RailStaff November 2015 by Rail Media

Staff

Training Earthworks

@StobartRailLtd

THE MOST POPULAR PUBLICATION IN THE UK RAIL INDUSTRY Issue 216 | November 2015

stobartrail.com

www.railstaff.uk

Academies of Rail

Battle Skills Gap This autumn as students mark the start of the academic year, the rail industry is opening a range of new colleges and training centres. The colleges are designed to attract more people to the industry and up-skill existing staff. More apprenticeships and graduate traineeships are opening up attractive careers in railways for the next generation. Full feature starts page 24.

BEING HEARD Bombardier graduate Paul Burkholder talks about joining the rail industry and a project which is giving a voice to graduates Page 26 and apprentices in his company.

HISTORY OF RUSSIAN RAILWAYS - PART 3

GO-AHEAD HOOKS BUTCHER

David Shirres reports on the role of the railways after World War Two, postwar recovery was surprisingly rapid.

Patrick appointed chief finance officer of Go-Ahead Group.

Page 46

Page 8

working together Get connected to one of the largest specialist recruitment businesses in the rail industry For information please call: 0845 543 5953 or visit: www.mcginley.co.uk

Proud Sponsors of Watford Ladies FC

@StobartRailLtd

TRAINING FOR THE FUTURE Stobart Rail has continuously invested in its training

improvement of the business. This includes regular

place that facilitate the continuous development and

may have on our operations and staďŹ&#x20AC;.

department and consequently has robust systems in

reviews of industry standards and what impact this

Project Overview Stobart Rail have collaborated with Arena Racing Company to install a new all-weather track at Newcastle Racecourse. Stobart Rail is currently removing 65,000 square metres of grass track and 50,000 tonnes of top soil from the 3.6 kilometre race track. This will be replaced in the coming weeks with 30,000 tonnes of stone, 11,000 metres of new drainage, 63,000 square metres of tarmac and 17,000 tonnes of Tapita sand. The excavated spoil and grass will be donated to Newcastle City Council to be utilised in community projects.

The Jump Track will remain open while the construction work continues.

Graeme Wharton Civils Director graeme.wharton@stobartrail.com

Stobart Rail will also install 40 tower lights which will enable the racecourse to be used more throughout the winter months and evenings.

Gary Greenan Project Manager gary.greenan@stobartrail.com

The project began in September and will be completed in January 2016.

George Smith Project Manager george.smith@stobartdevelopments.com

Stobart Rail will be working seven days a week to meet the deadline.

Andrew Sumner Business Development and Stakeholder Manager andrew.sumner@stobartrail.com Stobart Rail Head OďŹ&#x192;ce t. 01228 882 300

stobartrail.com

COMMENT

November 2015 | RailStaff | 3

Staff Contact us: Publisher:

Paul O’Connor

Editor:

Andy Milne

Production and design:

Adam O’Connor

Senior Reporter:

Marc Johnson

Senior Writer:

Colin Garratt

Track Safety:

Colin Wheeler

Event Sales:

Jolene Price

Advertising:

Asif Ahmed

Chris Davies

Craig Smith

Keith Darlison

Contact Email Addresses News: news@rail-media.com

A friend indeed Behind every success in the rail industry is a simple human value, too often overlooked: Friendship. It’s a hard to define advantage, but essential in a safety-critical industry. In a culture which recognises the sanctity of every life, it is friendship that puts warm flesh on the ordered liturgies of progress and security.

Pictures: pictures@rail-media.com Adverts: adverts@rail-media.com Subsciptions: manda@rail-media.com

Contact Details RailStaff Publications, Rail Media House, Samson Road, Coalville, Leicestershire, LE67 3FP.

Tel: 01530 816 444 Fax: 01530 810 344

Web: www.railstaff.uk Email: hello@rail-media.com

Printed by Pensord. RailStaff is published by RailStaff Publications Limited A Rail Media Publication

The rail industry is proving perspicacious with its stratagems of enticement. An expanding industry needs to attract new people. No less important is the industry’s training and development of its greatest natural asset - its people. This is not always easy. Older staff find new technologies difficult to deal with, change can be challenging. The traditional leap from ballast and booking office to middle management can unnerve even the boldest. It is important to support and encourage friends in new jobs and promotions. One of the railway’s most attractive qualities is the knockabout humour and camaraderie out there on track and station, in depots and training centres. Put bluntly, the industry could not function without it. However, the railway goes beyond that. Retention of skilled staff is essential. Companies putting

“An expanding industry needs to attract new people...” established staff through new skills training are doing a singular service. Familial togetherness will encourage staff to train up, to develop as the professionals of a daring and uncharted destiny. Nowhere is this better illustrated than in a small office near Coventry. Railway signalling engineer Kerry Hunt started to lose her sight. It could have been so different. However, two friends, Craig Purcell and Sue Grant, worked out a role as document controller for Kerry at the wonderfully named Fenix Signalling. With the help of audio software and a guide dog called Vanya, Kerry Hunt is

hard at work, back in the industry which has the good fortune to employ her. By Purcell and Grant’s friendship and ingenuity, the industry has hung on to a railway specialist who might have otherwise been lost. Making life easier for Kerry is a new friend of the industry, Vanya the guide dog. Care and friendship remain the cornerstone values of an industry desperate to attract and retain motivated staff at all levels. We wish Vanya and Kerry every success in their continuing career with the railway.

andy@rail-media.com

Training focus in March

From frontline to railway line

Signing it out

March’s RailStaff will include a spotlight on training where we will once again highlight some of the initiatives being delivered across the industry to train and upskill the workforce. For information about how to promote your company within the focus, call 01530 816440 or e-mail: sales@rail-media.com

Suddenly, just a few months before he was about to leave the Army having spent almost 30 years as a soldier, something dawned on Simon Higgens: what happens now?

Stations can be busy, disorientating places. Knowing where to go can be confusing. So imagine how difficult it would be if you couldn’t hear the loudspeaker announcements.

NEWS

4 | RailStaff | November 2015

Our sons as well This year’s Poppy Day carries an added poignancy: By November 1915 it was clear the war would not be over by Christmas, Andy Milne writes. Fighting on the Western Front stalled as soldiers dug in for trench warfare. The Allied invasion of Turkey at Gallipoli had failed altogether. On the morning of 10 November, allied commander, Lord Kitchener, landed on the Gallipoli peninsular and spent the day talking to men and officers. Later he visited forward positions and took stock of what had become a hopeless position. The invasion of Turkey had been undertaken earlier that year in a bid to take pressure off the Russians. In the First World War, Turkey ended up part of the German-Austrian bloc, at war with Britain, France and Russia.

Ataturk The campaign in Gallipoli had not gone well. The terrain is harsh and the Turks held the high ground. By late summer, the idea of taking Istanbul seemed absurd. The Turkish commander at Gallipoli was one Mustafa Kemal, better know to history as Ataturk. A brilliant strategist, Ataturk already believed the war was lost. A pro-Western secularist, Ataturk would go on to lay the foundations of the modern Turkish state. The road to freedom, he believed, was through education and he built thousands of schools. Importantly, his success in the Dardanelles enabled him to win over the army which became a guarantor of the unfolding revolution in the 1920s.

Remembrance sculpture Ataturk never forgot the troops he commanded or those he fought. His example remains an inspiration. This year, railway staff redoubled efforts to support Poppy Day and the unstinting efforts of the Royal British Legion in support of Britain’s armed forces. Thousands of volunteer collectors, including veterans from the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force, benefitted from free rail travel. A Remembrance Sculpture comprising six threemetre high poppies was unveiled at London’s Waterloo station. The giant poppies - each approximately a metre in diameter - served as a collection point for donations in the lead up

to Remembrance Sunday. The sculpture was commissioned by Interserve which looks after Waterloo station and has close ties with the military.

Sacrifice for freedom Back in 1915, the troops, most of them Australian and New Zealanders, started leaving the peninsular in December. The evacuation was completed by January 1916. Thousands never left and are buried locally. The disaster put a black mark against Winston Churchill who, as Sea Lord, had backed the campaign against the advice of colleagues. Ataturk, as described, did much better. A magnanimous man, some years after the war he caused a memorial to be set up on the sea front at Cannakale. It is still worth a visit. At its base runs an inscription in Turkish and English. From memory it reads: Mothers weep not for your sons, for they lie at peace in a friendly land and by their sacrifice for freedom they have become our sons as well.’

NEWS

November 2015 | RailStaff | 5

IT should be her Network Rail has launched the third year of its ‘Could IT Be You?’ competition. The aim is to encourage young women to pursue IT, technical and engineering careers in the rail industry. Prizes include a grant of up to £9,000 towards the first year of university tuition fees. The Could IT Be You? competition was set up in 2013 by Network Rail’s chief information officer, Susan Cooklin, after she raised concerns about the slide in the number of women entering the UK’s IT sector. According to the employer body e-skills UK, the number of women working in the IT industry in Britain is falling dramatically. In the 1980s it was as high as 38 per cent but by 2013 has fallen to just 16 per cent. Every year the IT and telecoms professional workforce requires more than 22,500 new entrants directly from education, but at present, only 13 per cent of students on IT-related degrees are female. Says Susan Cooklin, ‘Popular culture has helped create a perception among young women that a career in IT is all about writing code in basement offices – the reality couldn’t be further from the truth. ‘Technology plays a crucial role in all our lives and is absolutely vital to Network Rail as we carry out our

railway upgrade plan. This competition is a fantastic way for young women to learn about the great opportunities that a career in IT can offer.’ The competition was launched on Ada Lovelace Day, marking a celebration of the 19th century mathematician, considered to be the first computer programmer. The Could IT Be You? competition is open to girls aged 16-18 and asks them to explain how technology can improve their lives and make things better. As well as £9,000 towards university tuition fees, the winner and four runners up receive paid work experience and a year’s coaching and

mentoring with Network Rail’s IT team. Zoe Moore, from Towcester in Northamptonshire, won the inaugural Could IT Be You? competition in 2013 and has just begun her studies in politics and economics at the University of Nottingham. ‘The work experience and mentoring that were offered as part of the prize were fantastic. I’ve been inspired by the people I met and by the experience of seeing just how important technology is to keeping the railway running and making it better. ‘This competition opened my eyes to the great opportunities that can be had with a career in IT,’ says Zoe.

THE SCHEMES FOR FUTURE RAIL LEADERS Rail Students is a dedicated free site for recruiters to advertise their graduate, intern and apprenticeship vacancies for students and new graduates across the globe. Add your company’s vacancies and schemes for free at www.railstudents.com

www.railstudents.com

@railstudents

NEWS

6 | RailStaff | November 2015

Infrarail poised to ExCel

I’ll cry if I want to... © SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

The Government’s launch of the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) provides a further boost for Infrarail 2016 next April in London. Chaired by former Transport Secretary Lord Adonis, the NIC will oversee some £100 billion of infrastructure spending by 2020. Among its initial priorities will be plans to transform the connectivity of cities in northern England, including the HS3 rail line.

The NIC will also examine priorities for future large-scale investment in London’s public transport infrastructure. With work on Phase One of the HS2 high-speed line between London and the West Midlands moving closer, longterm prospects for suppliers of railway infrastructure products and services are looking good. This optimism is reflected in stand bookings at Infrarail 2016, which takes place at ExCeL London.

A new app, ‘It’s My Journey’, will let passengers track train punctuality. It’s another move to put rail users closer to information, say industry leaders. The free app and website will let people check the punctuality and reliability record of any service up and down the country, giving them more information to help choose which train and which route to use. The scheme, developed by Glow New Media and backed by the Rail Delivery Group, could be available from April

next year. Says Chris Burchell, chair of the rail industry’s National Task Force, ‘We are using and developing cuttingedge technology that gives our customers better and more accessible information. Giving people better and timely information, especially when there is disruption to services, is one of our top priorities.’ Passengers will have ready access to facts and figures about punctuality and reliability allowing them to decide which trains to catch and where best to travel from. © ROBERT FRANCE

Ribblesdale reconnection Two quarries have been reconnected to the historic Settle - Carlisle railway at Horton in Ribblesdale. Funded by Tarmac in support of its Arcow and Dry Rigg quarries, the £5 million project will help remove more than 16,000 lorry journeys from local roads each year. Delivered by Network Rail and its partners Babcock and Story Contracting, the work took place over the summer and included earth removal and construction of a new supporting railway embankment. Engineers are now at work on track and signalling. A stunning image of a nearby freight train approaching a sun-lit Ribblehead Viaduct just up the line, has won the Network Rail ‘Lines in the

Landscape’ Award at this year’s Take a View - Landscape Photographer of the Year competition. The winning photograph was captured by Robert

France from Lancaster. Says Robert, ‘I am delighted to have won this prestigious award. Ribblehead Viaduct is a magnificent structure

surrounded by beautiful countryside, and I was very lucky to capture it in the last rays of winter sun complete with an approaching train.’

Britain’s Largest Specialist Transport Union

20 years of privatisation =

SLOWER

trains

Two decades of privatisation and a massive public investment in new trains for private operator GWR has left travellers with longer journey times than under British Rail.

1977

Journey times:-

2018

publicly owned GWR after £4.5bn British Rail* fleet investment**

London to Bristol Temple Meads 85 mins London to Cardiff 105 mins London to Swansea 163 mins

90 mins 113 mins 164 mins

* BR poster 1977 © NRM / Pictorial Collection / Science & Society Picture Library Image **May 2015 Building a Greater West ‘Our new Great western Franchise’ Publication

BRITAIN’S PRIVATISED RAILWAYS ARE A SHAMBLES AND A RIP-OFF!

To add insult to injury we now find out that the new Hitachi Inter-City trains will need to be fitted with diesel engines due to electrification delays and that the taxpayer is facing a bill of £3 million a week for new trains that will be left idle. This at the same time as jobs, safety and services remain under threat from cash-led cuts.

It is a scandal.

JOIN RMT IN OUR CAMPAIGN TO BRING BRITAIN’S RAILWAYS BACK UNDER PUBLIC CONTROL

Protecting our members’ interests is our priority

Join us today www.rmt.org.uk

FREEPHONE 0800 376 3706

PEOPLE

8 | RailStaff | November 2015

Tidmarsh joins SNC-Lavalin

NCB appoints sales specialist

Steve Tidmarsh has been brought in as principal engineer at Interfleet, now part of SNCLavalin.

Stuart Gough has joined the Network Certification Body (NCB) as head of sales and marketing - a new position within the organisation.

Tidmarsh joins the newly restructured Engineering Vehicle Certification team. Previously Steve worked for Ricardo Rail, formerly Lloyds Register Rail, on the assurance of freight vehicles. Before that he was responsible for the Rail Vehicle Conformance team at Network Rail. He also worked for TCI Consultants. Steve has a degree in integrated engineering from Nottingham Trent University. Says UK regional director Michael Grace, ‘Steve boasts a wealth of freight vehicle experience and will work closely with our new On-Track Machine Assurance team.’ Interfleet’s remodelled Engineering Vehicle Certification team combines the company’s existing on-track plant experts with a new section dedicated to on-track machine assurance. The wider team continues to be led by Alex McCristal.

