Railway Strategies Issue 122 October 2015

Issue 122 October 2015

New Street rising Ugly duckling becomes an elegant swan

FEATURE

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Smoothing the way for change In-depot condition monitoring Lifespan, performance and reliability

NEWS

Train manufacturing comes home to the north east

Sand cave-in delays Farnworth Tunnel work

Pendolino revamp increases seating capacity

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From the Editor

Chairman Andrew Schofield Editor Gay Sutton editor@railwaystrategies.co.uk Managing Editor Libbie Hammond Art Editor Gerard Roadley-Battin Advertisement Designer David Howard Profile Editor Libbie Hammond Staff Writers Jo Cooper Ben Clark Andrew Dann Advertisement Sales Dave King Sales Director Joe Woolsgrove Operations Director Philip Monument Business Development Director Dave Garner Editorial Researchers Keith Hope Gavin Watson Tarj Kaur-D’Silva Mark Cowles Administration Tracy Chynoweth

People matter

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t may be true that you can never please all the people all the time, but in a service industry you have to try. Rail is no different. It’s interesting that a recent survey by service design consultancy Engine found that transport and rail companies have now topped the list as the sector providing the poorest customer service, replacing the previous bad-guy about town, the utilities.

How much of this is attributable to rail and how much to other transport sectors can’t be ascertained from this result. Nor does it indicate how much effort utilities for example have put into improving their customer service and public image. But it does indicate that transport and rail have an uphill climb to meet expectation and reverse this negative perception.

It is also true that people matter, and people are all very different. If you delve more deeply into the research, the factors consumers value most are honesty and openness, cited by 49% or respondents, efficiency by 43% and reliability by 41%.

And all of these traits become bigger factors with age – particularly openness/honesty.

No matter what technology we introduce to increase efficiency and reliability, the person to person interface is vitally important, and is likely to become even more so as processes are automated. People need to feel their concerns and their interests are addressed. For this, good communication is critical.

This month, Carol Poole, HR director at LOROL, explains the people challenges the company faced when transferring West Anglia staff and infrastructure from Abellio Greater Anglia to LOROL (p10). Enormous effort was put into preparing for and engaging with the new staff, using a variety of means including MD breakfast sessions where groups of staff were able to meet with the managing director for open dialogue.

Recognising that people matter has helped engage the new staff and facilitate the change process.

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8Cover story

Features 10

Engaging employees on an expanding network Good employee engagement processes help London Overground incorporate West Anglia staff and infrastructure CAROL POOLE

News 4 6 8 13 19 20 21

Industry Infrastructure Stations Appointments Rolling stock Rail Alliance Conferences & Exhibitions

Focus on Maintenance

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Predictive maintenance _ a secret beneath the floor?

A new depot-based condition monitoring technique using underfloor wheel lathes is dramatically cutting costs DR STEVE LACEY

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A new lease of life Maintenance techniques that can extend the life of carbon brushes and improve motor performance and reliability JON O’BRIEN

Profiles 22 MATISA 27 Govia Thameslink Railway 31 Semmco

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More rail freight at Felixstowe l A new daily rail freight service has commenced from the Port of Felixstowe.

The extra service is operated by GB Railfreight, and runs between Felixstowe and Birch Coppice, Birmingham. Felixstowe is the country’s largest intermodal rail facility. It handled close to 900,000 TEU by rail in 2014.

Picture by Paul Bigland

IN BRIEF

RATP and Transtu to share best practice l RATP and Transtu, principal urban transport operator in Tunis, have signed a 5 year renewable cooperation agreement to share best practice. The cooperation includes exchanging information and best practice, joint studies and meetings covering operations, maintenance, safety, security, passenger information and ticketing, and employee training.

Prestigious award for Karen Boswell l Karen Boswell, managing director of Hitachi Rail Europe, has been awarded the 2015 National Rail Award for Senior Outstanding Personal Contribution. The award is in recognition of her work as managing director of East Coast Main Line, improving performance, customer satisfaction, people engagement, profitability and business reputation.

Recruitment drive under way in Scotland l ScotRail has launched a nationwide recruitment drive for up to 100 trainee train drivers for rail services throughout Scotland.

Drivers are needed at locations including Aberdeen, Ayr, Bathgate, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Gourock, Helensburgh, Inverness, Perth, Stirling and Tweedbank.

€164m signalling and maintenance contract in Spain l A consortium of Bombardier, Alstom and Indra has won a €164m contract to supply signalling systems and maintenance services for the new high-speed section of the Madrid-Lisbon railway in the Extremadura region of Spain. Bombardier’s share is valued at €77m, Alstom’s at €62 and Indra’s at €25m.

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Hitachi Rail’s Class 800/801 unveiled at the Newton Aycliffe facility

Hitachi’s Newton Aycliffe plant brings train design and manufacturing back to its birthplace l Among the invited guests at the official opening of a £82m Hitachi rail vehicle manufacturing facility in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, on 2 Sept were Prime Minister David Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne. Other guests included Secretary of State for Transport Patrick McLoughlin MP and Rail Minister Claire Perry MP. The first orders to roll off the production lines at this 43,000 m2 state-of-the-art facility will be the class 800/801 train sets for the InterCity Express programme. A total of 866 have been ordered and are destined to run on the Great Western Main Line from 2017 and East Coast Main Line from 2018. The plant will also produce the majority of the 70 AT200 commuter trains for Scotrail. At full production, the plant will be capable of

turning out 35 vehicles a month.

The first fitted-out class 800/801, which was manufactured at the Kasado works in Kudamatsu City, Japan, was transported to the UK especially for the occasion, and unveiled during the ceremony.

Chairman and CEO of Hitachi Ltd, Hiroaki Nakanishi, said: “Today is a momentous occasion for Hitachi Rail, Newton Aycliffe and the British rail industry. We have brought train design and manufacturing back home to its birthplace in the North East.

Karen Boswell, managing director of Hitachi Rail Europe, said: “Newton Aycliffe will be the engine room driving Hitachi Rail’s future growth across the UK and into Europe, and I’m incredibly proud to lead a company committed to making the North East a rail manufacturing centre of excellence once again.”

Stagecoach retains the East Midlands franchise until 2018 l The Department for Transport has renewed the Stagecoach contract to operate the East Midlands franchise for a further 2 years and 5 months from 18 October 2015, with the option to extend.

This affects services from London St Pancras International to Northamptonshire, the East Midlands, Lincolnshire, Staffordshire and South Yorkshire.

Under the agreement Stagecoach’s subsidiary, East Midlands Trains, must provide 22 additional trains between Newark and Nottingham, ensuring a half hourly service

on Saturdays as well as week days. Further improvements include reducing journey times and providing more Saturday services between Nottingham and Lincoln. £13m is to be invested in the franchise over this period, £8 of which will come from Stagecoach. The money will go into: • improving passenger information • installing more ticket machines • a new mobile app for up to the minute information and ticket purchasing • cleaner trains and • extended catering services.

NEWS I Industry IN FACT

The Chinese delegation at Unipart Rail

320km/h high speed max l The total length of high-speed railways worldwide now exceeds 30,000km. The world’s fastest timetabled trains run on China’s Shijiazhuang and Zhengzhou Dong line at an average of 283.4km/h.

Meanwhile the highest maximum speed of a scheduled train is 320km/h and this is achieved daily in France and Japan.

Unipart Rail hosts visit for 50 senior rail managers from China l A delegation of senior rail managers from China paid a visit to Unipart Rail’s offices and logistics facilities as part of an UK industry tour arranged by Nottingham University. Delegates saw at first hand the extensive logistical and product support facilities that Unipart Rail provides to the UK and international rail markets.

Many of the delegates were from the CRRC Corporation Limited, a Chinese state owned rolling stock manufacturer with over 170,000 employees engaged in the research, development, manufacture and distribution of railway transportation equipment.

The discussions with Unipart Rail

included how to develop overseas markets, introduce new products and form successful partnerships.

Balazs Berki, international business development director for Unipart Rail, said: “The day was a very useful learning experience for the visitors as Unipart Rail has many world class practices that provide very efficient logistical support to the rail industry. We spent some time explaining the principles of the Unipart Way which is our unique methodology of driving continuous improvements into the organisation, which the many of the delegates were interested in, and how this could be applied to their own companies in China.”

Government to set challenging customer service targets for the East Anglia rail franchise l The government has published an invitation to tender for the next East Anglia rail franchise which will run for 9 years from Oct 2016, and includes 90-minute journeys between Norwich and London and 180 extra services a week.

For the first time in a franchise, the government is going to set challenging customer service targets which the operator must improve on each year.

Rail Minister Claire Perry said: “We have set out what we want to see bidders deliver as a minimum, but we are looking for bids that exceed our expectations wherever possible.

It is now for the industry to step up to the challenge and tell us how they will make this happen.”

