RailStaff December 2013

RailStaff

Nationwide Track Renewals & Plant Hire in CP5

stobartrail.com

Issue 193 / December 2013

THE MOST POPULAR PUBLICATION IN THE UK RAIL INDUSTRY

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Director role for Sarah Boundy

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PAGE 8

Christmas carol service The Railway Carol Service will take place on the 19th December.

Winter Warmer

for rail industry

Plans to build a new station at Gatwick Airport and guarantee the £1 billion project to extend the London Underground’s Northern Line to Battersea, together with the HS2 design-and-build parliamentary bill, place the rail industry firmly at the heart of Britain’s national recovery programme.

As railway staff prepared to work through the Christmas holidays on a comprehensive list of major capacity enhancement projects across the network, the National Infrastructure Plan also detailed work progressing on 150 stations as well as upgrades to the London Underground

Continued on PAGE 4

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PAGE 13

Freight Focus Rail freight generates £870 million per annum for the British economy.

PAGE 23

COMMENT

Contact us:

Publisher:

Paul O’Connor

Editor:

Andy Milne

Production and design:

Adam O’Connor

Senior Reporter:

Jonathan Webb

Writer:

Nigel Wordsworth

Track Safety:

Colin Wheeler

Pictures:

Colin Garratt

Advertising:

Asif Ahmed Craig Smith Paul Curtis

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

Contact Details RailStaff Publications Ltd Rail Media House, Samson Road, Coalville, Leicestershire, LE67 3FP. Tel: 01530 816 444 Fax: 01530 810 344 Web: www.railstaff.co.uk Email: hello@rail-media.com Printed by Pensord.

RailStaff is published by RailStaff Publications Limited.

A Rail Media Publication.

SPECIAL FOCUS

Gold in a stocking Helping those less fortunate than ourselves always feels good © SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

RailStaff

The £42 billion projected cost of HS2 stands tall against the £375 billion investment stipulated by the National Infrastructure Plan.

Yet it is still a bit like a child finding a gold ingot at the bottom of a present filled stocking on Christmas morning.

The custom of placing a coin – often a chocolate one nowadays – in the toe of the Christmas stocking dates back to the various legends of Saint Nicholas. A poor miller, one version has it, was going broke. Almost destitute he was considering the offer of a nearby evil baron who wanted to purchase the miller’s three daughters. How little life changes down the years.

The stories of investment and better business that thread our magazine all attest to the good news about railways. With equal regularity it remains our unique privilege to report those acts of charity and courage demonstrated by railway staff. The overshadowing gold in the rail industry is their generosity and kindness.

Helping those less fortunate than ourselves always feels good and lifts the spirits. Late one afternoon riding by the miller’s cottage St Nicholas saw a washing line holding the miller’s daughters’ woollen stockings.

Mindful of the evil baron the saint found three gold coins in his pocket and tossed them one by one across the still December

afternoon and over the hedge. The coins landed in three different stockings – enough to save each of the miller’s children and clear his debts.

Quite often railway staff shy away from revealing details of the acts of kindness and bravery reported. Modest to a fault many will shrug and say it wasn’t much.

We know different.

Saint Nicholas apparently was

also rather retiring and would disappear, never waiting around to speak of what he’d done. Thus the legend grew up that children never see him but he arrives all the same.

That afternoon as the saint rode off into the dusk a child glimpsed him, a jovial figure in white whiskers and a red coat.

Merry Christmas everyone – andy@rail-media.com

PAGE 5

PAGE 14

Training Matters In March’s RailStaff

Record wedge for Wessex

Skycall for East Coast

Training and education are the sure paths to success, not only for individuals entering the rail industry, but for railways as a whole. The skills gap could prove a real constraint as more major projects come on line and Crossrail, HS2 and Electrification need ever more trained staff.

Call Chris or Paul on 01530 816 440 or email training@rail-media.com.

Investment in railways across the south and south west of England has increased to record levels this year says Network Rail.

Almost 400,000 viewers tuned in to watch East Coast rail staff making their small screen debut on Sky 1 HD’s new series.

www.railstaff.co.uk

3

Winter Cheer for Railways

4

HS2 continues to grab the headlines. Danny Alexander, Chief Secretary to the Treasury said, ‘High Speed Two is a massive investment: £42 billion over the next couple of decades.

‘That’s something which will really help and is strongly supported by leaders in Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds

and Sheffield as well as London because it’s about transforming the ability of passengers, goods and people to move around this country quickly.’

With Crossrail powering ahead and wires going up for the Great Western electrification, 2014 looks like being a great year for railways.

“Commuter services into London and other regional centres are already oversubscribed …”

© JONATHAN WEBB

Central to the government’s National Infrastructure Plan is its continued support for railways.

The NIP lists achievements made by the industry and acknowledges that passenger numbers have doubled since privatisation. Less popular was the announcement that the government’s 40% stake in Eurostar will be sold along with other state assets to raise money for investment.

However, the new railway remains at the heart of plans to catalyse growth, job creation and economic success. The plan notes that, ‘Much of the infrastructure that supports the network is already nearing its capacity limits.

‘Commuter services into London and other regional centres are already oversubscribed, meaning that capacity is set to become an increasingly prominent issue over the coming years.’

Over the holiday season railway workers will be working round the clock on projects ranging from overhead electrification to tunnelling and track renewal.

Already Network Rail plans to install a new platform at Gatwick this Christmas.

www.railstaff.co.uk

NEWS

Record wedge for Wessex Investment in railways across the south and south west of England has increased to record levels this year says Network Rail.

Over £146m was invested by the Network Rail and South West Trains Alliance between 1 April and 31 October 2013. The money has been focused on improving infrastructure reliability and doing up stations.

New investment has delivered longer platforms, new lifts and bridges at stations, better information systems and footbridges at level crossings.

Money has also been spent on track and power upgrades.

Nationally, Network Rail’s halfyear results show a total of £2.74 biilion was invested in the railway across Britain – an increase of 33% on the same period last year and

53% higher than four years ago.

The £146m breaks down into £22m on new points and crossings, £42m on track renewals and £24m on signalling. £12m was spent on electrification. Work started on the £13m resignalling project between Poole and Wool in Dorset. Farnham resignalling work accounted for £6.5m.

Two new footbridges were built at Alton and Farnham stations and a new footbridge installed at North

Sheen level crossing. Wokingham station benefitted from a £6m redevelopment.

Across the south and south west of England, £90.7m has been spent lengthening platforms at 65 stations. Further multi-million pound infrastructure improvements are planned for the approach to Waterloo and the station itself. Platform 20 in the Waterloo International Terminal will be brought into permanent

use in April 2014 and work will take place during 2014 to reinstate further platforms in the terminal.

Extra carriages will be added to trains to provide additional capacity and seats for passengers.

Work also started on a new stateof-the-art signalling and training centre in Basingstoke which will control large areas of railway in London and the south west. It is due to be completed by the end of 2014.

Merry Christmas from All the Team

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NEWS

Five million download

News in brief

Return to Euston Siemens Rail Systems Division is moving to the old BR headquarters building on Eversholt Street.

In its day the whole building was given over to the British Railways Board, the double arrow flag flying proudly over head. Euston House now operates as a training and conference centre. Siemens, headquartered in Berlin, builds trains, trams and locomotives.

Shropshire Lads present petition Following the green light from the Office of Rail Regulation Virgin Trains has proposed re-instating a direct daily service between Shropshire and London.

However Network Rail has cited concerns about capacity and is considering the plan. Local people want the service back and recently presented a 4,000 signature petition to parliament.

The National Rail Enquiries app has reached a five million download milestone.

Buying tickets by smartphone is proving popular with customers.

NRE’s smartphone app for both iOS and Android was launched in April last year and has undergone multiple updates. All changes have been as a result of customer feedback.

For people on long journeys, who may tend to drift off to sleep, NRE has now added a helpful ‘wake me

up’ alarm system. NRE has further enhanced its app with line-ofroute alerting, which allows people to find out about problems on their line.

Says Jason Webb, Head of Online Service of NRE, ‘NRE centres every update around feedback from its customers and every change we make is tested thoroughly to prove its merits before being implemented, which is designed to prove all our updates are of practical value to the traveller.’

Holidays on Ice London Southend Airport, run by the Stobart Group, has helped set up the Broadgate Ice Rink next door to Liverpool Street station in London.

Stobart Group built the new railway station at Southend Airport and numbers are powering up. Every year a temporary ice rink is set up in the heart of the City of London.

Skaters mix with stockbrokers and Essex commuters on the way to and from work. X factor star Chico Slimani turned out to launch this year’s rink. Southend Airport and the brand new railways station have proved such a success that Stobart Group is now investing a further ten million pounds to expand the terminal.

Starbucks-Bahn Coffee giant, Starbucks, now has its own carriage on selected Swiss Federal Railways trains.

The double decker car sports the distinctive logo on the side and a plush coffee bar decor inside. The first outing for the train took place on the Geneva Airport to St.Gallen run. On-board baristas brew the coffee.

Says Jeannine Pilloud, director of SBB, ‘We are very happy to unveil this exciting new on-board experience for our customers. We continuously work to enhance our on-board services through innovations to ensure travellers enjoy a pleasant journey and this project is an evolution of our catering concept. We want our customers to feel at home while travelling with us.’

6

www.railstaff.co.uk

Director role for Sarah Boundy Sarah Boundy has been appointed as GoAhead Group’s Corporate Communications Director.

Boundy had been covering the role since the departure of Samantha Hodder this summer to be a director of Sydney Trains, Australia. Sarah has worked in the transport industry for more than ten years, most recently as Head of Communications and Publicity at Southeastern, where she was part of the executive team.

Sarah was educated at Sheffield University and has a master’s degree in Psychotherapy. After two years at Shepherds Press she worked as a radio journalist at Star FM. Five years later she entered NTL’s PR set up. She joined Connex in 2002 and became head of communications and publicity at Southeastern Trains in 2006.

Says David Brown, Group Chief Executive, ‘We’re pleased to have Sarah joining us from Southeastern where she was instrumental in the introduction of the high speed service and in the successful delivery of rail transport for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.’

Multipulse quickens beat Woking-based Multipulse, which supplies metering technology to the rail industry, has taken on two new members of staff.

Ian Finlayson joins from Talaris, a supplier of automatic cash and ticket dispensing machines. Ian joins as Strategic Account Manager. Michael Bailey is a new graduate who has joined the company straight from Portsmouth University where he gained a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering.

8

Best move for Overground Steve Best is the new Finance Director at London Overground Rail Operations Limited (LOROL).

Steve takes over the role from Peter Austin who was appointed Managing Director in January 2013. Steve joins from SGP and was previously Divisional Finance Director at City Link, based at Heathrow.

He was head of Financial Planning at Rentokil Initial. Steve previously spent six years at Invensys - first as Senior Group Financial Analyst 1999 – 2002 then Group Financial Planning & Analysis Manager 2002 – 2005.

Steve was educated at Gravesend Grammar School for Boys and the University of Hull where he read a BSc in Management Science. He has more than 16 years of finance experience in a range of industries such as rail, business services, parcel delivery and technology. www.railstaff.co.uk

PEOPLE NEWS

Neil Walker joins MTR

Fanfare for Copeland

Neil Walker has joined MTR’s team in Europe as European Business Development Executive.

Walker was previously senior director at Bombardier Transportation where he was involved in London Underground’s Victoria Line upgrade programme.

Neil will help with MTR’s London Overground and Stockholm operations, and the newly announced MTR Express Stockholm-Gothenburg service, which will see new rolling stock added over the next three years.

MTR is also shortlisted for Thameslink and Crossrail. In both cases, the successful bidder will need to introduce entire new fleets of rolling stock between 2015 and 2019, with new ATO signalling systems.

Says Jeremy Long, CEO, European Business, ‘Neil has great knowledge about the provision of new trains and railway infrastructure, and of bringing them into service, which

Paul Copeland has been appointed Managing Director of Siemens Rail Automation UK. Paul joined Invensys Rail in February 2013 as Vice President, Delivery for Northern Europe, taking full responsibility for project delivery. After the integration with Siemens he became Director,

are now vital parts of any train operator’s skill set.

‘Neil’s experience, combined with MTR’s existing expertise both here in London and internationally, will be valuable for our existing operations in the UK and Sweden, and our Crossrail and Thameslink bids.’

