Rail Professional March 2022 by Rail Professional Magazine

MARCH 2022 ISSUE 280 £7.95

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THE BUSINESS RESOURCE FOR RAIL

The holistic approach Accessing deeper understanding by looking beyond the sum of the parts

Stations Searching for a heart of gold

Ticketing Technology Smart ticketing systems

Employee Wellbeing A return to work – challenges and concerns

WELCOME |

MARCH 2022 ISSUE 280 £7.95

www.railpro.co.uk

THE BUSINESS RESOURCE FOR RAIL

The holistic approach Accessing deeper understanding by looking beyond the sum of the parts

Stations Searching for a heart of gold

Ticketing Technology Smart ticketing systems

editor’s note

Employee Wellbeing A return to work – challenges and concerns

PUBLISHER RAIL PROFESSIONAL LTD Hallmark House, Downham Road, Ramsden Heath, Essex CM11 1PU Telephone: +44 (0)1268 711811 EDITORIAL EDITOR SAM SHERWOOD-HALE editor@railpro.co.uk DISPLAY ADVERTISING DEAN SALISBURY ADAM OVERALL JAMIE TREGARTHEN sales@railpro.co.uk RECRUITMENT ADVERTISING recruitment@railpro.co.uk SUBSCRIPTIONS subscriptions@railpro.co.uk ADMINISTRATION CHERIE NUGENT info@railpro.co.uk LISA ETHERINGTON admin@railpro.co.uk DESIGN & PRODUCTION ALICIA BANNISTER LUKASZ SACZEK production@railpro.co.uk

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As I sat down to write this, my social media feeds are full of people travelling on packed trains, often with the added commentary of how this flies in the face of the prevailing theory that fewer people will be travelling by train as the unrelenting tide of ‘work from home’ culture washes over the country. I also saw commenters juxtapose this reality with the various ‘plans’ for rail that the government has put out over the last twelve months. One such plan that encapsulates a broader government strategy is the Levelling Up White Paper released on 2 February, which sets out how it intends to spread opportunity more equally across the UK. The White Paper sets out twelve missions to level up the UK, with the Integrated Rail Plan mentioned twice. Chief Executive of the Railway Industry Association, Darren Caplan said: ‘… it is particularly positive to see transport connectivity and rail services recognised within it (The Levelling Up White Paper). We know that rail is a vital catalyst for economic growth.’ With Director General of the Rail Delivery Group, Andy Bagnall saying: ‘The railway is crucial to successfully ‘levelling up’ the country … it’s essential that the new passenger service contracts enable Great British Railways to guide, rather than control, the industry.’ We have several op-eds on the different government plans, Simon Kendler, a Freight Manager for Network Rail’s national freight team takes the two distinct camps that have sprung up in response to the Integrated Rail Plan and unpacks the Plan itself. Former Rail Minister, Stephen Hammond MP explores the future of Great British Rail and examines if the promises in the Plan are deliverable. My interview this month is with Mark Coleman, GeoAccess Ltd Managing Director and we discussed the latest inspection and remote access techniques, working holistically and the company’s place within the supply chain. I also spoke to Kurt Zeidler, Principal at GALL ZEIDLER Consultants about the drivers for innovation, sustainability in tunnelling and the untapped potential in underground spaces. This month’s issue is focussed on stations and we have several pieces exploring the sense of community around stations, with Jools Townsend, Chief Executive of Community Rail Network explaining how the grassroots network connecting people with their local railways is playing an increasingly important role in revitalising station buildings and land for the benefit of communities and railways alike and Emily Turner from Roundel Round We Go explains how the podcast discovers London by exploring each of the 272 London Underground stations, one at a time. We also have a Stephen Brookes MBE, Rail Policy Adviser for the leading Pan Disability charity Disability Rights UK, explaining how the industry and its leaders need to develop consistent policies that reflect the added difficulties disabled people face when accessing transport. Quality products for modern lines Samoverhead Sherwood-Halecontact Editor

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CONTENTS / ISSUE 280 / MARCH 2022 |

09 News

35 Viewpoint

The automatic sliding step on Tyne and Wear Metro’s new train fleet, York Station Front improvement work begins, HS2’s online jobs board advertises 2,000 supply chain vacancies in its first year, RIA welcomes new milestone in the UK joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), £4 million Leuchars junction

Simon Kendler, a Freight Manager for Network Rail’s national freight team asks the question and explores the various possible answers

12 Rail Professional Interview

Mark Thomas, Business Development Manager/Project Manager Rail at Fugro explores the how rail can help guide us to a more sustainable future

Sam Sherwood-Hale spoke to Mark Coleman, GeoAccess Ltd Managing Director about the latest inspection and remote access techniques, working holistically and the company’s place within the supply chain

39 Viewpoint 41 Viewpoint

17 The Cheek of it

Michael Stalter, Head of Commercial for Rail at Amadeus explains how rail distribution standards are supporting a modern rail industry

Rail patronage recovery picked up over the summer, but Omicron variant and winter storms damage confidence

42 Viewpoint

21 Laying down the law

Paul Coleman, Account and Customer Experience Executive at ITAL explains why getting off the privatisation journey is one of the critical reforms in UK rail history

In an industry where there are many opportunities for developing a business, such as the rail sector, there is a strong market for talent and expertise

25 Women in Rail It’s fair to say the pandemic had a big impact on Women in Rail in the North West

27 Viewpoint Phil Bulman, partner and cost-based management consultant at Vendigital explains how the rail sector can achieve valuable, long-lasting change and a more sustainable cost base

31 Delivering the goods Alexandra Herdman, Public Policy Manager, Logistics UK, provides an overview of the newly created GBRTT, its objectives, and how it could help grow rail freight opportunities in Great Britain

45 Viewpoint Dr Gianluca Barletta, transport and analytics expert at PA Consulting explains how we can use data to create new services for customers and radically improve efficiencies

47 Viewpoint Nick Andrew, Managing Director at CWE offers some ways we can encourage younger people to join the rail industry

49 Viewpoint Making the Integrated Rail Plan a success will take education, cooperation, and the right oversight, says Dan Rodgers, Director at Turner & Townsend

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CONTENTS / ISSUE 280 / MARCH 2022 |

51 Viewpoint Former Rail Minister, Stephen Hammond MP explores the future of Great British Rail

52 Rail Professional Interview Sam Sherwood-Hale spoke to Kurt Zeidler, Principal at GALL ZEIDLER Consultants about the drivers for innovation, sustainability in tunnelling and the untapped potential in underground spaces

55 Stations Jools Townsend, Chief Executive of Community Rail Network explains how the grassroots network connecting people with their local railways is playing an increasingly important role in revitalising station buildings and land for the benefit of communities and railways alike

61 Viewpoint Stefanie O’Gorman, Director of Sustainable Economics at Ramboll looks at the missed opportunity of 20-minute neighbourhoods

63 Stations Emily Turner explains how she and Paul Burkitt-Gray discover London on their podcast Roundel Round We Go by exploring each of the 272 London Underground stations, one at a time

67 Stations Stephen Brookes MBE, who served for three years as the Minister for Disabled Peoples Rail Sector Champion and is now the Rail Policy Adviser for the leading Pan Disability charity Disability Rights UK, feels the whole Rail Industry and its leaders need to develop consistent policies that reflect the added difficulties Disabled People face when accessing transport

71 Ticketing Technology Jonathan Edwards, EMEA Market Development at GHD, argues that the key to the rail industry’s recovery is an overhaul of its ticketing system, including a three-year freeze on fares and the introduction of carbon labelling

75 Ticketing Technology Since launching in 2014, the c2c Smartcard has rolled out across the c2c network, offering a quicker and easier journey for the train operators’ passengers

77 Stations Andy Hallisey, Liam Nixon and Neha Patel, customers hosts at Hatch End station, won the 2021 Railway Benefit Fund ‘Heart of Gold’ Team Award in recognition of the fantastic work they have done with their local community

78 Employee Wellbeing Michelle Jenkins, from the OPC shares some research findings about challenges faced by transport managers and employees on a return-to-work post-covid and offers some insights and reflections on the opportunities

83 Business Profiles Yellow Rail Ltd, Torrent Trackside, UK Power Networks, Mabey Hire, Anchor Systems (International) Ltd, Mosdorfer, Elliot, Hispacold, RSSB

105 Business News MECHAN lands prestigious Heathrow contract, WHIS®wall one metre noise barrier system awarded Certificate of Acceptance by Network Rail, Relec Electronics presents Mornsun’s LMF500-20Bxx series

106 People Ian Steel, Andrew Hall, Rob Morton, Owen Mills, Andy Dodman, Paul Capener

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NEWS |

News in brief ScotRail secures Investing in Volunteers accreditation ScotRail has been awarded the prestigious Investing in Volunteers accreditation by Volunteer Scotland for its ongoing Adopt-a-Station volunteering programme. The Investing in Volunteers (IiV) accreditation is the UK quality standard for good practice in volunteer management, and recognises the incredible contribution made by volunteers. GWR fast-charging trial brings regular battery-only rail services a step closer Great Western Railway has signed a deal with manufacturer Vivarail to trial new battery-charging technology on its network, paving the way for battery-only trains to run in regular passenger service in the future. The trial, supported by Network Rail, will take place on the Greenford branch line later this year and test Vivarail’s trackside fast-charging equipment in an operational setting for the first time. RIA wins two Trade Association Forum Awards on diversity and leadership The Railway Industry Association (RIA) won twice at the national Trade Association Forum Awards 2022. RIA Chief Executive Darren Caplan won the ‘Trade Association Leadership Award’, and RIA topped the ‘Diversity & Inclusion’ category. Darren Caplan’s Trade Association Leadership Award was recognition of progress made by RIA in the last five years. The Diversity & Inclusion Award recognised the work of the RIA team, particularly Policy Director Kate Jennings and Senior Policy Executive Isabella Lawson, in launching, together with Women in Rail, the Rail EDI Charter.

The automatic sliding step on Tyne and Wear Metro’s new train fleet

An automatic sliding step that will transform accessibility on the Tyne and Wear Metro’s new trains has been revealed. The sliding step is a key feature of the new £362 million Metro fleet, making life easier for thousands of customers when boarding and alighting by eliminating the gap between the train and the platform edge. They will be located at every door of the new trains, making boarding easier for Metro’s 50,000 wheelchair customers as well as people with children’s buggies, luggage or bicycles. The sliding step will automatically deploy from beneath the door sill every time the new Metro train pulls into a station, closing the gap between the platform. It then automatically retracts before the doors close and the train pulls away. New photos released today show the new boarding system, passenger saloon and driver cab doors being put through their

paces as final assembly of the new Metro trains continues. Both the sliding step and the doors are being made by a company called Bode Die Tur, who specialise in the development and production of electronic door and boarding systems at their factory in the city of Kassel in Hessen, central Germany – which has recently been refitted following severe flash flooding in the region in 2019. Metro’s operator, Nexus, and the Swiss train builder, Stadler, have conducted an official inspection of this transformative piece of technology. The visit to the Bode factory was a chance to test the sliding step and doors ahead of them going into full production. When the sliding step and door systems are completed they will be transported to the Stadler assembly line for installation on each of the 46 new trains.

York Station Front improvement work begins The first stage of work to improve the gateway to and from York’s famous railway station is now taking place on Queen Street. The ambitious York Station Front scheme will completely transform the station frontage, providing an improved transport interchange, as well as revamping the public space around the station. The scheme aims to encourage more people to walk, cycle and use public transport to access the station, as well as creating a more welcoming and inclusive environment around the front of the railway station for the public. The scheme will also create an improved setting for the City Walls and other heritage buildings in the area. Last year a planning application was approved to transform the front of York

Railway Station. This will provide an improved transport interchange and public spaces around the station for people to enjoy. The full scheme which is valued at over £25 million, is funded by the West Yorkshire-Plus Transport Fund and the Leeds City Region Transforming Cities Fund. This major scheme will be delivered in partnership by City of York Council, Network Rail, LNER and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority. The work on Queen Street marks the beginning of the project with the main stage of work on the scheme set to begin later this year. We are engaging with contractors to minimise disruption for those who live and work in the area.

Rail Professional

| NEWS

HS2’s online jobs board advertises 2,000 supply chain vacancies in its first year HS2’s online jobs board, which advertises all the latest vacancies from HS2’s Phase One construction partners, has reached a landmark milestone having promoted over 2,000 job opportunities in its first year. The digital platform, which launched on 28 January 2021 and is hosted on the HS2 website hs2.org.uk/supply-chain-jobs, offers those looking for work or a change of career the opportunity to search the very latest vacancies with HS2’s construction partners and station contractors delivering the London – Birmingham section of the railway.   The jobs board allows candidates to search for vacancies by region or by specialism, so they can quickly identify opportunities that

match their criteria. In total, 2004 vacancies were advertised in the twelve months since the site launched, with over 700 opportunities in the West Midlands, over 700 in Greater London and almost 600 in the central region covering Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. A small number of vacancies were also advertised in the North West and South West. HS2 Minister, Andrew Stephenson said: ‘As Europe’s largest infrastructure project, it’s our responsibility to ensure HS2 creates thousands of long-lasting jobs across the entire nation. Advertising 2000 jobs in just one year is a huge achievement and shows that we’re delivering on our promises of boosting the economy and levelling up the country.’

RIA welcomes new milestone in the UK joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for TransPacific Partnership (CPTPP) On 18 February, Japan, as Chair of the UK’s Accession Working Group on behalf of the CPTPP members, confirmed the UK will move into second and final phase of accession to join £8.4 trillion CPTPP free trade area. Neil Walker, Exports Director at the Railway Industry Association (RIA), said: ‘RIA welcomes progress on the UK’s bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). The economic grouping of eleven nations is estimated to represent 13-14 per cent of global GDP, and is home

to around 500 million people, making it a key market for UK rail businesses. ‘As countries look to invest in rail all around the world, as an environmentally friendly form of transport, there is a major opportunity for UK rail businesses to support that expansion through tariff-free trade. A successful UK CPTPP application will help rail supply businesses, including RIA members, navigate and succeed overseas.’

£4 million Leuchars junction Network Rail is investing £4 million to renew a key junction on the line between Edinburgh and Dundee. Over two weekends in February, the junction near Leuchars station will undergo a major upgrade where our engineers will work around-the-clock to renew points (rails which move to transfer trains from one line to another) and replace track. Leuchars is the closest station to St Andrew’s and the junction is vital for connecting train passengers between Scotland’s capital city and Dundee and Aberdeen. This work will help improve the reliability of the track and means the junction won’t need to be renewed again for decades. Rail Professional

Rail Professional

| RAIL PROFESSIONAL INTERVIEW

Interview

Mark Coleman, GeoAccess Ltd Managing Director Sam Sherwood-Hale spoke to Mark Coleman, GeoAccess Ltd Managing Director about the latest inspection and remote access techniques, working holistically and the company’s place within the supply chain You established the company in 2014 to serve a niche market identified at the time. How has that market grown since then? We originally established the company to solve a problem for one client. By delivering that service at the highest possible level, we have found that we have a unique skillset that is attractive to a much wider market. Our portfolio of clients now spans multiple market sectors across the whole of the UK. We always strive to provide the best service, so are constantly trying new innovations. Some work, some don’t. This has kept us at the forefront and on our toes constantly which means we can react quickly and efficiently to changing demands and opportunities. Have standard changes in recent years caused access constraints to become a bigger problem? I don’t believe so. Safety is our top priority, and with constant innovation and the advancement of technology safer working practices are always being developed. If anything, the change in standards along with new technology has opened up more opportunities and access is actually easier. You carry out inspection work of various types of assets from earthworks, structures, buildings and coastal defences to wind turbines, transmission towers and underwater assets – providing services that utilise UAVs, ROVs and IRATA qualified operatives. Which part of the business have you seen grow the fastest over the last five years or more? Without doubt the advancement of new technology has led to a huge growth across all areas, it has had a huge impact. Better IT solutions to collect data from site, turn around reports and share with our clients has seen more efficient working across the Rail Professional

board. Important safety information can be shared between site teams and the office instantly, with very sophisticated reports generated from site. The locations and safety of the teams can be monitored in real time. Battery technology and batteryoperated power tools have resulted in lower environmental impacts, which is always preferred by our clients. But if I had to choose one area that’s seen the most growth it would be new ways of accessing assets remotely using UAVs and ROVs. By removing the need for operatives to work at height, underwater and in confined spaces has resulted in safer working practices, often with the benefit of shorter times on site generating efficiencies that can be passed back to the client. Jobs that use to be undertaken using very costly

and timely techniques can now be done at a fraction of the cost and time. What are some important safety concerns to consider when working in confined spaces? The operative’s safety always comes first. In the planning stages we would do everything possible to try and reduce the risk, and sometimes this can be done by using a remote access technique instead of manned entry. By removing us from the equation (if possible), removes a great many risks. Planning is critical. The physical structure can pose issues; size, shape, orientation, surfaces, potential snags to name a few. Gases; noxious, flammable and poisonous plus a potential reduction

RAIL PROFESSIONAL INTERVIEW |

in oxygen levels. That mundane muddy puddle when disturbed can release a whole host of nasty gases into the atmosphere. Drowning, explosions, entrapment, loss of consciousness. Spiders! I hate spiders. Recently on a culvert inspection job we encountered a large number of false widow spiders staying out of the great British winter! Needles and sharps. It’s amazing what you find hidden out of sight. A rescue plan is really important. The last thing you need in a rescue situation is another casualty so a well thought out rescue plan is essential. It can be a potentially highly dangerous environment to work in. What are some Confined Space Techniques? Confined space work can broadly be divided into three main areas. Low risk, medium risk and high risk. Low risk confined space has simple entry and exit techniques and adequate ventilation. Medium risk confined space has more restricted/difficult entry and exit techniques and minimal ventilation, while high risk confined space areas have complex entry and exit techniques, and usually an atmospheric hazard that cannot be eliminated. Techniques that can be used in confined space work can include: remote access, rope access, escape breathing apparatus, full breathing apparatus and in/ on or underwater. What does approaching every job in a holistic fashion mean to you? That’s a good question. For me it means looking at the bigger picture, looking outside the box. Sometimes you are asked to undertake a particular job and if you put the blinkers down and focus all your efforts on that specific task you can miss some great wider solutions and opportunities, both for your client and for you. When looking at each job in a wider context it often offers up solutions that would have been otherwise

How have Remotely Piloted Vehicles helped your work with confined spaces?

How about training, your staff who work on earthworks inspections are all RSHI (Rock Slope Hazard Index) qualified. How do you go about getting all your staff qualified to the relevant standards for each area you work in?

Tremendously! If you can remove humans from entering those potentially dangerous environments, you are reducing the risks massively. It’s not always possible, but with the advancement of technology, better cameras, better lighting and better battery power most visual inspections can be undertaken remotely. We use our Elios 2 UAV in a large proportion of our above water remote access confined space work. The Elios 2 is amazing. Photographs, video and thermal data can be collected, with measurements taken and even 3D models created if required. The quality of the data is amazing. Crawler and wheeled vehicles can fit into a pipe with a diameter as small as 150mm, and remotely piloted boats and submersibles offer some great solutions when water depth increases.

RSHI training is just one of the many areas of training that is needed to undertake earthwork inspections on the rail network. We manage our training requirements by using a compliance matrix, a competency matrix and training plans for all staff. What do we need to offer the service? How competent are we at it? and what training do we need to continue and get better? We use a combination of specialised external consultancies along with our highly experienced inhouse team. Training never stops. Everyday everybody learns something new, be it on a training course, on the job, or being mentored. Training is another area that we look at holistically too. Sometimes what appears to be a very random course can offer surprising benefits when applied to our workstreams.

You utilised a UAV when carrying out a Visual Tunnel Inspection at Rotherhithe Station, how did it help on that project?

How has Covid impacted your ability to get all your staff trained up?

missed. Sometimes the job you initially get asked to undertake, if looked at holistically, turns into something very different.

It was amazing and added so much value to the project. By combining experienced structural examiners into the flight crew it meant that we could collect the exact data that was required for the job. We managed to get to areas of the station and see bits of the structure that previously hadn’t been seen for many years and would have required large parts to be taken down to gain access. The real benefit of using a UAV in this situation was the minimal disruption caused. In and out within a short period of time when the line was closed at night, with commuters using the station the following morning without ever being aware. This always amazes me, the amount of work that goes on to keep the train services running safely without the public ever noticing. Incredible.

What a challenge it’s been the last few years for all of us! Throughout the lookdown periods and during the height of the pandemic all formal training was halted. However, our work never stopped so we needed to keep learning in different ways. Where would we be without Microsoft Teams! Huge amounts of our training were conducted remotely as both internally and externally we all came up with innovative ways to carry on. Online training platforms and assessments have now become integrated for many of us. Have you changed your approach to work at all over the last two years? The last two years have been our busiest time yet. We never stopped, and actually grew due Rail Professional

| RAIL PROFESSIONAL INTERVIEW

to demand. Certainly when it comes to office work, home and flexible working has really been important. For an SME like ourselves it has made us realise that we don’t need offices all over the country. A centralised base and remote working provide a great balance. Meetings. Oh my, how many of us have driven for three or four hours for a meeting that’s lasted thirty minutes! I’ve loved getting back to face to face meetings but ‘Teams’ meetings have a place and are a great way to be efficient with your time and are thankfully here to stay. One thing remote working has highlighted over the last two years is the importance of looking out for each other. By removing the need to go into an office every day, its more important than ever to keep a check of mental and physical health. Both for yourself and for your co-workers. Over the last five years GeoAccess has successfully delivered over 20,000 inspections across all Network Rail routes. How has your relationship with Network Rail evolved during that time? Relationships are really important to us, and our relationship with the teams at Network Rail has evolved enormously over the years. We always want to provide the best service we can to our clients, at the most efficient price and using the best available techniques. We strive to be the best. We are not afraid to try new ideas and can react quickly and efficiently. I love brain dumping our ideas in meetings with the route asset teams, no matter how crazy they appear. Working together to provide solutions results in our clients receiving the best service we can provide. More recently, you’ve grown GeoAccess into an Asset Management company – what made you decide to go in that direction? When we started out it was all about providing a technical rope access solution for earthwork inspections on the network. As we have developed and grown we quickly realised that our knowledge and expertise could offer much, much more. As an asset management company specialising in inspections, we now offer a greater breadth of services to a larger sector of the market. You’re a small aircraft Pilot yourself, where do you see UAV and drone technology going in the next ten years? UAV platforms and payloads have advanced exponentially over the last ten years, and in the next ten I believe they will continue to do so. Artificial Intelligence and machine learning is also going to see explosive growth. Civilian drones are already being pushed to fly further, deeper and in more remote places than ever before. In the UK we have one of the busiest and most congested airspaces in the world. Advances in Rail Professional

RAIL PROFESSIONAL INTERVIEW |

technology will result in traffic management services starting to integrate manned and unmanned aviation into the same airspace with real time deconflicting flight paths. The first important step in automated unmanned inspections. What do you have planned for the year ahead? Having recently been awarded the Earthwork Examination Frameworks for Southern region and Western route, complementing our already awarded Wales route contract, means operationally we are extremely busy with these services. The teams have grown in order for us to deliver the contracts but we will be working really hard over the next twelve months to bolster our Earthwork Examiner Resources further still with the training and mentoring of a number of new recruits. We are working closely with a number of clients to explore the use of UAVs and ROVs in their workflows and management regimes to provide better asset knowledge and Research & Development is going to be pushed harder this year exploring new innovative techniques and solutions. With the coming launch of Great British Railways, how do you anticipate your place within the supply chain changing? I hope the coming of Great British Railways is going to see many of the barriers of entry removed that SMEs face in the current market. Collaboration and Innovation from the experts in their fields will result in a much more diverse, reactive supply chain. To be the best you need to use the best and the wealth of knowledge and expertise in SMEs is astounding. We’ve already seen this happening with great effect in the Civil Examination Framework Agreement (CEFA) contracts under Network Rail. Previously delivered nationwide by one supplier the CEFA contracts have been broken up into regional/route areas and by discipline. Some areas have taken the services in house, and some gone out to the supply chain. This has resulted in Network Rail getting a much more diverse reactive and efficient supply chain. What do you expect to be the biggest challenges that come from this transformation of the railway industry? Behavioural changes are going to be a challenge. Great British Railways is going to require everybody to work together. Collaboration is key as to work more efficiently we need to work smarter together, with shared knowledge with a common goal. The public perception is going to be a tough nut to overcome too. Lots of talk about improving the service and putting customers first is going to fall on deaf ears if it is not backed up by real change.

