RailStaff July 2014

RailStaff

Specialists in Drainage Design and Construction

THE MOST POPULAR PUBLICATION IN THE UK RAIL INDUSTRY

Issue 200 | July 2014

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RailStaff 200 salutes DAVENTRY EXPANSION

As RailStaff publishes its 200th edition, plans to expand Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal were given the go ahead.

The terminal featured on the front page of the second edition of RailStaff 17 years ago and has steadily increased train services ever since.

Page 6

IN THIS ISSUE RAILSTAFF CELEBRATES

RECORD YEAR FOR THREE PEAKS

DYAN CROWTHER

200 issues in 17 years.

Page 4

Railway Children celebrate record year.

Page 54

Appointed COO of Govia Thameslink.

Page 8

@StobartRailLtd

Andrew Sumner, Business Development and Stakeholder Manager Gained from over 25 years’ experience within the rail industry,

Andrew and Stobart Rail share the same ethos, this being

Andrew provides Stobart Rail with a wealth of business

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Andrew commented, “I instantly felt a shared vision with the

to the UK rail network.

management team at Stobart Rail. Business development is

Andrew began his career in Manchester with British Rail

about securing work and meeting budget targets but much

before moving into his preferred field of contracts and

more as well – it’s about people, relationships, true

business development both with passenger and rail freight

collaboration and respect for each other and the UK rail

companies. Highlights including contract management of new

industry. It’s an exciting time to be working within the railway

rolling stock for First Group and moving high volumes of road

industry and the team at Stobart Rail will make a difference to

freight onto the rail network with Direct Rail Services. Having

the future of the rail network.”

enjoyed being the Commercial Business Manager for Network Rail, Andrew joined Stobart Rail in 2013.

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COMMENT

July 2014 | RailStaff | 3

RailStaff Contact us: Publisher:

Paul O’Connor

Editor:

Andy Milne

Production and design:

Adam O’Connor

Senior Reporter:

Marc Johnson

Track Safety:

Colin Wheeler

Event Sales:

Jolene Price

Advertising:

Asif Ahmed

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Political football The rail industry has long suffered from being a political football, a Brazilian one. The re-nationalisation of the railways is back on the agenda. As the Labour Party continues to lead in the polls and could well win the next general election its proposals for railways need be viewed in serious conjunction with a retrospective check of what the Blair Administration did in this respect.

When the railways were privatised

by John Major the Labour Party was remarkable for the paucity of its opposition. Civil servants progressing the Railways Bill through committee stage expressed surprise at the ease of its passage.

Normally opposition MPs raise all sorts of queries but BR had few friends among Her Majesty’s opposition. The suspicion grew among rail managers that New Labour was as anxious to get the railways off the public books as John Major had been.

Subsequent to Blair’s 1997 election victory no move was made to re-nationalise railways. In fact John Prescott was later expelled from the RMT for reneging on an election promise. Prescott routinely castigated the industry. Disconsolate commuters

Returning to the dead hand and indecision of civil service control is ill-advised... taunted railway staff with Prescott quotes – we know this as many of those insulted remain our readers.

The scuppering of Railtrack was badly handled by Stephen Byers and staff who had bought into share schemes lost considerable amounts of money.

Gordon Brown dragged his feet on Crossrail. Who would now oppose Crossrail or indeed High Speed 2? The only major political party to wobble on HS2 is Labour.

The private sector is not a universal panacea and franchising remains unpopular with the public. Companies running franchises need to do more to show the same level of enthusiasm for railways as we see at the RailStaff Awards and RailLive 2014. Tampering with a phenomenon which has delivered

so much is foolhardy.

Returning to the dead hand and indecision of civil service control is ill-advised. Decision making should rest within a confident industry freed of the noxious restraints of bureaucratic control. The mix between the dynamism of state–owned Network Rail and the energy and ingenuity of a myriad of private companies is working well.

The wise counsels of the ORR, RSSB and the Rail Delivery Group insure us against unprofessionalism. Power rests with people who understand railways.

Backing the people who work a daily miracle on the metals makes sense politically as well as practically. Leave well alone.

12

40

andy@rail-media.com

© MULHOLLAND MEDIA

Plant & Equipment Focus in September

Crossrail raises roof

First priority is safety

RailStaff reports in detail on the latest developments in plant and equipment that were on display at Rail Live in June. If you want to contribute, get in touch now.

The newly completed roof above Canary Wharf Crossrail station forms a further statement of confidence in the rail industry.

“My first priority is safety - level crossings and trackworkers” says Mark Carne, Network Rail Chief Executive when interviewed.

Call Keith on 01530 816444 to discuss.

NEWS

4 | RailStaff | July 2014

© SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

RailStaff 200 Our July edition marks the 200th issue of RailStaff – the magazine set up to run good news stories about railways and support the people who work on them. Andy Milne looks back as the presses prepare to roll.

Train driver Ron Gooch was an orphan. Brought up for a time by his grandmother in Suffolk, when she died he was placed in a home. During the Second World War, the children’s home was evacuated to Derbyshire. On arrival the children were taken from the train to a church hall to await placement with host families. Numbers dwindled as the day wore on until only Ron and another little boy were left. Downhearted, Ron waited with the organisers as they dismantled the tables and stacked up the chairs. A childhood sense of rejection can hobble later development, damaging the adult and leaving a legacy of lost confidence and opportunities.

Then the door flew open and a cheerful woman bustled in. She looked at both boys and straightaway guessed their distress. ‘Ah, I see you have saved the best till last,’ she said and took them both in. Ron spent several happy years in rural Derbyshire as an evacuee.

Aged 14 he tried to join the railway but was turned down for not being tall enough. Ron briefly considered a job in coal mining. But he persevered with the railway and was eventually hired as a cleaner in Suffolk. In the railway Ron built an exemplary 50-year career, working hard and moving up to become

an engine driver. This was followed by a memorable finale as a station-adopter at Shelford in Cambridgeshire.

Plug hole of history It is a small story but in its way, along with a few more mentioned here, it symbolises both the rise and persistence of the industry. When RailStaff started 17 years and 200 editions ago most people thought the railway was gurgling around the plug hole of history. ‘A newspaper full of good news stories about railways?’

One rail manager scoffed, ‘Blimey!

Won’t be a very thick publication will it?’ Another said, who and what is it for? The truth is it’s for people like Ron Gooch, the engineering apprentice, graduate trainee, new clerk, cleaner, guard and track worker. It’s readership spans transport ministers and railway chaplains.

It’s the elbow nudge of encouragement we all need from time to time and it is a continuing celebration of an industry that came back from the brink and continues to expand and prosper. No one doubts the railway still has problems but the conventional media gleefully report all them in great detail. RailStaff is an antidote, a soothing serum of anecdote and encouragement.

Events like Rail Live 2014, the RailStaff Awards and ACoRP’s Community Rail Partnership Awards point to an industry confident and at ease with itself. Perhaps the most remarkable change in fortunes is political perception of railways.

Nowadays the three major parties back rail and are right behind High Speed

Two. New tram links, a better deal for rail freight and constant search for extra capacity means the rail industry is a great place to develop a worthwhile career or build a business. To join the new rail industry is to make a positive contribution to the economic and environmental health of a country still struggling to unite, define and advance a common purpose.

Do not resuscitate Back in 1997, the picture for the railways was very different. In that bleak mid-winter, quite senior politicians and civil servants let it be known that the era of the railway was over. Politically no one wanted to know about railways in the 1990s. The system was put on a sort of Liverpool Pathway.

In the event of an unscheduled stop, do not attempt to resuscitate. The

whole idea of John Major’s railway privatisation was to get the railways, with their huge subsidy requirement, off the treasury books. Weed grown oblivion beckoned.

However, one advantage the railways have always enjoyed is the dedication of the people who work for them, routinely delivering over and above the stipulations of the job description. In fact it has long been known that people joining the railway go native if left there too long.

Andrew Lezala, erstwhile head of Bombardier and now running Metro Trains Melbourne, has a theory. If you serve over two years you’re stuck with the industry for life. Better still is the ability of railway people to rise through the ranks. The message of RailStaff is that you can join this industry as a cleaner or a clerk and go right to the top.

NEWS

July 2014 | RailStaff | 5 183 RailStaff February 2013_Layout 1 08/02/2013 12:34 Page 1

173 RailStaff April 2012_Layout 1 13/04/2012 08:46 Page 1

RailStaff Issue 173 / April 2012

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Issue 183 / February 2013

THE MOST POPULAR PUBLICATION IN THE UK RAIL INDUSTRY

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Rail volunteers become Olympic Champions

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Rail Team foils midnight raid

John Moore joins Balfour Beatty Rail as CEO

Miller Construction move for Nick Salt

PAGE 9

PAGE 8

Discussing Devolution with Robin Gisby

High Speed 2 picks up speed

Network Rail has created 10 routes with managing directors.

The HS2 line will be built through to Leeds and Manchester.

PAGE 14

600 Network Rail volunteers are getting ready for the London Olympics. They will be joining Team London Ambassadors to welcome athletes and spectators 80 per cent of whom are expected to travel to the Games by rail...

PAGE 4

Get the right team on board with McGinley Support Services

Final countdown to Infrarail 2012 Final plans are now in place for Infrarail 2012 from 1-3 May.

PAGE 26

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Two railway entrepreneurs and friends managed to foil a daring raid by metal thieves who had repeatedly targeted the Motorail UK site at Long Marston in Warwickshire.

Colin and Ruth Flack liaised with police and helped bring the gang to book. Colin Flack, chief executive of the Rail Alliance and genial host of the RailStaff Awards 2013 and Ruth Flack, CEO of Motorail UK Ltd, set up a surveillance operation with the full support of the police.

Metal and cable theft is a big problem on the railways but it looks like combined efforts of police and railway are paying off…

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© MOD

PAGE 15

Training Matters Focus Being a better professional increases self confidence.

Continued on PAGE 4

PAGE 30

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People like David Franks, head of Irish Railways and Tim Shoveller, running the SWT/Network Rail Alliance, joined the industry at ballast level and worked their way up. Quite often RailStaff runs interviews with industry leaders who are judged sympathetic to the cause. Last month Tim Casterton interviewed David Franks – who started life working on the platforms at Salisbury. Alistair Dormer, interview in August issue, who joined later, started off as an apprentice engineer in the Royal Navy and was blown up on his ship, HMS Sheffield, during the Falklands War.

Human Touch An early interview was with Bill Green, a Bletchley driver, who was first on the scene of the Great Train Robbery.

Green recalled talking to Jack Mills, the driver of the ill-fated mail train, as he, his wife Delia and I sat talking one autumn evening in Bletchley BRSA club almost 40 years later. Bill Green knew Mills quite well. On the night of the robbery both men had stopped their trains at Bletchley whilst postal staff loaded on more mail. ‘We stood on the platform and passed the time of day,’

Bill said. Mills set off first. It was later that Bill, arriving with his train at Leighton Buzzard, decided, after consultation with a puzzled signalman, to walk forward along the track. ‘We could see the mail train carriages stopped on the up fast,’ said Bill, who courageously rescued Jack Mills – bloodied and dazed – and raised the alarm. Bill Green was an exemplary driver and according to colleagues at Bletchley never had a SPAD. Delia, his wife, wrote for local papers and had material published in RailStaff.

Other interviews could be rather more

formal, but RailStaff has always believed in, as Bruce Springsteen puts it, a little of that human touch.

One day walking into the Strategic Rail Authority on Victoria Street for a farewell interview with SRA chief, Richard Bowker, I met Chris Austin coming out.

‘What brings you here?’ I told him and added, ‘Not sure about this - as we’re all about good news stories about railways and closing down the SRA….’ Austin said, ‘I wouldn’t worry, he’s on fine form today. Just became a father – late last

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NEWS

6 | RailStaff | July 2014

provide 8 million square feet of railconnected distribution space.

Increased capacity for up to 32 freight trains in and out of the centre each day will enable shippers to handle over 500,000 freight containers per annum.

Dirft III will be largely developed on the site of the Rugby Radio Station. The expanded rail freight port will give jobs for an estimated 9,000 people.

Freight companies at Daventry have long wanted more space as the demand for rail services has continued

SAYLSA was set up in 2007. Says Scottish government transport minister, Keith Brown, ‘Community rail partnerships are an excellent initiative to drive community involvement in local rail lines. The Scottish Government is keen to see CRPs developed across Scotland’s rail network and I wish the group all the best.’

Says Andy Mine at RailStaff, which is sponsoring this year’s ACoRP Community Rail Awards, ‘SAYLSA is a powerful and campaigning group and is already an exemplar of the community rail partnership approach.

‘We wish them every success and hope this marks the start of many such community rail partnerships in Scotland where the railway plays a vital part in the lives of the many communities it serves.’

The children then responded with a number of questions and enjoyed the presentation and the opportunity to shout answers to Morven’s questions.

Says headteacher Lydia Lastowiecki, ‘It was a fantastic start to what we hope will be a long-running partnership.’

Progress Rail Services specialises

in the design and manufacture of trackwork and ancillary rail products for mainline, freight, industrial and light rail operators. With a facility in Sandiacre, clients include Network Rail and London Underground.

Progress Rail is a wholly owned subsidiary of Caterpillar Inc.

Her descriptions of what she does were greeted with enthusiasm

Expansion for Daventry Rail Freight An international rail freight terminal – which featured on the front page of the second edition of RailStaff 17 years ago – has won approval for a substantial expansion.

Daventry International Rail Freight terminal (Dirft) currently runs approximately 140 trains a week. This figure could in theory rise to 224.

The new development, Dirft III, to be built by site owners Prologis, will

SAYLSA

to grow. Planning hurdles had made the job difficult. The expansion of Dirft

by Prologis has been welcomed by Freight on Rail.

However, more needs to be done to make it easier to expand rail freight facilities nationally as part of a coherent strategy, says Philippa Edmunds, Freight on Rail manager.

‘Daventry Strategic Rail Freight Interchange (SRFI) demonstrates that rail and road complement each other and that these SRFIs allow efficient cost-effective transfer between modes.

So it is crucial that the government’s National Networks Policy Statement makes it clear that getting planning permission for a network of strategic rail freight interchanges across the UK, like Daventry, is an essential part of getting freight onto rail in order to reduce road fatalities, road congestion and pollution,’ says Philippa.

Malcolm Rail currently operates the rail side of the terminal and itself runs services between Dirft, Grangemouth and Mossend.

The Stranraer-Ayr Line Support Association, SAYLSA, has become Scotland’s first designated Community Rail Partnership.

Primary Progress Morven Harrison, principal engineer at Progress Rail Services UK, has been out encouraging school children to get interested in engineering. There’s never been a better time for young people to become engineers.

Morven visited Cloudside Junior School in Sandiacre, Derbyshire, to talk to children about engineering and is planning a return visit later this month. Harrison, who graduated as an engineer in 2008 from Durham University, undertook a graduate traineeship with Balfour Beatty Rail.

At Progress Rail, Harrison is responsible for the design, analysis and integrity of products across Progress Rail UK sites. She described her job and engineering in general at the school’s morning assembly.

The children were interested in her everyday life. Her descriptions of what she does were greeted with enthusiasm and steady interest by staff and pupils.

PEOPLE

8 | RailStaff | July 2014

Harvey to Front Forum Neil Harvey has been appointed as Interim General Manager of Derby and Derbyshire Rail Forum.

The one time Communications Director with Bombardier Transportation has been running PR consultancy, Principal Communications, for the last two years.

Neil joined the railway in 1970 and served an apprenticeship in Mechanical Engineering with British Rail Engineering (BREL). As a freelance PR his first contract was supporting the Management Buy-Out team for BREL. Subsequent clients included Hunslet, Telfos plc, Jenbacker Holdings and Bombardier, as well as Alliance & Leicester Building Society and Derby City Council.

In 1999, following the contract award win by Bombardier to design and build Virgin’s Voyager fleet Neil took up a permanent role as Communications Director with Bombardier Transportation. Neil will be progressing plans to celebrate DDRF’s 21st anniversary this year.

Love Three Ludeman to Serve Keith Ludeman, erstwhile head of Go-Ahead group, has been appointed non-executive chairman of Eversholt Rail.

Says Neil, ‘The past year has seen some terrific successes for the Rail Forum and its members, with positive announcements on the Crossrail fleet, electrification of the Midland Mainline and growing support for HS2. In this historic year of Derby 175, celebrating 175 years of railways in the city, it is fitting that DDRF is enhancing its activities and scope…I am delighted that I will be involved in helping to achieve that aim.’ Neil’s appointment is on an interim basis for three months.

He takes over the role from Graham Love who has been chairman for the past three years. Keith, who started his working life as a bus conductor in Newcastle upon Tyne, has been involved with transport for over 40 years.

Keith was chief executive of Go-Ahead from 2006 to 2011. He is stepping down from the board of Network Rail but remains a trustee of the London Transport Museum.

Says Mary Kenny, chief executive of Eversholt Rail, ‘Graham Love has been our non-executive chairman since Eversholt Rail changed ownership in 2010 and has been an important influence on our development since that time. I would like to thank him for his support over this period. I am looking forward to welcoming Keith onto the board and working with him.

His extensive experience of the rail industry will be an invaluable asset to us.’

Ludeman is known for being outspoken. Accused by the media of being a petrol head, he enjoys driving sports cars. He once said, ‘My carbon footprint is not particularly good. I need to plant a forest immediately!’

Safety remains Spencer Rail’s top priority with a focus on pre-empting and designing out potential risk, linked to ongoing behavioural safety training and mentoring. Richard Sharp will oversee the work of 20 safety

professionals within the Spencer Rail business, ensuring that the company’s 300 plus staff and supply chain partners are equipped with everything they need from a health, safety and environment perspective.

Spencer Rail Looks Sharp Richard Sharp is joining Spencer Rail as director of safety, a move that confirms Spencer Rail’s expanding presence in the rail industry.

Mr Sharp, a former RAF weapons engineer, has spent the last nine years working for J Murphy & Sons Ltd. He began as site manager before becoming quality manager and latterly head of rail compliance.

Sharp chairs a number of industry groups including the Railway Industry Supplier Qualification Scheme (RISQS).

Says Richard Sharp, ‘I was delighted to be offered this position. It’s a growing family business, well known within the industry for delivering the highest standards of workmanship.

The company continues to go from strength to strength and that offers the promise of great career development. I believe the

opportunity is there to apply my skills set and help the company to go on to even greater things.’

A family man, Richard relaxes by travelling abroad and scuba diving.

Says David McLoughlin, chief executive of Spencer Rail, ‘I’d like to join everyone at Spencer Rail in taking this opportunity to welcome Richard to the team. He brings a great depth and variety of experience to his new role as director of safety. These are exciting times for the company, as we continue to expand year on year into new areas of the industry. We’re also shortlisted for a number of industry awards which is testament to the multi-disciplinary skills and hard work of the Spencer Rail team over the last year.

‘We go to great lengths to ensure the safety of our people, our suppliers and the general public on every project we work on. Richard will be an important addition to that area of our operation.’

PEOPLE

July 2014 | RailStaff | 9

Train Operations for Dyan Dyan Crowther has been appointed chief operating officer of the new Govia Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern (TSGN) franchise.

The current route managing director for Network Rail London North Western, Crowther is a career railway woman who joined British Rail as a graduate trainee.

Originally from Wiltshire, Dyan was educated at the Corsham School and read Geography at Middlesex University.

She has an MSc in Transport and Logistics from the University of Salford.

Crowther joined BR in 1986 and spent 16 years working in various frontline and strategic roles on the railway including station management.

She worked for Railtrack and when it was taken into administration, moved to Arriva Trains Northern as

commercial director. She was promoted to managing director there in October 2003. Then in 2004, she headed up London North Eastern as route director for Network Rail, switching to a similar role at Midlands and Continental in 2009. This included responsibility for High Speed One. In 2011 Crowther was appointed director operational services, progressing new strategies to combat copper cable theft and level crossing fatalities.

Last year, she was appointed route director at London North Western. Says Dyan Crowther, ‘It’s with mixed feelings that I leave Network Rail as I’m so proud of the achievements the company has delivered over the past few years and my part supporting them, but I’m very much looking forward to my new role with TSGN which will be a challenging and exciting one.’

Despite a busy career and family life, Crowther, a mother of three, keeps fit and has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro to raise money for the charity Railway Children.

The TSGN franchise will replace First Capital Connect from September 14th, 2014 and will include the South Central franchise, operated as Southern and

Gatwick Express, when it expires on 26 July, 2015. A small number of services and stations will also transfer from the South Eastern franchise by 21 December, 2014. Govia is a joint venture between Go-Ahead (65 per cent) and Keolis (35 per cent). Crowther joins chief executive, Charles Horton, and Wilma Allan, chief financial officer.

Spencer Joins Amey

Tom Scaramuzza joins NCB

Amey has appointed Dave Spencer as managing director of its consultancy business. Spencer is a chartered civil engineer and joins Amey from Capita where he was an executive director. Dave Spencer has a degree in civil engineering from Liverpool University.

Newcomer Tom Scaramuzza enjoyed working for the Network Certification Body at Network Rail during his graduate training programme so much he’s come back to join the NCB full time.

infrastructure.’

