Inside Track December 2022

railbusinessdaily.com

“FANTASTIC MOMENTUM”

What the future holds for HS2

HS2 progress continues despite political uncertainty

Innovating to create the fleets of tomorrow A vision for rail freight

Sir Peter Hendy CBE’s optimism for the future

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As one door closes...

Your support this year has been fantastic. We could not produce all of the news and insights we do without you.

“Fantastic momentum” for new HS2 railway HS2 Ltd chief executive told the Railway Industry Association (RIA) conference about the new railway, the supply chain and what the future holds for the project.

HS2 progress continues despite political uncertainty Secretary of State for Transport Mark Harper updated parliament regarding progress on HS2 over a six-month period in 2022

Innovating to create the fleets of tomorrow Innovation was the focus of a talk given by Porterbrook’s Ben Ackroyd at the recent Rail Forum Annual Conference

A vision for rail freight

GB Railfreight CEO John Smith spoke at the recent Rail Freight Group (RFG) Conference about how rail freight can grow in the future.

Sir Peter Hendy CBE’s optimism for the future

In an exclusive interview at the Railway Industry Association (RIA) conference, Sir Peter Hendy CBE spoke about the need for reform, industrial relations and his optimistic view of the railway

East West continues as planned

After an uncertain few months for East West Rail (EWR), during which the then Transport Secretary Grant Shapps called its future into question, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt confirmed that government had committed to the project in his autumn statement

Last piece of the Crossrail jigsaw finally in place

Inside Track attends Bond Street station launch and looks at what lies ahead for London’s rail infrastructure

‘One of the most important, creative and urgently needed projects in European rail today’ Team outlines Global Centre of Rail Excellence vision to private investors

Regulator’s round-up of infrastructure and assets

Inside Track takes a closer look at the ORR’s annual publication on the average age of rolling stock

Leading the way with mobile eco welfare units

Welfare Hire Nationwide are setting the standard for modern, environmentally conscious specialist equipment hire.

Rising from the ashes thanks to HS2 community fund

Brackley Town Football Club gets back on its feet after major fire with help from local supporters and £75,000 grant from HS2 Ltd

TXM Projects are industry specialists in the provision of Project Management, Consultancy and Resource Solutions to the Rail Sector.

As one door closes...

As 2022 draws to a close, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our readers and contributors and our sponsors and subscribers. Your support this year has been fantastic. We could not produce all of the news and insights we do without you. This final edition of Inside Track 2022 is full of project-based stories from across Britain’s railways. Throughout the year we have covered a great many initiatives from varying angles, including building, maintaining and operating across the network on a wide range of projects up, down and across the country.

Our editorial team, led by Nigel Wordsworh, has done a sterling job.

From 2023, we have taken the decision to combine the printed versions of Rail Director and Inside Track. The online versions will still sit separately. The decision is driven by a few factors but primarily a huge increase in print costs, which we refuse to pass on to our customers, and ongoing uncertainty about future work banks which is affecting organisations’ marketing and communications budgets and profile enhancement spend profiles – especially fledgling and smaller businesses.

There is, however, some good news. Our reason for being is to be a force for good in UK rail. We want to help all organisations working in the sector. The savings associated with combining the printed versions of the two magazines will enable us to do three important things:

1. We will drastically cut our advertising prices by more than 50% – passing the benefits on to you.

2. Existing series booking advertisers will be given free advertising space on Rail Business Daily which currently reaches 73,000 rail professionals every day.

3. We will donate to a ‘plant a tree initiative’ to completely offset the environmental effects of our printing –as we work towards being a carbon neutral company ourselves.

I sincerely hope that you are able to take advantage of some of these benefits in 2023. Please speak with Nigel Wordsworth or Danny Longhorn if you have any news, people or project stories you would like us to cover. Christian Wiles and Amy Hudson are also on hand to talk to you about our vastly reduced advertising rates to help put you in front of your customers and win more work.

All that remains now is for me and the entire Rail Business Daily team to wish you a very happy Christmas and a healthy and successful New Year. I would also ask everyone to spare a thought to those who will be building, repairing, renewing and maintaining Britain’s railways night and day over the Christmas period.

We are all very grateful for what you do. Thank you.

David McLoughlin Chief Executive Business Daily Group

“ “ Introduction railbusinessdaily.com Inside Track | December 2022

“Fantastic momentum” for new HS2 railway

HS2 Ltd chief executive told the Railway Industry Association (RIA) conference about the new railway, the supply chain and what the future holds for the project.

HS2 Ltd chief executive Mark Thurston said that there is “fantastic momentum” on the new railway, with £23 billion of contracts; of those contracts well over 90 per cent are with UK-based contracts.

Speaking at the Railway Industry Association (RIA) conference in London on 11 November, he showed a video to delegates in which he detailed the current situation. He said about 70 per cent of those companies with contracts are small and medium-sized organisations, which he called “really, the lifeblood of the UK economy.”

He said: “HS2 is very much part of helping the UK economy grow. HS2 is very much a national endeavour. Between London and

Crewe, we’ve got some 350 sites live and nationally over 29,000 people are now working on the project.”

Mark added that more than 950 apprentices have also already made a start on HS2. “What’s also really pleasing is that in the last few months 270 people who are out of work have joined our supply chain and are restarting their careers working as part of the HS2 family.”

He spoke of the fact that HS2 Ltd now has all four station contractors in place and that “you’ll start to see our stations come out of the ground in the months to come.”

HS2 will be crucial to decarbonising a transport system

“ “

An aerial view of the work underway at Curzon Street, Birmingham, in mid-October 2022

Image: Shutterstock

Mark Thurston also spoke about the stages beyond Phase 1, saying: “Of course, we’re not just building this route between London and Birmingham. Phase 2a, from Birmingham to Crewe, received Royal Assent at the beginning of last year and we’re getting well on our way to getting ready for construction for that part of the railway. Ecology works, environment work, and as we go into the next few months, we’ll stand up our construction delivery partners and that’ll be the next phase of the project that’s taking HS2 into the north.”

He said that beyond the first two phases between London and Birmingham and Birmingham and Crewe, HS2 Ltd has its third phase (Phase 2b), which will connect Crewe to Manchester. The Bill for this was deposited into parliament earlier this year, he added, and is now at its second reading.

“When that’s complete, that section of railway will treble the capacity on the railway system to Birmingham, Manchester and double the capacity between London and Manchester. It’s a massive amount of investment into the north. And that’ll be the third and important stage of making sure that HS2 builds from London right into the Midlands and beyond into the north west.”

Mark said that HS2 now has fantastic

momentum right across the country, and that it is an important project that will help grow the economy and invest in green infrastructure.

“HS2 will be crucial to decarbonising a transport system and frankly, we’re building a 21st century railway that will be used for generations to come.”

Away from the video, he told delegates that there is an important box push milestone on the horizon with a box due to be pushed under the M42 around the festive break. Following the break, HS2 Ltd plans to mobilise its design delivery partner.

Mark Thurston at the M42 first bridge installation

Image: HS2

Mark Thurston

“Although the Bill for Phase 2b has only been in the house we’re already thinking about the procurement and early works of Phase 2b West.

“We’re also well on our way with Mace Dragados on Curzon Street and I went past there the other day and the platform was pretty much almost ready.”

He also said that the Tunnel Boring Machine at Long Itchington Tunnel is due to be launched at the end of the month to create the second tunnel.

Improving systems

Rail systems were also an important point for Mark Thurston. He told the conference: “A lot of RIA members are in our supply chain or would want to be in our supply chain on the system side. We’re going to take a little bit more time to make sure we get all the right answers from our systems procurement. But I think the important point to make as you go forward a year or so from now, is that then we would have appointed all the systems contractors, which in essence means the best part of £25 billion to £30 billion worth of work would have been contracted. And that’s virtually all of the contracts left for Phase 1.”

Construction of Phase 2a is expected to begin in 2025, and he said, “Our expectation is that, and this timeframe has every chance of there being a general election, we would like to think that we can get the Bill for Phase 2b West, through both houses and have the Royal Assent to start works,

start the land acquisition, and then get into sort of the delivery phase of Phase 2b.”

He also mentioned the current financial climate and said that HS2 was not immune. “Clearly the fiscal pressure the government is under is significant. As a publicly taxpayer-funded project, inevitably, we like many other parts of the

infrastructure sector will be keen to see what the Chancellor says on 17 November. I have no big reveals.”

Mark Thurston then turned to the supply chain, explaining: “We have established a solid supply chain and our workforce is now almost 30,000 people which is to everybody’s credit.

The south portal of the Chiltern tunnel after tunnel boring machines were launched in summer 2021 Image: Shutterstock

Mark Thurston

“I met the new minister Hugh Merriman this week, one of his questions was, what’s your confidence in the supply chain?

“Do you think we’re going to get the people? And it’s a big challenge for us, we’re not quite at peak, we think we’re probably going to peak at around 34,000 people in the next 24 to 30

months. But clearly, there’s a lot of work in the sector going on, to invest in skills and resources. But nevertheless, we’re not complacent. And I think that the challenge for me is how do I establish a new partner organisation in the north west.”

Progress-wise, Mark Thurston believes the

project has reached a significant “tipping point”. He explained: “Big projects like this go through a tipping point, you get to a point where you can see the parts that come together. I think Crossrail went through that tipping point once they got the tunnelling going and I think we’re at that tipping point, certainly, on Phase One.

Long Itchington Tunnel, near Banbury. The tunnel will be buried underground once it’s constructed

Image: Shutterstock

“When you get to that point that sort of momentum becomes almost a challenge because you’ve spent the best part of two or three years pushing this boulder up the hill, and it gets to the top and then you’ll hang on for dear life as it goes down the other side.”

Mark Thurston’s RIA speech came less than a week before the Autumn Statement, an event flagged by many speakers as one that could hold the key to a number of key policy decisions, such as the future of HS2, Northern Powerhouse Rail and other schemes. In the event, on 17 November, Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt said: “We will deliver the core Northern Powerhouse Rail. HS2 to Manchester. East West Rail.” He didn’t give any more details, nor did he mention the Eastern leg of HS2.

A positive view

HS2 Ltd’s chief executive told delegates that he’d already met Secretary of State for Transport Mark Harper prior to the RIA event and suggested that he was positive about the project.

As for SMEs, he said: “We’ve made it a very explicit requirement that if we’re going to put all this public money into building this railway then absolutely we need to get into the economy at every level. Clearly, we’ve set ourselves up to have a certain number of Tier One contractors, but we’ve got pretty onerous obligations on them to drive interaction with local SMEs.

There’s lots of great examples, but I also know if you’re an SME trying to get yourself into the HS2 family it can look a bit impenetrable; our documentation requirements can be rather onerous.

“I think we’ve had some success with our meet the contractor events. We’ve done it for rolling stock, we’ve done it for civils, we’ll do it for the stations, where we use our convening power as HS2 to bring the main contractors in and it becomes an open forum for those SMEs to walk the floor and make themselves known. We’ve got our online portal too.

want to extend the systems on to Phase 2A for the ones we buy for Phase One, so we won’t go back to the market. But nevertheless, as we go further north, and as we’re thinking about Phase 2B, I’m in Manchester in January talking to the chamber about where the opportunity is.

We’ve done some outreach work with SMEs in the north west. But again, I think we as HS2 have got to catch up because when I talk to many of our key suppliers, they’ve already got a presence around Manchester or Warrington, or somewhere on that corridor from Crewe.

So we really need to sort of catch up, get our presence there, in the fullness of time. We’re very keen and I think part of helping make the case as to why HS2 is important for that part of the country is not just wider and longer-term transport benefits, but actually what it would do to drive the economy.

Improved infrastructure

“We accept that it sometimes can be a little bit daunting for SMEs to break through. I think the system’s contracts that are coming towards us provide a very different set of opportunities because they’ll be very civils dominated.

“It’s certainly our thoughts for Phase 2A to take a slightly different approach to civils, maybe some smaller more locally-based civils contracts. We

“Certainly when I talked to I went to Salford to meet some journalists from the BBC last year and made the point to them that effectively we’re going to build a Crossrail as part of the £20 billion worth of infrastructure between Crewe and Manchester.

And in the way that Crossrail and the Elizabeth line are transforming the way we travel around London, frankly, once we’ve built HS2 into the north west, it will change the way people travel there, it will change the economy there.

HS2 is fundamental to putting long-term capacity into a rail network

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Construction progress at Old Oak Common during August 2022 Image:

“Part of our job now is to start to warm up that part of the world. Certainly, when I go up there in January, we will run some roundtables where we give some of the local companies a chance to really understand what it means to be on a project like HS2.”

Funding issues

Funding, especially in the current climate, remains a key consideration for HS2 Ltd. Mark Thurston told delegates: “When I came in and we reset the funding for Phase One, we made the point to government that we really need to have a range on both cost and time. Probably one of Crossrail’s undoings was that “on time, on budget’’ became a bit of a mantra, there talk about the date and the number, and these things are big and complex, they take a long time and no one can really foresee the future.

“I think the fact that we’ve got a range on cost and time gives us that flexibility and we can move around that. The other positive thing is that, as part of resetting the projects and getting them to proceed in the spring of 2020 with the appointment of a minister, there’s this commitment to putting a six-month report to parliament. That sort of keeps us all honest because the minister has to lay that as a ministerial statement, then he’s transparent and it goes into the public domain. And that forces us to make sure that when we’re reporting on management information, we’re really true, and we’ve got line of sight about ‘where are we on schedule and where we are on costs?’