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VIEWPOINT |

The Cheek of it Chris Cheek

Omicron and storms batter rail recovery Rail patronage recovery picked up over the summer, but Omicron variant and winter storms damage confidence

emand for passenger rail services in the UK continued to recover during the third quarter of 2021, with some sectors carrying more than twice as many people as in the summer quarter of 2020 when the government’s ‘stay at home’ order had just been relaxed. The 2021 quarter mostly fell after ‘freedom day’, when most of the remaining restrictions on social life were lifted. Overall, demand rose by 85.5 per cent over the same quarter in 2020, according to National Rail Trends statistics, published by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR). However, numbers were still 44 per cent lower than in 2019. The provisional figures cover the second quarter of fiscal year 2021/22, finishing at the end of September: across the network, 247.1m passenger journeys were made during the twelve-week period, up from 133.2 million in 2020. Between them, they covered 10.3 billion passenger kilometres, 116 per cent up, and paid a total of £1.5 billion in fares, 115 per cent more than in 2020. Looking at demand by ticket type, advance tickets were up by 175 per cent, whilst anytime peak and off-peak fares

were up by 81.6 per cent and 86.1 per cent respectively. Season ticket holders made 68.6 per cent more journeys. However, all categories continued to be down on 2019 levels, with season tickets down 74.3 per cent, followed by anytime peak fares at 40.4 per cent and off-peak fares at 25.8 per cent. Advance purchase tickets came within 14.9 per cent of 2019 levels. The long distance InterCity operations saw the strongest growth during the quarter, being 130.6 per cent up on 2020, at 36.4 per cent down on 2019. Looking at individual InterCity operators, LNER fared the best, growing its traffic by 175 per cent and recovering to almost 90 per cent of 2019 levels. Great Western fared the worst on 101 per cent growth over 2020, thus only recovering to 51 per cent of its 2019 patronage. Amongst the regional franchises, total patronage was 102 per cent up on 2020, but remained 44 per cent below 2019 levels. Amongst individual TOCs, Northern saw the strongest recovery, with patronage up 123 per cent from 2020, though still 44 per cent below its 2019 figures. TransPennine saw the lowest growth in the quarter, 88 per cent, leaving it at 48 per cent below 2019 levels.

The falls amongst London and South East operators in 2020 were at the lower end of the range, so it is perhaps not surprising to see that their recovery was less spectacular. The overall figure was 165.6m passenger journeys, 75.6 per cent up on 2020, and 44 per cent below 2019. Strongest quarterly growth came at Chiltern (up 115 per cent), West Midlands (108 per cent) and South Western (97.5 per cent). Weakest were c2c (51 per cent) and TfL Rail (59 per cent). Rolling year figures The national totals for the twelve months ended 30 September show that, compared with the last pre-Covid year of 2018/19, the number of passenger journeys was 60.5 per cent lower at 698.5 million. Passenger kilometres travelled fell by 65.7 per cent to 23.4 billion, whilst passenger revenue saw a similar fall of 66 per cent to £3.5 billion. Once again, performance varied between the sectors: passenger journeys saw a 65.8 per cent decrease on the InterCity routes, whilst 65.3 per cent fewer passenger kilometres were travelled. On the regional routes, there was a 65.3 per cent reduction in the number of journeys, with passenger km 64.7 per cent

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down. Passenger journeys on the London and South East routes fell by 62.5 per cent, with passenger kilometres down by 66.4 per cent. Comment This quarter covered the immediate aftermath of ‘freedom day’ in mid-July, when many of the previous restrictions were lifted, and it was hoped that a gradual “return to normal” would begin. There is a clear upward movement compared with the previous year, and very welcome it will have been too. However, as with the demand loss following lockdown, the trends were not universal, and it is possible to start picking out a number of issues which are may very well cause some head-scratching in a year or two’s time. Interestingly, there tended to be a ‘levelling up’ between TOCs, so that – for example – the InterCity operators which had been hardest hit in 2020 saw the strongest recovery – all the long distance TOCs saw traffic more than double in the quarter compared with a year earlier. This meant that demand in that sector had risen to 64 per cent of 2019 levels. This put these routes ahead of the other two sectors, which remained in the mid-fifties. Season ticket use continues to be a problem: during this quarter, it showed the weakest recovery of any ticket type and

passenger journeys remained more than 74 per cent down on 2019 levels, with revenue over 78 per cent lower. With up to a third of the workforce expected to continue to work from home for at least part of the week, the prospects for a mass return of season ticket holders any time continue to look very thin indeed. Meanwhile, the spread of online meetings is permanently changing how people do business, and early indications of significant passenger loss can be seen in these figures. Anytime peak ticket passengers did recover during the quarter, but remain 40 per cent below pre-pandemic levels, whilst passenger kilometres travelled were still 48 per cent down. All this means that the industry is earning 51 per cent less from this normally highly lucrative sector, with revenue yields also down by more than seven per cent. Meanwhile, we can discern more recent trends from the Department for Transport’s ongoing publication of transport demand estimates every week since the lockdown began in March 2020. At the start of the quarter, rail use was around 50 per cent of the 2019 figure, and rose quite slowly during the following twelve weeks, hitting around 66 per cent for the last three weeks of September. In the weeks after, it recovered

further, hitting over 70 per cent for three consecutive weeks in November. Then the discovery and spread of the Omicron variant pushed the government into plan ‘B’ and reimposing the ‘work from home’ advice, pushing passenger levels back down to just below the 60 per cent mark for most of January and early February. With restrictions now once again removed, we might expect to see the resumption of growth, back up to 70 per cent and beyond. However, extreme weather conditions do not help to build confidence – either in the idea of travelling at all or in using the train. As I write, the government has announced the ending of all remaining Covid restrictions in a few weeks’ time. Of course that presupposes that another variant doesn’t crop up and that other world events do not intervene to depress economic activity. Meanwhile, the changes that the events of the last 18 months have driven in our society continue to play out. It is still unclear how these are going to affect the future demand for transport, and quite how this will sit alongside the Government’s decarbonisation strategy – yet another aspect of public policy where Ministers are keen to promote the ends without supplying the means to achieve them. Interesting times indeed.

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VIEWPOINT |

Laying down the law

Martin Fleetwood

Obtaining competition protection from departing senior management In an industry where there are many opportunities for developing a business, such as the rail sector, there is a strong market for talent and expertise

here a business has invested in developing and supporting that talent, particularly in senior roles, it is important for that business to be able to protect the intellectual property which the business owns and which supports the work done by its management. Legal controls are therefore necessary to help manage this position. Directors or de facto directors of a company often have access to some of the most confidential information and trade secrets of a business and have strong relationships with a company’s customers, suppliers and employees. If a director resigns and unlawfully sets up in competition, or takes a position with a competitor, this could pose a major threat to the business. The recent High Court case of Burnell v Trans-Tag Ltd and Robert Aird (TransTag) has clarified the potential liability of directors and other senior staff as well as provided some helpful guidance to companies seeking to protect their business from such unlawful conduct. When is a member of senior staff considered a de facto director? A key point in the Trans-Tag case was the clarification that in certain cases a senior manager who was not actually a director

could be treated in law as if they were a director and be subject to the various legal duties that are imposed on company directors. Even though a senior individual has not been formally appointed as a director, the judge in Trans-Tag confirmed that due to their actions they can be considered to be a de facto director. This means that they can be liable for a breach of duty in the same way as a director can be. The principles of how to determine whether a person is a de facto director were established in the 2014 case Smithton Limited v Naggar and include looking at: • Whether they assumed the status and function of a director so as to make themselves responsible as if they were a director. • What role they took and whether their acts were directorial in nature with reference to the company’s corporate governance system. • Whether the company considered them to be a director and held them out as such. • Whether third parties considered them to be a director. Assuming these principles are established, directors’ duties will apply.

Directors’ duties following resignation or termination of directorship Both directors and de facto directors owe a number of duties to a company pursuant to the Companies Act 2006 (CA 2006). These include duties to: • Promote the success of the company (s.172 CA 2006). • Exercise reasonable care skill and diligence (s.174 CA 2006). • Avoid conflicts of interest (s.175 CA 2006). The general rule is that a director ceases to be subject to these general duties when they cease to be a director of the company. An exception to this is set out in s170(2) CA 2006, which confirms that a person who ceases to be a director continues to be subject to the duty to avoid conflicts of interests. Using information obtained at one company for the benefit of another company is likely to fall into this category. Previously, it was considered that a breach of duty under s170(2) CA 2006 needed to be based on actions of the director before or at the time of resignation. However, following Trans-Tag this is no longer the case. The court held that s170(2) (a) CA 2006 is a continuing duty and that it must therefore be possible for a breach of

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that continuing duty to be founded on acts which take place after a director has resigned his or her directorship or a de facto director has resigned from their role. Such acts which occur after the resignation of the director or de facto director need to involve: • The exploitation of ‘any property, information or opportunity’ of which the director became aware at a time when he or she was a director (as per s170(2) CA 2006); and • Consideration of the common law rules and equitable principles. For example, the nature of any pre-resignation and post-resignation conduct of that director. Clear action to obtain and store data relating to customers prior to any resignation and then contacting those former customers soon after leaving is likely to be considered to be a breach of the duty to avoid conflicts of interest. The position is not always black or white and various shades of grey exist. If a director or de facto director is also an employee of the company, they may also be subject to other employment duties and obligations, including the duty of confidence, which survives termination of an employment contract. Companies

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should therefore, also maintain a list of such duties and obligations and be prepared to enforce them. Actions to avoid unfair competition If a company suspects that a former director or de facto director (or any former employee) has unlawfully exploited its confidential information or property either before or after resignation, a number of avenues may be available to the company. These include:

Martin Fleetwood is a Consultant at Addleshaw Goddard’s Transport practice. The Rail Team has over 30 lawyers who advise clients in both the private and public sectors across a wide range of legal areas. As well as contractual issues, the team advises on operational matters, franchises, concessions, finance, regulatory, property, employment, environmental and procurement issues. Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. It is recommended that specific professional advice is sought before acting on any of the information given.

• Injunctive relief to prevent the director from unlawfully competing with the company. • Commencing a breach of contract and/or breach of duty claim. • Claiming damages for loss of profits, account of profits and/or legal costs. As with all business protection disputes, time is of the essence and specialist advice should be sought urgently when director wrongdoing is suspected. If the company is slow to react once it has become aware of the breach of duty, the court may infer that the company had limited concerns and the value of any claim made could be limited by the courts as a result.

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VIEWPOINT FEATURE | |

Women in Rail

25 25

Anna-Jane Hunter

Reinvigorating Women in Rail North West

Anna-Jane Hunter

It’s fair to say the pandemic had a big impact on Women in Rail in the North West

e had been working hard to grow numbers from 2018 and our mix of social and educational events in the region was beginning to attract a wide reach of attendees. Our efforts to be inclusive and spread the message about diversity had seen us push #notjustforgirls. Then lockdown came, and we all know the huge effect that had on where and how we worked. For whatever reason, we struggled to establish momentum for online events, perhaps because there was just so much on offer! So, it was with great anticipation and a palpable air of excitement that we welcomed our members back to reinvigorate the regional group in person on 27 January. Hosted by ARUP, who had just been named as Britain’s most admired employer, we were joined by around 40 guests from across rail in the region. From Metrolink

to WSP, Network Rail and Transpennine Express, we had designers, deliverers and operators in the room. Everyone was welcomed back by Anna-Jane Hunter, Chair of the regional group who was delighted to be joined by presenters representing the breadth our fantastic industry has to offer. We heard from Kathryn O’Brien (Customer Experience Director, TPE), Nicola Uijen (Network Rail Capital Delivery, NW Region) and our host ARUP’s own Caroline Thomas. The discussion included how they chose their careers (‘the construction firm paid more than the car manufacturer’), who inspired them and how we can inspire the next generation, especially in relation to school children making their first careers decisions. Nina Lockwood (Intuitive Recruitment) led the Q&A, exploring our guests views on what has inspired them and what advice they would give to others. One message that all three speakers agreed on was the need for role models (both male and female) and for a ‘cheerleader’ to support and promote you. When it came to how we inspire the next generation, there was consensus that more needed to be done to capture interest from a younger age, to make it ‘cool’ and to think about the impact of language on making decisions. Our evening was then topped off with

some welcome networking. Old friends and new stayed on to catch up on all that had happened in the past two years; career changes, house moves, office moves and more. We can’t wait until the next event! The North West region will be hosting some online shorter events: North West Chatterbox, beginning on 17 March at 12:30. This event will recognise March is Endometriosis awareness month and offer insight to this condition that effects one in ten women but often goes unheard of. Presenters will highlight what employers and colleagues can do to support women with the condition in the workplace. Future events will cover topics such as menopause, leading your first team, and imposter syndrome. Keep an eye on the Women in Rail website for further details and to register. Women in Rail is free to join and we welcome people of all genders, ages and ethnicity. We’re always looking for ideas for events and people to support, and deliver them. So do get in touch if you have any ideas. Rail Professional

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VIEWPOINT FEATURE | |

Leading the way to productivity improvements Phil Bulman, partner and cost-based management consultant at Vendigital explains how the rail sector can achieve valuable, long-lasting change and a more sustainable cost base

s a result of the pandemic, there’s an urgent need for the rail industry to reduce its cost base without negatively impacting levels of passenger service. To achieve this, a focus on stepping up productivity through the effective use of people, alongside technology and innovation, will be key. According to recent figures, demand for rail services is recovering, with passenger numbers rising to about 70 per cent of pre-pandemic levels by November 2021. Nevertheless, in order to secure a sustainable future, the industry must achieve a step change in its efficiency and productivity. According to data from the Office of Road and Rail (ORR), the industry is facing an £8 billion hole in its finances. As part of the effort to reduce costs, The Department for Transport (DfT) has tasked train operating companies (TOCs) to support them in cutting spending by ten per cent following the Autumn Budget. The asset-heavy nature of the rail industry can make cost reduction particularly challenging, with a significant percentage of spend locked into rolling stock, track and other critical infrastructure. At a time when the industry needs to encourage passengers back, there’s also a risk that axing routes and services as part of a cost reduction drive could negatively impact their experience. Instead, the key to achieving efficiencies lies in boosting productivity levels across the industry. The development and implementation of new technologies within the supply chain has an important role to play in boosting productivity. This will enable the sector to achieve performance benefits, while managing costs and improving working conditions for staff. However, considering the industry’s asset-heavy nature, it’s surprising that the workforce accounts for a significant proportion of its overall costs – around 35 per cent. In August 2021, Network Rail launched a voluntary redundancy programme, with the aim of cutting between 7,000 and 9,000

jobs – the equivalent of between a third and a quarter of its employees. In particular, the scheme has focused on its head office management roles, which have grown significantly over the last decade. However, this approach has not addressed the need to drive productivity in the industry, which will require changes in working practices, including improved flexibility and some re-skilling of staff to support changes in technology. In recent years, a number of technological

innovations have changed the industry’s staffing requirements and many more such developments are on the horizon. For example, the rise of e-ticketing has altered levels of demand for customer service. On the other hand, increased automation across the sector is driving demand for digital skills. With around 45 per cent of the current workforce eligible for retirement in the next ten years, it’s vital that the industry finds a way to map its changing skills requirements and bring in new talent. Rail Professional

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While it has historically been a sensitive area, inflexibility around roles in the rail sector introduces additional costs and can create single points of failure. In the event that staff are not available, due to becoming ill with Covid-19, for example, this can lead to disruption, such as services being cut. As such, the industry should aim to learn lessons from other areas of transportation, such as aviation, by introducing greater flexibility around workers’ roles. For example, staff who perform the duties of a ticket inspector, can also support the delivery of other onboard services, such as serving refreshments. To make this transition effectively, a strategic perspective is required, which considers the needs of rail operators, passengers and workers. If the industry is unable to strike the right balance and demonstrate a willingness to map out a new way of working that brings benefits for all, the sector is likely to continue its downward spiral of falling passenger numbers and poor financial performance. To get this right, close collaboration between TOCs, Network Rail and other key employers with trade unions (TUs) will be essential. In the past, trade unions have played a vital role in facilitating member communications, understandably acting to

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maximise outcomes for their workers. Sadly, this can bring challenges for rail organisations when trying to implement new technologies and drive productivity improvements. However, for the industry to deliver for passenger and the taxpayer, doing nothing is not an option. TUs can and should be instrumental in realising positive change for the industry and help bring about the sustainable future that is so urgently needed. The industry must find a way to engage TUs in a constructive way to ensure all employees understand the need for change and enable them to be part of the solution, providing a bright future for all. To facilitate this, industry leaders must focus on understanding what workers really want and providing worthwhile career paths that offer them an opportunity for professional development, possibly including retraining in areas where skills are in short supply. With the potential for further industry disruption in the near future, change is inevitable and joined up working between TOCs and TUs will help to manage the challenges that lie ahead. Rethinking workers’ roles in the rail sector is a sensitive area, so transformation is unlikely to happen overnight and there is bound to be some resistance along the way. However, with strong leadership and

a commitment to real staff engagement and empowerment, along with a focus on stepping up productivity and positively embracing technology, it is possible for the sector to achieve valuable, long-lasting change and a more sustainable cost base. About Vendigital An award-winning UK top-20 management consultancy, Vendigital delivers data-led accelerated cost transformation by combining multi-disciplinary consulting expertise and its proprietary digital platform to generate and embed client-specific operational insights. It works across procurement and supply chain; operating strategy; cost and value engineering; and portfolio management to deliver tangible, quantifiable cost benefits for clients. Vendigital’s highly-experienced consultants and data scientists serve businesses across a variety of sectors – aerospace and defence; automotive; consumer products; industrial manufacturing; private equity; technology, media and telecoms; and transportation and infrastructure. Delivered in partnership with in-house teams, Vendigital’s services provide measurable and sustainable results: www.vendigital.com     Phil Bulman is a partner and cost-based management consultant at Vendigital. He specialises in advising businesses in the transport sector.

VIEWPOINT FEATURE | |

Delivering the goods Alexandra Herdman

GBR: transition team transforming the railways Alexandra Herdman, Public Policy Manager, Logistics UK, provides an overview of the newly created GBRTT, its objectives, and how it could help grow rail freight opportunities in Great Britain

he Great British Railways Transition Team (GBRTT) – the group responsible for creating Great British Railways, the new public body that will run and plan the rail network – has launched a call for evidence to support a 30-year, Whole Industry Strategic Plan. The call for evidence is the GBRTT’s first step towards providing clear, long-term plans for transforming the railways, and represents a golden opportunity to help shape the future of this mode for the coming decades. Five objectives to create a better, simpler railway The GBRTT, which will pave the way for the transition to the future of rail, will focus initially on driving revenue recovery efforts post-pandemic, adopting a whole industry approach to tackling cost and promoting efficiency, and establishing a strategic freight unit to boost the sector. GBRTT is asking stakeholders to provide their views on how rail can contribute to five strategic objectives set by government: meeting customers’ needs; delivering financial sustainability; contributing to long-term economic growth; levelling up and connectivity; and delivering environmental sustainability. Backed by the private sector, the call for evidence on the Strategic Plan asks how the rail industry can play a part in boosting Britain’s economy, providing access to new jobs and opportunities and making the railways a keystone in the UK’s plans to build back better and greener. Experts from across the rail and transport industry and beyond have been invited to submit evidence to ensure this first-of-its-kind strategy will receive contributions from a wide range of stakeholders and Logistics UK is currently

polling members for their opinions on the overall proposals. The development of a Strategic Plan was a commitment first made in the May 2021 Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail. Ensuring rail keeps up with modern life Social distancing restrictions under the Covid-19 pandemic led to a significant decline in the number of passenger rail journeys taken in Great Britain and as the country starts to recover, it is becoming increasingly clear that working patterns have changed for ever, with the ‘five day a week commute’ seemingly a thing of the past and many employers adopting for hybrid- or home-working models. At Logistics UK we see this as an opportunity to shift more freight onto rail and take HGVs off our roads for the benefit of businesses, customers, and the environment. This call for evidence from the GBRTT thus represents a unique opportunity to shape the railways post-pandemic and ensure rail freight offers a strong alternative to road transport, as well as fit for the future of British logistics. Rail freight has been disadvantaged historically by complex systems of decision making involving various rail bodies; Logistics UK supports the creation of Great British Railways and the GBRTT in principle; both have the potential to shatter this obstacle and foster more unified decisions for freight, as well as ensuring the requirements of logistics are not side lined for rail passenger needs. Given the enhanced role rail freight is set to play in UK logistics as the economy transitions to net zero emissions, it is vital that the GBRTT sets the foundation for a strong future for rail freight. Logistics UK will be making a detailed

submission to this call for evidence and plans to work closely with GBRTT to ensure every opportunity to grow and improve rail freight in Great Britain is seized. Logistics UK is one of the UK’s leading business groups, representing logistics businesses which are vital to keeping the UK trading, and more than seven million people directly employed in the making, selling and moving of goods. With Covid-19, Brexit, new technology and other disruptive forces driving change in the way goods move across borders and through the supply chain, logistics has never been more important to UK plc. Logistics UK supports, shapes and stands up for safe and efficient logistics, and is the only business group which represents the whole industry, with members from the road, rail, sea and air industries, as well as the buyers of freight services such as retailers and manufacturers whose businesses depend on the efficient movement of goods. For more information about the organisation and its work, including its ground-breaking research into the impacts of Covid-19 on the whole supply chain, please visit logistics.org.uk. Rail Professional

