RailStaff Aug/Sept 2019 by Rail Media

AUG/SEPT 2019 | ISSUE 260

SAFETY SUMMIT A NEW KINGDOM

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SPEAKERS REVEALED

RAILSTAFF AWARDS 2019

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CONTENTS AUG/SEPT 2019 | ISSUE 260

RAIL SAFETY SUMMIT PREVIEW | 24

Taking place on October 3 in London, this year's conference will feature talks on the challenges facing health and safety professionals in CP6

AZUMA CROSSES THE BORDER | 30

David Shirres reports on two service landmarks for LNERâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new fleet

POWERING PRODUCTIVITY: THE CASE FOR GREATER DIVERSITY | 32 24

Stewart Thorpe outlines why rail needs to draw on new pools of talent

MEET THE GUEST EDITORS | 34

One woman from the supply chain, another from an infrastructure manager and a final woman from train operations, together they have helped to shape this issue

BACK TO BASICS | 42

Loraine Martins, director of diversity and inclusion, describes what Network Rail has done to tackle three things that have traditionally hindered women in its workforce

42 64

T H G I L T O P

y EAT | 5F6sheds light on wndh what S 'S R E E a rsity DRIV y ASL IN THE mmissioned b ehind on dive h co ging b Researc ver role is lag dri tly the train done differen be ld u o h s

A NEW KINGDOM | 64

We've announced the date, presented the host, revisited last year's big winners as well as entertainment of yesteryear, and now we're ready to reveal the theme of the 2019 RailStaff Awards

YOUNG ENGINEERS AND APPRENTICES RAILWAY SEMINAR: DELIVERING A SUSTAINABLE RAILWAY 29-30 October 2019 National College for High Speed Rail, Birmingham THE THEME IN 2019 IS 'DELIVERING A SUSTAINABLE RAILWAY'. RAIL TRAVEL MAY BE SEEN AS A MORE ENVIRONMENTALLY-FRIENDLY MODE OF TRANSPORTATION, HOWEVER THERE ARE MAJOR CHALLENGES TO OVERCOME IN ORDER NOT ONLY TO PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT, BUT ALSO TO MAKE THE SUPPLY CHAIN MORE SUSTAINABLE AND COMPETITIVE.

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Staff Contact us: Publisher:

Paul O’Connor

Editor:

Stewart Thorpe

Production and design:

Adam O’Connor

Matthew Stokes

Track safety:

Colin Wheeler

Advertising:

Asif Ahmed

Craig Smith

Keith Hopper

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Guest editor takeover

Contact email addresses News: news@rail-media.com Track safety: colin@rail-media.com Pictures: pictures@rail-media.com Adverts: adverts@rail-media.com Subscriptions: manda@rail-media.com Contact details RailStaff Publications, Rail Media House, Samson Road, Coalville,

When I was first asked to be one of the guest editors for this special issue focused on gender diversity, I jumped at the chance. Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) has been close to my heart for a very long time and even more so since joining the rail industry. I joined Network Rail in September 2017 as an engineer on its graduate scheme and since then I’ve come across some brilliant people but, equally, I’ve seen a lot that could be improved in order to bring our industry into the future.

Leicestershire, LE67 3FP. Tel: 01530 816 444 Fax: 01530 810 344 Web: www.railstaff.co.uk Email: hello@rail-media.com Printed by PCP Ltd. RailStaff is published by RailStaff Publications Limited A Rail Media Publication

There are lots of things happening that are really positive: from initiatives to increase the number of female train drivers (page 56) to companies providing shared parental leave (acknowledging that men have as much a right to care for their families as women) and a programme to rollout more toilet facilities for track workers (page 42): the industry is changing for the better. While these are examples of what we are doing right, not every experience of mine has been positive. When I meet someone new at an industry event, they are still just as likely to assume I’m my male colleague’s secretary or that I work in a more ‘traditionally female’ role as they are to assume I’m an engineer, and some people still hold outdated views regarding the ability of the disabled - which, as a dyslexic, I thoroughly enjoy debunking! Even where we are doing well, we often don’t discuss the bigger picture when it comes to diversity and inclusion which can lead to some groups feeling singled out and marginalised. Many people feel ‘diversity issues’ aren’t for them because they aren’t female or from a black, Asian or minority ethnic background, when, in reality, that couldn’t be further from the truth and an interest in ‘diversity issues’ should be for everyone. We each have things that make us

unique and acknowledging the hardship one group might experience isn’t a green signal to diminish the experiences of others. Diversity is for all and by discussing what it means and how we are all unique, we can try to make the industry better for each and every one of us. My hope for the industry has been rekindled as of late. I was recently appointed as a mentor for Andrew Haines, chief executive of Network Rail, on diversity and inclusion issues. To see someone at such a high level take an interest in EDI shows me there is a new wave of change coming and I would like to see every top boss in our industry follow suit and lead from the top, as Andrew has done. Although Andrew doesn’t fall into the demographic you might initially associate with EDI, he recognises these are issues that affect us all and that we need to reconsider what diversity and inclusion means on both a personal and industry level as it may be much broader than we realise and because it’s the right thing to do. After agreeing to help shape this bumper issue, I met with fellow guest editor Nikki Williams and RailStaff editor Stewart Thorpe in Birmingham back in June to thrash out a plan. With the input from Anna Delvecchio, who completed the lineup of guest editors, we decided on the most important topics to tackle and how these might be approached. The bulk of this edition (starting on page 32) is the product of those discussions. We are a wonderful industry with fantastic people and a proud history, but although our roots lie in the Victorian era it’s time to bring our values into the modern age and show other industries we can be every bit as progressive as them. I hope you enjoy this special issue. Inge-Sarah Andersen FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF | @RAIL_STAFF | RAILSTAFF.CO.UK

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The first major structure to be built at Euston as part of HS2 has been given the green light by the London Borough of Camden.

The cube

The project’s eye-catching London Underground vent shaft and substation will be four-storey high and contain electrical equipment and a vent shaft for the Northern line. Covered with more than 13,000 glazed ivory-white tiles, the contemporary design draws inspiration from historic London Tube stations and will help reflect light into the surrounding streets. HS2’s Euston programme director Rob Carr said: “The new vent shaft and substation will be one of the first things we build and it’s important we get it right. I’m pleased that Camden has given us the green light and I hope this intriguing, functional and contemporary design will be welcomed by all those who live, work and travel through Euston” Construction will allow the old vent shaft to be removed to make way for the new platforms.

South Eastern franchise competition cancelled

The Department for Transport has cancelled the next South Eastern franchise competition because of concerns over costs. A further extension to April 1, 2020, has been granted to Southeastern to continue its operations beyond the November 10 cut-off point. A spokesperson for the DfT said: “We have taken the decision to cancel the South Eastern franchise competition. “This follows significant concerns that continuing the

competition process would lead to additional costs incurred to the taxpayer, with no certainty that this would deliver envisaged benefits for passengers in a timely fashion.

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“The Department will use this period to develop a solution that delivers the capacity and performance benefits that passengers are expecting, and ensure that the recommendations of the Williams Review can be implemented.” David Sidebottom, director of Transport Focus, added: “Southeastern passengers will be disappointed to hear that the promise of improvements to their journeys have been put back again, and will expect greater progress to follow from the Williams Rail Review.” Only two bidders had been left in the process, Abellio with partners East Japan Railway and Mitsui & Co, and incumbent Govia.

HS2 update Phase 1 of HS2 between London Euston and Birmingham could be delayed by five years while its cost could soar to £88 billion, the government has announced. Transport secretary Grant Shapps said completion of Phase 2 to Manchester and Leeds is likely to be pushed back by seven years to 2040 as well. The announcements are based on findings from a new report by Allan Cook, chair of HS2 Ltd. In August, the government announced an independent, review into whether and how HS2 should proceed. The review will report this autumn. Mr Shapps said: “The prime minister and I have been clear about the potential for transport investment to drive growth, redistribute opportunity and support towns and cities across the UK. But we have been equally clear that the costs and benefits of those investments must stack up.”

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New kid on the block East Midlands Railway is the new name on the UK rail network, following its successful bid to run the East Midlands franchise. EMR, as it wants to be called, is owned by Abellio, the same company that now runs Greater Anglia, ScotRail, West Midlands Trains and Merseyrail. It has taken over the franchise, complete with trains, staff and services, from East Midlands Trains after owner Stagecoach was disqualified from the East Midlands competition for submitting a ‘non-compliant’ bid. The new franchise came into being on Sunday, August 18. One day later, the first EMR-liveried train, Class 222 Meridian number 222104, was revealed to stakeholders and the press at Derby station. Its smart purple livery shone in the August sunshine, which made a rare appearance, and was admired by onlookers. Station staff had new ties and new badges, though ‘Stagecoach blue’ shirts were still in evidence. Passengers were even offered cupcakes bearing EMR logos. One manager

looked very smart in a nice purple sweater, although he admitted he bought it himself! Even so, it was well done and a credit to the new company. The expected speeches were made, by the managing director of Abellio UK Dominic Booth (“Abellio is delighted…”) and the City Mayor of Leicester and chairman of the East Midlands Councils Sir Peter Soulsby (“We’re pleased to welcome East Midlands Railway…”), but there were some serious promises for the future being made as well. 33 new five-car trains are being ordered from Hitachi at Newton Aycliffe for delivery in 2022. They will be AT300 trains, similar to the Class 800/802 units already being supplied to GWR and to LNER. However, they will have coaches only 24m-long, rather than the 26m of the other two classes. And they will have one extra diesel engine, four spread over the five carriages, to cope with the long dieselonly sections north from Kettering. Julian Edwards (pictured), managing director of East Midlands Railway, was keen to stress that passengers would get improved services as well as new trains. The timetable will change from December 2021, correcting some of the current anomalies in which trains to and from London often seem to run close together with long gaps before the next one. In future, the schedule will be more evenly spread. Catering will be sorted out. EMR intends to give both standard and first-class passengers a better offering. And improved wi-fi will be available throughout all trains. The current offering is seen as being sub-standard and it will be improved. There is more of course - £20 million investment in stations, easier ticketing, more customer assistance, better staff training – but customers want comfortable trains that are on time and provide decent catering and good connectivity, and that’s what EMR will offer. Report from Nigel Wordsworth.

Northern Powerhouse Rail commitment

Prime minister Boris Johnson has committed to funding the Manchester – Leeds section of Northern Powerhouse Rail. Mr Johnson said the full details of the route, which is part of his wider commitment to deliver a £39 billion high-speed railway across the north of England, would be published in the autumn following the review into HS2. Barry White, chief executive of Transport for the North, described the announcement as “a major leap forward for the North”. He said: “Just days into his premiership, Boris Johnson is here in the North promising to invest in our creaking infrastructure. Not just the Manchester to Leeds line, but a whole network from Liverpool to Hull, and from Sheffield up to Newcastle, connecting the towns and cities in between.” RIA chief executive Darren Caplan welcomed the news but said the commitment must not be at the expense of HS2 and other planned rail schemes. He added: “With national rail passenger numbers doubling over the past 20 years, and freight growing significantly too, it is vital the Government delivers major rail schemes across the country to ensure we have the capacity we need in the future.” FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF | @RAIL_STAFF | RAILSTAFF.CO.UK

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West Coast award A joint venture between FirstGroup (70 per cent) and Trenitalia (30 per cent) has been announced as the successful bidder for the new West Coast Partnership franchise. The new franchise, which replaces Intercity West Coast, will begin on December 8 and continue until 2031. Under First Trenitalia, passengers will see the introduction of new “environmentally-friendly” trains and an extra 263 train services per week on the West Coast main line. Transport secretary Grant Schapps said the partnership is supported by Keith Williams’ Rail Review and has been built with the flexibility to respond to his recommendations and reform what he described as a “flawed system”. It also reflects a move away from the previous franchising system with the use of a Forecast Revenue Mechanism to avoid a repeat of the issues that affected Virgin Trains East Coast. The Department for Transport said this mechanism will be supported by a new annual review, to ensure the partnership is effective. FirstGroup already operates the Great Western, South Western and TransPennine Express franchises. It also operates open access services between Hull and London as Hull Trains and the London Trams service on behalf of Transport for London. Meanwhile, Trenitalia, a subsidiary of Italian state-owned operator FS, is the primary operator in Italy. It runs services in France, Germany and Greece as well as in Austria and Switzerland under partnership agreements.

Environmentally-friendly trains

The new operator will introduce 10 new electrical multiple units and 13 bi-mode trains by December 2022, replacing and expanding on the diesel Voyager fleet that operates between

London and North Wales. The Voyager trains will also be refreshed in the meanwhile. By replacing the diesel-only fleet with environmentally-friendly trains and, where available, operating all West Coast Partnership services under wires, it is predicted First Trenitalia will be able to lower its CO2 emissions by 61 per cent. The current 56-train Pendolino fleet will undergo a £117 million refurbishment programme by 2022, providing more seats, additional luggage space, improving passenger information systems and enhanced toilet facilities as well as at-seat services for all. First Trenitalia will oversee upgrades to stations such as Coventry and Birmingham International and work closer with Network Rail through an alliance agreement to deliver the December 2022 timetable and invest £32 million on developing and delivering infrastructure improvements. Customers will be provided with improved ticketing options, delay repay and free wi-fi on trains and at stations. Digital staff rostering systems will be introduced and contingency plans developed to improve service recovery. First Trenitalia is also committed to increasing diversity, inclusion and skills retention through training schemes and recruitment campaigns to attract apprentices and BAME employees, including the construction of regional development centres in Rugby, Stoke-on-Trent and Carlisle.

Services

Connectivity will be improved with more services across the network. Motherwell is set to become a major calling point for most West Coast Partnership services and destinations including Llandudno and Gobowen will now be served by direct trains to and from London. Walsall will also receive its first direct intercity services and, subject to approval from the ORR, two trains per hour will run between Liverpool and London.

There will also be later last and earlier first services on key routes. In the first phase up until March 2026, First Trenitalia will operate West Coast services and also act as the shadow operator responsible for HS2, providing a range of design, development and mobilisation services for the line. First Trenitalia will then operate HS2 and the reshaped InterCity West Coast rail services together as an integrated operation in the second phase, from March 2026 until March 2031, under a management contract.

Response

Incumbent Virgin Trains will cease to operate any train services in Britain by December - although it has applied, with Stagecoach, SNCF and Alstom, to operate open access services between London and Liverpool from May 2021 - and founder Richard Branson said he was “devastated” by the news of Virgin’s unsuccessful bid to retain the franchise. He added: “When our team took over the West Coast main line in 1997, it was a struggling franchise with poor service and old trains that were no fun to travel on. Our plan was dubbed Mission Impossible by many, we proved them wrong.” Fellow unsuccessful bidder MTR said it will be seeking clarification from the Department for Transport as to why it was unsuccessful. Paul Plummer, chief executive of the Rail Delivery Group, added: “Virgin-Stagecoach have brought significant benefits to passengers on the West Coast route including nearly tripling the number of trains between London and Manchester. We have no doubt that First Trenitalia will build on that record with plans for new trains and more services.” Matthew Gregory, chief executive of FirstGroup, said, aside from current negotiations with the Department for Transport to extend the Great Western franchise, it would not be bidding for any other franchises for the foreseeable future.

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Cabinet reshuffle: Grayling gone Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling has stepped down from his post following a cabinet reshuffle by prime minister Boris Johnson. Grayling, who had held the role since July 2016, is replaced by Grant Shapps. Shapps said he was "delighted and honoured" to take up the position. Following the announcement, Darren Caplan, chief executive of the Railway Industry Association, congratulated Shapps on his appointment and said he will lead the Department for Transport at "a particularly interesting time for the rail industry".

Darren listed the record £48 billion of funding for CP6 as well as major projects such as HS2, Northern Powerhouse Rail, East West Rail, Crossrail 2 and the Transpennine Route Upgrade as great opportunities. However, he was quick to point to challenges such as Network Rail’s devolution plan, the Williams Review, boom and bust funding and a lack of visibility of planned enhancement work, as well as the impact of Brexit. Darren added: “I would also like to thank outgoing Transport Secretary Chris Grayling MP, who has been a keen supporter of rail supply and was passionate about

innovation in the sector and the opportunities available to export abroad. We in rail supply wish him all the best for the future.” The reshuffle also sees Paul Maynard return as a transport minister. On its website, the Department for Transport lists Northern Powerhouse Rail, HS2, Crossrail, East West Rail and the TransPennine Route Upgrade under the former rail minister’s responsibilities. Chris Heaton-Harris takes over from Andrew Jones as rail minister while Charlotte Vere, the Baroness Vere of Norbiton, has been named as the minister for light rail.

TfW's accessibility manager Transport for Wales has appointed a new accessibility and inclusion manager to improve rail services for passengers with disabilities. Dr Robert Gravelle, who is disabled, most recently worked for Cardiff Council as a private accessibility consultant and will now assist TfW with work to make its new £800 million fleet fully accessible as well as to ensure 99 per cent of all journeys on the Core Valley Lines are step free. He said: “Accessibility and inclusion is about providing true opportunities for all regardless of disability, need or protected characteristic; it’s about more than statistics; it’s about people's lives. There is a massive amount

of work to be done in listening and addressing the needs of the whole community but particularly those with a range of disabilities, including hidden disabilities, mental health, hearing and sight impairments, and anyone on the fringes of society. “The economic and societal benefits that access to quality, reliable and affordable public transport can give communities a

significant driver; giving people in communities across our network better access to opportunities." Dr Gravelle will help to imbed a new inclusive training regime for 1,600 staff in the first year, support 12 annual internships for disabled people and develop assisted booking systems and assisted travel to better support customers.

Eastern team assembles Rob McIntosh, managing director of Network Rail’s new Eastern region, has announced several appointments to his senior management team. At the moment, Eastern consists of the current Anglia and LNE & EM routes. Later this year it will move to four routes, overseen by Rob and the Eastern region, to support the drive to be closer and more responsive to customers. Ellie Burrows (pictured) will be the route director for Anglia. She was Southeastern’s train services

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director and has previously held area director roles at Network Rail. Gary Walsh will be route director for East Midlands and will primarily work with Abellio to mobilise and deliver the ‘East Midlands Railway Alliance’. He was previously area director for East Midlands and, latterly, head of maintenance south. Matthew Rice will be route director for North and East. Matt has been the LNE & EM principle strategic planner for two years and has helped develop the network strategy. His experience

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New boss at AECOM AECOM has appointed Susan Evans as the new head of rail for UK and Ireland. She will lead the company’s multidisciplinary rail, bridges and structures teams and focus on growth. Susan joins from Alstom, where she was managing director of the urban and services business division. In this role, Susan led the successful delivery of an extension to the Nottingham tram network. In addition, she was responsible for Alstom’s contracts managing the Northern line fleet maintenance, the Dublin tram vehicle and infrastructure maintenance and Nottingham tram maintenance. Susan will replace John Longthorne who has led the rail, bridges and structures team for the past two years.

in timetable development will help train operators across the north to deliver on franchise transformation commitments. Finally, Paul Rutter will be route director for East Coast. Paul held the LNE & EM chief operating officer role for over two years and will focus on working with all East Coast main line operators to deliver performance improvement and work towards delivery of the route upgrade.

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TfL appoints Lord

EMR announces MD

Andy Lord (pictured) will replace Nigel Holness as the managing director of London Underground.

Will Rogers (pictured) has been appointed as the managing director of Abellio’s new East Midlands Railway (EMR) franchise, which began on August 18.

