RailStaff July 2013 by Rail Media

RailStaff Issue 188 / July 2013

THE MOST POPULAR PUBLICATION IN THE UK RAIL INDUSTRY

Winner. Rail Team of the Year.

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Rail return for Mary Grant

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Part 4: A decade of change. Colin Garratt continues the Fall and Rise of Britainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Railways.

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Trans-Atlantic triumph for Harry Boyce Thanks to unparalleled fundraising efforts by almost all staff at Heathrow Express, young Harry Boyce has travelled to the United States for an operation designed to make him more mobile. Harry suffers from a rare form of cerebral palsy. Brave Harry is now back in Britain with his train driver parents, Roy and Agnes, and making good progress.

Continued on PAGE 4

helping to build the nation

McGinley Support Services provides the industry with the staff and resources to design, build and maintain Britain's rail infrastructure.

Health & Safety Focus RailStaff reports on Network Rail and the RSSB.

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For information please call:

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COMMENT

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 Ashby House, Bath Street, Ashby de la Zouch, Leicestershire, LE65 2HF. Tel: 01530 56 00 26 Web: www.railstaff.co.uk Email: hello@rail-media.com Printed by Pensord. RailStaff is published by RailStaff Publications Limited. A Rail Media Publication.

Treatment of children

involved in this in some way. What a remarkable achievement. It may not feature on performance tables but it is of inestimable value. This is indeed a sad world full of tragedy and

SPECIAL FOCUS

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The fate of the youngest and

most vulnerable should concern us all Railway staff, families and friends invest huge amounts of time and effort in raising money to help children.

tears. However, Harry’s story reassures us. All of us wish Harry every success in his recovery. We thank him for demonstrating once again that the good guys win in the end.

RailStaff

This summer it is hard to imagine the world becoming a better place. Murder and mayhem rage in the Middle East. Europe’s continuing financial crisis further undermines confidence in the west. The fate of the youngest and most vulnerable should concern us all. One criteria on which all socalled civilisations are judged is their treatment of children. Look at the tyrannies of yesteryear. In our contemporary world today it is instructive to look at how various cultures treat their young. No one can afford to be self righteous. However in the rail industry we should take a measure of comfort from the help given to children. Huge amounts of money are raised. The startling sight of a senior railway manager preceding the Henley Regatta by swimming to raise funds for the child of two of his staff, is as heart-warming as Railway Children supporters powering up the Three Peaks – apparently pursued by perspicacious members of the British Transport Police. Railway staff, families and friends invest huge amounts of time and effort in raising money to help children. Our front page story of the bravery of Harry Boyce and the support he has received best exemplifies this. According to a friend at Heathrow Express, almost every member of staff has been

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Plant & Equipment Focus In September’s RailStaff

Leighton Buzzard rail fever

Three Peaks Challenge

RailStaff investigates the latest developments in plant and equipment that are taking place across the whole rail infrastructure, from advances in road rail vehicles to track renewal equipment and processes. If you want to contribute, get in touch now. Please contact Paul Curtis or Tom O’Connor on 01530 560026.

John Travolta took time out from a busy ﬁlming schedule recently to take his son, Ben, for a good old fashioned steam train ride on the Leighton Buzzard Railway.

This year’s Three Peaks by Rail Challenge for the Railway Children charity saw 165 intrepid supporters tackle Snowdon, Scafell Pike and Ben Nevis.

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Meet me in St. Louis Harry Boyce was born with Diplegia, a form of cerebral palsy which affects muscles making it difficult to move and walk unaided. However, as well as his own bravery Harry Boyce has a secret weapon - his parents Agnes Kolodziejczyk and Roy Boyce. The family also has many friends at Heathrow Express where Mum and Dad work as train drivers. Hearing of a life altering operation, available at St Louis Children’s Hospital in Missouri, Agnes, Roy, staff and friends set about raising the money required under the banner ‘Helping Harry.’ Business wide activities included sponsored cycle rides and runs, cake sales, sponsored slimming, fundraising parties, jamborees and raffles. Managing director, Keith Greenfield, even swam the Henley Classic, a distance of two kilometres in open water, to raise funds for Harry. The family travelled to St Louis and met with pioneering surgeon, Dr T. S. Park who has performed over 2,000 selective dorsal rhizotomy operations and is renowned as a world leader in his field. ‘Dr Park told us that he felt that following Harry’s SDR operation Harry would walk unaided in the future. I can’t begin to explain how hearing this made us feel. We know that this is going to be the 4

result of a long journey and lots of hard work, but seeing our little man walk is all we’ve wished for since starting this amazing journey,’ says Agnes. Harry was in the operating theatre at St Louis for five hours. Agnes and Roy were given their own room to wait in and regular updates by the surgery team. ‘As soon as the surgery had finished Dr Park came to see us and told us that everything had gone really well. Harry had coped with everything amazingly. He told us that Harry was in the recovery ward. As soon as he had come round and they were happy he was OK we were able to see our little man.’ Harry has been making good progress after a week long stay in hospital. Physiotherapy and various exercises are helping him become increasingly mobile. Agnes and Roy both thanked staff at Heathrow Express. Says Agnes, ‘Hopefully, in the future, Harry will take his first steps on his own. This is a long way off yet and Harry has a lot of hard work ahead of him, but we really believe that he will get there. We will never be able to put into words how much this means to us, but you have all helped give Harry a bright new future. Thank you.’ If you want to donate to Harry’s cause, contact Agnes, by email: info@helpingharry.net

“Hopefully, in the future, Harry will take his ﬁrst steps on his own. This is a long way off yet and Harry has a lot of hard work ahead of him, but we really believe that he will get there. We will never be able to put into words how much this means to us, but you have all helped give Harry a bright new future. Thank you…” www.railstaff.co.uk

NEWS

Fitters behind West Coast improvements

A new £40m initiative to reduce delays and improve services on the West Coast Main Line is largely the brainchild of maintenance staff up and down the line. Chris Gibb, Chief Operating Ofﬁcer, Virgin Trains, worked a six month secondment with Network Rail. Chris spent time with maintenance crews, mostly at night. His recommendations,

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published in a special report, are largely based on the ideas he heard from experienced staff at T&RS depots. Network Rail is pushing ahead with a number of projects aimed at improving reliability. These range from overhead line improvements to new security fencing designed to reduce delays caused by trespass and vandalism.

Around 70% of delays to Virgin services are attributable to Network Rail, 35% of which are down to infrastructure faults and 25% to external factors such as cable theft, fatalities, trespass, vandalism and extreme weather. A specialist team of engineers has walked the entire route between London and Rugby and recommended a series of

improvements that are now being delivered over and above regular maintenance and inspection activity. Around £10m will be invested to construct more than 11 miles of new fencing along the railway between London and Rugby at key locations, reducing the risk of incursions from people or livestock onto the track. Further north, a major project over 18 miles of railway near Wigan will see new junctions and track installed over nine days in July. In the longer term, similar infrastructure improvements in the Watford area will be getting underway in 2014. Says Chris Gibb, ‘I am pleased that Network Rail has decided to progress all the recommendations and make a £40m investment to improve performance on the southern end of the West Coast Main Line. We are starting to see that investment actually taking place but both Network Rail and the train operators need to keep the pressure on to ensure that lasting improvements in performance are achieved.’

NEWS

Ano ther brick in

the w all

New partnership The RSSB and Network Rail Consulting have formed a new partnership. Says Nigel Ash, managing director of Network Rail Consulting, ‘Being able to draw on the body of work and expertise in RSSB is a great addition to our portfolio, which is yielding a lot of interest across the globe. There is tremendous appetite to call on our experience as rail specialists, and it’s fitting to be able to weave in RSSB’s knowledge of crossindustry issues and make that available on an international stage too.’ The new partnership has been welcomed by Anson Jack, deputy chief executive of RSSB. ‘All of our members, including Network Rail, invest time and money into research, development, innovation and solutions, designed specifically to benefit the British national rail system and support business performance improvements in each company. ‘These solutions also have the potential to support development overseas, and Network Rail Consulting is an ideal partner to help promote these around the world,’ Mr. Jack said. 6

As part of the 150th anniversary celebration of the London Underground the Lego company has recreated ﬁve Tube Maps made entirely out of lego-bricks. The maps will be on display throughout the summer. The maps have been created by Duncan Titmarsh, Britain’s only certiﬁed Lego professional - one of only 13 in the world. Each

map took four days to build and has 1,000 bricks. The maps will be displayed as follows:

• South Kensington - 1927 map • Piccadilly Circus - 1933 map, (Harry Beck’s original map) • Green Park - 1968 map • Stratford - 2013 map • King’s Cross St. Pancras 2020 map including Crossrail, the proposed Croxley

Rail Link, and the proposed Northern Line Extension Says Mike Ashworth, Design and Heritage Manager at London Underground, ‘The 2020 map at King’s Cross St. Pancras shows the new stations and rail links we want to deliver - we hope this fun LEGO map will inspire the young engineers of the future to help deliver our vision.’

Voice of Essex Life is looking up for train driver’s daughter, Leanne Jarvis. Despite losing her job and her house last year Leanne made it through to the quarter ﬁnals of BBC1’s The Voice. Leanne has now released her ﬁrst single, ‘Where Have You Been?’ Her father Dave, a driver with c2c for the last ten years backed Leanne all the way. He and colleagues even helped with on train announcements and put up posters at stations urging passengers and staff to vote. Says c2c Operations Director Kevin Frazer, ‘Dave is very much part of the c2c family, and so Leanne is one of our own. We’re very proud of the progress she’s made in the competition.’ Leanne, a singer-songwriter from Essex has toured abroad and sung vocals for Ministry of Sound. Dave Jarvis said, ‘Thank you to c2c passengers for your wonderful response to the announcements I’ve been making about Leanne. I’m grateful for all the local support she’s received.’ www.railstaff.co.uk

Rail return for Mary Grant

Mary Grant, former chief executive ofﬁcer with Phones 4U, is rejoining National Express as Managing Director, Business Development. NEG was the only British ﬁrm to be shortlisted for the Crossrail

Safety First for Alliance Sharon Vye-Parminter is the new Safety and Assurance Director for the pioneering South West Trains - Network Rail Alliance. The third woman director within the South West Trains Network Rail Alliance, VyeParminter has 19 years rail experience and has worked for First Capital Connect, East Coast and First Great Western. She held head of safety and environment posts at FGW, FCC, East Coast and London Lines. At Wessex Trains she was head of safety. Vye-Parminter has a degree in History from Southampton University. Says Tim Shoveller, Managing Director of the South West Trains - Network Rail Alliance, ‘Safety is at the heart of everything we do. I am delighted to welcome Sharon to our team. She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the post and has previously been instrumental in improving safety across several rail routes.’ 8

operating concession. Grant has previously worked with National Express in the UK and Australia in the late 1990s. She was Commercial Director at Silverlink. However she is perhaps best remembered as Managing Director of ScotRail, having initially led the successful FirstGroup bidding team in 2004. Following four years at the helm of ScotRail she was appointed Managing Director of FirstGroup’s UK Bus and Rail Divisions. Mary then moved to Phones 4U as CEO. Says Dean Finch, Group Chief Executive, National Express Group, ‘Having worked with Mary before I know all about her drive, determination and attention to detail. She’ll be a great asset to the business as we look to expand both within the UK and internationally.’

New head for Bombardier Dr. Francis Paonessa has been promoted President Rolling Stock and Services UK and Chairman of Bombardier Transportation UK. Dr. Paonessa joined Bombardier UK in March 2010, heading up the rolling stock business based in Derby. Paonessa previously worked in the defence sector. He holds a BSc in Aeronautical Engineering from Manchester and a PhD in Fluid Mechanics also from Manchester. Says Laurent Troger, President Rolling Stock Atlantic and Services, Bombardier Transportation, ‘With this appointment we continue to simplify our business in the UK, by consolidating our rolling stock and services businesses to provide one face to the customer. We believe that this move will not only help to strengthen our commercial position here, but will also enable

us to bring better value to our customers.’

Return of the Railwayman Francis Thomas, new communications director of London Midland, has returned to railway PR 30 years after he first joined British Rail. Between 1983 and 1993 he worked for BR in crisis management and through the controversial privatisation of the industry. Francis helped manage the Mersey Railway centenary. Later he worked for Boots Company, then Lego and Suffolk County Council. He worked for Ofqal – the exams regulator and ran his own PR agency for five years, Resilience PR Ltd. Says London Midland’s Managing Director, Patrick Verwer, ‘I’m delighted to welcome Francis to the London Midland team and look forward to working closely with him. Francis’ track-record speaks for itself and, with experience within a number of high-profile organisations, I am sure that he will be an asset to the company.’ Francis started out as a trainee accountant with Rolls Royce, but found the role too quiet and joined the railways. He has a degree in Business Studies for London South Bank University. Says Francis, ‘I began my railway career on this network so the opportunity to join London Midland was one that I couldn’t turn down. ‘Rail plays a vital role in the daily lives of millions of people and good communications is a core part of how we deliver our service. I’m looking forward to working with the newly-formed communications team and colleagues across London Midland.’ London Midland’s New Head of Communications, Francis Thomas.

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PEOPLE NEWS

Hynes returns Taskforce role for Lord Deighton

Alex Hynes takes up the helm as managing director of Northern Rail this September. Hynes joins from Go-Ahead Group where he is managing director rail development. He spent his early career as a senior consultant for Halcrow Fox and worked with the Ofﬁce of Rail Regulation before joining the GoAhead Group in 2005 as strategic planning manager, rail. He was appointed Commercial Director for London Midland in November 2007. Hynes was educated at Altrincham Boys Grammar School and has a degree in Economics from Leeds University. Alex succeeds Ian Bevan, who stepped down in March, and Alan Chaplin, Interim MD. Northern Rail won a further franchise extension in May this year. It will continue to operate until 1 April 2014.

The organiser of the London Olympics, Lord Deighton, has been brought in to head up the newly created HS2 Growth Taskforce. Says Transport Secretary, Patrick McLoughlin, ‘HS2 provides a once in a generation opportunity to drive growth, generate jobs, and secure our country’s future prosperity. We need to squeeze every possible beneﬁt from this vital project, leaving no stone unturned. That is why we are setting up a Growth Taskforce and that is why I have asked

Lord Deighton, the man who delivered the Olympics, to lead it. ‘I recognise HS2 is a huge project and I am determined to get maximum payback from the investment. This is about far more than just a new railway and, through the work of the Taskforce, we will be able to identify many of the wider economic beneﬁts it can deliver.’ Paul Deighton was chief executive ofﬁcer of LOCOG, the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. To make him answerable to

parliament he was ennobled prior to the Olympic job. Before that Deighton was chief operating ofﬁcer of Goldman Sachs in Europe. He worked for Goldman Sachs for 22 years. Earlier he worked for the Security Paciﬁc National Bank and the Bank of America. Lord Deighton is a

sports enthusiast and is a board member of England Rugby 2015, the organising committee for the Rugby World Cup. Married to Alison, he has two grown up sons. He was educated at Wallington County Grammar School and has a degree in Economics from Trinity College Cambridge.

