Railway Strategies Issue 120 August 2015

Issue 120 August 2015

Beneath Saudi’s capital

Tunnelling begins on new metro that will become one of the world’s biggest

FEATURE

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Productivity v safety battle 3D modelling & simulation The big data revolution FOCUS ON

Facilities management

NEWS

Crossrail’s environmental legacy takes shape

Climate change - assessing the risks to rail

10th anniversary of the London bombings

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From the Editor

Chairman Andrew Schofield Editor Gay Sutton editor@railwaystrategies.co.uk Managing Editor Libbie Hammond Art Editor Gerard Roadley-Battin Advertisement Designer David Howard Profile Editor Libbie Hammond Staff Writers Jo Cooper Ben Clark Andrew Dann Advertisement Sales Dave King Sales Director Joe Woolsgrove Operations Director Philip Monument Business Development Director Dave Garner Editorial Researchers Keith Hope Gavin Watson Tarj Kaur-D’Silva Mark Cowles Administration Tracy Chynoweth

Back to basics

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oming from a science and technology background I confess to being a blatant technophile. Yet in a world where technology is evolving so fast that products can become obsolete in months, I am always pleasantly surprised that historic practices can provide solutions to some of today’s big issues.

The rail sector has amply demonstrated this during July.

Copper and many of its alloys are natural antimicrobials, capable of destroying such killers as MRSA, the TB bacillus and E coli. Why, then, has its use as a touch surface gone out of fashion? South Africa’s freight logistics company Transnet has picked up on this. To reduce the spread of infection on its two medical trains it is installing copper door handles and making plans to use copper for further key surfaces.

Meanwhile, the spoil from the Crossrail tunnelling has been used for an exciting environmental project to return Wallasea Island to its original form _ a salt marsh.

The significance of this is not only that it will provide a haven for wildlife, but will also explore and ‘prove’ the value of salt marshes as a defence against rising sea levels.

Perhaps we will one day read of salt marshes, where appropriate, protecting some of our vulnerable coastal railways.

You can read these stories on our news pages, along with a roundup of phase 1 of the RSSB’s report Tomorrow’s Railway and Climate Change Adaptation.

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Features

9 LEGAL _ Living with the new national wage Things to consider and decide, before the new National Living Wage comes into operation _ Ben Daniel 10 Fast and furious The oil and gas sector shows us how improving safety need not jeopardise productivity _ Iain MacKay

7Cover story

15 Looking for a revolution Why data collection has to be improved before we can truly harness big data _ Rebecca Evans 16 Steeling the show How gleaming steel is helping Birmingham New Street station meet strict environmental standards 19 Greatest assets Southeastern pays tribute to the dedication and hard work of its employees 22 Gaining true tunnel vision _ CASE STUDY Bond Street station upgrade 3D: modelling and simulation solves tunnelling issues _ Dassault Systèmes

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News 4 6 8 14 18 25

Industry Infrastructure Opinion Appointments Rolling stock Conferences & exhibitions

Focus on Facilities management 20 Fire safety Applying the latest EN45545 standard on the London Underground

Profiles

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27 PMA AG/PMA UK 30 BCL Power 32 Furrer + Frey 36 Spencer Group 39 Morris Line Engineering 42 SSE Enterprise Contracting 45 Damar International 48 FirstGroup

IN BRIEF c2c pleases 93% of passengers l Transport Focus’s latest survey shows 93% of c2c passengers were happy with the punctuality of their train service _ more than for any other rail franchise.

Meanwhile, Network Rail figures reveal c2c is Britain’s most punctual rail operator with 97.1% of services arriving on time compared to the UK average of 89.6%.

Apple Pay arrives l Train passengers in London can now use an iPhone or Apple Watch to pay for travel. Apple’s contactless system Apple Pay is valid for travel anywhere on the London public transport system where contactless cards are already accepted for pay as you go travel. The new payment system has been developed in collaboration with Transport for London.