The franchise requirements are to: • introduce at least 2 90-minute services in each direction running between Norwich and London every weekday

• introduce 180 additional weekly services to stations including Cambridge, Norwich, Stansted Airport, Southend and London Liverpool Street • dramatically improve the quality of trains on East Anglia network • introduce free Wi-Fi for all passengers • reduce crowding on the busiest services • at least 1 additional 60-minute service per day in each direction between Ipswich and London The franchisee is also expected to improve stations, and create a £9.5m Customer and Communities Improvement Fund for passengers and the local community.

The three shortlisted train operators are a joint venture between Abellio and Stagecoach, First Group and National Express.

The successful bidder will be announced next summer.

£10.1bn in added value l According to a new report by Oxera, the rail industry contributes up to £10.1bn a year in added value to Britain’s economy and boosts economic productivity by up to £11.3bn by reducing road congestion and enabling companies to be clustered together. The sector also pays up to £4bn in tax to the public purse.

Africa’s 84,000 km rail track l There is 84,000 km of rail track in Africa. However much of it is outdated, and limited maintenance of the infrastructure has resulted in a significant reduction in the amount of usable track.

The African rail system has significant potential for improvement and could act as a catalyst for regional integration and trade and economic development.

180m contactless journeys l More than 625,000 contactless journeys are made each day on London’s transport network, and over 180m journeys have been made using contactless payments in London since the system was launched a year ago.

Payments using the technology now account for a fifth of all pay as you go journeys.

£11m caffeine fix l From April to June, customers spent over £11m on coffee at Britain’s biggest railway stations. This equates to 5.1m cups of coffee, up more than 6% on last year’s figures. More was spent at London Victoria (£1.6m) than any other station, closely followed by London Waterloo (£1.5m) and London Liverpool Street (£1.1m).

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IN BRIEF

looking out from the newly-bored tunnel

Loughborough solves 200 year rail problem

Engineers on top of material which has poured into the tunnel boring machine

l Repoint, a failsafe track switch designed to eradicate a 200-year-old problem on the railway has been created by engineers at Loughborough University. It uses safety concepts derived from aerospace and the nuclear industry, and corrects a failed switch through a patented arrangement of interlocking rail ends.

Alstom wins €113m Toronto contract l Alstom has won an €113m Metrolinx contract to provide a new computer-based integrated train control system for the greater Toronto and Hamilton area, one of the busiest in Canada. It is scheduled for commissioning at the end of 2018, and follows a contract to equip the Union Station Rail Corridor with a new signalling system.

Track laying begins on Borough Viaduct l The first ballast and rails have arrived on site at the new Borough Viaduct, ready for track laying to commence. The viaduct will come into operation in January 2016, and will be used by Charing Cross trains while the old viaduct is relaid to carry future Thameslink services across central London.

Consultation for east west rail link l Network Rail is inviting the public to comment on proposals to upgrade the railway between Bicester and Bedford, and Milton Keynes and Princes Risborough, as part of phase 2 of the East West Rail project. Work would involve upgrading and reconstructing underused and mothballed sections of the railway linking the Great Western, Chiltern, West Coast and Midland main lines north of London.

New installation techniques reduce disruption l Engineers will begin work on London Underground’s Hanger Lane junction in October, renewing track and signalling over a nine day period. New installation techniques mean work can be done in two halves, closing the District line but enabling the Piccadilly line to remain open on weekdays.

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Engineers battle to overcome poor ground conditions in the Farnworth Tunnel l The complex tunnelling project to enlarge the Farnworth Tunnel as part of the North West Electrification Scheme has been delayed by exceptionally poor ground conditions.

Network Rail engineers enlarging the 1834-built tunnel that carries trains travelling between Bolton and Manchester unexpectedly ran into large swathes of sand that poured down into the excavated area, halting progress.

It has proved impossible to excavate while concurrently installing and grouting sections of tunnel wall as was originally planned.

Engineers are now pumping resin into the ground to firm it up before the 9m-wide tunnel boring machine Fillie continues with its work.

Martin Frobisher, route managing director for Network Rail, said: “We first hit an area of running sand on August 14 when our engineers saw it suddenly pouring from the

working face. This has slowed progress and created big voids, the largest of which needed filling with around 35 tonnes of grout. Again on August 27, sand poured into the excavated area and our engineers had to remove 100 tonnes of material by hand.

“The nature of civil engineering, especially deep below ground, is that you never fully know the exact ground conditions until you start tunnelling or excavating. Taking soil samples acts as a guide but is never 100% accurate because conditions vary greatly with the amount of water present.”

The Farnworth Tunnel is being expanded to take two tracks as well as overhead electric equipment as part of the electrification of Bolton to Manchester line. Work should have been completed by Oct 5 but may now continue through to December.

Geotechnical standards brought up-to-date with Eurocode 7 l BSI, the business standards company, has revised several of its interrelated geotechnical standards. BS 8081Code of practice for grouted anchors encompasses recently updated requirements for Eurocode 7 (BS EN 1997) and works alongside BS 8004 Code of practice for foundations and BS 8002 Code of practice for earth retaining structures.

BS 8002 and BS 8004 were withdrawn in March 2010 to coincide with the introduction of Eurocode 7, and have been revised to become ‘non-contradictory, complementary information’.

BS 8081 retains information and recommendations that are pertinent to UK

practice, but are not in Eurocode 7 with regards to grouted anchors. It is a full revision giving recommendations for the design, construction, stressing, testing, monitoring and maintenance of grouted anchors.

BS 8004:2015 and BS 8002:2015 have also been brought up-to-date with Eurocode 7. BS 8004 provides recommendations for foundations design, and covers spread and pile foundations, helical steel pile foundations and underpinning. BS 8002 provides recommendations for gravity, semi-gravity, and embedded retaining walls.

For information visit: www.bsigroup.com

NEWS I Infrastructure Burmondsey Dive Under demolition

The viaduct and rail line in the middle have now almost completely gone

New Borders Railway begins running services again Demolition makes way for the Burmondsey Dive Under l The Victorian railway viaducts that originally carried trains to Charing Cross and central London have been razed to make space for the construction of the massive Burmondsey Dive Under. However, where possible the original historic structures have been retained and strengthened and will continue to carry London’s oldest railway.

Once completed, the dive under will

separate flows of trains approaching London Bridge from South East London, Croydon and Kent, enabling the Charing Cross trains to pass beneath Thameslink services, improving reliability and reducing delays.

Scheduled for completion in 2017, the Bermondsey Dive Under is part of the Thameslink Programme that will revolutionise north-south travel through London.

European Investment Bank to put £1bn into London transport l The European Investment Bank (EIB) has agreed a £1bn 35 year loan for the London transport network. The money will go towards major improvement projects at two of the busiest underground stations in the capital transforming Victoria Tube station, and making access quicker and easier for passengers changing between Bank and Monument stations.

The loan will also be used to renew tracks, points and drainage on more than 102 km of the London underground network, including over 18km of tunnels.

“This is part of record lending by the EIB

to the UK which totalled £6bn last year,” said financial secretary to the treasury, David Gauke.

“Vital upgrades can now be made at two of the capital’s busiest stations, making journeys easier for millions of working people. ” Over the last decade the EIB has provided more than £8.1bn for transport investment across the UK, including £5bn for transport in London. In recent years it has supported extension of the Northern and East London lines, transformation of the London overground network and Thameslink, as well as improvements to connections on the Dockland Light Railway and Heathrow Express.

l Scotrail began operating services on the new £300m Borders Railway on Sunday 6 Sept, reconnecting communities in Midlothian and Tweedbank with Edinburgh for the first time since the historic Waverley Line fell under the Beeching axe and was closed in 1969. Her Majesty the Queen officially opened the line on 9 Sept, the same day that she because the UK’s longest serving monarch.

The Borders Railway has been a long time in planning. The first feasibility study was commissioned 15 years ago and construction began in earnest in April 2013. Since then, 7 new stations and 31 miles of line have been built, making it the longest new domestic railway to be constructed in Britain in the last 100 years. Well over 100 bridges have been built or repaired along the way.

The route follows the old Waverley Railway for around 90% of its length, with the exception of four areas _ Shawfair, Falahill, BowBridge and Galashiels _ where a new railway corridor has been formed. Elsewhere, existing structures, cuttings and embankment slopes, and retaining walls were retained and refurbished.

A spokesman for the Rail Delivery Group said: “The opening of the Borders Railway, 46 years after the old Waverley route last saw a train, means that the only region of Britain to not have a passenger rail service is now reconnected to the network.”

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Centre: Finishing touches to the media eye Below right: The concourse’s dramatic roof

Birmingham New Street wows the public l Birmingham New Street station opened its doors on 20 Sept to considerable acclaim. The £750m redevelopment programme which took 5 years to complete, included removing 20,000 tonnes of concrete from the old 1960s station building _ once dubbed the most ugly station in the UK _ and constructing the stunning new atrium while trains continued to run as normal carrying 170,000 passengers a day.