Dave will report to Andy Milner as part of his Consulting, Rail and Strategic Highways executive team.

Dave Spencer drew attention to the importance of infrastructure and better asset management. ‘I’m excited to be joining Amey at a time when the UK is starting to increasingly recognise the importance of Says Andy Milner, managing director infrastructure and the value of good asset of Amey’s Consulting, Rail and Strategic management. I see Amey, and parent Highways division, ‘Dave has a strong track company Ferrovial Services, as leaders in record of delivering growth, developing this and look forward to working with new strong client relationships and motivating colleagues and business partners to better teams. He will build on the considerable support our infrastructure customers, both in success of our consultancy business by the UK and overseas.’ leading the drive of our internationally Amey’s consulting business now employs recognised asset management approach over 3,000 strategists. Over half are which enables our clients to make really members of the Institute of Civil Engineers recruitment-lg_Layout 1 09/01/2014 1 10 per cent are graduates.` intelligent long-term decisions about their 12:49 andPage around

The Network Certification Body carries out safety accreditation for infrastructure projects, passenger trains, yellow plant and freight locomotives.

NCB has engineers from all disciplines with expertise in electrification, noise control, command and signalling, restricted mobility, tilting wagons, grinders, derailment, safety performance and maintenance programmes. Ingenuity, innovation and enthusiasm are essential and NCB is building a diverse and inclusive new business with staff of all ages.

Tom Scaramuzza works in the Rail Vehicle Conformance team.

Tom joined Network Rail from Surrey University two years ago after gaining a degree in Aerospace Engineering. In Italy he was educated at the Liceo Scientifico Messedaglia, Verona.

NCB ensures that a project can go live, safely and in line with standards.

During his training Tom took placements with Chiltern Railways and London Midland, focussing on rail vehicle maintenance.

Ganymede has a long heritage of providing contingent labour to safety critical aspects of the rail industry. As a Link-Up approved supplier, we provide semi-skilled and

To find out how we can help to fulfil your labour supply needs, contact us for further information:

skilled labour, on call off and temporary

Call us: 0845 880 8104 or Email us: info@ganymedesolutions.co.uk

term contracts.

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RAIL ALLIANCE

10 | RailStaff | July 2014

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.

May & Scofield

New Members

Basingstoke-based May & Scofield Ltd was established in 1992 as a bespoke electronics manufacturer, initially providing design and development support for the automotive industry.

Link by Lighting (Sole UK partner and supplier of HELLA LED lighting products for all types of application) www.linkbylighting.co.uk

With subsequent expansion into aerospace, defence and the rail industry May and Scofield now offers a wider range of customers best practice application of quality solutions which have proven performance and reliability.

The UK factory has engineering offices, prototypebuild workshops, test laboratories, stores and series production manufacturing shop.

May & Scofield collaborates with customers to help improve performance and reliability in the design, development and manufacturing of electronic control units and systems, using knowledge, expertise and best practice drawn from across the rail, automotive, aerospace and defence industries.

Phil Jackson, Business Development Manager, Rail says, ‘We are delighted to be members of the Rail Alliance and seek engagement with stakeholders for tier 1, 2 and 3 supply chain partnerships. We seek to help customers who require safe, reliable, robust and innovative solutions in harsh operating environments. Proven solutions developed for the automotive, aerospace and defence industries can be adapted and applied to the rail industry. Our design expertise, consultation and quality manufacturing can represent significant value for rail customers.

‘We help our customers improve their legacy electronic control systems through hardware, software and firmware design modifications and proven developments. We deal with obsolescence of electronic components providing new ways to achieve their exacting requirements. We work with our customers to identify their requirements and develop functional specifications and programme timing.

‘We understand that our customers may not have the in-house resources to achieve their requirements. Our electronics design engineers provide invaluable support for bespoke solutions from concept to manufacture.’

Key capabilities for the Rolling Stock and Railway Infrastructure supply chain, include: • Automatic Train Protection & Warning Systems • Door Control Systems • PACIS Information Systems

Guidance Navigation Ltd (World class experts in microwave and laser sensor technology used for navigation, measurement and positioning applications) www.guidnace.eu.com Graybar Ltd (Manufacturers of self-regulating track heating systems and the processing of heat shrink cable accessories for the Rail Industry) www.graybar.co.uk • Control & Display Units • LED Lighting & Control • Bespoke Electronic Control Units & Vehicle Instrumentation May & Scofield supplies ECUs to Nomad Rail, Unipart Rail, Bentley, Ametek, Marshall SV, and General Dynamics Force Protection and have also successfully developed, and now supply as Original Equipment, a range of electronic control units (ECUs), power management systems and a family of unique instrumentation modules which can be used as stand alone or integrated with other control and communication equipment.

These modules are LED backlit, sealed for life (never needing maintenance) and meet IP65.

A Culture of Quality At May & Scofield, we are constantly striving to improve our products and processes to ensure they reach the highest possible standards. We drive continuous process improvement through the use of Six Sigma, Zero Defects programmes and World Class Manufacturing.

All design and development programmes are subject to rigorous control via our Business Management Systems. Accredited quality management processes ensure products are delivered on time, to budget and to the highest quality.

We are ISO/TS16949, TS522128 accredited and working toward AS9100 and ISO14001 as part of our Business Sustainability culture. We are Achilles Link-Up registered (ID159074) For more information, visit http://www.mayscofield.co.uk or, contact Phil Jackson, Email: philj@may-scofield.co.uk

Concrete Canvas Ltd (Producers of a flexible, concrete impregnated fabric that hardens when hydrated to form a thin, durable, water proof and fire resistant concrete layer allowing concrete construction without the need for plant or mixing equipment) www.concretecanvas.com Erlau Outdoor Furniture (Manufacturers and suppliers of high quality outdoor furniture including a wide range of seating systems, benches, litter bins, cycle stands and planters with a 10 year anticorrosion guarantee and the option of anti-graffiti coating) www.erlau.com May & Scofield Ltd (Collaboration with customers to help improve performance and reliability in the design, development and manufacturing of electronic control units and systems, using knowledge, expertise and best practice from across Rail, Automotive, Aerospace and Defense industries) www.may-scofield.co.uk Altro Transflor (UK manufacturer and worldwide supplier of anti-slip flooring engineered and designed to meet high intensity foot traffic in transport environments) www.altro.co.uk/transport-flooring Tecforce Ltd (Core skills in materials technology, welding technology, non-destructive testing and rolling stock engineering for maintenance and overhaul services to rolling stock, their components and the supply chain) www.tecforce.co.uk

NEWS

12 | RailStaff | July 2014

QTS Backs Kilmarnock FC QTS has agreed to extend its sponsorship of Scottish Premiership side Kilmarnock Football Club. The new enhanced deal runs until the end of the 2014/15 season, marking the third season the top rail engineering company has backed the club.

The QTS name will again be prominent on Kilmarnock strips from youth level up to the senior side. Next season will be a tough one for local heroes Kilmarnock, currently ninth in the Scottish Premier league.

The season includes the 50th anniversary of the club last winning the top division in Scottish football.

Alan McLeish, managing director of QTS, said he was happy to extend the company’s support for Kilmarnock, at a time when the club has much to look forward to on and off the pitch.

‘This is going to be a big season for Kilmarnock given the significance of

the 50th anniversary celebrations, the new playing surface and changes in the coaching and playing staff, and we are delighted to continue our financial and wider company support to everyone involved,’ says Alan.

Many staff at the QTS site in nearby Strathaven support local team, Kilmarnock, which is 20 miles away.

Fighting every inch of the way to the top is nothing new for QTS. Alan McLeish started the business with a £300 loan from his mother which he used to buy two chainsaws and a transit van. QTS now has eight offices throughout the UK, employing over 600 sponsored personnel, and boasts a turnover of £60 million.

QTS specialises in rail infrastructure, engineering and training. Clients include Network Rail, First ScotRail, power utilities, the water industry and a range of local authorities. ‘Kilmarnock are one of only five teams to have won Scottish football’s top division in the last 50 years.

This is being recognised on the new kit and is a fitting testament to what the 1964/65 team achieved that season and on that famous day at Tynecastle,’ adds Alan.

Kilmarnock beat Hearts 2-0 at Tynecastle Stadium in April 1965 to clinch the title. Kilmarnock manager, Allan Johnston, said that the financial investment from QTS had helped shape the changes he was making to both the coaching and playing staff at Kilmarnock.

‘Having the support of a major national business like QTS is fantastic for a club of our size and can only help to

Crossrail Raises the Roof The newly completed roof above Canary Wharf Crossrail station forms a further statement of confidence in the rail industry.

The impressive timber lattice roof shields a rooftop garden and crowns Canary Wharf Group’s impressive four-

storey complex of shops, restaurants, bars and a cinema.

The roof garden and leisure space will open in May 2015, three years before trains run through the station.

Work began on the new station in May 2009. Engineers created a 250-metre long and 30-metre wide watertight dam

in the waters of North Dock. The station box was then built ‘top down,’ 28 metres below the water surface to create the ticket hall and platform levels.

Crossrail’s construction remains on time and on budget. Its tunnelling programme is over 80 per cent complete.

build the confidence of our players as we prepare for next season. It helps me to attract quality players to the club when they can see the positive steps being taken by the board to improve facilities and extend the sponsorship of QTS,’ Johnston said.

Kilmarnock FC’s motto, Confidemus, literally, ‘we trust,’ is the root for the word confidence. This looks like being boosted by QTS which came 62nd in the Sunday Times BDO Profit Track 100 - that is the UK’s top 100 companies recording fastest growing profits. QTS posted annual profit growth of 51.49 per cent over three years.

Bathtime Beckons The electrification of Bath’s railway is on track as Network Rail outlined its plans to electrify the railway through the city and on to Swansea via Bristol.

The project forms part of the electrification of the Great Western main line. Preparatory work will continue at nights and weekends with a total blockade planned for next summer.

The major elements of the project include lowering the track in Box Tunnel and installing electrification equipment. The canopy at Bath Spa station will have to be repositioned.

Special electrification equipment will be installed in Sydney Gardens, designed to safeguard its unique status as a World Heritage Site. Great care will be taken to ensure that the electrified rail route protects the special status of the City of Bath and its listed buildings.

NEWS

July 2014 | RailStaff | 13

New Tram line for Manchester Crewe – Trying to Connect You Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) is running a major public consultation exercise on plans to build a new tram line through the city.

The Trafford Park Metrolink line will run 5.5 kms from the existing Pomona stop on a largely off-street route through to the Trafford Centre.

Six new stops are planned near key destinations including Wharfside for Old Trafford, the Imperial War Museum North, Trafford Park Village, Parkway, EventCity and the Trafford Centre.

Says Peter Cushing, Metrolink director at TfGM, ‘This new tram line proposal is great news for the Trafford area.

Metrolink will offer excellent transport connections to local businesses, shopping and leisure opportunities along the route, while also opening up links to the wider tram network, which

will cover around 92km when the new airport line opens later this year.

‘We’re really keen to get people’s views on the proposed Trafford Park Line and have already started talking to businesses and stakeholders. I’d now encourage anyone with an interest to take a look at the proposals online or come along and talk to our staff at one of the drop-in events. The feedback we get over the coming three months will help us finalise a scheme that works well for everybody before we apply to government statutory powers to construct and run services on the new line.’

Trafford Park is the largest major employment centre outside the city centre with more than 1,300 businesses and over 33,000 jobs and employees travelling from across the region.

The new line could be built as early as 2019.

Episcopal Backing for HS2 A bishop who started life as an engineer with London Transport, has publicly backed HS2 – and wants to see the new line connected to Liverpool.

The new archbishop of Liverpool, Malcolm McMahon, is originally from Somers Town, Euston - the side between the station and St Pancras.

Speaking in an interview with the Liverpool Daily Echo, Archbishop McMahon said, ‘It’s absolutely essential we get connected to High Speed 2 (HS2) to the south and, more importantly first of all, the north.

A First World War memorial at Crewe station has been carefully relocated by Balfour Beatty staff.

The memorial was originally outside Weston House. However, the building was demolished along with the old Royal Mail block, which was connected to the station, as part of the 20-year ‘All Change for Crewe’ regeneration programme.

The £7 million Crewe Railway Exchange project for Cheshire East Council includes new access to the platforms through covered subways with lift access to the improved car parking facilities. The WW1 memorial has been repositioned by the project team at the station’s new entrance building.

Balfour Beatty’s team took a sustainable approach on the project.

All materials from the demolition were reprocessed and converted into usable construction materials. Seventy-five

per cent of new staff on the project were recruited from within a 30-mile radius of Crewe.

Says Peter Commins, Balfour Beatty managing director for the North West, ‘This was a complex project with multiple end users who had specific requirements, which through close collaborative working with our customer, Cheshire East Council, and stakeholders, Network Rail and Virgin Trains, we were able to deliver to the satisfaction of all.’

Official opening of Crewe Railway Exchange. L-r: Tony O’Brian, maintenance delivery manager, Network Rail; Sheila Breeze, station manager, Virgin Trains; Pete Waterman, Cheshire & Warrington Enterprise Partnership board member; Edward Timpson MP; Councillor Michael Jones, Leader of Cheshire East Council; Peter Commins, Balfour Beatty managing director for the North West; and Chris Winfield, project sponsor, Network Rail.

Our rail links are not as good as they should be, when you think the rail network started here.’ The bishop also called for an increase in the basic living wage. After leaving school he read mechanical engineering at the University of Manchester Institute of

Science and Technology. Returning to the capital he worked for London Transport for six years and was promoted to contracts engineer. It was then he decided to join the priesthood and was later ordained by Cardinal Basil Hume.

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NEWS

14 | RailStaff | July 2014

Stone Roses

Partnership Progress for Samaritans

A top performing team at Network Rail has broken records renewing and cleaning 1,000 metres of ballast in Hampshire in one night.

The team used the BCS2, Network Rail’s first High Output Ballast Cleaner, a Plasser and Theurer Austrian-built RM900 which entered service in 2004.

The High Output Ballast Cleaner managed the job in just under eight hours – between 9pm and 4.50am on 10 and 11 of June.

One of the longest trains on the network, the High Output Ballast Cleaner consists of the cleaner itself and a string of conveyor ballast wagons. The cleaner scoops up the ballast, sieves out small, broken pieces and replaces them with the same weight in fresh stone.

According to Network Rail this was the first time that length of renewal had been achieved in under eight hours on

the British railway network. It marks another landmark for the Network Rail / South West Trains Alliance.

Says Alliance chief executive Tim Shoveller, ‘This is a perfect example of how work that would once have required a weekend closure can now be done overnight during the week – meaning fewer bus replacements for passengers.

Because we work as an Alliance, we were able to work with the high-output team to maximise the benefits of their skills, giving them longer on the track, while rerouting and retiming trains to keep disruption to passengers to a minimum.

As a result, our customers are enjoying a more comfortable and quiet ride, and with less disruption in the long-term.’

New A-Gender for Crossrail Crossrail, facing an unprecedented demand for engineering skills, wants to see more women entering the profession.

Only 8.5 per cent of engineers in Britain are women - among the lowest figures in Europe. The demand for engineers is being driven by an unprecedented level of planned infrastructure projects, including HS2, Thames Tideway and, in the future, Crossrail 2 and HS3. This is in addition to the huge demand for engineering skills being driven by rail industry capacity expansion.

One in two state schools is not sending a single female student to study A-level maths or sciences.

Crossrail and its contractors have visited 100 schools, talking to over 10,000 students in the past year alone, in a bid to attract more young people to engineering.

Recently Crossrail hosted ‘Engineer Your Future’ which marked the first National Women in Engineering Day (23 June).

Says Crossrail chief executive Andrew Wolstenholme, ‘The UK plans to deliver an unprecedented pipeline of infrastructure projects but it must do more to attract women to address the skills demand. There is also more that we must do to challenge the gender stereotypes that continue to influence some young women.’

Crossrail is making some progress in addressing the gender gap in engineering. Nineteen per cent of graduates working on the project are women and 25 per cent of the senior management team are women.

The Samaritans and Network Rail are to renew their partnership for a further five years. The aim is to reduce suicide on the railways by running staff courses on intervention and managing staff after a traumatic incident.

Since the original partnership began in 2010, railway staff have approached and saved the lives of more than 200 vulnerable people at railway locations.

British Transport Police also report more than 700 interventions. Many of these are as a result of attending Samaritans courses.

Almost 600 courses have been run by Samaritans trainers for around 7,000 rail staff and BTP officers. About 6,000 have attended the Managing Suicidal Contacts course. A further 1,000, mainly train drivers and driver managers, have undergone the Trauma Support Training course.

Sadly the numbers of deaths by suicide on the railways has fluctuated since the partnership began in 2010. In

2011 they dropped from 232 to 224, and in 2012 they rose to 268. The 2013 figure was 278. However the figures must be seen against a background of increased railway traffic. A million more passenger trains a year run across Britain than ten years ago.

Says Ian Stevens, Suicide Prevention Programme Manager for Network Rail, ‘Any death on the railway is a tragedy but the impact is felt not only by those who knew the person but by the train driver and station staff and those who are involved in the aftermath. We want to do everything we can to stop this from happening, and if it does, to help our people deal with it. Samaritans have helped us enormously to develop our work in this area, with their great expertise, empathy and tenacity.

A continued collaborative approach across the industry and everyone working in mental health is needed to tackle this societal problem and to help us keep Britain moving by rail.’ Samaritans is available round the clock, every single day of the year on 08457 90 90 90.

BTP Foil Beyoncé Ticket Scam © SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Two people from Essex have been arrested as British Transport Police (BTP) closed in on a major ticket scam.

Quick-thinking BTP officers picked up the trail at a Beyoncé concert in Manchester. Several fans were turned away from the concert at the Phones 4 U Arena having produced fake tickets at the turnstiles.

The Manchester Arena, which is built alongside and over Manchester Victoria station, falls under the remit of BTP. Detectives launched a full investigation which revealed that hundreds of people had been duped into buying the fake tickets online.

Says Detective Constable Mike Dermody, ‘In each case the victims believed they were buying genuine tickets and arranged to meet the seller at locations near to the venue where they handed over cash in exchange

for the tickets. The fraud only came to light when the victims tried to enter the concert venue and security staff noticed the tickets were fakes.’

A 31-year-old man and 55-year-old woman from North Weald, Essex, were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and will appear in court in November.

DC Dermody added, ‘There is no doubt that there are still victims, and potential suspects, we haven’t yet spoken to and I urge anyone who has been sold fake tickets in such a way to get in touch.’

NEWS

July 2014 | RailStaff | 15

The Big Show: Rail Vehicle Enhancements 2014 This year’s Rail Vehicle Enhancements 2014, RVE 2014 expo and forum will be three times the size of last year’s. It’s another rail industry success story. RVE 2014 will be held at the Derby Rams Stadium on Wednesday 15th October 2014.

Visitors to RVE 2013 benefited from a full day of events organised by Onyxrail with the support of the Rail Alliance.

Sponsored by Rail Media Group, RVE 2014 promises to be bigger, better and broader with both an expanded Exhibition and a Forum where visitors can hear from leading figures in the rail industry. Entry is free.

RVE 2013 was filled with exhibitors at the cutting edge of technology from around the world. These showcased real time passenger counting, cab and saloon cooling and passenger information equipment. Other innovations on show included LED lighting, entertainment and advertising

systems, interior and product designers, energy saving solutions such as hydrogen generators and driver advisory equipment. All of the exhibitors were kept busy with high levels of interest from visitors reflecting the rail industry’s clear and dramatic upturn.

Says Kevin Lane of Onyxrail, ‘2014 is proving to be a good time to be in railways as the industry limbers up to meet the challenges of CP5. These include answering the increasing demands of passenger growth and the industry-wide desire to boost capacity. We also share a common objective of improving the quality of rail travel. Railways should be a positive travel experience and Rail Vehicle Enhancements 2014 will help us further develop this.’

Following the success of RVE 2013 the Rail Alliance, Onxyrail and Rail Media also plan a boost in capacity. This will expand the success and value of RVE 2014 for visitors and exhibitors alike. It

looks like being a busy show. Most of the RVE 2013 exhibitors have already booked again. Ian Walmsley will be the Compere for the Forum. RVE 2014 will emphasise the renewed confidence in the rail industry and inspire visitors with the dramatic opportunities opening up across the expanding rail network.

Says Kevin Lane of Onyxrail, ‘RVE 2014 will, I am confident, parallel the huge advances being made by the new rail industry which all of our exhibitors plan to sustain and develop. RVE 2013 proved to be a great success and we look forward to building on that.’ Entry is free and the show is open between 0900 and 1630 on Wednesday 15th October 2014.

Organised by

RVE, now in it’s third successive year, will be back at the IPRO STADIUM hospitality suite, PRIDE PARK, DERBY on 9:00am to 4:30pm 15th October!

This years RAIL VEHICLE ENHANCEMENT show will feature: • 2 Suites with twice the number of Exhibitors • A bigger, broader range of Product and Service Exhibitors • A Rail Technology Forum chaired by Ian Walmsley • 2 NEW PRODUCT launches!

