to seamlessly search, book and manage their journeys all in one place via their highly rated website and mobile app.

Wakatipu Consulting Ltd WCL are a multidisciplinary management consultancy, with a wealth of knowledge and experience in integrating and delivering complex projects.

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RIA Nations & Regions

BRINGING RIA CLOSER TO YOU As transport decision-making becomes more devolved, businesses need to be engaging even closer to where those decisions are being made.

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n September 2021, RIA announced the creation of its new Nations & Regions network, aimed at creating new resources across the UK to better support RIA members where they work.

The new network Before the network was launched, WWW.RIAGB.ORG.UK

RIA was already delivering a considerable amount of activity across the UK’s Nations & Regions, most notably launching rail manifestos for Scotland, Wales, London, the Midlands and the North ahead of the May devolved elections last year. RIA’s political, policy, technical and exports activities were

also spread across the country, with between 30-40% of events over the past few years taking place outside the capital.

Yet, given the growing shift to devolved decision-making, it has been increasingly clear that RIA needs to better reflect the growing

35 importance nations and regions have. A few years ago Network Rail announced their reorganisation to five new regions, with increasing freedom over commercial and procurement decisions.

We’ve seen the establishment of Combined Mayoral Authorities across the UK as well as Sub National Transport Bodies, such as Transport for the North, Midlands Connect, Transport for the South East and Transport East, to name a few. And in the devolved nations – Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – we have devolved governments, parliaments and transport bodies setting their own paths.

So RIA is seeking to go further in engaging with these crucial organisations – and feedback from members since we launched the initiative has been very positive.

With Leadership Groups being set up in Nations & Regions across

RIA’s Devolved Nations & Regions & RIA Team Leads • RIA Scotland David Clarke, Technical Director • RIA North David Clarke, Technical Director, with Richard Carr, Business Engagement Manager • RIA Midlands & Eastern Max Sugarman, Public Affairs & PR Director • RIA Wales & Western Kate Jennings, Policy Director • RIA London & South Kate Jennings, Policy Director • RIA Northern Ireland Neil Walker, Exports Director

RIA’s political, policy, technical and exports activities were also spread across the country, with between 3040% of events over the past few years taking place outside the capital. the Network too, there is lots of opportunity for members to inform the direction of what we do.

NRIL – a model for change A model for the roll out of the Nations & Regions network was evident in RIA’s support for Northern Rail Industry Leaders (NRIL), a group managed by RIA to support the rail supply community in the North of England.

NRIL has developed a strong presence over the past few years, with the publication of its Building the North’s New Railways White Paper and the delivery of several reports under the Delivering Value, Decarbonisation, Digitalisation, Innovation and Skills & People workstreams. Led by an Executive made up of RIA members, NRIL was working to represent the industry to key policy makers in the region, including the Mayors, Network Rail, HS2 and Transport for the North. NRIL’s Annual Conference in September 2021 saw nearly 100 people visit Schneider Electric’s site in Leeds to hear from the likes of Rob McIntosh, Network Rail Eastern Region Managing Director, Martin Tugwell, Chief Executive of Transport for the North and South Yorkshire Mayor Tracey Brabin, who provided a supportive video message.

How the N&R network will work The RIA Nations & Regions Network will be rolled out over the coming years. Following the NRIL model, there will be a Leadership Group, led by a Chair and Vice Chair, formed of RIA members informing the work we do in each area. And additional N&R

resources will be made available and rolled out over time for dedicated Business Engagement Managers – we’ve already seen Richard Carr appointed the Business Engagement Manager for RIA North (building on the work of NRIL) – and also for public affairs / lobbying support.

What can RIA members expect to see? Over the coming years, you’ll see an increased and enhanced offering not just in London, but in all the other nations and regions of the UK, providing more intelligence, events and policy and public affairs capability. There will be opportunities for members to steer our thinking through the Leadership Groups, and greater resources to influence and affect policy across the UK. Of course, RIA will still be working at the UK-wide level too, maintaining our work with decision-makers in Westminster. RIA members will be able to engage with the activities of all the Nation & Region areas, wherever they’re based, meaning if you’re based in Scotland, you’ll still be able to attend a London & South event and vice versa. Ultimately, as part of a nation-wide trade body, this means you can explore opportunities in all parts of the country, no matter where you are.

If you would like to get involved, please email ria@riagb.org.uk or call 020 7201 0777 / 0 300 303 6417.

And you can directly contact the RIA team at firstname.lastname@riagb. org.uk (see Box). We look forward to working closer to you, in the nations and regions where you are based or where your business is active or seeking to work.