The new atrium already looks set to become an iconic architectural feature of Birmingham, enclosing a huge, light and airy passenger concourse five times the size of London Euston’s. With brighter, decluttered platforms, improved entrances, a range of new facilities and an abundance of natural light flooding into the new concourse, the station is not only one of Britain’s busiest interchanges, it is also destined to become

a retail attraction in its own right.

The new station will feature 43 shops at concourse level and above it sits the new Grand Central shopping complex, including one of the UK’s largest John Lewis department stores. The 450,000 sq ft shopping destination is expected to attract more than 50 million visitors a year.

“Rebuilding one of the busiest stations in the country without impacting on passengers’ journeys has been a major challenge, but I’m extremely proud to say that Network Rail and our partners on this project have done just that,” said Network Rail chief executive, Mark Carne. “Birmingham New Street sits right at the heart of our rail network and the transformation which has taken place here is nothing short of stunning.”

A green vision transforms city centre Metrolink stop l The Deansgate-Castlefield Metrolink stop in the centre of Manchester has been completely transformed and given a green touch with the help of a major European grant.

The improvements include a new line of tram track, two new platforms, two sets of stairs and a new passenger lift. All of this has been linked to Deansgate train station by a newly modernised pedestrian bridge.

Meanwhile, the stop has been given an imaginative ‘green’ touch. A living wall of plants and flowers has been constructed at the Deansgate end. The new platforms and surrounding area are paved with green slate and two new passenger shelters cast shadows of leaves on to the platforms, which are surrounded by extensive landscaping. Finally, trams passing through the stop appear to move along a bed of grass where sedum has been planted between the tracks.

The work has been part-funded by a £10.8m grant from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

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Above: Trams appear to be travelling through grass Right: The stop’s living wall

NEWS I Stations Below: Victoria station tunnels Right: The breakthrough

UAV survey of Amersham station roof is a first for the underground

Victoria station breakthrough l A major milestone has been reached in the £700m upgrade of Victoria Tube station, and is a tribute to the latest in engineering innovation. Some 300 metres of tunnels have now been completed, linking the new north ticket hall with the existing south ticket hall, which is being doubled in size to ease congestion at the station.

The tunnelling breakthrough is the culmination of a complex 3 year project which has been completed in challenging conditions _ through fast-moving gravels and sands, coming within 30cm of the Victoria line and 60cm of the District and Circle lines. Safe tunnelling through the site – which is densely populated and borders two Grade II listed theatres – has required innovations in construction engineering. Three thousand cubic metres of ground were excavated by hand in order to stabilise the ground and protect nearby assets.

David Waboso, London Underground’s capital programmes director, said: “This unique and tricky phase of the tunnelling project has stumped people for decades. Now, thanks to the hard work and dedication of London Underground and our supply chain with some of the best engineers in the business, it has been successfully completed, all while keeping this busy and essential station open to the public.”

The Victoria station upgrade, set for completion in 2018, will increase the size of the station by 110% and bring step-free access to Victoria for the first time in its 147 year history. The new underground north ticket hall is being constructed at the junction of Bressenden Place and Victoria Street, and is set to open in late 2016.

Canary Wharf enters new phase of development

Canary Wharf Crossrail station at the ticket hall level

l Construction work on the iconic new Canary Wharf Crossrail station has now been completed, and the ticket hall and platform levels handed over to Crossrail Limited.

Crossrail will now begin the complicated process of fitting out the station with systems including communications equipment, signalling, tunnel ventilation, platform screen doors and overhead line equipment.

Canary Wharf is the most progressed of Crossrail’s 10 new stations. Eight 30m escalators, nine 11m escalators, 6 lifts, flooring, wall cladding and space for station services are all in place in the ticket hall level.

The station box was built by Canary Wharf Contractors Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Canary Wharf Group plc.

l Lanes Group’s rail division has carried out its first aerial drone survey of a London Underground station, surveying the roof at Amersham station on the Metropolitan Line.

Having already successfully used an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to survey a large maintenance depot, this trial was to show that the technology could be used on more complicated angular station roofs.

The survey at Amersham station, in Buckinghamshire, was completed in the equivalent of one working day by two operatives _ the drone pilot and a works supervisor. Surveying the 4,500 sq ft roof conventionally would have taken a team of four operatives up to five nights, using a range of access and safety equipment, including scaffolding towers.

The aerial drone is fitted with a sophisticated camera that takes scores of ultra-high definition images which can be manipulated to analyse the roof’s structure and condition. This includes creating a 3-dimensional point cloud image so the roof can be viewed and measured from any angle by civil engineers and architects.

Rail division planned maintenance manager Mark O’Leary said: “The station drone survey was carried out in the daytime when the station was open to passengers, without causing any disruption to service.

We believe we have shown that drone roof surveys represent a viable and cost-effective alternative to conventional roof survey methods.”

Lanes Rail Division is working with UAV firm Unmanned Aerial Technology to develop the drone roof survey service, which delivers enhanced digital data to support maintenance and development programmes.

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HR

Engaging employees on an expanding network Overnight on 31 May 2015 the London Overground network increased in size by one-third. HR director Carol Poole, talks about the importance of employee engagement in such a massive change process, and how it continues to be a top priority across LOROL

Carol Poole, HR director, LOROL

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n 31 May 2015, 300 new colleagues joined London Overground Rail Operations Limited (LOROL) from Abellio Greater Anglia, along with a mixed fleet of 31 trains, 24 managed stations and a depot in Chingford. To achieve this transfer successfully would require forward planning, change within the organisation, and a significant change for the staff joining from West Anglia.

Continual change Change has, however, been part of LOROL’s DNA since the organisation took on the London Overground concession in November 2007. Throughout this time it has successfully tackled a range of projects and challenges that has seen the network grow and transform.

For example, the creation and extension of the East London Line was completed in May 2012, finally achieving an orbital railway for London. Driver only operations were rolled out across all LOROL routes in November 2013, while the ongoing implementation of the London Overground capacity improvement project will see five-car trains introduced on three routes, increasing capacity by 25 per cent.

Employee engagement has been paramount to

us to reassure them of our ambitious plans and the many opportunities that exist for them moving forward.

Communicate to engage Feeling part of a new organisation is more than the physical environment, though. Getting senior managers and directors out and about on the network, being visible and approachable, meeting staff, talking with them and reassuring individuals about the change that was taking

Main picture The friendly face of Willesden Junction Left Wapping station delivering on each of these challenges, and it would be vital for the successful transfer of West Anglia services from Abellio Greater Anglia. Creating trust would be essential: employees joining LOROL needed to quickly feel like part of the team and be reassured that their future roles and working conditions were a priority for the business.

Simple strategies, such as delivering on commitments made to staff and, wherever possible, making quick, high impact changes – for example, ensuring all staff had uniforms from day one, putting in place a 12 month plan of improvements to staff accommodation and facilities and a roll out plan for the deep clean of all stations on the route – were very important.

All West Anglia employees who have transferred over to LOROL are in the process of completing a full induction – the same programme that any new employee on the Overground goes through – covering topics ranging from our vision and values, to how we work, safety and security on the Overground and introducing our KPI regime. This ongoing Welcome to LOROL programme has certainly been instrumental in helping new employees to understand what makes LOROL tick and integrating them into the LOROL team. It’s also a valuable way for

place helped to engage employees, and offer them the opportunity to ask questions and offer their feedback.

LOROL is fortunate to have a variety of communication channels to reach out to staff in all roles and job functions. Whether it’s our e-newsletter, monthly company magazine, question and suggestions schemes, or the MD breakfast sessions where small groups of employees can have an open dialogue with the managing director, there are very many ways for employees to ask questions, discuss issues and for the business to listen to their feedback.

These established channels are complemented by a number of new initiatives, such as the appointment of communications champions across the network.

These champions will support employee engagement efforts, taking an active role in face-to-face, two-way communications with teams and helping to feedback insight and opinion that will help shape the business in the future.

It’s fair to say that we’re actively moving away from a pure top-down approach to communication, encouraging employees to find their voice and share their experiences which we hope, in turn, will enable them to connect more deeply with the business and our vision.

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HR

large piece of railway to a new operator, and it has been important to be able to communicate directly with the employees affected.

During the build up to the transfer, for example, LOROL held a series of Meet LOROL sessions at venues along the West Anglia route. These drop-in events offered incoming staff the chance to meet and chat with members of the team, as well as senior managers, learn more about the company and find out what it’s like to work at LOROL. They offered West Anglia staff who were TUPE transferring to LOROL the chance to ask questions directly, try on uniforms and feel reassured. They were invaluable to the success of the transfer. And should we be faced with a similar challenge again, we would aim to host even more.

Focusing on business as usual

Above Staff at Camden Road

A strong sense of pride in our work Staff across the LOROL network have a strong sense of pride in the service they deliver and are directly affected by performance issues. Whilst there have been some fleet and performance challenges on the West Anglia routes following the transfer of services, solutions are being actively implemented.

Here, it has been important to minimise the impact of these issues on the ongoing engagement work.