VIEWPOINT FEATURE | |

What’s in a plan? Simon Kendler, a regional rail Freight Manager, explores the various possible answers

here is nothing like a government transport paper to incite differing opinions over its contents and benefits. 2021 was a bumper year for such documents with the publication of the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail in May, the Transport Decarbonisation Plan in July, and the much delayed Integrated Rail Plan (IRP) in November. What was particularly interesting was the reaction to the IRP and the reaction to the reaction that appears to have divided into two distinct camps. One is that the IRP is severely deficient, and the other is that the IRP is a pragmatic and equally beneficial approach to rail investment. But which reaction is more warranted is an important question. The IRP is notable for some welcome transport investment including the almost full electrification of the Midland Main Line or MML (it’s not full unless the Corby diversion and Sheffield to Moorthorpe sections are also electrified), a re-commitment to delivering the full Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU) and some new sections of high-speed line from Birmingham to East Midlands Parkway (where it will join the MML) and from Liverpool to Manchester and under the Pennines. Whilst these are welcome commitments, it must be recognised what the IRP has cut. It has cut the full Eastern leg of High Speed 2 (HS2) from Birmingham to Toton, Sheffield, Leeds and York (truncating it to East Midlands Parkway). It has also cut around half of Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) from the Pennines to Leeds. This has left significant question marks around how intercity services will reach Leeds. £100 million (although it confusingly also says £200 million in places) has been promised to look into this and to investigate how to build a West Yorkshire metro without much detail on what that actually means (or getting on with it given how much work on this has already been done). The strength of feeling across northern regions, particularly in the ‘red wall’ seats, has been fierce and overall strongly critical. West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin said in response to the IRP that it will leave communities ‘feeling betrayed’ and that, ‘the plan will limit the growth and potential of West Yorkshire for many decades to come’. Meanwhile recently appointed

chair of Transport for the North (TfN) Sir Patrick McLoughlin described the IRP as being ‘against the best interests of people in the North’. But how can this be in the face of £96 billion of committed investment by government in the Midlands and the North hailed by the Department for Transport (DfT) as the ‘biggest ever public investment in Britain’s rail network’? First we must tackle some pernicious myths about government investment. One: £96 billion is a lot of money and a lot for government to commit in the current economic climate. This claim isn’t convincing when considering, first and foremost, that the transport sector is the largest polluting sector in the UK accounting for over 30 per cent of total UK Greenhouse Gas emissions (GHGe). 27 per cent of this comes from the road sector. Modal shift to public and active transport is a climate necessity and given how late we are reacting, we must invest boldly and swiftly. This is even more stark in the context of Office for National Statistics (ONS) article published in November 2021 that stated that 75 per cent of British adults said they were worried about the impacts of climate change. Transport is barely one per cent of UK annual government spending. Does it sound so generous now? What is the price of not tackling climate change and not reducing emissions? Given the urgency of the situation, £96bn is beginning to sound like a significant underspend even if the DfT are hailing it the largest ever public investment in Britain’s rail network. Two: government borrowing is at record levels and government debt is bad so cuts had to be made. It is true that government borrowing is high, including the millions poured into franchised Train Operating Companies to keep them going through the pandemic and lockdowns, but we’d be in a much worse place without it! Imagine the turmoil across society without the rapid government investment in furlough schemes, businesses, transport and the NHS since March 2020. Furthermore, the reality is, and contrary to what you may hear, the national deficit is actually a crucial and necessary part of our national economy. It is important to remember that government spending is not akin to household finances and unlike you

and I, the government has its own bank (the Bank of England) that legally has to create debt (otherwise known as money) when government instructs it to do so. And unlike you and I when paying bills or paying back loans, the government can essentially cancel its debt as and when it needs to. That’s because national debt isn’t debt. Rather it’s the future taxable income of government that it has decided not to claim back yet (through taxes) that’s otherwise circling around, keeping the economy going. And it’s this government spending that creates money that keeps our public sector and our vital public services going. So now that we’ve established that the national deficit is essentially our national money supply of government created money which has to exist to keep the economy going, perhaps we can stop pretending it’s a bad thing. Finally, the concept of the ‘multiplier’ effect also means that government investment in transport has a multitude of economic benefits. The multiplier measures how much economic activity results from additional government spend. The idea is that for every £1 of additional investment in beneficial sectors such as transport, it creates increased economic benefit through job creation, in both construction and later in operations. Furthermore, this investment increases skills and access to employment through improved connectivity. These extra pounds are also taxed as they get spent around the economy, subsequently increasing earnings and government revenues. On the other hand, when transport schemes are assessed by government through HM Treasury’s Green Book, these wider economic benefits are not captured. The design of these assessment guidelines obscures much of the benefits of transport investment, hobbling much needed schemes before a spade is turned and kicking the investment can down the road. This does not inspire confidence in the engineering, construction or rail sectors to invest in jobs and skills and thus hampers economic development. So does record government borrowing Rail Professional

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and increasing national deficit provide good reasons for cutting back on promised transport investments for communities in the Midlands and the North? Absolutely not! Indeed the opposite is true which means we can dispel this myth that cuts to proposed investment are to be welcomed when in fact government should be pulling out all the stops to drive investment. Having established that the economic climate is in fact ripe for major transport investment, now we can examine the substance of the actual plan. Those drafting the IRP knew that any cuts to the original plan had to be assuaged somehow. The main ways in which this was achieved was by committing to the full TRU plan, electrification of the Midland Main Line and upgrading of the East Coast Main Line (ECML). That’s not to say these are bad things but

EMR HST 43274 departs Leicester in May 2021

let’s be absolutely clear on how these plans compare. The TRU should always have been a full upgrade to provide maximum capacity for local, regional and freight services between Manchester and Leeds. The MML electrification was cancelled in 2017 not forgetting that some upgrades were already going to happen with HS2 East to connect Toton’s East Midlands Hub and Sheffield. And the suggested ECML upgrades will entrench and worsen the existing issues we have on this part of the network. Missing these points is also missing the point of what HS2 is fundamentally for. The purpose of HS2 is to provide a new trunk main line for the fastest intercity services. That’s because when these trains run on the existing network (as they do now) they eat up the most capacity (just look at the West Coast Main Line or WCML). Remove these services onto their own line and a once in a generation opportunity presents itself to recast timetables on the existing network to take advantage. These timetables would be built around where HS2 services will still present onto the existing network (i.e. north of Wigan) and then elsewhere about providing frequent, reliable local and regional passenger services and regular paths for freight traffic with some resilience for perturbation. And this points to the most important aspect of the full HS2/NPR plans. The Eastern Leg of HS2 is the most beneficial part of the whole HS2 scheme. Likewise the

key section of NPR is the now axed section from Manchester to Leeds. That’s because, as you can see from the map, the Eastern leg uses one trunk route to relieve both the MML and the ECML at the same time. The service plan for the Eastern leg was to provide intercity connections from London and Birmingham to the East Midlands, Sheffield, Leeds, York and Newcastle. This would directly replace Cross Country flows from Birmingham as well as MML express paths from St Pancras to Nottingham, Derby, Chesterfield and Sheffield. At the same time HS2 eastern services would supplant King’s Cross to Leeds, York and Newcastle services (Edinburgh services would already be connected via the western leg). That means replacing two trains per hour per direction (tphpd) between Birmingham and the North East, four tphpd from St Pancras and around five tphpd from

Freightliner Class 70, 70002 awaits departure from Southampton Maritime in May 2021

King’s Cross. So that’s eleven intercity train paths per direction along the MML & ECML corridors blasting past smaller stations at the expense of local, regional and freight services. It is worth bearing in mind that the MML corridor is also one of the key intermodal corridors. Meanwhile, freight customers are increasingly eager to shift more product to rail but are finding capacity constraints, even on a covid-impacted railway. The IRP claims that destinations served by the MML such as Leicester, Loughborough, Derby and Nottingham will benefit more than under the previous plans due to electrification and upgrades. Yes, under IRP trains will be able to run directly from Birmingham and London to Nottingham, Derby and Sheffield without changing at the Toton-based East Midlands Hub. However, the original plans meant that new, fast, frequent regional services designed to link these cities with the HS2 hub would’ve improved journey times and, crucially, increased MML capacity. Taking Loughborough as an example, under the previous plans passengers from Loughborough would have had more MML intercity services stopping, allowing improved connectivity to Leicester, East Midlands Hub, Derby and Nottingham. Existing services to London would’ve been more frequent but slower. Whilst this could be spun as a negative, in fact it is a positive. More frequent, regular pattern services

stopping at regional destinations improves connectivity and access to jobs. Meanwhile, those passengers for London would travel to East Midlands Hub in around ten minutes, wait a maximum of 15 minutes for a London HS2 service and reach London 52 minutes later or indeed Birmingham 20 minutes later. How do these compare? Today the fastest London to Loughborough journey time is around 1 hour ten minutes. Via HS2 Eastern leg the journey would have also taken around 1 hour ten minutes. The IRP promises a slight improvement on the former whilst impacting capacity and stifling connectivity. Even electrification and improved signalling cannot make up for this shortfall. Remembering that Britain and its economy is not all about what happens within the M25 we must recognise the significance of improved local and regional

LNER, Intercity-liveried Class 91, 91119 arrives into London King’s Cross in November 2018

connectivity. It is transport investment such as HS2 East and NPR that will help drive modal shift and provide transformational economic benefits for areas like the East Midlands and West Yorkshire. As a further example, via HS2 East, Loughborough to Birmingham could’ve been achieved in less than 40 minutes compared with the 90 minutes it takes currently. A clear boost for East Midlands plc., an area that’s traditionally suffered the lowest transport spend per head for decades. The IRP also claims that the ECML can be upgraded and services speeded up through a mixture of line speed upgrades, digital signalling, power supply upgrades, longer trains and the removal of bottlenecks such as flat junctions. It states that: ‘DfT analysis shows it is unlikely HS2 would be able to serve York and North East England as previously promised without compromising existing services’. Furthermore, it goes on to claim that journey time reductions of 15 minutes between London and York, 25 minutes to Newcastle and 20 minutes to Leeds can be made. These claims are interesting to say the least. So what infrastructure interventions could be made along the ECML to reduce journey times? Longer trains and power supply upgrades are welcome but the main issues here are reliance on line speed improvements, digital signalling and bottleneck removal to reduce journey times. Digital signalling (in reality European Train Rail Professional

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Control System or ETCS Level 2 already being installed on the southern end of the ECML) is often touted as the harbinger of chunky capacity improvements. However, when the marketing meets the mixedtraffic main line the capacity gains are more likely minimal. The revival of proposals for 140mph running (originally developed in the 1980s for the Intercity225s) has already been proven to make minimal journey time improvements whilst further reducing capacity as described by the likes of Roger Ford and William Barter. And finally, the thorny problem of bottlenecks of which the ECML has many. The 2-track sections at Welwyn, Huntingdon, Stoke Tunnel and that between Grantham and Doncaster that also includes the Newark flat crossing are significant constraints. Welwyn, Huntingdon and Newark are particularly difficult and whilst the latter are mentioned, the 2 ½ mile viaduct plus tunnel section at Welwyn is ominous by its omission. The other key issue to highlight is the one already exposed recently by the proposed May 2022 (now delayed to May 2023) timetable consultations. Again, forensic analysis by industry commentators exposed that to improve headline intercity journey times along the ECML, intra-regional connections, such as those between Doncaster and Peterborough, would be lost. This would leave towns like Grantham, Newark and Retford unable to use the train to get to the adjacent station/town as trains would only be able to stop at one of those locations to keep longer distance journey times down. It is under these realities that a forensic eye should be cast over the IRP as the claims and promises it is making appear to be unrealistic at best, and less beneficial at worst. Again when considering that the construction of HS2 is generally away from the existing network, except at the interfaces and key stations, it is clear that trying to bring even 50 per cent of HS2 East’s benefits to the MML and ECMLs will result in major disruption, cost and environmental impact for less benefit. Is this really a plan worth investing in, let alone celebrating? Moreover, heading north across the Pennines, the pessimism is palpable. NPR was expected to bring down journey times between Manchester and Leeds to a mere 25 minutes against today’s best at 45 minutes whilst serving Bradford city centre directly. Instead, Bradford will get the line from Interchange to Leeds electrified and journey times reduced to twelve minutes, a saving of six minutes and seemingly at the expense of the intermediate stations at New Pudsey and Bramley. This proposal also appears to ignore the fact that the majority of services on this line go through Bradford and Leeds to other destinations. Bradford, like its West Yorkshire neighbours in Leeds, are treated as secondclass citizens when it comes to transport

provision. It is aways forgotten that 675,000 people live within ten kilometres of Bradford which is more than Bordeaux, more than Geneva and more than Strasbourg. Yet these European cities enjoy excellent public transport links in the form of trams, frequent local rail services and high speed connections to other major cities. Tracy Brabin’s strong words to Grant Shapps are now starting to make sense. So where does this leave the IRP? In summary, the scaling back of the original plans are questionable and reduce the overall benefits of planned investment. Don’t believe me. These are the conclusions of the Mott McDonald and DfT internal assessments of the IRP. The objectives of the IRP are confused and contradictory and seemingly forget what the previous plans were for without consulting the communities who would be most impacted by these changes.

The IRP promises welcome investment on the existing rail network. But instead of complimenting the wider improvements that would come with delivery of the full HS2 plan and NPR, the reduced benefits are being sold as better than the previous plan. Did we need to save money on transport investment in the wake of the pandemic and its economic impacts? No. Government investment spreads economic benefits and government borrowing doesn’t produce an unsustainable debt burden because that’s not how national economics works. The IRP leaves Leeds in the lurch with no clear plan for how services will reach

the city, how they will be accommodated and does this off the back of somewhat flimsy promises about improving ECML journey times. The solution for services into Manchester seems to rely on a dead-end HS2 terminus and claims that such termini are good, actually. This is despite the fact that across the Channel in Antwerp, Berlin and Stuttgart great efforts have been made to convert dead-end termini into through stations as they are far more efficient. Promises of improved journey times and better services for the towns, cities and communities of the Midlands and the north are hard to believe when these plans are so confused. The IRP also claims that these schemes will be delivered quicker as a result of the IRP. Again, it’s hard to believe this will be the case when there are so many unanswered questions. One question that can’t be avoided is how we tackle climate change. The UK government has mandated targets of reaching net zero by 2050. The reality is that this can only be achieved by the railway playing its part in carrying 50 per cent more people and 50 per cent more freight than it does today, in just 28 years. The pandemic has certainly created major changes in travel demand but remember that road use has been at 100 per cent and higher of pre-pandemic use since the country started to emerge out of the first lockdown. Travel demand hasn’t disappeared, it has changed and rail has to be part of that. Great British Railways (GBR) is being developed with a legally mandated freight growth target. This can only be achieved via enhancements to Britain’s rail network. Fortunately, the strength of feeling has been noticed by the DfT and HM Treasury with their strong rebuttals to the criticism. Hopefully, there is still time to re-think transport investment and re-commit to more widespread and more beneficial investment in the rail network of the Midlands and the north. Building the full Y-HS2 and NPR networks would be a start, followed by a rolling programme of electrification along major freight corridors and urban networks. This should be concurrent with the development of alternative traction where appropriate whilst urban areas get major developments in light rail, electric buses and active transport infrastructure that links into the rail network. Getting more people onto trains and more freight off the roads and onto rail would make for an integrated plan for transport that might be welcomed more broadly across the Midlands and the North. Simon Kendler is a Freight Manager and an active member of the Young Rail Professionals. The views expressed in this article are his personal opinion and do not reflect the views of Network Rail or Young Rail Professionals. You can follow Simon on Twitter @SimonZev Rail Professional

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The rail industry’s ongoing journey towards sustainability Mark Thomas, Business Development Manager/Project Manager Rail at Fugro explores the how rail can help guide us to a more sustainable future

s the UK navigates the ongoing challenges of the pandemic, the rail industry is continuing to play a leading role when it comes to the idea of ‘building back better’. Not only does the industry have the potential to solve some of these existing challenges, but it also has a role to play in moving towards a more sustainable future. With public transport integral to the future reduction of carbon emissions, there is even greater urgency to make rail as efficient as possible, to help build a sustainable green economy and achieve the UK’s net-zero ambitions. Achieving the targets will only be possible through sustained reductions in carbon emissions, as well as optimising and maintaining the existing infrastructure and assets. Industry leaders and partners will need to examine the rail eco-system as a whole and identify the areas of improvement as well as looking

for opportunities to move towards sustainability. Future freight movement Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, rail passenger numbers plummeted dramatically. While there has been significant recovery, some of these passengers will look to reduce their future travel or simply won’t come back. Looking to the future, the rail industry must consider additional opportunities to sustain itself, as well as support a sustainable future. One possibility could be an increase in the amount of light freight the rail industry transports. In fact the railfreight industry recently called for rail to be put at the heart of the government’s plan to decarbonise transport in the UK. Increasingly, challenges relating to the UK’s – as well as the global – supply chain are hitting the headlines. Reports of long wait times, driver shortages and empty

supermarket shelves are now an almost daily occurrence, and there’s an increased understanding of the need to invest in a system that will be more resilient to future crises. By shifting attention to light freight transportation, the UK rail industry could work to elevate some of these challenges in the supply chain, not least reducing some of the demand for HGV drivers. Rail also has the lowest carbon footprint out of all the major means of transport. Cars, vans and HGVs account for 95 per cent of surface transport emissions, with rail contributing less than three per cent. Indeed, in 2021, Varamis Rail announced its intentions to repurpose electric multiple units to carry light goods between hubs, with last mile delivery by sustainable road vehicles. Should this practice become common place, the Rail industry could well be the key to a long-distance, highspeed, sustainable solution to supply chain

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challenges. However, operators need to be aware that with today’s ‘just in time’ logistics and high consumer expectations around deliveries, a railway operating for light freight will need to be every bit as reliable as a passenger railway. Turning to technology In order to unlock some of these potential benefits, significant and sustained investment in smart solutions will be essential. With AI and automation becoming ever more advanced and integrated into rail networks – there will also be an increased need for large-scale accurate data and analysis on asset performance to underpin the widespread transformation of the rail industry in 2022 and beyond. Technology has a significant role to play when it comes to asset management and optimisation in the rail industry, both of which are essential for a long-term sustainable future. There is a huge amount of embodied carbon in the construction and manufacturing of rail assets. Optimising the life cycle of existing assets will reduce the carbon emissions generated by replacements. To optimise asset life, the industry needs up-to-date Geo-data on asset performance and condition, which can then be analysed and used for maintenance. To address

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this, at Fugro we’ve developed the groundbreaking RILA monitoring system. The RILA system connects to any in-service passenger trains and surveys the tracks at regular speed to provide accurate track insights with no impact on network capacity or additional fuel consumption. For example, we recently completed the InnoTamp project in collaboration with Network Rail with funding from Innovate UK and the Department for Transport. A world-first for track maintenance, the project demonstrated how track alignments generated using Geo-data from Fugro’s RILA system can be directly uploaded to a tamper’s computer to optimise tamping of railway lines. The immediate benefit is improved productivity but over time it will lead to lower annual maintenance costs and extended existing asset and infrastructure lifecycles, which in turn will have the added benefit of reducing embodied carbon emission in rail. These are the emissions produced when new materials and assets are manufactured and transported as well as the energy that is used during the construction of infrastructure. Additionally, this method of data capture also negates the need for rail workers to go out onto the track. Whilst this offers

a clear safety benefit, it also improves overall efficiency and eliminates the hidden environmental impact of the journeys made by operatives to undertake site inspections. An industry on track to innovation Although coal and heavy industry drove the original expansion of the railway, now a data driven network could be the key to accelerating decarbonisation. Rail continues to be a vital component of wider society, and despite changing habits and travel needs, passengers and partners will always rely on the industry to deliver. This means continued technological innovation, whether through new technologies or data analytics, will be essential in ensuring the industry can adapt and grow. There are significant opportunities for rail to adapt, such as shift towards light freight, in a way that ultimately improves maintenance and services, with fewer disruptions. Working to reduce the industry’s overall environmental impact and carbon footprint is essential for cementing rail as a leading sector striving towards a more sustainable future. For more information contact Mark Thomas on m.thomas@fugro.com

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A new era Michael Stalter, of Amadeus explains how rail distribution standards are supporting a modern rail industry

or many years, travellers wishing to enjoy international train journeys across Europe have faced difficulties when trying to purchase their tickets. Yet, panEuropean rail travel is an enticing prospect. With it comes the opportunity to experience the vibrant scenery our continent has to offer whilst reducing carbon emissions in the process. Yet, travel agents haven’t been able to put this kind of offer together as easily as other modes of transport. Due to complex technical challenges, limited from the outset. If we consider the different rail circuits across Europe, each country has its individual way of doing things, including the UK. There’s no standard ‘booking classes’, station codes may differ from one rail operator to another, there are no standard booking flows, and generally no standardization. In order to enable a passenger to book a train ticket from the UK to France and then onwards to say Germany, travel agents have to decode each country’s rail ‘language’ to ensure a consistent experience for the traveller throughout their journey. It creates significant complexity and is restrictive. The rise of ‘seamless’ travel The past year has seen the concept of ‘endto-end’ or seamless travel dramatically advance, driven in part by the need to respond to new requirements for safe travel. In essence, there is a growing demand for a smooth, efficient, safe, secure, and enjoyable experience from a traveller’s point of origin to a destination, within the destination, and back again. As we enter a time of unprecedented change in our travel ecosystem, other transport systems are adapting to the need for greater connectivity and consistency. Take the example of the airline industry, where IATA’s New Distribution Capacity (NDC) standard is allowing for more personalized offers and greater rich content for merchandising of the airline product. This change is transforming the industry, facilitating more efficient retailing which benefits all parties – airlines and travel sellers. Rail transport plays just as crucial a role within our transport system and yet for over 100 years has been defined at the country level, despite several attempts in the past to harmonize the sector on an international level. Today, this is changing, with significant progress being made on the

Open Sales and Distribution Model (OSDM) standards for rail distribution. Market forces pushing for change Beyond the rise of end-to-end travel, other market forces and trends are pushing the rail sector to move and change. Among these, is the growing demand for green travel. According to the UK Government, 2019 saw a three per cent increase in passenger journeys and a 2.2 per cent increase in passenger distance, and while car was the most common mode of transport, rail increased at the fastest rate. This trend is set to continue too as demand for travel returns. Pre-pandemic forecasts also predicted passenger and freight activity to more than double by 2050 on a global scale. And, while such growth is a token of social and economic progress, it carries with it greater energy demand and increased C02 emissions. A greater reliance on rail has the potential to cut that growth. High speed rail serves as an alternative to other forms of shortdistance travel, and conventional and freight rail complements other transport modes to provide efficient mobility. Yet, while rail is the most energy efficient transport modes for both freight and passengers, it has often been neglected in public debate and several attempts to introduce a standardized approach have failed. Rail has also seen positive signs of recovery during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic due to the domestic nature of travel in the past year. In some countries such as France or Germany, there has also been an increased push for airlines to change domestic routes in favour of rail. For example, French MPs have voted to suspend domestic airline flights on routes that can be travelled by direct train in less than two and a half hours as part of a series of climate and environmental measures. Elsewhere, pressure is also mounting from citizens themselves, with Swedish state-owned railway operator SJ reporting an eleven per cent rise in 2019 passenger traffic, citing concerns over the environmental impact of air travel as a primary contributor to the spike. Market liberalization in Europe has brought with it an increase in competition and focus on the traveller journey. Back in May, SNCF launched a low-cost high-speed Ouigo service for their passengers in Spain for example and, the European Union’s willingness to create a more efficient PanEuropean rail system is driving change too.