“But it will come as no surprise - and I said this at a recent Transport Select Committee - that our budget and our schedule was under pressure. If you think that when we set it effectively in autumn 2019, you’ve got approved at the beginning 2020. Since then we’ve left the EU, we’ve had a global pandemic, we’ve now got a war in the region, and we’ve got this super high inflation environment. I’m not surprised to say there’s stress in the system. And I get paid to find counter-measures. To counter that stress out. I think our message to the supply chain and its members is government is going to be pretty stringent about that. And we’re going to have to find a way of being creative to drive costs and be efficient in the delivery of that scheme.”

“So our costs are under control; I’m absolutely convinced. That doesn’t change what I said, which is that there are some significant headwinds and we’ve still got eight, nine years to go. Inevitably we’ve got a job, all of us have got a job, to make sure we bring this project in to an affordable level.”

Increasing network capacity

Mark Thurston also spoke about value for money and the benefits of the project. He said: “I will always come back to what we would call the strategic case. HS2 is fundamental to putting long-term capacity into a rail network. It is crucial to connect the major cities of the Midlands and the North. And if we’re going to take carbon out of our transport system and get cars and lorries off of our roads and get people out of flying domestically, then you need, frankly, a city-to-city high-speed rail system that is fast and efficient and clean.

He went on to explain: “I can only say, and people can choose whether to believe it or not, but we’re audited by the National Audit Office every year, we’re subject to government’s internal audit programme. There’s a huge degree of visibility. We roll up something like six million cost items every month into our control’s environment.

“If you think about one freight train, think about the opportunities for freight traffic on the existing West Coast main line; once you put all of the fast traffic onto the new high-speed system, one freight train is about 70 lorries. So you start to see where the carbon shift can come in the fullness of time.

“I think that strategic case holds. Government is certainly wedded to their strategic case. The Secretary of State was quite vocal about that. But of course, that is only really credible if I continue to work with my organisation to make sure we keep costs under control, and that’s our job.”

We’re going to build a Crossrail as part of the £20 billion worth of infrastructure between Crewe and Manchester

“ “

HS2 Phase 2B will run from Crewe to Manchester, and HS2 Ltd wants to improve its presence in the north west

Image: Shutterstock

Mark Thurston

HS2 progress continues despite political uncertainty

Secretary of State for Transport Mark Harper updated parliament regarding progress on HS2 over a six-month period in 2022

gainst a turbulent political backdrop, the construction of HS2 continues.

On 27 October 2022, the Secretary of State for Transport Mark Harper provided the annual sixmonth update to parliament on the project, the fifth such update provided. He did this only two days into his new role, having replaced Anne-Marie Trevalyn, after Rishi Sunak became the new Prime Minister on 24 October. He confirmed that Phase 1 (West Midlands to London) remains within the budget and schedule range and that construction milestones were being met. He added that progress has been made on key procurements and more jobs are being supported than ever before.

Furthermore, HS2 Ltd is progressing key activities for Phase 2a (Fradley, West Midlands to Crewe) to support the next stage of its delivery, and since the last report, the Phase 2b Western Leg Bill (Crewe to Manchester) had its second reading in June 2022 and

is progressing through legislative stages. The period the SoS’ update covers is February to August 2022, and during that period, Mark Harper said that the key achievements were:

HS2 now has over 350 active sites between the West Midlands and London,

Since 2017 over 950 apprentices have been recruited and as of September over 29,000 jobs are being supported, Laing O’Rourke Delivery Limited has been awarded the contract for the construction of HS2 Interchange Station at Solihull worth up to £370 million (in 2022 prices). The contract will involve the finalisation of the detailed design and the subsequent construction of the station, Dorothy became the first tunnel boring machine (TBM) to complete its first bore and is now preparing for the second parallel tunnel.

The one-mile tunnel preserves the ancient woodland above at Long Itchington Wood. Four TBMs have now been launched on Phase 1 and driven a total distance of approximately 8.4 miles,

In May the Canterbury Road Vent Shaft became the first diesel-free work site on the HS2 programme. This is a significant step towards the project’s aim to be net zero carbon from 2035, and

The Phase 2b Western Leg Hybrid Bill secured its second reading in the House of Commons by 205 votes to 6 and the First Additional Provision (AP1) was deposited in July.

Mark Harper said that the report used data provided by HS2 Ltd to the HS2 Ministerial Task Force for Phases 1 and 2A. Unless stated, all figures are presented in 2019 prices.

A tunnel boring machine tail skin and cutterhead before the start of their journey Image: HS2 Ltd.

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He told parliament: “On Phase 1, delivery continues to accelerate towards peak construction next year. The forecast for initial services from Birmingham to Old Oak Common remains within the range of 2029 to 2033, with HS2 Ltd currently reviewing its detailed construction and systems installation schedules to address some pressures within this range.

“Phase 2a (West Midlands to Crewe) remains on track to be delivered between 2030 and 2034. Land possessions and enabling works are underway. The next stage is to appoint the design and delivery partner who will oversee the construction phase, award the advanced civil works contracts and will begin the early stages of procuring the main works capacity.

“On Phase 2b Western Leg, the delivery into service date range remains 2035 to 2041 as provided in the strategic outline business case (SOBC).”

As for affordability, he said: “The approximate cost range for the elements of the scheme committed to by the government for Phases 1, 2a, 2b Western Leg is £53 billion - £71 billion (in 2019 prices). This range does not include HS2 East which is at early stage of development and cost estimates are subject to further work from HS2 Ltd and Network Rail.”

Phase 1 remains within its overall budget of £44.6 billion, which includes contingency held respectively by HS2 Ltd and by the government, he said, whilst also acknowledging that previous HS2 minister Andrew Stephenson, in his last report to parliament, noted concern at the steady increase

in cost pressures on Phase 1 reported alongside drawdowns in contingency.

“In accordance with the arrangements in its development agreement with the Department for Transport (DfT), HS2 Ltd has indicated that, if unmitigated, the final delivery cost is likely to exceed its target cost of £40.3 billion based upon its forecast of future spending,” he said. In September the DfT commissioned HS2 Ltd to develop and implement actions to bring projected costs back in line with the target cost.

To date, out of the Phase 1 target cost, £18.3 billion has been spent, with an additional £1 billion for land and property provisions. £10.6 billion has been contracted but not yet spent. The remaining amount is not yet under contract. The target cost does not include government-held contingency, he said.

HS2 Ltd has drawn £1.5 billion of its £5.6 billion delegated contingency for Phase 1, an increase of £0.2 billion since the last update, leaving about £4 billion.

HS2 Ltd is projecting around £1.9 billion of net additional cost pressures on Phase 1, an increase of about £0.2 billion since March.

He explained that of the £1.9 billion, the key pressures are:

An estimated £1.1 billion (up £0.3 billion since the last update) for potential additional main works civils costs stemming largely from lower than planned productivity and additional design costs,

A pressure of £0.4 billion on the cost estimate for the HS2 Euston Station. The move to a smaller, less complex 10-platform single-stage delivery strategy at Euston is now the basis for ongoing design work and other activities. The department anticipates that this will assist in addressing some of the cost pressure at Euston as the updated station design is developed over the coming months. This work will also consider and address the appropriate level of contingency that should be held to manage risks that are likely to arise during the construction of an asset of this complexity,

A pressure of £0.3 billion (up £0.1 billion since the last update) against HS2 Ltd’s budget for changes to Network Rail infrastructure at Euston and Old Oak Common that are required to operate the new HS2 stations, and

A further £0.1 billion of net cost pressures presenting on other parts of the programme. This is the aggregate total of smaller potential cost pressures.

He also explained that £0.8 billion of net savings and efficiencies have been identified within Phase 1. These principally consist of savings across the main works civils portfolio and savings in the acquisition and resale of land and property. These have partly offset gross cost pressures resulting in the net figure above.

On COVID costs, HS2 Ltd’s assessment of the likely financial impact of the pandemic on delivering Phase 1 remains estimated within the range of £0.4 billion to £0.7 billion.

An aerial view of Curzon Street, Birmingham

Image: HS2 Ltd.

Further claims are subject to detailed scrutiny by the government and will only be allocated against contingency once this assessment has been finalised, said the Secretary of State. Further detailed claims are currently under review by HS2 Ltd.

Mark Harper told parliament: “Following confirmation of the move to the more efficient 10-platform station design and single-stage build at Euston station, significant elements of the design work on the original 11-platform station can no longer be used. As the cost of this earlier design work has ceased to be of future benefit to HS2 Ltd, the related costs were reported as an ‘impairment’ in HS2 Ltd’s published annual report and accounts for 2021/22.”

He then explained: “The Phase 2a budget remains unchanged, with a cost range of £5.2 billion to £7.2 billion. The government intends to set a target cost alongside publication of the full business case.

“On Phase 2b Western Leg the financial case of the SOBC published in January 2022 presented an estimated cost range of £15 billion to £22 billion. Removal of the Golborne Link from the scope of the Phase 2b Western Leg Bill scheme has reduced the overall estimated cost range to £13 billion from £19 billion.”

He added: “Consistent with the rest of the economy, the HS2 programme is experiencing high levels of inflation. HS2 Ltd is working with its suppliers actively to mitigate inflationary cost increases.”

The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and Office for National Statistics’ September construction update showed that construction materials across all work in the UK have experienced inflation of 18 per cent from August 2021 to August 2022, he told parliament.

“Whilst inflation is not affecting the overall affordability of HS2 in real terms because the total budgets and cost estimates for each phase are set in 2019 prices, it is creating pressures against its existing annual funding settlements, which have

been set in cash,” he explained. “I am clear that HS2 Ltd and its supply chain must do all that they can to mitigate inflationary pressures.”

As for project delivery, he said that across the programme HS2 Ltd report that 24.4 million m3 of earth has been moved.

The new launching gantry Dominique has installed the first decks of the Colne Valley Viaduct, which will be the longest railway bridge in Britain. The viaduct will carry the new highspeed line across a series of lakes and waterways on the north west outskirts of London.

Image: HS2 Ltd.

The Launching Girder moving segments to lay at the site of the Colne Valley Viaduct.

The HS2 tunnel boring machine tunnelling team

Across the Phase 1 route, 8.4 miles of tunnel work has been driven so far. Progress has recovered well following an enforced shutdown to investigate and learn lessons from a small tunnel fire that occurred in May 2022. TBM Dorothy safely completed the first bore under Long Itchington Wood in Warwickshire in July.

At Old Oak Common station, work continues with the Old Oak Common and Park Royal Development Corporation, the London Mayor, and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to bring forward proposals for the regeneration of the area around the station.

Stage 1 of the two-stage design and build contract for Birmingham Curzon Street station is expected to conclude later this year subject to agreement of an affordable target price.

In July, HS2 Ltd awarded the contract to design and build Interchange station in Solihull to Laing O’Rourke Delivery Ltd. The contract, worth up to £370 million (in 2022 prices), will see work in two stages to finalise the detailed design and then build the station. HS2 Ltd continues to work collaboratively with private and public sector stakeholders to support the ambitions of the Urban Growth Company and the local authority to realise the economic and social benefits of HS2 and provide up to 30,000 new jobs and 3,000

new homes, he said.

Mark Harper also said HS2 Ltd continues tendering for Phase 1 and 2a rail systems packages (including track, catenary, mechanical and electrical, power, control and communications).

At Euston, HS2 Ltd and its construction partner, Mace Dragados, are continuing to

optimise design and construction efficiencies. Work progressing on site includes demolition, piling of the station box structure, construction of a relocated London Underground traction sub-station, creation of a new utility corridor and construction of a new six-storey site accommodation block.

Construction progress at Old Oak Common station, West London.

Image: HS2 Ltd.

In parallel, HS2 Ltd and Network Rail, with support from the Euston Partnership, are working together to develop a cost-effective design that provides integration between the HS2 station and the redevelopment of the Network Rail station and delivers value for money.

He added that, on Phase 2a, early environmental works continue at multiple sites along the route and the design for enabling civil works progresses at pace.

Passage through parliament

The Phase 2b Western Leg Bill had its second reading in June 2022. The First Additional Provision (AP1) was deposited on 6 July, giving effect to Parliament’s instruction to remove the Golborne Link from this Bill while alternatives are considered.

HS2 Ltd held eight in-person events and three webinars ahead of depositing the first AP, attended by over 400 people. 134 petitions against the Bill and 21 against AP1 were received and a select committee is being convened to consider these petitions.

A supplement to the SOBC was published at second reading, setting out the impact of removing the Golborne Link from the Bill on the scheme’s business case.

As the Bill progresses, HS2 Ltd is working to develop a robust future delivery strategy for the scheme, said Mark Harper.

The government is continuing work to develop

work will be used to inform future decisions on how to progress the scheme, including how HS2 East can support economic growth aspirations in the region.

“Local impacts are unavoidable on a project of the scale of HS2,” said Mark Harper, “however, I expect HS2 Ltd to do its utmost to reduce disruption where it is reasonable to do so and to treat communities affected by construction with respect, sensitivity, and professionalism.”

The Community and Business Funds (CEF and BLEF) are available to communities and business groups that are disrupted by construction of the railway, with over £12.4 million so far granted to 216 projects, he said. This will help HS2 to leave a positive legacy in areas near the new railway.

plans for HS2 East, a new high-speed line between the West Midlands and East Midlands, which would enable HS2 to serve Nottingham and Sheffield (via Derby and Chesterfield).

Development is being carried out by HS2 Ltd and Network Rail, in conjunction with work to electrify the Midland main line. The output of this

The environmental impact was mentioned, with Mark Harper explaining that more than 800,000 trees and shrubs have been planted as part of HS2’s Green Corridor. “HS2 continues to be at the forefront of efforts to decarbonise construction and to leave a positive environmental legacy. Since the last report, the first diesel-free construction site has started in action, including using the UK’s only electric crawler cranes,” he said.