SOE role for Sir Moir

By the right

Sir Moir Lockhead is to be the new patron of the Society of Operations Engineers. Lockhead will take on the role when current SOE patron and co-founder of the Ratcliff Group, John Ratcliff CBE, retires from his duties later this summer. Sir Moir Lockhead will join incoming SOE chief executive Peter Walsh, who joins the Society at the beginning of July. Sir Moir left school at 15 to become an apprentice mechanic, joining Grampian Regional Transport in 1985 as general manager and going on to lead the successful employee buy-out of the company. Since then, as founding director and CEO of FirstGroup, he saw the company grow to be the largest provider of rail and bus services in the UK, USA and Canada. Says Sir Moir, ‘It is an honour and a privilege to become patron of the SOE, especially having spent all of my working life in transport starting as an

Jason McKeon has joined Houghton International as Quality, Safety & Environmental Manager. Jason was a career soldier for 23 years and was promoted through the ranks to Regimental Sergeant Major. He saw service in Northern Ireland, Kosovo, Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq. Jason is married with two children and lives in Stockton on Tees. During his free time he enjoys walking in the countryside and is a kite surfer. He is a Member of the Chartered Management Institute (MCMI), has a diploma in Logistics and holds the Nebosh General Certiﬁcate in Health and Safety.

apprentice more than 50 years ago. It is hard to believe how much things have changed for our new engineers as technology continues to progress with more and more stringent safety requirements; the SOE have a crucial role to play.”

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RAIL ALLIANCE NEWS

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

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

Busy Summer for Rail Alliance New Members Polypipe Civils (Leading manufacturer of surface water drainage, sewerage, cable protection systems and water management solutions serving utilities, construction, civil engineering, agricultural and sports and leisure markets) www.polypipe.com/civils SEMI S.A. (GRUPO ACS) (Spanish supplier of electriﬁcation and traction substations for AC and DC, auxiliary electrical equipment, engineering and consulting, maintenance of catenary and substations, infrastructure for railway signaling and communications.) www.asemi.es

Two major events have been keeping the Rail Alliance busy in June, reports Colin Flack. We were delighted to support a rail awareness seminar in Cardiff held by the Welsh Government. The day was heavily oversubscribed and we in fact now have a waiting list for the next event which we hope to run in the autumn. This is the ﬁrst time that we have really forayed into Wales and we were struck by the diversity of business and the powerful local desire to get involved with the railway supply

chain. Next up was Railway Strategies Live 2013 which is now in its 7th year and was held at the Royal Geographical Society in Kensington. I think that Andrew Wolstenholme echoed all of our thoughts when he reﬂected on the rich pedigree of speakers who over the last 200 years have graced that stage. The theme this year was “Inspiring Excellence” and it certainly did. There was as ever a wide range of presentations and the Q&A panel at the end of the day provided a lively debate,

always a good sign when delegates stay the course in large numbers! Looking forward now we are hosting the Network Rail Plant Showcase in July along with some 2000 children who will be attending an event held by British Transport Police ahead of the summer holidays; aimed at raising awareness of the dangers of trespassing on the railway. Finally planning is well underway to hold a Railway Interiors Showcase at Coventry University on the 24th/25th October… Watch this space!

PCC.eu Ltd (Design, manufacture and installation company of rail interior components including a full compliant PRM/TSI toilet module) www.pcc.eu.com Uni-Lite International Ltd (World leading manufacturer of the highest quality next generation LED ﬂashlights, lanterns and headlights.) www.uni-lite.com RTS Infrastructure Services Ltd (Provider of 24/7 train care services to rail operators including light and heavy maintenance, refueling, train presentation and bespoke rolling stock engineering services.) www.rtsinfrastructure.com

The UK’s Largest Track Plant Event at Long Marston Network Rail in association with The Rail Alliance and the rail engineer welcome you to the first National Track Plant Exhibition, 'The Track Innovation Showcase'. 10

24-25th July Long Marston, Stratford on Avon

www.nationalplantexhibition.com www.railstaff.co.uk

NEWS

Cable opens academy

Leighton Buzzard rail fever

Business secretary, Vince Cable MP, has opened a new training academy – the Boilerhouse in Soapworks, MediaCity UK, Salford Quays, Manchester, run by Vital Services Group. Offering Apprenticeships and commercial training in rail, power and technology, all courses are

John Travolta took time out from a busy ﬁlming schedule recently to take his son, Ben, for a good old fashioned steam train ride on the Leighton Buzzard Railway in Bedfordshire. Volunteers on the narrow gauge railway rallied round and made sure the Travolta family enjoyed an hour long ride together on a

delivered by the ﬁrm’s training arm, Vital Skills Training. Says Lawrence Dobie, director of education at Vital, ‘We are very proud Vince Cable was able to open the academy and meet some of the students beginning their careers at the new academy.’

scheduled service. Says Mervyn Leah from Leighton Buzzard Railway, ‘Towards the end of the morning a couple of men with American accents turned up and had a look around and said they would be back at 2pm. They came back in the afternoon bringing John Travolta and his son with them and went for a ride on the train.’

Children help Duncan Goodhew name train Southeastern is continuing to celebrate the success of the London Olympics by naming trains after Britain’s athletes. Britain came third in the medal tally at last year’s biggest and best Olympic Games. Top swimmer, Duncan Goodhew, is the latest athlete to be honoured in a Javelin train naming. To celebrate the latest train naming, Southeastern chartered a special service for Mr Goodhew and 300 young children from Homeleigh School, in East London. The school is one of hundreds of special needs schools the children’s charity, Variety, supports. Duncan is an ambassador for Variety. Says Sarah Boundy, Head of Customer Services for Southeastern, ‘We’re all proud of the role our Javelin service played to make the www.railstaff.co.uk

London 2012 Games such a success. In the year since the start of the Games we’ve named our ﬂeet after many Olympic heroes, past and present and the ‘Duncan Goodhew’ train is the latest to be named in honour of our greatest athletes.’ The London Olympics inspired a generation of young people to take up sports. Says Duncan Goodhew, ‘This is a tremendous honour. I never in my wildest dreams expected to have my name emblazoned on the side of a high speed Javelin train, so this is an absolute thrill. ‘Variety creates positive experiences for young disabled and disadvantaged children so this was a great event to which we could invite the pupils from Homeleigh School.’

ScotRail to catch the wind

Freightliner goes Dutch

ScotRail is to install two wind turbines at Bathgate depot in West Lothian. It will be the ﬁrst time that wind turbines have been installed at a ScotRail depot. The project will save almost eight tonnes of CO2 per year, as well as producing approximately 14,000 kWh of electricity, enough to power a small station like

Freightliner Group continues to expand overseas with the acquisition of ERS Railways from Maersk Line. Rotterdam-headquartered ERS was founded in 1994 and provides intermodal services for major ports like Rotterdam, Hamburg, Bremerhaven, Lübeck and Rostock. It runs international services to Italy, Poland, Germany, Switzerland,

Austria and the Czech Republic. Says Peter Maybury, chief executive of Freightliner Group, ‘The acquisition of ERS is a very good ﬁt with our growth strategy and further extends our proﬁtable footprint, following our successful entry into the Polish and German bulk haul markets over the last seven years and our entry into Australia in 2009.’

Greenfaulds. The 17.75 and 14.75-metre-high turbines will be sensitively sited away from homes on the south side of the depot, in the car park area. It is estimated that they will save the rail operator around £4,500 in energy bills every year. This money will be reinvested in more renewable energy schemes on Scotland’s railways.

New team for Great Western Main Line electriﬁcation

equipment and power systems to electrify the route and provide engineering assurance throughout construction. The work will also involve the modification of platforms and bridges and the lowering of track where necessary. ‘It will present significant challenges for planning and consents, particularly around Bath, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which will involve close collaboration with Network Rail and key stakeholders to preserve the area’s environment and heritage.’ Says Darren Reed, head of rail at Parsons Brinckerhoff, ‘We are delighted to be selected by Network Rail as its engineering partner to meet the exciting challenge of electrifying Brunel’s Great Western Railway. The combined strength of Atkins and Parsons Brinckerhoff creates a market leading electrification design and engineering capability and it is an area in which we both continue to invest heavily to meet future anticipated industry demand.’

1,000 kilometres of railway will be electrified in the west.

The electrification of the Great Western Main Line has moved a step nearer with the appointment of a joint Atkins/Parsons Brinckerhoff team as Lead Design Organisation. The team will prepare the route between London and Cardiff for electrification. The project will involve electrifying approximately 1,000 kilometres of railway and installing over 20,000 overhead line support structures along the route. Says Douglas McCormick, managing director of Atkins’ UK rail business, ‘Electrification is vital for the UK railway network. It will enable greater capacity, shorter journey times, less maintenance, lower energy costs and will boost the economy by providing better connections between towns and cities. ‘As one of Network Rail’s first major electrification schemes, this project will give the Atkins/Parsons Brinckerhoff team the opportunity to lead the industry and develop best practice.’ ‘Atkins and Parsons Brinckerhoff will design the overhead line

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NEWS

Tram man on the run A man dressed as a tram has completed a SPAD-free 21 mile yomp around Hebden Bridge parish boundary in West Yorkshire. Neil Harrison, Communications Manager for Metrolink, undertook the nine-hour offroad slalom to raise funds for Francis House, a children’s hospice in Manchester. Francis House provides a home-fromhome for the families of children with life threatening or life limiting conditions, where they

can receive professional care, support and friendship. Neil donned the MetMan costume, a life-size character used by Metrolink for school presentations. Says Neil, 32, from Levenshulme in Manchester, ‘The MetMan costume is great fun for children, but not so much fun for nine hours of hiking across 21 miles of fairly wild countryside. It involved a climb of more than 2,500 feet, it was utterly exhausting,

incredibly hot and difﬁcult and I couldn’t really see where I was going, but it was completely worth it to raise money for such a good cause. ‘The care and support the hospice provides is incredibly humbling, so this was the very least I could do to help them continue their fantastic work. I hope this raises funds and makes more people aware of this incredible charity.’ To help go to: www.justgiving/neilharrison10

Crossrail shortlist four companies Four companies have been shortlisted to run Crossrail services. They are, Arriva Crossrail Limited, Keolis/Go Ahead, MTR Corporation (Crossrail) Limited and National Express Group PLC. The Invitation to Tender will be issued in September and an operator will be appointed at the end of 2014. The successful train operator will start running the ﬁrst services from May 2015.

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Penrith news exclusive

When freelance journalist Charlotte Metcalf alighted at Penrith and left her notebook on a train she thought that was the last she’d see of it. The notebook contained articles, an interview and hours of hard work. However, Charlotte reckoned without the top professionalism of John Kelly,

Customer Services Assistant and Tomasz Sepetkowski, Team Leader with Virgin Trains at Penrith as well as VT driver Tom McCaskie and the cleaners at Polmadie depot in Glasgow. John and Tom traced the notebook to Glasgow Central and asked staff to try and retrieve it. A day later Ms Metcalfe was reunited with her notebook. ‘This extraordinary kind of personal service, with people responding to other people in distress, is increasingly unusual in this day and age,’ she said. The reunion was brought about by railway staff along the line, Tomasz Sepetkowski emphasised. ‘A big thank you to the cleaners based at Polmadie and to Tom McCaskie, Driver Team Manager, who brought the notebook back to Penrith,’ Tomasz says.

Bernard backs Museum campaign

Terrier Trespass

Railway Museum. Alarmed by reports that the Science Museum Group plans to shut one of its museums local

Tram-Train Sign Off Contracts have been signed to take forward the Sheffield -Rotherham Tram-Train project. The service will run on both the existing tramway and the national rail network connecting Rotherham Parkgate and Sheffield City Centre. Network Rail will build a new link junction and points between the light rail and heavy rail lines near Meadowhall South. The rail line from Meadowhall South to Rotherham Central Station and Rotherham Parkgate will be electrified. New platforms will also be built at Meadowhall South and at Rotherham Parkgate, and Rotherham Central Station’s platforms will be extended to facilitate the new service. The service will start in early 2016 after the route is upgraded using Tram-Train vehicles supplied by Vossloh. The new trains are dual voltage making them capable of operating at both light and heavy rail voltage. Transport Minister Norman Baker MP was in South Yorkshire to assist the signing of the contracts. Says Baker, ‘Providing better connections between the heart of Sheffield and Rotherham’s centres and residential

areas will help to reinvigorate the local economy. ‘It will also encourage people to leave their cars at home. Tram-Trains are an innovative and highcapacity transport system which have proved very successful in other European cities. We will be monitoring the scheme over the course of the next two years and I look forward to seeing if it would be appropriate to replicate it elsewhere in the UK.’

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When ofﬁce workers in Aylesbury spotted a dog on the railway line they knew it was too dangerous to go after the small Jack Russell. Instead staff at Gartec, a company in Smeaton Close, Aylesbury, tempted the terrier back to the fence with biscuits and canteen sausages for two hours. Eventually the dog, Hettie, came over and slipped under the fence. A local dog warden managed to trace Hettie’s owner, Joe. Staff at Gartec witnessed an emotional reunion. Says Julie Black, who works at Gartec, ‘It’s quite a busy line and when we ﬁrst saw her we thought she was going to be killed. When she eventually got under the fence she went mad licking us all and jumping about. When Joe got here he was crying his eyes out.’

Bernard Bell, 89, one time steam driver and former Lord Mayor of York has been supporting a public campaign to save the National

people and rail staff swung into action. The campaign, organised by local newspaper the York Press, attracted 13,500 signatures to a petition in just a fortnight. As well as York, the Science Museum Group runs museums in London, Bradford and Manchester. Cuts to funding could mean one of them may have to close. Interest in the NRM has never been higher this July with thousands celebrating the record breaking run of A4 class locomotive Mallard which raced down Stoke Bank at 126mph on 3 July 1938. The NRM has reunited the record breaker with its ﬁve surviving sister locomotives. Only six of the 35 A4 locomotives built survive. Bernard Bell drove the iconic Mallard in the 1950s. Now living in Woodthorpe Mr Bell spent his working life on the railways.

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ACoRP charts success

New Mod for Rescue Fleet

A new map showing the extent of community rail partnerships has been produced by ACoRP. The map was presented to transport minister, Norman Baker MP, to emphasise the success of community rail partnerships in bringing life back to rural and local lines, despite the best efforts of Dr Beeching some 50 years ago. ‘Community rail is a great

A new brake modification of Network Rail’s six strong Class 57 international rescue fleet means drivers can now operate their brakes and those of the failed train together. Effectively this means brokendown units can be removed at normal line speed. Says Mick Stewart, senior fleet engineer, National Delivery Service, ‘We can now quickly move units that are

success story for the railway industry,’ said Neil Buxton, ACoRP’s General Manager. By bringing communities, local authorities and the rail industry together we’re helping rural and local rail services improve the quality of life for communities, by regenerating rural areas and providing access to jobs and social infrastructure.’

Felixstowe opens new rail terminal

Ports, ‘Rail is becoming the mode of choice for an increasing number of shipping lines, forwarders and shippers to move their goods to and from ports. ‘It provides cost, environmental and reliability beneﬁts for many customers and the Port of Felixstowe offers more rail services, to more destinations, more often than any other UK port.’ The new rail terminal allows the port to accommodate trains of up to 35-wagons length. 10 kilometres of new track has been laid for the terminal which provides nine additional tracks, making a total of 20 tracks on the port.