Neil was educated at King Edward VI Grammar School, Stratford upon Avon and Nottingham Trent University where he read a degree in civil engineering. MTR runs London Overground Rail Operations Ltd (LOROL) in a joint venture with Deutsche Bahn AG. MTR is a shortlisted bidder for the Crossrail concession and the Essex Thameside, Thameslink, Southern & Great Northern (TSGN), and ScotRail franchises.

The MTR Corporation is listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange, with a market capitalisation of approximately £13.8bn.

Stansted Trio in Mystery Magic

www.railstaff.co.uk

Engineering and Delivery.

Paul has over 35 years’ experience in rail and civil engineering. He has worked for Bechtel, Laing O’Rourke, and Balfour Beatty. He will take over from Nick Crossfield who has left the business.

Three On Board Hosts at Greater Anglia have achieved top marks for excellent customer service.

The top trio were secretly assessed by mystery shoppers. Darshit Parikh, Michael King and Dennis Brown scored 100% on the train and were also praised for their good rapport with passengers and helpful, friendly attitudes. The trio all work on the Stansted Express.

Says Greater Anglia’s Area Customer Service Manager, Flavio Lopes, ‘I am delighted that three of my team have been singled out as delivering excellent customer service and would like to thank them for their efforts to create a pleasant on board experience for our customers. They are a great asset to the team.’

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RAIL ALLIANCE NEWS

Join the Rail Alliance now Rail Alliance membership starts from just £500 per year

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Disappearing Year

As RailStaff goes to print we are about to hold our last event of 2013 and are putting the programme for 2014 to bed, writes Colin Flack.

Who stole 2013? The more members I talk to, the more I hear people say that the year has just disappeared! The good thing though is that the year started

log on to www.railalliance.co.uk email info@railalliance.co.uk or call 01789 720026.

with confidence generally bumping along at a pretty average level; the contrast today could not be greater. Work is coming through, orders are being placed and with CP5 just around the corner we look set for a good 2014.

Rail Alliance has gone from strength to strength this year, our membership has continued to grow, we have continued to develop ever better relationships with the big guys out there like Network Rail and the OEMs which all bodes well for the future.

The Network Rail Plant show held at our home in Long Marston was a great success and saw over 250 exhibitors and nearly 4000 visitors enjoy a couple of days in the sun. Special thanks here to Babcock Rail for leading and executing the track renewal demonstration.

This has been a great boost to

our testing and trialling capabilities. With the active support of the Enabling Innovation Team we have been successfully running a testing voucher scheme for the last four months.

This is proving very popular and provides companies with a unique opportunity to demonstrate, trial test products etc in a live railway environment. For details see: www.futurerailway.org/eit or contact info@railalliance.co.uk.

Great progress has been made in the Route-to-Market arena. We are delighted to have been part of the work conducted in this field by James Lewis at Network Rail.

Thanks also for another years sterling support from Tom and his team at Rail Media Group. Finally we would like to wish you all a very happy Christmas and look forward to a bigger, bolder, better New Year.

Colin Flack, CEO, Rail Alliance.

Festive Cheer for Rowe Hankins Builders will be working through the festive season helping Rowe Hankins expand its Service Centre premises at its Bury HQ in Lancashire. The idea is to increase capacity and provide more resources for the successful Service Centre team.

The Rowe Hankins Ltd (‘RHC’) Service Centre team has been repairing and maintaining electro-mechanical equipment for over a decade, helping extend the life of safety critical vehicle components and reducing maintenance costs.

Under an IRIS certified quality assurance regime, the company offers an efficient and flexible service to keep rail fleets operating at peak performance. Employing industry trained experienced engineers RHC provides the highest quality service by a thorough understanding of the application and working to the requirements demanded by the modern rail industry for high reliability.

The team can identify problems early and devise the most practical solutions with a schedule that minimises operational disruption.

Whether the customer is looking for a standard repair, an overhaul, testing or product 10

improvement, our Service Centre, supported by the design and procurement team, can provide high quality effective solutions.

The Service Centre has extensive facilities including wash plant and sand blasters for cleaning, specialised test equipment for measurement of contact bounce timings, precision low ohm meters for measurement of

contact resistance, insulation test equipment and contact force measurement equipment.

Examples of work completed and the method of condition assessment can be seen at: www.rowehankins.com/Service+Centre/Service+Centre +/46/97/ or contact the sales team to discuss your current or future requirements on 0161-765-3005. www.railstaff.co.uk

NEWS

Whisky A-Go-Go A new service carrying Scotch whisky by rail from Elgin in Speyside to the Grangemouth Rail Freight Terminal could be introduced next year.

A test service run by DB Schenker Rail (UK) Ltd. concluded late in November. The whisky industry contributes approximately £2.7 billion to the Scottish economy and is expected to experience significant growth in the coming years.

Currently, all bulk Scotch whisky and spirit is moved by road from Speyside to warehouses and bottling halls across central Scotland.

However, the whisky industry is keen to improve its environmental credentials and factor in the increased reliability and capacity of rail.

The ‘Lifting the Spirit’ project

was designed to reduce lorry movements on Scotland’s already overcrowded roads and to assess the environmental benefit of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, whilst allowing for the predicted expansion of the Scotch whisky industry.

The first DB Schenker Rail UK train departed Elgin Goods Yard in Speyside at the beginning of September 2013 to make the journey of over 200 miles through

Aberdeen to Grangemouth in central Scotland. Several Scotch whisky producers, including Diageo, Chivas Brothers, John Dewar & Sons, Whyte & Mackay and Glen Turner backed the scheme.

Whilst on test the service operated twice weekly from Elgin to Grangemouth. ‘Lifting the Spirit’ was part-funded by HITRANS, the Highlands and Islands Transport Partnership, Highlands and Islands

Enterprise and Moray Council. The European Union’s Northern Periphery Programme also helped fund the trial.

Says Carsten Hinne, Managing Director Logistics for DB Schenker Rail UK, ‘Local councils in Morayshire have been keen for a modal shift from road to rail of this valuable commodity for a number of years and DB Schenker Rail UK is delighted to be able to assist them in realising this aspiration.’

Rail Interiors: The inside story Thursday, 6th March 2014 CHAIR: Colin Flack, Chief Executive Officer The Rail Alliance

The Rail Alliance, in collaboration with Coventry University, is proud to offer you a unique chance to explore the latest thinking on rail interiors and showcase your innovation.

WHEN: March 6th 2013 - 08:00 - 16.30 WHERE: Coventry University Engineering and Computing Faculty REGISTRATION and a detailed programme will be available from January 2014. In the meantime, please contact The Rail Alliance at info@railalliance.co.uk for more information.

www.railalliance.co.uk www.railstaff.co.uk

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IT Girl - could it be you?

Susan Cooklin, Network Rail’s chief information officer, is concerned about the rapid slide in the number of women entering the IT sector.

She has launched a new competition for girls which will see the company pay the winner’s first year of university fees. Called ‘Could IT Be You?’ the competition aims to reboot perceptions about women working in railway IT. Says Susan, ‘Popular culture has helped create a perception amongst young women that a career in IT is all about writing code in basement offices – the reality couldn’t be further from the truth.

‘Could IT Be You?’ aims to break down those myths and help young women realise how the skills and behaviours they already have – such as good communications, problem solving and working creatively – are exactly what business leaders are after.

‘While there are people in my

team who are technical experts with IT-related qualifications, there are just as many whose skills lie in other important areas and do a critical job delivering the IT projects that make our railway run better.’

The competition has been designed by six women in Network Rail’s 500-strong IT team led by Susan Cooklin, and aims to show girls what working in IT is really about and the career opportunities open to them. The six women who came up with the competition all work in IT project management roles at Network Rail. Only one has a technical subject undergraduate degree - the others studied History, English, Psychology and Philosophy, and Biochemistry and Pharmacology.

Says Ruth Stevens (pictured), a 26 year-old Network Rail IT project manager who helped develop the competition, ‘It’s not always easy to know at 16 what you want to do for a job when you’re in your

twenties, or even what you might be good at. It can all seem so daunting.

‘By sharing my experience through the competition, I want to help open this exciting world up to others, especially young women, who may not realise all the great things they could do. I did English at university and now I’m an IT project manager. It’s not what you would traditionally expect but technology is central to all our lives, so I really feel as if I’m making a difference.’

Fifty entrants will be invited to a

networking day at Network Rail’s Milton Keynes HQ in February.

Here they will meet influential business women from various industries and learn valuable skills such as CV writing and interview techniques. They will be asked to record a minute-long film about their experience of the day.

Those who record the top four films will win two weeks work experience at Network Rail during the summer of 2014 with the best winning all this as well as the first prize of having their first year of university fees paid.

January give away

Jubilee Joy Once trailing in popularity, London Underground’s Jubilee line now tops the polls and has become London’s favourite tube service.

One in four of those polled named it as their favourite line just ahead of the Victoria line at 19 per cent. The Jubil-ation result comes after years of being synonymous with closures, engineering works and rail replacement services.

The Central and Piccadilly lines were tied, with 12 per cent naming 12

them as their favourite line. The dubious distinction of the Tube’s least favourite line went to the Northern line, with 34 per cent singling it out. The poll comes after Transport for London launched an Olympic-style campaign to manage demand on the network’s busiest line. While the modernisation of the line continues, TfL is urging commuters to consider travelling outside the busiest periods or taking alternative routes and modes of transport.

In a special morning hand out, National Express train operator c2c gave away free travel for up to 120,000 rail passengers with its Golden Ticket giveaway gift.

Startled commuters took up 15,000 Golden Tickets each allowing a free return journey for a group of up to four adults and up to four children on c2c’s off-peak services in January. The Golden Tickets were handed out at Fenchurch Street, Limehouse and West Ham stations between 06.30 and 09.00.

Says Alan Bray, c2c Head of Sales and Marketing, ‘This is an early Christmas present from c2c. We wanted to say thank you to our customers for travelling with us during 2013, and hand out a little something now that we hope will help ease the January blues next year.’ www.railstaff.co.uk

NEWS

Public back Crossrail 2 Public feedback on Crossrail 2, the proposed north–south cross London rail link – shows 95 per cent of the 14,000 respondents ‘strongly supporting’ or ‘supporting’ the principle of the scheme.

Transport for London (TfL) and Network Rail both back the project.

Local leaders see Crossrail 2 as vital to boosting capacity on the suburban rail network and supporting economic growth.

Even with the upgrade works to the London Underground and the delivery of Crossrail 1, additional capacity on the transport network is essential to cope with London’s forecasted population growth.

Crossrail 2 would create a new high

frequency, high capacity rail line with shorter journey times between southwest and northeast London.

The project was given a boost in the summer when the Chancellor George Osborne said the Government would pay £2m for a feasibility study. The new high capacity railway could see trains running at a rate of between 30 to 40 trains an hour.

Says Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, ‘This consultation reveals that there’s a very clear stamp of approval for Crossrail 2 from Londoners and from business.

People can clearly see the immense value of a project that will relieve pressure on suburban rail routes and on the

Underground, as well as helping to spur economic growth in a key quadrant of the capital.

‘In addition, if HS2 goes ahead, Crossrail 2 would provide a vital interchange at Euston which

Unipart Rail’s Overhead Line Electrification team has won the firm’s Mark in Action award for its role in delivering exceptional customer service to Network Rail.

The team, pictured here, led by Kelly Pepper, is closely involved in the rail industry’s burgeoning OHLE sector and received the award from John Neill, CEO, Unipart Group.

© SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Overhead Christmas carol service win for Kelly and Team

The Railway Carol Service will take place this year at 12:30 on Thursday 19th December at St Mary’s Church, Somers Town, Eversholt Street, London, NW1.

The service is organised by the

www.railstaff.co.uk

Transport Benevolent Fund and always attracts a good crowd.

London’s Transport Choir will be performing. Choirmaster David Brice, safely back from running rail projects in Afghanistan and

would be under significant strain from greater passenger numbers.

The key question now is not whether Crossrail 2 should happen, but how quickly can we get it built.’

Kyrgyzstan, has organised an upbeat programme featuring John Rutter’s Angel Tidings and traditional carols like, ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen’ and ‘Hark the Herald Angels.’

The church is just up the road from the old British Railways Board HQ at Euston Station.

Looking along the tracks at Euston Eversholt Street is to the right.