Local impacts are unavoidable on a project of the scale of HS2

“ “

Mark Harper confirmed almost 30,000 staff are now working on the new railway Image: HS2 Ltd.

The programme has successfully trialled hydrogen fuel cells to replace large diesel generators, eliminating noise and air quality impacts for local residents. It has also made use of cutting-edge Formula 1 technology to use fuel more efficiently. New conveyor systems have been introduced, for example in Warwickshire, to reduce impacts to residents by reducing HGV traffic on local roads.

The benefits of HS2 were laid out. He said: “I am delighted that as of September HS2 is supporting over 29,000 jobs.

To date 2,580 businesses are already working on the project; over 60 per cent are SMEs and 97 per cent are UK-based. The programme

will create 2,000 apprenticeships, with over 950 recruited since 2017 and there have been 2,200 job starts by people who were previously workless.”

On active travel, the DfT has asked HS2 Ltd to

assess making design changes in five more locations on Phase 2a, in addition to the 20 locations to which HS2 Ltd is already committed to making design changes on Phase 1. HS2 Ltd is continuing to assess the feasibility of repurposing haul road and maintenance access tracks for local community benefit with pilot projects being progressed.

“The government is exploring how we can support inward investment opportunities linked to HS2 and particularly how we can encourage large national and international investors to consider investing in places with HS2 stations and the surrounding areas,” he said.

Looking to the future, Mark Harper said: “In the next six months, HS2 Ltd will further develop its approach to managing the supplier alliance that will be delivering the rail systems packages such as track installation, overhead catenary and signalling systems. This will include developing and testing its internal processes and systems to manage the integration risk between the 14 different suppliers, development of its leadership capability and the evolving governance arrangements as it moves from a civils-led programme to a systems and operability-led programme.

“I will continue to engage closely with Parliament and will provide my next update in Spring 2023.”

Image: Shutterstock

Innovating to create the fleets of tomorrow

Innovation was the focus of a talk given by

Annual Conference

Speaking at the Rail Forum Annual Conference, Porterbrook chief operating officer Ben Ackroyd discussed the company’s latest innovations, and outlined its plans to tackle issues ranging from climate change to the customer revenue gap.

Ben (who joined the rolling stock owner and asset manager in spring 2022) spoke about digitisation, decarbonisation and customer environments, before taking a “deep dive” into the development of two of Porterbrook’s alternative traction systems – HydroFLEX and HybridFLEX.

Key drivers

Reflecting on Porterbrook’s approach to innovation, Ben suggested that, despite recent political and macro-economic developments, many of the industry’s fundamental drivers had not changed.

“It’s those imperatives around improving customer environments,” he said. “And of course, decarbonisation is becoming ever more important.”

He also touched on the issue of value and the “cost/quality conundrum”, explaining: “One of the key things we do continue to focus on at Porterbrook is our investment in performance of the assets, just in terms of making sure that fleets continue to perform well for our customers and the fare-paying passenger.”

He added that, while Porterbrook “still had a lot to learn about digitisation”, work had been done to digitise fleets, benefitting both operators and Network Rail.

Ben noted that collaboration was the key to successful innovation, and that TOCS were coming together with Network Rail to discuss these fundamental issues.

Finally, he touched on the age profile of

Porterbrook’s portfolio, which includes both new stock and 30 to 35-year-old locomotives. As it looks to invest in new projects, he explained, the company is considering whether it can safely and cost-effectively life-extend assets – including those in midlife.

HydroFLEX

HydroFLEX and HybridFLEX are amongst the newest and most innovative of these assets. The UK’s first hydrogen-ready passenger train, HydroFLEX was developed by Porterbrook in collaboration with The University of Birmingham, and can run under battery, electric and hydrogen power. This also makes it the world’s first ‘trimode’ locomotive.

HybridFLEX is Britain’s first hybrid batterydiesel train and was developed by Porterbrook, Rolls Royce, and a range of other partners.

Porterbrook’s Ben Ackroyd at the recent Rail Forum

Image: Devlin Photo

A hydrogen-fuel system has been installed on the 30-year-old train

Ben discussed the development of HydroFLEX, commenting: “It was first conceived of in 2018, and I do wonder, at that point in time, how many of us in the room thought that hydrogen was going to be a credible alternative to traction in the future.

“For those who have come back from Germany in terms of the trade show that happened there a couple of weeks ago, I think it’s fair to say everybody will now recognise that it will play a fundamental part in the mix of alternative traction.”

Ben explained that, after prototyping the hydrogen-powered system, Porterbrook and its partner went on to develop a second full-scale unit, ‘HydroFLEX Two.’ This was hydrogen-ready for COP26, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, in 2021.

Ben commented: “A huge amount of effort went in from the team at Porterbrook and our suppliers to get it to that point and showcase it up there. And since then, it’s been undergoing a lot of assessment, verification work, and dynamic tests at Marston.”

He described the train as a “serious bit of kit”, explaining that it carries a quarter of a tonne of hydrogen, half a megawatt of power, and a huge battery on board.

Touching on the relationship between battery technology and hydrogen, he added: “This is about bringing those two technologies together.

a level of service and start to learn and put the provisioning around the refuelling infrastructure, we do anticipate that refuelling times will reduce substantially.”

He explained that the train’s interiors are similarly innovative, adding: “There’s lots of transferability looking at some of the interiors and recycled materials. And some of the innovations on the interior of these are extremely transferable to lots of other fleets as well, to improve the customer environment on fleets in the future.”

Collaboration

“A huge amount of development work has been required in terms of the control systems to make this work effectively – so a huge battery and of course, as well, retaining the provision to operate with a 25kV too.”

Packaging fuel tanks

Refuelling, and the speed at which this can be done, is now a particular area of focus for the team. Ben said: “At the minute it is relatively slow. But as we get this out there into

Collaboration has been key to the success of the HydroFLEX project, and Ben went on to discuss the importance of industry partnerships.

He commented: “The relationships that we rely on inside the rail industry, I think sometimes we take for granted, but we shouldn’t. And actually, when working with suppliers that are outside of the sector, it takes a hell of a lot of nurturing –particularly on a relatively small scale like this – to make sure that those relationships hold true. And again, over a three-to-four-year period, that can be a really important challenge that we’ve got to meet.”

The relationships that we rely on inside the rail industry, I think sometimes we take for granted, but we shouldn’t

“ “

Porterbrook assumed the role of integrator in the project, which Ben described as something “very new” for the company.

“Porterbrook is looking to develop its capabilities, and this is a step into a new world for us, certainly in terms of approvals and working with the ORR (Office of Rail and Road) and the RSSB (Rail Safety and Standards Board) to support what is really new technology for the industry. It’s been a really interesting piece for the project team,” he commented.

After unveiling HydroFLEX at COP26, Porterbrook is working to learn more about the ground-breaking train.

Ben added: “This particular train is really a pathfinder. It’s now about getting it out into operation with the support of an operator, where we can actually learn about this train and how it’s operated and put the infrastructure in place and effectively become hydrogen ready, because there will be a fleet order at some point in time. I think that’s going to be potentially earlier than some people thought.”

HybridFLEX

Ben went on to discuss the development of HybridFLEX, which generates zero emissions when operating under battery power.

The project has seen Porterbrook work closely with both Rolls Royce and Chiltern Railways, which supported and sponsored it. The operator hopes that HybridFLEX will help it to reduce fuel consumption, emissions and noise on its services between London and Birmingham.

“You may not be aware of the pressures going on at Marylebone in terms of it being the last diesel mainline station in London, so there’s lots of local political pressure to reduce diesel emissions

down there,” explained Ben. “But equally, we’ve now seen clean air zones in Birmingham as well. I think we spoke about the number of diesel trains coming through New Street, and this can play an absolutely fundamental part of improving air quality, not just in London and Birmingham, but other towns on the network.”

“We’ve got sprinters that are approaching end of life, and we’ve got a really good strategy in terms of making sure that that’s done in an economic fashion,” he explained.

Modernising the passenger environment is another key concern, and something Porterbrook believes could help to bridge the industry’s customer revenue gap.

“Customer revenue is absolutely going to be driven by the quality of the offering of our trains,” he said. “We know we play a fundamental part in that in terms of the performance of the trains, particularly with the interiors too.

“So that customer experience point around bridging the 20 per cent gap in revenue is really important.”

Porterbrook believes that this development work will have implications, not just for its own fleet, but others too.

Ben added: “We are working with an OEM where we can try and develop a relatively standardised product that can be applied to other fleets too. And in fact, this is a product that Rolls Royce are looking to get into new build as well.”

According to Ben, the team involved in these projects is one of the business’s most diverse.

“They are absolutely passionate about what they do,” he said. “That rubs off on their partners too…which has been really fundamental to this project.”

Other opportunities

Ben went on to discuss Porterbrook’s other areas of focus, including managing assets as they reach the end of their life.

Ben then discussed digitisation, and Porterbrook’s focus on providing end-to-end solutions to its customers.

“Working with some of those end customers – whether that be Network Rail or the TOCs –to make sure that we’re bringing supply chain partners together to provide that endto-end service and those digital skills is really hot right now, and keeping hold of those sort of expertise, and that diversity, is a real challenge,” he said.

Ben concluded by offering his thoughts on energy policy. He stated: “Clean air is going to be ever more important in future.

“So with that on the increase, and cost of fuel, I think we would expect that some of the business cases, in terms of how they are being presented and put together, will be a bit broader and a bit more clever, to get some of these big capital investments and big modernisations to fleets over the line. I think could be extremely important over the next five to 10 years.”

Customer revenue is absolutely going to be driven by the quality of the offering of our trains

“ “

HybridFLEX at Long Marston Rail Innovation Centre

Image: Jack Boskett

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A vision for rail freight

GB Railfreight CEO John Smith spoke at the recent Rail Freight Group (RFG) Conference about how rail freight can grow in the future.

GB Railfreight (GBRf) is Britain’s third-largest rail freight operator.

It was founded in 1999 and its first trains ran in 2001.

Initially, its contracts were with Railtrack for hook and haul services in the East and South East of England using seven brand-new Class 66/7 locomotives.

Company growth

The company grew and expanded into other markets including the intermodal, aggregates, steel and petroleum sectors. This required a growth in fleet and today GBRf has 104 Class 66s with plans to import more from mainland Europe; there is also a fleet of Class 92 electric locomotives it largely uses for its Caledonian Sleeper hook and haul contract, as well as 11 Class 73 electro-diesels, a fleet of Class 69s are being repurposed from redundant and ageing Class 56s; there are also three Class 47s used for its rail services business.

Like other operators, GBRf is keen to decarbonise. Because of this, it has 30 dual-mode Class 99s on order from Stadler for delivery from 2025 that will be able to operate on electric power on electrified routes before using diesel power on the last mile section of the journeys.

Speaking at the Rail Freight Group (RFG) Conference on 5 October, GBRf chief executive officer (CEO) John Smith said that he would provide “an eclectic journey through where I think we might be going and some of the key underpinning things that we need to support growth in rail freight going forward.”

He pointed to a picture of Class 66s being delivered from North America and said this was “rail freight growth.”

John was speaking after a recent event marking an anniversary for the High Speed Train and the difference that iconic train had made for the passenger sector.

Financial position

“These are our HSTs and without these we wouldn’t have been as successful up until now as we have, so as a strategy you need these things to grow rail freight.”

He told delegates that financial stability was vital for the sector. “None of it works without a strong financial position, without profit, without cash, without a shareholder who wants you to grow and without support from institutions that are willing to invest their capital in what they believe is a safe business where they’re going to get a return in a payoff at the end of the day.

“ “ RFG conference

“But you need to be financially stable. And I always say to my team, and we’ve had a few come from outside the industry, that yes you need strategy, yes we need to know where we are in two years’ time, but you’re only as good as your last trick. And your last trick is normally the financial results for the previous month. And if you don’t hit the targets, that’s when the shareholder starts to get a bit more concerned.”

Building infrastructure

The financial stability, he said, allows development of business. Recent examples at GBRf include a £4 million bespoke office in Peterborough and new intermodal sidings at the north end of Peterborough yard. “It allows you to put infrastructure back in rather than the half of my life I spent in the nationalised industry where all I did was close things and take infrastructure out. It allows you to create foundations.

“Again, financial stability obviously allows you to buy more locomotives. Over the last 20 years, we’ve spent £750 million of our money, of debt, of other investor’s money and leasing companies’ money, and if you’re looking at a vision for growth for freight going forward, you need this to take place.”

He made the case that the government needs the private sector to be putting money into the industry in order to grow it. And that is his responsibility, he said. “It allows you to buy the right trains for the right jobs,” he added.

and improve it. What we do need is people who are positive about the business they work for, who have ownership with the business, who identify with the business that they work for. And to achieve that you have to treat people as individuals. They are not a commodity.”

Keep it fun

He said GBRf was told that was not possible when it had 200 staff. Now it has 1,300 and it still treats them as individuals. “You’ve got to communicate with them, you’ve got to tell them everything, you’ve got to explain how the business is operating, you’ve got to explain the ups and downs, the good and the bad news, you’ve got to support and reward people. People work hard, they deserve to be paid, and you’ve got to have a bit of a laugh as well. And if you amalgamate those things, you have a vision going forward.