To exhibit at RVE 2014, call our sales team on 0121-771-4219 or e-mail sales@onyxrail.co.uk To visit RVE 2014 go to www.RVE2014.co.uk and register your interest to attend.

DOORS OPEN – 9:00am to 4:30pm Wednesday the 15th October, 2014

Rail Vehicle Enhancements 2014 Derby | Derby Rams Football Club | iPro Stadium Suite | October 15th

Sponsored by

NEWS

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PAGE 28 © SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

The five year countdown has started as five tunnel boring machines pushed ahead under the capital.

Rail Safety Summit 2013 Pull Out Section

Over 7,000 people are now working on the project.

Safety and productivity should go hand in hand...

The new specially built trains will be ready for test running in 2017.

Continued on PAGE 4

As the rail industry prepared to mark the 50th anniversary of the publication of the Beeching Report, members of the Royal Family visited London Underground to underline celebrations of its 150th year in operation. A busy Easter weekend saw railway staff out in force at Reading, on the London Underground and on numerous upgrade projects across the network aimed at clawing back capacity lost under Beeching.

A new two year scheme aimed at attracting school leavers to rail.

Part 3: The Re-Shaping of British Railways

&

PAGE 6

PAGE 22

CONFIDENCE

OPTIMISM

Andy Ridout talks to Andy Milne Rail recruiters - getting the right person for the right position.

Continued on PAGE 4

PAGE 21

Star Track the next generation

The Fall and Rise of Britain’s Railways

Colin Wheeler reviews the Rail Safety Summit presentations.

PAGE 18

PAGE 8

PAGE 9

Rail Safety Summit 2013

Record Numbers Take IRO Certificate

Clare Hollingsworth heads Eurostar

Bridgeway move for Paddy Dingwall

PAGE 9

PAGE 9

Crossrail’s new-build train fleet will be publicly funded to guarantee the start of rail services on the new railway in 2018.

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www.railstaff.co.uk

Elizabethan Serenade Dr. Daniel Woodland joins Lloyds Register Rail

A record number of people enrolled on IRO certificate courses.

Winner.

Rail Team of the Year.

Crossrail Creates

Rod Reid joins Bridgeway

GUARANTEED

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The rail industry continues to be at the forefront of attempts to energise the economy. Two bills paving the way for High Speed Two featured in the Queen’s Speech. Transport Minister Simon Burns, said, ‘The Government sees transport as one of the key drivers of growth in our economy.’ Speaking to a mass crowd at the rail engineer Technical Seminars at Railtex, he went on to praise confidence and optimism in the rail industry. ‘There’s a huge amount to do, but I am confident that we will succeed as long as we work together,’ he said.

Continued on PAGE 4

STATIONS: A confident statement

Crossrail’s premier tunnelling machine, Elizabeth, broke through into the new Canary Wharf station box, just a few days before the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the coronation of Her Majesty the Queen. TBM Elizabeth was greeted by Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin, who said, ‘This Government knows that by investing in transport projects like Crossrail we are investing in Britain.’

Continued on PAGE 4

PAGE 38

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Minister for Transport interview Simon Burns MP talks to RailStaff editor Andy Milne.

Often overlooked is the effect the Beeching Report had on stations.

PAGE 18

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continued from page 5 night.’ Austin bowled off down the road.

Ushered into Bowker’s room, I shook hands and said, ‘Congratulations on the arrival of young William.’ Bowker looked startled. ‘How did you know? I mean, I haven’t told hardly anyone.’ We sat down. ‘I can’t reveal my sources, you know that, but RailStaff always prides itself on being first with good news!’

Inner Anakin Iain Coucher, one time chief executive of Network Rail, had a fearsome reputation among railway staff and

cabinet ministers alike. A no-nonsense Yorkshireman he created in Network Rail a financially competent railway administration which has attracted billions in public investment. Coucher had a habit of fixing people with an unblinking stare and tapping the table at two second intervals with his index finger. Point by point, he’d drive home his arguments. All good stuff but after 30 minutes of this, I pushed back the papers and asked him for a few personal details.

How do you spend your leisure time, keep fit, you know; let’s have a look at the man behind... ‘The Darth Vader

mask?’ Coucher said, who had more sense of humour than perhaps his colleagues gave him credit for. Where else could you ask the virtual head of the rail industry to reveal his inner Anakin?

The industry has suffered its share of tragedy, lives wasted, crashes and accidents. This month marks the ninth anniversary of the London July bombings. Shelley Mather, a New Zealander, worked for ATOC and was on her way to work travelling on the Piccadilly line when she lost her life in an explosion that morning. What was doubly sad was that she had planned on returning to New Zealand and had been preparing to hand over much of what she did. A violent death leaves an enduring wound. Time is not a great healer and we still remember Shelley Mather and her family, as we do all those who mourn.

Back into icy water One theme of RailStaff has been the acts of heroism and courage that are a remarkable feature of railway life. This has been further enhanced by the huge success of the RailStaff Awards, which continues to celebrate the achievements of our readers - the people who do the work. Many of the stories are quite extraordinary. For example one bitterly cold morning in February 2013, two railway divers from Bridgeway Consulting were checking the submerged pilings of a bridge over the River Arun near Littlehampton on the south coast.

Unbeknown to them, a girl had tried to commit suicide up stream. Police arrived and were dashing back and forth along the bank. The two divers, told what had happened, looked out across the water and saw the body floating down stream.

David Kitchen and Mick Hill dived back into the icy water and struck out for the body. Despite the current, a dangerous

rip tide and the extreme cold they rescued the girl. She was resuscitated and taken to hospital. They saved her life.

Train for Life, a relief train a mile long which took aid to Kosovo ahead of that first desperate winter in 1999, was organised by two railwaymen – Neil Howard and John Morris. Direct Rail Services provided the engines. Despite being held up at gunpoint in Macedonia, the train made it and it is fair to say saved lives of many that winter.

Of the hundreds of Railway Children and charity fund raising stories the one that best illustrates railway generosity concerns Harry Boyce. Almost all the staff at Heathrow Express were involved in raising money to send Harry Boyce – the son of two of their train drivers to America for a special operation to mitigate the effects of cerebral palsy.

These are just token stories representative of the hundreds received and published. When it comes to thanks, the readers who send them in and contact us deserve a big thank you first.

Into the North Sea I’d also like to thank all our contributors - there are many of them – but in particular Neil Johnson, the original editor, who set it up and writes with enviable wit and elegance. Colin Garratt has been a mainstay of RailStaff right from day one, not only with pictures which capture the ethereal, elegiac, beauty of railways around the world but also with sound advice and a depth of knowledge that defies equal. Colin Wheeler has become a phenomenon in his own right. To read Colin Wheeler month by month is to expand your knowledge of railway safety and safe practice. The industry is the safer for his efforts. If this has saved just one life then it has all been worth it. Tim Casterton

NEWS

July 2014 | RailStaff | 17

RailStaff

Nationwide Track Renewals & Plant Hire in CP5

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Issue 195 | February 2014

RailStaff

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RECORD RUN FOR CROSSRAIL Andrew Wolstenholme OBE, Crossrail Chief Executive, has praised tunnelling teams for their hard work as he announced that 70% of the tunnel construction phase of the project is now complete.

January saw new train tunnels completed and the spectacular breakthrough of three

Issue 196 | March 2014

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Rapid Ballast Replacement on Plain Lines and through Switches & Crossings

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Rapid Ballast Replacement on Plain Lines and through Switches & Crossings

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Issue 198 | May 2014

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Channel Tunnel Celebration

DAWLISH DYNAMIC UNITES RAIL INDUSTRY

EUROSTAR TOPS TEN MILLION

RailStaff

Eurotunnel celebrates 20 years as passenger and freight volumes climb and profits rise.

Cut price freight rates and economic resurgence are boosting the fortunes of the Channel Tunnel.

tunnel boring machines.

PAGE 4

The main rail portal to the west looks like carrying more passengers than before following news of its dramatic re-opening.

The two-month race against time to repair the historic railway along Dawlish sea front has captured the imagination of the public and the thanks of local people.

Eurostar has confounded its critics by carrying over ten million passengers last year for the first time since services started 20 years ago. Recession-defying railways continue to sweep all before them, despite one of the worst winters on record.

Encouraged, Eurostar plans to expand its services to new destinations including Antwerp, Amsterdam, Lyon and Marseilles.

IN THIS ISSUE

IN THIS ISSUE

IN THIS ISSUE

IN THIS ISSUE

AVENTRA - FAITH IN THE FUTURE

RAIL INTERIORS - THE INSIDE STORY

SIMON KIRBY

IT’S RAIL - LIVE!

CHARLIE TAKES CONTROLS

KAREN PAYNE

CBE FOR ANTON VALK

RAIL LIVE 2014

JOLENE JOINS RAIL MEDIA

START DATE FOR NEW TRAMS

RAILSTAFF AWARDS

CROWTHER TO HEAD BTP

Crossrail contract goes to Bombardier Page 6

Shaping a UK Rail Interiors cluster Page 12

Joins HS2 as Chief Executive Page 8

National Track Plant Exhibition returns Page 6

East Coast restores faith in human kind Page 11

Joins RailStaff Awards team Page 8

Mr Valk receives Honour in the Hague Page 6

Set to be the largest outdoor UK rail event Page 30

New head of event sales Page 17

Edinburgh’s trams to start on 31 May Page 16

Success celebration at Ricoh Stadium Page 29

Paul Crowther is new Chief Constable Page 9

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has filed stories and interviews on Irish Railways down the years, expanding the breadth and scope of RailStaff. David Shirres has done a similar exercise for Russia. Even as we go to press Shirres is filing stories from a samovar-burping restaurant car aboard the Trans-Siberian Express. Paula Sargent, Matt Hill, John Brown, Jonathan Webb, Graeme Bickerdike, Delia Green, Roger Viggers and, more recently, Marc Johnson and, the superbly named, Nigel Wordsworth have all made excellent contributions.

Adam O’Connor puts it all together bringing a welcome élan to design and layout. The sales team deserve a special thank you, particularly Asif Ahmed – always cheerful and one of the best culinary companions you could wish for. Paul Curtis and Keith Darlison bring a fresh blast of enthusiasm and new ideas to sales. Tom O’Connor, deserves a special thanks for building a successful business – Rail Media – which quite unwittingly now parallels the wider, rising fortunes of the industry we serve.

We also depend for many ideas and stories on an invisible army of backroom PRs at almost every railway

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organisation. The heroes of this secret service are far too numerous to list, so I have chosen two to illustrate the rest.

John Yellowlees at ScotRail and Ellen Rossiter at Greater Anglia. Both have provided funds of stories down the years. John has an encyclopaedic knowledge of railways and has always been generous with compendious background information, introductions and ideas. Ellen Rossiter produces excellent stories and plenty of them. In fact if we ran a third of Ellen’s material, RailStaff’s level playing field would tilt up and slide into the North Sea.

Unshakable conviction Most anniversaries look back but with RailStaff the past is already another country. It is to the future we should look. We were once thought naive

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back in 1997. Rather immature wasn’t it predicting Crossrail would be built and high-speed rail accepted? How childish to imagine trams in Sheffield and freight trains in Mossend. Now imagination and daring is openly encouraged as we witness the emergence of a reborn industry sprouting new stations and freight depots, fleets and locomotives.

Passengers board new carriages as freight forwarders load taller, longer, trains. In major cities we see trams swishing through markets and universities. Another tranche of freight locos is being unloaded at Newport Docks in south Wales as we print.

International rail terminals, like Daventry, link Britain with mainland Europe in a rail web of trade and opportunity.

Far from scaling down the industry, rail companies are desperately trying to recruit school leavers, apprentices, students, young people, service personnel and second careerists.

Please think of joining the railway if you’re reading this in the hot flush of a middle age job crisis.

Although Ron Gooch planted those

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poppies as a tribute to the millions of servicemen and women who gave their lives for our continued freedom, in a way their blooming this summer is also a tribute to him and the industry he served.

The message of his benefactor that the best is saved until last could equally well apply to the railways. The fact is the best is yet to come and it needs determination and perseverance to bring it about. Ron might have been turned down by the railway in Derby for being too short, but he had the good sense to reapply in Suffolk. Of course we still have much work to do on loading gauge enhancement, but prospective rail staff will be relieved to know there is no minimum height requirement for working in the rail industry.

The railways we are building now will be cleaner, safer and faster. The people working on them, professional, well trained and inspired.

Like our readers and advertisers, they will be guided by good sense, camaraderie and the unshakable conviction that this is the greatest industry in the world.

INTERVIEW

18 | RailStaff | July 2014

McLoughlin Signals Intent at Spencer Rail An interview with David McLoughlin – CEO of Spencer Rail

Report by Simon Taylor

David McLoughlin joined Spencer Rail as chief executive officer in April 2014. Previously finance and commercial director at Network Rail, he has more than 30 years in the industry.

Spencer Rail has seen turnover increase to around £150 million in the last 18 months.

Simon Taylor reports David McLoughlin’s reflections on a busy three months at Spencer Rail.

‘Work as part of the major civils programme on the East Kent resignalling project is now well into delivery. Over Easter, Spencer Rail slid in a new underpass using brand new, industry first, technology.

‘An 800-tonne pedestrian subway, which will form part of the new station at Rochester, was built off line and adjacent to the existing rail embankment. It was then installed during a 96-hour blockade over the Easter period.’

‘Last year saw Spencer Rail involved in some of the industry’s more challenging projects, including the 15-day blockade to deliver the complicated Gravesend station remodelling project. With the Ipswich Chord project now delivered and Wessex Package 7 and Putney AFA reaching a conclusion, our operational focus remains on the successful delivery of a number of other highprofile projects that are currently underway.

Cushion of nitrogen ‘The reinforced concrete subway, which is 28 metres long, 7.6 metres wide and 4 metres high, was slid 36 metres into place after Spencer Rail had excavated through the embankment the previous day. The team used 10 jacks to lift the structure off the ground by 100mm. Each jack was bolted to a compressed nitrogen pad, which ran along a steel skidway, with each pad then being pressurised with nitrogen gas. The pads then acted

like a mini-hovercraft, riding on a cushion of nitrogen along the skidway.

‘This resulted in a greatly reduced friction between the subway and the skidway, meaning that a pushing force of only eight tonnes was required to slide the structure into place.’

‘Installing the subway was an extremely important and challenging aspect of the works at Rochester and it is testament to the expertise, forwardthinking and hard work of our team that we completed the installation successfully.

‘Moving such a large structure into place presented us with a number of logistical challenges but by using innovative technology, it was completed without incident and ahead of schedule. It was the first subway slide of this type carried out in the UK using this technology.

‘We also have a number of other major projects underway at Ipswich Yard, New Cross Gate on behalf of Transport for London (TfL), Package 707, West Yorkshire Growth and Wemyss Bay and we are delighted to learn that two of our projects at Edinburgh Waverley and Dalmarnock have been shortlisted at this year’s Scottish Transport Awards.’

INTERVIEW

Investing in our 400 people However, whilst the last few years have been exceptional for building Spencer Rail’s portfolio and reputation within the rail sector, McLoughlin recognises that evolution is essential if the company is to keep up with the industry’s leading rail infrastructure providers.

‘Safety has been and always will be our top priority. This needs to run through all that we do like a golden thread, but the modern day industry leader also needs to keep collaboration, innovation and value creation front and centre at all times.

‘Maintaining an annual portfolio of between £100 million and £150 million will be a challenge. We must continue to invest in our 400 people so that we can keep on delivering a quality and value-for-money service at all times.

We know that being a great employer makes us a great organisation to do business with – one that makes a social and economic difference to the people we serve now and in the future.

‘We have assessed and recently introduced a new recruitment and selection process and employing the best people and offering packages that compare with those who are

July 2014 | RailStaff | 19

considered to be the market leaders, will stand us in good stead.

‘We want and need people who can and will take us forward by delivering a great service consistently well. Our current team, and those we might employ in the future, will need to continue to be solutions focused – using traditional methods and looking for new ideas to deliver services that result in the right solutions for the likes of Network Rail, TfL, etc. so that their customer experience is always the best that it can be and, in turn, their customers and the general public benefit greatly.’

Great ideas David McLoughlin believes the challenge is to follow through on great ideas. That is, however, something that Spencer Rail has always had a strong reputation for doing – and something that Spencer Group’s chairman and founder, Charlie Spencer, has encouraged since the company was formed some 25 years ago.

Savings in excess of £2 million on the Wessex platform extensions, pioneering work on the Close Call system as well as the introduction of a new and innovative wireless tracking

system on the ground-breaking Sudbury project - an industry-first in Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) technology to help make an eight-mile stretch of railway line substantially safer – are just three very small examples.

‘Some people and organisations struggle in today’s economy to throw

things that are important to them.

They are our biggest rail customer and we must listen, learn, adapt and act where we can. We must make a real difference to the travelling public and the freight operators’ customers if we are going to be successful.’

David was formerly the finance and commercial director for the

We must make a real difference to the travelling public and the freight operators’ customers if we are going to be successful. off the negativity and rekindle the bold spirit that fuelled their passion in the first place. Obstacles and challenges are healthy for everyone, not just the leaders in today’s rail industry. They force you to think outside the box, so to speak - to be creative. Having worked for Network Rail for as long as I did, I know that new thinking, new ways of doing things, new ideas, innovation and value creation are all

Infrastructure Projects division within Network Rail and started his career in York where he is pictured. Having moved back to the area, and since joining Spencer Rail, he has started to reshape the business, working with the Spencer Group Board, to identify opportunities and develop new relationships not only with Network Rail but also other first tier infrastructure companies.

INTERVIEW

20 | RailStaff | July 2014

Collaborative organisation ‘We have performed well as a first tier business partner to Network Rail and there will undoubtedly be more programme and project opportunities to continue this good work in the future. However, I believe that we also have a lot to offer our principal contractor counterparts across the UK. ‘Our extensive experience, expertise in the individual disciplines of track, signalling, civils and infrastructure, E&P, OHLE and telecommunications could give other organisations the extra skills and capacity they need following the Government’s recent £38 billion investment announcement.

‘We have a reputation for being a very collaborative organisation.

Our approach to daily life and in our business dealings are based on openness, transparency honesty and integrity. These are not just words.

They are the things that help us to work more effectively as we play our part in improving Britain’s railways.

‘We are very keen to develop strong and robust partnerships, delivering

Chase Meadow Signalling, Spencer Rail and the industry as a whole - this arrangement will certainly create greater capacity to help us offer more and do things better.

Ply their trade in rail ‘Training new engineers and the chance to give those who have lost work in other sectors the opportunity to ply their trade in the rail industry

It is vitally important that we continue to train and retrain engineers to work on the UK’s rail network in the future. superior results in all that we do for the people we serve. Our aim is to develop a long-lasting and effective collaborative relationship that benefits all of the organisations we work with and, ultimately, the end user.’

Spencer Group recently acquired a majority share in rail industry signalling experts Chase Meadow to form Chase Meadow Signalling (CMS).

CMS, headquartered in Stratford upon Avon, provides specialised signalling solutions. The partnership aims to continue collective growth, formally integrating the skill base of both organisations, by offering a Design, Installation and Testing & Commissioning service. Specialist training will also add a new dimension to the service offering with plans to open a new training centre for tomorrow’s signalling experts in the Midlands.

‘This is a great opportunity for both

is something that really appeals to me. The Midlands is an area rich in engineering, manufacturing and electronic experience and expertise.

‘Signalling specialists are essential to any rail provider to ensure services run safely and smoothly. CMS will now also be able to offer tailored training to ensure this profession remains strong for many years to come. Since the privatisation of British Rail in the 1990s, specialised signalling engineers have dwindled in number with services being provided by a small number of private companies. Railway signalling is a very complex component of the rail industry and one that requires highly-skilled engineers to carry out the work. It is vitally important that we continue to train and retrain engineers to work on the UK’s rail network in the future.’

McLoughlin knows that he has a huge task ahead, but it’s one that he

relishes.

‘It has been an interesting and very hectic introduction to the business.

In my first few working weeks, I have been very impressed with the team here. They are highly skilled professionals with years of experience and a real desire to succeed. I have been pleasantly surprised by their commitment and the ideas and improvement suggestions that come in almost on an hourly basis.

As we gear ourselves up for the opportunities presented by CP5 and

we forge new working relationships across the industry, I am putting new plans in place that will help to build on the good work that Raj Sinha, our Rail MD, has put in place in the last few years. This is an organisation that has delivered some solid performance that will stand us in good stead for the future and while we can always do things better, there is no doubt that we are in a good place.

‘I feel very privileged to be at the helm and charged with taking the business forward.’

RailStaff Awards RECOGNISING THE PEOPLE WHO KEEP THE UK RAIL INDUSTRY MOVING

www.railstaffawards.com

Awards Party: 25th October, Ricoh Arena Coventry

McLoughlin Joins Orange Army

The sight of Patrick McLoughlin, Secretary of State for Transport, clad from head to foot in lurid orange hi-vis gear, addressing a crowd of railway staff at Rail Live 2014, will have alarmed friend and foe alike.

The honourable member for Derbyshire Dales stands accused of going native. ‘This is the first time I have addressed people wearing full PPE,’ he said. McLoughlin was speaking at Rail Live 2014 where £500 million pounds worth of railway equipment was on display.