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The Port of Felixstowe’s new £40m rail terminal has been ofﬁcially opened by the Duke of York. The aim is to keep the Suffolk port complex at the heart of global shipping. Increased rail capacity will cut congested roads in East Anglia and ensure a better service for shippers. The new nine-track North Rail Terminal is part of a £300m expansion initiative by operator Hutchison Ports. Says Clemence Cheng, Chief Executive Ofﬁcer of Hutchison

stranded, for example, when the third rail network is disabled, if there’s snow and ice, or where there’s been a mechanical failure. ‘The 57s are also powerful enough to haul a 12-car EMU – another EMU wouldn’t be able to do that. The Class 57/3s are normally employed on snow and ice treatment trains during autumn and winter but can also rescue trains when needed.’

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NEWS

Great Train Robbery memorial service

Railway staff at Crewe will be holding a Memorial Service at 3pm on 8th August to mark the 50th anniversary of the Great Train Robbery. The Crewe-based driver of the Glasgow-toEuston mail train, Jack Mills, was coshed by the gang and never fully recovered. His secondman, David Whitby, also based at Crewe, was attacked by the gang and thrown down the embankment. Northwest railway chaplain, the Reverend Dr

Flower power

Channel Tunnel opens to Deutsche Bahn Deutsche Bahn has been cleared to run trains through the Channel Tunnel. The Intergovernmental Commission took three years to process the application and has now issued a Certificate B operating certificate. Says Jacques Gounon, CEO, Groupe Eurotunnel, ‘Twenty years after the start of commercial services, the authorities have finally opened the Channel Tunnel to all. This is

wonderful news for the millions of passengers in northern Europe who can now use this most environmentally friendly means of transport to travel to London.’ However the new service between London, Cologne, and Frankfurt is unlikely to start for another three years. DB plans to use Siemens Velaro D trainsets once these are cleared for use outside Germany.

Doncaster’s famous Mallard steam locomotive has been recreated in flowers. The flower sculpture is on show on the Sidings roundabout at the Carr House Road - White Rose Way junction. The sculpture consists of around 20,000 individual plants and measures about eight metres in length by one and a half metres in height. It is one of numerous floral and topiary displays created by the council’s street scene team. Says Bob Johnson of the city council, ‘I am delighted Doncaster’s railway heritage and our famous Mallard locomotive has been honoured in such a unique way. Doncaster has a proud and long standing history of designing and building some of the world’s greatest steam locomotives.

Richard Cook, is organising the special service which will be held in the old drivers mess room on platform 12. Once a guard with BR himself Rev. Cook has worked the same numbered mail train as Mills and Whitby, 1M44. ‘Over the years the media tend to forget the victims and remember the Robin Hood aspect of robbing a train,’ says Richard who also mentioned that people in Crewe still remember the train driver and secondman who suffered, as did the postal workers on the train. The service is being held at 1500hrs. The robbery itself took place at three in the morning. ‘We didn’t think we’d get much of a turn out at that time so it’s at three in the afternoon,’ says Richard. The Reverend Cook is Free Church minister and BTP chaplain. On 8 August 1963 a London gang lead by Bruce Reynolds held up the south bound mail train by tampering with the signal lights south of Linslade in Buckinghamshire. Over £2.6 million, the equivalent of £41 million today, was stolen. Jack Mills died in 1970 of leukaemia and David Whitby died of a heart attack aged 34. The service is open to all.

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TRAINING... sponsored CAREERS by Vital Skills Training

Transferable Skills Essential

By Lawrence Dobie, Education and Training Director at Vital Services Group.

The future looks bright for the railways. Passenger demand is increasing. Investment in high speed rail and major projects such as electriﬁcation, will create increasing demand for skilled personnel. There are already recruitment challenges at all levels in the industry, particularly in specialist engineering. Network Rail is putting increasing pressure on contractors to employ staff direct, rather than rely on agencies. As well as young people ﬁnishing their academic careers, this investment in infrastructure also provides a massive

opportunity for those with relevant, transferrable skills.

Challenging times Talent from other sectors that have faced challenging times during the economic downturn such as the armed forces, nuclear, telecoms or mining, should consider the rail industry as their next career step. Many of the skills these people have are transferrable to the rail industry, including communication, planning and decision making. More mature candidates can offer considerable experience of operating in challenging environments, team working and managing and motivating others. The move into a new, potentially lucrative career can be made a

smooth one for job seekers by ﬁnding the right training programme that will bridge the gap in these specialist engineering skills. Training providers can then help to ﬁnd an appropriate role to match the newly acquired expertise.

Ex-service personnel With particular reference to the aforementioned armed forces, the Ministry Of Defence’s Career Transition Partnership (CTP) initiative helps ex-service personnel to make a successful transition into a suitable second career which suits their skills, knowledge and aspirations. The partnership helps people to prepare for civilian life, even for those who wish to enter full-time education, and is a good example

of how the industry could attract a pool of skilled workers who have the potential to develop further with industry-specific training. Implementing this type of transitional support system could be particularly beneficial to the areas of electrification and OLE engineering – two areas where there are substantial skills shortages and with much potential for rail contractors to fill some highly sought-after roles. For those with an engineering background, there are roles in maintenance, asset information, track, construction, civil engineering or signalling, power and communication. Alternatively, roles such as finance, legal or HR offer a worthwhile career in the many support functions

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RAILWAY CHALLENGE

ensure their locomotive passed tests that confirmed their locomotives met the IMechE’s technical specification. On the Sunday about a hundred were present, including spectators, teams, and IMechE officials to see how the teams’ locomotives met the competition’s three challenges of energy storage, traction and ride comfort. Energy storage was assessed by measuring the distance travelled using the energy stored from stopping the train. Traction performance was the time, from a standing start, to cover a specified distance. Ride index was measured by an accelerometer. The scoreboard showing the results of these tests showed there was no clear winner so all present had to wait for Chief Judge, Bill Reeve, to announce the results. In

doing so he explained that it had been a very close competition and that the locomotives submitted by all teams were a credit to them. He then announced the results in reverse order: Birmingham, Interfleet, Manchester and Huddersfield. Network Rail’s Steve Yianni presented the cup to the University of Huddersfield’s team captain, Siddiq Albusmait. In doing so he echoed Bill Reeve’s comments and noted that all teams had faced problems with their locomotive but felt that this was a good thing as it presented a real learning opportunity. For those present at the weekend’s challenge it was also clear the IMechE had arranged an enjoyable and satisfying event that will help develop the next generation of railway engineers.

“In designing and building their own locomotives, the young engineers faced many real world operational, design and project management problems which provided a great learning experience…”

Newcomers Huddersfield University won the second IMechE Railway Challenge held on 29th and 30th June at the Stapleford Miniature Railway near Melton Mowbray, David Shirres reports. The event was sponsored by the Enabling Innovation Team and is for teams of university students, rail industry based graduates and apprentices who must design and manufacture a 10¼ inch gauge locomotive to a performance specification that allows freedom of design. Entries from University of Birmingham, Interfleet graduate team, Manchester Metropolitan University were the modified locomotives from last year’s challenge. The University of Huddersfield’s winning entry was the only new locomotive. Their locomotive is a 4 axle vehicle with 3 phase AC traction package controlled by a digital frequency inverter and programmable logic controller supplied by sponsor, Rockwell Automatic. In designing and building their own locomotives, the young engineers faced many real world operational, design and project management problems which provided a great learning experience. Business skills were also tested by the need to make a sales presentation for their locomotives to the judges. On the Saturday the teams had the opportunity to test their locomotives on Stapleford’s two mile track layout. For some teams this revealed further problems that had to be solved on the day to

Huddersfield wins Railway Challenge

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Rail Team of the year 2012

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

Part 4: A Decade of Change Colin Garratt reports

The electriﬁcation of the West Coast Main Line, Britain’s busiest trunk route between London Euston, Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool had come in to operation, heralding an exciting new railway.

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.

The 1960s proved to be a dramatic decade for Britain’s railway. A new corporate livery was introduced comprised of Rail Blue, grey and ﬂame red. A change of name was made from British Railways to British Rail and an ingenious double arrow logo was introduced which remains in widespread use to this day. These powerful symbols were conceived during the ﬁnal years of Beeching’s tenure. The blue livery lasted for some twenty years. Many people found it oppressive. Certainly it was very different from the multi-coloured trains of today. However, nowadays, some forty years after its inception, the blue period is regarded with great nostalgia. 1960 revealed an interesting glimpse of the future with the introduction of the 90 mph ‘Blue Pullman’. These trains ran on the London Midland and Western Regions. They were fast, spacious, air conditioned and comfortable and with a high powered diesel engine at either end they were the

forerunners of the celebrated InterCity 125s destined to appear ﬁfteen years later.

Great supporter The 1960s saw the Beeching era come and go. Under the incoming Labour government of 1964 Prime Minister Harold Wilson appointed Barbara Castle as Secretary of State for Transport. Although Beeching’s closures continued apace under Labour, Castle was to prove a great supporter of the railways. She wiped out a considerable amount of railway deficit and drew a clear distinction between the commercial railway, which could operate at a profit and the social railway, which needs subsidy but benefits society as a whole. The Labour Party took the view that the railway could not run at a profit. Even Beeching had tacitly accepted that his re-shaping, harsh as it was, would not put the railway into profit.

An exciting new railway The electrification of the West Coast Main Line, Britain’s busiest trunk route, between London Euston, Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool had come into operation, heralding an exciting new railway. In the previous year the first Freightliner depot, a legacy of Beeching, had opened at London’s York Way. This became so successful that it was overwhelmed with traffic and operations had to be transferred to Willesden. Freightliner depots pioneered the development of containerised traffic on which today’s logistics are based. As part of the East Coast Main

Line upgrading, a class of 100 mph giant Deltic diesel locomotives was built by the North British Works, Glasgow in 1961. These were highly impressive machines which did much to foster interest in Britain’s new railway. They reduced the journey time from Kings Cross to Edinburgh to six hours and were a compelling substitute to the much mooted electriﬁcation of the East Coast Main Line. The British Rail board became convinced that the railway’s future viability depended on modernisation and vigorous marketing. The new stations built on the West Coast Main Line under the electriﬁcation programme were immensely popular as was the modernity of the new Euston station. www.railstaff.co.uk

FEATURE

Standard designs of first generation BR diesels undergoing overhaul at Doncaster Works together with a Class 86 electric.

Although the destruction of the Doric Arch and Grand Hall was regarded as vandalism, a situation made all the more poignant was a similar threat to nearby St Pancras with its magniﬁcent train shed and the neo-Gothic Grand Hotel, one of London’s most magniﬁcent buildings. Such sentiments indicated a determination to create a modern railway with little respect or concern for the historic wonders of our legendary past.

Passenger Transport Executives Parallel to the development of long distance trunk routes was the urgent need to maximise public transport in Britain’s largest conurbations to offset ever increasing trafﬁc jams which were endemic in Britain’s metropolises www.railstaff.co.uk

during the 1960s. Barbara Castle created the Passenger Transport Executives (PTEs). These were operated by railway management and local authorities in areas of heavy population and were given government grants to improve the transport infrastructure. The executives proved very successful with their high proﬁle approach to public transport, not least the combining of the railway with bus operators. PTEs operated in West Midlands, Merseyside, South Yorkshire, Manchester, Newcastle and Glasgow. It is interesting to note that even today the East Midlands Trains timetable – almost ﬁfty years later – states that “the frequency of its services between

British Rail’s powerful symbol appeared on trains, in literature and on direction signs to stations. It has survived privatisation and remains in widespread use and has triumphed over the wag’s comment; ‘British Rail – they don’t know whether they’re coming or going!’

The new face of the West Coast Main Line. Nuneaton Trent Valley station on 16 March 1963 with the new power box having replaced the old London North Western signal box on the left.

The shape of things to come. The origins of the highly successful InterCity 125s are seen in this view of the Blue Pullman passing through Wigston Magna station bound for St Pancras in the early 1960s.

Shefﬁeld and London is supported by the South Yorkshire PTE”. Inevitably British Rail developed an obsession to be rid of steam traction. Had a more balanced approach been taken to the changeover in motive power, a smoother transition would have occurred.

Alleged superiority Many of the new types were built without being tested sufﬁciently. The building of diesel multiple units - which had begun in the 1950s - was much heralded for branch lines and secondary routes. These new trains, with their ability to start and stop rapidly, showed alleged superiority over steam. 22

However, many of the stations and lines intended to be serviced by DMUs were closed under the Beeching cuts. During the changeover some 20,000 steam locomotives were replaced by 3,633 diesel and 317 electric locomotives in a period of less than ﬁfteen years. It is heartening to remember that this huge building programme was carried out when Britain had the full capacity to build locomotives and rolling stock. One of the most successful types was the present day Class 37 CoCos which were to be found over the entire network and how heartening to read on their technical speciﬁcation ‘Built 1965

by the English Electric Company, Newton le Willows Lancashire’ or ‘Built by Robert Stephenson and Hawthorn, Darlington’. These were two of Britain’s leading locomotive foundries. Both companies had roots going back to the building of steam traction in the 1830s, a time when Britain was the railway builder to an empire and the world. Known for their thunderous, ground shaking exhausts, some Class 37s can still be seen on the national network. It is an interesting but sobering thought that an incredible 350 companies are known to have built steam locomotives in this tiny sceptred isle of ours with a total build of 110,000 locomotives. Today, that capacity is drastically reduced.

An emotional reaction British Rail could not divest itself from steam without there being an emotional reaction across the nation. Over the generations since its inception, steam had mesmerised young and old alike; artists, photographers, historians, ﬁlm makers, model engineers, down to the thousands of small boys on platform ends. Many found it difﬁcult to come to terms with the passing of steam. It was almost as if the nation had divested itself of football, which was also written

into our culture. The last steam hauled expresses finished in 1967 when Bulleid’s former Southern Railway re-built Pacifics gave way to electrification on the main line from London Waterloo to Southampton, Bournemouth and Weymouth. Vast numbers of enthusiasts from all over Britain flocked to see main line steam on mile a minute timings. The crews, aware of their place in history and despite the engines being badly run down, worked their steeds up to speeds in excess of 100 mph, to the delight of their lineside audiences.

In preparation for disposal On the ﬁnal Sunday, 9th July 1967, all remaining Southern Region steam locomotives were despatched either to Salisbury or Weymouth depots in preparation for disposal. The following day Barbara Castle initiated the new electric service. On that Sunday evening it was all over for steam. It was deeply sad. Around 19.00 that evening I visited Salisbury Motive Power Depot and found the shed full of Locomotives, the majority of which had run down light engine that day, many from Nine Elms. All ﬁres had been dropped but the engines were still in steam and through the evening silence which hung over the depot could be sensed, the traumatic www.railstaff.co.uk

FEATURE

presence of the condemned engines impregnating the air with their acrid aroma of oil and soot so peculiar to the steam locomotive. At the back of the shed stood two drivers talking, their conversation ﬂoated above the gentle sighs of the dying engines. “Thank God they’ve gone; we had a bloody cow last Friday night from Basingstoke wouldn’t steam. My mate was blacked up with it”. But my sadness and their jubilation were mitigated by the fact that many of these engines were sent to Dai Woodham’s scrapyard at Barry in South Wales and eventually were destined to be preserved and restored to running order. August the following year saw steam traction end completely on Britain’s main line railway. The last train was the now famous Liverpool to Carlisle Fifteen Guinea Special, a price many considered to be outrageous, but inevitably the train was full. From then on steam trains were banned from operating on Britain’s main lines. Our railway faced a brave new world of modernisation and all the effects it was to have on the future of the industry.