Future growth requirements that will support a vision for growth for rail freight are around productivity, he suggested. “This business is not complicated. It’s about productivity of your people. And it’s about productivity of your rolling stock and how you continually view that

News Insight Opinions & Rail Stories That Matter.

“You can go in and create productivity by bulking everyone, or you can have a great time, you can name a few locomotives, you can take them out for a beer as we did last night with five drivers who had just qualified and they will go and work their socks off because they trust you. They trust you to run the business and grow it into the future.”

You can go in and create productivity by bulking everyone, or you can have a great time, you can name a few locomotives, you can take them out for a beer as we did last night

“ “

Staff productivity is important, but so is that of the assets. He pointed out the reliability of wagons and said that investment will be required. “We need a supply chain that’s going to adapt, we need owners of this kit that are willing to start getting them digital.”

Manufacturing costs

Speaking about wagons, he said that a lot of the manufacturing has moved back to Britain and that the cost of wagons has increased. The exchange rates don’t help, he said, because GBRf is buying wagons from Romania and Poland. He said other markets were looked at, but the quality was poor.

“If you’re building wagons in mainland Europe, you’ve got a huge lump of land that you’re selling wagons into and therefore the volumes support big factories that are building those things and we can bolt onto that and bring those wagons in. Once you get to the UK unless you’re like Stadler which is selling locomotives to New Zealand and has got a worldwide notion of where it’s going to

sell its assets – you need that demand otherwise you get feast and famine.

You can see a famine coming in passenger train manufacturing in the UK. That has already destroyed a number of factories.

Reliable assets

“As long as we can get finance, as long as there are people willing to build the stuff that we want to buy. Sometimes we have to get involved with that and facilitate that to help them understand markets that we’re in, but I’ll buy from anywhere. I am passionate about getting a reliable asset that’s delivered on time that offers the productivity and efficiency that we need.”

As long as there are people willing to build the stuff that we want to buy

“

“

He moved onto locomotives and began with a comparison with a car. “So my Audi that I bought five years ago has broken down once in five years and I’ve got it up to 120,000 miles now. I find it incredible that locomotives still break. I mean, we’re buying new locos.

Supply chain

We already have in our business plan that these things are going to be six months late and aren’t going to work for another six months. And I don’t quite get that, if we’ve got a vision for the future. We haven’t got an unlimited supply chain of people who are willing to build these things. But we’ve got to have a supply chain that understands that reliability of the trains that we operate is hugely important, as is the ability to get productivity out of them, and Network Rail has a lot to learn about this; you know when it cancels the 1100 from Norwich, everyone gets on the 1200, but they cancel our intermodal then we are knackered for 24 hours until we can get the train running the next day.” The same applies to the reliability of locomotives, he said.

As for growth, the industry relies on third parties, he said, adding that the politics are “unclear” at

the moment. He raised the issue of Great British Railways (GBR) and the transition team.

“It is hugely important what happens with GBR as it comes to fruition. Our ability to get access on the network, our ability to sit within a performance regime which is embedded in our economic model, it moves money one way or the other due to how well we perform and how well Network Rail perform; that is something that supports us.

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“ “ RFG conference railbusinessdaily.com Inside Track | December 2022

Our rights of access to the network, that we have at the moment, are hugely important.”

He explained that the rules around this have been embedded in the rail industry for 20 to 25 years. “So when we take on a new service, as we did three weeks ago, and we needed to move it half an hour, we can use those rules to move that train half an hour to give us a bit more time to load the service or whatever it might be.

Regulation

“If there’s a disagreement with our monopoly supplier in Network Rail or GBR, as it will be, we go to the regulator and say we don’t think this is fair and he arbitrates on our rights of access.”

John said that if there is to be a vision for growth for rail freight, then stability is required, and that status quo would suit him fine, although a growth model would also help, he added. He said that GBRf becoming more productive and

more efficient has allowed it to grow, but equally support is required. “If people need capital investing into their equipment that they use, we need to work in partnership with these people. They have to understand that they need a profitable supplier and that within that profitable supplier we can help them get more efficient. And sometimes that can mean our

money going into their infrastructure or going into their rolling stock or whatever else it might be.

But the competition is hugely important and we would never dilute that. But equally the relationships that we then develop with these people is important.”

Green agenda

There must be a desire to change for the vision of the future, he said.

“Greenwashing is where people pay tokenism to the green agenda and have it in their annual report,” he said, but added that post-Covid there has been some movement. He highlighted a trial GBRf did for Amazon, and said some serious people are coming forward. “But still there has to be a long-term contract for the carriage of parcels on rail. Still, the discussions go on as they have for years. So we have to persuade, we have to cajole, sometimes it’s more expensive.

“ “ RFG conference

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Sometimes the logistics model that these people have is all road based. But there is beginning to become momentum to change as Royal Mail has shown, but we need that desire from new customers for the vision for growth. We need to innovate. It’s not complicated, actually.”

He then returned to capital investment and locomotives. Class 66s can no longer be built due to emissions regulations, and so new traction is required. “We have to change and move with the times,” he said. “There’s only a few times that traction has actually changed from a rail freight point of view in the UK. Steam to diesel, private railways. And then class 66s. Class 66 came out of a change of legislation, came out of a claim, a change of dynamic, came out of a private owner coming in and saying this old fleet that you’re pulling freight trains around with actually needs to change.”

Class 66

The class 66 was the main thing that facilitated the change, and from the initial order placed by EWS in 1996 to orders placed by various other UK operators and European operators, he said that a risk taken by a manufacturer (originally General Motors), resulted in an order book for some 800 locomotives. “You’re looking around for this,” he said. “We’re not an innovator, we’re an operator, I look for others to innovate. The difficulty is that our supply chain is not huge. These do

not grow on trees. We do not have hundreds of locomotives lying around. But we’ve talked with a manufacturer that was originally facilitated by our Rail Operations Group (ROG), and this lot have taken a risk. This is Stadler in Valencia. These guys took a risk. If you go there now the capital investments going into their works, they’re almost doubling in size.”

parked up. That’s the reality of a strategy around rail freight and a vision for growth.

“If we started saying we’re going to be carbon neutral we can’t be running Class 66s in 25 years’ time. You’ve got to move it on and it gives others the opportunity to continue the growth in our industry and allows us to continue to fly the flag that we are the greenest option out there.”

As for enabling capacity to grow dramatically over the next decade, he said that capacity is a restricting factor, which revolves around some pinch points. “I think some of the capacity issues are overlooked. The logic of not electrifying anywhere ever again because of the Great Western not sticking 10 miles of what is fairly cheap electrification up to Felixstowe just baffles me.”

Keeping momentum

He moved onto the Class 99 ordered from Stadler. “I believe this will be a replacement for the Class 66. It will do what a Class 66 does now and we need in the meantime to get wires up. We need the Felixstowe branch wiring; we need some of the gaps filling in. Certainly there’s not a lot of money around but some of the cheaper infill schemes, we definitely need those.

“But ultimately I think the Class 99 we’ve bought, and we bought 30 now with options for more, will be something that can be around beyond 2050 when we’re supposed to be zero carbon, when the Class 66s are supposed to be

Covid helped change a lot of what needed changing, he said. That momentum now needs changing if rail freight wants to grow, he added. “Equally I think we’ve got to be realisticabout logistics in this country, if you’re to move sectors.We deal with five sectors, so we try and diversify. It depends on what you call growth. But actually dragging a parcel carrier onto the railways when all their logistics have been based around road, all their warehouses are solely roadbased - it isn’t going to change overnight. Royal Mail stepped out of rail, and actually had a huge investment plan where it went to road and that was a massive step for them.”

“ “ RFG conference

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Sir Peter Hendy CBE’s optimism for the future

In an exclusive interview at the Railway Industry Association (RIA) conference, Sir Peter Hendy CBE spoke about the need for reform, industrial relations and his optimistic view of the railway

Speaking exclusively to Rail Business Daily, Network Rail chair

Sir Peter Hendy CBE said that the most difficult part of the recent political turmoil has been the need to extensively brief people who were not in office for more than a few days.

Since the start of September, there have been three Prime Ministers, three Secretaries of State for Transport and three Rail Ministers.

However, Sir Peter says he’s “optimistic” about the new team. “The reason I’m optimistic is not because I didn’t think much of Anne Marie Trevelyan, or Kevin Foster, because it looked like they were good, sensible people. The limited engagement we were able to have in the time that they were in office seemed to me to be heading in the right direction. And it’s a bit of a shame that we have got to start again.

Sensible questions

“But so far, Andrew Haines and I have met the new Secretary of State Mark Harper and he seems to be smart, business-like, rational. He asked the sensible questions, he listened to the answers, and the decisions I thought he made on the basis of that are very rational ones. So that’s a good sign.

“And even better is that Huw Merriman is not a novice to the railway. He is an experienced chair of the Transport Select Committee. He has conducted and chaired numerous investigations into the railway in the last several years. So he’s coming with a great knowledge. He’s nobody’s fool. He asked good questions, but he starts with a much greater knowledge of the railway than many people would. I must admit to being really pleased that somebody like that has become the Rail Minister, because that will short circuit a hell of a lot of explanation, which otherwise we’d have to go into.”

Sir Peter said that he received a report on 10 November that said the new transport team “gets the need for reform and they get the relative urgency and that we can continue down the same path.”

He said that he thinks the political situation will stabilise, adding that new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has got a pretty heavy job ahead of him. “Clearly the public finances are in a very precarious position.

And I don’t suppose the fiscal event in the next few days will produce much that’s popular across many people. But I do think they look a good deal more stable than the last government did.

“If we concentrate ourselves on the Secretary of State for Transport and the Rail Minister, which is what we’re all interested in, I think we’ve got two rational, clever people and however bad the public finance position looks to the railway I’m confident that they’ll do the best that they can for the railway finances of the future.”

Commitment to the future

Sir Peter then discussed the ongoing industrial relations. He said: “I’m always optimistic, because of the general state of industrial relations in transport, because I’ve been in transport nearly 50 years, we have periods of difficulty, but the employees of the railway community and the railway family, and our own employees at Network Rail know that the train companies are, by and large, distinguished by a vocational commitment to the future of the railway.

I must admit to being really pleased that somebody like that has become the Rail Minister

“ “

Image: Shutterstock

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“This is not an easy time, nobody wanted inflation at 10 per cent. We know that we need to change the way we work because there’s less revenue in the railway than there was.

“But putting that together with inflation numbers, you know which go back to the late 70s or early 80s, gives you a pretty toxic position, and one in which a lot of people that are paid not wonderfully generous salaries, and wages, are losing real income. So why would that be easy, and it hasn’t been.

Broken finances

Peter continued: “But I believe that as a consequence of the recent calling off of the industrial action, firstly, by TSSA and then by Unite, and now by the RMT, I believe we’ve got a window to sort this out.

“I think most people on the railway understand that if you’ve only got four-fifths of the income, you can’t carry on with five-fifths of the cost. The Treasury are not going to pay for that, not when the public finances are as broken as they clearly are. And I think we’ve got to do something.

“So is it easy? No, will it still be a bit rocky? Probably. I think many of our employees have

had enough going on strike, Christmas is coming. They haven’t had this year’s pay rise, some of them will have lost 10 or 11 days of income. I hope we can sort this out.

“I think the signs are that we’re going to be able to. The offer that we made in June has still not been put to the members, I think it ought to be put to the members. And I think if it was put to the members, now, I think some of them will be thinking about whether or not in the light of all the things that are going on, it might not be such a bad deal.

January next year. That’s not a bad position to be in, and it will be more generous than a number of people who work in the public sector will get, and I hope that we can move on.

“I’ve got every sympathy with people on relatively modest earnings whose pay is not keeping up with inflation. I’m not going to say anything about executive pay or managerial pay, just that, why wouldn’t you have sympathy with everybody who’s facing price rises in excess of 10 per cent?

Understanding the value of rail

“If it were accepted, there will be nearly a year’s back pay to be paid before Christmas, which would make up for many of our employees what they’ve lost in the strikes. And were it also to be accepted, there’ll be an 8 per cent pay rise on 1

“The railway is in a good place. It is in a good place because government believes in it. It isn’t like the 1980s when no government wanted to pay the cost of the railway. In our lifetime, we will never see another railway line close. People understand the value of rail connectivity to communities in the way that they didn’t 40 years ago. But we do need to make the railway efficient and economical to work because the Treasury won’t put up with it claiming unlimited public funds.

“Higher inflation affects people on low wages even more than it affects people who have the luxury of a higher income level.

The offer that we made in June has still not been put to the members

“ “

Decisions regarding operations and finances were all the responsibility of Transport for London, something Sir Peter Hendy suggests could be used in the future

Image: Transport for London

Sir Peter Hendy

That isn’t to say that none of them earn their money. If you’re on relatively low pay, the biting effects of 10 per cent and more on fuel and food and the things you need to survive as a human being and family is really hard.

“I think that maybe there is something to be done in the nature of finishing our offer for the benefit of the staff. We’ve seen the Scottish local authority settlement which paid relatively more to relatively low-paid people. Maybe that’s a way to go? We can have some constructive discussion with the RMT and others.”

Sir Peter then moved to the issue of reform. “The need for structural reform on the railway is necessary. Now it’s probably more necessary than it was at the time that Chris Grayling commissioned Keith Williams to write his report after the catastrophe of May 2018.

“It’s now four-and-a-half years on, the railway has been through Covid, a lot of people worked very hard and very bravely in difficult circumstances, but we don’t have the income that we had then. So the need to operate the railway effectively is greater now than it was then.”

