RailStaff December 2018

DECEMBER 2018 | ISSUE 253

+

PLUS NEWS PEOPLE INTERVIEWS HEALTH & SAFETY EVENTS SUMMITS COMPANY FOCUS TRAINING CAREERS

EXTRAORDINARY ACHIEVEMENTS

EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE RAILSTAFF.UK

3

26

CONTENTS DECEMBER 2018 | ISSUE 253

LIFE IN THE FAST LANE | 18

Project manager Gavin Johnson talks about his experience on the race track.

TRACK SAFETY | 22

Colin Wheeler looks at the recent track worker fatality at Stoats Nest Junction, as well as the RAIB's report into a train collision at Waterloo.

A SPELLBINDING NIGHT | 26

18

Read about the extraordinary achievements that led to 20 finalists being crowned winners at the RailStaff Awards.

22

NEW APPROACHES TO PROCUREMENT FOR CP6 | 54

A report on the recent Rail Procurement Roadshow looks to the changes and new opportunities for the next control period.

END OF BOOM AND BUST | 58

RIA chief executive Darren Caplan believes greater certainty for the industry could alleviate the skills gap.

54

58

S

T H G I L T O P

56 LANS c|utive P IG B ND exe ANDSilitAy targets and new H N E E GR us sustainab ss. w Expre ro Ambitio at Heath tments appoin

FAST TRACKERS | 60

60

James Richards, Network Rail's engineering capability manager, encourages employers to run 'experience of industry' programmes.

Staff

RAILSTAFF DECEMBER 2018

NEWS

5

Contact us: Publisher:

Paul O’Connor

Editor:

Stewart Thorpe

Production and design:

Adam O’Connor

Matthew Stokes

Track Safety:

Colin Wheeler

Event Sales:

Jolene Price

Advertising:

Asif Ahmed

Craig Smith

Keith Hopper

Contact Email Addresses News: news@rail-media.com Pictures: pictures@rail-media.com Adverts: adverts@rail-media.com Subscriptions: manda@rail-media.com Contact Details

Get in touch

RailStaff Publications, Rail Media House, Samson Road, Coalville, Leicestershire, LE67 3FP.

Interviewing winners at the RailStaff Awards is my profession's equivalent of speed dating. Time is precious, you cut out the small talk and dive straight into the serious questions (How old are you?

What motivates you? Where do you see yourself in five years' time?) and hope to find someone interesting. Except, in every case, the winners, and many of the runnerups for that matter, are of course quite extraordinary people.

Fax: 01530 810 344 Web: www.railstaff.uk Email: hello@rail-media.com Printed by PCP Ltd. RailStaff is published by RailStaff Publications Limited A Rail Media Publication

®

© All rights reserved. No part of this magazine can be reproduced in any form without the prior written permission of the copyright owners.

From acts of bravery straight out of Hollywood, overcoming adversity and a dedication to delivering a better railway for passengers, as far as finding great stories goes, it's a match made in heaven.

When you factor in that it recognises truly unsung heroes and provides station staff, © iStockphoto.com

Tel: 01530 816 444

charity fundraisers and graduates with their moment in the limelight, t's easy to understand why the RailStaff Awards is our favourite night of the year, and why I couldn't think of a better place to start my role as this magazine's new editor.

Working with the production team, former editor Marc Johnson carved out an identity for RailStaff as a title that cuts through the noise to champion the industry and shout about successes that otherwise wouldn't get heard not that it means glossing over failures.

By far the stories I most enjoy explore the lives and work of rail staff from across the spectrum, and it's more of these - of which the Awards oozes - that I hope to capture, but I need your help.

These stories are often overlooked to focus on trains, track and technology, but it's these stories that this magazine thrives on and it’s these people that are this industry’s greatest asset.

I'm talking about the volunteer filmmakers who are recording traditional forms of signalling before they're gone for good, a project manager who finished first in a Porsche driving championship and the man who's overcome a traumatic childhood to become a mental health champion.

We want to continue to create magazines that reflect our readership and cover the issues that matter most. We don't have a monopoly on good ideas and we want you to get in touch with us. There's a long wait until we can 'speed date' at the RailStaff Awards again.

It leaves me with one thing to say: on behalf of all of us at RailStaff, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a safe and happy new year! stewart@rail-media.com

FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF | @RAIL_STAFF | RAILSTAFF.UK

6

NEWS

RAILSTAFF DECEMBER 2018

Siemens Mobility has finally signed a £1.5 billion contract with London Underground for new Piccadilly line trains.

Confirmation comes after Transport for London (TfL) announced its intention to award the deal to Siemens in June. Other bids were received by Alstom and a Bombardier-Hitachi joint venture, which had launched a legal challenge against the decision.

The initial order is for 94 trains and the supply of spares and whole life technical support. It has been awarded with the expectation that Siemens will also build trains for the Bakerloo, Central and Waterloo & City lines.

Dubbed the ‘Inspiro London’, the new rolling stock will replace the 1970s-built Piccadilly line fleet - which is “old, increasingly unreliable and expensive to

Siemens signs £1.5bn Tube train deal maintain” according to TfL - from 2024.

By the end of 2026, these trains will enable increased frequencies from 24 to 27 trains-per-hour during peak times.

The contract award is a significant step in Siemens’ plans to build a new train factory in Goole.

St Pancras' scented tree St Pancras station has unveiled a 43ft scented Christmas tree with more than 1,800 decorations.

A floral scent from one of Tiffany & Co’s fragrances will diffuse from the tree at intervals each day, creating a “unique, immersive, sensorial experience for holiday shoppers” around the station’s concourse.

In 2017, the centrepiece of St Pancras station’s festive display was a 47ft tree interlaced with 15,000 flowers, which took more than 1,000 man hours to assemble. St Pancras has previously unveiled Christmas trees made entirely of stuffed toys and also Lego bricks.

Madrid, Álava and... Fife Talgo has unveiled plans to build a train factory in Fife, Scotland, should it secure a major order.

The Spanish manufacturer is one of five shortlisted bidders for HS2’s £2.75 billion contract to build at least 54 trains. It also has plans to export trains for “emerging overseas markets” such as the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Ireland from the 70,000 sq m site.

The potential factory will sit on the site of Longannet power station (pictured below) and was chosen because of its good connectivity by sea, rail and road, local supply of skilled labour and support from local partners.

Should plans get the green light, the factory will take 18 months to construct and will employ 1,000 workers once it is operational.

Production will see Talgo attempt to source components from the UK rather than assemble kits of parts from overseas, although a small number of © Wikimedia

RAILSTAFF.UK | @RAIL_STAFF | FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF

‘pre-production’ trains could be built in Spain whilst the factory is established. The Longannet site will also take best practice from Talgo’s other two existing factories in Las Matas, Madrid, and Rivabellosa, Álava, Spain.

Talgo undertook an 18-month search for a preferred site, assessing and preselecting sites in locations such as Leeds, St Helens and Mostyn.

Announcing the plans on November 14, Talgo president Carlos de Palacio said it had been a difficult decision because “the quality has been so high in so many places”.

He added: “However, our plans do not end in Scotland. Linked to our ‘all Britain’ strategy, we intend to create opportunity and harness skills across the UK. “Talgo’s aim is to establish true UK manufacturing – rather than assembling from parts made elsewhere.”

In addition, Talgo has announced plans to develop an innovation centre in Chesterfield to develop its ‘all Britain’ strategy.

RAILSTAFF DECEMBER 2018

NEWS

7

First major CP6 contracts let

Story Contracting and AmcoGiffen have secured the first major contracts from Network Rail for CP6.

The news comes after the ORR published its final determination, confirming £35 billion of funding for rail maintenance and renewals.

Story Contracting, which has recently welcomed its 700th employee, has acquired ‘Lot 2’, which is valued at £135 million and covers renewals and enhancements work in Scotland. AmcoGiffen has secured ‘Lot 3’ to deliver work on the London North East route valued at £190 million. The framework will complete a range of projects, this includes the route-wide replacement and refurbishment of structures across and station improvement work.

The remaining and most significant work bank in the Scotland and North East (SNE) renewals and enhancements framework, ‘Lot 1’, will be announced at a later date and is valued at a further £320 million.

As well as the renewals and enhancements framework, SNE will also name its two geotechnical framework partners who will share £147 million of work by the end of 2018.

SNE regional director Kris Kinnear said "Our CP6 contracts provide suppliers with substantial work banks and the opportunity to be part of delivering essential improvements that will help shape the future of Britain’s rail network.

“Significant five-year contracts not only benefit our key supply chain partners, but the

thousands of companies who work for them too, providing them with the surety they need to invest in their people, innovation and value for money.”

Story Scotland director John MacArthur agreed it will provide security to its supply chain and said the award win reflects the "collaborative working relationships" it has built with Network Rail.

He added: "The award also supports our growth plans in Scotland and our vision to provide a highly professional turn-key service to the construction industry, where we deliver rail and civils infrastructure with our in-house labour resource."

AmcoGiffen managing director Andries Liebenberg said: "AmcoGiffen’s engineering and project management expertise, coupled with our detailed regional knowledge, means we are ideally placed to support all stakeholders.

"Delivering added social value in the communities we operate, we’re creating apprenticeship and trainee programmes, developing local supply chain spend and employment opportunities."

Scotland North East and Southern regions are expected to hold the largest work banks for the next control period, according to Network Rail, with more than £5 billion of renewals spend estimated for each region in addition to substantial network wide upgrades.

Southern will be the next region to announce its contract awards in January.

Budding engineers take to the sky High-achieving students from Network Rail's Fast Trackers outreach programme have been treated to a trip in its surveillance helicopter.

National aerial survey specialist Chris Ashworth talked to students Mukhtar and James, who are studying electrical and civil engineering, respectively, about the benefits of using the helicopter and then took them on a 45-minute flight to survey an area near to Farnworth. Afterwards, he showed them videos of faults that had been identified as a direct result of aerial surveys.

Fast Trackers saw 140 college students from the northwest take part in a five-day learning experience in June. The purpose of the programme was to use the rail industry as a vehicle to explain the wide range of engineering opportunities to 16to-19 year-olds from areas that experience extremely low higher education uptake.

A bigger national Fast Trackers programme is planned for 2019.

FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF | @RAIL_STAFF | RAILSTAFF.UK

8

NEWS

RAILSTAFF DECEMBER 2018

Volunteer filmmakers who’ve recorded the people, practices, equipment and buildings associated with traditional forms of signalling have been praised by the National Railway Museum (NRM) after creating their 100th film.

Bogie centre opens The bogies of Eurostar’s Class 374s, Thameslink’s Class 700s as well as bogies and wheelsets of other trains from Siemens’ Desiro Classic platform will be serviced at a new facility in Waterside South, Lincoln.

The £8 million centre was opened by Siemens on November 23 with MP Karen Lee, Lincoln mayor Keith Weaver and customers including Eurostar in attendance.

Siemens recently signed a 10-year lease on its Main Works site in the city and the new bogie centre is set to create up to 40 skilled jobs by the end of 2019.

It follows plans announced by Siemens earlier in 2018 to build a new train factory in Goole, East Yorkshire.

Siemens currently employs around 14,000 people across the UK, with 1,500 of these at the site in Lincoln.

The Film Archive of Railway Signalling and People (FARSAP) is produced by the Signalling Record Society and the Friends of the National Railway Museum, with support from local Network Rail managers.

It has been prompted to preserve a visual record of signalling operations before they’re lost as a result of the move to rail operating centres, which represent one of the most significant revolutions in British railway signalling since the middle of the 19th century.

The website features a wide range of films from humble crossings to large power boxes.

Highlights include remote boxes in Scotland, such as Greenloaning and Dunragit, as well as the King’s Cross power signal box, which controls the East Coast main line as far as Sandy (Bedfordshire), and drone footage of the

Recording history © NRM

Selby and Goole swing bridges.

The project aims to visit working locations that are important for historical and operating reasons and to provide a complete record of signalling on the railways by 2020.

FARSAP intends to present all the edited material to the NRM for inclusion in the museum’s archive.

NRM director Judith McNicol said: “I would like to thank the FARSAP volunteers for producing such a valuable and historic record of signalling operations on the railways for future generations to enjoy.

“This is a great chance to glimpse inside the busiest and most remote signal boxes and to see how signalling works across the network.”

The completed films and the list of locations can be viewed online: www.s-r-s.org.uk/archivevideo.php.

FEATURED PLACEMENT

New HQ for Auctus Management Group following significant growth Specialist infrastructure services provider Auctus Management Group (AMG), as well as its subsidiaries INFRA Skills and RSS Infrastructure (RSSI), have relocated their headquarters to a new 10,000 sq ft premises in the heart of the West Midlands.

The milestone move to ‘Tech Block’ in the Gee Business Centre, Birmingham, follows a period of significant growth which has seen RSSI named SME of the Year at Network Rail’s Rail Partnership Awards. Both subsidiaries also secured the Professional Services Award at

the Birmingham Post Business Awards.

The decision to remain in the area centres around AMG’s commitment to the government’s strategy for the Midlands to become a “growth engine” by investing in key transport projects, such as HS2 and the

Contact: 0121 366 8800 | www.auctusmg.co.uk | info@auctusmg.co.uk RAILSTAFF.UK | @RAIL_STAFF | FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF

Midland Metro, as well as upskilling the local population.

AMG chief executive Richard Toy said: “This move represents an exciting new development for AMG. This announcement follows a series of business highlights which include; the acquisition of Carillion Welding and saving 65 jobs, delivering the UK’s first Level 3 trailblazer apprenticeship scheme in conjunction with Colas Rail, as well as being appointed a Midland Metro Alliance partner.

“We have now reached a milestone of over 100 employees and our success is testament to our commitment to investing in local talent, new state-of-the-art technology and providing our customers with one complete solution. These new offices will provide us with the space we need to accommodate our growing team of experts to better support our clients as we move to develop new partnerships within the next control period.”

Britain’s Largest Specialist Transport Union

Season’s greetings

Thank you to everyone who has supported our fight for safe and accessible rail for all.

Here’s to a successful and campaigning 2019!

Protecting our members’ interests is our priority

Join us today www.rmt.org.uk

FREEPHONE 0800 376 3706

10

PEOPLE

RAILSTAFF DECEMBER 2018

Operator's first female yard controller Greater Anglia has appointed its first-ever female yard controller at Crown Point depot, Norwich.

Helen Dickerson, who has worked in the rail industry for 17 years, started on work experience before joining full-time when she left school. She has experience of various jobs on the railway, including posting tickets to customers, working in customer relations and telesales, before she started depot work in 2009.

Having worked as a production control assistant, she felt she was ready for a change and applied for the job as a yard controller earlier in 2018.

Helen is now responsible for train movements in the yard, making sure trains are refuelled, kept up to date with maintenance and ready for services in the morning. She said: “There are more than 100 men at Crown Point and I am the only woman working in a frontline engineering role.

“I am really enjoying my new job. There’s a lot of job satisfaction – you can come into work and the yard can be very busy.

“The job is all about communication and it’s great to know you’re helping people get to work, school or important appointments every day. The railway is a brilliant place to work – not many people would stay at the same job since they left school.”

With changes to the depot underway, Helen’s job recently became more challenging. Greater Anglia is investing more than £40 million in a project that will see the depot transformed to accommodate some of the company’s new trains, which are longer than existing trains.

Currently 22 per cent of Greater Anglia employees are female, something the company is working to address.

Two join RSSB to drive change The RSSB has appointed two new board members as it seeks to become a more customer and business-focused business.

Caroline Fawcett joins as non-executive director and Paul Marchant, who is the organisation’s chief finance officer, joins as an executive director.

Caroline has spent more than 25 years in marketing and customer experience roles in the UK and USA’s financial services industry.

She spent over a decade with Legal & General as marketing director before becoming one of the first-ever customer experience directors in the financial services sector. While working at Legal & General she led a major customerfocused organisational transformation programme across the Group.

In the last 10 years, Caroline has led customer-driven change programmes across a wide range of public and private

sector organisations including DEFRA, Serco, the Care Quality Commission and Essex County Council.

An experienced non-executive director, Caroline has served on the boards of organisations in both the financial services industry and the public sector.

Currently she holds nonexecutive director positions with Co-Op Insurance, Cambridge and Counties Bank and the Money Advice Service.

Paul joined RSSB in 2014 and was appointed chief financial officer in February 2018. His job is to ensure RSSB remains financially sustainable as well as to shape the organisation’s

RAILSTAFF.UK | @RAIL_STAFF | FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF

long-term financial strategy in order to meet the changing needs of its membership and key stakeholders.

Paul is also leading the work to reform RSSB’s business performance measures and to build the strategic business plan for the next control period of funding.

Paul studied accounting and finance at the University of Warwick and qualified as a chartered accountant with Clement Keys (now PKF Cooper Parry) in Birmingham. Paul has previously been a management accountant at the Conservative Party Campaigning Headquarters in Westminster.

Lord Berkeley semi-retires

Rail freight sector champion Lord Tony Berkeley has now retired from his role as chairman of the Rail Freight Group (RFG), the industry body for the rail freight sector.

Tony has chaired the RFG since 1997, pressing the case for modal shift and future growth with Westminster and businesses, but earlier in 2018 announced his intention to retire.

Tony will continue as the RFG’s European advisor until the middle of 2019, sitting on the board of both the European Rail Freight Association and ALLRAIL. In June, at a ceremony to name a GB Railfreight train after him, executive director Maggie Simpson said: “Tony Berkeley leaves the sector wholly transformed from the one he joined some 21 years ago.

“His leadership, commitment and sheer determination have been instrumental in delivering that progress. I know I can speak for all RFG members, both past and present, in thanking him for all he has done and wishing him a very happy and well-deserved retirement.”

Ken Russell, director of Russell Logistics, takes over as RFG’s new chairman. He is a long-standing supporter of the association and has been a board member since 2015.

Neil Sime, managing director of Victa Railfreight and an RFG board member since 2003, has also been elected as vice-chair.

Under a new process agreed by the RFG board, Ken and Neil will serve as chair and vice-chair for a 12-month period, from which point an election for each position will take place every year with all qualifying board directors eligible to stand.

RAILSTAFF DECEMBER 2018

PEOPLE

CFO to COO to CEO

Jones in for Johnson

FirstGroup has promoted chief financial officer Matthew Gregory, who has also been the company’s interim chief operating officer (COO) since May, to the position of chief executive.