During the changeover, some 20,000 steam locomotives were replaced by 3,633 diesel and 317 electric locomotives in a period of less than 15 years.

(Top right) The end of an era. The famous Fifteen Guinea Special to commemorate the end of steam on British Rail, waiting to leave Liverpool Lime Street station on Sunday 11 August 1968, long before the days of PTS Certificates, PICOWS and Site Wardens.

(Right) Rose Grove MPD at Burnley was one of the last to retain steam traction. Here, are ex LMS Stanier 8Fs and Black Five 4-6-0s lingering amid the sunlight and shadow of a bygone industrial age.

(Below) British Rail 37 Class Co-Co diesel/electric No.37021 heads north from

Part 5: NAME will be published in September.

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Inverness with the 17.35 to Wick and Thurso crossing the River Ness.

RAILWAY CHILDREN

continuing to try and raise even more and exceed last year’s total. I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who has supported the event this year.’ Although the event is not a race a team from the British Transport Police powered up the mountains in 12 hours 4 minutes, over an hour faster than second placed East Coast 3. ‘This is all about the charity and the children, but we did have some good competition with a lot of the teams this year,’ says Mark Newton of the BTP. As well as Mark Newton, the team included DCI Hugh Borgeat, Mike Furness and Adrian Tills. Says Katie Mason, events manager for the Railway Children, ‘The spirit and atmosphere you get with so many fundraising adventurers all travelling together with the same goal on the train is incredible. The Three Peaks by Rail is our biggest industry event of the year and after almost 20 years of working with the rail sector helping some of the most vulnerable children in society, the support it gets is still inspiring.’

This year’s Three Peaks by Rail Challenge for the Railway Children charity saw 165 intrepid supporters tackle Snowdon, Scafell Pike and Ben Nevis. Teams from across the rail industry climbed the three highest mountains in England, Scotland and Wales in 24 hours travelling on a special train in between climbs. Teams included Rail Media’s Asif Ahmed, Paul O’Connor, Pat Tollar and Andrew Smith. More than £1.5 million has been raised since the Three Peaks by Rail began in 2002. Around £200,000 has already been raised for this year’s event. Says Asif Ahmed, ‘Railway Children is such a good cause and we were desperate to come back and have another go at the Three Peaks to show our support. The weather was great this year compared to the drenching we got in 2012 and everyone worked incredibly hard to get across the line. We’ve already had a lot of generous donations from friends and colleagues, but we’re

Three Peaks Challenge

www.railstaff.co.uk

Recognising the people who keep the UK rail industry moving.

RailStaﬀ Awards AWARDS PARTY: 5th OCTOBER, BIRMINGHAM

WWW.RAILSTAFFAWARDS.COM

Lessons Learned The news that George Osborne’s Spending Review singled out railways for more investment – an extra 10bn for HS2 and approval to go ahead with preparatory planning for Crossrail2 - is nothing short of extra-ordinary. Once again at a time when public ﬁnances are being cut to reduce borrowing, the Coalition Government is continuing to support railway investment. Lessons have been learned the hard way: Leave essential infrastructure investment to languish in the long grass of public ﬁnance and they become ever more expensive to resurrect. Investing in schemes that deliver economic regeneration is the lesson grasped by the Chancellor and his colleagues. As transport minister Simon Burns put it, ‘The Government sees transport as one of the key drivers of growth in our economy.’

Deeper lessons However investing in railways has deeper lessons for British industry. Industrialists and politicians alike have realised that the railway is a continuous wealth seminar in how to grow an economy, sustain conﬁdence and create jobs and commerce. It makes sense to invest in an industry packed with motivated staff which regularly delivers major projects on time and on budget. Delivering services and upgrades is not easy. The rail industry is a hard school with a high level of customer–supplier contact that many ﬁnd disconcerting. The fact that the modern railway works as well as it does is down to the people who staff and crew trains and stations. Moreover, behind front line staff

labour a host of track workers, signallers and technicians as well as engineers, planners and surveyors. People work in all weathers day and night to rebuild the industry that once carried forward the original industrial revolution. The idea of the RailStaff Awards is to celebrate the unique achievement of the people behind the Britain’s number one resurgent industry. It’s an industry like no other where the staff lead by example.

Back to school This year the theme of the RailStaff Awards will be ‘Back to School.’ People will arrive at the International Convention Centre venue via a school playground. After a quick nostalgia trip our headmaster will ask them to come in to the Dining Hall of the Rail Academy for the Annual Prize Giving. After a school dinner-inspired three course meal the party warms up with the Annual Prize Giving – that is the RailStaff Awards 2013. During dinner there will be

surprise entertainment and afterwards a school disco and dance. Top band, Fully Funktional, will lead the music and dancing and there will be further surprises during the evening. Fancy dress is encouraged. Party goers are welcome to arrive dressed as teachers, dinner ladies, pupils and athletes. Among the 1,000 people expected this year could be Just William, Beryl the Peril and Harry Potter. Lessons learned at the RailStaff Awards are bang up to date. Rail staff and their colleagues are top of the class when it comes to hard work and ingenuity. Railway teachers rarely have to bawl, ‘Pay attention at the back there!’ The RailStaff Awards provide clear lessons on career development, industrial regeneration and commercial delivery. Behind the playground jollity this industry has essential lessons for the wider economy. For more details on how to nominate colleagues, early bird deals on tables and previous star students at the RailStaff Awards go to: www.railstaffawards.com

McGinley backs Infrastructure Team PAGE 27

Morson International sponsors Rail Engineer PAGE 28

Samaritans support Special Lifesaver Award At the RailStaff Awards 2012 we were taken back to the 1920s, and the age of prohibition and gangsters. At the RailStaff Awards 2013 we are being sent back to school!

PAGE 30

WhO WILL BE HEAD BOY AND HEAD GIRL?

NOMINATE TODAY

...for a National Railstaff Award and they could be on their way Back to School at the ICC on the 5th October 2013 and in with a chance to win ÂŁ1000! Nominate online at

www.railstaffawards.com David Maidment Award for Charity

Rail Safety Person of the Year

Depot Staff of the Year

Rail Team of the Year

Lifetime Achievement Award

Recruiter / HR Person of the Year

Newcomer / Graduate of the Year

Samaritans Lifesaver Award

Outstanding Customer Service Award

Signal Engineer of the Year

Rail Engineer of the Year

Station Staff of the Year

Rail Infrastructure TEAM of the Year

Project Manager of the Year

Rail Manager of the Year

Train Driver of the Year

Rail Person of the Year

Trainer of the Year

s n i k r e P Mr .

Signed:

Nominations close: 4th August 2013 Public vote closes: 8th August 2013

HEADMASTER

in association with

McGinley backs Infrastructure Team McGinley Support Services is once again sponsoring the Infrastructure Team of the Year at this year’s RailStaff Awards. McGinley Support Services is a Link-Up accredited supplier of personnel and support services to the national railway and various urban metro rail networks. McGinley Support Services provides a rail and metro stafﬁng and track operative service through its centralised rail and metro organisation. Sean McGinley, Business Support Director of McGinley Support Services Limited, says, ‘The RailStaff Awards 2013 will be a great celebration of the ordinary men and women who continue to make the rail industry a leading industrial success. Infrastructure personnel are key to that success. ‘At McGinley Support Services we continue to rise to the challenge of providing the railway with the people and solutions it needs to

grow and succeed.’ Sean, a keen supporter of the RailStaff Awards, added, ‘The RailStaff Awards is an exercise in conﬁdence, in the future of the industry and the people who make it up.’

Innovator McGinley Support Services prides itself on being a leading innovator in the industry in terms of service and transparent ﬁnancial arrangements. As one of the top specialist rail recruitment suppliers, McGinley Support Services has pioneered new initiatives that embrace safety systems and workforce management, upholding a strong safety and quality culture that is necessary to support the rail and metro industry in meeting its own objectives. Internal processes and systems ensure that, through co-ordinated planning, a ﬂexible, motivated and compliant workforce is available to meet all needs. From highly skilled

systems engineers, signalling and electriﬁcation staff through to protection/warning and track workers, McGinley Support Services delivers comprehensive recruitment backed up by a national transport and equipment support service. Says Tom O’Connor, Managing Director of the Rail Media Group, ‘McGinley Support Services are

loyal supporters of the RailStaff Awards and are making a similar growing contribution to Britain’s fast expanding railway. ‘McGinley is at the forefront of providing top grade professionals to lead and deliver the rail network and it is highly appropriate that they are backing the Infrastructure Team of the Year Award once more this year.’

helping to build the nation Experts IN support services for infrastructure markets McGinley Support Services are pleased to be sponsoring

Rail Infrastructure Team of the Year at the Railstaff Awards 2013 0845 543 5953

www.mcginley.co.uk www.railstaffawards.com

Morson International sponsors Rail Engineer of the Year Morson International, The UK’s No.1 Technical Recruiter, will sponsor the Rail Engineer of the Year award at this year’s RailStaff Awards. The RailStaff Awards take place on 5th October 2013 at the ICC Birmingham, celebrating the achievements of all who work in the rail industry. The Rail Engineer of the Year Award provides an opportunity to recognise the importance of a job that requires dedication, expertise and immense responsibility.

Four decades Morson International has a comprehensive rail operation that supplies a broad spectrum of skilled personnel to rail projects across the UK and overseas. Gary Smithson, Associate Director at Morson, comments: “Morson International has been involved in the rail industry for

over four decades, driving up quality and value for money. This year we are supporting the Rail Engineer of the Year award reﬂecting our own commitment to strengthening this area of the rail industry. “Rail engineers do an important job. Many deserve to be recognised for their pivotal role in running the network, taking forward new projects and developing the railway with passion and ingenuity.”

Raise the profile In a field that has been experiencing a notable skills shortage, Morson International is eager to raise the profile of engineering and encourage those joining the industry to specialise in a skill that is much sought after in projects across the UK. Tom O’Connor, Managing Director of the Rail Media Group, says: “Railway engineering is among the core skill fields the industry wants to expand and

draw attention to. We need more engineers and more young people taking up a career in this highly rewarding ﬁeld. Railway engineering is essential to the wellbeing of the industry. “Look anywhere on the railways and you see inspiring testaments to the skill and ingenuity of railway engineers long gone now. We need to build on this rich heritage. Morson’s resolve to back the Rail Engineer of the Year Award marks a deep commitment to engineering and railway staff, like Morson, trying to make a difference. “Morson International has been a good friend of RailStaff over the years. People supplied by Morson are at the forefront of specialised technical services and among the ﬁnest examples of rail staff professionalism across the industry.” For more information about Morson Group, please visit www.morson.com

PROUD TO O SPONSOR Rail Engineer of o the Year 2013

Morson Group operates through two main subsidiaries, Morson International and Morson Projects. Morson International is the UK’s No1 Technical Recruiter and provides specialist engineering and technical personnel. Morson Projects provides outsourced engineering and project management design services. To date, Morson Group has presence is 57 office locations across the globe.

T:: Manchester 0161 707 1516 T

T:: London 0207 633 2040 T

W:: www W www.morson.com .morson.com

E: rail@morson.com

» A pr professional ofessional network network » Ar ea ev ents Area events » Academic qualifications » Pr Professional ofessional Development Development » CPD sc schemes hemes

Our membership inc Our includes lud des an anyone yone involved involved in rrailway ailway oper operations ations in tthe h UK he UK.. T o find out what ar ey o missing out on visit… ou To are you www .railwayoperatorss.co.uk www.railwayoperators.co.uk

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company which owns its own trains and the stations at Heathrow as well as the belowground section of the line between London Paddington and the airport. The service was launched in 1998 and carries an average of 16,000 passengers a day. It is the fastest rail link from London to Heathrow, with a journey time of just 15 minutes. Says Keith Greenﬁeld, Managing Director of Heathrow Express, ‘Our staff put a great deal into the job and are among the best in the business. Similarly many undertake charity fund raising exercises and look after friends and family. A particularly good example is how staff rallied round Agnes Kolodziejczyk and Roy Boyce to help raise money for their son, Harry’s, operation in the United States. Our staff are great, that’s why we’re backing this award. All of us were inspired by Cheryle’s idea for helping fellow driver, Glauco Hugentobler Ayres, last year. We

Heathrow Express Sponsors the David Maidment Award for Charity The RailStaff Awards 2013 has a new award this year: The David Maidment Award for Charity which is being sponsored by Heathrow Express. Heathrow Express, a keen supporter of the RailStaff Awards, ﬁelded 8 ﬁnalists in 15 categories last year. Heathrow Express train driver, Cheryle Cowell, won the ‘Rail Person of the Year’ award last year. Among other staff members, Pauline Paterson was a runner up for ‘Trainer of the Year’ and Heathrow Express Head of Strategic Operational Improvement, Spencer Adaway, was also a runner-up for the Rail Manager of the Year Award. David Maidment, a career railwayman, and former safety chief at British Rail and Railtrack,

received a Lifetime Achievement Award at last year’s RailStaff Awards. David founded the Railway Children charity after seeing homeless children on Indian railway stations. Appalled at their plight, David gathered together a group of railway managers and supporters to help create the charity. After some 15 years of tireless effort, David retired as Chairman of the Railway Children board of Trustees in 2010, but has continued to be an ambassador for the charity. One of the leading success stories of the new rail industry, Heathrow Express, runs services every 15 minutes between Heathrow and London Paddington. Heathrow Express is a nonfranchised, non-subsidised private

PROUD TO SPONSOR

wish every one well at Birmingham this October.’ Says Andy Milne, editor of RailStaff, ‘Heathrow Express is a great operation and a brilliant place to work. I worked there at its launch for a few months and it has been a joy to see it prosper and become one of the best success stories of the rail industry. The staff are great and it was no surprise to me to see them in the ﬁnals last year. ‘The David Maidment Award for Charity ﬁlls a real gap in the RailStaff Awards. Many people in our industry go to extraordinary lengths to raise funds and equipment for charity. There is no such thing as compassion fatigue in this industry - like the railway itself it is expanding. ‘Railway people make a real difference in the lives of many less fortunate than ourselves. David Maidment is an exemplar of this attitude. You can make a difference. His is an inspiring story which has clearly caught the imagination of our industry.’

Proud Sponsors of the Rail Safety Person of the Year 2013

THE DAVID MAIDMENT AWARD FOR CHARITY AT THIS YEAR’S

With a reputation built on safely delivering multi-faceted projects we continue to provide a service of exceptional value to all of our clients.

RAILSTAFF AWARDS

Bridgeway Consulting’s diverse portfolio of services ensures our clients continue to benefit from our ‘one stop shop’ service offering. We know that the quality of our people ensures that we provide a quality service and this is why we are pleased to sponsor the Rail Safety Person of the Year in the 2013 Railstaff Awards.