Largest industry in Britain

He spoke of a disconnect between the fact of the Department for Transport (DfT) being responsible for the cost of the railway and the revenue going directly to the Treasury, and the disconnect around the management of the infrastructure that Network Rail does and the DfT letting contracts to run trains, calling it “an unnecessary block to running the railway better.

“I’m not observing anything about who owns anything other than the fact that Network Rail is the largest nationalised industry in Britain. All I’m saying is that this disconnect, with many, many contracts, and many, many people making granular decisions, I think is profoundly unhelpful.”

He cited his experience from running Transport for London (TfL), explaining: “The advantage of it, maybe it’s a disadvantage, was that I was responsible for the whole lot. There was nowhere else to go. If the trains didn’t work, and we didn’t have enough drivers, and the trains have broken down, the track didn’t work, it was still all our fault. I think that’s a good thing.

“I think if I was the Secretary of State, I would want to look at somebody like Andrew Haines and say, give me the railway, the best railway I can have for the money. I wouldn’t want to be making those decisions myself. And I think that that’s sort of where we got to, which is that when it all went wrong in May 2018, Chris Grayling found to his great discomfort that when he said to me ‘is this all your fault’, I said ‘no, it isn’t.’

And it’s not my chief executive’s fault, actually, the only person really accountable is you

He said that wasn’t right, and it was also wasting money. He said how TfL was responsible for the procurement, for matching the operation of the railway with the capacity.

“I think that’s where we ought to go. And, particularly for the supply chain, the fact that there’s no long-term plan for the railway is hugely debilitating.

transport system in London. We could work out what their business cases were, we could work out what the size of the projects were in money, how long they take. The weakness of the railway, which has been there ever since I came in 2015, is that there isn’t such an agreed plan.”

Persuading the treasury

He said that the railway should be able to say to politicians what it believes are the best investments and the order in which they should be done.

“We could do that at TfL even though they weren’t all funded. And it was the means by which we could persuade the Treasury to actually fund us.”

“At TfL, there was a long-term transport plan under which we wrote a business plan and we knew which were the next best investments for the

Sir Peter added that one of the strengths of the reform proposals made by Keith Williams is that they would enable the railway to have such a plan to present to politicians who can then make decisions. “At least we’d have a list of what we knew we should do and for the supply chain that would give a general indication about where the railway was going and what it was doing.”

I think if I was the Secretary of State, I would want to look at somebody like Andrew Haines and say, give me the railway

“ “

Image: Network Rail

Passenger numbers are rising following the Covid pandemic.

Image: Shutterstock

Industrial relations remain an issue for Network Rail, and the government, with several strikes already having caused disruption this year.

He said this would avoid situations like pausing electrification schemes.

“I do believe that reform is right. We may not get an Act of Parliament to do it in this Parliament. We hope that Mark Harper and Huw Merriman will be able to persuade themselves and the Prime Minister that that’s the right thing to do. But even if we don’t, we know where to go. And we know what’s good for passengers.

“If we go there, we know that people don’t like the fragmentation of information, fares and ticketing. There’s work going on to change it, we should carry on down that road. This is really important stuff. And I think that one of the reasons that I’m confident about the future is that it’s so obvious that we should do these things, that it’s really hard to see anybody saying ‘oh no you can’t do that’.

What else should we do?

“The last point on it is, nobody knows what else to do. If you say to people ‘do they like Great British Railways and rail reform’, some of them don’t like every aspect, but ask them a different question, ‘what else should we do instead?’

“Nobody knows that. We cannot carry on as we are, and the £1.5 billion that we send to the Treasury we think this proposal can save, how also are we going to save it? By putting the fares up? No. By cutting services? No. We should save it by making the industry more effective. And I think that’s why it’s inevitable. But I really strongly believe, as does Andrew, and I think, to the extent to which he is able to, bearing in mind he is a new Minister, I think Huw would agree with that.

I think many people in the rail industry think ‘this is the way to go because there isn’t any other way to go’. So I’m passionate about it.

“I hope that when your readers read this, they’ll say, ‘yeah, okay, we buy the general direction’. We’re not trying to recreate some great bureaucracy. I think the competition about the headquarters was a bit of a shame because it implies that somehow there’ll be thousands of jobs somewhere, and we don’t want an organisation like that. In my head, the headquarters is 200 or 300 people. It should be run regionally. That’s the way British politics is going. And it’s the way the railway is certainly going. And you couldn’t possibly persuade the Scots or the Welsh that the right decisions will be made wherever the headquarters is, whether it’s in Milton Keynes, in London, or Camborne, or any of the other places. That’s not the point. The point is that it should be a coherent body with a sense of direction, that spends money, very precious public money, in the right way. That’s important.”

Attracting customers

Sir Peter then began discussing the current state of the railway in terms of ridership. “I think if I were a trading company, I would be very wary of wanting to take revenue risk. Conceptually, it’s a brilliant idea. Practically, your shareholders would have to have a hole in their heads to believe that that is the right thing to do at the moment.”

“I think what’s interesting is nearly everybody has come back to the railway; they’re just not travelling as often. We’ve got 97 per cent of the travellers back, but only 80 per cent of the revenue in the journeys. That’s telling me something, which is that people have got some options now, that they didn’t have before.

“We’ve got to make the railway more attractive for journeys that people do want to do.

It should be a coherent body with a sense of direction, that spends money, very precious public money, in the right way

“ “

Image: Shutterstock

A South Western Railway Desiro near trackworkers at Clapham Junction.

Image: Shutterstock

Investment will still be needed in the railway, with major projects and reopenings still being planned.

And we have got to make the cost of the railway viable to the Treasury. There are some opportunities. I can do the first meeting of the day at home, then I’d have a cup of coffee, then I can go to Waterloo. Other people have learned that. So what does that mean for the railway?

“We probably can thin out the peak service a bit. We do want people to travel on Mondays to Fridays, and leisure travel is burgeoning. We’ve got to adapt, and we’ve got to make it costeffective.

“Can we make it all up with fares increases? Not a chance. The government won’t let you do it. And

people don’t want to pay even more money for the same journeys.

What they want is a safe, frequent, reliable, dependable service. And I think we’re always going to give it to them at a reasonable cost.”

Where we are now

Sir Peter says that the patterns which have been created by the current fare structure are probably out of date. He highlighted how a former colleague travels from London to Manchester, and that at 0730 the trains are quiet, yet at 1000 they

are busy and the fares are cheaper. He observed that, whilst starting later, the ex-colleague can still get their work done, adding: “I think the railway has got to reflect that.

“We have to work on where we are because the Treasury’s view about the cost of the railway is not based on a theoretical view of the future, it is based on absolutely where we are now.

“And they’re right. If the public finances are stretched, and you have got to pay for social care, education, the health service and defence, bearing in mind Ukraine, the railway doesn’t come above those four things.”

All about people

Image: Shutterstock

Electrification is one of the themes for Network Rail and Great British Railways in the future

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East West continues as planned

After an uncertain few months for East West Rail (EWR), during which the then Transport Secretary Grant Shapps called its future into question, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt confirmed

It was welcome news for the East West Rail Company (EWR Co) team – including engineering director Simon Scott, who recently provided a project update at the Rail Forum Annual Conference.

Addressing attendees, Simon outlined EWR’s three connection stages, discussed its new target state approach, and explained how a range of benefits would be realised.

Report on Major Projects 2021-2022, meaning that there were deemed to be “major issues with project definition, schedule, budget, quality and/or benefits delivery, which at this stage do not appear to be manageable or resolvable”.

railway cheaper. In this day and age, we have got to reduce our costs, whether we like it or not. And we need to accelerate.”

He explained that their main objective was to improve connectivity in the region, adding: “There are lots of communities, there are universities, there are businesses, but they suffer with poor transport. The connections across the region are there, but they’re not complete, and that’s where East West Rail aims to connect them.

“By doing so, we will then be able to drive prosperity and well-being into those communities and businesses.”

EWR is an ambitious project to reconnect, not just Oxford and Cambridge, but the communities between them – including Winslow, Bedford and Milton Keynes. It will involve upgrading and refurbishing existing railway, reinstating a section of the line between Bicester and Bletchley, and building brand-new infrastructure between Bedford and Cambridge.

While work on connection stage one (CS1, Bicester to Bletchley) is currently underway, former Transport Secretary Grant Shapps expressed doubts over the summer about the achievability of its future phases. CS2 and CS3 were subsequently rated red in the Infrastructure and Projects Authority’s Annual

EWR Co explained that it was reviewing the project’s business case and would be taking a different approach to the two later stages, based on lessons learned during CS1.

Since then, the government has committed to EWR, and the project’s team (led by chief executive Beth West) is confident that it can be delivered.

Simon opened with a mission statement, commenting: “We are at the start of a journey at East West Rail. We have a significant opportunity – we can start with the customer in mind and make this

Simon said that this improved connectivity would also help people to access affordable housing and bring new employment opportunities into the region.

Far-reaching benefits

He added that EWR Co aspires to achieve carbon net-zero status and is “building the business case to deliver that affordably.” It also intends to its Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) objectives.

Indeed, the project could have far-reaching benefits, with Simon explaining: “This is not just a local story.

that government had committed to the project in his autumn statement

A significant opportunity

“ “ East West Rail

According to a report in The Economist, it could contribute up to £93 billion to the UK economy.

“Part of that is bringing international communities and businesses into the area, so we need to make it attractive to compete with the likes of California and Boston.”

Achieving benefits

In order to ensure that these long-term benefits are achieved, Simon and his team are now taking a ‘target state approach’ – the ‘target state’ itself being EWR Co’s vision for the completed and functioning railway.

“Most schemes, in our experience, focus on entry into service – quite rightly, because it’s a crucial point,” he explained. “But the railway, and its community and its benefits, go on for decades. So, we’ve looked at ways that we can focus on realising those benefits and making sure that everything we do is around achieving them. And in those benefits, of course, are our customers.”

Simon went on to define the target state, explaining: “It’s a point where in effect, the benefits are in full flow, the CapEx (capital expenditure) has been fully realised, and the OpEx (operational expenses) have stabilised. This is our vision of how we want to run the railway seven years after the completer route from Oxford to Cambridge goes live. So, it’s not so far away that people can’t get their heads around it, but it also creates a focus point.”

He added that EWR Co can now build its capabilities to meet this target state, considering

how infrastructure, operations, and its additional backbone will “engage and grow”.

takes it all the way through to Cambridge,” he said. “The first one is new with a mix of existing line, basically connecting the Oxford end with Bletchley. Connection stage two is upgrading parts of the Bletchley to Bedford line, and connection stage three involves the building of a brand-new rail line between Bletchley and Cambridge.

“But that’s not the end of the story. Because we have these upgrade points, we are looking completely from Oxford to Bedford, Oxford to Cambridge, each time. So, we have a clear path as to how we are going to improve the capabilities of this railway to deliver customer service.”

Planning for the future

Connection stages

The project itself currently comprises three ‘connection stages’, for which EWR Co is still building a business case.

Simon explained: “Between ourselves, Network Rail, and the Department for Transport’s Passenger Services team, we are delivering connection stage one, and the East West Rail Alliance is delivering infrastructure.”

He stated that connection stage one, which runs from Oxford to Milton Keynes, is due to go live in early January 2025.

“Connection stage two then extends the services to Bedford, and connection stage three

Simon added that NWR Co’s planning had to take into account the pace at which technology is developing.

“When you start to think about a scheme, you think about a lot of things,” he commented. “What station should we build, what trains should we run, what signalling? That seems obvious. Well, the problem with that is time. Technology is moving at such a pace, particularly in traction (if you think about some of the exciting things that we saw at InnoTrans with hydrogen) that we have no idea what our trains are going to be powered by in 15, 20 or 30 years.”

Simon explained that the project’s state points and target state help NWR Co to understand how it can deliver a railway for the future.

“ “ East West Rail railbusinessdaily.com Inside Track | December 2022

“How are we going to deliver this? How can we deliver exemplary customer service? How is the actual company going to work? How are we going to integrate it with the wider railway?

And how are we going to make sure it all fits as an integrated product? Integration is one of the massive challenges for us,” he said.

Target state

He went on to introduce the target state, explaining that it consisted of several ‘outcomes’ –benefits delivered by the railway at a point in time.

“They’re fundamentally what we’re about. We always put the customer first; we have done that from day one, since we started this project,” he commented.

Simon added that the team had identified 36 services needed to run the railway and was looking at how digitisation could be used to bring systems together. Joined-up thinking is key to the project, and the services sit within a special model, which helps staff to understand how changes to one can impact others.

“That model helps our teams, day-in-day-out, to make the right decisions for customers,” he said.

Values

Simon concluded by outlining the values that underpin this new vision of EWR, which he described as a “unique opportunity” to

reintegrate the railway – via, amongst other things, automation.

“Because we now understand events right from the start, we can decide what we automate, when we automate and where it adds value,” he said. “That doesn’t mean doing it for the sake of automation, but we do know, of course, that automation cuts cost and improves operational resilience.”

Another key value is simplicity, and Simon referred again to the systems used in the rail industry, which are numerous and often duplicated.

“There are probably 130-odd systems on the current railway as it stands,” he explained.

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“We’re estimating that we’re going to get somewhere near 30. If that doesn’t reduce costs for the industry, I don’t know what will.”

These systems, he added, must work together, and compatibility is a key concern for EWR Co.

“We’ve still got to make this fit with everything else in the UK industry,” Simon commented. “What we can do is create a platform on which adjacent systems can start to work, or vice versa. Then the systems around us are improving, and because we have the ‘states in time’, we can take that into account and integrate with it as it happens.”

As part of this drive to operate more simply and efficiently, Simon and his team have reviewed a range of different services – including those used to manage incidents and disruption.

