Engineer
by rail engineers for rail engineers
JULY 2017 - ISSUE 153
Napoli Afragola Italy’s remarkable new station
RAIL SHOW REVIEWS
BATH SPA STATION
ELIMINATING COPPER
Reviews of two major industry exhibitions, Railtex and IAF Münster, give an insight into the buoyancy of the rail sector.
Preparing a listed station for electrification in a town that is a World Heritage Site presents a special challenge.
Removing copper from the railway’s wiring as it’s expensive and gets stolen isn’t as simple as it sounds.
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For more information scan here to visit Network Rail’s Safety Central Website.
Rail Engineer • July 2017
Modernisation of Bath Spa
Collin Carr keeps an eye on his local station as it is prepared for electrification.
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The benefits of world-class experience
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Contents News Bombardier Aventra, RAIB, ISO, Railway Upgrade Plan.
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Napoli Afragola Lesley Brown reports on the opening of Naples’ new high-speed station.
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Illuminating Chesterfield Roch NDT and Veko Lightsystems have been busy in North Derbyshire.
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All change at South Kensington 26 Bob Wright examines Transport for London’s plans for this Art Deco station. Seeing the wood in the trees 36 Stuart Marsh discovers how Network Rail identified every one of its 10 million trees. Clever applications of technology 40 Rory O’Rourke explains how technology is discovering voids under the track. The rail network at your desk Stirling Kimkeran describes mobile mapping techniques as used on two continents.
20 The Italian Job
David Shirres visits Hitachi's Pistoia factory that is building trains for GWR.
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Infrastructure inspection services 48 John Williams promotes the regular specialist inspection of timber structures.
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Eliminating copper – the next step 50 Tahir Ayub provides an update on the thrust to exchange copper for aluminium. ‘The Future of Rail’ – in safe hands Ben Valleley listens as young IMechE members present their work.
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Inspiring international innovation 60 The Stephenson Conference takes place every two years. Has anything changed?
Technical tour of Germany
Münster’s magnificent machines 70 Polly Rivers searches for innovations at the largest yellow plant exhibition in Europe. Oddities and novelties 76 Editor David Shirres wanders the aisles at Railtex 2017. What caught his eye? Looking back at Railtex Railtex is the UK’s largest rail industry show – worthy of a major review.
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See more at www.railengineer.uk
Cover: Napoli Afragola station (Photos: Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane / Astaldi)
We’re looking to highlight the latest projects and innovations in
Signalling & Telecoms
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Plant & Equipment
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Glacial pace of change
Editor David Shirres david.shirres@railengineer.uk
Production Editor
Rail Engineer is always glad to feature worthwhile rail innovations, and this month is no exception. We have articles on novel surveying techniques, bespoke software to manage vegetation risk, a device to detect track voids and an initiative to replace copper cables with aluminium. Our features on Railtex and the 2017 Stephenson Conference also describe other useful new rail technologies, such as Network Rail’s acoustic monitoring of cast manganese crossings.
Nigel Wordsworth nigel.wordsworth@railengineer.uk
Production and design Adam O’Connor adam@rail-media.com Matthew Stokes matt@rail-media.com
Engineering writers bob.wright@railengineer.uk chris.parker@railengineer.uk clive.kessell@railengineer.uk collin.carr@railengineer.uk david.bickell@railengineer.uk graeme.bickerdike@railengineer.uk grahame.taylor@railengineer.uk lesley.brown@railengineer.uk malcolm.dobell@railengineer.uk mark.phillips@railengineer.uk paul.darlington@railengineer.uk peter.stanton@railengineer.uk stuart.marsh@railengineer.uk
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When he joined Network Rail from the aerospace industry, Graham Hopkins, the company’s group safety, technical and engineering director, observed that “the pace of change is almost glacial compared to other industries”. His view is shared by Rail Minister Paul Maynard who, at RIA’s April innovation conference, stated he was “concerned that the pace of rail innovation was slow compared with other sectors”. So how is it possible to reconcile these views against the many useful developments that we report? Perhaps Clive Roberts, professor of railway systems at Birmingham University, has the answer. In the HackTrain’s BARRIERS report, which is essential reading for all interested in rail innovation, he states that a whole host of good technology in the industry is underutilised because it has not been integrated into the overall system. Two such examples are REPOINT, a revolutionary switch design with potentially significant cost and reliability benefits, and the use of a fibre-optic cable to measure pantograph forces for better current collection and identification of overhead line defects which can result in large delays. These innovations were featured at the 2015 Stephenson Conference and are not expected to see trial use until 2018 at the earliest. At this year’s Stephenson Conference, we report how Hopkins observed that it cannot be right for trains to detect landslips or signallers not to know where trains are. Yet solutions to these issues were at Railtex in the form of an array of wireless tilt sensors and distributed acoustic sensing as described in our feature on the exhibition’s oddities and novelties. Hopkins also described how the industry’s approach to innovation had been improved, with the new cross-industry Technical Leadership Group appointing an accountable owner for each part of the industry’s capability delivery plan. He advised that the relevant owner should be contacted by those who felt their innovation was being unnecessarily delayed. However, the identity of these owners is not clear. Outside the industry, new disruptive technologies are being developed at an unprecedented rate. The threat to rail from such technologies was illustrated by Professor John Mile’s thought-provoking Stephenson Conference presentation on how a mass transit system using purpose-built autonomous coaches could be provided for less than half the cost of a light rail system. The message is that rail has to catch up.
Rail Engineer • July 2017
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DAVID SHIRRES
Innovation was certainly on display at the recent international exhibition for track technology in Munster. Polly Rivers describes the various new technologies on show, including hybrid drives that can reduce on-trackplant operating costs by more than €100 an hour. Much on-track plant was required for the 16-day TPOD that gave Bath Spa longer and wider platforms, with reduced stepping distance, and prepared it for eventual electrification. In his report, Colin Carr tells us about TPODs, as well as the design constraints and logistical complexities of this £16 million job. In contrast to Bath Spa station’s Tudor style architecture, this month’s cover features the new bridgelike Napoli Afragola station, with its sweeping steel and glass roof. This was the inspiration of Dame Zaha Hadid whose work included the London Olympics Aquatic Centre and Glasgow’s Riverside Museum. Lesley Brown reports on the opening of the first phase of this station and the challenges of its construction over a high-speed railway. Another Italian job is the construction, at Hitachi’s Pistoia plant, of GWR’s Class 802 trains. This noteworthy story includes an explanation of why HS2 is financing a depot at Penzance. The rail industry is often accused of fragmentation, so it’s good to learn that the resultant forthcoming substantial improvement to train services on the Cornish main line is due to fruitful co-operation between the diverse stakeholders concerned. Learning from overseas practice is an objective of the annual technical tours that have been run by IMechE’s Railway Division since 1928. These tours also aim to inspire young railway engineers, three of whom wrote our feature on last year’s German tour. This year the tour is to Spain and Portugal. Another initiative to encourage young engineers is the Division’s presentation competition. Ben Vallely highlights the difficulties faced by the judges in selecting a winner from seven strong and diverse presentations. Back to innovation, Network Rail’s Tahir Ayub explains the benefits and problems of replacing copper cables with aluminium ones. We also have two reports on innovative surveying techniques. As Stuart Marsh reports, one uses bespoke software to determine the number and size of the trees below the complex tree canopy shape to assess the risk that each of these millions of trees presents to the railway. This impressive technology is a further illustration that the industry has the talent to innovate. The challenge is to harness this ability to get off the glacier.
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NEWS
Rail Engineer • July 2017
Aventra success Bombardier's Aventra selected for the new South Western fleet. In the same week that the new Elizabeth line train (formerly Crossrail, now actually TfL Rail) ran in service from Liverpool Street to Shenfield, Bombardier’s Aventra design was chosen for the new South Western fleet. Bombardier won the contract to supply 66 nine-car trainsets for the Crossrail project, a total of 594 carriages, in February 2014. Since then, it has been announced that the new cross-London railway, which will run from Reading to Shenfield and Abbey
Wood, will be named the Elizabeth line when services commence between Paddington and Abbey Wood in December 2018. Until then, introductory services between Liverpool Street and Shenfield (limited to seven-car units due to platform length), and those from Paddington to Heathrow - due to commence in May 2018, will be branded TfL Rail. MTR Corporation has an eight-year concession to run the new services. In conjunction with First Group, MTR has also won the South Western
franchise, to commence on 20 August 2017. As part of its winning bid, the new operators pledged to introduce a new fleet of trains to increase capacity on the Windsor, Reading and West London suburban routes. The new fleet will consist of 90 trains in fiveand ten-car formations (a total of 750 new carriages) with deliveries to commence mid2019 and be complete by the end of 2020. The trains will be built by Bombardier in Derby and maintained at Wimbledon depot.
Setting a new standard The International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) has launched a new technical specification – ISO/TS 22163 – that “aims to help system integrators and equipment manufacturers in the rail industry make quality improvements through common best practices.” Snappily entitled “Railway applications – Quality management system – Business management system requirements for rail organisations”, the new specification is a railsector extension of the well-known ISO 9001 standard for quality management systems. Yuji Nishie, who chaired the ISO technical committee responsible, gained his railway experience with Japanese National Railways (eight years) and the Railway Technical Research Institute in Tokyo (30 years). He commented: “Organisations focused on quality inevitably deliver more effective and reliable products and services, through instilling a
culture that aims to meet the expectations of its customers. For the rail sector, the knockon effect is enormous, with the potential to improve not only the reliability and safety of rail services, but driving a platform for greater innovation as well.” The committee was composed of 35 experts from 11 countries, mainly from railway manufacturers, system integrators, railway standards organisations and some operators (although this specification is not actually aimed at operators, it is for the quality of the products involved in the railway industry). The new technical specification was developed
in collaboration with the Association of the European Rail Industry (UNIFE), building on its industry standard that is used by a large number of companies worldwide. Work will begin later this year to work up a full standard on the same topic, a process that will take four years and involve representatives from additional countries.
Rail Engineer • July 2017
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NEWS
Rail Engineer • July 2017
Upgrading the railway Network Rail releases its Railway Upgrade Plan 2017/18. Every Network Rail press release that comes into the Rail Engineer office mentions how the latest piece of work forms part of the Railway Upgrade Plan. The in-joke has been that said Plan didn’t actually exist – at least in a published form. But that is no longer the case. The Railway Upgrade Plan 2017/18 has just been released by Network Rail. In his opening message, chief executive Mark Carne reminds readers how popular train travel has become and then adds: “We now also have one of the most heavily congested railways in Europe. Stations and platforms have to accommodate more passengers than they were ever designed for. Parts of the network have no room to run the extra trains that are needed to meet demand.” Hence the railway upgrade plan, to remove bottlenecks, increase line speeds and improve reliability. Work is detailed in each of nine routes. Some projects are well known and have been covered in Rail Engineer before – Crossrail, Great Western Electrification, Edinburgh-Glasgow Improvement are all included. But there are hidden gems too. The Felixstowe doubling scheme (Anglia) will see an additional track and changes to six level crossings in the Trimley area. Weaver to Wavertree (London North Western) is a signaling upgrade between Cheshire and Liverpool. Reading Green Park (Wessex) will be a new station to provide dedicated access to Reading Green Park Business Park. Cornwall Resignalling (Western) will allow more trains to run while the Highland main line improvements (Scotland) will increase capacity and reduce journey times. Even the Freight and National Passenger Operators route – the one that works with freight and passenger operators which cut across several other geographical routes – has a plan, including the Southampton/West Midlands freight train lengthening works. It’s good to have a plan!
A year of accidents The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) has released its annual report for 2016.
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Almost exactly coinciding with the first year that Simon French has been chief inspector (he took up the role in December 2015), it was an eventful year. The Croydon tram accident at Sandilands Junction (seven dead and 51 hospitalised) was the major event, attracting much media and public attention. Two other events could have been equally serious, but good fortune (or good design and planning) prevailed. A bridge partially collapsed onto the railway near Barrow-upon-Soar station on 1 August 2016 (issue 145, November 2016), less than ten minutes after a passenger train had passed the spot and while a freight train was stopped on the approach to the bridge. Six weeks later, on 16 September 2016, a southbound passenger train collided with a landslip just outside Watford tunnel and derailed at 70mph (112 km/h). The train
ran derailed into the tunnel, partly blocking the adjacent line, and was struck a glancing blow about two minutes later by a northbound passenger train which, fortunately, did not derail. Of course, RAIB reports published in 2016 often referred to incidents from the year before. The collapse of Lamington viaduct was one of these (issue 137, March 2016), and problems at the passenger-train interface (PTI) were a recurring theme (issue 119, September 2014). RAIB doesn’t point the finger of blame in its reports, it lays out the facts and looks at how things may be improved. As Simon wrote in his foreword: “It is rewarding that, as a result of our investigations, we have made a number of wideranging recommendations this year which have the potential to make a real difference in contributing to industry’s understanding of risk.”
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Rail Engineer • July 2017
STATIONS
Napoli Afragola Italy’s remarkable new station T
he first phase of Napoli Afragola, one of 13 new stations for Italy’s high-speed rail network, was inaugurated on 6 June by Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, who called it a “remarkable achievement”.
Located 4.4 miles (12km) north of Naples centre, the majestic £52 million (€60 million) building was designed by Zaha Hadid Architects as a slithering white bridge in concrete and glass. Suggesting the flowing lines of a speeding train, this impressive piece of architecture is approximately 500-metres long, 44-metres wide, and features an elevated passenger concourse spanning eight train tracks. The whole structure occupies 30,000 square metres - equivalent to three football pitches - on five levels.
PHOTO: FERROVIE DELLO STATO ITALIANE
“Any great country needs great projects that are a leap forward,” Paolo Gentiloni stated at the inauguration. “The new station at Afragola is the foundation of the infrastructure programme to promote economic development in the south.” Yes, great expectations are riding on this galactic station. As well as functioning as a key rail interchange for southern Italy - serving four high-speed intercity lines, three inter-regional lines, and a local commuter line (but with no metro link to Naples) - it is also billed as a
LESLEY BROWN
monumental gateway to Naples (‘Gateway to the South’) with the power to stimulate economic growth across the region.
Seismic activity “The bridge concept emerged at the very start of the design development,” Filippo Innocenti, project director at Zaha Hadid, told Rail Engineer. “This ensures the station acts as a link to connect communities on either side of the tracks, avoiding favouring communities on one particular side. Once fully operational, it will be
Rail Engineer • July 2017
Slow start, fast finish Napoli Afragola may have high-speed credentials, but it was certainly slow to get started. Rail network manager Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI) awarded Zaha Hadid the design contract back in 2003, yet construction was stop-and-go until 2015. Issues over the building costs are officially to blame. Still, 14 years from the drawing board to the opening of phase one is a long time, even in the notoriously sluggish world of rail infrastructure. Overseen by Italferr, the engineering branch of state railway Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane (FS), in mid-February 2015 Astaldi picked up the previous construction work left incomplete by previous tender projects.
Taking over a project mid-construction complicated the task. “We initially analysed and renovated the existing structures to eliminate disparities between the work completed and the design plans,” engineers from Astaldi told Rail Engineer. “We also corrected any imperfections on the surfaces of the castings and carried out sampling, together with Italferr and Zaha Hadid Architects, to determine the type of concrete for both the castings and related surface treatment.” The rail tracks already in service, the RomeNaples high-speed line in particular, presented challenges throughout the two-year planning and construction process, even though speeds on these lines were limited to 160km/h (100mph) through the station worksite.
STATIONS
Commercial services at Napoli Afragola opened on 11 June with 36 high-speed trains daily - 18 Frecciarossas operated by state rail company Trenitalia, 18 Italos by the private open access company NTV. Together they are expected to carry 10,000 passengers daily. Services will increase to 28 trains in each direction as new infrastructure and further phases of the station are brought on stream.
PHOTO: ASTALDI
a large interconnecting hub, so placing the main passenger concourse immediately above all the platforms will minimise walking distances for connecting passengers.” Passengers lie very much at the heart of the design, with the fluid geometries of the station defined entirely by the circulation routes of those using it. “It is not only the form of a building that interests us - we also research new and better ways in which people can use a building. Each project is the very specific result of how programmatic requirements, local context, and innovative engineering come together.” Views of Mount Vesuvius from the concourse are a bonus for visitors; they were less so for the architects. “The station lies in one of the most seismic areas on the planet - at the foot of an active volcano,” Innocenti commented. “This required stringent seismic measures that included dividing the building into a sequence of separate zones, each no longer than 50 metres, that enables each element independent movement.”
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Rail Engineer • July 2017
“The HS line in operation split the construction site into two distinct, disconnected zones,” explained Astaldi. “We transported works materials and equipment between the two using an existing ring road. An existing underpass served as a pedestrian crossing for site workers.” A temporary roof structure (partly built by the previous contractor), consisting of steel elements topped by a metal sheet, had been erected to protect the HS line during the works. Astaldi completed this provisional structure at night (five hours/night during intermittent periods, with intervals of at least one month) when traffic was interrupted and the electric current shut down. It remained in place for the duration of the elevation work until roofing of the station was completed. The operating rail tracks and electrification system of the HS line also impacted the building of scaffolding decks and elevations at the upper levels of the station, especially when laying the overpass beams.
Concrete and BIM - perfecting techniques To ensure optimum performance, a super-fluid concrete mix to Italian class S5 (UNI EN 206:2006 and UNI 11104:2004) was used for the base of the station. “This gave maximum fluidity to the mix which achieved a highquality finish, while at the same time enabling the integration of significant steel reinforcing and the fluid geometries of the design,” Innocenti added. Given their complex geometry, the curved structural elements in concrete were built using technologies Zaha Hadid had originally developed for the construction of the MAWWI Museum in Rome (opened in 2010). This task involved realising prefabricated steel units and double-curves with formwork (temporary moulds) created from computer numerical control (CNC) milled polystyrene models. In total, building the reinforced concrete walls involved over 100,000 square metres of formwork, of which over 50 per cent were curved. “These new technologies meant the concrete could be cast in complex shapes, as well as achieving maximum durability and strength,” Innocenti explained.
PHOTO: FERROVIE DELLO STATO ITALIANE
STATIONS
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Given the architectural complexity of Napoli Afragola, Astaldi decided to use BIM (Building Information Modelling) methodology as a support tool. “The availability of a complete 3D model for all the design disciplines structures and finishes - meant we could identify different criticalities with a good degree of anticipation with regards the building phases.” This 3D modelling approach also proved an effective method for transferring information on the industrial processes, both within the technical office and to external parties. “In this regard, BIM provided unprecedented potential for coordinating and interpreting the various disciplines or specific parts of the construction work, namely structural, architectural and plant engineering,” reported the engineers. “Thanks to the 3D modelling, we were able to visualise all the different types of design content in their space dimensions, together with all their complex interactions.”
Rail Engineer • July 2017
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STATIONS
As befits such a monumental building, the figures are equally impressive. Astaldi used a record 20,000 square metres of matte cladding, with sandwich panels and Corian®, for the façades and interior - the largest quantity of this kind of cladding ever used in Italy for a single building project. A total of 5,000 tonnes of steel were required for the scaffolding decks and curved roofs. Wiring up the station with electricity involved laying 200km (125 miles) of cabling and fitting over 100 panels. Over 2,000 LED lights were installed plus 4,000 metres of lighting tubes, integrated into the steel roof beams. To meet the 11 June commercial service opening, Astaldi had a team of 330 workers on site every day, upping the numbers to 700 at peak times.
Sustainable matters Alongside Zaha Hadid and Astaldi, another key player in the making of Napoli Afragola is Max Fordham. This environmental engineering practice combined its expertise, all available natural resources, and state-ofthe-art technologies to render the building as sustainable as possible. “In 2003, when we won the competition for this project, keeping energy use down was a relatively new idea for railway stations,” said senior partner Neil Smith. “We were tasked by the client’s brief to make the station an exemplar of low energy design. So we focused on making the most use
of passive measures, innovative and low energy building services installations, and appropriate renewable technology solutions.” Since the concept for the project was and still is quite radical, Max Fordham undertook to test and prove its designs thoroughly with the latest computer simulation tools. This work involved building a virtual environment with extensive dynamic thermal simulation modelling, computation fluid dynamic (CFD) analysis, daylighting and 3D acoustic modelling. The brief required controlled daylight to the concourses and circulation halls. Through computer modelling and physical tests, the team analysed the light transmission and solar performance requirements for the glazed roof. PHOTO: FERROVIE DELLO STATO ITALIANE
Stacking up
Next, a proposal was developed for internal shading/acoustic baffles to limit the amount of direct sunlight and glare entering the passenger zones. Detailed CFD modelling also revealed how the baffles could trap solar heat at high level. This allowed the hot air under the roof to be vented directly to the outside in summer, using specially designed roof vents running the entire length of the building on either side of the glazing. The size and shape of the acoustic baffles and the non-parallel form of the walls were finetuned using computerised acoustic modelling techniques. This resulted in a high level of speech intelligibility for the PA system within the concourses.
Rail Engineer • July 2017
STATIONS
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PHOTO: FERROVIE DELLO STATO ITALIANE
Inspired by Romans
PHOTO: FERROVIE DELLO STATO ITALIANE
The mixed mode ventilation strategy allows the concourses to be completely naturally ventilated when the outside conditions are mild, at which time the internal spaces can be treated passively. It also enables mechanical ventilation and cooling in extreme summer and winter conditions. “Our design for passive conditioning was inspired by ideas that go as far back as Roman times,” Neil added. “Then, shaded spaces with heavy building elements (often marble walls and columns) and dedicated routes for airflow (such as the hypocaust) were used to pre-cool and pre-heat the internal spaces.” In natural ventilation mode, the entrance doors from the platforms and landscaping are left open. Roof ventilators running the entire length of the concourse are opened to allow high air exchange rates through the building, driven by differential pressure and stack effects. The incoming air is cooled via the exposed thermal mass at the entrances and within the main concourses, which helps control internal air temperatures. On warmer days with little breeze, extract fans at roof level can be operated to increase air movement through the concourses. In summer, the occupied zones of the concourses are comfort cooled to around three degrees below the external temperature, via a displacement mechanical system coupled with underfloor cooling. The hotter air at high level, created by solar gains trapped between the internal shades, is vented directly to the outside by roof extraction fans. In winter, the station is closed up and heat recovery mechanical ventilation with underfloor heating used. Passive solar gain through the roof is mechanically extracted via the air-handling units to preheat the incoming fresh air. The use of ground water forms an integral part of heating and cooling the station. Yet designing the system proved a major challenge, requiring extensive on-site testing over several years. Working together with the University of Naples, the team from Max Fordham studied the capacity and movement of the natural aquifer under the Afragola site. They explored how heat injected into the aquifer in the summer, as part of the cooling strategy, could be used to improve the efficiency of the heating systems in winter. In summer, the ground water is circulated directly through pipes embedded in the floor and ceiling of the station to provide comfort cooling. In winter, it is used via the heat pumps to provide heating water.
Art and engineering combined Their transport function aside, hubs like Napoli Afragola have points in common with other public buildings such as arts centres, museums, and high performance indoor sports centres. “People movement and their comfort and wellbeing, audio/visual performance within the space, the use of passive solutions to help maintain stable internal environmental conditions, and the need to minimise energy consumption are critical design challenges across all our building sectors,” said Neil. When phase two is completed in 2022 for the opening of the Naples-Bari HS line, some say Napoli Afragola is set to become an icon alongside other modern rail stations such as Guangzhou South in China and Belgium’s Liège-Guillemans. A bonus for the team at Zaha Hadid, no doubt, although this accolade wasn’t in their sights. “There’s always an underlying logic within each design which we push to the highest standards,” said Filippo Innocenti. “We are never shy to develop a programmatic or formal logic within a design to such a high standard that the project becomes an icon, but that is not our aim. It is something that evolves through the design process.” Full of praise, Prime Minister Gentilioni has already put the station on a pedestal. “With this inauguration, we are sending a message that Italy is moving, the country is growing. Here is a wonderful combination of artistic and engineering expertise.” Monumental, galactic, slithering, iconic... Napoli.
Rail Engineer • July 2017
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Rail Engineer • July 2017
STATIONS
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COLLIN CARR
Modernisation of Bath Spa station and the surrounding area I
t’s an exciting time for the rail industry. Network Rail has recently embarked on a £50 billion Railway Upgrade Plan across the national network, designed to address, not only the significant increase in demand that exists today, but also what is projected for the future. There is talk and evidence about a more intelligent railway based on digital technology that will, undoubtedly, slowly transform everything that we do. In addition, decision-making is being devolved to Route businesses that, it is considered, are better placed to generate effective change which will benefit the customer. To cater for all this change and re-balancing within the industry, some tough decisions have had to be made. One decision that readers will be aware of is the deferral of electrification for the Great Western main line (GWML) through Bath and Bristol. The Government remains committed to delivering the benefits to passengers of improved services while ensuring maximum value for the taxpayer. Electrification between London Paddington and Cardiff has been prioritised, with Bristol Parkway due to be electrified by December 2018. As readers will be aware, a significant amount of engineering work has already been completed over the last few years, including the track lowering and renewal throughout the length of Box Tunnel and similar work alongside the Grade II Georgian gardens, known as Sydney Gardens, close to the station.