Stuart has over 10 years of experience in sales and business development and has worked in the insurance and energy industries. Says James Collinson, managing director of NCB, ‘Having a head of sales and marketing will really allow us to develop our services in a more customer-focussed way, and we’re delighted to have Stuart on board.’ Gough moves over to NCB after a 16-month stint with Network Rail’s National Supply Chain team as business development manager. He joined Network Rail in October 2013 as a customer development manager based at Milton Keynes. Stuart attended noted sixth form college

King George V College in Southport, Merseyside. Gough has worked for Norwich Union, Medifi and Empower Training. He joined E.ON as sales and marketing manager in 2008 and rose to become global client services manager before joining Network Rail. Network Certification Body (NCB) is an independent subsidiary company of Network Rail, providing comprehensive conformity and assessment services to the rail industry.

High-speed role for Humphreys Go-Ahead hooks Butcher High-speed rail expert Peter Humphreys joins WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff as rail technical director. Peter arrives from Aecom and has 43 years of international experience in running high-speed rail, metro and light rail projects in South Africa, the United Kingdom, Taiwan, Australia and the Middle East. After graduating, he started his career as a tunnelling contractor in South Africa and on the Channel Tunnel. Later, he worked on the Jubilee line extension for seven years. Then in 1999, he joined the Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation where he

managed civil works for the $16 billion Taiwan High Speed Railway, working as part of the Taiwan HSRC/WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff team. The job included the delivery of 53 km of tunnels and 285 km of viaduct on the 345 km route. Peter has also worked previously for what was Parsons Brinckerhoff on London’s East London Line and Manchester Metrolink. Humphreys has also been involved with Australian high-speed rail, the Sydney Metro, and the Jeddah Metro in Saudi Arabia. ‘It’s a great time to be back in the UK with hugely challenging rail and highspeed rail projects underway,’ says Peter Humphreys. Says Darren Reed, head of rail at WSP/Parsons Brinckerhoff, ‘Our combined experience in designing, planning and engineering rail projects internationally means that we are in a better position to attract the greatest talents and minds of the industry. ‘Having Peter on board will strengthen our technical expertise for the benefit of our clients, and I am delighted to welcome him to our rail team.’

Patrick Butcher, current Network Rail group finance director, has been appointed chief finance officer of Go-Ahead Group and will take up the job in May 2016. He leaves Network Rail in the New Year. A member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, South Africa, Butcher’s early career was spent at Deloitte & Touche as a management consultant and auditor. Butcher went on to work as finance director at English, Welsh & Scottish Railways, Mapeley Limited, London Underground and King’s College Hospital before joining Network Rail in 2009 as an executive director. Thanking him, Mark Carne, Network Rail chief executive, said, ‘On behalf of Network Rail colleagues, I would like to thank Patrick for his service to our company over seven years. ‘I personally want to thank him for his untiring support to me and for helping us to successfully navigate the transition into the public sector last year.’ Over at Go-Ahead current financial

controller, Paul Edwards, will become interim group finance director following Keith Down’s departure on 13 November. Says David Brown, group chief executive, ‘I am delighted that Patrick is joining the group and look forward to working alongside him. He will be an excellent addition to the Go-Ahead team, bringing strong financial management capabilities as well as significant transport sector and stakeholder experience.’ Go-Ahead operates three rail franchises: GTR, London Midland and Southeastern through Govia, its 65 per cent owned joint venture with Keolis.

PEOPLE

November 2015 | RailStaff | 9

Double appointment

DRS director joins Freightliner

Ford & Stanley has added two more recruitment experts to its growing team.

Neil McNicholas has been appointed business development director at Freightliner Group.

Rory Peverell (left), who has spent three years as a specialist recruiter in the rail sector, joins as a senior recruitment consultant led by Ford & Stanley’s new head of rail recruitment, Tony Sweetman. Says Rory, who plays for Belper Rugby Club, ‘I was aware that there are some really talented people working here, whom I really felt as though

would help me learn and progress myself to the next level.’ Tony began his career in recruitment in 2005 and has since worked at all levels in engineering, operations and customer service. Says Tony, ‘Why did I join Ford & Stanley? That’s easy, the people. Passion, talent, commitment and the ambition to be the best – I can honestly say that this is true of everyone here. It’s a joy to come to work on a Monday morning and be a part of this amazing group of people.’

New chaplains take the train Railway Mission has welcomed four new staff members to complete its new-look team which aims to boost pastoral care for rail staff. Angela Levitt-Harwood, Christopher Henley, Dan Godwin and Helen Bartlett have all completed their initial training. Murder-mystery novel fan Angela Levitt-Harwood, 53, is no stranger to railways, as her home overlooks a rail freight line in York. She is serving rail staff as chaplain for Yorkshire and Humberside, centred on York station. Christopher Henley, 57, who lives in Chiswick, London, is a railway heritage enthusiast. He will be

A founding member of Direct Rail Services (DRS), McNicholas managed the company’s operations and engineering functions before taking over as managing director for 17 years. Prior to DRS, McNicholas worked for British Nuclear Fuels Limited, overseeing projects involving new plant design, infrastructure maintenance, waste management and plant decommissioning. On 12 November, Freightliner celebrates its 50th anniversary. Created as the container arm of British Rail, Freightliner went on to enter the private sector as a management buyout at rail privatisation. Since then, Freightliner has expanded

working in Cambridgeshire and East Anglia, and is based at Liverpool Street Station. Dan Godwin, 39, is chaplain to the London Underground, working alongside Dylis George who joined Railway Mission earlier this year. Dan previously worked in education and social care. Keen gardener Helen Bartlett, 57, is the new rail chaplain for the North East. Helen previously supported college students and hospice patients and their families as a counsellor. Says Railway Mission executive director Liam Johnston, ‘The challenges faced by railway staff and passengers can sometimes seem daunting, but our chaplains are there to bring a little light and comfort. ‘I’m excited to welcome our four new chaplains and regard it as a privilege to work with them serving the rail industry.’ All of Railway Mission’s chaplains support train company and Network Rail staff, as well as British Transport Police officers. Chaplains are available for

TBF is all about people... people in the public transport industry, people just like you!

staff at other rail-related businesses. They also offer support to members of the travelling public in times of distress and anxiety. The charity relies on voluntary donations to fund its work.

(left to right) Angela Levitt-Harwood and Helen Bartlett are two of Railway Mission’s new chaplains.

A wide range of benefits including financial, medical, convalescence and professional advice is available to you, your partner and dependent children for just £1 a week. Call us today to find out how we can help you.

& 0300 333 2000 8 www.tbf.org.uk

help@tbf.org.uk

The Transport Benevolent Fund (known as TBF) is a registered charity in England and Wales (1058032) and in Scotland (SC040013)

into heavy haulage as well as containers and also operates in Poland, the Netherlands and Australia. The company is now owned by Genesee & Wyoming, an American rail freight operator. Says Freightliner chief executive Russell Mears, ‘I am delighted to welcome Neil to the team. He brings a wealth of operational and commercial experience in rail freight to the business which will prove invaluable to both our domestic and international development.’

RAIL ALLIANCE

10 | RailStaff | November 2015

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

Power Packed Events Rail Alliance

David Byrne chatting to Tony Riley in the First Class Waiting Room at Doncaster Station, at an event facilitated by Rail Alliance.

The Rail Alliance prides itself on the quality and variety of events it organises for, and on occasions on behalf of, its members, such as with Virgin Trains East Coast. Rail Alliance members not only get to listen to high quality speakers, learn about new opportunities and gain insights into industry and business, the valuable prospect for networking is a real highlight. Recent events organised by Rail Alliance’s membership development and international trade director, Lucy Prior, include:

Collaborative Working, London On 15 September, we were hosted by ITIC, based in London, overlooking the famous Gherkin building, where we ran an extremely successful session on the theme of collaborative working. With speakers from Network Rail, NSARE, ATOC, JCP and NC Consulting, the session really sparked intense debate. Rail Alliance members interested in talking to Network Rail’s Whole Life Product Management team, which presented on the day, are invited to contact Nawaz Ahmad, WLPM principal engineer, electrification programme, on WholeLifeProductManagement@ networkrail.co.uk – please be sure to quote Rail Alliance in the subject box.

VIP event with Virgin Trains East Coast #BoundForGlory, Doncaster Not content with a trade fair and a networking session, the week following RAIL2015 we were delighted to facilitate a VIP reception for our members Virgin Trains East Coast in the first class waiting room at Doncaster station. This was an extremely successful event, and we were delighted to welcome local members such as Mechan and Red Viking as well as some of the industry’s leading names, including Hitachi, Volker, and Thales. We were also honoured to be accompanied by Jo Miller, the chief executive of Doncaster Council, along with other local Business Doncaster dignitaries, UKTI South Yorkshire and the Doncaster Chambers of Commerce. We had great coverage on BBC Radio Sheffield, who turned up to cover the event. Thanks to all who attended for making the evening such a success.

Reconnecting with Rail, Mansfield Staying at a more local level, we recently held an event in Mansfield at the Vision Studio School, with the aim of underlining the importance of rail to the region and vice-versa. The day provided yet another packed agenda,

New Members Tekla UK (Software vendors who develop and supply 3D structural software directly to the construction industry. The detailed as built 3D models created are used widely in the Building Information modelling (BIM) process) www.tekla.com/uk Community Transport Association (Membership body providing leadership and support to the community transport sector across the UK) www.ctsuk.wordpress.com Matchmaker CNC (Seller of CNC machine tools and solutions to all industry sectors) www.matchmakercnc.co.uk Fishbone Solutions (Cross-sector, innovation-led engineering and commercial consultancy serving the transportation sector) www.fishbonesolutions.co.uk IBM (American multinational technology and consulting corporation) www.ibm.com

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

Mayflower Engineering Ltd (Suppliers of a full turn-key engineering capability - design • project management • specialist fabrication & machining • shop assembly & testing • site installation services) www.mayflower-engineering.co.uk Construction Composites Ltd (Experts in composites materials, supporting clients’ design process through consultancy service. They take the client’s design through product development in order to manufacture the final composite product. Additionally they have a team of qualified site installation specialists who may also undertake on-site lamination where necessary.) www.constructioncomposites.com Tidyco Ltd (Design, manufacture and supply of flexible hoses, rigid pipework and associated kits for complete Train systems such as: hydrostatic rafts, engine hoses, brake rafts, fuel systems, water filler systems and effluent/vent pipework) www.tidyco.co.uk

Advanced Engineering Techniques Ltd (Leading subcontract engineering provider supplying product to a host of major sectors including Rail. They supply finished and assembled components line-side) www.aetuk.com

Brown & Holmes (Tamworth) Ltd (Design & manufacture of work holding manual handling equipment, automated special purpose machining, precision sub-contract machining, UK agents for Forkardt Chucks, Mytec expanding mandrels, Fresmak vices & Tsudakoma index units. Suppliers of gauges & gauging equipment) www.brownandholmes.co.uk

and included members Lindhurst Engineering, Coriel and BTRoS as well as updates on Phase 2 of the Nottingham Express Tram and a great deal summary of global opportunities by Ian Harrison, regional director of UKTI. Yet again, we also attracted a deal

of local media attention and we are delighted to have featured in the local press. Our next networking event will be on 15 December in Birmingham. Please e-mail rhona.clarke@ railalliance.co.uk to be added to our events newsletter for further details.

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Millions of critical decisions are made every day in transportation. The ability to run networks smoothly and efficiently is crucial to economic growth and quality of life. Thales is at the heart of this. We design, develop and deliver equipment, systems and services, providing end-to-end solutions. Our integrated smart technologies give decision makers the information and control they need to make more effective responses in critical environments. Every moment of every day, wherever safety and security are critical, Thales delivers.

NEWS

12 | RailStaff | November 2015

New Year plan for Crossrail 2 Inspired by the success of new railways like Crossrail 1, Borders Railway and the new Oxford-Marylebone link, rail chiefs have ramped up plans for a new north-south, crossLondon railway. Crossrail 2 will connect existing rail networks in Surrey and Hertfordshire via a new underground tunnel between Wimbledon and Tottenham Hale. The new railway will complement Thameslink and connect with HS1 and HS2 at Euston-St Pancras as well as Crossrail 1. Transport for London has launched a more detailed public consultation on the new project. The consultation will run through till 8 January 2016 and will provide an in-depth look at the local impact of the new railway. Says TfL’s managing director of Crossrail 2, Michele Dix, ‘Crossrail 2 will provide a UK-wide economic boost, supporting hundreds of thousands of new homes and jobs. It is also vital to meet the demands of London’s rapidly growing population.

‘This consultation gives people the chance to comment on where we are proposing to put station entrances, work sites and ventilation shafts needed to run Crossrail 2. As development of this vital railway continues, we will be taking on board feedback from the consultation to progress the designs for the project, so that we can open the railway by 2030.’ Further large-scale infrastructure projects are deemed vital to support London’s unprecedented population increase, from a record 8.6 million today to 10 million people by 2030. Transport for London and Network Rail have already carried out two consultations on Crossrail 2, which have

shown overwhelming support for the railway from the public. The new project means the race is on to recruit more apprentices, students and graduates as well as motivated professionals looking for a rewarding career in Europe’s fastest-growing rail industry.

Boxing Dan Jane goes the distance

Away Tay

The managing director of a railway construction company has taken to the boxing ring in a brave bid to raise money for Cancer Research.

Plans have been lodged to build a permanent walkway system for railway staff working on the Tay Rail Bridge.

Daniel Jane, who leads VS Rail, took up the sport, called White Collar Boxing, quite recently. ‘How I got myself into this? Not totally sure why I did, and I don’t plan on doing it again,’ says Dan recovering at corporate HQ in Romsey, Hampshire.

‘A friend in London did a similar event and this inspired me to have a look into it. Cancer Research UK is a good cause and boxing is something that I had never done before and was well outside of my comfort zone.’ Dan’s father died of cancer 15 years ago. ‘I suppose there’s a bit of selfpreservation here,’ Dan says. Organised by Ultra White Collar Boxing, participants who sign up undergo a rigorous eight-week training programme.