If the RailStaff Awards needs a physical reflection and further proof that the rail industry is increasing in physical presence, strength and purpose, then this was it. Rail Media, which is staging the RailStaff Awards at Ricoh Stadium Coventry on 25th October, helped organise Rail Live 2014 along with MacRail, the Rail Alliance and Network Rail.

Like Mr McLoughlin railway engineers, fitters and technicians from every quarter of the industry were able to compare notes, watch each other giving demonstrations and discuss the rail industry.

Rail Live 2014 provided the physical evidence of an

industry on the upswing. Statistics describing increased passenger and freight volumes, better performance and increased capacity are always encouraging but there’s northing like seeing huge new machines, engineering trains, trams and tampers up close and personal.

Equally inspiring was the orange army of railway staff of all sizes, descriptions and backgrounds, converging on what had once been a military airfield. Everyone at Long Marston, who worked so hard, deserves further thanks and recognition. Railways, and the people who build and run them, are making a direct contribution to the economic and environmental future of the country.

Confidence is always a slow build exercise. The conventional media is still content to pick out railway bad news, accidents, foreign takeovers and over running possessions instead of focusing on what has to be one of the most remarkable industrial turn-arounds of modern times. Nurturing confidence is essential for the well being of the people delivering the industry. To talk up the achievements of railway staff is to make a direct contribution to the continuing expansion of the new rail industry.

NOW OPEN FOR

NOMINATIONS www.railstaffawards.com

Rail Live 2014 was a huge out door exhibition and a statement of faith in railways. Its counterpart, the RailStaff Awards 2014, will be staged this year at the Coventry Ricoh Arena. It’s a bigger venue with 24 hour cafés and restaurants, lots of car parking, a hotel and an all night casino. Next year the Ricoh Arena should have its own railway station. The RailStaff Awards is a big party, a celebration of all that’s boldest and best in the industry, it is also a chance to meet friends and catch up. Above all it is a chance to say thank you to railway staff at all levels. Thanks, encouragement and support are the essential elements in any successful enterprise.

Nominations are open now and there’s advice on how to nominate colleagues on the web site. The RailStaff Awards 2014 is for the ordinary people, clerks, fitters, track workers and traincrew who routinely deliver far more than the job description stipulates. McLoughlin himself started life as a coal miner. He might not be in the running for any awards soon for sartorial elegance but his enthusiasm and support for railways is welcome news. The RailStaff Awards 2014 is a further exercise in support for the new rail industry and the dynamic efforts of all who work in it.

RAILSTAFF AWARDS

22 | RailStaff | July 2014

FirstGroup Backs Lifetime Achievement Award FirstGroup is the proud sponsor of the Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s RailStaff Awards.

The company is Britain’s largest rail operator carrying more than 330 million passengers per annum. It operates First Great Western, First Capital Connect, First TransPennine Express, First ScotRail, First Hull Trains and Tramlink on behalf of Transport for London. It runs regional and commuter services, open access and light rail operations as well as high speed inter-city trains and overnight sleepers – everything from local services to long distance express trains.

The company has a strong track record of investment with more than 700 new vehicles introduced and punctuality and performance increasing across each of its franchises since FirstGroup commenced operations. The company is committed to maintaining a leading position in the market through the upcoming franchising competitions.

First is also one of Britain’s biggest bus operators running more than one in five of all local bus services. In North America it is the largest provider of student transportation with some 49,000 yellow

school buses and operates the iconic Greyhound coach services.

Says Tom O’Connor, managing director of Rail Media Group, ‘I am delighted to welcome FirstGroup which has been a long and faithful supporter of the RailStaff Awards and the people who work in railways. The Lifetime Achievement Award is one of the most popular categories. For me it is entirely right that a company which grew from an employee-management buy-out to a successful international transport business should be backing this award. FirstGroup holds a light to the aspirations of so many in our industry.’

Vernon Barker, Head of FirstGroup’s Rail Division, said: ‘The Lifetime Achievement Award recognises people who put their careers and much of their lives in to delivering excellence in the rail industry.’

He continued: “Right across the industry we work with employees at all levels who work hard to deliver services, look after customers and keep the railway safe and successful.

I regularly travel on our trains to visit our stations, booking-on points, maintenance depots and offices – right across our operating companies – and see first-hand the great work being done by colleagues day and night,

24/7. It remains a privilege to witness the commitment and professionalism of employees.

‘The railway, for many of us in the industry, is a way of life. Unlike most other sectors it is not uncommon to find colleagues with 30, 40 and 50 years service. There are thousands of people, including many at First, who have served the rail industry faithfully over

many years.

‘The Lifetime Achievement Award reflects the passion and commitment of men and women who have dedicated their careers and lives to manning our trains, selling tickets, operating signals and building and maintaining trains and track.

They are the real heroes of the industry.’

RAILSTAFF AWARDS

July 2014 | RailStaff | 23

Network Rail is proud to sponsor the RailStaff Awards 2014 It’s the hard work of individuals and teams within our industry that’s helping us build a better railway for Britain. From pioneering investment and development projects, to innovations that make everyday services faster, smarter 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 again sponsor this year’s RailStaff Awards.

Building a better railway for a better Britain. networkrail.co.uk

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RAILSTAFF AWARDS

24 | RailStaff | July 2014

Talk, listen and help - Samaritans Lifesaver Award As part of Samaritans suicide prevention partnership with Network Rail, Samaritans are again sponsoring the Lifesaver Award at the Railstaff Awards 2014. Now in its third year the Lifesaver Award aims to recognise the pre-emptive actions of station staff, train crew, track workers, BTP officers and many railway staff who by timely intervention prevented a potential fatality.

Says David Masters, Project Officer for Samaritans working on the suicide prevention partnership, ‘Life saving interventions are being made by rail industry staff and BTP officers on a daily basis. This award aims to recognise the actions of these people who in many cases are going above and beyond what’s expected of them to help a person in need. Samaritans, and the Network Rail suicide prevention partnership, work on the basis that talking about your problems

can really help, and a sensitively managed intervention by rail staff and BTP officers can make a real difference to someone’s life.’

The Samaritans/Network Rail partnership was formed in 2010 with the aim of reducing railway suicides and improving the support available to those affected by them. The cornerstone of the partnership’s ‘soft’ prevention measures is the Managing Suicidal Contacts training course which has been delivered to over 5600 rail industry employees and BTP officers across England, Scotland and Wales.

The course aims to give attendees the skills and confidence to identify and approach a potentially suicidal person at a station.

Paul Curtis of the Rail Media Group reiterated the importance of the Network Rail - Samaritans partnership. ‘Suicide on the railways remains a big challenge for us all. It is not just the families and friends, but also railway workers, train drivers, railway staff and police officers

who have to deal with the harrowing immediate aftermath of the death. I know from my own experience this is a source of continuing distress for those left behind.’ 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, ‘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 Samaritans Lifesaver Award.’

Adds 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.’

RAILSTAFF AWARDS

July 2014 | RailStaff | 25

GRADUATE OF THE YEAR 2014 PROUDLY SPONSORED BY SIGNALLING SOLUTIONS

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excellence in train control A Balfour Beatty and Alstom Company

SAMARITANS/ NETWORK RAIL PARTNERSHIP

Proud sponsors of

Rail Team of the Year At The Rail Staff Awards 2014

are proud to be sponsoring the Lifesaver award at this years’ RailStaff Awards

Experts in providing safety critical staffing and professional recruitment services to the rail industry

Talking saves lives Over 5000 rail industry staff and BTP have been trained with the skills to help a person in need, and are using these skills to prove that encouraging someone to talk about their problems can save lives.

For more info and to nominate yourself or a colleague go to

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In partnership with

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RAILSTAFF AWARDS

26 | RailStaff | July 2014

Morson International Sponsors Rail Engineer of the Year

Morson International, top technical recruiters, will sponsor the Rail Engineer of the Year award at this year’s 8th RailStaff Awards.

The RailStaff Awards takes place on 25th October 2014 at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry. Rail Engineer of the Year provides an opportunity to recognise the importance of a job that requires dedication, expertise and immense responsibility.

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: ‘We are delighted to support and sponsor the Rail Engineer of the Year category at this year’s Railstaff Awards. The awards highlight the exceptional work that the UK’s rail workforce does on a daily basis.

‘Morson International has provided skilled rail engineers to the industry for over four decades and continues to work with some of the nation’s most respected operators, and on the country’s highest profile projects.

‘With new and increased investment in the UK’s infrastructure, we are in an exciting time for innovation in the industry. Morson International is proud to recognise the achievements of all those nominated at this year’s awards.

‘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.’ Says Tom O’Connor, Managing Director of the Rail Media Group, ‘We welcome Morson International to the 8th RailStaff Awards. Morson International has been right behind the RailStaff Awards for several years now reflecting its growing

and dynamic presence in the new rail industry. Attracting and retaining more engineers is essential to the future of the industry. Getting the message across that railway engineering is rewarding, worthwhile and a great career is important and is the responsibility of us all. Every project bears witness to the high levels of skill and hard work we see among our engineers. We should never take it for granted.

People from Morson consistently demonstrate high levels of professionalism and ingenuity. They are an inspiration.’

RAILSTAFF AWARDS

July 2014 | RailStaff | 27

Engineering the future

ASSURANCE & COMPLIANCE

Progress Rail Services UK Ltd proudly sponsors

BIM SERVICES

"Project Manager of the Year" at the RailStaff Awards 2014

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Progress Rail Services is the U.K.’s largest manufacturer of permanent way infrastructure, specialising in the design and manufacture of permanent way trackwork and materials for mainline, freight, industrial and light rail customers in the UK and globally.

RailStaff Awards recognises the Professionalism, Innovation, Service and Excellence of individuals and companies in the rail industry.

Join us on 25th October 2014 at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry.

For more information and to book your place visit www.railstaffawards.com

PERMANENT WAY ENGINEERING

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Railstaff Awards 2014

Rail Safety Person of the Year 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 Railstaff Awards 2014.

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Proudly sponsoring ‘Signalling & Telecomms Person of the Year’ Proud sponsors of the RailStaff Awards 2014 Morson International is the UK’s No1 Rail Supplier.

Westermo is a global player in mission critical data communications solutions. Westermo products thrive in the harsh environments of the trackside at the edge of today’s enterprise networks. … Quality systems audited by leading global rail companies … Designed for high reliability and long life leading to reduced maintenance costs … Legacy serial communications to Ethernet IP networking solutions … Secure and resilient networking solutions … Tested to EN50121-4 EMC standard and operational at extreme temperatures … Wide range of Network Rail accepted products … Low power consumption helping to build sustainable railway Lynx managed10-port Ethernet switch PADS: 087/045460

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RAILSTAFF AWARDS

28 | RailStaff | July 2014

RBF Backs HR Person of the Year RBF (the new name for Railway Benefit Fund), is sponsoring this year’s HR Manager of the Year.

The move heralds a higher public profile for RBF, the railway charity dedicated to helping current, former and retired railway staff.

Abi Smith joined RBF as Executive Director four months ago. Says Abi, ‘HR managers, their teams and recruiters,

are real heroes for us and have already proved very helpful as we review the work of RBF. We have been taking advice from many HR managers this year as we work out what we can do better and where help is needed most.’

RBF, which was established in 1858, is currently conducting a full scale review of its activities before modernising and updating its structure. ‘We are very much aware that many railway staff do

Your colleagues need your help

Railway people, both current and retired, sometimes find themselves in financial difficulty, through no fault of their own.

We can help and so can you If you need help call us on 01270 251316 or visit www. railwaybenefitfund.org.uk To make a donation telephone us or visit the website.

Proud supporter of

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

not know about us. We plan to change all that and increase the scope of our fund raising - as well as the help we can offer.’

The HR role in railways has changed dramatically over the last 20 years. HR managers keep track of employment legislation, organise training, recruitment and development and keep a watching brief on the health, well-being and safety of all staff. The welfare of staff is important. Most railway companies now view the recruitment, training and retention of skilled staff as among their highest priorities.

It’s been a busy four months for Abi who is originally from York but moved over to Chester as a teenager.

After taking Business Studies at West Cheshire College, Abi set about forging a promising career in hotel management. Although successful Abi Smith looked around for a different and more challenging role. Quite by chance she heard of a job at a children’s hospice, Claire House, at Bebington on the Wirral. ‘It was certainly a step back in terms of pay and career,’ says Abi who started as a community fundraiser, eventually rising to being Area Fundraising Manager. ‘But I don’t regret a minute of it.’ She stayed nine years and helped lead a capital-intense rebuilding project, boosting income from £1.2m to £2.9m a year.

At the same time she married Pete and the couple now have a 5 year old daughter, Chloe and two step children, Hannah and James. The family lives at Bromborough on the Wirral. Abi spends much of her time in London and at the RBF offices in Crewe.

‘I liked being at Claire House but I

found out about RBF and the more I learned about it and the railway industry the more I was drawn into it.’

Abi says.

RBF helps railway people in times of financial hardship through grants. ‘We fund things like mobility equipment, funeral expenses and household repairs.’ One retired railwayman suffering from Parkinson’s Disease needed a new cooker with a guard round it – to stop him accidentally knocking pots off. It’s the sort of outlay not covered by social services and too expensive for a pensioner but RBF stepped in and replaced the cooker.

In another instance a railway couple were bringing up two grandchildren.

They needed help with buying sensory equipment for one of the children who had learning difficulties. A grant from RBF helped. One gentleman needed a replacement mobility scooter and the RBF stepped in.

This year RBF needs £500,00 to help support approximately 500 people.

Grants range in value from hundreds of pounds to quite small amounts.

Says RailStaff editor, Andy Milne, ‘For many of us the railway is a community, a family, and it makes sense to extend a helping hand to railway people who need help. This is a very worthwhile cause and we wish Abi and her team every success at RBF. Many people only see HR managers at the job interview or when they have a query about pay or terms and conditions but in fact they do an immense amount of good and, like so many in the industry, get very little recognition for it. This award aims to put that right and ensure everyone in the industry is right up to speed on the good work of the RBF.’

NEWS

July 2014 | RailStaff | 29

© SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Camera Ready Candidates Video interviewing could be about to take off. Data gathered from a recent CDI AndersElite survey suggests candidates and employers are now ready to use video as part of the recruitment process.

Of 360 candidates interviewed over half were already aware of video interviewing, whilst only 16% of respondents had ever taken part in one.

What’s particularly significant is that when asked if they would be willing to take part in a video interview and did they think it would help the application process, a resounding 88% said yes.

A similar picture emerged when hiring managers were surveyed. 56% were aware of the technology, but less than 10% had previously used it. However, as with the candidates, 62% also felt it would benefit the recruitment process.

Video interviewing can be used in two different ways during the recruitment process. The first method is to screen and compare a pool of candidates by watching short pre-recorded clips, often with the candidates presenting highlights from their CV or answering a set of standard questions. The second option is a live interview with a two-way, real-time conversation between the candidate and hiring manager.

The technology to make video interviewing possible has been around for years and is constantly evolving.

Furthermore, it is very cost and time effective, environmentally friendly and incredibly easy to use. Historically the problem seemed to have been more about changing attitudes - perhaps candidates and hiring managers have both felt a little self-conscious, reluctant to change or haven’t been offered video screening and interviewing as an option during the recruitment process.

More convenient for everyone Things are now changing. Apple recently announced that between 15 and 20 million FaceTime calls are made every day. Companies routinely use video conferencing and most of us at one time or another have used Skype.

The huge popularity of sites such as YouTube and Vimeo show that we are all far more comfortable using video as a communication tool than ever before.

Yet being open to using video to screen or interview a candidate is only one part of the issue. The other, and perhaps more important issue, is just because we can, should we? Many of the benefits of video interviewing are self-evident. It’s far more convenient for everyone, it speeds up the hiring process, reduces costs

and unnecessary travel whilst having a positive impact on the environment. In short, it saves both time and money for the client and the candidate.

Better hiring decisions Perhaps the softer benefits are not so immediately apparent. The use of video in the recruitment process can also make for better hiring decisions. It has long been understood that the majority of human communication is non-verbal, the actual words spoken may account for as little as 7% of the information passed, with body language and tone of voice accounting for more than 90%.

What may be less well known is just how little time is spent looking at a CV. Research, conducted in 2012 by career website The Ladders, showed that on average a recruiter will spend just six seconds looking at your CV, proving that

a CV, when viewed in isolation, is not necessarily the best way of screening and selecting candidates. Reading a CV and then watching a candidate talking about his or her experiences, key skills or answering some specific questions set by the hiring manager is a much more effective screening process.

Despite the obvious benefits of using video in the recruitment process it is still very much the exception rather than the rule. According to a study by Aberdeen Group, just 31% of organisations currently invest in this particular interviewing technique and our survey supports this. However it does look like that is finally about to change.

CDI AndersElite is sponsoring Rail Team of the Year at the RailStaff Awards 2014. To discover more about this innovative technology, please contact CDI AndersElite on 023 8021 9143. © SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

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30 | RailStaff | July 2014

Politics don’t stop Yakunin Report by David Shirres In the nine years since he became president of Russian Railways (RZD), Vladimir Yakunin has transformed the company from a Soviet bureaucracy to an outward looking international business. This much is clear from the annual 1520 strategic forums at which Russian gauge (1520mm) railways gather to discuss common commercial, technical and operational issues. David Shirres reports from Sochi in Russia.

The ninth forum was held in Sochi in June. It was the first to be held after the Winter Olympics for which RZD had significantly enhanced local infrastructure and built a new line to the nearby mountain venues.

The difficult political situation was acknowledged and resulted in a geographical change in emphasis.

In 2012, the emphasis was on working with Europe with high-level representation from the European Union. Not surprisingly this year there was no such political representation, although European businesses were well represented. Also absent were Ukrainian Railways.

This year, there was much discussion of the agreement signed in May by Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan to establish a Eurasian Economic Union.

The forum included discussions on improved rail services to China and an announcement that, in October, the first 1520 forum will be held in China.

Topics considered included RZD’s investment programme, Eurasian rail freight corridors and Russia’s high-speed line. The full programme is available from: http//forum1520. com/2014/en/programme/.

The Sochi Show In Russia, the Sochi forum is such a newsworthy event that a plane was chartered for the 134 journalists attending. This included a handful from international transport publications of which RailStaff was the only UK representative.

As mentioned previously in RailStaff, Sochi is largely a show at which little new is said. Talking to RailStaff last year, Yakunin acknowledged this aspect of the forum but pointed out that its main purpose is to provide an opportunity for business communication by bringing key people together in the right setting to facilitate business agreements.

Indeed signing of agreements is part of the show. In front of a barrage of press cameras are the 13 signatories for the eight agreements. Behind them are attractive young women who pass agreements to the appropriate individual for signing. This year’s agreements included those between Alstom, Transmashholding and RZD to develop Russia’s first dual voltage freight locomotive and technical co-operation between Siemens and Moscow University.

FEATURE

Investing for the future RZD carries one billion people each year (9 per cent on long-distance trains) and 2.8 trillion tonne/ km of freight which, excluding pipelines, is 85 per cent of Russia’s freight traffic. To maintain and develop this traffic RZD is to invest 813 billion roubles (£14.2 billion) in 2014 and 2015.

Of this, £9.9 billion is for infrastructure investment which includes £4.6 billion of state funds for specific projects.

Much of this state funding will be to enhance the Trans-Siberian and the BAM (Baikal Amur Mainline) railway, currently a single track railway. 462 kilometres will have been double tracked by 2017 and an additional 45 passing loops will have been provided.

It is estimated that this will generate annual export traffic of 55 million tonnes per annum.

Other infrastructure investment projects include £2.1 billion for capacity improvements and £800 million on signalling and power supplies.

RZD’s chief engineer, Valentin Gapanovich, said that RZD is to invest £4.3 billion on traction and rolling stock (T&RS) over the next two years.

The largest investment is in 1,408 EMU

July 2014 | RailStaff | 31

coaches (41 per cent) with a further 12 per cent allocated for 511 passenger coaches. Whilst 327 locomotives and 1,445 wagons respectively account for 7.5 per cent and 14 per cent of total T&RS investment.

Private freight companies, which carry most of Russia’s rail freight, are expected to invest £4.4 billion in 107,000 wagons over the next two years. Russia currently has 1.2 million rail freight vehicles but only needs 900,000 to meet current demand. This surplus makes it difficult to make the required investment in modern, higher capacity, wagons. This is regarded as a major issue.

Perhaps the most interesting T&RS investment statistic is that 17.5 per cent of the total is for 2,285 infrastructure maintenance vehicles. Spending £750 million on such machines over the next two years in an indication of the cost of maintaining thousands of miles of heavy freight lines.

As well as providing RZD with modern stock, much of this T&RS investment is also developing Russian industry.

In his presentation, Gapanovich described how the manufacture in Russia of Siemens ‘Lastochka’ EMUs had resulted in Russia’s first plant to weld aluminium body shells, enhanced the

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capabilities of 160 Russian companies and will have produced 10,000 new hitech jobs by 2018.