Focus on Bath Spa station Extensive upgrade work has been focused on Bath Spa Station, with the core of the work being carried out during a possession from 8 to 23 April - a period of 16 days. Mike Jones was the Network Rail project manager for the work and he explained how this carefully planned and important part of the overall project was carried out in and around a Grade ll* listed building in the Georgian city of Bath, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Mike pointed out that this possession was in fact the third TPOD (Temporary Period of Disruption) in the area and, as with the previous planned TPODs, Network Rail was determined to maximise the use of the period available, given that the team had devoted more than 18 months to negotiate and finalise the arrangements with the affected TOCs involved. In summary, TPODs are very expensive and, as always, the cost needs to be justified. The Easter 2017 TPOD started at 01:30 on 8 April, with hand back at 05:30 on 23 April as planned. However, just to make life a little
more exciting, one line remained open to traffic on weekdays over the two-week period. ‘No train’ periods were confined to the weekends and bank holidays to reduce the impact on the travelling public. In total, there were 62 different work sites in operation within the possession and a total of 37 engineering trains used.
Careful preparation Nearly 70,000 hours were worked and 879 workers had to be inducted before the start of the project. Network Rail took great care to minimise extra traffic through the city and disruption as a result of the works, setting up a staff compound at the old Gas Works site with staff commuting to the works by minibus. The site included welfare facilities but, because the station area would have over 150 people working there at any one time, additional welfare facilities were set up on land adjacent to the station. Being a Grade ll* listed building, the work at the station itself required a considerable amount of forethought. Architectural consultant Acanthus, along with Tony Gee & Partners, developed a package of work that required approval from English Heritage, Bath & North East Somerset Council and Historic England. The challenge
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was to produce a design that would slightly straighten the curve running through the station to increase platform capacity and reduce the stepping distances between trains and the platform. The design needed to be future proof, preparing the way for the installation of overhead electric cables at a later date, and doing so in a way that ensured sufficient distance between the cables and the listed station canopies to be compliant with regulations.
Protecting our heritage Fortunately, there is a very generous gap between the two tracks that pass through the station, so it was decided to exploit this space, increasing the width of Platform 1 to Bristol by up to 1.2 metres and the Up platform to London by up to 1.8 metres. This solution not only added capacity to the station platforms to reduce overcrowding in the face of growing passenger numbers, but also meant it will be possible to place single stanchions down the middle of the realigned tracks in the future. As a result, when it comes to electrification through Bath Spa, the platform
canopies can remain untouched. Of course, this design meets the compliance requirements for the live wires but, as it worked to preserve Bath’s heritage as well, the controlling bodies were able to agree Listed Building Consent for the work. Hochtief UK Construction was assigned as the principal contractor for the work. The majority of the platforms are supported on a brick viaduct, so ground investigation work started nine months before the
April start date. Producing a design that kept any additional loading to a minimum was imperative and the solution adopted used a high-density polystyrene new front wall for the platforms. It is a design that has recently been used by Network Rail at Peterborough, Cambridge North and Abergele stations. MegaTech Projects was employed as a specialist supplier to construct the polystyrene wall. Following the profile of the widened platforms, a
SUPPLIERS AND INSTALLERS OF
MegaTech EPS the Network Rail approved MODULAR POLYSTYRENE PLATFORM SYSTEM
t. 0141 778 5165 e. george@megatechprojects.co.uk Completed platform at Peterborough
www.megatechprojects.co.uk
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compacted 50mm thick sand bed was laid. The polystyrene units, approximately 400mm wide, were placed on the sand with precast concrete coping stones placed on top, bridging back to the original platform. To maintain the look of the station, the polystyrene was faced with brickwork to reproduce the existing features. The platforms were then resurfaced.
Lightweight design The realignment of the two tracks through the station was carried out by Babcock Rail. The design increased the radius, thereby improving the new alignment. In addition, the ballast depth was increased, helping to distribute loading onto the brick arches. This, combined with the widening of the platforms, mean that passengers benefit from a reduction in the stepping distance from train to platform edge by more than 50 per cent. In May, the Government confirmed that all the new rolling stock ordered for the Great Western line was to be bi-mode, meaning it can run on diesel as well as electric power. The twentyone Class 801 trains were originally due to be entirely electric, but the change was made in response to the deferral of electrification, as outlined earlier. These trains will be supported by 36 bi-mode Class 800 trains, due to begin operation from 2017-18. To accommodate these new, longer trains, both platforms will have to be extended at the Bristol end of the station in due course.
A 55-metre cantilevered walkway extension is being designed for Platform 1. This will be integrated into the Grade ll listed Skew Bridge, which spans across the River Avon at a 28 degree angle, hence the name. Further strengthening work will also be required to support the extension to Platform 2, which will involve refurbishing an existing currently disused length of platform using the same approach as for the work on the platforms during the Easter TPOD - installing precast concrete coping stones over polystyrene supports.
Maximising track access As well as realigning the track through the station, Babcock Rail also used the possession to lower a section of track west of Bath at Newton Rd and Cross Post overbridges, ready for electrification in the future. Colas Rail was brought in to carry out an extensive programme
of drainage works at Bathampton Jn, Box Ashley and at Sydney Gardens. Work at Keynsham station was also completed during the twoweek period, correcting the gradient (crossfalls) of the platforms and resurfacing them, as well as installing drainage. If that’s not enough, an aqueduct at Corsham was also demolished by Hochtief UK at the end of the possession and, as you would expect, the local maintenance team are taking every opportunity to carry out detailed inspections, replacing S&C crossings and repair drainage systems throughout the possessions. A huge amount of work has taken place over the 16 days. Mike has estimated that the value of the work is in the order of £16 million. It is another TPOD and one that has been fully utilised to upgrade the railway in this part of the world, helping to lay the foundations for full electrification of the Great Western main line in the future.
We are building the world of tomorrow
www.hochtief.com 01793 755555 Follow HOCHTIEF UK on LinkedIn
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world-class experience
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The benefits of COLLIN CARR
London Bridge.
C
ostain’s current annual accounts include a section which analyses the current UK market spend in power, oil & gas, water, nuclear, highways and rail, estimated to be £92 billion per annum. It also identifies the market spend addressable to Costain alone for each of the sectors. Rail, at £26 billion per year (overall spend, including Network Rail, Crossrail, HS2 and others), accounts for approximately 28 per cent of that total market, of which the proportion of rail addressable by Costain is approximately £7 billion. What is the relevance of this? Well, it shows that, while rail is very important to Costain, Costain is also very important to the rail industry. The company not only has the potential to account for 27 per cent of the total rail spend but it is also developing a workforce with a level of expertise in rail that is invaluable and “World Class”, but more of that later! Ross MacKenzie is Costain’s strategic development director, so who better to explain the steps that the company has taken over recent years to put itself in this deservedly influential and advantageous position within the industry.
Catalyst for change Ross explained that the acquisition in 2015 of Rhead Group, a professional services consultancy with a focus on programme and commercial management, was the catalyst for change within the company. It added a skill base that complemented the delivery skills that Costain was renowned for. Costain has always had strong professional services offerings in other sectors and, over the last few years, has increasingly provided constructability advice to the world’s major rail schemes. This is in addition to delivering some of Europe’s most complex contracts,
one of which, the re-development of London Bridge station, has been well recorded by Rail Engineer. In November 2011, Costain was awarded the contract by Network Rail to transform this, the UK’s fourth busiest station, to meet growing national transport needs by increasing both passenger and rail capacity at the station by nearly 50 per cent. The redevelopment of the 180-year-old station is now well advanced. It is being completed over nine phases and they all require major rail possessions, which has necessitated years of meticulous planning. The biggest challenge has been to ensure the station remains fully operational at all times, to minimise disruption to passengers, a process that has been described as “undertaking openheart surgery whilst the patient is still awake”. Costain has carried out the detailed design and delivery of this major infrastructure project, including a new concourse at street
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Dover sea wall.
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Sydney Central Station.
Experience adding value Costain now has a team of 1,200 specialist industry professionals who have benefited from being associated with a variety of rail projects - including London Bridge - which, as Ross pointed out, have become an important part of their career development. Also, as customers begin to understand the value that Costain can add to a project, they are involving the company much earlier in the design process. An example of this is the planned reconstruction of the station at Gatwick Airport. Costain is working with client organisations to define project requirements in line with the business case, producing concept design, early stage cost planning and identification of a delivery strategy that minimises operational disruption. Current involvement is for GRIP 2, 3 and 4 (from feasibility through to single option development).
PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
level said to be the size of Wembley Stadium. The work is now at an advanced stage offering an increase in passenger capacity from around 50 million to 75 million. The London Bridge project has engaged in an array of sustainability initiatives and practices. These include striving to maintain a fit and healthy workforce, reducing the use of natural resources, eliminating waste, maximising talent and skills and integrating business into the community in order to address the issue of low employment in the London Borough of Southwark. All this knowledge must find a way into the industry if it is to continue to improve.
Another example of early involvement in a project resulting in improved delivery was the reconstruction of the Dover sea wall, which had partially collapsed over Christmas in 2015. Initially thought to be a two-year programme of work, it was completed by Costain in only nine months. A collaborative, trusting partnership with Network Rail allowed Costain to take steps in the early stages of the project to speed up delivery - for example, reducing the number of types of pile from nine to three simplified the work and ensured a timely completion. Drones were also used to monitor condition and movement of the wall and surrounding embankments.
Diverse level of expertise Costain has been involved in High Speed 2 phase 1 since 2012, with an advisory team working on the Hybrid Bill submission, adding real value to the project by providing constructability advice. As a result, the company was awarded the South Enabling Works Contract for High Speed 2 on 16 November 2016. The contract covers the essential preparatory work needed to deliver the main HS2 programme on time and to budget. It is already
creating jobs and training opportunities across Costain’s UK-wide supply chain and work has already started. These early stages involve establishing relationships with the numerous stakeholders, negotiating to agree demolition, diversion of major utilities and numerous other preparatory works. An essential core requirement is to ensure that all project teams have a complete skill set, so they now employ a substantial number of experienced track, signalling and systems engineers. These specialist industry professionals are working across the sector to deliver a holistic rail service, focused on collaborative working with customers, innovation and whole-life costs designed to create more sustainable and manageable infrastructure assets.
Recognised as World Class As a result of this good work in the UK, Costain’s reputation is now moving further afield to Australia where, in Sydney, Transport for New South Wales (TfNSW) is planning to spend £30 billion over the next four years. Representatives visited the UK and were so impressed with the
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Crossrail Paddington. work being carried out at London Bridge and other Crossrail projects that they considered Costain to be ‘World Class’ and invited the company to review plans for Central Station, which has similarities with London Bridge in that the plans are to construct a concourse area underneath the existing live tracks of the station. The technical challenge is that there is only 1.7 metres of clearance from the underside of the existing track level to the concourse roof slab. It’s a challenge that Ross’s team is relishing, and is currently carrying out a peer review to detect any constructability issues as well as assessing the feasibility of the scheme. Also, as part of the consultancy service, the team is assessing potential risks and benefits, as well as possible alternatives, thus adding value to the client. The next phase is to advise on methodologies and the constructability of the station. The proposal is for a split-level box with punch columns, escalators and lift shafts. Using its expertise from yet another highly complex contract, Crossrail’s C405 at Paddington, Costain has been able to provide the customer with logistical and construction advice.
London Bridge. Similarly, Costain has been involved with TfNSW on the methodology and constructability of Sydney Metro City and Southwest Stations and Corridor (SSC) Project, using experience gained on its Crossrail C610 system-wide fit-out project. Acknowledgement of world-class expertise is a high compliment indeed. Sometimes the amazing engineering achievements that have been carried out over the last decade or so can tend to de dismissed or undersold.
As Ross pointed out, delivering big contracts is a value-added experience which creates an opportunity for this to be fed back in at the front end by people who are experts in delivery. Lessons have to be learnt and they have to be injected back into the system at the planning stage, and that is exactly what Costain is managing to do and that is why the company is being acknowledged as ‘World Class’, which is a credit to the whole team.
END-TO-END RAIL SOLUTIONS THAT MEET THE NATION’S NEEDS Working in partnership with our customers and strategic suppliers across the UK, we deliver safe, sustainable, whole-life driven solutions that meet complex engineering challenges. We deliver significant value and quality through the multi-disciplinary talents of our people and the strength of our teams. This extensive knowledge and experience supports and maintains our customers’ assets across all phases of the project lifecycle. Our solutions incorporate: • Bespoke consultancy advice and feasibility studies • Integration of smart transport systems • Complex programme delivery • Asset management and optimisation
Speak with our Rail team today Costain Group PLC Costain House Vanwall Business Park Maidenhead Berkshire, SL6 4UB +44 (0) 1628 842444
www.costain.com Costain Group Costain Group @CostainGroup
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Before.
Illuminating
Chesterfield
After.
T
oday, much emphasis is placed on the ‘passenger experience’. This is much more than just the time spent on the train, it includes wayfinding at the station, retail opportunities, simple ticketing, passenger information and the courtesy of staff. In short, everything involved in making the customer’s end-to-end journey as pleasant and simple as possible. So asking passengers to alight, late at night, on a lonely platform that is dimly lit by a few orange ‘sodium’ lights, is now very much a no-no. However, it’s not just a question of replacing those old lights with some new ones. Lighting has to be evenly distributed, not just a few pools, so that not only is the customer experience enhanced, so is the ability of CCTV to see into all the dark corners. It also has to be economical to run and easy to maintain.
Brighter design So when East Midlands Trains approached Roch NDT Services to submit designs for the replacement of the existing under canopy high intensity discharge fixtures at Chesterfield station, the new design had to take into account the following essential attributes: »» Energy consumption reductions; »» Future maintenance considerations and access to fittings; »» Improvement in overall lighting
uniformity; »» Improvement of general lighting ambience for security/CCTV; »» Future lighting application adaptability; »» Viable fit-out procedure to avoid potential platform possessions and line blockages; »» Cost-effectiveness and value for money. The remit was clear and concise and so Roch set about demonstrating how its Veko LED lighting solution would overcome each challenge, one by one. Not just was a very good lighting performance important, so was the simplicity of the fit out procedure, particularly in a live railway environment. Lighting calculations were scrutinised in order to position the new lighting system away from the platform edge, which would immediately allow for future access and maintenance to be undertaken without the need for costly platform possessions and line blockages. So,
the early designs provided solutions to several key elements of the remit, which entertained future long-term savings on maintenance. Following on from this, the structural element had to be appraised, in particular, how was the system going to be attached to the super structure in its new position away from the platform edge? After a detailed survey of both under-canopy structures and drawings produced for the final submission with 3D rendered designs, the project was approved.
The companies involved Roch NDT Services provides structural testing and analysis of lighting columns in the rail, airport and street lighting sectors covering signals, platform columns, approach road and car park columns and high masts. With this close involvement with the safety and integrity of lighting columns, it was natural that the company also became interested in the positioning and performance of the lights themselves, hence the link with Veko. Veko Lightsystems has offices throughout Europe with installations in the rail sector, warehouses, manufacturing plants and sports
Rail Engineer • July 2017
Swift installation Once the survey and proposal were complete and accepted, no additional site visits were needed and installation costs were vastly reduced. The fit out process for both station
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facilities. In the UK, the quality of the brand is fast becoming recognised and installations for Network Rail are underway. The simple reason for this is down to the quality, durability and the ease and speed of installation. For instance, one Veko Lightsystems installation team of two people can install up to 300 metres a day. From the client’s perspective, this means less interruption to services and cuts the inflated installation costs down massively. Much of this is down to the simplicity and quality of the Veko system. It has containment built in as part of the profile manufacture, so any fit out task can be completed very quickly and there is no need for additional cable management systems, such as trunking, conduit or cable trays. It’s a one-fix solution and the Chesterfield station project highlighted this superbly.
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platforms to be fully commissioned and operational took just over one shift to complete as the Veko products, which were delivered to site with minimal packaging, were coded and pre-assembled. The positioning of the extruded-aluminium profiles meant that there was no need for any station or line closures. As a result of the refit, the lights are now 2.5 metres from the platform edge and so easily maintainable.
There has been an improvement in lighting uniformity and colour rendering, making passengers feel safe and allowing the CCTV to work at its best. To top it off, energy consumption is down by 75 per cent. Passengers alighting at Chesterfield immediately noticed the improved quality of lighting, without realising that station security and CCTV operators welcomed the changes too.
Veko Lightsystems installations in German depots.
Roch ndt Services brings a strong brand of Professionalism and Quality to the market place where our “Structural Testing Saves Lives” and our “Lighting Solutions Illuminate your thinking”. As Specialists in Structural Integrity Testing and Analysis of Lighting Columns serving the Rail, Airport and Street Lighting Sectors throughout the UK, we specifically provide solutions to the rail sector for the structural testing of signals, platform lighting columns, station approach and car park columns using Roch Technologies. We also provide VEKO Lighting Solutions for station under canopies, depot and car parks to the rail industry and other transport sectors. In keeping with the Roch philosophy, we bring a strong brand to the market where professionalism and quality of service are paramount.
www.rochtest.com
For further information, please contact John Charles: Tel | 07392 198512 Email | johncharles@rochtest.com
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All change at South Kensington BOB WRIGHT
I
n March, Transport for London announced that it was seeking a property partner to form a joint venture to develop restoration and development proposals for South Kensington station and adjacent vacant land.
George Sherrin’s Art Deco entrance to the station.
The two strands of the project will see future commercial developments that will provide revenue to reinvest in providing step-free access to the station. It will also support improvements to commercial and retail units that will restore and enhance the heritage of this iconic destination. South Kensington station will be familiar to readers as the station for the Science Museum, Imperial College, the Natural History Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the objectives of the project reflect the high profile of the station. Transport for London intends this to be an exemplar of developmentfunded improvements that preserve and enhance the historic architecture of the station and also provide a good quality and respectful scale of surrounding development. Importantly, a key requirement has been that the design and appearance receives a broad consensus of local community support. These objectives have and will continue to guide the character of the works at and around the station.
A historic station South Kensington is one of the oldest stations on the London Underground network. It opened in 1868 as the terminus of both the Metropolitan and the Metropolitan District Railways. It was substantially rebuilt in 1871 and widened to the south to allow the two rival companies to run their own trains on their own dedicated tracks and platforms. A reversing track in the central passenger platform was included and the tracks were covered by a double-arch glazed roof.
The 433-metre-long pedestrian subway was built from the station to the museums in 1885. In 1907, the construction of the electric Piccadilly line prompted the electrification of the existing District line and a modernisation of the station. The Metropolitan District Railway’s architect, George Sherrin, designed a new Art Deco entrance to the District line station that included a shopping arcade (top right), a new ticket hall space and new canopies over the platforms. The architect for the Piccadilly line, Leslie Green, provided a new ticket hall building with access to the deep-level platforms via stairs and lifts. The building deliberately did not follow the architecture of
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will be expanded and a new emergency exit to the road bridge leading onto Thurloe Square will be opened. Subject to planning permission, works could start on this part of the project early next year.
Public consultation
The future station Transport for London plans to improve the commercial and retail units of the station and refurbish the four-storey buildings at 20-34 Thurloe Street, with the potential to place a single storey on the distinctive Bullnose building and create new opportunities along Pelham Street. The main station entrance through the Grade II listed shopping arcade and a second entrance, via a Grade II listed pedestrian subway, will be restored to their original state.
The Listed Building Consent application for station capacity improvements will be submitted this summer and a preferred partner for the development works will be selected by December. The development works themselves are expected to take place during 2019-22. The development-funded works to improve the station will provide step-free access to the District and Circle lines via a new station entrance on Thurloe Street. The scheme will also deliver step-free access to the pedestrian subway leading to the museums of Exhibition Road. A new dedicated platform will be provided for eastbound District and Circle line services and the ticket hall will be enlarged, reconfigured and updated. These station capacity upgrade works will be carried out and the Piccadilly line escalators replaced during 2017-18. Separately, Transport for London is continuing with the third strand of works at the station, to progress plans to rebuild a disused platform for eastbound District and Circle line services. The ticket hall and gate line
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the rest of the station but instead featured an oxblood red, glazed terracotta façade. After this early growth and improvement, later years saw a reduction in platform capacity. In 1966, the reversing track separating the central platforms was decommissioned and filled in to create the wide island platform in use today. The two outside platforms were closed and the tracks and passenger access were removed. In 1970, escalators were installed from the ticket hall to the Piccadilly line and the lifts were decommissioned. In 1987, the ticket hall was extended to the current configuration. The original parade of shops and residential premises along the northern side of Pelham Street were demolished in the early 1970s, when piles were sunk for a mothballed hotel development. Since then, this side of Pelham Street has been left abandoned behind a wall and hoardings. Today South Kensington station receives 34 million District, Circle and Piccadilly line customers each year and is often congested with the high demand from the local community, tourists and school groups accessing the nearby museums and other cultural centres.
This project has a high profile locally and one of its objectives is achieving a broad consensus of support from the local community. As a result, Transport for London has undertaken a series of wide-ranging consultations over the last 18 months with local residents and groups. This has ensured that the design brief to be issued to potential developers has local support and meets local needs as well as those of rail users. Resulting from public inputs to this consultation, the commercial parts of the development, especially the Pelham and Thurloe Street buildings, have been reduced in bulk and modified in appearance compared to the original conceptual design. Graeme Craig, director of commercial development at Transport for London, stated; “We want to find a long-term partner with whom we can work to create a station that reflects its historic legacy and unique setting, whilst generating vital revenue to reinvest in transport and provide step-free access for millions of journeys.” The next few years will be interesting ones at South Kensington and Rail Engineer will be following and reporting on the project as it develops.
Following consultation, prospective long-term partners will work from this, the final iteration of South Kensington station and the proposed new developments.
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Rail Engineer • July 2017
THE
ITALIAN DAVID SHIRRES
JOB
T
he Tuscan city of Pistoia has an ancient cathedral and a central square largely unchanged since the days of Dante and Machiavelli. Although it is overshadowed by the historic cities of Pisa and Florence, between which it lies, it has something that they do not have - a railway workshop. This plant built many of Italy’s trains and locomotives and was established in 1906 as part of Ernesto Breda, a company founded in 1886. In 2001 Breda merged with Giovanni Ansaldo to become AnsaldoBreda. The
company also had rail workshops at Naples and Reggio Calabria. The Pistoia plant has produced driverless metros, double-decker and high-speed trains, including the 360 km/h ETR1000. The factory has a covered area of 107,000 square metres and has a workforce of 780. In 2015, the Hitachi Rail Group acquired AnsaldoBreda and took a forty percent share in the signalling business, Ansaldo STS. Hitachi Rail Italy now has a business turnover of 800 million euros and a workforce of 2,000.
From Pistoia to Penzance To meet the increasing demand for rail travel, over the past few years Great Western Railway (GWR) has been continually modifying its trains to give extra capacity by re-arranging the seats and reducing first class and buffet space.
Rail Engineer • July 2017 However, this can only be a stopgap as demand is forecast to increase, especially as Crossrail will soon bring Paddington twenty minutes closer to the City. GWR is soon to see the entry into service of the first of 57 Hitachi class 800 units as part of the Intercity Express Programme (IEP). Although this will add extra capacity, it will not directly benefit the West of England. After GWR was given a direct franchise award following the collapse of the West Coast franchise in 2012, they could consider how best to meet future demand, particularly in the West of England. Refurbishment of the current HSTs was considered but, as the 26-metre vehicles in a nine-car class 800 unit offer 115 more seats than an HST, the Department for Transport agreed that GWR could procure units based on the IEP trains. As a result, GWR and leasing company Eversholt Rail placed a £361 million contract to procure and finance seven nine-car and 22 five-car class 802 units in July 2015. A further seven nine-car units were procured in August 2016, giving GWR a total of 236 class 802 vehicles on order. In addition, the company will operate eleven
refurbished four-car HSTs on local services between Cardiff and Taunton and Exeter and Penzance. With these additional trains, GWR will be able to introduce a muchimproved timetable in January 2019 which will increase the frequency of trains on the Cornish main line to two trains per hour and reduce the journey time to London by up to 14 minutes.
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DPT - Driving pantograph trailer cab
Driving cab, trailer bogies, pantograph, transformer and auxiliary power supply.
M - Motor coach
Motor bogies with 226kW traction motors (904kW per car), diesel generator with fuel tank and traction converter.
T - Trailer coach
Trailer bogies and auxiliary power supply.
TP - Trailer pantograph coach
Trailer bogies, pantograph, transformer and auxiliary power supply.
The Class 802 As far as traction equipment is concerned, the class 802 has four types of coaches as shown in the table.
The arrangement of a nine-car class 802 is DPT-M-M-TP-M-T-MM-DPT whilst that of the five-car unit is DPT-M-M-M-DPT. Although the class 802 is almost identical to the class 800, there are some differences to take account of it
being diesel-powered for longer distances and having to run over the steeply graded lines in Devon and Cornwall. Hence its 1,550-litre fuel tank is larger, as is the toilet tank. The class 802 also has a larger brake resistor for increased dynamic braking capacity and, in diesel mode, is more powerful. Rolls-Royce Power Systems is supplying its MTU 12V 1600 R80L diesel
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Rail Engineer • July 2017
power packs, which produce 700kW at 1900 rpm. The class 800 has an identical power pack, although software limits its output to 560 kW. The five-car units will seat 326 (36 in first class and 290 in standard) and the nine-car units will seat 647 (71 first class and 576 standard class). They will include bike-racks and kitchens. GWR commercial development director, Matthew Golton, confirmed that the company intended to continue providing its Pullman restaurant service and was not looking to make significant changes to its fare structure because of the introduction of these new trains.