Across both the EU and the UK, rail will play a key role in meeting climate targets and will remain a mainstay of transport systems. Once its organised and engineered according to 21st century principles, there’s no doubt that railway transport means huge benefits in most areas from sustainability, efficiency, safety and even speed. How OSDM standards can support more efficient rail distribution With all of this in mind, significant changes are on the horizon for the sector. A key driver will be the modernisation and standardisation of rail ticket distribution in the form of the Open Sales and Distribution Model, or ODSM. OSDM is the new global industry standard for ticket sales, reservations and price distribution, and is a project jointly managed by the Union of Railways (UIC), railway companies, ticket vendors involved in travel technology and ETCAA associations. It’s also the result of the evolution of the FSM (Full-Service Model) initiative, which the UK Train Operating Companies have been actively involved with. At Amadeus, we’ve been contributing to the standards since 2013 and very recently integrated rail inventory management platform Sqills’ API using OSDM in a ‘sandbox environment’, enabling new rail distribution use cases to be tested for the first time. This integration took a matter of hours to connect a rail operator to Amadeus’ network of travel sellers. OSDM is nothing short of a catalyst for in-direct rail sales. The benefits of this new approach For now, the standard is only being implemented on a voluntary basis, but it’s impact will be transformative for rail operators. For starters, it will dramatically improve the traveller experience by making it easier to compare all ticket offers in a transparent and standardised way across Europe’s rail operators. This also has the added benefit of increased visibility for rail among other transport modes with travel agency displays and should further increase demand for overall passenger journeys. By defining a common standard across all industry stakeholders, rail distribution is now far more scalable at an international level, bringing the industry firmly into the 21st century. Michael Stalter is Head of Commercial for Rail at Amadeus Rail Professional

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Great British Rail: modernisation demands operational efficiency Paul Coleman, Account and Customer Experience Executive at ITAL explains why getting off the privatisation journey is one of the critical reforms in UK rail history and the importance of harnessing data flow

hile privatisation may not have delivered expected efficiencies in the rail operations, it certainly did take the burden of increasing passenger numbers in past decades. Even though the newly formed Great British Rail (GBR) will join the network together, there may still be regional railways and franchise contracts with different businesses operating them. There will still be people dedicated to running services, and others looking after infrastructure. Even if there are fewer operators, the same complexities of running a nationwide network will remain. How can GBR deliver reliable and efficient services and make sure its customers have a good experience of rail travel? How can the network be resilient to change – because we all know the only constant is change – and cope with a potential tirade of changing governments, pandemics, and recessions? The modernisation efforts aimed at simplification, improved infrastructure, and service reliability, together with cost savings, will mean implementing significant changes to how the work happens. Removing services timetables, something we have seen as a result of the pandemic, gives TOCs more leeway to move things around and minimise the impact of failures, delays or cancellations. New-age data technologies also allow them to solve operational and passenger complexities by enabling broader datasets and insights critical to a seamless experience. Get data flowing in – rather than costs flowing out Now, information from the rail network is pumped out of the control centre. However, Rail Professional

if feedback was incorporated in the information management process, frontline staff could provide vital details to enhance the information available and provide the detail needed in a timelier manner to enable quicker responses and better customer experiences.

modernisation of the rail network as it moves away from privatisation does not need to be cumbersome and costly. By using data services that employ latest data analytics and AI, a newly formed nationalised railway could harness the benefi ts

By employing a dynamic data presentation tool, information can be made more readily available to everyone when and where they need it. This could be made available on a web portal or mobile app and take data from disparate, siloed resources. With advanced analytical algorithms, machine learning and AI technology, data feeds can be translated into valuable, pertinent information based on a user’s roll, location, and preferences. But what does having this data to hand mean? Data can be collated, contextualised, and filtered to the needs of an individual user, whether they are in the control centre or on the frontline, enabling staff to make more informed decisions and take quicker actions. TOCs can learn, improve, monitor, and measure the performance of the rail network, and this is where huge gains can be made in operational efficiency. Furthermore,

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over time and as increasing historical data is accumulated, machine learning algorithms mean the benefits of a dynamic, intelligent data management solution increase. Getting online for the future By using a web-based data presentation tool agnostic to the existing systems used on the rail network, data can be fed from anywhere. TOCs are free from burdensome software and huge upfront costs. It becomes a service rather than a product, which means it is always maintained, technology is kept up to date and it provide the agility to adapt to changing needs. It can be developed to meet specific needs and good practice developed and more readily shared. Instead of large, onsite systems, developed against huge contracts with heavy investment, a web-based tool is much more able to deliver operational benefits. TOCs are not left tied into a huge enterprise ‘beast’ they must maintain and the path to digitalisation, and the improvements in process efficiencies this offers, is made much clearer. Why is this? By making the data app a service, the proverbial ‘wheel’ is not being reinvented every time a TOC wants to adopt it. Instead, the service is managed by experts in that field of expertise, and all the TOC needs to do is to feed data into it.

The benefits of data An online data management solution can manage stock, crew, and disruption in realtime, integrate with existing train planning or crew systems, and provide instant insights throughout the rail network. It can include data about loading, stock and crew diagrams, station crowding and delays, and provide operators with a complete picture of what is happening on the rail network. Empowered with this information, staff can make decisions that help improve consistency, timeliness, and quality of services. For example, if a controller needs to cancel a train, how do they know which is the best option? If they have loading data about the number of people using the service, information on crowding across different stations, or can readily see if a service had recently been cancelled, they can choose options that will minimise the impact on the rail network and its customers. An intelligent data system could also suggest best solutions based on historical data, help predict problems and stop repeating issues. It reduces the need for manual intervention or paper-based processes, driving efficiency into operations, and automatically manages duplicate data entry points to ensure a clear, precise picture

of the rail network is readily available. Furthermore, it can use workflows based on established operational processes, enabling resources to be used more efficiently and making response to delays more proactive. Summary Ultimately, modernisation of the rail network as it moves away from privatisation does not need to be cumbersome and costly. By using data services that employ latest data analytics and AI, a newly formed nationalised railway could harness the benefits of cost savings and greater passenger satisfaction by better leveraging the data that is already available across the network to its fullest.

Paul Coleman is the Account and Customer Experience Executive at ITAL and works closely with transport organizations to innovate and improve operational and customer experiences using data technologies. Paul has spent 15 years in the rail industry and has worked with train operating companies and other transport operators in various roles including, Account Management, Business Development, and Customer Service.

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Rail and roads in the UK: time to move on the (data) offence Dr Gianluca Barletta, transport and analytics expert at PA Consulting explains how we can use data to create new services for customers and radically improve efficiencies

uccessful football teams such as Liverpool and Bayern Munich have shown how offensive strategies, when balanced with good defence, are key to bringing success. Translating this concept to the world of data, a strategy based on ‘offence’, is aimed at using data to create new services for customers and radically improve efficiencies. A ‘defensive’ strategy uses data to ensure regulatory compliance and basic functions and services. In other words, it warrants a ‘licence to operate’, but little else. The concepts of data offence and defence were first used by Leandro Dalle Mule and Thomas H. Davenport in a Harvard Business Review article (https://hbr.org/2017/05/whatsyour-data-strategy). Whilst the importance of a defensive strategy is fundamental, it’s the ‘offensive’ use of data in transport which could be transformative. For example, imagine being able to get a pizza delivered to the next station’s stop on your train journey home and handed to you on the steps of your carriage. Although this is not a critical daily need, this is an example of what the future could look like. Another more common example of ‘offensive’ use of data can be found with bus journeys. Adopting a user-centric approach, integrating bus data with real time road traffic info and live train timetables can provide customers with an integrated (and reliable) view of their endto-end journey, which is needed especially in non-urban areas. This would offer a credible alternative to car journeys, thus de-congesting roads and contributing to decarbonising the environment. So, how can we accomplish this? Open data Over the last few years, the Department for Transport, National Highways, Network Rail and Transport for London have accelerated the adoption of “open data” as a mantra for sharing data across a multitude of stakeholders and third parties. For example, the Bus Open Data Service was launched in November 2020 with statutory obligation

to publish data from 1st January 2021. This allows for more accurate information to be made available to users through mobility planning apps. The current situation is not yet optimal for users, especially in smaller towns and rural areas, where information is often not available or reliable, resulting in poor passenger experiences. National datasets are currently being built for timetables, fares and locations, so the time is ripe to move on the ‘offence’ and explore further use cases. Open platforms In a similar fashion, open platforms are the key to enable that pizza to be delivered on your train. In fact, if we break up the previous example, we can see why open platforms are so important. In essence, there are three platforms that need to communicate with each other to make that happen: the food delivery platform (which holds data about what you want to eat, from which restaurant, delivered where and when), the train operator platform (your seat information, the ETA to the station including possible delays), and the station operation system (the delivery person who will need to get through the barriers). For these three systems to communicate, they need to speak the same (data) language and be open to talking to each other and accessing each other’s data. The use of Application Programming Interfaces (better known as APIs) and creation of data standards across platforms will have a big effect in making all this possible and move on the ‘offence’ to improve the customer’s experience. However, open data and open platforms on their own are not enough. In order to create the most valuable use cases and experiences, a multidisciplinary, eco-system approach is needed, including: • Market and user research to help prioritise initiatives and use cases based on customers’ needs and market opportunities. • Organisational agility, to achieve innovation reducing time-to-value. • Digital platforms to create positive user

experiences. • Cloud-based platforms to enable the transport ecosystem to grow both in depth (scalability) and width (new entrants). • Deep analytics, to create actionable insights from the data. (at PA we have identified five key ingredients to be successful: Centre on your customer – Speed up time to value – Design for simplicity – Build to evolve – Liberate your people) – www.paconsulting.com/insights/2020/ organisational-agility In addition, to these elements, the philosophy needed to identify the right use cases and solutions is going to be very important: an end-to-end approach to innovation will enable that user-centric approach which, supported by data and digital technology, is needed to create great customer experiences, i.e., to move on to the ‘offence’. A good example of this is given by Network Rail who had one clear objective: cut delays and drive down costs while keeping the railways safe. Given the many complexities of the rail network, an agile approach to delivery conducted by a fully multi-disciplinary team was adopted to address the challenges and create flexibility. The outcome was a Rail Asset Identification System – an artificial intelligence tool that automatically identifies, catalogues and visualises parts of the network and their location to help avoid accidents. In conclusion, we are starting to see major innovations in the user experience of roads and rail leveraging the power of data. Applying ingenuity and an agile, end-to-end approach to innovation will be key to moving on the ‘offence’ and producing a positive experience for transport users and providers. Dr Gianluca Barletta is a transport and analytics expert at PA Consulting. For more information, visit www.paconsulting.com/transport. Rail Professional

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VIEWPOINT FEATURE | |

Why working in rail is a great option for the ‘PlayStation Generation’ Nick Andrew, Managing Director at CWE offers some ways we can encourage younger people to join the rail industry

s someone who has worked in engineering for over 30 years, I’ve seen a huge amount of transformation, particularly in the technologies we use to develop and deliver increasingly complex projects. Starting my career as an apprentice, it’s been a pleasure to be part of such an exciting and diverse sector – I’ve had the opportunity to work in the aerospace, energy, automotive, defence and now the rail industry. Therefore, it always amazes me when I read headlines that we are facing such a major skills shortage. However, the figures don’t lie. According to industry estimates, up to 120,000 additional people will be required in the rail sector over the next five to ten years, with pinch points coming as an ageing workforce retires. As someone who is passionate about the industry, I, and my CWE colleagues, are committed to doing what we can to showcase the variety of options a career in rail can provide. How can we convince the ‘PlayStation Generation’ that choosing rail will give them the pride and career satisfaction they seek? At CWE, our core expertise is in the refurbishment of crucial parts for rolling stock, and it’s fair to say that the rail sector needs its own image overhaul. So, for us, there are three key areas to focus on: 1. Foster a mutually beneficial relationship between industry and academia. 2. Show we align with the values that matter to the next generation. 3. Demonstrate flexibility to support ambition. The relationship between industry and academia Our senior management team all joined the industry as apprenticeships, so we’re true

believers in the importance of providing routes into rail careers that begin with practical, hands-on training. Key to this is developing strong relationships with academic institutions to demonstrate the value of apprenticeships for school leavers who may not wish to pursue A-Levels or a university degree. As such, we believe that investing in the engineering talent of tomorrow is crucial to the success of every business that supports the rail industry – and to the future of the industry as a whole. We also believe that it’s our duty as a local employer to provide real and valuable opportunities to young people who want to pursue a career in engineering, and particularly rail. We’re fulfilling this duty in several different ways – by working closely with the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre to increase employment opportunities for talented students, by making plans with Doncaster Chambers to improve access to work experience for pupils at local schools, and by making a commitment to providing two new apprenticeship positions each year. Our apprenticeship scheme is one of our proudest achievements. It has recently provided us with two incredible young people – who were awarded November and December’s Employee of the Month awards – who we believe will be key to the future of CWE. The values that matter to the next generation It’s no surprise that the opportunity to work with exciting technological advances will drive the career choices of many future entrants into the workforce. As a smaller business, we also face a battle against the bigger brands – for example we have a major distribution centre for a well known online retailer right on our doorstep – so

competing for talent becomes even more challenging. That said, we believe that we – and the wider rail sector – offer several positives that align with the values of the next generation of talent. Firstly, rail provides the opportunity to work with – and develop – technologies that can make a real difference. The sector offers the best of both worlds – ‘hands on’ practical experience combined with developing technologies that will shape the future of transport. It was with a sense of real pride that CWE was involved in a small way with the HydroFLEX hydrogen train that was unveiled at the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow in November 2021, demonstrating the role of the whole supply chain in supporting these important advances. This leads to the inherent green credentials of rail. We are now talking to a

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much more climate-aware generation that wants to work in industries that will have a real impact on reducing emissions. Rail freight has always provided a low-carbon alternative to road transport. According to the Rail Delivery Group, UK rail accounts for only around two per cent of total transport emissions and about 0.6 per cent of the UK total. Rail’s strong environmental performance has already helped to reduce UK carbon emissions by up to 7.7 million tonnes every year. With the introduction and rapid development of greener technologies, from extended electrification projects and battery storage, to fuel cells and hydrogen powered trains, this number will keep increasing. It’s time that rail shouted more about the pioneering role it will play in the net Rail Professional

zero transition to appeal to this ‘climate first’ generation. Demonstrate flexibility to support ambition It’s one thing to attract the talent, the real test is retaining that talent. For us, it is about working closely with our apprentices and supporting them on their career development. For example, one of our apprentices started in CNC machining and was quickly earmarked for development. He was promoted to quality inspector, and more recently has been promoted to production engineer, with responsibility for launching our new buffer cell process. We also sponsored him through his BEng degree in manufacturing technologies, which he recently completed. He has also been nominated for the AMRC Apprentice

of the Year and Rising Star awards. By being flexible, demonstrating mutual respect and working together on career plans, we are able to retain some of the best engineering talent in our region. Planning for the future The rail industry faces a major challenge when it comes to bridging the skills gap to enable it to deliver the infrastructure that is needed. While companies in the supply chain, like CWE, play a relatively minor role, we all have a part to play in promoting the sector as exciting and dynamic. And, crucially, one that promises huge variety and the opportunity to develop pioneering technologies and processes that can make a real difference. Nick Andrew is Managing Director at CWE

VIEWPOINT FEATURE | |

A catalyst for change that must not fall short Making the Integrated Rail Plan a success will take education, cooperation, and the right oversight, says Dan Rodgers, Director at Turner & Townsend

he publication of the Integrated Rail Plan (IRP) was perhaps the biggest story in UK rail for 2021 and, three months later, the dust is still settling. Many in the north of England in particular remain frustrated by a perceived move away from long-touted East-West connectivity, most significantly with Bradford and Leeds. Nonetheless, this £96 billion investment has the potential to be catalyst for greater change, and perhaps to be the starting point for a truly integrated reimagining of the UK’s rail network. To achieve this potential we must move from the ‘what’ to the ‘how’ – and bring the industry and government together with a single goal in mind: ensuring we deliver for our regions. While the specifics of the plan are subject to political debate, the publication of the IRP was welcome for many reasons. Here was a nationwide strategy, showing a move away from the piecemeal planning of the past, and it coordinated this investment with the advice of the National Infrastructure Commission and the previous announcement to form Great British Rail. More than this, it unblocked a series of funding decisions that had been waiting for the IRP before moving forward, such as the Midlands Main Line, the Midlands Rail Hub, and the next phases of HS2. So while much of the funding committed was already in place before the plan, merely repurposed, rebadged or restated – it is still the biggest investment in a long time, with other projects following in its slipstream. With this in mind, it’s now critically important to look forward at how to make it a success, both in terms of delivering connectivity, reducing regional inequality, and transitioning the UK to a low carbon economy.

the plan can be kickstarted sooner rather than later. This strategy is too important to become trapped in a governance quagmire. In the CBI’s recent report, in partnership with Turner & Townsend (Programmes with Purpose: delivering success in Government’s major projects), it set out a sensible way to approach this challenge by offering recommendations to improve the delivery of the Government’s Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP). In particular, the report argues for oversight of the National Infrastructure Pipeline to be transferred to the UK Infrastructure Bank to streamline the decision-making and prioritisation processes. Shifting this responsibility out of the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) can in turn create extra capacity within the IPA to take oversight of an increasingly connected ‘industry’ for major projects – capable of coordinating and delivering change by drawing on expertise from across major programmes. Programmes with Purpose coincided with the publication of the IRP, and we saw some indications of this kind of joined up thinking both within the plan and in more recent

announcements. For instance, the decision to give HS2 responsibility for delivering Network Rail’s upgrade works as well as the next HS2 phases. This is both more efficient and can create a wider sense of ownership for the whole connected programme. It would be good to see more of this across the UK as we move forward. Investing in delivering the vision However, getting the whole industry prepared to deliver a new integrated connectivity revolution requires more than just breaking down silos and getting subsectors talking to each other. An education exercise is needed that will mean changing behaviours (and even contracts) to force organisations to look more widely at all these projects as a single programme of works to be delivered. Part of this is increasing expertise and decreasing leadership turnover in the private

Reducing red tape Realising this ambition will require a series of important steps. First is navigating the inevitable political interference that can often delay actual investment – so that Rail Professional

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and public sectors – so skills are built up and retained and relationships are grown. High talent churn leads to inefficiencies as people relearn plans, have to rebuild relationships, and bring competing visions. Stability and experience are needed across industry and government. At all levels of construction and delivery we also need more labour capacity, and investment now in local skills, digital technology and project leadership in the regions where the projects will be brought forward. Otherwise projects risk competing for limited resources across the country, rather than serving as a catalyst to build local talent pools and industries. Again, correctly targeting this investment will require substantial planning and coordination between stakeholders, but it is essential, and the rewards will speak for themselves. Focusing on outcomes For a programme to be coherent and successful it must above all be guided by a clear focus on outcomes which is currently lacking. For the IRP, as with other major projects of a similar nature, the outcomes should be green, inclusive and productive: a decarbonised economy; a reduction in regional inequality through levelling up;

and the building of skills and expertise to be exported across the rest of the UK and internationally. Focusing on these outcomes is important at a practical level, as it means you can target the right investment in the right places, join up the right stakeholders, and put in place the right governance structures. It’s also about the real purpose of these programmes – achieving societal aims and benefits through the investment power of major projects. Government is in danger of losing sight of outcomes in the face of short-term political pressure. It talks about connectivity and commuters, without acknowledging that a primary objective of the IRP was supposed to be fixing logistics capacity, and getting freight off roads to benefit the environment and increase efficiency. Transport for the North picked up on this with its recent consultation on a new freight and logistics strategy – highlighting how absent this had been from the original IRP. This is also why defining these outcomes must come hand in hand with defining clear accountability and measures of success and failure. We need to know who is responsible for delivering this vision and be able to assess in a decade what has been successful – and who might have let the side down. At

the moment it is unclear how responsibility is shared between Government and the private sector. While Government must certainly by accountable for the return on such large, taxpayer-funded expenditure – it should also set out where specifically the responsibilities of the industry lie. Only by working together will we get close to the moon-shot we must achieve. The IRP and the subsequent plans and strategies being brought forward are all welcome. But there is a lot of information outstanding that we need to see to assess its current chance of success. While this strategy may provide a compass direction, the path ahead is full of twists and turns. To deliver the projects that we need to benefit the Midlands, the North and the UK – we will need clarity of ownership and responsibility, renewed market and government collaboration, reformed governance and oversight, investment in local expertise and sustainable connectivity, attempts to lower the turnover of experience. Above all though, we need a programmatic approach with clear, purposeful outcomes. At least the IRP is here. But now the real work must begin. Dan Rodgers is Director at Turner & Townsend

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The Integrated Rail Plan for the North and the Midlands Former Rail Minister, Stephen Hammond MP explores the future of Great British Rail

key promise at the General Election of 2019 was that the next Conservative Government would level up the country with the Midlands and the North getting investment in the infrastructure it needed and deserved. Last November the Government announced its plan to deliver what the Prime Minister said in his foreword was ‘the biggest ever government investment in our rail network, redressing decades of underspending in the Midlands and the North’. The Secretary of State for Transport called it ‘a new beginning for the railway network from London to Newcastle and from Birmingham to Leeds’. There can be little contention that the IRP is ambitious; it commits to building three new high-speed lines, it will electrify or upgrade three existing main lines, it will start work on a West Yorkshire Mass Transit System and it will introduce contactless ticketing across the commuter networks. The IRP claims that it replaces a previous approach that concentrated too much on ‘showpiece, high-speed lines’ with an alternative approach that concentrates on upgrading the existing system and building new local connectivity. The IRP claims it will double and treble capacity between Leeds and Manchester and Birmingham and Nottingham respectively. It also claims that the benefits of this revised approach will be delivered up to ten years sooner. The IRP suggests that HS2 dedicated track would not reach Leeds until 2041 whereas some Northern Rail Powerhouse schemes would be operable by 2030, with more to come in the early part of that decade. In the IRP there are a lot of positive claims that the new proposals decrease journey times, improves rail services, and that it delivers all or most of the benefits of HS2 Phase 2 and more but at a muchreduced cost. Too good to be true? However, the question with all ambitious infrastructure projects is whether it is deliverable? Having been our spokesman on rail in Opposition for over four years and Rail Minister, I know that there will undoubtedly be a vast number of differing

expert voices. Therefore, the success and deliverability of the plan can only be judged on cost and funding, the ability of GBR to meet the engineering challenge, the regional community acceptance and its ‘green’ credentials. The funding for the project is said to be £54 billion on top of the £42 billion already spent although the £96 billion is the central estimate in a range of £85-104 billion at 2019 base prices. Is this realistic? The document sets out the costing for all the differing parts of the IRP and it is gratifying to note that the Government has sought to learn the lessons of the past (see para 1.9). However, the pricing is at 2019 base prices so given the supply side constraints and inflation all the projects will, in real terms, cost more than set out. Whilst the Government estimates the cost of completing HS2 Phase One and 2a to be £42.5 billion, there are other industry experts suggesting that the cost, in reality, will be closer to twice that amount. If that were to be so, then the IRP funding envelope would be reduced to closer to £15 billion not £54 billion and would require either more Treasury input or greater private sector involvement. One of the disappointing aspects of the Williams Shapps Plan is the lack of a role for the private sector in the new national network so it is not obvious that is an available option. Indeed, the Call for Evidence on the Whole Industry Strategy Plan is silent on how the private sector will play a role in the railways of the future despite the Secretary of State specifying that ‘harnessing the best of the private sector’ is a core goal for GBR. Great British Railways is created by the Williams Shapps Plan as the new guiding mind for the industry, the operator and maintainer of the infrastructure, a significant role in the provision of a reliable customer service and the builder of new infrastructure. GBR is largely Network Rail reconstructed, which failed to meet its maintenance upgrade targets in the last two Control Periods and its ability to deliver projects on time and on cost is

at best described as patchy. If GBR is the delivery body for the IRP then it will have to demonstrate a break from the past and commit to new contracting and construction methods. A recent Public Policy Projects report I chaired outlined how these could ensure greater reliability of timing and cost of project delivery. And it’s worth highlighting that the majority of train delays on the network are caused by Network Rail, not the train operators. Something must change if GBR is to succeed. The other key question is how long it will take to deliver the improvements set out in the Plan, i.e. will 2030 be met. This is a long term plan and some of it may be delivered but not necessarily in the way currently envisaged because circumstances will change. A major upgrade to the East Coast Main Line, especially with new digital signalling and some extra track at certain key points, could arguably render the original easterly leg of HS2 Phase 2b redundant given the step change in journey times and reliability this investment can deliver, which would take out a significant phase of engineering challenges and release an extra £17 billion. In conclusion the IRP is an ambitious and well thought through set of plans to upgrade the rail network in the Midlands and the North. More than that it represents a key component of the Conservative promise to the UK to level up Britain. If the project can be delivered on time and on or close to budget and the service improvements are deliverable, then it’s a ‘no brainer’. If it isn’t and they can’t, then it’s a huge gamble. In the end the difference between the outcomes might be the performance of GBR aka NR. The reforms proposed by the Williams Shapps Plan will come to nothing if there is not a major transformation in how Network Rail has historically performed and if that doesn’t occur the cost and deliverability risks to the IRP would be huge. Stephen Hammond is the Conservative MP for Wimbledon and has been an MP continuously since 5 May 2005. He was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport from September 2012 to July 2014. Rail Professional