Eurasian freight corridors The average weight of a Russian freight train is 3,600 tonnes, with 151,000 trains per year weighing over 6,000 tonnse. To increase capacity on the heavily trafficked freight lines, particularly the Trans-Siberian, RZD have a project for regular operation of 7,100 tonnes freight trains by 2020 within the current maximum 71 wagon train length. This will require higher capacity wagons and an increase in maximum axle weight to 25 tonnes from the current 23.5 tonnes.

Such trains will be hauled by the new generation of freight locomotives with asynchronous traction. On 3kv DC lines this is the 2ES10 ‘Granit’ - a two unit 11,800 hp locomotive built by a Ural Locomotives, a Sinara and Siemens joint venture. On 25kV AC lines the unit 11,400 hp 2ES5 is manufactured by Transmashholding in collaboration with Alstom.

Whilst such developments present significant engineering challenges, there are also significant commercial and operational issues to be met to attract trans-continental rail freight over the metals of different administrations.

Regular container trains taking about two weeks from Leipzig to Shenyang via the Trans-Siberian or from Chengdu to Duisberg via Kazakhstan show these challenges are being overcome.

As part of the economic union between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, the three railway companies have agreed to create the United Transportation and Logistics

Company (UTLC) to take over the rolling stock and terminals of the three rail companies. This will generate additional traffic from a unified container service between China and Europe. UTLC will be supported by international logistics group, GEFCO in whom RZD purchased a 75 per cent share from Peugeot in 2012 for 800 million euros. This reflects an increasing realisation of the need to offer a transport logistic service.

Yakunin pointed out that Deutsche Bahn is a good example in this respect and that less than 50 per cent of its earnings are from rail transportation.

As well as investing in its own rail freight corridors, RZD is assisting with the modernisation of the Ulan

Bator Railway and in May signed an agreement with Chinese Railways to improve rail infrastructure at the border crossings where there is a break of gauge.

In his presentation, Professor Li Xin of the Shanghai Institute for International Studies referred to China’s vision of the ‘New Silk Road’ corridor which in a recently published map was routed south of the Caspian Sea to Europe.

China felt this would bring new opportunities to every country on the route.

Yakunin also gave his vision of infrastructure investment. He envisaged joint co-operation of Eurasian countries for simultaneous investment of all types of infrastructure

to promote beneficial international development which he felt was in contrast with the American market-led approach.

Russia’s HS1 Two years ago, the forum was discussing a new high-speed line between Moscow and St Petersburg.

This plan changed in April 2013 when it was announced that the first stage of Russia’s high-speed rail network would be a 770 km line to Kazan, south east of Moscow at a cost of one trillion roubles (£17.5 billion). At last year’s forum, Yakunin advised that the change of plan was a political decision to promote development in the area.

This year, Alexey Tsydenov, Russian Deputy Minister of Transport, advised that the project had total government support. Funds have been reserved to build the line from 2015 to 2017.

However, the state is to finance only 40 per cent of the scheme with the rest covered by loans and private investments. The lack of a tender for design and construction indicates there is still work to do on the required funding package.

Nevertheless, Yakunin is upbeat about the project and revealed that many in Russia had thought that the £19 billion required for the high-speed line between Moscow and Kazan should be spent on more

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deserving projects. However, studies using the experience of Japan, France and Germany had conclusively demonstrated to the government that high-speed rail was a ‘very handsome investment for the state.’ As one example, in its first 11 years the line would generate tax revenues of twice the cost of its construction.

To demonstrate the effectiveness of this model, Yakunin advised that it had been decided that the first part of the line, the 190 km to Vladimir, should be constructed by RZD. At last year’s forum, Yakunin was confident that the Kazan line would be completed well before Britain’s HS2. He gave no indication that he had changed his view.

A chance to speak to the boss For foreign journalists, the opportunity to meet Yakunin is the highlight of the forum. His English is excellent and he is always forthcoming at his press conferences. This one was no exception. In a strange contrast, the topics discussed ranged from the detailed railway issues already mentioned to the politics of Ukraine.

Yakunin advised that, apart from several hours blockage when the railway in Ukraine was blown up, there has been no disruption to rail traffic. There continues to be good co-operation between the two railways. However, traffic had dropped by around 60 per cent. He felt that, ‘sooner or later everything will come to normal’ but recognised that until then this was a setback for the project

to build a Russian gauge line through Slovakia to Vienna. Even if the situation stopped this line, he was certain that a Russian gauge line would be built to central Europe. There is a big demand for such a line and ‘it is like water in the sand, the water will find a route’.

Turning to the current political situation Yakunin emphasised that with his background he was able to discuss politics professionally. He was adamant that it was not Russia who had created the ordeal in Ukraine and quoted Germany’s first Chancellor Bismarck who said that to get power from Russia we need to get Ukraine from Russia. He knew that the United States had studied this doctrine.

He was visibly angry at policemen killing children with toy guns, Russian journalists being killed and neo-Nazis

burning people alive. He questioned why this was not noticed in Europe.

It was certainly a thought provoking explanation. This writer was left with the thought that there are two sides to every story and that perhaps in the UK we generally only get one side.

Implementing the vision At the end of the forum its independent experts gave their views. Jeroen van der Veer, former chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell, was convinced that the international co-operation demonstrated at the forum is a win-win for all. He therefore did not agree with sanctions. Vladimir Salamatov, chief executive of World Trade Centre also shared this view.

Steve Szeghi, Professor of Economics, Wilmington College of Ohio was

overawed by commitment to public infrastructure in contrast to his experience in the United States. All felt the forum had achieved its aim of promoting international co-operation.

Salamatov, however, observed that shippers should have participated.

Closing the conference, Yakunin again presented his vision of socially responsible businesses, promoting social development through international co-operation. The current situation has not stopped his implementation of this vision, even if its geographical focus may have changed. It is to be hoped Yakunin is right to say the Ukrainian situation will be resolved, hopefully sooner rather than later. It would be good to see full European participation at the 1520 Forum in 2015.

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34 | RailStaff | July 2014

A Story of Parternship Network Rail recognised the achievements of its contractors and supply chain recently at the 2014 Partnership Awards, held on London’s south bank.

The sixth annual Partnership Awards were introduced by chief executive Mark Carne, who said, ‘Everyone here tonight has made a difference to Network Rail, and I’d like to take this opportunity to express my thanks and gratitude for everything you have done to help deliver a better railway for a better Britain.”

Awards were divided amongst 11 categories covering everything from Heritage to Sustainable Excellence and Best Small/Medium/Large Project. Companies were able to make submissions for as many or as few categories as they wished.

These were then whittled down to a published shortlist by the judges and a winner – and usually one or two highly commended entries – chosen from

those.

Comedian Ed Byrne (pictured far right) entertained the guests, mainly with anecdotes about rail’s mortal enemy – the aviation industry. He then also presided over the awards themselves.

Some big names did well. Balfour Beatty Rail won two awards, for Safety and for Heritage, Carillion won Driving Efficiencies, which was nothing to do with train driving, andSpencer Rail won two – Best Large Project and Best Collaboration along with Balfour Beatty, Atkins and Medway Council.

However, smaller concerns also had their time in the limelight. Capgemini UK won Best Use of Technology & Innovation for Linear Asset decision Support (LADS) with Dual Inventive highly commended, while Mission Room were Highly Commended for Safety.

At the end of the category awards came two more. A Special Award was presented by the MP for Newton Abbot,

Story Contracting collecting their award from Mark Carne (left).

Anne Marie Morris, to the team that rebuilt the Dawlish Sea Wall and the Great Western main line to Cornwall.

Tom Kikham, Andy Crowley, Rob Burr and Rob Allen were named individually, but the 300-strong ‘Orange Army’ received the award. Quite a number went on stage to receive it.

Then it was time for the final award, the Supplier of the Year. Mark Carne presented that one himself, and it went to the recipient of the Best Small Project award – Story Contracting. A cheer went up, not only from the Story team present

Golf Win for RBF RBF, the Railway Benevolent Institution, is around £10,000 better off thanks to golfers from across the industry who took part in the charity’s 6th annual golf day held at Hendon Golf Club.

24 teams of four, representing passenger, freight and supplier companies, enjoyed perfect golfing weather and dug deep into their pockets to raise money for colleagues in need.

Says RBF’s executive director, Abi Smith, ‘My thanks go to everyone who supported our golf day - those who took part, their employers and everyone who donated prizes or their time. Of course the real winners are the people we help.’

RBF’s vice-president, David Allen, organised the tournament.

‘I was told that this year’s competition was the best yet,’ says David. ‘It’s now a well-established date in the railway sporting calendar, getting better and better each year.’

Winner of the Barlow Cup for 2014 was Northern Rail with Lambert Smith Hampton, RPMI and Virgin close behind.

Plans for Golf Day 2015 are well underway and details will appear soon on RBF’s website.

RBF is a charity for railway people funded by railway people. It was founded to provide support to railway staff, active and retired and their dependants when they needed help through illness, injury, bereavement, or adversity.

but from the room at large, showing that it was a popular choice.

As a large group of smiling Story faces walked to the stage for the presentation and photographs, the remaining guests were left to ponder that, for the second year running, Network Rail had chosen one of the middle-ground, companies which are sometimes principle contractors and sometimes sub-contractors, proving that the contributions from suppliers of all sizes are truly valued for the contribution that they make to the railway.

Samaritans Special

Railway staff at East Midlands Trains have organised a charity special to raise money for the Samaritans.

The HST, ‘Swanage Samaritan,’ ran from Sheffield to Swanage and back with 400 railway people and Samaritans volunteers aboard.

The train was staffed by East Midlands Trains volunteers who donated their day’s wages to Samaritans.

Network Rail and Swanage Railway waived track access charges.

The headboard, ‘Swanage Samaritan’ proudly displayed on the front of the train, is to be sold by auction. Proceeds will go to Samaritans.

Says East Midlands Trains’ head of operations strategy, Darren Ward, ‘What we do is a fraction of what Samaritans achieve, and we consider it a perk of the job to be involved with an organisation that does such wonderful work.’

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Outstanding Intertrain Celebrate Team Triumph

Market–leading Intertrain (UK) Ltd has been recognised as OUTSTANDING following an extensive audit by the National Skills Academy for Railway Engineering.

Says Keith Jessop (pictured), Managing Director of Intertrain (UK) Ltd, ‘We are very proud to announce that following our NSARE audit in May 2014, we were awarded as Outstanding against all inspection criteria. NSARE spent a total of four days visiting three of our training centres undertaking inspections against their framework, a framework that is closely matched to current Ofsted inspection criteria used throughout all education.’ Framework criteria includes: • Capacity to Improve – robust and solid infrastructure that mirrors the growth of the company.

• Quality of Provision – taking into account the outstanding quality of our teaching and learning experiences as well as the quality of our industry leading facilities.

• Learner Outcomes – year on year outstanding success rates for both funded provision as well as our commercial provision.

• Leadership and Management – Strategic Directorship and leadership with a clear vision of how the company wishes to progress.

It’s been a busy 12 months for Intertrain (UK) Ltd. The report notes, ‘In the 12 months from June 2013 to May 2014 they have delivered a total of 635 courses – this makes Intertrain the largest training and assessment provider of its kind in the country.’ Training centres include Gateshead, York, Doncaster, Chesterfield, Warrington, Burton-upon-Trent, Birmingham and Enfield.

The company is making a direct impact on the employment of young people, boosting the rail industry skills base: ‘Support for pre- vocational opportunities has supported young people with few – if any qualifications.

They gain access to learning that can transform lives.’ The report also went on to praise Intertrain (UK) Ltd’s success ratio, ‘Learner achievements are outstanding at all levels.’ Professionalism is a core value at Intertrain (UK) Ltd and the report acknowledges this: ‘As the company has expanded to meet national needs, growth is underpinned by sound financial and management planning.’

Keith Jessop thanked his team.

‘Everyone at Intertrain has worked extremely hard to get the Outstanding grade. It was a great team effort and I am extremely proud to see the company grow from strength to strength.’ The report marks a personal triumph for Head of Compliance, Vince Tennison. ‘This report reflects the total commitment Intertrain has towards providing quality provision on a national basis – this is a whole team effort and I am very proud to be part of such a team,’ says Vince.

Intertrain (UK) Ltd is a National NSARE ‘Outstanding’ Railway Safety Training and Assessment provider delivering NSARE, City and Guilds, Link-Up and NVQ approved training at venues across the UK. Intertrain delivers a wide range of consultancy and railway professional services working with partners and employers to offer an 18 month Apprenticeship scheme helping employees gain the necessary qualifications to start a career in the railway industry.

See vacancies on page 61.

Electro- Diesel Debut at Derby The prototype of Network Rail’s new Ultra73 locomotive has been unveiled at Railway Vehicle Engineering Limited’s works in Derby.

The locomotive is substantially complete and was presented to Network Rail for inspection and approval. The Ultra73 is a rebuild of a Class 73 electro-diesel locomotive with modern traction equipment.

The Ultra73 uses two Cumminspowered diesel generator sets, supplied by National Railway

Equipment Corporation of the US, electronically controlled power conversion equipment and a brand new EP brake scheme.

This means that the Ultra73 is as strong operating under diesel power, as it is via the third rail. The loco is also cleaner, quieter and has greater fuel economy and meets all the requirements for electromagnetic and signalling compatibility.

Engineers at RVEL are currently working on the second cab now that the layout meets the client’s approval.

Track testing should start this autumn.

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Rail freight - Solving the capacity challenge © FKJ EXPRESS

Report by Marc Johnson In the mid 1980s, France’s national postal carrier, La Poste, launched its high-speed mail rail service. It suddenly allowed the company to move letters and parcels around the country at 270 km/h, sorting as it went.

Next year that service will end, but this isn’t symptomatic of an overall decline in rail freight in the country, in fact the opposite could be true.

La Poste wants to grow and plans to increase the amount it moves by rail by 30 per cent in the next three years.

To do this it must retire its TGVs and turn to conventional freight containers.

Marc Johnson reports.

The UK’s planned high-speed rail system, HS2, is currently saying ‘no’ to freight. HS1 has shown that freight capacity can be fitted around passenger services and maintenance schedules, albeit with fewer freight paths than was originally hoped for.

There are even those who believe it could be possible to take some of the HSTs that will be displaced by IEP, tear out the seats and run a high-speed rail mail service in the UK. Either way, the debate will continue.

‘We’ve had good meetings with HS2. They’re starting to listen,’ said Lord Berkeley at the opening of the 22nd annual Rail Freight Group (RFG) conference on June 4th.

High-speed and the opportunities for rail freight was one of the central themes of the event. In his presentation, Nick Gallop from transport consultancy, Intermodality, described speed as rail freight’s “missing weapon”. Faster services could tip the balance in rail’s favour over slow road haulage and expensive airfreight services. The potential to use passenger stations as freight facilities, as is already being trialled at London Euston, would also open up a huge new network for freight in the UK and offer some kind of solution to the need for a better network of strategic rail freight interchanges.

The rail freight industry has already said it would like HS2 to be futureproofed for freight use so at least the

option for high-speed rail freight isn’t being binned before construction even starts. At the very least, the industry wants assurances that there would be a freight allocation for some of the additional capacity created on the West Coast main line with the opening of HS2.

Europe The rail freight industry’s interest in HS2 extends beyond just the possibility of high-speed freight and released capacity. A link between HS2 and HS1 would open up further opportunities in Europe but currently any plans to connect the two lines have been shelved. One of Higgins’ first acts as HS2 chairman was to recommend that the government scrap the £700 million link and explore other options.

However, as Anna Walker of the ORR pointed out there are positive signs in Europe. The progress of the Fourth Rail Package’s Technical Pillar shows that interoperability across the EU and the development of strategic freight corridors is top of the political agenda.

Rail freight in CP5 Across England, Wales and Scotland, £206 million will be spent between 2014 and 2019 to develop the UK’s strategic freight network. This includes major projects like the Great Western main line gauge enhancement, Felixstowe - Nuneaton Phase 2 and the Northern Ports and Trans-Pennine

freight capability.

Although such major infrastructure investment gives the industry reason to be optimistic about CP5, some of the same challenges such as access charges and capacity continue to put up hurdles to growth in the rail freight sector.

Finding the extra capacity is not the only challenge. Convincing politicians that rail freight is the correct strategy for transporting goods around the country is the first job. Stephen Joseph, chief executive of Campaign for Better Transport, spoke about how the industry needs to push the economic and environmental arguments for rail freight in order to wrestle away some extra capacity from passenger operators.

Rail freight generates 76 per cent less CO2 than road and helps improve air quality as a whole. It takes up less land than roads. The number of casualties on Britain’s roads could also be reduced if more heavy goods vehicles were removed from the network.

However, roads still take precedent.

Stephen said that the demand for new roads in the UK continues to be overestimated, potentially drawing funds away from rail.

Although some politicians may still need convincing of rail freight’s potential, Network Rail gave its firm backing to the sector. Paul McMahon, freight director at Network Rail, said that Network Rail’s strategy on freight “supports rail freight and growth of freight through CP5 and beyond.”

Throughout that period one of freight’s biggest challenges will be electrification. Network Rail is beginning to deliver a nationwide electrification scheme and McMahon acknowledged that there needs to be more discussion with the sector to establish the case for locomotive acquisition. Can freight operators feel confident enough to invest heavily in electric vehicles?

Says McMahon, ‘If we wait to electrify the railway, how can we make it pay for the operators who are sitting on fleets of diesel locomotives that may only be at their half life.’

Issues like electrification point to a need for long-term planning. ‘This sector can’t be looked at in five year blocks,’ said Anna Walker. In her presentation, Anna set out what the ORR wants to see for freight in CP5.

This includes a 17 per cent reduction in engineering works disruption, an agreed charging structure and improved asset management.

Since the event, there have been a number of significant announcements for freight in the UK, including the Secretary of State’s decision to give development consent to an 8 million sq ft extension of Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal.

What the conference did show was that although the challenges are numerous, the investment appears to be there and the industry is starting to have the discussions it needs to have.

NEWS

July 2014 | RailStaff | 37

Russia celebrates BAM

Dog star

On 8th July a 17 coach special Russian Railways train arrived at Tynda on the Baikal Amur Mainline (BAM) railway. David Shirres reports.

Dog lovers who want to take Fido to France or Loulou to Londres have launched a petition aimed at reversing Eurostar’s ban on dogs - only guide dogs can travel currently.

The train is commemorating the 40th anniversary of the start of the volunteer movement to complete the railway in extreme conditions. It left Irkutsk on 3rd July carrying construction veterans.

Tynda is the 13th and final stop on its 1,900 mile journey. At each stop the veterans are warmly welcomed.

Celebrations have included speeches, unveiling of memorials, concerts and fireworks. The 2,100 mile BAM is around 400 miles north of the Trans-Siberian Railway which runs close to the Chinese border. It was built as a strategic alternative and to develop this remote area. It runs through particularly challenging conditions including permafrost and geologically unstable mountain ranges

Canine campaigners Pets in Pyjamas hopes to get 100,000 signatures so that the subject will be debated in parliament. Cross-border collies could join homesick Alsatians in special kennel-carriages if the bid succeeds. through which runs the ten mile long Severomuisk Tunnel.

Construction of the line started in the late 30s using prisoners, many of whom died. These were from Stalin’s gulags and later German and Japanese prisoners of war. Construction stopped after Stalin died in 1953.

However twenty years later Soviet leader, Leonid Brezhnev, decided the line would be built “with clean hands”.

Tens of thousands responded to his

call for volunteer workers to move to the region.

As well as celebrating the line’s construction, the train is also promoting the importance of the railway in view of a recent announcement to invest £10 billion in the line. 46% of this amount comes from state funds demonstrating the Russian Government’s commitment to this area. This will include an additional 290 miles of double track and 45 passing loops.

PIONEER I’m part of a team who engineer rail solutions.

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HEALTH & SAFETY FOCUS

38 | RailStaff | July 2014

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Join the Club The public might moan at health and safety rules that seem inconvenient, but every life is precious and life preservation should be our number one priority and guiding principle.

James Gandolfini’s untimely death exactly a year ago in Rome adds a final poignancy to his career. In the hit TV series, Gandolfini’s mafia boss, Tony Soprano, spends three episodes in a coma after being shot in the stomach by his deranged uncle. Gondolfini masterfully conveys the mobster’s sense of loss as he faces death alone.

At the end of the second show he sits down on the edge of an anonymous hotel bed and tries to phone his wife, in a confused dream he doesn’t understand. He cannot complete the call and is unaware of her sitting at his hospital bedside. Outside lights flicker across the night sky. As the credit rolls Moby’s song, ‘When Its Cold I’d Like to Die,’ plays with elegiac simplicity.

Despite his appalling crimes the viewer

wants him to live.

Avoidance of death should be the guiding principle of all the moral codes that support us. Yet the idea of the sanctity of life is under threat – not just by Hamas terrorists but nearer home by the eerie passage of a bill to legalise euthanasia.

Some might dismiss the idea of the sanctity of life as three-religion dogma.

It is not, it is the base value of any group of people who seek a responsible culture to support them. The public might moan at the health and safety rules that often seem so inconvenient. But that is the point; death should never be convenient, expedient, acceptable. Every life is precious beyond reason. Too many trespassers lose their lives in avoidable accidents.