Flat pack production With Hitachi UK’s Newton Aycliffe producing IEP trains and ScotRail’s class 385 units and class 802s for TransPennine Express and Hull Trains, it was decided to produce the GWR class 802s at Pistoia with its bogies produced at Hitachi Italy’s plant in Naples. Rail Engineer was recently invited to Pistoia to learn about the new trains under production. As will be seen, there was also much to learn from those from GWR, Eversholt Rail and the West of England who also attended. At the time of this visit, three pre-series class 802 units were at sea, having been manufactured at Hitachi’s Kasado plant in Japan. The first of these, a five-car unit, arrived in Southampton on 17th June with the other two due to arrive by the end of July. These will be commissioned at Hitachi’s Doncaster depot before being sent to the company’s Stoke Gifford depot for testing. Kasado had also supplied Pistoia with complete bodyshells for one train and bodyshell components for the other trains, of which two had been completed. Unlike Newton Aycliffe, Pistoia has machinecontrolled welding equipment and body jigs as part of its production line for the ETR1000
Trenitalia high-speed trains. It can therefore build its own bodyshells from sets of ‘flat-pack’ panels manufactured at Kasado using friction stir-welding (FSW), a process which gives a weld essentially the same composition as the parent metal with minimal heat distortion. Pistoia does not yet have this FSW technology and so uses MIG welding. These hollow double-skinned aluminium panels incorporate rails from which self-supporting internal modules are fastened, to significantly reduce numbers of fastening parts. Since taking over the plant in 2015, Hitachi has made significant investments in the plant, including new testing facilities, additional welding equipment and a body-sized CNC machining facility.
Machine MIG welding of bodyshells.
Complex assembly Hitachi Rail Italy’s chief operating officer Giuseppe Marino explained that there are five class 802 production lines, each with nine work stations. Assembly includes piping and wiring, windows, floors, toilets, roof equipment including air conditioning, underframe equipment, interior fit out and mounting the car on its bogies. The final step is the functional test in the purpose-built test house, a procedure which takes two weeks. Giuseppe explained that the assembly sequence is driven by the smart manufacturing techniques that are part of a plan to drive growth through new technologies and digital transformation. He advised that, although the target time to complete each coach shell and fit it out is 45 days, the initial
Rail Engineer • July 2017 priority is familiarisation with the production process. Hence, as expected, the first vehicles are taking about twice as long as the quality has to be right before production is ramped-up. He stressed this essential familiarisation process will not delay train deliveries. The general impression from the tour of the spacious and tidy Pistoia facility was one of overall efficiency. The first unit with Kasado-built bodyshells were resplendent in GWR dark green. Although fit-out was well advanced, the only seats to be seen were a bay of four seats for the benefit of visitors to the plant. Hitachi’s project director Berry Sas explained that the Italian-built class 802s have the same supplier base as the trains built at Newton Aycliffe and so will have a high proportion of British components. Appropriately, this includes some from the West of England - fuel tanks are supplied by Johnson Security of Gloucester, rubber flooring by Treadmaster Flooring in Cornwall and pantographs come from Brecknell Willis in Somerset. Berry advised that the first Pistoia-built class 802 will arrive in Britain in December and that all 33 Italian-built class 802 units will be delivered by December 2018.
Cornwall’s contribution Commissioning the Class 802 fleet will enable GWR to introduce its new timetable in January 2019, giving the West of England a step change in capacity and frequency and creating an additional 1,000 peak-time seats a day on the route However, it should not be forgotten that this timetable also depends on infrastructure improvements, including additional signalling over the 51 miles between Menheniot and Camborne, to enable a 30-minute service to be provided between Plymouth and Penzance.
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MTU 12V 1600 R90L diesel power pack. Cornwall Council’s service director for transport and infrastructure, Nigel Blackler, confirmed that the council has contributed £15 million towards this signalling scheme. He also mentioned that the council’s contribution to the expansion of the depot in Penzance is £5 million with Network Rail and HS2 respectively paying seven and nine million pounds. HS2 is part-funding this depot as it will undertake some of the maintenance previously carried out at the soon-to-bedemolished Old Oak Common depot which lies in the path of the new high-speed line. The enhanced Penzance depot will maintain the Night Riviera sleeper coaches, refurbished four-coach HSTs, local DMUs and will service five-car class 802 units for which it has been lengthened. Maintenance of the class 802s will be undertaken at Hitachi’s depots. However, unlike the IEPs which are the subject of a 27 ½ year availability-based government-let
contract, the class 802 units have a ten-year maintenance agreement with GWR who procured the units. Nigel was clear that Cornwall Council has no doubt that its support of improved rail services is good value for money in view of the economic benefit that it will bring to the area. He added that the Council is also funding Wi-Fi for all Cornish stations, improvements to sleeper lounges at Paddington, Truro and Penzance as well as contributing to the Plymouth station modernisation. There was much to learn from Hitachi’s impressive Pistoia plant and the way that class 802 units are being built there. Equally impressive was finding out that the substantial increase in Cornish train services in 2019 will be the result of a fruitful co-operation between Hitachi in UK and Italy, Eversholt Rail, GWR, Network Rail and Cornwall Council.
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Rail Engineer • July 2017
Hitachi’s new
maintenance regime NIGEL WORDSWORTH
A
sk an engineer or programme manager what they want for their new project, and very often they will say “a clean sheet of paper”. It’s Utopia. The chance to start something fresh with no conditions, no carry-over technology and no pre-set boundaries will, of course, never happen. It’s a nice idea, but, as they say, “there’s nothing new under the sun” someone has always done it before.
New trains? As an example, consider the Intercity Express Programme or, more precisely, the servicing and maintenance arrangements for the new fleet of Class 800/801/802 trains. The trains themselves weren’t designed on a clean sheet of paper. There’s Class 395 Javelin train technology
Rail Engineer • July 2017 in there, as well as Japanese Shinkansen practice. All built previously by Hitachi, and with ideas carried over to the new train. There will be three new depots to house and maintain the trains - at Stoke Gifford near Bristol, Swansea Maliphant and Doncaster Carr. But Hitachi has also taken over the former Eurostar depot at North Pole, near Paddington, and will be taking possession of Craigentinny (Edinburgh) and Bounds Green (North London). So the clean sheet of paper is now grey, with darker patches. Still, it is a new programme, with new challenges, so Rail Engineer met with Ian Dawson, head of operations delivery at Hitachi, to find out just how much clean paper he had been allowed.
Development testing Ian’s experience comes through introducing new vehicles and equipment to the army - in Iraq and Afghanistan - which was quite a demanding task. After 29 years of that, Ian was asked to take over Hitachi’s new operation. “As we went into operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the army introduced a whole, complete new fleet,” Ian recalled. “So I’m quite used to introducing new equipment and that doesn’t happen very often in the railway. We’re going to replace 40 year old trains with IEP, so that’s certainly a skill set that I can bring to Hitachi.” There are really two stages to the programme. The first is the testing of the new trains, particularly the prototype (early production) versions, to find out how they perform, and how they will wear. As the first trains run up and down the Great Western and East Coast main lines, they will be subject to rigorous testing. Any faults encountered will need to be understood and corrected, so that the test programme can continue uninterrupted. Once the early failures have been eliminated, and designs tweaked, the next element is understanding how parts wear, and when they will need replacing. Some parts will obviously be prone to wear - tyres, bearings, couplers, pantographs. But how quickly will they wear? And when will they become worn out and need replacing or, in the case of the wheel profiles, re-machining?
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“Depending how new the technology is, how new the systems and subsystems are and how new the train is, we’ll get an accrued set of failures across the various systems,” Ian explained. “Some components, some of the bogie parts, are well known so we’ve got some evidence in terms of running experience. But other bits are new and then there’s the integration of the whole train, which will potentially bring its own sort of engineering problems. “The initial spares inventory was largely based on information on expected wear-out rates, failure rates. So there was a challenge in understanding the train’s behaviour in the early days and the more testing we can do, of course, the further we can come along that early fault curve and the more confidence we’ll have in the train.” That’s one reason Hitachi is running several test trains at once. Testing a single train would result in a narrow band of data, whereas testing several trains on different lines can give a much broader result. Some of the results will be expected - it’s not whether a part will wear but how quickly. But the test programme will be bound to throw up some unexpected results - a part is wearing much more quickly than was expected, or is wearing when it shouldn’t really wear at all. That’s what happens with new machinery, and that’s what testing is all about.
Condition-based maintenance And that brings us to the second stage of the programme, maintenance and overhauls. The more concrete evidence that Ian and his team have, the more they can make sensible decisions about maintenance intervals (for fixed-period servicing) and wear allowances (for conditionbased maintenance). This is complicated as the different supply contracts Hitachi has for IEP trains have different servicing conditions attached. “Fundamentally, we’ve tried to make everything the same, so the core values, the core ethos of our maintenance strategy, is the same,” Ian continued. “But East Coast will have a distributed lay down in the evening for the trains whereas, with Great Western, the trains generally come back to the two main depots. So already you can see a difference in terms of where we can work on the trains. “Great Western trains have to come back to the depot, so that’s fairly easy, we’ve got some people, we’ve got some material, everything’s around that train, that’s good. Trains on East Coast, however, may end up in Scotland or in Leeds or York, outside of that depot network, so we need a distributed inspection, maintenance or repair system.”
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Rail Engineer • July 2017
Hitachi will be undertaking all aspects of maintenance for the IEP trains. Cleaning, as well as the charging and emptying of tanks, will be carried out by the train operators or their contractors, but all aspects of maintenance, even the fairly trivial, will fall to Hitachi. “When we talk about reliability with IEP,” said Ian, “we’re not just talking about what we would understand as major component reliability, we’re talking about the inside of the train as well. So in the kitchen unit, should the microwave fail, we need to go and put in a new microwave, the same with the lights and other equipment. “On occasion, we’ll even have to send technicians to where the train is in service, board it and carry out the replacement while the train is still running.” So even though most of the work will be carried out at the main depots, Hitachi will still have staff who can do minor repairs and replacements at stabling sites such as Leeds, York, Aberdeen and Penzance. But if a major piece of work is needed, the train will have to go to a depot - Craigentinny, Doncaster or Bounds Green on the ECML, North Pole, Stoke Gifford or Swansea on the Great Western. But aren’t Cragentinny and Bounds Green currently Virgin Trains’ depots? “They will become ours,” Ian clarified. “They come across to Hitachi in August 2018, to do Hitachi work but also to do third-party work. So any servicing still being carried out on HSTs and other classes will be performed by Hitachi.” Staff will transfer over seamlessly - with just a change of the brand on their clothing.
And there’s more… In an interesting aside, Hitachi is building Class 385 trains for Abellio ScotRail (ASR) - the company’s AT200 model. These will also be maintained at Craigentinny. So, until August 2018, Hitachi will contract servicing and maintenance from ASR. From that date, Hitachi will undertake the maintenance itself, and ASR will instead contract servicing of the HST fleet and other classes.
With such a diverse geographical area, Ian is keen to establish one method of working across all of the depots. This will not only bring benefits in terms of efficiency and cost control, but will help the staff too. “As the operating model, or the core of it, will essentially be standardised in terms of Hitachi’s processes and principles, so we can move someone from Stoke Gifford to Edinburgh if they wanted to go. I think it’s very positive to be a member of an organisation that’s got a depot network that goes from Bristol to Edinburgh. “Also, with a network like that, we can hopefully create opportunities for promotion, filling a vacancy in one location with an applicant from another and creating an ability for people to move up the ladder.” Training of staff will be a major undertaking. Virgin Trains staff at Craigentinny will be trained in advance, while they are still Virgin employees. And once they have become Hitachi employees, they will still be working on HSTs, Class 91s and other types of train so the Hitachi system will have to account for those as well.
A first for Hitachi Going back to the “sheet of paper” analogy, one thing that will be new is the introduction of a condition-based maintenance system. Hitachi has never done it before, in the UK or in Japan. It has been coming, Ashford uses conditionbased information to make decisions, but the
IEP programme will bring the first full-blown application of remote condition monitoring and a condition-based maintenance cycle. Planning will be done differently as well. A Hitachi team will sit with Network Rail and the train operator in the ROC (rail operating centre) all day every day. That team will feed information to the central planning cell which in turn will be in contact with the depot teams, using that data, plus input from remote condition monitoring on the train, to plan maintenance work for the night ahead and for the future. “Take the example of failing doors, a classic in the railway business,” commented Ian. “We will spot something failing and we’ll be able to monitor the reaction of the doors. So we will be able to plan to deal with it tonight, discover that it’s going to be in Inverness, plan to re-diagram it, or actually, because we know what that problem is, decide to send someone out to train. “And as we get to understand the train better, over time, we’ll understand where we are in the parameters and we’ll be able to make a judgement of whether we must do it tonight, or whether we can wait until the train is in Doncaster in three days’ time as we know that it’s not going to fail before then. “It’s all about empowering everyone, at every level, to make appropriate decisions, giving them the information to make good decisions and then supporting them once they’ve made them. “We’re doing a lot of scenario assessment at the moment, and will continue to for some time. We’re trying to understand what scenarios would put the ROC team in a certain situation and what options would they have as there will be spare trains ready and positioned around the network. So we’ve got redundancy built into the fleet such that, if one needs to come out of service, we can then bring in one of the hot spare trains - there will be one at Doncaster for example.” So with a condition-based maintenance regime, spare trains positioned around the network ready to go at a moment’s notice, and empowered planning teams making crucial decisions, it’s a whole new way of working for Hitachi. Almost a clean sheet of paper…
On-BoardRail Engineer • July 2017 On-Board Energy Metering Energy Metering
35
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Rail Engineer • July 2017
SURVEYING AND BIM
Seeing the wood in the trees
STUART MARSH
L
eaves on the line - an announcement that every commuter dreads and a term often repeated by the British media to the point of ridicule. Low adhesion caused by poor rail head conditions can affect train performance and punctuality in a number of ways. It’s the scourge of the autumnal and winter months, with passengers facing disruption due to train services being delayed, subjected to last-minute alterations or even cancelled. Britain’s 52,000 hectares of railway land are home to millions of trees, bushes and other vegetation. A mature tree has between 10,000 and 50,000 leaves and, each autumn, thousands of tonnes of leaves fall onto railway lines across the country. It’s a problem that is taken very seriously by Network Rail. One of its divisions, the National Delivery Service, is tasked with the contracting out of Railhead Treatment Trains. Operating overnight on key sections of the network, these trains undertake water-jetting and spreading ‘Sandite’ on the line to improve the grip between wheel and rail. Vegetation management has a role to play too, involving the removal of trees and ensuring other vegetation is cut back and managed. In addition, each autumn, track teams work around the clock at key locations using de-scaling machines to clean the railhead. All in all, leafstrewn railway lines cost the UK economy millions of pounds each year.
Disruption So the annual leaf fall is a problem, but then there’s the trees themselves. Trees, or parts of trees, falling onto the railway don’t just create a safety risk. They can be the cause of thousands
of pounds of damage and thousands of minutes of passenger and freight service delays. In 2016, there were more than 470 recorded incidents precipitated by vegetation affecting the railway. These ranged from fallen leaves affecting train braking to fallen branches disrupting overhead line equipment and fallen trees blocking routes entirely. The cost of all this disruption is hard to calculate and Network Rail is unable to place a precise figure on it. However, according to the Linear Infrastructure Network, a group made up of infrastructure asset owners, managers, consultancies, Government and its agencies, the annual cost of vegetation impacts on train performance to the UK economy is estimated to be in the region of £100 million.
National survey Network Rail decided that in order to alleviate this problem it would need to conduct a census of its estimated 10 million trees. With 20,000 miles of lineside to cover, work started in 2014 on what was essentially an aerial survey that made use of LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) mapping. This remote sensing method
uses 3D laser scanning technology to measure the position of objects relative to the laser source. In conducting the aerial survey, use was made of fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters and drones. These three methods complement each other. Although manned aircraft get the job done quickly, they can’t fly everywhere across the network. The proximity of airports, conurbations and other such no-fly zones enforced temporary gaps in the coverage. But two years after the start of the survey, the network had been covered, taking in an area that extends 60 metres each side of the track centreline, including third party land. LiDAR is a common enough land surveying technique, but in interpreting the results Network Rail has made clever use of an additional technique known as ‘feature extraction.’ A point cloud image is created of the lineside, within which fixed structures such as location cases, OLE stanchions and bridge parapets can be pinpointed. Relative to these fixed points, the 3D envelope of the lineside foliage is mapped. The really clever bit is the way in which the resultant foliage data is interpreted.
Rail Engineer • July 2017
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Expert help
SURVEYING AND BIM
It’s all done by the magic of software analysis, of course. In simple terms, Network Rail has worked with arboriculturalist experts to create a tool that can identify individual trees that have the potential to affect the safe and smooth running of the railway. So what, exactly, is an arboriculturalist? The definition is a person who deals with all aspects of the growth, maintenance and removal of woody plants for any reason other than as a timber crop. In other words, an amenity tree expert. The extraction, collation and reprocessing of data captured as part of the nationwide LiDAR survey was undertaken jointly by Network Rail, Airbus Defence & Space and Forbes-Laird Arboricultural Consultancy (FLAC). Use has been made of FLAC’s POLESTORM environmental risk control system, which models tree failure modes during weather events. This is supported by FAILSAFE, a risk model created by FLAC to predict derailments due to fallen trees. The software can look at the complex shape of the tree canopy and can deduce from this the positions of the individual tree trunks. Coordinates are given relative to known fixed objects and, crucially, to the lie of the land. The proximity of a tree to the railway track is clearly important in assessing whether it’s a hazard, or potential hazard, but its position relative to other trees and the landscape topography is important too. In perfecting the software algorithms, previous risk models have been incorporated.
Assessing risk Surprisingly, trees that have fallen onto railway lines have rarely been old and rotten. Usually, they are healthy trees that have become vulnerable to wind forces. Factors that affect the stability of trees include the ways in which they are aligned or grouped. Isolated trees or those growing on steep slopes would be deemed of higher risk than those forming a group on the flat. Worst of all would be an isolated tree at the top of a rock cutting. Other higher risk trees include those growing adjacent to stations, near over-bridges, tunnel portals or power lines.
Size is important too, of course, with trunks greater than 150 mm in diameter being regarded as a potential threat should they fall across the track. Less than this and the damage they could potentially cause is not deemed a significant safety risk. The survey has been able to deduce the size of potentially vulnerable trees from their height and thereby assess the threat level they present. In total, approximately 100 different tree attributes have been included within the LiDAR survey analysis software. The survey algorithms can produce a ranking of risk, presented to highlight areas that require early intervention. In this way, the available manpower can be deployed to maximum efficiency. The presentation format has been tailored to provide information that is easy for route asset managers and maintenance teams to access and use. Remedial works can then be prioritised in a logical plan based around seven different levels of risk. In its simplest form, the survey data, or more specifically the risk modelling, is imported into a Geographic Information System (GIS) that includes the railway infrastructure network model. The simplest output of this is a series of red dots where the highest risk trees are located along the railway. A 2016 trial revealed that a ‘heat map’ was one of the best methods of depicting geographical concentrations of the higher risk outputs and areas of overhanging tree canopies.
ORBIS The tree census has arisen from the Offering Rail Better Information Services programme (ORBIS). This £330 million, seven-year project is designed to support the railway industry by collating, analysing and making use of data to create a detailed digital model of the UK’s rail network.
Rail Engineer • July 2017
PHOTO: CAPEL GROUP
SURVEYING AND BIM
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PHOTO: CAPEL GROUP
Before and after clearing near Dover.
Launched in 2012, the programme aims to digitise maintenance of the UK’s railway infrastructure to help Network Rail manage assets more efficiently, cost-effectively and safely. It is predicted to save up to £1 billion over the next decade. By helping managers and engineers in decision making, Network Rail estimates that ORBIS has so far helped to save £207 million, by allowing engineers make smarter decisions and by ‘predicting and preventing’ incidents. New additions to the ORBIS programme, such as the tree database, are forecast to save a further £281 million by 2019.
Savings The previous requirement was that Network Rail would need to undertake line walking surveys at three year intervals, looking for any potentially problematic trees. This was supplemented by a more thorough tree assessment every five years. There has been an immediate cost saving by identifying areas to be managed and eliminating the need for a manual tree survey in those locations.
Furthermore, by using the tree census, Network Rail expects a dramatic reduction in the number of trees falling onto the tracks. As well as reducing delays to rail users this should bring significant safety benefits, not just by reducing the risk to trains, but also by reducing the time workers need to spend trackside. This, in turn, should also free up manpower for other activities. Paul Meads, Network Rail’s head of lineside, said: “Our use of the tree census is emerging. Feedback will be useful for us to evaluate the benefits it can bring and we will be increasing
our understanding of how it can best be used. Just now, the usage of the tree census is very much in its early days, but it promises to bring a real benefit to the rail industry as a whole.” So far this year, Network Rail targeted and managed ‘hotspot’ areas for vegetation management covering 900 hectares, which accounts for roughly two per cent of the network. The work will continue and will include a reduction in the tree canopy in order to reduce leaf fall on the tracks. There will also be reduction in the lineside tree species that create the worst effect on rail adhesion.
Rail Engineer • July 2017
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SURVEYING AND BIM
2016 Rail Eng - September.indd 1
19-Aug-16 10:38:56 AM
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Rail Engineer • July 2017
SURVEYING AND BIM
RORY O'ROURKE
Clever applications of technology
‘It’s what engineers do!’
S
ome innovations can involve cutting-edge technology, large teams of designers and technicians, and years of development. Others are so blindingly obvious that they raise the question - "How come nobody thought of that before?" The solution seems so simple…
The truth, of course, is that someone, somewhere, almost certainly had considered such a solution before, and they were quite likely to have been railway engineers.
An everyday challenge Every day, engineers working on and around the railway are faced with challenging obstacles, problems they have to overcome. As a result, railway engineers have to be extremely practical. They are working on an ageing, but largely robust, rail infrastructure, which is an amalgamation of Victorian engineering with modern design and manufacturing techniques. This complex uniting of old and new, added to the limitations of the working environment of a live railway, makes for interesting outcomes. There have been many permanent way improvements, from continuously welded rail, track slab designs and high output methods of construction. Over the last decade, the demand to improve health and safety standards has also brought about huge changes in the way everyone works on the railway. Put simply, working on or about the line with live trains at high speed is to be avoided and, for many companies prohibited, completely. This emphasis on excluding workers from the track is to prevent injury and fatal accidents. Statistically, this has been a success. From 2015 to 2016, there were no workforce fatalities in the UK, and it was the ninth successive year where there were no fatalities due to train accidents.
The primary reason for this much-improved safety record is the collaboration between Network Rail, its contractors and workforce to drive through improvements. All parties have worked tirelessly to make the railway a safer environment.
Unseen hazard One of the results of this effort, this demand for safer working conditions, combined with the need to improve on-track safety and the wellbeing of passengers, was that the team at the Datum Group set about developing the VoidMate - a device that measures the presence of track voids, which can develop beneath the sleepers, for numerous reasons, and have serious effects on the ride quality. The risk of voiding increases during the construction of an under track crossing, pipe or tunnel, the laying of a new switch and crossing or piling and construction work. During these
works, the ballast formation can be significantly undermined and result in a lack of support to the sleepers and the track. Continuously welded rails (CWR) are tensioned to avoid buckling due to heat expansion, but this has the unintended consequence of suspending the sleepers such that any void beneath them only becomes apparent as the train passes over the track. When that occurs, the train is jolted vertically, resulting in a rough ride. Worse, the train could even derail at speed. Such an incident occurred earlier this year. Two loaded wagons of a westbound freight train were derailed as it passed over Courthill Loop South Junction, near Lewisham, during the early hours of January 24, 2017. A class 66 locomotive, pulling 18 bogie hopper wagons, was around two hours into its journey from the loading terminal at the Grain on the Thames Estuary, carrying building sand to Neasden, when it derailed. An investigation is still ongoing but the derailment occurred on a junction that had been installed only ten days earier. The accident caused lines to be closed for six days and resulted in the rebuilding of more than 50 metres of track.
www.datum-group.com
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Rail Engineer • July 2017
SURVEYING AND BIM
Detecting voids Until recently the presence of track voids was recorded by Network Rail’s track recording coach and by more manual methods with maintenance crews using feeler gauges and witnessing the effects first hand. Clearly, being present at every location where a void can occur is impossible and running track recording coaches everywhere is equally impractical. In view of this, Network Rail called for a ‘clever application of technology’ to provide a remote, automatic registration of the presence of a void without the need to be present to witness it, or take a measurement by hand. Interested parties were approached through ‘CompeteFor’, an on-line tendering website, for their ideas. These were then tested over many weeks as part of the tender and approval process so that the most economical and wellengineered solution would form part of Network Rail’s equipment cache. The VoidMate was selected and is now in full production. The VoidMate is a shoebox-sized device with an in-built clamp that fits to the foot of the rail. It is designed with a simple, detachable plunger sensor, configured to record the movement of the track with respect to the ballast as a train passes by. Network Rail’s criteria required the equipment to be autonomous, self-powering and sustainable, with the ability to be redeployed quickly as required. The track movement recorded by the device is then transmitted using an in-built 3G/4G GPRS modem (mobile phone) to a web database that presents the data continuously and can be configured to alarm and send messages via email or text.