Andrew Jones has been announced as the new rail minister following Jo Johnson’s resignation.

Matthew takes on the role with immediate effect.

Chairman Wolfhart Hauser said: “Since his appointment as interim COO in May, Matthew has demonstrated the combination of strong leadership skills and strategic decisiveness, which has allowed us to make progress in a number of key areas.

“Having conducted a thorough selection process, which considered external and internal candidates, the board unanimously concluded that Matthew is the right person to take on the role of chief executive.

“Matthew’s comprehensive knowledge of the Group, his

experience in previous roles and leadership capabilities are precisely the qualities needed to drive the Group’s value mobilisation strategy at pace, and I look forward to the Group making further progress under Matthew’s leadership.”

Matthew replaces former boss Tim O’Toole who resigned in May following the announcement of a full-year loss.

Boost for FrazerNash's rail team Trevor Morgan (left) has joined Frazer-Nash’s rail team as rolling stock business manager while Ashley Stower (right) has been appointed as rail infrastructure business manager.

Together they have a combined experience of 60 years in the rail industry.

Trevor will support the company’s delivery of engineering solutions to train manufacturers, operators, owners and equipment suppliers.

Meanwhile Ashley, who has held previous business management roles with Network Rail, GB Railfreight, EWS and Railtrack, will help Frazer-Nash’s existing clients, develop new business opportunities and manage risk and operational costs.

Rail business manager Tim Myall said: “Trevor’s extensive rolling stock experience is the perfect complement to our

Jo, who assumed the role from Paul Maynard in January 2018, resigned from government on November 9 and called for the public to have a fresh say on Brexit, arguing that Britain “stands on the brink of the greatest crisis since World War Two”.

His replacement is a former apprenticeship ambassador, transport minister and Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury.

Andrew’s first public engagement as rail minister was to launch the 2018 Community Rail Strategy, where he challenged train operators to step up their support for community rail projects.

Reacting to the appointment, RIA chief executive Darren Caplan said he hopes Andrew will become “a keen ally of rail”.

He added: “With a new control period beginning in April and a number of major projects on the horizon, including Crossrail, HS2, the Transpennine Route

11

Upgrade, Northern Powerhouse Rail, Crossrail 2 and East West Rail, there are a number of opportunities for rail businesses on the horizon.

“However, the industry still faces the challenges of ‘boom and bust’ rail funding, keeping electrification an option as we seek to decarbonise the network and preparing for a changing international regulatory and trade landscape as the UK prepares to leave the EU. “We look forward to working with Andrew Jones and DfT on these issues in the coming months and years ahead, in order that we can continue to deliver the best for passengers and freight users, and the wider UK economy.”

Blanchflower picked Simon Blanchflower has become the first CEO of the East West Railway Company (EWRC).

existing skill set in this area, and will allow us to grow and develop the service we deliver to the rolling stock community.”

He added: “With a wealth of expertise in business development and account management, Ashley is wellplaced to help us build on our engineering consultancy support to multi-million pound rail infrastructure projects, including the implementation of the digital railway, European rail traffic management system and rail network electrification.”

Simon was most recently the programme director for the £7 billion Thameslink project and will lead EWRC through its next phase of development as it works to deliver a new line between Oxford and Cambridge.

Transport secretary Chris Grayling welcomed Simon to the armslength government body, which he set up in 2017, and said his “expertise and insight will play a huge role in bringing this vital project to fruition”.

Simon, who has also worked on the early stage development of Crossrail and the initial delivery of Heathrow Express, said: “[East West Rail] is a fantastic project, with the opportunity to prove there is a better way to deliver the railway, as well as to support economic growth in such an important corridor for the country.”

In 2019, EWRC will assume full client duties for the project and will launch a public consultation on route options for the new section of railway between Bedford and Cambridge.

FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF | @RAIL_STAFF | RAILSTAFF.UK

12

NEWS

RAILSTAFF DECEMBER 2018

Southeastern has launched a campaign to encourage more women to consider becoming a train driver.

Currently only 4.5 per cent of Southeastern’s drivers are female and the company is aiming for 40 per cent of applicants for train driver roles to be women by 2021. It intends to achieve this through: • Mentoring and development programmes for female employees • Amended imagery in recruitment campaigns to reflect diversity • Mandatory unconscious bias training for all managers • A partnership with employment website WorkingMums to attract applicants • Employability programmes aimed at women, to provide help with application and interview techniques • Recruitment open days specifically aimed at women • Establishment of a women’s colleague network group – WIRE - which is open to all colleagues in Southeastern.

The new initiative is part of the company's wider push to attract more women into the industry's workforce, of which only 16 per cent are women.

Southeastern’s train services director Ellie Burrows said: “It’s high time we broke the perception of the railways as a maledominated industry. There are thousands of talented women out there who could have a rewarding career working in roles ranging from engineering to driving, on-board supervising or sales.

“Society has moved on. It’s no longer the case that little boys play with toy trains and little girls play with dolls. It’s vital that as a major transport operator, we have a workforce that reflects the diversity of our passengers."

Sir Terry resigns Crossrail and HS2 have both appointed new chairs following the double resignation of Sir Terry Morgan.

Although he was with the former for almost 10 years, the industry figurehead had only taken over from Sir David Higgins as chairman of HS2 in July.

Allan Cook CBE, a former chair of Atkins who has 40 years’ international experience in the infrastructure, automotive, aerospace and defence industries, will replace Sir Terry at HS2. At Crossrail, ex-BP technology chief Tony Meggs, who was the CEO of the Infrastructure and Projects Authority, becomes the new chairman.

RAILSTAFF.UK | @RAIL_STAFF | FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF

Steps taken to recruit more female train drivers

It's a wonderful line More than 7.5km of script from the film 'It's a Wonderful Life' will be painted on station platforms along the Virgin Trains West Coast route to help spread a message of kindness this Christmas.

The film’s messages of goodwill will be painted behind the yellow line that runs the length of platforms and use the same yellow paint.

The 1946-film is an uplifting story of family, love, hope, and redemption but it is also the story of one man’s struggle with a life that hasn’t gone to plan. Virgin Trains said that, while the film may be more than 70 years-old, it is as relevant today as it has ever been.

The initiative has been developed with charity Rethink Mental Illness, in recognition of how difficult the festive period can be for some, and the positive impact that simple acts of kindness can have.

The campaign will direct customers – via a URL embedded in the script – to information, advice, and support around mental health.

Virgin Trains' executive director of people Natasha Grice said: "We want everyone to know there’s help out there, and that if you’re not affected by poor mental health, it’s really easy to help someone who is."

The script, made using custom-

manufactured stencils from Manchesterbased Laser Cutting Services, will be painted by Bagnalls at the following stations: • London Euston • Rugby • Birmingham International • Birmingham New Street • Stafford • Stoke-on-Trent • Crewe • Warrington Bank Quay • Liverpool Lime Street • Manchester Piccadilly • Preston • Penrith • Carlisle • Glasgow The script will be removed from station platforms by January 5.

RAILSTAFF DECEMBER 2018

NEWS

13

Passenger Eileen Lawrence has shared her story of heartache and relief when her diamond wedding ring, which had fallen onto the track a day earlier, was found by Network Rail staff.

When the ring slipped from Eileen's hand and bounced over the platform edge and into the darkness at Bloxwich North station one November morning, she thought it was gone for good.

Upon arriving at Birmingham New Street station, she reported her mishap to staff and the hunt to find it began.

Unfortunately, efforts on the day proved unsuccessful. It was only when Network Rail's track section manager for Walsall, Phil Heeley, was alerted the next day, that he was able to get his track technicians Adrian Callaghan and Matt Hayes to meet Eileen exactly where she had last seen her precious ring.

"In all my 40 years’ service I have never had a request like this one," said Phil. "I told Matt he would have to stop the movement of trains with a ‘line block’ before going on to the track, and if the wedding ring wasn’t visible he’d have to move the ballast stone by stone. I even considered trying to get a metal detector if that didn’t work.

“But almost as soon as Matt and Ade went down onto the track, luckily the wedding ring was sat there, pointing up towards the sky."

Eileen added: “I felt completely overwhelmed when my ring was finally found.

When you hear about Network Rail in the news it’s often negative, so I really wanted to share my story about the lengths its staff went to reunite me with my wedding ring."

It was only after the ring was safely back on Eileen's finger that she plucked up the courage to tell her husband of 31 years about its unexpected overnight stay on the tracks.

Diamond in the rough Flirt arrives in East Anglia Stadler delivered the first of 38 bi-mode Flirts to Greater Anglia on November 15.

The four-carriage train arrived into Norwich after being pulled by a locomotive.

A programme of testing the train on the East Anglia network will now commence over the next few months to ensure it passes strict regulations to carry passengers in the UK. This will see its pantograph, passenger information system and automatic selective door opening system – for when the train is longer than a station platform – tested further.

Technicians have already conducted tests covering the train’s brakes, pantographs, noise levels, emissions, operational safety and automatic train protection systems in Europe.

After a period of classroom-based training, Greater Anglia train drivers will undertake test runs using the new trains on routes across Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.

Stadler’s UK sales director Ralf Warwel was delighted to reach this milestone and said the company has made it no secret that it is “keen to make headway in the UK market”.

Health, welfare and financial benefits for those working in the public transport industry... people like you! covers you, your partner and dependent children

Helping to make a difference

0300 333 2000 www.tbf.org.uk

Transport Benevolent Fund CIO, known as TBF, is a registered charity in England and Wales, 1160901, and Scotland, SC047016.

TBF_Banner_Adverts_18X3_190x50.indd 2

29/08/2018 16:41 FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF | @RAIL_STAFF | RAILSTAFF.UK

14

NEWS

RAILSTAFF DECEMBER 2018

Eight unemployed youngsters have been offered jobs by Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) after graduating from its 'Get into Railways' programme with the Prince's Trust.

HR director Andy Bindon said that seeing the youngsters with their "infectious desire to make a career for themselves" is always a highlight of his year, and welcomed them into the GTR family.

The four-week work experience programme, which has been running for seven years, gives young people aged 18-25, who are struggling to get into employment, vital skills needed to help them find work on the railway.

Of the eight newstarters, four will join Thameslink and another four Southern.

Cynthia Bosombi-Mandete 26

Disadvantaged youngsters secure work (pictured centre), from Barnet, is one of the four who have been offered a job with Southern.

She said: "I’m a full time mumof-two and I think us mums can sometimes put ourselves in boxes where we don’t feel we can grow, but now I know I can excel.

"Being part of the scheme has given me the determination to have a successful career, for myself, my kids and for the other mums out there."

Judo fighter takes silver Projects director James Hornsby (pictured far left), who featured on the cover of RailStaff in August, has won a silver medal at the Veteran World Judo Championships in Cancún, Mexico.

In the 81kg weight category, James overcame opponents from Brazil, Canada, Colombia and Argentina before losing by a waza-ari – the second highest score a fighter can achieve – in the final to champion Alexander Konovalov.

James, who works for ESG Rail in Derby, said: “It was amazing to get to the final because that’s the first time you are guaranteed a medal and a great achievement,

but straight after the final you have to emotionally deal with losing.

“Then later on after the whole day sinks in you are more relaxed. On reflection it was just brilliant.”

The competition was organised between October 17-20, with 25 competitors in total representing Team GB. James began competing at the age of 12 and earlier in 2018 secured a gold medal on his debut at the Veteran European Judo Championships, also in the 81kg weight category.

James intends to reach his next grade in the dan ranking system in 2019, moving up from 3rd to 4th, by gaining points through fighting.

RAILSTAFF.UK | @RAIL_STAFF | FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF

Stabbed BTP officer returns to work A BTP officer was stabbed while on duty outside of Ilford station in east London.

At around 9.45pm on November 23, the male officer was approached and attacked with a knife. He was taken to hospital by ambulance where he was treated for stab and slash injuries to his face and neck. After recovering at home, the officer has now returned to full-time work duties.

Chief Constable Paul Crowther said the incident was “an example of the disturbing reality” BTP officers face every day while going about their duties.

He thanked the public for their many get well messages and support and added: “I know this

will have had an impact on his family, friends and colleagues.

The safety of our officers is extremely important to us and I’m in discussions with my senior team to see what needs to be done to ensure these types of incidents are kept to an absolute minimum.”

Police have since charged a 24-year-old with the attempted murder of a police officer, possession of bladed article and assaulting a police officer.

They are also asking for witnesses or anyone with information to come forward.

You can contact BTP by sending a text to 61016 or by calling 0800 40 50 40, quoting reference 659 of 23/11/2018.

Mental health service trial RSSB has secured funding to trial an independent service on behalf of the industry to support staff whose employment is made more challenging due to mental health problems.

The trial, which is expected to run until February 2020, will deliver support to employees experiencing difficulties and to rail companies to improve their confidence in supporting staff with mental health issues.

Employees who are at risk of losing their jobs due to sickness absence and/or performance issues will be the primary target group.

Advice and support for the trial will be provided through a full-time mental health and employment support specialist, who will be recruited

by RSSB. The specialist will work with individuals, occupational health services, human resources departments and other mental health professionals to facilitate detailed assessments and provide recommendations. The specialist will create a knowledge bank of industry roles and suggest common adjustments to assist.

Funding for the scheme has come from the Department for Work and Pensions.

16

NEWS

RAILSTAFF DECEMBER 2018

Digital rail programme set for Railtex 2019 The ‘Digital Railway’ concept will be placed under the microscope at Railtex 2019, the UK’s leading exhibition of railway products and services.

The 14th edition of Railtex will take place between May 14-16 at Birmingham’s NEC, bringing together industry leaders and experts to discuss and explore the challenges and opportunities that the digital transformation of the country's rail network can bring.

Rail Sector Deal The government and the rail industry have agreed a new Rail Sector Deal intended to deliver more for passengers, create jobs and drive economic growth across the country.

Hailed as a key milestone in the government’s modern industrial strategy, the Rail Sector Deal will help increase the exchange of ideas between the rail industry and other sectors, predicting problems on the network before they arise and solving them through innovative working.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy introduced its new Industrial Strategy in November 2017. This was built on five foundations – ideas, people, infrastructure, business environment and places.

Each ‘foundation’ had three key policies. For example, the first policy under ideas was to raise total research and development investment to 2.4 per cent of

GDP by 2027. Under business environment was the policy to launch and roll out Sector Deals – partnerships between government and industry aiming to increase sector productivity.

The first Sector Deals were in life sciences, construction, artificial intelligence and the automotive sector. Creative industries and nuclear followed, and then deals for aerospace and rail were launched on the same day December 6, 2018.

Speaking at the launch of the Rail Sector Deal, Gordon Wakeford, chair of the Rail Supply Group and CEO of Siemens Mobility in the UK, recalled the government’s green paper ‘Building on Industrial Strategy’, which was issued in January 2017 and challenged industry “to provide government with compelling and detailed proposals of how, working in partnership, both sides, government and sector, could agree a sector deal

RAILSTAFF.UK | @RAIL_STAFF | FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF

The Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education (BCRRE) recently announced it will be presenting a programme of leading digital innovation and technology as part of the Digirail project. This project is a European Regional Development Fund-backed scheme which aims to establish a cluster of digital rail demonstrations to showcase long term innovation and support to SMEs developing digital products and services within the industry.

BCRRE will present the Digirail project as part of a series of research and development tools which will support organisations working in the industry’s supply chain. BCRRE will be exhibiting alongside the Rail Alliance, with the two organisations ideally placed to provide leading support to SMEs in the manufacturing and rolling stock sectors.

A new Digital Rail Forum will also be held for the first time, merging project management with supply chain to allow a collaborative review of the Digital Railway programme, through thought-leadership, insight, sense

to further the competitiveness of the sector”.

He went on to explain that, after a long and sometimes bumpy journey to reach a conclusion, government and industry have come up with a sector deal that “will be transformational”.

“One word that shines through this document,” he continued, “is collaboration. We will increase productivity, we will reduce costs, we will move from ‘boom and bust procurement’, we will introduce new technology, release data as an enabler, improve the skills of our workforce, and not only increase local ‘value add’ through import substitution but also refocus on ways to double exports.”

Graham Stuart, minister for investment at the Department for International Trade, spoke on behalf of government: “Much of the network is bursting at the seams. When things go wrong, as they have [in 2018] following problems introducing the new timetable and widespread, and often unnecessary, industrial

testing, qualitative engagement and cross-fertilisation to ensure its goals are met. With keynote speakers set to be announced soon, this forum will help establish what a future digital railway can look like and achieve, with the support of the broad scope of industry sectors represented.

With a jam-packed programme of CPD-certified events to be confirmed soon, Railtex is set to be the ideal meeting place for companies serving all aspects of the rail industry to demonstrate their capabilities and meet their future customers.

For information visit: www.railtex.co.uk

action, passengers endure poor performance, which means the railway faces greater levels of public scrutiny.

“We all know that we can do better, and that we must raise our game. This collaboration and cooperation that we are launching today between government and industry is one way of responding to that.”

The intention is that, through improved engagement between industry and government, the supply chain will understand future demand better. This will both enable companies to invest with confidence to increase skills and innovation and will also help the industry reduce the cost of building and maintaining the railway, support the sector to increase its exports, attract small businesses to the market and encourage more young people to pursue a career in the rail industry.

The full Rail Sector Deal is available online at www.gov.uk/government/ publications/rail-sector-deal

PULSAR High Performance Apparel

The PULSAR® Evolution Collection is designed for optimal comfort and maximum performance in the harshest of weather conditions.

For further details on the complete PULSAR® collection, visit www.pulsaruk.com.

STAY DRY

13X MORE WATERPROOF

EVOTECH™ fabric is water resistant (waterproof) up to 13 times higher than the class 3 requirement of EN343.

TENSILE STRENGTH

10X STRONGER

EVOTECH™ Fabric has a tensile score of up to 10 times the standard. Tensile strength is the resistance of the fabric to breaking (being stretched/pulled) under tension.

HIGHLY BREATHABLE

11.3 RET

Breathability measured in RET (Resistance of Evaporation of a Textile).

The lower the resistance (RET), the more breathable. A RET of 0 has excellent breathability whilst a RET of 40+ is not very breathable. To meet class 3 (the highest level) a fabric must score less than 20 RET.

TEAR RESISTANCE

3X TOUGHER

EVOTECH™ fabric is up to 3 times the required standard when it comes to tear resistance.