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Samaritans support Special Lifesaver Award The Network Rail/Samaritans Partnership is supporting the Special Lifesaver Award. Now in its second year the Special Lifesaver Award aims to recognise the pre-emptive actions of station staff, train crew, track workers and many railway staff who by timely intervention prevented a potential fatality. Rachel Kirby-Rider, Executive Director of Fundraising and Communications at Samaritans says: ‘There have been a number of interventions by railway staff following participation in Samaritans training that could have otherwise resulted in fatality. ‘Approaching a stranger who may be distressed and suicidal requires signiﬁcant dedication and is so much more than ‘just part of the job’. Being there for an individual at a point in their lives of extreme vulnerability does make a huge positive difference. This is why we’re delighted to be

sponsoring the Samaritans Lifesaver Award for the second year running.’ The Network Rail/Samaritans Partnership was launched four years ago with the aim of reducing the number of suicides on the railways. Network Rail is investing in the partnership. Special courses have been developed to equip train staff with the skills to approach vulnerable people and help to get them to a place of safety, as well as a call-out service that involves Samaritans volunteers visiting stations to offer support to vulnerable people and staff.

Continuing tragedy Says Paul Curtis of the Rail Media Group, ‘Suicide on the railways is a continuing tragedy not only for the deceased themselves but for railway workers especially train drivers, other staff and police ofﬁcers who have to deal with the immediate aftermath of the death.

I know from my own experience that it is also a source of continuing distress for the many families and friends left behind. Human life is sacred and anything we can do to help save even one life has to be worthwhile.’ Paul lost his sister-in-law’s brother in a railway suicide and has since been a vigorous supporter of measures to reduce suicide. The aim of the award is to draw attention to the many instances of railway staff intervention which have served to save life. Says Paul, ‘If you know of a colleague who has prevented someone from taking their life on the railway in the last year please consider nominating them for the Special Lifesaver Award.’ Says RailStaff editor Andy Milne, ‘The whole question of suicide is a delicate one. However by publicising the work of the Network Rail/Samaritans Partnership we can draw more

staff into it - to take part in free courses and brieﬁngs. People nominated serve as both an example and inspiration to the rest of us. It’s valuable work and, put bluntly, it saves lives.’

The Rail Alliance are proud to be associate sponsors of The RailStaff Awards 2013

Whatever you’ve done. Whatever life’s done to you. Call Samaritans. No pressure. No judgement. We’re here for you. ŵĞ͘ ŶǇ Ɵ

08457 90 90 90* www.samaritans.org

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The Transp Transport port Benevolent Fun Fund nd is proud to spon sponsor nsor the Station S Staff award of the Yearr aw ward again this year. year. ear

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Network Rail isNetwork proud Rail to sponsor is proud the RailStaff Awards 2013 to sponsor the RailStaff Awards 2011 From pioneering investment and development projects, to innovations that make everyday It’s your hard work – the individuals and teams services faster, smarter andwithin saferour – we industry – that’sbelieve helping in us build a better railway for Britain. the recognising and celebrating From pioneeringindividuals investment and development projects, and teams that are enabling to innovations that make everyday services faster, smarter the transformation of our network. and safer, we believe in recognising the excellence that’s enabling the transformation of our network.

That’s why we’re very proud to once

That’s why we’re very proud to once again sponsor this year’s again sponsor the RailStaff Awards. RailStaff Awards.

Helping Britain run better A better railwaynetworkrail.co.uk for

a better Britain networkrail.co.uk www.railstaffawards.com

WhO WILL BE HEAD BOY AND HEAD GIRL?

NOMINATE TODAY David Maidment Award for Charity

Rail Safety Person of the Year

Depot Staff of the Year

Rail Team of the Year

Lifetime Achievement Award

Recruiter / HR Person of the Year

Newcomer / Graduate of the Year

Samaritans Lifesaver Award

Outstanding Customer Service Award

Signal Engineer of the Year

Rail Engineer of the Year

Station Staff of the Year

Rail Infrastructure TEAM of the Year

Project Manager of the Year

Rail Manager of the Year

Train Driver of the Year

Rail Person of the Year

Trainer of the Year

BUT BE QUICK... Nominations close: 4th August 2013 Public vote closes: 8th August 2013

WWW.RAILSTAFFAWARDS.COM

NOMINATE ONLINE AT

London Underground

London Underground proud to sponsor the 2013 RailStaff Awards At London Underground we recognise that our people are critical to achieving our vision of a world class Tube for a

delivering an upgraded network while carrying record

world class city. So for the third year running, we are

numbers of passengers.

delighted to be an associate sponsor of the RailStaff

2013 is a big year as we step up the modernisation of the

Awards. These awards recognise and reward the brilliant

Tube to ensure it remains the engine room of the UK

work, dedication and commitment of individuals and teams

economy, helping to create thousands of jobs across the

from across the rail industry.

country. So it is fitting that our sponsorship of the

At London Underground weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re firm believers in continuous

RailStaff Awards will help to focus on excellence across

improvement and development... and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the people who

the rail industry.

MAYOR OF LONDON

work for us that will help us achieve the success of

Transport for London

www.railstaffawards.com

The UK’s Largest Track Plant Event Network Rail in association with The Rail Alliance and the rail engineer welcome you to the first National Track Plant Exhibition, 'The Track Innovation Showcase'. Ÿ Over 100 Suppliers exhibiting Ÿ A full 8 hour live 400m track renewal possession (Hosted by Babcock Rail)

24-25th July 09.00 - 17.00 Long Marston, Stratford on Avon Register for your free ticket on the website.

www.nationalplantexhibition.com

Child’s play Every year the rail industry mounts comprehensive campaigns aimed at preventing children trespassing on the railway. The consequences of trespass are death, electrocution and often permanent injury. Boxers, movie stars, rappers and police ofﬁcers all come together to communicate these dangerous and disagreeable truths. The fate of children touches us all. Railway staff care inordinately about the children in their care and indeed all children. The restless truant, the misunderstood, the injured and disabled are all precious to the people who deliver

the railways. Many of us are parents. One of our lead stories this month relates to the efforts made by Heathrow Express staff to help pay for the medical treatment abroad for the son of two of their train drivers. Children, as we see almost daily, are often prey to dangers beyond their own imaginings. Warfare, sexual exploitation, violence and ill health make the nightmares all too real.

In a world grown callous by the over sexualisation of youth and the violence ﬂickering across a million computer consoles the safety of our children should be a personal imperative. Child abuse so often remains tragically hidden until much too late. At least in the railway industry the prospect of kids being hit by a train or electrocuted can be lessened by well thought-out campaigns aimed at bringing

High priority for project safety Safety is the highest priority on Network Rail’s project work. That’s the message from Simon Kirby, Managing Director of Network Rail’s Infrastructure Projects. Helping deliver this message across the projects community is the ﬂeet of ﬁve Network Rail safety trucks. The trucks have become common sights across the network, providing an

environment to openly discuss safety, view the latest content and share best practise. The team of safety truck coordinators has been provided by the industry with Bam Nuttall, Birse, Carillion, May Gurney and Network Rail having representation across the ﬂeet. Covering from Thurso in the north, to Dawlish Sea Wall in the south the trucks provide somewhere

warm and dry for a safety discussion. Building rapport and attracting a high number of repeat visitors is something the safety truck team are rightly proud of. Now the 150,000 attendees and 250-plus companies who have utilised the safety truck in the last eight years, will have to get used to a new look. Network Rail’s 11 Life Saving Rules are a key message of the truck’s artwork. A key component in the delivery of Life Saving Rules to the industry, the safety trucks have fully embraced the importance the rules play to ensure we get ‘everyone home safe, every day’. The new look as displayed helps brings the safety message from the inside of the truck to the outside for all to see. In terms of aesthetics it may be all change but the same reliable approach is still ﬁrmly retained. The safety trucks give a neutral ground for any issues to be raised and for people to have their

home to them just how dangerous the railway is. The campaigns have two secondary important factors. To be involved in railway safety aimed at the most vulnerable opens up the imagination to new ideas of how railway safety can be improved for all. Secondly, as school children will testify, attending a railway safety brieﬁng makes them think about the whole idea of quantifying risk. Learn in childhood how to be safe near a railway and life’s far off mountains, rivers and seas can be tackled with aplomb and in safety. In this section we salute all those making a difference to railway safety day and night. The effectiveness of these initiatives might never be known for unlike risk they cannot be adequately quantiﬁed in the same was as we cannot put value upon an individual’s life. All life is sacred: Thus the safety of our children and our industry remains the special remit of us all.

opportunity to speak. The use of the Millionaire Survey system has been one of the strongest tools used on the truck, providing results on staff opinion and knowledge on a wide variety of safety topics. With various friends across the business, the fleet of safety trucks has visited a wide range of sites across the years. These range from multiple intakes of apprentices at Network Rail’s advanced apprenticeship scheme in Gosport, attending schools and public forums, to large scale community events helping build the company’s relationship with the railway. Ensuring that the trucks deliver on both health and safety, attendance from Cancer Research and other external health organisations has added value to the service provided by the safety truck team. The fleet of safety trucks can be booked by visiting www.safety.networkrail.co.uk and is provided to the railway community free of charge, so if you need a first time visit, or just haven’t seen the team in a while now is the time to get booking

www.railstaff.co.uk

HEALTH & SAFETY

Walk on by Walking by, might not be the normal watchword for railway safety but 1000 construction workers rebuilding Birmingham New Street station are being encouraged to do just that. A new health initiative urges staff to take over 10,000 steps a day. Nowadays even traditional construction jobs involve stationary technical work which leads to high stress levels. Network Rail and delivery partner Mace want to raise awareness of the health and well being of their workforce. The initiative includes studying health related risks in the workplace, such as hand-arm vibration, learning how to respond in an emergency situation and complimentary health checks. Says Chris Montgomery, project

director for Network Rail, ‘Following the successful completion of the ﬁrst half of the new station in April, we now have over 1,000 people working round the clock behind the scenes transforming the old concourse at New Street.

‘We take our responsibilities to our people and contractors seriously and through this scheme we’re determined that our team stays ﬁt and healthy while they deliver what will be a fantastic station for Birmingham.’ To encourage better health a six

week challenge has been set up in partnership with Activity 4 Charity, with participants in teams of ﬁve attempting to each take 10,000 steps per day. All proceeds raised during the challenge will be donated to the British Heart Foundation and MacMillan cancer support.

Safety ﬁrst for alliance

Heart to heart Network Rail and Mace have brought in the British Heart Foundation to deliver ﬁrst aid training for workers on the Birmingham New Street project. As part of a comprehensive approach to health and well being local rail chiefs want to see staff better equipped to handle medical emergencies. Says Ian Painter, area development manager at British Heart Foundation, ‘We’re working with the team at New www.railstaff.co.uk

Street to teach skills that could truly mean the difference between life and death in an emergency. ‘The BHF ‘Heartstart’ programme teaches people what to do in an emergency including assessing an unconscious patient, performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), dealing with choking or serious bleeding and helping someone that might be having a heart attack.’

Sharon Vye-Parminter is the new Safety and Assurance Director for the pioneering South West Trains - Network Rail Alliance. The third woman director within the South West Trains - Network Rail Alliance, VyeParminter has 19 years rail experience and has worked for First Capital Connect, East Coast and First Great Western. She held head of safety and environment posts at FGW, FCC, East Coast and London Lines. At Wessex Trains she was head of safety. Vye-Parminter has a degree in History from Southampton University. Says Tim Shoveller, Managing Director of the South West Trains - Network Rail Alliance, ‘Safety is at the heart of everything we do. I am delighted to welcome Sharon to our team.’

Point Plan

for Workforce Safety Paul Curtis recently met Roan Willmore, Director, Safety & Sustainable Development for Network Rail Infrastructure Projects to discuss the Ten Point Plan for Workforce Safety. Network Rail has recently set itself the laudable objective of eliminating workforce fatalities and major injuries. This may seem obvious but making sure staff return home safe every day is something everyone can agree on from the COSS to the chief executive. Roan Willmore joined Network Rail 18 months ago from London Underground where she worked in

health and safety as HSE Manager Upgrades for over ten years. The objectives of the Ten Point Plan for Workforce Safety are: • (a) To support the delivery of the Network Rail Transforming Safety and Wellbeing Strategy. • (b) To contribute towards the target of eliminating all workforce fatalities and major injuries • (c) To underpin the vision of ensuring everyone gets home safe every day. The Plan provides a number of targeted interventions which when implemented with sufﬁcient pace

and rigour will provide a sustainable step-change in the safety of the workforce. A director from the executive board of Network Rail is taking ownership of each one of these individual areas as follows: 1. Roles and Responsibilities 2. Technology Innovations 3. Driving 4. Fair Culture 5. Safety Conversations 6. Safe Teams 7. Learning from Incidents 8. Planning Safe Work 9. Front Line Supervision 10. Safe Contractors

How does the Ten Point Plan compare to the Lifesaving Rules? RW: ‘When we were introducing and developing the Lifesaving Rules as a company we (Network Rail) needed to look at incidents where people were getting hurt and in what way? This primarily was focused on Network Rail staff and how our own maintenance teams were affected. The Lifesaving rules were born out of this research and the categories represent the higher risk work activities that have injured staff. These are coming into contact with trains, working with electricity, working at height, working with moving equipment such as plant, driving to and from work or during your working day and taking responsibility for your own actions.’

Roles & Responsibilities ‘One of the issues we know we have is around how COSS’s/ PICOPs / Team Leaders/ Site Supervisors are asked and expected to undertake their roles: and whether these staff have the right competency to discharge their responsibilities, especially at site level. We recognise this and it is only by talking about it and bringing it to the table without fear of reprisal that we can improve the ability of these staff to perform, and that they have clear accountabilities before, during and 36

www.railstaff.co.uk

HEALTH & SAFETY

after the work.’ ‘We have recently seconded Steve Holmes from Balfour Beatty and Ben Harding from Atkins to help work with our experts Steve Hooker and Network Rail Infrastructure Projects’ Keith Miller. They will be working on what the supervisory skills and roles need to be on our sites to improve safety performance.

Learning from Incidents ‘We also have to learn from incidents. We need to talk to people about incidents. We need to communicate better. We need to tell people more about what has hapened in a way that they will understand. There are only so many directives and orders we can put in place, so many toolbox talks we can do. We need to ﬁnd better ways of communicating these messages, for example getting their work colleagues to talk about incidents they have experienced. Take for example Kieren Brown. www.railstaff.co.uk

Kieren was badly burned following an incident when electrical equipment he was working on that was live, exploded. A short ﬁlm has been made about the incident in which both he and a colleague speak about what happened; and he now speaks to former colleagues and advises them directly about what he went through, what the impact of his accident was and what it meant to him, his family and his workmates. As an example, this is far more compelling than someone in Head Ofﬁce typing a memo and putting it on a notice board by the coffee machine. Incidents such as the COSS who broke his shoulder at Stockley when hit by a train or the RRV that trapped a member of staff at Hope. These need to be talked about when they have happened and are fresh in the mind of the workforce. Where we have video footage, using this to talk through the incident with staff can be very

powerful. ‘We need to look for these positive opportunities that come out of incidents, to share them and to encourage that behaviour across the network and within the supply chain. Using the safety trucks works very well to get messages out to the workforce, and using footage and staff from actual incidents to improve our communications can only be a good thing. A video of someone who has been involved in an accident can make a massive difference to the front line workers. We have to be aware that the reading ability of some of our workers isn’t always at a level that they understand the information we give them. This doesn’t mean they are not good at their jobs and qualiﬁed and competent to deal with the work and follow instructions. It just means they may respond to the medium of video better, it may have more of an impact. Setting up of real life examples can resonate more

with workers. We are going to do more till the message gets across.’