‘My training programme started at the Phoenix Club in Bournemouth where all participants trained together two sessions per week. Skills were quickly learnt and fitness improved, building up for the big night of the fight.’ Undaunted by the coming bout, Dan had also signed up to do a triathlon, which took place just two weeks after the fight. ‘The whole exercise has been a bit of a trigger, really. It’s inspired me to go on getting and keeping fit,’ says Dan. ‘The triathlon was across Scotland, coast-to-coast, and included cycling, trail running and kayaking, 105 miles in total.’ The bout took place at the Bournemouth International Conference Centre. ‘I lost my fight, but raised over £2,000 for Cancer Research with the money raised on the night exceeding £15,000. Since Ultra White Collar Boxing started a few years ago, it has raised over £2 million for Cancer Research UK.’ To make a donation go to: www. justgiving.com/account/your-pages/ Daniel-Jane1

Network Rail has applied for planning permission. The new walkway will replace the unnerving scaffolding system, which has been used for the last decade by workers accessing the bridge. The Tay Rail Bridge is a category A listed building and was rebuilt following the infamous disaster of 1879, which claimed the lives of 75 people after it collapsed under the weight of a crossing train. Network Rail says it will build a walkaway consistent with the bridge’s historic appearance. Says Dundee archivist Innes Duffus, ‘I would be happy to support the plans, but only if they made sure they kept the original look. Part of the original design, from when it was rebuilt after the disaster, was the inclusion of a walkway and it would be great to see it back to where it started.’

PEOPLE

14 | RailStaff | November 2015

Linbrooke chooses Mike Linbrooke Services has expanded and taken on Mike Burns as regional director for Scotland. Originally from Caithness in Scotland’s far north, Mike studied mechanical engineering at Napier University in Edinburgh. After graduating in 2000, he began his career at First Engineering. For four years, he worked on minor signalling renewals and enhancement works, gaining solid rail experience. Then came a twoyear stint with Rhodar, the asbestos specialists, before Mike rejoined the rail industry. For the last eight years, he has been working for Westinghouse Rail Systems, which later became Invensys and then Siemens. Focussing on the project management of multi-discipline

schemes, Mike has led a number of high-profile projects, including the Edinburgh Waverley Infrastructure Enhancements (EWIE), Airdrie to Bathgate and Linked Improvements (A2B), the London Victoria Line Upgrade and the Edinburgh to Glasgow Improvement Programme (EGIP). Burns also mobilised and led Siemens’ successful tender process for the prominent Thameslink Key Output 2 programme. Says Mike Burns, ‘Coming from a strong management and delivery background, Linbrooke’s ethos and vision aligns perfectly with my own, and I am very much looking forward to being a part of the Linbrooke leadership team.’ Linbrooke Services specialises in railway telecoms, power and signalling, and is a licensed principal contractor to Network Rail.

New role for Norbert Dentressangle chief Kevin Richardson has been appointed as the new chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT). He will join the Institute on 1 December and will take over from Steve Agg, who is stepping down after nearly 10 years in the role on 1 January. Richardson joins the Institute from XPO Logistics, formerly Norbert Dentressangle, where he was European development director for four years. Prior to that, Kevin spent 20 years at TDG Plc progressing from implementation director to strategic development director. An experienced senior logistics executive with over 35 years’ experience in the sector, Kevin has been a member of the Institute for 28 years.

Tram man heads for Midland Metro Phil Hewitt has taken over at the helm of Midland Metro as programmes director. The move follows the departure of Paul Griffiths for HS2. Hewitt will lead the Metro project team as the light rail service prepares to open a new Birmingham city centre extension by

the end of the year. Hewitt was previously executive chairman of Tramlink Nottingham. Says Phil Hewitt, ‘The ambition of the West Midlands and the Centro team to develop the Metro network as the heart of the region’s strategy for integrated transport will deliver the next big success story for light rail in the UK.’

Born in 1967, Phil graduated with a BSc in civil and structural engineering from the University of Wales in 1988. He was a graduate trainee with London Underground where he spent the next eight years. Then, at Transport for London, he was a project manager on Croydon Tramlink between 2000 and 2002, head of London Trams from 2002-2008, and was appointed director of London Tramlink in 2011. Since 2012, he has been chief executive of Tramlink Nottingham, where he oversaw the Phase 2 extension of the city’s tram network - a programme that saw it double in size. The Midland Metro runs between Birmingham Snow Hill and Wolverhampton city centre and has 23 stops with trams every 6-8 minutes during the peak. A 0.9 mile extension from Snow Hill to New Street station is scheduled to open by the end of 2015. Work has already begun on extending it from New Street to Centenary Square via Victoria Square. This is scheduled for completion by 2017. Phil Hewitt, new programmes director for Midland Metro.

Says Professor Richard Wilding, chairman of the CILT board, ’We are delighted to announce Kevin Richardson as the Institute’s new chief executive. He will lead the Institute with commitment, energy and a wealth of expertise into a new era within the logistics and transport sector.’

New head for Transport Scotland Roy Brannen has been appointed chief executive of Transport Scotland. Mr Brannen, currently director of Trunk Roads and Bus Operations at Transport Scotland, succeeds current chief executive David Middleton CBE, who has been seconded to head up Historic Environment Scotland. Roy has worked at Transport Scotland since joining the then Scottish Executive in 1999.

NEWS

16 | RailStaff | November 2015

Crossrail team learns to do the splits Moving a road rail vehicle (RRV) from one site to another can be a problem - but smart thinking on the Crossrail project in East Anglia has produced a solution. A team from Network Rail, Costain, and VGC Group worked together to provide a solution to allow RRVs to travel between separate worksites under live overhead line equipment (OLE). Because it is impractical to switch off too large an area of line, isolation splits are a recurring issue for complex rail jobs, requiring careful management of costs and time. As part of the £150 million Crossrail north-east spur project, cable route works required a series of isolation splits between Gidea Park and Crowlands in Essex. The team, with input from Network Rail’s maintenance staff, carried out full risk assessments and produced a detailed project procedure which was accepted by Network Rail’s electrification and plant engineer. This allowed RRVs to travel under live overhead lines within possessions for this specific project. Moving RRVs from one worksite to another involves travelling to the marker boards and informing the engineering supervisor that the machine will be

leaving his worksite and travelling through the possession to a second worksite. Between worksites permission is sought from the PICOP for the machine to enter and travel through PICOP land. Before entering the second worksite permission is obtained from the second engineering supervisor. By arranging to run RRVs to and from worksites under live overhead lines in this manner, better use can be made of resources with a consequent saving in costs. ‘The Crossrail Anglia project has been running since 2014, and this is the first time a road rail vehicle

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has passed under a live overhead line,’ said Jacques Kriel, VGC Rail projects director. ‘It was a result of a successful collaboration between the Network Rail project team, principal contractor Costain, and VGC.’ Mike Condon, VGC contracts manager, thanked all those involved in setting up the process: ‘It’s very exciting to be working as part of an integrated team to develop new processes which we can use going forward to deliver this logistically complex project as efficiently as possible. ‘I’m sure other projects will also benefit in the future.’

Apprentices achieve James Byrne and Reece Skingley are two of VGC’s apprentices on the Crossrail Anglia project, currently working on troughing as part of the signalling upgrade. In line with the company’s commitment to employing local people on its projects, they are both from Essex. After completing their PTS training they were on site from the beginning of their apprenticeships, working with

experienced operatives to gain the best possible start to their new long-term careers. The VGC Group has more than 50 rail apprentices on Crossrail and London Underground Track Partnership projects. ‘I’m working with brilliant people at VGC – it’s like a big family; everyone looks out for each other,’ said James. ‘They all work incredibly hard, and I’m really proud of managing to keep up with them. I’m learning so much every day – it’s a massive challenge and I’m loving it.’

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NEWS

18 | RailStaff | November 2015

Pennine Way for GBRf GB Railfreight (GBRf) ran its first train for Drax Power from the Port of Liverpool to the company’s power station in Selby, North Yorkshire on 26 October. The train carried 1,600 tonnes of biomass pellets. Moving freight across the top of England is a challenge. Crucial to the feasibility of the new flow was securing paths across the TransPennine rail network. Two years ago Drax, working with Network Rail and GBRf, identified viable paths that could support a train plan to and from the port. GB Railfreight has since been working closely with Network Rail and Drax to make this service a reality. Says John Smith, managing director of GBRf, ‘The running of the first biomass train for Drax Power from the Port of Liverpool is an important moment for GB Railfreight.

‘Over the last two years, we have been working with Drax and the infrastructure operator to secure viable paths across the TransPennine rail network and answer the demands of one of our longest and most loyal customers.’ Smith paid tribute to the efforts of all involved. ‘We’re looking forward to building on this relationship with Drax

as we move into Phase 2 of the Liverpool project,’ John added. This operation represents the start of Phase 1 of the Liverpool project, with phase 2 to be completed in 2016. The objective is to stimulate greater throughput at the new terminal, increasing trains from this location.

Welsh expansion for TXM TXM Plant has opened a new depot in Cardiff, Wales. Welsh Assembly Minister for Economy, Science and Transport, Edwina Hart, was there to wish staff well. Previously based in Cwmbran, Newport, the new depot further expands TXM Plant’s national network of nine depots. The move aims to better serve Network Rail’s works in Wales and the West of England as well as supporting a range of rail customers in the region. The new depot is the latest chapter of an ambitious expansion plan which started in 2012. TXM Plant prides itself on reliability and availability and boasts one of the most extensive fleets of road rail hire vehicles in the UK. TXM Plant’s new facility, located in Wentloog close to the

centre of Cardiff, includes new workshops, large modern offices, plus a planned dedicated test track that will enable equipment testing and support training on site. ‘I am delighted to launch our new Cardiff depot,’ said Gareth Richardson, TXM Plant managing director. ‘This secures our long-term commitment in Wales and provides a great opportunity for growth in creation of new employment for the area.’ With over 25 years of experience, the initials, TXM, mean to go ‘The Extra Mile’. Gareth Richardson, TXM Plant MD cutting the ribbon with The Minister for Economy, Science and Transport, Edwina Hart alongside Keiron Gallimore, TXM Group MD and Graham Eccles, TXM Group chairman.

Holy roller returns The smallest national rail system in Europe has decided to re-enter the passenger services market. Ferrovia Vaticana, Vatican State Railways, comprises two sets of 300-metre long tracks connecting the Vatican City railway station and freight depot with the Italian state railways at Roma San Pietro, just a few yards over the border. Once used as the starting point for popes on their earthly journeys and guaranteed by the Lateran Treaty of 1929, the railway has largely been used for freight traffic in recent times. However burgeoning interest in Pope Francis has seen a steady rise in tourists and pilgrims to Vatican City. The railway is being pressed into service to provide an easy route connecting the pope’s summer residence at Castel Gandolfo with the Vatican.

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NEWS

20 | RailStaff | November 2015

Career comeback at Fenix Signalling Fenix Signalling has a new employee, Vanya, a black labrador. The latest addition to the team is working with document controller Kerry Hunt at the Coventry-based signalling company. Two years ago, Kerry was working as a signal design engineer for Chase Meadow Consultants. Her role involved safety-critical work trackside, using a range of technologies including computer-aided design. Then in June 2013, Kerry began to notice a deterioration in her sight, attributable to insulindependent diabetes, from which she has suffered throughout her life. Diabetes is the most common cause of vision loss and blindness in people of working age, affecting 3.9 million people in the UK alone. With her career under threat, Kerry prepared for redundancy. However, she’d reckoned without the support of her friends, Craig Purcell at Chase Meadow Consultants and Sue Grant of Fenix Signalling. Craig bought Kerry a 32-inch screen to enable her to continue her visually-orientated job more effectively. However, her sight continued to worsen.

After a period of detailed discussion, it was jointly agreed that Kerry would be the ideal fit for the new document controller role at Fenix Signalling. The company is expanding and works in a strong growth area of the railway. The new job would use her signalling knowledge and industry experience to meet the challenges of handling and controlling safety critical documentation. Prior to joining Fenix Kerry was trained on specialist technology for audiocontrolled software. Kerry’s vision became progressively worse between June 2013 and December 2014. With the help of the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, the search was started to find Kerry a suitable guide dog. In March 2015, Kerry was introduced to Vanya. ‘Vanya has really changed my life. I hadn’t been getting out much at all. Now I am able to get out of the house - it makes a real difference,’ says Kerry. Between March and June, Kerry and Vanya developed a close relationship, which is vital between all people with visual impairments and their guide dogs. A guide dog is not always working, so owners will spend a lot of their time relaxing and playing with their guide dog, ensuring they receive the attention

which is essential for them both to bond. This in turn helps establish a high level of trust between the dog and owner when they are out working together. Vanya became Kerry’s permanent companion in June 2015, and is now a working member of the Fenix team. It’s a story with a double happy ending. Taking a break from her job at Fenix, Kerry and Shaun Pearce were married at Kenilworth Castle in September. Shaun works as an IS and comms manager at Fenix.

Three Bridges depot opens Patrick McLoughlin, Secretary of State for Transport, has formally opened Siemens and Govia Thameslink Railway’s new, purpose-built Three Bridges train depot in Crawley, West Sussex. McLoughlin described it as a major milestone, paving the way for the new fleet of hi-tech trains, coming into service next year. ‘The improvements will transform rail travel for millions of passengers,

with better journeys on fantastic new Class 700 trains, improved connections and upgraded stations,’ says Patrick McLoughlin. The depot, which is already home to two new Class 700 Desiro City trains, will play a large role in stabling and maintaining the new fleet. The Three Bridges depot, along with a similar train care centre being built in Hornsey, was constructed by VolkerFitzpatrick with an investment of over £300 million by Siemens.

Antwerp chess The depot includes an in-cab simulator to help train up drivers new to the Class 700. GTR will run the depot and Siemens will maintain the trains. Three Bridges will have a complement of 150 rail staff. By the end of 2018, there will be 115 new Class 700 trains in operation, providing a metro-style service of up to 24 trains per hour running across central London between Blackfriars and St Pancras.

The Railsport chess team has achieved a good third place finish in the prestigious Six Nations Railway chess tournament in Antwerp, Belgium. The tournament was won by a very strong German team. The UK’s team included Graham Bolt, Richard Cowan and Will Taylor of Network Rail, Mike Broad and John Bass - who have both retired from Network Rail, David Perrett of Arriva Trains Wales and Peter Eldridge of Abellio Greater Anglia. Five games of chess were played in offices in the beautiful surroundings of Antwerp Station. Will Taylor had a great tournament and won the board prize for being the best player on board 3.

TRACK SAFETY

22 | RailStaff | November 2015

IMPROVING OUR RAILWAYS HAS NEVER BEEN MORE IMPORTANT PROFESSIONALISM, DEDICATION, ENTHUSIASM, SAFETY AND EFFICIENCY ARE ALL BEST AND MOST EASILY ACHIEVED BY MOTIVATING PEOPLE TO TAKE PRIDE IN WHAT THEY DO AND MAKE THINGS HAPPEN SAFETY Colin Wheeler colin@rail-media.com

Operatives are people I don’t like the use of management consultant speak rather than plain English when attempting to improve railway safety. Use of the word “operative” always made me cringe, and verbal references to “the grunts” were even worse. Both began in the days of Railtrack when management by measurement was the general focus. When I started work I learnt a lot during my first few months. They were spent working on the shovel with local platelayers. The best possible starting place for graduates is out on track, working with experienced track staff and getting to understand them and their work. A similar approach by newly promoted managers is also a good idea. I still believe the best way of getting things done well is by employing well trained, motivated and enthusiastic people - and the secret of making that work is good listening management who are aware of the real world out on the track and on the trains.