#visiblysuperior @PULSARHIVIS

@PULSAR_UK

EVO TECH FABRIC TECHNOLOGY

Pulsar UK

PULSAR

pulsar_uk

18

INTERVIEWS

RAILSTAFF DECEMBER 2018

LIFE IN THE FAS PROJECT MANAGER GAVIN JOHNSON TALKS ABOUT HIS EXPERIENCE ON THE RACE TRACK

© Barry Wiggins

R

egular readers will be used to finding out about the industry’s remarkable sportsmen and women. In the last six months alone, RailStaff has featured a gold medalwinning judo veteran, a Commonwealth Games wrestler and countless amateur and professional athletes taking part in challenges such as the RailSport Games.

Many take part in sports to unwind after a hard day’s grind or through a passion to push their bodies to the limit. Gavin Johnson, a signalling project manager at Network Rail, is one of the most multidisciplined.

TROPHIES, TEES AND SHOOTING TARGETS Gavin, 37, was part of successful GB RailSport football squads as a striker in the Noughties, defeating teams from Belgium, the Czech Republic and Germany on tours of Europe. He described it like being “a minor international” playing at a semi-professional level overseas.

Most recently he’s taken to target shooting and is also a keen golfer, bagging a major from his local club in Chesire.

Unfortunately for Gavin, his handicap was never quite low enough to make the cut for the GB RailSport team.

But of all his sporting pursuits, there’s one that stands out from the rest: motorsport.

BURNING RUBBER Over the past two years, Gavin has been burning rubber on the country’s most prestigious racing circuits, including Silverstone, Donington Park and Brands Hatch, where he races in a two-litre 1979 Porsche 924 as part of the British Racing & Sports Car Club (BRSCC) Porsche Championship.

In 2017, Gavin finished as the runner-up in only his first RAILSTAFF.UK | @RAIL_STAFF | FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF

ST LANE

RAILSTAFF DECEMBER 2018

© Az Edwards

INTERVIEWS

19

© Jon Elsey

Gavin, in the number 9 car, leads the pack.

© Jon Elsey

full season. In 2018, Gavin pipped his nearest challenger to the Championship, despite suffering from mechanical failures in four of the 23 races and set four new lap records en route.

“I’m not overly mechanical and the macho side of racing isn’t the driver for me, I love competition and I love cars,” said Gavin, who fell in love with motorsport as a child on trips to Oulton Park Circuit, Cheshire, with his dad. “I love competing. So to race with Porches on the country’s finest racing tracks is brilliant and I am grateful to be doing so.”

There are many types of motorsport, each with tiered competitions for drivers of different abilities with varying

associated costs. To take part in the BRSCC Porsche Championships, Gavin has to have a motorsport licence, which costs around £300, and around £15,000 to support him throughout the season as he races on circuits as far north as Knockhill in Scotland and as far south as Brands Hatch in Kent. This money has come from partners such as Orion Rail and Morson in the past.

Gavin, who has previously raced in a Ford Fiesta Xr2 and a Peugeot 205 GTI, said his level of motorsport attracts a mixture of characters into the paddock.

“There are young chargers that want to be the next Lewis Hamilton, people like myself who are okay at it and do it as a glorified hobby but get paid outside of racing and sort of quite wealthy chaps who do it as gentleman races and want to be around the sport.”

Another driving seat

When he doesn’t have an air rifle, steering wheel or golf club in his hand, Gavin is in another driving seat as the project manager for the signalling element of the £140 million development of Liverpool Lime Street.

It’s a job the railwayman of 20 years knows well. Before joining Network Rail six months ago, he tendered

for the work for his then-employer Siemens.

The majority of the signalling work has been completed, with 25 new signals installed and signalling control now moved to the centrally operated Manchester rail operating centre.

‘JUST DO IT’ With the season finishing at the end of October, Gavin has been left assessing his options for next season.

He could return to drive the Porsche but has also been offered to race a retro Nova GTE and has ambitions to race higher up the ladder. One opportunity he is keen to seize is to race at Circuit of Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium in a special one-off, which would be his first race abroad.

So how does Gavin, who knows of only one other person in the industry who’s also in motorsport, manage his time?

“Well, I take a day off here and there and use weekends. It’s difficult, you know, especially when you’ve got a young family but they travel with me and enjoy the weekends, and my day job has to be prioritised.

“I just think if you’re going to do something, you do it, and if you don’t, you make an excuse that you’re too busy. I’m kind of like that, I don’t see it any other way.

“Things are busy. We race a weekend a month with the odd day off here and there. It’s good fun and I’m grateful to be doing it. The fact that I’ve won a championship and I’m setting lap records is a real bonus, it's motivating to be at a level where you are competing at the sharp end representing a team.”

FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF | @RAIL_STAFF | RAILSTAFF.UK

20

INTERVIEWS

RAILSTAFF DECEMBER 2018

LAND OF W

CP6

opportunity

ith the start of CP6 in April edging ever closer, Network Rail has started to spend some of its allocated billions. Putting the challenges of CP5 behind them, suppliers will be hoping the next control period will deliver on its promises and give them the confidence they have been longing for to invest

in their businesses.

Fostering better relationships with its suppliers is one of Network Rail’s key aims for CP6. “I certainly think some progress has been made,” said Rob Morton, Network Rail Route Services’ supply chain director. “Certainly from the conversations with them, we are not yet easy enough to do business with; that’s pretty obvious.”

Supply Chain Operations (SCO) oversees the procurement of materials and services across Network Rail’s Route Services business.

“It’s one of the bigger parts of Network Rail but probably one of if not the most invisible, which in many ways is a good thing because we should be invisible,” said Rob, who has been challenged with applying the same high-performing principles from the retail and manufacturing sectors to rail.

SHIFT IN ATTITUDE SCO’s strategy focuses on investing in facilities, mobilising for devolution and revisiting Network Rail’s relationship with its major suppliers.

“The first thing really is a shift in attitude - a shift of what’s acceptable,” said Rob, who joined Network Rail from energy company Centrica, where he was the managing director of its supply chain and procurement business.

During CP6, Network Rail believes it can save more than £150 million by modernising its supply chain operations.

A number of practical steps have already been taken, including moving strategic rail fleet spares from unsuitable storage areas to a central purpose built facility. But, according to Rob, the biggest savings will come from revisiting contracts with some of the organisation’s main suppliers.

“It’s a classic case of if you do the same thing, with a similar supply base, in the same way you’ve always done it then you’re kind of going to have to expect a similar answer,” said Rob, who explained how he and his team have been talking to suppliers to better understand their commercial objectives.

“So working with them - and understanding them in a much more mature way - we’ve been able to approach the market and say ‘rather than just give us your best price for this tonnage, what is it you want to achieve out of this relationship?’ How can we get much more of a commercially creative outcome?”

As well as revising its policies and contract terms, Network Rail is RAILSTAFF.UK | @RAIL_STAFF | FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF

Rob Morton signs a major rail supply deal with British Steel at InnoTrans with transport secretary Chris Grayling looking on.

making a substantial investment in areas where it felt it is currently underperforming against industry best practice.

Rob said it was noticeable while visiting sites around the country that Network Rail’s depot facilities were lagging behind others in the sector. To tackle this, Network Rail is upgrading its depots and is building new maintenance hubs in York and Reading.

“We’ve got a very significant investment programme now happening in the depots to bring them all up to the standard that they need to be at to achieve a situation where there are no excuses for not doing a perfect job,” said Rob.

DEVOLUTION During the next control period, Network Rail’s eight separate devolved route businesses will have much more freedom to decide what they buy and who they buy it from. Some things will continue to be procured by SCO and offered to the routes, but they will be free to use another provider if they can get a better deal.

While there is the risk that devolution could result in higher prices from suppliers, Rob believes that by embracing the new route structure they will be able to do more to support local supply chains without significantly diluting their buying power.

However, he admitted that

suppliers would be waiting a few more months to find out exactly what devolution would mean for them.

Rob said: “I think it’ll be easier for suppliers when we get into quarter one [of 2019], and we as an organisation have been able to publicise how we’re going to operate devolution and what that means for the organisation, what it means for suppliers.”

BOOM AND BUST While Rob believes there’s only so much they can do to end the boom-and-bust funding of the railway, there are a number of changes which he believes will make a difference.

While Network Rail has been

able to defer a number of projects from the current control period into CP6, it will be limited in its ability to move funding from one year to another during the next control period.

The lengths of contracts will also change, with some of the traditional five-year framework contracts switching to longer deals. There will also be more commercial incentives for companies to deliver innovation.

Rob said: “This habitual five-year cycle that seems to strangle the whole industry, we can break free of that and allow the supply base the freedom to fund investments and to fund capital purchases in such a way that’s easier for them to do. And obviously we get that

RAILSTAFF DECEMBER 2018

INTERVIEWS

21

reflected back in our prices and the services that we have.”

The SCO strategy is aiming to achieve what is known in the supply chain world as double 9s, or 99 per cent availability. Expressed another way, it would mean experiencing no more than 3.65 days of downtime per year due to poor reliability or availability of resources.

Although common across many other sectors, it would be new ground for the rail industry, said Rob. But despite some initial skepticism, several services are now achieving this higher level of availability and others are showing signs of improvement. “We’re enjoying proving the doubters wrong,” said Rob. FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF | @RAIL_STAFF | RAILSTAFF.UK

22

TRACK SAFETY

RAILSTAFF DECEMBER 2018

REPORT BY COLIN WHEELER

TRACK WORKER FATALIT AT STOATS NEST JUNCTION

AND WATERLOO INVESTIGATION IS COMPARED WITH THE CLAPHAM JUNCTION TRAGEDY OF 1988

T

from the Down Fast to the Down Slow/Redhill ragically I must begin this month line on which he was walking. This passenger by offering my condolences train that struck him was travelling at around to the family and friends of the 70mph. On November 21 the Rail Accident track worker who was struck by Investigation Branch (RAIB) gave notice that a train and fatally injured soon they had started a full investigation. after midnight on November 6. The accident happened on Ramsbottom level crossing the London to Brighton line at Stoats Nest Junction between On November 12, RAIB published their Purley and Coulsdon. The report into an incident with a runaway man was a member of Network Rail’s South permanent way trolley. The incident caused East Route possession team. He used the no injuries but could easily have had more designated access point near where he serious consequences. It happened back on parked his vehicle.

Thursday March 15 at Ramsbotttom on the Signal protection had been agreed and he East Lancashire Railway. was granted permission to access the track so Following track relaying more ballast as to place in position possession limit boards was required to top up and box in. With five and detonators.

These were put out to their volunteers the supervisor decided to use an Parlett Lee correct positions. He then (according to the excavator to load and transport the ballast From: on NetworkSafety report Rail’sCommunications Safety Central<safetycommunications@networkrail.co.uk> website) using a trolley which had been donated to the Sent: 09 November 2018 15:57 walked in a southerly direction past the access railway. The trolley used was a four- wheeled To: Parlett Lee point and onto the open line.

At 00:27 a unbraked flatbed type made in two sections Subject: Safety Bulletin NRB 18/16 - Workforce Fatality passenger train made a planned movement for easy handling.

Colin Wheeler.

Trolley ran away

© Network Rail

Whilst loading it, the volunteers used pieces of ballast under the wheels as makeshift chocks. At 11:15, with the trolley loaded with an estimated half a ton of ballast, two of the group started to push it towards Ramsbottom station.

It began to run away from them down the one in 140 gradient which eased to one in 264 before the trolley reached the level crossing gates some 560m away. The trolley derailed after running into a wooden level crossing gate. No one was injured but ballast was spilt and the gate was pushed into a road that was open to traffic.

RAIB’s recommendations Workforce fatality Issued to:

All Network Rail line managers, safety professionals and RISQS registered contractors

Ref:

NRB 18/16

Date of issue: 09/11/2018 Location:

Stoats Nest Junction, SE Route

Contact:

Simon Morgan, Director, Health, Safety, Quality and Sustainability

Overview In the early hours of Tuesday 6th November, a member of the Southeast Route's possession delivery team was fatally struck by a train at Stoats Nest Junction, between Purley and Coulsdon. The colleague was carrying out RAILSTAFF.UK | @RAIL_STAFF | FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF Possessions Support duties.

After confirming that the Possession Limit Boards and detonators were in place, our colleague walked approximately 400m south, past the access/egress point and the possession protection onto an open line.

At 00:27hrs, a passenger train made a planned

The RAIB report is thorough in its recommendations. The East Lancashire Railway had no processes for the management of donations or for controlling the use of trolleys during track maintenance.

Neither had they in place any competency training or training for users of trolleys. The report makes three recommendations. One is for the Heritage Railway Association to issue guidance on the use of trolleys whilst the other two for the East Lancashire Railway relate to safe working procedures and the provision of an “effective audit process”.

One of the volunteers was on his first day as a volunteer but had received neither basic nor induction training prior to the incident.

RAILSTAFF DECEMBER 2018

TRACK SAFETY

23

TY A stock image of railway workers on track. © Jamie Squibbs/RAIB

© iStockphoto.com

There are 24 platforms numbered from east to west at Waterloo. At the time of the accident platforms 1-10 were closed to allow testing of both points and signalling.

The existing signalling, using route relay interlocking was commissioned in 1990 and was controlled from Wimbledon Area Signalling Centre.

Possession handed back one hour early An overview of Waterloo station and the train collision.

Overturned RRV whilst tandem lifting

Not all safety related incidents lead to RAIB investigations. Network Rail is to be congratulated on the contents and rapid reporting of safety related incidents on its Safety Central website.

Their NRB 18/15 Safety Bulletin issued on November 1 is an example. The accident happened at 03:00 on the morning of October 22. It was on a Network Rail Infrastructure Projects site near Market Harborough where a road-rail excavator crane overturned whilst carrying out tandem lifting of concrete sleeper track panels.

Network Rail is still investigating but the

bulletin says that although there were no injuries, the potential was there and refers specifically to the crane controller being at risk. The challenge of tandem lifting is well known so the findings may be significant.

Trains collided at Waterloo

RAIB’s report on the train collision that occurred at Waterloo on August 15, 2017 was published on November 19. At 05:42 that morning a passenger train departing Waterloo station collided with a stationary engineering train whilst travelling at just 13mph.

There were no injuries, but both trains were damaged and train services were delayed into the afternoon of that day.

The sun was just rising when the collision occurred at 1524 points, where three pairs of point ends connect to platforms 11, 12, 13 and 14. The passenger train was made up of two Class 455 EMUs with a total of ten coaches.

The engineering train consisted of a Class 66 locomotive with ten empty side tipping wagons, and five empty open wagons. It provided a physical barrier between train operations and the construction work which had begun on August 5.

The work being done during the blockade involved all of Waterloo station and its approaches. The possession was handed back on August 15 at 04:42 just an hour before the accident!

Points negotiated in trailing position A passenger train was routed into platform 11 at 05:17 from where it was to form the train involved in the accident. It passed over 1524A points en route. At 05:35 a second train

FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF | @RAIL_STAFF | RAILSTAFF.UK

24

TRACK SAFETY

RAILSTAFF DECEMBER 2018

passed over 1524A points and proceeded into platform 12.

Both trains passed over the points in the trailing position without incident. The subsequent RAIB investigation concluded that they did so in the trailing direction by pushing half open points into a safe position.

The signaller set the route for the departure of the Guildford train from platform 11 at 0540 and it left just one minute later with a green signal showing together with a “UR” display for the Up Main Relief. Having reached just 15mph the driver saw that the facing points in front of him were not set correctly and applied the train brakes. The collision happened three seconds after he had applied the brakes. The RAIB report commends him for his actions.

Uncontrolled wiring added led to incorrectly positioned points After the collision the Guildford train slid along the side of the engineering train before coming to rest with the left hand wheels of the leading coach in the air above the rail but with the right hand side ones still on the rail.

The investigation concluded that the passenger train “was diverted away from its intended route by incorrectly positioned points due to uncontrolled wiring added to the signalling system. The wiring was added to overcome a problem encountered while testing signalling system modifications which were being made as part of a project to increase station capacity”.

The report adds that “a project decision to secure the points in the correct position had not been implemented”. It concludes that the competence management processes operated by Network Rail and some of its contractors had not addressed the full requirements of the roles undertaken by the staff (Might that be translated as they did not understand what they were doing?).

It goes on to make just three substantial recommendations.

Network Rail is to make improvements to “knowledge and attitudes of signalling designers, installers and testers to deliver work safely”. Both Mott MacDonald and OSL Rail to address the “development and monitoring of non-technical skills among the staff working for them”.

The report also refers to the incident at Cardiff (RAIB report 15/2017) commenting that there are similarities since that again informal substitute processes had degraded the signalling system.

The passenger train with wheels of the leading bogie lifted above the rail.

RAILSTAFF.UK | @RAIL_STAFF | FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF

Comparison drawn with Clapham Junction tragedy that killed 35 people

However most chilling of all for me is the comment in this report that the accident at Waterloo had similarities between the factors with the dreadful accident at Clapham Junction back in 1988.

I still remember that one and to this day have in my study a copy of the report submitted by Anthony Hidden QC to the then Secretary of State for Transport dated September 27, 1989. That accident happened early on the morning of December 12, 1988 resulting in 35 people being killed and nearly 500 injured; 69 of them seriously.

I suggest that the comparison with the Clapham Junction tragedy is both timely and valid. It is true that the frequency of track worker fatalities has fallen dramatically over recent years but Waterloo is a reminder to all involved in signalling projects.

The taking and handing back of track possessions, together with our continuing reliance on undertaking work on tracks that are in operational use remain my two biggest concerns.

Surely the time has come for possessions to be taken and handed back without people going onto the tracks, and electronic systems for the rigorous testing of signalling again without putting people in the way of moving trains should be well within our capabilities?

We have a deservedly excellent reputation for railway safety as the country that invented railways.

I suggest we owe it to those who went before us to remember and learn from the mistakes of others. It should not be necessary for RAIB to remind us not to repeat past mistakes.

Photos and diagrams courtesy of RAIB / Crown Copyright & Network Rail

26

RAILSTAFF AWARDS

RAILSTAFF DECEMBER 2018

A SPELLBINDIN

N

ot so long ago, in an enchanted land not so far away, a journey into a magical kingdom led to a fairytale ending for 12 men, three women and five teams.