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INSIGHTS from RIA Directors Max Sugarman, Public Affairs & PR Director

WHATEVER YOUR VIEW OF THE INTEGRATED RAIL PLAN, THE FOCUS IN 2022 NEEDS TO BE ON GETTING WORK DONE The Integrated Rail Plan wasn’t exactly met with universal acclaim when it was launched in December. Much of the reaction from the Metro Mayors, particularly in the North of England, was critical of the £96bn plan to improve rail infrastructure in the UK. Whilst some welcomed the new money the Plan set out for rail, others were critical of the cutting of HS2’s Eastern Leg, and the descoping of Northern Powerhouse Rail.

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t is clear that the debate around the IRP isn’t going away. Parliament’s Transport Committee have launched an inquiry into the Plan, to investigate how it will be delivered and whether it provides the best investment for the UK’s railway system. The evidence sessions will likely give many of the IRP’s

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detractors a public forum to once again critique it, and raise any regional concerns they have.

Meanwhile, DfT Ministers have been increasingly and more robustly defending the strategy in the media and have begun linking the IRP to upgrades being delivered now, such as improvements to Leeds station.

Rail supply’s role For the rail supply sector, the focus needs to be on ensuring we can deliver effectively, to time and to budget. Whilst RIA felt the IRP took a rather piecemeal approach to rail investment, and we would urge future plans to be more strategic in their approach, we should welcome

37 that the plan contains around £35 billion of new funding, much of which is for projects the rail industry has long been calling for.

The electrification of the Midland Mainline and Transpennine Route are hardly to be sniffed at.

That’s why, in RIA’s response to the Transport Committee’s inquiry, we highlight the need to get the plan delivered quickly, with projects brought forward in the next few years. Our submission sets out the urgency of now publishing the Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline (RNEP), the list of rail upgrades planned over this Control Period.

The RNEP has long been kept under wraps, with the last update published over 800 days ago, even though Ministers have previously committed to its publication annually. The RNEP’s publication has become even more urgent given many IRP projects will move into it. And without the RNEP, rail suppliers have little visibility of how far in the decision-making process a project is.

do, the case for relooking at these projects will become more obvious.

Continuing to push for projects Of course, that is not to say we shouldn’t continue to push for the full HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail routes to be delivered in future, alongside the Midlands Rail Hub project, which the IRP says will get further business case funding.

Passenger numbers may have reduced following the restrictions put in place following the Omicron variant, but we at RIA are optimistic that passenger numbers will return in the coming years. And as they

Similarly, whilst further electrification in the IRP is welcome, we should be clear that more needs to be done if we are to decarbonise our railway network, through both electrification and hydrogen and battery trains.

In fact, the IRP sets out around 750 single track kilometres (stk) of electrification, but this falls far short of the 450 stk each year that is required to hit the legally binding Net Zero target in 2050. Similarly, after showcasing various hydrogen and battery trains at COP26 last year, it is clear the rail industry has the capabilities to decarbonise, but now needs a commitment to deliver.

Conclusion As the IRP comes under further scrutiny by the Transport Committee, the sector will need to ensure it has its say, both on how it can be improved and on how we can make a success of delivery. By doing so, we ensure we are best supporting the UK’s railways and economic recovery, whatever your views of the Plan.

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INSIGHTS from RIA Directors Kate Jennings Policy Director

THE GREAT BRITISH RAILWAYS RESTRUCTURE NEEDS TO HAVE THE SUPPLY CHAIN AT ITS HEART This month saw the call for evidence close for the Whole Industry Strategic Plan, the 30-year strategy for the railway network. The development of the WISP heralds the new railway restructure, as the industry shifts from its current model to a new Great British Railways set up.

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IA submitted a response focused on the need for the WISP to place the rail supply chain at its heart. Given we account for a significant amount of rail spend, are a key component in delivering improvements to the network and generate a considerable economic return to the UK, it makes clear sense that we be a key part of the new structure.

As GBR develops, we have set our five tests for the success of GBR, informed by our discussion with our Members. These are:

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• No hiatus: 50% of spend is with the private sector – and there cannot be a pause in this work

• Ambition: Leave a positive legacy, including safety, exports, decarbonisation and the economy

• Transparency: Be clear and open with rail suppliers, allow them to deliver

Getting the Partnership right

• Partnership: Bring in the private sector, as an open and accessible client • Productivity: Ensure the rail industry is able to thrive – financial sustainability will ensure rail delivers for UK plc

The key one for me is partnership and getting the culture right from the start. The Williams Shapps Plan for Rail says it will unleash the potential of the private sector. It says it will support private finance and funding, but it doesn’t say how it will do this.