Rail Safety Summit 2016 Work has begun with the Advisory Board considering topics for the 2016 Rail Safety Summit to be held on May 5th next year. My view is that a major focus should be on how the industry can better motivate everyone who works on our railways to work more safely and play a part in improving safety. This must surely be a job for responsible managers supported rather than led by safety professionals and their jobs as managers are to support their people?

Concrete trough handling

Sleepers jammed under the train

Looking through the list of Rail Accident Investigation Board (RAIB) reports and the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) improvement and prohibition notices has been my own starting point for suggestions for the Rail Safety Summit. Train driver training, train despatch and the hazards encountered when train crew need to go down onto the track are the areas I have thought about so far. In respect of rail infrastructure track and structure inspections and maintenance continue to figure and concerns extend to supervisors and managers spending enough time on track. Finally I believe we need to understand more of the background to the ORR’s concerns about the manual handling of concrete troughing units; both their weight and the hours per shift worked lifting them are current issues. If you have other ideas please let us know.

The RAIB are investigating an incident that occurred at 0550 on the morning of June 18th near Somerleyton in Suffolk. The previous night road/railers with trailers had been collecting bundles of scrap sleepers. The 0420 am off Norwich Crown Point was empty coaching stock consisting of two Class 170 three car diesel multiple units. It was travelling at 35 mph when it hit something and the driver brought it to a stand. He found two wooden sleepers jammed underneath his train and another couple were lying nearby.

Dragged ten metres along the platform On August 4th the RAIB were first made aware of an accident that happened on July 25th this year. At 1310 the Oxford to London Paddington passenger train set off from Platform 4 at Hayes and Harlington.

However a passenger had her hand trapped in the last door of this three coach train and was dragged along the platform for some 8-10 metres before her hand became free and she then fell to the ground. There were no staff on the platform at the time. The RAIB investigation is focussing on the actions of individuals as well as the performance of the equipment involved.

Track possession engineers trains collision On August 1st there was a collision between two engineers’ freight trains within a track possession site near Logan in East Ayrshire. Fortunately there were no injuries as a result. A Class 66 diesel locomotive was hauling 36 two axle box wagons, the first four were empty but the rest were loaded with either sand or ballast. This train had entered the worksite at New Crummock and was authorised to

TRACK SAFETY

travel on the Down Main and then stand behind another train. This second train was around three miles away and had travelled from Carlisle Yard. The second train rounded a bend at 28 mph and ran into the stationary train. Its locomotive and seven wagons were derailed together with eleven of the stationary train’s wagons. The locomotive and a number of wagons were severely damaged with one wagon ending up on an adjacent minor road! Both tracks were severely damaged according to RAIB’s initial report. In addition to the control of train movements within possessions they will also be looking into the implementation of previous recommendations especially those made in their reports on accidents at Arley in December 2013 and Kitchen Hill in January 2014.

Signal passed at danger Currently the RAIB are investigating a SPAD (signal passed at danger) event that occurred on the approach to Wootton Basset on 7th March this year. The passenger train involved was a West Coast Railway charter service that had departed from Bristol Temple Meads at 1635. It was steam hauled by “Tangere” (34067 built in 1947) hauling 13 coaches in a train weighing 605 tonnes and 277 metres in length. Twelve of the thirteen coaches were vacuum braked, the thirteenth air braked and the train had a maximum permitted speed of 75 mph. En route between Bristol and Southend it passed signal SN45 at danger on the approach to Wootton Bassett Junction between Chippenham and Swindon. Fortunately the previous

November 2015 | RailStaff | 23

train had already passed the junction so there was neither damage nor injuries. The permitted approach speed to the junction is 125 mph but on March 7th an 85 mph temporary speed restriction (TSR) was in place due to track condition. The TSR Board and associated AWS magnet were positioned on the approach to SN43 signal but this provided less than 4 seconds warning before the signal.

year. He suggests that these frequent changes cannot be the best way of doing things to a safety critical

to debate whether or not we still need the Office of Rail and Road and the Rail Accident Investigation Branch?

document. I agree. What do the reports featured all have in common? They all involve people making mistakes and that should be our focus for the future. Will we ever see our railways operating safely and efficiently to the extent that Government will be able

Somehow I doubt it and if the reports and inquiries I have featured this month are anything to go by we need more not less at the moment. But what other safety issues are concerning you. Let me know and we may manage to give them an airing at the 2016 Rail Safety Summit.

Twice the speed limit! On September 11th there was an “overspeed” incident at Fletton Junction near Peterborough. The 1425 Newcastle upon Tyne to Kings Cross passenger service of nine coaches went over the junction at twice the permitted speed. It was 20 minutes late leaving Peterborough Station Platform 1. It travelled on the Up Slow line (limited to 70 mph) for about a mile. Before the junction there is a warning sign and an audible warning of the 25 mph restricted connection as well as a Train Protection Warning System (TPWS). As it approached the Fletton Junction protecting signal the red aspect changed to proceed. It accelerated to 52 mph as it went over the 25 mph speed limited points. The train did not derail, but three staff members and one passenger suffered minor injuries. The RAIB initial report says they are looking at the actions of the driver, route knowledge, layout and signalling design, speed restrictions and the risk assessment of the Up Slow.

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TRAINING FOCUS

No simple solution

The comments and press releases sent out by professional institutions surveying the current state of skills in the rail industry are rarely positive. In October, the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) said the education system wasn’t able to keep up with technological change and that more than half of employers were unable to recruit the skilled staff they needed. These industry comments also rarely offer solutions. But is this surprising? Everybody is seeking a panacea to cure the decay caused by the current skills shortage. A few bullet-pointed suggestions from one industry body aren’t going to fix the problem. But when you start to look at current training initiatives, as we have in this issue, you begin to see what approach is needed. The opening of NTAR has created something of a new focus point for training in the industry. Although clearly a huge asset for Siemens, it will benefit the entire industry. The same can be said about Network Rail and South West Trains’ Basingstoke Campus. Rail is often described as an incestuous industry that people never leave. They show that promoting STEM subjects in schools and universities is not enough. If rail wants the best young engineers it needs to promote itself better. It also needs to demonstrate the breadth of career opportunities that it can offer and challenge assumptions that it’s a boys club. The industry needs to ensure it retains the talent it has. A good salary and benefits are important, but give graduates and apprentices the opportunity to present ideas to management and influence their business at an early stage in their career. Make sure there is a career path mapped out in front of them and provide the ongoing training that will allow them to develop and progress. What else? Rail needs to look outside of itself and make sure it is making the most of opportunities offered by organisations like the armed forces through resettlement or through prisoner rehabilitation schemes. This isn’t an exhaustive list but it does demonstrate the mixed approach required. The railway simply needs more people but how it gets them won’t be worked out by a government taskforce or the recommendations of an individual. It requires the enterprise of an entire industry.

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TRAINING FOCUS

26 | RailStaff | November 2015

Being heard

Bombardier graduate Paul Burkholder talks about joining the rail industry and a project which is giving a voice to graduates and apprentices in his company. It’s understandable for graduates joining the rail industry this autumn to be daunted by the prospect. Thankfully through the support of cross-industry organisations and events, the complexity can be simplified and the transition eased.

Route to rail My route to the rail industry came via university. I studied international business and economics in my native Canada. Technology proliferation, socio-political trends and environmental realities all frame our economic market and the organisations within it. I found the challenge of understanding and predicting their impact fascinating.

For my masters, I studied entrepreneurship and innovation in the Netherlands, where I worked within a team at KLM Airlines in business model innovation. Corporate entrepreneurship had captured my interest. I became fixated with questions of how to create conditions for innovation, how to optimally balance exploitation and exploration and what are the characteristics of tomorrow’s entrepreneurial team. Following university, I sought to join an industry which adds economic and social value. Rail was a perfect fit; it drives economic growth while keeping us all connected and improving our accessibility. It indirectly enables knowledge sharing across communities, regions and countries, whilst directly featuring a range of innovative products and services. I was attracted to the UK rail industry by the sheer size and scope of its value. Through transporting an astounding three billion passengers and 110

million tonnes of freight annually, it relieves the congestion and carbon impact of UK roads and creates a positive multiplier effect by unlocking new areas for economic development. As a proud Canadian with a longstanding admiration for Bombardier’s ingenuity, I discovered the opportunity I was looking for in Bombardier Transportation’s UK graduate scheme.

Innovation Forum On 1 September 2014, I found myself in one of the historic centres of the rail industry, Litchurch Lane in Derby. Upon arriving in the UK, I saw the potential for an immense innovative shift all around me. The industry has a strong pipeline of projects and is approaching a period of high investment. Bombardier is open to exploring new product and market opportunities enabling it to compete in a changing global market. At Litchurch Lane, I was surrounded by brilliant colleagues, whose

TRAINING FOCUS

knowledge, capability and initiative inspired me. Their introduction to the engineering world and the skill they possessed was incredible. Alongside a number of intrinsically motivated graduates, I felt that we could challenge today’s status-quo. However, being so new to the industry and organisation, I didn’t know how to put this feeling into practice. The spark came in the form of a challenge. At an internal event, the Graduate Leadership Conference, a member of our executive team challenged us, as incoming graduates, to collaborate and shape the future of the rail industry. Our response was the creation of the ‘Innovation Forum’. The concept was simple: Groups, made up of graduates and apprentices from across the business, would come up with new ideas or respond to challenges set by the organisation. Following a preliminary review, these ideas would be developed into business cases using

November 2015 | RailStaff | 27

innovation management techniques, training courses and executive guidance. The developed business cases would then be pitched in a ‘Dragon’s Den’ format to executives and those who received a supportive decision would be given further incubation and have the organisation’s resources leveraged around them. In the pilot year of the Innovation Forum, one of our groups recognised an emerging opportunity, guided it through the process and successfully formed an independent business unit. With a 2015 graduate intake of 32 motivated individuals and a returning graduate and apprentice community, we are all looking forward to the commencement of a second iteration of the Innovation Forum on 19 November, 2015. While still only in its infancy, our aim is for it to be a vehicle of sustainable innovative progress. We hope it

will evolve into an open innovation incubator, where people from across and outside our industry can collaboratively shape breakthrough products, services and business models. In joining our industry, I urge you to inject youthful ingenuity and

original thinking into your role and organisation. With the world-class capability the rail industry possesses and its immense potential for further innovation, I hope we can collaborate together and propel our industry forward, creating value for our customers and society.

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28 | RailStaff | November 2015

Perry opens Northampton Academy Rail minister Claire Perry has formally opened the new £7 million National Training Academy for Rail (NTAR) in Northampton. It’s another big vote of confidence in the new rail industry and in particular its fast emerging training and development sector. The move presages a further attempt to bridge the skills gap and create a new generation of skilled professional people able to take forward a burgeoning portfolio of projects and initiatives. Next door to Siemens’ Kings Heath depot, the world-class academy will train thousands of students using digital, 3D and virtual reality equipment - giving them the hi-tech skills they need to work in the rail industry. The Government has provided 50 per cent of the £7 million funding for NTAR, with the rest coming from Siemens. Says Claire Perry, ‘We are working closely with the transport industry to bring a sustained and lasting legacy of

skills and opportunity for people across the UK. The opening of the National Training Academy for Rail is a major milestone towards delivering a network of transport infrastructure skills colleges and training academies.’ Now recognised as a 21st century economic phenomenon in its own right, the railway is powering ahead, benefitting from record levels of government investment and creating more rail jobs. The industry badly needs top grade recruits. ‘More and more of these jobs are cutting-edge, highly technical and

Clair Perry testing the Oculus virtual reality headset.

require Britain’s best minds. This new facility – and more like it – are just what the country needs to ensure we develop a workforce with the advanced skills required to build a transport network fit for the future,’ says Perry - herself an Oxford and Harvard graduate. Importantly NTAR will ensure students acquire the skills railway employers need. Railway engineering is going through a rapid realignment of skills. Modern rolling stock technicians use laptops instead of spanners and digital signalling systems operated

from the inside of cabs. NTAR will give students the skills they need to perform these vital, high-quality roles. Staff at the new academy aim to be the best in the business. Says general manager at NTAR Simon Rennie, ‘Our ambition is to be recognised as an international Centre of Excellence for training in traction and rolling stock and to be the source of pride for the rail industry. ‘We want to act as a flagship for skills development and for collaborative working, delivering a successful and sustainable model.’

ices

operational and technical roles. We will help your people develop their capability with respect to a particular fleet, a particular role within a depot – and with expertise in a range of ‘real’ component parts. This training will typically take the form of short/medium form courses designed to take skilled intake from other engineering sectors (at Level 3 and 4) and equip them to be job-ready as soon and as effectively as possible.

NTAR will support employers and aid the Overview removal of barriers to entry by offering a service to manage apprenticeship schemes. In short, To deliver the railway to which Britain now aspires, o we will:

that will act as a flagship for UK engineering experti

• Source the courses a network andfrom support economic growth, requires not only exc of colleges engineers but also world-class management. Quite s

• Manage those colleges we need leaders, managers and supervisors who are • Enrol the learners of delivering results under ever greater pressure. • Register the accreditation

NTARplans is working with a number of partners to provid • Maintain the learner

unique suite of management and leadership develop • Manage the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) programmes and qualifications, tailored to the speci contract.

of rail employers. The objective is to ensure that tho

Enhanced apprenticeship lead ourmodules industry are able to access, develop and refi

skills they need to deliver improved performance an

We have also constructed enhanced technical long term sustainable business. and leadership modules to form part of the apprenticeship schemes themselves, to enhance the quality of existing apprenticeships.

Innovating and inspiring your workforce Alignment with new Trailblazer standards

Specialist courses – Winter 2015

NTAR is attuned to the development of the new ‘Trailblazer’ standards; redefining what it means to be a Rail Engineering apprentice. Our apprenticeship services will evolve in order to respond to the new standards once they go live in 2016/17.

Contents

15 © NTAR 2015

What is NTAR?

Our Customers

Our Partners

Courses and Services

Our Qualifications

Technical Training Courses

Apprenticeships

Professional Skills Development

CPD Modules - IMechE

CPD Modules - IRO

100

CPD Modules - IRR

114

Professional Skills Development - Other Courses

120

The Digital Railway - ERTMS

126

The Digital Railway - Advanced Telecoms

136

Leadership and Management

156

172

13 © NTAR 2015

Systems Engineering Fundamentals for Rail Managers and Leaders This 3-day course in November or December, designed in collaboration with the University of Birmingham, will equip senior and future leaders with systems engineering understanding. Successful completion of this face-to-face course will allow the candidate to look at the relationships within their own organisation, including how it relates to safety management, risk analysis, and human factors in relation to systems engineering.