The collective band of apprentices, engineers and train staff were among hundreds of industry workers

who were this year nominated for a RailStaff Award. Following a five-month, multi-stage process in which 63,500 votes were cast - that’s 20,000 more than 2017 - and 691 nominations were whittled down by a judging panel of category sponsors and industry figureheads, 20 finalists were crowned at a dazzling ceremony on November 29.

This year the RailStaff Awards was held at the NEC in Birmingham which - by the

power of magic - was transformed into an out of this world wonderland. Hidden among the centre's mammoth exhibition halls was a cavernous woodland where acrobatic pixies, imps and goat men danced below a sky of mystical orbs.

Order was kept by the night’s keeper Richard Salkeld, who is, appropriately, the communications manager at Great Western Railway. He was also briefly joined on stage by newly instated Network Rail chief executive Andrew Haines for his very first RailStaff Awards ceremony, as well as a number of dynamic character performers who enthralled guests with their pyrotechnics and aerial stunts.

THANK YOU A massive thank you goes out to everyone who helps to make the RailStaff Awards happen. From our sponsors, without whom the awards would not be possible, to the 900 guests that attended, colleagues who have submitted nominations and the incredible people who are the reason we organise the country’s only national awards night for rail staff. Thank you. We hope you enjoy reading about the 20 incredible winners in the following pages and can't wait for you to see what we have in store for next year's ceremony.

Information on all of the finalists, as well as pictures from the night, will be available by going to: www.railstaffawards.com RAILSTAFFAWARDS.COM | @RAILSTAFFAWARDS | FACEBOOK.COM/THERAILSTAFFAWARDS

NG NIGHT

RAILSTAFF AWARDS

27

FACEBOOK.COM/THERAILSTAFFAWARDS | @RAILSTAFFAWARDS | RAILSTAFFAWARDS.COM

28

RAILSTAFF AWARDS

RAILSTAFF DECEMBER 2018

Rising stars of rail

W

hen Cameron O'Connell, of Druids Heath, Birmingham, suffered a serious back injury and was forced to quit the British Army in 2015, he initially struggled with the transition to 'civvy street'.

But through perseverance, and thanks to the transferable skills and experiences he had picked up as a communication systems operator, the 27-year-old landed an apprenticeship with Amey as an electrification and plant (E&P) engineer.

Despite knowing very little about the industry when he joined, Cameron’s hunger to learn and develop have since set him apart from his peers.

Starting with no qualifications, he has completed a BTEC, a Higher National Certificate and is now undertaking a foundation degree, all in electrical and electronics engineering. This was all while taking part in projects such as the East Midlands signalling power reliability and improvement works, where he has helped to survey a 50-mile stretch between St Pancras and Bedford as part of a major upgrade.

Cameron’s former mentor Abdul Rehman Savant, a senior E&P engineer at Amey who worked with Cameron on the project, said the exapprentice is “on the path to success”.

Cameron, who now works for consultancy TSP Projects as an assistant electrical engineer, said: “I am so grateful to Amey for helping me through everything. They gave me the opportunity and I seized it with both hands.

RailStaff Awards

Delivering a better railway together

RAILSTAFFAWARDS.COM | @RAILSTAFFAWARDS | FACEBOOK.COM/THERAILSTAFFAWARDS

"I just want to keep going all the way to the top. I want to be the CEO of a major company one day."

The Apprentice of the Year Award was sponsored by Adey Steel, a leading fabrication specialist of rail infrastructure steelwork.

Andrew Adey, Adey Steel Group managing director, said: "There were a number of worthy finalists but what’s exceptional about Cameron's story is how well he has adapted to a professional career after a challenging period of military service.

"I’m very impressed with the immediate impact he has made and his career trajectory looks to be an exciting one. There's no stopping him at the minute.”

ON THE FAST TRACK TO SUCCESS Another of the rail industry's rising stars who was celebrated at the RailStaff Awards was James Featherstone, of Solihull, who was named Graduate of the Year.

James, a first-year civil engineer on Network Rail’s graduate scheme, played a pivotal role in his employer’s largest outreach programme for its Year of Engineering campaign, a project called ‘FastTrackers’, which features on page 60 of this months issue of RailStaff.

Working with a number of industry partners, the 23-year-old and the delivery team arranged for 200 16-19 year-olds to experience university life and engineering careers through a five-day STEM learning programme in June.

The UK currently faces an annual shortfall of up to 59,000 engineering graduates and technicians and FastTrackers aims to showcase, to teenagers from areas that experience low higher education uptake, the wide range of opportunities available in engineering.

James’ strong leadership traits have already been identified by the University of

RAILSTAFF AWARDS

Sheffield, which put him through its Engineering Leadership Academy during his studies there.

The department aims to fast-track the development of high-potential engineering undergraduates into leaders.

Although he is still in the early stages of his career, James, whose award win comes just over a year after graduating, looks set to follow in his father’s footsteps to become a rail industry leader.

James’ dad, Steve Featherstone, is currently the track programme director at Network Rail.

James said: "The calibre of people I was up against for this award was so high; a lot of the guys I was running against worked on the project with me on Fast Trackers. I'm really, really surprised because I didn't expect it at all.

“As part of the Network Rail graduate scheme, we have the flexibility to go and do a lot of things because we have the flexibility to go to various teams and, while we're in those teams, go and run other projects.

"I'm only a year into the actual

grad scheme so I don't know what I want to do yet. I'm a proud civil engineer but, whether I go into straight engineering or whether I look elsewhere, potentially at construction management, there are options for where I could make my mark.”

The Graduate of the Year Award was sponsored by train operator Govia Thameslink Railway, which runs the Thameslink, Southern, Great Northern and Gatwick Express services and is partly owned by the Go-Ahead Group.

Patrick Verwer, the chief executive of Govia Thameslink Railway, said: “We care about the future of this industry.

"To support this, we are working hard to attract and retain the next generation of talent with our own schemes, while supporting the industry drive to bring more young people into this fantastic sector through graduate programmes.

"Progress and development depends on young people joining and becoming the next leaders and this award gives us the opportunity to recognise the new graduates who will help to shape the future of rail in the UK."

29

Steel Fabrication Specialists to the Rail Industry

Proud to sponsor Apprentice of the Year 2018 Adey Steel offers its customers fabricated steel products for integration into the rail network infrastructure.

Established for 90 years our business prides itself on service, quality and a collaborative approach to engineering.

OLE Structures | Signal Gantries | Bridges | Piles | SPS

FACEBOOK.COM/THERAILSTAFFAWARDS | @RAILSTAFFAWARDS | RAILSTAFFAWARDS.COM

30

RAILSTAFF AWARDS

RAILSTAFF DECEMBER 2018

Raising money and saving lives

R

elentless fundraiser Neil Wightman was named Charitable Person of the Year for conquering a colossal charity challenge.

Ever since his dad was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease several years ago, Neil, of Kirkintilloch, has tried to raise as much money as he can for research into the disease, which currently has no known cure.

Across the UK, 145,000 people have Parkinson’s and every hour, two more are told they have the degenerative neurological condition.

Neil, a Network Rail track quality supervisor, was already taking part in tough cross-country events, raising money for various charities in the process, but about 18 months ago decided to “go bigger” for 2018.

By the end of the year, the 38-year-old will have taken on nine Tough Mudders, two Tartan Warriors, two MacTuffs, a Badass Mucker and a Winter Wolf run, as well as several other walking and running events - one of which was the Glencoe Challenge, a 26-mile walk through the Scottish mountains.

Neil’s first target was to raise £1,000 for Parkinson’s UK. However, he’s now reached £4,600 and the figure is still climbing.

Neil said: “I’ve just been blown away with the amount of support I’ve had. It’s just been phenomenal.

“Originally, I was just going to do the ‘Tough Mudder’ series, which lasts about six months, but, when I started looking at it, I decided to go a bit

RAILSTAFFAWARDS.COM | @RAILSTAFFAWARDS | FACEBOOK.COM/THERAILSTAFFAWARDS

more, so I’m now at 20 events.”

Tyler LeMay, managing director of category sponsor Land Sheriffs, presented Neil with his trophy.

He said: “I think it’s important that people choose something close to their heart, something they believe in and something they can make a difference with.

“Lots of our staff do lots of charitable things through the year. We chose this award to sponsor because of that. To be able to recognise people like Neil, who do the things they do, I think it’s commendable.”

The nomination for Neil came from Parkinson’s UK regional fundraiser Jan Mattison. She said: “Neil’s been a star for Parkinson’s UK this year. Not only has he raised so much money but his exploits have really helped raise awareness of the charity too.

"Big thanks to Neil and to all his family and friends who have been so supportive and got involved in the huge number of events he’s taken part in."

RECOGNITION FOR GOOD SAMARITAN Elsewhere, a good Samaritan whose small talk has led to 25 life-saving interventions in three years was also honoured.

Rizwan Javed, a 28-year-old duty customer service experience manager for MTR Crossrail, attended a Samaritans managing suicidal contacts training course on identifying and coping with potential suicides in his first week working on the railway in 2015.

The following week, he was alone on a platform when he noticed a vulnerable passenger.

Rizwan, of East London, said: “If it wasn’t for me going on that Samaritans course, I wouldn’t have had the confidence to approach that passenger and help him deal with his issues and, I would like to think, give him the help that he deserved to get him back on track.

And I would like to think that he did get back on track and has made progress in his life.

“There are some people that look lost on the platforms, other people like to hide themselves away until they are approached, and some people you are fortunate enough to catch before

RAILSTAFF AWARDS

they take that final step in front of a train.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time and to have the confidence to approach these people and build that small talk and potentially save many lives.

“If I see people missing trains, going backwards and forwards to the edge of the platform, weird sort of behaviours, facial expressions, I feel I need to go and challenge that. Being in charge of that station, it’s my duty to make sure everyone on that station is safe.”

The Lifesaver Award, which recognises those who have shown courage and compassion by helping someone in crisis, supporting them and keeping them safe, was sponsored by Samaritans.

Since 2010, as part of

31

its partnership with the rail industry, Samaritans has trained nearly 18,000 rail staff and BTP officers with the skills to help someone at risk of suicide on the railway.

Jason Alexandre, training officer at Samaritans, said: “Samaritans are so proud to sponsor this award, and we’re so proud of Rizwan.

“He said he noticed somebody, he made an approach and he had the skills, in him, to actually make that conversation. Those conversations can be challenging - he said it was small talk - it’s a natural conversation that can get that person talking, break those suicidal thoughts and feelings, and then he got that person away from that place of danger to a place of safety and handed them on to someone that could help.

“It’s often only a short conversation, but, as he said, everyone’s different. He’s noticed, and he’s acted, and he’s done brilliantly.”

If you would like to support Neil Wightman in his fundraising efforts, you can do so by visiting: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/ neil-wightman FACEBOOK.COM/THERAILSTAFFAWARDS | @RAILSTAFFAWARDS | RAILSTAFFAWARDS.COM

32

RAILSTAFF AWARDS

RAILSTAFF DECEMBER 2018

Communication is key

T

elecoms engineers and media officers have little in common when it comes to their daily duties but both play an essential role in communications in the rail industry.

Since joining British Rail in Reading as a trainee technician some 30 years ago, telecoms engineer Garry Andrews has risen through the ranks to become the engineering manager of operational communications at tech firm telent.

Garry has been involved in many of the rail industry’s major signalling projects of recent years, working on such high-profile projects as Crossrail, Thameslink and the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. In November, he added another major achievement to his CV when he was named the Control, Signalling & Telecoms Person of the Year.

Garry stood out from 14 other finalists for his work in developing the rail industry’s workforce in the specialist field of telecoms.

He has trained and mentored 10 of only around 30 persons in charge of testing (PICOTs), who are responsible for putting telecoms systems into service in the UK. Many of them put forward nominations for Garry in this awards category, and spoke of him highly.

“It’s been fun passing on my knowledge and training people up,” said Garry. “There’s such a small family of people working in railway telecoms. If you mention a telecoms person, I probably know of them.

“From my point of view, a lot of the telecoms we do on the railway is

Robust Industrial Data Communications –Made Easy

Reliable and Versatile Train Networks Proud sponsor of the RailStaff Awards 2018

… www.westermo.co.uk … Phone: 01489 580585 … sales@westermo.co.uk

RAILSTAFFAWARDS.COM | @RAILSTAFFAWARDS | FACEBOOK.COM/THERAILSTAFFAWARDS

still quite old-fashioned. We’ve only just started to move into IP networking. A lot of it is still two bits of wire down the train track.

It’s not sexy and I think telecoms often gets missed off when people talk about projects.”

The Control, Signalling and Telecoms Person or Team of the Year Award was sponsored by industrial communications specialist Westermo, a longstanding supporter of the awards.

Phil Mounter, business development manager at Westermo, said: “We support the RailStaff Awards every year because we work with the rail industry and we just want to give a bit back.

“The work of mentoring and training for the telecoms community is vital to provide the industry with the next generation of people who are needed as Network

Rail goes from legacy to digital signalling. People like Garry are instrumental in that.”

BEAST FROM THE EAST In the Marketing and Communications Person or Team of the Year category, the ScotRail team won widespread plaudits for its work during the Beast from the East, which caused significant transport disruption across Scotland.

The team worked tirelessly throughout the winter storm in February and March 2018 to communicate effectively with customers during a very challenging situation.

During five days of the storm, the ScotRail Twitter team dealt with 26,000 incoming messages - more than four times the average figure.

Media relations officer Graeme Bulloch explained that the nomination was “a bit of a surprise”. He said: "The work was done during the Beast from the East,

RAILSTAFF AWARDS

which was earlier in the year. It’s such a fast-paced environment that we’d rather moved on from that, but it’s nice to be recognised for the work that we did.”

At busy times like that, the whole team had to pull together. Social media officer Ciaran McGilp said: “It was essentially top of the news for days on end, so we just got the job done, keeping people moving.”

Part of the ScotRail team’s success that led to the award was its alliance with Network Rail, but internal communications officer Chloe Moore thought it was down to more than that.

“Speaking with other comms teams throughout the railway, one thing that’s unusual about us is that we have media and internal and

social all in the one team. I think quite a lot of other TOCs (train operating companies) don’t have that, they have social sat with control and internal sat with HR, whereas we have everyone together in the one area and that really works with us.”

The Marketing and Communications Team of the Year Award was sponsored by Heathrow Airport to Paddington rail operator Heathrow Express.

Dan Edwards, commercial customer service manager at Heathrow Express, said: “The ScotRail Communications team dealt with multiple challenges in the face of the unprecedented disruption caused by the Beast from the East. The way in which they collaborated with internal and external stakeholders and ensured customers were updated on multiple channels was very impressive.

“This, coupled with the sheer customer focus demonstrated by the team, make them worthy winners of this award.

Congratulations should also go to the two entries who were highly commended.”

33

Express Train

between Heathrow Central and London Paddington Heathrow Express is proud to support The RailStaff Awards 2018 15 minute journey time to Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3 with an extra 6 minutes from Terminal 5.

A free transfer is available from Terminal 4 taking an extra 4 minutes.

For full terms and conditions visit heathrowexpress.com

FACEBOOK.COM/THERAILSTAFFAWARDS | @RAILSTAFFAWARDS | RAILSTAFFAWARDS.COM

34

RAILSTAFF AWARDS

RAILSTAFF DECEMBER 2018

Frontline heroes

A

bylaw enforcement officer and a station assistant were among the creme de la creme of frontline staff recognised at this year's ceremony.

Paul Arnill, whose role with employer Land Sheriffs is to deal with anti-social behaviour, fare evaders and enforce railway bylaws, has been praised by passengers in East Anglia for small gestures that have made a big difference to their day.

Paul’s credentials were bolstered by a number of testimonials. One person said the 50-year-old, who is based at Cambridge station, "really went the extra mile" when they left a rucksack onboard a train, describing him as a credit to his employer. While another heaped praise on Paul for "a very kind deed" when he came to the aid of a woman who was left stranded one night when her phone ran out of battery.

For remaining so positive despite the difficult situations he is often placed in, Paul, of Essex, was given the Outstanding Customer Service Award.

Paul said: “If there's one thing I've learnt from the job, it's how you approach someone, how you talk to someone, very often is how they come back at you. If you talk to people nicely, nine times out of 10 it tends to work.

"It can be quite - for want of a better word - frightening when they see us, and if you can be approachable, smile and explain why you're here

Helping to make a difference

and what we're doing - and the fact we're there to make their day safer - I think it just goes a little way to making people feel a little bit more confident about travelling.”

Paul has worked for security company Land Sheriffs for the past 20 months and was previously a bodyguard for "A-List celebrities and music artists" - not that he is one for name dropping.

The Outstanding Customer Service Award was sponsored

by Genesee & Wyoming (G&W) subsidiary Freightliner, the UK’s largest rail maritime intermodal operator and second largest freight rail provider.

Glynis Appelbe, HR director at G&W UK, Europe & Middle East, said: “Sponsoring the customer service award was a natural decision for us given our aim of delivering best in class service to our customers at all times.

“The category of Outstanding Customer Service was a highly contested one and a tough decision to make.

However, the feedback

TBF is proud to sponsor the 2018 Station Staff of the Year Award With the help of the TOCs, Network Rail and other employers throughout the industry, we now have nearly 60,000 members.

For just £1 a week, a wide range of financial, health and welfare benefits are available to you, your partner and dependent children if you work in the public transport industry...people just like you!

0300 333 2000 etd 00 38571 www.tbf.org.uk Transport Benevolent Fund CIO, known as TBF, is a registered charity in England and Wales, 1160901, and Scotland, SC047016.

RAILSTAFFAWARDS.COM 1 | @RAILSTAFFAWARDS | FACEBOOK.COM/THERAILSTAFFAWARDS TBF_People_ETD_90x130.indd 07/06/2018 08:59

from colleagues and, most importantly, customers and the general public demonstrated clearly to me Paul Arnill’s unwavering dedication to first class customer service. Customer service for Paul is clearly a way of life and not just what he is employed to do. A very worthy winner.”

ABOVE AND BEYOND For also going above and beyond expectations, Govia Thameslink Railway employee Nigel Venneear was named Station Staff of the Year.

The 62-year-old station assistant was nominated for the industry honour following an incident at Hitchin railway station in which he saved a customer's life.

Nigel, who lives in Stotford, was on the last hour of his shift when he heard a thud and turned to see a man laid

RAILSTAFF AWARDS

out flat on the platform.