Says Andy Milne, ‘The carol service makes a great start to Christmas and is a good chance to remember those no longer with us, those who will be working over Christmas and New Year and to reflect on the continued good fortune of the industry we serve.

The day becomes increasingly convivial with cascade briefings in a succession of hostelries that proliferate around Euston.’

Everyone is welcome.

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Skycall for East Coast Almost 400,000 viewers tuned in to watch East Coast rail staff making their small screen debut on Sky 1 HD’s new series All Aboard: East Coast Trains.

The 10-part documentary series looks set to prove a surprise hit this Christmas. East Coast says it allowed Sky cameras unprecedented access to its trains, stations and depots. Viewers watching the opening episode saw East Coast Chef Mark Mclean, who lives in Newcastle with his wife and daughter.

Mark has been working for East Coast for 15 years, and was seen cooking breakfast on a Londonbound service. He was filmed with On-Board Customer Services Assistant Karen Kerrison, also from Newcastle, and captured the great banter between the duo.

East Coast staff who star in Sky 1 HD’s show ‘All Aboard: East Coast Trains’, at Newcastle station with the specially-liveried train promoting the series.

Pictured from left: Claire Manning, Mark Mclean, Karen Kerrison, Darren ‘Daz’ Harrison and Louise Rutherford.

Darren ‘Daz’ Harrison, an information controller at Newcastle was seen dealing with raucous stag and hen parities on a busy Friday night.

More poignant was footage of

Gathering goes down a storm

© JONATHAN WEBB

Old drivers and rail staff turned up to pay

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seen dispatching his last train from York station, and then enjoying a party thrown by colleagues from the station headed up by York’s Duty Station Manager Paola Vitolo.

Police praise for rail heroes

Over 100,000 people attended the Autumn Gathering at the National Rail Museum in York and admired all six surviving A4 locos on show.

Old drivers and rail staff turned up to pay tribute to the iconic steam fleet. An extra 10,500 enjoyed NRM’s free evening, ‘Locos in a Different Light’ show. The two headline Great Gathering events have now attracted approximately a quarter of a million visitors to York this year.

tribute to the iconic steam fleet.

train dispatcher John Rhodes – nicknamed ‘JR’ – at York on his last day before retiring. JR worked on the railway his entire career and the first episode showed his last day at work after 47 years. JR was

A conductor and driver who came to the assistance of a woman police officer dealing with a violent drunk have been given an award.

Conductor Gary McDonald, from Lowestoft, and Train Driver Stephen Sheeran, from Ipswich, have both received awards from the BTP. Both men work for Abellio Greater Anglia.

Earlier this year they helped PC Maguire deal with a man who was intoxicated and assaulted Gary MacDonald. Says Chief Superintendent Paul Brogden, ‘I would like to thank both Gary McDonald and Stephen Sheeran for helping PC Maguire to detain a member of the public, who was intoxicated and threatening. During the incident, Mr McDonald was assaulted by the male.

However both he and Mr Sheeran were undeterred and the support they gave to PC Maguire enabled her to make the arrest and remove a dangerous man from the rail network.’

The man later appeared at Thames Magistrates Court where he pleaded guilty and received a six month community order and was ordered to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work, pay £85 costs and £250 compensation.

Says Ruud Haket, Abellio Greater Anglia Managing Director, ‘I am delighted that the courageous actions of Gary and Stephen have been recognised with these honours and would like to thank them for

Gary McDonald and Stephen Sheeran honoured by BTP.

their dedication to their roles in going above and beyond the call of duty to provide assistance in a threatening situation. They are a great asset to the Abellio Greater Anglia Team.’ www.railstaff.co.uk

NEWS

Essex Medical Testing has launched its new purpose-built medical centre in South Woodham Ferrers, Essex.

The new Link-up-approved facility will carry out medical assessments and alcohol and drugs screenings for clients in and around London and the South East of England.

Situated 15 minutes from Chelmsford and 45 minutes from central London, Essex Medical Testing has invested in a range of new equipment that will allow it to offer services to companies that require their operatives to undergo health assessments and screenings for the rail industry and other safety-critical roles.

By launching the medical centre on the same site as the training centre, the company believes it can greatly improve the experience for its clients.

Essex Medical Testing director Steve Hurd said, ‘We feel the advantages for companies in the industry wishing to use both our

© SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Essex Medical Testing launches new centre

training centre and medical centre are that we are on hand to provide any information or answer any questions that the candidate may have regarding their pending training day as both are situated at the same site.

‘We feel that this is an

She’s behind you!

Panto dames, the Ugly Sisters Lav and Lou, from this year’s production of ‘Cinderella’ at the Lowestoft Marina, entertained passengers on a morning service from Lowestoft to Norwich.

The Pantomime stars former Carry on Cleo and Coronation Street star, Amanda Barrie as the Fairy Godmother, Suzanne David as Cinderella and Mike Newman as Buttons. The Ugly Sisters are played by Dean Horner and Oliver Gray.

Said Greater Anglia’s Area Customer Service Manager, - ‘oh yes he did.’

James Reeve, ‘Abellio Greater Anglia’s Wherry Lines services offer a real alternative to the car with many easily accessible attractions along the line and the added benefits of no parking problems.

‘We are delighted to welcome the Ugly Sisters on board one of our services and support the Marina Theatre in encouraging theatre goers to arrive by train.’

The Marina Theatre on Lowestoft Marina is a 10 minute walk from Lowestoft station. www.railstaff.co.uk

important part of instilling confidence, as we are available to provide support every step of the

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15

NEWS

Wise man takes tram

Doreen Dickinson with Bishop of Manchester David Walker.

The new Bishop of Manchester, David Walker, insisted on travelling by Metrolink tram to his enthronement ceremony in Manchester Cathedral.

The journey and ceremony were planned to reflect his personal journey of faith, which

Rail plug for Leek Moorland and City Railways has unveiled proposals to reinstate the line to Leek in Staffordshire which will boost the town’s economy and see trains return for the first time since 1970.

Heritage steam and diesel trains currently operated by the MCR already run from Leekbrook Junction to Cauldon, off the Churnet Valley Railway.

The company currently owns a plot of land at Leekbrook, which it hopes to sell for house building , which in turn would help fund the extension scheme.

The ‘Reconnect Leek Project’ depends on Moorland & City Railways gaining planning permission to build around 89 homes on a nine-acre site at Leekbrook. The site of Leek station is currently occupied by a Morrisons supermarket.

16

began with his birth in Mossley and baptism at St George’s Church in 1957.

Says the Rt Revd David Walker, ‘Public transport is very important to a community and I will be using the tram and other means of public transport

Joyeux Noel across Greater Manchester wherever possible in fulfilling my duties as bishop. I was delighted to be able to start the journey to my enthronement service in the city by tram.’

Bishop David was able to stop off at Droylsden and Etihad Campus to fulfil pre-arranged visits and meetings that formed part of the ceremony. Says Transport for Greater Manchester’s Doreen Dickinson, ‘We are delighted that Metrolink was able to play an important role in the enthronement of Bishop Walker, a highly significant and important event for many people across Greater Manchester.’

The bishop was educated at Manchester Grammar School and King’s College, Cambridge.

He was ordained in 1983. A keen hill walker he is married and has two children.

Passengers can now learn English while hurtling through the French countryside at speeds of up to 200 miles per hour thanks to the work of a pioneering English teacher living in France.

The SNCF has put learning the international language of business on the fast track. French commuters on the Reims to Paris route can now take English classes as they speed through the countryside. ‘Many of our customers need to speak English at work so it’s a useful service,’ says David Potier, SNCF’s commercial director for the Champagne-Ardenne region.

The pilot scheme is expected to be rolled out across other routes next year. Commuter Jérôme Paillot is one of the first passengers to use the ‘English on Track’ service. ‘At school I was one of 25 kids. On the train, I am in a class of four, says Jérôme.

His employer, recognising the importance of learning English, is paying the €690 cost of his 30-hour course. A recent study by Education First discovered that France came 35th in English proficiency. The railway language school was the idea of English teacher Calum MacDougall, who travelled regularly by train across France.

Locals back East West Railway The East West Rail Consortium has confirmed an investment of £45 million in the scheme to reinstate the railway between Bedford, Milton Keynes, Aylesbury and Oxford.

Janet Blake of Buckinghamshire County Council says local authorities in the East West Rail Consortium will contribute the money despite financial pressure.

In July 2012, the Department for Transport said it would support the scheme to upgrade and reopen sections of the former ‘Varsity Line’ in its 2014 to 2019 five year-spending plan if local leaders came up with a significant financial contribution.

Says Janet Blake, ‘Our investment in East West Rail, when all local authority budgets are under such pressure, demonstrates the importance of this scheme and our confidence in the substantial economic, social and environmental benefits it will bring.’

Janet Blake with MP Stephen Hammond.

Iain Stewart, MP for Milton Keynes South, stressed the importance of East West Rail as a catalyst for economic growth and job creation, as well as reducing road congestion. ‘By joining Oxford, the science parks, Milton Keynes, Bedford and beyond, you’re

connecting the nerve centres of the British economy, the places that will keep our economy growing.

East West Rail is unlocking this enormous potential and making the whole region more attractive for inward investment from the UK and abroad.’ www.railstaff.co.uk

Rail Staff

Christmas Carol Service with

Londonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Transport Choir St Maryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Somers Town Eversholt Street, London NW1

Lunchtime service at 1230

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THE FALL AND RISE OF BRITAIN’S RAILWAYS Photographs supplied by Milepost 921⁄2

Part 6: Sectorisation Colin Garratt reports

This year sees the fiftieth anniversary of Richard Beeching’s ‘The Re-Shaping of British Railways’.

2013 also sees the thirtieth anniversary of the Serpell Report.

These two events mirrored the tempestuous undertones of railway policy in the years following World War Two. In this eight part series, Colin Garratt of Milepost 92½ outlines the turbulent events which led up to the privatisation of British Rail in 1993, concluding with an analysis of the current situation and where it might be heading.

Under sectorisation British Rail changed from its inherited regional structure to a series of business units.

At least that was the idea. Up until the 1980s BR had operated five regions – largely based on the old railway companies inherited by the British Transport Commission after the Second World War. These were London Midland, the Southern, Western, Scottish and Eastern – which spliced together North Eastern and Anglia in an arranged marriage put through in

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1967 – the summer of love for some.

The Board believed the best way of answering the remorseless pressure from government to cut costs was to refashion itself into a series of businesses – some of which could turn a profit.

The sub text was that the new businesses would be able to fill trains using up to the minute marketing and analysis. Friction was inevitable but the combined talents of John Welsby – chief executive of BR and Sir Robert Reid – arguably the best of the BR chairmen - joined engineers and marketeers in a new sense of identity.

BR was subdivided into six organisations, accountable for cost and performance. During the 1980s assets such as stations and rolling stock transferred to the new businesses. However the board at Euston was still firmly in control.

The new businesses included:

• InterCity • Rail Express Systems • Provincial Services (Regional Railways) • London & South East

(Network Southeast from 1986) • Trainload Freight • Railfreight Distribution.

Sectorisation ensured clear accountability, decentralised management and a vigorous marketing strategy which was customer orientated. The emphasis on businesses and profit centres played out well with the Thatcher administration, busily privatising nationalised utilities.

The procedural-led railway was being reborn anew as a series of dynamic focused businesses, proponents argued. BR, with its high dependence on subsidy, looked business-like and so remained immune to the Thatcherite privatisations.

The Organising For Quality campaign reinforced the message of running the railway better, giving passengers – now termed customers – what they wanted Clean smart trains that ran on www.railstaff.co.uk

FEATURE

time. Old railway personnel argued that was what they had been doing all along. Public perception lagged behind reality.

However BR determined even before OFQ to address this.

Advertising agency Allen, Brady and Marsh won the account after a pitch which has passed into legend.

In 1977 Peter Parker, legendary BR chairman, led a sizeable delegation and went down to ABM’s offices. At ABM they were greeted by a surly receptionist filing her nails and smoking a cigarette. No one else appeared.

‘How long do we have to wait,’ Parker enquired. The receptionist shrugged. ‘Dunno,’ she said.

Increasingly irate Parker looked around at the room full of cups of cold coffee, overflowing ash trays and cheap magazines lying on the floor. The place was filthy.

Eventually the ever genial Peter Marsh bounced into the room. www.railstaff.co.uk

‘What is going on?’ Parker roared.