Andy spent more than 25 years at British Airways. Having joined as an engineering undergraduate, he progressed to a variety of senior roles across the airline, finally serving as their director of operations from 20082015. He was most recently the executive vice-president for Menzies Aviation, where he led on negotiating strategic contracts, improving safety and operational performance in Europe, Middle East, Africa and India. The appointment of Andy means Nigel Holness, who is the current managing director of London Underground, will be leaving the organisation to take up his previously announced position of chief executive for Metro Trains Sydney. Vernon Everitt, managing director of customers, communication and technology, will take up the role on an interim basis before Andy joins Transport for London on November 4. London’s Transport Commissioner Mike Brown said: “[Andy] brings more than 30

years of experience from the aviation industry, with a heavy focus on engineering, people leadership and customer service and a wealth of experience in delivering safe and reliable transport services. I am sure his fresh viewpoint and knowledge will help us continue to deliver reliable and improved services for our customers. “I also want to thank Nigel Holness for all his work for London Underground over his career and agreeing to be managing director following Mark Wild’s move to Crossrail Limited. Nigel has been instrumental in helping to deliver new signalling, improved and more accessible stations and the introduction of the Night Tube. We wish him all the best in his new role in Australia.”

Innovation job share Helen Simpson and Chandra Morbey have been jointly appointed to the role of innovation and projects director at Porterbrook. The promotion of Helen and Chandra, who will fulfil the role as a job share, is in recognition of “their outstanding contribution and leadership at Porterbrook”, particularly in the development of the hydrogenpowered HydroFLEX train and the Innovation Hub, a demonstrator platform for testing new rail technologies and passenger-facing improvements. In their new role Helen and Chandra will oversee innovation, technical services and new build projects. Jason Groombridge, director of engineering services, said: “Helen and Chandra are a tremendous asset to our engineering services team and I am confident that their new position will be a further boost to Porterbrook’s reputation for innovation and project delivery.”

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Will, who is currently the managing director of Arriva Rail London, officially joins the train company in January 2020, with Julian Edwards, Abellio UK’s deputy managing director, taking up the role on an interim basis. At his current employer, Will led the successful mobilisation of the concession as well as the first three years of its operation. Prior to that he was production director and also head of fleet and engineering at CrossCountry. Dominic Booth, Abellio UK’s managing director, said: “We are delighted to have Will joining us and confident that his experience and drive will deliver the significant improvements we’re committed to delivering for the East Midlands. Julian will lead the new team as we embark on

a critical first few months for the East Midlands Railway.” Abellio also confirmed the other appointments to EMR’s senior management team: Tim Gledhill, finance director; Darren Ward, operations director; Lawrence Bowman, commercial director; Neil Grabham, customer services director; Chris Wright, fleet director; Lisa Angus, transition and projects director; Paul Rushton, health, safety, security and environment director; and Kirsty Derry, resources director.

"Mum of Great Northern" says farewell Cake, balloons and banners awaited Susan Shickle at Stevenage station on July 8 as colleagues gathered to say goodbye. Susan, fondly referred to as “the mum of Great Northern” by staff, worked on the railway for 28 years and finished her career as an area supervisor and safety rep. She joined British Rail as a station catering manager in 1983 but left in 1989 when her husband went to work on the Channel Tunnel. She returned in 1997 and has worked at Stevenage ever since. Susan said: “I've seen many changes and the station is much busier than it was when I started, but the people - both staff and customers - are just as lovely as they have always been." Stevenage station manager Marc Edwards added: "Susan had a big presence within the station team and will be greatly missed. She was a huge source of support for staff and they would regularly come to her for help and advice."

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NEWS IN BRIEF Williams Review update

The man tasked with working out how to improve the UK’s railways believes the current franchising model has had its day. Keith Williams said what has worked in the 25 years after privatisation is now holding the sector back. He is now calling for a greater distance between government and the running of the day-to-day railway. Recommendations from the Williams Review will be published in the autumn with reform beginning in 2020.

Coal supply threat

The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Heritage Rail has warned that action to tackle climate change is threatening the viability of steam railways. The group reports that British-mined coal, which the grates of preserved steam locomotives were designed for, is only expected to be available for some two years. After that, coal will have to be imported at a higher cost. Group chair Nicky Morgan described the situation as a “classic case of the law of unintended consequences”.

Net gain in biodiversity by 2040

The Department for Transport has set out a strategy for how it expects Network Rail to protect and enhance the lineside environment, while ensuring the safety of passengers and services. The policy challenges Network Rail to achieve no net loss in biodiversity across the network by 2024, deliver a net gain in biodiversity by 2040 and produce a biodiversity action plan by December detailing how it will meet these goals. The strategy follows recommendations from the independently chaired review led by John Varley.

Regional rail up 29%

A new report from the Urban Transport Group has revealed that regional rail use has increased by 29 per cent since 2008/09, hitting 389 million in 2017/18.

Presidential seminar

George Clark will discuss ‘Future Communications Systems’ on September 18 in his first technical seminar since becoming president of the IRSE. Those with an interest in the future of signalling and communications systems, particularly those specifying or delivering future renewals projects, existing and prospective suppliers, signalling and train control suppliers and major network operators, will find the event of interest. One Great George Street, the home of the Institution of Civil Engineers, in London, is the venue for this seminar.

Free travel on GOBLIN

London Overground’s Gospel Oak to Barking line is now being exclusively operated using Bombardier’s Aventra trains, doubling capacity and restoring the line’s 15 minute frequency. The first of the new trains began carrying passengers in May. Over the summer more units have been tested and brought into service. To say ‘thank you’ to customers for their patience during the delay in introducing the new trains, TfL is offering customers a month of free travel on the line in September. This will be funded by manufacturer Bombardier and be in place from August 31 to October 1.

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Barrierless ticketing Station ticket barriers could be a thing of the past thanks to new sensor beacon technology being developed and trialled by Hitachi Rail. The prototype technology uses sensors on trains to detect an app on passengers’ smartphones as they board, removing the need to queue at the barrier or ticket machine or to show an e-ticket. Passengers will be automatically charged the correct fare using Hitachi’s smart ticketing technology to ensure the passenger will not be overcharged. This technology will now undergo a rigorous testing programme for the public transport operator Trentino Trasporti in Trento, Italy. Hitachi then

hopes to bring it to the UK for use on buses, trams and trains. Karen Boswell, managing director of Hitachi Rail Europe, said: “This technology has the ability to transform public transport in every corner of the country, from rural buses to city centre train stations. The common travelling woes of queues at ticket machines or trying to find the cheapest fare could be solved without even needing to reach for your pocket. “We are now beginning to test this technology and looking at the possibility of one app working across large stretches of a country. For example, a passenger could use the app to take a bus in their local town and a train elsewhere in the country all in one day.”

Super slimmer's fundraiser A fleet planner who lost 13 stone in less than a year has completed an epic four-day charity cycle ride between London and Paris. Andy Turner, who works for Southern, tackled the 300-mile distance to raise money for Crawley-based St Catherine’s Hospice. During his ride he battled through soaring temperatures that caused many to stop and raised more than £2,800. The super slimmer wanted to support the hospice after his massive weight lost in 2015 - when he weighed almost 30 stone - which dramatically changed his life. Andy, who works at the rail operating centre near Three Bridges station, said he had tried to use his "new-found" fitness to help good causes. He added: "I chose St Catherine’s as I have experienced their care first-hand

when I had treatment for lymphoedema. I also know many people who have experienced their incredible care of friends and loved ones coming to the end of their lives.” Lymphoedema is a condition that causes swelling in the body’s tissues, usually the arms or legs. Andy developed lymphoedema after he broke his ankle 11 years ago and ended up with an infection and cellulitis. "My weight loss helped it get better, but the care I got from St Catherine’s was fantastic," said Andy.

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Doctorate for Thurston

Training staff in a station that hasn't been built

Mark Thurston, the chief executive of HS2, was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of East London at a graduation ceremony on July 18.

Future staff for HS2's Old Oak Common station will train in augmented reality (AR) to gain the necessary skills and knowledge to manage it before the station opens.

Mark was given the conferment of Honorary Doctorate of Technology in recognition of his work managing high-profile and complex public and private infrastructure projects, including work on the 2012 Olympics and Crossrail. In his speech to graduating students, Mark said: “I always tell young people that technical competencies are important but what makes the difference, and what I think is the key to success, is following what I call my ‘golden rules’. “How you conduct yourself, your attitude, becoming self-aware, investing discretionary effort into your network, personal resilience and emotional intelligence are essential. It’s not just about what you do but how you do it.” He advised graduands to “take the odd risk, push yourselves and strive to meet your full potential every single day” and added: “Although I am 52 I believe today no less than I did as an apprentice 35 years ago that I have more to do in my career and more to learn.” Mark began his career working for London Underground, then known as London Regional Transport, in September 1983. He undertook a four-year apprenticeship and completed an Ordinary National Certificate and Higher National Certificate in electronic and electrical engineering and later did a distance learning master’s degree in engineering management at Loughborough University.

HS2, partnering with Pauley, the National College for High Speed Rail and Inventya, will work with station designer WSP to develop customer service, maintenance and safety training for the station’s workforce. The AR training will also benefit the station developers as trainees can provide feedback on their experience of running the hub, so plans can be honed before it is built. Mike Luddy, HS2's stations director, said: “From its earliest days Old Oak Common will be one of the UK’s busiest and bestconnected stations. Serving both HS2 and the Elizabeth line it is designed to handle around 275,000 passengers every day. To accommodate that number of people in a pleasant, safe and efficient environment, it’s crucial that staff know the station’s workings in detail.

“The challenge is that Old Oak Common station hasn’t been built yet. So to train the station’s entirely new workforce with the skills and knowledge they will need we must innovate. “Through this project, which is supported by Innovate UK and the DfT, we’re harnessing the power of digital technology to build Old Oak Common in augmented reality.” Philip Pauley, managing director, said: “We’re only starting to harness the power of augmented reality. Few people really get what it is and what it can do."

For the fallen British and Irish railway colleagues will come together for a special service at Southwark Cathedral, London, on November 6 to remember those who died fighting in World War One. On land, sea and in the air, over 186,000 rail industry workers from Britain and Ireland fought in the Great War – and almost 19,000 of those died doing so. On May 14, 1919, in the presence of His Majesty King George V, more than 7,000 railway people and their families attended a service of remembrance at St Paul’s Cathedral for the railwaymen of Great Britain and Ireland who died in service during the war. More than a century later, another ceremony

is being organised to remember them. Sir Peter Hendy CBE, chairman of Network Rail, said: “Over 100 years on from the end of World War One, this memorial service is an opportunity for the rail industry to come together and remember the hundreds of thousands of railway workers who served their country, over 18,957 of whom made the ultimate sacrifice. “I look forward to paying my respects to those workers, whose contribution during the war will never be forgotten.”

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Bride and groom thank HS2 for wedding favour A newly-wed couple have thanked contractors working on HS2 after they came to the rescue on the eve of their wedding. Days of heavy rain had flooded Oliver Daniels and Holly Johnson’s garden venue in the village of Blakenhall, Cheshire, making access to their marquee virtually impossible. The couple arranged for the wedding party to use a nearby car park and then transport them to the venue by bus. However, they still had to find a way of getting 130 wedding guests – as well as catering staff, equipment and supplies – from the venue’s gravelled yard across the sodden, muddy field in to the marquee.

With three days to go until the big day, the mother of the groom approached HS2 contractor Balfour Beatty, which is currently providing ground investigation works at a compound in the village where the reception was due to take place. Balfour Beatty was expecting a delivery of 50 new MaxiTrack panels the next day and were happy to loan their track matting to ensure the bridal party could get to the venue dry and mud-free. Hours before the wedding took place on June 15, the temporary walkway was installed for guests. Andy Maddock, Balfour Beatty site agent, said: “Wedding planning is certainly different

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The best is yet to come At Woking Homes, the warmth of our welcome is matched only by the highest standards of care. When people have worked hard throughout their life and have been committed to helping others, we think they deserve extra cherishing. We are a railway charity and the only residential facility in the country dedicated to providing residential and respite care primarily for former railway employees and their close family members. At Woking Homes, we provide a secure, relaxed and homely environment in which the care, wellbeing and comfort of residents are of prime importance. Our philosophy emphasises the individuality of everyone within our home. Prospective residents are encouraged to visit the home to sample the atmosphere and level of service. Sometimes a short-stay of two or three days can be arranged to “feel the way”. Please call for a brochure or visit our website to find out more: Telephone: 01483 763558 Email: administration@woking-homes.co.uk Web: www.woking-homes.co.uk

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to the boreholes and trial pits we are used to dealing with, but we had the materials and labour available, and we were glad to help.” Iain Andrews, HS2’s head of community engagement, added that it was a “great example of how HS2 and its supply chain is working with communities along the route to build respectful and long-term relationships”. He said: “How we and our suppliers behave as we build Britain’s new high-speed railway is just as important as what we’re creating, and that’s why we aim to be a good neighbour every day in all the communities in which we’re operating in.”

Hall hangs up whistle London Northwestern Railway (LNR) colleague Vic Hall dispatched his final train on August 7 as he retired after 50 years on the railway. Aged 16, the railwayman joined British Rail on August 4, 1969, and began working at Watford Junction – where he has remained ever since. "I was just so keen on trains I think I just turned up and they let me help,” he said. “I was doing anything and everything, from cleaning the windows to looking after the platforms. "Coming to work has always been a pleasure for me because I love the trains. I have been fortunate to work with a fantastic

set of colleagues over the years and I will certainly be back regularly to visit." For his half a century of service, Vic had a Class 350 train named in his honour. He also received a model of his favourite engine - a now-scrapped Class 50 named "Implacable". Jan Chaudhry-van der Velde, managing director of LNR, said: "To have worked on the railway for 50 years is a remarkable achievement but to have worked in the same location for that long is incredibly special.” A bachelor, Vic said he is looking forward to spending his retirement globetrotting to travel on trains in different countries with Germany his next stop.

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REPORT BY COLIN WHEELER

All images © RAIB

FATALITIES, LIFE-CHANGING INJURIES AND NEAR MISSES

NOW IS THE TIME FOR RAIL WORKING PRACTICES TO CHANGE!

ince the beginning of railways, flags and horns or whistles have been used to provide warnings. With all of today’s technology available I wonder why we are still working that way? When the Channel Tunnel rail link opened with trains scheduled at speeds over 125mph it was decided that working on track whilst trains were running would not be permitted. The main heavy rail routes were by that time running at up to 125mph but the arrangements for protecting track workers remained as they always had been. Surely using lookouts, and even advanced lookouts communicating with flags and horns should no longer be allowed? Equally dangerous is the continuing practice of “protecting” track possessions using a row of three small explosive devices called detonators and a possession limit board (an updated version of the earlier twin poles with a red cloth stretched between them). These items providing “protection” have to be manually put in the right place when possession of the track has been granted by the signaller!

Track possessions and warning systems Now is the time for an overdue radical change. Since people are familiar with road traffic, we might initially perhaps continue with lookout protection for speeds up to 30 or even 60mph? Above these speeds it is time we mandated the use of automatic warning systems and possession practices which do not put additional people on the tracks. Track circuit operating devices already exist that may be temporarily installed in advance (and in daylight) and then remotely activated when the possession is granted. In these days of reliable mobile electronic devices, we cannot in all conscience continue as we have been doing.

Stoats Nest fatality report

RAIB’s (Rail Accident Investigation Branch) report on this fatal accident was issued in July (07/2019). It happened at Stoats Nest Junction near Purley some three and a half miles south of East Croydon (just 20m south of mile post 14 1/4). There is a road access point on Stoats Nest Road and a foot access adjacent to the down slow line at Old Lodge Lane – see diagram below.

Line diagram showing Stoats Nest Junction and other key locations.

All lines except the Reedham Sidings are third rail, 750V DC electrified with 80mph speed on the slows and 90mph on the fast lines. The planned possession was on the slow lines from 0001 to 0510 on November 6, 2018 and the COSS (controller of site safety) had confirmed his acceptance of the safe work pack. Litter clearing and the removal of graffiti at stations on the Tattenham Corner branch line was to be undertaken with the southern possession limit being signal T173 on the down slow and T184 on the up Redhill line. Vital Human Resources supplied self-employed individuals who were working on zero hours contracts; two COSSs (otherwise known as block road men), two possession support assistants (PSAs) and the PICOP (person in charge of possession).

Walking back to traffic in darkness

At around 0028 hours on November 6 a London Victoria to Three Bridges passenger train travelling at 69mph struck and fatally injured the COSS near Stoats Nest Junction. He had placed the detonators and limit boards for the engineering possession. He then walked to the end of the protected area but continued walking with his back to traffic on the open section of line. The report surmises that he was fatigued and may have been “distracted” as the PSA who should have been with him had not come to work that night. The report cites as “underlying factors” the exposure of the track worker to risk whilst putting out the possession protection, and the risk of fatigue amongst staff on zero hours contracts. It adds that the management processes “neither identified nor prevented staff absenting themselves from work without being detected” and comments that the Sentinel system has limitations if used to establish the presence of staff on site.

Two possession boards and six detonators

The PSA for that night was the brother of the COSS involved in the accident. At a briefing on November 3, in the absence of the PICOP, the operational delivery manager had noticed

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TRACK SAFETY

Colin Wheeler.

RAIB reconstruction showing protection (detonators and possession limit boards) being placed on up slow line. that due to its road access Stoats Nest was shown as the access point. He recommended use of Old Lodge Lane instead as it was closer and advised the COSS to speak to the PICOP about it. In the event that conversation did not occur until 2259 hours on the night of the possession when the COSS explained the access choice.

The PICOP assumed the COSS was accompanied by his PSA when he rang again at 0017 hours telling the COSS to put the protection in place. The COSS entered the railway alone carrying two possession limit boards and the required detonators. He used the access steps onto the down slow cess and made his way to signal T173.

He then called the PICOP to confirm that the protection was in place and was told to be available to lift it again at around 0440 hours.

PSA was at home in bed

At 0028 the passenger train entered the crossover from the down fast to down Redhill line at 70mph. The driver saw the COSS and sounded his horn believing the COSS was walking in the down slow cess. The COSS raised his arm acknowledging the warning horn without turning around. As the train approached the

down Redhill line its driverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s viewing angle changed and he realised that the COSS was back to traffic on the track his train was on. He gave continuous horn warnings and applied the emergency brake, but the COSS again raised his arm without turning around. The train struck him and he was killed instantly. The driver used his train radio to report the accident and the signaller called the emergency services. The PICOP and others tried to contact the COSS and PSA unaware that the latter, although signed in, was at home in bed! Emergency services began a

30 g

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search for the PSA but following a call from a work colleague the PSA spoke to the PICOP who told him of his brother’s death.

“Ghosting” and the risks faced by possession staff questioned

The RAIB report says that the COSS had probably had no more than 12 hours sleep in the preceding 48 hours and that he had warned his brother that any shift checks would uncover his absence as PSA and his “ghosting”. The PSA had “ghosted” on at least seven previous occasions. Covering for him required the COSS to forge the PSA’s signature on the safe work pack. A 2008 RAIB report recommended that Network Rail critically reviewed its possession management process “to reduce the need for staff to be on track”. The Stoats Nest report says “the added value of placing possession limit boards and detonators is arguably small compared to the risks faced by possession staff”. It is equally forthright about the use of contract staff and states that “the railway industry’s use of staff on zero hours contracts for night work creates conditions in which it is difficult to manage fatigue effectively”. I agree with both statements! The PSA had worked for a total of 102 hours between October 22 - 31 and on the weekend of the accident had additionally worked 17 hours for a delivery company. In addition, he was scheduled to work a further 60 hours during the week commencing November 5!