After going over to investigate, Nigel discovered the man was now unconscious and bleeding from his head.

After calling the emergency services and trying to stem the bleeding, Nigel noticed the customer had stopped breathing.

Remaining on the phone to the call handler, he was advised to get a defibrillator but hesitated because there was no one to stop the blood flow. Instead, he was instructed to give the man a sharp and strong hit to the middle of his chest, which by doing so caused the man to cough and splutter back to consciousness.

The emergency services then arrived and took the man to hospital.

Nigel, whose colleague Cindy Morse picked up the award in his absence as he was unable to attend, said: "I was gobsmacked when I found out I'd won. I was just doing my job. I was previously a British Transport Police officer for 35 years, so my training from that just kicked in."

The Station Staff of the Year Award category was sponsored by the Transport Benevolent Fund (TBF), a non-profit making membership charity offering a wide range of financial, health and welfare benefits to those working in public transport, should need, hardship or distress arise.

Christopher Sullivan, chair of TBF, said: "Nigel has clearly put himself out - and this is what we're about, we support people that support the customers.

"This guy has gone that one step beyond, he's done his level best to be a good employee - and that's another thing, you can have the flashiest new trains in the world, but frontline staff are a company's best advert."

35

AWARD WINNING RAIL FREIGHT PROVIDER As a leading, award-winning provider of intermodal and bulk freight haulage, Freightliner operates services across the entire UK rail network, moving over 770,000 maritime containers per year.

To find out what Freightliner can do for you, visit: www.freightliner.co.uk or call: 0207 200 3974

FACEBOOK.COM/THERAILSTAFFAWARDS | @RAILSTAFFAWARDS | RAILSTAFFAWARDS.COM

36

RAILSTAFF AWARDS

RAILSTAFF DECEMBER 2018

Overseeing success

T

he true measure of a good manager lies in their end results, as epitomised in both the Project Manager and Rail Manager of the Year categories, which were won by ScotRail project manager Kirsty Devlin and Great Western Railway (GWR) compliance manager Carys Thomas, respectively.

Kirsty was recognised for introducing ten new Class 365 trains in record time while Carys Thomas for the impact she made during her previous role as duty station manager at Bristol Temple Meads.

Kirsty, of Glasgow, oversaw the launch of the new trains, which were acquired from Govia Thameslink Railway as a contingency due to delays in the delivery of the new Class 385 trains.

Within three months, Kirsty's team had to get the new trains gauge cleared, ready for passenger service, and introduced to rail services in Scotland.

Kirsty’s skill as project manager may have bagged her an award, but she was quick to point out that bringing the new fleet into service so quickly wasn’t just down to her.

“It was a real team effort,” she said. “Between Eversholt Rail, Network Rail, Knorr-Bremse - SNC-Lavalin did a lot of the support work - everyone worked really well together as a team to deliver it.

“I tried to pull it all together but I’m not taking all the credit for doing all the work. Absolutely not. It was a big team effort.”

THE FAMOUS FIVE © 2017, Hodder & Stoughton Limited. All rights reserved.

RAILSTAFFAWARDS.COM | @RAILSTAFFAWARDS | FACEBOOK.COM/THERAILSTAFFAWARDS

The Project Manager of the Year Award was sponsored by test and commissioning contractors WJ Project Services.

Ashley Jordan, test and commissioning manager at WJ Project Services, said: "As a company carrying out testing and commissioning, we work on a lot of the major projects on the rail infrastructure. We see a lot of the project managers engaged on the programmes and Project Manager of the Year was a good one for us to get involved with and sponsor.

“All the entries were outstanding to be fair, it was very difficult to choose, but Kirsty did an outstanding job.”

DETERMINED TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE Rail Manager of the Year, which, by coincidence - and it was really was, winners were picked by an independent judging panel - was sponsored by Carys' employer GWR, and was also bursting full of worthy winners.

Ruth Busby, GWR human resources director, said: "It was a really strong category with lots of great managers who are clearly doing lots to engage and inspire their staff, to make sure that all of our passengers have a fantastic experience."

RAILSTAFF AWARDS

In her nomination of Carys for the award, colleague Bella Cowler stated that the 27-year-old had a significant impact at Bristol Temple Meads, starting when staffing levels were at 67 per cent, with only two duty station managers in post and paperwork almost non-existent. Although there had been improvements, there were still large barriers between managers and front-line colleagues, with the result that staff felt unsupported and unheard.

Carys was determined to change this, working with colleagues to document the main issues and working tirelessly to influence change.

Having identified the problems, Carys demonstrated the large gaps in documentation that needed to be filled to be operationally and occupationally compliant. She arranged for regular staff meetings and briefings and arranged for training and workshops.

As a result of this close work with colleagues, staffing levels were increased to 96 per cent and sickness levels reduced to a level never reached before.

Carys said: "I wasn’t expecting to be nominated, let alone win, so it’s a bit of a shock. I’ve moved on to another role recently, so it means a lot that they put me in for it.”

37

2018

PROUD TO SPONSOR THE PROJECT MANAGER OF THE YEAR

www.wjpservices.com

WJ Project Services Test and commissioning contractors for the UK railway and power supply industry. Specialists in Low and High Voltage Systems, Protection Testing, including Railway, National Grid and Distribution Network Operator interfaces.

CALL OR EMAIL US TODAY FOR MORE INFORMATION 07957 641 976

info@wjpservices.com

FACEBOOK.COM/THERAILSTAFFAWARDS | @RAILSTAFFAWARDS | RAILSTAFFAWARDS.COM

38

RAILSTAFF AWARDS

RAILSTAFF DECEMBER 2018

Emergency interventions and cost-saving innovation

T

he British Transport Police's (BTP) Emergency Intervention Unit (EIU) was named Rail Infrastructure Team of the Year.

The EIUs are specialist blue-light vehicles that allow engineers, driven by and accompanied by BTP officers, to get to incidents using blue lights and sirens which helps to reduce response times and decreases the length of delays to passengers. Currently there are six EIUs operating in and around the London area.

The units operate on a response and proactive-patrol method, undertaking preventative patrols when not responding to incidents. During 2017-18, the teams responded to 1,429 incidents, which included dealing with trespassers, suicidal interventions and supporting police operations with providing safe access for searches.

BTP officer Jeremy Davies said: "We're totally shocked and, to be honest with you, it's a really proud moment to receive this.

"At the end of the day, it's not for me, I'm just the supervisor, it's all the officers, all the Network Rail mobile operation managers and mobile incident officers that partake in it. It is a joint effort between Network Rail and BTP that deals with a lot of stressful situations - high dynamic situations - to make it safer on the railway.

"This year we've dealt with numerous fatalities, we've saved lives in relation to people trying to commit suicide, caught trespassers and dealt with children on the line."

One of the most high-profile incidents happened at Loughborough

RAILSTAFFAWARDS.COM | @RAILSTAFFAWARDS | FACEBOOK.COM/THERAILSTAFFAWARDS

Junction, when three trespassers were killed by a train, an incident that attracted considerable public and media interest.

PC Jeremy said: "Two of our units were the first units there and, after that, they also maintained a presence at the scene. So, after dealing with a high level of trauma, they then put themselves into making sure it was a bit more comfortable for people out there but knowing, in the back of their head, what they've had to deal with, has been quite traumatic."

Rail Infrastructure Team of the Year was sponsored by high performance apparel manufacturer Pulsar.

Stuart Jukes, managing director of Pulsar, said: “The work they do seems so incredibly difficult for any normal person. You really have to go above and beyond to put yourself in their position. Their placement is in harm’s way most of the time.

"The RailStaff Awards is a great way to recognise what people have done and how they've done it and they're very much entitled to it."

MONEY-SAVING ON MERSEYRAIL Network Rail's Scott McKavett was named Rail Engineer of the Year for a project that will potentially lead to savings of up to £4 million.

Scott, a senior project engineer within Network Rail's delivery arm Infrastructure Projects, usually specialises in railway track. However, over the last 12 months, the 36-year-old has led the development and delivery of Merseytravel's gauging and train lengthening schemes to enable the introduction of a new fleet of trains.

Scott has overseen the feasibility, option selection, design and now delivery of gauging and passenger train interface improvement works across the whole of the Merseyrail network, which includes 136 platforms and numerous other structures.

Recently Scott, with the support from colleagues, challenged

the existing computer vehicle profiles for the Class 153, 155 and 323 trains and provided leadership to reassess and update the vehicle profiles, with support from specialist supplier DGauge.

Scott led the production of a paper which highlighted the challenges and inefficiencies created with the historic models.

The updated profiles are now being utilised across the rail industry by gauging engineers, designers and contractors. Early estimates indicate savings could be in the region of £4 million across Infrastructure Projects, for an investment of just £26,000.

Scott, of Burnley, has been involved in railways since his teenage years when he volunteered on the East Lancashire Railway.

He said: "It was just a surprise that someone had nominated me to start with but to win the Rail Engineer of the Year Award...

"I just see it as part of my job

and I thought I was going about my business unnoticed.

"I work on a real mixed bag of projects; from small unglamorous stuff to the right big projects.

"We've done a lot of work with Merseyrail and Merseytravel to improve the relationship between train and infrastructure. It's been tough, but we're getting good results now.”

The Rail Engineer of the Year Award was sponsored by Jacobs, a diverse provider of technical, professional and construction services.

Susana Gozalo, director of operations at Jacobs, said: “The quality of the finalists was outstanding. Scott McKavett from Network Rail won the award for the exceptional work he does in Infrastructure Projects Northern Programmes as a railway track engineer where he continuously improves project delivery and innovation, and his work to challenge gauge profiling which has brought about £4 million savings. It is with these sorts of challenges that the industry will get better and be more innovative and sustainable.”

PULSAR High Performance Apparel

Our garments are designed for optimal comfort and maximum performance in the harshest of weather conditions.

The PR499 Unlined Storm Coat meets the highest level of breathability increasing comfort for all day use.

For further details on the complete PULSAR® collection, visit our website.

#visiblysuperior www.pulsaruk.com FACEBOOK.COM/THERAILSTAFFAWARDS | @RAILSTAFFAWARDS | RAILSTAFFAWARDS.COM

40

RAILSTAFF AWARDS

RAILSTAFF DECEMBER 2018

Not afraid to help

N

ominating Jason Brooks, of Bury St Edmunds for the Train Driver of the Year Award, colleagues described him as an "ultimate professional" for reacting to an emergency medical situation and remaining calm, collected and a supportive force for fellow staff when the incident ended in tragedy.

In February, after pulling the Liverpool Street-King's Lynn service into Ely station, Jason was forced to leap into action to perform CPR on a passenger who had collapsed.

After asking for the carriages to be detrained, he continued to perform CPR and mouth-to-mouth, and also used a defibrillator.

An ambulance was called but, unfortunately, by the time it arrived, the passenger had passed away. Many of the platform staff on duty that night were relatively inexperienced in their roles but Jason remained calm throughout and took complete control of the situation.

Jason said: "At the end of the day it was a team effort. I might have been the person pressing down on the chest but there were other people there doing equally important jobs, whether it be clearing the carriage or just making phone calls. The outcome wasn't what we all wanted and that's what I find difficult."

The Train Driver of the Year Award was sponsored by Fenix Rail Systems, which provides a range of professional services for signalling projects.

Our four commitments

Our four commitments

PROUD TO SPONSOR DEPOT PERSON OR TEAM OF THE YEAR AT THE RAILSTAFF AWARDS 2018

StoneHaven_Layouts_AL.indd 4

StoneHaven_Layouts_AL.indd 4

28/08/2018 11:20

28/08/2018 11:20

RAILSTAFFAWARDS.COM | @RAILSTAFFAWARDS | FACEBOOK.COM/THERAILSTAFFAWARDS

Steve McLaren, managing director of Fenix Rail Systems, said: "All of the nominees had incredible reasons to be awarded this prize.

"I think in a lot of cases, maybe not in rail, but in the high street, a lot of people avoid doing what Jason did. He'll probably say it was the natural thing to do but a lot of people don't. I think it's a credit that Jason is that kind of person.

"It's difficult circumstances for Jason but this is recognition, not only for him, but for lots of other people who do the same job and colleagues as well."

EXPAT'S SUCCESS Meanwhile, the Depot Person of the Year Award was given to Govia Thameslink

Railway (GTR) projects manager Encarna Huerta.

The 43-year-old, of Bedford, packed up all of her things and moved to the UK from Spain five years ago after becoming tired of the situation in her homeland.

She first started cleaning in a university, but an agency soon gave her work on the railway.

From starting as a cleaner at GTRâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Bedford depot, Encarna now looks after administration, staff wages, purchase deliveries and a host of other areas.

Moving up to look after admin at the depot, Encarna found her time was not completely filled so she asked her manager to teach her new things, which led to more responsibilities, until she became the valued member of the depot team she is today.

RAILSTAFF AWARDS

41

As her nominator, train presentation depots manager Janine Foulger, said: “She is not afraid to get her hands dirty and will assist the cleaning team when they are shorthanded or just gets on and puts away stores deliveries unasked and often unassisted.

“Her hard work is unnoticed and under appreciated by many, but I can honestly say that she has been invaluable to me and my team and this nomination is my way of placing on record our thanks for all her hard work to date.”

Depot Person or Team of the Year was sponsored by the industry body the Rail Delivery Group (RDG).

Gary Cooper, director of planning, engineering and operations at RDG, said: “Depots are important because all of our customers’ safe, punctual journeys start in depots. So I think it’s important we showcase them, praise them, give them support and give them awards.

“The quality of the entries was good - what amazed me was how varied it was, from administration and project management to hardcore engineering - just so much different stuff. It shows just how diverse our railway is in activity, and Encarna is a worthy winner.”

FACEBOOK.COM/THERAILSTAFFAWARDS | @RAILSTAFFAWARDS | RAILSTAFFAWARDS.COM

42

RAILSTAFF AWARDS

RAILSTAFF DECEMBER 2018

Changing lives and culture

A

ECOM civils and infrastructure recruiter Stephen Bullock was named the 2018 Recruiter of the Year for the impact he has made on people’s lives.

Stephen, who was presented the award by Network Rail group human resources director Alison Rumsey on behalf of category sponsor RailwayPeople.com, said: “It’s a great honour.

There’s a fabulous list of people in there. I’ve come to a few of these and to be nominated and acknowledged, which is what this whole thing is about - it’s amazing!”

“I’ve been in the industry for 20 years and this year, specifically, I’ve probably hired over 300 rail staff. I’ve got a great team behind me, and, clearly, we’ve made changes to 300 people’s lives, their families, their careers.”

The 40-year-old, of West Sussex, added: "This industry used to be very time-served. I made my first hire into CTRL 550 (the signalling and control contract for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link - now HS1) back in 2001 and it was very much ‘you’ve got 10 years’ experience, so you can’t move on.’

“Those days have gone. It’s all about ability now. So you can have someone with 20 years’ experience and they’re a plodder - and that’s great, that’s fine - but you can have somebody with five years’ experience who shows real promise and aspiration and drive and fire, and all those good things you want in people. It’s no longer about being time-served.

RA ILW AYP EO PLE .CO M

TH EL AR GE ST WE DEDI BS CAT ITE E IN T D RA HE IL C UK ARE ER S

THE CHANGING FACE OF RAIL

WHETHER YOU’RE NEW TO THE INDUSTRY OR LOOKING FOR A NEW CHALLENGE

VISIT WWW.RAILWAYPEOPLE.COM TODAY

way People.com RAILSTAFFAWARDS.COM | @RAILSTAFFAWARDS | FACEBOOK.COM/THERAILSTAFFAWARDS

Businesses are not time-served. It’s about ability, output and how we serve our clients.”

Although, as a recruiter, Stephen’s role is to bring new people on board, his job doesn’t stop there.

“Not everyone takes to change,” he said. “Moving somebody from a competitor to ourselves - that’s change. So, we have to acknowledge that and we have to look after that.

“It’s a collaborative event. We make sure that my colleagues in HR and myself are all connected and, if we do have somebody who is stumbling, that we get them back on the right path.”

Stephen’s job isn’t over when a person is appointed - there are internal opportunities too. AECOM is a global business so if someone wants a job in Sydney, or South Africa, Stephen can help them with that.

Asif Ahmed, director of RailwayPeople.com, said: "RailwayPeople.com is really proud to support the RailStaff Awards. Recruitment and HR are two departments that are often overlooked, so it's fantastic to see so many teams and individuals recognised. Congratulations to AECOM's Stephen Bullock, who is a very worthy winner."

BIG CHANGE A training team from Virgin Trains was recognised for rolling out a project that has resulted in the biggest change to the company’s retail operations in more than 10 years.

The team, made up of 10 trainers, a training coordinator and a subject

expert, was created in January to support the rollout of a new system for ticket offices, which has seen staff step out from behind their desks to become more involved with customers. This included training nearly 400 people across 21 stations between London and Glasgow and working closely with the technology team to identify how to best use the new system, provide feedback on functionality and identify training needs as well as to plan and create the training sessions.

The project involved a huge culture shift for the teams, as it has been designed to allow the ticketing teams to become mobile, to offer a greater retailing experience for customers.

Representing her team, training coordinator

Gail Stephen, who works out of Manchester Piccadilly, said: “I was in total disbelief - from being nominated to being a finalist to actually winning.

“It was like ‘oh my god’, we have actually done it. All the hard work we have put in has all been worth it.

“I don’t think we expected it. I thought there were two other really good finalists in our category.”

The Trainer or Training Team of the Year was sponsored by Keltbray, a leading specialist business, that offers engineering, construction, demolition, decommissioning, remediation, rail, environmental services and reinforced concrete structure solutions.

Martin Brown, managing director of Keltbray Rail, said: “We were pleased to support this very well-attended event with rail professionals from across our industry. It’s an evening that provides recognition and appreciation for the people who deliver great work on our railways.

It was a well organised and an enjoyable evening.”

INNOVATION IN ENGINEERING Keltbray Group is an award-winning provider of specialist construction services for some of the UK’s biggest rail infrastructure projects.

We take pride in all stages of our direct delivery model, from design through to project management, on-site delivery and in the provision of rail plant. This allows us to control all aspects of the job and mitigate client risk.