Once again communication has been essential to keep employees updated about remedial action being undertaken to reassure them – and in turn passengers – that solutions are in place.

The benefit of hindsight One of the most important lessons emerging from the West Anglia transfer has been that you simply cannot communicate enough, especially during times of uncertainty. Information and facts are critical to a complicated change process, such as transferring a

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Of course, a significant challenge during the transfer of West Anglia services was not to take our eye off business as usual, and ensure that employees across the network remain engaged.

Engagement at LOROL is about providing the conditions in which employees will work more effectively and which contribute directly to their improved commitment and performance, and LOROL has always adopted a simple and effective approach to engaging employees. Since the concession began it has been important to regularly, and consistently ask employees what they think, analyse what they have said, take appropriate action and update employees about what’s been done.

The impact of this approach is clear from the 90 per cent engagement level that LOROL achieved in 2015. Yet to maintain such high levels of engagement – particularly during times of significant change – LOROL understands that it is important to focus on making local changes and smaller tweaks to the way things are done.

In this respect, local managers are already working to assess their individual scores and where there have been changes – both positive and negative – specific plans are under development to address any issues, as well as to ensure that we continue to do what is working so well.

As with engagement across the whole business, face-to-face, two-way communication is important, and sourcing employee feedback in this way is an effective reminder that there is always work to be done.

Today, employee engagement levels on the West Anglia route are probably three or four years behind where they are across the rest of the network. But we’re confident, with the advantage leveraged by LOROL’s established engagement strategy and communication channels, that we can make a positive change here and take steps to enhance employee engagement levels across the entire Overground.

NEWS I Appointments Thought leadership appointment at Cubic Corporation l Cubic Corporation has appointed Matthew Cole, currently executive vice president and deputy of strategy and business development of Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS), to the post of president of CTS and senior vice president of Cubic Corporation. He will report to the corporation’s president and CEO, Bradley Feldmann.

Matt Cole joined CTS in 2003 and has served as managing director of CTS Australasia and vice president of finance for CTS. He was instrumental in negotiating the Future Ticketing Agreement with Transport for London and the award and mobilisation of the Opal Card contract in Sydney. He also spearheaded the acquisitions of NextBus and Serco’s Transport Solutions business (Cubic ITMS). In addition, he was a primary architect of the NextCity vision, the company’s strategy focused on the delivery of an integrated customer experience, one account and integrated operations and analytics.

Andrea Jacobs joins Northern Rail l The Serco and Abellio joint venture, Northern Rail, has announced the appointment of Andrea Jacobs as its new safety and environment director.

She will take the lead in implementing health and safety as well as sustainability strategies for Northern, the UK’s largest rail company.

A qualified chartered accountant Andrea brings extensive experience leading health safety and environment (HSE) teams across a wide range of sectors, including rail manufacturing and maintenance companies Alstom Transport and Bombardier.

Andrea commented: “It is an exciting time to join Northern, we face many challenges across the business as we build up to the new franchise. Safety health and environment form part of our core values and I am looking forward to working together with colleagues from across the business to drive our agenda and performance in this area.”

Paul Plummer to run RDG and ATOC

Siemens appoints rail industry heavyweight as sales director

l Paul Plummer, group strategy director for Network Rail, has been appointed chief executive of the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) and the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC).

Paul, who will be taking up the position in November, has been with Network Rail since 2002, and has been responsible for planning the development of the network, business planning, and the interface with government and economic regulation.

He has also been one of the two Network Rail members of the RDG since its inception in 2011.

Before joining Network Rail, Paul had worked for or advised companies, regulators and governments on business strategy, restructuring, privatisation, corporate finance and regulation in the transport and utilities sectors.

“It has been a huge privilege to have been able to play a part in the development of Network Rail for 13 years,” Paul said, “but the opportunity to represent the whole industry at the RDG and ATOC was too good to miss.”

l Siemens has appointed Philip Heathcote to the position of sales director of its rail systems business in the UK. He will focus on supporting the company’s growth strategy, as it prepares for several major bids.

Phil’s responsibilities will include relationship management, business development and sales, including tendering, major contract negotiations and amendments in new rolling stock. He will also lead negotiations on contracts for maintenance, service, modification and upgrades.

With more than 25 years of experience in the rail industry, Phil joins from Arriva UK Trains Ltd where, as bid director, he led teams responsible for rail franchise prequalifications and invitations to tender. During his time at Arriva, he successfully led the teams responsible for the Caledonian Sleeper and ScotRail bids. Most recently, he was responsible for the leadership of a bid to run the Northern franchise.

François Gauthey becomes CFO of Eurotunnel

Translink Group appoints Chris Conway as CEO

l Groupe Eurotunnel SE has appointed François Gauthey as chief financial and corporate officer in charge of corporate services for the group. He took up the position on Monday 7 September.

A graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique, holder of a DEA in organisational strategy and an engineer from the Ponts et Chaussées, François became head of customer services at Aéroports de Paris in 1995, before becoming advisor in charge of equipment, housing and transport in the private office of Prime Minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin. Among subsequent key positions, he has been secretary of state for transport and the sea, and directeur général for navigable waterways in France. He joined the Sanef Group in 2007 shortly after its privatisation, and has been chairman and chief executive of Sanef ITS Technologies since November 2014.

l Chris Conway has taken up the post of group chief executive of Translink Northern Ireland’s integrated bus and rail public transport company.

Chris was previously managing director of Tata Steel’s sales and distribution business in Ireland, and before that he was vice president of operations in Europe for Nortel and managing director of Nortel (NI) Ltd. Chris is chairman of Northern Ireland Co-operation Overseas and a member of the Board of Trustees of Young Enterprise.

Chris said, “I am relishing the challenge of leading such a high profile business and championing the delivery of excellent public transport for Northern Ireland. My commitment is to drive the business forward and while I know there will be many challenges ahead I am confident that we can build on the track record of success, growth and investment that has been achieved in recent years.”

13

MAINTENANCE

Predictive maintenancea secret beneath the floor?

Dr Steve Lacey, engineering manager at Schaeffler UK, discusses the maintenance of rail traction motors, and how a new depot-based condition monitoring technique using underfloor wheel lathes has proven effective, costing a fraction of remote condition monitoring to install

T

he operational reliability of railway rolling stock, in particular passenger trains, is key in maximising availability and is highly dependent on the health of the drive system (ie traction motor and gearbox).

Traction motors are used to power the wheelset of electrically operated rail vehicles (EMU – Electrical Multiple Unit). An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number of carriages. Drive to the wheel set is normally achieved through a reduction gearbox.

Rolling bearings are a key part of the drive system of rail vehicles. If bearings fail unexpectedly, this can result in serious damage to other components and equipment, as well as loss of operation in-service. During operation, equipment reliability depends heavily on the type of bearing selected as well as on correct installation, operation and maintenance. Due to improvements in manufacturing technology and materials, bearing fatigue life, which is related to sub-surface stresses, is not generally the limiting factor and probably accounts for only a very small percentage of failures.

Reactive versus predictive Equipment degrades with age and usage and the commonly used reactive approach to maintenance by fleet operators involves fixing problems only after they occur. While this may appear to be the simplest and cheapest approach in terms of upfront costs for maintenance, when problems do occur, these can often result in costly secondary damage, along with costly unplanned service outages, recovery costs in the case

14

of serious faults/failures, as well as loss of reputation and asset availability.

In preventive maintenance (PM) strategies, equipment is overhauled on a regular basis regardless of the condition of the parts. This normally involves scheduling of the train in the depot where equipment is inspected, removed and replaced, or overhauled irrespective of whether it is needed. This type of approach may reduce failures before they happen but it also leads to increased maintenance costs as parts are replaced when they don’t necessarily need to be. There is also a risk of ‘infant mortality’ due to human error during the time the train is taken out of service for repair, adjustments or replacing parts.

If key equipment on the train can be monitored in such a way as to obtain advance warning of a problem, significant cost savings can be made by avoiding unnecessary repairs and removing the train from operational service. This type of approach is known as predictive maintenance.

Remote condition monitoring Rail operators are increasingly adopting remote condition monitoring (RCM) to monitor railway assets, including equipment condition onboard the train as it operates in-service, in order to predict which parts are likely to fail and when. In this way, maintenance can be planned and there is an opportunity to change only those parts that are showing signs of deterioration or damage. This means that problems can be detected in advance and maintenance is performed only when needed.

However, while the use of RCM is receiving much

attention, these types of systems are often expensive to install and interpreting the data can be difficult. The interpretation of the data is just as important as collecting data in the first place. A misdiagnosis can lead to the unnecessary removal of rolling stock from in-service operation, poor asset availability, lost revenues, high costs and customer dissatisfaction. A loss of confidence in such systems can be just as bad as not having confidence in the first place and potentially can be more disruptive to in-service operation.