Network Rail required the data to be compatible with its own web database, called Network Rail Intelligent Infrastructure (NRII). This enables data in all forms to be presented in one location and adapted to suit any critical scenario. In addition to NRII, a secondary system was required so that non-Network Rail personnel and contractors could view the data and carry out repairs as necessary. Datum’s own web-based system Platform Interactive was developed many years ago with applications like this in mind and fitted the bill perfectly. The continuity of this data transmission, and the presentation of it, was an essential aspect of the development. A sensor in the field that had stopped working or had been disturbed needed to be alarmed just as quickly as any genuine emergency and this functionality was also designed-in. The construction industry has used wireless data transmission from low voltage (12V DC) systems using micro-renewable energy supplies (solar panels) in the field for many years, and Datum’s R&D team was able to adapt this into the design of the VoidMate. The cleverness
was making it work (survive) in the railway environment - making it p-way proof, in other words. For workers on the ground maintaining the tracks, this means more accurate, more regular and safer data. At present, manual observations are taken in isolation, and during repeated visits to the lineside under track possessions. An automated system not only overcomes health and safety issues, by removing the need to visit the track, but it also improves accuracy and repeatability. Readings are taken every minute of the day and therefore provide advanced warning of track deterioration. And it is sustainable for use over and over again by any operative. This same innovative, technological approach could perhaps provide the key to a whole manner of issues critical to the rail industry. In theory, rail temperature, gantry movement, slope instability and bridge scour could be monitored using similar technology. Who knows? Perhaps they already are! Rory O’Rourke is chief executive officer of the Datum Group.
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SURVEYING AND BIM
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Rail Engineer • July 2017
The rail network at your desk Virtual reality comes of age
T
oday’s rail network is an extremely busy place with every minute accounted for, so there is little time allocated for engineers to visit site in order to carry out surveys and condition assessments. When they do have to go out, staff safety is paramount with line blockages or speed restrictions likely to be required for manual surveys to be carried out. With an aging infrastructure, priority for any loss of operating time is given to engineering works to repair and replace network components. The poor old surveyor has to be fitted in as and when possible. However, in today’s digital world, it is now possible to quickly access any section of the network without having to leave the office. Omnicom, Balfour Beatty’s image and laser-based surveying system significantly reduces the number of on-site visits with end-to-end data capture, visualisation and manipulation.
Accuracy in safety A survey using OmniCapture3DTM Portable Mobile Mapping System removes the need for manual surveying of the network. This removes the safety risks presented by having a team member visit the site in person and also reduces the significant amounts of time and costs associated with manual surveying, such as travelling to site and hire of equipment. Instead, engineers and designers can now access a high quality set of data with real-life imagery to give it context. OmniCapture3D is a fully synchronised surveying instrument consisting of two high-speed laser scanners, an accurate positioning system and an imaging system that are fully synchronised to capture high-density, highaccuracy point cloud data. Each of the laser scanners records one million points per second with 200 line
STIRLING KIMKERAN
scans per second which is seamlessly combined with data captured from the inertial measurement unit and dynamically compensated to ensure accuracy. The linking of the digital imagery with the laser data gives the user additional context when viewing the point cloud data. The imaging system adds 4k, HD, infrared or spherical views of the survey area to provide additional context and the unit can also interface with other measurement systems. With its configurable camera and laser set-up, the system can be adapted to meet specific client requirements including capturing CESS, overhead line or bridge detail. The system is mounted to a powered vehicle and the survey is carried out at normal traffic speeds, reducing the impact on the timetable. For areas that may be being brought back into service or are difficult for vehicles to access, the system is versatile and can be mounted to either an RRV or a hand trolley. The resulting data can be viewed in the OmniSurveyor3D®, which has recently undergone a major upgrade. Managing point cloud data in traditional CAD tools can be difficult, slow and requires specialist knowledge. The OmniSurveyor3D software is intuitive, quick, easy to use and has several useful features, allowing clients to undertake planning, design, surveying and inspection from the safety of the office. All data has a spatial and linear position and can be exported to use with many third-party products such as CAD, word processors, databases and geographical information systems. Laser data is seamlessly overlaid onto the high resolution image enabling the user to undertake accurate measurements between individual laser points. Omnicom Balfour Beatty maintains an image/geospatial library of the entire UK rail network which is available to all supported OmniSurveyor3D users. The library is updated with every new survey.
Rail Engineer • July 2017
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OmniSurveyor3D upgrade - new features
Australian assets Founded in 1995, and acquired by Balfour Beatty in 2016, Omnicom is an innovative UK company that specialises in the development of vehicle borne software and hardware platforms for asset survey, inspection and monitoring, for use across the transportation sector to enhance effectiveness of infrastructure assets. The company, based across York and Derby, has a client base which includes Network Rail in the UK and Australia’s largest rail freight operator, Aurizon.
SURVEYING AND BIM
»» Video and point cloud integration - Users can view video or laser individually or overlay the video with laser to improve point picking accuracy; »» Model obscuration available in Data - Laser occlusion enables infrastructure within the video to overlay placed models to account for obscuration; »» Fouling and clearance point assessment tool - Useful for signal sighting and placement and these points can be saved as assets in their own right; »» Driver route learning tool - Undertake officebased driver route learning where a cab view can be overlaid for a realistic feel to the video; »» Route cues can be added to video - Warnings, hazards and points of interest can be highlighted; »» Multi-point measurement - These can be obtained and saved to the database and point-topoint and overall measurement information can be extracted; »» Clips available in route form - Users are no longer restricted to individual Track ID extents, they can now create unique routes along the network in video and laser form, perfect for signal sighting and measuring on a wider scale; »» VR enabled - Users can visit site in true 3D for planning and design using a virtual reality headset.
Aurizon operates and manages Australia’s largest export coal rail network. The 2,670 kilometre Central Queensland Coal Network consists of four major coal systems and one connecting system serving Queensland’s Bowen Basin coal region: Newlands, Goonyella, Blackwater and Moura with Goonyella Abbot Point Expansion the connecting system link. Railway infrastructure assets degrade and change due to the frequency and tonnages of rail operations, adverse weather events and preventative and corrective maintenance activities. As a result, ensuring the infrastructure is planned and maintained to an optimal condition, while at the same time maintaining the accuracy of asset data, is a challenge. To address this problem, Aurizon Network embarked on a project to produce a comprehensive Network Asset Management System (NAMS). The first approach was to undertake a manual survey of one of the CQCN rail corridors to assess the practical aspects of verifying the current asset information contained within many databases. The manual survey was time consuming and introduced an unacceptable degree of risk to personnel,
Omni Capture 3D.
Data capture in Australia (left) and UK (right).
Rail Engineer • July 2017
SURVEYING AND BIM
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Assets viewed in laser data.
Omni Surveyor 3D imagery and point cloud with virtual models.
so an alternative method of data capture was required. An assessment of the technologies available to address similar problems was undertaken, including aerial surveys and other video based methods. The chosen solution was OmniSurveyor3D, as it has a successful record of being used to update other rail system asset registers and underlying track databases. Other factors included cost, availability and ease of use. Numerous legacy systems were combined into a single database, then this was validated using data from a vehicle-mounted survey. A digital camera array that incorporated four HD cameras was chosen. The camera array, laser and positioning system were fitted to the roof of a road-rail
lorry and the data logging equipment was fitted on the vehicle’s flat bed. The very accurate positioning system enabled the creation of an accurate link node model of the network. The addition of the laser scanner, which is synchronised with the digital images, enables the creation of an accurate point cloud of the network that can help with clearance assessments and provide measurement accuracies of ¹1mm. The network infrastructure survey was completed in 48 days and generated approximately 40 Terabytes of raw data. The final delivery of the processed data (images and laser) is 24 Terabytes of data.
Consolidating the results In parallel with this, Aurizon Network sought the opportunity to disassemble its existing network hierarchy and rearranged it in accordance with a new and improved rigid asset hierarchy that catered for the Linear and Point characteristics of its assets. Structuring the NAMS program this way has enabled Aurizon Network to embark on an exercise of consolidation and cleansing of its many databases to form a Consolidated Asset Maintenance Database that will be directly linked with Enterprise Asset Management software from SAP. This essentially provides an asset database that will be the one source of truth, with accurate (linear, geospatial) location of its assets. The OmniSurveyor3D software was then used to validate the assets and their characteristics against those values that resided within the database. The use of the OmniSurveyor3D tools sets enabled improved safety, reduced site visits and reduced costs. The centralised database will enable more effective planning and more efficient use of asset knowledge. Stirling Kimkeran is head of technology and development solutions at Omnicom Balfour Beatty. Additional material supplied by Gerard Buckett, programme manager, asset management improvement, Aurizon Network.
Electrifying innovations Balfour Beatty develops advanced ontrack plant solutions for a modern rail network. Our high output wiring train is a safer, more efficient method for installing Overhead Electrification lines – capable of fitting 2,000 metres of catenary and contact wire in under five hours. Working with our wider fleet and expert rail technology, our teams are delivering tomorrow’s railway today.
For more information, contact us: rail@balfourbeatty.com www.balfourbeatty.com/rail
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Rail Engineer • July 2017
inspection services SURVEYING AND BIM
Infrastructure
JOHN WILLIAMS
T
he complexity of today’s railway sector can impose high and often conflicting demands on infrastructure managers. Within a safety critical and asset intensive industry such as the UK rail network, asset management is an essential discipline. Timber is used extensively throughout rail infrastructure because of its strength, durability and versatility. With uses as varied as track-bearing waybeams, decking soffits, large structures such as the Barmouth Viaduct, platforms and canopies, the options are broad. Because of its wide usage, regular timber maintenance programmes required by Network Rail can include a high level of specialised timber inspection services. With an enhanced level of detail and expertise on the performance of timber over time, specialised timber inspections allow asset managers to co-ordinate both decisions and actions in relation to ongoing maintenance. This in turn can deliver an improved asset service life and a more efficient use of resources, along with more effective risk management.
The condition-based approach Exova BM TRADA’s condition-based approach to timber inspection includes an essential first step to determine defects such as decay and/ or mechanical failure that could endanger safety and reliability of railway traffic. The company’s expertise and evidence-based knowledge, including an understanding of how timber behaves and deteriorates, results in the asset managers being given an accurate conditionbased monitoring report. This then enables them to evaluate the present condition and to predict the future performance of the timber against the structural requirements of the asset. It also aids forecasting of any required maintenance or renewal.
Periodic inspection at five-year intervals allows the asset manager to monitor deterioration rates. A wide range of timbers are used within rail infrastructure, from softwoods to stronger, more durable hardwoods. It is because of the variation in timber species, the different types of wood preservation carried out and timber’s natural variability that asset managers often face a real challenge in understanding and predicting the performance of their current and future timber components.
Company history
Barmouth viaduct.
Prior to 1994, the company was wholly owned by the Timber Research and Development Association (TRADA), providing certification schemes and building products testing services. From that date, BM TRADA became the Association’s appointed provider for its research and information programmes and for the administration of its membership services. Exova Group plc, a global testing, calibration and advisory services provider, acquired BM TRADA in 2015.
Rail Engineer • July 2017
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SURVEYING AND BIM
Specialised timber evaluation using the condition-based approach provides a level of technical detail on its condition, strength and remaining service life which a more generalised inspection cannot deliver. However, a general examination report is usually the catalyst for triggering a more detailed specialist inspection. In some cases, detailed timber evaluation can prevent a costly process of premature and unnecessary removal of timber components while, in others, it can provide the evidence to justify unscheduled interventions.
The process of inspection Key to specialised timber inspection is an assessment of its strength and condition. Threats to the viability of timber are varied and can include the effects of wetting, preservation techniques, attack from pests such as fungus and mechanical damage associated with long service life. Fungal attack is an issue within rail largely because of the timber’s exposure to the elements and the effect of water. Predicting decay rates and strength loss is not an exact science as the behaviour of one piece of timber under attack is rarely the same as another. An evaluation of factors such as moisture content, reduced cross section, residual strength and remedial preservation options, can all help prolong the life of the structure or even remedy the situation altogether. Exova BM TRADA experts undertake surveys using non-destructive
techniques, as it is important to maintain the strength and viability of the timber while surveying it. Microprobes are used to detect decay without the removal of core samples which might breach the protective preservative envelope and thereby let water in.
Visual strength grading In addition to condition surveys, understanding strength and species analysis is also an essential part of timber assessment. Because of the variability in behaviour of species under different conditions, knowing the type of timber present is an important part of the overall assessment. Using visual grading techniques, experts can determine the strength characteristics of any structural timber in-situ. Visual strength grading is carried out using the requirements of the following relevant British Standards as guidance: »» BS 4978: 2007+A1 2011 ‘Visual strength grading of softwoods. Specification’. »» BS 5756: 2007+A1 2011 ‘Visual strength grading of hardwoods. Specification’. Matchstick-sized specimens are removed from the timbers for analysis. The species is confirmed using microscopic techniques so the correct strength class and grade combination for the species can be assigned using BS EN 1912: 2012 ‘Structural timber. Strength classes. Assignment of visual grades and species’.
When a screwdriver blade sinks into the wood, action is needed!
Recently, Exova BM TRADA undertook the examination and assessment of over 70 timbercontaining structures throughout Scotland supported by infrastructure assessment engineer AECOM. Using both strength and condition testing, experts were able to undertake an extensive assessment of a wide range of assets and create an inventory which ranked each timber element by its condition and level of priority for intervention. As a result, Network Rail was able to identify where assets required simple maintenance, where service life could be extended through treatment, or where assets were prioritised for replacement. This work with AECOM is a good example of how detailed and rigorous assessment of timber assets can enhance performance and also save money by identifying maintenance requirements in a timely and structured way. Using expert techniques in the assessment of condition as well as strength brings an organisation the opportunity to ensure its assets are being managed within an overall management system which is mindful of both cost and safety. Dr John Williams is a senior technical consultant with Exova BM TRADA.
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Rail Engineer • July 2017
Eliminating
copper
TAHIR AYUB
the next step
C
ost reduction is one of the major transformation themes for Network Rail, and the industry imperative to drive costs down has never been greater. Engineers are working on a range of ways in which costs can be reduced, and the electrical fraternity is playing its part. The most economical and controllable way of distributing power to the signalling system is to have a dedicated low-voltage power distribution network. In the UK, Network Rail has one of the largest low-voltage power distribution systems outside the power utility organisations. The problem is that it’s expensive - supplying power to signalling installations can be between five and ten per cent of the total capital cost of a resignalling project. One of the reasons for this high cost is the wiring. Copper currently costs around £4.50 per kilo as a raw material - more once it has been turned into insulated copper wire - and there is a lot of copper in a signalling installation. To reduce this cost, Network Rail moved from three-core signalling power cables to two-core by removing the dependence on an earth conductor. Now, instead of it being earthed back to the main transformer, electrical equipment is double-insulated and any metal structures are earthed locally. This is called a Class II system and it reduces the amount of cabling, and copper, by a third. Working together with its suppliers, Network Rail has achieved significant cost reductions, and saved thousands of tonnes of copper, by developing over 400 products from 20 manufacturers in five product categories.
Safety and performance go hand in hand Class II-based signalling power distribution systems do not rely on automatic disconnection triggered by earth fault current flow. Instead, electrical safety is provided by the selection of suitable Class II equipment which, by its construction, provides the necessary degree of intrinsic safety with regard to electric shock. A local earth is also not required to provide safety under fault conditions. This is a radical departure from previous railway and industry standards and has required a systemlevel change affecting numerous sub-systems. Class II systems provide several benefits - reduced CAPEX cost without reducing safety, improvement in personnel safety, reduction in system risk (fewer power supply interruptions), compliance with standards, reduced maintenance burden, greater tolerance of DC corrosion in DC areas, simplified earthing and bonding in AC-electrified areas and the ability to integrate into legacy systems. Over the last five years, over six million meters of Class II signalling power cable have been installed, generating tonnes of copper savings with commensurate cost efficiencies.
New system design strategy The next phase is to remove copper from power cables altogether. That’s not as simple as it sounds - although an alternative conductive metal, aluminium, could be used, and is cheaper at around £1.50 a kilo, it’s not such a good conductor. A new approach is needed. “We can’t get rid of copper by just replacing it with aluminium,” said Nigel Edwards, professional head of power distribution HV/LV at Network Rail. “That’s what’s different about this work stream. It’s a complete system overhaul that allows us to look at the wider implications of the removal of copper. There’s a new set of design rules which will be underpinned by a new system design strategy. As part of our engineering work, we have prepared a case which demonstrates that what we’re proposing is safe, operable and maintainable and will give an asset life exceeding 40 years.” The proposed solution includes a new, enhanced, unarmoured aluminium cable constructed of either solid or stranded conductors with integral water blocking. This is a brand new design, seeking to address the many challenges associated with aluminium cable. But this cable is only one aspect of the overall solution. It’s an important part, but there’s a wide raft of other things - design methods, process improvements, cable termination and jointing instructions, connectors,
Rail Engineer • July 2017
Aluminium cables have been used for power transmission since the 1930s.
switchgear, protection devices, distribution interface transformer assemblies and tools - that go around it and make the whole thing scalable.
Use of aluminium Cables Although cables with aluminium conductors have been manufactured for more than eighty years, they are less commonly used than cables with copper conductors for installations in commercial and domestic premises. The major users of aluminium cables are the electricity generation, transmission and distribution companies, which have been using them at all voltages since the 1930s. Aluminium cables are also widely used in railway traction distribution systems. Electricity distribution companies widely use aluminium cables in their low-voltage systems at some stage to feed domestic dwellings. Presently, three major UK companies use aluminium rather than copper for all of their new lowvoltage cable distribution systems, their feeds to the cut-out fuse in domestic properties. Cables with aluminium conductors are also used for lowvoltage circuits in the UK nuclear industry. There is even a move towards aluminium conductors being used in subsea umbilical cables for the offshore oil industry. Due to the difference in metal price, there have been attempts to change copper to aluminium before, not always very successfully. When aluminium house wiring cables were introduced in the USA, they were not introduced as a complete system with joints and terminations specifically designed for use with aluminium cables; instead, aluminium cables were used with
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the existing accessories that were designed for use with copper cables. This resulted in a clear lesson that connections to aluminium conductors are less tolerant of errors than connectors to copper conductors. British Rail installed aluminium cables in the signalling power supply system in the 1970s, when copper and oil prices were out of control. Although there have been failures due to water ingress, corrosion and at terminations, these failures have generally been attributed to the installation methods used - some of these aluminium cables may have been terminated with lugs intended for use on copper cables, for instance. Notwithstanding this, some of these aluminium cable circuits are still in use and have had an asset life in excess of 40 years, so it has been proved that aluminium can stand the test of time.
BI-METALLIC PALM AND PIN CONNECTORS FOR USE WITH ALUMINIUM CABLE IN CLASS II SIGNALLING POWER DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS CONNECTORS FOR SOLID CONDUCTOR (SAC) 16-185mm2 & STRANDED CONDUCTOR (FAC) 120-185mm2 CAA/E Bi-Metallic Palm Connectors
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Rail Engineer • July 2017
PHOTO: MEINHART KABEL ÖSTERREICH GMBH
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Comparing the two metals
A typical aluminium cable with solid conductors. Insulation colours may vary.
Aluminium cable with four stranded conductors.
On a size for size basis, the resistance of a cable with an aluminium conductor will be approximately 1.6 times that of a cable with a copper conductor. This higher resistance will lead to a larger voltage drop, lower current rating and higher fault loop impedance (lower fault current) than for a copper cable of the same size. The fault current withstand of an aluminium conductor is also approximately 1.5 times lower than that of a copper conductor. Even taking these differences into account, a like for like equivalent size is still 50 per cent cheaper than a copper equivalent. This makes the aluminium cable commercially very attractive! The effect of the higher resistance is that a larger conductor size is needed if an aluminium cable is used to replace a copper cable and other circuit parameters are not changed. The conductor size has to be increased by one or two standard sizes. NR/L3/SIGELP/27425 now sets equivalent cables sizes between copper and aluminium that can be used without any further design analysis. Although aluminium has a higher resistivity than copper, it is also less dense. On a size-for-size comparison, an aluminium conductor will be approximately one-third of the weight of a copper conductor. This eases cable handling, such as pulling or lifting into cable troughs, and allows longer drum lengths of cable where the limiting factor is the weight of the drum. The modulus of elasticity of aluminium is approximately 60 per cent of that of copper. Thus, on a like-for-like basis, a cable with an aluminium conductor is easier to
bend than a copper conductor. Where solid conductors rather than stranded are used, the smooth surface of the solid conductor allows the cable components to slide against each other more easily. Cables with solid aluminium conductors do not tend to spring back after bending, thus making it easier to fit the aluminium cable into the correct position for terminating. The coefficient of thermal expansion of aluminium is approximately 1.5 times that of copper. If a cable is expected to operate over a wide temperature range in service, usually due to fluctuations in load between zero and the current-carrying capacity of the cable, then additional allowance has to be made for the expansion and contraction of an aluminium cable. In heavily loaded circuits, the higher coefficient of thermal expansion could also affect bolted terminations, and repeated load cycles are more likely to lead to loosening of the terminations than with copper lugs.
However, cables used in signalling power distribution circuits are generally selected on the basis of voltage drop or a requirement to achieve sufficient fault current rather than the day-today operational load. Because of this, the temperature fluctuations during operation are small, so the higher coefficient of thermal expansion of aluminium does not cause an issue at terminations. The effect of temperature fluctuations is further reduced by the requirement of NR/L2/SIGELP/27408 that a minimum cable size exceeding 16mm² cross-sectional area is used for all circuits, eliminating the effects on the smallest, and therefore most vulnerable, cables. Copper conductors in cables are almost universally stranded conductors, except for small sizes such as 1, 1.5 and 2.5mm². In the UK, standard low-voltage cables with aluminium conductors have exclusively used solid conductors since the late 1960s. For conductor sizes up to 25 or 35 mm², solid circular conductors are specified and, for larger sizes, sector shaped conductors are used. There are two significant advantages in using solid aluminium conductors when making connections. With stranded conductors, the oxide film has to be broken on every strand to make a good connection. A solid conductor, on the other hand, has only one ‘strand’ with an insulating oxide film. In addition, a solid conductor significantly reduces the opportunity for water to migrate along the cable in the event of damage to the cable sheath and insulation. The extents of the voids where water could be trapped at a termination are also minimised.
Rail Engineer • July 2017 However, the disadvantage of using solid aluminium conductors is that they are less flexible than stranded aluminium. In Germany, solid conductors are used up to 50mm² CSA (cross-sectional area) while other countries, including France, Spain, Italy and the USA, specify stranded conductors. In all cases, for low voltage cables, the smaller solid conductor sizes are circular and the larger sector shaped. Although the international standard includes aluminium conductors down to 10 mm², BS7671 does not permit conductors smaller than 16mm² in UK installations. To limit the effect of the oxide film on joints and terminations, a minimum stranded conductor of 120mm² CSA has been selected. In wet conditions, when a cable’s insulation is damaged, water can enter the cable and travel for some distance between conductor strands and other cable components. If this occurs, long sections of cable may have to be cut out. In high voltage cables, water-blocking compounds are used within the cable construction to limit the extent to which water will travel along the cable after damage. The presence of water blocking will not have a significant impact on the life of an undamaged cable permanently submerged in water. Over time, moisture will migrate through the sheath and insulation to reach the conductors, although this is generally a matter of decades. Both copper and aluminium cables are equally affected. The above analysis has driven the development of a brand new enhanced unarmoured cable design with increased insulation and sheath thickness. Solid conductors are available for sizes up to 150mm² CSA
1. Stranded Class 2 Conductors; 2. XLPE Insulation; 3. Identification Tape (Anti-Theft); 4. Water Blocking/Fibre Glass Tape/Water Blocking layer; 5. PVC Sheath; 6. PVC Bedding
improved ergonomics
Schematic design of enhanced unarmoured cable.
and stranded conductors are available from 120mm² to 185mm2. Water blocking is a standard feature on both configurations including a new security tape that runs the length of the cable with the legend “Property of Network Rail”.
ALUminiUm CAbLing SoLUtionS
Upgradeable and future-proof
53
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bluetooth connectivity
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Rail Engineer • July 2017
Cembre crimping tool with interchangeable dies.
Klauke crimping tool in operation.
Connectors Two methods of joining or terminating conductors are generally used for low voltage cables; mechanical connectors and compression crimp technology, both used with copper and aluminium conductors and defined in British Standard BS EN 61238-1. Mechanical connectors are generally range-taking, do not require special tools to make the connections and usually employ shear-head bolts to ensure that they are tightened to the correct torque. While they can be used at both joints and terminations, they are more commonly found in joints. Generally larger than crimp connectors, mechanical connectors will also contain voids between the conductors and the barrel of the connectors which could trap water after any flooding incident. Crimp connectors require a special crimping tool to make the connection. For smaller sizes, this may be a hand tool but, for larger sizes, hydraulic crimp tools can be used as can hand-pumped hydraulic, foot-operated pump or hand-held battery powered tools. The crimp tools use die sets that have to be selected to match the size of the cable and the type of crimp required. Connectors can be designed such that one die set can be used to crimp connectors onto a range of cable sizes. Connections to copper conductors are more ‘forgiving’ than connections to aluminium conductors. This is because the oxide film that forms on aluminium is insulating and it forms very quickly. Plain aluminium crimp lugs and connectors have been selected with the barrel filled with grease during manufacture to prevent oxidisation in the bore of the connector. Similarly, the prepared end of the conductor is
required to be greased and then scratch brushed through the grease before inserting it in the barrel. The ‘grease’ that is used with aluminium connectors can be a joint compound that contains fine metal particles that will dig through the oxide layer on aluminium conductors. Such compounds are commonly used with overhead line connectors. Compression lugs for aluminium cables can be either plain aluminium, tin-plated aluminium or bimetallic with an aluminium barrel and a copper palm. The tin-plated and bimetallic lugs are suitable for connection to copper or brass terminals where the atmosphere may be damp and there is a risk of galvanic corrosion between the terminal and the lug. This risk also applies to tin-plated lugs if the tin plating is damaged, therefore bimetallic lugs have been selected as Network Rail’s choice of connector.