St Andrew’s House Portsmouth Road Esher Surrey KT10 9TA

T 020 7643 1000 F 020 7643 1001 Keltbray is at the forefront of investing in people E enquiries@keltbray.com and the latest technologies. Our track record in www.keltbray.com delivering quality, combined with a design-led philosophy, helps drive innovation and deliver projects safely, on time and to budget.

FACEBOOK.COM/THERAILSTAFFAWARDS | @RAILSTAFFAWARDS | RAILSTAFFAWARDS.COM

44

RAILSTAFF AWARDS

RAILSTAFF DECEMBER 2018

Complex solutions to complex problems

B

etween July and November, 2017, a series of suspected suicides on the rail network in the Milton Keynes area raised cause for concern.

The incidents, which were having a huge impact on the local communities and on the rail industry, led to representatives from the area's train operators, emergency services and mental health professionals forming a multi-agency taskforce to tackle the problem head on.

Working together, the group - which included representatives from Network Rail, Samaritans, British Transport Police, West Midlands Trains, Virgin Trains, Thames Valley Police and other stakeholders - pursued a range of different workstreams that focused on information sharing and community engagement to increase the chances of human intervention and to promote help-seeking.

As a result, there have been no further suspected suicides on the lines in this area, with seven recorded lifesaving interventions recorded in the process.

This tremendous result led to the 'Milton Keynes Escalation Team' winning the Rail Safety Award.

BTP officer Philippa Smith said: "We can’t do this on our own, we can’t reduce suicides and help those vulnerable people on our own, but, working together with local authorities and local organisations, we can actually make an impact within the communities as well as on the

Innovate Collaborate Integrate

t

0800 783 7761 www.telent.com

e

talktotelent@telent.com @telent_UK

linkedin.com/company/telent

RAILSTAFFAWARDS.COM | @RAILSTAFFAWARDS | FACEBOOK.COM/THERAILSTAFFAWARDS

network.”

Neil Peters, strategic programme manager at Samaritans, added: "Suicide is a complex issue so, to tackle it, we had to have a more complex response. We know that we can’t tackle it as individual organisations, so this is a great example of how we all can come together and tackle a difficult and complex issue together.”

The Rail Manager of the Year category was sponsored by eye safety specialists Bollé Safety.

Damien Guillobez, global vice president at Bollé Safety, said: "When speaking about safety at work, we speak about saved lives and, in the case of Bollé Safety, saved eyes.

"We are pleased to support the rail industry and congratulate the Milton Keynes Escalation Team."

LEADING LIGHT A career railwayman who has clocked up more than 45 years in the industry was given the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Graeme Brindle, 63, joined British Rail as an engineering management trainee in 1973 and has since worked as an electrical engineer in the Western Region and has also held various roles working on the Channel Tunnel, where he honed his French during a seven-year stint.

Spells at German electrical equipment manufacturer AEG Transport and current employer Amey have followed and Graeme, of Ruislip, now looks to go full circle and finish his career on a big electrification project he was meant to begin on, some 40 years ago.

The chartered engineer and

technical director said: "I was trained for the national electrification scheme in the late 1970s, which was then cancelled, then my career went to various places.

"I think my claim to fame is that I designed the train power systems for the South Wales electrification - which is now Wales and Borders which I am working on now part-time. So everything I was trained for 40 years ago I am now getting around to doing."

Colleagues were full of praise for the "living legend" and his extensive electrical engineering knowledge, which has helped to improve electrical safety and implement innovation within the UK rail industry.

One example is Graeme's development of signalling power technology, which has brought about significant improvement in safety and infrastructure performance.

Wife Daphne Brindle, who was by his side at the awards ceremony, said: "I'm very proud of him.

"Anyone that knows him knows that Graeme is all about railways. All of our friends and relatives know that Graeme is railways."

The Lifetime Achievement Award was sponsored by telent Technology Services, a leading technology company delivering ICT, mission-critical communication networks, operational systems and services.

Stephen Pearce, programme director at telent, said: "What made Graeme stand out was the number of accolades from the people he's worked with over the years.

There were just so many of them, the body of evidence was huge."

PROUD SPONSOR OF RAIL SAFETY PERSON OR TEAM OF THE YEAR

FACEBOOK.COM/THERAILSTAFFAWARDS | @RAILSTAFFAWARDS | RAILSTAFFAWARDS.COM

46

RAILSTAFF AWARDS

RAILSTAFF DECEMBER 2018

Best person and team

A

54-year-old man from Ramsgate, Kent, was named the Rail Person of the Year for developing a mental health support scheme for colleagues.

Programme manager Lee Woolcott-Ellis, of train operator Southeastern, has developed a scheme to support the early intervention of potential problems that can be signposted to appropriate support, before problems such as absenteeism arise. The project also hopes to overcome the stigma surrounding mental health.

After interviewing, recruiting and training a committed group of 11 volunteer mental health advocates to support it, the programme was launched on October 10.

Mental health is a cause very close to Lee's heart as a result of his difficult upbringing. He was the victim of historic child sexual abuse, an experience he has since written about in his book 'A Childhood Not Easily Forgotten: A History of Abuse'.

For most of his life, Lee had kept it a secret, only revealing to friends and family in 2013 what had happened on the eve of legal proceedings being launched.

Putting him forward for the Rail Person of the Year industry honour, colleagues said Lee "has a hunger to make a difference in order to help others" and is a "truly special man".

Lee said: "It hasn't really sunk in to be honest. I just feel like a winner everyday doing what I am doing.

HELPING

build the nation SAM SAFETY AT MCGINLEY

Proud to sponsor the Rail Person of the Year at the 2018 RailStaff Awards

RAILSTAFFAWARDS.COM | @RAILSTAFFAWARDS | FACEBOOK.COM/THERAILSTAFFAWARDS

“I have taken something really, really negative and turned it into a positive and it validates me as a person.

“All I want to do is get the message out there to the industry so people can learn from it and get the support they need. We at Southeastern are really engaging with our colleagues to say that whatever is wrong with you, come and talk to us, we can help out."

The Rail Person of the Year category was sponsored by McGinley Support Services, one of the UK’s largest specialist recruitment agencies providing the infrastructure sector of the construction industry with permanent, contract and temporary staff at all levels.

Dermot McGinley, managing director of McGinley Support Services, said: “Whilst all nominees for Rail Person of the Year were commendable, it was great to see Lee being recognised for developing a programme that will have an impact and future benefit to rail users across the Southeastern network.

"We had a wonderful evening, and thoroughly enjoyed the chance network with colleagues across the industry, and to celebrate those individuals and parties, such

RAILSTAFF AWARDS

as Lee that go above and beyond in their daily lives.”

WORKING TOGETHER Lee was grateful for the support of volunteers and the executive team for working with him to develop the programme from his initial idea. The Rail Team of the Year winners provided another good example of different parties pulling together to achieve something great.

After years of talking about using trackside equipment to improve digital connectivity onboard trains, the crossindustry team of Network Rail, Cisco, telent and ScotRail have proven it can be done on an operational railway through project SWIFT - Superfast wi-fi in-carriage for future travel.

As a result, ScotRail customers between Edinburgh and Glasgow have been the first in the UK to experience on train wi-fi at broadband speeds.

Lee Byrne, service delivery manager at Cisco, said: “Project

SWIFT was the embodiment of everyone coming together for the greater good over a long period of time.

“It was tough, you know, it was hard, it was new. Particularly Cisco coming into this marketplace as we hadn't done it before."

The Rail Team of the Year Award was sponsored by Total Rail Solutions, specialists in providing on-track plant hire and rail subcontract services.

Paul Bateman, chief executive of Total Rail Solutions, said: “Whilst all nominations displayed the proactivity, positivity and general forward thinking that you would expect, we felt that Project SWIFT fully utilised cross party approval for what was a very complicated process, and delivered a positive outcome which will be of future benefit to rail users across the ScotRail network.

“We had a wonderful evening, and thoroughly enjoyed the chance to both interact with many areas of the industry, and to acknowledge and celebrate those parties, such as Project SWIFT, that went above and beyond in their relevant fields.”

47

ON-TRACK PLANT | POS SERVICES | SUB-CONTRACTING LABOUR SOLUTIONS | PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Ready for action whatever the challenge With over 80 RRVs, a highly experienced team and a superior safety record, we’re ready to support your next project - whether civils, electrification, infrastructure or permanent way.

T 01962 711642

E info@totalrailsolutions.co.uk W totalrailsolutions.co.uk

FACEBOOK.COM/THERAILSTAFFAWARDS | @RAILSTAFFAWARDS | RAILSTAFFAWARDS.COM

48

RAILSTAFF AWARDS

RAILSTAFF DECEMBER 2018

... last but not least

A

lmost unnoticed amongst all the hoopla and excitement of the winners’ celebrations, many missed the fact that the judges of each category had awarded two Highly Commended certificates, effectively a pair of runners up. The recipients all had interesting stories to tell, and the work they had done, and the efforts they had made, were practically as good as those of the winners celebrating on stage.

The winners’ stories are told elsewhere but here are the deeds of those highly commended people and teams that otherwise won’t be mentioned. They are a credit to their industry, their employers and themselves. They finished in the top 60 of over 600 nominations – truly the best of the best.

Hackers, cats and innovators

Carl Braid is a self-taught, qualified and competent ‘ethical hacker’. He joined telent Technology Services 11 months ago, as one of the first cyber security apprentices in the UK rail industry, and is involved in testing and exploring the stability of, and identifying potential vulnerabilities on, the UK rail network.

HS2 apprentice Christopher Sadler has impressed both internal teams and suppliers with the energy and execution he brings to his role on this complex project, working closely

with numerous stakeholders. In addition, Chris has voluntarily supported high-profile industry workshops, presenting to the CEO and his senior leadership team, and becoming an HS2 education ambassador and STEM learner.

Carys Thomas, operations compliance manager for GWR, was awarded business mentor of the year by Envision - a charity which helps underprivileged teenagers to develop key skills - for her work with Colston’s Girls’ School. She is also part of Young Rail Professionals and is an ambassador manager for the Western region.

Felix the cat, Huddersfield station’s senior pest controller, is famously known for her charity work, which is now worldwide. Her book launch alone raised over £30,000 for Prostate Cancer UK. Felix has built a global fundraising frenzy, with a following of more than 130,000 people on Facebook.

As control systems director for Siemens Rail Automation in the UK, Mike Lewis has been at the heart of the control systems sector for over 20 years, working closely with customers and the wider industry to develop and refine solutions that continue to meet their changing needs.

The Signalling Innovations Group, part of Infrastructure Projects, has been dedicated to making improvements to the way both large and small projects are designed and delivered, whether that is through improved design tools and processes, new products, support to projects and much more.

RAILSTAFFAWARDS.COM | @RAILSTAFFAWARDS | FACEBOOK.COM/THERAILSTAFFAWARDS

Depot closure, Fast Trackers and ‘Always On’.

Old Oak Common, one of London’s largest railway depots, employing over 200 GWR staff and an equal number of contractors, is closing to make way for HS2. 2018 has been difficult for the closure team, which has had to deal with a variety of major challenges, including low staff morale, whilst continuing to run a fully operational train maintenance depot.

Scott Richards is GTR’s yard protector at Brighton Down Sidings. Due to a shortage of staff, for several months he worked 13 night-shifts straight, with one day off, and straight back into 13 night-shifts at work, putting his work first to ensure that trains were maintained and cleaned and ready for customers.

Danny Matthews joined FirstGroup in 2016 as an operations management graduate and quickly gained a reputation for getting things done. He became Bristol Parkway station manager at a time when electrification work disrupted all train services, leading to rail replacement services during a three-week blockade.

Newcomer Inge-Sarah received a flurry

RAILSTAFF AWARDS

of nominations in the Graduate of the Year category due to her role in helping to deliver Fast Trackers - the largest outreach programme in Network Rail’s Year of Engineering calendar - as well as time spent

mentoring learners and for being a great role model for others.

Stuart Humphreys and the MML electrification L2C (Midland main line London to Corby) project have created and implemented the ‘Always On’ electrification safety video, which has had around 500,000 hits online and has been central to raising awareness of the dangers of trespass and, specifically, going near electrified overhead wires.

Germaine Mbabi is a creative and inspirational member of the GTR’s network operations communications and customer experience team. She has outstanding interpersonal and relationship building skills and is confident in advising and influencing senior colleagues.

Clean stations, Lincoln bypass and Lickey incline

Alex Lucas ensures Greater Anglia’s Elsenham station is always immaculate. The waiting rooms are always clean and the footbridge and platforms are always gritted in bad weather. From the Monday morning rush, to updating the village Facebook page with helpful information, Alex consistently

49

demonstrates exemplary customer service.

Kevin Kramer of CrossCountry started his career in the rail industry back in 1976, so anyone who has been on a train in the North East over the past four decades stands a good chance of having travelled on Kevin’s train. His nomination was full of comments from passengers who have said his humour is refreshing and lifts the mood during his shifts.

Darryl White is an experienced project manager who instils confidence in those working around him. During his work for Network Rail on the Lincoln Eastern Bypass scheme, he kept the project on track and to budget whilst dealing with difficult challenges and managing multiple interfaces, always happy to speak with the public, undertake interviews or have a challenging conversation when required.

Andy Mooney has been in the rail construction industry for many years and is currently delivering a section of the Crossrail works in East London for Costain. He consistently strives for excellence, creating a climate of continuous improvement, yet he will always go the extra mile to ensure his teams deliver their works in a professional and timely fashion.

FACEBOOK.COM/THERAILSTAFFAWARDS | @RAILSTAFFAWARDS | RAILSTAFFAWARDS.COM

50

RAILSTAFF AWARDS

RAILSTAFF DECEMBER 2018

While Mel Osborne’s enthusiasm for engineering, particularly in rail, is infectious, it is her ‘extra-curricular’ commitment to supporting STEM engagement in schools and colleges that sets her apart, taking a lead role in lobbying the Amey management team for time and resources while directly engaging in countless activities throughout the year.

Andrew Thompson is an inspirational design engineer. An example of his excellent delivery record was his role as Mott MacDonald’s design team lead responsible for development of the OLE design for wiring the Lickey incline, the steepest sustained gradient on Network Rail’s infrastructure, on the Bromsgrove electrification project.

Care and compassion, open heart surgery and colour blindness

Samantha Wood, of London Northwestern Railway, received her commendation for risking her own life to save a suicidal woman by removing her from the track and bringing her to safety. She showed care and compassion and listened when no one else would, stayed by her side and waited for emergency services to arrive.

Matt West, Jim Wilson and Jake Chiverton were carrying out revenue duties for Southeastern when a man ran for and boarded a train. While escorting him away, they discovered that he was suicidal. When the emergency services arrived, the man didn’t want Matt to leave as he was the first person in 14 years to show interest in his wellbeing. All three now see him on a regular basis.

Network Rail’s Thameslink programme saw the complete redevelopment of London Bridge station and the surrounding railway.

Described as being similar to “performing open heart surgery on someone running a marathon”, the station remained open throughout construction, despite being completely demolished and rebuilt from the ground up.

The Anglia Route tasking team, consisting

of two regular and two special BTP constables, has the specific task of problemsolving route crime hot spots. When the national trend for trespass, vandalism, level crossing misuse and fatalities is on the increase, Anglia has seen the opposite trend with a reduction in incidents and associated delay minutes.

Joe Brown challenged the status quo to enable four members of London Underground’s staff to realise their dreams of becoming train drivers. Despite being redgreen colour blind and therefore not meeting the colour vision standard, Joe questioned how applicable it was for an automatic railway with no colour light signals. After a year’s work, his proposed trial for four red-green colour deficient staff to drive trains on the Jubilee line was approved by directors.

Dubbed a future leader, Samantha Lear's leadership of GTR’s Environment Champions has allowed the programme to expand, the success of which would not be possible without her valued input. Sam has proven, time and again, that her quality of work, positivity and dedication to her role goes above and beyond expectation.

French announcements, health and wellbeing and royal weddings Scott Ward is an exemplary train driver whose announcements have really brought joy to Greater Anglia customers in the Southend area. He makes announcements in French on the approach to Southend airport (despite not being fluent), after a confused passenger once pulled the alarm, and is one of the most eloquent and professional individuals at Greater Anglia.

While driving a First TransPennine Express train between Leeds and Hull, Andy Butler noticed a suspicious car at Ruddings Lane crossing with something attached to it and notified the signaller. The driver of the car, who was attempting to commit suicide, was rescued by the emergency services at the very isolated crossing. Had Andy not reacted

RAILSTAFFAWARDS.COM | @RAILSTAFFAWARDS | FACEBOOK.COM/THERAILSTAFFAWARDS

quickly enough, the occupier of the vehicle could have died.

Teams led by Stuart Haden have devised a wide range of empowering designers to think about health and wellbeing in new ways. He has helped deliver a step change in how Arup views health and wellbeing which, in turn, has vastly improved the legacy of its designs and the environment in which its projects are delivered.

Dr Ann Mills, head of health and safety at RSSB, has been a force for good in human factors safety in the rail industry for more than 20 years. She has built RSSB’s worldrecognised Human Factors team from scratch and, with more than 50 people having chosen to come to work with her, her team-members now hold leading roles across the globe.

GWR’s Care Team is a group of specially selected volunteers who respond to traumatic incidents to support customers and colleagues. In the past two years it has responded to a train collision in Plymouth, the Croydon Tram derailment, a fatal stabbing at Plymouth station and a fatal bus crash in Peterborough.

The Royal Wedding was the most highprofile event GWR and SWR have ever planned, culminating in over 40,000 customer journeys to and from the event. Windsor & Eton Central was re-branded to Harry & Meghan Central, branded chocolates, confetti and flags were given to customers, bunting festooned the local stations and trains were given special liveries. This could not have happened without the team working so closely together.

WISE, CPR and TIM

Lydia Fairman has been with Network Rail for two years and is described as a dynamic thought leader whose ideas and vision will ensure that those outside of the industry will be enticed by a career in rail. In the last year, she’s produced an industry-wide people strategy for the Digital Railway and personally represented Network Rail as a speaker at the WISE conference.

Whatever the request, Louis Williams

RAILSTAFF AWARDS

always starts working out how to deliver it quickly and efficiently. The GWR HR administrator delivers far above what is expected of him, whether this is through harnessing his technological knowhow or using his network of contacts. In addition, as a former stations team member, Louis frequently volunteers to work on the frontline during disruptions.