‘That is how the public sees BR,’ Marsh said. ‘Let’s see what we can do to put it right.’ ABM won the account and the advertising slogan the Age of the Train was born.

Under sectorisation the new businesses took the limelight allowing the British Railways Board to oversee crucial issues of safety, investment, strategy and planning.

InterCity This sector became the first long distance passenger railway in the UK to go into profit. InterCity became one of Britain’s top 150 companies with civilised city centre to city centre travel across the nation from Aberdeen and Inverness in the north to Poole and Penzance in the south.

‘All trains have catering ranging from a trolley or buffet to a full meal service with a choice of market researched menus. Buffets

stock ten brands of beer and cider thirteen brands of spirits sixty varieties of sandwiches…’ InterCity said.

Determined to roll back the curly edged sandwich joke BR engaged Clement Freud to fill the gap. Wine was chosen by experts with the enthusiastic assistance of senior staff. InterCity concentrated on

business people. ‘Few companies can afford to have their executives wasting time behind the wheel of a motor car,’ InterCity argued.

Regional Railways The aim of Provincial Services (later Regional Railways) was threefold:

• To provide urban railway serv19

All the colours of sectorisation.

Multi-coloured stock at Leicester depot.

ices in cities outside London and the south east.

• Run inter-urban services linking towns and cities.

• Maintain connections with rural communities.

Regional Railways operated over half of British Rail’s route mileage and served 1,500 stations. One third of its turnover came from fares; a third from government public service grants and the remainder from local governmentcontrolled Passenger Transport Executives. PTEs paid Regional Railways to operate their services.

When this sector was formed in 1982, as Provincial Railways, it inherited old rolling stock and run down lines but ten years later the average age of its diesel trains was 20

only seven years and the livery was modern and eye catching.

Regional Railways emphasised the benefits of rail travel, introducing through services which would have been unimaginable in steam days along with greatly improved journey times.

‘Combined with PTE and light rail services locally and InterCity services nationally, Regional Railways is helping to fulfil the increasing need for rail travel across Britain. Strathclyde PTE aims to have 95% of Glasgow’s population within walking distance of a railway station,’ BR said.

Network SouthEast

Network South East was British Rail’s largest passenger business and Britain’s fifteenth largest company, running 7,500 trains a day over 2,500 route miles of track with 943 stations.

Whether building new stations or restoring the railway’s Victorian heritage, architects hired by Network SouthEast created a cheerful and welcoming style. The sector’s colourful branding helped attract an ever increasing volume of passengers. Eight hundred new coaches were put into service between 1986 and 1993.

Parcels - Rail Express Services The Parcels Sector was set up in

the 1980s and rebranded Rail Express Systems in 1991. Royal Mail letters and parcels were conveyed by Rail Express Systems (RES) with specially liveried locomotives and rolling stock.

Thirty Travelling Post Offices ran nightly, sorting the mail as they went. 100 mph running gave rail the competitive edge.

Trainload Freight Analysts at the time believed the principle of running freight trains profitably was to run bulk trains as long and as full as possible for as far as you could for one customer. Trainload Freight achieved just that and became one of British Rail’s most profitable

London and South Eastern took over commuter lines feeding into London – although its reach was much further. The sector was charged with reducing costs and worked hard to build up off peak travel.

From 1986 under its new director, Chris Green (pictured above), it became Network South East with its distinctive red, white and blue livery. It was Europe’s most intensive peak period rail operation and also one of the largest retail operators in the south east. www.railstaff.co.uk

FEATURE

businesses.

Trainload Freight had four profit centres: Coal, Construction, Metals and Petroleum. Coal trains operated the Merry-go-Round system loading and discharging on the move from colliery to power station. Coal trains also served cement, steel, paper and chemical plants.

Trainload Construction carried aggregates, domestic waste, soil and cement. Trainload Metals carried 17 million tonnes a year; 70% in raw materials – iron ore and limestone and 30% in semifinished commodities. Imported iron ore was conveyed from Immingham Docks to Scunthorpe and from Port Talbot to Llanwern.

‘Rationalisation in the steel industry has left some rolling mills and coating plants remote from the steel works and Trainload Freight acts as a moving conveyor between them,’ TLF said.

Trainload Petroleum worked for the oil industry, competing favourably with road haulage, pipelines and coastal shipping.

Altogether Trainload Freight employed 13,000 people, ran 400 main line locomotives and 25 depots. TLF also controlled eleven wagon repair centres, 50 train crew booking on points and served over 700 private sidings and terminals.

Railfreight Distribution Once the four profitable parts of railway freight had been teased out and transferred to Trainload Freight the board took everything else and put it into Railfreight Distribution.

This included car transporters, China clay trains, wine wagons, the Speedlink network and Freightliner – already handling substantial numbers of ISO shipping containers.

RfD was also BR’s international freighting arm charged with readying the UK for the opening of the Channel Tunnel to rail freight.

RfD ran trains to France using the Nord pas de Calais – the Trainferry ship and operated a container ship between Harwich and Zeebrugge.

RfD employed a colourful mix of Flemish and French staff at its Paddington HQ. Senior managers could be observed slipping across Bayswater at lunch times for French lessons. When it opened www.railstaff.co.uk

the tunnel would plug Britain’s rail freight network into a panEuropean railway – suddenly creating the longed-for long distance, high volume, economic matrix.

Around Britain RfD opened and re-designated a number of depots as Euro-terminals. Against this rather optimistic backdrop RfD closed the Speedlink network and several terminals.

Was Sectorisation a success?

No sooner had BR’s sectorisation and OFQ programme taken root than the John Major administration announced the privatisation of Britain’s railways.

Few quite believed the implications of the 1993 Railways Act. However John Welsby told senior staff railway privatisation was going to happen and to start preparing for it. The shape of the new railway took little account of the achievements of BR’s new businesses.

InterCity was broken up.

Trainload Freight was broken up.

Network SouthEast was broken up.

In all BR was fractured into 400 different companies. The whole operation of Britain’s railways ended up costing a lot more money.

However. the basic dynamism that would herald the return of the successful railway had been sewn in to the industry’s DNA by the Board’s Trojan-like reforms.

The government of the day might have concluded that railways were slated for terminal decline.

Railway staff, local leaders and supporters thought otherwise.

Amidst a welter of evidence two examples best typify what Welsby’s herculean reorganisation accomplished.

Chiltern Faced with the closure of Marylebone – little used and under resourced – the Board took a decision to fight back. The Marylebone – Aylesbury line went through a process of Total Route Modernisation. Semaphore signalling was replaced, stations done up and new rolling stock introduced.

Chiltern Railways, born of a management buy out went onto become one of the most successful railways of the new era. The company expanded with regular services to Birmingham.

Freightliner Over at RfD a group of managers staged an ambitious management buy out of the Freightliner network.

Freightliner went on to become immensely successful – fuelled by the huge upsurge in the importation of Chinese consumer goods.

Brakelight Sectorisation proved to be a great success. The railway was fully accountable as never before.

However the opportunity to shine even brighter under BR would be denied.

Splintered into 400 parts the Humpty Dumpty railway looked set for a final and fatal fall.

Managed decline was the phrase bandied about Marsham Street and Whitehall.

As it turned out it would be the private sector - and in fact railway staff who stayed the course - that went on to build on the foundations achieved.

As the lamplighters of Marsham Street worked out the Kafkaesque detail of the Railways Act, few imagined the railway would emerge triumphant 20 years on.

The industry never lost its sense of identity, purpose or self worth.

Ask railway staff where they work and the reply will usually be - on the railway. Despite a fractured industry and a botched privatisation the railway stuck together, survived and prospered. Perhaps that remains BR’s greatest legacy.

Part 7: Privatisation

21

NEWS

Rail chiefs unite to back HS2 In a cheering display of seasonal unity major figures in the railways have lined up to back High Speed Two. The festive fanfare came as the government placed its ‘High Speed Rail (London - West Midlands) Bill’ before parliament.

The bill allows those on or near the line of route to see exactly how they will be affected. Around 23% of the line between London and the West Midlands will be in tunnels and around 32% lowered into the ground with cuttings.

Landscaped earthworks and the planting of at least two million trees will further help to screen the railway and reduce train noise.

Interconnected Speaking at an IOSH conference railway champion, Pete Waterman, said, ‘HS2 will suddenly change the map to give a railway that is interconnected in a way that our Victorian ancestors could never have imagined. The old railway companies did not want connectivity, they wanted people to travel on their lines. Well the map is about to be changed to suit the population, not the railways.’

Waterman called up the spirit of the Olympics and urged people to get behind the new railway. ‘We’ve seen what the Olympics has done for us. Let’s use the legacy of HS2 to make sure that our great-great grandchildren will look back and say that their great grandparents really did understand that capacity was needed for the next century.’

Local leaders are in the main right behind the project. Says Geoff Inskip, chief executive of the West Midlands PTE, Centro, ‘HS2 will deliver jobs and opportunities and address problems with capacity as demand for rail continues to soar. It will benefit people across our region and throughout the UK,’ he said.

22

A High Speed rail network Mr Inskip’s views were echoed by union leaders concerned at the lack of capacity on Britain’s railways. Says Mick Whelan, general secretary of ASLEF, ‘We believe Britain needs not only a new high speed rail line but a high speed rail network. We would, ideally, like to see HS2 run the length of the United Kingdom, being built from Scotland and the south at the same time, meeting in the middle, linking HS1 and going via Heathrow.

‘While that is not what is on the table, and in the Bill, we welcome the proposal even if it doesn’t go far enough. It’s a major infrastructure project which will help bring Britain out of recession and a project which will help bring our railway into the 21st century.’

Vision and commitment With passenger and freight volumes soaring Mr Whelan argued that upgrades alone will not be enough to meet demand.

Said Mick, ‘The consequences of insufficient capacity on our rail network would be disastrous for the British economy with major implications for our domestic and international competitiveness.

‘That’s why we think it is time for politicians to show real vision and commitment to a transport policy for the long-term including the development of a high speed rail network.’

Although the RMT remains opposed to private sector involvement in the scheme Bob Crow, general secretary of the RMT, also warned that further delay would be disastrous.

‘The British public should be under no illusions. If there isn’t significant and sustained investment and modernisation of Britain’s railways over the coming years, services will grind to a halt under the sheer weight of passenger demand. It is already starting to happen as overhead lines, track and signals fail and the delays in fleet replacement all lead to breakdowns, delays and disruption.’ Mr Crow said.

However he urged that the project be run under the public sector. ‘HS2, alongside essential maintenance and upgrading, is part of the package needed to meet demand and it should be built and run in the public sector.

Distinct advantages Over at Atkins rail business, Douglas McCormick, managing director, pointed out that high speed rail brings distinct advantages to the cities it serves.

‘Through our involvement in the delivery of major infrastructure projects around the world, including high speed rail, we have seen the direct benefits other countries have achieved from their forward-looking investments.

‘We therefore see this Bill as a crucial step forward for the UK’s international competitiveness and economic and social prosperity.’

Atkins has already been working on the project preparing designs for the southern sections of HS2.

Mr McCormick added, ‘Following the successful delivery of the infrastructure for the London 2012 Games, British engineering and construction companies proved major projects could be delivered to plan.

“The Bill is so important - it marks the move from aspiration to delivery.

Now is the time to be bold and ensure HS2 becomes a reality.”

PATRICK MCLOUGHLIN, TRANSPORT SECRETARY

‘We are confident this momentum can be continued and following the deposition of the Bill we can focus on maximising the benefits HS2 offers and creating a lasting legacy for future generations.’

Secretary of State for Transport, Patrick McLoughlin, urged Britain to be bold and support the scheme. ‘HS2 is the most ambitious and important infrastructure project in the UK since we built the M25 30 years ago, and in 30 more it will be just as integral a part of the nation’s prosperity.

‘The Bill will give us the powers we need to get the railway built and start delivering the extra room on our railways that this country so desperately needs. It will also start the process of rebalancing the economy and bringing our great cities closer together. That is why the Bill is so important – it marks the move from aspiration to delivery. Now is the time to be bold and ensure HS2 becomes a reality.’ www.railstaff.co.uk

FREIGHT FOCUS sponsored by LYNCH

This Christmas a vast proportion of goods on display in every sparkling high street will have made part of their journey by rail.

One of the rail industry’s main success stories goes largely unremarked by the public. Since 1996 rail freight has grown by 60%. Hidden away behind the decorations and trees, fast and frequent freight trains carry over 100m tonnes of goods - worth £30bn - a year.