Consequently, Schaeffler UK decided to investigate whether depot-based vibration measurements, using an underfloor wheel lathe to rotate the wheelset, could be used to assess the condition of the traction motor and gearbox.

Routine wheel turning Underfloor wheel lathes are used by fleet operators to maintain the condition of the wheel tread, allowing machining of wheel profiles without the need for these to be removed from the vehicle.

Wheel lathes generally operate in the range 60-100m/min.

This means that for a wheel diameter of 800mm this gives an axle speed of between 24 and 40rpm. For a typical reduction gearbox ratio of 4:1, the traction motor speed would therefore be between 96rpm and 160rpm respectively. The advantage of this type of measurement is that it allows the condition of the drive system to be easily assessed during routine wheel turning. This simplifies the whole process and is more cost effective as large capital investment, installation of equipment and extensive training are no longer necessary.

contacting surfaces of the wheel tread and lathe drive wheel, the wheel turning frequency may have been too long for trending of vibration. It was therefore decided to carry out all measurements with the wheel tread unturned.

Each of the studies successfully identified potential failures of rolling bearings in traction motors early, thus avoiding any catastrophic failures or repairs. Potential failures were identified on ball bearing and cylindrical roller bearing components such as inner and outer ring raceways, cages and rolling elements. These signs of localised damage (and widespread damage in some cases) appeared in many forms including abrasive wear, adhesive wear, spalling, fatigue, corrosion, fretting, cracks, indentations, discolouration, false brinelling and degradation/starvation of grease.

In other cases, electrical erosion, high axial loads and contamination were found to be the primary causes of bearing damage. In addition, it was discovered that some of the traction motors in the studies had been fitted with non-premium bearing brands, which although may have seemed attractive at the time from a purchasing viewpoint, the performance and reliability were seriously compromised and resulted in a shortened service life, premature failure and significantly higher operating costs.

In summary, the studies undertaken provided valuable information to fleet operators (and Schaeffler) about the condition of bearings and other rotating components on traction motors. If left undetected, these worn or damaged components may have resulted in catastrophic failures of traction motors, with possible disruption to operation in service.

For a copy of the report: Predictive Maintenance of Railway Traction Motors Through Depot Based Condition Monitoring Using an Underfloor Wheel Lathe, email: info.uk@schaeffler.com

Unique approach to CM Working closely with a number of different fleet operators, Schaeffler UK adopted this unique approach by using vibration measurements to assess the condition of traction motors without the need to remove equipment from the bogie.

Six separate studies were undertaken on a variety of high-speed passenger trains. The studies involved a wide range of traction motor makes and sizes, from 8MW high speed trains down to light rail-vehicles.

In these studies, all vibration measurements were undertaken with the wheel tread unturned. While turned wheels would result in a substantial reduction of background vibration due to the interaction between the

15

MAINTENANCE

A new lease of life

Jon O’Brien, application engineer at Morgan Advanced Materials discusses the evolution of carbon brushes and explains the maintenance techniques that can extend their life span, while improving motor performance and reliability

A

lthough differing in size, shape and technical composition, carbon brushes in DC motors and generators all fulfil the same basic function – to transfer electrical current from a moving device to a stationary point and vice versa, within a circuit. Their main function is to conduct current without interruption, which means the point at which the brush transfers current from its surface to the moving collector is critical.

During operation, a film – or patina – automatically forms on the collector surface. This is critical in conducting current and reducing friction.

Friction between the brush and collector is inevitable and eventually causes wear to the surface of both. As carbon is the softer of the two, it will wear faster, and is therefore designed to be easily replaced. The life of the brush can also be affected by factors including the holder design and alignment, temperature and humidity variations, contamination by debris or lubricants, vibration, or changes in current, speed or pressure.

Effective inspection and maintenance are therefore critical in avoiding both unnecessary downtime and premature replacement.

General maintenance points Routine condition-based maintenance begins with a visual inspection of the brush and associated

16

components. Brushes, holders, collectors and connections should all be regularly checked for general condition, cleanliness and dust or grease contamination.

The patina should be closely monitored as this will reduce frictional wear and so improve the life of the brush, as well as minimising collector wear. Brushes fitted to a freshly-turned collector are liable to wear faster than brushes running on an established patina as the patina takes a while to fully form. Brush holder alignment should be measured to ensure there has been no slippage or shifting, while brushes themselves should be thoroughly checked from terminal to contact surface – with particular attention paid to contact faces, where a smooth, wellpolished surface indicates good performance.

Influencing factors Carbon brush damage can occur due to mechanical, electrical or environmental factors.

Mechanical problems include poorly mounted or aligned holders, worn springs, eccentricities in wear patterns on the collector, and incorrect pressure.

Contamination, temperature and humidity are among the environmental factors which may cause premature damage or quicken wear, and the causes of any ambient changes should be identified and rectified to prevent further damage. Poor commutation, leading to sparking,

as well as a lack of a fully formed patina, are electrical factors which can lead to brush and commutator wear.

Vital checks If a brush is found to be wearing prematurely, maintenance engineers should work through a list of vital checks as follows: • Current density • Collector run-out • Surface speed • Collector temperature • Humidity • Brush pressure • Amount of sparking • Duty cycle • Level of vibration during operation • Appearance of the patina/ collector film • Brush set-up in terms of whether it is correctly aligned • Spacing of brush holder • The presence of any contaminants nearby Discovering if any of these factors is beyond acceptable limits, combined with the brush life history taken from maintenance records, should lead engineers to diagnose and rectify problems.

To ensure brushes are fitted correctly, check they are free to move easily in their boxes after bedding in and cleaning. Brushes and holders manufactured to either IEC 136 or DIN 4300 tolerances should always be selected.

Brush holder alignment Carbon brushes are fitted into holders designed to keep them in the correct position and allow them to run on the collector surface to transfer maximum current and so deliver optimum performance. There are two main holder types; one where the brush is rigidly attached to a swivel arm, and the other where the brush is free to slide in a supporting box.

Slide type holders are generally classified according to the angle at which the brush meets the collector as in Figure 2.

Mechanical causes and solutions As previously discussed, mechanical issues can cause problems such as ill-fitting brushes in the holder. Too tight a fit will cause sticking which in turn will lift off the collector, breaking the current path. Too loose a fit allows movement of the brush in the holder which in turn will cause intermittent breaking of the current flow. When fitting new brushes, it is advised to bed the brushes into the shape of the collector as illustrated in Figure 1.

Fig 2 To ensure the brush is at the optimum distance from the collector the holder should be positioned approximately 2.5mm from the collector. If distance falls below 2mm or exceeds 3mm, the window holder should be reset as shown in Figure 3.

Fig 3

Springs and spring pressure

Fig 1

The final area that can cause mechanical and also electrical issues is spring pressure. Spring pressures should be the same across all brushes in the motor or generator. Any inequalities may cause rapid mechanical or electrical wear, or selective action across the whole system.

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MAINTENANCE

Due to the radial travel of the brush through the holder as it wears, it is advantageous to use constant force (CF) springs. Figure 4 shows the force in these springs is constant over a wide range of spring extensions. As the spring travels down the brush holder, the force remains constant until it has reached 0.8 times the diameter of the coil. To optimise performance, a rubber tufnol top with a locating radius should be fitted to allow best possible location of spring with damping to reduce any potential vibration issues.

Fig 4

Common electrical issues and solutions Poor commutation, leading to sparking, as well as a lack of a fully formed patina, are electrical factors which can cause brush and commutator wear. This is frequently evidenced by ghost marked surfaces on the brush (Figure 5), which could indicate issues such as an incorrect neutral point or interpole problems. The neutral point should be checked with a neutral meter before any further issues are investigated.

Overload, low load or varying load can also cause damage. Overload current will be shown by burnt flexes or a pitted brush surface (Figure 6). If the brush is overloaded, it is advisable to check the brush material and ensure use of a brush with the optimum current density for the application.

Low load – often evidenced on variable load motors seen in steel mills by streaking on the commutator – can potentially be overcome by selecting a brush grade suitable for a broad spectrum of loads including light load running.

Environmental issues and proposed solutions Interruption to patina formation can be caused not only by mechanical and electrical issues but environmental issues such as ambient temperature, humidity, contamination, vibration and maintenance standards. For the film or patina to form correctly, optimum conditions are required.

Moisture is essential, with humidity levels of less than 4.6 mg/L (1.5 grains/ft3) potentially disrupting this process.

Cooling air is often supplied from outside and is generally forced directly onto the collector, but problems can arise if the air is too hot or too cold. Furthermore, at low load, the collector may never achieve normal operating temperature – which will also impact on film formation and ultimately on brush performance.

Fig 5

Fig 7

Fig 6

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www.morganadvancedmaterials.com/ products/carbon-brushes

Hitachi AT300 trains will run primarily from London Paddington to Plymouth and Penzance

NEWS I Rolling stock First of ScotRail’s revamped trains is unveiled at Borders Railway launch

Virgin trains adds 2,100 seats to its West Coast Mainline Pendolino fleet l Virgin Trains has updated 21 of its fleet of Pendolino trains as part of a £7.2m investment to deliver an extra 5,500 standard class seats a day across the West Coast Mainline. The update took 5 months to fulfil.