Eurostar 2.8m customers record l Eurostar has reported the highest ever number of passengers transported on Eurostar in one quarter with over 2.8m customers travelling between the UK and the continent in Q2 2015. This is a yearon-year increase of 3% in passengers compared with the same period last year.

£1m boost for rail tourism l The Prime Minister has announced a £1m Rail for Tourism innovation competition, calling for ideas to transform the travel experience for visitors to the UK and make exploring the UK by rail more attractive to tourists.

The competition will be run by the RSSB’s Future Railways Programme. Winners will receive funding to develop their ideas and carry out trials.

Virgin Trains 400m journeys l Friday 3 July was a special day for Virgin Trains as it passed the 400m customer journeys mark. Record numbers now travel on the West Coast Main Line where passenger figures have more than doubled in the past twelve months. To mark the occasion, customers at Crewe were treated to homemade cup cakes.

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Teesport, owned by PD Ports, showing the dedicated rail terminal for containerised freight

DB Schenker teams up with PD Ports for groundbreaking new service l DB Schenker Rail UK and PD Ports will be launching a completely new intermodal service for containerised freight. From 3 August a daily Monday to Friday service will run directly from Teesport in Middlesbrough to Mossend and Grangemouth in Scotland. The onward leg to Grangemouth from Mossend has been enabled through close collaboration with Malcolm Logistics.

It is believed this is the first time that a rail freight company has partnered directly with a port to serve the intermodal sector.

Geoff Lippitt, PD Ports’ business development director, said: “This new service operated by DB Schenker Rail UK will allow

us to further develop Teesport’s connections with Scotland and enhance the port’s transport infrastructure network to the benefit of shipping lines and intermodal customers. It will also provide daily links to European ro-ro and lo-lo services.

“The recent investment in a dedicated rail terminal at Teesport is part of PD Ports’ wider growth strategy to position the port as the northern gateway for containerised goods destined for the north of the UK. In the last three years we have seen the implementation of a new terminal operating system, the arrival of new RTG cranes and reach stackers as well as significant investment in yard infrastructure.”

Trelleborg to supply rail suspension systems for Crossrail trains l Trelleborg has won a significant order from Bombardier Transportation to supply a complete suite of rail suspension solutions for the new Class 345 trains. Designed with an emphasis on energy efficiency, the trains will operate on the new high frequency, high capacity Crossrail line across London.

Trelleborg’s suite of primary and secondary suspension components include primary conical springs and air spring systems that will be treated with its patented DragonCoat fire

retardant protective coating. This reduces the flammability of the products and delays smoke, toxic emissions and the onset of flames.

Naveen Chandra, global lead buyer for Bombardier Transportation, said: “Since the recent introduction of fire safety standard EN 45545, rubber-based products specified for use on new trains have come under heavy scrutiny. We have taken careful consideration to find products that lower fire concerns, and Trelleborg has one of the possible solutions.”

Changes to rail passenger compensation arrangements l Rail passengers are benefitting from new compensation arrangements that came into effect on 19 July, and are part of wider changes made to the National Rail Conditions of Carriage (NRCoC).

Although arrangements vary between train operating companies, generally if a passenger is delayed by more than 30 minutes for any reason they may be entitled to compensation.

The change means that passengers claiming compensation for delays and disruption can now receive their compensation in cash instead of rail vouchers, if they request it.

Other changes to the NRCoC include improvements for passengers who lose their season ticket. Previously a season ticket would be replaced a maximum of two times but that limit has now been removed.

Train companies can still refer or refuse applications for issuing or refunding duplicate season tickets if there are grounds to suspect fraud.

The Phelophepa train, delivering healthcare to the communities

South Africa’s healthcare trains utilise the antimicrobial properties of copper l Transnet’s Phelophepa I and II trains, which provide healthcare to rural communities across South Africa, have harnessed the natural antimicrobial properties of copper to help deliver safer healthcare to millions of people.