Richard Shaw, with the help of the team at Ebbsfleet, helped save the life of a member of the public who suffered a heart attack on a Eurostar train earlier this year.

Richard administered CPR and followed the instructions given by the defibrillator until paramedics arrived. As well as providing excellent care, Richard and his team minimised the distress to the patient’s family and other passengers.

A mother figure at Victoria London Underground station, Teresa Miles regularly takes the time to support both colleagues and customers. Her ability to empathise with those around her has helped to save the life of a member of the public and always brings a smile to people’s faces. Colleagues say they are proud and privileged to work alongside Teresa.

Trevor Boyd and his team (Al, Josh, Sian and Simon) have created and are delivering a team effectiveness development programme to frontline and management teams in Network Rail Western Route titled TIM. Not an ordinary classroom training session, the success of this course is not what is delivered, but how it is delivered, by a passionate, dedicated, hardworking, knowledgeable team.

Mark Sunshine has been a Land Sheriff for six years, working his way through the company from a security operative to become the in-house trainer, bringing his years of experience and knowledge at Land Sheriffs to the role. His enthusiasm is second to none,

ensuring everyone takes an active part in the training and making each session personable and, most importantly, fun!

First aid and SafetyINRail

A first-aid trained police volunteer, London Northwestern Railway’s Scott Nickels is known for going above and beyond the call of duty, but it was the events of a nasty first-aid incident from January that won him his commendation. Scott took control of the situation and applied pressure to the wound.

He remained until the paramedics arrived, who praised him for his efforts.

Georgina Cooper, a volunteer member of the BTP, has developed a new competency system that has allowed GTR’s entire operational management team to be assessed and kept up to date with the latest industry developments. Over the past year, many aspects of the business have changed, so Georgina has ensured that teams are achieving the best possible working practices whilst providing the best possible service.

John Jebson has made an outstanding personal contribution to the industry

51

throughout his career. He has a remarkable thirst for knowledge and a passion for safety, not only at McGinley but the entire industry. He is also the editor of SafetyINRail - first published more than 17 years ago as a single-page briefing for McGinley rail workers, John has now expanded it into a full magazine.

Described as the backbone of safety at Virgin Trains, safety director Peter Bowes has shown that working collaboratively with other parts of the business, external stakeholders and the regulator can improve efficiency and create a better experience for the customer.

Great achievements, great awards

The 40 individuals and teams mentioned above are all winners and have achieved great things. The list started with two apprentices, Carl Braid and Christopher Sadler, and finished with the lifetime achievements of John Jebson and Peter Bowes. They, and the 36 named in between, are what makes the railway a great place to work and on which to travel.

We salute them all.

FACEBOOK.COM/THERAILSTAFFAWARDS | @RAILSTAFFAWARDS | RAILSTAFFAWARDS.COM

52

EVENTS

RAILSTAFF DECEMBER 2018

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL RAILSTAFF AWARDS WINNERS FROM NOVEMBER 29, NEC, BIRMINGHAM

EVENTS

JANUARY 2019

MARCH 2019

APRIL 2019

TRANSPORT LED DEVELOPMENT IN LONDON AND SOUTH EAST

RAILWAY DIVISION LUNCH

14TH LIGHT RAIL AND STREET CAR CONFERENCE

16th January London

1st March Grosvenor House Hotel, London www.imeche.org/events

7th-9th April New Jersey, USA

www.trb.org/Calendar/Blurbs/175951

www.waterfrontconferencecompany.com

CP6 LAUNCH EVENT

TRANSPORT TICKETING GLOBAL

www.millianevents.co.uk/

9th-12th April Utah, USA

events/1903cp6.shtml

event.asme.org/joint-rail-conference

www.transport-ticketing.com

ACCELERATE: RAIL 2019

EURASIA RAIL

FEBRUARY 2019

new.marketforce.eu.com/accelerate/

www.eurasiarail.eu/Home

29th January London

4TH ANNUAL RAIL CYBER SECURITY SUMMIT 19th February Amsterdam, Netherlands

14th March Hilton Hotel, Liverpool

19th March Hilton Tower Bridge, London events/rail-conference/

RAILTECH EUROPE

26th-29th March Jaarbeurs Utrecht, Netherlands

www.railcybersecurity.com

events.railtech.com/europe2019/

MIDDLE EAST RAIL

RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE SUMMIT

26th-27th February Dubai

www.terrapinn.com/exhibition

FIRE PROTECTION OF ROLLING STOCK 27th-28th February Berlin, Germany

www.spgmediadesign.com

26th March Vietnam

www.railmeetings.com/accueil/ railway-infrastructure-summit-vietnam

SIFER

26th-28th March Lille, France www.sifer2019.com/english/welcome

A GUIDE TO UPCOMING EVENTS IN THE RAIL INDUSTRY THE NEXT FEW MONTHS, AT A GLANCE

JOINT RAIL CONFERENCE

10th-12th April Izmir, Turkey

RAIL SOLUTIONS ASIA 10th-12th April Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia www.tdhrail.co.uk/rsa

YRP ANNUAL DINNER 11th April London

www.youngrailpro.com/2019dinner

MODERN ROLLING STOCK 14th-17th April Graz, Austria

www.schienenfahrzeugtagung.at/en

MAY 2019 RAILTEX 2019

14th-16th May NEC, Birmingham www.railtex.co.uk/2019/english

RAILSTAFF.UK | @RAIL_STAFF | FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF

14th International Exhibition of Railway Equipment, Systems & Services

The Hub, Conference & SME Lab

@railtex #Railtex2019

www.railtex.co.uk

14 - 16 MAY 2019 NEC, BIRMINGHAM, UK

The show for everyone involved in shaping the future of UK rail

54

PROCUREM SUMMITS

RAILSTAFF DECEMBER 2018

NEW APPROACHES FOR A NEW CONTROL PERIOD

F

• East West Rail’s central section, for which the project is looking to obtain joint funding from the housing sector; • Projects brought forward from the DfT’s call for market-led proposals. The Windsor Link Railway, HS4Air and a new southern link to Heathrow airport were among 30 submissions made to the DfT in 2018; • Network Rail Routes-led third-party projects.

Each route now has business development managers who will seek third-party funding for projects.

Encouraging more private financing and funding is not without its challenges. Stephen said that devolution has hindered this approach as it would be difficult for all eight regional routes to have the skillsets to prepare for these complex procurements.

He also highlighted three other obstacles.

The first is that companies are unlikely to want to take on the risk expectations that go with these different types of procurements, particularly following the liquidation of Carillion. The second is the challenge of securing funding for heavy rail schemes that is not based on passenger revenues; and the final one is the “potential paralysis” caused by the Rail Review.

resh opportunities are on the horizon for the rail supply chain and CP6 promises to provide a teaser of them.

From the Shaw Review to the Department for Transport’s (DfT) guidelines for market-led proposals, a series of reviews and incremental policy changes over the last few years have encouraged the private sector to increase its involvement in the rail industry.

PATHFINDERS

Published in July 2017, the Hansford Review recommended the development of private investment in rail infrastructure - in contrast to the current delivery model of most projects - to provide a more sustainable future for rail with real market contestability.

Speaking at the Rail Procurement Roadshow in November, Nichols Group director Stephen Jones, who was part of the Hansford Review, said there are particular “pathfinder” projects that will pave the way for others to follow this approach. This includes: • The public-private development of Euston station;

L-R: Ronald Hendrikx, Stephen Jones, Eoin O'Neil, John Drake and Joanna Dunn engage in a panel discussion.

RAILSTAFF.UK | @RAIL_STAFF | FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF

CP6 With CP6 a matter of months away, the CPD-accredited Rail Procurement Roadshow proved a timely event to help businesses, particularly SMEs, prepare for the next control period. Sponsored by Panasonic Business and hosted at the London offices of law firm Bird & Bird, the roadshow was split into two sessions: a conference in the morning and workshops, which guided delegates through the procurement process with advice on best practice, organised between Bird & Bird and ShineBid in the afternoon.

Network Rail’s CP6 settlement was finalised in October. Included in the package is: £3.4 billion for operations, £2.6 billion for support functions, £7.7 billion for maintenance, £16.6 billion for renewals and £4.3 billion for other areas. Altogether that amounts to almost £34.7 billion. There is also £10 billion for enhancements, but these will be procured differently.

Eoin O’Neil, the commercial director of Network Rail’s delivery arm Infrastructure Projects (IP), said the settlement is a good result for the industry, highlighting that the renewals budget is up 17 per cent on CP5.

Contractors can expect changes to their contracts, he added. Earlier in 2018, Network Rail announced it is making suppliers commit to paying their subcontractors within 28 days and to ban the use of retentions. Retentions typically equate to anything between three to five per cent of the total cost of work delivered, half of which is then released upon completion of a project and the remainder retained for around a year after completion, to protect against poor workmanship.

Network Rail is also introducing the use of project bank accounts on some of its major projects, meaning payments to subcontractors can be agreed by the client and scrutinised more closely, as touched on by Joanna Dunn, head of procurement for IP. Joanna said a big focus for the next control period will be on sustainability. Touching on one of the key themes, employment, skills and training, she said this includes targets of one apprenticeship for every £1 million spend

MENT

RAILSTAFF DECEMBER 2018

SUMMITS

55

Network Rail renewals expenditure from 2000 to 2024 (Actual plotted against forecast).

Railways Delivering Smarter Solutions through Smarter Procurement

and for 65 per cent of spend to go to SMEs by 2021, although not all of this will be direct.

Returning to CP6, the Rail Industry Association’s (RIA) policy director Peter Loosley shared concerns over uneven expenditure. RIA members have said they are unable to plan properly; are reluctant to spend on staff, kit and innovation; and, if work drops off, it means letting go of people who are difficult to get back, as a result. Peter believes between 10-30 per cent of the cost base could be removed by reducing peaks and troughs.

There is no obvious pipeline of enhancements either, he added, and renewals won’t keep supply chain going, as skillsets for the two are different.

During a panel discussion, Peter, Balfour Beatty Rail’s head of procurement Adam Berwick and the Institute for Collaborative Working’s associate director Paul Greenwood all agreed that if they had one wish it would be to smoothen the pipeline of work. Other speakers included John Drake and Ronald Hendrikx, both of Bird & Bird.

Peter summed up the challenge of CP6 succinctly: “We have a very good settlement for CP6. Treasury are looking very carefully at how we spend that. No surprises that they want us to do that efficiently. But if we don’t, I believe there is a significant risk that any settlement for CP7 will be far less favourable than the good settlement we’ve got now.

“It behoves us all to work together to deliver CP6 in as an efficient way as possible and together we can and we will deliver it I am sure.”

Connected Rail

Lawyers for your digital journey

Destination: Smart City Departing in 2 minutes

twobirds.com Abu Dhabi & Amsterdam & Beijing & Bratislava & Brussels & Budapest & Copenhagen & Dubai & Düsseldorf & Frankfurt & The Hague & Hamburg & Helsinki & Hong Kong & London & Luxembourg & Lyon & Madrid & Milan & Munich & Paris & Prague & Rome & San Francisco & Shanghai & Singapore & Stockholm & Sydney & Warsaw

FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF | @RAIL_STAFF | RAILSTAFF.UK

56

COMPANY FOCUS

RAILSTAFF DECEMBER 2018

GREEN HANDS AND BIG PLANS

E

arlier this year, Heathrow Express (HEx) announced an agreement that confirmed the service will continue to operate until at least 2028.

Taking the train to Heathrow Airport is not only quicker and easier, it is much more sustainable than travelling by road, so the agreement is a good one for the environment as well as airline passengers.

The new agreement has been approved by the Department for Transport and sees HEx retaining the commercial aspects of the service, including marketing, ticket pricing and revenue.

Great Western Railway (GWR) took on some of the operational aspects of the HEx service under a management contract from November 1, 2018.

As a result of this agreement, the proposed new Langley depot - required because the current

train-fleet depot at Old Oak Common is to be demolished to make way for HS2 - will no longer be needed.

Instead, GWR will begin the introduction of a new, dedicated fleet of trains for the HEx service in 2019. These will be specially converted to provide first class carriages, high speed wi-fi, additional luggage racks and onboard entertainment.

At the same time, the customer concierge team will grow from 20 to 80, to provide on-board service and improve the passenger experience.

SUSTAINABLE STRATEGIES HEx’s’ sustainability and corporate responsibility strategies go hand in hand as it delivers a public transport service with fully electric trains operated by a diverse workforce.

The company also focuses on supporting people in its local community through work with a partnership school and through

RAILSTAFF.UK | @RAIL_STAFF | FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF

volunteering as part of the Paddington Partnership.

This policy supports the Heathrow 2.0 strategy for sustainable growth and the wider ambitions of providing a great place to work, a great place to live in and supporting a thriving, sustainable economy.

Ensuring at least 50 per cent of airport passengers travel by public transport by 2030 is a priority for Heathrow. That’s partly because per passenger, HEx emits less carbon than a washing machine (washed at 40 degrees and tumble dried in a vented drier) and offers a 54 per cent reduction compared to travelling by diesel taxi.

Waste, pollution and water use is kept to an absolute minimum with recycled water used to wash the trains. On-board halogen train lights have been replaced by energy-efficient LEDs and the trains recover energy when braking.

LENGTHY CAMPAIGN Last month, a campaign was launched to mark 20 years of HEx’s sustainable service. It featured 36m of posters, created using some of the rubbish left on the trains, displayed along the walkway from the satellite Terminal at Heathrow Airport.

The posters highlighted the core elements of HEx’s sustainability efforts. Zero landfill waste from the depot, e-tickets and reduced carbon emissions all featured.

So too did volunteering to give 500 hours to the community each year - including gardening at Penfold Hub, helping at North Paddington food bank and cooking lunch for homeless people – and helping young people prepare for work through partnership with Harris Academy,

St John’s Wood, to deliver guru lectures, interview practice and mock recruitment events.

The posters also revealed that one third of HEx's drivers are female, that the company is committed to inspiring a diverse workforce, and that customers gave the service a 95 per cent overall satisfaction rating in the spring 2018 National Rail Passenger Survey.

HEx's head of commercial Chris Crauford said: "This is probably our most ambitious attempt to engage passengers in our sustainability credentials and bring our brand to life in a way that goes beyond the speed, reliability and customer service we’re known for. We’re proud of our position as a sustainable transport option with our diverse workforce, activities in the community and fully electric trains."

RAILSTAFF DECEMBER 2018

RECENT APPOINTMENTS

Chris is one of three recent appointments to HEx's senior management team. Previously a senior commercial manager at Heathrow Airport, he now heads up the teams responsible for the digital platforms, marketing and communications functions, the sales team and the B2B sales and distribution team, which manages relationships with commercial partners.

Les Freer, previously Heathrowâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s head of ground handling, strategy and licensing, is the new business lead, responsible for the safe, reliable delivery of HEx services and delivering on ambitious passenger and revenue targets. This includes working with partners such as Network Rail, GWR and Heathrow to represent HEx within the industry. Les is experienced in the transport

sector having worked in highways as the head of logistics for Spicers, in the maritime industry as operations director for Allport and, of course, in aviation for Heathrow.

Sophie Chapman works with these same partners to ensure the continuing delivery of the safe, punctual, fast and efficient service.

She brings with her a wealth of experience

COMPANY FOCUS

57

at Eurostar, where she worked with partners in UK, France and Belgium and oversaw the on-board aspects of the rollout of Eurostarâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new fleet in 2015.

She said: "This is a really exciting role and I'm especially proud to be working in operations where women generally aren't well represented yet.

"Our industry is actually all about people, and that's what I love, working with a team of highly motivated professionals to keep people, and therefore the country, moving."

These new appointments will also help HEx to meet the ambitious customer service, commercial and sustainability targets it has set itself for the next ten years.

FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF | @RAIL_STAFF | RAILSTAFF.UK

58

TRAINING

RAILSTAFF DECEMBER 2018

END OF Darren Caplan.

BOOM AND BUST I

t is no secret that the rail industry needs a considerable number of new entrants to deliver an ambitious level of investment over the coming years.

In the next control period, £48 billion worth of infrastructure work will be delivered – significantly higher than in CP5. And, when combined with major projects like HS2, Crossrail, Northern Powerhouse Rail, Crossrail 2, East West Rail and the Transpennine Route Upgrade, it becomes clear that the industry will need a bigger workforce capable of delivering these schemes.

THE SKILLS CHALLENGE The statistics reveal a worrying skills gap.

In July, Women in Rail and the National Skills Academy for Rail produced a report showing that the rail industry has an older average age than industry in general. In engineering, the workforce is getting older and the proportion of young workers aged under 25

has been decreasing over the last 10 years.

EngineeringUK say that some 265,000 skilled entrants are required annually into engineering to meet the UK’s demands through to 2024. In the rail and road sectors, 27,000 to 35,000 apprentices will be required by 2022.

It is vital that this gap is not exacerbated

by Brexit. Nationally, around 20 per cent of the UK rail workforce comes from the wider EU; in respect to the rail supply chain’s workforce south of Derby, almost 50 per cent are from other EU member states. That is why the Railway Industry Association (RIA) has been calling for the government and industry to work together to ensure rail maintains the number of engineers, technicians and operational staff it needs to function successfully. This will not only require maintaining access to skilled overseas labour, but also training up new entrants ourselves, so that we also have the homegrown talent to deliver these projects.

TRAINING UP THE NEXT GENERATION Much good work has already been done to tackle this challenge. 2018 was the Year of Engineering, seeing a wide range of activities to get more young people into science, technology, engineering and maths.

In 2017, we saw the National College for High Speed Rail campuses open in Doncaster and Birmingham. The industry has also committed to do even more, with the Rail Supply Group committing to creating 20,000 new rail apprenticeships by 2020.

At RIA, we worked with industry partners including Young Rail Professionals and the Civil Engineering Contractors Association to hold a ‘Plus 1’ Rail Reception, where attendees over 30 had to bring a ‘plus 1’ under 30, so that current rail leaders could meet with future ones.

RAILSTAFF.UK | @RAIL_STAFF | FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF

RAILSTAFF DECEMBER 2018

TRAINING

59

DARREN CAPLAN, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE RAILWAY INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION, BELIEVES GREATER CERTAINTY FOR THE RAIL INDUSTRY COULD ALLEVIATE THE SKILLS GAP PROVIDING CERTAINTY FOR THE INDUSTRY The government could also help support the industry in its efforts by providing a visible, consistent pipeline of activity rather than the ‘boom and bust’ rail funding the industry has experienced in every control period since the system was set up.