Introductory Vehicle Technical Course This 10-day course is part of the NTAR Award Certificate in Traction & Rolling Stock Maintenance. With only 8 people per course, this will allow the learner to diagnose faults and status of trains using a train management system. Using laptops and visual inspection to eliminate faults, the candidate will learn how to interpret schematic drawings for electrical and pneumatic systems and locate, identify and describe all the major systems and functions on a train. This qualification will lead toward a career in train maintenance within a depot.

Bogie Maintenance This 1-day course will enable the candidate to describe components and functions of the bogie, understand how it operates and identify faults whilst appreciating the importance of preventative and corrective maintenance. With 4 more courses in this suite, it will give the candidate an NTAR Certificate in Traction and Rolling Stock Maintenance which is essential for working as a Maintenance Technician.

EVAC Toilets This 1-day course gives the candidate an overview of the EVAC toilet configuration. It’s designed to give delegates the knowledge they need to successfully carry out routine maintenance and fault finding. This course is applicable to all rolling stock technicians and maintainers.

Managing Self and Others On successful achievement of the assignments/assessments, delegates will gain a CMI Awards Qualification in Leadership and Management for each accredited module at Level 3 for supervisors/first line managers and level 5 for mid-level professionals. Delegates also become a member of the Chartered Management Institute for a year with access to the full range of membership benefits and access to a wide variety of learning materials.

For more information on these and other NTAR courses, call 01604 594 440 or visit ntar.co.uk

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30 | RailStaff | November 2015

First through the door... Some of the first to use NTAR’s modern facilities will be a group of 12 trainees from Baltic Training Services (BTS). The trainee programme is the fourth to be run by BTS this academic year. It aims to remove the headache of recruiting new apprentices by giving a pool of aspiring rail engineers and technicians an introduction to the industry before working to place them on apprenticeships with local companies. Delivered over 12 weeks, courses include mandatory elements of PTS and track induction, and cover a variety of engineering disciplines. BTS, a family-owned business based in Newton Aycliffe, holds an apprenticeship contract with the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) - a government agency set up in 2010 to apportion funding for further education programmes. In this academic year more than 100 trainees will commence apprenticeships via BTS traineeships. The initiative is helping to plug the level 2 skills shortage while developing young adults within a meaningful career. BTS Rail engineering traineeships are proving popular, with more than 70 per cent of trainees commencing either track maintenance or signalling apprenticeships to date.

Training partnership BTS Rail Training Division is led by Brendan McGrath. Speaking about the company’s partnership with

NTAR, he said, ‘BTS are delighted to be associated with NTAR in this classleading training facility. ‘We look forward to supporting the next generation of apprentices at NTAR as well as delivering all other aspects of rail engineering and construction, training and assessments.’ Says Simon Rennie, NTAR’s general manager, ‘We are delighted to be working with Baltic Training Services. BTS provide additional breadth to what NTAR offers and very much complement NTAR’s current course offerings and partnerships. We look forward to welcoming BTS and their learners and delegates to NTAR from November.’ BTS safety critical rail trainer Jonny Hollyman said, ‘From a trainer perspective, basing the trainees here is ideal with the very latest in practical and classroom training facilities to hand.’ BTS rail engineering trainee Alisha Gerry said, ‘I am really looking forward to gaining the safety tickets and

practical skills training to start my career in the sector. I think it is a good opportunity for people of my age.’

Supporting the sector’s workforces Since achieving NSARE accreditation in April 2015, BTS Rail Training Division is already supporting a range of key sector employers with safety critical training. The furthest north of these being for Strathclyde Partnership for Transport and their staff and contractors on the Glasgow Subway. BTS also holds an apprenticeship contract with Skills Development Scotland. BTS Rail Training Division also supports rail contractors with existing staff that have not yet had the opportunity to complete the NVQ Level 2 in Rail Engineering Track Maintenance, offering flexible training hours tailored to suit individual needs. Says Brendan, ‘The aim is to be supportive of the sector’s workforces in retaining and engaging existing staff by providing an appropriate experience

beyond the main apprenticeship target age group. Existing staff are too used to just attending refresher courses, but why just refresh when they can continue to learn by means of a 12-month development programme.’ Also in April this year, BTS gained approval on the MOD Career Transition Partnership (CTP) scheme for military veterans to undertake PTS and track induction. This was strengthened in September when approval on the MOD Enhanced Learning Credit Administration System (ELCAS) was gained, giving service leavers the opportunity to complete a Level 3 Award in Rail Engineering Track Maintenance. In the most recent January 2015 Ofsted inspection, BTS achieved a ‘Good’ with many outstanding features. ‘We are committed to continuous improvement and aim to be an outstanding provider for all: NSARE, Ofsted, our partners and our employees,’ added Brendan.

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32 | RailStaff | November 2015

Virtual careers Deutsche Bahn (DB) is redoubling efforts to persuade young people to join the railway. Moving around 5.6 million passengers throughout Germany every day takes one of the largest workforces in the global rail industry. Between now and 2020, DB needs to recruit between 7,000 and 8,000 new employees every year to get a grip on Germany’s own rail skills shortage. This has been brought on by the overall population decline and DB’s ageing workforce. To attract a younger generation of rail workers, DB is embarking on a social media campaign which it hopes will

reach out to aspiring engineers and train drivers. At a careers event in October in Munich, DB showed off its new digital offering - virtual reality. DB has produced a series of 360-degree films that when viewed through a VR headset allow students to see what it’s like to maintain DB’s highspeed fleet, work on the infrastructure or dispatch a train. DB sees it as an opportunity to demonstrate to young people the variety of careers on offer and show them what working in the rail industry is really like. DB employs around 300,000 people worldwide, of which 194,000 are in Germany. As a result, DB is one of Germany’s largest training providers. In September 2014, 3,700 school leavers joined DB and every year the company offers around 300 intern places.

South African graduation day

Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) employees in South Africa have completed qualifications in railway operations management from Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU). One-hundred-and-eighty employees have gained degrees, diplomas and certificates thanks to a partnership between GCU, the University of Johannesburg, the UK’s Institution of Railway Operators (IRO) and Transnet’s School of Rail. It is the first programme of its kind in South Africa to offer a formal qualification in railway operations management. Says Professor Pamela Gillies CBE

FRSE, ‘We continue to enjoy a unique and successful partnership with Transnet Freight Rail and the University of Johannesburg, offering co-created courses of relevance to business, that we hope will have a transformative impact on the graduating Transnet Freight Rail students.’ Says acting group chief executive of Transnet Siyabonga Gama, ‘In the long term, our intention is to establish a corporate university, in which we will develop fit-for-purpose employees to run, operate and manage world-class rail, ports and pipeline operations. Our partnership with GCU - which we are celebrating today - is a major milestone towards the attainment of that ideal.’

the private sector, you can see how impressive this new national college is going to be.’

HS2 is forecast to create 100,000 jobs around the country, including 2,000 apprenticeships.

Plan bid for high-speed college The planning application for one of two proposed high-speed rail colleges has been submitted to local planning authorities. Doncaster Council is expected to make a decision on the application for a 7,200 square metre centre later this year. If approved, construction could begin in April 2017, ready to welcome its first students in September 2017. The National College for High Speed Rail is being established to train the future generation of rail engineers who will deliver HS2, providing vocational training in high-speed rail engineering. The college will be split across sites in Doncaster and Birmingham. Willmott Dixon was appointed as the lead contractor to design and

build the college at Doncaster’s Lakeside Campus alongside Bond Bryan Architects and several other consultants. Says Ros Jones, Mayor of Doncaster, ‘It’s now less than two years until the ground-breaking National College for High Speed Rail opens its doors for the first intake of students. ‘From the design concept, which was shaped in consultation with

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November 2015 | RailStaff | 33

New campus opens Basingstoke Campus, a new railway training and development centre, has opened its doors. The centre will be run by the South West Trains and Network Rail Alliance. The South West Trains-Network Rail alliance was formed in 2012 and ‘reshaped’ earlier this year. A joint operational control centre will continue at London Waterloo, with Network Rail and South West Trains teams working side by side to safely manage over 1,600 train services a day. The integrated train planning and performance teams will continue to work together to focus on delivering a right time railway for customers, tackling the root cause of any delay and identifying the best decisions for the benefit of the whole railway. The campus was formally opened by

Mark Carne, paid a visit to Basingstoke with apprentices Tanushri Gukhool and Princess Balugun. John Halsall, Network Rail, managing director for Wessex Route, and Tim Shoveller, managing director for South West Trains. They were joined by local stakeholders and partners, who have played a crucial role in

delivering the new campus, including BAM Construction, Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council as well as many of the Network Rail and South West Trains staff who continue to work together at the campus and elsewhere

on the network. The campus features indoor and outdoor track layouts, train driving simulators as well as modern classrooms for engineers, signallers, maintenance staff and drivers.

Delivering the best in training and rail personnel Orion Group are delighted to announce the opening of the new Orion Rail & Training Centre at Springs Branch in Wigan. Orion provide on-site training facilities offering a unique live training environment. • Live Rail Track specifically designed for training and testing. • Plant and machinery training area. • E-Learning Training room. • Signal Training room. • Class room environment training. BOOK A COURSE

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Contact our rail team today: E: wigan1@orioneng.com | T: 01942 466090 | OrionRail.com

TRAINING FOCUS

34 | RailStaff | November 2015

to railway line

From frontline

‘I’m now proud to say I’m a railwayman who used to be a soldier.’

Suddenly, just a few months before he was about to leave the Army having spent almost 30 years as a soldier, something dawned on Simon Higgens: what happens now? Straight out of school, he had joined the Armed Forces as an apprentice in the early ‘80s. He became a general fitter on diesel engines after completing two years at the Army Apprentice College in Chepstow with the Royal Engineers, beginning what would be a 29-year career in the military. Throughout the 1980s, he went on operational tours around the world, to Belize, Kenya, South Georgia and Cyprus, before entering the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 1992 to commence officer training. During his 20 years as an officer within the Royal Engineers, Simon was deployed to Northern Ireland, Iraq, Afghanistan, as well as the Lebanon, Congo and Angola. The role of a Royal Engineer is to deliver essential infrastructure in harsh, often hostile, environments. That was definitely the case in the Congo, where Simon was flown in by a C130 Hercules aircraft to draw up a plan to maintain and extend the runway of the airport in Bunia. The project was delivered, for which Simon was awarded an MBE, but it had to be done at the scene of a horrific massacre, between skirmishes with local militia. Shortly afterwards, whilst on operations in Afghanistan, Simon suffered lower-leg injuries. He was flown back to the UK and taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham for his recovery. It was there that he began to consider what future he had in the Army.

Sudden realisation Says Simon, ‘I’m a firm believer that if I’m a soldier, I should be able to soldier. I was nearing 45 and I wasn’t able to run as fast for as long, jump as high, be as quick, carry as much weight as 18-yearold soldiers that I was in command of.’ Simon made the decision to retire from the forces but the reality of this didn’t dawn on him until a few months before he was due to leave. ‘It was a realisation of, “My goodness. I’m going to leave the Army. What am I going to do?” By the age of 45, most have become adept at updating CVs and responding to job adverts, but for Simon it was all new. He said it felt like starting over again. It meant embracing the LinkedIn age of self-promotion and drawing on the experience of colleagues who had already made the switch. ‘As a serviceman or woman you don’t really know what you’re good at, you don’t know what skills you bring, you don’t know what attributes and qualities that you have. You don’t know these things, or if you do, you keep them to yourself. ‘I know the answer to that question now but three-and-a-half years ago, I was struggling to think how can I best place my skills, which industry would want me.’ Various schemes and initiatives have been put in place to support service personnel in finding, and then adjusting to, civilian careers - a process known as resettlement. For Simon this included attending a three-day workshop organised by the Career Transition Partnership - the Ministry of Defence’s resettlement partner. Following this,

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November 2015 | RailStaff | 35

Simon’s CV was distributed through resettlement networking channels to a number of employers, including Babcock Rail which offered him a position as a senior programme manager. ‘When I moved into the railway industry, I kept apologising,’ said Simon. ‘I’d say “sorry I’m new to the railway industry, I don’t know much about railways” and this bruff old, longin-the-tooth railwayman said to me “Simon stop apologising, you’ve just left the Army where you’ve got heavy machinery, where you’ve got lots of manpower and you’re working in a dangerous environment. That’s exactly what you’re doing now”. ’

Soldiers turned rail workers In 2014, Simon left Babcock to become the new chief executive of ISS Labour, which, among its recent achievements, was the principle labour supplier for the Box Tunnel track lowering works outside Bath. Simon’s story is of a successful transition and the rail industry is full of accomplished soldiers turned rail workers. ISS Labour itself has recently taken on two ex-servicemen, demonstrating again that rail is an industry receptive to the skill and enthusiasm of the ex-forces community, but there are no guarantees, says Simon. ‘There is this arrogance, and again I’m speaking generally, that you will

walk straight into a job because you’re military, because people respect the military and, after all, why wouldn’t they give you a job? You’ve served the country. ‘Great, if you’re good and lucky enough to find someone who understands and appreciates your skills, but you’re competing with other people leaving the services or civilians who are looking for employment. ‘The point is it’s not easy leaving the services and finding a job, especially the longer you have served. But if you persevere, think about what you want to do when you leave and where your skills are best aligned, you will succeed.

‘Networking is key and luck plays a part too. Speak to those who have left before you and who have established themselves in civvy street and learn from them. ‘There are plenty of opportunities out there, and there are people who do appreciate what the service leaver can bring to any business, and this is especially relevant in the rail industry.’ He was also clear that although veterans possess many of the qualities needed by the railway, they aren’t a ready-made solution to the current skills shortage. But they are part of it. ‘The Army isn’t the sole answer to the problem. It’s not a case of militarisation of the railways, absolutely not.’

Single-minded approach Retired general and a former Commander-in-Chief, Land Forces, Sir Nick Parker was recently quoted saying that commercial HR policies, coupled with a lack of confidence and poor presentation from candidates, were making the gap between employers and veterans feel like a ‘chasm’. Simon’s advice to service leavers was to listen to advice, take any training that’s offered to you and plan your resettlement carefully. ‘When it comes to leaving the military you have to take a single-minded approach to your transition. The military will survive without you. ‘I’m now proud to say that I’m a railwayman who used to be a soldier.’

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36 | RailStaff | November 2015

Training for today and tomorrow

Story’s Tom Wall talks about how a new purpose-built training facility is driving up standards within the company and the industry.

Rob Hammond from Direct Training Solutions presenting L4 certificates to David Myers, Angus Irving and Tom Wall.

Training is a vital component of any company - whatever the size. It also represents a cost and one that is an unavoidable part of working in safetycritical industries. A growing company has to decide whether or not it makes financial sense to invest in its own training offering or use the services of specialist providers. Story Contracting chose the former option and invested in its training facility. In April, it opened the new Training Centre in Carlisle.