This summer too many will be injured, some of them just children. The railway industry is a club whose guiding principle is the preservation of life. In Mr Soprano’s recovery, David Chase, the director, was reaffirming the sanctity of life, every life, even a rotund New Jersey gangster.

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The rail industry has launched new good practice guide aimed at helping rail passengers using wheelchairs.

The new booklet, ‘Working Together’, published by RSSB, is being used as a basis for briefing and refresher training for rail staff. It is also available on the web for rail passengers using wheelchairs.

Research by RSSB, supported by the whole industry, backed up concerns from groups representing disabled people about ramps in particular, including their compatibility and the way staff used them. The findings have

led to better training for staff which should make getting on and off trains easier for both wheelchair users and rail staff.

Says Margaret Hickish at Network Rail, ‘Network Rail runs 19 of the biggest and busiest stations and so it’s really important that our staff are well trained to help the millions of people travelling by rail complete their journeys as easily as possible.

‘We’re pleased to have worked with both industry and charity partners on the research, as this is not just about improving rail travel but also about removing the myths around disability generally.’

HEALTH & SAFETY FOCUS

July 2014 | RailStaff | 39

Deaths Rise on Railway An increased number of people died last year in suicide or trespass incidents on the railway.

Three-hundred fatalities resulted from trespass or suicide. This is an increase of 22 on the 278 trespass and suicide fatalities occurring in 2012/13.

Eight members of the public died at level crossings.

The RSSB’s latest report also shows a rise in SPADS – signals passed at danger. SPADS were up at 293 which was 43 more than the year before.

In its Annual Safety Performance Report, the RSSB stressed that the mainline railway continues to get busier.

In 2013/14, there were 1.59 billion passenger journeys – a 6 per cent increase on 2012/13. Over the last 10 years the number of passenger journeys has increased by 53 per cent.

At the same time the railway remains the safest form of land transport.

Says Colin Dennis, technical director at RSSB, ‘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.

The recorded increase in the risk from SPADs during 2013/14, the continued occurrence of events at the platform-train interface and the number of notable multiple-fatality train accidents on other railways abroad that occurred in 2013, has led to specific actions being initiated to develop industry strategies to manage these issues in the future.’

On a more positive note, there were no passenger or workforce fatalities in train accidents in 2013/14. This is the seventh year in succession with no such fatalities.

Says Mick Cash of the RMT union, ‘This should serve as a wake-up call to those pushing for more cuts to staffing and maintenance budgets.’

Rail continues to be the safest form of land transport in Britain.

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HEALTH & SAFETY FOCUS

40 | RailStaff | July 2014

“MY FIRST PRIORITY IS SAFETY - LEVEL CROSSINGS AND TRACKWORKERS” SAFETY Colin Wheeler colin@rail-media.com

This was the answer given by Network Rail’s chief executive when he was interviewed one morning in June on Radio 4’s “Today” programme. I couldn’t have hoped for more!

Disappointingly his remark was not seized upon by the usual media circus, but maybe this reflects their preoccupation with bad news!

Initially, given the focus of the last few years on upgrading or removing level crossings, his reference to them surprised me. Then I read the Rail Accident Investigation Branch’s (RAIB) recently published report into the near miss at Butterswood Level Crossing in Lincolnshire on Tuesday, 25 June last year. It was around 0735 in the morning when a car was involved in a near miss with a train as it passed over this crossing. The barriers were in the raised position and the road traffic signals were extinguished.

The report says that the train driver expected the crossing to be operating normally and “had not focussed his attention on the flashing light which was used to confirm that the crossing had operated properly for the passage of his train”. It goes on to state that “although the level crossing had probably failed around nine hours before the incident, its failure was not known to any railway staff”.

Their investigation discovered that the crossing was not protected with automatic warning system equipment, and maintenance arrangements were not effective in ensuring reliable performance of the equipment. The train operator’s briefing material

did not explain to drivers their role in respect of failures at this type of crossing. The learning points spelt out by the report summarise the problems; “non-provision of automatic warning systems at locations where mandated by standards, recording of condition of assets during inspections, storage of batteries, and involving people with relevant technical expertise in industry investigations”.

Basic points, so what was wrong with the local supervision and management and were any concerns raised by local staff? If so with whom and what if anything was done as a result?

Many of you will by now have heard about the dreadful road accident that occurred on the morning of 9 June just after 0430 involving members of a Carillion team who were returning home on the motorway after working on the Reading Project. Two were pronounced dead at the scene and the M4 was closed around Junction 17 Chippenham.

Another died subsequently in hospital whilst a fourth was critically injured.

Our thoughts and prayers are for their families and friends.

“Safe Work Leaders” If I have a concern with this new initiative, it is in the choice of SWL as the pneumonic since for many of us SWL will always mean safe working load. Handbook 21 defines the role of SWL as being the controlling mind for worksite safety and insists that the individual must be “involved throughout the full planning, delivery and hand-back cycle”.

Many will know more having visited the relevant Rail Live stand on 18 June.

Level 1 will be needed for simple work sites, level 2 where there are trains or multiple work groups are involved and level 3 for complex sites. An “e-permit” system using electronic maps of each worksite will be used and the full day training of each SWL will include a “practical assessment”.

I recommend the practical assessment be carried out by suitably experienced people with ballast scratched boots rather than trainers!

The e-permit system will be used in Anglia from September, Scotland and the North East from October, North West from November and December

for everywhere else. I welcome this, remembering the remarkably similar hand sketches renewals technical staff used with supervisors when carrying out detailed shift planning of track renewals decades ago. It worked well!

Runaway at Loughborough At 1235 on Monday, 12 May a Class 37 locomotive and a single preserved Travelling Post Office (TPO) coach ran away with the TPO leading from its stationary position opposite Quorn Signal Box. It ran on for 2.9 km before running into five stabled coaches. The locomotive had been used for shunting within a possession but at around 1150 was left unattended, albeit with its air brakes applied and a single wheel scotch applied.

The locomotive had been shut down but neither of its two hand (or parking) brakes had been applied. However, the five stabled coaches had been secured by the use of a parking brake on one coach. The runaway ran downhill out of the possession towards Loughborough but fortunately no-one was working on that section of the line at the time.

Rail Accident Report

HEALTH & SAFETY FOCUS

Runaway of a Personnel Carrier

Fatigue – on call

Also in May, a Rexquote (Thwaites) Personnel Carrier ran away whilst being off-tracked at a worksite. It travelled for 45 metres before coming to rest having run into a trailer attached to another vehicle. Not the first time something like this has happened I hear you say, and I agree!

The report (NR 322 issue 2) says that the brakes were affected by a “lack of interference between road and rail wheels (squash) which was not adjustable on the machine.

Consequently this type of personnel carrier and similar five, six, and eight tonne skip-dumpers cannot be used until an “approved direct rail wheel braking system is fitted.”

The direct wheel braking initiative is arguably overdue.

This topic, together with ballast dust, is high on Network Rail’s Track Renewals’ safety agenda and rightly so. My thanks yet again to Steve Featherstone for sharing information recently circulated to his people. He highlights the potential effects of night shift and on-call duty.

I undertook on-call duties for a total of 17 years during my working career and agree with every word that is written in the brief. Broken sleep, listening out (even subconsciously) for the telephone to ring; and the disruption to the household when a call is received are all still clear in my memory. Featherstone’s Fusiliers are urged to carry out site visits when on call and by so doing get talking with the staff. With modern telecommunications working in most areas this is an excellent initiative. I especially like the warning given in bold red capital letters – RESIST TEMPTATION TO CARRY OUT NORMAL DUTIES AND BE AVAILABLE DURING OFFICE HOURS.”

July 2014 | RailStaff | 41

The two working were going to sleep in the van when their dayshift colleagues began work at 0700 whilst waiting for their shifts to end at 1900. Then they would all begin the three-hour journey back to Wales. She commented on the “poor behavioural issues found, especially towards subcontractors” and that although a fatigue survey was taking place, only one was completed between 0530 and 1030.

My involvement with track staff at all levels over a number of decades resulted in an admiration of the commitment of

track staff to doing the job right and well.

The performance of track staff, provided their supervisors and management at all levels respect their skills, is second to none. “Conversations” as described by Helen Barnes are, I believe, very similar to what I have referred to as going out and listening to those who do the actual work. Realising and accepting that working a nightshift for this purpose (without filling in forms) is as, if not more, worthwhile than a day of office meetings and will bring immense benefits to both safety and productivity.

Road vehicle incursion onto the railway at Aspatria, Cumbria 26 October 2013

Runaway at Aspatria RAIB have recently reported on a different sort of runaway that occurred on 26 October last year.

The report refers to it as a “Road Vehicle Incursion”. Essentially the driver of a commercial lorry parked it on a side road and just two minutes later it started to run away on a downhill gradient towards the railway. It crossed Brayton Road, broke through a wooden fence, rolled over as it went down a cutting slope and ended up on the railway.

The driver received minor injuries when he fell over as he tried to catch up with his vehicle. An approaching passenger train was stopped a mile and a half away. The RAIB report says that the Department of Transport guidance does not explain how to assess the risk of a vehicle running away on a side road on a downhill gradient!

Fatigue – “Conversations on Amphill Track Renewal Site” I have never met Helen Barnes but I appreciate the directness of the comments she made following a site visit to Amphill with the project manager during the early hours of 29 June. She spoke with three machine controllers and five other workers who had booked on at 2300 the previous night. In the event their work was not due to begin until 0910 on the following morning. At 0730 she spoke with two machine supervisors booked for 10 hours who had been sleeping in their cabs. A controller of site safety (COSS) and two machine controllers booked to work 12 hours, had not had a hot drink since 0200. But perhaps most disturbing of all was that the men were from Wales a three-hour drive away.

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HEALTH & SAFETY FOCUS

42 | RailStaff | July 2014

Be Safe By Choice A programme of behaviour-based safety strategies, implemented by the VGC Group, is showing very positive results.

Encouraging workers to take responsibility for their own safety, and to influence one another, is increasing the number of near-miss reports for construction company, VGC Group. VGC started the programme, called, ‘Be Safe by Choice,’ in May 2012. Within a year the number of close call reports had increased four-fold.

Key influencer programme To implement the behaviour-based safety programme throughout the organisation, VGC introduced ‘key influencers’ within the workforce. Key influencers attend a behavioural safety course to learn how to recognise and challenge unsafe behaviour, as well as to reinforce safe ways of working. Involving everyone in safety performance and behaviour promotes a culture of safe practice. VGC has now trained 37 key influencers.

“The course was really interesting,” says key influencer Dennis Pollard, drainage foreman working nights on the LUL contract at Ruislip Gardens. “It’s about asking questions instead of telling, and getting little things right to stop them turning into big problems. After all, we all want to go home safely at the end of shift.”

Ongoing commitment While work has to be planned around releasing the key influencers for the three-day course, as well

as giving them ongoing support, the benefits far outweigh the costs. Identifying unsafe behaviour before accidents happen is cost-effective, and has a positive effect on staff morale. “We are here for the long haul, and absolutely committed to Be Safe by Choice,” said Executive Chairman Sean Fitzpatrick.

“While VGC’s staff turnover is low, there will always be the need to replace people who move on - or are promoted. We’ll keep training and supporting our key influencers, because we aim to reduce safety risks to the lowest possible level.”

Long term impact Across industry the number of work-related injuries fell sharply with the introduction of the Health and Safety at Work Act in 1974 (between 1974 and 2013 fatal injuries to employees fell by 85%, and non-fatal injuries fell by 77% from 1974 to 2012 (http://www.

hse.gov.uk/STATISTICS/history/historical-picture. pdf)). While safety has improved dramatically over the years, further improvement is proving difficult to achieve despite the introduction of new legislation.

By recognising that behaviour and attitude have a significant bearing on the cause of accidents and incidents in the workplace, behaviour-based safety initiatives such as that introduced by VGC could be the answer to making work safer for everyone.

Occupational health To promote a healthy workforce, occupational health is included in monthly ‘Be Safe’ briefings, and qualified nurses visit work sites periodically to offer health checks including blood pressure and cholesterol tests.

As well as the mandatory drugs and alcohol programme for staff supplied to Network Rail and London Underground, VGC runs pre-employment checks that include drugs and alcohol screening on many sites helping to reduce risk and improve safety.

Home Office approved screening kits allow trained staff to undertake pre-employment screenings as well as post-employment random screenings to minimise the risk of impaired performance due to drugs or alcohol, and to underline the importance of staying clean and sober to remain safe at work.

For more information, please contact Zena Wigram, Marketing and Communications Manager, VGC Group, on zena.wigram@vgcgroup.co.uk or 01895 671823.

190x40_Layout 1 09/07/2014 11:28 Page 1

VGC Be Safe rules 1. Be fit for work.

2. Always receive a brief before you start work.

3. Report all unsafe acts and conditions.

4. Stop work should anything change.

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NEWS

44 | RailStaff | July 2014

Baton Charge Selected railway staff from ScotRail and First TransPennine Express will be carrying the Queen’s Baton during its journey to this summer’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

All staff involved in the relay are known for their work for community groups, charities and the rail industry.

Craig Ireland, 39, from Dunfermline, a ScotRail train driver at Edinburgh Waverley, carried the baton in Edinburgh on Saturday, June 14th. Craig campaigns for the Meningitis Trust.

The keen runner, whose daughter Holly was affected by the illness, has raised thousands of pounds for the charity.

Jon Wright, 46, from Tain in Ross-shire, a ScotRail maintenance engineer at Inverness Depot, will carry the baton in the Highlands on Friday, 11 July.

Ross Short, 21, from Clydebank, a ScotRail engineering apprentice at Corkerhill Depot, swings into action at Inverclyde on Monday, 14 July.

Ross is ScotRail’s reigning Engineering Apprentice of the Year. Bob McLaren, 55, from Carmyle in Glasgow, who works for ScotRail at Yoker depot, takes the baton in Renfrewshire on Thursday, 17 July.

Then Alexander Dey, 21, from Glasgow, a ScotRail ticket examiner at Dalmuir, will carry the baton in West Dunbartonshire on Friday, July 18th. Raymond McLaren, 52, from Glasgow, who works for ScotRail at Cumbernauld station, carries the baton in West Dunbartonshire on Friday, 18 July. Robert Campbell, 48, from Airdrie, a ScotRail conductor at Glasgow

Central station, will carry the baton in Glasgow city centre sometime between 20-23 July.

Robert is ScotRail’s current Employee of the Year for the professionalism he showed while dealing with a train full of rowdy football fans and his quick thinking in preventing a distressed passenger from walking onto the railway track.

Jennifer Guthrie, 40, from Dunfermline, a ScotRail support team leader at Edinburgh Waverley, will carry the baton in Fife on Thursday, June 26th. Theresa Gault, 54, from Bearsden, ScotRail’s sponsorship and events manager based in Glasgow, will carry the baton in East Dunbartonshire on Saturday, 19 July.

Catherine Duxbury, 48, from Torrance in East Dunbartonshire, who works as a conductor on First TransPennine Express’ cross-border services, will carry the baton in Glasgow city centre sometime between 20-23 July. Catherine was named Conductor of the Year for TransPennine Express in 2012 and Ambassador of the Year the following year.

Other FirstGroup staff from headquarters and bus companies are also involved. The baton, which has visited 70 nations and territories since October 2013, will then take a central role in the Opening Ceremony of the XX Commonwealth Games in Glasgow on 23 July.

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Cycle Bonus

Family Special Bletchley depot-based driver Alan Robson had a special partner for his last train trip before retiring.

Mr Robson, who has hung up his hat after an exemplary 50-year career as a driver, was joined on his last trip by his granddaughter, Georgina Robson – a senior conductor based at Bletchley.

As Georgina checked tickets, Alan piloted the 10.55 Bedford to Bletchley service.

Colleagues marked the occasion with a special message on the information screens at Bletchley and presented him with a retirement cake.

Cycling is set to soar in popularity following the Tour de France’s Grand Départ in Yorkshire, and the Glasgow Commonwealth Games cycling events.

The excitement generated by British success at cycling looks set to drive up the number of commuters cycling to and from stations.

The rail industry and the DfT is keen to encourage the trend. Last year, a

record 39.1 million cycle-rail journeys were made. This is a mountain bike leap from 25.2 million in 2008. A £30 million programme of investment will create 45,500 new cycle spaces at stations by the end of 2015.

NEWS

July 2014 | RailStaff | 45

Palace Party for Russell and Sarah

Holding out for a Hiro Hiro Aso, the architect behind the regeneration of King’s Cross station in London, is going to head up work on a similar new rail hub in Belfast.

Russell Lipscombe, business performance manager, based at Interfleet’s Derby office, recently attended a Buckingham Palace Garden Party with his wife, Sarah.

Russell was recommended by Ken Cook of the charity Ripplez, which Russell actively supports.

Ripplez helps the Family Nurse Partnership programme working with vulnerable teenage mums.

Says Russell, ‘I’ve worked with the enterprise for the past two years, supporting their work. They’ve worked with more than 700 young mothers throughout the scheme and supported them on health, financial and

education issues. It was a great honour to not only be recommended but also to attend the Garden Party.

‘There were more than 6,000 attendees so there was little chance to spend time direct with the Royals, but we were lucky enough to see them on the day.’

Russell and Sarah Lipscombe at Buckingham Palace

Plans for Northern Ireland’s big transport interchange concentrate on the Great Victoria Street railway station and nearby Europa bus station and will cover a 20-acre site.

Translink plans to operate all its trains, including the Dublin-Belfast cross-border Enterprise service, from the new centre.

The new design team includes Arup and John McAslan and Partners.

Says Clive Bradberry, Translink Infrastructure Executive, ‘Public transport in Northern Ireland continues to grow at a pace – over 80 million passenger journeys last year. Our current infrastructure is now operating at almost full capacity and as such we need to plan to have the proper infrastructure in place so we can build on Northern Ireland’s passenger transport success story.’

ISSL Launches Two New Rail Divisions ISS Labour (ISSL) has added two new divisions to its rail support services business: Thermic Track Welding and Overhead Line Electrification. ISSL has been a major provider of track, civils and protection staff to the rail industry for over 20 years. It is also one of the UK’s largest providers of infrastructure lighting and safety barrier fencing.

The new Thermic Track Welding division will be headed by Phil Miskell who joins the company from Network Rail where he was Senior Asset Engineer for LNW, providing route delivery units with welding technical support and mentoring. Phil has more

ISS Labour Pway | Civils | Welding OLE | Trackside Lighting

than 25 years’ experience in track welding and his division will offer Thermic Welding, Grinding, Arc Welding and Weld Inspection Services.

The Overhead Line Electrification division will be led by Colin Kelly who joins with 30 years’ experience in UK rail electrification. Colin was previously the Electrification & Plant Manager at Babcock Rail for LNW & Scotland and will direct provision of AC & DC Isolations and Overhead Line Construction and Maintenance services. Colin will also oversee the launch of ISSL’s new Electrification Training School.

Gary Beeston, Managing Director, commented, ‘The addition of these new services to our existing rail capabilities and the investment and aspirations of our parent company

are a major advantage in allowing us to expand and develop our business to support our clients throughout all of the key maintenance and renewal areas to meet the challenges presented

by CP5.’

In late 2013 Driver Hire became a majority shareholder of ISSL. Driver Hire is a well established and award winning company that is currently

celebrating its 30th anniversary. As a key business within the group, ISSL is benefiting from being part of an organisation that has a diverse product portfolio along with extensive technical and business support services. The Group also benefits from the financial backing of Lloyds Development Capital (LDC), the UK’s leading mid-market private equity investor.

ISS Labour are a dynamic and expanding supplier of rail support services across the Network Rail and Light Rail infrastructures, providing hundreds of staff each day around the country to maintain and enhance our rail networks.

We are looking for reliable and experienced rail staff of all competencies to join our growing business.

To find out more call us on 0800 7833382 or email info@isslabour.co.uk

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NEWS

46 | RailStaff | July 2014

News in brief Record breakers Railwayman’s daughter

Two Mile Bonus for Blackburn © SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

In June Eric Lomax’s daughter, Charmaine McMeekin, unveiled a plaque funded by ScotRail for the Portobello Community Council at the author’s childhood home, 11 Bedford Terrace in the Edinburgh seaside suburb of Joppa.

Business Excellence Award ScotRail staff won recognition for excellence in leadership, team work, performance, economic influence and environmental impact at the Scottish Awards for Business Excellence.

London 2012 Olympic gold medallist Katherine Grainger presented the award to Pat Callaghan, director at ScotRail, who accepted the award on behalf of staff.

More than 350 ScotRail staff were interviewed as part of the judging process.

Grandfather Rights Michael Fleet,14, and his brother Jonathan,18, were given a behind the scenes tour of Abellio Greater Anglia recently. Their grandfather was once a signalman based at Kennett, in Cambridgeshire.

Ops director, Peter Lensink, and trusty PA, Michelle Yates, arranged a special day out. The brothers visited Abellio Greater Anglia’s training academy and drove a simulator before visiting a signal box.

Says Michelle Yates, ‘We hope Michael and Jonathan enjoyed their day out with us and... we wish them the very best in their future careers, whether on the railways or elsewhere.’