“Travelling at considerable speed” – no site lighting

RAIB report 08/2019 is about the collision on September 19 last year at Cholmondeston between two road rail vehicles (pictured below). A road/rail ballast distributor was being driven in reverse direction between Chester and Crewe when it collided with a Kubota personnel carrier in which three workers were seated.

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Due to its design the distributor has a very limited view of the line ahead when driven in reverse. It was driven “at considerable speed” with the machine controller in the cab with the machine operator. One of the track staff in the Kubota suffered life changing injuries to his back and leg whilst the second suffered sprains and bruising. The third was able to get clear before the impact. The Kubota was significantly damaged, as was the distributor’s conveyor. There was no site lighting and work was carried out using individual head torches and the vehicle lights.

Recommendations

Tamping work near Beeston Castle created the need for topping up so on September 17, a ballast distributor and operator were ordered for work on the following two nights. A safe system of work plan was completed and issued. The distributor was heard by the COSS as it approached towards the end of its three-mile journey. Apart from the restricted vision, the Kubota was not where the distributor crew expected it to be. RAIB’s recommendations include a review by the RSSB of the “practicality of permitted engineering and procedure controls including the visibility of the line ahead and the management of speed.” Additionally, Network Rail is to review all road/rail vehicles based on unidirectional road vehicles.

Tram stop fatality near Saughton, Edinburgh

On July 25, RAIB published its report 09/2019 on the fatal accident that happened at 1210 on September 11 last year. A pedestrian bus driver was using the footpath crossing when he was struck and fatally injured by a tram travelling at 33mph from the city centre to Edinburgh Airport. The report says that the pedestrian was “seemingly unaware that the tram was approaching”. The tram driver used the tram’s bell to sound repeated warnings but this was not loud enough for it to be heard in time. RAIB says the warning devices were not loud enough to provide effective warnings and its recommendations require the Light Rail Safety and Standards Board (LRSSB) to improve guidance on audible tram warning devices and on the layout of tram footpath crossings. In February this year the government made £1.5 million available to fund the new LRSSB and in May its chief executive Peter Cushing said he intended to improve light rail standards further. Their formation meets one of the recommendations of the RAIB’s Sandilands Croydon tram report.

Near miss at Ynys Hir, Ceredigion, near Dovey Junction

On July 29, RAIB issued a five-page safety digest on this incident that happened on April 2 last year. Eight track workers had been fishplate oiling and were walking back on the single line that was open to traffic. The digest says that the group “had become separated” as they walked back towards the access point. A single lookout was appointed to provide protection. It was 1158 when the driver of the 1029 passenger train from Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth was travelling at almost 60mph when the near miss happened. On seeing the first two workers the driver sounded his horn. The workers having moved to a position of safety, acknowledged the warning. Just ten seconds later he saw a worker walking back to traffic in the four-foot of the track. He again sounded his horn which the worker failed to hear until after the driver had applied the emergency brake. The worker then moved clear. Tragically few if any of the incidents and accidents referred to above will surprise rail workers. Many new innovations have been introduced since Network Rail came into being, but for safety’s sake effective and radical changes are overdue to the “safe systems of work” the industry inherited from our Victorian forebears and still uses!

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RAIL SAFETY SUMMIT SPEAKERS REVEALED TAKING PLACE ON OCTOBER 3 IN LONDON, THIS YEAR'S CONFERENCE WILL FEATURE TALKS ON THE CHALLENGES FACING HEALTH AND SAFETY PROFESSIONALS IN CP6 HOST: Nicola Uijen, HSQE director, NW&C route, Network Rail Over the last 20 years Nicola has provided vision and strategy to lead continuous improvement in reducing the impact from operations in terms of health, environment and safety in the rail industry. In recent times Nicola’s passion for improvements in health and wellbeing have led her to chair the RSSB working group on healthy behaviours. Currently, Nicola is focussed on delivering the core business strategies to drive down workforce and public accidents, improve health and wellbeing and reduce the environmental impact on the LNW Route.

KEYNOTES: Martin Frobisher, group director of safety, technical and engineering, Network Rail Near Miss Reduction Programme Martin’s role covers a mixture of technical issues ranging from biodiversity to track engineering and future research. His team sets policy and technical standards and provides assurance to confirm that standards are being delivered. His talk will cover Network Rail’s ‘Near Miss Reduction Programme’, which has been accelerated following the death of two workers at Margam in South Wales in July. This includes such initiatives as designing and developing new protection and warning systems using digital technology to warn workers of approaching trains as well as better management of working time, travelling time and the impact of personal lifestyle on alertness and fitness for work. Joan Heery, engineering director, AECOM Safety From The Perspective Of A Consulting Engineer Joan is a chartered engineer with over 30 years’ experience, the last 20 of which have been aligned with the rail industry. In her current role at AECOM she is responsible for driving and leading its ambition for technical excellence in railway engineering. The role includes co-ordination of technical leadership across all disciplines to ensure effective discipline on networks, competency management, common design standards and knowledge sharing as the best practice. Joan was also appointed to the presidential chain of the PWI in spring 2018.

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Simon French, chief inspector, RAIB Detrainment Incidents Simon French is a graduate of the London School of Economics. He joined the rail industry in 1982 as a management trainee and worked on a number of major railway projects including the Channel Tunnel and Heathrow Express during his time at British Rail. In 1998, he joined the client organisation for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (now known as HS1) as the head of operations and safety. In 2004, Simon joined the newly formed Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB). After six years as a deputy, in 2015 he was appointed to the role of chief inspector.

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Paul Furnell, Detective Chief Superintendent, BTP A New Approach To Counter Terrorism Det Ch Supt Furnell is the head of crime and public protection for BTP and has been a serving police officer for over 29 years. He oversees the force’s crime, public protection and intelligence capability coordinating overt and covert investigations aimed at disrupting serious criminality. Dr Richard Peters, chief medical officer, Network Rail The Importance Of Health To Safety Dr Peters provides assurance to the board, the company as a whole, regulators and the wider rail industry on the occupational health and wellbeing management of its 39,000 permanent employees. Sabyta Kaushal, partner, PM Law The Law And Lessons Learned From High-Profile Cases Sabyta is a solicitor at PM Law specialising in personal injury cases – serious and catastrophic injuries, accidents at work, public and occupiers liability, road traffic cases and clinical negligence. Stuart Webster-Spriggs, HSQES director, VolkerRail Fatigue And Driving Stuart is currently the industry’s fatigue champion and promotes and progresses the topic in conjunction with the RSSB. The Rail Safety Summit takes place on 3 October at the offices of Addleshaw Goddard. For more information: www.railsummits.com

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SUMMITS

RAILSTAFF AUG/SEPT 2019

MEET YOUR RAIL SAFETY SUMMIT HOST NICOLA UIJEN, HSQE DIRECTOR FOR THE NORTH WEST & CENTRAL REGION AT NETWORK RAIL, WILL LEAD THE DEBATE AT THIS YEAR'S CONFERENCE Why is it important to have a conference dedicated to rail safety? I firmly believe that safety and health accountability should be integral to everything we do, definitely not a priority or a bolt-on but just part of everything. I think it is great to get a community of practitioners together to discuss, debate and learn from one another. The UK rail industry is leading the way across Europe in how safe the railway is for passengers, members of the public and our workforce. That doesn’t mean that tragic accidents don’t occur, Margam in July is testament to that. It means that we need to think about the smaller accidents, the hazards and close calls we see everyday and put them right, change them quickly so that they don’t turn into bigger accidents.

Network Rail has a new moto "Putting Passengers First" - what difference does it make to safety?

It’s a fantastic opportunity for the railway community. It means helping the wellbeing of those that interface with our infrastructure to reduce the number of people thinking about taking their lives on the railway and it means reducing the potential to cause harm to our workforce. Most importantly it means working together through train and freight operators, infrastructure managers, the supply chain and the regulator to continue to improve the safety, health and wellbeing of everyone coming into contact with the railway. By having a conference dedicated to these issues, some of them quite difficult subjects to talk about, means we can be open and honest and really debate how to truly deliver safer performance.

Are there any presentations you’re particularly looking forward to?

As you would expect me to say I think it is an excellent and varied programme. It will be interesting to see the difference between the historic lessons (Mike Esbester) and the way things will look in the future (Ali Chegini) and understand if we are still trying to fix historic

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problems. In the rail industry we are not terribly good at learning or embedding the things we have learnt and consequently seem to go round in circles reinventing the wheel. I think we have a good mix this year. I really embrace health, it's one of my passions, so listening to Richard Peters will be interesting to understand his view on how we put health to the same level of its richer cousin safety. The subject of fatigue is also a thorny issue and one of those that we keep going round in circles on, largely because I fear we never truly want to tackle the thorny issues it presents. It will be good to hear how Stuart Webster-Spriggs thinks this can be resolved. Similar to mental health, the sooner we start talking about the difficult subjects the sooner we will come to a solution, even if we recognise it might take some time to get there.

Have you hosted a conference before?

I have spoken at the Rail Safety Summit previously about doing things differently and being mature enough to accept that zero accidents may not be achievable. Whilst few people would deem it acceptable to have a fatal accident or broken bone whilst at work, it becomes more tolerable if you get a knock or a bang and end up with a bruise. The

smaller accidents give us that valuable data to prevent the big stuff occurring. I was also involved in the first ever Rail Safety Live event earlier this year, and we are just planning the next one. It is critically important that we get the message out to our children and young people that the railway is a dangerous place. The event was filmed in a school with other schools linking directly in to the broadcast and watching the footage since. Approximately 100,000 children have now seen Rail Safety Live and have had the opportunity to ask questions.

What would you say to safety professionals that are thinking of attending the Rail Safety Summit?

It is one of those opportunities to learn and share knowledge and then take a personal action to go and check those things in your own workplaces. Even if you only learn one thing that day it gives you the opportunity to change your own behaviours and improve health and safety in your workplaces. More importantly it is the opportunity to meet with your community of practitioners, debate some of those thorny issues and influence how health and safety in the rail industry is implemented. Why wouldn’t you want a voice and an opportunity to nudge things in the direction that you feel they should be going?

FEATURE

RAILSTAFF AUG/SEPT 2019

AZUMA

CROSSES THE BORDER DAVID SHIRRES REPORTS ON TWO SERVICE LANDMARKS FOR LNER'S NEW FLEET

t the end of July there were celebrations in York and Edinburgh to mark the first Azuma services from these cities to London. On July 30, Mallard, the world’s fastest steam engine, was moved from York Railway Museum to the city’s station to greet the new Azuma train, which then ran to Darlington to be seen alongside the Flying Scotsman steam locomotive. The next day saw a special Azuma run from Edinburgh to Berwick and back for invited guests. Edinburgh celebrated the event with LNER’s new tartan and the bagpipes of the Red Hot Chilli Pipers who greeted the train’s arrival and gave a performance on board. The new tartan includes blue for Scotland, red for England, white for the Yorkshire rose, purple for the heather of Scotland, green for the rolling hills and landscape throughout the route and silver grey for the tracks. At the Edinburgh launch, LNER managing director David Horne explained how the Azumas will bring a real revolution in rail travel to the East Coast route, which has a proud history of pioneering express trains. With the route experiencing a 25 per cent increase in patronage over the past five years, these new trains will provide muchneeded extra capacity as they have about a hundred more seats per train which, in standard class, offer an extra seven centimetres legroom. David also emphasised the importance of sustainability, noting that an Edinburgh to London rail journey has one sixth of the CO2 emissions of the plane journey. The Azumas have further sustainability benefits as their bi-mode operation will ensure that all East Coast services under overhead lines will be electrically powered. RAILSTAFF.CO.UK | @RAIL_STAFF | FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF

SERVICE INTRODUCTION As with many new trains, this launch had been postponed, in this case due to production delays and infrastructure compatibility issues. LNER engineering director John Doughty told RailStaff that LNER had been “very careful not to run risks” whilst introducing these new trains, so everything possible was done to ensure that all was right before the launch. This includes LNER’s dedicated Azuma acceptance team who ensure the trains are perfect before accepting them into service. One issue for East Coast services north of Doncaster was electromagnetic compatibility between the train and the legacy electronic signalling equipment which required modification to both the trains and the infrastructure. Another infrastructure issue is the need to upgrade feeder stations at Doncaster and Marshall Meadows at the Scottish border to provide enough power to supply LNER’s full electric train service. Whilst the feeder station at Doncaster is to be upgraded in October, Marshall Meadows won’t be upgraded until at least 2021. Until then, some of the bi-mode Azumas will have to operate on diesel power for 30 miles on either side of the Scottish border. Between October and December, more Anglo-Scot services will transfer to Azuma operation including LNER’s sole LondonGlasgow service and the services to Aberdeen and Inverness, which require long-distance diesel bi-mode operation. The December timetable change will see the introduction of LNER’s half-hourly daytime service between London and Edinburgh, by next May all these trains will be Azumas. The five-car bi-mode Azumas will also enable LNER to introduce a new service to Lincoln later this year plus more frequent services to Harrogate. Later there will also be direct services from London to Huddersfield and Middlesbrough.

EXPERIENCING THE AZUMA

The return trip from Edinburgh to Berwick on the class 800/1 bi-mode unit 800 104 provided an opportunity to experience the Azuma at 125mph when the ride was lively on occasions. However catering staff considered that it was better than they were used to, so they didn’t expect to bruise their legs on the tables. It was also an opportunity for a close look at the nine-car train which has 101 first class and 510 standard class seats, all of which have their own power sockets. There is a traffic light seat reservation system above each seat which turns to green after the portion of the reserved journey has been completed. Amber denotes that seat has been reserved later in the journey. The coaches on the nine-car Azuma are lettered A to C and G to M. Coaches A to J are standard. A has two wheelchair spaces,

B has two bike compartments, each holding two bikes, G has the café bar, K has two bike compartments and is half standard, half first class, L and M, which has two wheelchair spaces, are first class coaches. There are ten toilets on the train, including two universally accessible toilets. The five-car Azumas (Class 800/2) are lettered A to E. When the Class 800/2 units run coupled together the second unit is lettered F to M. The 26m Azuma coaches have a spacious feeling, although in standard class seats are not lined up with the windows. Although standard class seats are firm, they are not uncomfortable. The first-class seats are lined up with the windows. They are less firm than standard, though perhaps not as comfortable as the plush seating of current trains that were refurbished three years ago.

The Red Hot Chilli Pipers at King's Cross mark the Azuma’s inaugural 17:30 departure to Edinburgh.

RAILSTAFF AUG/SEPT 2019

NEWCASTLE TO LONDON – AVERAGE 105MPH 05:30 at Edinburgh Waverley is normally a quiet time, though on August 1 there was a buzz about the station as breakfast boxes and fruit juice was handed out to all passengers on the Flying Scotsman, which was formed by Class 800/1 unit 800 104. One of the Red Hot Chilli Pipers piped out the Azuma’s inaugural run from Edinburgh to London. This was LNER’s Flying Scotsman service which left Edinburgh at 0540 and after stopping at Newcastle, runs non-stop to London to arrive there four hours after leaving Edinburgh. This 268-mile non-stop run is the UK’s longest. On the day, this first Azuma service left Newcastle at 07:05, to arrive in Kings Cross at 09:39, a minute early, having averaged 104.8mph. On the run, commemorative Azuma key rings and malt whisky miniatures were handed out. Later that day, York-made raspberry and gin jam was handed out on the inaugural York to London service. As the Azuma approached King’s Cross after its flawless inaugural journey, LNER managing director David Horne thanked

FEATURE

those on board for joining LNER on this memorable occasion. On arrival, the train was greeted by a single piper and Azuma shopping bags were handed out. There is no equivalent northbound service. The return Azuma leaves King’s Cross at 17:30 and, after eight stops, arrives at Edinburgh. Before Class 800/1 800 107 departed for Edinburgh at 17:30, its waiting passengers were treated to another performance by the Red Hot Chilli Pipers. On board malt whisky miniatures and key rings were again handed out. However, there wasn’t quite the buzz about this return working which took four hours 40 minutes to get to Edinburgh having stopped at Peterborough, Newark, York, Darlington, Durham, Newcastle, Alnmouth and Dunbar. This time there was no piper to greet the train at its final destination though LNER staff, clearly proud of their new train, were taking selfies to mark the occasion. The past three days had given the Azuma a special launch, now it was time for the train to start routinely offering a high-class service on the East Coast route. FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF | @RAIL_STAFF | RAILSTAFF.CO.UK

GENDER DIVERSITY

RAILSTAFF AUG/SEPT 2019

POWERING PRODUCTIVITY THE CASE FOR GREATER DIVERSITY STEWART THORPE OUTLINES WHY RAIL NEEDS TO DRAW ON NEW POOLS OF TALENT

n a quiet side street office in the heart of Westminster, a team of data analysts gazes into a crystal ball to predict the makeup of rail’s future workforce. At its fingertips the team has collected anonymised data on 237,000 people by drawing on databases from the safety passport system Sentinel and industry employers that date back to 2016. Details such as job role, age, gender and location are entered into a specially designed programme that generates a map of Britain, highlighting where rail’s skills gaps and shortages are most acute. For example, it knows there are currently 288 male train drivers based in Wales over the age of 50 and that, in 10 years time, 613 will be needed in Wales in total. This tool, referred to as the ‘Skills Intelligence Model’ (SIM), not only looks at today but, by looking at how much and where investment is going into the rail industry, it is able to forecast how many people the industry will need, what skills will be needed, where they’ll be needed and, crucially, when. WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A SKILLS GAP AND A SKILLS SHORTAGE? A skills shortage relates to the number in a particular job role (signallers, for example), whereas a skills gap describes limitations in their skillsets

THE BIGGER PICTURE

The remarkable resurgence in the UK rail industry has seen passenger numbers double in the last 20 years, it’s a fact we’re all familiar with. RAILSTAFF.CO.UK | @RAIL_STAFF | FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF

What hasn’t been reported so widely is the number of people employed by train companies alone has increased by almost 50 per cent in that time. With demand for rail services set to increase further, so will the need for more staff. Added to the equation are further trends that complicate the picture for rail’s future workforce in the short and long-term. For example, rail has an ageing workforce caused by a lack of investment in training and skills over the last 20 years. Around 22 per cent of the workforce is older than 50 and the National Skills Academy for Rail (NSAR), which developed SIM, predicts this could result in as many as 50,000 people retiring by 2033. Furthermore, as much as 20 per cent of the rail industry workforce consists of non-UK EU nationals. For some organisations, particularly those in London and the South East, that figure is as high as 50 per cent. Brexit, therefore, threatens the industry’s access to this pool of skilled labour from the EU. Finally, a shift in the types of skills that are in demand - from manual to digital caused by technological advances and digitisation - will change the make-up of jobs and put pressure on upskilling and recruiting people with higher skillsets. These are all changes that influence the SIM forecasting tool. Neil Franklin, head of skills intelligence at NSAR, leads on this work to predict the future workforce for the rail industry. He said there are three areas in particular in which rail faces the most acute skills shortages: signallers, train drivers and maintenance technicians. Simply put, overall, rail will need around 50,000 extra people by 2033.