When rail was privatised, the assumption was that competition

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would align incentives and drive efficiency and success. This failed to recognise that rail will always be a partnership between the public and private sectors. Great British Railway plans to internalise profit and loss will help align incentives and unlock the potential for new business models. The challenge now will be to ensure that GBR does not become an inefficient body given the monopoly power it will have over the rail system.

our generation, from zero carbon transport and biodiversity net gain to the economic recovery, with the potential to help revitalise economic growth across the country.

Transparency and engagement This makes the need for strategic relationships, transparency and engagement with the private sector more important than ever. The supply chain (including owning groups and freight companies) has global and cross sectoral expertise and includes asset owners and financiers, inward investors and innovators. Our SMEs are agile and at the cutting edge of innovation, and the industry as a whole is ready to get more new products and services onto the railway. The new UK test

track capability being proposed, including the new Global Centre for Excellence in Wales, will do even more to support rail infrastructure and rolling stock, and integrated transport solutions.

With the right environment, the industry has the capability to grow skills, manufacturing and delivery capacity across the UK and to expand exports too. Rail is central to some of the key agendas of

Government policy on procurement, including the Construction Playbook and the Sourcing Playbook gets this right by focussing on outcomes, recognising the need for private companies to be incentivised in the right way. HS2 is currently getting a lot of this right too from their approach to supporting SMEs and growing UK content to contracting for gain share to deliver efficiency. The GBR team need to learn from this best practice and work with the private sector to unleash the potential of the railways.

As the creation of GBR gets further underway, we should not forget the powerful offer the rail supply chain has, in providing innovation, jobs, investment and economic growth across the country. The supply chain needs to be at the heart of the new model.

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INSIGHTS from RIA Directors David Clarke Technical Director

CHANGING TIMES FOR RAIL SIGNALLING? The UK mainline signalling market is challenging for all parties. For Network Rail and the Government, signalling is seen as expensive and the current backlog of signalling renewals is simply not affordable at current costs. With 66% of UK signalling equipment needing to be renewed in the next 15 years, it is a sizeable challenge the industry faces!

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hy are we in this situation? For suppliers, the level of activity in the last 10 years has been too low and too inconsistent to sustain resources and support investment in people and technology. In the UK we’ve been renewing signalling at a rate that would suggest we believe signalling has a 60-year life, when in fact it is more like 30 to 40 years, and so the backlog of work has steadily become worse.

We’re now in the position where there is a confidence gap between clients and suppliers, with clients finding signalling unaffordable and suppliers don’t believe the planned volumes because history shows that over a 15 year period, less than half the forecast volumes were actually procured.

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through RIA have worked collaboratively under the auspices of the Rail Sector Deal to see how we can deliver digital signalling affordably and consistently.

How do we break out of this vicious circle?

Recognising these challenges, the industry, client and suppliers

We have developed a pipeline – the Long Term Deployment Plan – to set out how to address the signalling backlog and identified what the affordable rate is to deliver it. The conclusion from the Plan is that the unit cost of signalling needs to be c£190,000 rather than the present c£315,000 per unit. Since the Plan’s publication, work has started to see how we achieve this level of cost, with a strategy published in April 2020 to completely change design and delivery processes, facilitated by ‘synthetic environments’, a switch to digital in-cab signalling and Network Rail’s R&D Programme (titled T190+).

From a supplier perspective, however,

41 the most significant efficiency drivers are confidence in larger volumes. If the sector has certainty that future work will be delivered, existing companies will be able to invest and new companies will enter the market, creating a more vibrant commercial environment. Ultimately, this will increase productivity and efficiency too. This new approach is being facilitated by the proposed frameworks for Control Period 7 (the next Network Rail funding cycle) and is being tested by the East Coast Digital Programme which, if anything, goes beyond these principles in its ambition for positive change.

What is the East Coast Digital Programme (ECDP) and why is it so important?

ECDP is the first major digital signalling programme in the UK and is pioneering a very different and promising approach. RIA have recently completed a ‘learning legacy’ report titled Signalling Change to identify the early lessons from this ambitious programme. The aim is that ECDP will be a catalyst for a route and network roll out of digital signalling.

Why is ECDP so different? Our report found that it is utilising a new unique programme structure and contractual partnership with suppliers to better facilitate the delivery of the benefits of digital signalling.