The building, which already belonged to the company, was refurbished by Story’s Construction division over a 14-week period to create a purposebuilt facility with two training rooms to accommodate larger groups and a classroom for the delivery of smaller ratio courses, such as On Track Plant (OTP). In addition, extra CITB touchscreen testing booths, which are used for the renewal of CPCS and CSCS registration cards, were installed. ‘This is turning out to be very popular with clients,’ says Tom. ‘Previously we only had one test booth and now we have three, including one with disabled access to make sure we can cater for all.’

A new chapter The vast majority of training provision at Story Contracting has traditionally been used to develop the group’s own highly skilled teams for its growing Rail, Construction and Plant divisions. This is still the case, however, requests from external clients were something the company couldn’t ignore. Since opening the new centre in April, the training team have delivered 756 courses to over 2,000 trainees. ‘The investment in our new facilities, includes the installation of smart technology and now the continued

extension of the training track will make our centre a hub for producing the next generation of highly skilled operatives to the rail, plant and construction industries,’ said Tom. ‘As a contracting business, we too are feeling the challenge from the skills gaps that are out there and by investing now, we are planning to benefit from being able to develop our own skilled people.’

Been there, done it Tom, who left farming during the foot-and-mouth outbreak in 2001 to join the company as a labourer/ telescopic handler driver, progressed through to training manager in May 2014. Far from being eased in, Tom and his team were the focus of an NSARE inspection on his first day in charge. The team currently includes two safetycritical trainer/assessors and three OTP trainer/assessors. Story Contracting, a member of the Association of Rail Training Providers (ARTP), now plans to replace its current 100-metre training track with a new state-of-the-art 300-metre test track, as it expands its main depot in Carlisle. The line will include overhead catenary, a section of third rail, switches and crossings, and consist of a 1 in 25 gradient and 150mm CANT, replicating the variety of track conditions that are

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found on the infrastructure. Looking beyond the necessity of training, Story is using the centre and its training team to drive up standards in the business. As well as mandatory renewals, the company now carries out regular assessments to ensure a certain quality of work is being maintained. ‘We’ve been developing through a series of changes very, very quickly,’ said Tom. ‘Over the last 18 months, especially this year, we look like a totally different provider. Although our values have not changed, we are still driven in our business by the same beliefs. Our attitude to do it right and be better at what we do is seeing us continually raising the bar. ’ Says Tom, ‘Operators who don’t work on machines all of the time - say the likes of dumper drivers, roller drivers and telehandler drivers - normally renew their tickets every five years by a touchscreen test through CITB, as long as they can demonstrate their hours. ‘We have actually brought back an in-house assessment to ensure that they still have the standards that we’re

November 2015 | RailStaff | 37

looking for, so we can drive up the quality of delivery for our clients.’ Trainers are now required to remain active in the field, and so Tom is regularly found on site operating plant at the weekends, something he enjoys. But his passion is teaching.

‘When you train somebody who comes to you with limited skills and goes on to operate specialist machinery in some safety-critical environments, it makes me proud to have been part of that person’s journey.

‘Back when I delivered my first OTP course, we had some novice drivers and now you see them out on the infrastructure as lead operators. There’s a feeling of real accomplishment, and I get great satisfaction from having helped to get them there.’

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TRAINING FOCUS

38 | RailStaff | November 2015

New tricks

RailStaff profiles NCB conformance engineer Matt Bower, whose commitment to his own professional development has made him a leading figure in the field of electrification. Education ends at college or university for many. The thought of fitting exams and essays around work and family isn’t an appealing one, so why do some people do it? Continuous education or professional development, as it’s sometimes referred, can be mandatory. Competencies need to be renewed, particularly in the rail industry. But some people do choose to learn, either to enhance their knowledge or fulfill some personal goal.

Matt Bower is an engineer at the Network Certification Body (NCB), which acts as a full-service certification provider to the industry. Matt, who was highly commended in the Rail Engineer of the Year category at RailStaff Awards 2015, is currently the conformance engineer for the North West electrification programme, having successfully overseen the conformance testing for phase one of the scheme - the first interoperable electrification project in the UK - between Manchester and Newton-le-Willows, which was completed in December 2013. Matt’s role, put simply, was to ensure that the electrification works between Manchester and Liverpool complied with international standards on interoperability. It’s a role that he owes to continuous education.

Matt started his career in 1997 as an engineering apprentice at Froude Consine, a manufacturer of test equipment in Worcester - his home town. Following this successful start to his career, Matt began a degree in 2001 in electromechanical engineering at Aston University. Following his graduation in 2004, he joined Network Rail on a two-year structured graduate engineering programme, deciding to specialise in the electrification and plant discipline. Upon completion of the engineering programme in August 2006, he took up a permanent role as project engineer in the electrification and plant section of the Infrastructure Investment team. In 2010, he moved across to the maintenance function at the Sandwell & Dudley depot and in October 2011 he moved again to what has become his specialist subject of OLE (Overhead Line Equipment) reporting to the senior design engineer in Birmingham. Matt joined the Network Certification Body (NCB) in December 2012 as a senior infrastructure conformance engineer. With little knowledge of the current European standards defining electrification programmes, Matt decided to undertake a Further Learning Plan, with the aim of achieving professional membership of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers within six months. This plan has involved writing a learned paper, requiring 300 to

400 hours of his own time, on the technical principles related to the ‘Interaction of Pantographs and Overhead Contact Lines’ to deepen his technical knowledge to Masters level. At 35, Matt is now recognised as an industry expert in energy technical specification for interoperability (TSI) conformance assessment. He has been invited to represent UK Notification Bodies on the RSSB Energy Standards Committee, working with senior rail industry technical experts to define UK rail standards for electrification - a fast growing and essential feature of the future UK rail network. Matt has also developed an industry approach for assessing electrification infrastructure compliance without the need for extensive testing, making substantial savings on time and cost when introducing electric trains to newly electrified railways. Matt was invited to present this approach to UK and European technical experts, including the ORR and DfT. On his time working within NCB, Matt says ‘NCB is a fantastic place to work. The team is really supportive and have given me the opportunity to grow as an engineer. I am working on a variety of projects around the country and each has its own challenges which I enjoy tackling. It has made a huge difference to my career and what is most rewarding is being trusted to work autonomously and represent the company at European and UK forums.’

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November 2015 | RailStaff | 39

Signing it out Stations can be busy, disorientating places. Knowing where to go to ask about service disruption or to get some information about your ticket can be confusing. So just imagine how much more difficult it would be if you couldn’t hear the loudspeaker announcements and there was no one around who could even communicate with you. ‘There’s nothing worse than having to write things down for people,’ says Marie Tacey, who travels around the country teaching British Sign Language (BSL) to rail industry staff. Marie, who herself is deaf, has had a mixed experience travelling round the network and knows the frustrations that deaf passengers regularly encounter, from ineffective hearing loop systems to the difficulty of lip reading through ticket office windows. She’s not the only one. A survey of deaf passengers by Action Hearing Loss raised similar concerns and found that a third admitted to feeling vulnerable whilst travelling by train.

Deaf aware Rules and standards have been put in place to improve the train environment for deaf and disabled passengers. The Rail Vehicle Accessibility Regulations (RVAR) require that all new and

significantly overhauled rail vehicles meet certain criteria surrounding the availability of visual and audible announcements by 2020. Older stock will also have to meet a certain standard, albeit a less stringent version. But there are no regulations governing the level of staff training . Action Hearing Loss has recommended that all operators have trained deaf-aware staff, but they are not legally obliged to carry out the training. Although there is a great effort to improve accessibility at stations for disabled passengers, support for deaf passengers still appears to be limited. Other guidelines suggest that if you have 15 members of staff or more, there should be somebody who is able to communicate with a deaf person. But it doesn’t specify BSL. Marie, through ASLEF’s education programme, is trying to improve the travelling experience for deaf passengers, training rail industry employees around the country in BSL and deaf awareness. Starting in the East Midlands seven years ago, Marie now goes up and down the country delivering flexible classes designed to fit around shift patterns. Each unit takes around 30 hours of study and can be pursued up to a Level 6 NVQ Certificate. The courses are open to anyone. Many of Marie’s students are frontline staff who hope to use BSL in their everyday

working lives, but she also teaches train drivers and other behind-the-scenes staff who often have a personal reason for wanting to complete the course. A husband and wife train driver team wanted to learn BSL so they could communicate with their daughter. ‘They don’t have to do it, they’re there because they want to, for whatever reason whether it’s personal, social or to better their skills, or part of their job,’ says Marie.

Teaching into practice Since launching the programme, Marie has had feedback from learners who have put her teaching into practice, including an incident where police called on one of Marie’s students, while they were on shift, to sign to a runaway. Marie added, ‘The majority of students I teach have all come back and said that it’s boosted their confidence because they understood somebody.’ Unlike English and maths, funding for BSL is extremely limited and most employees have to fund the course themselves and attend lessons in their own time. Chris Nutty, the project

More than 10 million people in the UK have hearing loss worker at ASLEF who introduced the BSL programme, says he would like to see these sorts of initiatives incorporated into every franchise agreement. He said, ‘If this sort of awareness was in a franchise agreement they would have to comply to it. It would be monitored, but they don’t, it’s not there.’ 1.66 billion passenger journeys were made on the UK rail network in 2014. There are more than 10 million people in the country who suffer from some form of hearing loss - this number is expected to continue to rise given the ageing population. Only a fraction of those use the railway on a regular basis. It should be more. They may represent a minority of passengers, but it matters as the industry strives to improve the experience for all passengers.

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40 | RailStaff | November 2015

My year in rail Award-winning student Elizabeth Palmer talks about her gap year spent with Network Rail and gives her thoughts on how work placements can benefit students and employers. My friends are generally very supportive, but I have to admit that there were times I detected a question mark in their tone. ‘You are going to spend your gap year working in the rail industry?’ A gap year usually involves travelling the world on your parents’ savings or a stint of ‘voluntourism’ somewhere exotic, so their incredulity was understandable. But to me, my placement made perfect sense.

Why a work placement gap year? When you leave school after A - levels your next port of call, typically, is higher education, where you go to study the subject that most interests you, in my case geography. However, as the terms pass you become increasingly aware that your studies are supposed to lead to a career after you leave university, but what sort of career might that be? This is where the working gap year comes in. In this time of high student debt and high graduate numbers, there is sense in maximising your understanding of possible career directions, while at the same time developing skills and experience which will make you more employable. The Year in Industry (YINI) is the original and, in my view, the best work placement programme, as it involves many of the top employers in the country and provides real commercial projects and mentoring. What is more it pays a sensible salary, which is always good news for an impoverished student. The recruitment process is itself a learning experience, as you apply and are interviewed just as you would be for a full-time position. It was through this process that I gained a placement in Derby with Network Rail.

My project During my year with Network Rail, I was given a key role within a project to replace the life-expired Churchill Road footbridge in North London. As lead stakeholder manager, I was involved in identifying and communicating with all parties affected by the works. I liaised with the local authority and lineside neighbours, playing a key role in arranging the necessary consents for the project to go ahead, such as closure of the highway and coordinating ‘Public Information Events’. In this sensitive and challenging role, I needed to deal professionally with local opposition to the new bridge by organising a design options presentation for stakeholders, which allowed the design team to make changes based on the feedback they received. The communication plan I designed reduced local complaints by 80 per cent from the start to the end of the project. As a result of my work, I won the regional award for the best YINI project and the Centrica Award for Environmental Awareness 2015 at the national Future Industry Leaders’ Awards event.

Why employers need to do this? One thing I became particularly aware of during my placement was the pending shortage of skills in major industries. While this is particularly true of science and engineering, there is a lack of skills generally and, from my perspective, there is an amazing lack of visibility of the range of careers that industries like rail offer. While other industries, such as the media, management consultancy, financial services or professions such as accountancy and law, have visibility

and are seen to be good careers, very few of my peers have a clear view of what working in manufacturing, science or engineering industries is like, or what good careers are available for holders of less vocational degrees. By offering YINI placements, companies get the chance to look at good quality individuals and provide them with an insight into their particular industry. I have thoroughly enjoyed being part of the rail industry and will certainly consider roles in it, or in similar industries, when I graduate.

Why students need to do this?

not be completed, with all the practical and financial implications associated with that. On my CV, I can now demonstrate taking responsibility, team-working, project management, time management, presentation skills, communication skills and many others. I have stories and examples to tell at future interviews about how I tackled problems and delivered solutions. Overall, I have a much greater level of confidence in my own ability in the workplace. All this enables me to distinguish myself from people who either went

The year also allows you to develop good personal skills and discover how you respond to working in a commercial environment. The YINI involves being given real responsibilities. If I had failed to deliver effective stakeholder communication on my project, then it is quite possible that this important bridge would still

straight to university or undertook the type of gap year featured in newspaper travel pages. As a result, I can ensure that I get the best possible return from the investment I am making in my degree. Elizabeth is currently studying geography at the University of Cambridge.

TRAINING FOCUS

November 2015 | RailStaff | 41

On the right track

As students around the country begin their undergraduate degree studies, Professor Simon Iwnicki, director of the Institute of Railway Research at the University of Huddersfield and interim chair of ‘Routes into Rail’ - a crossindustry body which aims to increase the number of young people joining the industry, explains why they should consider a career in rail. Each year thousands of students graduate from colleges and universities but few of these currently consider a career in the railway industry. Efforts are now underway to try to change this. Many people working for railway companies didn’t originally plan this as their career, but once inside the industry they find it to be challenging and rewarding, and stay. It was the same for me. After graduation, I was working as a maintenance engineer when I was offered the opportunity to carry out a PhD looking into the behaviour of railway vehicles with rubber tyres. I applied for the PhD and am very glad that I did. I developed computer models and built a test rig to validate them. It was challenging but great fun. I would thoroughly recommend a railway career to anyone, it’s an amazing community of enthusiastic and able people who solve interesting problems every day.

Attracting the brightest Interest in the railways has seen some ups and downs over the years. Working for a railway company used to be seen as a job for life and could attract the very brightest young people. Then with the growth of other transport modes and the Beeching cuts it was seen as a declining industry with a poor reputation and the butt of many jokes.