If it doesn’t succeed in tackling the skills shortages and gaps, labour costs will be pushed up, increases in productivity prevented, project timelines delayed and the industry's ability to deliver a railway to meet future growth requirements compromised. “By not investing in skills, what we’re actually doing is worsening our productivity perspective,” said Neil. “Because we have an ageing workforce, if people retire and that well of capability is not being replenished, we’re relying on fewer and fewer people to do the same job, which basically means we’re paying them more because we don’t have a choice. “What that means is we become less and less productive. So what we should be doing is replenishing the reservoir of talent, either with apprentices or with people from the armed forces or people from other sectors. At the moment, our reservoir is diminishing rather than increasing, which means we’re being less and less productive.” It’s a big task, and it requires a change in approach.

FISHING IN NEW POOLS The railway workforce has long been made up of predominately white, middle-aged men, but if it wants to tackle the skills challenges, it needs to widen its reach and attract the very best talent. This includes recruiting and retaining people of a black, Asian and minority ethnic background and women - who make up less than 15 per cent of the workforce and have previously been underrepresented. It is exactly why this special issue of RailStaff focuses on women, who are one of a number of key talent pools for the industry to fish from.

RAILSTAFF AUG/SEPT 2019

GENDER DIVERSITY

ADVANTAGES OF GENDER DIVERSITY

Not only does rail need women and their skills, research has shown that more gender-diverse workplaces perform better than imbalanced teams. Former chief executive Mark Carne wanted to find out if this held true for Network Rail and prompted a research project looking at its teams. It found teams with 20 per cent or more women - the “critical minimum threshold” - were more engaged, more collaborative, safer and more motivated. And in teams with up to 40 per cent women these scores were even higher. Mark said: “When a workforce is made up of similar people – when they all think the same and have the same background – it encourages conformity and stifles creativity. It doesn’t help us to challenge the way we’ve been doing business for decades. It doesn’t help us to drive up productivity and offer better value for money. It doesn’t help us to keep making our railway safer. It doesn’t help us get better every day.” He added that “diverse, gender balanced teams” were “better in every way”. “The prize is huge” he concluded.

Mark Carne, ex-CEO of Network Rail, alongside colleagues Janice Crawford and Becky Lumlock.

PROUD TO SUPPORT

WOMEN IN RAIL

A SPECIAL EDITION The research above stresses exactly why diversity is important, not just from a cultural standpoint but from an economic one too. This issue, which has been shaped by three railwaywomen who have helped to edit its content, focuses on women in the rail industry, highlighting issues that will hopefully inform, educate and inspire change when it comes to attracting and retaining the very best talent. Researching this topic has been an eye-opener. Diversity has improved considerably since the mid-19th century, when women disguised themselves as men to secure lucrative work constructing railways. Nevertheless, it has so much further to go. The following pages highlight pioneering women, work organisations such as Network Rail, GTR and WSP are undertaking to recruit and retain more women into their workforces and what lessons could be learnt from other industries. I’ve learnt a lot over the past few weeks but, above all else, I’ve come to realise the historic assumption that the market will take care of the provision of skills is no longer safe. We must all act now.

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GENDER DIVERSITY

RAILSTAFF AUG/SEPT 2019

MEET OUR

GUEST EDITORS

ONE WOMAN FROM THE SUPPLY CHAIN, ONE FROM NETWORK RAIL AND ANOTHER FROM THE DRIVER'S CAB; TOGETHER THEY HAVE HELPED TO SHAPE THIS ISSUE

ANNA DELVECCHIO

DIVERSITY CHAMPION, INDUSTRY LEADER AND ROLE MODEL You can’t underestimate the influence of good role models. Anna Delvecchio, Amey director and Rail Sector Deal co-lead, had two. The first was a commercial account director - the same type of role Anna now holds - when she was a sprightly 16-year-old apprentice. The second is the Princess Royal - who she describes as an “exceptional ambassador for Great Britain”. Anna, who is becoming a role model herself, recently returned to Amey after a three year secondment to the Rail Supply Group as programme director, taking on the additional voluntary role as Rail Sector Deal co-lead during that time. Only seven sectors successfully negotiated sector deals with the government, an achievement Anna takes great pride in. “We had many individuals saying that we wouldn’t achieve it, that we were not capable, as a sector, of coordinating ourselves,” she said.

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"We created, negotiated and secured it against other sectors. It is a really good news story for the sector, so I would have to say that’s one of my biggest achievements, as well as taking an apprenticeship in the profession I have gone on to enjoy for over 20 years.” Hailed as a key milestone in the government’s modern industrial strategy, the Rail Sector Deal is intended to deliver more for passengers, create jobs and drive economic growth across the country. For Anna, the deal was one of the proudest moments from her 20 years of working in commercial and supply chain roles in the transport sector, a journey that began in 1997 when she joined Railtrack as a buyer for Major Projects in the Great Western region. “I’m driven by challenges and I knew it was going to be a challenge to co-ordinate the entire sector,” she said. Anna climbed her way up the ladder, building up her knowledge of the industry and its assets through working in the regions and, centrally, in both a contractor and client environment.

ACHIEVEMENTS When she's not working with the Rail Supply Group or for Amey, Anna is a champion for greater diversity and inclusion across the sector. She set up Women in Rail’s ‘South’ group, sits on the board of Women in Transport and, through working with the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, launched the Big Logistics and Transport Diversity Challenge. In June 2019, the London Transport Museum unveiled a portrait and plaque of Anna, appointing her as a patron of the museum and recognising her as an iconic woman of

transport. Anna was also named Woman of the Year at the 2018 Everywoman in Transport & Logistics Awards, in recognition of her work supporting others and helping to inspire the next generation to be part of these sectors. “For me, many years ago, I attended a transport meeting and, when I walked in, there were 300 in the room with perhaps less then five or six women there and no BAME,” said Anna, explaining how she came to become a champion of greater diversity overall. “It was a real turning moment for me. It was ‘Do I roll my sleeves up and help the sector make it more diverse or is it just someone else’s problem?' I decided that I would voluntarily try and champion change to make the sector more diverse.” Anna said that the perception of rail and transport as a male profession is holding the industry back when it comes to attracting a more diverse workforce. Since having her plaque in the museum, Anna has received numerous messages from people wanting to find out more about transport. Anna said: “To inspire others to want to join a great sector in transport and in rail, that will be one my biggest achievements but we are just at the beginning. “Role models play an important part and, as a judge of the 2019 RailStaff Awards, I’m looking forward to identifying a new set of role models that can help deliver and champion change. “Looking ahead, I’m involved in a number of exciting projects with the London Transport Museum and CILT [the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport]. In addition I’ll be supporting the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Women in Transport to highlight best practice in recruiting and retaining women in the sector.”

Â© Rail Media

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GENDER DIVERSITY

RAILSTAFF AUG/SEPT 2019

INGE-SARAH ANDERSEN

'…it clicked very quickly for me that working in rail means there are lots of exciting opportunities…'

ENGINEER, STEM AMBASSADOR AND RISING STAR

If the first 18 months of Inge-Sarah Andersen’s time at Network Rail is anything to go by, she has a promising career ahead of her. The trainee engineer is entering the final months of her graduate programme and has made an impression on colleagues with what she has achieved in a short space of time. In 2018, she was a key player in the launch of Fast Trackers, an outreach programme that gave 150 students, from areas with the lowest uptake of further education, an insight into a career in engineering. Inge-Sarah enlisted the support of industry leaders such as David Waboso, former managing director of the Digital Railway programme, co-ordinated internal and external communications and organised volunteers to help inspire and mobilise the engineers of Generation Z. On its 2019 return, Fast Trackers was even bigger and better, this time reaching more than 300 students.

MENTORING THE CEO Ambitious and eager to seize opportunities to make a difference, Inge-Sarah threw her name into the hat to reverse mentor Andrew Haines, chief executive of Network Rail, when he joined at the end of 2018. Diversity and inclusion (D&I) is a cause close to her heart and one she is passionate about improving. She was one of 60 people to put themselves forward and, after going through a testing application and interview process, she was chosen for the role. Inge-Sarah and Andrew now meet once a month, although Andrew’s busy schedule sometimes gets in the way, to share their experiences and thoughts on D&I improvements at Network Rail. Both of these roles are in addition to her ongoing work placements as a graduate electrical and electronic engineer - currently as part of the signalling team working on East West Rail. Unsurprisingly, Inge-Sarah featured in the 15-person shortlist for the Graduate of the Year category at the 2018 RailStaff Awards, thanks to the backing of colleagues. Although she narrowly missed out on the top prize to a fellow Fast Trackers organiser, judges identified her as one of two highly commended entries.

A HAPPY ACCIDENT Since her childhood, Inge-Sarah has wanted to turn her passion for science into a career. Initially she wanted to become a plastic surgeon and, later, when she took

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a greater interest in physics, she sought to join academia, applying to join the University of Birmingham as her first step. Unfortunately, a required A* grade from her A-Level maths studies did not materialise and she was unsuccessful in her application. Before the news had even reached Inge-Sarah, the University of Birmingham had assessed her credentials and suggested she explore engineering instead. “Before I had even picked up my UCAS results, I had a phone call from the electrical engineering department at Birmingham saying ‘Hi. So, you didn’t make your maths grade, so we’re offering you a place on this course instead.’ I was like - ‘Excuse me? I’ve not heard any of this,'” she said. “I realised that if I’d have known what engineering was, I would have chosen it. It’s essentially applied physics. People talk about engineering, but they don’t say what it is. “If you have a pure physics degree, you either work as an academic or a teacher, or you go into something that’s not really related at all - with engineering that’s not the case.” Enrolling onto the University of Birmingham’s electrical and electronic engineering course, she developed an interest in rail under the tutelage of professors such as Clive Roberts, who is also a director for the Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education. She added: “Clive would use examples that were railway-based in class - very much subliminal advertising - it just got me thinking that it seemed really interesting. “In the first year of university, he took about 10 of us to China for two weeks, which was amazing. It was a little bit of a tour of China, but it was also helping Chinese students to build robots to get credits to pass their summer class. “When I was there, it clicked very quickly for me that working in rail means there are lots of exciting opportunities, the demand is worldwide, and you get to travel. So, from a very simplistic young person’s point of view I thought ‘This is cool, I’d like to find out more about this.’” Inge-Sarah hasn’t looked back since.

OVERCOMING ADVERSITY The story of how Inge-Sarah fell into and then fell in love with the rail industry is one many will recognise. But the struggles she went through as a youngster to get to where she is today is a story many would not. From the age of 11, Inge-Sarah has been a young carer for her mum, who has fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Aged 16, the ongoing battle of juggling studies with her responsibilities at home became too much and she left the education system to look after her mum full-time. It was only when she turned 19, with her mum’s words of encouragement ringing in her ears, that she decided to return as a mature student to tackle her A-Levels. Those difficult years have shaped her mindset and fuelled her drive and determination to this day. Inge-Sarah said: “I was a young carer and my mum was a single parent, she was disabled, there were loads of times when we didn’t have any money, we lived in a crap area, I’m an ethnic minority and I’m a woman. These are all things that, if I hadn’t have had the right support from my mum, would have 100 per cent have held me back. Statistically, people who are just a little bit like me don’t make it in life. “I had my own blip; I was not going to make it. I managed to climb out of that and thought there are so many young people who don’t. “My background is a little unique, as in my mum already had that self-belief. But, if you come from that background, and maybe it’s generations and generations of those backgrounds and you’re already so downtrodden by humanity, society isn’t structured to help you.” Inge-Sarah admitted one day she would love to take on one of the top jobs in the industry, to become chief executive of Network Rail, or to sit on the board of a major company in the rail industry, so she can impart real change. In the meanwhile, however, she is determined to instigate change wherever she can. She added: “Getting into a position where people start to take you seriously, and then getting into contact with people in power and getting to influence people in power, it feels irresponsible not to try and do something with that.”

NIKKI WILLIAMS

SCUBA DIVER, TRAIN DRIVER AND ADVENTURER Of the 128 Virgin Trains drivers based out of Euston station, only three are women. Not that it matters to Nikki Williams. Nikki has been undertaking a demanding programme of training since joining the train company in July last year and is almost ready to operate Pendolinos along the West Coast main line solo. “For me, it’s been very positive,” said Nikki. “I don’t feel [my gender] has had any relevance. Transitioning into this job has been fantastic. The support that I’ve had has been great, I just generally get the feeling that people look out for each other as a whole.”

A COLOURFUL CV Her job may be bound by rules, restrictions and routes, but her career to date has not been. Between university studies and hopping into the train driver’s cab, Nikki spent 18 years living a split life. In the summer months she worked as an ice cream lady, driving around the country to earn and save as much money as she could. Come winter, Nikki would pack up her things and, with the savings from the seasonal work, head abroad to take part in unpaid conservation work while also picking up paid-for work as a divemaster and scuba diving instructor. She flew to South Africa to help with the rehabilitation of injured penguins and travelled deep into Nicaragua’s tropical rain forest to study the area’s rich biodiversity. Nikki admits it was a bit of a strange lifestyle but it’s one that enabled her to chase her dreams and journey all over the globe.

RAILSTAFF AUG/SEPT 2019

TURNING POINT

In 2017, Nikki married her partner and together they decided to settle in the UK. With an undergraduate degree in geography and a master’s in conservation and protective area management, she assumed she could find a well-paid job in this specialist field. But she was wrong. It was after being offered a position with a starting salary of £15,000 that she decided to think outside of the box and beyond the reach of her university education. “I had a chance conversation with my mum’s best friend’s daughter, who basically said she was in a very similar position to me. She had a PhD in her field, so she was even more qualified, but was struggling to find a reasonable job. “She said ‘I’m going to try to become a train driver, it’s supposed to be a really good job.’ By that point, I was looking into anything that I thought I might enjoy that would pay better – so that I could live! “I love driving – always have done, always liked being on a journey – so I thought I might enjoy that. “That night I went onto the internet, looked up train driver jobs and the Virgin train driver apprenticeship came up. “It was only offering £15,000 to start off with, but that was for a year’s apprenticeship with the provision that it would go up. I had seen jobs for guards and they started at £26,000 going up to £36,000. I figured the driver must get paid more, so I went for it. And the rest, as they say, is history.” Nikki didn’t secure a place on the apprenticeship scheme but joined Virgin Trains soon after as a trainee.

GENDER DIVERSITY

IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT

Speaking to RailStaff exactly one year to the day since she joined the rail industry, Nikki said: “I love it. I really didn’t know what to expect. I kind of went into it quite blind and hoping I’d enjoy it and I’ve enjoyed it much more than I expected. “There’s a lot to learn, it’s quite overwhelming at times with the amount of information you need to know, but it’s been fantastic.” Nikki said she had never thought about becoming a train driver and believes efforts should be made to change people’s perception, from a young age, of career possibilities. “It is about opening people’s minds that anything is an option if it suits you and that your gender isn’t something that binds you,” she added. Travel has played a big part in Nikki’s life and it continues to do so along one of the busiest stretches of railway in Britain, where she hopes to spend the rest of her working years. Nevertheless, Nikki hasn’t ruled out eventually changing depots or training to become a driving instructor – building on her past experience teaching English in Japan and leading scuba diving lessons all over the world. “In this job it is very easy to make a mistake, so you’ve got to make sure you do your job well every day,” she said. “It doesn’t matter what happened yesterday, you’re only as good as your drive today. So, it’s making sure you keep on top of your game. “Fingers crossed, this is me now. I want to retire in this job.”

'For me, it's been very positive.'

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RAILWAYWOMEN A BRIEF HISTORY 1850 – MASQUERADING AS A MAN Elizabeth Ann Holman is one of the earliest women known to have worked on the railway. She was employed by the Great Western Railway (GWR) company as a labourer in the middle of the 19th century. This was at a time when women’s work in the rail industry was very limited and low paid, taking up such roles as ladies waiting room attendants and level crossing keepers. We know she helped to build the railway in Cornwall because she was caught masquerading as a man and, 1850, charged for wearing male clothes. Her story suggests that other women may also have been working, undetected, as labourers on the railway at this time.

1979 – SIGNALLING CHANGE ON THE TUBE Susan Atyeo became the first woman to be employed as a signal operator on the London Underground.

1983 – BR BREAKTHROUGH Anne Winter was appointed as British Rail’s first female train driver.

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1978 – BRITAIN’S FIRST FEMALE TRAIN DRIVERS AND GUARD Equality legislation, introduced in the 1970s, makes it illegal to discriminate against women on the grounds of gender. As a result, it became possible for women to be employed in any railway role on the same terms as men. Trailblazers Hannah Dadds and Karen Harrison (pictured above, right) became the first female train operators on the London Underground and the first women train driver’s assistant on British Rail, respectively, in 1978. Commenting on the reaction of her male colleagues, Karen Harrison once said “to a lot of men I was the proverbial turd in the swimming pool”. Helena Wojtczak (pictured above, left) also became the first peacetime woman guard on British railways.

2002 – FIRST FEMALE TRAIN BOSS Dyan Crowther, currently the chief executive of HS1, became the country’s first female managing director of a train company when she joined Northern.

1914 – WORK DURING WWI The outbreak of World War One saw tens of thousands of railwaymen enlist to fight. In their absence, women took up the vital work to keep the country moving. Before the war began, women are believed to have made up around two per cent of the railway workforce, which consisted of some 600,000 people. By 1916 more than 33,000 women were employed to keep the railways running, comprising seven per cent of the industry’s workforce. 1915 – NEW STATION STAFFED ENTIRELY BY WOMEN When the Underground Electric Railways of London - London Underground’s predecessor - opened the doors to Maida Vale Tube station on June 6 as part of the Bakerloo line extension, it was staffed entirely by women as a result of the war and a shortage of staff. Maida Vale's all-female workforce continued at the station until 1919, when many servicemen returned to the capital.

1939 – WWII: RAILWAYWOMEN RETURN Women were once more called upon to work on the railway, but this time the opportunities presented to them were far greater. This included work in railway operations and infrastructure maintenance, including operating signals and recording train movements, inspecting tunnels and bridges, maintaining signals, oiling points and track maintenance. At the beginning of 1939, four per cent of railway workers were female. By 1941, it was seven per cent and, in 1944, it was over 15 per cent. Nevertheless, the experience of women’s railway work during the war did not secure a bright future for them in peacetime.

2005 – FOR THE RECORD ‘Railwaywomen: Exploitation, Betrayal and Triumph in the Workplace’ is published by former train guard Helena Wojtczak. It is the first book ever written about women railway workers in Britain.

2012 – WOMEN IN RAIL FOUNDED The Women in Rail initiative was established by Adeline Ginn to improve gender balance and diversity in the UK rail industry by providing a support network for women.