Twenty one nine-car Pendolino trains have had one of their 1st class carriages converted to standard class, increasing the overall number of seats by 2,100.

Each of the nine-car Pendolinos also received a major interior refresh and a deep clean when the conversion was taking place at Alstom’s depot in Oxley, Wolverhampton.

Phil Whittingham, managing director at Virgin Trains, commented: “We have seen demand for our services increase significantly, with more than 34m journeys made on our trains last year, something that we are very proud of. Converting these first class carriages to standard allows us to respond to requests from passengers for more seats on our busiest routes. We’ve also given our Pendolinos a well deserved refresh and customers are already seeing the benefits.”

Now that all of the nine-car trains have been upgraded, the remaining 35 eleven-car Pendolinos will also undergo a major interior refresh and deep clean.

New trains the preferred option for Merseyrail fleet modernisation l A new fleet of trains is on the cards for the Merseyrail network. Following months developing a detailed business case for the future of the Merseyrail fleet, franchise holder Merseytravel has concluded that the best option would be to replace the current 40 year old stock with new trains. The investment would also represent the best value for the public purse.

Not only could a new fleet deliver an estimated £70m per year economic boost to the city region, but by carrying more people and with shorter journey times it would help meet demand which is predict to grow 40% by 2028. Some parts of the network are already working near capacity during peak times.

Approval for the commencement of the procurement process is expected to be given at a meeting on 1st October.

l The first of ScotRail’s new-look trains was unveiled at the opening of the new Borders Railway on 2 September. The refurbished and upgraded trains are to be rolled out at a rate of roughly one a month between now and April 2018 on routes across Scotland.

The refurbishment project is part of a £14m modernisation programme to deliver improved seating, better lighting, accessibility enhancements and at-seat power sockets for customers.

The two-carriage Class 158 trains are being painted in ScotRail’s Saltire livery, while interiors are being upgraded with modern carpets, finishes and toilets. The 137-seat trains will also be fitted with new CCTV systems and automated passengercounting systems. The work is being carried out at the Knorr-Bremse RailServices’ Springburn facility in Glasgow.

All of this has been designed with Scotland’s scenic railways in mind. Seats are aligned alongside windows to offer panoramic views of the country’s most picturesque routes.

Derek Mackay, Minister for Transport and Islands, said: “We are investing record amounts in Scotland’s railways and, with passenger numbers increasing by more than six million last year, these refurbished trains will further improve the travel experience.”

Bombardier JV to build 15 very high speed trains for China l Bombardier Transportation’s Chinese joint venture, Bombardier Sifang Transportation(BST), has been awarded a second contract worth €339m to supply 15 more very high speed trains for the country’s rapidly growing high speed network.

BST started delivering on the first order of CRH380D high speed trains for China Railway Corp in the first quarter of 2015. This is an early follow on order.

The trainsets will be manufactured at BST production facilities in Qingdao, China.

Engineering will take place in Qingdao and at Bombardier centres in Europe, with project management and components provided from sites in Europe and China.

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Rail Alliance

Recent new members of the Rail Alliance Ayrshire Medical Services Ltd

Hird Rail Services Ltd

Riverside Automation Ltd

Occupational health company offering a UK wide service specialising in personal track safety medicals and drug and alcohol tests as well as training programmes.

Tel: 01292 262 770 /01292 287 703 Email: info@ayrshiremedical.co.uk Web: www.ayrshiremedical.co.uk

Supplier of track related products covering everything from new rail, permanent way and re-usable material through to the manufacture of insulated block joints and professional haulage.

Tel: 01302 831 339 Email: orders@hirds.co.uk Web: www.hirdrail.com

Provider of solutions in industrial automation and control. Services range from single implementations to multi factory, multi user systems. Resources, experience and skills produce the full range of automation services that are essential to your business needs.

Tel: 01142 555 500 Email: sales@riverauto.co.uk Web: www.riverauto.co.uk

BTRoS Electronics Autonomous subsidiary of Bombardier Transportation designing and manufacturing a wide range of passenger information systems primarily used in the rail industry.

Tel: 01773 814 640 Email: esales@btros.co.uk Web: www.btros-electronics.com

Coriel Ltd Developer and supplier of automatic vehicle identification (AVI) systems for use in high speed and low speed rail applications.

Tel: 01157 484 486 Email: info@coriel.co.uk Web: www.coriel.co.uk

Giffen Group Ltd Specialist in electrical, signalling and power works across the rail infrastructure.

Tel: 01727 869 126 Email: info@giffengroup.co.uk Web: www.giffengroup.co.uk

Grimsby Institute of Further & Higher Education Opening new logistics skills centre in spring 2016 and keen to work in partnership with the rail industry to support training needs.

Tel: 0800 315 002 Email: infocent@grimsby.ac.uk Web: www.grimsby.ac.uk

Inside Out Group (Europe) Ltd Host of Inside Out Technical Solutions and Time Lapse Productions, including the design, installation, maintenance and project management of a wide variety of security and video surveillance systems, structured cabling and network infrastructures, short and long term static time lapse and on the ground filming and photography.

Tel: 01159 791 719 Email: info@insideoutgroup.co.uk Web: www.insideoutgroup.co.uk

Mabey Hire Ltd Leading supplier of non-mechanical plant hire for ground support, formwork, falsework, propping, jacking, temporary bridging, road barriers and a wide range of other systems.

Tel: 08457 413 040 Web: www.mabeyhire.co.uk

Plastic Piling Co Ltd Supplier of a unique range of plastic sheet piling, piling equipment and JETFilter weep hole drainage filters.

Tel: 08455 195 197/01543 677 290 Email: david@plasticpiling.co.uk Web: www.plasticpiling.co.uk

Porterbrook Leasing Company Ltd Specialist in the leasing of all types of railway rolling stock and associated equipment.

Tel: 01332 285 050 Email: enquiries@porterbrook.co.uk Web: www.porterbrook.co.uk

TERRAM Market leader in the design and manufacturer of innovative geosynthetics including geocomposites, geotextiles and geocells.

Tel: 01621 874 200 Email: info@terram.com Web: www.terram.com

Tinsley Bridge Group Tier 1 integration supplier of safety critical components for both OEMs and rolling stock maintenance.

Tel: 1142 211 111 Web: www.tinsleybridge.co.uk

Vandalism Control Association Information hub for all issues concerning avoiding, managing and repairing vandalism including repair and restoration, graffiti control and removal, chemicals and paint, materials, glass and glazing services, surveillance and security services.

Tel: 07768 819 497 Email: info@vandalismcontrol.co.uk Web: www.vandalismcontrol.co.uk

Virgin Trains East Coast Passenger train operator. Virgin Trains East Coast operates on routes totalling 936 miles, from London to Peterborough, the East Midlands, Leeds, York, Newcastle, Edinburgh and beyond to Aberdeen, Inverness and Glasgow.

Web: www.virgintrainseastcoast.com

For further information, please contact: The Rail Alliance Tel: 01789 720 026 Email: info@railalliance.co.uk Web: www.railalliance.co.uk

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NEWS I Conferences & Exhibitions

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

20-21 October Commercial UAV Show How UAVs are saving money and time in the rail industry Where: ExCeL, London Organiser: Terrapinn Tel: 02070 921 245 Email: paul.gilbertson@terrapinn.com Web: www.terrapinn.com/exhibition/the-commercialuav-show 28-30 October International Rail Conference: Go Smart - Go Rail Where: Maritim Hotel, Munich, Germany Organiser: UITP Tel: +32 2661 3187 Email: nathalie.simon@uitp.org Web: www.gorail.uitp.org 12 November UK Rail Network Resilience Where: Addleshaw Goddard, London Organiser: Waterfront Tel: 02070 671 597 Email: conference@thewaterfront.co.uk Web: www.waterfrontconferencecompany.com/ conferences/rail/events/uk-rail-network-resilience 12-13 November Rail Review, Rail Ticketing, Rail Customer and Rail IT Where: Sheraton Brussels Airport Hotel, Brussels Organiser: Terrapinn Tel: 0207 092 1210 Email: tayyab.abbasi@terrapinn.com Web: www.terrapinn.com

17-19 November RailTech Conference Enhancing capacity by removing bottlenecks in rail Where: UIC HQ, Paris Organiser: Europoint Email: christie.de.vrij@railtech.com Web: www.railtech.com/en/conferences/paris-conference 19-20 November Annual Polis Conference 2015 Innovation in transport for sustainable cities and regions Where: The Egg, Brussels Organiser: Polis Tel: +32 2 500 56 70 Email: polis@polisnetwork.eu Web: www.polisnetwork.eu/2015conference 1-3 March 2016 IT-TRANS: IT Solutions for Public Transport Where: Karlsruhe Trade Fair Centre, Germany Organiser: UITP and KMK Email: jochen.georg@messe-karlsruhe.de Web: www.it-trans.org/ 8-9 March 2016 Middle East Rail Where: Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre Organiser: Terrapinn Tel: +971 4440 2501 Email: jamie.hosie@terrapinn.com Web: www.terrapinn.com/merail