Rail freight generates £870 million per annum for the British economy. Business is brisk and this figure covers contracts, deals and new developments. Less widely understood is the almost £5.9bn a year pulsed through the supply chains the rail freight industry supports.

Few could have predicted 20 years ago the huge rise in imported clothes and cargo from Asia. The increase in capacity at deep water ports like Felixstowe and Southampton has boosted the movement of goods by ISO container.

This in turn has catalysed the need for fast,

© SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Jingle all the way

high-volume, reliable, inland distribution systems. The rail freight industry is answering the call, pressing into service new locos and wagons, in a round the clock initiative to outpace demand.

In this Christmas issue of RailStaff we take a look at the phenomena of burgeoning rail freight businesses and the companies and personalities behind the headlines. As well as rail freight operating companies in the next few pages we check out depots up and down the country, freight flows and the technologies that support the quiet yet dramatic success story in

Rail connection for London Gateway

DB Schenker Rail UK is running track maintenance and rail operations at London Gateway Britain’s newest shipping port and logistics hub.

DB Schenker Rail UK will be responsible for controlling all rail movements and conducting safety checks at the rail terminal as well as providing dedicated ground staff services for rail freight www.railstaffawards.com

operators using the facility, which is located alongside the new port container handling areas at London Gateway.

The new rail terminal is capable of handling the longest intermodal trains in Britain and can accommodate trains up to 35 wagons long, transporting deepsea containers, European containers and swap bodies.

Britain’s railway industry.

Rail freight is good for the environment as well as the economy. Freight trains already save 6.7 million lorry journeys on Britain’s road network per annum. That’s the equivalent of 13,000 lorries grinding along between London and Manchester every day of the year.

Rail freight is a crucial part of the railway.

Santa’s sleigh has its place, of course, but when it comes to large volume movement of goods rail freight provides many of the answers. It remains a phenomena all who work in the railway industry can take considerable pride in.

Rail backing for ports The rail freight industry has welcomed a Transport Select Committee report, ‘Access to Ports.’

In the report the government is urged to make it easier for ports in Britain to expand rail connections.

GB Railfreight has thanked the Committee for recognising the issue and welcomed its call for more central government involvement in decisionmaking around transport access to the UK’s ports.

Says John Smith, Managing Director of GB Railfreight, ‘The current state of road and rail access to port infrastructure in this country is disjointed and undermines our ability to import and export effectively - to the detriment of the UK economy.

‘Rail freight is a central part of this story, efficiently distributing goods in and out of UK ports and,

as such, quietly keeping the UK economy moving. I thank the Transport Committee for recognising these issues and welcome their recommendations for more central Government involvement in the decisionmaking process.

‘It is an important step towards creating an aligned growth and investment strategy for our ports, which the UK economy desperately needs.’

John Smith, Managing Director of GB Railfreight.

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Turning over a new leaf This autumn DRS has been helping mitigate Britain’s’ annual leaf fall problem.

Leaves on the line form a mulch leading to loss of adhesion and skidding. 55 leaf busting trains are

routinely employed to keep the metals clear. High pressure water jets clean the rail. The trains also lay Sandite, a composite material of sand and aluminium, to aid traction. © SCOTT BORTHWICK

Leaves may look good but they impair performance.

Daventry Debut for London Gateway Freightliner has started running services from the new London Gateway port.

The new services connect the port with Daventry and Bristol. The Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal train is run on behalf of the Hillebrand Group.

Says Adam Cunliffe, Managing Director of Freightliner Ltd, ‘Hillebrand Group is a valued customer and we welcome the opportunity to provide them with their inaugural service from London Gateway. I am delighted we are able to provide the first train service and I look forward to welcoming London Gateway into our intermodal network.’

Midnight clear Europorte, the rail freight subsidiary of Groupe Eurotunnel, is celebrating the successful delivery of the first of the Siemens Class 350/4 Desiros to First TransPennine Express (see New Desiro at Ardwick).

The train left Wildenrath, in North Rhine-Westphalia, on Tuesday 5 November, and arrived in Crewe, in Cheshire, at 11:00 on Thursday, taking two days for the trip. The four car unit formed part of a freight train hauled by a GBRf Class 92 loco, 92043 Couperin.

Europorte is scheduled to move another 20 of the trains during the first part of next year.

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DRS Success for Sabrina Brannan Sabrina Brannan, Business Manager Intermodal Services at DRS has received the Rail Freight Group’s award for Outstanding Individual Contribution.

Sabrina joined DRS in 1999 and has been heavily involved in developing the domestic intermodal business at the firm.

Under Sabrina’s magic touch – and a lot of hard teamwork – DRS has seen its intermodal business grow by approximately 350%.

Sabrina and her team have delivered a consistently high level of operational performance and customer service. Thanks to Sabrina, DRS successfully maintained a number of services operated for WH Malcolm, JG Russell and ASDA. In addition, she helped DRS secure a major rail freight contract with Stobart Rail and Tesco. This year Sabrina has contributed to the successful implementation of a new dedicated Tesco service which started operating six days a

week between Daventry and Wentloog.

Says John Holwell, Rail Development Manager for WH Malcom, ‘Sabrina always responds promptly and efficiently to our requirements. She has a focused but pleasant and courteous demeanour and I have great pleasure in supporting DRS’s nomination for the RFG’s

outstanding contribution award.’

Adds Chris Connelly, Director of Commercial and Business Development at DRS, ‘I would like to congratulate Sabrina on this fantastic achievement. Delivering to the exacting standards of our Domestic Intermodal customers requires the highest level of operational performance and customer care.’ www.railstaffawards.com

FREIGHT FOCUS sponsored by LYNCH

Contract extension for GBRf GB Railfreight is celebrating a Crossrail contract extension.

The Crossrail work includes running services from Willesden Euro-terminal to Crossrail’s waste facility in Northfleet. The trains carry approximately 1000 tonnes per day.

GB Railfreight has been awarded this extension, having worked on the Crossrail project since 2012.

GBRf’s original contract with Crossrail contractor BFK, a joint venture between BAM, Ferrovial and Kier, began in summer 2012 and has to date seen more than 860 class 66 hauled trains of JNA box wagons at work between west London and Kent. This extended contract is with BFK working with Costain/SkanskaJV and will run until November 2014.

In September 2013, GBRf reached a milestone in its Crossrail work as it shifted the one millionth tonne of excavated material from Crossrail’s tunnel in west London to Northfleet in Kent. The excavated material from the tunnels is stored in Northfleet before being loaded on ships bound for an RSPB Nature

Reserve at Wallasea Island, Essex, to be used in the development of a landmark conservation project.

Says John Smith, Managing Director of GBRf, ‘We are delighted that our contract with Crossrail contractor BFK has been extended and we are proud to expand our portfolio of services which support

the major enhancements of London’s transport infrastructure.

‘GBRf welcomes its role in such a vital project and is pleased that its high level of customer satisfaction and high performance measures continue to ensure extended relations with important customers such as BFK.

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FREIGHT FOCUS sponsored by LYNCH

Games win for DB Schenker Farewell to Stromness In the run up to the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, DB Schenker has been appointed as official Logistics Provider.

Says Ty Speer, Glasgow 2014 Deputy Chief Executive, ‘We are delighted to have DB Schenker join our sponsor family. They have a strong track record in major multi-sports events including two previous Commonwealth Games.

Their local presence in Scotland is an important factor as it means they know the operating environment here in Glasgow (and can) ensure all requirements are delivered in full and on time.’

DB Schenker will provide warehouse space, warehouse operations including staff and equipment, and freight transportation services. DB Schenker was an Official Provider at two previous Commonwealth Games, Manchester 2002 and

Melbourne 2006, and were also an exclusive supplier at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

The company has worked with the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) since 2004 and recently extended its agreement to provide logistics, freight forwarding and customs clearance services throughout Sochi 2014 and Rio 2016.

Orkney Councillor, James Stockan, has been appointed Chair of HITRANS, the Highlands and Islands Regional Transport Partnership.

Mr Stockan succeeds John Semple. HITRANS has been instrumental in increasing rail use in the north of Scotland. James

“The priority of the HITRANS board is to make the case for improvements to the transport networks that are so vital to the economy …”

JAMES STOCKAN, CHAIRMAN, HITRANS

comes from Stromness where he is a local councillor. Married with two children he has worked in the family business, Tods of Orkney, a food company renowned for biscuits and oatcakes.

Says James, ‘I am honoured to have been appointed to this important and challenging post.

The priority of the HITRANS board is to make the case for improvements to the transport networks that are so vital to the economy and social fabric of the Highlands and Islands.

‘We have an important role to play in working with partners particularly the Scottish Government, Transport Scotland and the local authorities in the delivery of the transport priorities set out in our Regional Transport Strategy.’ Although the new role will often take him away from Orkney Mr Stockan will continue to live in Stromness.

Carbon Date for Russell Group

28th April 2014 Royal College of Physicians Regent’s Park, London

26

Earlier this year the Russell Group was formally recognised by the Carbon Trust for achievements in tackling climate change.

Fergus Ewing, MSP for Energy, Enterprise and Tourism and Pal Wedgewood, General Manager of the Carbon Trust Scotland presented an award to Alan Poulton, Robert McLean and Tom Lawson of the Russell Group.

The Russell Group operates five rail linked depots throughout the

UK offering a choice of mode for freight movement. Rail linked sites include Barking, Telford, Edinburgh (Leith), Glasgow (Hillington) and Inverness. www.railstaffawards.com

DEPOTS & STATIONS

Ten car triumph for Silwood

Christmas choirs at St Pancras

© JONATHAN WEBB

Jack Topping (below) switched on the Christmas Lights at St Pancras International this year and performed three of his songs including his new charity single, ‘Tomorrow’ in aid of Save The Children.

This December a variety of choirs will be singing at the station including the Amy Whitehouse Choir, the RNIB choir, Adam Street Singers, the London Russian Choir and the Raices Latinas. The Salvation Army will be playing carols and the station will be used to raise money for charities.

Work is progressing this winter on lengthening platforms and sidings on the London Overground to accommodate longer, five car, trains.

A significant part of this work involves constructing new stabling sidings at Silwood in South London. The nearby New Cross Gate depot is not large enough to cope with all the lengthened trains. Silwood sidings will be able to hold ten of the expanded five car trains and the site should see its first train on 30 March.

Construction of the first of the additional carriages at

Bombardier’s Derby plant starts in February. The first of two class 378s will make their way to Derby for reconfiguration and type testing during the summer. Work on the remaining 55 class 378s should take place at New Cross Gate and be completed within a year.

Allowances have been made for the operation of 6-car sets should it become necessary in the future.

The first of the longer trains will run on the East London and South London routes - by December 2014.

As well as Silwood, top performing staff at main

contractor, Cleshar, are hard at work lengthening platforms at stations including Highbury & Islington, Canonbury, Hoxton, Haggerston, Dalston Junction, Shoreditch, Shadwell, Wapping, Canada Water and Surrey Quays on the east London route, as well as Wandsworth High Street, Clapham High Street and Clapham Junction on the south London route.

The work is part of the £320m London Overground Capacity Improvement Programme which continues TfL’s investment in this highly successful railway.

Landore depot celebrates

Parcel collection and delivery services are set to return to mainline stations to capitalise on the booming online retail market.

The new scheme being tested by Network Rail will generate additional revenue for the railway.

Trials will go ahead first at Milton Keynes then at London Paddington and Woking stations

Welsh government transport minister, Edwina Hart, joined railway staff at Landore Depot to mark its 50th anniversary on 20th November.

The minister named an HST ‘Landore Diesel Depot’ and congratulated staff on their contribution to the industry and the community. The depot team’s dedication has meant that only one HST serviced at that depot was cancelled due to a train fault in the last year.

‘Landore has a proud history and I, on behalf of First Great Western, am very proud of the role the depot and its staff play in the local

© SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Present for you

www.railstaff.co.uk

with other stations to follow throughout 2014.

The parcels will be delivered by road. The new business initiative is called Doddle and is a joint venture with leading entrepreneur and philanthropist Lloyd Dorfman CBE, creator of the Travelex Group, among the world’s largest nonbank foreign exchange businesses.

community,’ says FGW managing director, Mark Hopwood. Landore Depot is two miles east of Swansea High Street Station and is built on the site of the old steam locomotive shed. It opened as a diesel depot in 1963.