The issue is that companies experience heavy ramp ups in workloads, before seeing orders trail off. These peaks and troughs reduce investment and make it difficult for SMEs in the industry to survive. Crucially for the skills challenge, recruitment is frozen when orders stop, meaning the industry finds it harder to retain, train and develop new professionals. Along with issues around contracting practice and regulation, this can make it difficult for the industry to close the skills gap.

New polling conducted by ComRes for RIA shows the scale of the problem. ComRes polled more than 120 business leaders in rail and found that virtually all suppliers, 99 per cent of respondents, said there are peaks and troughs in rail funding to some degree, with two thirds saying the term ‘boom and bust’ best described the nature of government spending in rail. When it came to the impact on businesses, more than four in five respondents who saw peaks and troughs said that these had a negative impact on their organisations, with 61 per cent having frozen recruitment as a result and 50 per cent chose not to employ a staff member. The evidence is clear – many organisations would hire and retain staff if they had a steady state of work.

LOOKING FORWARD The positive news is that the government has agreed to work with RIA, the ORR, Network Rail and other industry organisations to resolve this issue. This follows an investigation by the Transport Select Committee into rail infrastructure investment, which agreed with RIA that the various industry groups should come together to find the best solution.

RIA has proposed developing a minimum ‘baseline’ of renewals work for each year of the control period, thereby reducing the sudden increases and decreases in workload. We are also examining the impact of the government’s new approach to enhancements, which has seen these projects moved out of the control

period process and into a new pipeline. Whilst we fully understand the need for appropriate ‘checks and balances’ to be applied to government-funded projects, RIA is concerned that this new approach will delay enhancement schemes coming to the market in CP6.

The previously published Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline – which needs to be regularly updated – contained no obviously construction-ready schemes, which could result in a significant reduction in enhancements workload in the next few years.

This could also impact the industry’s ability to develop a skilled workforce, as different supply chain skillsets are required for renewals and enhancements. This is because whilst renewals are single disciplinespecific (e.g. track, signalling, civils), major enhancement projects are multi-disciplinary and require different co-ordination, technical integration and project management skills.

NOT INSURMOUNTABLE The industry skills gap is a considerable challenge, but not an insurmountable one.

With the right funding framework, the industry could do even more in retaining skilled talent, particularly by solving ‘boom and bust’ rail funding and developing a visible pipeline of enhancements.

As CP6 begins in April 2019, we look forward to working with the government to ensure we have a workforce ready for our rail network’s needs.

FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF | @RAIL_STAFF | RAILSTAFF.UK

60

TRAINING

RAILSTAFF DECEMBER 2018

THE DEVELOPMENT OF

ENGINEER

JAMES RICHARDS, ENGINEERING CAPABILITY MANAGER AT NETWORK RAIL, ENCOURAGES EMPLOYERS TO RUN 'EXPERIENCE OF INDUSTRY' PROGRAMMES TO ENABLE YOUNG PEOPLE TO GAIN INSIGHTS INTO ENGINEERING CAREERS

M

y role as engineering capability manager at Network Rail involves a certain amount of discernment of the future to identify the constraints to the capacity of the business in years to come. There is one area, however, in which a crystal ball is entirely unnecessary; the problem of engineering skills shortages is already present across the engineering sector and there is no sign of the problem abating.

Approaches to bridging this gap are wide and varied and include an array of structured learning and development programmes.

All these solutions have their elements of promise and their fair share of challenges, but there is another approach that I believe the engineering industry needs to focus on and that involves the early engagement of young people in education to showcase the wide range of exciting engineering careers in the railway.

ENGINEERING IN THE CULTURAL SPACE There is a great deal of competition for the attention of young people. Every day on television and social media they see examples of other career paths: acting, journalism, music, sports, TV presenting, arts, technology, medicine – all much more readily visible than our own specialism. It is for those representing our industry to consider how best to project engineering in the cultural space within which young people operate, but I am increasingly convinced that if we are going to ensure there are enough young people pursuing engineering careers to replace those who are retiring from the industry, let alone to cater for growth, then each individual engineer and engineering company must aim to make an impact on young people.

We can’t just assume that the young people we know are informed sufficiently about what engineers do. We must make the case, point out the engineering around them when they walk out the front door or into the school

James Richards, far right, and the Fast Trackers delivery team.

RAILSTAFF.UK | @RAIL_STAFF | FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF

playground. I find that many young people have never considered the origin of all the engineering solutions around them. We have many opportunities to give them an insight into the engineering process.

We have to recognise that the world young people see is very different to the one young people saw even a generation ago.

To influence them we need to grasp their perspectives and ideas and open channels to them understanding how these perspectives and ideas link with engineering careers.

Multiple engagements with young people are the route to achieving this, to enable them to build a picture over time of how engineering fits into the world around them and to see how their interests translate into engineering opportunities. Every rail engineering employer has a role in delivering the experiences of industry that will do this.

The July edition of RailStaff carried a feature on the FastTrackers programme that was designed to bring these messages to groups of young people, so I will point you to that article rather than repeat the details here. This is clearly a flagship scheme designed to accommodate large numbers of young people and with specific objectives in tackling diversity issues which often prevent certain groups of young people from dreaming of an engineering career. I am greatly encouraged by the response to it and excited about the way it can be developed in future years.

However, I sometimes fear that ‘big’

RAILSTAFF DECEMBER 2018

TRAINING

61

RING TALENT

IS IN OUR HANDS

company programmes like this might put off smaller companies from playing their part in the ongoing task of telling our story to as many young people as possible, either by making them think that the work is already being done, or by suggesting that developing experiences of industry is a major task for which they don’t have the capacity.

Both reactions are wrong.

INDUSTRIAL CADETS

This issue was very much in my mind when, earlier in 2018, I accepted an invitation from HRH The Prince of Wales to become an Ambassador for Industrial Cadets, for which His Royal Highness is the Patron.

Industrial Cadets accredits the sort of experiences of industry that I have been talking about and helps to make it easy for

employers to establish their own experiences of industry, which suit their size and capacity of business. It does this by providing a framework of the type of skills development and project activities that a good experience of industry should contain and covers both programmes developed by experienced providers and for those which are developed inhouse like FastTrackers.

The team at Industrial Cadets are very helpful in their application of the accreditation, and we found their insights very helpful when we decided to seek Industrial Cadet accreditation for the FastTrackers programme at gold level.

It meant that our programme was part of a nationally recognised structure of programmes, so a young person ‘graduating’ from FastTrackers would have an award which would enable other employers across the country to have a good idea of the depth and range of the experience they had with Network Rail and Mott MacDonald. Similarly, we could be sure that we had designed a scheme which fully achieved its objectives as Industrial Cadets

gave us good benchmarks to measure against.

Experiences of industry don’t just help the young people by giving them engineering career insights, they help the company staff who devise and run the activities; (we have found FastTrackers an excellent proving ground for graduate engineers to gain competencies for chartered status); it can also influence teachers who are vital to the provision of careers guidance to young people so they also have a greater understanding of the benefits of, and routes into, engineering careers.

The development of experiences of industry that young people can undertake at regular points in their school careers is important ground work for the development of future engineering talent. It is so important that I think government would do well to look at additional imaginative ways of supporting employers in their delivery.

In this way, we could see a genuine partnership between education, industry and government in helping develop the much-needed engineers for tomorrow.

FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF | @RAIL_STAFF | RAILSTAFF.UK

62

YOUNG RAIL PROFESSIONALS

RAILSTAFF DECEMBER 2018

S L A N IO S S E F O R P YMOEEUTNTGHEREAXIELCUTIVE TEAM ANAGER M G IN T E K R A M , L L EMILIE BRIGNA

A

s the marketing manager of the national executive of Young Rail Professionals (YRP), Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m responsible for how YRP is marketed to our members. This includes everything from creating event listings, sending out national mailers, designing and producing marketing materials and merchandise and supporting regional marketing managers to create a consistent message.

I joined the YRP in September 2016 after Michael Charteris (now chair) gave a talk on the organisation at my graduate scheme induction week. My involvement was limited to just attending events organised by YRP West Midlands, until a friend (then regional secretary) dragged me with him to a committee meeting after work.

I liked what I saw and left that meeting as the new regional marketing manager, responsible for creating marketing materials, adding events to the website and sending out mailers to our members.

My appointment to my current post was almost as unexpected as my regional position. The national elections took place without a new marketing manager being appointed. I was asked (since there was no one to do so at the national level) to send an email out inviting applications for a number of unfilled positions across the country and happened to see that the national marketing manager was available. I contacted Michael to put my name forward and the rest, as they say, is history.

Š iStockphoto.com

Outside of YRP I work for Network Rail in the European research and development project management team. I joined the company through their project management graduate scheme and worked on a range of construction projects before coming to work in research.

My current team are responsible for ensuring that the company delivers on its commitments to various projects that form part of the Shift2Rail joint undertaking (an EU funded research initiative looking to develop the rail industry of the future). This means that, as well as the usual project management responsibilities, I have to ensure that the work our engineers carry out is coordinated with partner organisations from across Europe.

When not working (or YRPing) I like to spend my time socialising with friends, enjoying the outdoors and cooking/eating exciting foods. My other loves are travelling and reading; I just wish I had more time to do both!

JONATHON LINFORD, CHAIR OF THE NORTH EAST COMMITTEE

My involvement in YRP started back in early 2017, after I was invited to the annual black tie dinner in London. The people, stories and commitment at the dinner resonated with me and the opportunity to give back by promoting and inspiring the next generation of railway RAILSTAFF.UK | @RAIL_STAFF | FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF

professionals sounded like the perfect fit.

In late 2017, I became vice chair for the YRP North East committee and in September 2018, I was appointed as chair of the YRP North East committee.

My main responsibilities are to ensure the committee organise great CPD and networking events in the North East region and to promote and inspire young people in education and at the start of their career to join YRP and the railway industry as there are lots of amazing opportunities to be had.

I began my railway career at Network Rail in 2011, on a threeyear traction and rolling stock apprenticeship. After qualifying, I became a maintenance fitter at the Holgate Depot in York.

I worked in York for two years before making the move to the Quadrant in Milton Keynes as an engineering specialist. Whilst working, I completed a parttime degree in business and management.

After two great years, working on multiple projects and modifications for Network Rail's traction and rolling stock, I made the move back home to Hull. I left Network Rail and joined the family business Jackâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Glass, based in Hull, who supply bespoke glass products to the rail, maritime and automotive industry.

Outside of working and volunteering, I start my days at 5am in the gym and any free time I have in the evening is spent with my family and friends.

RAILSTAFF DECEMBER 2018

YOUNG RAIL PROFESSIONALS

63

JOIN

US

YOUNG RAIL PROFESSIONALS

MEMBERSHIP Young Rail Professionals promote, inspire and develop the careers of young people in the rail industry. Membership is free and entitles you to attend our annual black tie dinner, seminars and be part of the fastest growing online rail community. www.YoungRailPro.com

YOUNG RAIL

PROFESSIONALS

FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF | @RAIL_STAFF | RAILSTAFF.UK

All images © iStockphoto.com

LOOK OUT FOR EACH OTHER THIS WINTER The nights have drawn in, temperatures have dropped and conditions are getting increasingly challenging. If you are out working over the winter period, it’s important to stay safe to ensure everyone can get home safe everyday.

Here are some tips, courtesy of the Track Safety Alliance, to help you prepare for winter’s worst:

Clothing and PPE

• Wear layers of clothing under your PPE to stay warm • Keep your hands warm with insulated cut 5 gloves or glove liners as cold hands will affect dexterity

Site preparation

• Be aware of underfoot conditions and take extra care if it’s potentially slippy • Check equipment is safe before using it. For example, does the new ballast have anti-icer? Are the water pipes suitably lagged?

• Ensure rock salt is spread at access points and site access controller cabins wherever possible that isn’t on the rails

Welfare and fatigue

• Make sure teams have access to hot food and drinks • Colder temperatures exacerbate tiredness and increase fatigue, avoid standing around whilst waiting to access the track

Winter driving • • • • •

Make sure you drive with due care and attention Remember to top up your windscreen wash Pack de-icer and an ice scraper in your vehicle Pack spare clothes/blanket and food/drink in case of emergencies Make sure you have sufficient fuel for your journey and emergencies

DID YOU KNOW? Seasonal affective disorder is a type of depression that comes and goes in a seasonal pattern and is currently estimated to affect up to two million people in the UK. You can find out more and seek help through the charity Mind.

LOOKING FOR YOUR NEXT CAREER IN RAIL? Advance TRS is a niche recruitment consultancy specialising in the provision of highly-skilled technical professionals. Since establishing, Advance TRS has grown rapidly and now provides permanent, contract and temporary recruitment solutions to both candidates and clients across a number of key technical sectors, including Rail.

For the latest opportunities visit www.advance-trs.com or speak to one of the team on 01483 361061.

tm

…T his Chris

ou the job y t y go …with the largest dedicated website for rail opportunities,

a ve alw ou’

as we ’ve

way People.com

ys wanted…

we’re sure to have the role for you…

VISIT WWW.RAILWAYPEOPLE.COM TODAY

Railway People wishes you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Career.

66

CAREERS

RAILSTAFF DECEMBER 2018

DELIVERING QUALITY RECRUITMENT SOLUTIONS FOR THE RAIL INDUSTRY SCADA Commissioning Engineer

Estimator

Geometric Design Engineer

Location: City of London Salary: Up to £350 per day Type: Contract

Location: Cardiff Salary: £ 250-350 per day Type: Contract As an experienced Estimator within the Railway industry, you will need to produce accurate estimates and cost plans for large scale, multi-discipline Railway Construction projects with a value of £50-70 million.

A fantastic opportunity for a qualified Electrical/Electronic Engineer with experience in system software engineering, and a minimum of two years relevant experience in PLC Programming/SCADA.

+44 (0)1483 361061

Location: Guildford Salary: £ Negotiable Type: Permanent An excellent opportunity to work for an engineering company which has an immediate opening for a Roads/ Geometric Design Engineer, working in a friendly work environment with a dedicated team.

info@advance-trs.com

advance-trs.com

www.trsstaffing.com

Global Scale. Local Focus.

GET RAIL MEDIA ‘APPY!

– Rail and Infrastructure Vacancies Currently Available – Quantity Surveyors / Commercial Managers London / Birmingham / Bristol £40,000 - £65,000 p/a + package

Senior Engagement Manager – HS2 Birmingham £425 per day - Inside IR35

Rail Operations Specialist (UK wide)

Design Manager – Architect – HS2

£50,000 - £62,000 + excellent benefits / pension Working for the ORR supporting train operations, depot works, etc…

Birmingham £425 per day - Inside IR35

Risk Specialist

Contracts Manager – HS2

Birmingham, Bristol and London £40,000 - £65,000 Junior and Senior roles

Birmingham £325 per day - Inside IR35

Rail Project Manager

Estimator – HS2

Birmingham & London £40,000 - £60,000k Working on major rail projects

Birminghan £400 per day – Inside IR35

TRS Staffing Solutions are international engineering recruitment specialists.

We recruit for major national and international projects for leading national rail organisations, main contractors and consultancies.

ALL THE LATEST RAIL NEWS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS The Rail Media App includes current and archived issues of Rail Engineer and RailStaff magazine.

There’s no limit to the number of issues you can read.

RAIL ENGINEER Rail Engineer is written by engineers, for engineers. Our writers visit factories, worksites, stations and depots all around the UK to bring you the best in the latest projects and developments in the rail industry.

RAILSTAFF RailStaff focuses on the people in the rail industry, their activities and challenges. It includes regular monthly features, articles on safety and training and all the latest projects and initiatives.

Download the app today – for iOS and Android.

Please email your CV to jonathan.miles@trsstaffing.com or if you’d prefer to discuss any roles call +44 (0)20 7419 5800 RAILSTAFF.UK | @RAIL_STAFF | FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF

Are you an experienced Rail Professional looking for a new career opportunity?

At Colas Rail UK we work on some of the most exciting projects to keep the nation moving with operations spread across three divisions, Rail Services, Infrastructure and Urban.

From turnkey multi-disciplinary projects, rail and tram track-laying, track renewal, track electrification, safety systems, telecoms and civil engineering to freight, plant and machinery operations - the opportunities are vast.

We are always on the lookout for talented people to join us and welcome applications from keen, motivated and enthusiastic people, who relish responsibility and who are looking for an exciting and challenging career.

In return we offer exceptional career progression and support and encourage continued personal development. If you believe you have the skills to contribute to our future success, then we want to hear from you.

Opportunities across the UK » Construction Manager

» Project Lead

» Depot Fitter

» Route and Competency Manager

» Driver / Route Conductor

» Senior Surveyor

» Fitter/ Maintainer/ Operator (Rail Grinding)

» Shift Operations Team Leader

» Freight Train Driver

» Strategic Plant Operator / Fitter

» Goods Inwards Inspector

» Supervisor - Rail Grinding

» Ground Staff

» Technical Support - Rail Grinding

» Locomotive & Wagon Fleet Coordinator

» Train Driver

» OTM Driver / Maintainer

» Trainer / Assessor

» OTM Driver / Operator / Fitter

» Warranty / Quality Engineer

If you have necessary skills and are ready for your next big adventure, then this could be a great opportunity for you.

We offer an attractive salary and benefits with a culture of can do, empowerment and flexibility, to allow you to make a real difference.

Please register your interest by sending your CV to recruitment@colasrail.com and we will provide you with further information.

We are waiting to hear from you.

www.colasrailcareers.co.uk

www.railworx.co.uk

JUNE 11-13

EAST OF ENGLAND ARENA PETERBOROUGH

I WANT YOU FOR RAILWORX 2019 WORK ON RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE? YOU NEED TO BE AT RAILWORX THE OUTDOOR, CROSS-SECTOR SHOW FOR PLANT, CONSTRUCTION & CIVIL ENGINEERING

Be part of Plantworx, the UKâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest & most successful plant & equipment show.

Demonstrate your latest products & services across three days.

Showcase to 20,000 potential customers with new opportunities in construction.

CALL 01530 816 440 OR EMAIL SALES@RAILWORX.CO.UK TODAY

YOUR RAIL CIVILS SHOW