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RAILSTAFF AUG/SEPT 2019

TEAMS THAT REFLECT THE COMMUNITIES THEY SERVE

Jean Cockerill

JEAN COCKERILL, PEOPLE DIRECTOR AT GOVIA THAMESLINK RAILWAY (GTR), ON BUILDING AN INCLUSIVE WORKPLACE WHERE DIVERSE TALENTS CAN THRIVE

’m relatively new to rail – I started in the industry in 2014 – and I was pleased to find my ‘outsider’ perceptions of the sector as oldfashioned, not very progressive and slow to change were themselves increasingly outdated. It’s really encouraging to see the changes we’re making as an industry, but we still have more to do. I get a real kick out of the fact my forefathers were amongst the earliest employees of the world’s first public railway – the Stockton and Darlington Railway - at the time of its birth in the 1820s. Over the last 200 years, the industry has seen tremendous growth and technological change, while continuing to offer fantastic career opportunities. 200 years ago, 100 years ago, maybe even 50 years ago, the sector would have been almost exclusively male, but this has started to change rapidly over recent years and the continued pace and scope of this change is truly exciting. While my career to date has been within human resources – traditionally a very ‘female’ occupation - the industries I’ve worked in have been very male-dominated, particularly at more senior levels. Over several years, I’ve led on employee and industrial relations matters and very often I’ve been the only woman in the room at union negotiations – on either side of the table! But that too is changing and indeed there’s an opportunity here to work collaboratively with the rail unions on creating a diverse and inclusive industry, as they care passionately about this too. Indeed, across the industry the true value of diversity and inclusion is increasingly being recognised and is being made a key focus for organisations. Collaboration between industry partners is key for this and is happening more and more; earlier this year, GTR held an inspiring Diversity & Inclusion Conference with Southeastern and Network Rail – the first event of its kind and following its success, this is now set to be an annual forum. RAILSTAFF.CO.UK | @RAIL_STAFF | FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF

Southern's trainee drivers in 2018. Delegates from GTR's Diversity & Inclusion Conference.

Cynthia Bosombi-Mandete (centre) was among the cohort that joined GTR in November from it's 'Get into Railways’ programme with The Prince's Trust.

I have joined GTR - the UK’s largest rail franchise and parent operator of Southern, Thameslink, Great Northern and Gatwick Express - at a time when tangible action to improving diversity and inclusion is already well underway. With commitments to appoint more female train drivers than ever before, offering more apprenticeship roles, as well as a recruitment push to highlight the breadth of careers available across the business, this is an exciting time with real scope to diversify the make-up of the future leaders in rail. Our responsibility as such a large employer to shape the future generation is a really exciting opportunity. Now, two months into my role at GTR, I can see the real progress being made toward authentically improving diversity and inclusion across the organisation. This is not a tick-box exercise or a nice-tohave; at a purely business level, a more diverse and inclusive workplace delivers better results. An organisation where people can bring their true selves to work ensures greater diversity of thought, innovation and agility and is something to be celebrated by our 7,300 employees.

While this positive action is having a real impact - we have women wellrepresented across station, on-board, management and administration roles - we still have some way to go to address the imbalance in our operations and engineering teams, as well as within the driving grade. These key areas will only reap the benefits of evolving into more diverse teams, so highlighting the women already in these roles helps to attract more women to the sector and show what they can achieve in rail. We are already celebrating greater diversity across GTR and have multiple routes into and within the business to attract – and, crucially, retain – female candidates and employees, as well as apprenticeships and programmes for younger people or those from disadvantaged backgrounds – all of whom may not have considered a career in rail before.

To support this, as well as working toward the target of increasing the number of train driver applications from women to 40 per cent by 2021, we have launched station manager apprenticeships. This year, we celebrate the fifth anniversary of our partnership with The Prince’s Trust, through which we help young people from disadvantaged backgrounds get into full-time employment with our ‘Get into Railways’ customer service course. This course has had a huge impact on hundreds of young people, with Prince’s Trust graduates in roles across the GTR network. The career opportunities in rail are almost endless and I am focused on helping to continue with this vital build project. Creating a more diverse and inclusive culture that is reflective of the communities we serve, allowing us to provide better service for our customers is my overall goal; I am excited to be a part of this industry’s continuing evolution. Jean Cockerill took on GTR’s newly created role of people director in July. She joined from Transport for London, where she was director of business partnering and employee relations. Before that, she was head of business partnering and employee relations at Virgin Atlantic Airways. FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF | @RAIL_STAFF | RAILSTAFF.CO.UK

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RAILSTAFF AUG/SEPT 2019

BACK

TO BASICS

A diversity and inclusion conference brought 200 industry colleagues from Network Rail, Southeastern and GTR together earlier this year.

INTERVIEW BY STEWART THORPE

LORAINE MARTINS, DIRECTOR OF DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION, DESCRIBES WHAT NETWORK RAIL HAS DONE TO TACKLE THREE THINGS THAT HAVE TRADITIONALLY HINDERED WOMEN IN ITS WORKFORCE

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43 Stewart: What is Network Rail’s policy on flexible and homebased working? Loraine: We’ve got a great policy on flexible working. It encourages all line managers to explore with their employees the options for flexible working. So, if somebody wants to change the time they come to work, then we are encouraging our managers to have that conversation. Sometimes we think things aren’t possible because we’ve got a roster or because of the demands of the work; it’s a real challenge. What we’re saying to our managers in relation to flexible working is let’s be open and see what we can do. And, if you trial it and it doesn’t work, then that’s fair. But we really want to start from a position of the 'art of the possible'. S: There are a couple of high-profile job shares – Polly Payne and Ruth Hannant, directors general for rail at the Department for Transport, and Porterbrook recently appointed two women to the position of innovation and projects director – what’s Network Rail’s policy on job sharing? L: That’s an area for us to improve. What we have done around our vacancies is to begin to talk to our hiring managers and ask whether those jobs can be done in different ways. When we advertise, we can increasingly say that flexible arrangements are part of what we do. I think what the DfT does well is that most of those jobs, if not all of their jobs, are offered on a flexible basis. We have some operational considerations to make and so we need to think a bit more creatively about how we get to that stage, but it’s somewhere I’d like us to get to. S: Do you know when that shift in different working arrangements started to occur at Network Rail? L: I describe our approach as evolving. When I joined in 2012, the whole environment was less amenable to flexible working and, over time, we’re beginning to see the benefits. As we’ve begun to promote it, we’ve seen some interesting things which we didn’t anticipate. For example, in our Wales route, some older male workers were looking at retirement and took up the offer of flexible working. They decided to have a job share and reduce their hours. This is a good outcome for everyone, and we want to promote that kind of arrangement more across the business. As we mature in our approach and as more young people are coming into our business want different work arrangements, we need to be able to accommodate that range. S: Why is it important? L: It helps us to attract a wider range of employees. Also, where you give greater flexibility to your employees, you get greater discretionary effort. If you feel that your employer is able to accommodate your life circumstances, you are generally going to do more for that employer and be more loyal and your productivity goes up because you’re able to manage your work in a more autonomous way that gives you greater empowerment and greater freedom to live the life that you want to lead. S: Another obstacle that’s come up in conversations with women and from research is the provision of PPE. How have you seen it change? L: When I started at Network Rail, what was more commonplace was that women would wear men’s PPE and it would be ill-fitting. You’d roll it up at the ankles or at the waist and, really, you weren’t as safe. Now we’ve got suppliers that provide PPE that is designed for women. All of the PPE is now available and so it’s a real shift in being able to make sure everybody can be safe in their working environment and not feel it is something special.

S: A final obstacle that gets mentioned is the provision of trackside toilet and changing facilities. I know it’s traditionally been an issue, either not having them or having to travel some distance to get to them. What is the current situation at Network Rail? L: This is something we’ve been working on for the last 18 months. We made a commitment as we started a project to increase the representation of women in our organisation by 20 per cent. The project is called 20by20. One of the key things has been to improve and increase the availability of toilet facilities with a view to making them more appropriate for women. If you’ve got those essential facilities, you make your environment better and healthier for people. We’ve been working with Selectequip and other suppliers to design some bespoke facilities that we can put up near track. Before this, people had to walk quite a distance to go to the loo or they would go to the nearest McDonalds or they may have had to use where they are. So we want to try and reduce that, as it’s not good for our employees or for our lineside neighbours. The facilities have been trialled and are now being manufactured and ready to be rolled out. They are designed in a way that means we have the toilet provision that we need, they’ve got the signs on them, they’re hi-vis so you can see them in the dark, or at night, and it will drastically reduce the need to relieve oneself trackside, but also make you feel much better about yourself. From the trial we’ve conducted, we’ve seen an increase in women working on track, we’ve seen better engagement and better safety for all of our employees. The outcome and benefits are that everybody is much healthier, feels that we as an employer care for them, and that we’re taking their welfare seriously. S: How widespread will these be rolled out? L: Currently we have a minimum standard of loo facilities being 20 minutes away, which is probably about a mile. This new facility enables us to put something 10 minutes away and radically reduces that distance. S: Are there any other obstacles in the workplace that need to be overcome in order to encourage more women to join and stick around? L: Those things that I would class as the facilities and physical environment are vital. If you make your physical environment much more pleasant and more manageable then you increase both staff engagement and the opportunity to attract a wider range of people. Following on from the physical environment is the type of culture, things like inappropriate banter. That’s the next thing for us as an organisation and as an industry, so that it becomes an easier place to be. S: There will be people in the supply chain reading this who haven’t placed these issues so high up their agenda. What would your message be to them? L: This is a good business benefit for our supply chain. Increasingly, as we have an aging workforce, as we have a skills shortage and are looking to improve the skills and the range of people working in our business, it’s really important for our supply chain to think about how they attract different people into their workforce, how they work with their contractor workforce and the conditions in which they deploy them. I would encourage them to match, if not exceed, the efforts we’re making around employee welfare, and diversity and inclusion.

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ACCELERATING

GENDER BALANCE AND DIVERSITY WITH HS2 WSP RAIL’S MANAGING DIRECTOR, DARREN REED, AND EQUALITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION (EDI) MANAGER, ABI FROST, DISCUSS HOW HS2 IS HELPING THE BUSINESS AND THE INDUSTRY TACKLE ONE OF ITS MOST ENDEMIC CHALLENGES

or WSP, breaking down the barriers that prevent the best people from contributing to our talent pool is simply good for business. Research and common sense tell us a more inclusive, and therefore diverse, workforce has more interesting debates; it can respond better to changing markets and improve business performance. HS2 is accelerating our progress as an industry, upping the stakes with its own exacting EDI targets and demanding unprecedented levels of commitment from its supply chain to help address the under-representation of many groups within the rail and construction sectors, among them women, BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic), LGBT+ and disabled people, and the long-term workless. Students at the National College for High Speed Rail benefit from practical classroom learning.

A FOUNDATION BUILT ON SOLID DATA

For HS2, WSP is helping to set new standards for EDI and skills, employment and education (SEE) across 11 active contracts comprising well over 1,000 people. WSP has worked collaboratively with the workforce and the supply chain to support HS2’s ambitious agenda, which has included the launch of a multi-cultural network, a ‘blind auditioning’ recruitment model and various actions aligned with the WISE (Women into Science and Engineering) campaign. Through a dedicated EDI and SEE manager, we have provided an integrated reporting suite that captures the protected characteristics of our employees and those of our supply chain working across HS2 – an innovation which has since been adopted by other contractors on this project. Only with reliable data can honest conversations happen and meaningful decisions be made. For example, we know 25 per cent of WSP’s workforce working across all HS2 contracts is female (vs. 17 per cent in the infrastructure sector). We also know, on each contract, the percentage of WSP staff of BAME origin is either equal to the infrastructure sector’s six per cent or greater – on Phase 2a, for example, it’s over 40 per cent. There is much room for improvement; and, armed with detailed data, we can measure our progress and the efficacy of our actions; for example, more clearly gauging the impact of advertising vacancies on diversity job boards.

TOP-DOWN REFORM Industry must accept that a cultural shift driven from the top is the only way to effectively address gender balance and diversity issues. It is why WSP adopted Avivah RAILSTAFF.CO.UK | @RAIL_STAFF | FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF

Wittenberg-Cox’s pioneering 20-first approach, which moves away from assuming today’s gender imbalance is caused by something women lack (i.e. skill, will, or background), instead embracing the diversity of experience and ways of working that women bring to the workforce. Through our dedicated Gender Balance Action Group, we have equipped our leaders to be convincing gender balance advocates, with a 20-first trained executive leadership team, and further face-to-face training underway for over 600 UK senior managers. Unconscious bias training and third-party consultation with organisations like Business in the Community, WISE, Stonewall and Women in Transportation have helped embed diversity into the business. This practical approach to promoting a more representative workforce has enabled us to grow as a business and align with the EDI aspirations of some of our largest clients, including HS2. This is an investment we know is working: with a 29 per cent female workforce already, we are set to comfortably meet our strategic growth target of a 30 per cent female workforce by 2021. In fact, we are now striving to meet HS2’s industry-leading figure of a 35 per cent female workforce.

CELEBRATING STRONG ROLE MODELS, SMASHING STEREOTYPES

Like HS2, we recognise that the historical over-representation of men in rail and construction means there is a greater concentration of men at the executive level. While this is a deep-rooted societal issue, it’s not enough to simply have more women in the workforce, we also need to ensure those women are represented

HS2 CEO Mark Thurston met with WSP’s Catherine King and other early career professionals working on HS2.

Carol Stitchman, WSP design manager - HS2 Curzon Street, grew up in a coal-mining community: “where most of my female friends and peers considered engineering to be for men only; projects like HS2 capture the imaginations of the next generation of female, BAME or otherwise under-represented talent”.

at the leadership level. That is why it’s so important to celebrate and raise the profile of those women who are already leading our industry. Women like Carol Stitchman, design manager of HS2 Curzon Street station, whose trailblazing path challenges the gender stereotypes that constrained the aspirations of many of her generation. Or Dr Nike Folayan, who has worked on the project for over five years as design lead for telecoms and control on multiple HS2 contracts including the station design at Old Oak Common, Curzon Street and Euston stations. Shaking up gender stereotypes at school, where very few girls over 16 choose physics for further education, is a big part of the gender balance issue. Liaising with the North West College of London and HS2, and taking part in the City & Islington Employability Day, we are working to raise awareness of apprenticeship and work opportunities at WSP. Our ecologists have taken part in ThinkTank’s ‘Meet the Expert’ event, and our engineers have volunteered at a targeted programme of STEM events with schools along the HS2 route, including the Big Bang Fair and the Science Museum‘s We Are Engineers Family Festival, an event which reached around 450 children and 300 adults. And our award-winning apprentice and graduate programmes are making a difference. For example, females accounted for 66 per cent of our 2019 apprentice intake, following year-on-year increases since 2015.

A VIABLE OPTION FOR RETURNERS All too often women who choose to have children and temporarily disappear from the talent pool find they have to lower their expectations and ambitions when they return to work. This is wrong, but by flexing our thinking and our business model, we can find ways to accommodate the modern career path. Promoting inclusive behaviours to support a more flexible workplace is not difficult. Even simple things like not organising team meetings when parents are ‘on the school run’, or making it easier to work from home via Skype, have proven to be extremely effective. When HS2 skills manager Ambrose Quashie invited WSP to support Women into Construction, a cross-industry initiative sponsored by Camden Borough Council, we were keen to take part. The event saw senior people from HS2’s supply chain conducting speed interviews with female candidates hoping to return to work following long absences. Genevieve Edwards, senior requirement manager, HS2 rail systems support contract, was impressed by the women’s enthusiasm: “Many were not from project management or engineering backgrounds, but they still wanted to be part of HS2 and leave a legacy that will affect the place where they live for generations to come”. Through this one event, WSP has provided over 500 days of work placement opportunities on HS2’s Old Oak Common and Curzon Street stations, and on Phase 2B.

MAKING GENDER BALANCE EASIER It is not just about inspiring women, it is just as important to make it easier for men to challenge the gender stereotype. For example, a more progressive policy on paternity leave has helped new fathers, like Tom Wood, sustainability manager, Old Oak Common, to become ‘stay-at-home-Dads’. In Tom’s case he can now balance his family commitments and career with those of his wife’s. Clearly, as more women join the engineering workforce, we can expect shared parental leave to become far more common. This will benefit projects like HS2 through the retention of experience and skills, but it will also benefit people’s hardearned career paths and their families. As an opportunity to change the skills landscape, HS2 is special: its construction alone will create over 30,000 jobs and 2,000 apprenticeships; another 3,000 will operate it, and it’s estimated new HS2 stations will create a further 100,000 jobs. By any measure, HS2 is a game-changer for underrepresented and disadvantaged groups and every effort should be made to optimise this unprecedented opportunity. Critically, this is the clarion call HS2’s partners and suppliers are rallying behind. FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF | @RAIL_STAFF | RAILSTAFF.CO.UK

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RAIL ISN’T ALONE IN TRYING TO TACKLE ITS LACK OF GENDER DIVERSITY INDUSTRY LEADERS FROM THE CONSTRUCTION AND BUS INDUSTRIES SHARE WHAT THEY ARE DOING TO OVERCOME THE IMBALANCE IN THEIR WORKFORCES.

CONSTRUCTION

Forecasts from the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) predict the sector will need an extra 168,500 workers by 2023 as a result of continued growth, bringing its total workforce to 2.79 million. Like rail, the construction workforce has traditionally been a male-dominated one and, to meet the need for new recruits, it’s looking to draw on talent from previously underrepresented areas. This includes women, and people from BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic), who currently make up 16 per cent and seven per cent of the construction workforce, respectively. “The rail sector might be similar to us in terms of how we’ve recruited for many years; it’s been very heavily weighted on word of mouth, very often ‘my dad was in the construction industry and so will I,’” said Sarah Beale, chief executive of CITB. “When you’re looking at the size of the need and the fact we’re are only fishing in half the © iStockphoto.com

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pool for our talent, we’re never going to attract that many people if we’re literally only looking at stereotypical white men from certain backgrounds and, at the moment, certain ages.” CITB, which has a similar remit to the National Skills Academy for Rail, leads its sector’s efforts when it comes to the promotion of careers in construction. Over the last few years it has planned and is now starting to introduce what Sarah describes as “the whole infrastructure” for attracting the next generation of talent. This begins with inspiring children from an early age, leads to encouraging them to find out more about the sector and then giving them constructive work experience placements before connecting them to jobs. This work can be broken down into a number of schemes: • Construction Ambassadors – 850 trained ambassadors, from CEOs to apprentices, use their passion for construction to raise awareness of the careers paths and opportunities available. • Careers campaign – In August, testing began on a £10 million industry-wide campaign aimed at, and largely designed by, ‘Generation Z’. Drawing on campaigns such as the Royal Navy’s ‘Made in the Navy’, Sarah said it won’t draw attention to specific details of a career in construction but will get people excited about an industry where you can “make a huge legacy”. Media channels such as YouTube and Instagram, as well as buses and bus shelters, will be targeted when the campaign goes live next year. Sarah said the website has been extensively tested with the target audience in mind, particularly looking at language and colours. • GoConstruct – an awareness raising website that matches users’ interests and skills to job roles, busts damaging myths surrounding safety, culture and careers, details the rewards and benefits as well as descriptions of some 150 different job roles. Sarah said the website received

one million visitors in 2018, 52 per cent of which were women. • Open Doors – a programme where hundreds of construction sites open up to members of the public so they can see the variety of construction careers available. • Construction Skills Fund and the Onsite Experience Commission – these schemes, totalling £40 million, will support 31,000 substantial work experience opportunities thanks to the creation of training hubs on live construction sites. Done correctly, construction work experience placements are expensive and disruptive to organise because of the nature of the working environment, which this initiative hopes to overcome. Since it launched in November, 250 people – 50 per cent of whom are from underrepresented backgrounds – have already turned work experience into a job. • Pathways Into Construction – Also in August, CITB announced £10 million is being invested into the Pathways Into Construction programme to support 16 projects that help people from diverse backgrounds into construction. For example, in Wales, the Community Impact Initiative will provide nine renovation projects for 72 women to train on along with on-site work experience. Sarah explained that construction has never had such a joined-up approach, which has led to a “glacial” change from 12 to 16 per cent in gender diversity over the last 20 years. There is further work to ensure women are retained once they’re recruited through the introduction of practical facilities and flexibility in contracts, but Sarah is confident of her industry’s approach. “We’ve done lots and lots of small interventions that weren’t scalable and were never going to make the difference that we need. “The difference now is we’re offering the full suite, and I think that’s what’s going to make the difference.”