Says Edwina Hart, ‘Landore plays an important role in keeping the First Great Western fleet running. I am pleased to be officially naming this train today to recognise this significant landmark. This depot has played an important role in the community over the years and I would also like to congratulate all the staff at the site for helping to reach this landmark.’

27

IHG – Room at the Inn

© VISMEDIA

InterContinental Hotels Group is helping put up railway staff far from home

Marc Johnson reports

Hospitality is central to Britain’s railway.

Passengers are still expecting their train to get them from A to B on time, but they now expect a fuller experience from that journey.

The commercial opportunities open to retailers and restaurateurs in railway stations is obvious, but what can these services offer to the wider rail industry, the companies that fix, maintain and modernise the railway?

Every year, major rail contractors spend millions of pounds on accommodation for engineers working on major infrastructure projects around the country. It’s an expense like any other but one that can easily be overlooked in the planning.

‘We’re really part of the supply chain,’ says Gail Treadwell, a key account manager for InterContinental Hotels Group’s (IHG) Managed Estate, whose responsibility it is to find rooms for rail project workers across her portfolio of 64 Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza Hotels in the UK and Ireland.

Gail is the point of contact for 18 major rail industry customers and describes herself as ‘the company’s ‘go to’ person for everything rail,’ having built up a knowledge of the

28

industry during her time at the Holiday Inn Derby in Britain’s legendary railway town.

David Taylor, head of commercial at IHG UK&I Managed Estates, described rail as a ‘cornerstone’ of IHG’s business. The company believes it has identified opportunities in rail that its competitors have not, supporting project managers with services and facilities that go well beyond just bed and breakfast.

‘In the past this has involved craning in portable control centres and internal meeting rooms for briefing and training of staff and providing coach services to take workers to and from sites. The latter demonstrating the safety critical relationship that exists between IHG hotels and the rail industry.

Home safe every day Network Rail’s 14-hour door-to-door recommendation stipulates that no worker should be returning from a shift more than 14 hours after setting off from home. It is there to protect rail employees and other road users.

A recent campaign by the RSSB helped raise awareness about this very danger, stressing to

rail workers the importance of using the hotel rooms that are arranged by their employer.

‘It’s an understanding of these requirements and challenges facing the industry that makes IHG stand out from its competitors,’ says Gail.

‘Time is taken to ensure that hotel staff are aware of shift patterns and that teams of PPE-clad rail workers don’t get caught up in weddings or get woken up by housekeeping after completing a night shift.

‘The key word is flexibility,’ says Gail. ‘What we’ve tried to do is take our hotels and turn them into a home from home for them. We work around them and because the business for them is very much weekend work, bank holidays and down times, it’s normally quieter times for the hotels so it works really well.’

‘We’ve built our reputation within the rail industry over a number of years now. Having successfully worked alongside commissioning hotel requirements for projects such as Erewash, Reading Station, Cardiff Resignalling, High Wycombe, York, and recently the Great Barr Stageworks we are becoming the client’s preferred hotel of choice.’

www.railstaff.co.uk

© VISMEDIA

FEATURE

Increasingly, rail companies are becoming more aware of the logistical and financial benefits of booking rooms early, but Gail says there is potentially even greater value for those companies which bring hoteliers into the planning process. Says Gail, ‘A lot of people say to me, what have you got to do with rail? We’re part of that supply chain, were part of the overall costing of projects.

‘If companies are bidding for contracts, we are more than happy to talk to them years ahead in order to secure business, because at least we’ve spoken to them, we’ve initiated contact and we can give them an idea of the costings involved.

‘A commissioning is planned so far out that

© VISMEDIA

Part of the supply chain

the earlier it is booked into the hotels, the easier we can work with them and the better, more competitive rates, we can offer them.

With HS2 possibly round the corner we all need to be talking now to the suppliers involved.’

IHG is now looking to attract more small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) with the launch of its Business Advantage scheme,

which offers SMEs a four per cent discount. ‘We can offer something for everyone,’ says Gail.

‘We’re working with procurement, project managers, training companies and team leaders. We’re working closer with them to become more knowledgeable about their business. We want to try and get ahead of the game.’

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29

MANAGING SAFETY

THE NEED TO SUPPORT THOSE WORKING ON TRACK SAFETY Colin Wheeler colin@rail-media.com

Management of staff hit by trains I did not expect to be writing about track staff being hit by trains again this month. Surely good management means doing the work that is required safely, on time and to the required standard?

To achieve that each manager and supervisor needs to know, listen to and understand the staff doing the work. Instructions by email and management by

checking computerised records is never enough!

Management is about people, their motivation and commitment. To manage well you must earn the trust of your staff.

Not everyone can do this.

Engineering expertise can never compensate for a lack of ability to manage.

I wonder how many rail track managers are now employed elsewhere having failed to ensure that their staff work safely?

Walking alone The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) has published its report on an accident when a

team leader signalling technician was struck by a train near Poole in Dorset on 12th July this year.

He was incredibly lucky to be only slightly hurt when the train stuck him a glancing blow. He was walking along the cess of a bi-directional line when a train came up behind him travelling at an estimated 15 mph.

Where he was working is double track, third rail electrified and with a crossover that results in a section of bi-directional signalled working. The work in hand was re-signalling between Poole and Weymouth.

Briefings had been given including specific references to

the bi-directional working, but although he had been working in the area for the previous fortnight he had only worked east of Poole Level Crossing for half an hour in total.

At the time of the accident he was walking alone from the site along the Up Cess towards the Level Crossing. The train that hit him stopped at a signal for a minute and a half and then crossed over from Down to Up line.

As can be seen in the picture the cess is overgrown in places which resulted in his moving foul of the track so as to pass. The report suggests that having not seen trains running in both

Plan of the site of the incident at Poole.

ay. eyw All

Location of accident.

30

Site of work.

www.railstaff.co.uk

TRACK SAFETY

directions on the Up line he may have instinctively thought he was facing traffic as he walked.

Three workers and six protection staff Another RAIB report details what happened on March 22nd this year when a track worker was struck by a train and seriously injured. It was near West Drayton Station, just a short distance from London Paddington at 1037 in the morning when the First Great Western passenger train from Oxford to London struck and injured a look-out who was standing with his back to the train and his right foot only 50 cm from the nearest rail.

The accident occurred on a four track section of railway. The tracks are known as the Up and Down Relief lines and Up and Down Main lines. Three surveying staff were being protected whilst they worked “red zone” (with trains running), by a total of six safety personnel.

I was surprised to learn that the survey work had been planned that way. The Controller of Site Safety (COSS) organised his staff with an advanced lookout at each end, two intermediate lookouts and a site lookout with the survey team.

The COSS tested the system to ensure that the survey team could reach the place of safety at least ten seconds before any train passed.

Was it right to use lookouts?

For reasons which the RAIB failed to fully discover, the COSS decided to change one of the intermediate lookouts. The substitute was a qualified lookout from the adjacent site yard.

The train passed the survey team who were still in their place of safety after the re-organisation of protection at around 56 mph.

The driver realised the intermediate lookout was standing too close to the line.

He made a full service brake application and reached for the horn. Just eleven seconds after passing the COSS the train struck the lookout on the right shoulder causing him serious injuries.

There is a hierarchy of protection with red zone lookout www.railstaff.co.uk

protection being the method of last resort. I find it difficult to accept that it was right from either a cost or safety perspective to plan for six individuals waving flags and blowing horns to be used in this way. At the very least surely some form of automatic/mechanical warning system should have been in use?

Lack of maintenance and monitoring Also just published is an updated report into the accident that occurred on January 5th last year when a pantograph fell off the roof of the early morning Kings Lynn to Kings Cross London train breaking two train windows as it fell.

It happened near Littleport Cambridgeshire. The pantograph had lost contact with the overhead line electrification (OLE) wire due to a combination of the effects of a long term settlement of the foundation of an OLE mast and a strong wind.

The pantograph arm struck the cantilevered arm of the OLE breaking the insulators resulting in its detachment. The report is specific. The accident was due to a “lack of maintenance, monitoring and adjustment of the OLE to allow for mast foundation settlement”.

It goes on to say that “routine inspection and maintenance was deferred beyond specified limits”.

the serious electrical burns from the overhead line equipment received by the 29 year old Harsco employee from Chorley whilst working near Stafford on November 5th.

I now know that he was carrying out routine maintenance on a stabled grinding train when the accident happened. Based on information available at the time I said that the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) had launched an investigation.

However, due to the vagaries of our regulatory system I am now advised that because no moving trains were involved the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) are responsible for discovering just what happened. I expect to report in more detail when they have completed their investigation.

The ORR have also assured me that their inspectors still carry out middle of the night unannounced site visits to see just what is going on. My retired

rail safety informant will I hope be pleased to read that I intend to pursue his concerns and report back in future.

Indeed I suggest the use of unexpected site visits to determine the efficacy or otherwise of records and audit results could be a topic for inclusion in the next Rail Safety Summit which will be held in London for the first time.

It will be held at the Royal College of Physicians on Monday 28th April. Ian Prosser of the ORR has accepted our invitation to sit on our advisory board which will discuss and agree key safety issues to be selected as relevant and timely topics for our speakers.

The advisory board will also discuss and then recommend which experts should be approached to present at the conference. This promises to be an interesting Safety Summit, so make a note in your diary now, Monday 28 April.

RAILWAY SIGNAL ENGINEERING TRAINING AND CONSULTANCY

Standards were not understood by the staff The “underlying factors however are even more revealing; “specifications and maintenance limits in Network Rail Standards were inconsistent and not clearly understood by the maintenance staff at …”

In the update it states that the “Tottenham Maintenance Delivery Unit (MDU) has now developed a plan aimed at addressing the backlog of six yearly checks on overhead line equipment” and adds that “all wire runs in the area are now planned to be maintained by February 2014”. Management was clearly at fault in allowing or not realising the extent of the deferments I suggest.

In the final paragraph of my article last month I referred to

ELECTRICAL & ELECTRONIC ENGINEERS

craig.king@setecltd.co.uk | 07748 32 88 31 31

Silent night

Rail expansion continues in Australia. Two former Deputy Prime Ministers and a one time Federal Minister for Finance have joined the rail industry to support its future growth.

Tim Fischer AC, John Anderson AO and Lindsay Tanner attended AusRAIL L-R: Tom O’Connor, David, Alex and Sir David at AusRAIL. PLUS at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre. Tom O’Connor, managing director of Rail Media – also at AusRAIL to assist the Australian railway industry with an ambitious recruitment programme – welcomed the move.

‘Australia is a great country with a great, if complicated, railway system. It is poised for huge expansion and needs economic and political daring to help bring it about. Fortunately these are qualities inherent in Australia’s national make up and it is a privilege to be a part of this.’

Speaking at the event Chairman of the Australasian Railway Association, Lindsay Tanner said he was thoroughly enjoying being part of the rail industry. ‘We have to be able to continue laying our own tracks for the future,’ said former federal finance minister, Tanner. ‘Decision makers must recognise the value rail offers to the Australian community, and convince them of the benefits arising from developing infrastructure that will serve our nation for decades to come,’ he said.

end of the 2014 fiscal year.

2015 will also see the Twilight Express between Osaka and Hokkaido come to an end coinciding with the launch of the Hokkaido Shinkansen line. After 2015 there will still be just two overnight services operating: the Sunrise Seto which runs daily between Tokyo and Takamatsu and Sunrise Izumo which is an extension of the Seto service to and from Izumoshi.

© JONATHAN WEBB

Japan’s high speed rail network is forcing the withdrawal of most of the country’s sleeper train services.

Rail passengers are switching to Shinkansen routes to reach their destinations quicker and without the need to travel through the night. From next March the Blue Train which connects Ueno and Aomori will finish. Later the Hokutosai that connects Tokyo with Sapporo will follow by the

Australian support

other’s development. China and the UK must treat each other as equals.’

Mr Cameron had earlier gone on record as welcoming potential Chinese investment in British infrastructure projects. ‘I’m very interested in what’s happening in terms of high-speed rail in China.

It seems to be an absolute highspeed revolution taking place. In terms of HS2. I very much welcome Chinese investment into British infrastructure.’

China now accounts for 45% of the world’s high speed railways.