Despite the hugely complex task of migrating to the European Train Control System (ETCS) on the East Coast Main Line, the ECDP team has established a lean structure that is very different from previous structures on signalling projects in the UK. Traditional members of the supply chain, companies including Atkins and Siemens, are working as ‘partners’ in the Programme with significant responsibility to shape

its delivery. The end users, including signallers, maintainers and a range of operators, are heavily involved, ensuring the outcomes will remain focused on delivering for the passengers and diversity of rail users.

The partnership model also enables ‘open innovation’ and iterations to the Programme being made as it progresses. This pioneering approach has already yielded a wide range of benefits, enabling the team to respond to challenges and develop more efficient ways of working and delivery.

Yet it is not without its challenges, whether that is the steep learning curve partners have faced, the complexity of the task and the longterm ambition to ensure the learning on the Programme can translate to others in the industry. There are however some very clear lessons emerging.

What next?

The UK now has a model to follow alongside the technical and cultural knowhow, to enable it to affordably address the signalling renewal backlog. Critically, this will require taking the lessons of ECDP and applying them at scale. This will need suppliers to invest significantly in people, capability and technology to efficiently deliver whilst Network Rail and the Government will need to confidently commit to the required volumes. This means providing a commitment to cab-fitment in 2022, committed volumes for CP7 and for suppliers to make matching commitments as part of the new partnership frameworks.

Ultimately, it will require mutual confidence. But ECDP shows we can do it, if we have the will to.

The Six Key Takeaways of RIA’s Signalling Change Report and an open operating model are vital.

RIA has identified six key takeaways from the ECDP for future complex programmes: 1. A different approach is needed. This is a transformational industry change programme enabled by technology, and therefore needs to behave like an integrated business bringing all parts together.

2. User-centricity is paramount.

Working with the operating community and their understanding of the railway is central to realising user benefits.

3. Success equals a lean multi-organisational delivery partnership with a shared vision. Jointly defined principles, values, critical success factors

4. Unleash the power of the supply chain. Supplier and client should be responsible for the areas they are best equipped to deliver, and bring the supplier close to the user.

5. This is not easy. There is a steep learning curve for all parties involved when implementing new ways of working.

6. Communicate, communicate, communicate. If this is to be the default model for future complex programmes, the benefits and lessons need to be shared and embedded across the industry.

Find out more: www.riagb.org. uk/SignallingChange

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INSIGHTS from RIA Directors

Neil Walker Exports Director

IS 2022 THE YEAR TO START EXPORTING? Our railway sector is a major UK export, selling £600m a year in goods and services abroad. However, I often wonder why more companies in the rail sector don’t export more, some of whom have never considered other nations as potential markets.

Why Export?

With the Government focused on negotiating new Free Trade Agreements and the Department for International Trade seeking to support industries like rail, maybe 2022 is the year companies should start looking abroad.

is vibrant around the world, especially now as governments look to stimulate economic growth, reduce carbon footprints and set sustainability targets. For the UK businesses, an active exporting agenda can also help reduce risk and mitigate fluctuations in our own domestic economy.

Group, the joint industry and Government body, set out in the Rail Sector Deal the objective of doubling rail exports by 2025. Last year the Government set out a new Exports Strategy and is now busy negotiating new Free Trade Agreements to make exporting easier.

Rail plays a huge part in the global economy. Rail development

Exports is clearly a key priority for Government too. The Rail Supply

But what is in it for an individual business? Aside from reducing

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43 risk by spreading your activity across multiple markets, successful exporting can lead to more profitability, higher sales, and brand expansion. It can ultimately protect your business from economic fluctuations at home.

How to get started Getting the most out of your RIA membership could mean getting export support from the RIA team who are happy to talk to new and existing exporting members. We often work to support industry initiatives, such as the recently expanded overseas supplier reference scheme, which allows suppliers of major clients like Network Rail, HS2 and TfL, to get references they can use internationally.

RIA also has an Exports Leadership Group (RELG), made up of existing RIA exporters. The Group has been established with the purpose to provide advice and direction to RIA in related matters, which is turn helps us help you.

The RIA team has lots of existing market information too. Since the start of the pandemic, RIA has run numerous international business development webinars, in partnership with DIT, highlighting the key opportunities in many markets, often with guest presenters.

These events are recorded, and together with the presentations we hold, can provide a quality recent snapshot into one of many rail markets we have covered.