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Interview

Kurt Zeidler, Principal at GALL ZEIDLER Consultants Sam Sherwood-Hale spoke to Kurt Zeidler, Principal at GALL ZEIDLER Consultants about the drivers for innovation, sustainability in tunnelling and the untapped potential in underground spaces At some point, every company will face the question of how to continue maximising earnings from their current business practices whilst also investing enough in innovation so they can turn a profit in the future. How can a company achieve the necessary creativity to innovate without compromising their existing business? There are quite a few aspects to that. Often people don’t want to be the first, you can waste money and time moving forward with something that could be a good idea but then there’s a risk you may fail, with someone else picking up that idea and running with it, so they get the advantage of your initial work without any of the risk. Innovation should always have an end goal that is providing an overall improvement – the question you have to ask is: does it help us improve safety, improve quality, improve life time of the structure, improve construction and operation cost or speed up progress and is it safe to use? These are the main drivers of innovation. I have seen some innovations in ground treatment, with new, efficient materials being developed that turned out to be not sustainable because the material used for grouting had a negative environmental impact. These are the risks when it comes to innovating, as there is no compensation for being forced to stop a new idea or finding out an idea may not work after significant investment. Innovation doesn’t always need to be a revolution, we as a company have often come up with ideas that may not have been fundamentally new, but we have taken existing elements and assembled them in a novel manner to accelerate construction which helps the contactors’ margin on that job – so the reward for innovating in that context is a little more immediate. Rail Professional

RAIL PROFESSIONAL INTERVIEW |

Earth pressure balance tunnelling machines were a UK innovation, originally supported by London Transport to facilitate tunnelling in south-east London where the London Clay is absent. It was a significant risk as it may not have worked but the trial tunnel using this technology allowed the technology to be further developed and modified by other European companies to facilitate safe and efficient TBM tunnelling in soft ground. This has subsequently become the standard closed face tunnelling method in soft ground where there are appropriate ground conditions. This didn’t come about because of a desire to innovate out of nowhere, it was the demand of work in urban areas where soft ground is more common. I was recently involved in a conversation regarding an upgrade scheme for a station on the London Underground, some of the suggestions were unusual but the objective was simple – build a new shaft next to an old escalator. The client didn’t say: ‘we need something new’ The instruction was to build this new shaft, and then the contractor wanted to optimise the use of materials and overall productivity. You mentioned safety standards, there is always the demand there because you can always be safer. When it comes to sustainability, how can a company know that it has innovated some new way to be sustainable, or a twist on a technique that makes that practice more sustainable? As an example, if we consider materials, we know that durability is key for concrete structures and you need to protect it from the attack by aggressive groundwater conditions, calcification and carbonisation, etc. To do this you can improve the durability of the concrete by controlling the crack width, additives to the concrete mix etc., or you can protect the structure with waterproofing. If you go back to Brunel’s Thames Tunnel, there was a demand for waterproofing because he had to keep the interior of the tunnel dry, so he developed a water diversion system to control ground water infiltration and keep the tunnel dry. Water could still penetrate the structure, but it did not reach the interior of the tunnel. Today we have materials that shield the structure from the groundwater to enhance the durability of the material, extend the structures’ lifetime which in turn makes it more sustainable. But there are also new requirements that hinder this drive towards sustainability. On one major project, it was a requirement for each and every contractor along the project to redo all the concrete testing for every piece and every type of concrete. They were using the same mixes but were forced to redo the testing – to go through pre-construction approval testing on such large projects requires thousands of cubic metres of concrete tested and then thrown away. So we have these requirements that

can inadvertently increase waste when the standards are being strictly followed without anyone thinking how to follow the standards in a more efficient way. We tried to stop this on another project. We were able to convince the Client to use concrete mixes that had been tested and approved on a different project before without going through the same testing procedure again. It comes down to individuals to push things forward including representatives of clients who are empowered to make such decisions. On another project which we were working on, a tunnel was planned to go through a protected groundwater area, we knew with the tunnel, we would build a barrier that would cut across the groundwater stream. The relevant environmental authority said we couldn’t build it, but we were able to develop a way to minimise the barrier action which didn’t clash with the environmental standards and get the approval. These may be small things in the overall world of tunnelling, but they add up. Are we as smart as those early innovators, or are we too reliant on the new technology that wasn’t available one hundred or so years ago? Has innovative thought progressed at the same level as the available technology? Now that we know more about materials, the thinking has changed. Things are tested more often, given the experiences we had with lead and asbestos, for example. There are more authorities watching over the development of technologies and identifying issues, whether they are hazardous, or if they have an environmental impact. It is often leniency or comfort with known technologies that hampers innovation, or unwillingness to take some risk, albeit it may be a small risk. The technology is often available, the thought is there, but it requires the right people to make logical decisions – on all sides – clients, designers and contractors. I know of one project where the contractual requirement was to purchase a brand new tunnel boring machine (TBM) for a 150-metre long tunnel, a complete waste! It is a simple concept to use new equipment. I understand the client’s desire for delivery certainty. A used, refurbished machine would have worked perfectly fine and was available from another completed job nearby. No long lead time, no major transport or new equipment would have been required – and the risk for project delays due to machine problems would have been minimal. This is something that is an issue, not only with materials and equipment, but also with space. It is not always about building new structures or innovation. Sometimes underground space is available, old tunnels are often very well built and can be adapted and reused, it might just require repair of the lining or re-lining or refitting. Sometimes reusing existing structures may be innovation.

You may have an existing ventilation tunnel available that can be used for other things, if we need new transport infrastructure in existing urban environments. Why can’t we use existing tunnels? In Chicago, they used to have an extensive tunnel network for freight transport, which was built and used early last century. Unfortunately this network has been abandoned, and some new underground structures now cut across them, so they can’t be reused – but that could have been avoided if the possibility of reusing the tunnels had been considered in modern urban planning. In today’s congested urban environments, the use of existing tunnels for underground transport has a large potential for congestion relief. This is not the only example of a city where the reuse of existing underground infrastructure could yield significant improvements. Who can drive these improvements? In my opinion, the biggest driver for innovation is the demand; for example, the increased demand for urban underground infrastructure involved the construction of more and larger underground structures in more challenging ground, in busy areas with ever developing technologies. There is less room for infrastructure at the surface, hence more demand for underground schemes. This demand can be initiated by clients who want to build the infrastructure and by contractors who want to meet programmes, win jobs, make profit. Clients can indirectly drive innovation by tendering more challenging projects, but at the same time, clients have to follow strict procedures which is not necessarily cultivating innovation. Consultants often have innovative ideas but need partners to realise new approaches whereas contractors have the drive for innovations for various reasons: Competition, cost efficiency, efficiency of use of personnel, material and equipment. How about inventors, there are not many people who decide to invent something new for the sake of invention – they see the need for something; also, there are not many people who have the financial ability to invent and test costly new methods. Improvements in the past resulted in more reliability, safety and efficiency, hence an increase in production. There was, however, no ‘quantum leap’ in speed and efficiency. It needs thinking outside the usual models, often well-known methodologies can improve the speed and efficiency significantly, if they are used in a novel way. For that big step, it needs the innovatively thinking engineers (both inside and outside the tunnelling industry), clients and contractors to collaborate. It does not need PR stunts, it needs serious work. Kurt Zeidler is Principal at GALL ZEIDLER Consultants Rail Professional

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STATIONS FEATURE | |

Community rail: reinvigorating the rail estate, based on strong local relationships Jools Townsend, Chief Executive of Community Rail Network explains how the grassroots network connecting people with their local railways is playing an increasingly important role in revitalising station buildings and land for the benefit of communities and railways alike

ommunity rail partnerships and groups across Britain work to cement the place of railways and stations at the heart of local communities. From its beginnings of reconnecting people with their local lines to increase passenger use, the movement has diversified to incorporate a wide range of forward-thinking activities, contributing to inclusive, empowered, sustainable, healthy communities, and prospering railways. Community rail’s wide-ranging benefits are reflected in themes of the Department for Transport’s Community Rail Development Strategy: providing a voice for communities; promoting sustainable, healthy, and accessible travel; bringing communities together and supporting diversity and inclusion; and social and economic development. Tallying with this, we have countless inspiring examples of community rail’s powerful effect on placemaking, regeneration, sustainable mobility, and access to opportunity, as well as evidence showing enhanced rail patronage on lines with community rail partnerships and the social value of volunteering. Community rail now spans Britain, in increasingly diverse rural and urban locations, and with our support it continues to grow. There are more than 70 community rail partnerships, working along lines, or across counties or regions, to champion the role of railways and deliver activities driven by local needs and contexts. There are also around 1,200 station friends’ groups across the network: volunteer groups bringing local people together with the station as a focal point, but whose work tends to reach well beyond station boundaries. In recent years, we have seen the development of more and more ‘community

stations,’ whereby community rail partnerships, station groups and other local groups and leaders have spearheaded the transformation of stations for community benefit. Supported by railway partners, many have revitalised under-used, often derelict, railway buildings and land, turning over these spaces to productive community uses. Rejuvenating station buildings Bringing unused railway buildings back to life can transform stations into thriving hubs for their communities. This brings a host of benefits to the rail industry, making stations more welcoming, hospitable,

attractive, well-connected environments for passengers and visitors, bringing increased footfall, and creating positive local relationships. Such projects greatly benefit communities and are naturally driven by and respond to local needs: stimulating social and economic prosperity and complementing wider regeneration. This aligns with the Williams Shapps Plan for Rail, which states that reusing rail buildings for community hubs, training and education can create a sense of place, create social value, and improve services for local residents. Projects we have supported include station buildings converted for community Rail Professional

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STATIONS FEATURE | |

events and meeting spaces, cafes, popup stalls, arts workshops and galleries, museums, and bookshops, and sometimes with various ventures and uses brought together under the one roof. These may be set up as social enterprises or community interest companies or managed by a community rail partnership or a local trust. Numerous ventures creating both commercial and social value have flourished at stations, such as the cafes at Gobowen and Yatton Stations, where as well as running successful businesses and engaging local suppliers, work placement opportunities are offered to young people and adults with learning disabilities who might otherwise be excluded from the labour market. In some cases, community stations initiatives also help to connect the railway better with other sustainable travel modes, such as with bicycle repair or hire hubs, onward active travel or tourist information, or improving interchange and wayfinding whilst renovating buildings. At Community Rail Network, we continue to see great enthusiasm for station buildings projects within communities, and not just among established community rail partnerships and station friends: local charities, clubs, councils, and other community-based partnerships see the opportunities for working with the railway and making better use of their stations. As a result, community stations projects constantly branch into in new areas, such as: training and employment support; zero waste and free shops; music and arts programmes; and spaces for social activities and support groups. Community rail can act as the glue to bring community and railway partners together on such schemes, aiding learning from successes elsewhere. Recent examples include: • East Hampshire Community Rail Partnership converting rooms at

Petersfield and Swaythling Stations for use as ‘Free Shops,’ where food that would otherwise be wasted is available to those who need it. • Millom Station’s buildings being transformed by Community Rail Cumbria into a museum, café, booking office, and heritage centre to make the station an attractive proposition for tourists and a key site for local regeneration. • Redundant rooms at Kilmarnock Station being adapted to support people affected by mental health issues, addiction, and loneliness, with the station acting as a key site working with local agencies and the NHS in a whole-community approach. • A vacant room at Llandudno Station being refurbished to host Creating Enterprise, a not-for-profit organisation that supports local people into employment. Transforming railway land Community gardening and outdoor activities continue to be a mainstay of the community rail movement, particularly for station friends or adoption groups. Their activities show that even stations with limited or no green areas can still be made greener and used to enhance local environments and wellbeing. Groups are becoming increasingly aware of their potential to benefit wildlife and are honing their activities to deliver biodiversity gain, while simultaneously considering and providing for local needs, such as green spaces that support mental health and wellbeing. We are offering increasing support and resources to members in this area, complementing the commitments to improved green space and biodiversity in the government’s transport decarbonisation plan, and Network Rail’s aim of achieving biodiversity net gain on the rail estate by 2035.

We are seeing growing numbers of community rail partnerships and station groups working with rail industry and community partners to: create elaborate and bigger station and community gardens, often including platforms, sheds and sidings as well as existing green spaces; nurturing and enhancing wildlife habitats, such as through pollinator-friendly planting, bug hotels, bat boxes, and making links with wildlife corridors and wider local conservation; delivering nature education and awareness-raising activities; and engaging communities in volunteering, food growing and conservation schemes that develop wellbeing and skills alongside care for the environment. Recent projects and initiatives include: • The Friends of Buxton Station transforming disused station land into a Japanese and wildflower garden and adding bee-friendly planters to support populations of the endangered local species the Bilberry Bumblebee. • Station adoption groups across Greater Anglia creating biodiverse, wildlifefriendly areas, with 56 station gardens, which a survey found were hosting and attracting more than 200 different species, as part of the ‘WildEast’ movement. • The Poacher Line Community Rail Partnership working with the Bee Friendly Trust to create the ‘Bottesford Friendly Garden,’ turning a neglected piece of land, including an old station building, into a garden, wildlife haven and educational space. • Station adopters at Largs converting an old siding into a healthy and educational community garden, with a focus on promoting health and wellbeing and social inclusion. • Incredible Edible Bristol and Severnside Rail Professional

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STATIONS FEATURE | |

Community Rail Partnership revamping a disused platform compound at Avonmouth Station into an accessible community food growing and learning scheme. These projects help to turn land that might be going to waste, sometimes even acting as a burden on the railway estate, into community assets and focal points that deliver social and environmental value. Our evidence shows not only these initiatives enhancing natural environments and wildlife habitats, but contributing to improved physical and mental wellbeing, engaging young people and marginalised groups, promoting sustainable lifestyles, and even encouraging use of the railways by improving travel confidence and familiarity. They can also better integrate stations with their surroundings, bringing people in and breaking down barriers to rail use. Looking forward Community rail has responded to the rapid change Covid-19 has brought, and is continually evolving, with its eye on shifting needs and emerging opportunities at local level. We see a significant role for the movement as we move out of the pandemic, helping to rebuild rail patronage, as it has done so successfully in the past, while boosting local economic recovery, supporting local wellbeing and cohesion, and forging a more sustainable future. Community rail activities at stations, transforming buildings and outdoor spaces, and putting stations firmly at the heart of communities, is a crucial part of this: bringing people back together, and bringing people closer to their railways. Looking forward, the transition to Great British Railways offers great opportunities to further develop this work, to empower more community groups and organisations to access, utilise, lease, and transform station spaces for social, environmental, and economic good, strengthening the railway’s place within our communities. By working with rail and other partners to develop cooperation around stations, community rail can be at the forefront of achieving that increased responsiveness to local needs on which Williams-Shapps quite rightly places so much emphasis. For further information, visit communityrail.org.uk. Jools Townsend is chief executive of the Community Rail Network: empowering and championing 1,000+ local groups and 70 community rail partnerships. These groups promote sustainable travel by rail, deliver local place-making and volunteering, give communities a voice in transport development, and bring people together. Jools has nearly 20 years’ experience in community engagement and communications, with a focus on sustainable travel. She has an MA in Political Communication, through which she focused on promoting and enabling sustainable development and behaviours. Rail Professional

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VIEWPOINT FEATURE | |

The Levelling Up Whitepaper Stefanie O’Gorman, Director of Sustainable Economics at Ramboll looks at the missed opportunity of 20-minute neighbourhoods

n the run up to the long-delayed Levelling Up Whitepaper published earlier this month, promising ‘transformation’ of our overlooked regional town centres, we have had plenty of time to reflect on how these transformations should be achieved. For example, equal access to services in town centres, not limited by the cost of transport, should have been a key ambition, as should the provision of different types of housing within walkable reach of daily services that allow people to grow up, grow old and put down roots. If it is to be meaningful, transformation should also work towards place-based approaches which embed principles of climate resilience, such as green spaces to manage stormwater and tackle the urban heat island effect. These should have been the guiding principles of the Levelling Up Whitepaper, billed to transform our town centres in ‘undervalued’ areas. However, what we instead received was a paper too fragmented in its vision to enact the meaningful changes that the future and our regional town centres require. The ambition of the levelling up fund to bring urban regeneration to towns and cities across the UK is to be applauded, but upon evaluation there are many missed opportunities. 20-minute neighbourhoods Above all, valuable lessons could have been learnt from Scotland where 20-minute neighbourhoods have been embedded as a nationwide policy, across both urban and rural settlements. The idea aims to provide communities where residents can meet their day-to-day needs within a 20-minute walk of their home. The Scottish adoption of this concept as a nationwide policy allows local authorities to consider funding interventions that are not limited in scope to, for instance, transport, but rather enables them to adopt a truly place-based approach to investment. As it seems the UK’s levelling up agenda will soon prove, separate funding pots simply do not deliver an effective place-based approach, and single-solution funding, such as one with the goal of housing developments in brownfield areas, will not deliver the placebased multi-system outcomes required in so many of the UK’s town and cities. Place-based approaches, such as 20-minute neighbourhoods, do not pre-

determine a solution or intervention, but instead look holistically at a place to create a tailored strategy which tackles multiple challenges. Of course, this requires oversight and resources for local authorities and regional authorities to be able to plan long-term across policy areas, meaning investment must be strategically deployed to create long-term value. A conceptual move away from funding a solution, and instead to funding an outcome would enable local authorities to package up projects in a way that maximises the value they could deliver when linked and delivered as a programme. However, instead of the Whitepaper providing a holistic, national strategy which local areas can tailor to their needs, the burden in the levelling up agenda has been placed firmly on local authorities in a bunfight for funding. Driving behavioural change A place-based approach also supports input from local communities. Where place-based programmes have been successful, community participation (not just engagement and consultation) has been embedded into the delivery process. Unless this is a pre-requisite to funding, communities risk being left out of the decision-making process. Ultimately this means the solutions are not ‘owned’ by the local people and are less likely therefore to enable behavioural changes, particularly when it comes to the key aim of reducing car use. The ambitions to improve public transport to support this reduction are welcome, but whilst ensuring reliability of transport services is important, the Levelling Up Whitepaper does not take into account the cost of public transport and therefore the real issue of equity of access for all, particularly for poorer or rural areas. An approach that centres on walkability and sustainable design, such as the 20-minute neighbourhood approach, would have worked to both improve access to services and maximise active modes of transport as much as possible. Where is the climate ambition? Significantly, climate resilience and adaptation are glaringly absent from the Levelling Up whitepaper, meaning any transformation funding achieves will exist against a ticking clock. We urgently need

to embed positive climate outcomes (netzero and resilience) into funding decisions, otherwise we are simply not investing wisely for the future. For instance, how will the transformation of high streets address climate ambitions? For long-term sustainable transformation in our towns and cities, climate resilience and decarbonisation strategies must be embedded into housing and public realm schemes from the outset to be successful. Transformational change for our high streets should see climate adaptation at its heart, and therefore not only be making spaces that are more liveable but more attractive to business growth as a future-proofed investment. Looking ahead The funding accessible in the levelling up agenda does cover many of the aspects required to create a successful place, like housing, public realm and mobility. However, our ‘undervalued’ town centres will suffer from its current piecemeal approach and lack of a holistic vision. Success, in this context, should mean the creation of long-term value in tangible outcomes like liveability, prosperity and climate resilience in our communities. Examples of feasible ways to achieve these goals already exist, notably the concept of 20-minute neighbourhoods which has already been put into practice in Scotland. However, the Levelling Up White Paper looks set to fall short of its ambitions. Stefanie O’Gorman is the Director of Sustainable Economics at global environmental and engineering consultancy Ramboll. She recently led on ‘20-minute neighbourhoods in the Scottish context’ which set out the ambition for the Scottish Government on this agenda and she sits on the Climate Emergency Response Group (CERG). Rail Professional

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STATIONS |

Roundel Round We Go Emily Turner explains how she and Paul Burkitt-Gray discover London on their podcast Roundel Round We Go by exploring each of the 272 London Underground stations, one at a time

hen my partner Paul and I first told people we wanted to create a podcast about every station on the London Underground, we sometimes received the response that our intentions were ‘a bit ambitious’. Yet we couldn’t be swayed. Stations are not just microcosms of history and architecture, they are people’s lives and the built environment intersect. I launched the twitter account for our podcast, Roundel Round We Go, in June, and as an attempt to keep followers engaged I started taking pictures on my travels around London and inviting followers to guess the station. A lot of our followers were really into the idea, and while I was forever impressed with the ability of followers to guess a station from a picture of a few floor tiles, what I found more interesting was the emotional connection people

have to stations. It didn’t take long for people to start replying, ‘Oh! I couldn’t mistake that anywhere! There’s my station!’ – but what did that mean? For some people, it was a station they’d worked at for 20 years, for others, it was a station they’d advised on the construction of, and for yet others, it was the station they used every day during the year they spent living in London in 1979. I’ve heard a wide variety of stories about stations over my year of producing the podcast, but each one hammered home what genuine, emotional connections people have to stations. The London Underground is full of iconic and beautiful stations. There’s the sleek and modernist statements of Charles Holden’s Park Royal or Southgate. There’s the distinct and colourful design of Leslie Green’s Covent Garden or Holloway Road. There’s even the bold concrete and steel of Sir Richard

MacCormac’s much more contemporary Southwark. But while people undoubtedly appreciate the architecture, these stations mean so much more than that to the people who use them. When I first moved to London in 2011, my budget and imminent beginning of my master’s degree pushed me farther and farther from central London until I found a place in Neasden. Truth be told, the flat was probably equidistant from Neasden and Dollis Hill stations, but the first time I went there I got off at Neasden and it stuck. I only lived in Neasden for a year, but being full of the energy of being young and in a new city, I shot back and forth from Neasden to central London multiple times a day. An otherwise unremarkablelooking station only ever used by locals and those going to Ikea, Neasden station was my gateway to all that London had to offer. I’d spent the previous year living in

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Vienna, with my closest station being the stunning Art Nouveau Otto Wagner station at Stadtpark. Whilst staring at the brick and concrete of Neasden, I sometimes missed the beautiful green detailing and white walls of I knew from Vienna, but soon a train would come along and whisk me away to whatever exciting activity I was off to next and station architecture would be the furthest thing from my mind. Since starting Roundel Round We Go, I’ve gained an appreciation for the significant role an unassuming station like Neasden can play. Originally being the single station between Willesden Green and Harrow on the Metropolitan Railway’s 1880 extension, Kingsbury & Neasden (as it was originally known) was the site of the Met’s locomotive and coach plant, before becoming the service and stabling depot it still serves as to this day. In 1882, the railway built workers’ cottages in the area surrounding the depot. The development named local streets after destinations the Metropolitan Railway had within its aims but wouldn’t reach for a few years to come, such as Verney Junction and Quainton Road. Metropolitan Railway chairman Sir Edward Watkin, upon seeing the success of the developments, stated that railway should, ‘with great good, be permitted to build little colonies

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contiguous to their railways’. This is the sentiment that, just a few decades later, led to rapid development of swaths of North West London to become what was known as ‘Metro-land’ which in turn became a model for the development of so many other suburbs. However, if you’d told me all those things when I stood on the platform at Neasden in 2011, though I would have found them interesting, I doubt they would have had an impact on my feelings about the station. The station, in my mind, would still have been the place that beckoned me to take me to uni, to the theatre, to museums, to parks, to meet friends, or to whatever other adventures awaited once I got on that train. This is not to knock the importance of great design or thorough planning. Creating beautiful and iconic buildings make our cities and towns the types of places that bring us joy and make us want to visit. And in modern design, creating stations that are accessible, easy to navigate, and feature facilities required by passengers is vital to making railways institutions that people want to have interactions with. But to so many people, stations are more than places people just catch trains; they’re places where so many of the little moments that piece together their lives take place.