Speaking in China, Mr. Cameron

said, ‘China’s transformation is one of the defining facts of our lifetime. The pace and scale of economic development and urbanisation dwarfs the British

industrial revolution of two centuries ago. I see China’s rise as an opportunity not just for the people of this country but for Britain and for the world.’

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Chinese money could be used to fund HS2. China has built an extensive high speed network and is looking to expand overseas.

Says Chinese premier, Li Keqiang, ‘The two sides (Britain and China) have agreed to push for breakthroughs and progress in the co-operation between our enterprises on nuclear power and high-speed rail.

‘The Chinese side is willing to not only participate in but also purchase equities and stocks in UK power projects. We have become indispensable partners for each

© SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Chinese cheer for HS2

Keep up to date with the Global Rail Market

32

www.railstaff.co.uk

GLOBAL RAIL NEWS

Japanese rail analysts have been hard at work preparing the railways for an earthquake.

This might not feature in health and safety initiatives elsewhere but Japanese rail staff are leaving as little as possible to chance, Jonathan Webb reports.

In January 2012 the Earthquake Research Institute at the University of Tokyo reported that there is a 70% chance an earthquake of at least 7.0 magnitude will strike Tokyo by 2016. Beneath Tokyo there are three converging tectonic plates.

The last major earthquake to hit the city was in 1923.

To reduce the chance of derailments in the event of such a disaster the Central Japan Railway Company is currently upgrading the braking system on its fleet of

© JONATHAN WEBB

Tokyo Tremor

Shinkansen trains. This will effectively reduce the braking distance by around 10% should an emergency brake application be necessary because of an earthquake. This new braking system prevents brake disks from becoming deformed as a result of heat friction during an emergency stop.

Rail operators in Japan have

Dozing passengers travelling to New York City were surprised to wake up in what looked like Wales - with Welsh place names - after their train was routed the wrong way.

Railway officials are investigating how Amtrak Train 664 took a wrong turn after leaving Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station for Penn Station. The crew stopped the train at Bala Cynwyd in the middle of Pennsylvania’s Welsh Tract - an area extensively settled by the Welsh in the 1680s.

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Railway staff have started work on a new, Chinese-financed railway project which will link South Sudan, Congo, Uganda and Burundi.

The first stretch will connect Mombasa on the Kenyan coast with Nairobi, the capital, slashing journey times from 16 hours to four. The £3.2bn railway will be mostly funded by China.

JR East has adopted an urgent earthquake detection and alarm system (UrEDAS) which has seismometers at 97 locations.

When these detect earthquakeinduced tremors they calculate what effect the earthquake is expected to have on the rail system and send out emergency stop messages to the appropriate trains.

Welsh stop for New York Express

© SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Work starts on PanAfrican railway

gained a lot of knowledge from previous earthquakes. The earthquake and tsunami that devastated the country in March 2011 would have been much worse had anti-seismic reinforcement works and anti-derailing systems not been installed. These were initiated following the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji and 2004 Niigata Chuetsu earthquakes.

.com

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33

High Speed Poo

A Class 317 has been re-engineered by Angel Trains and Bombardier for Abellio Greater Anglia in a £7 million project.

The pre-series Class 317 has had a number of major engineering modifications made to it, including the replacement of its DC motors by AC motors. DC motors, with their dislike of rain and snow, have long been a cause of frustration with depot and operational staff.

The new motors not only offer better acceleration, knocking a minute off the ability to go from zero to 100mph, but a smoother start away from stations.

Regenerative braking, climate controlled air conditioning and better access to door mechanisms further enhance the train.

The unit unveiled at Ilford is currently going through its final testing after which it will enter passenger service in February and be with Greater Anglia for a period of six months. A number of other train operators, including Northern Rail, are known to be interested in Class 317s. The demonstrator 317 will enable the industry to evaluate what it is possible to achieve at a fraction of the cost of new rolling stock.

Says Malcolm Brown, CEO, Angel Trains, ‘We’re very proud of the work which our team has carried out alongside our partners. As operators look to reduce operational costs, increase the capacity on their franchise and offer passengers a more comfortable experience, the Class 317 re-engineering project will

Transport minister, Susan Kramer, has expressed disgust that older trains still have toilets flushing direct onto the tacks. Modern trains are fitted with sewage tanks.

‘It is a tougher issue on local diesel trains which are gradually going out of service and we could indeed use some help from the industry in trying to tackle that problem,’ said Baroness Kramer.

Officials at the RMT are demanding action.

‘Not only is it a filthy way of disposing of effluent, but it also poses real health risks and dangers for RMT members out there working on the tracks,’ says Bob Crow, RMT General Secretary.

A spokesperson for the Rail Delivery Group moved to defuse the situation, ‘The majority of rail carriages that have toilets are fitted with tanks and the number of older carriages which are not will fall further in the next few years as new InterCity trains are introduced.’

© JONATHAN WEBB

© JONATHAN WEBB

Christmas Angel

satisfy these demands.

‘These units will provide a complementary option to the building of brand new trains. It’s also worth highlighting the importance of having high quality, lower cost options such as the re-engineered Class 317 for use on sections of the national rail network which are due to be newly electrified.

‘The modernisation work which has taken place on these trains makes commercial sense but it also supports jobs and skills in the UK rail supply chain.’

The first of a new 10-strong fleet of Desiro 350s has arrived at Ardwick Traincare Depot.

The new train, 350 410, was built in Germany by Siemens and is now undergoing acceptance tests.

Opened in 2006, the Siemens £30 million Ardwick train maintenance facility, south east of Manchester Piccadilly, is already home to the 51-strong fleet of Class 185 Desiro DMUs. With a two-road fuelling point and depot building capable of holding two Class 185s Ardwick was expected to remain a dieselonly facility. However the North

34

West Triangle electrification scheme means FTPE will be able to use electric trains on its Manchester-Scotland services. The depot was then electrified and expanded to cope with the new fleet.

Siemens Fleet Manager Pete Redding explains, ‘This meant not only the electrification of the depot, but other changes to the infrastructure at Ardwick which would allow far more flexibility in train movements around the site.’

Work on site began in September 2012 and has been carried out by Spencer Rail.

Battery charge

© JONATHAN WEBB

New Desiro at Ardwick

Rail technicians plan to adapt a class 379 electric train to run on battery power.

Network Rail and its industry partners the Enabling Innovation Team, Bombardier and Greater Anglia are testing the case for an independently powered electric multiple unit (IPEMU) to run on short, unelectrified branch lines of electrified sections of the network.

Says Network Rail’s IPEMU senior engineer James Ambrose, ‘It’s

taken a lot of hard work to get this far. As well as testing the batteries under simulated journey conditions, we’ve needed to get the donor train gauge cleared for the routes the train has got to run on and gain a certificate of rolling stock/infrastructure compatibility.

Now it’s over to Bombardier in Derby, who will be converting a Greater Anglia 379 to run on a test track and test the batteries further under live conditions.’ www.railstaff.co.uk

NEWS

Permanent Way Institution The Institution for Rail Infrastructure Engineers

Bubbling edge of quality Family-run firm, Wenlock Spring, will be supplying Virgin Trains passengers with mineral water – fizzy and still – in 33 cl bottles.

Says Martin Phillips, Head of Catering Logistics at Virgin Trains, ‘Virgin Trains is delighted to support Wenlock Spring, an independently owned, family run and local business situated near our routes, but also an awardwinning water.

‘Wenlock Spring reflects perfectly

what Virgin Trains is all about: being sustainable while offering the best product and a first class customer service. Wenlock Spring is an ethically conscious brand that is actively supporting the hospitality industry. For these reasons we are pleased to be serving Wenlock Spring - a refreshing, stylish British spring water.’

Wenlock Edge is a 19 mile long limestone escarpment in Shropshire.

S&C COMPONENTRY MANUFACTURE & INSTALLATION North West Technical Seminar Thursday, 27th February 2014 MANCHESTER CONFERENCE CENTRE SACKVILLE STREET, M1 3BB > UNDERSTAND NEW AND EXISTING SPECIFICATIONS AND COMPONENTS > LEARN ABOUT THE MANUFACTURING PROCESS > ANALYSIS AND MODELLING EXPLAINED > S&C INSTALLATION WITH THE USE OF BIM AND TIME LAPSE VIDEOS > MEET AND INTERACT WITH LIKEMINDED PROFESSIONALS Guest Speakers include: STEVE FEATHERSTONE

Programme Director Track, Network Rail IAN BOSTOCK

Principal Engineer (Switches & Crossings), Network Rail

Sound move for ultrasonic train The introduction of a new Ultrasonic Test Unit means Network Rail can now deploy four of these vehicles to better manage its Asset Information process.

Derby-based Railway Vehicle Engineering Limited converted the former passenger carriage. The new Ultrasonic Test Unit (UTU2) is capable of giving early warning of track problems further ensuring the safety of the railway.

Says Andy Lynch, Managing Director of RVEL, ‘We are delighted to be able to support Network Rail’s National Delivery Service and Asset Information teams by re-engineering and converting this former passenger vehicle. It has become one of the most modern and technologically advanced on www.railstaff.co.uk

TIM FENEMORE

Deputy Managing Director, Progress Rail Services ANDY BIBBY

S&C Development Manager, Babcock SECURE YOUR PLACE NOW AT WWW.PWI.ORG OR CONTACT KATE HATWELL – 01277 230 031 or email secretary@thepwi.org TICKETS ARE PRICED AT: £50 FOR MEMBER, £65 NON-MEMBER, £20 STUDENT MEMBER, £25 STUDENT NON-MEMBER Any other queries concerning the event contact: Carl.Baker@PBWorld.com

the railway.

‘To deliver this project we have worked in partnership with NR teams and Sperry, who provide many of the sophisticated diagnostic systems, which enabled us collectively to deliver this vehicle on time and to budget.’

35

Network Rail’s £895m

Irish viaduct for Reading The first pre-cast concrete beams at Reading Viaduct have been lifted into place. These form the 2,000 metre long base the trains will run on.

Says Jim Weeden, Network Rail’s acting programme director for the Reading project, ‘This is another massive milestone in our investment in Reading’s railway and our £5 billion upgrade of the entire western route. Each beam weighs around 40 tonnes and at 23 metres long, lifting them on to the bases we have built was a challenge, especially as we were working next to a live railway.’

The work to install the beams was carried out by Network Rail’s principal contractor, Balfour Beatty.

The beams were made by Shay Murtagh in County Westmeath in Ireland and shipped to Liverpool

redevelopment of the railway at Reading will cut delays and boost capacity.

before being transported to Reading by road.

‘It is all down to team effort says Liam McGovern, contracts director for Shay Murtagh Precast.

‘Producing and moving over 320 beams and 170 large box culverts requires significant organisation and it has been a magnificent team effort.’

The building of the new viaduct means Network Rail can finish widening Cow Lane, a notorious bottleneck on Reading’s road network. Part of Network Rail’s £895m redevelopment of the railway in Reading, the viaduct will cut delays caused by congestion on the tracks to the west of the station when it opens in 2015.

The project will create more capacity and allow an additional four passenger trains per hour as well as more freight trains. This is achieved by allowing fast passenger services to and from places like Bristol and South Wales to fly over the lines to Newbury, Basingstoke and the south west of England.

Sleepers awake!

In a further boost for the rail industry the new sleeper factory at Doncaster officially opens in time for the Christmas rush.

Work over the holiday season and beyond means relaying miles of track and using ever growing quantities of new sleepers. The factory at Ten Pound Walk in Doncaster is run by Trackwork Moll, a new company contracted to supply sleepers to Network Rail.

The factory employs upwards of 45 people and will supply around 400, 000 concrete sleepers for 36

Network Rail to use around the network each year. Between 700,000 and 1,000,000 sleepers are needed each year to keep the railway running safely and reliably.

Trackwork Moll is jointly owned

by Trackwork of Kirk Sandall, Doncaster and Leonhard Moll Betonwerke of Munich, Germany.

Patrick McLoughlin, Secretary of State for Transport, has taken a keen interest in the new plant and plans to meet local staff and officially open it in December. www.railstaff.co.uk

CONSTRUCTION NEWS

Wake up call for Lincoln

Now calling at Farringdon Crossrail, has unveiled its first completed train tunnel 18 months after tunnelling machine, Phyllis, started her four mile journey from Royal Oak to Farringdon.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander, Infrastructure Minister Lord Deighton and Deputy Mayor for Transport Isabel Dedring were the first visitors to

Level crossing misuse in Lincoln is high.