BUS

When it comes to operating speeds, customer interaction and levels of concentration, the roles of a bus and train driver differ greatly. One area in which they are similar, however, is that they are both significantly underrepresented by women. A recent report from the train driver union ASLEF found that 6.5 per cent of those that occupy the role in England, Scotland and Wales are women. For bus drivers, 7.9 per cent of FirstGroup’s 9,739, nine per cent of Arriva’s 13,000, 10 per cent of Stagecoach’s 13,000 and 10.5 per cent of Go-Ahead’s 10,176 positions are held by women. “The percentage of women drivers in the bus sector currently, which is around 10 per cent, is higher than the overall proportion of women train drivers” said Scott Maynard, Go-Ahead Group interim people director. Although bus is slightly ahead of rail in terms of the gender diversity of its drivers, it’s the opposite when it comes to the entire workforce. Eight out of 10 Go-Ahead employees are bus drivers and the lack of gender diversity in that role has a significant impact on the company overall. Scott added: “11.2 per cent of our bus workforce is female and it’s about the same percentage for our bus drivers. So it’s a very different problem to what you have in rail. “What we’re looking to drive forward in bus is more women in a range of roles and levels. It would be good to have more women in senior leadership roles in our bus companies, we still await our first female managing director in bus.” In the bus division, Go-Ahead is working to ensure its recruitment adverts use gender neutral language to ensure they appeal to both men and women – a practice that was tested out on its new bus driver apprenticeship programme, which launched earlier this year with women making up 17 per cent of the recruits. Go-Ahead has also set itself targets and recently announced it wants to increase the representation of women in its 14,000-strong bus workforce from 11 to 20 per cent by 2025. Having visible women leaders is essential to achieving this as women respond well to seeing role models in areas they operate in. The company hopes the launch of a new ‘Women in Bus’ network can help elevate them further. This includes figures such as Angela List (pictured right), who joined the business in 1977 and is now the longest serving bus driver for Go North East, and Elodie Brian, the first woman to hold the position of chief financial officer at Go-Ahead. Scott added: “55 per cent of bus passengers nationally are female, rising to 70 per cent in London “We want to have a workforce that reflects our passengers and the wider communities that we serve. “You connect with people who look like you in some form. You feel welcome in that environment. It’s very important.”

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A TALENTED TEAM

STOBART RAIL & CIVILS HAS GAINED A REPUTATION AS A BUSINESS THAT INVESTS IN NEW SOLUTIONS PO TO DRIVE SAFETY AND EFFICIENCY SUP RTE D

he success of these innovations is down to Stobart’s people, and it is keen to increase the gender diversity of its workforce, particularly in managerial and technical roles, to help further meet the challenges ahead. Women occupy a number of key positions at Stobart. This includes Rachel Burnett who leads the safety team behind Stobart’s Think Safety: Act Safely campaign. Newly qualified quantity surveyor Abby Garcia, who now holds a leading role in the project delivery team, is one of a number of women in Stobart’s head office commercial team – 70 per cent of which are female. As women are often underrepresented in engineering, Stobart was delighted to appoint Lynne Garner as engineering manager earlier this year. Lynne most recently worked as a senior engineer for Network Rail, creating bespoke maintenance regimes for track assets to optimise inspection and repair strategies. She previously managed rolling contact fatigue for the Liverpool & North Wales area following the Hatfield tragedy, which was caused by a metal fatigue-induced derailment. This led Lynne, who began her career as a project manager at Jarvis Rail, into managing the area’s ultrasonic testing teams and studying part-time at university to attain a degree in civil engineering. She now leads Stobart’s team of engineering specialists, ensuring excellence in project delivery. Lynne said: “I’m an engineer primarily and being female is not something I’m usually conscious of. “I believe having a gender mix brings good balance to teams, as women do bring different strengths. Being comfortable admitting your limitations means male colleagues are more confident to do this, and this leads to both a safer working environment and one in which people are more likely to support each other and develop.”

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A PARTNERSHIP WITH STRATHCLYDE

In Scotland, Stobart is building a new team to support its project work. Regional manager Keith Robertson said: “Our key focus is to bring new talent into the rail industry through apprenticeships and our graduate training programmes. We have an ongoing relationship with Strathclyde University and we’re seeing some really impressive students – both male and female – so we’re working together to encourage them to consider starting their careers in rail.” Michaela Silver-Woods is one of those students. She is currently on a summer placement with Stobart while studying for a master’s in civil and environmental engineering, despite initially considering a career in offshore renewables. She said: “Keith Robertson came to Strathclyde to hold a workshop with the students and I enjoyed the work he showed us so I decided to ask him about summer placements.” Stobart also offered a placement to Anouchka Valaydon, who is on the same course as Michaela and is keen to work in design. Anouchka said: “Rail is not taught at most universities in Scotland, so a lot of new civil engineers are oblivious to the fact that rail is an option. I like the way that rail in the UK is constantly developing, such as the HS2

Lynne Garner

project. Hopefully in years to come there will be more women on site and people from all sorts of backgrounds.” Michaela and Anouchka are getting valuable experience on site and in the office and have impressed staff with their contributions. Michaela added: “I’m really enjoying the experience. Everyone’s been really positive, although sometimes there’s a bit of a double take if they weren’t expecting to see a woman. There are always going to be people who think women can’t do certain things and I’ve found that a lot of women engineers are overachievers because of it.” Kirk Taylor, Stobart Rail & Civils’ managing director, added: “Michaela and Anouchka return to university in the autumn to complete their studies but we’ll keep in touch and we do hope to see them with us again in the future. We’ve always been a forward-thinking business that seeks out the best talent, no matter whether male or female, so I’m not surprised we already have so many women in key roles. “Like many businesses, we still have some work to do to achieve complete gender equality, but we’re well on the way and team members like Lynne, Rachel, Abby and everyone else are great role models who clearly show that women can have rewarding careers in rail.”

Anouchka Valaydon

Michaela Silver-Woods

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WHAT IS CROSSRAIL 2? A proposed railway that will increase London’s rail capacity by 10 per cent by linking the national rail networks in Surrey and Hertfordshire via a tunnel through the capital. Crossrail 2, estimated to cost £30 billion in 2014, will enable the development of 200,000 new homes and support 200,000 jobs once it’s completed.

AS THE GOVERNMENT PREPARES TO MAKE A DECISION ON WHAT COULD BE HER BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT YET, STEWART THORPE TAKES A LOOK AT HOW VETERAN TRANSPORT PLANNER MICHELE DIX, AND THE MEGA PROJECT SHE NOW OVERSEES, HAVE BOTH PROGRESSED SINCE THE 1970s

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A TALE OF TWO TRANSFORMERS

hen Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid announced the autumn spending review would be pushed back until 2020, it marked the latest in a long list of delayed decisions on Crossrail 2. Former rail minister Andrew Jones previously said the Department for Transport (DfT) would consider the next steps for the proposed railway at the spending review. The need to prepare for the looming Brexit deadline has changed those plans. Nevertheless, after submitting its fifth business case in as many years, next year Crossrail 2 should receive the clearest indication yet of its future. Should the project get the go ahead, it will become the latest, and perhaps greatest, transformational transport project on the résumé of its managing director Dr Michèle Dix CBE, whose working life began around the same time the mega project was first mooted.

ORIGINS

The trajectory of Michèle’s career and the development of Crossrail 2 can both be traced back to the 1970s. Michèle, whose dad was a master navigator in the RAF and her mum a teacher, joined Leeds University in 1973. Under the guidance of a careers advisor at her all-girls school, she combined her love for the arts, maths and science to enrol on a civil engineering course. While Michèle was getting to grips with university life, in 1974 the London Rail Study was published. Backed by British Railways and London Transport, it identified Crossrail as well as the Chelsea-Hackney line - which later became Crossrail 2 - as possible schemes to serve future demand. After completing her civil engineering degree, Michèle returned to complete a PhD in transport and land use planning with the aim of becoming an academic. She decided that “a good lecturer is one that’s done some work” and successfully applied to join Greater London Council’s (GLC) transport planning graduate scheme in 1979. GLC was the highest level of local government for Greater London and its planning department introduced Michèle to many major projects that have since come to fruition. Her department worked on the Fleet line, which became the Jubilee line, and East London river crossings, numerous studies of which have resulted in the Silvertown Road tunnel project. It also considered how to unlock development opportunities at Battersea, a question which was eventually answered with the Northern line extension from Kennington. After her working day at the GLC, Michèle would travel to Thames Polytechnica, Woolwich, to teach civil engineering part-time, such was her determination to pursue a career in academia. Through the GLC’s graduate scheme, she became a chartered civil engineer and realised she loved her transport planning work more than lecturing.

1980s

After six years at the GLC, Michèle left shortly before it was abolished and its powers dissolved to the London boroughs and government office for London. “When I was at the GLC, lots of people complained about consultants and how they just took money off you,” said Michèle. “I thought, if I’m leaving, I might as well see what consultancy is like. So, I joined Halcrow Fox.” Halcrow Fox was part of Halcrow Group, one of the UK’s biggest engineering consultancies before it was taken over by CH2M (which has since itself been taken over by Jacobs). For 15 years, she worked on all manner of transport schemes, from river crossings and bus priority schemes to airport strategies and regional transport studies. She also undertook work abroad on the understanding she would be home in time for tea and eventually become a board director for urban transport. While she recalls Halcrow Fox working on early proposals for Crossrail, one project she doesn’t remember passing across her desk is the Chelsea-Hackney line. In 1989, against the backdrop of overcrowding on the London Underground, the government commissioned the Central London Rail Study, which once more identified this line, as well as East-West Crossrail and Thameslink, as solutions to meeting a forecast increase in passenger numbers. Transport secretary Paul Shannon called on estimates from the report to be refined before moving ahead. At that time, the Chelsea-Hackney line was estimated at £1.3 billion, with funding expected to come from passengers and developers benefitting from the project. Two years later, the route for the proposed Chelsea-Hackney line, from Parsons Green to Leytonstone, Grosvenor Road to Ebury Bridge and at Wimbledon and Putney Bridge, was legally safeguarded to ensure it was protected from conflicting developments in the future. FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF | @RAIL_STAFF | RAILSTAFF.CO.UK

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THE MILLENNIUM

The year 2000 saw further backing for the Chelsea-Hackney line, this time in the form of the London East-West study. Published by the Shadow Strategic Rail Authority (sSRA), it recommended that a joint feasibility study be launched by the sSRA and Transport for London (TfL) to allow construction to start “as soon as possible” after Crossrail. TfL was created months earlier when the Greater London Authority was established, marking the return of devolved governance for Greater London which was lost following the demise of the GLC. Ken Livingstone, who had been the leader of the GLC, was elected as the Mayor of London. At TfL, Michèle was recruited for the role of director of congestion charging, which she shared with friend and former GLC graduate Malcolm Murray-Clark. While she was at Halcrow, Michèle worked on the Road Charging Options for London study (ROCOL), to decide what powers mayors and local authority heads should have to implement road usage charging, which influenced her decision to join TfL. “It was because I did that work for ROCOL that I was very keen when Ken Livingstone became mayor and wanted to introduce the congestion charging schemes to come to TfL to implement it,” she said. “When I was at Halcrow and I had my first child, I said to my boss that I’d come back after maternity but only if I could do four days a week and they said yes. It meant I could better balance my work and home life. “Then, when I saw the job for congestion charging, I really wanted it but it wasn’t a job I could do part-time. It would be full-on in terms of the media, stakeholders and the time that would be required. So, I persuaded Malcolm Murray-Clark, who was then at Westminster City Council, and who had also worked on ROCOL, to do it as well.” The position wasn’t advertised as a job share but Michèle and Malcolm submitted a joint application. Michèle admits their working arrangement was “quite unique” at the time. She added: “When we were interviewed, each time they asked one of us a question, even if they asked us a follow-on question, the other one would answer. So we answered alternatively, showing that we could be one person. “I think they realised they were getting more skills and experience than they could get from one person. And because it was such a full-on job, getting two people to do it turned out good.” Working three days each - they would overlap on Wednesdays, when all the key management and stakeholder meetings would take place - the pair devised, developed, obtained powers for and then implemented congestion charging in London in 2003 - one of the biggest schemes in the world.

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A congestion charge road marking.

“We had worked together all of those years so we totally trusted each other and our work ethic was the same,” she added.

PROMOTION In 2007, Michèle and Malcolm were promoted to the position of managing director of planning and were tasked with leading TfL’s strategic thinking on the city’s future transport needs. Malcolm retired three years later but Michèle continued in the role. It was this same year that she first started working on plans for Crossrail 2, when, after years of limited feasibility work, planning was becoming more extensive to determine the route that best addressed transport and growth challenges. Michèle explained the Chelsea-Hackney line had been safeguarded in 1991 but had to be regularly reviewed and was looked at for the mayor’s 2010 transport strategy, to establish if there was still a need for a south-west north-east rail scheme through central London. “We concluded that a regional scheme that went from Wimbledon to Tottenham Hale, with branches up to New Southgate and up to Broxbourne and branches beyond Wimbledon was a better scheme,” she said. “We consulted on that, along with another option, and the public came back saying yes they supported the regional scheme and that was preferred over other alignments.” It wasn’t the only major scheme being looked at to support growth, but it became the most important. She added: “Crossrail 2 was the priority scheme to get implemented because of the needs, not only to relieve problems that exist at present, particularly on the south west rail into London, but also problems that would accrue over time,

because of increased congestion on the Tube network in central London and opening up of areas that aren’t very accessible in north east London.” A breakthrough moment came in 2014, when the project’s first business case was submitted to the DfT. In 2015, after being named CBE in the New Year’s Honours list for services to transport, Michèle was tasked with turning plans for Crossrail 2 into reality as she became the project’s managing director. It was at that point that she went up to four days a week. © TfL

RAILSTAFF AUG/SEPT 2019

GENDER DIVERSITY

Crossrail 2 route (autumn 2015).

The Emirates Air Line cable car link opened in June 2012 thanks to sponsorship.

Although the project is yet to receive the go ahead, it has progressed considerably with Michèle at the helm: 2015: A full strategic outline business case was submitted to DfT while the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) was set up with the remit to review Crossrail 2. 2016: NIC published its first report - Transport for a World City - which stressed that Crossrail 2 should be taken forward as a priority. It recommended that a bill should be introduced to parliament by 2019 to allow the line to open by 2033. In response, the government gave the green light for Crossrail 2 to proceed to the next stage, supported by £80 million match funding by the mayor to help support the drafting of a hybrid bill. 2017: A revised strategic business case was submitted to DfT, taking into account NIC recommendations, but a snap general election was called in April, delaying a response to it. 2018: Transport secretary Chris Grayling announced that an Independent Affordability Review is being established for Crossrail 2 to ensure it demonstrates value for money. He also announced that progress on the Transpennine Route Upgrade and Crossrail 2 are to “advance in lockstep”. A delay to the opening of Crossrail caused money that was earmarked for Crossrail 2 to be diverted. 2019: Ongoing work to revise and submit the project’s fifth business case, taking into account the Independent Affordability Review.

A CAREER OF SUCCESS

In her 40 years as a transport planner, Michèle has seen a shift in culture, with many more women entering the engineering profession - “but not enough”, she said. During her early career, she would often be the only woman in meetings. Previously she has also spoken about being asked to make coffee when she attended meetings with Malcolm Murray-Clark, others assuming she was his personal assistant. “It’s changed enormously,” she said. “And I think it’s changed because businesses have recognised the importance of having a diverse workforce. It leads to better decisions, it leads to a better business and it’s important where there is a skills shortage.” What makes Michèle’s story stand out is the number of projects she has been

involved with that have transformed London’s transport infrastructure. Her proudest? “Seeing the congestion charge go live, it working and the whole world going ‘wow’ because everyone expected it to fail,” said Michèle. “The [Emirates Air Line] cable car too. The cable car was probably the quickest thing we’ve ever got powers for and built and it is paid for through sponsorship and doesn’t cost us to operate, it generates an income that covers its operating costs. “The Northern line extension because that has undone the stalemate that existed in terms of how you took that development forward and it was unique in terms of how it was funded - i.e. the developers needed it in and helped to pay for it. “And my next proudest thing will be getting Crossrail 2 over the line, hopefully!”

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REFLECTING SOCIETY AND SHAPING THE WORLD

PO SUP RTE

DIRECTOR CLAIRE JONES AND APPRENTICE IMOGEN PARKER TALK ABOUT CAREER PATHS, WORKING FOR AECOM AND WHAT THEY LOVE ABOUT ENGINEERING

I’m not Isambard Kingdom Brunel,” said Claire Jones, who leads a civil engineering design team of 25 from AECOM’s offices in Swindon. “I’m not going to leave a big legacy, but it’s quite nice when you drive around the country and see things you’ve worked on.” She might downplay her achievements but, in her 29 years as a structural engineer, Claire has worked on a number of major projects that have shaped surrounding communities. After the Hillsborough disaster of 1989, she designed rugby and football stadiums as they changed from standing to all-seater venues - Bristol Rugby Club's West Stand Stadium, Swansea’s Liberty Stadium and Llanelli’s Parc y Scarlets to name but a few. Claire has also worked on highways, bridges, hospitals, railway stations and nuclear power stations. Even on a recent trip to Cornwall, she drove over a rather bumpy level crossing that her team is currently working to improve.

MOMENT OF INSPIRATION It was during her teenage years that Claire was first introduced to engineering. “I went to an all girls’ school and when I was about 15 a teacher showed the class a video about civil engineering,” she said. “I had family and friends who were civil engineers too and they took me out on sites to a few projects. I knew I really liked maths, I liked solving problems, but I didn’t want a job that involved sitting at a desk all day. I wanted a chance to get outside and thought civil engineering might be quite good.” And she was right. With the encouragement of friends and family, Claire would lay the foundations for a successful career by studying civil engineering at Portsmouth Polytechnic. Fast forward to today and Claire now manages a team of technicians, graduates and fellow engineers who work on a multitude of design projects - from station canopies to HS2’s Old Oak Common station enabling works. “I think civil engineering is such a rewarding career. There are a lot of jobs out there that don’t really change anyone’s lives, but, as engineers, we do,” she added.

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GENDER DIVERSITY For almost her entire career Claire has worked for AECOM, a multinational engineering firm that is keen to improve its gender diversity to create a workforce that better reflects society. In its rail, bridges and structures division, AECOM employs 906 people, 155 (17 per cent) of which are women. That representation is slightly higher than the rail industry average for women but AECOM is committed to doing better. For example, at the very top of the business, AECOM is aiming for 20 per cent of its management team in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region to consist of women by 2020. Turning to new recruits, AECOM understands the importance of early engagement and, as part of its longterm strategy, organises an active outreach programme with its 150 STEM ambassadors. The company also acknowledges that change is needed internally to ensure women stay in the business once they’re recruited. Flexible working, which is improving productivity, and the creation of a mentoring programme for women, are a part of that solution. Historically, rail has been a maledominated industry and it is not an easy challenge to overcome. “At school, the girls that are good at science are directed towards medicine and things like that, very few in my daughter’s year at school looked at engineering, which is really sad,” lamented Claire.