For me, the platform at Lancaster Station is where I chose to move to London. Edinburgh Waverley is where my clumsiness stopped a pickpocket escaping with someone’s wallet. West Acton is where I took a phone call to accept a life-changing job offer. Tottenham Hale is where I first led 30 Year 2 students on a school trip. Moorgate ticket hall is where I met Paul, my partner I would go on to create a podcast about stations with. And of course the unassuming brick building at Neasden will always be my first London station. While I love gaining a deeper understanding of the history and design of railway stations, they’re always first and foremost places that create the story of my life – and if producing this podcast has taught me anything, it’s that I’m not alone in this.

Roundel Round We Go is a podcast created by Emily Turner and Paul Burkitt-Gray. Each episode, we draw one of 272 London Underground stations from a bag, research the station and surrounding area, and make a show. We’re only a few stations in to a thrilling journey zigzagging across the history and geography of London, and we’d love you to come along for the ride. https://apple.co/33KzPIG

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STATIONS |

Disability accessibility – challenges or solutions Stephen Brookes MBE, who served for three years as the Minister for Disabled Peoples Rail Sector Champion and is now the Rail Policy Adviser for the leading Pan Disability charity Disability Rights UK, feels the whole Rail Industry and its leaders need to develop consistent policies that reflect the added difficulties Disabled People face when accessing transport

ccessible transport should describe a network which allows all users equal opportunity to travel where they want to go, at a time they want, at a price they can afford. All policies must include a full understanding of the problems Disabled People face in contemplating journeys or more importantly why some individuals simply do not use public transport when they might want to. By moving to a model of defining disability that reflects social barriers as well as personal impairments policy makers will start to understand the wide-ranging experiences of individuals, with the added ingredient of recognising we hang tightly onto the belief of the saying ‘nothing about us without us’. However, inevitably there are many occasions when disruption occurs, which

can affect personal safety for disabled and older people, (just think of the crushes and rushes) with complicated and increased journey times, which can impact on Disabled People disproportionately. It is by working with us in creating a ‘plan B’ at the appropriate time that we can make access to stations and journeys less traumatic, and this also has the bonus of reducing the possibility of confrontation and the associated bad press as well as the financial impact of compensation being for one individual without bringing a general improvement. Improvement by full inclusion is key to my work and I am pleased to be quoted in a recent press statement from Network Rail and TOC’s on a major replacement of the lift on the highly used platforms 13 and 14 at Manchester Piccadilly station which brought together a pan disability group.

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| STATIONS

In my quote I said ‘A group of Disabled People have worked closely with Network Rail in advising on mitigation and seeking to minimise the impact of the closure of the lift facility at platforms 13/14 at Manchester Piccadilly station. We do recommend that Disabled People share the news and information where possible.’ The advice from the group also pointed out that it is important those with mobility and sensory impairments to take extra time to arrive early at the station so that everyone can use the fully staffed replacement fixed platform stairlift facility provided in an effective way. The reasoning behind the success of this and other collaborative projects is based on filling the gaps in research into the use of rail by Disabled People which has historically omitted individuals from statistics, as they have not been include in access failures or even successes. One such is the National Passenger Survey. The National Rail Passenger Survey is based on information from passengers who can access trains and stations, but it does not reflect the bad experiences of those who wished to make a train journey and yet were unable to do so, partly because they had difficulties in planning the journey, which lead to a lack of confidence to travel. And there is the key point; the overriding problem with the industry mantra is that the model frequently does not allow for or consult with a range of Disabled People Rail Professional

whose day-to-day views of disability as a lived experience is paramount as without this input Disabled People’s right to an independent lifestyle is inhibited. All too often the starting point of a disability policy used to consider wheelchair access as the defining barrier, which is understandable given the universal symbol for disability is the wheelchair, although through our hard work, sight impairments, deafness, mental health, and a range of hidden disabilities are now considered as equally important in creating an accessible rail system. The argument against making the rail system fully accessible has been that it has a massive cost implication for limited returns, but as the whole passenger demographic has changed since Covid with significantly more journeys based on leisure taken by older and Disabled People, that argument starts to look pretty shaky. We continually tell all the companies and operators they need to involve Disabled People on the design, construction and usage of trains and stations. As by listening first, and by taking on the views of disabled rail users and understanding the issues they face, you stand more chance of getting things right from the start, and this will save money as you don’t have to go round putting things rights afterwards. Another success of inclusion in planning is in the welcome for the provision of a new Assisted Travel Lounge and Changing Place

facility at Manchester Piccadilly station in which the pan disability group aided with design and fitting specifications. I feel that major rail stations are intimidating places for many rail passengers and for those with a range of disabilities the experience can even put some of off using rail travel, so the fact that the design and location of this important facility involved the views and requirements of a group of Disabled People is a significant move towards future cooperation on such projects across the rail network. I am heartened by the fact that whilst in the last two years the Office for Rail and Road did require that TOCs do utilise disability advisory groups, I note they are increasingly being seen as ‘value added’ and are not just talking shops. I know there are a good number of groups successfully working with the industry, and it is reassuring that disability access is a big part of the consultation for the DfT Whole of Industry Strategic Plan and the establishment of the working parameters for Great British Rail and I insist that we will keep working to make things better, because if you get it right for Disabled People you get it right for everyone! Stephen Brookes MBE served for three years as the Minister for Disabled Peoples Rail Sector Champion and is now the Rail Policy Adviser for the leading Pan Disability charity Disability Rights UK.

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TICKETING TECHNOLOGY |

Getting rail ticketing back on track Jonathan Edwards, EMEA Market Development at GHD, argues that the key to the rail industry’s recovery is an overhaul of its ticketing system, including a three-year freeze on fares and the introduction of carbon labelling

t goes without saying that the last two years have been hugely challenging for our public transport network, particularly rail. Dramatically decreased passenger numbers and the requirement for social distancing have led to major and unsustainable government subsidies to enable the sector and operators just to survive. At the same time, much needed developments for the industry have been put on pause. The National Travel Survey 2020 showed how out of sync travel behaviours have become from the “norm”, highlighting another serious issue: how do we move forward, forecast and prepare for the demands and challenges facing the rail industry over the next few years? In the current environment, rail operators will have to go back to the drawing board. Historic and recent data offer no insight into how to plan for the post-Covid landscape. Data on expected passenger numbers, peak time traffic, season ticket sales and income from fares typically informs ticket pricing, staffing, scheduling, investment and budgets. However, operators must now make these decisions essentially blind - with the added complication of the William-Schapps Plan to consider. This uncertainty means the long hopedfor developments in our rail sector could be stalled. Operators are less able to deploy the required capital expenditure and government funding is being used to keep as-is services running. The modernisation of our rail network and plans to improve the passenger experience and value for money could be delayed yet again. This will undermine progress at a time when operators need to provide the best possible service to encourage travellers to return to public transport. The ticketing opportunity The industry now must make cost-effective and impactful investment choices to build back passenger numbers. It will need to consider where the greatest benefit and return on investment can be sought and, at

GHD, we believe a great place to start would be ticketing – an area where the UK’s rail system is severely lacking. There are four areas of focus that could both significantly improve customer service and encourage passengers back, while also giving operators more agility over the next few years to respond to changes in their operating environment. Affordability: Price is always identified as the most important factor to British public transport users. Train fare prices have increased by 111 per cent since 2000, and will see the largest hike in nine years this month. Over the same period, consumer price inflation has increased by just 49 per cent and wages by 97 per cent. While the government and rail operators will point to their financial circumstances to justify the increase in ticketing prices and as a means of growing revenue, the focus should be on encouraging as many passengers back to public transport as quickly as possible. Increasing the

affordability of rail travel will significantly improve the customer experience and go a long way in building back and offering sustainable growth in passenger numbers. While we understand that a significant pricing overhaul is difficult in this uncertain climate, we believe that a freeze on train ticket prices for the next three years would help make rail travel more affordable for both commuters and leisure passengers. It would allow the sector to better plan and assess passenger income and travel habits. If the government is serious about moving travellers from road to rail, freezing ticket prices for only 33 per cent of the time that fuel duty has been frozen would be a positive commitment. Carbon labelling At GHD, we believe it could be extremely impactful to introduce carbon labelling on rail tickets. Better communication around the environmental benefits of public transport compared to cars could encourage Rail Professional

| TICKETING TECHNOLOGY

people back to the network as our collective awareness of the climate crisis continues to grow. Carbon labelling will provide a quick and accessible comparison to alternative, more carbon-intensive modes of transport. A GHD survey, carried out in late 2020, found that 81 per cent of British consumers support the concept to ‘carbon label’ consumer services, particularly travel tickets, energy bills and water bills. Furthermore, 59 per cent would choose lower carbon options if better informed about their overall consumption and 60 per cent of respondents even said they would be willing to pay more for environmentally friendly services. Key to the long-term future of rail travel, the survey found that those of younger generations are more willing to adapt their lifestyles and pay more to help the environment. We envisage the introduction of carbon labelling to work in a similar way to the success of nutritional labelling, displaying the approximate carbon impact of a rail journey on all rail tickets, with comparison against an easily digestible standard or carbon-intensive alternatives – for example, the equivalent journey in an average car or plane. The survey indicated that greater transparency around the environmental impact of choices would help individuals

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to better understand their own carbon footprint, driving a conscious shift in behaviours towards lower carbon habits – such as choosing rail travel over car. Flexibility With much of the UK moving to a hybrid working model, it is unclear what commuter levels will look like going forward and how this will impact peak periods or purchases of season and monthly tickets. These tickets, and tickets bought in advance, provide excellent savings for passengers and clear income for operators but they may not reflect the realities of future public transport use (e.g. part-time commuters or people taking impulsive journeys to work). We recommend the accelerated introduction of ‘carnet’ ticketing, where for example 10+ tickets can be bought for a discount to standard ticket prices and used over a given period. This model has been introduced by some operators already but should be implemented more widely, advertised more clearly, and available for both single and return, peak and off-peak travel, as a more customer-friendly form of ticketing. Technology In a world where people can fly commercially to space, it is astonishing that some tickets

still cannot be bought online and most ticket barriers in the UK don’t accept smart ticketing. Improving ticketing technology across the rail sector through the development of online integration, more smart ticketing and upgraded ticket barriers and readers, will considerably improve customer experience by making public transport easier to use and more flexible. Some progress has already been made in rail travel but it is desperately needed in areas outside of major city centres across the UK, and will have significant positive impacts. We also believe introducing better tracking of services to a similar standard provided by ride hailing apps, would give passengers more control of their journeys. The rail industry faces incredible uncertainty and upheaval over the next two to three years, and some operators may not survive in their current form. However, now is an opportunity to rethink, regroup and find new, innovative and cost-effective solutions that will help build a better system for the future. It won’t be easy, but we need fresh voices and bold action if we want to encourage people back to public transport and sustainably grow passenger numbers across our rail network in the long-term. Jonathan Edwards is EMEA Market Development at GHD

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TICKETING TECHNOLOGY |

c2c Smartcard Since launching in 2014, the c2c Smartcard has rolled out across the c2c network, offering a quicker and easier journey for the train operators’ passengers

hile the initial c2c Smartcard was a first step, over time the card has grown more accessible and smarter, taking on automatic Delay Repay in 2016, flexi season tickets in 2017 and in 2018 supporting Child Smarcards and the Benfleet PlusBus season tickets. By 2019, a new c2c ticketing system meant that for the first time customers could pick up a Smartcard directly through c2c ticket offices, and use the new mobile app to purchase tickets and load them onto the Smartcard. The c2c Smartcard allows passengers to load their daily, season and flexi-season tickets, in addition to child and Benfleet PlusBus tickets onto the new Smartcard. The next development was, Weekend Super Off Peak tickets which became available on the Smartcard in 2021. With a c2c Smartcard in hand, passengers with smartphones can download the c2c app which allows purchased tickets to be loaded onto the Smartcard, without needing to stand in line at the station waiting for a ticket machine. Not only does the Smartcard offer c2c passengers the chance to skip the queue, but users also benefit from collecting Loyalty Points, much in the same way as you would collect at the supermarket. These points can then be used to receive money off future tickets. c2c Smartcard users also benefit from automatic ‘Delay Repay’, should your train be delayed by more than two minutes - Delay Repay will directly credit your online account. The c2c Smartcard is brought to life by the ITSO Smart ticketing system that electronically stores a travel ticket on a microchip, which is then embedded on a smartcard. This technology allows passengers of public transport to seamlessly hop on and off trains without needing traditional payment systems like cash or purchasing a paper ticket. The contactless smartcard is scanned by the transport operator either at a static or handheld ticket machine or barrier, to authorise your travel. c2c’s marketing campaign at launch used their stations to promote the card to passengers using posters, promotional events and ticket gate vinyls. Additionally the power of social media was used to promote the Smartcard online. The c2c team

will often launch a Smartcard promotional campaign at key times of the year, typically when passengers return to work after a holiday, targeting customers as they walk through the stations. In 2019 c2c had the first industry campaign to push digital ticketing, targeting customers at point of purchase to drive uptake through station promotions and digital marketing. The most recent campaign ‘Dynamic Duo’ promotes the benefit of buying tickets from the c2c Train Travel app and loading them straight to a Smartcard, to save time at the station. With over 60,000 Smartcards already in circulation, an increasing number of passengers are continuing to sign up for the free Smartcard. In September / October 2021, c2c signed up an additional 3,000 passengers as people headed back to the office, before the omicron variant emerged. The high demand for Smartcards is also being driven by the continued popularity of Flexi-Season tickets. The new national product was launched in 2021 to provide

a ticket specifically designed for part-time commuters, who now work regularly from home as well as in the office. Travellers from Laindon and Benfleet heading into Fenchurch Street are some of the biggest users of the Smartcard. Across the c2c network around 61% of journeys are made using some form of smart ticketing. c2c Commercial Director Clare McCaffrey said: “It’s great to see more and more people return to travelling on c2c, and that they are switching to the Smartcard as they realise it is quicker and easier for them than queuing to buy paper tickets at the station. ‘We’ve been listening to our customers and want to make things easier for them. This is why we removed photos from our Smartcards to make the process quicker and simpler. We’re also keen to help customers realise just how much power is at their fingertips when they use the c2c Travel app to manage their Smartcard.’

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STATIONS |

Searching for a Heart of Gold Andy Hallisey, Liam Nixon and Neha Patel, customers hosts at Hatch End station, won the 2021 Railway Benefit Fund ‘Heart of Gold’ Team Award in recognition of the fantastic work they have done with their local community. Hear from them below…

e are extremely honoured to have won the ‘Heart of Gold’ Team Award in 2021. We won the award alongside our station cleaner Anthony Parker, from Carlisle Support Services, Lucy Halliday from the Headstone Horticultural Society, Sheila Reid from the Hatch End Association and the many other local residents who volunteer at the station. It recognises the work that we have collectively put in to make the station a hub for the community. Working closely with our local community has always been important to us. We have operated a book exchange since 2016 which raises money for local charities. People drop off their unwanted books, we sanitise them and then we put them out for others to enjoy for a small donation. In addition to supporting the Hatch End community, our book exchange has also benefited communities abroad. Last year, agency contractor Claudiu Romocea made a very generous donation for a number of books which he then donated and distributed among schools, a library and an orphanage in his village near Timisoara, Romania. As a team, we take great pride in our Overground in Bloom floral displays. Overground in Bloom is an annual gardening competition that encourages stations, depots and sidings across the London Overground to plant flowers and gardens. It brings teams together, helps to increases biodiversity across the network and also brightens up stations for customers. Every summer we put on the best possible flower display for our community, often coming in on our days off or staying late to maintain the displays. Alongside this, we have developed a station allotment which we grow fruit and vegetables in. Everything we grow at the station is given away to the public either for free or a small donation. In 2021, we won five awards for our floral displays and gardens, including the ‘Best in Show’ awards in both the Overground in Bloom competition and TfL’s separate In Bloom competition. Of course, it is not just a three-person team that contributes to the success of our gardens. We work closely with the

Headstone Horticultural Society, a local not-for-profit organisation that offers horticultural advice, sells plants and gardening products, and supports vulnerable members of the community. Lucy Halliday, who runs the society, and her team have been a huge support to us by providing us with flowers and helping us to plant them. Without them, our floral displays simply wouldn’t be possible. Our station cleaner Anthony Parker has also been outstanding in helping to keep the flowers watered and the station neat and tidy. Each year, we also host community ‘open days’ where we invite local residents to the station. It is an opportunity for customers to meet us, join tours of the gardens and support local charities. We provide complimentary teas/coffees, homemade cakes and sandwiches, and London Overground branded goodies which are given out by volunteers from our head office. Although everything at the community day is provided free of charge, we leave donation tins dotted around the station and over the years we have raised thousands of pounds for St Luke’s Hospice, Sense, The Soldier’s Charity, Pancreatic Cancer UK and our gardens. This year, we plan to develop a peace garden on a patch of unused station land,

turning an overgrown area into an oasis for local residents to enjoy. Our colleague Phil Palmer sadly passed away in 2019 and the garden will be developed in his honour. Phil originally started the gardens at the station and he taught us the importance of community engagement. Even though he is no longer with us, he still feels like a part of the team and we look forward to developing the peace garden together in his memory. We also appreciate that the last two years have been a time of great loss for many people. We will therefore be accepting donations of plants for the peace garden from members of the public who have lost loved ones themselves, which we will look after and nurture in their memory. Our hope is that the peace garden will become a special place for the community for quiet contemplation and reflection. We try to engage with the public yearround through smaller initiatives too, such as giving out packets of love hearts around Valentine’s Day, chocolate eggs at Easter and having goodies for children on our Christmas tree. We are really proud of what we have achieved so far at Hatch End station and are excited to see what else we can do in the future alongside local residents and community groups. Rail Professional

| EMPLOYEE WELLBEING

Post-Covid back to the office? Michelle Jenkins, from the OPC shares some research findings about challenges faced by transport managers and employees on a return-to-work post-Covid and offers some insights and reflections on the opportunities

he last two years have been a truly tumultuous time for all during the pandemic. In some cases, lives have been dramatically impacted and for some work-life dynamics have changed unexpectedly and sometimes unrecognisably. But, as we approach an end to all legal restrictions for Covid in England – removal of compulsory face coverings; the advice to return to ‘normal’ workplaces and, significant changes to mandatory self-isolation guidelines, what could that mean for us as managers, HR teams and organisational leaders as we emerge post-Covid?

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As a team of occupational and business psychologists with over 30 years’ experience working alongside the rail industry, the OPC’s interest is all about peoples’ working world. So, to understand more about a return-to-work post lockdown and its challenges, the OPC undertook some research amongst senior leaders, operational managers/team leaders and frontline staff in the rail and transport industry. The purpose was to understand the challenges faced – for both employees and managers in a return to ‘normal’ work; the impact of self-isolation on work and individuals; and what we can learn for the future.