Loughborough Bridge Backing Planning permission has finally been granted for a new £1 million bridge that will re-unite both stretches of the Great Central Railway at Loughborough.

Network Rail agreed the scheme last year and preparatory work is already underway.

The new bridge will once again carry the GCR over the Midland main line.

A team of rail enthusiasts from Britain visited every station on the New York Subway system in just 22 hours, 26 minutes and two seconds, according to Guinness World Records.

Glen Bryant, Andi James, Steve Wilson, Peter Smyth, Martin Hazel and Adham Fisher broke the world record by 30 minutes set by a local duo from New York five years ago.

Change Ici A joint venture between French firm Keolis and Amey has won the franchise to operate and maintain the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) for the next sixand-a-half years.

This December, Keolis Amey Docklands will replace Serco, which won the franchise in 1997. Keolis, which holds a 70 per cent stake in the joint venture, is majority owned by SNCF.

Local leaders have backed rail industry plans to improve rail services between Blackburn and Manchester. Once approved the £13.35m project, funded by Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, will see the construction of two miles of new railway at Darwen.

The new section will allow more services to run between Blackburn and Manchester. Design works continue and, once the money is in place, work could start in summer 2015 with the first additional services running from December 2016.

Says Ian Joslin, area director for Network Rail, ‘The railway continues to go from strength to strength with record passenger numbers and record investment.

Across the north we are already delivering more than £1bn worth of improvements to provide a better service and support and boost the economy.

We look forward to working with Blackburn and Darwen Council to deliver improved links to Manchester and the wider rail network’

The DLR is one of the most successful railways in Britain and part of the growing TfL network of rail services, which also includes the London Overground.

The DLR started in 1987 with 11 trains serving 15 stations. In its first year of operation it carried 6.7 million people.

Today the railway has 45 stations, 38 km of track and 149 carriages. Last year it carried a record-breaking 101 million passengers. The railway was a crucial carrier during the London 2012 Olympic Games when 6.9 million journeys were made - up by over 100

per cent on normal levels. Over 500,000 journeys on a single day were made for the first time on Friday, 3 August, 2012.

From 2018 Crossrail services between central London, Shenfield and Abbey Wood will connect with the DLR at several stations including Canary Wharf, Stratford and Custom House.

There were four original bidders: GoAhead/Colas, Keolis/Amey, Serco and Stagecoach. Go-Ahead/Colas withdrew from the competition before it reached its conclusion.

The DLR is one of the most successful railways in Britain. © SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

NEWS

July 2014 | RailStaff | 47

© SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Blackpool Rock for Virgin Deal A new deal between Virgin Trains and the Department for Transport (DfT) has replaced the management contract in place since the franchising fiasco of 2012.

Once again Virgin shoulders the revenue risk on the West Coast main line which, it says, will enable it to make more improvements and further expand services.

The new deal started on 22 June and runs until March 2017. The DfT has an option to extend by one year.

Twenty-one trains will have their first class car, coach G, converted to standard class which will increase capacity. New direct services from Blackpool and Shrewsbury are planned and these should start, subject to ORR approval, in December 2014.

Virgin will pay £430 million over the three-year deal.

However, there are safeguards for Virgin in the event of another economic crisis damaging revenue.

The DfT wins too with a mechanism for increasing the premium if profits soar. All 76 of Pendolino and Super Voyager trains will be equipped with superfast

Wi-Fi, which Network Rail intends to support by providing track-side infrastructure.

Says Patrick McCall, Virgin Trains executive cochairman, ‘We’re delighted to have reached a deal after some tough negotiations with the DfT. It puts the problems of 2012 firmly behind us, and shows the clear benefits of a well-run franchise system.

‘This deal is great news for passengers and

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taxpayers, with significant benefits for our customers as well as a big increase in the money we pay to government. We know Wi-Fi is high on our customers’ priorities and we’re delighted that we’re going to be able to offer them free and super-fast Wi-Fi. Together with thousands of extra seats and plans for new services, this deal will mean big improvements for millions of Virgin Trains passengers.’

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NEWS

48 | RailStaff | July 2014

Newport focus for Signalling Solutions Newport has rediscovered some of its lost railway heritage with the opening of the Signalling Solutions new design office in the city.

The office, which officially opened its doors on 4th July, will initially support the delivery of a major resignalling programme for the Great Western main line on behalf of Network Rail.

Signalling Solutions (SSL) hopes to recruit 15 experienced designers at Newport by the end of the year, which would allow SSL to launch a new graduate and trainee scheme at the start of 2015, according to SSL’s head of design, Neil Warburton.

‘It’s a three-year training programme to recruit into our permanent office that will secure the future of signalling design in South Wales,’ says Neil.

‘We knew that we needed to expand and to recruit. Recruiting piecemeal into our current offices one person here, two people there didn’t cut it.

We wanted to make a statement and demonstrate that we were committed to a new venture and do something

that would benefit the individuals, SSL and the rail industry by deploying into a new region.’

Much of the work SSL is undertaking on the Great Western region involves decommissioning the route’s 50-year-old signalling systems and replacing them with SSL’s modern computer-based solutions. SSL is looking to recruit designers who have knowledge of the route and offer them the opportunity to train on SSL’s Smartlock 400T computer-based interlockings, modular signalling and Atlas ETCS systems which will enable them to support SSL’s wider portfolio in the future.

Says Neil, ‘Resources are constrained at the moment across the industry from a signalling design point of view and having recruited heavily into the existing design teams in Derby, Birmingham, York and Radlett, we started a search nine months ago to put a new office in place with a footprint in an area where we didn’t currently have a presence.

‘This expansion is supported by our growth from 2007, when SSL was formed, with around a £60-65 million turnover, to our current level of £160 million, nearly a three-fold increase.

The plan is now to consolidate and

Driver Leaves Poppy Legacy Shelford station adopter, Ron Gooch, who died in January this year, aged 84, has left an enduring legacy.

Friends and family have been startled to see the thousands of poppies he planted burst into colour at Shelford station, Cambridgeshire, this summer.

Mr Gooch, a former engine driver and long-time supporter of the railways, planted the poppy seeds to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy and the centenary of the start of the First World War - both events fall this year.

The flowers are delighting staff and passengers alike. Ron Gooch joined the railways as a 14 year old and served for 50 years, rising through the ranks to become a steam engine driver before moving onto diesels.

Ron was initially turned down for a job on the railways when he applied in

Derby, where he had been evacuated.

He was told he was too short.

Returning to Suffolk Ron managed to get in, with the criteria there being less lofty.

Brought up in an orphanage, he was a great family man, marrying Jean in 1954. The couple had three children, Mel, Linda and Rachel, and Ron later visited his grandchildren’s schools to recount tales of being a wartime evacuee. He was also a keen cyclist and a member of Shelford Free Church.

Says Abellio Greater Anglia’s area customer service manager, Alan Neville, ‘I’m sure Ron would have been

delighted with how much station users have enjoyed the display of poppies.

They really brighten up the station and leave a lasting legacy of the work he carried out. We will always be grateful for the care and attention he bestowed as Shelford’s station adopter.’

make sure we integrate the new resources and continue to deliver our portfolio of works.’

SSL is the primary contractor in three geographical signalling frameworks for Network Rail : Great Western (inner and outer), and Central (east).

‘The one thing that the frameworks are doing at the moment is giving people security and continuity of work which enables SSL to continue its expansion plan with confidence’ says Neil.

Signalling Solutions is recruiting in Newport, see page 63.

NEWS

July 2014 | RailStaff | 49

Double Header for Bombardier Bombardier Transportation has appointed Noel Travers and Peter Doolin to run its business in the UK. The move follows the departure of Francis Paonessa, to head up Network Rail’s infrastructure projects.

Noel Travers has been appointed as Interim Managing Director and Head of Projects. Peter Doolin stays as Head of Projects for Crossrail and London Underground. Both men report directly to Laurent Troger, in charge of Europe the Middle East and Africa.

Noel Travers joined Bombardier Transportation in 2008 as sales director for the Passengers Division. In 2013 Noel moved in to project management taking full responsibility for Electrostar new build deals. Before Bombardier he worked for the Royal Bank of Scotland,

where he was senior director, transport and infrastructure, in its Structured Asset Finance business.

Prior to RBS, Noel was with GATX Capital Corporation. Before railway privatisation he held various engineering and management posts in British Rail. Noel is a Chartered Engineer and a Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. He holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Loughborough University and an MSc in Rail Systems Engineering from the University of Sheffield.

Peter Doolin joined Bombardier Transportation in 2010 as senior director leading the Electrostar and Turbostar projects. In January 2012 he was appointed vice president, Project Management and in June 2013, headed up the Crossrail and London Underground contracts. From

2002 to 2008, Peter worked for Alstom Transport. Previously he was project director for the Virgin West Coast Pendolino Project.

Prior to joining Alstom, Peter was project director for Bombardier with responsibility for delivering Meridians for Midland Mainline and Voyagers for

Virgin Cross Country.

Peter started his career as a graduate engineer with British Rail Engineering Limited. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and holds a degree in Engineering Production from the University of Wales Institute of Science & Technology.

London Call for Lochman Libor Lochman, executive director of the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER), was in London this month to meet leaders of the rail industry at the Rail Delivery Group.

Nigel Wordsworth was there representing the Rail Media Group.

The CER brings together more than 70 members - European railways, associations and infrastructure companies. Its members represent about 61% of the European rail network, more than 84% of the rail freight business and

about 99% of rail passenger operations – this includes the European Union, EFTA and EU accession countries.

Libor Lochman attended a reception held by the Rail Delivery Group (RDG). He will be back again on 9th September as a keynote speaker at the Rail Exec Club organised by Rail Media at Vinopolis near Borough Market.

Set up in 2011, the RDG brings together the owners of Britain’s passenger train operating companies, freight operators and Network Rail to provide leadership to Britain’s rail industry. Directors from train manufacturers, Bombardier and Hitachi, joined Network Rail managers and

representatives of leading equipment suppliers. Rail Media is one of the longest-standing associate members of the RDG. Hosted by chairman Martin Griffiths, this was the first time that all of the RDG, including licensed and associate members, had got together with stakeholders in the industry.

Two Government ministers attended, Baroness Kramer and Stephen Hammond, along with Rail Executive director general, Clare Moriarty, from the Department for Transport and many of her team. Peter Wilkinson, head of franchising, was there as were the companies who currently hold franchises, or would like to!

Libor Lochman was born in 1963 in Czechoslovakia and studied at the Transport University in Zilina. He has a doctorate in electronics from the WestBohemian University Pilsen. Prior to his role at the CER he acted as director of the Railway Test Centre, a facility for testing European rolling stock, infrastructure and signalling components, in Prague.

Although this was an informal meeting, several conferences are planned towards the end of the year and RailStaff will be back to report on those.

Anyone for Tennison Tennison Road bridge, near Norwood Junction, Croydon, has closed until spring 2015 to allow Network Rail to completely replace it with a bigger and better structure.

The bridge, which has spanned the main lines from London Bridge and Victoria to East Croydon since 1922, has reached the end of its life. A main span of the new structure, which will be hydraulically pushed into place next Christmas, will be approximately 3.5 metres wider to allow for safer footpaths, safer cycling and a wider carriageway.

Demolition of the bridge will be a gradual process and there will be some changes to train services at various weekends during the autumn to allow for the safe removal of the existing bridge.

The bridge replacement will be carried out by contractors Graham Construction.

NEWS

50 | RailStaff | July 2014

Obituary Kenneth Fraser Chalmers, Rail Stalwart Kenny Chalmers, Rail Infrastructure Director UK, at Spencer Rail, passed away suddenly in May this year.

Kenny was born on April 20, 1959 in Perth. He joined British Rail in 1977 as an 18 year old working in the Perth Area Civil Engineer’s office. Hard working Kenny Chalmers made good progress as a P-Way technician and later transferred to the Area Civil Engineers North West organisation in Glasgow.

The job took Kenny all over the West Highlands, the Glasgow North Electrics, the West Highland Line – Oban, Mallaig and Fort William. It was a tough job with atrocious weather conditions in winter.

The WHL has long isolated stretches of track with limited vehicular access.

However Kenny Chalmers was always a real asset to the teams he worked with and as a track engineer started moving up through the grades. From technical officer he was promoted Senior Technical Officer and eventually Principal Technical Officer. In 1997, following privatisation he transferred into the Scotland Track Renewal Unit

which became the Scotland Track Renewal Company. This team achieved success as part of the Relayfast Group, a management buy out. The name is a fitting tribute to the ability of Kenny and his colleagues to expedite the most trying of projects. When Jarvis took over Kenny was promoted to Production Manager maintaining high standards and legendary competence for track renewal across Scotland and indeed around the UK including Manchester, Wigan and London.

In March 2010, following the Jarvis descent into administration Kenny was snapped up by C Spencer Ltd where he quickly rose to become Rail Infrastructure Director UK. Now operating all over Britain he was often away from home and took an apartment in London. However he was a committed family man never happier than when back at home in Glasgow or on holiday in the family apartment in Side, Turkey with his wife and two sons.

He was particularly proud of his granddaughter, Megan who made a recent visit to London to see him.

Other interests centred on sports – he

played tennis, badminton and also enjoyed golf. In the winter he skiied, often visiting the French and Italian Alps.

Although a lifelong Glasgow Rangers supporter, Kenny adopted Arsenal as his “London” team and often enjoyed going to The Emirates.

Although he spent many weekends and nights out on possessions far from home, Kenny suffered a sudden heart attack whilst at home in Glasgow with his family.

Says colleague, Alister Fraser, ‘He lived life to the full and won the respect and admiration of a generation of railwaymen and women that had the pleasure of working with him. He was renowned for his technical knowledge and his ability to get the best from anyone who worked with him. The industry and all who came in contact with Kenny shall miss him very much.’

More than 600 of Kenny’s family, friends and work colleagues came together at his funeral to celebrate his life and salute the service of a great railwayman. Kenny’s legacy includes the immense number of projects that he led and delivered throughout his 37-year

railway career. He will be deeply missed by his family, friends and colleagues who had the privilege of knowing him.

Such was Kenny’s passion and his sense of duty towards the railways, that his family kindly nominated the Railway Benefit Fund as one of the charities that donations would be given to. The British Heart Foundation also received a donation. Mourners gave £1050 to the RBF and £1000 to the BHF. Kenny is survived by his wife, Dawn and his two sons, Scott and Gary.

roles within electrification, get in contact with Senior Consultant, James Culshaw by calling 07931 815066 or by e-mailing your CV to jc@advance-trs.com.

To discuss the various roles within

Civils, get in touch with Senior Consultant, Daniel Forth-Rumley on 07572 533260 or by e-mailing your CV to dfr@advance-trs.com and visit: www.advancerailwayjobs.com

Electrifying News – advance TRS Niche railway recruitment specialists, advance Training & Recruitment Services, has secured a plethora of electrification and civils vacancies for the National Electrification Programme.

The seven year programme aims to electrify more than two thousand miles of railway at a cost of more than £2 billion. In addition, a further £2 billion is being invested into accompanying civils upgrades which include gauge clearances, new platforms and footbridges, alongside refurbishments at various stations.

The NEP is just a part of the government’s ambitious efforts to electrify more than half of Britain’s railways by 2021. Once completed electrified lines will help stimulate economic growth by improving connections between towns and

cities, with more journeys, faster trains and a vastly reduced impact on the environment.

Says James Culshaw, Senior Electrification Consultant at advanceTRS, ‘The National Electrification Programme is a fantastic investment into the UK’s ageing rail infrastructure that will provide more train services that can run faster, quieter and far more efficiently. Along with HS2 and Crossrail, an electric railway will be an excellent showcase for the UK as a premier economy with a world-class transport infrastructure.’

Senior Electrification and Civils consultants, James Culshaw and Daniel Forth-Rumley are looking to speak directly to OLE and Civils Project Managers and Project Engineers about long-term contract and permanent opportunities on various NEP projects.

For a confidential discussion about

Play your part in railway history Here at the National Railway Museum we are very proud to be recognised as the world’s leading railway museum and the most visited museum outside London with over 800,000 visitors each year.

Our visitors come from all over the world because they are fascinated by our collections and the story they represent.

As a national charity, we rely on the support of people young and old to preserve and care for our collections now and for the generations to come.

One way of supporting our work is to leave a gift to the National Railway Museum in your Will. A legacy gift of any size really does make a huge difference to our work and the future of the Museum.

As a Railway Magazine reader, we know that you care as much about our railway heritage as we do, so if and when the time is right for you to include a legacy in your Will, please remember us.

The National Railway Museum Development Team • Leeman Road • York • YO26 4XJ • 01904 686 285

Record Year for

Three Peaks Challenge

Photos courtesy of Jack Boskett Photography and Railway Children.

RAILWAY CHILDREN

July 2014 | RailStaff | 53

After just over 16 hours spent summiting and descending the three highest mountains in England, Scotland and Wales, our Rail Media team made it back to the foot of Ben Nevis, where it had begun in the early hours.

From leaving London Euston on Thursday, 19 June, it took just over 36 hours to conquer Snowdon (1,085m), Scafell Pike (978m) and Ben Nevis (1,134m), and travel the hundreds of miles in between in aid of the industry’s favoured charity, Railway Children.

The weather forecast for the weekend was perfect. Sun, light breezes and just a smattering of showers on the final day. A far cry from the torrential rains of two years ago. Things briefly looked as though they might not go as smoothly as hoped when a freight train derailment marooned the chartered train at Stafford. Fortunately having an entire carriage occupied by Network Rail employees meant things seemed to get going quickly.

The challenge began just as the sun was setting on a brisk summer’s evening in Snowdonia. However, the eagerness to get started was tempered by a familiar

disappointment and collective groans as many listened to interrupted radio coverage of England’s hasty World Cup exit. Forty-seven teams made their way in the dark to Snowdon’s summit. The head torches created an unbroken thread of light up to the summit where clear skies afforded views of the hundreds of twinkling street lights across the towns and villages of north Wales.

After just a couple of hours to sleep and eat, Scafell Pike loomed. Following a short ride on the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway, there was a two-hour ramble through the Lake District before the teams arrived at the base of the mountain. What followed was a gruelling climb in the intense afternoon sunshine over shifting rocky terrain.

Back on the train, there were a few hours to scoff even more food and rest up before the final stretch.

In the Scottish Highlands’ beautiful Grampian Mountains, Ben Nevis was waiting. We set off just before 5am.

By then, some walkers were already on their way back down, offering a few words of encouragement as they passed by.

It was during the first section of Ben Nevis that the difficulty of the challenge began to be felt. Radio message after radio message came through as several of the 188 climbers were forced to turn back

through injury and fatigue. Approaching the final third, the rains came, initially as a refreshing mist but soon as a driving shower, testing the limits of our not so weather-resistant waterproofs.

Finally, at the final summit of the final mountain, we were able to forget the aches and the blisters and take stock.

The Three Peaks is a real physical and mental challenge. Being able to see what they’re capable of is what attracts many people to it every year but it feels important to refocus on why it is held in the first place.

Overall, this year’s challenge raised £280,000 - a record amount.

All the food and drink on the Three Peaks train was donated by various companies and the onboard bar made £1,300. As always, teams from all corners of the industry took part. First Transpennine Express took the accolade of top fundraising team, drumming up an incredible £53,000.

Since its launch in 2004, Three Peaks

by Rail has raised over £2 million for the charity. Railway Children reaches

5,000 new children in need every year across the world, providing shelter, food, clothing, medical supplies, education and counselling.

Says Katie Mason, events manager for Railway Children, ‘Everyone involved pulled out all the stops for this year’s Three Peaks by Rail to raise an incredible £280,000, which is a huge achievement.

‘The on-board service, run entirely by volunteers, worked tirelessly and always with a smile to feed and water the participants from start to finish.

‘The teams even raised over £900 by having a whip round on the train to thank the crew, but they insisted on donating it all back to Railway Children. The challenge, our biggest annual industry event, is now in its 11th year but the generosity of those that take part can still take your breath away.’

To enter a team of four in next year’s Three Peaks Challenge, please call Katie on 01270 757 596 or e-mail: katie.mason@railwaychildren.org.uk.

For more information go to www. railwaychildren.org.uk/events

(Above) Rail Media Team; Craig, Karen, Adam, Paul and Marc.

(Left) Steve Frost. Commercial Director at Railway Children.

CHARITY

54 | RailStaff | July 2014

Slade Green Charity Cycle Engineering staff from Southeastern’s Slade Green train depot have so far raised over £4,000 after a 70 mile bike ride.

The team rode from Slade Green to Ramsgate, via Gillingham, on 27 June 2014. The object is to raise money for Demelza House children’s hospice and Supporting Sarah.

Says Gavin Fuller, technical services manager for Southeastern and one of the cyclists, ‘We’ve been delighted

by the level of support that we’ve received so far.

‘Demelza is a fantastic charity to fundraise for and we’re pleased to also be able to pull together for a colleague who needs our help. We hope to raise a substantial amount for both causes.’

Supporting Sarah, a fund to pay medical bills, set up a trust fund for the children of Sarah Carney - a 38-year-old single mum with two young daughters under the age of eight. Sarah has been diagnosed with

Brains of Brunswick

Railway staff dug deep in their pockets for a couple of good causes recently at a rail-quiz night.