Now though, with HS2 and Crossrail, a renaissance in passenger numbers, improved reliability and the best safety record in Europe, it is starting to get a better image. But there is still a lot to do. The same dramatic increase in passenger numbers is leading to an acute skills shortage in the industry, exacerbated by an ageing workforce and a significant increase in technology levels required by the equipment used in modern vehicles and infrastructure. If this is not addressed then the railways will not be able to continue to meet the levels of performance now expected of them. Fragmentation in the industry and the loss of national graduate schemes and recruitment programmes means that the skills shortage is hitting the smaller companies first and hardest. The bigger players - Network Rail and TfL for example - are more visible and therefore insulated to some extent, but it doesn’t make the problem less real or mean that the whole industry won’t suffer if the issues are not addressed. Even the largest companies are now finding it difficult to fill some specialist posts. The industry is trying to tackle the skills shortage in a number of ways and some of these are being

coordinated by Routes into Rail, which is supported by RSSB, RRUKA, the Young Rail Professionals and many of the professional institutions. Routes into Rail has already produced a hugely successful video ‘What I’ve always wanted’ and a revived programme of visits, which aims to meet students in all of the nearly 50 RRUKA universities with presentations from YRP.

Railway Challenge Another activity which has become part of the calendar for young engineers is the ‘Railway Challenge’ competition set up by the IMechE’s Railway Division. This competition is now in its fifth year and requires teams of engineering students from universities or apprentices from industry to design and build a locomotive. OK, it’s a miniature gauge loco, but at around 500-800kg and containing all of the systems of a full-size version, it provides a real challenge for the teams. It also means that we now have a growing number of new converts who realise that modern railway systems are complicated and challenging and have had a taste of designing, building and operating a railway vehicle. It could be argued that someone studying engineering is already on the right track and that we need to start earlier, so the Smallpeice Trust railway courses run at Birmingham and Huddersfield Universities and attended by several hundred school students are reaching out to those who have not yet decided on their career. The students have lectures from railway experts from university and industry and also get hands-on experience of several practical railway problems. Through this type of activity, young people are starting to realise that a railway career in the UK is interesting, challenging, exciting and rewarding. Slowly but surely the message is starting to get out.

TRAINING FOCUS

42 | RailStaff | November 2015

Bridging the gap

When Bridgeway was formed in 1995, safety and competence was a priority.

outstanding service to the wider railway industry. Since then, the Bridgeway Learning & Development team has grown from strength to strength. Bridgeway is licensed by Network Rail as a supplier of rail training and assessment services to the rail industry in the UK. The company has also been graded as an outstanding training/ assessment provider - for the second time in succession. The rail industry, in recent times, has seen a number of rail trainer shortages and during 2014/15, Bridgeway embarked on a trainer/ assessor development programme, upskilling existing trainers and recruiting new trainers and assessors to ensure it could meet the company’s own needs and those of its external clients. Bridgeway is accredited by City & Guilds to deliver rail National Vocational Training (NVQs) and during 2015 Bridgeway was awarded the Investors in People 10 Year Award – which recognised the company’s commitment to people development. Bridgeway is also a board member of the Association of Rail Training Providers (ARTP).

Concern about finding future rail engineers often overshadows the current training challenges that exist within the industry. Analysing and addressing the ongoing training needs of a company are critical. In many cases training is a legal obligation and central to safety performance.

At that time Bridgeway, like many companies, outsourced its rail training to a number of external rail training providers. Unhappy with this provision, managing director Pino De Rosa embarked on a programme to ensure that Bridgeway staff were trained to the right standards by establishing his own rail training team. This provided Bridgeway with the opportunity to ensure that right behaviours, competencies and safety commitments were instilled by the company’s trainers. In 2008, Bridgeway decided to deliver this

Capabilities include: • Sentinel Rail Track Safety Training/Assessments • Industry Common Induction • OLEC • First Aid/Manual Handling • Small Plant & Equipment • Permanent Way Training • Rail Train Operator Company Operations Training • Key Railway Principles • PASMA Bridgeway Consulting also possesses a successful record for managing clients’ rail training and assessment provision. The company has developed and implemented competence management systems that meet the requirements of the client. These include: • Training needs analysis • Management and scheduling of rail training, mentoring and assessments • Initial and recertification training • On-site mentoring/assessments Contact Bridgeway at: training@bridgeway-consulting.co.uk 0115 919 1111

TRAINING FOCUS

November 2015 | RailStaff | 43

Hot one hundred Network Rail has beaten Facebook in the London Times Top 100 Graduate Employers list. It’s official: the railway is among the top places to be if you are a graduate looking for good pay and prospects. Network Rail also appears as a top 25 employer in the Rate My Apprenticeship Top 60 for 2015-2016. Graduates are increasingly valuing the combination of work, leisure and lifestyle. The railway offers both a sense of professional accomplishment and worthwhile endeavour. Civil engineering graduate Dan Mulhare explains, ‘I chose to join Network Rail because I believe the work-life balance is second to none. There are plenty of other things to get involved with, aside from the day job, from social events to charity work.

‘Network Rail even offers its employees up to five days paid leave a year to volunteer for a charity, which I used this year to lead a group of volunteers to Kenya.’ Master the basics and career advancement is swift and fulfilling. ‘My career has progressed so much faster than I ever thought it could,’ says Adam Fountain, scheme project manager for Network Operations and a former apprentice.

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‘I’ve been promoted four times in nine years, managing a successful large team along the way. At the moment, I’m helping to manage a multi-million pound project which uses cutting-edge technology to drain water from the tracks. It’s great to work on something where I know I’m playing a direct role in keeping people moving in all types of weather.’

It is estimated the rail industry needs between 1,600 and 2,000 new people in the next five years in traction and rolling stock, signalling and telecommunications.

Prospects College of Advanced Technology provides a unique partnership to train your next generation of skilled engineers.

WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP WITH

YOUNG RAIL PROFESSIONALS

44 | RailStaff | November 2015

Young Rail Professionals welcome to rail Autumn brings a new fleet of graduates and young professionals to the railway industry. And so Young Rail Professionals (YRP) is rolling out the Welcome to Rail programme across the country to encourage and support young people in their pursuit of fulfilling railway industry careers.

YOUNG RAIL

AUTUMN

PROFESSIONALS

‘15

YRP EVENT

This event series introduces young professionals who will talk about the challenges and successes that they have experienced to date in the rail industry. YRP will be organising multiple “Welcome to Rail” events across the regions.

For more information, visit www.youngrailpro.com/events

DVV Media (Railway Gazette)

Morson ATKINS

TRE

ATOC IET

Porterbrook DEG Signal Ltd

RGS Executive Aspin Group

University of Birmingham

WELCOME TO RAIL

In the vein of a company induction - but with a more holistic and diverse offering to reflect the wider industry, the Welcome to Rail series sees each region hold a large event for people who are relatively new to the industry, to introduce them to the wide range of career paths available in the industry, as well as some inspiring figures within it. YRP is the best and most widely recognised resource to engage with young professionals and attract young people into the industry, so through Welcome to Rail, the organisation embraces the opportunity to both widen the career knowledge and horizons of its current and potential members, as well as showcase a number of its supporters, the Corporate Members of YRP, who generously host the events and provide speakers and hospitality. So far the Welcome to Rail programme has run across four regions: the North West, West Midlands, East Midlands and London and South East regions. Each event is organised by the regional committee, so while they are a variation on the same theme, each programme offers something unique.

Future rail innovators The North West region opened the Manchester office of the newest YRP Gold Corporate Member, Network Rail, for an evening of inspiring talks from YRP leadership within the region, ranging from the topical to the technical. Rachael Fairclough, the North West marketing and communications manager, inspired the room with

‘Rail and Innovation: From Rocket to the Rocketeers’, which was a very appropriate topic for all the future railway innovators in the room. Tommy Gore provided quite a hot topic, ‘Drivers: Can’t Live with them, Can’t Live without them’, certainly a big issue for the future vision of railway operations. The West Midlands region hosted the introduction within Network Rail’s Birmingham office and welcomed Andy Cooper, managing director of Cross Country Trains, to share his insights on the structure and opportunities in the railway industry. The evening was followed by a hearty buffet and social to help the new rail employees across the region to get to know each other. The East Midlands region paired a site visit with senior industry speakers to give an up-close and personal experience to its members. Generously hosted by Platinum Corporate Member Bombardier Transportation at its Litchurch Lane facility, YRP members heard from Niall Simmons, engineering director at Bombardier Transportation, and from Martin Giles, the managing director of Ricardo Rail.

YOUNG RAIL PROFESSIONALS

was massively popular and successful, and the lively crowd reflected great things to come for the future leadership of the industry.

YOUNG RAIL PROFESSIONALS

Get involved If anyone would like to become involved in organising future YRP events, performing outreach activities to promote the railway industry as a career choice, and developing opportunities for young people to be recognised and prioritised in the wider railway industry, then you are encouraged to contact: get-involved@youngrailpro.com.

YRP CHRISTMAS PARTIES CHRISTMAS IS AROUND THE CORNER! FOR THE FIRST TIME, ALL YRP REGIONS WILL BE ORGANISING CHRISTMAS NETWORKING PARTIES FOR ITS MEMBERS.

BIRMINGHAM - DECEMBER 3 LONDON - DECEMBER 3 NOTTINGHAM - DECEMBER 5 FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO BOOK A SPACE, VISIT: WWW.YOUNGRAILPRO.COM/EVENTS

DVV Media (Railway Gazette)

Morson ATKINS

TRE

ATOC IET

Porterbrook DEG Signal Ltd

RGS Executive Aspin Group

University of Birmingham

Offering a diverse cohort of speakers from the YRP membership and leadership, the London and South East region reached across the industry for speakers from operations, management, engineering, law, and planning. The depth and breadth of career paths within rail was very apparent, as all of the speakers took different paths to their current positions, which showcased the inclusiveness and the forward-looking aspect of today’s industry environment. With over 100 sign-ups for the region’s second year running Welcome to Rail, the event

November 2015 | RailStaff | 45

FEATURE

46 | RailStaff | November 2015

History of Russian Railways:

BILLION TONNE/KM

COLLAPSE OF FREIGHT TRAFFIC

Part 3 - 1946 to present

TRANS POLAR RAILWAY (1459KM) Closed 1990

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USS

1940

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After the Soviet Union lost a quarter of its capital infrastructure and an estimated 27 million dead in World War Two, its post-war recovery was surprisingly rapid. David Shirres reports on the role of the railways after the war. By 1947, industrial production was at pre-war levels. Reconstruction gave priority to heavy industry, to the detriment of agriculture and consumer

1980

1188km built by Gulag prisoners before Stalin’s death in 1953

KAZAKHSTAN 1717KM

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CHINA 3969KM

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576km built by Gulag prisoners before Stalin’s death in 1953

4000

goods. The USSR benefited from machinery and raw materials taken from Soviet-occupied Eastern Europe as well as the labour of an estimated four million German and Japanese prisoners of war (POWs). In contrast, after the Russian Civil War, 1918-21, it took around 10 years for production to reach pre-war levels. The Civil War inflicted great damage to the rail network, whereas in WW2 repairing damaged track and bridges was a priority as the railway was an essential part of the Soviet war effort. Hence, after WW2, Russia’s railways could make an effective contribution to the recovery.

The work of prisoners After the war, POWs and ‘enemies of the state’ started the construction of two particularly difficult railways: the Trans-Polar Mainline and Baikal Amur Mainline. The 1,609 km Trans-Polar railway ran along the Arctic Circle in North Western Siberia from Salekhard to Igarka to exploit mineral resources.

It was part of what Stalin described as his Great Plan for the Transformation of Nature. This required an estimated 300,000 prisoners from the Gulag system of forced-labour camps, of whom nearly a third perished. In winter, there were blizzards at minus 50°C and: in summer, swarms of mosquitos. Work stopped on the line when Stalin died in 1953. By then, 380 km to Nadym had been completed but suffered from constant permafrost heave. It was not a success and closed in 1990. In Salekhard today, one of the line’s steam engines forms a memorial to those Gulag prisoners. The 4,300 km Baikal Amur Mainline (BAM) was to be built about 700 km north of the Trans-Siberian railway as a strategic alternative to it. Work started in the 1930s. After WW2, POWs added to the Gulag workforce. Aleksandr

BE IJ IN G

Report by David Shirres

4500

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November 2015 | RailStaff | 47

Russia showing lines built by Gulag prisoners in the 1950s and propossed high-speed corridor between Moscow and Beijing.

SR RUSSIA 1990

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KAL AMUR MAINLINE (4300KM)

Solzhenitsyn’s book ‘The Gulag Archipelago’ describes the creosote factory at Tayshet at the western end of the BAM, as one example of the conditions endured by these prisoners. Work on the BAM also stopped after Stalin’s death. By then the Western (Tayshet to Lena) and Eastern (Komsomolsk-on-Amur to Sovetskaya Gavan) sections of the line were completed, a total of 1,188 km.

New track and electrification With the increasing availability of steel, in the 1950s and 60s many lines were re-laid with heavier rails for a 23-tonne axle weight. Prior to this lightweight rails had been a significant traffic constraint for which Russian locomotive engineers designed high tractive effort multi-axle locomotives, such as the class LV 2-10-2 steam locomotive.

Such track upgrades were essential for the introduction of electric and diesel traction. In 1932, Russia electrified its first line at 3 kV DC. This was the steeply graded Surami pass in Georgia. By the start of WW2, there was 1,865 km electrified lines. After a halt due to the war and its aftermath, electrification resumed in the 1950s. Between 1958 and 1965, the length of electrified lines increased from 9,500 to 24,900 km. In 1965, 45 per cent of all freight had electric traction. 1955 saw the first 25 kV AC electrification on a 158 km experimental line between Ozherelye and Pavelets, south of Moscow, on which 25 kV AC EMUs began operating in 1957. After 1959, almost all new electrified lines were 25 kV AC. By 1987, there was 27,300 km of 3 kV DC and 24,400 km of 25 kV AC electrified lines. Trans-Siberian electrification reached Lake Baikal in 1962 and was completed in 2002. Twenty-four percent of it is electrified at 3 kV DC. There are four locations on this line where a switched catenary enables a change between 3 kV DC and 25 kV AC locomotives. Russia’s first mass produced electric locomotive was the 2,400 kW VL22m (Vladimir Lenin). Nine-hundred-and-

Memorial to Gulag prisoners who built the Trans Polar railway.

forty of these 3 kV DC locomotives were built between 1948 and 1956. Its design was based on electric locomotives purchased from General Electric in 1932 for Russia’s first electrification. This was replaced by the two-unit VL10, of which 2,900 were built from 1961 onwards. The first AC mass-produced locomotive was the VL60. This showed the advantage of 25kV electrification as its 4,600 kW power output was the same as the two-unit VL10 DC locomotive.

The end of steam In 1954, Party Deputy Chairman Kaganovich advised a railway workers’ conference, ‘I am for the steam locomotive. I am against those who imagine that we shall have no steamers. It is a robust machine, stubborn, and will not give up.’ This was reflected in the 1956-60 five-year plan that specified the production of 6,000 steam, 2,000 diesel and 2,000 electric locomotives. Despite this, a 1955 policy change required the elimination of steam traction by 1970. This was probably to reduce costs and take advantage of increased Soviet oil production. The two-unit, 2,940 kW TE3 was Russia’s first mass-produced diesel-electric locomotive with 6,808 produced between 1953 and 1973. Later, Soviet diesel locomotives included the TE10 series introduced in 1979 of which two, three and four-unit versions were produced, the latter having a power output of 8,824 kW. The 2,944 kW Soviet TEP70 diesel locomotive was derived from the British Brush ‘Kestrel’ locomotive built in 1967. This 133-tonne prototype was then the world’s most powerful diesel locomotive. It was sold to the Soviet Union in 1971 after it was deemed too heavy for British Rail.