Learning from other railways ‘We look to learn from not only transportation businesses but any high risk businesses. Highways and airports are very similar to rail and so we can learn from them just as much as we can from London Underground or Crossrail.

Advice to RailStaff readers Ideally I would like people who have been involved in accidents or near misses to come forward and talk to us and consider volunteering to tell their colleagues what happened, what the impact of that was and what has been put in place to stop that happening again. If anyone is interested in coming forward and telling their story without fear of reprisal and possibly appearing in a video to be shared with colleagues, they can get in touch with me or someone within Network Rail.’

Bike Bridge Opens After ten near miss incidents at an unmanned level crossing at Moors Gorse in Staffordshire Network Rail has stepped in and replaced the crossing with a bridge. Mountain bikers using the trails through Cannock Chase can look forward to safer journeys with the opening of a new bridge over the railway line that runs through the forest. Network Rail has constructed a new bridge which will allow the old user worked level crossing at Moors Gorse to be permanently closed. This effectively means cyclists and other forest users no longer have to negotiate two sets of gates to cross the busy Cannock railway line, where trains travel through at

up to 50 mph. The new bridge was ofﬁcially opened by Aidan Burley MP for Cannock Chase. Says Paul Sumner, of Network Rail, ‘In 2010, we became aware of a change of use at Moors Gorse as new mountain bike trails opened up in the forest with up to 3,000 cyclists using the crossing on certain weekends. This increase meant a big rise in the level of risk associated with the crossing, so we’re delighted to open this new bridge and close the crossing for good. ‘The surest way to remove risk at a level crossing is to close it and Moors Gorse is one of more than 700 we have successfully closed across Britain in the last three years.’

Live Wire – Always On ‘I didn’t realise that the electricity is always on and can always kill,’ says Amanda AghedoTrombi, 12, who helped develop Network Rail’s new safety campaign for children: Live Wire. The safety education campaign aims to increase awareness among schoolchildren about electrified railways and how to stay safe. The initiative coincides with the electrification of a number of routes across the north west of England between now and 2016. ‘Live Wire’ was developed using input from young people. The campaign includes a kit which provides information and activities to explain the upgrade to the railway and also highlight the dangers of the electrified railway line. There is drama too featuring a group of friends who decide to meet by the tracks one weekend. The accompanying kit, which has specially designed materials for both primary and secondary schools, includes: 38

Tackling trespass Network Rail and British Transport Police are warning youngsters to keep off the railway this summer following a number of worrying incidents involving child trespassers. In one recent incident a 12-yearold boy had to be rushed to hospital after he was electrocuted while trespassing near Barnhill on the Springburn branch line in Glasgow. Also in Scotland a 15year-old boy sustained serious burns after he came into contact with overhead power cables near Coatbridge. Says David Simpson, Network Rail route managing director for Scotland, ‘Trespassing is extremely dangerous and can have tragic consequences for those involved. Trains travelling at speed take a

long time to stop and anyone struck by one is likely to be killed or very badly injured. ‘There are 25,000 volts passing through overhead power lines – enough to kill. Trespassers don’t even need to touch the cables to be electrocuted as electricity can jump from the cables to nearby objects. ‘We take trespass on our infrastructure extremely seriously and work closely with British Transport Police to educate the public on the dangers of misusing the railway and to stop those who are determined to trespass. Anyone who has concerns about speciﬁc locations where they know trespassers are gaining access to the railway can report them to our national helpline 24-hours-a-day on 08457 114141.’

• Multi-media assembly presentations • Lesson plans across a range of subjects including Maths, Science, History and English • An animated info-graphic designed to illustrate that the overhead power line carries 25,000 volts – 100 times greater than the average home’s power supply • A mock news report featuring a number of primary school children asking the experts about railway electriﬁcation Says Gemma Duffy, community safety manager at Network Rail, ‘We’re committed to helping local schools, youth clubs and community groups learn about electricity on the railway and why it’s vital to stay safe.’ Amanda Aghedo-Trombi helped develop the Live Wire logo. ‘It’s been really interesting to help create the ‘Live Wire’ logo and discuss ideas on how to bring the campaign to life. I didn’t realise that the electricity is always on and can always kill. It’s important that everyone knows the dangers and to stay clear of the tracks,’ she said. ‘Live Wire’ has been developed by Network Rail as part of its Rail Life youth initiative.

Amanda and Blake Aghedo-Trombi (both 12 years old) helped to create the Live Wire campaign at The Beacon Young People’s Centre (integrated youth support services provided by Salford City Council).

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“If Safety ain’t made simple, it won’t work...” SAFETY Colin Wheeler colin@rail-media.com

I also include readers’ views on the relevance of new initiatives and examples from RAIB reports of how things are still going wrong. This month I must begin by thanking readers who have taken the trouble to write after reading last month’s article. In particular I thank the one who provided this title - a sentiment that I believe should be at the heart of all that we do to improve railway safety and reduce accidents. He adds that “reading out of a book won’t get the job done, and you can’t be a rail man until you get your hands dirty.” He adds that “green zone is the safer way and the only safe way at night.” We think alike.

New initiative overload One of my major concerns is the fact that most of the remarks I receive reveal that those directly involved in track work are not ﬁnding a listening ear working to improve safety, after listening to their ideas, worries and concerns. Safety is not a macho management issue. A reader with 34 years railway experience including time as a safety representative and now as a rail subcontractor’s safety manager comments, “not a month goes by without the latest “good thing” coming out of the Headquarters’ machine.”

Fig1: Forward facing CCTV image from train 2H33. The two track workers can be seen on the track and moving towards the south end of the bridge.

He continues with the comment that “we are all being driven potty by poorly thought out and rushed guidance” adding that a signalling engineer who he works with categorises most of it as “anus protectus.” His concerns include “new initiative overload” and launch events where new initiatives are explained. He adds “if one questions anything the room falls silent, one is challenged and accused of being negative.” If you feel the same way please let me know. Another reader suggests that a guidance document that is only available from the Safety Central website (namely “Guidance for Managing Plant Working next to

lines open for trafﬁc - issue 2”) was produced in response to an Improvement Notice issued in 2012. He is concerned that this is an uncontrolled document despite it having replaced a controlled one.

Track workers greatest safety risk My comments last month about it being high time we stopped using horns and whistles to warn of approaching trains may not have impressed everyone. However, I suggest the Ofﬁce of Rail Regulation (ORR) in their 2014-19 Business Plan have made a statement which should bring us to the point where red zone

working is either eliminated or a rarity. They state, “The use of Red Zone working when track workers either inspect or undertake work on the line whilst train operations continue, is one of the greatest safety risks to track workers. We believe that more could be done to reduce the associated risks without importing additional cost to the railways through deployment of alternative ways of working, and/or adoption of available or new technology. “Reducing red zone working should also increase efﬁciency, requiring fewer staff for lookout duties for example.”

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They ran from the bridge with 2-seconds to spare The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) has issued its report into a “dangerous occurrence” on July 16th last year near Royston Station in Essex. It illustrates the pitfalls that await those who receive late notiﬁcation of additional work with only lookout protection. It was decided to add in the gauging of a bridge. The Controller of Site Safety (COSS) was given the Safe System of Work pack just 15 minutes before travelling to site. He queried the three separate sites with the Planner who had been trained but was still of probationary status. The COSS was assessed as competent a year before the incident and the lookout just a month before it. The third group member was neither COSS nor lookout qualiﬁed, but had a year’s occasional track working experience. On site the COSS (aware of the need to provide ten seconds warning) set up lookout protection based upon the overhead line stanchions being around 100 yards apart. However they were much closer, so the actual sighting distance of just 350 yards was only around half of what was needed. He and the third worker were at mid-span on the bridge when at 1343 the Cambridge to London Liverpool Street train came into view travelling at 62 mph (Fig 1 left). They ran from the bridge reaching a place of safety with just two seconds to spare according to the report!

Message neither understood nor repeated back On January 21st this year a near miss occurred at Elephant and Castle near Southwark Bridge. Icing up of the conductor rail on the Down Holborn Fast Line resulted in the 0554 Bedford to Sevenoaks train (1E81) being unable to proceed forward from around a mile and a half south of Elephant and Castle. The driver agreed with the signaller that he would change to the rear driving cab and return to Elephant and Castle. Some passengers asked to alight back there. In the conversation the wrong direction move was agreed with the signaller clarifying that www.railstaff.co.uk

to him by the Ferryhill Signaller. He entered “train entering section” but with Ferryhill being ten miles away did not intend to lower the barriers until the train was close. According to the RAIB report the train driver misread the red signal light in the darkness and the signaller did not notice the train approaching so failed to lower the barriers on the crossing.

Fig 2: Track and signalling diagram (showing only relevant signals)

Locally agreed informal arrangements The RAIB has launched an Inquiry into an accident that occurred at an Automatic Half Barrier Level Crossing at Balnamore in Northern Ireland on May 13th. At 0305 that morning a rail mounted trailer with weed killing equipment was towed over the crossing by a Road/Railer. The barriers were raised and the lights were not operating. A car was forced to swerve to avoid colliding with them and ran into metal fencing. The driver and passenger both suffered minor injuries as a result. The safety alert from RAIB states that the level crossing’s equipment had been disconnected in connection with the possession work being undertaken at the time. The arrangements made with the contractor are described as being “informal” and the RAIB say that they will be looking into the adequacy of the arrangements at the level crossing. the move was to “stand behind signal VS1091”. At around the same time the 0640 St Albans to Sevenoaks train (2E11) was approaching Elephant and Castle on the same track. The Rule Book stipulates that when wrong direction moves take place it must stop at least 400 metres clear of other routes. The Bedford driver failed to repeat the signaller’s message back to him and proceeded beyond the station and the speciﬁed signal until instructed to stop by the signaller by radio. They both stopped when just 160 metres apart. The signaller did not use the “stop all trains” instruction as he had never had to use it.

Reading semaphore signals in the dark Before sunrise on January 16th this year the 0645 Sunderland to Kings Cross train was diverted via

Durham, Ferryhill and Stockton on Tees West due to a broken rail (See Fig 2 above). The diversionary route has semaphore signalling with communication between signallers being by bell code. At 0730 the train passed signal NW36 at danger and two cars stopped as it then passed over the level crossing in front of them adjacent to Norton-on-Tees Box. Passenger trains usually run Norton-on-Tees South, and then East with the latter only being open when East to West movements are required for freight and diverted passenger trains. There are no track circuits between Ferryhill and Norton-onTees West so the signaller relies on seeing approaching trains around 400 metres on the approach side of the Box. However the signaller was not aware of the diverted passenger train until it was offered

What’s to be done? THE RAIB are to be congratulated for the timely nature in the issuing of these reports. I remain convinced that the time has come when we need to phase out the use of flags, horns and whistles as protection for red zone working. I am also convinced that the simplification of railway safety will both reduce accidents and save money. Finally I suggest that the foregoing all involve errors in communication and/or judgement. The way of tackling this is not to continue to add new directives and rules but to address the concerns of so many who write to me by simplifying wherever we can, including where we at first think we can’t! Meanwhile my hope is that we will stop adding to “new initiative overload!!

Testing times Dr Dan Hegarty of Express Medicals has now been involved in workplace drug & alcohol testing for 17 years. I am very aware of how confused many employers are when faced with choices about which type of drug testing to select and under which circumstances. A recent case has brought this into focus again. A healthy man presented himself for two different types of workplace testing within 45 minutes. One sample was collected as part of a governmental agency’s testing regime and the other as a pre-employment test. The first sample used oral fluid (saliva) and the second method involved a collection of urine. In both instances the collection was done under formal chain-ofcustody protocols and the samples were analysed in appropriately accredited analytical laboratories. There were no declared prescribed, over-the-counter or illicit drugs. The oral fluid test resulted in a PASS result. No drugs of abuse were detected. However the urine test resulted in a FAIL result. Cocaine and cannabis were detected. The individual concerned appealed the result of the urine test and the employer was understandably confused as to why two tests on the same day could produce two different outcomes.

Window of detection There are a number of explanations. However, the simplest message is that, in general, the positive pick-up rate (number of fail results) for cocaine will be lower when using formal laboratory-based oral ﬂuid (saliva) testing as opposed to formal laboratory-based urine testing. One factor to realise is that cocaine is only detectable for a short time in oral ﬂuid (saliva). 42

This window of detection is just 12-24 hours. It is significantly longer when urine is analysed for the presence of cocaine and so the likelihood of positive results for cocaine is enhanced by virtue of the longer detection window. As regards the cannabis results, urine is also generally better for detecting cannabis in workplace testing regimes. Firstly, cannabis disappears quickly from oral fluid (saliva). Secondly, significant amounts of cannabis sample are lost from many oral fluid (saliva) collection devices and this loss can be of the order of 50%. This means that false negative results for cannabis (ie: the test fails to detect the cannabis present in samples) are significantly more likely when using formal laboratory-based oral fluid (saliva) testing as opposed to formal laboratory-based urine testing.

Complexities Thus a seemingly simple and straightforward case of two professionally collected samples, both of which underwent formal laboratory analysis, highlights the complexities that have to be considered when establishing a workplace testing programme. In the case cited above, the cannabis and cocaine were missed when saliva was collected and analysed. This is termed a false negative result. Furthermore, the likelihood of such a false negative result would have been even greater had an instant test kit been used (ie: a PoCT / point-of-care or point-ofcollection test kit). This is because the ability of PoCTs to detect drugs of abuse is less reliable than laboratory-based tests. When establishing a workplace testing and/or screening regime it

“When establishing a workplace testing and/or screening regime it is essential to seek out high quality, informed advice in respect of both a company’s drug and alcohol policy and the ongoing issue of which methods of testing to opt for…” is essential to seek out high quality, informed advice in respect of both a company’s drug and alcohol policy and the ongoing issue of which methods of testing to opt for. www.railstaff.co.uk

HEALTH & SAFETY

Safe keeping as London’s population grows The Ofﬁce of National Statistics estimates that London’s population will grow to 9 million people by 2021. That is a 14 per cent increase on today, writes Ian Gaskin, who is responsible for developing management systems at TfL On the rail and underground part of TfL - Tube, Docklands Light Railway, London Overground and trams - demand is expected to rise from 1.5 billion journeys a year to 1.9 billion.

Extra capacity To find the extra seats TfL is having to find more room on the timetable and create extra capacity through projects like the London Overground’s fifth car scheme. More people equals more transport demand and more trains means more potential safety issues on the network. In preparation, TfL, sponsored by Commissioner Peter Hendy,

brought together 700 directors and senior managers from across the organisation’s many departments to talk about safety leadership. The existing record is good. Based on ORR statistics the Underground is one of the safest signiﬁcant railways in Europe. On the roads safety has also improved dramatically over the past 15 years. Good, but no room for complacency. More is demanded and while improvements to safety rules and procedures continue, this is not enough.

Leadership is what embeds safety within an organisation We all recognise when a person really means what they say and walks the talk. When leaders in an organisation live the right behaviours it is infectious. Matthew Steele, programme delivery manager, Automatic Train Control (ATC) signalling, believed that looking across all aspects of

TfL was key to maintaining a strong safety record. “I think the fact that the course considered the context of TfL as a whole made it quite different,” said Matthew. “We understood some of the speciﬁc challenges faced in making our highways safe and thought about how we could apply

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some of that to the railway.” Key also was the decision to ensure those in specialist support areas like Finance, Human Resources and Procurement were included. Decisions made far from the front line in both time and distance can have a huge impact on safety outcomes for customers and staff.