Joints The workstream reviewed two types of joint that are commonly used for low voltage cables - heat-shrink and cast-resin joints. The former rely on heat-shrink tubes to provide insulation, mechanical protection and seal against water ingress. Cast resin joints use heat-shrink tubes, tape, spacers or other means to provide primary insulation. A plastic joint shell is then fitted around the assembly and filled with a two-part insulating resin mix. The plastic shell only provides a mould to contain the resin while it cures; it is not relied on for mechanical or electrical protection. Joints can be aluminium to aluminium or aluminium to copper and may incorporate a connector that allows different conductor sizes to be joined.
Heat-shrink joints are generally smaller than cast-resin joints and can usually be completed more quickly because of the time taken for the resin to cure. However, heat shrink joints are mechanically less robust than cast resin joints and are more prone to water ingress if they are not correctly assembled.
Protection Systems Fuses have well-proven characteristics and are traditionally used to provide both overload and short-circuit protection for cable circuits. However, the disadvantage of fuses for short-circuit protection at the supply point of signalling power distribution systems is the current required for the fuse to operate within a reasonable time and degredation of the fuse over time. Electronic protection devices or MCCB (moulded case circuit breaker) trip units using Definite Minimum Time (DMT) devices and Inverse Definite Minimum Time (IDMT) curves can also be used to optimise cable size selection by adjusting protection curves around the available short circuit current. This is a key process change on protection design that the workstream recommends for adoption with aluminium cables. A DMT protection curve monitors the current in the circuit and will trip if it exceeds a pre-set current for a pre-set time. An IDMT device is programmed with an inverse time characteristic such that the time it takes to operate is a function of the magnitude of the fault current. This allows the operating characteristic of the device to be tailored to match the load, overload and fault-withstand characteristics of the circuit.
Rail Engineer • July 2017
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IES CAPABILITVIC ASS R&DCUS BEST IN CLTO TOMER SER ES ENHANCE ER PLATFORM
CABLE JOINTING SOLUTIONS
S
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Rail Engineer • July 2017
Unipart connector with four solid aluminium conductors in two pairs being converted to a single pair of copper conductors.
iLecsys DITA cabinet incorporating Viper Innovations' Cable Guardian (top left) and an ATL transformer (bottom left). Note 'eco' cooling system using sedum on top of the cabinet.
In signalling power distribution circuits, cable size selection is usually based on voltage drop and achieving sufficient short-circuit current to operate the protection. Thus, the main criteria for the protective device are that it will not operate when inrush currents occur and it is able to detect the low fault levels that are expected. These criteria can readily be met with a DMT device and hence there is no requirement to develop specific IDMT characteristics for use with signalling power distribution systems.
Voltage Regulation A number of options are being considered to manage the offset in the increase in cable size. These include, not only new cables, but also new protection devices, voltage regulators, booster transformers, soft starts for
point machine motors and signalling transformers with enhanced inrush characteristics. While losses due to long lengths of cable cannot be avoided, having strategically positioned step-up transformers is being proposed as one way to further offset the increase in cable sizes. This will be undertaken by using Distribution Interface Transformers Assemblies (DITA), specified in NR/L2/SIGELP/27419. The use of four-core cables rather than two-core cables may be appropriate where large conductor sizes are needed as a four-core cable would be slightly more flexible for the same total cross-sectional area. The four-core cable would have two pairs of cores connected in parallel at the terminations, giving the benefit of reduced overall cross-sectional area for the same conductor CSA.
Performance, reliability and maintainability The engineering case is supported by a Failure Modes Effects Criticality Analysis and the mitigation measures derived from it have shown that, when the correct components are used in an aluminium cable system and the appropriate techniques are used during installation, the performance of aluminium cables is comparable to that of copper cables. The resulting conductor size for aluminium cables will be one or two standard sizes larger than with copper cables if no load optimisation measures are taken. The performance shows relative advantages and disadvantages for both cable types with neither having a single overwhelming advantage or disadvantage. On a size for size basis, less force is required to bend a solid aluminium conductor cable than one with stranded copper conductors. Larger conductor sizes are required for aluminium cables, so the force required to bend a solid aluminium cable that has similar electrical performance to a stranded copper cable is slightly higher. Because of the reduced flexibility of equivalent solid aluminium conductors, cables with stranded aluminium conductors may be used for sizes equal to or greater than 150 mm². At these sizes, stranded aluminium conductors are easier to bend than the equivalent size of copper conductor.
Solid aluminium cables do not have a tendency to ‘spring back’ when bent. This aids dressing of the cables at terminations and results in reduced stress on the terminations. The advantages and disadvantages of using aluminium conductor cables balance out when compared to copper conductor cables for performance during installation. The basic design is the same for cables having copper and aluminium conductors, so the equipment required to install and repair both cable types is effectively the same. The primary difference is the importance of following the correct procedures when jointing and terminating cables with aluminium conductors. Greater care is required when fitting lugs or connectors to aluminium conductors than copper, so jointing and terminating aluminium conductors correctly is more reliant on the skill and care taken by the installers. Network Rail has specified a waterblocking layer under the sheath of aluminium cables has been specified. The purpose of this layer is to prevent the longitudinal transmission of water in the event of sheath damage in areas that may become waterlogged or flooded. Aluminium cables are considered to be less attractive to thieves than copper conductors. It is anticipated that, over time, this will lead to a reduction in the disruption caused by cable theft. For a correctly designed, installed and maintained aluminium cable system, no factors have been identified that reduce the electrical or operational safety of the system when compared with copper cable systems. As Network Rail and its suppliers and contractors are all being challenged to reduce costs, this move is relatively simple and can deliver huge cost savings. A copper-elimination learning day is scheduled for the industry on 27 July 2017 so, with technology and processes now mature, there are no unknown risks involved in securing the benefits of delivering a cheaper and less vandalism-prone copper-free distribution system. Tahir Ayub is the programme engineering manager for Central Enhancements at Network Rail Infrastructure Projects. | To participate in the copper-elimination day, email ipcentralcomms@networkrail.co.uk.
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Rail Engineer • July 2017
‘The Future of Rail’ in safe hands BEN VALLELY
Winner Peter Watson with Richard East.
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s briefly outlined in the previous issue of Rail Engineer (152), the final of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers’ (IMechE) Railway Division Young Members annual presentation competition - The Future of Rail was held in London on Monday 15 May 2017. The competition is open to all young railway engineers including apprentices, undergraduates and those in the early stages of their career. Presentations can be about their contribution to work in any aspect of the rail industry, and describe project work, research, technical developments or novel technology. The final brought together the regional heat qualifiers from around the seven Railway Division Centres, so the competition was fierce and hotly contested.
Platforms, rail heads and vehicle dynamics The first presenter to take to the stage on the night, Joseph Brown, a graduate engineer with Hitachi Rail Europe, represented the North East Centre. His presentation covered ‘Access Solutions for a Modern Train Production Line’ and detailed the work he conducted at Hitachi’s Newton Aycliffe train manufacturing facility. The configuration of access platforms on the production line was specifically created to ensure an optimal working environment for operatives whilst maintaining UK safety standards. Second up was the representative from the new Milton Keynes Centre, Peter Watson. Peter is a mechanical engineer (fleet engineering) at
Network Rail and his presentation was on ‘Optimising Rail Head Maintenance’. His work for Network Rail involved looking into the gains that can be made using various methods of prolonging railhead life. By looking into the benefits of rail grinders, rail milling machines and conventional re-railing, he was able to understand and develop a system to optimise working time on shift for maintenance teams. Thirdly, the South East Centre’s Dr. Cencen Gong discussed Validation of Rail Vehicle Dynamics Models, undertaken as part of her work as a senior engineer at SNC-Lavalin. She outlined the need for modelling, and the necessity of validation of the models to ensure accuracy. The accuracy of the modelling then can be relied upon, within the design and implementation of components and technology, to work towards a rightfirst-time approach of introduction.
Electrification, crashworthiness, maintenance and OLE Next on stage was the representative from Scotland, Calum Oates. His presentation was on
‘Plant for Electrification’. Working as a mechanisation development manager for Babcock International, Calum presented on the plant in use electrifying the network with overhead lines, and how modifications are being made to allow the trains to be used on the UK infrastructure. Micheil Gordon, the Midlands Centre representative, gave a presentation titled ‘Designing for a Crash in Modern Rail Vehicles’. Micheil’s work for Bombardier Transportation, where he is a graduate engineering trainee, dealt with crashworthiness of train bodies with a view to optimising the seating arrangements. (Bombardier’s Derby site is a centre of excellence within the company for crashworthiness.) The penultimate speaker, Rowan Phillips, from the South West Centre, delivered an engaging presentation titled ‘20th Century trains, 21st Century Maintenance’. Rowan’s work as a quality manager for Arriva Trains Wales has modernised the maintenance regime, pulling work instructions and scheduling onto a digital platform which saves time and money.
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Last, but by no means least, came the North West Centre’s representative, Peter Sommers. Peter’s presentation covered the ‘12kA testing of Mark 3 Overhead Line Equipment’, which had been conducted in Croatia. Peter, who works as a senior project engineer for Network Rail, outlined the reasons for the work, what constraints were put on the testing, and the process used to conduct the tests, as well as a surprise or two encountered along the way.
Deliberations and a result Following the presentations, the judges - Richard Maclean, chairdesignate of the Railway Division; the author; Emil Tschepp, Railway Division Young Members (RDYM) vice-chair and Aoife Considine, RDYM committee member - retired to deliberate the outcome of the evening. Whilst they were in discussion, Richard East, the current chair of the Railway Division, took the opportunity to call the AGM of the Division, and outlined the Division’s Annual Report for 2016, as well as the outcome of the Division’s governance elections. With seven such strong presentations, the judges had a real task on hand to determine a winner, who would receive a £1000 prize drawn from the Stanley Herbert Whitelegg Memorial Grant, and the two runners up who would each
win £250. After a relatively short 15 minutes, however, the judges returned and Richard Maclean, acting as chair of the judges, took to the stage to deliver the verdict. Despite the strong entries across all presentations, there was a clear winner. The concise, professional and confident showing by Peter Watson, the Milton Keynes Centre representative, had won the judges over. They particularly praised his clarity and confidence, as well as the technical detail which he was able to convey to the audience in such a short timescale. The runners up, Rowan Philips of Arriva Trains Wales, and Peter Sommers of Network Rail, could not be split on the judges’ scorecards on
the night. Both presentations stood out for different reasons as the styles of delivery by the finalists had been different in each case, although both were deemed exceptional. As they do year after year, the young engineers within the industry excelled themselves, throughout the heats and eventually in the final in London. The IMechE, and Rail Engineer, are looking forward to the next competition already, with heats to be held nationwide. If you’re interested, and a young railway engineer, look out for your local centre’s heat. The final of the next event will be held in May 2018. Ben Vallely is IMechE Railway Division Young Members chair.
Calum Oates delivers his presentation on plant for electrification.
Dr Cencen Gong, Rowan Phillips (runner up), Peter Watson (winner), Richard East (IMechE Railway Division Chair 2016/17), Richard Maclean (IMechE Railway Division Chair 2017/18), Micheil Gordon, Joseph Brown, Calum Oates, Peter Sommers (runner up).
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Inspiring international innovation DAVID SHIRRES
Stephenson’s legacy lives on
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hen George Stephenson founded the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1847, he declared that its purpose was to “give an impulse to invention likely to be useful to the world”. Today, the Institution continues to promote this aim by, for example, the establishment of a £2 million Stephenson fund to help companies overcome the investment hurdle between Research and Development and bringing a product to market. This April’s Stephenson Conference is another example. This biennial event was first held in 2015 (issue 128, June 2015) and is organised by the Institution’s Railway Division with the support of RSSB and the Institution of Railway Signal Engineers (IRSE). Its aim is to share research and development work undertaken by leading worldwide experts. The 121 delegates heard six keynote presentations. In the four parallel sessions, 67 research papers were presented from eleven different countries. Outside the European Union, these were Australia, Belarus, China, Japan, and Kazakhstan. The main topics covered were safety, efficiency improvements, maintenance, condition monitoring, and the infrastructure/ vehicle interface. Of necessity, what follows is a small sample of these presentations.
Example repoint layout.
Relatively few presentations concerned innovative products. These included one on progress with Repoint, a novel switch mechanism described at the previous conference which is soon to be subjected to a full-scale test. Another concerned the development of a steel laminated flywheel for self-powered rail vehicles which offers significant potential energy savings. New for this conference was a session on customers. There was also an increased emphasis on the opportunities and threats from new technologies being developed by other industries.
Rail Engineer • July 2017 Threat from new technologies
Network Rail’s group director, safety, technical and engineering, Graham Hopkins, delivers his keynote address.
Rail lags behind In his keynote address, Network Rail’s Graham Hopkins highlighted UK rail’s successes but stressed there was much to do. In a reference to last year’s accident at Watford, he felt it was wrong for landslips to be detected by trains. Also, he was concerned that signallers don’t know where trains are. He felt these examples highlighted the need for intelligent infrastructure and claimed that an A350 wing has more sensors than the UK rail network. Whilst some might contest this claim, it is true that rail has much to learn from aerospace in applying modern technologies. Graham was concerned that the rail industry must embrace new technologies as other sectors have done if it is to compete. This was further highlighted by the following speaker, Howard Parkinson of Lancaster University, who started his presentation on the virtuous circle of digitisation by quoting Francis Howe, chief executive of the IRSE, who considers that “today’s railway is not short of digital technology, nor of data, but we are, compared with many industries, poor at integrating and making best use of that data”.
Cambridge University’s Professor John Miles then showed how new technologies could threaten light rail vehicles. In Cambridge, 40,000 people commute by car. Although a tram network could provide better journeys to work, typical construction costs would be around £30 million a mile. He proposed a novel approach for an alternative mass transit system costing around £10 to £15 million a mile with significantly lower operating costs. This would be made up of links and nodes in which: »» Links would be less-costly than dedicated paved roads used by autonomous vehicles that would not require drivers; »» Battery power would eliminate the need for a trackside power supply. The required battery capacity of 200kW/h is comparable with current electric buses; »» To minimise signalling costs, only one vehicle would operate on each link at up to 120km/h to provide the required frequency of service; »» The nodes would be up to four-way interchanges with a footprint designed for optimum footfall; »» The cross-section of the vehicles would be minimised with 2-1 seating and big sliding doors to reduce dwell time - vehicles would be 2.4 metres high and 2.3 metres wide; »» In this way, tunnel diameters would be a relatively low 3.7 metres, allowing for a vehicle of 43 per cent of the tunnel cross section area to enable the required running speed.
Opportunities from new technologies In one of the parallel sessions, Dr James Winnett gave a presentation on “Automotive to rail: can technologies cross the gap?” This was based on work done at WMG, formerly Warwick Manufacturing Group. He explained how automotive manufacturers had developed lightweighting techniques and made dramatic improvements in engine and powertrain efficiencies, including hybrid drives, in response to legislation and customer demands. The various techniques described all had potential rail applications. These included simulations of hybrid powertrains to determine optimum battery characteristics and LoCoBeaSt, the investigation of lightweight and lowcost composite beams for rolling stock applications. Despite the potential, James noted the lack of success in transferring developed products from automotive to rail sectors. He considered that this was due to standards, the longer life and smaller production volumes of rail vehicles and a complex structure that distances the manufacturer from the ultimate customer.
Meeting customer requirements Whilst engineering research requires precise measurements, the feelings of customers is a subjective matter. Ian Pring’s presentation on how London Underground’s built environment affects customer satisfaction was based on research commissioned in 2013. Prior to then, survey forms had indicated that this was a low driver of customer satisfaction. This research included customer diaries and accompanied journeys. It identified a hierarchy of needs from safety, a sense of order, comfort and
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Rail Engineer • July 2017 life-enhancement and determined how the station environment affected these factors to prioritise work at stations and inform investment decisions. Bob Hickish of the University of Sheffield explained how passenger satisfaction can be maximised by weighting the passenger’s value of time over different journey stages as follows: »» Buying a ticket (2.5) »» Moving around station (2.7) »» Waiting on platform (3) »» On train (1 if uncrowded, more if crowded). He explained how the analysis of thousands of such different journeys could be used to inform the infrastructure development and how timetables could maximise passenger satisfaction. Of course, not all customers are passengers. Two freight presentations considered issues associated with the increasing demand for variable-consist trains. In his talk on a freight identification and monitoring system, Colin Williams of SNC Lavalin described an automatic system to give the driver information on train weight, length and braking performance by the provision of load sensors and a control unit on each wagon. Raphael Pfaff from Aachen’s Fachhochschule (a university of applied sciences) presented a paper “Towards inclusion of the freight system in the industrial internet of things”. This considered how freight trains could automatically re-marshal themselves with self-propelled wagons and explained how this could make the industry more competitive for the increasing demand for small wagon-load traffic.
Transport for London’s Neera Kukadia presents her paper on the Holborn escalator trial.
Customers and capacity Two presentations considered how customer behaviour affects transport system capacity. Neera Kukadia is well-qualified to consider passenger flow through London Underground stations as she personally had to convince Londoners to give up their traditional right to walk up an escalator. She did so as part of a trial to assess the capacity benefit of passengers standing on both sides of an escalator. Neera explained that Holborn was chosen for these trials as, at 24 metres high, its escalators are amongst some of LU’s highest and there is a complex circulation point at the bottom of the escalators.
She had negative feedback in the first week from those who wanted to walk up the escalator and did not appreciate that the trial was intended to benefit all passengers. Thereafter, following the publicity about the reasons for the trial, there was a greater acceptance. She explained that the trial had demonstrated that standing on both sides had increased escalator capacity by 28 percent. Paul Clifford of Mott MacDonald described the ALIGHT software his company has developed to simulate behaviours of boarding and alighting passengers for which there had previously been no standard approach. He explained how this software takes account of platform layout, obstacles and features such as yellow lines and waiting areas; stepping height and distance; train interior layout; behaviour of various types of passengers including those with restricted mobility and service changes such as shortformed and cancelled trains. He advised that the software could use BIM-related CAD data and allowed users to easily change any parameters. It has been validated by research done by University College London and actual behaviours observed at Vauxhall station. Paul advised that ALIGHT had been used to good effect on Crossrail and the Melbourne metro.
Researching the interface Many of the papers presented concerned the vehicle/ infrastructure interface, be it gauging, the wheel/rail interface, impact on bridges or subsoil or the OLE/ pantograph interaction. These included some with fearsome mathematics well beyond the understanding of this writer, although they gave an appreciation of the academic rigour on which the design of today’s railway depends. These included papers on “Modelling of Heavy Haul Train-Bridge Dynamic Interactions and Parametric Studies Using Multi-Body Dynamics Approaches” from Australia’s Queensland University and “A Three-Dimensional VehicleTrack Coupled Dynamic Model Based on the Green’s Function Method” from China’s Southwest Jiaotong University. One of the wheel/rail interface papers was a “Study on Long-Term Development of Vehicle Dynamic Parameters of Wheel/Rail Contact Geometry” which was presented by Rainer Kratochwille of Deutsche Bahn AG. This analysed the enormous amount of data from track measuring trains on German high-speed lines since 2002 to assess long-term changes to contact geometry and rail wear. It concluded that the change in parameters was very slow and validated the standards for testing running behaviour of rail vehicles specified in EN14363. In his presentation, Newcastle University’s John Morris was concerned with OLE/ pantograph interaction at short neutral sections. He obtained information from Network Rail by a freedom of information request which showed neutral section incidents account for around 16,000 delay minutes a year and make up ten percent of all OLE incidents. It has not been possible to examine failed neutral sections. When they fail, the priority is to restore the service so, as John describes, “there is no appetite for forensic investigation”. Instead, his team is working closely with Bryansk State Technical University in Russia to develop a dynamic pantograph/OLE simulation.
Rail Engineer • July 2017 To mitigate rail corrugation and squeal on curves, Brno University of Technology in the Czech Republic presented its paper on the “Development Of An Adaptive Top-Of-Rail Friction Modification System”. Applying lubricants to the rail head in such a system is not without its own risks, so the amount and type of lubricant required has been carefully considered. It is only applied when required by GPS, and application ceases if sensors detect wheel slide.
In 2015, Network Rail’s London North Western route suffered a total of 81,000 minutes delay from broken, cracked, twisted and flawed level crossings for which engineering access for routine maintenance was often as little as an hour. To address the need for non-destructive testing in such circumstances, Network Rail and the University of Birmingham collaborated to develop an alternative.
Innovative asset management Another popular topic was the maintenance of vehicles and infrastructure, with an equal number of papers on each. Condition monitoring was featured in over half these. Constrained maintenance budgets were addressed by a paper from the University of Nottingham presented by Claudia Fecarotti on “Optimising Strategy Selection for the Management of Railway Assets”. A mathematical model has been developed based on the problem of maximising the value of items that can be put in a Knapsack. This model showed the relationship between cost, line availability and the number of speed restrictions for different ballast maintenance strategies. Reliability-centred maintenance (RCM) was the subject of a paper presented by Dr Babakalli Alkali on the work done in a knowledge transfer partnership between Glasgow’s Caledonian University and ScotRail to improve the reliability of class 158 doors. These have over a hundred inter-dependant components and 345 failure modes. He explained that the analysis undertaken had reducedAFdoor failures by over forty Electren_anuncio rail percent. engineer UK_190x130.pdf
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Network Rail’s Patrick Vallely presents his prizewinning paper as George Stephenson looks on.
This led to the development of novel acoustic emission techniques for monitoring the structural health of cast manganese crossings, on which a paper was presented by Network Rail’s Patrick Vallely. This was voted the best of the conference by those present. Patrick described how this technique was trialled for a year on crossings at Hatton, Watford and Wembley, some with known defects. The results demonstrated that correlation analysis could identify the presence of a defect and discriminate acoustic emissions from other sources. 1 17/5/17 11:46
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Rail Engineer • July 2017 Safety and sustainability
Support for innovation
Two presentations considered how machine intelligence could improve railway safety. Habib Hadj-Mabrouk, of the French Institute of Science and Technology for Transport, presented a paper on the “Contribution of Artificial Intelligence in Risk Prevention of Railway Accidents” which concerned the complementary and simultaneous use of knowledge acquisition and machine learning to improve safety analysis in the certification of railway transport systems. In his presentation on digitisation, Network Rail’s Howard Parkinson described how big data analysis could be used to predict potentially hazardous situations that are not obvious. As an example, he mentioned the 2010 accident at Platja de Castelldefels station that killed twelve people who were hit by an express train as they crossed the tracks. They were part of a large crowd who had alighted from a train who wanted to get to the beach for a concert. He gave a further example of video analytics that can identify behaviours of individuals in a crowd. The limitations of human intelligence to understand new complex documentation was quantified in the equations that formed part of Roger Short’s paper on Complexity, Understanding and Safety Assurance. Various presentations also considered vehicle and infrastructure integrity. There was a presentation from Southwest Jiaotong University in China on the “AntiSeismic Effects of Fluid Viscous Dampers on Simply Supported Girder Bridge with High Pier in Sichuan-Tibet Railway” whilst “Computer Modelling the Dynamics and Strength of a Rail Tank Car with Liquid Cargo” was the subject of a paper from the Belarusian State University of Transport. In her keynote address, Inga Dook, Siemens Rail Automation’s sustainability manager, explained the importance of the rail industry reducing its carbon emissions. These included the need for successful businesses to embrace change and that carbon reduction is invariably a catalyst for other improvements such as energy and cost savings. She also explained how the Rail Carbon Tool, developed by RSSB (issue 147, January 2017) can help reduced embodied carbon in rail projects.
Although Graham Hopkins had stressed the need to accelerate the update of innovation in his presentation, he also recognised much was being done to promote rail innovation. One such initiative is the development of a UK Rail Research and Innovation Network (UKRRIN) to provide centres of excellence and make the UK a global leader in rail innovation. The more recent formation of a focused Technical Leadership Group (TLG) is another example. This is driving delivery of the twelve requirements set out in the industry’s capability delivery plan (issue 148, February 2017), with each having an accountable work package owner. In answer to a question, Graham suggested that anyone who felt that their innovation was being unreasonably delayed should contact the relevant work package owner. Further UK support for rail innovation is funding support to use testing facilities, as described in a paper by Network Rail’s Amanda Mackie. In his keynote presentation, Carlo Borghini, executive director of the Shift2Rail joint undertaking, described how this public-private partnership is delivering a onebillion-euro research and innovation platform to improve competitiveness of the European rail system and ensure its leadership in the global market. In response to the obvious question, Carlo advised that Brexit will have no impact on ongoing work and that, although it was a difficult situation, he hoped all concerned would look at ways that Britain could still work with Shift2Rail.
An editor’s view The editor concerned is Chris Jackson of Railway Gazette International, whose worldwide experience makes him well qualified to summarise the conference. Chris had found it fascinating to see such a broad range of innovations from around the world but stressed that, to be competitive, railways must be at the forefront of innovations to reduce lifecycle cost, improve reliability and increase capacity. Competitiveness, he felt, is a fundamental imperative and should be the fifth C in addition to those of Cost, Carbon, Customer and Capacity specified in the Rail Technical Strategy. Chris proposed that Competitiveness should be the fifth. He stressed that “no matter how much we believe in railways, the world doesn’t owe us a living” and noted how the proposed urban transit system for Cambridge challenged assumptions about urban rail. This was an illustration of a whole raft of disruptive technologies which pose threats and opportunities for the rail sector. In the specialist rail press, Chris felt that there were countless examples of good initiatives around the world. It was thus important to bring together the knowledge that we already have so we can learn from each other and events such as the Stephenson Conference provide a valuable opportunity to share international learning. Rail Engineer certainly shares the views of Railway Gazette International’s editor and would only add that all concerned should be commended for organising such a worthwhile event.