“We found eight different processes, teams and systems for incident and disruption management in the industry and can reduce that to one.

We then looked at the maintenance environment, found three different services and reduced that to one. So even in the process of designing these services, we’ve started to take cost out of the industry.”

Indeed, Simon said he believed that the EWR Co team had an opportunity to digitise and optimise

– and that, taking its cue from other industries, it could explore some “quite radically different ways of architecting transport systems.”

platform, via which customers would be able to access real-time information. He also mentioned working with local councils and bus companies to create a “complete transport picture in the area, not just the railway.”

Customer focused

He also touched on risk reduction, stating: “So it’s not just about the final product - it’s about how we get there and how can we accelerate it. Because we understand the ‘how’ - we always understand how the decisions fit together - we’re able to reduce risk and spot scope creep.”

Innovation

He added: “None of this is innovative. What’s innovative is to bring it together as the sum of parts. And particularly in customer information, there’s some brilliant stuff going on in the industry.”

Simon explained that EWR Co had the opportunity to create a single data information

Finally, he touched on the project’s sustainability, commenting: “The target state is scalable, modular and repeatable, all of which reduces costs but also makes it cheap to upgrade. So, we have three entry-into-service points and we’re already thinking about what the next upgrade paths are.

“This is deliberate, so that in the architecture for CS1, CS2 and CS3, we can think about how we enable those upgrades later on.”

Simon rounded off his talk with an optimistic statement about the future of EWR, concluding: “We start with the customer and, by building it into our target state – and everything we do is a decision around it – we can cut costs. You’ve seen that we can reduce our services, from potentially 130 to 30 odd systems - and we can accelerate this project because we can manage the risk effectively.”

“ “ East West Rail railbusinessdaily.com Inside Track | December 2022

Last piece of the Crossrail jigsaw finally in place

Inside Track attends Bond Street station launch and looks at what lies ahead for London’s rail infrastructure

More than three years after it was due to open fully, the culmination of the Crossrail project is in sight.

From May 2023, trains will be able to operate from Shenfield in the east to Reading and Heathrow Airport in the west. Trains began running from the west to Abbey Wood on 6 November.

Delays

Originally this should have been launched in phases from May 2018, with the final stage (the full opening) taking place in December 2019. Various delays to the programme meant that the central section underneath London didn’t open until 24 May 2022, and even then only nine of the 10 stations opened with Bond Street, which had been heavily delayed in the early stages of construction, opening on 24 October 2022.

From 6 November trains began running from Shenfield to Paddington, and from Abbey Wood to Heathrow and Reading. This increased the frequency from 12 trains per hour to 22 at peak time, dropping to 16 off peak. From May 2023 the peak frequency will be 24 trains per hour.

Smith explained:: “We’ve changed the plan slightly in the last few years, and we were going to do just the east and then the west, but that’s no longer the plan. We’re bringing trains in from both the east and the west from November. We’re just going to take a slight lower frequency 22 trains an hour in the peak from November; that will increase to 24 trains an hour from next May.

Final piece

“So it’s only a small sort of reduction in November. Other than that we’ve actually brought everything together earlier than we planned by bringing the west in at the same time as the east.”

Opening Bond Street station is the last piece of the jigsaw in terms of infrastructure on the new railway.

Elizabeth line chief operating officer Howard

We’ve changed the plan slightly in the last few years, and we were going to do just the east and then the west, but that’s no longer the plan

“ “

Former London transport commissioner Andy Byford (left) and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan (right) at Bond Street station on the Elizabeth line.

Image: Transport for London

Speaking to Inside Track at the launch of Bond Street station on 24 October, Howard said: “It means the last piece of the jigsaw in terms of infrastructure. We’ve opened all the other central stations, the tunnels and everything else, and Bond Street was the one outstanding, and now that’s done.”

With the full opening on the horizon, thoughts have turned to the possibility of extending the railway beyond its existing boundaries. There has long been talk about Crossrail 2, but there have also been calls to extend the existing Crossrail network east of Abbey Wood to Ebbsfleet International.

Study stage

Howard said: “There’s a number of studies including looking at adding an extension onto Ebbsfleet. We’re not close to breaking ground and doing physical works on that, that’s still at the study stage at the moment, and obviously that will depend on funding.

“The other extension that we will be doing is running trains out to Old Oak Common when HS2 opens. So there are a number of potential extensions and additions, increases in the

Elizabeth line going forward. We’re not done yet.”

He says that through the studies there have been a number of options considered, some of which include new build railway, to which he adds the caveat: “Obviously the challenge there is that they’re quite expensive.”

trains operated by Great Western Railway (GWR). In the east, currently, Elizabeth line services share tracks with freight services and slower Greater Anglia (GA) trains. He said: “There, they’re not our lines but largely speaking they were the only trains operating on those lines.

“If we ran down from Abbey Wood towards Ebbsfleet there’s only the two lines so you would absolutely be sharing with existing passenger services.”

Expansion

That’s expanding the existing Crossrail network, but what of Crossrail 2? This is planned to be a similar system, albeit running from north to south.

The alternative is to link into the existing rail network using Network Rail infrastructure and mix running between the Elizabeth line and existing national rail services. However, that is also more complex operationally and also more restrictive but it is less costly.

Howard explains that to reach Reading via the Great Western main line (GWML), the Elizabeth line trains share the relief line with freight trains serving Acton Yard as well as some passenger

The route is planned to run from Broxbourne on the West Anglia main line (WAML), and New Southgate on the East Coast main line (ECML) in the north, to Shepperton, Hampton Court, Chessington South and Epsom in the south.

The central core would run from Clapham Junction to a junction south of Seven Sisters and Tottenham Hale. Stations in the central core would be at King’s Road Chelsea, Euston St Pancras, Angel and Dalston. The estimated cost is more than £30 billion.

So there are a number of potential extensions and additions, increases in the Elizabeth line going forward

“ “

Image: Transport for London

Escalators connecting Bond Street to new public squares above the Elizabeth line station.

Howard said: “There’s certainly plans for Crossrail 2. An awful lot of work has been done of the sort that I go far enough back with the Elizabeth line to remember us doing for this line.

“Obviously that was paused a few years back prior to going to the parliamentary stage, so the plans are there and quite well worked up in feasibility terms. The challenge is obviously funding.

“But as soon as we get the money, I think we’re in a good place to start off almost as we were with this. The route is protected. That’s part of the purpose of doing the feasibility and design work to the stage that we have, that you can protect a route. Obviously, as we know from this line, protecting the route decades in advance is necessary and we hope it’s not decades in the case of Crossrail 2. That’s the key to being able to deliver.”

Working hard

London’s outgoing transport commissioner Andy Byford told Inside Track on 24 October that felt “immensely proud” about the opening of Bond Street station.

He left his position on 25 October, being replaced on an interim basis by Transport for London chief operating officer Andy Lord.

Speaking at the official launch of the station, Andy Byford said: “This was not easily achieved. We have worked incredibly hard over the last two-anda-half years as a team to deliver the promise that I made to Londoners, which is no further slippage to schedule, no further recourse to public funds.

“Furthermore, that we would have the central section open in the first half of the year, which we did, and that we would have Bond Street and the first element of through running achieved in the autumn, which we will, so I’m very proud of that. It’s an immense team effort, and no better way to bow out as TfL commissioner than by opening this spectacular station.

“I said to Sadiq [Khan, Mayor of London] when I resigned, ‘I’ll do one last thing for you, I will get Bond Street open before I go’ and here we are today.”

He said he knew it was possible to achieve the station’s opening within six months of the central section opening to passengers on 24 May. “That has motivated me highly. I would have stayed on for a few days if it had been necessary because I was determined to meet my promise to Londoners that we would get this station opened. This is our early Christmas present to the West End.”

Speaking exclusively to Inside Track, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said that the opening of Bond Street station on the Elizabeth line was “really exciting for London and the country, because it means all 41 stations are fully open, including 10 new ones on the central section of the new railway.”

“For this part of London, it means improved access and connectivity to our shops, to our restaurants to hotels, which is incredibly important.

He believes that the new station will bring in 140,000 people a day, adding to the 70,000 who already use the existing London Underground station at Bond Street via the Central and Jubilee lines.

Connectivity

Our shops and our hospitality really suffered during the last two-and-a-half years, this will be the first decent Christmas they’ve had since 2019. And this is a real boost – exactly what they need.”

The Mayor said: “This new station means connectivity from Paddington is three minutes, from Heathrow it’s 33 minutes, from Canary Wharf it’s 60 minutes. So it’s bringing more people to the Elizabeth line because connectivity improves, current capacity improves, accessibility improves, and all of our stations are step-free –that is really important if you’re in a wheelchair, if you’ve got heavy shopping.”

This is our early Christmas present to the West End

“ “

Image: Transport for London

An Elizabeth line Class 345. The new railway offers many interchange opportunities with other Transport for London networks.

Since opening, the Elizabeth line has seen more than 27 million journeys on the central section, and more than 54 million journeys in total.

British artist Darren Almond has created three abstract artworks for the spaces above and around the new Bond Street station western ticket hall escalators, located at Davies Street. In form and style, two of these resemble large-scale adaptations of the embossed metal nameplates that were once affixed to British locomotives. Each work is made by the same heritage sign company that makes boilerplates for locomotives. The artworks have been sponsored by Selfridges and the City of London Corporation.

Funding

Of course extensions and new railways require funding, and TfL is currently suffering from a downturn in its economic fortunes due to the pandemic.

The Mayor says government needs to support TfL for major projects to help with the growth of the capital. At the opening of Bond Street station he spoke about the current financial pressures facing TfL, which has so far received more than £5 billion in government support since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. This will rise to £8.6 billion following the latest funding agreement announced on 30 August 2022.

TfL relies on receiving around 70 per cent of its income via fares, a situation he describes as “really poor”, adding: “We find other ways to increase revenues and fares. We’re the only city in the world that gets so little support from the government now. Most cities get about 30 per cent of their incomes from fares, some about 40 per cent, some

45 per cent. We have north of 70 per cent; that’s why it’s really important to get passengers back, to get communities back and having great stations like this is one way of doing so.”

He spoke about how the ongoing situation will affect plans including the Bakerloo line extension and any further Crossrail extensions.

Image: Transport for London

An Elizabeth line Class 345. The new railway offers many interchange opportunities with other Transport for London networks.

Image: Transport for London

A passenger boards an Elizabeth line train at Custom House during the first week of the central section being open. After five months, some 27 million passengers had used this railway.

The Mayor told Inside Track: “The government has agreed that when it comes to capital expenditure they will support us going forward and what we’re trying to say to the government is global cities don’t stand still, they have got to carry on going forward.

High speed connection

“So we need government to support us in relation to a Bakerloo line extension south, change the trains on the Bakerloo line, we should be talking about a high-speed connection, but also about Crossrail 2, we should be working on improved trams in the south of our city. Why? Because the population is growing, you’re going to plan for that growth, you can’t stand still.”

“When you go to Hong Kong or Singapore they’re planning for further expansion through improving infrastructure. Go to most cities in Europe and they invest far more in rail, they don’t have an ad hoc investment. That brings prices down because you need the same engineering, the same expertise. Whereas some of our expertise is going to HS2, we’re going to lose a lot of it unless there’s further investment in infrastructure in London.”

He has visited the Siemens Mobility factory in Goole where new trains for the Piccadilly line are being assembled. At the same time as getting the new trains on the Piccadilly line, we need to get support from the government for signalling,” he added. “Imagine the capacity increase with not just new trains but signalling as well.

We need to get support from the government for signalling

“ “

Image: Transport for London

With the Elizabeth line complete, thoughts are turning to Crossrail 2. This is Crossrail at Abbey Wood. There could be an extension from here to Ebbsfleet.

Image: Transport for London

Crossrail 2 will require more tunnelling under London.

That’s why it’s really important for the government to understand that when you invest in London, you invest in the country. Every pound you invest in capital in London, 55 pence goes out of London. The Piccadilly line trains are built in Goole, the trains on the Elizabeth line are built in Derby.”

At least in the short term, the man charged with making the case for future investment is interim London Transport commissioner Andy Lord. In an exclusive interview with Inside Track at the launch of Bond Street on the Elizabeth line, he also spoke about the ongoing financial situation affecting TfL.

Carrying the torch on

He said his intention was to “very much carry on the legacy that Andy [Byford] has created for us. They are big shoes to fill and he’s done an amazing job. Everybody’s sorry to see him go but he set us up with a terrific platform that we can use as a launch board.”

The new interim commissioner wants to work closely with central government and City Hall to see how TfL can continue to get appropriate funding for major new capital programmes.

end of March 2024.”

That date is when the most recent funding

Andy added: “We do have a commitment from government that they are open to talking to us about how they would help with major rolling stock projects. So I’m keen to progress those talks as soon as we’re able to.”

“My big focus is how we get passenger numbers up and get our revenue, and also our sustainability and environmental agenda,” he explained.

There’s a lot to be done, and, of course, all of that underpinned by becoming financially sustainable and operational by the

agreement between TfL and the government, which was announced on 30 August, expires.

Image: Transport for London

Building the Elizabeth line involved constructing a tunnel under central London, allowing trains to operate between Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east, and Heathrow Airport and Reading in the west

Image: Transport for London

One future Elizabeth line extension will be to serve the new Old Oak Common station being constructed in west London for HS2. The main depot for the Elizabeth line train fleet is also at the location.