To your health & safety concerns with confidentiality guaranteed By liaising with the relevant company to help facilitate a resolution By sharing lessons learnt via conferences, workshops and CIRAS publications

www.ciras.org.uk Freephone 0800 4 101 101 Freepost CIRAS Text 07507 285887 www.railstaff.co.uk

Getting safer every year (statistically) Every year, the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) publishes its Annual Safety Performance Report. This reviews the rail industry’s safety performance over the latest ﬁnancial year. The latest report, covering 2012/13, was released at the end of June. Once again, overall use of the railways has increased although freight dropped off slightly. Compared to 2011/12 there were 1.5 billion passenger journeys (3% increase), 58.4 billion passenger kilometres (2% increase) but 47.8 million freight train kilometres (2% decrease). It is pleasing to note that there were no passenger or workforce fatalities in train accidents in 2012/13. This is the sixth year in succession with no such fatalities. At 0.3 per year, the ten-year moving average for these train accidents is at its lowest ever level.

Comparing ﬁgures To look at the statistics in detail, it is necessary to understand how fatalities and injuries are measured. This is done using an index known as Fatalities and Weighted Injuries (FWI). In effect, it takes all the non-fatal injuries and adds them up using a weighting factor to come up with a total number of ‘fatality equivalents’. So 10 major injuries, or 200 class 1 minor injuries or shock/trauma, 44

or 1000 class 2 minor injuries or shock/trauma, are taken as being ‘statistically equivalent’ to one fatality. Add these up, and that gives the total FWI number for the year. This FWI ﬁgure is used to compare one year with another. The actual fatalities are also listed as it is possible for the FWI to go down even if the actual number of fatalities has gone up, due to a reduction in the number of lesssevere accidents (as happened last year).

The numbers So in 2012/13, four passengers died in separate incidents, all at stations. When non-fatal injuries are also taken into account, the total level of passenger harm was 45.8 FWI which is 7% higher than the 42.7 FWI (ﬁve fatalities) recorded for 2011/12. So although actual fatalities were down by one, the overall score was up - due mainly to an increase in the number of major injuries. When normalised by passenger journeys, the rate of harm shows a 4% increase compared with 2011/12. There were two workforce fatalities, both infrastructure workers. Including non-fatal injuries, the total level of workforce harm was 22.6 FWI, which is a reduction of 8% compared with 24.5 FWI (one fatality) occurring in 2011/12. The rate of harm normalised by

workforce hours fell by 11%, even though there was one more fatality. The types of train accident most likely to result in harm, such as collisions and derailments, are known as potentially higher-risk train accidents (PHRTAs). Last year there were 35 of them. This is an increase of one on the previous year’s total of 34. In fact, the number of PHRTAs for the past three years has remained lower than levels seen prior to this period. Included in those PHRTA ﬁgures were seven passenger train derailments, four of which were due to landslips affecting the line. There were no major injuries to train occupants resulting from derailment, or any other type of train accident.

PIM and SPADs As serious train accidents are rare, the industry monitors trends in train accident precursors using the Precursor Indicator Model (PIM). This provides a measure of trends in the underlying risk from PHRTAs. At March 2013, the overall indicator stood at 90.6, compared with 74.9 at the end of 2011/12. The passenger proportion of the PIM stood at 39.4, compared with 27.4 at the end of the previous year. While this rise is signiﬁcant, the increases in the PIM are due mainly to a rise in the number of www.railstaff.co.uk

HEALTH & SAFETY

landslides that affected the running line which occurred following periods of heavy rain during the year. At 250, the number of SPADs (signals passed at danger) occurring during 2012/13 was a 9% reduction on the 276 occurring during 2011/12. The accident in 1999 at Ladbroke Grove, in which 31 people died, occurred following a SPAD. Since then, the industry has focussed on reducing the risk from SPADs through initiatives such as the ﬁtment of the TPWS (Train Protection & Warning System) which was completed in 2003. TPWS can automatically stop a

“Rail continues to be the safest form of land transport in Britain and the industry’s performance continues to meet the requirement…” www.railstaff.co.uk

train that passes a signal at danger. At the end of 2012/13, the estimated level of risk from SPADs was 60% of the September 2006 baseline, compared with 32% at the end of 2011/12. Although the increase in SPAD risk was substantial, the level for 2012/13 is the second lowest ﬁnancial yearend level on record and SPADs remain a low contributor to overall train accident risk.

Level crossings These are always problematic, being where trains, road vehicles and pedestrians interface most closely. Excluding suicides, four pedestrians and ﬁve road vehicle occupants died in accidents at level crossings in 2012/13. There were seven major injuries, 53 reported minor injuries and 17 cases of shock or trauma. This equated to a total FWI of 9.9, which is higher than the 2011/12 ﬁgure but below the average over the past ten years. There were ten collisions between trains and road vehicles at level crossings during the year, which is one more than last year’s

ﬁgure of nine. There has been an average of 13 accidents per year since 2003/04. There is evidence that the underlying rate of collisions at level crossings has reduced over this period.

An overall improvement Including the nine level crossing users, but excluding those due to suicide or suspected suicide, there were 49 fatalities to members of the public last year. 39 were trespassers and the remaining one has been categorised as an assault. Including non-fatal injuries, the total level of public harm was 53.9 FWI, which is lower than the 63.5 FWI recorded for 2011/12. At 238, the number of suicides was the same as for 2011/12, and remains above average for the last decade as a whole. So in total, and excluding suicides, there were 55 fatalities, 457 major injuries, 11,297 minor injuries and 1,179 cases of shock/trauma. The total level of harm was 122.3 FWI, down from 130.7 in 2011/12. The main cause of the decrease was a fall in the number of fatalities to members of the public.

Colin Dennis, Director Policy, Research and Risk at RSSB commented: ‘Although 2012/13 recorded a historically low number of passenger fatalities, overall there was an increase in the level of passenger harm due to a rise in major injuries, mostly as a result of slips, trips and falls in stations. This area continues to be an area for industry focus, and a number of co-operative activities and initiatives are in progress. ‘The number of Potentially Higher Risk Train Accidents was again low and although rises were seen in the measures of SPAD risk and train accident risk, both remained below the baseline used for comparison. ‘Taken over the longer-term, the industry continues to meet the safety targets set for it by the Department for Transport and the European Railway Agency. ‘Rail continues to be the safest form of land transport in Britain and the industry’s performance continues to meet the requirement of ensuring that safety is generally maintained and, where reasonably practicable, continuously improved’.

Rod Stewart bans the Beeb

Road to Samarkand

Rock singer and railway modeller, Rod Stewart, banned the BBC from filming his model railway. The TV crew were filming a documentary about Stewart, ‘Can’t Stop Me Now.’ Although happy to talk about his hard living lifestyle in years gone by, Rod likes to keep his railway life private. The film crew was not allowed to film his lay out which measures 23 feet wide by 124 feet long and portrays Grand Central Station, New York as it would have looked in the 1940s. ‘There are very few places in my life that I like to keep private: that’s one of them, and another is soccer on Sunday morning. We sneak to the location and the team has never given me away,’ he told the Radio Times. Stewart is a member of a model railroad club in California. On tour he relaxes by railway modelling carting his kit from hotel to hotel. Says Rod, ‘I pity a man who

Delegates from Russia and Japan have met to discuss plans for a rail link between the two countries which would enable passengers to make the journey between London and Tokyo entirely by rail. The project involves extending the Trans Siberian railway with a bridge from the Russian mainland to the island of Sakhalin. The rail route would then continue for 380 miles across the Russian island before reaching the coast. In order to reach Japanese soil a 25 mile tunnel would have to be

constructed beneath the Soya Strait. Koichi Yamagishi, director of overseas projects at Japan’s ministry of transport said, ‘In terms of natural resources, this rail link would be a very positive development. To have direct access to the Sakhalin oil and gas projects would be very beneﬁcial.’ Japan has proposed further discussions, at the vice-ministerial level, in August. Work on the £6.4 billion scheme is expected to commence in 2016, but no date for completion has been made public.

doesn’t have a hobby like this one. It’s just the most supreme relaxation. Every person should have one hobby that really captures his interest.’

Desiro fleet for Thameslink Siemens is to build a new fleet of Desiro City trains for Thameslink which reduces overall energy consumption and track wear by up to 50% compared to predecessor models. Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin confirmed the £1.6 billion order for 1140 commuter carriages. Eversholt Rail is providing project and asset management services. Desiro City trains are up to 25 percent lighter than the existing Desiro fleet, thanks mainly to the use of lightweight aluminum in construction. Bogies are approximately one-third lighter in weight. The Desiro City is based on the Single Car Concept, which integrates the entire traction equipment into one motor car. All of these motor cars are identically equipped and can be used both as end cars and as intermediate cars. The Desiro City Thameslink can be coupled to form 8 and 12-car trains and operated in dual mode (750 V DC or 25 kV AC). They are built for a top speed of 100 mph. Siemens built two new rolling stock depots in Three Bridges and Hornsey. The trains will be manufactured at the Siemens factory in Krefeld, Germany, and the first trains will enter service in 2016. 46

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NEWS

To mark the 50th anniversary of the Yamonote line’s signature green livery, East Japan Railway Co. is to allow a lucky couple to hold their wedding ceremony onboard a specially chartered train. Prior to the wedding, which will take place on the 14th October, designated as train day to commemorate the start of Japan’s ﬁrst rail service linking Shimbashi and Yokohama in 1872, a number of interviews will be held to discover which couple has the most fascinating story that demonstrates their connection with the Yamonote line. The specially chartered train will be able to accommodate between 80 and 120 guests. Starting at Ikebukuro station the wedding train will complete one loop of the line without stopping. The journey is expected to take around an hour.

Wedding train for Yamonote

Once Bittern An A4-class engine, 4464 Bittern, has recreated the record breaking run of Mallard – which set a record speed of 126 mph near Grantham on 3 July 1938. With 250 cheering supporters Bittern set off for York from London King’s Cross on 29th June. The loco was granted special permission to exceed the 75 mph speed restriction for main line steam. Bittern touched

speeds of 92.8 mph. Said Richard Corser, of Locomotive Services Ltd, ‘Today is the culmination of a lot of months of preparation to make this happen, to go at a high speed and to give the passengers a bit of a ﬂavour of what high-speed steam was like. This country’s very famous for its engineering skills and steam was its cradle.’

Some passions never end Become a Patron of the National Railway Museum As a Patron you will be at the heart of the Museum, enjoying our world class hospitality and intellectual resources. Patrons have exclusive access to Britain’s National Collection and our expert curatorial staff, as well as a tailor-made programme of events and dinners. Your annual patronage makes a real difference to our work, ensuring we are able to tell the story of the railways. Your support helps us to inspire the next generation and influence the way people connect with the National Railway Museum now and in the future. There has never been a more exciting time to become a Patron of the National Railway Museum. Patronage levels start at just £500 a year. For more details contact The National Railway Museum, Development Team, Leeman Road, York YO26 4XJ. Tel: 01904 685774. development@nrm.org.uk

www.railstaff.co.uk

Retain YOUR talent! Understand the psychology Says Monique, “For a business to ﬂourish, every employer should understand the psychology behind interviewing, as well as the various techniques that can be applied to identify the strongest candidates in the talent pool.” Once your interview methods have been perfected you may manage to hire a great member of staff, unfortunately it is not the time to relax. According to Monique, it is at this stage that employers are lulled into a false sense of security, often causing the most expensive mistakes to be made. Companies are increasingly guilty of failing to get the most from their staff. In some sectors, 43% of employees complain of lacking opportunity for growth. This not only means that their potential remains unrealised but that they are more likely to leave. advance Training and Recruitment Services offers clients established training, mentoring and personal development plans, all part of a client retention strategy proven to develop an employee’s most valuable assets, boost company morale and maximise productivity. Surely this is an investment which no business can afford to be without? To book a free consultation with Monique or

for further information on how advance-TRS can help support your business please contact advance- TRS on 01483 361 061 or email info@advancetrs.com

At a time when many businesses are feeling the strain, it is imperative that employers are equipped to source and retain staff who will provide the best return on investment. However, many make common mistakes that ultimately cost them dearly. Victoria Turner asked Andy Ridout, Managing Director of rail Recruitment Company, advanceTRS why so many businesses are failing in their selection strategies and how top talent can be retained. Ridout believes that successful candidate selection requires the employer to be precise about what a role actually involves. “It is important to understand exactly what will be expected of a candidate before you can ascertain the type of employee you require,” says Andy Ridout. “If your candidate will need to head a team, ensure that your interview questions allow him or her to not only demonstrate suitable knowledge and qualiﬁcations, but to express the personal characteristics of a successful leader.” Training specialist, Monique Choudhuri, Head of Training and Development at advance-TRS has built a 25 year portfolio of blue chip clients including British Airways, BSkyB and Fircroft and is only too familiar with the stafﬁng problems most companies face.

www.railstaff.co.uk

CAREERS

Innovation in Engineering Keltbray Group is one of the fastest

We are also looking to recruit a number of

developing and most progressive railway

individuals with an engineering degree or

electrification businesses in the UK

equivalent to be part of our bespoke Graduate

specialising in Overhead Line Electrification

Training Scheme.

(OLE) Construction and Maintenance to the rail industry and urban light rail systems.

An attractive package related to qualifications and experience will be available for successful

We are currently looking to expand and develop

applicants. So, if you are looking for an exciting

our delivery capability in order to be best placed to

and challenging future in railway electrification and

take advantage of the development and increased

have what it takes to be part of a successful team,

investment in this area of the rail industry. As such,

please forward your CV and work experience to:

we have vacancies in a number of key overhead line engineering disciplines including:-

Kate Swindell Human Resources Advisor

Works and Delivery Managers

Unit 12, Crewe Hall Enterprise Park

OLE Engineers, Technicians and

Weston Road

Supervisors

Crewe CW1 6UA

Field Engineers

or email kate.swindell@aspirerail.co.uk

Lineworkers

Nominated and Authorised Persons

Closing date for applications: 31st July 2013.

www.keltbray.com

Rail Automation

We make the most of rail. Together! Following the successful acquisition of Invensys Rail by Siemens we are keen to attract the very best talent to our business. If you are interested in joining one of the world’s leading engineering organisations within our rail signalling business we will be holding recruitment fairs on the following dates: Birmingham Burlington Hotel, 12 July 11.00-20.00 Bristol Hilton Garden Inn, 22 July 11.00-20.00 Croydon Jury’s Inn, 10 July 11.00-20.00 Glasgow The Grand Central Hotel, 3 September 11.00-20.00 London Hilton Hotel, Euston, 9 July 11.00-20.00 Manchester The Double Tree Hilton, 1 July 11.00-20.00 York The Royal York Hotel, 15 July 11.00-20.00 For further information regarding available opportunities please visit www.siemens.co.uk/careers or send your CV in writing, detailing the position you are interested in applying for to: Susannah Minshall, HR Department, Siemens, PO Box 79, Pew Hill, Chippenham, Wiltshire, SN15 1JD www.railstaff.co.uk # # # #

###

Available opportunities include: Commercial Managers Senior Project Managers Construction Managers Senior Project Engineers Installation Managers Project Managers Signalling Designers Engineering Managers Signalling Engineers Design Managers Signalling Testers Planners Project Quantity Surveyors We welcome candidates with experience in rail, civil, mechanical and electrical engineering.

siemens.co.uk/careers ###

get your career on track

Experienced Rail Electricians NATIONWIDE

Terminal Delivery Manager £32,603 per annum + bonus + car Nationwide coverage required. Direct Rail Services (DRS) is owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Agency 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. This role is required to interface with Terminal operators at all locations where DRS provide intermodal transport solutions. Ensuring the “safe secure reliable” service with which DRS has become synonymous is maintained through maximising efficiency and productivity in a customer intimate and cost effective manner. For further details of this vacancy please refer to our website www.directrailservices.com To apply, please send a CV and covering letter detailing your experience in this area to: recruitment@drsl.co.uk Closing date: Wednesday, 31st July 2013. Successful applicants will be required to undergo security clearance including, security vetting including nationality, reference and identity checks will be carried out on successful appointment.