Claire Jones “Although the industry could do a lot more to promote engineering, it needs to start earlier. AECOM is quite good at trying to get people to be STEM ambassadors, that’s a really good thing we’re doing. It’s just a case of promoting engineering to both girls and boys.” A key part of AECOM’s wider diversity drive across the business is its early years programme, which is made up of dedicated graduate and apprenticeship programmes. On these schemes, the use of gender-neutral marketing material and the mandatory inclusion of women on recruitment panels has seen a noticeable shift in the number of women joining the company. In 2018, 43 per cent of its 350 new starters on its graduate development programme were women.

55 © Hufton+Crow

Imogen Parker

UP-AND-COMER

Civil engineering apprentice Imogen Parker, who works out of AECOM’s Nottingham office, was among that cohort in 2018 when she joined the company on a degree apprenticeship after completing her A-Levels. Similar to Claire, Imogen’s route into engineering was affected by influencers around her. She said: “I’ve always had an interest in maths and science, so, I thought I’d quite like to go down that route because there is a lot to it and lots of different things you can do under that one title of engineering. “I know quite a lot of people that went straight to uni and the idea of it didn’t intrigue me. I had a friend that did the apprentice route and he works for Bombardier. He told me about it, and I liked how it works. You get looked after quite well and you are guaranteed a job at the end. I would rather go straight into working than go into education full-time for another few years. So, I just decided to do that.” She added: “School and college just pushed uni. I went back to my college after not going to uni and they were still trying to tell me I could go to uni. They pushed that so much. “It was mainly mine and my parents’ research that led me to engineering and AECOM.” Since joining last year, Imogen has worked across the highways and rail divisions as part of her training, working on track bed and geophysics en route. She’s only in the first year of the job, but she’s already been identified by rail director Joan Heery as “up and coming”. She has a bright future ahead of her and, by drawing on a wider talent pool, so does AECOM. FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF | @RAIL_STAFF | RAILSTAFF.CO.UK

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IN THE

DRIVER'S SEAT RESEARCH COMMISSIONED BY ASLEF SHEDS LIGHT ON WHY THE TRAIN DRIVER ROLE IS LAGGING BEHIND ON DIVERSITY AND WHAT SHOULD BE DONE DIFFERENTLY

n a television news report from 1980, a reporter named John Doyle joined a train driver for a short ride on the West Somerset Railway. The interview, which took place three years after Karen Harrison became the first woman train driver in the UK, was with a woman called Amy, and gender was the big talking point. “Amy, I know you’ve got two young boys, what do they think about mum being a train driver?” he asked from inside the driver’s cab. “They think it’s rather super actually,” she replied. “You’re able to fit it in around all the housework and so forth?” he added. “Oh yes,” she said. The three-minute report ends with John disembarking to walk down the station platform at Williton for a piece to camera. “And so, it seems the traditional male preserves are falling thick and fast to the invasion of the female sex. What’s going to happen now?” Based on recent findings, not a lot. In 2012, a report produced by the Institute of Employment Rights (IER) on behalf of the train driver union ASLEF, found that 4.2 per cent of the union’s membership across train (TOC) and freight operating companies (FOC) were women. Updated research published in June, which also identified ASLEF members from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds and those under the age of 35, revealed that the figure for women has now reached 6.5 per cent. Given that 96 per cent of train drivers in England, Scotland and Wales are ASLEF members, these gender diversity figures clearly indicate that women train drivers continue to be vastly underrepresented.

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Percentage of each train company’s ASLEF members who are women Heathrow Express 31 Hull Trains 25 London Underground 13.8 North East Metro Operations (Nexus) 13.5 MTR Crossrail 11.6 First Tram Operations (London Trams) 11.3 Arriva Rail London (Overground) 9.4 Colas 8.3 Merseyrail 7.4 Thameslink Great Northern 7.3 LNER 7.2 West Midlands Trains 6.6 C2C 6.5 GWR 6.4 Northern 6.2 East Midlands Trains 6.1 South Western Railway 5.6 Southern 5.1 Greater Anglia 4.8 TransPennine Express 4.8 ScotRail 4.6 Transport for Wales 4.6 Southeastern 4.3 Chiltern Railways 4 Grand Central 4 CrossCountry 3.7 Eurostar 3.6 Virgin Trains 3.6 Direct Rail Services 2.6 Freightliner Heavy Haul 1.5 Freightliner Intermodal 1.4 DB Cargo UK 1.4 GB Railfreight 1.2 Colas IM 0 Eurotunnel 0 Island Line Trains 0 Metrolink 0 Tubelines 0 Data taken from the 2019 edition of ASLEF’s ‘On Track with Diversity’ report.

THE MILLION-DOLLAR QUESTION When it comes to filling a train driver vacancy, the industry is never short of applicants. In one extreme example, highlighted in ASLEF’s 2019 ‘On Track with Diversity’ report, Arriva Rail London received 6,500 applications in response to a single vacancy. So why are there so few women train drivers? In its findings, IER breaks it down into two key areas. The first is the lack of applicants. Historically, the rail industry, let alone the train driver role, has been dominated by men and this stereotype prevails to this day. Although perception is changing thanks to the efforts of TOCs and FOCs to paint a more inclusive picture of the role, the report finds “these initiatives have not yet had a sufficient impact on the career choices being made by women” and, therefore, this image problem remains a barrier to attracting a more diverse range of candidates. The second area relates to the availability of part-time and flexible working arrangements as women predominantly take on the primary responsibility for children care if they have a family. In the report it reads: “Historically ASLEF has not sanctioned part-time working because of a concern that this would be misused by employers and have a negative impact on the terms and conditions of its members. However, research from almost every other sector indicates that a requirement to work full-time acts as a deterrent to female applicants.” Combine the two with the relatively low staff turnover and you start to understand how we’ve got to where we are today.

We’re making our workforce more diverse. We’re making everyone feel included. We’re making history. At GWR, we’re not just making a difference – we’re making history by changing the way the travelling public thinks about rail travel.

And we’re doing it across our network in offices, depots, stations and on trains. It’s all about transforming our customer experience by introducing new trains and improving over 100 million journeys a year. It’s also about transforming the experiences of our own people by delivering real cultural change. We’re introducing new ways of working that make our workforce more diverse, and make everyone feel included. Right now, we’re busy putting our brand new strategy to work, and the results speak for themselves. In the last 12 months alone, we’ve increased the number of women in our organisation by 1.7%, and women now represent 30% of our leadership roles and 6.3% of all engineering roles. And this is just the beginning of our journey. So, we’re proud to support RailStaff’s Women in Rail feature. After all, we are progressive. We are one family. We are inclusive. First time, every time. You can find out more about how we’re making history at uk.firstgroupcareers.com/ about/women-at-first

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RAILSTAFF AUG/SEPT 2019

A CULTURAL SHIFT However, things are changing, as Mick Whelan, general secretary of ASLEF, explains in the 2019 report. “Since our last On Track with Diversity report was published in 2012, we have seen something of a cultural shift,” he said. “Old-fashioned gender stereotypes, reinforced by popular children’s television programmes such as Thomas the Tank Engine… have given way, to some extent, to posters, adverts, magazine features and TV documentaries showing positive images of women driving modern locomotives.” A key challenge, set seven years ago, was to undertake an awareness-raising campaign to “challenge the stereotype” of the train driver role in order to encourage more applicants. From press material released at the end of 2018, it was apparent this is something certain operators are proactively working on. East Midlands Trains revealed it received double the number of female driver applicants for its 2017 recruitment drive as a result of targeted advertising. Greater Anglia spoke about sessions it had organised for 60 women to find out about a typical day as a train driver as part of an internal recruitment campaign. And Southeastern provided a long list to the media detailing how it was doing things differently, including a partnership with WorkingMums, a leading employment website, as it seeks to raise the number of women applying for train driver roles to 40 per cent by 2021. IER researchers behind the 2012 report also urged ASLEF to consider revising its charter to promote part-time and job-share working arrangements. ASLEF has since added that it will “actively seek to negotiate with TOC/FOC’s part time contracts but not to the detriment of establishment numbers” to its charter. This has led to an increase in the availability of alternative shift arrangements and an “apparent consequential increase in the recruitment and retention of women drivers”, according to the report.

RECOMMENDATIONS To help TOCs and FOCs on their journey to establishing a more gender-diverse workforce, the following actions were recently recommended: • Collect specific data on women: The report said “improvements… are more likely to take place where operators used an evidence based approach” to allow them to track change, analyse and focus their efforts. This covers the recruitment process too, to monitor if there are significant dropoff rates for underrepresented groups. • Talent development: Efforts to recruit women train drivers from within the rail industry should be made because they already have industry knowledge.

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•

Role models: Having employees from underrepresented groups speak about their journey into the train driver role is said to be effective in making a role appear more accessible and helps dispel myths regarding the role. ‘Equality and diversity proofing’ adverts: Operators are being urged to emphasise positive job role benefits, such as potential for part-time work. Time should also be spent ensuring the language (gendered references for example) does not put off potential applicants from underrepresented groups while imagery used must also include those underrepresented groups. Finally, the adverts should be promoted on websites or in publications that will assist in drawing a wider pool of applicant. Senior champions: To serve as a symbol of the organisation’s commitment to the under-represented group and ensure that where difficulties are encountered in moving the agenda forward, they can bring senior decision making and influence to bear. Reverse mentoring: The report recommends that a company’s HR director, head of service, designated champion and chief executive, to name a few roles, should undertake reverse mentoring to better understand the challenges faced by individuals from underrepresented groups. Unconscious bias training: Of particular importance for those involved in recruitment. Helps participants to understand that we all have biases, to help identify what those are and how to mitigate against them. Staff networks: Effective in articulating the challenges faced by under-represented groups in applying for particular or remaining in particular roles, as well as identifying potential solutions.

INFLUX Opening the 2019 report, Mick Whelan said: “I have spent 35 years on the railway, and 35 years as an active trade unionist, and I know how many train drivers look just like me. Middle-aged, male, and white.” He added: “I want to see fewer people who look like me.” If TOCs and FOCs learn from best practice and implement the recommendations, come ASLEF’s next report there’s every chance we’ll start to see that great influx of women into the train driver role that was spoken about some 40 years ago.

I want to see fewer people who look like me. Mick Whelan, general secretary (ASLEF)

GENDER DIVERSITY

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PORTED B UP

WOMEN IN FREIGHT

ailways have been used to transport vital goods since the early 19th century and, with an increasing focus on reducing the UK’s environmental impact, it looks as though the nation’s dependence on rail will continue for decades to come. The responsibility of keeping the UK plc running comes with its rewards. At Freightliner, this means employees are offered competitive pay, a final salary pension scheme, a range of working hours to suit their personal circumstances, and an extensive benefit scheme which is reviewed annually to incorporate feedback from employees. The company has a highly respected and experienced team within the UK rail industry, from drivers to ground staff, and from planning, rostering and control team colleagues to maintenance engineers. Whilst many colleagues joined the rail industry at a young age, surprisingly, a large number boast varied careers outside of rail or logistics. Jaye Dry, corporate communications executive, said: “Over the last year I have been supported and encouraged by my managers and colleagues – so much so,

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I’ve been on training courses for leadership, technical development and women in the workplace. I was even nominated for a Women in Rail award for my promotion of diversity and gender equality. “I was new to the transportation industry before joining Freightliner and many thought it was a left-field choice, but, with the career opportunities, good pay and great pension, it was an easy decision to make.” Despite the industry receiving the highest levels of investment since the Victorian era, recruitment is still a challenge facing many operators. For most companies, a high priority is to increase and promote diversity and inclusion through recruitment, and, in the process, harness the potential of this new talent for the future of rail. It is no secret the industry has a gender imbalance. A report by Women in Rail revealed 16.4 per cent of the UK rail workforce is made up of women. Of those, an even smaller percentage work in frontline roles such as train driving or shunting. Heather Waugh, an intermodal train driver at Freightliner, worked as a passenger train driver for 12 years and then made the switch to rail freight. Before she became a train driver, Heather had never worked in the industry, and was more accustomed to being behind a desk, or managing an office-based team. She explained her perceptions of the rail industry before joining were not all positive, especially the rail freight sector. “I was certainly guilty of being very ignorant,” she said. “Perhaps this is a result of misinformation being passed on, or the stigma of it being a dirty, unprofessional

working place. The thing is, this just isn’t true. My Freightliner colleagues are every bit as professional as their passenger train counterparts.” So what attracted Heather to working in rail? For many train driver applicants, the starting salary of more than £53,000 in heavy haul, is a strong incentive. For Heather, it was about the freedom and variety that being a train driver offered her, along with the worklife balance. She added: “I’m so pleased I made the switch from passenger to freight. I have more time off than I’ve had at any other stage in my career which means I have the time and energy to follow up on interests, hobbies, friends and family. This was always such a struggle before. Even better, my time at work is filled with more routes and more traction – this variety keeps things fresh and interesting.” Freightliner works on the understanding that it is only as good as its employees, which is why the company supports colleagues to progress, not only professionally, but personally. Its dedicated training and development team works tirelessly to bring opportunities for individual and team growth, including offering apprenticeships, work placements and trainee schemes. Freightliner’s focus on breaking down the barriers and obstacles which prevent women and minority groups from considering a career in rail means it can harness the skillset of this extensive talent pool and help new and existing employees to flourish.

“When I started in engineering it was a ‘man’s world’, but at Freightliner, I’m part of a diverse workforce which looks out for each other. Ultimately, I’m challenged every day and it’s the responsibility I’m given which keeps my role interesting. No matter the task, I feel safe and supported when I come to work.” – Terri-Ann Westerman, Mechanical and Electrical Fitter, Freightliner

T: +44 (0) 207 200 3974 W: www.freightliner.co.uk E: railrecruitment@freightliner.co.uk @RailFreight Freightliner Group Ltd Freightliner Group Ltd

EVENTS

RAILSTAFF AUG/SEPT 2019

RAILSTAFF AWARDS 28 NOVEMBER, NEC, BIRMINGHAM

EVENTS

SEPTEMBER 2019

OCTOBER 2019

DECEMBER 2019

nextRAIL.19

SmartTransit

WORLD RAIL FESTIVAL

www.nextrail19.ch/en/registration

www.smartrailworld.com/events/

terrapinn.com/conference/rail-festival/

12th-14th September Zurich, Switzerland

IOSH CONFERENCE 16th-17th September ICC, Birmingham

www.ioshconference.com

TRAKO

24th-25th September Gdansk, Poland www.trakofair.com

OCTOBER 2019

RAIL EARTHING & BONDING 1st-2nd October London events2.theiet.org

RAIL SAFETY SUMMIT

3rd October Addleshaw Goddard, London www.railsummits.com

ASPECT 2019

22nd-24th October Delft, Netherlands

28th-30th October Addleshaw Goddard, London smart-transit

3rd-5th December Amsterdam, Netherlands

AusRAIL Plus

NOVEMBER 2019

3rd-5th December Sydney, Australia

RAIL + METRO CHINA

conference/ausrail/

12th November Shanghai, China

www.informa.com.au/event/

www.railmetrochina.com/en

JANUARY 2020

ROLLING STOCK PROCUREMENT FORUM

TRANSPORT TICKETING GLOBAL

waterfrontconferencecompany.com

www.transport-ticketing.com/

21st November Addleshaw Goddard, London

28th-29th Janurary london

MASS-TRANS INNOVATION 27th-29th November Chiba, Japan www.mtij.jp/english

RAILSTAFF AWARDS 28th November NEC, Birmingham

www.railstaffawards.com

www.irse.org/aspect/default.aspx

FEBRUARY 2020 9TH INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY SUMMIT 19th-20th February Warszawa, Poland www.irits.org/

MIDDLE EAST RAILWAY 25th-26th February Dubai, UAE

www.terrapinn.com/exhibition/middleeast-rail/index.stm

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

FIRE PROTECTION OF ROLLING STOCK 26th-27th February Berlin, Germany

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RAILSTAFF AWARDS

RAILSTAFF AUG/SEPT 2019

A NEW

KINGDOM W

e've announced the date, presented the host, revisited last year's big winner as well as entertainment of yesteryear, and now we're ready to reveal the theme of the 2019 RailStaff Awards. Continuing from 2018, it's a place of mystery and adventure, but it's no concept of the imagination. It's an oasis of beauty that fuses African and European culture and leaves visitors mesmorised by its rich landscapes. Fear not if you're yet to book your summer escape as come November 28 the sights and sounds of Morocco are coming to the RailStaff Awards.

IN FOR A TREAT Imagine the bustling souk and giant archways of Marrakesh. The minarets towering into the sky. The vibrancy of the marketplace with intriguing characters brushing by. It’s all coming to Birmingham’s NEC. Gemma King, of event organiser Rail Media, said: “I’m so excited to announce this year’s

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Do you work with an extraordinary train driver, station manager or engineer? Nominate them in one of 20 categories today:

THE CATEGORIES IN FULL: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Apprentice of the Year Award for Charity Customer Service Award Depot Staff Award Digital Railway Person or Team Award Graduate or Newcomer Award HR, Diversity & Inclusion Person or Team Award Learning & Development Award Lifetime Achievement Award Marketing & Communications Team Award Rail Civils / Infrastructure Team Award Rail Engineer of the Year Rail Manager of the Year Rail Person of the Year Rail Project Manager Award Rail Team of the Year Recruitment Person or Team Safety Person or Team Award Samaritans Lifesaver Award Station Staff Award

RAILSTAFF AUG/SEPT 2019

RAILSTAFF AWARDS

- SPONSORS -

PULSAR

High Performance Apparel

theme. Although the awards are the night’s main attraction, the new themes and the world class entertainment are always so much fun to plan. I can’t wait to see the vision for 2019 come to life. “If you were impressed by the enchanted kingdom with its cavernous woodland, acrobatic pixies, imps and goat men and sky of mystical orbs, you’ll be in for a treat when we transport you to the Kingdom of Morroco.”

FREE TICKETS The clock is now ticking until nominations close for the RailStaff Awards - so don’t miss your chance to put a colleague forward before the deadline on October 4.

The awards are open to everyone in the industry and recognise the achievements of both the most experienced professionals and those at the very start of their careers, including engineers, recruiters, drivers and project managers. If you do nominate someone, we’ll enter

you into a prize draw to win a pair of tickets on one of our VIP tables as a way of saying ‘thank you’ to you too. But whether you’re nominating or being nominated, make sure to grab your ticket to the rail industry’s greatest night for recognising its people. It’s going to be another night of making memories.