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Rail Engineer • July 2017
MALCOLM DOBELL
Technical tour of I
t is well recognised that young people are the future of the railway. At a time when skills gaps still exist, and a large proportion of those working in the industry are within 10 years of retirement, it is hardly surprising that initiatives are in place to encourage young people to both join and remain working in our industry. This process has three main elements. Firstly, both school and college students have to be convinced that rail will give them an interesting, challenging and rewarding career. Then they have to be trained. Degrees in fields such as mechanical or civil engineering are all very well, but there are many specialised areas of knowledge that can only be taught by the industry itself or related educational establishments. Finally, the job, and the whole career, has to be interesting enough to retain these talented people. Privatisation has actually made that task more difficult. In British Rail days, management and engineering trainees could spend time in a variety of departments, getting a feel for how the railway works as a whole before settling down in their chosen field. That doesn’t happen now. There are initiatives for infrastructure companies, design consultants and train operators to ‘swap’ graduates so they can gain that experience, but it is not general practice.
IMechE ATT Rail Engineer has supported Young Rail Professionals since its inception, as it provides a good way for people in the early years of their rail career to meet their peers and compare notes. Network Rail’s Commercial Directors Forum has its Triple-Ts, Tomorrow’s Talent Today, which is a working group of young commercial practitioners from a variety of companies undertaking common tasks and reporting back. The Railway Division of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers has, for a number of years, encouraged its younger members in a number of ways. The Railway Challenge, held every year, encourages teams of young graduates and apprentices to build their own locomotive, albeit in 10.1/4” gauge, to undertake various tasks. Though smaller than main line locos, these devices can still weigh 750kg and entrants have been getting to grips with hydrogen fuel cells and regenerative braking using batteries, supercapacitors, hydraulics and even mechanical springs, so there is plenty of innovation being shown.
Rail Engineer • July 2017 Another way the Institution encourages its younger members, and has done since at least 1928, is by organising the Annual Technical Tour. To quote Emil Tschepp, who went to Germany as part of the 2012 ATT and now works as a senior field and component test engineer for Transport for London, this is “a week-long international tour featuring visits to manufacturers and transport operators to broaden the experience of engineers in the railway industry. The tour also provides the opportunity for young members to meet people from all across the industry, including company directors and internationally recognised subject experts.” The most recent tour, in November 2016, was promoted as going “to the very heart of Germany, both rural and industrial, and will include visits to manufacturing plants, railway operators, unusual modes of transport and a major research installation. “The participants will visit the steam railway in the Harz mountains to satisfy mechanical engineers interested in history, modern rolling stock manufacturing plants and a test track. They will also get insights into DB Systemtechnik’s research centre at Minden, the unique Wuppertaler Schwebebahn and its new rolling stock, as well as the lignite mine at Garzweiler and its heavy haul railway, the Hambachbahn.” It all sounded very interesting. Three of the participants, Alex Hopkins, John Batty and Sutopa Paul, take up the story.
November tour This year’s annual technical tour took us to Germany where an intense itinerary showed us a vast spectrum of the country’s rail industry. Visits included: »» Harz Mountain Railway - a steam workshop and trip up the Brocken Mountain; »» Manufacturing plants - from wheelsets to full train production facilities at Alstom and Siemens; »» The railway test centres of DB Systemtechnik and Siemens; »» Wuppertal - the suspension railway and trolleybus networks; »» Open-cast mining and the heavy freight railway supplying the German power grid; »» An exclusive tour of Antwerp Station.
It was our first time on the German railway system and we all believed that we would experience the punctual and cohesive network that is often described. However, our maiden journey, from Hanover to the beautiful town of Wernigerode, involved an hour delay and a missed connection. This, unfortunately, was to be a reoccurring theme for the rest of the week. The tour commenced at the workshops of the Harz Narrow Gauge Railways. In this well-equipped, component-filled facility, it was interesting to see traditional and modern engineering techniques being used to maintain, repair and overhaul the fleet of 25 steam locomotives. The network is a professional, commercially run operation that boasts an annual revenue of €17 million. We then had the opportunity to experience the railways by taking a steam train up to the former Russian listening post on top of the Brocken mountain. The trip gave us some spectacular views and photo opportunities of the snow covered, tree-lined landscape.
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Modern manufacturing On the next morning, we visited the wheelset works of Bochumer Verein, where some of the latest innovations in wheelset design are produced. Examples of these are wheelsets with the ability to change gauge and others with greater resistance to heat generated by braking. At this site, prefabricated wheels and axles are expertly machined, assembled and quality tested to European Standards. The Alstom manufacturing site at Salzgitter showcased the manufacture and assembly of numerous variations of regional trains and bogie configurations, destined for railways in Europe and Scandinavia. One interesting discovery was, hidden away on one of the production lines, the Alstom emission-free Coradia iLint. This hybrid train, a diesel-electrical multiple unit with roof mounted hydrogen fuel cells, has been badged as the complete solution to non-electric lines where electrification is not feasible.
At the Siemens site at Krefeld, we were impressed by the neat Logistik work control and material management system being used to build Desiro City, ICE and Eurostar trains. By task number, the system tracks, organises and delivers all associated parts to the production line just in time for fitment. The greatest benefit of this system is it stops production staff chasing material, allowing them to focus on the task in hand. Siemens is also looking into how 3D printing can be used in the future. The vision is for depots to reduce stock holding and transportation cost by printing a part only when it is required. After leaving Krefeld, we visited the test facility at Wegberg-Wildenrath. Here people in the group were quick to spot one of the new South West Trains Class 707 units running around the track. Both manufacturing sites gave us an insight into the complete production of rail vehicles from raw materials to the finished product and also a taste of the trains and technology of the future. DB Systemtechnik’s technical centre at Minden was a fantastic visit where we saw how various specialist laboratories are used to test brakes, wheelsets and infrastructure. This subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn offers a complete range of railway technical services. Activities range from testing related to the specification and approval of new trains to acting as an independent verifying and acceptance body. Also, here was one of Europe’s two climate chambers, that can test trains in temperatures from -35ºC to +55ºC, and in up to 80 per cent humidity.
Rail Engineer • July 2017
Unusual sights The tour also took us on a number of unconventional visits, the first being the Wuppertal Schwebebahn (upsidedown railway). This suspended railway system transports a staggering 80,000 passengers/day and we were invited in for a tour of the main workshops. Here we saw three generations of cars, the highlight being the 1900-built Kaiserwagen, on which we had the privilege of taking a round trip of the network. The Schwebebahn integrates into a larger transport network and we finished the day at one of its trolley bus depots. It was interesting to gain an appreciation of how trolley buses work and to hear of both their benefits and challenges. Our last stop was at RWE Power, where a remarkable heavy-haul railway delivers 100Mt of lignite/year from mines to power stations that supply a significant proportion of the German grid. In order to keep the lights on, rail vehicles used on this private network have axle loadings of around 35 tonnes and a considerably wider loading gauge to the one we have in the UK. A trip to the open cast mine itself, to see the gigantic excavators at work, was the ultimate jaw dropper. Each day of the tour was fully packed, with site visits and travelling to the next destination. However, we still managed to include lots of social activities where we could
share thoughts and experiences with the other engineers. As with most tours, the young members organised one of the evening’s entertainment. This year’s activity was a very enjoyable and, at times, competitive game of bowling. We also had time to visit the castle at Wernigerode and just made it in time for the opening of the Christmas market in Aachen. At our final dinner, sponsored by Angel Trains, tour traditions were upheld with a rendition of “Old MacDonald”, sung in Latin. The tour ended with a visit to Antwerp station, where a modern station serving the Brussels-Amsterdam high-speed line has been excavated under this historic monument, after which most of us headed back to the UK on Eurostar. Overall it was a fascinating trip which explored a number of different aspects of the German Railway system and we would highly recommend it to engineers at any stage of their career. We would like to thank the IMechE, Felix Schmid and Bridget Eickhoff for a very organised tour, and Great Western Railway for supporting us on this trip. Alex Hopkins is production manager at GWR, John Batty is depot engineering manager technician with GWR and Sutopa Paul is depot engineering manager technician at GWR.
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POLLY RIVERS
Münster’s Magnificent Machines
I
t was a warm, muggy and chaotic start to the 2017 IAF International Exhibition for Track Technology in Münster. A combination of technical disasters for British Airways causing travel hiccups for hundreds of exhibitors and guests, and temperatures soaring to a sticky 35 degrees, meant excitement was high for the start of Europe’s biggest plant extravaganza. However, whilst the aviation industry might have been feeling the strain, with three packed halls, a busy plant yard and Plasser & Theurer’s huge tracked exhibition area taking over a significant section of the Münsterland Halle exhibition complex, the European rail world once again flocked to Germany and proved that, no matter how clammy the weather or tetchy the journey, you can’t keep a good rail show down!
Robel.
Plugging-in to what’s new Having made their way through the super-efficient check-in procedure, visitors were greeted with a trio of jam-packed exhibition halls - and not a shell-scheme stand in sight. ‘The bigger the better’ seemed to be the theme, with towering stands stretching for miles, and showcasing German-hospitality at its finest! Walking past the Schwihag stand was particularly difficult around lunchtime, as very tempting plates of steak and potatoes appeared before guests, along with glasses of frosty
beer and wine being served from the on-stand bar. In fact, with various stands tempting passers-by with duck burgers, salted caramel crepes, asparagus and goats cheese pizza, German sausage buns, piles of fresh strawberries, chilled champagne and, of course, plenty of beer, at times it did almost feel like you’d stumbled into a food festival. Well, when in Münster…
Stepping outside the main exhibition halls, one could be forgiven for thinking it was the entrance to a Robel showroom. A series of conjoining units showcased everything from hand tools to bogies, with live demonstrations spicing things up. One of the demonstrations was of the hybrid rail grinder, a new contract win for Robel UK which will see the company supplying Network Rail with one prototype grinder and 25 units to evaluate over the next few months. The kit utilises ground breaking (ground grinding?) hybrid technology, which sees the tool producing its own energy whilst idling, using KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System)
Rail Engineer • July 2017
technology. This is then stored, and used to power the grinder when ready for action. It’s not just the small tools that are harnessing the power of hybrid technology though. Plasser & Theurer’s buzz phrase for 2017 was “Innovation to You”, and this saw the worldwide teams showcasing a huge range of equipment. However, it was the new range of hybrid OTMs that really stole the show. The cutting-edge E³ machines provide all the power, capacity and technical ability that you would expect from a Plasser & Theurer machine, but the E³ technology has been perfected to help minimise noise levels, lower fuel consumption and minimise
maintenance requirements as part of an environmentally enviable package - think along the lines of a rail Prius! Two of the machines on show were fitted with the new technology, the Unimat 09-4x4/4s E³ and the HTW 100 E³. The Unimat 09-4x4/4s E³, a tamper, has been given a completely electrifying makeover, with every element of the vehicle streamlined to achieve maximum efficiency. In fully electric mode, an electrical drive motor transfers power from the overhead line onto the rail at the axles of the power bogies for propulsion. When engaged into electric working mode, rotary motions are powered by electric motors, and linear cylinders working hydraulic components, such
as the lifting-and-lining unit or the squeeze cylinder of the tamping unit, are supplied by an electrically operated hydraulic unit. As well as working in full electric mode, the tamper can operate as a hybrid. A 600kW diesel engine creates energy to supply drive components to move the vehicle to site, and once there the electrical working units run just like the electric mode. The HTW 100 E³ vehicle, created to maintain overhead lines, has been designed like so many of the cars we now see on our roads - a perfect balance of traditional fuel and ecoboost technology. Whilst travelling to site, the machine is powered by a 480 kW diesel generator. This, as well as regenerative braking, charges the on-board lithium traction batteries. These provide power for two six-hour shifts of clear working capacity. The battery capacity can be extended using additional modules. The sums add up too. The new technology is reducing the operating costs of the kit by more than €100 an hour. And as well as saving costs, the developments also allow for a more flexible working capacity - similarly to the Robel grinder, the hybrid technology is proving significantly quieter than traditional methods, with tests showing that on average the machines are 10dBA quieter
Plasser + Theurer.
Plasser + Theurer.
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Rail Engineer • July 2017 than their counterparts, meaning the equipment is well placed to work efficiently in tunnels and urban areas.
Cutting edge
Geismar.
The beauty of the IAF show is the sheer amount of track space available, allowing suppliers to showcase some truly exciting pieces of kit. However, if yellow isn’t your colour, this probably isn’t the place for you. At the Geismar stand, the team were even colour coordinated to their display, with international team members all sporting rail-plant-yellow ties. One piece of Geismar’s kit stuck out a mile though - it was white. This white wonder was a track panellaying machine, with a difference - it has no need for any auxiliary track, it is designed to operate perfectly on just formation ballast (maybe its lack of rail requirement is why it wasn’t ‘rail plant yellow’?). Using this cuttingedge equipment, a minimal team would be able to install a track panel of up to 42 metres long via remote control, with no need to send a man into a potentially dangerous worksite. This equipment is currently used in France, however Geismar is meeting with its Network Rail sponsor to determine fleet requirements within the UK, and evaluate options to bring this exciting equipment to market.
Weather worries With whispers in the air that the lightning storms that had lit up Northern Europe were on their way to us, and the mugginess and distant rumbles certainly suggesting the same, I declined the kind offer from Billy Thomson at NEOTEC to take a trip up in the SkyRailer’s cage to get an overview of the show. However, should I have chosen to, I’d have been in good company. Network Rail has recently adopted the machine for its Overhead Condition Renewals team. “It’s a nice accolade. The week before the show, we delivered number 78 and 79 into the UK, with 12 going directly to Network Rail. We’re aiming for 100 by Christmas,” laughed Billy. “Who knows, British Airways might have delivered my suitcase by then too!”
Unlike BA with Billy’s suitcase, one team that really delivered was Matisa, with its corner of the showground living up to its “100%” slogan. The team was using the Münster event to showcase its innovative ballast consolidation system, the B66U, which is using double head tamping to ‘shake up’ traditional ballast stabilisation systems. Matisa’s new machine differs from its competitors by only working on the ballast, and ensuring that existing track geometry remains stable and true. Whilst others may be more aggressive, the B66U’s technology ensures that vibrations are only emitted into the ballast, making this a great option for works on bridges, in tunnels and built-up areas. The new system has already been accepted for maintenance use in Switzerland, Italy and, in principle, in France (at the time of writing SNCF was running trials), with renewals poised to follow. Will we be seeing it any time soon shaking up the UK infrastructure? Apparently, Network Rail has already made a trip to see it in action on a particularly bitterly cold night in Strasbourg, so watch this space! Plenty of people from Network Rail also made the trip over to Germany, but there was no danger of needing to wrap up warm here. I bumped into Nick Matthews, Network Rail’s track engineering manager for the S&C Alliance, and once we had exchanged concerns over sun burn risks, he revealed that he was attending the show on the lookout for new technologies: “At the S&C North Alliance, we’re always looking for ways to improve delivery in the UK”, he said. “I’m ideally looking for an innovative solution for track panel lifting, but there’s always plenty of gems tucked away at a show like this.”
Rail Engineer • July 2017 Good things, small(ish) packages
With this in mind, one of Nick’s stops should have been PMC Rail. Not only did the blissfully air-conditioned training cabins provide some break from the heat, but the state-ofthe-art simulation technology, which allows for realistic training on everything from tamping to track geometry, could offer a solution for getting operators up-to-speed on the great new equipment on offer at the show - perfect for any gems he tracked down. Additionally, the PMC Rail team won my entirely unofficial prize for the most enthusiastic and welcoming organisation at the show. I also (mentally) handed out a couple of prizes for the least enthusiastic and grumpiest organisations at the event, however I’ll keep these to myself… let’s put it down to heat and lack of access to PMC Rail’s air-conned units! Tuesday afternoon saw a break in the summer weather with a downpour of biblical proportions. The poor team at Amberg Technologies fell victim to this sudden storm, with attendees of their off-site field trip getting a little more than they bargained for with regards to the rain. Whereas baseball caps (and bizarrely, toothbrushes) had been the order of the day on the freebie front, suddenly all eyes were on exhibitors giving away umbrellas - visitors to the SRS UK stand were certainly grateful for their sizable offerings (thanks Gethin)!
Happy birthday! The final day of the show marked one year of British Steel, and it was great to see the enthusiastic team members flying the flag for British manufacturing in Europe. They were strong in their key message of their dedication to “building a stronger future” and, certainly, the impressively structural stand was always busy, although the lack of British delicacies on the buffet table was concerning, not one Colin the Caterpillar birthday cake in sight. In fact, birthday cakes were very thin on the ground generally. The show also played host to the 25th birthday of Swedish-based Railcare. However, instead of filling in a fire safety form and lighting some candles, the team celebrated by putting on a great show for visitors (including a number of key visitors from Network Rail) with their Railvac and newly launched ballastfeeding combo. There was a fairly good party though - although it wasn’t necessarily thrown completely on behalf of British Steel and Railcare. Plasser & Theurer’s famous event saw the great and the good mingling together on Wednesday night, and enjoying an evening of networking, along with the opportunity to relax after a busy couple of days. However, it did lead to a fairly slow start and a few pairs of dark sunglasses on Thursday morning…
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Neotec.
As well as visitors on the lookout for the ‘big kit’, the show was well attended by some familiar faces from the small plant world in the UK. So, in the interests of balance, I set myself a task to track down the most interesting attachments at the exhibition. Having dug through the buckets, and sieved through the flails, I decided on two likely candidates. In pride of place on Colmar’s internal stand, I didn’t have to go very far before I found something that ‘undercut’ the competition… the Dymax Rail Ballast Blaster, an undercutter bar designed for use with all excavators with or without Tiltrotator technology. This scary creation wouldn’t look out of place on the poster for a horror film. With two sets of bi-directional blaster chains, each topped with carbine tipped teeth, this ballast beast boasts the “longest life chain in the rail industry”, and I’m certainly not going to argue with it! A special mention must go to BSBSaugbagger und Zweiwegetechnik’s TinBin TC2 - to be known as the TubeCube TC2 in the UK and distributed by Tasty Plant. Live demos showed the simple-but-brilliant
SINCE 1991, NEOTEC HAS DESIGNED AND BUILT EQUIPMENT USED IN HIGH TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRIES During this time NEOTEC has acquired a strong reputation among Vehicle, Infrastructure and Powerline companies. NEOTEC’s know-how in design and manufacture has been confirmed by successful sales of RoadRail vehicles and solutions worldwide.
kg capacity throughout its working envelope on rail
275 impasse d’Umberti - 82710 Bressols - France Tél : +33 5 63 02 95 95 - info@neotec-france.com
www.neotec-uk.com
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Rail Engineer • July 2017 suction excavation attachment in action, with its rotating head making hoovering up ground and gravel as easy as running a Dyson over the carpet, with the attached ‘bin’ meaning there’s minimal dust created. At one demonstration we spotted a young child crouched at eye-level - fascinated by the action unfolding and he managed to remain relatively dust free until his mum hoicked him away! Whilst searching for these hidden gems, I can’t have been the only person to have spotted a famous Pixar robot hiding in plain sight on the Zeppelin Power Systems stand? My sources assure me this Wall-E lookalike was in fact a Caterpillar engine, however I’m convinced that there’s more to this story… are Disney animators sneaking round rail shows looking for inspiration?
Working together
G.O.S. Tool & Engineering Services.
Although Brexit may be taking over the headlines in the UK, there was little evidence of a fractured Europe at the IAF show, with the industry proving exactly how much can be achieved with active collaboration. At the Pandrol/Rosenqvist/Vortok/ Railtech stand, a family message was definitely in the air, with the four companies pulling together in an impressive united display. Their busy track section highlighted exactly how well their individual kit worked together as one united solution. “It’s great to have the whole family here together, it’s our main theme for the event,” explained Nicole Lyons, Pandrol’s marketing coordinator. “We’re really innovative in our approach here, and are in the process
of bringing everything even closer together than it has been previously. We’re becoming a lot more unified and synchronised.” Talking of becoming unified, Rail Products UK was showcasing a pair of machines that have really hit the nail on the head for use across the worldwide market. The show saw the unveiling of the hefty TH21 road/ rail crane. However, for a European market, it was the organisation’s ART17TH MEWP, with its variable gauge (from one to 1.6 metres) and pantograph that really stood out. A surprise guest was the appearance of Van Elle Rail, although not present under the company’s traditional piling guise. The rail team took delivery of two Colmar T10000FSCG cranes - the only two in the world in fact - just two weeks before the show and, despite only having their new toys for a few days, they decided to share nicely and joined forces with Colmar to make sure the crane’s presence was firmly felt at the show. Another UK organisation proudly displaying its European reach at
the show was Wales-based GOS Tools and Engineering. With a shiny Readypower machine sat in pride of place on the stand, highlighting GOS’ commitment to fleet investment, there was no underestimating the team which was showcasing UK engineering at its finest. Not everyone was feeling the love though. Poor System 7 had a hefty hiccup at the show, when it was forced to cover its shiny new tamping bank up in the middle of day one, due to issues with the patent. After this, we weren’t allowed onto their stand, or to take any pictures of the front or end of the machine poking out of the huge tarpaulin. However, we did hear whispers that the embargoed machine has already been sold, despite the legal wranglings. Nothing like a bit of drama to spice things up a little! In the course of three days, guests at IAF ran the full gamut of the emotions. We saw highs as Plasser & Theurer handed over its 16,000th track machine to the CEO of the Italian Rail Network. Lows, when the main coffee emporium ran out of apple cake just as the rain drove everyone inside. Laughter, when a grunt of acknowledgment from a seemingly benign air seat sent an overenthusiastic tester jumping three feet into the air. Tears, with stories from numerous stands of burnt fingers achieved from polishing a machine in 35 degree sunshine on set up day (although these were tears of laughter in some cases...). However, whether you left the show with burnt fingers or a burning desire for a hybrid tamper, everyone I spoke to is already making plans to revisit in four years’ time. My hotel is already booked for the 2021 show - see you there!
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Oddities and novelties DAVID SHIRRES
@Railtex
M
y iPhone told me that I had done over 10,000 steps whilst walking around the 20,000-square-metre hall at Birmingham’s NEC that housed Railtex this year. There was certainly much to see and do and a lot that was new, quirky and interesting as exhibitors sought to entice visitors to their stands. Italian wine and food prepared by chefs from Naples was certainly an attraction on the Tratos stand, which was a strong contender for the exhibition’s best cuisine. Having been fed and watered, visitors could then learn about the company’s cables - including a new generation of fire resistant cables and ruggedized optical fibre cables. Continuing the Italian theme, Westcode had a rebuilt first-generation Mini car on their stand, a reminder of how today’s so-called Minis have grown. The company plans to enter the car in the Italian Job rally, which is open to any make of car featured in the film. The aim is to raise money for children’s charities using the WESTCODEUK ‘Just Giving’ webpage. Once on the stand, Westcode’s brake and door systems rail expertise was on display.
Ballyclare was another PPE company with a special attraction. The Bally Bear - a cute little fella in a high-viz waistcoat, was promoting a range of GORE-TEX® Products and new polycotton clothing, on show for the first time.
On orange track British Steel’s orange sleepers under the on-track display caught the eye but will not catch on, unless railway PPE is to be a different colour. What are likely to become popular are the products on offer. Zinoco® corrosionresistant rail coating has been jointly developed with Network Rail to resist aggressive environments and more than 40km has been installed at level crossings, tunnels and coastal routes.
The American bald eagle on Go Custom’s PPE stand was another unexpected sight which drew visitors to see the premium-quality stylish HiVis clothing range that the company is about to launch, including women’s fit and sizing. This is made by ORN, an environmentally aware company with a hawk on its logo.
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With 182,000 employees CRCC claims to be the ‘largest rolling stock supplier in the world’. It has supplied 11,000 high-speed rail vehicles since 2004 (including high-speed sleeping coaches) and its revenue is greater than Alstom, Bombardier and Siemens combined. Stadler’s articulated FLIRT train for Greater Anglia has low floors that have extending platforms to give step-free access and will be very different from any other UK train. The bi-mode units have, in the middle of the train, a seven-metre-long power car which has a passenger corridor with abovefloor diesel engines either side. The concept is to put “all the noisy, smelly and vibrating bits in one coach away from passengers”. Stadler’s distinctive train designs for the Glasgow Subway and Merseyrail were also on display.
Clipped to the rail were the company’s SilentTrack blocks, which were developed in association with University of Southampton to reduce rail noise. These are tuned rail dampers, with three resonant steel masses embedded in elastomer, that can reduce rail noise by 3-6dB(A). Also attached to the rail was the magnetic safety barrier provided by Rail Safety Systems. This has only two components: a stanchion with a rail-magnet and tube clamp locks weighing 8.5kg and three-metre long extruded reinforced glass fibre tubes with a tube lock connection weighing 4.5kg. Installation is so straightforward that the company advises a hundred metres can be built in ten minutes. The distinctive feature of the nearby Hilti stand was what it lacked. It had no printed handouts, Hilti believe that its on-line catalogue tells it all. They had sixty new products on display. The demonstration of a rapid motion sensor that stops a jammed tool was impressive. This is used on all tools where there is a risk of injury if the rotating bit jams and is faster-acting than the legally required mechanical clutch. Signature Aromas provides a niche product to ensure trains smell right. Vaporoma biodegradable discs are impregnated with natural oils and are installed in self-contained units that blow air over the five discs held in them. The discs last up to six weeks and are used in Pendolino toilets, amongst other places.