22-23 March 2016 Asia Pacific Rail Where: Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong Organiser: Terrapinn Tel: +65 6322 2702 Email: kym.chua@terrapinn.com Web: www.terrapinn.com/exhibition/ asia-pacific-rail 12-14 April 2016 Infrarail 2016 Where: ExCeL, London Organiser: Mack Brooks Exhibitions Tel: 01727 814 400 Email: kirsten.whitehouse@mackbrooks.co.uk Web: www.infrarail.com 19-20 April 2016 MetroRail Where: Business Design Centre, London Organiser: Terrapinn Tel: 0207 092 1257 Email: issa.mauthoor@terrapinn.com Web: www.terrapinn.com/conference/metrorail 26-27 May 2016 World Metrorail Congress, Light Rail, Rail Tel and Rail Power Where: Business Design Centre, London Organiser: Terrapinn Tel: 02070 921 125 Email: philip.kwok@terrapinn.com Web: www.terrapinn.com/conference/metrorail

Institute of Mechanical Engineers Training Courses Technical training for the railway industry A listing of courses currently available from the IMechE (Unless stated otherwise, all courses are in London) 6 October Introduction to rolling stock Provides a basic understanding of the role of traction and rolling stock within the context of railway systems as a whole

14 October Fleet maintenance - Advanced Understand the issues affecting rail vehicle performance and cost of maintenance

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

7 October Traction and braking Principles of traction and braking for railway engineers

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

23-27 November Introduction to railway signalling technologies An overview of railway control systems, subsystems and technologies used on UK main line and metro railways

8 October Train communication and auxiliary systems New and existing systems in use on today’s rolling stock flee

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

Brochure is available at: www.imeche.org/docs/ default-source/learning-and-professionaldevelopment-documents/l-d-railway-trainingbrochure-2015_web

13 October Fleet Maintenance - Introduction Improve your processes and fleet maintenance processes

21 October Vehicle acceptance and approvals Introduction to acceptance procedures which apply across the rail network

For more information, please contact Lucy O’Sullivan, learning and development co-ordinator: Tel: +44 (0)20 7304 6907 Email: training@imeche.org Web: www.imeche.org/learning/courses/railway

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MATISA

Laying tracks The now generic name of MATISA has been present in the track construction and maintenance industry for years, with a commitment to innovation and dedicated service the company strives to continue delivering pioneering solutions to the market

S

tarting life in 1945 with the build of the first mechanical tamper for railway work, MATISA Material Industriel SA, has grown to become a leader in machinery for track maintenance, construction and renewal. Over its history the Switzerland based company has established a recognisable brand and reputation as the pioneer of track mechanisation. Its current portfolio of products includes tampers, ballast regulators and cleaners, track renewal trains, track laying machines, track measuring vehicles and more recently WTM switch transport wagons. All machines are manufactured on-site in Switzerland, but the company is represented in seven countries around the world through subsidiaries in France, Germany, Spain, Italy, UK, Brazil and Japan. These subsidiaries are in place predominantly in an after sales and customer services capacity, supplemented by their own technical resources and spare parts store.

At the heart of MATISA’s pioneering ability is its

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approach to innovation. Marketing and Sales Director at the company, Roger Grossniklaus highlights: “We are permanently implementing improvements and state of the art technology in our production range. The major focal points for this are in operational, maintenance and customisation improvements, which cover operator comfort, enabling better concentration on work, easy and simple access to different tools and components, diagnostic software to identify potential faults, enabling quick and efficient fixes, and a great flexibility in adapting to our customers’ specific needs. It is our aim to maintain the high level of quality our products have demonstrated over the last decades and our engineers are dedicated to keeping that reputation of Swiss quality. Quality for us means economic, sustainable, maintainable, userand environmentally friendly products, which enable a long lasting and safe track network. It is important for the company to meet these current targets, as taking responsibility for the future of our world and industry will

lead it to success.”

To supplement a quality product, which MATISA claims will last around 20-25 years, the company has developed a service to ensure it delivers a reliable and long-lasting machine. “To extend the lifetime of a machine we propose a range of maintenance, overhaul and upgrading solutions. A well-maintained machine, undertaking the appropriate overhaul and upgrades at the right times will increase its life span, fitted with the latest technology for many more years will create a very appealing return on

investment,” expresses Roger. “The relationship with our customers goes on for life.”

This unrivalled approach to continuous product development is bolstered by MATISA’s exemplary service offering. “As a company we believe that success comes with responsibility,” explains Roger. “Supplying the rail industry with a variety of mechanised track construction and maintenance machinery requires an enthusiastic and committed maintenance team. It is a fact that our track plants have developed dramatically

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MATISA

over the years and high-tech equipment is now fitted as standard. As MATISA machines come with the latest computing systems in order to guide, assist and operate our various products, our clients or end-users will need specific training and assistance to meet the markets ever increasing need for accuracy and output.”

Over its history MATISA has been able to compile a portfolio of clients and projects that encompass a vast range of competencies and experience. From small rail contractors to network operators on national passenger and goods networks, high speed lines, private lines, mountain railways, mines and many other applications, MATISA has the knowledge to meet the individual specifications of speed, axle weight and gauge

requirements. “As we are present in many markets and each of these are organised differently with private contractors and in-house maintenance teams, we are able to approach a whole range of customers at all levels,” notes Roger. Currently, MATISA is working on supplying machinery to a number of interesting projects for underground applications, ballast and track renewal in urban areas and semi-dual mechanical-optical measuring systems.

“The market conditions for us at the moment, are positive. After a quiet period in Europe over the last few years in terms of investments and budget for track maintenance, there seems to currently be an increase in demand,” says Roger. “Having been favoured by an increasing number of European customers over the last two years, we are well placed to make the most of this.

Of course, we do still have a strong Swiss Franc, which is making Swiss manufacturing expensive, but we are committed to our Swiss-made label and are currently implementing production scale measures to overcome these challenges, rather than delocalising.”

With this in mind, the future for MATISA looks bright and Roger is confident that there are a number of exciting projects, which the company can get involved with. “Market requirements are moving very fast, as are the environmental expectations,” he says. “I would summarise our vision as providing our customers with long-term satisfaction. It’s about being in the right market, with the right product of the right quality, and providing the right service. This is what we strive to achieve.“

www.matisa.ch 25

Govia Thameslink Railway

Transforming for the

better

As its footprint grows to an unprecedented size, Govia Thameslink Railway proves that being big does not mean it is not local in delivering a programme of transformation across the network

T Charles Horton, GTR’s CEO

he enormity of Govia Thameslink Railway’s (GTR) task over the coming years is not overstated.

In fact, as the biggest rail franchise, in terms of passenger services and numbers, in the UK, largeness is in abundance at the company. The headline figures are 273 million passenger journeys generating £1.3 billion in passenger revenue each year delivered by 6500 employees. Alongside this are the figures promised for the franchise period: a £50 million station investment package, 1400 new carriages, 10,000 extra seats for peak travel into London and 20,000 hours of customer service training. However, despite the vast scale of GTR’s franchise as it sets about transforming all aspects of the network for the better, the Govia name is unfamiliar to many of its passengers. This is because the company has a clear vision to deliver a locally focused service.

“For us, being big does not mean that we lose sight of our local people, and that we’re not approachable,” explains GTR’s CEO, Charles Horton. “We’re looking to be part of the communities, and this really informs the way we do business.” As such the company continues to operate under the longstanding names of its regional

networks: Southern, Gatwick Express, Thameslink and Great Northern, after the merger that took effect in July 2015. Charles continues: “From our point of view, we have brought the brands under our wing and they are the way in which the customers will recognise us. These four brands are then managed by five locally accountable Passenger Service Directors, who have a very important role planning and delivering services on a daily basis, with a responsibility to work with local stakeholders and the communities that we serve. This is to make sure that what we deliver is what they want. Essentially, they make sure we keep our feet on the ground locally.”

This local focus is complemented by a strong engagement with the surrounding communities and stakeholders. “Underneath our Passenger Service Directors we have some Local Development Managers, who work closely with our communities,” points out Charles. “We also have passenger panels – an onlinebased portal with several thousand members, which we use to test ideas and seek opinions from passengers. We are also in the process of setting up customer cabinets, one for the north and one for the south, which will be used for passengers to put ideas forward about improving

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Govia Thameslink Railway

Cabfind.com Transport-on-demand firm, Cabfind.com, is a crucial logistical partner to Govia Thameslink, servicing over 32,000 taxi journeys annually.