Derby’s famous, and recently refurbished, Brunswick Inn was the venue for the charity quiz night organised by Cheryl Parkin, Karen Booth and Chris Nutty of East Midlands Trains (EMT).

The quiz master was Mark Walker, who is an English and Maths tutor with Stephenson College, Coalville.

Mark and Chris have worked together since 2005 to set up and deliver English and Maths courses to staff within East Midlands Trains, and other train companies, as part of a learning partnership between the trade unions and railway companies.

Chris is a train driver for EMT and is currently seconded to ASLEF as an

educational project worker. During their time working together, Mark has run a number of quiz nights to raise awareness of the courses the learning partnership offers. Mark Walker has won a fearful reputation for finding unusual questions from the worlds of TV, film, music and general knowledge to make his quizzes interesting.

Mark made the event a family outing by bringing along daughter Abbey to time keep, total up the scores and bring a semblance of order to the proceedings. The prizes for the quiz were donated by both the Brunswick Inn and ASLEF. Victory on the night went to a team from Planning and Access led by Michael Webb; they graciously chose to donate their winnings back to the cause.

The event was the brain child of EMT train planners Cheryl Parkin and Karen Booth, who also ran a raffle, with the first prize of two VIP tickets to see Ed Sheeran at the O2. These were donated by the DFT Group UK. Other prizes were donated by the Donington Park Skid Car School, Ecclesbourne Valley Railway, Buxton Opera House, ASLEF and EMT. The event raised nearly £600, with all proceeds going to the Samaritans and the Railway Children.

Says Cheryl, ‘Everybody really enjoyed the quiz. As ever, Mark did a really good job. I would also like to thank all the companies that were so generous with the prizes they donated to the raffle.’

Stage 4 bile duct cancer, which has spread to her liver, lungs and bones.

Recruitment agency Clemtech

and technology partner Perpetuum supported the team. To help visit www.seeng.org/bigride

Pedal Power for Pendolino Pair Two Virgin Trains drivers have managed a gruelling, 200-mile charity cycle ride in 16.5 hours.

David Singleton and Craig Allan swapped Pendolinos for push bikes and leaned heavily into the curves on their way down from Glasgow to Preston. So far the pair have raised over £6,300 for Yorkhill Children’s Hospital.

BBC weather presenter Judith Ralston waved them off at Glasgow Central station and helped with a raffle.

David and Craig, who are based at Polmadie depot, trained hard for the trip.

The funds will be used for buying toys and games for Ward 4B at Yorkhill Children’s Hospital. These will keep the children occupied during their stay at the hospital, which can sometimes be months at a time.

Says Craig, ‘We didn’t think we’d get nearly as much as this but everybody just jumped on board. Our friends and colleagues have been really supportive of the whole cause.’

Both drivers have cycled in excess of 1,600 miles since January in order to train for the Glasgow-Preston journey and recently undertook a practice run between Irvine and Berwick-upon-Tweed.

David and Craig chose Yorkhill as their nominated charity after their colleague Alister Gillanders, a Glasgow-based train manager, took them to the hospital. Alister’s son Ross, 8, was treated at Yorkhill last

year and he and mum Pamela praised the care given by hospital staff. ‘There are a lot of children in the ward who are unable to get out of bed all day so it’s really important for them to have games, televisions and things that make the day go more quickly,’ Pamela said.

‘We know that the money raised by Davy and Craig will go a long way at Yorkhill and it’s fantastic that they’ve raised so much.’

Both drivers were taken aback by the high level of support from railway staff both at their home depot, at Virgin Trains, and at stations along the way.

‘We called in at Motherwell, Carstairs, Penrith, Oxenholme and Lancaster on the way down,’ says Davy. ‘The staff at the stations were great and they came out and talked to us and made donations. Everyone was very supportive. We posted messages on Facebook and we received messages back. People were saying go for it, keep going and that boosted us, it really helped.’

Ross made a complete recovery.

CAREERS

56 | RailStaff | July 2014

SENIOR PROJECT MANAGER - RAIL PROJECTS

Various Locations Salary - £50,000 - £65,000 per annum + excellent benefits package

GLOBAL REACH, LOCAL DELIVERY

Our client is a major Rail contractor who due to recent and significant growth within the Rail sector, are now urgently seeking an experienced senior level project manager to lead a key project within the South East. This exciting opportunity is open to an established project management candidate with significant experience leading major projects within the Rail sector.

SENIOR QUANTITY SURVEYOR – CIVIL ENGINEERING – RAIL INDUSTRY WWW.ATA-RECRUITMENT.CO.UK

F in d m o re jo b s at

Swindon Salary: £40,000 - £55,000 + Car Allowance + Company Benefits An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced Senior Quantity Surveyor to join a Civil Engineering Contractor based out of their Swindon office. The SQS is required to work on multiple Bridges and Earthwork projects/frameworks within the Rail sector, covering the Western region.

SIGNALLING OPPORTUNITIES

UK Wide Salary - £35,000 - £70,000 ATA Recruitment is currently assisting a number of clients in regard to their requirements for Signalling Design staff.

Some of the roles we are working on include: • Signalling Designers in Derby, York, Doncaster, Bedford, Swindon, Crewe, Birmingham and London • Signalling Design Managers in York, Swindon and Birmingham • The salaries offered range from £35,000 - £70,000 depending on experience and licence for permanent staff 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

CAREERS

July 2014 | RailStaff | 57

Cleshar is a multi-disciplinary support services provider to the Railway Industry. Our successful delivery of Track Renewals and Maintenance activities is evidence of our ability to provide the appropriate levels of trained, experienced and competent resources. Cleshar provides a comprehensive range of track skills and undertakes lump sum track maintenance and renewal projects of all sizes.

Health & Safety Advisor Location Link House, Stonebridge Park, London Salary

£38,000 - £40,000 plus benefits

Main purposes of the vacancy: •

Responsible for the provision of advice, assistance & support to a number of projects.

•

Promote & deliver Health & Safety Communications, undertake site inspections and audits.

•

Ensure effective Health & Safety support & guidance is provided in all designated areas, identify and address any issues of concern.

•

Represent the department in client facing meetings, produce reports and to lead/assist in any accident & investigations.

•

Must be willing to work nights and /or weekends when required as the business is a 24 hour operation.

To apply please forward a copy of your most recent CV to: recruitment@cleshar.co.uk or call 020 8733 8888 for more information.

We’re Growing.

Want to Grow with Us? We are winning more and more long-term, challenging rail contracts across the UK. We want you to join us and be part of a team which makes a difference to our industry. Help us to keep growing as a business and we’ll help you to grow your skills and career.

Roles available throughout the UK now: • Project Managers • Construction Managers (Civils) • Project Engineers (Civils) • Project Engineers (Electrical) • P6 Planners • Design Managers • Senior QS, QS and all grades of commercial staff • Electricians Contact our HR Team on +44(0)20 8953 4144 or Recruitment@McNicholas.co.uk Apply online at McNicholas.co.uk/careers

CAREERS

58 | RailStaff | July 2014

@StobartRailLtd

SHE MANAGER, CARLISLE An SHE Manager is required to provide expertise and direction ensuring the continuous improvement to safety, health and environment (SHE) performance and promote a positive SHE culture; be responsible for the monitoring of compliance to relevant legislation, company policies, processes and standards in order to minimise risk and to maximise efficiency in line with our safety standard “Rail Safety, Real Sense” and promote our total commitment to sustainability; and to identify and assist in the implementation of quality and efficiency improvement initiatives.

Stobart Rail Infrastructure Engineering is one of the UK's leading names in rail network maintenance, repair and improvement. Stobart Rail hold both a Network Rail Principal Contractor's Licence and Rail Plant Operating Licence. We offer nationwide coverage and 24/7 Emergency response on Earthworks Drainage, Bridges & Tunnels, Permanent Way failures.

You will have sound influencing and persuading skills with the ability to adopt different approaches and styles of creative and innovative solutions to deliver continual safety improvements; possess a recognised Health and Safety qualification (NEBOSH Certificate or equivalent), be an Associate of Environmental and Assessment (AEIMA) and hold a professional membership of an appropriate institution i.e. IOSH or IRSM. It is essential that you have proven experience within the Railway Industry.

Our project team have extensive experience on construction of new earth embankments and cuttings, stabilisation and re-grading works to embankments and cuttings, Emergency works, Sea Defence works & Geotechnical projects.

We employ all our own staff and operate and maintain all our own plant.

The successful applicant will be rewarded with an excellent package including company pension, death in service scheme and uniform.

Alison Watson HR Manager t. 01228 882 300 e. alison.watson@stobartrail.com

TO APPLY Full job specifications available on request. To apply, please email your application, detailing relevant skills, experience and qualifications, to:

Alison Watson, HR Manager: alison.watson@stobartrail.com or telephone 01228 882300 to request an application pack.

stobartrail.com

Bridgeway Consulting Ltd is staffed by highly qualified rail engineers and since 1995 has become an industry leader in what is one of the UK’s most safety conscious industries.

We currently have a number of Permanent Way and S&T projects within the Midlands area and are looking for experienced Permanent Way and S&T staff with the following disciplines:

PERMANENT WAY STAFF

SIGNALLING STAFF

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•

 

Trackpersons (including PTS / Track Induction) Handback Engineers (All levels) Track Chargeperson

• •

Installers Team Leaders Maintainer/Fault Finder

All applicants must be SMTH Qualified and IRSE Licensed Candidates must:  Hold current Sentinel/Signalling competency and be experienced to work on Network Rail infrastructure  Be prepared to work nights, weekends, bank holidays and respond to short notice changes of plan  Hold a valid UK Driving Licence

Candidates must live within the Midlands area. These positions are contract for services only.

To apply, please send your CV quoting the reference number PRJ2014061301 directly to jobs@bridgeway-consulting.co.uk or alternatively contact us on 0115 9191111 to request an application form.

WE ARE NOW RECRUITING more than 150 electrifying opportunities.

We are looking to fill around 150 roles to support the delivery of the extensive National Electrification Programme.

As one of the largest electrification contractors in Europe ABC Electrification are proud to be part of the Network Rail National Electrification Programme, which aims to electrify hundreds of miles of railway across Britain.

Formed in 2012 ABC Electrification is dedicated to delivering electrification projects that will help to transform the UK’s railways. Founded on collaboration, innovation and agility ABC Electrification prides itself on its ethical delivery principles, ensuring that every project is delivered on time, in full and with zero harm.

As part of the delivery of the regional electrification projects, that form the National Electrification Programme Network Rail will also be recruiting.

We are looking for exceptional people to join us.

Just some of the roles we are recruiting for:

Contractors’ Engineering Managers • Design Managers • Possession planners Assurance & System Engineers • CDM Coordinators • Project Managers Trainee Linesman • Linesman • Supervisors • Senior Supervisors • Safe work Leaders Construction Managers • Operations Managers • Training Managers • OHL trainers Play your part in one of the biggest infrastructure projects in the UK for over 100 years.

COME AND SEE US • July 15th Hilton Metropole, Birmingham. 4pm - 9pm • July 16th Holiday Inn Rugby, J18. 4pm - 9pm • July 31st Celtic Manor, Newport. 4pm - 9pm For more information on upcoming recruitment events near you please visit abcel.co.uk or send your CV to opportunities@abcel.co.uk

Together we make it happen collaborative | ethical | agile | innovative

www.abcel.co.uk

CAREERS

60 | RailStaff | July 2014

Cleshar is a multi-disciplinary support services provider to the Railway Industry. Our successful delivery of Track Renewals and Maintenance activities is evidence of our ability to provide the appropriate levels of trained, experienced and competent resources. Cleshar provides a comprehensive range of track skills and undertakes lump sum track maintenance and renewal projects of all sizes.

Track Labour / Track Operatives / PWay Gangs Location London area and the Home Counties Salaries

Competitive

Main purposes of the vacancies: •

We require 6/8 man gangs to work on London Underground and Network Rail Infrastructure projects. We have immediate career opportunities for: • •

• • • • •

Charge-hand Senior Supervisors Supervisors Senior Plate Layers Skilled Track Workers T002/3 Handback staff

•

You must have a valid PTS Card, LUCAS & Basic Track Awareness preferable. Accustomed / ST1 preferable but not essential.

•

Working Monday to Friday, predominantly nights with some days as required and also weekends and Bank Holidays.

Team Leaders Foremen

To apply please forward a copy of your most recent CV to: recruitment@cleshar.co.uk or call 020 8733 8888 for more information.

ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING MANAGER DONCASTER | c£65,000 - £70,000 PLUS BENEFITS

“An excellent professional level role in a strong rail business” Our client is a market leading supplier of engineering services in the growing UK rail industry. The business continues to be successful with a strong customer base and has experienced considerable growth in recent years.

•

Ensure that design and other work is delivered in accordance with industry and legislative standards, managing change processes as required

•

As part of a global group of companies, our client is well positioned for further progress with excellent opportunities for talented professional engineers and a culture of advancement and career development.

Manage the procurement and delivery of third party engineering design, consultancy and approval services

•

The role of Electrical Engineering Manager reports to the Engineering Director and focuses on delivering electrical engineering expertise into a wide range of projects, recognising the increasing innovation, complexity and variety of electrical and electronic systems in rail.

Identify opportunities and undertake engineering reviews and studies into the development of new and improved products or services, overseeing testing and development

•

Key activities of the Electrical Engineering Manager will include to:

Support colleagues across the whole engineering function and facilitate relationships with customers, suppliers and a range of third parties in UK rail.

•

Provide a professional level technical lead to the electrical engineering activity

Candidates should ideally be graduate level Electrical Engineers with experience gained at professional levels in a relevant engineering environment in rail or other sectors.

•

Maintain and develop a team of electrical engineers able to support and meet customer and project requirements

Engineering people management and development experience should be allied to a strong technical background and supported by

the personal and operational skills necessary to be part of the engineering management team at a senior level.

This is an outstanding role for a person seeking to advance their career in a strong and well regarded business in the progressive UK rail industry, that is also part of an established and successful international group.

The role will be based at Doncaster and support can be available for those needing to relocate.

Please submit your cv and covering letter to enquiries@rgsexecutive.co.uk or contact Rod Shaw on 0115 959 9687 with any particular queries.

The professional training & assessment experts

Intertrain (UK) Ltd is the largest commercial training provider in the rail industry. We are an NSARE ‘Outstanding’ training company and pride ourselves on our excellent delivery.

We are looking to recruit the following motivated individuals to join our expanding Railway Training and Assessment team.

OLE Trainer/Assessor

Trainee OLE Trainer/Assessor

Doncaster, South Yorkshire

Doncaster, South Yorkshire

Attractive package including mobile phone, laptop and company car. The salary is available on request.

Attractive package including mobile phone, laptop and company car. The salary is available on request.

Required to plan, conduct and evaluate teaching, learning and assessment activity at training centres throughout the country in line with a programme of scheduling and to ensure teaching and learning is delivered to the highest standard.

We will mentor the successful applicant to become a registered OLE Trainer / Assessor. When qualified you will be required to work with the OLE Trainer / Assessor to conduct and evaluate teaching, learning and assessment activity in line with programme of scheduling.

Area Training Manager

Senior Trainer/Assessor

Enfield, London

Enfield, London

Attractive package including mobile phone, laptop and company car. The salary is available on request.

Attractive package including mobile phone, laptop and company car. The salary is available on request.

Required to lead a team of trainers and assessors in our Enfield training centre to a professional and outstanding standard, whilst in charge of the day to day management of the operations of the training centre.

Required to plan, conduct and evaluate Railway Safety Critical teaching, learning and assessment activity in line with programme of scheduling.

For full job descriptions, and to apply, please visit:

www.intertrain jobs.com or email jobs@intertrain.biz

CAREERS

62 | RailStaff | July 2014

Our experience……is your future Compliance Manager

Salary – competitive

Location – Nottingham or Dartford (Kent)

QUOTE REF: CM001

1st Step Solutions Ltd is in the ‘Recruiter Fast 50’ for growth within 2014.

It is through this rapid expansion that we are recruiting a Compliance Manager to oversee existing and new rail business.

The position is availalbe in our Dartford or Nottingham office. The ideal candidate will have a proven history in compliance and be self-motivated.

• The person will have a strong presence and understanding of the rail sector; • To take full responsibility for all quality and regulatory affairs; • Have experience of working to regulatory and conformance requirements. Have previously implemented and developed quality management systems; • You will be the GO-TO person for all compliance related matters.

We are offering an excellent package and career prospects. Ideally based in our Nottingham branch but can also accommodate the position in our Dartford (Kent) branch.

To be considered for this vacancy, please send your CV to: careers@1ststepsolutions.co.uk or call 01322 626200

www.trsstaffing.com

get your career on track

Rail and Infrastructure Vacancies

Maintenance Fitters

Senior Pway Engineer

DRS are currently looking to recruit Field Support Maintenance Fitters to help support our growing demands in this environment. Reporting to the field support production manager, you will be responsible for the repair, maintenance and modification of a varied fleet of Locomotives & Rolling Stock.

The role also involves attending trackside incidents and providing technical support and backup in accordance with company policy and standards.

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: Birmingham, Manchester and Stroud £35K - £55K or £250 - £400/day Experience of Network Rail Projects, Horizontal and Vertical Alignment and Track Renewals

Senior Civil Engineers Drainage and infrastructure London, North West & South West £35K – £55K or £250 - £350/day Mainline Rail experience

Senior Quantity Surveyors/ Commercial Managers London £40K – £65K Experience of Network Rail/LUL Projects, NEC contract experience essential

P6 Project Planners London, Midlands & Swindon £40K – £50K or £300 - £400/day Experience of Network Rail Projects, Primavera experience essential

Consultant Project Manager

Principal Structural Engineers

London, Birmingham, Milton Keynes & Glasgow £50K - £65K or £400-500/day Rail background - Civils, Comms & M&E

Bristol, Birmingham, Cardiff & London £300 - £350/day or £30K – £60K Bridges, Station and Buildings - Rail Project Experience

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

£42,518 + bonus • Field Support Vacancies Nationwide

You will be carrying out planned maintenance on DRS Locomotives and the Rolling Stock fleet in the field and in accordance with laid down standards, you will also work from appointed facilities for short periods of time to support fleet maintenance activities as required ensuring that problems and delays are minimised and that vehicles meet availability, reliability and performance standards.

A time-served engineering tradesman (Electrical or Mechanical) or equivalent, you will hold a full UK Driving Licence, and hold, or be willing to obtain PTS (Personal Track Safety). You will have a flexible approach to work and a willingness to work shifts. Good communication skills are key, alongside the ability to work independently and in a team. A willingness to gain job specific training and enhance your skills in the role is essential, with a knowledge of the rail industry preferable.

In return we offer an attractive salary plus bonus, 33 days leave, company pension scheme and healthcare scheme.

If you would like to apply for the above position please forward an up to date CV and covering letter detailing how you meet the above criteria to recruitment@drsl.co.uk Closing date: Friday, 15th August 2014.

Successful applicants will be required to undergo security clearance including, reference, nationality and identification checks and Drug and Alcohol testing.

SIGNALLING SOLUTIONS OPENS NEWPORT OFFICE AND IS RECRUITING Due to our growing reputation within the industry for delivering major projects we continue to win new and exciting contracts UK wide.

We have a number of exciting Design opportunities in our Newport office: Assistant Designers Designers Design Engineers Design Verifiers Principle Designers If you are looking for a new challenge and are keen to develop your skills then we can provide you with a unique opportunity to get involved in and trained on the latest cutting edge technology, such as Smartlock, Modular Signalling, ETCS and next generation signalling.

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. If you are interested in joining a forward thinking company where you can make a real contribution to the success of our business and feel part of a growing team then please find out more about our opportunities on our website: www.signallingsolutions.com

We are also interested in hearing from Project Engineers, Project Planners, Project Managers, Quantity Surveyors and Safety Assurance Engineers in various locations across the UK.

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.

excellence in train control

A Balfour Beatty and Alstom Company

+44 (0) 1923 635 089 recruitment@signallingsolutions.com www.signallingsolutions.com Signalling Solutions Limited, Bridgefoot House, Watling Street, Radlett, WD7 7HT

KEEPING YOU ON TRACK

DRUGS AND ALCOHOL SERVICES FROM EXPRESS MEDICALS

Express Medicals provides a full array of drugs and alcohol services including the following:

· · · ·

Pre-Sponsorship Tests Periodic Tests For Cause/Post Incident Tests Policy Review/Writing

· · ·

ONGOING SUPPORT

Pre-Appointment Tests Random Tests Advice and Training

PROMPT SERVICE

MEDICAL EXPERTS COUNSELLING DRUG AND ALCOHOL SERVICES HEALTH SURVEILLANCE

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH

TRAVEL HEALTH

PHYSIOTHERAPY

WELLBEING

RAIL MEDICALS

Marketing and Sales Team

020 7500 6900 020 7500 6901 www.expressmedicals.co.uk www.expressmedicals.co.uk

Marketing and Sales Team Marketing and Sales Team

VACCINATIONS BLOOD TESTS

MARKET LEADERS