London & North Western Railway Co. Ltd (LNWR) is a leading UK train maintenance company based in Crewe, with five strategically located depots throughout the country. We have a proven track record of undertaking rail vehicle overhaul, refurbishment and modification projects, repainting, and vehicle maintenance & servicing activities on a wide variety of passenger rolling stock, locomotives and freight wagons.

Materials Controller

£25,000 - £27,000 per annum + Staff Travel, Health Scheme & Company pension We currently have an exciting opportunity for an experienced professional to join our Purchasing and Materials Management Department as a Materials Controller. (See full job description on RailwayPeople.com) For further information or application for the above vacancy please contact Debbie Hopley, HR Administrator on 01270 508 000 or email d.hopley@lnwr.com Closing date for applications: 31st July 2013

Electricians with rail experience required to work on maintenance contracts and projects at various locations / stations between London, Stoke and including South East / South West and Midlands. Qualifications & Experience: • • • • • • •

Must be competent to 17th Edition of IEE Wiring Regulations City & Guilds 2382-10 Certificate in requirements for Electrical Installation (BS761;2008) or City & Guilds 2382-20 Certificate in requirements for Electrical Installation update (BS761;2008) or acceptable equivalent SVQ level 3 Apprenticeship Work on voltages levels up to 415V ac/dc SJIB / JIB CSCS card Have awareness of working in a railway environment and an awareness of railway related standards

Preferred Experience: • • • •

City & Guilds 2391-10 or 2392-10 (Inspection, Testing & Certification) Able to drive PTS Certificate Minimum 5 years experience in Electrical work

Competitive salaries based on experience and qualifications. Please send your CV to jobs@northsouthcommunication.co.uk

Sales Executive

Leicestershire

We're Rail Media. You’re reading one of our publications at the moment. We’re a Midlands based media company and we require a Sales Executive who will be responsible for selling advertising, sponsorships and working with clients across our growing portfolio of Magazines, Newspapers, Online Products, and Events. We're after a bright spark who is extremely organised, able to prioritise work accordingly, and has an excellent eye for detail. Good knowledge of the internet and computer skills are essential, and a knowledge of the rail industry would be advantageous but not critical. Do you have the self confidence and motivation to win new business over the phone and face to face? Then email your CV to jobs@rail-media.com or apply on RailwayPeople.com www.rail-media.com

www.lnwr.com 50

www.railstaff.co.uk

CAREERS

Break new ground in your career. Amey is a leading UK public and regulated services provider with over 21,000 employees. In rail we are one of the UK’s major providers of consultancy and engineering services and works. As part of Network Rail’s £700m programme to increase speed and capacity on the network, Amey has been awarded the contract to electrify the Great Western Mainline. Join us, and we’ll offer all the challenge and reward you need to build a career that makes you truly proud of what you do. We have opportunities in Swindon, Wiltshire across many roles, including;

;nf[h_[dY[Z EB; B_d[icWd EB;9'"EB;9( EB;9) EB; Ikf[hl_iehi ;d]_d[[hi EJC JhW_d :h_l[hi FbWdj CW_dj[dWdY[ CWdW][h Ikf[hl_iehi >oZhWkb_Y C[Y^Wd_YWb <_jj[hi Je Ä dZ ekj ceh[ WdZ Wffbo fb[Wi[ l_i_j Wc[o$Ye$ka%9Wh[[hiWj7c[o WdZ i[WhY^ for opportunities in the South West

31PN1!AQNQ0R :S5!R#$6O!O#$<9B&-!*+!&T(&+-9<&! range of engineering infrastructure *+B!(#*9+9+,!-&#<9'&-!($!>*%$#! $#,*+9-*(9$+-!*'#$--!(4&!N*9?@! U(9?9(9&-@!G$+-(#6'(9$+!*+B!"6K?9'! sectors. We are looking to expand our workforce and currently have openings for the following positions: !"#$%&'(!)*+*,&#-!./01!2!/03!0$#(4!2!/03!5$6(4!2!7&+(!2!3&-(&#+8! !59(&!)*+*,&#-!./01!2!/03!0$#(4!2!/03!5$6(4!2!7&+(!2!3&-(&#+8! !5&+9$#!:6*+(9(;!56#<&;$#!.=#6>'?$,@!A:!5'$(?*+B8 !=&-9,+!)*+*,&#!C!1*#(4D$#E-!F!G9<9?-!!.=#6>'?$,@!A:!5'$(?*+B8 !G$+(#*'(-!)*+*,&#!C!H&+'9+,!2!=&CI&,!!.=#6>'?$,@!A:!5'$(?*+B8 !59(&!)*+*,&#!C!H&+'9+,!2!=&CI&,!!.=#6>'?$,@!A:!5'$(?*+B8 3&!*#&!*?D*;-!?$$E9+,!J$#!+&D!(*?&+(@!-$!'4&'E!$6#!D&K-9(&! regularly for any new openings or send your CV and covering ?&((&#!($!(4&!&>*9?!*BB#&--!K&?$DL!!!!

We offer services such as railway '$+(#*'(9+,@!'9<9?!&+,9+&&#9+,@!(#*9+9+,! *+B!B#*9+*,&!J$#!(4&!#*9?@!(#*+-O$#(@! 6(9?9(9&-!*+B!'$+-(#6'(9$+!-&'($#-L!S4&! '$>O*+;!4*-!,#$D+!($!K&'$>&!$+&!$J! (4&!U7P-!?*#,&-(!O#$<9B&#-!$J!#*9?! '$+(#*'(9+,@!D$#E9+,!<&#;!'?$-&?;!D9(4! 0&(D$#E!N*9?!*+B!$(4&#!>*%$#! suppliers. With various engineering *+B!9+J#*-(#6'(6#&!'$+(#*'(-@!*-!D&??! as providing market leading training '$6#-&-@!:S5!R#$6O!9-!*!$+&!-($O! -4$O!J$#!>$-(!K6-9+&--!+&&B-L!3&! are always looking for new additions ($!$6#!(&*>@!-$!9J!;$6!(49+E!;$6!4*<&! D4*(!D&!+&&B@!,&(!9+!($6'4L!I9-9(!$6#! D&K-9(&!($!J9+B!$6(!>$#&!*K$6(!6-L!

Email us your CV today Recruitment@qtsgroup.com M#!J9+B!6-!$+!N*9?D*;"&$O?&L'$> www.railstaff.co.uk

CAREERS

RailwayPeople.com Fast track your career

OVER 2,000 LIVE JOBS from all the rail companies that matter

www.trsstaffing.com

trac

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:

Signal Design Project Engineer (Signalling & Telecoms) London - £350 - £500/day Mainline Project Experience, IRSE Licence

Principal & Senior Civil/ Structural Design Engineers - CRE London, Manchester, Warrington & York - £40 - 60K or £350 - £450/day Rail experience including station, platform & bridge designs

P3e Planners London, Swindon & Midlands £300 - £400 per day Experience of Network Rail projects, Primavera experience essential

Lead Estimators London- £50 - 75K or £350/day Utilities, Airport or Rail experience with a Civils background

HSE Managers and Directors Middle East - £60 - 120k Degree qualiﬁed, relevant Safety qualiﬁcations, ideally you will have worked on major international Rail projects.

Rail Project & Programme Managers London, Midlands - £50 - 75K or £350 - £500/day Experience on rail & infrastructure projects

Please send your CV or if you’d prefer to discuss a role in more detail and in confidence, please contact one of our specialist consultants on

+44 (0)20 7419 5800 or email rail@trsstaﬀing.com

Rail, Infrastructure & Construction 52

As one of the fastest growing and leading providers of specialist plant to the rail industry, TRAC Rail has a reputation for quality, investment, reliability and customer satisfaction. With SERVICE, SAFETY, QUALITY and INNOVATION being our company's core values, delivering our projects without harm to people or the environment. Currently we have vacancies for the following:-

Overhead Linesman - OLEC Applicants should have 3yrs experience in construction & maintenance of OHL and be OLEC certified. They should be able to work within a team and work throughout the UK. It would be beneficial if they are able to operate lorry mounted and self propelled MEWPS.

Experienced Geotechnical Technician / Driller It is essential that all applicants hold valid PTS and IRATA competencies. Previous experience in various methods of drilling and geotechnical works including soil nailing & rock drilling. Experience in the following will be advantageous, implementation of meshing & netting, de-vegetation and scaling is also a requirement. They should be able to work within a team and work throughout the UK. These are exciting opportunities for candidates to join a growing company within TRAC Rail. Hours of work are as required. Salary rates are dependent on experience. Please send your CV to engineeringjobs@trac.com quoting TRAC Rail – ‘OLEC’ or GEO’ in the subject field. Please include details of notice period to be worked if applicable.

www.tracengineering.com www.railstaff.co.uk

Is your career on the right track? Due to successful tender awards and a growing work bank in the South East, Carillion Rail is looking for the right people to join their teams at Crossrail, Thameslink and Reading.

Join our team If you feel you have the necessary skills and experience, in the first instance, please forward your CV to Jessica.Duncan@carillionplc.com or visit www.carillionplc.com/careers to search and apply for the next step in your career.

Civils: Construction Managers Site Agents Technical Supervisors Project Engineers

(ref) 20061 20113 19813 20062

OHLE: Senior Project Engineers Project Engineers Senior Construction Supervisors Construction Supervisors

20089 20079

Planning: SSOW Planners Buried Services / Planner

20116 20060

Design: Design Managers

20067

Permanent Way: Construction Managers Principle Engineers Senior Engineers Setting Out Engineers Pway Engineers Works Managers Site Managers Supervisors

20147 20092 20106 20111 20073 20082 20114 19813

E&P and Signalling: E&P Construction Managers Signalling Managers Project Management: Assistant Project Managers Handback Engineers Works Delivery Managers

www.carillionplc.com

20072 20114

20075

(ref) 20090 20085

CAREERS

Train Drivers up to £60k per year, Various Locations (Within the UK & Internationally) Balfour Beatty Rail is an international leader in the design, construction, maintenance, management and renewal of rail assets and systems. We operate and maintain a diverse fleet of On Track Machines and we currently have a range of exciting opportunities for experienced train drivers to help deliver our expanding business portfolio. The roles primarily involve train driving and route conducting duties in the following key areas: London and the South East, South West England, East & West coast main lines and with the possibility of other opportunities in the Republic of Ireland. In addition, there may be opportunities to acquire machine operation skills in areas such as tamping and rail grinding.

Candidates will need to possess the following key skills and experience: Ÿ A qualified train driver with a good safety record. Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

Experience of the operation of on track plant, or an ability and willingness to learn. Able to carry out minor maintenance and repairs. Good awareness of health and safety requirements, particularly as they relate to train operations. Be able to make a positive contribution to a small dedicated team working on high profile contracts. A flexible approach to work, being prepared to work around a roster that includes night, weekends, bank holidays and respond to short notice changes of plan. Appreciate the importance of good customer relations. Able to communicate clearly and concisely, both verbally and in writing. Hold a current UK driving licence with no more than 6 penalty points.

In return we offer a competitive salary and benefits package with an OTE of circa £60k p.a. To find out more call our recruitment team on 0115 9210471, or apply on line at www.bbrailjobs.com or in writing to: Dave Brewin, HR Advisor, Balfour Beatty Rail Plant, Old Station Yard, Sandiacre, Nottingham NG10 5AG.

GLOBAL REACH, LOCAL DELIVERY www.ata-recruitment.co.uk

Technical Officer

Based in Eastleigh, Hampshire

£18,000 - £30,000 dependant on experience Our client, a prestigious Principle Rail Contractor, is currently seeking a range of Technical Officers located in the Eastleigh area to work on a variety renewals projects across the region. Experience required includes knowledge of the Surveying process, CAD / Microstation and Gauging software. Also required with HNC Civil / Railway Engineering or equivalent. This company’s expansion offers excellent progression opportunities for the right candidate. Quantity Surveyor - Rail Industry

Based in Kent

£35,000 - £45,000 per annum + car allowance and package Our Client is an ever expanding Main Rail Contractor who is seeking an experienced Quantity Surveyor to work on prestigious rail projects. You will be working on projects up to the value of £50m which will include; Earthworks, signalling, civils, P-way and Sidings. This is an exceptionally long contract, providing the successful candidate with an opportunity to seriously prove yourself in the Rail industry. Site Agents x 3

Based in Greater London

£45,000 per annum An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Site Agent looking to join a Large Civil Engineering company based in the South East. Various Site Agents are required to manage civil engineering projects such as Embankments, Bridges and Earthwork packages. As Site Agent you will be responsible for Man Management of the workforce as well as required site paperwork. In a growing company there is future scope to progress into Project Management in the near future. For further information on the above roles or to enquire about other vacancies with ATA, please contact the Rail team on 01332 861326 or email your details to civils@ata-recruitment.co.uk referencing RAILSTAFF + Job Title 54

www.railstaff.co.uk

Great opportunities with a fast moving company

Signalling Solutions is a company formed by combining the complementary signalling resources and products of Alstom Transport Information Solutions UK and Balfour Beatty Rail Projects. We provide individual products and complete solutions to any customer requiring design, installation, testing, commissioning and product support for signalling, power and telecommunications applications in the UK. With an unparalleled product range that includes UK compatible and approved equipment with cutting edge ERTMS and Traffic Management systems already in use across Europe, and a mounting order book, we have an exciting future that we want to share with you. Due to our growing reputation within the industry for delivering major projects, we continue to win new and exciting contracts UK wide. In order to deliver these projects Signalling Solutions has a range of exciting and demanding career opportunities.

If you are looking for a new challenge and want to make a real contribution to the success of our business, we have opportunities in the following disciplines: • Design • Health, Safety and Environmental • Installation Management • Planning • Project Management • Project Engineering • Quantity Surveying • Systems Engineering • Testing We’re seeking candidates who are keen to develop their skills and who can match our enthusiasm for success. In return for your commitment and contribution, you can expect an excellent package and the opportunity to shape your career the way that you want, with training, development and career planning. Please apply by sending your CV to recruitment@signallingsolutions.com

All the above positions have the following beneﬁts: We offer a competitive salary plus a range of beneﬁts including a contributory pension and 25 days holiday. For further information, or to make an application: Tel: +44 (0)1332 262179 email: recruitment@signallingsolutions.com

a Balfour Beatty and Alstom UK company

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