Export opportunities in 2022 The best way to get started is to join us overseas. We run an active exports programme and welcome any RIA member on these. Joining a UK pavilion at a trade show is a great way to get started – it allows you to explore the respective market and let’s you see what the country’s rail requirements are. We currently

Free Trade Agreements and Member Exporting Case Studies RIA Members will have seen the various DIT press releases linked to the UK/Australian Free Trade Agreement, which featured 10 RIA members exporting successes.

RIA worked closely with DIT and our related members on these case studies, and it’s great to see rail promoted in this way, which helps portray the importance of the sector and rail exports, as well as celebrating your successes.

With more FTAs being discussed, we would be grateful if Members could provide more exporting successes to the RIA team.

or negotiations, include India, New Zealand, Canada, Mexico, the Gulf Council Member States along with the UK’s application to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), aimed at strengthening trade links with the 11 countries in the group, representing 500 million people.

The CPTPP nations include Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam.

To submit a case study in any of the above nations, please email exports@riagb.org.uk

Other FTAs currently in various stages of discussion

have planned UK Pavilions at a number of major rail exhibitions, including Middle East Rail (UAE), Rail Solutions Asia (Malaysia) and InnoTrans (Germany), along with a rail trade mission in the Autumn to Australia and New Zealand.

Other activity we expect to arrange includes more market visits and international webinars, and we hope to launch a webinar on the Moroccan rail market soon, with more webinars to come.

So whether it’s just a chat, signposting to related help, including overseas markets or finance support from UK Export Finance, please get in contact with the team at RIA and see how we can support you to export more.

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INSIGHTS from RIA Directors Gaynor Pates Membership & Business Administration Director

10 THINGS YOU CAN DO TO MAXIMISE RIA MEMBERSHIP RIA, in one guise or another, has been around for 147 years and during all that time our focus has remained on promoting the value of UK rail businesses, large and small. Our focus has always been on making sure members have an environment in which they can grow and thrive. And we have loads of membership initiatives, events and opportunities for companies to grasp.

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embership of RIA is about being an active participant, ensuring your voice is heard, and raising visibility of the UK rail supply chain’s needs and ambitions. If you invest your time and resources to play an active role in RIA, we know you and your business will reap the greatest benefits.

So how do you, as a member, make the most of RIA? Here we set out a few easy ways you can make the most out of your membership.

1. Introduce yourself to us!

The RIA team is always on hand to help and support members. If you’ve recently joined a RIA member company, get in touch! We’re always happy to catch up with members,

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whether they are new to RIA or have been in membership several years.

2. Sign up to mailings.

RIA issues five mailings a week to our members: The RIA Mail on Monday, listing headline and general industry updates; TechTalk on Tuesday, a more technicallyfocused email; Exports Mail on Wednesday, covering international opportunities and tenders; and on Friday, we issue our Events Mail, covering upcoming meetings and conferences, and our RIA Politic, a short look back on the rail-related political goings-on. Members can sign up to as many of these as they want. With them, you’ll have all you need to know to succeed in rail!

3. Take a look at our Members Area.

Create an online account on our website (riagb.org.uk) and get to exploring the Member Services area. It has special member-only briefings, discounts, partnership offers and sets out all the benefits of membership. Plus, it contains our Tenders, Competitions and Pipelines page, with a list of where to go to find new work opportunities.

4. Join an event.

We host around 50 events a year, covering policy issues, technical updates, export opportunities, and much more. We have our two flagship events – the RIA Innovation and Annual conferences, plus a host of seminars, briefings, roundtables and other events, many of which are

45 exclusive to members. There are also opportunities to speak at the events.

9. Get involved in a Committee.

RIA has a number of Committees to ensure we get input from members, such as our Export Leadership Group, SME Group and the Leadership Groups of RIA’s Nations & Regions.

Members are welcome to get involved and help steer our position on a range of issues.

5. Upload a news story.

Our Member News site allows RIA members to upload press releases about their recent business wins and successes. All stories go onto the website and are included in our RIA Mail to Members on Monday, as well as shared on our Twitter and Linkedin pages.

10. Feed into a policy document.

6. Book a meeting room.

RIA’s offices opened last year and offer a host of meeting rooms in the heart of Westminster, London.

We have rooms for meetings of all sizes, all which have screens and internet connectivity so guests can join online. RIA Members can enjoy preferential rates when booking too.

7. Participate in our Rail Fellowship Programme.

If you’ve ever wanted a politician to visit your site, then it’s worth considering signing up for the Rail Fellowship Programme, RIA’s initiative to showcase the rail

supply sector to politicians across the UK. We’ve had more than 30 politicians visit over the past few years, including Transport Select Committee chairs and Rail Ministers.