So, what were some of the insights gathered that could support rail organisations as we continue to travel out of this pandemic and what will a return to work look like – hybrid, office or site? Operational teams Roughly three-quarters of managers reported that frontline operational staff and site-based staff e.g., depot workers would all return to their ‘usual’ place of employment. However, the other c. 25 per cent of managers reported some unexpected hybrid working i.e., a mix of homeworking alongside their usual location, as well as

EMPLOYEE WELLBEING |

some other types of return to work like a ‘partial’ return, or a hybrid approach for some ‘on-call’ roles. Some managers also reported a few ‘floating cover’ employee returns that helped fill gaps in other locations vs. their normal place of work. This different mix of work-return showed flexibility and a problem-solving approach to either unexpected gaps in staff availability due to self-isolation, or a nurturing approach to staff who may have had a change in personal circumstances, additional care responsibilities or medical needs as a result of the Covid pandemic. Most frontline employees commented that there was little or no difference in their work location – being unchanged between the lockdowns and a return to work. Office support staff The return of ‘office’ based (support) staff provided some interesting findings. One third of managers and team leaders reported their support staff would all return to their usual place of work/office full-time. In one-to-one interviews a few managers shared a perceived negative impact in their teams’ working relationships due to the absence(s) from their normal location. They commented that relationships weren’t being made ‘organically’ and there were missed opportunities for a ‘water cooler’ catch up and information sharing. Therefore, they encouraged support functions to return to their usual location to help re-build the ‘office’ environment. However, more than half (55 per cent) of managers reported a continuation of hybrid

working between the office and home as their ‘return to normal’ working. Managers reported influences on the decision such as physical working arrangements for office cover and space sharing; social distancing requirements, or a period of ‘easing’ back into a ‘normal’ work place for an adjustment period if necessary. This hybrid working for what we may have traditionally seen as core office-based support teams poses challenges and opportunities as we consider the implications on working practices. These may include the effect on organisational culture; employment terms and conditions; how we line-manage staff and provide on-going training; technological requirements for a role as well as the effective use of our office space. We also shouldn’t forget the impact of Covid’s working from home (WFH) ‘successes’ on our search to acquire the best talent for new posts. Job seekers recent lockdown experiences may lead them to look for a much more flexible approach to their working week. Managers Unsurprisingly, leaders in the organisation, reported a continuation of hybrid working for their return to work. Fifty-five per cent of managers and 85 per cent of directors said they would continue to split their time between the office and home. Self-isolation implications on safe and effective performance and manager well being Working in a safety-critical service industry,

it’s no surprise that the OPC’s research showed organisational leaders reporting concerns about safe and effective operations due to employees self-isolating, particularly at short-notice. Eighty-three percent of managers felt that team-member selfisolations had a high or medium impact on service delivery. Self-isolation was also noted as being a very time-urgent and unpredictable matter with individuals suddenly not being available for work at very short notice. The vast majority of managers (71 per cent) reported finding it hard to find suitable week-day cover for isolating teammembers, with even more managers (86 per cent) reporting it difficult to find weekend shift cover. Self-isolation and wellbeing – impact on front line staff and managers The OPC was keen to explore the theme of self-isolation and well-being, and the impact it had on employees and leaders. The questionnaire and in-depth interviews revealed that two-thirds of employees in the OPC’s research reported positively, that their organisations did a good job at communicating information around selfisolation requirements. Nearly half of all managers (47 per cent) reported having employees or team members express concerns about their own physical and mental wellbeing as a result of enforced self-isolation. Nearly 60 per cent of managers expressed concern about their own wellbeing, connecting this to the increased pressure of

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dealing with self-isolation staff shortages. Some respondents shared the immense pressure they felt under to perform and cover the gaps. Many rail managers reported that they’d never been as busy since Covid hit. Although the end of ‘mandatory’ self-isolation may be in sight, there is still learning to be had from managing the impact of Covid. The Covid virus is unlikely to disappear overnight. Therefore, organisations will still need to determine their policy on self-isolation for those who test positive. We will still need to protect our frontline employees’ well-being, and also the managers whose responsibility it is to resolve cover for those off sick at short notice. Additionally, the emergence of possible new Covid variants may still necessitate an adjustment in our working practices again. All mucking in together – recognise the effort In contrast to the wellbeing and mental health concerns there were general themes running through the research of

‘all having to muck in together’ and ‘just get on with it’ to help complete work and keep rail services running. There was a real feeling of camaraderie and team strength including individuals who shone and went the extra mile. Michelle Jenkins, Team Organiser at the OPC, who completed the research commented: ‘A great quote about teamworking was by Henry Ford who said ‘Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress but working together is success’. Industry leaders should consider how they recognise, applaud and reward the efforts of their people and teams during Covid’ Self-isolation and working from home – panacea or challenge? Those who were able to work from home whilst self-isolating expressed positivity

and a low impact on their work/business operations – adapting to home working and returning to the office or site when their isolation ended. However, some employees reported their productivity was significantly impacted by ‘family life distractions’. In some cases, this exerted additional pressure on them to fit working hours around their family commitments; having a negative bearing on their physical and mental wellbeing. We need to remind ourselves that for those who will continue to work from home (WFH) it may not be the panacea that some might expect. We should be mindful of the ongoing challenges it can also have. Some positive impacts of self-isolation on individuals/the team Other reports about self-isolation were much more positive. Some managers stated that some employees’ self-isolation was more of a ‘break’. They would then emerge back at work re-energised, returning to their role with a greater willingness and a mental ‘reset’. This was particularly the case for those employees who rarely took a day off and who ‘got stuck in’. There were

also some reports of employees wanting to avoid self-isolation because of the financial implications e.g., missed overtime pay or lost earnings due to a site absence for their shift. A return to work – challenges and concerns The majority of managers taking part in the research felt it was easy enough to encourage people back to work – reporting they were in frequent contact and ‘kept communication channels open’ with their teams. However, a third of managers indicated some difficulties in encouraging employees back to work which some attributed to changes in ‘working habits’ e.g., some ‘oncall’ drivers had developed a preference for waiting at home vs. waiting in the office or mess room. Some employees were hesitant over

returning to work with managers due to concerns about contracting the virus – either in the workplace; or via colleagues who may not be as vigilant in their testing regime or during their commute to work. A small percentage of managers mentioned some employees who were slightly more resistant in returning to work based on time and financial savings they’d benefited from whilst WFH e.g., commuting and childcare cost-savings or ‘spare cash’ for luxuries, food or family activities. Managers also reported some team-members had found a new work/life balance that they were reluctant to abandon, stating that their commute time could be better spent with family instead. However, most managers and employees resolved these through a dialogue exploring possible flexible options, resulting in a beneficial conclusion for both the individual and the organisation. Some solutions posed by managers to address any hesitancy in a return-to-work Managers and supervisors provided some possible solutions they’d put in place to address challenges their teams felt in returning to work: • Maintaining cleaning/Covid arrangements including staggering faceto-face meetings, keeping up with regular lateral flow testing, and ensuring PPE is always made available to staff. • Increased 1:1’s to support more anxious team members and providing Occupational Health team referrals where necessary. • Maintaining good communication channels with teams particularly when ‘hybrid’ working. • A flexible approach to working location and hybrid working to enable social distancing where needed. • The recruitment of Mental Health First Aiders – trained team members providing specialist peer support around mental health and/or wellbeing worries. Dr Stephen Fletcher concluded by saying: ‘Although we’re coming into a period where mandatory government restrictions are being significantly eased, and the requirement for legal self-isolation has been removed all together, the Covid virus is likely to be with us for some time. We need to remain vigilant to the challenges it continues to produce; the impact it has on our front-line employees and be more aware of the impact on our leaders and managers who work to resolve those challenges on a daily basis. We also need to reward and recognise those who regularly ‘step up to the plate’, helping ensure that we continue to run a worthy service for our rail customers in these unprecedented times.’

Tel: +44 (0)1923 23 46 46 Email: admin@theopc.co.uk Visit: www.theopc.co.uk Rail Professional

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Growing from strength to strength Yellow Rail delivers services to the passenger and freight sectors including engineering design, bogie overhaul/repair, wagon/train maintenance, train modification/refurbishment, material supply services and specialist wheel lathe products and services

rom humble beginnings as a depot-based installation provider in 2007, the company has developed into an Engineering service business providing a wide portfolio of services to the passenger and freight sectors. Underpinned by an order book in excess of £45 million, with 195 talented staff deployed across ten different locations in the UK – Yellow Rail has an ideal platform for further investment and brighter ambitions. Major events of 2021 – Digital Train revolution With ‘Levelling up’ and the ‘Northern Powerhouse’ coming to the top of the agenda there is no other project more in the spotlight than Northern Rail’s amazing digital train project. Yellow Rail are responsible for the depot -based delivery

of this project. The project involves the installation, testing and commissioning of ten different technologies (Wi-fi, CCTV, USB, PIS, SPSO, media screens, APC, energy metering, CDAS and pantograph cameras), across six different fleets (Class 150, 156, 158, 170, 323 and 333), at four separate sites. With 120 trains already in service this project is ideally suited to Yellow Rails core portfolio and quite literally one of the most extensive and exciting depot-based technology projects ever delivered in the UK rail sector. Northern’s Andy Marden, (Head of Engineering Transformation) is ‘extremely pleased with Yellow Rail’s performance ‘Yellow Rail have helped bring to life the digitisation of our trains from concept to system implementation, to provide major benefits to our customers and our operation.’ Dave Kelly (Yellow Rail: Head of

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company has certainly risen to. Described by Nigel Day, Engineering Director at VTG, as ‘an adaptable and responsive SME’ who have ‘made significant investment and increased their capability considerably. Yellow Rail has already been supplying VTG with bogie overhaul, material supply services and turnkey field services for over three years and are now supplying wagon maintenance services.’ Turnkey services One of the most exciting challenges for the company during 2021 was the delivery of a turnkey service to the UK’s only wagon manufacturer, WH Davis, for their coal hopper to MegaBox wagon conversion project. Yellow Rail’s scope was extensive and included re-engineering, stripping and repurposing of wagon parts, logistics, bogie overhaul and management of the overhaul of wheels and air brake equipment. Les Bryant, Group Engineering Director WH Davis said ‘Yellow Rail has provided an excellent turnkey service, in support of our coal hopper to MegaBox wagon conversion project for Beacon Rail.’ Train vehicle and wagon modification Yellow Rail is currently delivering several bespoke projects that include engineering design, equipment manufacture and train and wagon modifications. This approach is ideal for our customers as it tends to be very cost effective and it ensures responsibility of the service delivery is only with one party, optimising design for installation and for maintainability and avoiding the ‘it’s not our fault, the design is wrong’ scenario. Zeph Grant MSc CEng MIET, Engineering & Technical Director at Yellow Rail says: ‘One of our key strengths is our engineering capability, which is essential Rail Professional

for the delivery of these types of projects. Across the business we are able to draw on our skills and expertise throughout the lifecycle, from design through installation to engineering support.’ Accreditation and continuous improvement During 2021 Yellow Rail became accredited to RISAS for bogie overhaul and material supply services – the first SME in the UK to gain RISAS accreditation for material Supply. In addition, as well as holding ISO9001:2015 (UKAS supply Approved) and ISO14001:2015, Yellow Rail are also a RISQS accredited supplier via audit to support our PTS sponsorships. During 2022 the company is pursuing ISO45001 and are already on the journey to introducing LEAN manufacturing across our sites. Stars of the show Applying the BCG matrix the latest star in the company’s portfolio is the successful introduction of its engineering design services early in 2021, certificated by ISO9001 and by RISQC and provided to both passenger and freight clients across the UK. Once an internal support service to other areas of the business, now a rapidly growing part of the portfolio with an established customer base. The service can be delivered as part of a turnkey service, or as a bespoke design service. This area of the business will see continual investment throughout 2022 and the company expects to add to its already impressive list of references. The second new star in the portfolio will be the launch in 2022 of the company’s wheel lathe system to be deployed at depots for rapid turning of loose wheelsets. This is an extension to the existing wheel lathe and mobile wheel re-profiling systems.

The mobile wheel re-profiling service will continue its development during 2022 with its first fully loaded wagon lift due in Spring 2022. What next? Andy Kevins, founder of Yellow Rail, believes ‘success comes from continually learning from and improving what you do, investing in people and the services you deliver and making sure you have the right business tools to succeed.’ This mindset has produced significant growth in recent years, with clients who trust the company to provide safety critical services in both passenger and freight sectors. The company is taking over an excellent new rail-connected site in order to extend its provision of engineering support services to both freight and passenger sectors. On a final lighter note it’s not all work and no play at Yellow Rail. The company created a new football team in 2021 and are currently unbeaten. For 2022 we have created the Midlands Cup and we hope to defeat our customers and suppliers on the pitch! For further information please contact Michelle Sillett, Sales & Marketing Support Manager via michelle.sillett@yellowrail.org.uk

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Emission free lights? We won’t keep you in the dark! Torrent Trackside has lighting for all types of rail work. From hand held lamps to tower lights and everything in between. We have one of the largest collections of powerful, silent, emission free lighting in the UK. They are powered by rechargeable battery or solar. Some lights have been specifically designed for the needs of the rail industry and our national depot network means you get the right lighting where you want it, when you want it. For more information phone our 24 hour hotline.

24hr helpline

0845 769 7168 www.torrent.co.uk mail@torrent.co.uk

On track for a greener future

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@TorrentRail

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See the light, switch to solar Torrent Trackside’s Carl Abraitis sheds some light on the expansion of solar powered rail lighting

veryone is familiar with banks of solar panels being used to generate electricity in hot countries and even on the roofs of some UK households. Solar power is nothing new, the principles were discovered in the 19th century and the first silicon based cells were developed in the 1950s. Early solar panels were an excellent means of generating clean, emission free electricity, but to generate sufficient power large numbers of bulky and expensive panels were needed. Over the last few years solar technology has evolved considerably where smaller panels can generate power all year round in all weather conditions. Torrent Trackside is the leading rail plant hire company in the UK and is committed to supporting Network Rail’s pledge to become carbon neutral by 2050. To help meet this goal the company is investing in the latest emission free tools and support equipment. This is important because a large proportion of carbon emissions are generated by the supply chain rather than direct rail operations. As a large amount of rail construction and maintenance is undertaken at night efficient lighting is key to ensuring work is completed safely and on time. Fossil fuelled tower lights provide an excellent source of light but at the expense of considerable carbon emissions from the diesel and petrol generators that power them. Torrent Trackside is now introducing solar powered tower lights that provide excellent illumination and are completely emission free. The company has teamed up with solar power experts Prolectric who have developed a rail specific tower light named ProRXM. This tower light illuminates up to 550 square metres with bright, clear floodlighting. The light has four banks of LED lights mounted onto a 7.5-metre mast that can output between 10,000 and 40,000 lumens. The ProRXM consists of three highly efficient solar panels that recharge a heavy duty deep cycle battery which powers the lights. The solar panels operate reliably all year round, even in challenging Winter conditions. The battery has sufficient capacity to ensure that even on days with 16 hours of darkness, the light operates consistently and reliably. The solar tower light is easy to transport and takes up little space on site. It has been designed to match the footprint of a standard tower light making it ideal for

rail side use and difficult to reach areas. To avoid damage the solar panels fold away neatly on the top of the unit. Once extended a hydraulic mechanism tilts the panels diagonally to minimise space, while capturing maximum sunlight. Once installed the ProRXM needs no maintenance or refuelling and smart technology allows the light to be controlled remotely. The ProRXM’s 40,000 lumen silent, emission free LEDs Operation times can be are perfect for trackside lighting. programmed and monitored via a designated control centre. Torrent Trackside Operations Director, Carl Abraitis stated: ‘Solar powered tower lights are becoming a major player in reducing carbon emissions. A diesel powered tower light, if fully utilised, uses over 2,000 litres of fuel and produces over six tonnes of Carbon Dioxide per year. The ProRXM uses no fuel and is emission free. Fuel spillages and using the wrong fuel are The compact ProRXM fits into tight spaces also a thing of the past’. and folds down for easy and safe transportation. Diesel tower lights are also a considerable source of sound pollution, an important factor when working in populated areas at night. A typical diesel tower light operates at around 80 decibels, the solar light is completely silent. The solar panels long life also helps to quickly negate any carbon debt incurred during manufacture. That is the amount of emissions generated during the panels production process. A typical solar panel can last for over 20 years and The solar tower light can illuminate up to 550 square metres. pay back its carbon debt after one to three years. The lights are now being used for rail of diesel and fossil fuel. I believe Torrent projects across the whole of the country. Trackside with its investment and industry The partnership with Prolectric makes expertise is in the best position to meet Torrent Trackside the market leader in the this demand.’ provision of solar lighting with the largest For more information, get in touch fleet in the UK. Carl Abraitis stated: ‘I see with Carl Abraitis, Operations Director the demand for solar lighting growing at Torrent Trackside, via the contact significantly in the coming years, industry information below. guidelines are now demanding battery and solar powered equipment is used instead Email: carl.abraitis@vpplc.com. Rail Professional

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The power of diversity and inclusion Embracing diversity and inclusion as a strategic imperative is critical for any organisation that strives for high performance

or UK Power Networks Services, supporting diversity and promoting inclusion within workplaces is about valuing the individual and what they bring to their role. Fostering an environment where everyone feels able to participate and achieve their potential enables organisations to effectively increase their employee engagement and realise an increase in productivity and cohesion. The company is an employer of choice and create an environment where differences are valued and integrated into every part of the organisation. Benefits have included an enhanced capacity for innovation and creativity, better meeting the diverse needs of their clients, increased productivity across the business, the creation of an inclusive environment where everyone can perform, and improved ability to compete to attract high performers. Achievements in diversity Employee feedback helped UK Power Networks rank sixth on the Top 25 Best Big Companies to Work For in 2021 – the only energy company to be featured on the list. They are a Platinum level Investors in People, since first achieving accreditation in 2014 – two per cent of companies achieve Platinum from 66 countries globally. In December 2021 UK Power Networks was ranked tenth in the Inclusive Top 50 UK Employers 2022 list. In July 2021 UK Power Networks was voted the number one energy company in the Top Companies for Graduates and Apprentices to Work For list by the Jobs Crowd – and second placed overall. Commitment to diversity The company’s ongoing commitment to diversity and inclusiveness is demonstrated by achieving the National Equality Standard – a benchmark standard for creating a diverse and inclusive workplace. They support Urban Synergy, an awardwinning mentoring charity that helps young people from under-represented groups improve their futures. The

partnership with Urban Synergy includes sponsorship, hosting virtual careers events, providing mentors and offering paid work experience placements. UK Power Networks also supports programmes that tackle the underrepresentation of young black men in large organisations, and employ Armed Forces service leavers and undertake workshops for neurodiverse teenagers. A new application process has been created for apprentices and graduates, aimed at ensuring fairness of assessment. Recruitment teams and managers have also been trained to recognise and reduce unconscious bias throughout the recruitment process. Leaders across the organisation participate in Inclusive Leadership Workshops with a focus on unconscious bias. Courses to improve inclusive behaviour are now being embedded into individual employees’ development programmes. UK Power Networks continues the formal collection of data about staff equality and diversity, and inclusivity is now regularly discussed by Board Directors with accountability for diversity and inclusion resting with the Executive Management Team. The commitment to diversity and inclusion has grown from strength to strength, and an environment where

differences are valued is being realised. This is evident through the awards and accreditations achieved, and the talent and expertise that the organisation has attracted who deliver for their clients

in complex environments. Moreover, a workplace has been created that employees enjoy on a daily basis and can thrive in.

‘I lead a team that operate, maintain and upgrade private electrical networks for around 300 clients across the UK. I find my work rewarding because of the camaraderie, values and respect we have for our clients and each other. Even after all these years, there’s a new challenge every day.’ – Heather Smeaton-Lowen, Client Delivery Manager

‘I am an electrical engineer working with clients on a wide variety of challenging projects. I deliver HV, LV and street lighting designs, tender future business opportunities and develop my operational authorisation portfolio in an exciting and fastchanging work environment. I am lucky to be given the opportunity to work for UK Power Networks Services where I have great support and encouragement to keep learning and developing new skills and knowledge.’ – Marta Canelo Ruiz, Design Engineer Email: enquiries@ukpowernetworks.co.uk Visit: ukpowernetworksservices.co.uk LinkedIn: UK Power Networks Services Rail Professional

BUSINESS PROFILE |

HS2 to have one of Europe’s largest double storey bridges Temporary works specialist, Mabey Hire, has worked with Laing Murphy Joint Venture (LMJV) and HS2 to create an astonishing 40-metre-long, double-storey temporary bridge spanning across the River Tame in the West Midlands, providing access for heavy construction equipment and earth-moving plant

s one of the largest temporary bridges deployed in Europe in recent years, it is expected to remain in use until all the main construction work for the new high speed rail link is completed in the area. The double storey configuration of Mabey Hire’s bridge was specifically designed to accommodate abnormal loads and the physical size of large vehicles crossing it. In fact, since its installation, the solution has enabled the deployment of crucial equipment, including a 112 tonne mobile crane, a 118 tonne Axle Low Loader and a fleet of Volvo A60H articulated six-wheel haulers, weighing approximately 98 tonnes each, as well as other heavy plant. Once the work has been completed, the structure – fabricated using Mabey Hire’s Compact 200 components – will be dismantled for re-use on other projects, alongside the special Bolt-ABin® foundation cages, which are a more environmentally-friendly alternative to concrete foundations. Each abutment comprises a cellular structure formed from heavy duty corrugated steel sections, positioned within a carefully dug excavation and then backfilled with selected soil, compacted in layers decided by the type of material available in the local area. The foundation cages, which Mabey Hire’s team built into the banks of the River Tame, measure ten metres wide by two metres and go down to a depth of six metres to settle on stable subsoil layers. The design and construction of the abutments means they are able to sustain both the imposed loads and accommodate a significant degree of ground movement: including lateral and braking forces imposed by heavily laden vehicles. The groundworks were completed by installing a steel grillage across the top of the abutments to help spread the load of the 7.3 metre wide Compact 200 bridge. The bridge was then launched from one

side of the river; being pushed out across the water using a D6 bulldozer until the front end reached the opposite abutment. At this stage, a 360 Roto Truck was used to remove the lightweight nose from the superstructure before the installation was completed. Peter Aramayo, Commercial Director at Mabey Hire, commented: ‘As a specialist in the field, we were delighted to have been involved in such a noteworthy project – one of the largest temporary bridge structures deployed in the UK for many years. We’ll remain involved with the project until the temporary solution needs to be removed and look forward to continuing to help the team meet its goals as efficiently and effectively as possible.’ This contract is the latest in a series of bridges supplied and installed by Mabey Hire, following the company’s initial engagement with HS2 when the Government backed consortium was seeking to establish supply chain partners with the experience and capacity to work on the UK’s biggest infrastructure project since the Channel Tunnel rail links. With over 60 years’ experience in the temporary works sector and a dedicated team of engineers, Mabey Hire is well placed to provide bespoke, engineered solutions for all types of construction projects, as well as being prepared for unexpected challenges. Its end-to-end service offering provides support at all stages of a temporary works project, from design through to supply and installation. Having a nationwide network of depots and highly experienced teams able to undertake site work in coordination with other subcontractors, Mabey Hire can offer the

widest possible range of temporary works solutions suiting not only groundworks support and access bridges, but also propping and jacking systems, including façade support. For more information about Mabey Hire, please visit: www.mabeyhire.co.uk Rail Professional

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Flitwick Quick LOC Stagings Flitwick, Bedfordshire saw the first phase of Quick LOC Stage installations as part of the West Hampstead Life Extension Project for Network Rail. CSM Specialist Projects Ltd worked with Anchor Systems (International) Ltd to create the innovative GRP Stage and Anchor Screw system for Principal Contractor Linbrooke Services Ltd and Designer GGP Consult

rapidly deployable, zero concrete and environmentally friendly ground anchoring solution and LOC Stage was required for the installation of location case staging platforms in Flitwick, Bedfordshire. This install was for Linbrooke Services’ West Hampstead Life Extension (WHLE) Project, which was implemented as part of Network Rail’s London North-Eastern & East Midlands Route Strategic Plan – to extend the life of lineside signalling assets between the Kentish Town and Bedford Interlocking areas. The challenge was to create a full LOC Stage solution that can be rapidly deployed, without the need for RRVs, large equipment or concrete; the system had to allow for quick and simple installation during engineering hours, below OLE and in unpredictable winter weather conditions. Using alternative methods, the installation of the LOC Staging would have taken weeks with the possibility of being delayed in the cold weather, due to the use of concrete and wet materials which can expand in temperatures below 0ºC. Other methods would not only require multiple concrete foundations with subsequent drying and curing time but would furthermore necessitate the use of numerous RRVs, ballast removal, waste management and OLE isolations. The solution Anchor Systems (International) Ltd have a growing portfolio of projects within the rail sector. Their zero concrete, portable hand-held installation anchor foundation systems were used to erect the Westbourne Park segregation barrier where over 300 Anchor Screws were installed, as well as the Hither Green Signalling Renewal project and Victoria rapid route cabling system, to name but a few. Given the previous successes with their products, Anchor Systems were approached to provide a solution for this Network Rail project. Anchor Systems worked closely with CSM Projects, GGP and Linbrook Services to offer a bespoke geotechnical design and solution based upon local ground investigations and the needs of the client as well as Rail Professional

environmental and cost directives. The design was determined with extendable Anchor Screws and adjustable pile adapter interface plates. Working together with CSM Specialist Projects, Anchor Systems developed a bespoke and innovative prefabricated GRP Staging that could be delivered to site already preassembled and then connected directly to the Pile Adapter interface plates on the Anchor Screws. The whole system, including all installation equipment, was delivered to the rail location using only track trollies. The flexible design of the Pile Adapter and innovative LOC Stage meant that no legs/beams had to be cut or drilled on site as the plate can be adjusted vertically and allows slight rotation to ensure the staging is perfectly level. A total of seven LOC Stage systems, with 28 Anchor Screw foundation systems (four per staging) were supplied by Anchor Systems (International) Ltd and CSM Specialist Projects for the first phase of installations. The results Despite the challenging location, freezing cold conditions and a generous dousing of snow, the hand-held installation of the Anchor Screws proved to be revolutionary. The efficiency of the system and team was demonstrated with the installation of all

28 Anchor Screws in just six night shifts. The seventh night saw the prefabricated GRP LOC Staging being delivered, assembled and installed. An estimated time saving of 60 per cent was made on the foundation system installation compared to traditional methods. This system proved to be especially beneficial on this Network Rail project where the team were challenged with the task of installing on sloped railway embankments, with the presence of OLEs, facing imposed time constraints and all while taking a conscientious approach to reducing the carbon footprint. As well as eliminating the need of OLE isolation, zero on track plant or RRVs were required and no concrete or wet trades were used. In addition, this installation method is portable, lightweight and produces no hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS) during use. The torque head has a zero dB reading and the power pack measures 88dB at two metres, making this the ideal solution for night shift work and use in noise sensitive areas. Although a full environmental report has not yet been concluded, based on previous projects we estimate that a 70 per cent embodied carbon reduction was achieved. This calculation is derived from man hour savings, elimination of plant requirements and reduced possession requirements.