Modernisation programme delivers new job opportunities at Direct Rail Services (DRS)

irect Rail Services (DRS) is part of Nuclear Transport Solutions (NTS), the leading global provider of safe, secure and reliable nuclear transport – helping to make the world safer and more sustainable. With decades of experience and expertise, we deliver innovative rail solutions for our nuclear and non-nuclear customers.

DRS is undergoing the biggest modernisation programme in our history; it’s an exciting time to join the team. We’re making a significant investment in our business to ensure what we do is more efficient. That means we’ll be improving our processes, using the latest technology to enhance our work, creating clear career pathways, and investing in the development and performance of our people.

We’re committed to the culture of our business and ensuring we create great places to work, where people feel able to share their ideas, and are supported, trusted, valued and respected.

Our three business principles of Freedom, Helpfulness and Drive are part of everything we do. Our drive to create a more inclusive work culture means we require a diverse range of specialist skills and expertise, so treating everyone equally, with respect and creating an environment where differences are encouraged, isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s essential for our mission. Our employees have access to various employee-led

networks that help deliver change in all areas of diversity and inclusion, such as gender, LGBTQ+, disability and race.

We pride ourselves on being a modern and inclusive employer where people are proud to work and feel respected and able to perform at their best. So, get your career on the right track and apply for one of our amazing opportunities today!

Find out more about careers at NTS here.

Get your career

on the right track

Meeting the staffing needs of the rail industry

Well-established recruitment consultancy Global Logistics Staff Ltd has a simple objective: to ensure that its clients – including those in the rail industry – can access the reliable, experienced personnel they need

ts people-first approach has led to long-term partnerships with bluechip companies across a range of sectors, and today it provides qualified rail, logistics and construction staff nationally.

Well established Launched over 20 years ago in Scotland, Global rapidly gained a reputation for delivering quality services across its chosen sectors. Initially serving the logistics, warehousing and retail industries, it developed strong working relationships with a range of big names – including DHL, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and XPO Logistics. This enabled the business to grow into the engineering, construction, industrial, and rail industries – as did its investment in bespoke scheduling and backoffice software.

Today, Global’s dedicated team works across nine regional offices, providing comprehensive, value-added recruitment services to industryleading organisations.

Staffing solutions for the rail industry “Global’s mission is to make a significant commercial contribution to its clients’ successes through the delivery of imaginative, creative and effective staffing solutions,” explained managing director George Murphy.

As part of this mission, the business provides competent plant and fleet personnel for a variety of rail, construction and logistics projects –including HS2. The professionals it recruits range from PTS/non-PTS plant operators, road rail vehicle operators and machine/crane controllers, to PTS/non-PTS labour trades, PTS trackworkers and FORS Accredited HGV Drivers.

Its team work closely with these recruits, helping them to find roles that are a strong match for their skills and experience. The company also strives to understand and meet its clients’ sector-specific needs.

“We have always put our people first; listening to the people in our organisation and understanding our customers’ requirements is the key to our success,” added George.

Needs of the supply chain

Led by these requirements, Global has gained RISQS accreditation, and can supply CPCS (Construction Plant Competence Scheme) and OTP (on-track plant) operatives with Sentinel cards. This means, not only that companies have access to the competent staff they need, but that operatives waiting for sponsors to offer them suitable shifts have the option to work in the interim.

Global’s dedicated team works across nine regional offices, providing comprehensive, valueadded recruitment services to industry-leading organisations

Indeed, Global has committed to aligning with the needs of the supply chain and is working closely with the Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme (FORS), which aims to promote best practice in fleet operations. The business is now accredited to supply FORS silver HGV and road

sweeper drivers, helping its clients to ensure that they comply with the standards expected on major projects like HS2.

Global also works to upskill its existing drivers and drivers within its supply chain, offering Safe Urban Driver (SUD) and LoCity Driving courses. This value-added service helps clients to raise standards and work towards and uphold their own FORS accreditations.

Major infrastructure projects

Global’s forward-thinking approach enables it to effectively support some of the leading names in transport, construction, and rail. It has developed a strong understanding of the factors shaping these industries – which, in turn, translates to reliable and responsive service for its clients.

Indeed, the company is currently supporting BBV (a partnership between Balfour Beatty and VINCI) as it undertakes work on HS2, and has provided over 90 plant operatives and 40 FORS silver fleet and road sweepers to date.

This track record of supporting major infrastructure projects – coupled with its tailored, proactive service – makes Global one of the industry’s most trusted recruitment partners.

‘One of the most important, creative and urgently needed projects in European rail today’

Team outlines Global Centre of Rail Excellence vision to private investors

Investors from across Europe met in London this December with the management team behind the new Global Centre of Rail Excellence (GCRE) being constructed in South Wales.

Due to open in 2025, the purpose-built GCRE facility will be a ‘one-stop shop’ for the rail industry, providing a site for world-class testing of rolling stock, infrastructure and innovative new rail technologies that will fill a strategic gap in UK and European rail.

GCRE recently launched a major new procurement process to secure private investment for the project and the management team was in the city for a ‘Meet the Buyer’ event

to brief potential investors on the project and the investment process.

The event included a presentation by the GCRE team followed by a series of one-to-one discussions with those interested in investing. A feature of the day was a series of powerful endorsements by Welsh and UK Government Ministers, as well as major figures in the rail industry.

Outlining the benefits

The day began with the chief executive of the GCRE project, Simon Jones, highlighting the main benefits of the facility. He said the UK and Europe had lacked an integrated, single-site facility to undertake world-class rail innovation.

“ “ GCRE

He said that led to significant problems across the industry including major projects being impacted by significant delays and budget overruns, caused in part by a lack of early testing and integration. He added that it forced operators to resort to inadequate, fallback options, including testing on the railway mainline.

Once constructed, the 700-hectare site for GCRE, equivalent to the size of Gibraltar, will provide a facility for international quality rail research, testing and certification. When it opens, GCRE will become the UK’s first ever net zero railway. Outline planning consent for GCRE was granted by Neath Port Talbot Council and Powys County Council in 2021.

One of the major benefits of the facility stressed by Simon Jones was its ability to fast-track innovation in rail so new technologies and ideas can be deployed on mainline railways quicker. While the UK and Europe do have partial rolling stock testing sites, the nearest major rail infrastructure testing facility is in Colorado in the United States.

Simon Jones, CEO, GCRE, said: “GCRE represents one of the most important, creative and urgently needed projects in European rail today.

“It will support government to manage project costs much more effectively and be the UK’s first net zero railway during operations.

“Having a facility like GCRE will help speed up the process of innovation across the rail industry. Previously, new innovations have had to be tested on live railways and could take years before they are approved. With the GCRE site, we will have an integrated, world-class centre operating 24/7, which can test new technologies earlier and, crucially, give the industry greater confidence about their deployment in major projects. In turn that will help the industry better manage the costs of rail.

“Our initial investment is allowing us to buy the site and start the groundworks, as well as establishing a storage facility so income can be generated straight away.”

GCRE has signed an agreement with the University of Birmingham’s Centre for Railway Research and Education (BCRRE) to partner on R&D and innovation activities connected to the GCRE site. Jones was keen to stress that the facility will be run on open access principles, so that any company can book and test there.

Next step – finding private sector investment

The GCRE team outlined the detailed work that had been undertaken in recent years to develop the project. £50m of funding has been secured from the Welsh Government and £20m from the UK Government. A further £7.4m was

Endorsements

Huw

Merriman, Minister of State for Transport of the UK

“I believe [GCRE] is one of the most important and innovative infrastructure projects anywhere in Europe. When it is completed and opened in 2025, this facility will plug a strategic gap in the rail industry as a way to test new ideas and new innovation on a world-class site, and help us towards a greener, integrated, and more reliable transport system that we need for tomorrow.”

Vaughan Gething, Minister for the Economy of Wales

“We all know that railways are critical to our national future. As the lead director of GBRTT, one of the key areas I am focused on is the way we look at innovation across our network. We want to foster a culture of innovation and encourage greater collaboration so that we understand and solve challenges at pace across the network and regain the reputation this industry once had. I believe when it is operational, the new GCRE facility can play an important role in that world. It will fill a strategic gap in the UK and create a world-class facility.”

Anit Chandarana, lead director, GBRTT

“We support GCRE – we are passionate about developing new technology that enables us to provide a better, safer and more cost-effective service to our passengers and freight users. The new GCRE facility, when it is built, will enable us to test infrastructure components without the need to use the mainline railway. It will allow us to test the reliability of our designs without causing delays for our customers. We are supportive and look forward to working closely as the project develops.”

being provided by Innovate UK for research and development activities.

The project is now taking the next step in its development with GCRE Ltd, which is currently wholly owned by the Welsh Government, seeking a joint venture partner (“Strategic Investor”) to develop and fund GCRE to completion.

The Strategic Investor will play a lead role in the project’s successful and timely implementation, along with further commercialisation of the significant GCRE opportunities on site.

Jones said that the Strategic Investor could be a single investor or a consortium of investors, who will acquire a majority shareholding in and control of GCRE Ltd. A formal procurement process has begun with the publication of a Prior Information Notice (PIN).

As part of the process, GCRE is seeking equity

investment of £330m from the private sector. A Contract Notice will be published in January, with an Invitation to Tender issued in April 2023. Once chosen, the strategic investor will take a minimum of a 51 per cent share in GCRE. The investment process will run until the early autumn of 2023.

Simon Jones said the plan had always been to work with private sector partners to seek their investment, as well as their knowledge and skills in key areas such as rail and energy, to realise the exciting GCRE vision as strategic partners.

He said that both Welsh and UK governments recognised that as a commercial venture GCRE needs private sector support to be built and become established. He said GCRE wanted to encourage partners from across the world to look at the GCRE project and see the strong investment on offer.

“[GCRE] could provide the robust testing assurance needed to bring a wide range of innovative rail products to market. The UK is a hub of rail innovation – we already have an impressive rail R&D and testing ecosystem. These are the great strengths that GCRE can draw on to bring something new. We in government believe such a facility will make the UK an even greater place to do business in rail. That is why my colleagues in the Welsh Government and the Department of BEIS have provided start-up funding to aid the project’s development.”

Lord Peter Hendy, chair, Network Rail

The GCRE team has been working with EY as financial adviser and Ashurst LLP as legal adviser to develop the procurement process, details of which have been published through a Prior Information Notice (PIN) on Sell to Wales.

Groundworks for the project started in December 2022 and, by the time the strategic partner has been determined and additional funding is provided, GCRE will be operating warm storage facilities, generating commercial income.

Skills sought

The GCRE project includes the construction of a facility operational 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The site will include two electrified test loops, one a 6.9km high-speed rolling stock track and the other a 4km track for heavy infrastructure testing. Further phases of investment include development of the wider commercial potential of the 700-hectare site – including the creation of a new business technology park and hotel.

Simon Jones said the investment opportunity was unique and that the GCRE team welcomed interest from investment partners with experience in areas including rail infrastructure, energy and major projects.

Jones said: “An important part of our work will be in energy. To ensure that we meet the power needs of our customers, deliver on our net zero ambitions and harness the commercial potential of our large site, we are also keen to talk to investment partners with experience of large energy systems with an appetite to invest in decarbonising the railway and supporting the work we are doing.”

With its consultant Mott Macdonald, GCRE has investigated the potential of an energy solution, using the site to host technologies including wind turbines, solar panels, and battery energy storage facilities.

Through this, the site can become more selfsustainable from an energy perspective. As a lowrisk brownfield site, GCRE is well placed to link into the positive renewables planning regime set out by the Welsh Government.

Reaction

The event was accompanied by a series of highprofile endorsements for the GCRE vision from new UK Government Rail Minister Huw Merriman MP and Welsh Government Economy Minister, Vaughan Gething MS. Senior industry figures

including Lord Peter Hendy and Great British Railways lead director Anit Chandarana also provided backing for the scheme, along with other major figures from the industry.

The day then continued with a series of oneto-one conversations with the GCRE team. Chief Executive Simon Jones said the reaction had been positive:

“The one-to-one sessions were hugely positive, and we are reassured by the discussions we have had so far. We know the demand that exists for a Global Centre of Rail Excellence, and it is evident that potential investors understand that as well as the wider commercial opportunities that are available around the site.

“The energy opportunities around GCRE are some of the most interesting and significant parts of the commercial proposition and make this an attractive investment opportunity.

“We are looking for experienced partners who have relevant experience in rail operations and infrastructure, working in complex greenfield projects and in energy development.

The initial talks we’ve had have been very positive and we are looking forward to working with partners to realise the ambitious vision we have set out.”

Regulator’s round-up of infrastructure and assets

Inside Track takes a closer look at the ORR’s annual publication on the average age of rolling stock

Every year the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) publishes a round-up of the age of trains operating on the British railway and details of the infrastructure and assets on the main line.

The report, released on 20 October 2022, covers the period from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022. Sources of information are Network Rail, Amey Keolis Infrastructure Ltd and the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB).

Updating stock

As of 31 March 2022, 71 per cent of all passenger train operator rolling stock was electric traction.

Diesel vehicles made up 18 per cent and 11 per cent of the passenger fleet were either bi-mode or locomotive hauled.

Also, the average age of rolling stock for all passenger operators at the end of the period measured was 16.9 years. Greater Anglia had the largest annual decrease in average age due to the introduction of Alstom Class 720 electric multiple

units (EMUs) which meant the fleet dropped in age by 5.4 years to 11.3 years.

The lowest average age for all operators is open access operator Lumo, which has an average age of 0.8 years for its five Hitachi Class 803 EMUs. Lumo only began operating in October 2021.