Trains for HS2 The biggest stands at the show were the train manufacturers - Siemens, Alstom, Hitachi, newcomer Stadler and Chinese train manufacturer CRCC. All had much on display including their vision of trains for HS2. Each of these large stands was worthy of an entire article, so I focused on initial impressions. On the Hitachi stand, the model of a class 802 unit was made entirely from standard Lego bricks. Siemens had a driver simulator on which I tried to use less energy than a train under ATO operation. Of course, I failed. Immediately apparent on the Alstom stand was their new CLever OLE cantilever as described in last month’s Rail Engineer.
At the other end of the scale are shunting locomotives. The trusty class 08 shunter can probably be kept going forever, but is not cheap to operate. As an alternative, the Zephir Locotractor range of shunting vehicles supplied by Depotrail can move between 375 and 3,500 tonnes on a 3 per cent gradient. They shared a stand with Danobat, which is installing its first UK underfloor wheel lathe at Reading depot. This is being expanded as Old Oak Common is to be demolished as it is in the path of HS2.
Adaptable interiors Two stands showed how rail vehicles could be adapted to meet varying demands. Priestman Goode’s flexible seating solution provides regular seats off-peak which can be transformed into a higher density configuration at peak times to increase seating and standing capacity by 15 to 20 per cent. 42technology’s solution provides cargo space on trains by a rapid reconfiguration of the interior of the vehicle - a motor-driven belt compresses specially designed collapsible seats and tables cantilevered out from the bodyside. This caught the imagination of the BBC, which showed the idea on its breakfast show. Although a good idea, whether logistics companies will invest in the facilities to make it work remains to be seen. In the meantime, this concept could be used to provide a flexible space for bikes and wheelchairs.
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Light rail vehicles
Underneath the train Normally, the interesting stuff below rail vehicles gets pretty mucky. It is therefore a treat for rolling stock engineers to see pristine transmissions and wheelsets on display. This is a hostile environment, for example, ballast thrown onto axles can cause cracks which reduce wheelset life. For this reason, the wheelsets on display at the Lucchini Unipart Rail stand had a special protective axle coating. The company was also demonstrating its smart wheelset condition-monitoring, which can extend the time between ultrasonic inspections. Schaeffler also had a wheelset on display, complete with an impressive cutaway traction motor transmission from a Chinese high-speed train. The stand also featured a FAG detector for bearing condition monitoring at depots. However, this does require the wheelset to be turned, so perhaps is a job to be done during tyre turning. The balloons on the Voith stand marked the company’s 150th birthday year. On display was the DIWRA transmission which won the ‘Most Interesting Rolling Stock Development’ category at Rail Exec’s 2016 Most Interesting Awards. This 320kW automatic hydro-mechanical transmission has a high efficiency, compared with conventional DMU transmissions in which the fluid flywheel slips at low speeds. The resultant fuel savings are up to 16 per cent, depending on the nature of the service.
Another energy-saving arrangement was displayed by MTU. Its hybrid power pack has a 390kW diesel engine and 400kW electric motor connected to a separate Li-ion cell battery module. Three years of trials on a DMU in Germany demonstrated that this unit gave fuel savings of 18 per cent on a 23km route with nine stops. In addition, noise and pollution at stations were significantly reduced.
The flywheel fitted to the Class 139 enables it to be powered by the smallest engine on any UK passenger rail vehicle, a two-litre propane gas engine. This vehicle is ten metres long, weighs twelve tonnes and has a maximum speed of 20mph, which is perfectly adequate for its operation of the shortest rail journey in the national rail timetable, the 1,200-metre journey between Stourbridge and Stourbridge Junction, on which it carries around 600,000 passengers per year. It is operated by Pre metro operations, which believe there is scope for other such services. WMG, formerly Warwick Manufacturing Group, employs the latest techniques to create lightweight structures from combinations of metals, alloys, polymers, composites and hybrid materials including nanocomposites and additive-layer manufacturing. It, too, considers there is a demand for a lightweight rail vehicle, for which a unique self-powered bogie has been developed. Whether the successful Stourbridge operation is a one-off niche market or there is a significant demand for such lightweight vehicles, which cannot run on the main line, remains to be seen. However, it is clear that WMG’s technologies are of great potential benefit to the rail industry.
Civil engineering innovation Although Freyssinet’s ElevArch concept of lifting complete brick arch bridges for electrification clearance drew the crowds when it was demonstrated last year (issue 146, December 2016), there are currently no plans to try this technique on Network Rail’s infrastructure. However, the company has some other interesting ideas, such as BigaBore - a technique to enlarge a tunnel by cutting chases into its roof and haunches that then become strengthening ribs once reinforcement and spray concrete is added. Once these ribs are cured, the brickwork lining can be nibbled back to provide the required clearance. It was explained that this method is more cost-effective than using a tunnel-boring machine to ream-out a narrow bore, as on one recent high-profile project. The Mabey Pedesta footbridge was another civil engineering innovation on show. Designed by Arup, this is a modular footbridge system made from glass fibre reinforced plastic with bolted shear connectors that are post-tensioned with stainless steel bars. The system can have a 1.8 metre parapet for rail use with integrated drainage and service provision. At 200 kg per linear metre it's about a third of the weight of a comparable steel span and is virtually maintenance free. To date it has not been used in a rail environment.
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Findlay Irvine, provider of specialist sensors, had information about an earthworks monitoring system which uses wireless tilt sensors. These are sealed units, dimensions 100mm x 40mm diameter, incorporating a transmitter and battery with a five-year life. An array of these sensors transmits data to a solar-powered data-logger which relays information via GPRS. The installation also has cameras to give visual confirmation of conditions. There are now about 180 of these earthworks stations, the first having been installed at the beginning of 2016, which are currently being evaluated to assess their practicability.
Optical fibre sensors Two years ago (issue 128, June 2015) Rail Engineer reported on a collaboration between City University and Brecknell Willis that used a fibreoptic cable to measure pantograph forces to both control this force and detect overhead line abnormalities. It was good to see a pantograph fitted with this device on the company’s stand. Although it has not yet entered service, pantographs fitted with this sensor are expected to be in use on a First Trans Pennine Class 355 and Network Rail’s high-output electrification train within a year. The Pantobot provided by Camlin rail is another pantograph monitoring arrangement. This consists of cameras and flashlights, mounted on poles, which produce a three-dimensional model of pantographs as they pass at speed. Any pantograph faults are identified by machine-vision algorithms. The company is hopeful that Rete Ferroviaria Italiana will soon confirm that Pantobots are to be placed every 70 kilometres on the Italian high-speed lines.
Frauscher explained how it is using fibre-optic cables for distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) as part of its Frauscher Tracking Solutions (FTS). This locates acoustic signatures that can identify the location of wheel flats, broken rails, people walking along the line and cable tampering. Each DAS unit can cover up to 40 kilometres. The company intends to use it to develop non-safety basic applications and combine it with its wheel-detection systems to develop safety-critical applications.
Intelligent video Panasonic business systems had a demonstration of its intelligent video systems which analyse crowds to detect those who are drunk, acting suspiciously or are potential suicides. Such technology has been used by banks, supermarkets and stadia for about five years. On the railway, there are soon to be pilot schemes to detect potential suicides. It was explained that this technology should be able to reliably detect passengers trapped in doors by analysing the video images on the driver’s DOO (Driver-Only Operation) screens. Two stands promoted businesses in their geographic area. The East Midlands Rail Forum considers itself to be Europe’s most dynamic rail industry cluster as it contains more than 250 such companies. The University of Derby, Datum, Design Analysis and Birley were all represented on the Forum’s stand. A further twenty-one of its members had their own stands at Railtex, and visitors were encouraged to find them in a special Railtex treasure hunt. The Welsh Government has been at Railtex since 2013 and has been actively seeking out opportunities for Welsh SMEs as suppliers to, for example, Bombardier, TfL and Crossrail. There were eight companies on its stand including Morgan Advanced Engineering and Furrer and Frey. One of the companies advised that they could not, otherwise, have justified the cost of attending Railtex. The stand also promoted the SE Wales Metro plan which is likely to be a mix of light rail, trams, improved trains and faster buses by 2020 in Cardiff, Bridgend, Newport and the valleys, transforming the economy of the region which is expected to grow to 1.6 million over the next 20 years.
Just a sample This description of what caught the editor’s eye is, of necessity, only a small part of the exhibition and so certainly will have missed other promising new products. It shows that exhibitors have innovative ideas to both entice visitors to their stands, and more importantly, for new products and techniques that have the potential to provide a real benefit. As many of these ideas have yet to see practical use, this raises the question of whether the rail industry is able to take full advantage of such products without undue delay. Rail Engineer looks forward to seeing what’s new on the first to third of May next year, when Infrarail comes to London’s ExCeL.
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26 - 29 September 2017 AmberExpo, Gdańsk - Poland 3 - 5 October 2017 Fiera Milano Rho - Italy
Certificate: PA05/03302
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Looking back at Railtex NIGEL WORDSWORTH
Dr Francis Paonessa on the Rail Media stand.
E
very two years, the British railway industry gathers for the Railtex exhibition. The 2017 version, the thirteenth such event, took place in May at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre. However, it’s not as exclusively British as it used to be. This year, 13 per cent of the visitors (nearly 10,000 attended over the three days) came from 50 foreign countries, while almost 100 of the 475 exhibitors were also based in 23 countries outside the UK. This reflects the success of the UK rail industry, and the attention it is getting from overseas manufacturers and operators. There was much to see and do at the show. Over the three days there were keynote speeches, technical presentations and project reports to attend as well as all those stands to visit and experts to quiz.
The leading event Paul Plummer, chief executive of the Rail Delivery Group, opened the show. Introducing him, Stephen Brooks, chairman of exhibition organiser Mack Brooks, welcomed visitors to the “leading event for the railway industry in the UK”. “Coming here, it's always fantastic to be reminded of the breadth and depth and passion that runs right the way through the supply chain, and you can see that just wandering around,” Paul Plummer enthused. He then added his vision for the future of the industry: “We need to be working as one railway, as one team working together, competing together, to enable innovation, for customers and for the economy, because Britain does run on rail.” Darren Kaplan, the new chief executive of the Railway Industry Association, commented that he had heard both ministers and officials saying that the industry needed one voice for the sector. He didn’t agree with that. “We need many voices lobbying for the sector,” he said. “There
are many different nuances for the sector, for rail, and the more voices we have the better. The trick is to make sure they are complementary voices, but if you have things to say, don’t be afraid to lobby.” Later on the first day, Paul Plummer returned to the Rail Engineer Seminar Theatre to deliver his keynote address to around 250 people. He also returned to his subject of working as one team. “The public perceives that there is a lack of leadership across the industry,” he said. “They see things not being joined up, they see things being inconsistent, so we need to address that. I don’t think for a moment that means we need RDG chief executive Paul Plummer.
a single person in charge, it doesn’t mean we need to lose the identity of different companies, it doesn’t mean that we need to diminish competition or discourage innovation but we do need to coordinate and present a more common narrative about the future of the railway.” With the ‘purdah’ regulations before an election having an effect, Network Rail’s managing director for Infrastructure Projects (IP), Francis Paonessa, limited himself to looking at how the company had performed on recent projects and the current workbank. Some interesting statistics emerged. Last year Network Rail delivered £6.6 billion of new infrastructure, either in renewals or enhancements, of which £5.7 billion was delivered by Infrastructure Projects. “It’s an enormous amount of work,” Francis commented. “That represents 13 Olympic stadiums being built on the live railway. And a recent study that was carried out for us by Nicholls said that we actually deliver 22 per
Rail Engineer • July 2017 cent of all UK infrastructure or, if you consider it another way, four per cent of all UK construction and that includes house building and all general construction - it’s a huge number.” Thursday’s keynote was delivered by Andrew McNaughton, technical director of HS2. In reviewing the project, and what it entails, he commented that it wasn’t about the train. “The train, and the railway, is just a means to the end,” he stated. “The cross-party support for high-speed two is anchored in being the means by which people travel between our rapidly growing metropolises for the next 150 years. It is anchored in a new generation of skills in railway construction, in civil engineering, in railway systems and then in operations. It’s anchored in bringing people closer together at an affordable price.” No sooner had Andrew finished speaking in the Rail Engineer Seminar Theatre than he hurried off to the Knowledge Hub at the other end of the exhibition. He was to deliver a keynote there too, in place of an HS2 official from the Department for Transport who had cancelled due to the election. This time, he spoke about how the contracts for the construction had been or would be awarded, and how the project would go forward. “Challenging but deliverable,” was his description. Phase one (to Birmingham) has a fixed price, £22.2 billion subject to inflation, and that isn’t going to change.
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Andrew McNaughton spoke twice on HS2. “We have committed to Government that we shall bring it in for no more than that price, and we will,” Andrew stated, confidently. Gordon Wakeford, chairman of the Rail Supply Group, had spoken in the Knowledge Hub on the opening day. “Let’s start with some good news,” was his enthusiastic opening. “We have a lot to celebrate in today’s railway. 124,000 people employed in our industry, turning over some £7 billion per annum and adding value of £3.8 billion. That’s something we should really be proud of as UK Rail.”
Seminars and presentations There were many other speakers in both auditoriums over the three days. In Rail Engineer’s Seminar Theatre, a total of 21 companies, large (Alstom, Hitachi, Siemens) and small (Bakerail, MRL/Aerialtronic), presented their latest innovations and technical achievements. Show visitors heard about trains, track, drones, BIM, adhesives, Wi-Fi and electrification. It was a wide-ranging and fascinating selection.
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In the Knowledge Hub, on the other hand, industry figures spoke on middle-east projects, railway technology, skills, better behaviour, diversity and logistics. ‘The Platform’ panel sessions addressed productivity and industrial strategy, rail infrastructure and the Midlands Engine.
Exhibits Of course, good though the various presentations were, the exhibition is what those 10,000 attendees came to see. 472 exhibitors moved into the NEC over the course of the previous weekend, 150 exhibiting at Railtex for the first time. By Monday night, there were only a few latecomers still worrying over their displays as the aisles were filled with wooden boxes, discarded packaging, bits of wiring and general detritus. By 7am the following morning, three hours before opening time, all was pristine. It’s always impressive how, overnight, teams of cleaners can transform a building site into a world-class industry exhibition. Queues started to form at the entrance before 9:30 and, soon after 10, the show was humming as visitors made their way to the first stands on their chosen ‘hit list’. So what did they see? The aforementioned 472 exhibitors occupied 382 stands, some small shell-scheme boxes and others fanciful bespoke palaces. There just isn’t room to mention every company in this review, so here are a few impressions.
Rail Media at Railtex Of course, Rail Media was there in force. Rail Engineer planned and managed the Seminar Theatre. Three keynotes, one on each day, and 21 exhibitors took the stand, introduced by the author as well as editor David Shirres, signalling and telecoms specialists Clive Kessell and Paul Darlington, and infrastructure writer Chris Parker.
Rail Media’s stand was mostly given over to promote the RailSport Games. Coming up in July, this will pit railway companies against each other in ‘the Olympics of Rail’. Held at world-famous Loughborough University, it will be popular with spectators as well as sports enthusiasts. On the stand itself, visitors could have a go at darts (one of the RailSport games) as well as talk with writers from both RailStaff and Rail Engineer magazines. The Recruitment Wall, powered by railway job board RailwayPeople, drew exhibitors, recruiters and potential candidates alike. Exhibitors could advertise vacancies for free, and many did - who said there are no jobs around at the moment?
Rail Forum East Midlands The Rail Forum East Midlands, which now has over 150 member companies nationwide, initially planned to return to Railtex with modest exhibition space. However, this quickly evolved as the Forum joined forces with member companies Design & Analysis Ltd, Datum Ltd, Birley Manufacturing Ltd and the University of Derby to assemble a stand complete with 3D printing, virtual reality kit, a toilet module and cab front. Thus, it would be fair to say that the Rail Forum East Midlands stand was a hive of activity! Alstom.
The concept enabled businesses, who may not have exhibited in their own right, the opportunity to have a strong presence at the show, and learn about each other’s offerings in more detail. Delegates from the exhibiting organisations joined the Forum team each day, and a selection of other member companies came aboard as and when they were able. All those we spoke to commented that they had gained significant leads during their time at the show, and all have agreed to return for Railtex 2019.
The big boys (and girls) The major train manufacturers had large stands. Alstom showed several product ranges, including signalling and trains, and launched its new CLever Cantilever for overhead electrification. Siemens had a large stand on which new technologies such as augmented reality were being demonstrated, while Hitachi had constructed a stand with a roofed-over area set apart from the rest of the open-plan design. To make discussions more intimate perhaps? Stadler Rail was a new exhibitor, riding on the back of several recent train orders for the UK market. “We were very happy to exhibit our products at Railtex, this is the first time that we have the chance to introduce our rolling stock to the market in the UK,” commented Ralf Warwel, head of tenders and projects.
Rail Engineer • July 2017 Voith had its new gearbox for diesel multiple units on show, and spoke abut it in a technical seminar. The first two installations are already saving money through reduced fuel bills for operator South West Trains, which refused to give them back at the end of the trial. Now that’s a recommendation! CRRC, which states it is the world’s largest supplier of rail transit equipment, is committed to providing better and more comprehensive solutions for human mobility. These range from rail-based passenger and freight traffic, and its health management, to integrated urban rail solutions and operation services. The products exhibited by CRRC included a standard EMU for China, vehicles for Beijing Metro line 14, a Zags tank wagon for France, coal and cement hopper wagons, an electric freight locomotive for Uzbekistan National Railway and a Malaysia ETS Intercity EMU.
Also for trains Of course, there is more to the rolling stock industry than just the trains. There are train components, and equipment used for maintaining and overhauling them. Suppliers of both were well represented at Railtex. FISA (Fabbrica Italiana Sedili Autoferroviari) used Railtex to promote its new showroom in Derby. With the UK having unique crashworthiness and fire-retardation requirements, the Italian seat manufacturer has now successfully passed a testing process to become a supplier to the UK market. This has resulted in FISA’s largest ever order from Stadler Bussnang - for 23,000 seats for the fleet of trains being manufactured for Abellio East Anglia.
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CRRC. Hepworth’s new filler spout (2101-WASH), manufactured in 316 stainless steel, has been precision designed and engineered in order to prevent the commonly occurring damage to standard caps. Broken cap chains, damaged hinges and missing caps are some of the issues which have long-term cost implications and these can now be prevented; the simple push and pull hinge handle makes the cap simple to use. The spout can be used for diesel, toilets, waste, wash fluid and water applications. Since the launch of the spout, Hepworth has parts being assessed for trial with Alstom in the UK and parts ordered for Vivarail. Hoppecke Industrial Batteries - the leading specialist in industrial battery systems and the largest battery manufacturer in European ownership - used Railtex-branded bears to raise £1,000 for Mental Health Awareness Week at the show. The company asked visitors to its
FISA.
stand to make a voluntary donation to obtain one of its famous bears, which had been given a limited edition Railtex makeover. The original 300 branded bears went so fast that another 100 standard bears had to be brought in to cope with demand! Jason Howlett, Hoppecke’s regional managing director - Northern Europe, said: “Not only were we able to demonstrate our great products including the new high voltage lithium battery and make lots of great leads at Railtex as usual, but people couldn’t get enough of our bears and we are delighted to have raised this money for such a worthy organisation as the Mental Health Foundation.” PSV Wipers used the 2017 Railtex show to formally launch its new range of stainless steel rail wiper blades. Featuring prominently on the stand along with established wiper motor assemblies, two major customers were signed up to start using the new blades. Sécheron is one of the world leaders for the design, manufacturing and supply of components and systems for rail mobility including rolling stock and infrastructure. With more than 130 years’ experience in these fields, Sécheron has developed great expertise in switching and protection equipment for high voltage electric circuits, both for traction on vehicles as well as for traction power substations. To focus better on the UK market, Sécheron recently opened a service centre in Manchester. Sella Controls, the new name for Hima-Sella, will continue its long-standing and successful relationship with Hima in Germany - as the OEM’s leading supplier of functional safety solutions - whilst investing further in the development of its own technologies. For instance, Sella Controls will be the new platform/ brand with which the company will market its innovative Tracklink® family of technologies and associated products, developed entirely in-house.
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Solo Rail Solutions recently celebrated twenty-five years designing and manufacturing key components, rail interiors and doors. Formed in 1992, Solo employs 100 people at its Birmingham operation, manufacturing and supplying complete ceilings and heater kits for Bombardier and ready-to-fit carriage cubicles for Hitachi, amongst others. Managing director David Hunt commented on the company’s presence at Britain’s premier railway industry exhibition: “Exhibiting at Railtex improved our perception to customers in them seeing how we truly provide a turnkey solution for multi-discipline rail projects. Whether it’s a light bulb, a speaker or a complete interior design and fit-out, we have the internal capabilities to handle every need. Railtex allowed us to demonstrate this.” TSL-ESCHA, a global market leader of signal buttons and signal lighting in the public transportation area, has successfully developed “signalling with LEDs” - initially, LED lights for
trains and emergency vehicles and, over the last few years, robust LED solutions for industrial applications. At Railtex for the first time, visitors were able to see the latest LED illumination for door areas, especially the new strip light that, shortly after being launched, was implemented in a variety of customer projects. TSL’s well-known push buttons and proven signal devices were also displayed.
Depot equipment and supplies Dold is a leading ISO 9001 approved European manufacturer of measuring relays, timers and interface relays for industrial, safety and railway applications, with a hard-earned reputation for service product reliability and performance. At Railtex, the company offered innovative solutions to train maintenance depots for HV switchgear interlocking and trapped-key interlock access. Based on the Dold STS system, this flexible and compact modular system is
Lindapter.
very robust, easy to operate and enables safe interlocked access to hazardous areas. Dold offers depot managers and safety personnel a free assessment and key exchange plan options, which enables the system to be easily and ergonomically integrated into existing depot facilities. ENAG, a first-time exhibitor at Railtex, received a great reception from rail depot engineers and technicians pleased to see a line of rugged battery chargers, dischargers and power supplies specially designed to meet their requirements. Intended for use in depots, ENAG equipment can be custom-made to suit a particular application by varying the output voltage/charging current, battery type and connectors. Lindapter launched its new Type HD brochure and showcased its range of adjustable steelwork fixings that provide a faster alternative to drilling or welding, saving contractors’ time and money. Over the course of the three days, Lindapter demonstrated its product capabilities in a range of connection applications such as overhead line equipment, station buildings, station fittings, facades, depots, low speed rails, rail bridges, access walkways and structural reinforcement. Type HD is used to secure sections of rail or crane lines in low speed applications such as ground track, elevated rail and overhead gantries. Lindapter’s rail clip features a rotatable central component that provides lateral adjustability. It allows contractors to quickly and precisely align rails before securing them in position using standard hand tools. The clamps
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Rail Engineer • July 2017 have high resistance to lateral loads and they are manufactured from SG iron with a range of protective coatings available. The new brochure uses real-life case studies to demonstrate how the range of Type HD clamps provide a quick way to align and secure low speed rails, providing a strong, reliable and longlasting connection. Tidyco, the Derby-based supplier of hydraulic and pneumatic products to the UK rail industry for over 40 years, once again collaborated with Parker for the Railtex 2017 exhibition. The dualbranded stand demonstrated the partnership’s ability to increase rolling stock service life by up to 100 per cent through the supply and distribution of quality product innovations into the rail industry. Products on display included hydraulic hoses and all associated components, pneumatic solutions, silicone hoses and attachments as well as the Transair system. Tidyco and Parker also enticed visitors to its stand with their Hose Doctor service provision. By partnering with the Parker Hose Doctor brand, Tidyco is able to provide national reactive hydraulic hose replacements - 24/7/365. In addition, the Tidyco HVAC division provides a complete system design, install and maintenance package for all heating, ventilation and air conditioning requirements, perfect for rail depots.
Ultrimax.
Ultrimax, which has been providing solutions to the paint and coating industry for over 40 years, had a brilliant first time exhibiting at Railtex. Delighted to meet with customers, current and new, the team had plenty of thought provoking conversations with visitors from across Europe. The launching of the new Tuffalo brand was a definite highlight - with a roll of the Tuffalo Heavy Duty Protector Film on display, visitors could ‘touch and feel’, and take home their own samples.
Managing director Giles Hoare commented “It was a huge success for Ultrimax, and I look forward to supporting our clients as a specialist, reliable supplier to the ‘rolling stock’ refurbishment and repair industry.” Unipart’s new Aqueous Guard made a great impression on the many visitors to Railtex as graffiti was wiped away from a train door using cleaning wipes that can be bought from the supermarket! The clear, ceramic-based coating makes any hard surface resistant to
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Type HD, Lindapter’s high strength clamp for low speed rail, was used to secure the tracks at the new Hitachi manufacturing plant in Newton Aycliffe. The Type HD fixing was specified due to its high lateral load capacity and adjustability during installation which helped the contractors to quickly align and secure the rails into place. ®
Image approved for use under its Creative Commons licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) by www.mynewsdesk.com
4 Fast installation using standard hand tools 4 Lateral adjustability for easy alignment 4 Network Rail / PADs approved 4 High resistance to lateral loads 4 Free connection design available Type HD ®
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having dirt and grime adhere to it, allowing high standards of train presentation, both internally and externally, to be maintained with reduced cleaning time and cost. Enquiries were received from several major train operators with many taking up the offer of a free trial of Aqueous Guard to show the significant benefits in real life. Zonegreen launched its new Points Converter, designed to power manual hand points within depots and sidings. The company reported that interest in its stand was unprecedented, and has led to numerous feasibility meetings being arranged for the forthcoming weeks. Zonegreen felt that Railtex was an ideal place to introduce its new technology and to reinforce the presence of its market-leading depot protection system.