Cabfind.com provides a passenger road-transport solution for customers and train-crew between railway stations and depots throughout the UK. Cabfind.com offers a responsive managed service covering planned and very short term movements during rail disruption. Its goal is safe, secure and informed travel for all passengers 24/7 365 days a year.

Cabfind.com has at its disposal a virtual fleet of over 140,000 vehicles.

Cabfind.com’s stateof-the-art technology provides unrivalled coverage and service control across the UK and offers one single point of contact, centralised billing, and proactive monitoring and reporting of service quality and expenditure.

Whether its passengers are your employees or your customers Cabfind. com, as a trusted UK Rail partner, is committed to the continuous improvement of the journey experience, the delivery of your environmental objectives, and the best value solution.

services and stations.”

Having brought the Southern and Gatwick Express networks on board in July, GTR is now responsible for the biggest rail franchise in the UK. Yet despite this, Charles is openly positive about the advantages provided by the size. “Bringing these businesses together and managing them as one unified company creates a great source of strength in being able to co-ordinate services across the network,” he says. “There are far more advantages than there are challenges in managing at this scale for us.

Firstly, it enables us to open up new journey opportunities that haven’t existed before. For example, from 2018 it will be possible to journey from Cambridge to Gatwick Airport, and it also gives us the capacity to introduce a new timetable on the Brighton Mainline from December 2015. This allows us to speed up off-peak journeys from the coast, which has been a long-term stakeholder ambition. We have also been able to bring in expertise from the previous franchisees so we now have a really great team. By blending these wide sources of expertise we have created a team that is very strong in its capacity to deliver such a significant change programme.”

Central to GTR’s investment programme in transforming the passenger experience is an extensive update to train and station environments. “The vision is that as a passenger travelling on our network, you will

get much better information on the journey that you are making both before and during arrival at the station. On the train you will be on a new or refurbished train, with the best information available,” says Charles. The cornerstone of the Government-sponsored Thameslink Programme is the introduction by GTR of new Siemens Class 700 trains.

In total, over the course of the franchise period, 115 of the Class 700 trains will be delivered on both the Thameslink and Great Northern lines, the first of which has been delivered to Three Bridges depot in West Sussex and is being tested.

“These new trains provide the boosting capacity and an improved passenger environment that allows the £6.5 million Thameslink Programme investment to be unlocked and to deliver its benefit to customers,” says Charles. “They are the heart and centre of our business at the moment and they are very innovative trains.

Through the core of London they will be operating in an automatic mode that will allows us to run 24 trains an hour. Of course, it is very exciting for us that this line will be intersecting with the Crossrail route at Farringdon and opening up fantastic journey opportunities onto other networks right across the UK.” In addition to this, the company will also be introducing 27 new Bombardier Class 387/2 trains, with a total of 108 new carriages, to the Gatwick Express line and 25 fixed-

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Govia Thameslink Railway

formation six-carriage, metro style trains to replace the current ageing Moorgate fleet. An interim fleet of 29 new Class 387/1 trains is already operating on the Bedford to Brighton line to bridge the gap between the departure of some of the old fleet of Thameslink Class 319s and the arrival of the new Class 700s.

Accompanying the update to rolling stock, GTR is also investing heavily in its station facilities. This will include free Wi-fi at 87 further stations (making 104 in total), staffing from first to last service at 100 as well as general improvements across the busiest stations. “Right across the network we’re improving cycle and waiting facilities, and have plans to make major improvement to some of our stations like Luton and St Albans,” adds Charles.

Improving customer service through 20,000 hours of training is the other key focus for the investment programme. “Customer service is absolutely critical to us, as we are a service business and depend on our people to give the best service possible,” explains Charles. “The programme is called One Step Ahead and focuses on passengers by combining classroom, e-learning and on-the-job coaching so that people can help others understand what ‘good’ looks like. Every single one of

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our 3500 customer facing staff and their managers will receive the training starting from early 2016 and this leads to a BTEC in Customer Service.”

The overall vision for GTR over the years to 2021 is focused heavily on this transformation programme. “This is centred on every aspect of customer service, from speed and reliability of services, the environment of trains and services, to the quality of information and the way our staff interact with customers,” concludes Charles.

“Ultimately, we are here to transform, for the better, the customer experience right across the network.”

www.gtrailway.com

Econocom Econocom is Europe’s largest independent provider of technology finance. In 2014, it posted consolidated revenue of €2.09 billion. With over 8000 employees in 19 countries, it has the expertise to design bespoke finance solutions to help train operating companies acquire the latest technology and remain competitive.

Econocom has over 40 years of experience in the railway sector.

Econocom has over 20,000 clients across Europe and manages 6.4 million digital assets.

Semmco

On top With the UK rail industry experiencing heavy investment across the network, Semmco’s unique solutions are well placed to maintain the company’s reputation as a market leader with quality bespoke products

F

ounded in 1993 as a design, engineer and manufacturing company specialising in access solutions, Semmco has built itself a reputation in the rail, aviation, industrial and military industries upon solid innovation and quality bespoke solutions.

Widely regarded as a UK leader, Semmco works closely with customers to develop the best and most robust systems for a wide range of access solutions. Within the rail industry, the company currently offers a complete range of bespoke systems from pit boards to roof access, and is looking at expanding its offer with a range of multiuse products.

Railway Strategies last featured Semmco in December 2014, and nine months later Sales Manager, Andrew Walling, is keen to express the company’s progress throughout 2015. “We have increased our profile within the railway market quite significantly over the last year,”

he says. “This has been accompanied by an increase in our reputation within the industry and we have become known as a leading brand for access equipment.

This boost in awareness has also enabled us to start introducing a lot more design features, which we have brought over from the aviation market.”

Part of establishing this reputation has been to convey to the market the particular strengths of Semmco and its products over competitors’ offerings, and these present themselves in two strands. “Firstly, our products are unique in the market as aluminium structures that use bolted and plated joints as opposed to welds,” explains

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Semmco

Andrew. “This creates extremely strong mechanical bonds, and eliminates the risk of cracking in aluminium welds, which exists in our competitors’ products.

Our joint gives much longer life and less maintenance requirements, which is a major selling point. We’re also looking to provide increased productivity and investment potential to our customers with a new range of multiuse platforms. These platforms can be suited to both front and side access, therefore reducing the amount of little-used stock and improving cost effectiveness. Our other strength is the way we support our product very strongly from initial sales call and design phase, through installation and commissioning to aftersales service.”

By presenting this to the customer in a focused campaign over the last year, Semmco has successfully increased its reputation, which has lead to it establishing closer working relationships with the end user as well as depot design and construction companies. “We were finding with some projects that a competitors’ system had already been specified early on, so we have been focusing

on trying to get involved a much earlier stage,” highlights Andrew. “This has been very successful this year and we have formed some very strong relationships with a whole group of people involved in depot refurbishment and design, as well as the end user. The aim is to be specified into the design phase by the end customer, and then if not specified we try to up-sell Semmco to the design companies to make it easier for them to achieve the maintenance requirements in the depot.”

The successful nature of this renewed strategy to deliver earlier on in the design phase has been significantly bolstered by the current market conditions in the UK. As Andrew notes: “Over the last 12 months we have had really good, increased levels of business and I only see this continuing into the foreseeable future.

I believe that the rail industry is very buoyant at the moment with new rolling stock coming onto the network, new depots being built and developments continuing throughout the rail network as a whole.”

However, it is not just a strong service and a refocused strategy that has awarded Semmco with its recent success, but also a committed drive to deliver top quality and innovative products to the market. One particular success has been its roof access platform, a single-sided roof access solution with foldout boxing ring. “By working closely with customers and inline with increasing safety regulations, our designers have been able to improve the safety of the working zone within the ring by reducing potential fall points and encompassing the working area a lot more securely than our competitors,” outlines Andrew. “It is also extremely fast to deploy, taking less than 15 minutes, which really improves the working efficiency of carrying out maintenance in the depot. We have also developed a basic design that can be easily reconfigured for differing depot designs and equipment needs.” Indicating the success of the platform, Andrew informs that the company has sold over 20 roof access platforms this year.

“The other important product for us is the multi-use platform,” he explains. “For front access, for example, we have developed a variable height front access platform with sliding profile fingers that allows the user to change the height for different maintenance requirements. This also allows the system to be used on many types of vehicle, making the site less cluttered and ultimately safer when working on a fleet of different units.”

As it looks ahead, Semmco is keen to continue the success of the last year by maintaining its current strategy. “We will be pushing the multi-use solutions, as well as conveying the commercial advantages of our products. Yes, we are more expensive initially, but over the long-term it is significantly cheaper due to the higher quality and durability designed into our solutions,” Andrew concludes. “We will also be focusing on marketing the increased productivity that Semmco can provide and in the longer term looking at taking our successes into the European market.”

www.semmco.com 33

Editor Gay Sutton

editor@railwaystrategies.co.uk Sales Manager Joe Woolsgrove

jwoolsgrove@schofieldpublishing.co.uk

www.railwaystrategies.co.uk

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