VL22 - the Russian built electric locomotive.

FEATURE

48 | RailStaff | November 2015

TEP70 diesel locomotive derived from BR Kestrel.

Completing the BAM

British Rail HS 4000 Kestrel at Barrow Hill open day 1971.

After the end of WW2, freight traffic was 356 billion tonne/km. By 1956, this had risen to 1,079 and peaked at 3,900 billion tonne/km in 1988 before the collapse of the Soviet Union. By 1966, there were over a million freight wagons and 83 hump marshalling yards in operation. This was primarily a freight railway so passenger traffic was slow. There were, however, some improvements. In 1960, a fast train between Moscow and Leningrad was introduced. This took six hours 20 minutes at an average speed of 102 km/h, compared with the 1950 average of 55 km/h. By 1962, Vladivostok was 170 hours from Moscow, a 35-hour improvement over the pre-war journey time. Passenger traffic was 189 billion km in 1962 and rose to 410 billion by 1990.

By the 1960s, there was increasing awareness of the BAM zone’s vast mineral resources and a renewed desire for a strategic alternative rail line to the Pacific. In 1961, the Chinese Communist Party denounced Soviet communism as a product of ‘revisionist traitors’. Against this background, it was decided to complete the 3,200 km missing link of the BAM project. Thus in 1974 Leonid Brezhnev announced that this was to be done ‘with clean hands’ and called for volunteers to ‘build the construction project of the century’. Around a hundred thousand young people throughout the Soviet Union responded to this call and moved into the new settlements along the line. They faced temperatures down to minus 50°C, difficult tunnelling conditions and permafrost that turned the ground to a swamp once the insulating layer of earth above it was disturbed. The biggest challenge was the 15 km single track Severomuysky tunnel in an earthquake zone with a complex geology. After a serious flood, it was found that the only way to prevent high-pressure underground water ingress was pumping liquid nitrogen into the rock face. Tunnelling took 24 years before completion in 2003. Before then, two tunnel by-pass lines were built. The

first 28 km line opened in 1984 with a maximum speed of 15 km/h. With its ruling 1 in 25 gradient, it could not carry passengers. This was replaced in 1989 by a 54 km by-pass line with a 1 in 55 ruling gradient. This is still in use to relieve capacity through the tunnel. The BAM is perhaps the world’s most expensive railway project and may have accounted for 1 per cent of the Soviet Union’s GDP. Although track laying was completed in 1984, with rectification work, especially permafrost settlement, it was 1989 before it carried trains along its entire length.

Soviet collapse and privatisation The BAM workforce had been promised that the new railway would bring economic prosperity. Unfortunately, this was not to be as its completion coincided with the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. The 147,000 km railway network was then split into the national systems of the former Soviet republics, leaving Russia with 55 per cent of the former Soviet network. The steep decline in industrial production resulted in freight traffic falling from 1,967 to 1,214 billion tonne/km between 1992 and 1995. In the aftermath of the breakup, the main priority for the Russian Ministry of Railways was to ensure the railway

FEATURE

remained solvent and continued to operate. The need for reform to introduce competition, attract private investment, improve quality and reduce costs led to the creation of RZD (Russian Railways) on 1 October 2003. It then began to set up subsidiary business units, for sale as appropriate. To create competition, three major freight subsidiaries were created. Freight One was set up in 2007 with 200,000 wagons and sold in 2012. TransContainer has 25,000 container wagons. It was partly sold in 2010 with RZD retaining a 51 per cent share. Federal Freight was established in 2010 with 180,000 wagons. It is still owned by RZD. Passenger transport subsidiaries are also owned by RZD. Thus, the Russian rail privatisation model is freight only with RZD retaining ownership of infrastructure and locomotives. Since the creation of RZD, an investment of £16.5 billion has been attracted for the construction of 680,000 wagons. With the resurgence of the Russian economy, freight traffic continued to rise, apart from a dip from the 2009 recession. In 2014, RZD’s freight traffic was 2,298 tonne/km.

The 23-year plan In 2008, the Russian Government ratified an ambitious strategy for developing rail transport up to 2030. Over this period, 40 per cent of the expenditure was to be on 20,000 km of new lines, 31 per cent on infrastructure upgrades and 29 per cent on new rolling stock. Upgrades of existing lines included significant enhancements to the BAM that is at last to live up to its promise. A key aspect of this plan is the development of international freight corridors. ‘Transib in 7 days’ is a mix of infrastructure improvements and through traffic agreements with other 1,520mm railways to transport containers from Pacific ports to the European border within seven days. For passenger traffic, the 2008 strategy included upgrading 9,500 km from 160 to 200 km/h running and the construction of three new 350 km/h high-speed lines from Moscow to St Petersburg, Smolensk and Nizhny Novgorod totalling 1,566 km. It was expected that the first high-speed line would be to St Petersburg. In 2013, it was announced that Russia’s first high-speed line would be to Kazan,

November 2015 | RailStaff | 49

770 km south east of Moscow. The rationale was that St Petersburg already had a 250 km/h train service and that the Moscow to Kazan corridor would best benefit from the economic development a high-speed route would bring.

European collaboration The strategy specified that, by 2030, RZD would acquire 23,000 locomotives, 996,000 wagons, 29,500 passenger coaches and 24,400 EMU cars. For the immediate supply of modern rolling stock, RZD has signed collaborative agreements with European manufacturers, notably Alstom and Siemens. Alstom has sent its own engineers to Russia to develop new locomotives with Russian train maker Transmashholding, in which they have a 25 per cent share. The result of this collaboration includes the 2ES5 8,400 kW two-unit freight locomotive, introduced in 2013, and the 200 km/h, dual voltage 7,200 kW EP20 passenger locomotive, introduced in 2012. RZD has ordered 200 of each of these locomotives. Siemens-built, 250 km/h ‘Sapsan’ (Peregrine Falcon) trains were introduced on the Moscow to St Petersburg route in 2009. Initially eight trains were supplied and a further 20 were ordered in 2011. A further deal, signed in 2011, was for Russian-gauge Siemens Desiro EMUs that RZD named ‘Lastochka’ (Little Swallow). After the first 38 x 5 coaches were built in Germany, a further 1,280

coaches are to be built in Russia as localisation of production was part of this deal. RZD’s reforms have been directed by Vladimir Yakunin, its president from 2005 until August this year. A key part of its strategy is the annual ‘1520 Strategic Forum’ for Russian-gauge railways to develop business relationships and promote a common technical, commercial and operational approach. Under Yakunin, RZD has attracted private finance and developed increasingly close business and political relationships with Europe. In 2012 there was high level European political representation at the 1520 Strategic Forum when Yakunin stressed that ‘integration of Russian and EU railway infrastructure to create a common economic space’ was an important part of Russia’s railway reform. This changed with the Western sanctions caused by the Ukraine crisis.

RZD looks east At this year’s 1520 Strategic Forum, Yakunin advised that the design contract for the high-speed line to Kazan had been let to a Chinese consortium and that, despite working closely with RZD for 10 years, no European company had bid for this contract. He felt that ‘Europe should not be self-isolated’ in this way. At this forum, Yakunin also unveiled a plan for a 7,769 km Moscow to Beijing high-speed rail corridor through

Russia, Kazakhstan and China that he expected to be complete by 2030. This follows Russia and China signing an agreement to develop a high-speed rail strategic partnership in October 2014. As China has built a 17,000 km highspeed rail network in 15 years, delivery of this plan by 2030 is quite possible. After this, Russia’s strategic rail plan includes a line to the Bering Strait where there are proposals for a tunnel to Alaska. The idea of a rail journey from London to New York via the Trans-Siberian might seem far-fetched. But then, a few decades beforehand, many of the historic achievements of the Russian railways might not have seemed feasible.

Postscript: A key reference book for this series of articles was “A history of Russian Railways” by J.N Westwood, published in 1964. The prophetic introduction to this book notes: ‘In the 1960s the USSR is one of that diminishing number of countries where railways are still considered to be part of the future. This flavor towards a 19th century mode of transport may today seem retrograde. But tomorrow it may not.’

Siemens built Sapsan High Speed train.

NEWS

50 | RailStaff | November 2015

Fillie sees the light

Punters back new rail link Britain’s latest new rail link between Oxford Parkway and London Marylebone - is already proving a big hit with commuters.

Murphy’s Tunnel Boring Machine, Fillie, has completed the first phase of work at Farnworth tunnel near Bolton. Fillie, a 293-tonne TBM, emerged into daylight on Sunday, 25 October. The breakthrough represents a major milestone in the electrification of the route between Manchester, Bolton and Preston. Farnworth tunnel features two single line tunnels built in 1838 and 1880.

To deliver this major electrification project, the larger of the two tunnels has had to be reconstructed and enlarged by Murphy to provide enough room for overhead cables and enable both rail lines to be routed through it. This was done by filling the uptunnel, which runs in a north-west direction, with 7,500m³ of foam concrete and then re-boring it. The adjacent down-tunnel, running southeast, was strengthened to allow trains to continue running during the project.

Launched on 26 October, the twice-hourly Chiltern Railways service connects London and Oxford in less than an hour using a newly constructed line and brand new stations at Oxford Parkway and the retail centre at Bicester Village. The service will be connected to Oxford’s main station next year. The new link represents the first new rail connection between two major cities for over 100 years, rail chiefs claim. Oxfordshire MP David Cameron welcomed the new line. ‘This new line and two new stations mark an historic moment for Oxfordshire. From today, there will be more trains, faster journey times and better transport links for people living and working here. Our long-term plan is delivering the infrastructure needed to help people to get to work, ease congestion on our roads, support business and grow the local economy.’

Chiltern has a 20-year franchise and was thus able to stump up £130 million of the £320 million total cost of the new line and stations. Network Rail contributed £190 million and delivered the project on time and on budget. Chiltern’s new service offers a welcome alternative to the London Paddington - Oxford run. In the run up to the launch, Chiltern rail staff put their new uniforms to the ultimate practicality test aboard a punt on the River Cherwell. Customer service ambassadors - Kat Cox, Shaun Dawson and Ahlam Ajjot - joined station manager Rob Munday on the water to show off the new look to local punters.

David Cameron and Sir Peter Hendy opening Oxford Parkway Station.

Hat trick for rail freight

STAR billing for ESG

It’s proving a golden autumn for DB Schenker Rail UK. The freight company has snapped up three contracts with construction companies United Asphalt, Brett Aggregates and J Clubb.

ESG Rail joins the Department for Transport’s (DfT) newly established Specialist Technical Advice for Rail (STAR) framework.

A five-year contract with United Asphalt will see hard stone aggregate travelling by rail from Ipswich Docks and Avonmouth Docks to Theale, Berkshire. This is the first time that imported hard stone has been moved

from Ipswich Docks by rail. United Asphalt is purchasing rail services directly for the first time. Brett Aggregates, producer of sand and gravel, has signed a 10-year contract to move material used to make concrete from Cliffe, Kent, to Brett Aggregates’ new railhead in Neasden, North London. The contract with J Clubb is for transporting ash from West Burton Power Station, Nottinghamshire, to East Peckham, Kent.

The winning team includes ESG’s parent company, DB Systemtechnik, DB International and award-winning Bridgeway Consulting. Says Pino de Rosa, managing director of Bridgeway Consulting, ‘Bridgeway Consulting is excited to be working in partnership with ESG on the DfT STAR framework. ‘ESG’s pedigree in rolling stock and Bridgeway’s expertise in rail infrastructure, delivered in collaboration, is a high value offering. ‘The framework creates a real opportunity to provide a professional, innovative and dynamic service to the DfT. ‘Bridgeway believes that this partnership will provide a way forward

in securing short, medium and long-term opportunities that will be mutually beneficial to ESG, Bridgeway Consulting, and more importantly, the DfT and future clients.’ ESG’s managing director, Martin Horsman, is delighted with the result. ‘This is a significant achievement for ESG Rail. Our skillset and expertise means we have a significant offering that is of great value to authorities like the Department for Transport. ‘This news strengthens our position as the leading rolling stock consultancy in the UK.’

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NEWS

52 | RailStaff | November 2015

Dinner at the Roundhouse Andy Ridout (pictured centre right and below), managing director of advance Training & Recruitment Services took to the stage at this year’s annual dinner at The Roundhouse in Derby to speak about his journey to the base camp of the world’s highest mountain: Mount Everest. The annual networking dinner, hosted at Derby’s historic railway roundhouse, has come to be known as one of the largest gatherings of railway decision-makers outside London, hosting more than 600 industry professionals each year. Sharing the stage with legendary adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes OBE - one of Andy’s personal heroes, recruitment guru Ridout described the battle with headaches, queasy stomachs, fatigue and freezing temperatures that challenged the team throughout the course of the trek. The expedition was organised in aid

of Railway Children, the international children’s charity that helps at-risk children on the streets of the UK, India and East Africa. Following months of fundraising, Ridout was able to raise £8,420 for the children’s charity, helping take the team’s grand total up to a staggering £61,251. Put into context, a donation

of just £19 can fund a rescue worker in India for an entire week, searching out and saving children at risk. In his closing statement, Ridout called on the industry to get involved in the charity’s next big mission: an 11-day expedition to the heart of Africa to climb to the summit at Mount Kenya in September 2016. © EXPEDITION WISE LTD

advance-TRS’ very own marketing director, Victoria Turner, will be part of the expedition team, following years of fundraising behind the scenes for a number of Ridout’s charity challenges. Taking the Sirimon Route, the trekkers will journey 4,985m over five days, cutting through dense rainforest, home to elephants, Cape buffalo, leopards and monkeys. Following the climb, the team will then travel to the Kenyan town of Kitale, spending the day there to witness first hand the effect that their fundraising efforts have on those who depend on it. ‘It’s inspiring to see so many from the rail industry come together to change the lives of thousands of disadvantaged people every year,’ commented Ridout, reflecting on the evening. ‘The Dinner at the Roundhouse continues to be one of the industry’s best-loved events, bringing together the industry’s biggest executives all under one remarkable roof.’ You can support Vicky by visiting her fundraising page at: uk.virginmoneygiving.com/ advanceTRS If you’re looking to get involved in the expedition to Mount Kenya, contact Katie Mason at Railway Children on 01270 757596 or k.mason@ railwaychildren.org.uk ‘Together, we can all advance.’

CAREERS

54 | RailStaff | November 2015

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P L A NNING 30/10/2015 12:38

CAREERS

November 2015 | RailStaff | 55

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