Signalling and telecoms The trains of today talk to the infrastructure, both to report their own condition to the depots and to interface with control centres as part of in-cab signalling systems.
Bender UK
Fenix Signalling managing director Craig Purcell was pleased with the success of Railtex. “It gave us the opportunity to chat informally to many of our existing clients as well as reacquainting with former contacts and meeting new people and organisations,” he commented. “We were excited and surprised with how busy we were over the three days. It was a fantastic event and the team here at Fenix Signalling will build on these opportunities in the months ahead.” Moxa's products are used in many different areas and applications in the field. The ability to talk to managers, developers, system integrators and users first-hand at Railtex is a great boon to giving wide and deep views of the industry and opens up those tracks and leads to follow that can so easily be missed. This year, Moxa released two new key products to the UK rail market. The live demonstration for one of them, an IP67 rated, full HD, day and night IP camera suitable for external on-board train surveillance for applications such as Driver
Bender UK unveiled its next-generation rail signalling protection device at Railtex 2017. Over the three-day period, customers old and new visited the stand eager to see the device which has been designed to comply with the latest standards. It has enhanced sensitivity for ‘first fault’ location (100 kiloOhms). It also measures capacitance, voltage and frequency delivering data within the standard display options to provide more information to help assess the health of the system. Advanced intelligent insulation monitoring equipment is a proven tool for safeguarding critical signalling power systems within the rail network, and enables predictive maintenance and efficient fault-finding to minimise disruption and aid the smooth running of rail services. Bender RS2 and RS3 rail signalling integrated insulation monitoring and earth fault location equipment is fully approved by Network Rail, and sets the standard for safeguarding and monitoring the performance of signalling power supplies.
Moxa. Controlled Operation (DCO) or pantograph monitoring, attracted much attention. The camera was shown working live in a fish tank with water fountain and floating rubber duck, all to showcase the ruggedisation and IP rating. The second new product, a multiple wireless WAN communications router providing a combination of up to four Wi-Fi or cellular connections, was not so ingeniously displayed but still well received.
The new and improved RS4 device is based on the earlier variants proven in use by Network Rail delivering vital information on the status of power supplies. Smaller and more compact in size the RS4 will be supplied tested and ready for easy ‘plug and play’ installation and commissioning alongside existing power infrastructure systems up to 650V AC. It is easily interchangeable with the present RS3 and RS2 units to upgrade performance at an affordable cost. RS4 is simpler to install and commission, and incorporates GSM-enabled data loggers equipped for real time communication with the rail system’s Intelligent Infrastructure, delivering immediate notification of insulation faults which are identified by the system. The ability of RS4 to identify fault locations more precisely means maintenance teams can respond rapidly, enhancing safety and reducing downtime costs. The enhanced RS4 will meet the new standards being introduced for rail safety and assurance within Network Rail’s requirements for Insulation Monitoring Devices/Systems (IMDs) and Insulation Fault Location Systems (IFLSs). Bender UK managing director Gareth Brunton explained: “Our equipment enables customers to plan their intervention around their business needs - intelligent monitoring to deliver intelligent maintenance and minimise disruption to the rail network. We are continually seeking to upgrade the performance of our RS systems to respond to the needs of our customer base and help them to comply with the latest regulations. “RS3/4 continually checks the health of the power system, and immediately notifies the Intelligent Infrastructure via the GSM capability if that status changes, indicating a fault or a problem in the making. The customer can address the fault immediately or plan maintenance intervention. “Bender UK’s field trials to prove the effectiveness of the RS system in one case led the maintenance team to a trackside cable which was glowing hot because of an earth fault that could have resulted in serious disruption to the network.” The new RS4 is just part of the extensive Bender rail offering which includes power quality meters, insulation monitoring devices and monitoring software for rolling stock, signal power, points heating and trackside use.
f Smaller and more compact than the current RS3
f Plug and play technology f Enables first fault location (100 kilo ohms) before the fault becomes critical
f Fault location at tier 3 electrical system (NR/L2/SIGELP/27725)
f Continually monitors insulation values
f Incorporates GSM-enabled data loggers
f Enhanced sensitivity
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Rainford Solutions presented two of its rail cabinets on stand K65 - a new three-bay cabinet with IP65 protection which is currently awaiting PADS approval and a Vanguard® single bay cabinet with heat management, designed to meet IP55 protection. Exhibiting at Railtex provided an excellent opportunity for Rainford to showcase its capabilities and products. The show also provided unique networking opportunities and featured an exciting programme of seminars. Overall, Railtex was a success for the Rainford team, generating new business enquiries, making new contacts and raising the company’s profile whilst learning all of the latest developments taking place within the rail industry. Siemens launched its new Nexus Voice cab radio at this year’s Railtex exhibition. The radio is a significant upgrade from the company’s current SVR-400 model and includes a number of pieces of new hardware - with a new processing card, additional memory, accelerometer sensor card and two Long Term Evolution (4G, 5G, etc.) modules. This new hardware provides the platform to enable new applications to run on the cab radio, including Nexus Lodestar DAS, Nexus RCM and Nexus Connect. Nexus Lodestar DAS provides a real-time driver advisory system, delivering route information and speed advice to drivers. Route data, timetable updates and temporary speed restrictions (TSRs) are all uploaded remotely to the system, utilising the Nexus cab radio maintenance terminal (CRMT). Nexus RCM is an in-service remote condition monitoring application, which detects track defects on three axis, either via the cab radio or on a standalone basis. Finally, using the existing on-board PA cable, the installation of Nexus Connect provides an Ethernet backbone for the train, with Ethernet Bridges situated in every carriage to distribute the wireless connectivity. For this application, the Nexus Voice cab radio system can be used as a media gateway, transferring data to and from the train.
Data and digital systems Signalling and telecommunications aren’t the only railway systems to use electronic digital communications. Various monitoring, control and safety systems do as well. D2 Rail used Railtex to showcase its services and promote creative, innovative solutions to the industry through dynamic 4D Animations. From discussions with industry health and safety leads and key alliance members, Railtex gave D2 Rail the platform to discuss its services and display examples of the company’s vision of the future. Over the three days at Railtex, D2 Rail staff showed their competitive streak, posting photos of their stand on LinkedIn and tallying up the views at the end of each day, proving the impact of social media. Edesix, a market leader in the provision of body-worn camera solutions, showcased how body cameras can tackle abusive and criminal behaviour. Sadly, both verbal and physical attacks on board UK trains and surrounding station areas are on the rise. Richie McBride, managing director of Edesix, commented that body worn cameras are a proven way of tackling abuse for rail operators. “Body cams have been proven to change the
behaviour of the public toward officers to a significant extent, helping to calm potentially aggressive confrontations and reducing incidents of violence. Also, not all stations have CCTV in place, and even where there are fixed cameras, body cams provide operators with the flexibility to move through the station and get on and off trains knowing there are no gaps in the coverage they can achieve.” Socomec’s latest innovations in low voltage power solutions for safe, reliable and efficient railway infrastructure were on show at Railtex 2017. Highlights included the new rack-mounted modular UPS - Modulys GP. This is a three-phase modular UPS system designed for 19” rack integration across multiple applications. Easy to integrate and install whilst simple to manage and maintain, it provides maximum availability and power protection in a compact design - leaving space for other rack-mounted devices. With ongoing investment in switchgear development, the Socomec Automatic Transfer Switch (ATyS) monitors the power supply to a critical system and - in case of failure - manages the transfer to the backup supply. It has been approved for use on London Underground as an integral part of a complete system in conjunction with AF Switchgear. Synectis, the global surveillance solutions provider, highlighted solutions that pave the way for a more connected approach to security and surveillance. Iain Stringer, sales and marketing director, commented: “There is growing interest right now in converging on-vehicle and infrastructure solutions to better protect and serve passengers at ALL stages of their journey. This was certainly evident in the conversations we had at Railtex. “For example, whilst interest in recording capabilities and measures to guard against data loss remained hot topics, we received an enthusiastic response to the solutions we
Rail Engineer • July 2017 showcased that facilitate heightened integration and interoperability between network-wide safety, security and management systems. It was great to see the sector so interested in taking a more ‘joined up’ approach.” Telent had three busy days at the NEC, with the traditional busy Wednesday truly hectic this year. The overall high level of engagement and interest made it clear that Railtex remains the focal point for UK Rail and Telent is going to need more balls (Rugby & Football) next time. Throughout Railtex, Telent caught up with existing customers (often difficult to reach throughout the year) and met a large number of new prospects who were excited to hear how the company is keeping the UK and Ireland connected and protected, and how it is delivering innovation today with Arbitex (Telent’s CCTV analytics solution that is providing real world commercial benefits to the tube) and the transformative development of digital electricity with Voltserver. York EMC Services was delighted to be able to talk to visitors about having added Radio testing to its list of UKAS accredited testing capabilities. With the advent of new and shifting technologies, not to mention changes in the use of the electromagnetic spectrum, the rail regulatory landscape is changing all the time. More and more embedded wireless technologies (intentional transmitters) are being
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Brady.
used in railway apparatus and infrastructure, so the need for York EMC Services testing and consultancy services, such as EMC management and control plans, is becoming increasingly critical in ensuring that the railways are functional and safe.
Cabling it all up All of this electronic equipment, for whatever purpose, has one thing in common - cables. Miles and miles of cabling. So it’s hardly surprising that manufacturers of cables and cable accessories were much in evidence. Brady Corporation, the identification specialist, presented its range of automated print-andapply systems for durable cable sleeves and labels. The BSP45 Automated Sleeve Applicator
prints and applies diesel-resistant, halogenfree sleeves a lot faster than the manual process widely used today, while the Wraptor Printer Applicator can do the same, but for self-laminating labels instead of sleeves. Using the manufacturer’s Data Automation app, serialisation and barcode data can be fed to both printer-applicators from a range of ERP-systems in order to largely automate cable identification, increase production output, and significantly decrease the applied cost of labels and sleeves. Cablecraft, the UK’s only manufacturer of heat shrink and control panel trunking, supplies cable marking systems, cable accessories and cable management products, servicing the rail infrastructure, railway signalling and rolling stock industry. At Railtex, the company launched its
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Imagine you could detect the
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Rail Engineer • July 2017
2017 catalogue and showcased a select range of Network Rail and London Undergroundapproved cable accessories and matched tooling from its Identify, Connect, Secure and Protect product ranges. Flexicon debuted its Ultra™ Demonstrator at Railtex. Designed to demonstrate the superior Ingress Protection performance offered by Flexicon’s cable protection, it uses Ultra fittings with three conduit systems. Subjected to dynamic load and continuous movement over the three days of the show, whilst submerged in a water tank, the conduits moved mesmerisingly back and forth. Thankfully, nobody was hypnotised by the movement of the conduits, but many people were impressed by its performance! Now with PADS approval, Ultra is ideal for protecting performance and safety critical cabling within the rail industry. Silver Fox’s innovative labelling solutions were in action throughout the exhibition, including the Fox-Flo® UV Stable LS0H Tie-on Cable Labels, (now also compliant with EN 45545-2 standards) Heatshrink and Non-Shrink labels, Fox- in-a-Box, and many more! Nick Michaelson, CEO of Silver Fox, commented: “Every time we go to Railtex, we go with modest expectations. So, our thanks to all the guests visiting us on our stand, together they made it another great exhibition!” Tratos has secured new orders to supply its RS high temperature, extra flexible power cables, tested and approved to EN45545-2 (R15-HL3 maximum hazard level), for a new fleet of trains which will operate on the East Anglia train network. Designed and manufactured for long service life and harsh external environments, Tratos’ rolling stock cables, with special fire performance characteristics, will be supplied to Bombardier which will build the new fleet at its Litchurch Lane site in Derby.
Unitrunk.
Unitrunk’s stand at Railtex was significantly larger than it has been at similar exhibitions in the past due to a drive to prioritise the rail industry as a key sector for growth. This follows the installation of Unitrunk systems on highprofile projects such as the tunnels connecting Heathrow Express to the airport and numerous London Underground schemes. All of Unitrunk’s cable ladder, cable tray, cable basket, channel and trunking systems, which were on display, are London Underground approved and suitable for use on both trackside and station installations across the Network Rail infrastructure. The company’s EasyConnect cable basket, which has been re-engineered to provide toolfree installation without the need for couplers, proved especially interesting to visitors as it offers a robust and vibration-resistant solution that can reduce installation times by as much as a third.
‘Traditional’ infrastructure There is still place for the more traditional forms of railway engineering. After all, the railway relies on its track, bridges and embankments, which all need rebuilding and maintaining, seemingly ever more frequently. However, to keep up with the demand placed upon them, engineers are using techniques that their forebears wouldn’t recognise. ABG Geosynthetics saw a lot of interest in its Fildrain 7DD system to aid consolidation in earthworks. Widely used in the highways and other sectors, Fildrain is far easier to install than traditional gravel solutions, and reduces consolidation times by up to 80 per cent. ABG’s presence at Railtex resulted in requests from a number of engineering consultancies to find out how to apply this proven innovation to rail applications.
Anderton Concrete had two new products on display. Ander-Loc is designed to prevent the unauthorised removal of cable trough lids by securing each lid to the trough using two clips and a lid bracket - a simple but effective solution. Also for use with Anderton’s range of concrete cable troughing, Ander-Fin is inserted into a pre-formed slot in the base of a trough unit. A Network Rail-approved cable tie with rubber sleeve can be attached to the fin and secured at regular intervals within the cable route, making quick removal of large lengths of cable, and therefore their theft, virtually impossible. AnderLoc and Ander-Fin are patented designs. The company also showcased its range of Dry Laid Retaining Wall systems that offer numerous solutions for both aesthetic and functional projects whilst significantly helping to reduce costs and time spent on construction. ArcelorMittal, the world`s leading integrated steel and mining company, received a steady flow of visitors throughout the three days
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Rail Engineer • July 2017
MRL Eye.
of Railtex, obtaining enquiries across a number of product segments. With the recent enhancement of a new state of the art rolling mill at its Gijon facility, and further substantial ongoing investment with the mill extension in order to produce long rail lengths up to 108 metres, ArcelorMittal is fully geared to play a major part in the UK and European markets. On the IT front, company representatives from the UK and Spain introduced a new rail tool offering dimensional information, sectional profiles and an easy reference ‘length versus weight’ guide for all transport, groove, light and crane rails. British Steel supplied the track for the Railtex on-track display, so visitors to the show could actually see lengths of the product, sitting on steel sleepers painted in British Steel’s natty orange house colour - a pleasant change from the more traditional ‘rust brown’. The rail itself was the new corrosion-resistant Zinoco®, and show visitors could watch demonstrations as British Steel inspectors carried out checks as they would on the network. ByteSnap Design highlighted its Bridge Bash demonstration, showing how LoRa can be deployed for status monitoring/reporting. It simulates a collision event between a train and a stationary object, such as a bridge or barricade. Acceleration data is collected from the stationary object by a remote monitoring system, which can be powered by a super low-power battery, and transmitted wirelessly to a receiving module. Using the receiving module, real-time
information about the acceleration the object is undergoing can be processed and displayed to the user. Mabey displayed the world’s first modular glass-fibre, reinforced polymer bridge, which was recently launched in conjunction with Arup under the brand name Pedesta™. Part-funded by RSSB, the modular bridge will be of particular interest to the rail industry, providing a safer alternative to level crossings where traditional pedestrian bridges cannot be installed. Pre-engineered and fully customisable in its form, material and finish, the Pedesta is 70 per cent lighter than steel, enabling faster, safer and more efficient project delivery. Mabey Bridge CEO Michael Treacy commented: “What we have developed from Arup’s concept will change the game for our customers who tell us cost and ease-of-use come first.” British Steel.
MRL Eye is the UK strategic partner of Aerialtronics, the commercial drone manufacturer based in The Netherlands, providing innovative inspection and monitoring services using the latest unmanned aerial vehicle, data collection and processing technology. Railtex 2017 saw the launch of the new Pensar camera, which features inbuilt data-processing technology that uses image recognition to intelligently analyse images. This opens up a range of possibilities in how infrastructure can be inspected in the future, which was the theme of ‘Intelligent Drones, Intelligent Infrastructure’, one of the presentations in the Rail Engineer Seminar Theatre. Rosehill Rail, the leading level crossing systems provider, generated a lot of interest from UK and international companies for its new Interlocking RRAP system and its innovative new rubber edge beam at this year’s Railtex.
Rail Engineer • July 2017 Designed specifically to accommodate irregular sleeper spacing, the Interlocking RRAP system is ideal for permanent, semi-permanent and temporary road/ rail access points allowing RRVs and other heavy machinery easy access to the track again and again. Reflecting on a busy show, Rosehill Rail’s UK sales executive Daniel Snell said: “From the conversations we’ve had it’s clear that engineers are looking for innovative new products which help them improve efficiency and reliability, while minimising disruption and cost. Our new rubber edge beam is a good example of this. By incorporating a service void, it helps to overcome the challenges of running cables at level crossings, ensuring cables are completely protected from accidental damage and vandalism, while allowing for ease of access to maintenance teams.” Wavetrain aims to provide secure and affordable level crossing safety by ease of installation, use and maintenance. Its Level Crossing Warning System (LCWS) is an endto-end SIL 2 certified product that detects approaching trains using SIL 4 certified acoustic sensors. The acoustic sensors are mounted on the rails and listen for the distinct sound waves generated by approaching trains. The digital data is analysed by a nearby control unit, which activates the customer’s preferred warning devices at the appropriate time.
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MRL Eye. Monica Myhre-Sandmark, lead designer at Wavetrain, also has an interesting outlook on exhibitions in general, and Railtex in particular. “Giveaways are often the talk of any exhibition. To me this year’s best giveaway was a little teddy. I initially really wanted it as compensation for my two-year-old, who by the way still holds a grudge for me being away. I later found out the teddy was for charity, a good one too, but I was afraid to ask for it. When I finally plucked up the courage - the teddy was gone… “We, however, did not think of teddy as a give-away. We deliver Acoustic Train Detection installed within 15 metres of the area that needs to be secured. A teddy simply did not enter our minds as a giveaway at all, so we ended up with
the norm. Chocolate, from Norway at least, to starve away most of the home sickness and scare away anyone afraid of trying new things. “Fast-forwards and I am back home, going through data and analysing results, writing e-mails, analysing the stand and information presented. We have previously attended the InnoTrans exhibition in Berlin. We had lots of interest and follow-ups post exhibit. “When I look at the results from Railtex however, I was quite surprised. We were placed on the second row next to the food courts, quite high up and facing away from the crowds. In a way facing the wrong way! Although visitation was quite continuous, the fair seemed a bit sparse compared to InnoTrans, of course.
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Rail Engineer • July 2017
Visitors at Railtex were however, both more to the point, and several useful contacts. Level crossing managers, contract managers, safety managers, engineering managers, engineers even business developers. Conversations were friendly and calm but still precise and direct. People complimented on our stand (hooray) and, and weren’t overly greedy in helping themselves to the ‘exotic’ Norwegian chocolate. “Surprisingly, we did close to equally as well as the last exhibition, as far as we can see at this moment in time. The type of visitors may possibly be even more useful for us, if one can say such a thing. We would do it again, and perhaps there will be another good charityteddy to take home too?”
Don’t forget the people As well as on its infrastructure, the railway depends on its people. They turn out in all weathers to repair and maintain the network and the country would literally grind to a halt without them. Suppliers of PPE were at Railtex, showing off the latest ways to keep the workforce warm, dry and safe, and there were new tools for them to use as well. Ballyclare used the show to reinforce its Network Rail win for waterproof and flame retardant garments. Also on show were the company’s brand new multinorm garments DFRShell - giving true multi-hazard protection as they are the only high visibility RIS3279-TOM garments available that are fully waterproof, breathable, flame retardant, antistatic and anti-arcing. While Bally Bear made a splash both at the show and on social media, 70 per cent of the visitors to the stand were new leads, interested in taking conversations forward over the coming weeks and months. Pulsar uses Railtex as both an opportunity to launch new clothing items and as a way to meet customers and the industry wearers of high visibility clothing and get their feedback and input on what they want.
Railtex 2017 was no different. The Pulsar® Ladies range was launched, as was the new range of Active High Visibility Clothing, incorporating LED technology to enhance the visibility of the wearer in low or poor lighting conditions. Both these new products were well received, and judging by the number of catalogues taken and leads received, there appeared to be a high level of interest in the entire collection. Syntax Consultancy had “a fantastic show - the first time we had exhibited after numerous times attending. We conducted a piece of research while we were on the stand to understand what were the top staffing challenges in the Rail industry in 2015. Top of the list was attracting STEM graduates, followed by how we get more women interested in working in the industry, and the ageing workforce. We will be releasing the full analysis paper over the next few days and will be sending out to all who met us.” TCP and BOC introduced the re-modelled Light Tower - the ‘world’s first’ silent running lighting product of its kind. Having enjoyed a successful start with the previous TH2 model, this lighting innovation has now been significantly redesigned and upgraded to produce the new
TH200. It boasts a continuous runtime of 120 hours using the four on-board hydrogen cylinders. The fuel cell is now encased within the main body of the machine and is controlled by a new operator-friendly switch pad, located on the exterior. Carbon neutral at the point of delivery, silent running and producing zero CO2 and NOx, the TH200 is the ideal solution for environmental lighting applications. Tyrolit, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of bonded grinding, cutting, sawing, drilling and dressing tools, exhibited an extensive range of its products, supporting this with a Swarovski crystal giveaway. One of the highlighted products was the newly improved Premium Cerabond ceramic cut-off wheel, now with a 40 per cent increase in performance, offering longer lifetime and shorter cycle times. Account manager Mark Richards said: “Railtex is always a good show for us in terms of networking and generating new customer contacts. This year’s show was by far the best, with orders placed over the week doubling compared with previous years. The central location of the exhibition helps draw people in, the seminars and show are well attended. Railtex organisers offer strong marketing and promotional support before and after the show that allowed us to showcase our leading rail products to a wide customer base.”
Next year - Infrarail! So that was Railtex 2017. The show only takes place every two years - in between, Infrarail, also organised by Mack Brooks, concentrates more on the infrastructure side to the railways - signalling, track, earthworks and structures. That’s not to say the odd train manufacturer doesn’t show up, but so do soil-nailing specialists! Infrarail 2018 will take place next year on 1-3 May at London’s ExCeL. Book your hotel early and we’ll see you there!
Your partner in the rail industry With many years’ experience supplying transport authorities, track laying organisations and rail maintenance companies, you can trust TYROLIT to supply the best solutions for cutting and grinding applications in the rail sector.
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Rail Engineer • July 2017
RECRUITMENT
This is our story More to us than meets the eye
Systems Assurance (Safety & Reliability) – Consultant & Senior Consultant Roles (Rail)
Location – Sydney, Australia
Atkins is one of the world’s leading providers of professional, technologically based consultancy and support services. We are seeking suitably qualified systems assurance personnel to join our established systems assurance (RAMS) rail business in Australia, based in Sydney.
· · · ·
Responsibilities You will be responsible for managing the systems assurance activities and ensuring that they are fully compliant with EN 50126, EN 50128, EN 50129, Common Safety Method, iESM, Yellow Book, etc. Provide advice to stakeholder (Internal and External) on all aspects of risk reduction, mitigation and safety engineering matters. Interface with stakeholders and clients as an Atkins representative to ensure Project requirements under Atkins scope are met.
Qualifications, Experience and Personal Attributes 3+ years’ experience in the application of safety & systems assurance for specific safety related systems or multi-disciplinary projects and experience in the rail industry sector in the field of system safety engineering.
· · · ·
Practical experience in Hazard Identification & Assessment and associated techniques including HAZOP, PHA, FMEA, IHA, OHSA, SSHA. Quantified Risk Assessment (QRA) using Fault Tree and Event Tree Analysis. You will have excellent interpersonal / communication skills, be flexible to work individually on projects or in teams. Relocation Package, Visa, Private Health Care, and Attractive Salary for successful candidates.
To apply for this role, then please visit www.atkinscareers.com
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Rail Engineer • July 2017
RECRUITMENT
www.riqc.co.uk
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0845 463 5952
RIQC Requirement for Lead Auditor RIQC Limited is an independent certification body, originally accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) as the only internationally accredited certification body specifically established for the railway industry. RIQC Limited is seeking experienced Lead Auditors. The individual should have some experience within a railway sector background and experience in auditing to ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS18001 standards (ISO 50001 & ISO 55001 would be ideal but not essential). In this role, you will be expected to advise directors & colleagues on QHSE latest developments and best practice, promote and develop business opportunities, maintain accurate and up-to-date customer records, contribute to the tendering, evaluation and negotiation process for the award of contracts and agreements. Candidates shall need to possess the following key skills, attributes and experience: An established and confident Lead Auditor with at least 3-years’ auditing experience. Ideally 3-years’ experience within the rail sector. Experienced in the delivery of management system audits to ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001. Excellent interpersonal, organisational skills and time management with a professional level of accuracy and attention to detail. A high level of presentation and report writing capability with good judgement, analytical and decision making attributes. Confident communicating assertively at all levels within an organisation. Flexible including working away from home, occasional nights away and prepared to be trained for other audit areas (i.e. ISO 50001 & ISO 55001). Able to lead a team and work alone.
• • • • • • •
RIQC welcomes applications from individuals seeking permanent employment and associate engagement.
Please contact RIQC Limited: Tel: 01332 221422 Email: steve.kelly@riqc.co.uk
Principal/Senior OLE Design Engineer Derby | Permanent – Up to £70,000
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South East | Contract – Up to £35 an hour
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Telecoms PICOT – Operational and SISS Comms Midlands | Permanent – Up to £52,000 per year
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North East | Permanent – Up to £50,000 per year
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