Rail engineers have come up with a specially designed cyclists and pedestrians bridge to make crossing the railway in Lincoln city centre safer.

Plans now being discussed by the city council involve Network Rail buying the Sleep Shop, now at 179 High Street. The adjoining Superdrug store will also be purchased. The building will be remodelled to accommodate the bridge, which includes steps, extra large lifts and a ‘gully’ for cyclists to use. English Heritage is involved.

Says Route Managing Director, Phil Verster, ‘High Street level

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set foot inside the completed tunnel.

The trio entered via the future Crossrail Farringdon station. The ministers met several workers and apprentices who helped build the new tunnel. Work on the project will carry on over the festive season as the countdown to opening in 2018 continues.

crossing in Lincoln remains our worst level crossing for instances of misuse. These range from people running across after the warnings have started to thoroughly reckless acts such as lifting or climbing over the barriers once they are down.

‘In such circumstances the signaller has no way to stop an oncoming train. We understand that a lot of misuse is driven by frustration at having to wait at the barriers. The level crossings at High Street and Brayford Wharf East, which sees similar issues, are already of the highest possible safety design.’

37

NEWS

Focus on fatigue at the IOSH rail conference

This year, 25 years after the Clapham disaster, the conference’s main theme was fatigue, one of the significant factors identified by Lord Hidden QC’s report into the crash.

To emphasise the importance of this issue the conference included a Fatigue Management Award which was won by Volker Fitzpatrick.

Keynote speaker, Kelvin Hopkins (pictured below), MP, vice chair of the UK’s All-Party Parliamentary Rail Group acknowledged that the UK had one of the safest railways in Europe but was concerned that “we must recognise that fatigue causes injuries and deaths to workers and passengers on our railways”.

He knew that the rail unions felt that industry was not doing enough to manage fatigue but did acknowledge there was some good practice such as First ScotRail’s appointment of Fatigue Manager.

38

Not surprisingly, Mike Barraclough of the QBE Insurance Group considered fatigue from an insurer’s perspective. He also stressed the need to manage fatigue for which companies need specific arrangements and referred the conference to published ORR guidance available on the subject at http://www.railreg.gov.uk/upload/pdf/managing_r ail_fatigue.pdf.

The aviation industry provided a case study on fatigue management as Easyjet’s Phil Barton described its Fatigue Risk Management System (FRMS). Phil advised that in aviation, fatigue is generally controlled by prescriptive rules (CAP371).

However, in 2003 Easyjet found that, despite being compliant with CAP371, it had operational risks from fatigue. This led to a fundamental review of rostering and the creation of its FRMS which the Civil Aviation Authority then

agreed could be used to manage crew rostering.

Phil explained how Easyjet’s FRMS adopts a more scientific approach to rostering which takes account of, for example, fleet base and schedule. It is backed up by Fatigue Awareness and Countermeasures Training and analysis of thousands of reports each year from crew who feel fatigued. Phil noted that although fatigue management is a complex soft issue requiring highly skilled support staff, its benefits are both reduced risk and increased operational flexibility.

Other presentations included those from Richard Price, ORR’s Chief Executive; Jill Collis, TfL (Transport for London’s) Director Health, Safety and Environment and Dr Pete Waterman.

Richard Price acknowledged the “enormous strides made by rail over the last 10 years” with the last fatal train accident being six years ago and noted that now the biggest risk to passengers was getting on and off trains.

He warned of the dangers of complacency and noted that track worker safety was still a big issue.

He was convinced of the benefits of the ORR being both the economic and safety regulator and cited level crossing funding as an example.

Having listened to Network Rail’s proposals, the ORR has increased funds available for level crossing safety improvements. Richard noted this showed efficiency did not always mean spending less.

Jill Collis described the challenges of managing safety in an organisation faced by Londoner’s insatiable demand for tube travel.

She described how TfL had streamlined its procedures and processes to make safety more intuitive and TfL’s focus on safety leadership.

Pete Waterman treated the conference to an inspiring presentation on HS2 and described his new role as part of a Government task force as: Seeing that every penny spent on HS2 gives us more value than we previously thought possible.

In his vision for HS2 Pete Waterman said, ‘It will suddenly change the map to give a railway that is interconnected in a way that our Victorian ancestors could never have imagined. The old railway companies did not want connectivity; they wanted people to travel on their lines. Well the map is to be changed to suit the population, not the railways.”

No doubt Pete’s task force will include the safety, environmental and reliability benefits from HS2’s 21st century infrastructure in their report.

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NEWS

Night rider New plans for the London Underground will see services extended to run all night – first at weekends and then during the week.

From 2015, weekend services will run through the night on core parts of the system - initially the Piccadilly, Victoria, Central and Jubilee lines and sections of the Northern line. However with more people using Oyster cards TfL plans to move staff out of offices out into the stations.

The RMT is resisting the move – which will see the loss of 750 jobs

“To meet the challenge of London’s growing population and development, we must continue to invest and deliver even more efficiently in the future …”

MIKE BROWN, MANAGING DIRECTOR, LUL 40

by voluntary redundancy - and has balloted for strike action – the ballot closes in January.

In a statement TfL said, ‘In future…rather than being remote from customers behind closed doors or glass windows, Tube station staff will not be based in ticket offices, but in ticket halls, on gate lines and on platforms, ready and available to give the best personal and face-to-face service to customers.’

London’s population is set to grow from 8.4m today to around 10m by 2030 and an expanded London Underground service is regarded as essential. More frequent trains will be introduced across a wide range of lines, including a 20 per cent increase in capacity on the Northern line next year and further uplifts to the frequency of Jubilee and Victoria line services, to 33 and 36 trains per hour respectively at the busiest times.

Metropolitan line customers are now travelling on a new fleet of airconditioned trains with open, walk through carriages. These are now being introduced on the Circle and

Hammersmith & City lines, with the District line to follow shortly.

Says Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, ‘For 150 years the Tube has been the beating heart of London, its tunnels and tracks providing the arteries that have transported millions of people and helped to drive the development and economic growth of our great city.

‘Now it is time to take the Tube to the next level and so for the first time in London’s history, we will provide a regular 24-hour ‘Night Tube’ service at weekends. This will not just boost jobs and our vibrant night-time economy, it will further cement London’s reputation as the best big city on the planet in which to live, work, visit and invest.’

Contactless bank card technology will be introduced next year and wi-fi rolled out to all remaining below-ground stations by the end of 2014, with the exception of four stations that are currently undergoing major upgrade work.

However, people remain at the heart of the Tube.

Says Mike Brown, Managing Director of London Underground,

‘People are at the heart of this vision - our customers and staff. My commitment to London is that all Tube stations will continue to be staffed and controlled in future, with more staff visible and available to help customers buy the right ticket, plan their journey and keep them safe and secure.

‘We will continue to make the Tube more accessible and provide assistance at stations for all our customers who need it. Rebuilt stations, new trains and signalling systems mean we are now running some of the most frequent metro services anywhere in Europe.

‘To meet the challenge of London’s growing population and development, we must continue to invest and deliver even more efficiently in future. Our vision is for a Tube network and service that is truly fit for London and our customers in the 21st century - a better face-to-face service at our stations, a 24-hour service at weekends, with easier and more personalised ways to plan and pay for journeys, on and off our network.’ www.railstaff.co.uk

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CHARITY

Shunter shuffle raises charity cheer “As a charity we are reliant on donations to fund our work …”

ANN RAMSEY, SUPPORT OFFICER, SPRINGBOARD OPPORTUNITY

Staff and railway enthusiasts joined together at St Philips Marsh, First Great Western’s train depot in Bristol, to raise £10,000 for children’s charity, Springboard Opportunity.

During the Open Day enthusiasts were able to ride round the depot on a Class 8 hauled special train.

The Preserved Locomotives Enthusiasts Group ran the scheme and staff worked hard behind the scenes to bring it about. Ticket sales raised £5995 and a collection on the day further boosted the total which First Great Western then rounded up to £10,000.

Says Ann Ramsey, Springboard’s

Support Officer who attended the event and met many of the enthusiasts and railway staff, ‘At Springboard, we work with North Somerset children aged from birth to five years with additional needs and disabilities and offer support to their families.

‘As a charity we are reliant on

donations to fund our work, and so we are very grateful for this generous donation, which will enable us to give children the vital one-to-one care and assistance they need. It was a real pleasure to take part in the event and a real treat to be able to bring some of the children to meet the trains and their drivers. They were very excited.’

Presenting the cheque for £10,000 to Jessica Heslop, Simon Cassidy of First Great Western said, ‘This was a tremendous effort from all those involved and we are extremely proud to be supporting such a deserving cause.’

Urban garden Staff and volunteers from Crossrail contractor, BBMV, have created a new inner city urban garden in Tower Hamlets.

The garden was created for homelessness charity, Providence Row, and will be used to teach people horticultural skills as well as providing an oasis of peace and calm in the seventh most deprived area in the UK. One of Providence Row’s aims is to provide homeless people with the means to be able to produce fresh fruit and vegetables to ensure a balanced and healthy diet. Already the scheme is bearing fruit and is on track to help 60 people in its first year.

‘We are very grateful to BBMV for the support they gave both financially and practically through volunteering by BBMV staff,’ says Providence Row CEO, Pam Orchard.

‘They were our partners all the way through the project and it was fantastic working with them. Their support has transformed our centre and both clients and staff 42

BBMV staff help to create the urban garden for homelessness charity Providence Row.

love the garden, which is beautiful and really improves the environment in which we deliver our services.’

Materials from Balfour Beatty’s nearby Blackfriars construction site will be used for the creation of compost bins and planters surrounding the building. BBMV is a consortium between Balfour Beatty, Alpine BeMo Tunnelling, Morgan Sindall and Vinci Construction. www.railstaff.co.uk

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Technical Sales Engineer Nationwide

Rail and Infrastructure Vacancies 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. Currently we have vacancies for the following:

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CAREERS

> Signalling Rail Staff Required TES are at the forefront of rail safety, developing best practice and setting the standard for safer working in the rail industry. With expertise in Signalling, Possession Management, Technical, Track Service, Electrification and Training Services.

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45

CAREERS

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Sales Executive Leicestershire

Direct Rail Services (DRS) is owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and provides a safe, secure and reliable transport service. DRS has a reputation for excellence within the Freight Industry, in order to maintain and improve our quality of service we are looking to recruit against the following vacancy:

Operations Manager b QB CPOVT r #BTFE JO $SFXF The main purposes of the Operations Manager role is to manage Traincrew on a daily basis, carry out the relevant training and assessments and attend external and internal meetings all in line with Company Procedures, Policies, Working Instructions and Company Business Plans.

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Infinitely flexible, from On Track Plant Planning, Delivery & Site Management to trackside litter & vegetation control & clearance, TRS works under a

"One Team One Objective" philosophy whilst offering the highest levels of personal and professional service to all our industrial clients.

We are growing fast, and currently require:

Experienced Civils Project Manager

HSQE Advisor

£Negotiable | Basingstoke

£Negotiable | Basingstoke

Candidates will need to be experienced in lineside civils including drainage, cable route management, UTX & URX, signalling structures, retaining walls etc. Must hold a current UK driving licence, be willing to travel and may be required on occasions to work nights and weekends.

HSQE Advisor required to assist the assurance team in the maintenance and further development of existing HSQE systems. Candidates will hold NEBOSH General Certificate as a minimum; have experience of ISO9001 and 14001, and hold a recognised auditor qualification.

Lift Planner

SSOW Planner

£Negotiable | Basingstoke

£Negotiable | Basingstoke

An experienced Lift Planner, with a proven track record of lift planning, a valid PTS (personal track safety) and experience of RRV/MC Planning is required. Competencies such as NP, AP and ES would also be a distinct advantage.

Candidates will hold a valid PTS (personal track safety), Core Planner Level 2 or equivalent qualification, experienced with rail health and safety practices and a holder of Core Planner Level 2. Candidates must hold a current UK driving licence, be willing to travel and may be required on occasions to work nights and weekends.

Rail Recruitment Consultant £Negotiable | Basingstoke An experienced Recruitment Consultant is required to work on a permanent basis. The ideal candidate will be from a rail, road, engineering or construction background.

TO APPLY: Please send your CV to:

info@totalrailsolutions.co.uk Total Rail Solutions

www.totalrailsolutions.co.uk

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Marketing and Sales Team

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