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RAILSTAFF AWARDS

RAILSTAFF AUG/SEPT 2019

NEVER

STANDING STILL

rotective equipment, in some form or another, has been used by rail workers since the 19th century. As industry safety standards and practices have been developed, so has the look, quality and range of these products, even when it comes to work wear. One of the industry’s leading protective clothing manufacturers is PULSAR, which continues to innovate and find new ways to drive out risk. “Innovation is what drives us as a business. It’s how PULSAR was born,” said Stuart Jukes, managing director of PULSAR. “When we developed the brand in 2006 and positioned ourselves between the budget and high-end parts of the market, the quality of the product in general across the market was going down and down, as was the price, it was a race to the bottom. As a business we have always innovated in whatever sector we’re in.” PULSAR designs and delivers high performance protective clothing for the highways, utilities, construction and transport and logistics sectors with rail its biggest for high-visibility clothing.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Earlier this year at the Professional Clothing Awards - which recognises the international uniform supply chain - PULSAR cemented its position as one of the leading innovators in protective clothing with two significant wins. First of all PULSAR was highly commended in the PPE Innovation of the Year category for its waterproof arc flash clothing. Released at the end of 2018, PULSAR believes this product is the lightest electric arc coat that is both breathable and waterproof on the market. “A lot of fire retardant and electric arc clothing is heavy because it has to withstand quite a lot of damage,” said Stuart, who explained that if a product is heavy and uncomfortable to wear, the user is less likely to use it when they’re unsupervised, putting them at risk.

PULSAR has, therefore, designed its clothing to be comfortable, promoting breathability and reducing the product weight at the same time, he added.

“You’re generally going to be wearing it over the top of one or two other layers of arc clothing,” said Stuart. “So you don’t really need an outer product that’s got a massive arc protection rating because the garments underneath are going to give you that layered system. “From our point of view, it’s all about ensuring people wear it when they need to and that they’re comfortable and not restricted to a point they can’t do their job.”

CLEAN SWEEP Moments after picking up the highly commended prize, PULSAR was also announced as the category winner. ‘PPE Innovation of the Year’ was awarded to PULSAR for its LED harness, a cross-sector product that sits on top of clothing and is ideal for undertaking work in poor visibility conditions.

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Stuart said tests on the product, which emits its own light and doesn’t rely on light bouncing off it, have shown the harness is visible from at least 800m away - three times the distance of traditional reflective material. He added: “It’s a really good product – especially in rail where most of the down time’s at night – to ultimately see where you’re going from section to section. A lot of the main sections of rail work are illuminated quite heavily but then you’ve also got outside of those sections which aren’t illuminated, therefore people have to walk to and from with torches.”

2018 PULSAR products provide vital support for the track workforce, which is why it has once more chosen to sponsor the Rail Civil &

RAILSTAFF AUG/SEPT 2019

RAILSTAFF AWARDS

PULSAR

The #1 choice when selecting a garment to keep you both protected and comfortable in the toughest of working environments Infrastructure Award at the RailStaff Awards. Last year’s winner was BTP’s Emergency Intervention Unit. The unit deploys specialist blue-light vehicles that allow engineers, driven by and accompanied by BTP officers, to get to incidents using blue lights and sirens which helps to reduce response times and decreases the length of delays to passengers. During 2017-18, the teams responded to 1,429 incidents, which included dealing with trespassers, suicidal interventions and supporting police operations with providing safe access for searches. Reflecting on the 2018 ceremony, Stuart said: “The evening was fantastic. It was extremely well organised. All of the guests on our table had a really good time. I think the design, layout and the theme was spot on. I think the entertainment afterwards with all the fun of the dodgems was great. It was very well done, and it was all kept to schedule – those types of events can easily run away with you.” Tickets to this year’s ceremony are still available. To find out more or vote for a colleague in one of 20 categories, head to www.railstaffawards.com

To view the complete range of both mens and ladies protective clothing, please visit @PULSARHIVIS

@PULSAR_UK

www.pulsaruk.com Pulsar UK

PULSAR

pulsar_uk

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RAILSTAFF AWARDS

RAILSTAFF AUG/SEPT 2019

TALENT IN TECHNOLOGY

he UK’s congested railways are becoming increasingly reliant on digital technology, with many rail operators choosing innovative softwarebased solutions over new infrastructure, which is often costly and disruptive to install. With more than 30 years’ experience in the rail sector, telent is at the heart of providing and maintaining mission-critical communications equipment and has acquired key partners along the journey including Network Rail, Transport for London and several train operators to ensure the world’s oldest rail network moves with the times.

HS1 telent’s reputation was enhanced at the end of last year when it was awarded a £7.6 million communications upgrade contract from HS1. This saw critical transformation work take place across several stations including St Pancras International, Stratford International, Ashford International and Ebbsfleet International stations. The project covers the replacement of

life-expired CCTV cameras - including one of the industry’s largest systems at St Pancras customer information systems, public address systems and other communications networks, all while keeping the stations open to ensure a seamless switchover. telent is working with Fourway Communications on this upgrade, with work now underway. At the time of the announcement, Owen Virrill, HS1 senior project manager, said: “HS1 has undertaken a vigorous process to ensure we have appointed a world-class systems delivery integrator to provide design, build and installation services, while ensuring there is a cultural and behavioural harmony across our values.”

LEADING PROVIDER Every rail network relies on efficient communication between systems and people and telent has an extensive range of products to meet the industry’s demands. Andrew Smith, programme director at telent, said: “We are on the front line for creating the stations of the future. From driver-only operation systems and station management systems to control rooms, GSM-R and pulling fibre trackside, we have a track record for the

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successful delivery of challenging, large-scale projects. If you need data to travel from one place to another, telent has the expertise and the experience to deliver.” Although telent is heavily involved in technological advancements, like many companies it also relies on its talented workforce, which is a credit to where it is today. Andrew continued: “From an industry perceptive, finding the correct people for a role is challenging, so it’s all down to our proactive team who will always go the extramile. On most projects we are almost the silent partner, we connect and protect without disruption, creating honest, collaborative partnerships with our customers.” With telent’s connected and streamlined approach not only in rail, but also in other key sectors including public safety, defence, highways and nuclear, this cross-industry work provides the company with great flexibility to seek new ways to improve performance and create stability. Retaining its talented workforce is part of the stability telent aims to create, with a focus on a rewarding work environment. Steve Dalton, managing director of transport at telent, said: “telent positions itself as an employer of choice and that’s reflected by the positive, friendly culture across the business. Our specialist workforce is a huge part in success due to our open and rewarding working environment.”

RAILSTAFF AUG/SEPT 2019

RAILSTAFF AWARDS

LONGEVITY

Set to fuel the rail industry for many years to come, telent has returned to sponsor the Lifetime Achievement category at the RailStaff Awards for a second year running, its fifth year supporting the only rail industry-wide people recognition ceremony. This award recognises an individual who has made a significant and lasting contribution to the rail industry over the past 20 years, with Graeme Brindle, of Amey, who has lived and breathed the railway over the past 45 years, winning last year. Steve Dalton said: “It is incredible to see the dedication and commitment of those, not only in telent, who are shaping the future of rail at the RailStaff Awards. When you speak to people about what they do, they genuinely do not realise the extraordinary efforts they put in for the UK rail industry and its passengers. “At what could be regarded as a challenging time for the rail industry in terms of criticism of its performance, this year’s RailStaff Awards is really a great opportunity to recognise those individuals and teams who have gone above and beyond to keep our railway running safely, which is why telent is honoured to be one of this year’s sponsors.” To nominate one of your colleagues in one of 20 awards categories or to find out more information, head to www.railstaffawards.com FACEBOOK.COM/THERAILSTAFFAWARDS | @RAILSTAFFAWARDS | RAILSTAFFAWARDS.COM

YOUNG RAIL PROFESSIONALS

RAILSTAFF AUG/SEPT 2019

S L A N IO S S E F O R P YOUNG RAIL

Y T I S R E V I D

ne of YRP’s key aims is to address the issue of the skills gap in the rail industry, whilst also ensuring the industry is showcased to a diverse audience in order to attract the best talent. On this front, its activities are focused in two key areas:

COLLABORATION WITH WOMEN IN RAIL

YRP and Women in Rail are both run by a team of regional volunteers who organise networking and development events for their members. With similar activities and shared goals of promoting new and diverse talent in the industry, the benefit of collaboration between the two became apparent in 2019 when their East Midlands committees joined forces to organise events for their members to come together. The first event, held in June, was a success, with attendees watching a private viewing of the legal drama film On The Basis of Sex. They also had the opportunity to network before and after the film. Plans are already under way for the next

collaboration – ‘Make New Connections’ – which will be held at the Derby Conference Centre in September. The event will focus on how to network, and – following discussions with members – how to do it well.

RAIL WEEK Founded by YRP in 2016, Rail Week is a cross industry programme to promote railway careers to the public, in particular school, college and university students. During an international fact-finding tour in 2014, the Australasian Railway Association shared with YRP its Rail Careers Week event, which inspired YRP to create a Rail Week in the UK. Rail Week is a collaborative project led by YRP that draws on the experience and skills of the wider industry through engagements with train operating companies, universities, infrastructure maintainers and other railway groups. In 2018, over 3,000 people took part in activities as part of Rail Week. This included train driving simulator demonstrations and behind the scenes tours of Siemens’ Northampton rail depot. A programme of events has already been

planned for Rail Week 2019, which will take place between October 7 and 13, but YRP is looking for more companies to get involved. It needs the industry’s support to ensure the campaign is a success and is encouraging people to get in touch if they can host depot and site tours, organise conferences or lectures or visit a school or university as an ambassador. A full list of events and more information can be found at: www.railweek.com

YRP Nada Abouelhiga (pictured left), digital railway support engineer at Rail Delivery Group, shares her journey to becoming a rail engineer

How did you end up working in the rail industry? My journey to rail was anything but simple. I didn't always plan to be an engineer, I was actually planning to study international relations and conflict resolution, but I always liked maths and physics, so I decided to study them at A-Level. During college, I had the existential crisis that every college student has where you think ‘what am I going to do with my life?’ I knew I wanted to change the world RAILSTAFF.CO.UK | @RAIL_STAFF | FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF

for the better and I liked solving problems, so I eventually decided engineering was the way to do that. I went to university in London and initially planned to do a degree in aerospace engineering – I think at that point in my life I thought I wanted to design race cars – but then had a change of heart and switched to a degree in medical engineering. As if that wasn't complicated enough, one day I decided to attend a digital railway conference hosted by the YRP. After the conference, I was converted. Learning about all the capacity and performance challenges the railway faced had me instantly interested. I went away to learn more about rail and realised it would fulfil this desire to change the world for the better - an industry that provides a vital public service and improves the environment by getting people out of cars? Bingo! I then completed a trial year in industry at what was then the Association of Train Operating Companies, and I enjoyed it so much that I decided to come back to the industry after finishing my MEng.

What attracted you to the industry?

Initially, I was attracted to the complexity of the industry and the scale of challenges the industry faced. I felt like this was an industry where I could really have a positive impact and make a mark. I am also a massive believer of the railway. I believe in its potential to boost the economy, help to clean up the environment and give people a better quality of life through improved connections and more choices around where to live and work.

What does your current role involve?

I currently work at the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) as a digital railway support engineer. I am also completing the railway engineering graduate scheme. As part of the graduate scheme I rotate through

RAILSTAFF AUG/SEPT 2019

YOUNG RAIL PROFESSIONALS

different parts of the railway and build my engineering competencies, with the hope of one day becoming a chartered engineer with the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Part of my role at RDG is supporting the new technology introduction team, who are essentially the interface between train operators (TOCs) and Digital Railway. I also represent TOCs at the control, command and signalling steering group in Brussels, I represent TOC interests at GSM-R industry groups and finally I support the ERTMS First in Class project.

What do you find most challenging?

The most challenging part of my role is understanding the industry! There are so many meetings and groups that all play a different role in moving projects forward, just learning the way it is all structured has been a massive learning curve for me.

What do you most enjoy about your role?

I enjoy two aspects of my job; the people and the technology – even better when the two come together. I have really enjoyed working with so many people and learning about all the new technologies available to the industry through them. Being an engineer new technology is always going to be fun, it’s like getting a new toy.

What would you say to someone thinking of a career in engineering?

Engineering is so different to how it is traditionally perceived to be, and I think it's so important to highlight the different types of people in engineering. At school, I wasn't the ‘engineering type’, my favourite subjects were English and history, along with maths and physics. It's normal to like playing with trains during the day and reading JeanPaul Sartre at night! FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF | @RAIL_STAFF | RAILSTAFF.CO.UK

RAIL FORUM MIDLANDS

RAILSTAFF AUG/SEPT 2019

MEET THE CHAIR

RAIL FORUM MIDLANDS' RHEA NORTH CAUGHT UP WITH PAUL ROBINSON How do you plan on gathering member feedback and implementing their suggestions?

ack in March, Rail Forum Midlands (RFM) gained a new executive board member and chair in Paul Robinson. Paul is currently the managing director of Keolis Nottingham Trams, which operates and maintains Nottingham’s NET light rail system, and is also a board director of the Keolis Amey Metrolink and Seilwaith Amey Keolis franchises. He was previously the UK managing director of Alstom Transport and sales director for Bombardier Transportation in Derby. With over 35 years of experience in rail, Paul brings with him a wealth of knowledge and experience.

As the new chair, what are your thoughts on the achievements of RFM and how do you plan to build on them? Over recent years I have been incredibly impressed with how far RFM has come and I am amazed at just how much the team achieves on the tight budget it has. I’ve been speaking with our

members to get their thoughts on what we are doing right, what we can continue doing for them and what we could improve upon. RFM represents its members to government and key stakeholders so it’s important to understand what our members need from us and what is important to them so that we can do this to the best of our ability. In support of our members needs four Operational Delivery Groups (ODG) have been formed, each led by an RFM board director. These are: • People, Skills & Diversity • Business Growth • Events, Networking & Communication • Political & Stakeholder Engagement. This is a good step in supporting our members and I am looking forward to seeing the plans and actions resulting from the ODGs. Our invitation to participate in the Rail Sector Deal with two Midland pilots, shared apprenticeships and schools engagement and SME growth through collaboration, presents an exciting opportunity for our members.

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I’ve been extremely keen to meet RFM members. The first major event I attended was the parliamentary reception in April and I had the pleasure of meeting a number of members there. I was able to speak to them about their relationship with us; this included meeting some new faces alongside some people I’ve known for a long time! I also spent a day at the Railtex exhibition where we hosted breakfast for all the RFM exhibitors, plus I had the opportunity to visit and speak to several members at their stands. The AGM in June allowed me to meet even more members and get up to speed with some of the incredible work the RFM team has been involved with during the last year. I’ve also arranged a couple of informal drop-in ‘meet the chair’ breakfasts, allowing further opportunities for members to meet and chat to me informally about what their companies aim to do, the challenges they face, and what we can do to assist them.

Would you describe the feedback you have received as positive?

Absolutely. The overarching comment is that the work RFM has done and continues to do and the progress it has made is incredibly important and helpful to our members. That’s really important as that determines whether they continue on as members – so it’s great they are pleased to continue working with us.

Were there any key issues raised that members felt needed to be addressed? In such a complex industry as rail I suppose there will always be issues that need ironing out and part of our role is to help

remove some of the barriers and obstructions our members and especially SMEs face to make things easier for them to do business. Key issues members have raised with me are ones we continue to work hard on such as the difficulty they have engaging with OEMs and other clients to get their innovations onto the railway. Onerous terms and conditions are difficult for SMEs to cope with, so we need to find ways to assist them with this. Finally, current uncertainty with Brexit, Network Rail’s reorganisation and the potential franchising model changes emerging from the Williams Review makes long-term planning extremely difficult. RFM will continue to work hard with, and on behalf of, our members and engage with stakeholders to help resolve these issues. Closer to home we’ve had some positive feedback and suggestions regarding our events which we will be actioning in the 2020 events calendar.

What is important to you in taking on the position of chair?

As chair I think it’s incredibly important to understand our members and what is right for them. Not every company is going to have the same wants or needs, and they don’t all join RFM for the same thing. Many of our members are SMEs, what’s important to them isn’t the same as what’s important to a larger organisation and the challenges they face are entirely different. We need to know what each company needs from us so that we can, to a certain extent, tailor our services to them. It’s about having that personal relationship with each of our members, something I believe to be incredibly important.

FREIGHTLINER is a leading rail freight provider with businesses in the United Kingdom, Continental Europe and the Middle East. They have established themselves as a leader within the rail freight industry; setting standards, introducing new thought processes and industry firsts.

Over:

2,000 employees

250 locomotives

5,500 wagons

All recruitment conversations will be handled confidentially.

Mobile Ground Staff Career Opportunities South West & London FISSION RAIL is working in partnership with

ROLE OVERVIEW Conducting safe shunting operations in accordance to the relevant railway rules and regulations with the goal of dispatching trains efficiently Load examinations Safety checks The role involves shift-based working which can include, early, late and weekend working

innovative rail freight solutions to bolster their

You must reside or be prepared to relocate to within 60 minutes of Wembley, Tilbury and Mendip Quarries

existing teams of Mobile Ground Staff across 3

COMPANY BENEFITS

Freightliner, the market leader in providing

depots - Wembley, Tilbury and Mendip Quarries. Are you a reliable, committed individual? Do you possess the knowledge and experience needed to become a member of the Mobile Ground Staff Team?

Competitive salaries Industry-wide defined contribution and/or final salary pension scheme Freightliner life (which includes cycle to work, childcare vouchers, discounted gym membership). Employee Assistance Programme

Open day interviews will be taking place at the end of September 2019 in central London. Successful candidates will be invited to attend interviews. All applications must be made via Fission Rail. Please email an up to date CV with contact details to rail@fission.co.uk

CAREERS

RAILSTAFF AUG/SEPT 2019

DELIVERING QUALITY RECRUITMENT SOLUTIONS FOR THE RAIL INDUSTRY Senior Civil Engineer

P6 Planner – Rail

Senior Cost Manager – Rail Works

Location: Croydon Salary: £300 / day Type: Contract

Location: London Salary: £ Negotiable Type: Contract

Location: South East England Salary: £ Negotiable Type: Permanent

The Rail Civil Engineering Design Team in London and Croydon are seeking talented individuals with an interest and experience in railway infrastructure design including bridges, stations and depots, as well as other railway civil engineering infrastructure as part of existing route enhancement schemes.

An outstanding opportunity has arisen to join one of the leading rail organisations and play a vital role with some planning work. The role will see you getting involved with detailed planning works for upcoming project development.

The role will include working on a variety of civil engineering and rail infrastructure contracts, tendering and pre-contract, internal reporting and client interfacing.

+44 (0)1483 361061

info@advance-trs.com

advance-trs.com

www.trsstaffing.com

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way People.com

– Rail and Infrastructure Vacancies Currently Available – Risk Managers

Procurement Manager

London, Birmingham and Bristol Junior and senior roles £40,000-£65,000 + package

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TRS Staffing Solutions are international engineering recruitment specialists. We recruit for major national and international projects for leading national rail organisations, main contractors and consultancies.

Please email your CV to andrew.johnson@trsstaffing.com or if you’d prefer to discuss any roles call +44 (0)20 7419 5800 RAILSTAFF.CO.UK | @RAIL_STAFF | FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF

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RailwayPeople.com is the largest dedicated rail job site in the UK. With thousands of job opportunities updated daily, your next career is a fingertip away. Visit RailwayPeople.com to find your next role today.

IN SEARCH OF ELECTRIFICATION ENGINEERS JOIN US IN YOUR NEXT CAREER MOVE We develop projects from concept through to operation, providing integrated services for multi-year, multimillion-pound programmes for major rail and transport agencies. Working together, we can realise our ambitions for the future. We are looking for Electrical Engineers | Senior Electrical Engineers | Principal Electrical Engineers | OLE Engineers | Senior OLE Engineers | Lead OLE Engineers. Roles are based in Birmingham, Croydon, Glasgow, London, Manchester, Swindon and York.

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