8. Sponsor an event.

For members who wish to market themselves to the industry, many of our events and initiatives are open to sponsorship, allowing you to place yourself at the heart of an issue or topic.

We publish a wide range of reports, consultation responses and publications to influence Government, clients and key stakeholders. We share these documents with members before publication so they can feed in, and ensure we’re representing the sector as best as we possibly can. We’re always keen to hear your thoughts.

If you want to find out more about any of these opportunities, simply email members@riagb.org.uk or call 020 7201 0777. Make 2022 the year you do even more with RIA!

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INSIGHTS from RIA Directors Katherine Anchorena Marketing & Events Director

THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A MORE IMPORTANT TIME TO DISCUSS INNOVATION IN RAIL – AND RIA’S INNOVATION CONFERENCE IS THE PLACE TO DO IT. RIA’s Innovation Conference is one of our major flagship events, focused on bringing rail innovators, clients and stakeholders together to solve some of the industry’s most pressing challenges.

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or two days in Nottingham, over 26 and 27 April, the rail industry comes together to explore how we deliver a more effective railway. The conferences have built an impressive track record over the last decade; they have become key diary dates for innovators in the UK railway

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industry, in both the supply chain and in client and government organisations, offering a mix of information, networking and interaction to make innovation happen. We are particularly proud that our Innovation Conference has won the Trade Association Forum’s Best Conference Award in 2018 and

MEMCOM’s Best Membership Event of the Year in 2020!

‘Getting Ready for Great British Railways’ This year the RIA Innovation Conference will explore the theme of “Getting Ready for Great British Railways”, exploring just what

47 on-point and consistent, not feeling ‘forced’ at all.”

the major industry restructure, currently underway, will mean for rail businesses. We’ll have a look at how the new GBR organisation can ensure it promotes innovative thinking and provides an open and accessible approach to rail businesses looking to get new products and services onto the railway.

Similarly, Sam Stephens, Director at TBAT Innovation said it was “well organised, top speakers and excellent networking. An opportunity to meet innovative SMEs as well as key players in the OEMs and Tier 1 networks. We got 15 really good leads which I am now following up – looking forward to the next RIA event!”

The Conference will look at topics like innovation funding, bringing innovations to market, overcoming the barriers to innovation, enabling radical innovation, whole system innovation and skills and the culture of continuous learning.

We already have a great lineup of speakers, with more to be confirmed shortly. We’ll hear from Keith Williams, Chair of the Williams Review, on what role innovation will play in the new industry structure.

We’ll hear from Robert Ampomah, Chief Technology Officer at Network Rail, Thomas Ableman, Director of Innovation at Transport for London, Howard Mitchell, Head of Innovation at HS2 Ltd and Sarah Sharples, Chief Scientific Advisor at the Department of Transport.

The conference programme will also include workshops to allow delegates to influence thinking on innovation strategies including the Control Period 7 funding settlement for Network Rail and the Rail Technical Strategy.

Make sure you’re there!

dedicated Network Rail Research and Development Showcase to promote the emerging outcomes from NR’s £245m R&D Programme.

It will include demonstrations of all its major projects and how they are to be deployed across their routes and regions.

What attendees say Attendees from past Innovation Conferences have highlighted just how valuable it has been to them.

Ben Blackwall, Solution Architect at Capgemini, a Conference Sponsor in 2021, told us: “It felt like great value for money and its was good to see so many influential people talking about innovation. The agenda was

The RIA Innovation Conference provides a unique opportunity for engagement between RIA Members and invited representatives from the wider rail industry, as well as from academia and innovation bodies. Regular participants include Network Rail, London Underground, HS2, Department for Transport, Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, Office of Rail and Road, Train Operating Companies, Rail Delivery Group, Rail Safety and Standards Board, UKTram, UK Rail Research & Innovation Network, Transport Systems Catapult, and Innovate UK. Key speakers from within and beyond the industry address important themes surrounding innovation to provoke and inspire.

To find out more and register, go to www.riagb.org.uk/RIC2022

The Exhibition Of course, the Conference isn’t just about the speakers. This year we’ll have the biggest exhibition space in the history of RIA’s Innovation Conferences with more than 35 industry innovators present. These will include clients and supply chain companies, like Network Rail, Furrer+Frey, SatSense, GBR Rail, Unipart Rail, Park Signalling and many more.

This year the event will also host a

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