As for infrastructure, there was 2.2km of electrified track added to the network due to the remodelling at London King’s Cross as part of the East Coast upgrade. Overall, the proportion of electrified route remained similar compared with the previous year at 38.1 per cent.

Soham station opened in December 2021, bringing the total number of main line stations to 2,570. That number will increase by at least 11 following the opening of Reston in May 2022) and the 10 Elizabeth line stations, although these all opened after the period surveyed.

Bi-mode ability

The latest figures published also included, for the first time, a breakdown of rolling stock by traction type. The three categories were electric, diesel and bi-mode or locomotive-hauled. This suggested that according to the ORR figures only Grand Central was 100 per cent diesel-only, however Chiltern Railways, CrossCountry (XC) and TfW Rail are also all diesel-only, albeit the figures have been skewed with CR reporting that 16 per cent of the fleet is locomotive-hauled or bi-mode, while XC reportedly has 11 per cent of the fleet as either locomotive-hauled or bi-mode and TfW Rail has 22 per cent of its fleet as either locomotive-hauled or bi-mode.

The latest figures published also included, for the first time, a breakdown of rolling stock by traction type

“ “

A Lumo Class 803 on the East Coast main line. These are the youngest trains on the network, having been introduced in October 2021.

Image: Alan Burkwood/Hitachi.

The ORR claims that as of 31 March 2022 there were 15,277 railway vehicles registered in operation for all passenger train operators. Of these, 10,850 were electric vehicles, 2,746 were diesel vehicles, 1,132 were bi-mode vehicles and 549 were locomotive-hauled vehicles. The ORR says that bi-mode vehicles can be powered either by electric power from overhead lines or third rail, or by using diesel engines. This means the trains can run on both electrified and non-electrified track. Although TfW Rail vehicles are bi-mode (Class 769 Flex), meaning they could run using either electric or diesel (in the latest year they were only operated using diesel).

Average age of stock

The ORR says that the average age of rolling stock used by passenger operators decreased by 0.2 years compared with the previous year.

For franchised operators, the age decreased by 0.2 years and for non-franchised operators, the age decreased by 1.2 years. The non-franchised operators’ rolling stock makes up around one per cent of all passenger stock and the introduction of Lumo services on the East Coast main line from October 2021 and its five trains is the reason for the larger decrease in age.

However, there has been a continued decrease in the age of fleets since 2016 following a steady increase over the previous eight years up to that point.

The ORR says that the average age of rolling stock shown is the age at the end of the financial year. A vehicle drops out of the dataset if it is no longer leased by a train operator. As all existing rolling stock will age by one year between one year and the next,

any change in average age of less than 1.0 years is an indication of either the introduction of newer rolling stock or the removal of older stock from the fleet.

The ORR statistics show that seven operators have fleets that have decreased in age. Those operators are, in order, Greater Anglia, Caledonian Sleeper, East Midlands Railway, TfL Rail, London North Eastern Railway (LNER), TfW Rail and Grand Central.

The oldest trains in Britain operating on the main line are the Merseyrail Class 507 and Class 508s. Delays to the introduction of their replacements has forced them to remain in service

Image: Shutterstock

For many years there have been claims that the north of England has some of the oldest trains, which is not the case. More than £500 million of new trains built by CAF are in traffic, such as this Class 331 electric multiple unit.

Image: Richard Clinnick

Great Western Railway was the only operator where the fleet didn’t change in age, while the rest all increase in age, with c2c recording the biggest age increase by 1.6 years. The ORR says that five operators – Merseyrail, Avanti West Coast, XC, Heathrow Express and Hull Trains – were unchanged during the period with no additions or removals in the latest year, so therefore their average age increased by one year.

As for the age of the fleets, Merseyrail operates the oldest at 42.6 years, however these are due to be replaced by Stadler Class 777 EMUs and independently powered electric multiple units (IPEMUs), the first of which was displayed at the InnoTrans trade fair in Berlin in September 2022.

After Merseyrail the next oldest fleet is TfW Rail at 29.4 years, and this is being replaced in the coming months and, again, two of the new trains were displayed at Berlin.

Older areas

In third was Chiltern Railways at 28.9 years and there are currently no plans to replace the existing fleet, which mainly consists of diesel multiple units supplemented by a small fleet of locomotivehauled trains. It’s the latter, which features Mk 3 coaches dating from the late-1970s and 1980s, which increase the age of the Chiltern fleet.

South Western Railway is fourth but shouldn’t be that high. Its current fleet age is 23.6 years; however a fleet of Alstom Class 701 EMUs are waiting to be introduced into service more than three years after the first train was unveiled to the media.

Various delays including issues with software and the pandemic making training difficult have continued to delay their introduction.

The delay in their introduction means that the Class 455s, built in the earlyb1980s, have soldiered on long past their planned withdrawal. The introduction of the Class 701s was part of the FirstGroup/MTR franchise win back in August 2017.

Infrastructure

The ORR says that as of 31 March 2022 there was 31,209km track length in Britain, with the route length open for traffic in Britain being 15,874km.

In England the total route length decreased by 53km from 11,703km to 11,650km while the route length in Wales decreased by 5km, and the route length in Scotland decreased by 4km compared with the previous year.

The delay in their introduction means that the Class 455s, built in the earlyb1980s, have soldiered on long past their planned withdrawal

“ “

TfW Rail is introducing an almost entirely new fleet; however some locomotive-hauled trains are transferring from LNER for use on long-distance services.

Image: Transport for Wales.

Greater Anglia recorded the biggest decrease in the age of its fleet following the introduction of more, albeit delayed, Class 720s built by Alstom.

Image: TRichard Clinnick.

In Britain, the ORR says that 6,042km (38 per cent) was electrified. This is slightly higher than the 37.9 per cent the previous year, although the electrified route length decreased by 3km. The highest proportion of electrified route length was in England with 43.8 per cent. In Wales, 3.7 per cent of the route length was electrified, and in Scotland it is 32.8 per cent.

During the period, Soham station opened 13 December 2021 and no stations closed permanently. However, there were three temporary closures. The first was Heathrow Terminal 4 which remained closed throughout the period, having closed originally in May 2020 due to the temporary closure of the airport’s Terminal 4 during the pandemic.

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Perry Barr station in Birmingham was temporarily closed for redevelopment from May 2021 for 12 months prior to the Commonwealth Games.

Finally, Stanlow and Thornton railway station in Cheshire was temporarily closed from February 2022 until further notice. This is due to safety concerns with the footbridge entry to the station.

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Chiltern Railways operates one of the oldest passenger fleets in Britain, with the average age affected by the use of locomotive-hauled Mk 3 coaches. There is currently no planned replacement for CR’s trains.

Image: Richard Clinnick.

Leading the way with mobile eco welfare units

The UK’s leading hirer of mobile eco welfare units to the rail and other infrastructure sectors, Welfare Hire Nationwide, part of the Kelling Group, are setting the standard for modern, environmentally conscious specialist equipment hire.

Their unique offering positions the company as an ideal partner for rail projects.

Partnership tackling rail’s key challenges

“The current climate presents the rail industry with both opportunities and challenges, which we support through our specialist ECO products along with unrivalled service to our clients,” commented Kelling CEO, Stephen Moore.

“The drive for expansion of freight services, improvements in customer experience and modernisation of the network all point towards the need for ongoing significant development of rail infrastructure. In addition, the call for even greater sustainable performance in all aspects of rail work continues to grow ever louder.

“Welfare Hire’s approach and long-term strategy aligns perfectly with the needs that network owners and operators experience in meeting those challenges.”

and Value. Backed by dedicated ‘Kelling Guarantees’ for each principle, the Group prides itself in providing young, innovative market-leading vehicles and equipment, at competitive rates, all with premium levels of nationwide support from a highly experienced team.

Meeting client expectations

“We’re a partner rather than a supplier, ensuring that projects run smoothly with high-quality, energy-efficient products and unrivalled service,” Moore explained.

Along with its sister company in the Kelling Group, Access Hire, the UK’s largest specialist in long-term hire and lease of vehicle-mounted access platforms, Welfare Hire conducts its business with five core principles in mind: Quality, Service, Environment, Wellbeing

“Our equipment is designed to help clients address a range of challenges from improving staff wellbeing to meeting carbon emission targets. And, with the largest, most modern fleet of towable welfare units in the UK, we can mobilise quickly and efficiently.”

The Group has over 3,500 assets, growing 20% annually and continuous investment and innovation in the fleet has resulted in an average asset age of just two and a half years.

“ “ Welfare Hire

Welfare Hire’s Commercial Director, Andy Grayshon, explained that a range of innovative design features set these units apart from other products, making them more user-friendly and better for the environment.

For example, traditional welfare units typically have chemical toilets, which need to be emptied and serviced weekly. Welfare Hire offers Smart XL Water ceramic toilets, which, thanks to a water flushing system and significantly larger tank, are more hygienic, whilst requiring less frequent services.

“This reduces service vehicle movements on sites by around 60 per cent,” explained Grayshon. “By making this smart change, customers can benefit from significant savings of CO₂ emissions each year, whilst lowering operational costs and transport risk on site.”

Welfare Hire’s use of smart hybrid power also sets it apart from the competition.

Grayshon added: “We led the way by introducing lithium/solar hybrid power for both our mobile lighting towers and welfare units. This enables silent, green running from battery for longer, reducing the reliance on generator power, leading to significant

fuel and cost savings, and much less noise pollution.”

He added that, for many clients, fuel costs can fall by up to 94%.

When it comes to installing equipment, Welfare Hire relies primarily on its own fleet of modern, lowemission towing vehicles. This results in flexible, low cost and carbon deliveries with greater site accessibility. Welfare Hire’s expert drivers help customers to install welfare units, which can be set up in just six seconds. With no need for HGV deliveries, collections or relocations, costs and emissions are also driven down with this aspect of smart eco service.

“We want to help customers realise efficiencies and savings at every stage of the process,” Grayshon explained.

Proven sustainable results

With this in mind, Welfare Hire is rolling out a smart telemetry system across its products. This digital system enables customers to optimise power and services utilisation, and to manage them efficiently. Whilst data on eco power use and carbon reduction is collected as standard for every unit on hire, this extended volumetric data is even more valuable for reporting on ESG performance.

The result is that partners are able to accurately report on fuel, CO2 emissions and cost savings for site set up equipment, as a key element within their sustainable reporting.

During 2022, Welfare Hire also launched their Eco and Social Value calculator, which enables partners to project the cost, fuel and emissions savings they can achieve with Welfare Hire products for upcoming sites.

Drawing on accurate, verified empirical data over many years from real projects, this innovative tool helps customers to make truly informed decisions. It’s just one of the reasons a range of Rail contractors and Network Rail choose to partner with Welfare Hire.

“We’ve been working with Network Rail, as well as a variety of Tier One contractors on CP6,” Moore states.

“We can add a lot of value around innovation, sustainability, quality and wellbeing and look forward to working with more contractors in the rail industry. With our help, we know that our partners will be able to implement savings and efficiencies, whilst delivering smarter and more modern approaches to their projects to help future proof their business.”

Visit www.welfarehire.com for more details

“ “ Welfare Hire

Rising from the ashes thanks to HS2 community fund

Brackley Town Football Club gets back on its feet after major fire with help from local supporters and £75,000 grant from HS2 Ltd

Along the route of the new HS2 Phase One railway between London and the West Midlands, communities have benefited from investment in various projects.

HS2 Ltd has been active in community engagement throughout the construction process as it seeks to be an understanding neighbour while building this important new rail link.

A recent example is Brackley Town Football Club, which has received a £75,000 grant from HS2’s Community and Environment Fund (CEF) to help build ‘The Venue’.

‘The Venue’ is a new clubhouse, which only recently opened its doors after two years of reconstruction following a devastating fire in 2019 that unfortunately caused the club to lose both its clubhouse and bar. To a club the size of Brackley Town, which plays in the National League North, the sixth tier of English football – two tiers below the professional leagues – a clubhouse and bar are important revenue streams.

The new facilities were built through a combination of fundraising efforts of local supporters with events including quiz nights, bonfire nights and initiatives including the supporter’s wall, as well as the grant from HS2 Ltd.

Cathy Elliott, independent chair of the HS2 Funds, said: “Brackley Town FC has been a part of the community since the 1890s and the loss of key facilities in 2019 had a real impact on the club’s continued success. It is inspirational to see how the £75,000 grant from HS2’s CEF, alongside the support of the local community, has allowed the club to continue to thrive and grow.”

Janene Butters, chief executive officer, Brackley Town FC, said: “Brackley Town FC was founded

Image: HS2 Ltd

Image: HS2 Ltd

in 1890 and it has moved all the way through the leagues playing for promotion, if we can, this season.

To fundraise for the club, we hosted lots of quizzes and bonfire nights, with a big focus on our supporter’s wall. Without HS2, we would not have been able to have the most fantastic place we’ve got now.”

The club continues to serve the local community through a series of youth and community programmes, including under-sevens right through to under-18 junior teams, Saturday soccer schools, Wildcats and soccer tots (ages two to four), regularly supporting more than 200 junior players who want to play football.

Over 17 different teams regularly use the new facilities, including Brackley Town Ladies – a women’s team that was set up in 2019 due to increased local demand.

Furthermore, HS2 Ltd’s CEF and Business and Local Economy Fund (BLEF) are still in operating on Phase One of the railway, which is due to open between 2029 and 2033.

Across Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, over 50 projects have already successfully received more than £3 million of funding from these funds since applications opened in 2017.

To find out more about how to apply for them, please visit: https://hs2funds.org.uk

Supporters using the Brackley Town FC bar

Supporters using the Brackley Town FC bar