BUSINESS PROFILE |

anchor piles which requires zero water, zero concrete and zero on track machines. As demonstrated, there is a huge time saving on installation when compared against traditional down bank staging solutions. The team worked diligently, and professionally from design to delivery, to create a solution that leaves virtually zero environmental impact, achieving maximum value for each pound in the ground.’ Scott Louder – Project Director at Linbrooke Services Ltd

Testimonial ‘This system is great example of collaborative working. All the work & investment that went into this system demonstrates real commitment by the team for innovation and sustainability. The objectives were to reduce carbon footprint, remove concrete & water usage, remove the need for RRV’s and allow a very quick installation - all of which were met and more. Nothing else on the market comes close.’ – Clive Marriott: Managing Director at CSM Projects

Anchor Screw Quick-Stage - YouTube

Environmental benefits Over and above the project benefits, the Anchor Screw foundation system offers further advantages to the network and local environment, including: • All materials being recyclable, easily removable, and reusable. • Made in the UK from 100 per cent recycled steel, with a minimum design life of 50 years. • Anchor Screw can be designed to offer 100+ year design life solution. • No wet trades used, curing times or excavation. • No requirement for RRVs. • Materials can all be transported by hand and with track trollies. • Portable and lightweight installation equipment. • Zero HAVS.

Installation head offers low noise pollution output offering lower disturbance to residents. On average the Anchor Screw foundation offers a carbon reduction of over 70 per cent. Example project reports with carbon calculated output can be seen at www.anchorsystems.co.uk Testimonial Linbrooke Services Ltd are looking for ways to deliver our works more efficiently whilst reducing the impact on the environment. This innovative solution achieved both those goals. What particularly stands out is that these works had virtually zero impact on the environment, as the project is utilising the latest screw

Testimonial ‘As Civils Designers for many years, we are no stranger to the differing foundation types and solutions for lineside assets, but ease of construction in difficult locations without the requirement for on-track plant was a key driver in exploring the options available for the client. The Team at Anchor Systems were extremely cooperative and attentive in the early exchanges providing many examples demonstrating the capabilities and onsite flexibility of the Anchor Screw System and how these could be adopted and/or benefit the project. The client’s feedback was very positive, with the team installing 4No. piles within a Midweek ROR Possession at the very first attempt. We look forward to working closely again with Anchor Systems in the very near future.’ – Ricky Wamsley: GGP Consult - Design Manager/ Civils CRE

Tel: 01342 719 362 Email: info@anchorsystems.co.uk Visit: www.anchorsystems.co.uk Rail Professional

TENSOREX C+: Spring Automatic Tensoning Device

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PFISTERER Group’s Rail division becomes MOSDORFER Rail On 28 December 2021, Knill Energy Holding GmbH acquired the Rail Division of the PFISTERER Group

his included the takeover of all employees at the production sites in Sheffield, UK and Barcelona, Spain as well as a development team in Milan, Italy. With this acquisition, Knill Energy Group optimally strengthens and expands its portfolio of solutions for public mobility. PFISTERER’s Rail Division is a leading manufacturer and supplier of catenary systems for the global rail industry. On the product side, the acquisition encompasses PFISTERER’s complete product range for Rail infrastructure in the overhead contact line sector, including anchoring and tensioning systems. The re-branding of these products to MOSDORFER Rail is ongoing. This includes catenary systems, contact wire tensioning systems (Tensorex), cantilevers, insulators, clamps and connectors. Safety equipment, including Network Rail approved Live Line Testers, will continue to be supplied exclusively via the new business. The Knill Group is a global group of companies owned and managed by the same family for more than 300 years and headquartered in Austria. With their own manufacturing, sales, service and logistics centres in Europe, Asia, the USA and Australia, as well as agencies and distributors, they are a strategic partner to the global energy and rail industries. The core competencies are the development, manufacture and distribution of fittings and damping systems for overhead power lines, substation equipment, monitoring systems for overhead line management and cabinet systems. With the acquisition, the previous PFISTERER companies in UK, Spain and Italy have been renamed. Mr Stuart Woodsell has been appointed MD of MOSDORFER Rail Ltd, replacing Mr Dave Reed who has remained with with the PFISTERER business. PFISTERER Ltd has

now been incorporated as MOSDORFER RAIL Ltd in UK and will continue to operate from the existing production site in Sheffield. A period of rebranding is ongoing as the Rail business is integrated with the new owner. For customers and partners, very little will change because the highest quality, innovative solutions, the greatest flexibility and reliability are the top priorities. The goal of the business will be to further expand the good market position and grow with the exciting challenges of the rail market. ‘With this acquisition, we rise to become a global player in railroad infrastructure. With the patented, innovative Spring Automatic Tensioning technology, we become the world market leader in catenary compensating devices. Together with

our existing products in overhead lines, this creates exciting opportunities and synergies’ said Christian Knill, owner of the Knill Gruppe. Existing approvals for products such as Tensorex C+ Spring Automatic Tensioning system, Catenary Clamps and Connectors and Current Carrying Droppers will transfer immediately to the new business name. The business continues to operate as a full solution supplier when it comes to overhead contact lines. The company has supplied full system solutions to many prestigious projects worldwide, from high-speed rail in China to Santiago, Chile. The complete range of Rail Catenary Systems products hold approvals with most European and many other Global Railway Authorities including Network Rail, ADIF in Spain and TCDD in Rail Professional

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Turkey among many others, with solutions available for the complete global rail market.

varied environmental conditions such as extreme temperatures at both ends of the ambient scale. Its capability to compensate for a high temperature delta makes it a perfect performance solution in any environment. Using alternative technology such as conventional balance weight products, may involve extensive civil groundworks to overcome the low hanging balance weights and the risk of grounding. With this system there is no requirement for this as the unit has no parts hanging lower than the contact wire height. Tensorex C+ has been successfully installed in the high temperatures of Australia and Saudi Arabia as well as the freezing conditions of Canada and the most northern parts of Scandinavia. The units continue to perform to the expected high

Tensorex C+ At the forefront of the product portfolio continues to be the patented Tensorex C+ spring automatic tensioning device. This highly innovative product is currently leading the way when it comes to the tensioning of overhead contact lines. The product was developed to compete against the conventional weight-based tensioning systems and provides many advantages in comparison; including High precision of performance, Greater reliability in operation, Reduced Health & Safety risks, Easy to install and Low Maintenance. The Tensorex C+ system is designed to provide optimum performance in many

standard after years of reliable service. Salt corrosion is a worldwide problem for rail lines alongside the sea and snow based countries who use a lot of salt to counter this. A salt spray resistant variant of the system is also available for such difficult locations, creating a product more resistant to the effects of these harsh environments whilst maintaining all of the performance and practical advantages offered by the product. For more information, please get in touch via the contact information below.

Tel: 0114 387 8370 Email: OrdersRailUK@mosdorfer.com Visit: www.mosdorfer.com

Issue IssueNov 19Issue2021Nov Nov

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Elliott Group and affiliated UK companies become Algeco Elliott Group Ltd, Carter Accommodation Ltd and Procomm Site Services Ltd, leaders in UK modular services and part of Modulaire Group, are to unite under a common brand – Algeco

K customers will benefit from a stronger, better integrated and structured organisation, with a renewed commitment to placing customer service excellence at the heart of the organisation. Algeco shares the responsibility for developing sustainable futures for its customers, its business, and its products and services. Core to this is being a trusted solutions provider to the industries it supports. Algeco enables people to work more productively, improve their quality of life, and enhance their learning. It designs and delivers whatever customers need, whenever and wherever they need it. The move will create a single, consistent brand across the UK and Europe, to reflect the group’s position as a leader in European modular services and infrastructure. Algeco has a proud heritage of serving customers across Europe, providing a strong basis for the single identity, which will facilitate growth in brand equity in the marketplace and allow UK customers to benefit from best practice sharing with Algeco in Europe and producing innovative modular solutions. The adoption of Algeco as the single brand in the UK will create a common sense of identity and purpose for the UK business. These changes are expected to take effect from 31 March 2022. The combined UK business will be headquartered in Peterborough, with a total of 23 site locations throughout the country servicing its portable, modular building and offsite construction hire and sales activities. John Campbell, Managing Director of Algeco in the UK, said: ‘Adopting the Algeco brand in the UK provides a link with

our heritage, whilst also symbolising the transformation the UK business is currently going through as part of our group’s global ambitions. We have an exciting future ahead of us. ‘The Algeco brand has solid foundations built on excellence, sustainability, innovation and collaboration. These elements are cornerstones of what we call our customer obsession – continually looking for ways to exceed expectations, deliver best-in-class service and develop sustainable futures for our customers and colleagues.’

Algeco and the Modulaire Group are owned by investment funds managed by Brookfield Business Partners L.P, which acquired the Modulaire Group in December 2021. Brookfield Business Partners is the flagship listed business services and industrials company of Brookfield Asset Management, a leading global alternative asset manager with over $600 billion of assets under management. Algeco profile Algeco is a long established brand in the European modular services and

infrastructure industry, originally formed in 1955. The brand has consistently achieved a string of industry firsts; from creating modular site accommodation; to introducing the first stackable modular accommodation in 1965; and more recently pioneering innovations in volumetric offsite solutions. Algeco now offers a vast range of physical space solutions from temporary accommodation and storage solutions for building sites, through to highly sophisticated design and build permanent multi-storey offsite solutions for business and the public sector. In the UK, Algeco is Headquartered in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire and offers a huge range of turn-key portable and modular building solutions for hire, including modular site accommodation, portable cabins, secure storage containers and portable toilets, all available from strategically placed regional locations throughout the UK. Modular buildings for hire offer virtually unlimited spaces with unrivalled flexibility, suitable for quality offices, classrooms, children’s nurseries, and health centres and designed to meet individual layout requirements. Algeco design and build permanent solutions utilise modern methods of construction to offer inspirational single and multi-storey spaces designed to customer specifications, safely, quickly and consistently. In the UK, Algeco employs over 1,200 people and has a turnover of around £200 million. Meanwhile, look out for the new Algeco website, scheduled to go live at the end of March. Rail Professional

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Fighting viruses with ultraviolet A Hispacold air treatment system based on ultraviolet-C lamps demonstrates more than 93.4 per cent efficiency in eliminating SARS-CoV-2

he tests (which were carried out by the Biological Defense Unit of the CBRN Defense Systems Department at the National Institute of Aerospace Technology (INTA), part of the Spanish Ministry of Defense) showed that under the trial conditions, the Hispacold air treatment system based on ultraviolet-C (UVC) lamps was 93.4 per cent effective in eliminating viruses. Last November, at the La Marañosa Campus, which is home to INTA’s technology center and the headquarters of the General Subdirectorate of Ground Systems, the Hispacold air treatment system based on UVC lamps was subjected to a series of tests, in accordance with strict safety procedures and a very demanding test protocol. The tests were aimed at analyzing the biological decontamination capacity of an HVAC unit designed to provide climate control and germicidal air treatment in a railway vehicle, with a specific view to eliminating any SARSCoV-2 virus present in the passenger compartment. The goal was to evaluate the reduction in viral load in an aerosol of the MS2 bacterial virus treated using a system based on UVC lamps, located inside the aforementioned HVAC unit in the railway vehicle. The tests were carried out in a Class II Biosafety Cabinet (BSCII). Given the impossibility of carrying out the tests on SARS-CoV-2 safely, the decision was made to use the MS2 bacterial virus. The MS2 bacterial virus is more resistant to UVC radiation than SARS-CoV-2, as its inactivation energy is 64 mJ/cm2 compared to 6.7 mJ/cm2 for the latter. Because its inactivation energy requirements are around ten times greater than SARS-CoV-2 under UVC radiation, the use of this virus made it possible to draw conclusions with a high degree of confidence. From the results obtained, it can be deduced that after one air treatment cycle, the reduction of infectivity in the bioaerosol stands at 1.18 orders of magnitude (log R = 1.18). This represents a 93.4 per cent reduction in viral load after exposure to UVC

light from the air treatment system. We can therefore conclude that the air treatment system in question was effective in reducing the viral load in the air under the test conditions. About Hispacold Hispacold, a World leader Company for climate systems with more than 40 years’ experience is specialized in passengers’ comfort. Hispacold designs and manufactures HVAC solutions for all rail

vehicles, including trams, metros, EMUs, DMUs, and LRVs, with proven and reliable technology solutions. Hispacold is certified in the most recognized international quality management, environment and safety standards: ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001, UNE EN 15805-2 and the prestigious IRIS ISO/TS 22163. Visit: www.hispacold.es Rail Professional

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BUSINESS PROFILE |

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Steady as we go RSSB’s third quarter safety performance update demonstrates an even trend overall, but the need for vigilance remains

o make sure everyone gets home safe every day, you need to have eyes everywhere. For this, you need data, but you also need to be able to look down to the weaker signals evident in the daily control logs…and you need to be able to check that what you’re doing is making a difference. This is exactly why RSSB produced the Leading Health and Safety on Britain’s Railway strategy and why it publishes a quarterly update to make sure members have a clear picture of what’s going on out there. The latest of these reports covers the third quarter of the 2021/22 fiscal year, essentially mid-September to mid-December. So, what are the big headlines? First, there are still train accidents – potentially higher-risk ones, we call them. Four occurred in Quarter 3 (Q3) – a buffer stop collision, a collision with a road vehicle at a level crossing, a collision between two trains and one derailment. One of the precursors to a train accident is a signal passed at danger event, a SPAD. There were 62 in Q3, two more than the previous quarter. The associated risk has gone up too – but this doesn’t mean that the railway is suddenly a dangerous place, as the risk figure will have changed to reflect the SPAD that led to the collision at Salisbury Tunnel Junction on 31 October 2021. As RAIB has revealed, the cause of the SPAD in the first place was wheelslide. RAIB will release its findings in due course, and RSSB – and the Train Accident Risk Group – will take the lessons forward in future thinking and future projects aimed at mitigating against the causes. The number of recorded trespass incidents in Q3 was just under 2,700, which is fewer than the number reported for the same quarter last year (2,864). This follows a spike seen at the start of 2021/22 as we were phasing out of the second lockdown and while children were on their Easter holidays. Child-related trespass has continued to rise in line with all trespassrelated events. Cases of children (and older) sitting over the edges of platforms are still being recorded, as are ill-advised games of ‘chicken’ involving running across the track between platforms. The industry supported the important messages to prevent trespass and shared

the new You vs Train campaign via social media. A new campaign is also being planned to mitigate the increase in trespass over the holiday peaks. New resources to educate children from ages 3-16, to promote safe crossing use, have also been made available to schools via www.switchedonrailsafety.co.uk. We are pleased to report that there were no workforce fatalities in Q3, pleased too that near misses have continued to fall. This reflects the efforts of Network Rail’s Safety Task Force (STF) to cut unassisted lookout working and use more line blockages, although a steady increase in line blockage incidents is now starting to be seen. Where safety data has always been comparatively plentiful, the same has not been the case for health and wellbeing. Thankfully, that looks set to change, with the launch of a new Health and Wellbeing Index (HWI). To streamline the data collection process, HWI components have also been integrated into the Industry Health & Wellbeing Performance Measurement System, an ongoing project to develop an industry-wide health and wellbeing monitoring dashboard. The cross-industry Rail Mental Health Survey report was published on 2 November, with some insightful outcomes. The results showed that over 40 per cent of rail workers are experiencing mental health problems. Rates of anxiety and PTSD in particular were found to be higher among rail workers than the general population. In addition to the main report,

companies with high numbers of responses have each received a highlights report for their company. The Q3 report reflects a period of improvement, but it is a continuing journey. Here are just three things to look out for in the coming months: • Improving our Safety Management Intelligence System (SMIS). RSSB is currently working with industry to simplify SMIS to make it quicker and easier to record events and enable automatic data transfer with company systems. • Rebuilding the Safety Risk Model (SRM). The SRM provides estimates of the risk from rail operations and maintenance. It is currently being rebuilt to create a simpler more flexible structure which better meets requirements for localized risk assessment. • Developing the regional Precursor Indicator Model (PIM). The PIM provides a risk-weighted measure of failures, acts, and conditions that have potential to cause a train accident in different circumstances. Following engagement with 30 industry stakeholders, work is under way to update the calculations, produce regional breakdowns and build a dashboard to present the results. Read the report at https://www.rssb.co.uk/ safety-and-health/leading-health-and-safetyon-britains-railway/lhsbr-quarterly-progressreport Rail Professional

BUSINESS NEWS |

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MECHAN lands prestigious Heathrow contract Sheffield’s rail depot equipment specialist, Mechan, is flying high after securing a contract to supply its flagship lifting jacks to London’s Heathrow Airport. The manufacturer has been commissioned to design and build ten bespoke mobile jacks, to speed up the maintenance of vehicles used on the airport’s Track Transit System. Mechan is working with aviation construction specialist, Mace, to design jacks that will operate in conjunction with an existing wheel change unit. This will allow the large, tyred wheels on Heathrow’s new two-car automated passenger vehicles to be removed and replaced without decoupling, dramatically reducing servicing times. They will be used as a synchronised set of eight (and two spares), replacing the depot’s current jacks that only operate in

sets of four. The close proximity between the transit car’s jacking point and its large wheels means that Mechan has had to create a narrow version of its mobile jack. It must also be compact enough to fit into an elevator that is used to access the underground maintenance facility at Heathrow’s terminal five. Lindsey Mills, Mechan’s Sales Manager, said: ‘We are very pleased to be working on our first project with Mace, following a personal recommendation, and relish this opportunity to demonstrate our skills to the aviation industry. The unusual location of the airport’s maintenance bay – under the runway – has put our designers to the test, with cabling having to be suspended from the ceiling. As always, they’ve risen to the

challenge and produced an excellent solution that will enhance the current operation considerably.’ Heathrow’s Track Transit System is used to transport airside passengers at Terminal 5, between T5A, T5B and T5C. The South Heavy Maintenance Bay is being upgraded by Mace to cater for the 20 new cars and using the new Mechan jacks, two coupled Alstom cars can be maintained. The vehicles are being introduced to increase capacity and meet future passenger numbers. For more information about Mechan’s lifting jacks, or its portfolio of rail depot maintenance products, telephone 0114 257 0563, visit www.mechan.co.uk or follow the firm on Twitter, @mechanuk.

WHIS®wall one metre noise barrier system awarded Certificate of Acceptance by Network Rail The innovative WHIS®wall noise barrier system has been certified for use in the UK by Network Rail. The WHIS®wall system uses the acoustic principle of diffraction, ‘bending’ sound created by rail vehicles upwards to reduce noise. The solution comprises a one-metre high reinforced concrete base unit equipped with a trackside absorber and Corten steel diffractor mounted on top. The system reduces vehicle noise by between seven and nine decibels, comparable to a three-metre high noise barrier. The noise-reducing WHIS®wall has been awarded a Certificate of Acceptance by Network Rail following

successful field-testing in an operational UK railway environment. The product acceptance process assures Network Rail that approved products are safe, compatible, reliable, fit for purpose and do not export unacceptable risks to infrastructure. Steve Barnes, Gramm Barriers Systems Business Development Manager, said: ‘We are delighted to have been selected as 4Silence’s UK partner to provide design, supply and installation services of this proven noise reduction technology to the UK rail sector. ‘With both passenger and freight rail services continuing to increase, WHIS®wall

has a number of benefits compared to threemetre high noise reducing barriers.’ Based in Seaford, East Sussex, Gramm Barriers Systems is one of the UK’s leading installers of acoustic barriers and high security fencing systems and the only noise barrier specialist to have its materials and works backed and insured by the Government. For more information about WHIS®wall visit https://www.grammbarriers.com/ or contact Steve Barnes at Steveb@ grammbarriers.com to discuss your project requirements.

Relec Electronics presents Mornsun’s LMF500-20Bxx series The compact, high-efficiency ac-dc converters are certified to multiple standards and are high-density modules suitable for industrial applications, smart home and domestic appliances, telecommunications, street lighting and security systems. The LMF500-20Bxx series of 500W ac-dc converters have built-in active Power Factor Correction (PFC). Models have a universal input of 80 – 264V ac and dual use of the same terminal enables it to also accept 110 – 370V dc. Output is 12 -54V. The cost-effective, low no load power

consumption ac-dc switching power supplies are reliable, with double or reinforced insulation. The ac-dc converters measure 203.1 x 101.6 x 40.6mm and have an operating temperature range of -30°C to +70°C. Other features of the LMF500-Series are high I/O isolation test voltage, up to 4,000V ac. Safety approvals include CE EN/ UL62368-1 for AV ICT (audio-visual, and information communication technology) equipment, IEC/EN60601 for medical equipment, EN60335 (the Low Voltage Directive) for household and electrical

appliances, GB4943 and EN61558. The modules have output short circuit constant current, over-current, over-voltage class III (designed to meet EN61558) and overtemperature protection. There is also remote sense compensation and remote ON/OFF function. Additionally, the ac-dc converters offer excellent EMC performance meeting CISPR32/EN55032 class B for both conducted and radiated emissions and EN61000-3-2 class A & D for harmonic currents.

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| PEOPLE

Network Rail appoints new Route Services Managing Director Rob Morton has been appointed as the new managing director for Route Services, replacing Susan Cooklin, who is leaving the organisation after 16 years’ service.

New Managing Director for Sateba Stanton Precast Ian Steel has been appointed Managing Director for Stanton Precast Ltd in the UK. Appointment of new Managing Director Paul Capener has been appointed as Managing Director. Since Olivier Garrigue, Chairman & Chief Executive of XEIAD, took control of the business in 2013, Paul has been a major contributor to the ongoing successful growth having recently led the award of several major multi-year framework contracts with key clients such as Network Rail and National Highways.

New Rail Accident Investigation Branch Chief Inspector Andrew Hall has been appointed Chief Inspector of Rail Accidents and will replace Simon E French OBE, who will retire on 31 March after nearly 18 years at RAIB.

New board Directors appointed at Barhale Owen Mills and Andy Dodman will join the board at the civil engineering and infrastructure specialist in the roles of Engineering Director and Health, Safety, Environment and Quality (HSEQ) Director respectively. Rail Professional

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