The 18-coach trains travel for 36 weeks of the year, visiting communities that have no other access to healthcare facilities or education. Over 300,000 people use the facilities annually, so infection prevention is critical.

The trains have been equipped with germkilling copper door handles to help provide a

TfL marks 10th anniversary of London bombings l On 7 July, Transport for London marked the 10th anniversary of the London bombings with a one-minute silence across the London Underground and wider transport network.

Mike Brown, managing director of London Underground & Rail, said: “My thoughts are with the victims, families and survivors on this difficult day. What happened 10 years ago will

never be forgotten, and neither will the valiant actions of our staff, the emergency services and members of the public, who worked so compassionately to help those in need.

The people of London showed extraordinary courage and their support and patience as we worked to return the transport network to normal was invaluable.”

Britain’s biggest railway stations to recycle coffee waste l Following a successful trial at London’s Victoria and Waterloo stations, Network Rail has signed an agreement with green energy company bio-bean to recycle waste coffee grounds and convert them to advanced biofuels. Britain’s six largest stations _ Euston, King’s Cross, Liverpool Street, Paddington, Victoria and Waterloo _ will be taking part in the project.

Between them, the six stations generate nearly 700 tonnes of coffee waste a year. This will now be converted into over 650 tonnes of carbon-neutral biofuels for heating homes,

Picture courtesy of Transnet

NEWS I Industry

offices and factories. Each tonne of waste coffee grounds creates over 5,700 kilowatt hours of energy. These 700 tonnes are enough to power 1000 homes for a year.

more hygienic environment for patients and staff. Antimicrobial copper cupboard doors will soon be added to the kitchen facilities, and plans are also under way to install antimicrobial copper table tops in some of the clinics.

Copper is a powerful natural antimicrobial with rapid, broad-spectrum efficacy against bacteria and viruses, including MRSA, norovirus and mycobacterium tuberculosi (a pathogen that causes TB). It shares this benefit with a range of copper alloys – such as brasses and bronzes – forming a family of materials collectively called ‘antimicrobial copper’

Arriva UK Trains,Govia Thameslink Railway and First Great Western win innovation funding l Three leading train operating companies, Arriva UK Trains, Govia Thameslink Railway and First Great Western, have been awarded access to a £6m collaborative innovation fund through RSSB’s Train Operator Competition 2015.

Launched in March, the competition sought proposals from industry which would contribute to the 4 key targets outlined in the Rail Technical Strategy: improving customer experience and capacity whilst reducing cost and carbon.

All three winners have a strong focus on the customer. Arriva UK Trains intends to develop and trial a ‘buy now pay later’ scheme, Govia Thameslink Railway is looking at overcrowding and First Great Western intends to improve disruption management and to empower the passenger during delays.

The three organisations will now move forward to Stage 2, in which they will be invited to submit detailed plans for the innovation projects and partnerships proposed in the submissions for Stage 1

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IN BRIEF

€ 340m loan for Rhine-Ruhr Express project l The European Investment Bank (EIB) is helping finance the upgrading of the local public transport system in North Rhine-Westphalia with a long-term loan of €340m. The funds will be used for 82 new double-deck electric trains for the RhineRuhr Express, interconnecting the region with a network of six lines.

Sweden’s SJ invests in resource planning l Sweden’s largest rail operator SJ AB is to install the standard IVU.rail system for all its resource planning. The new system, which is tailored to the needs of train operating companies, will replace multiple individual systems and should carry out the planning and dispatching of all vehicles and 5,000 employees.

Algiers metro continues to expand l A 12km extension of the Algiers Metro Line 1 connecting the former Haï El Badr terminus to the El Harrach Centre station in the Southeast of the city went into operation on 4 July. Two further extensions to the north and south are under construction, and are due to be completed in 2017.

Keolis gets the go ahead in Germany l Keolis Deutschland has been confirmed as the operator of the Teutoburger Wald network after WestfalenBahn withdrew its request for a review of procedure.

Passengers in the region are set to benefit from a new direct connection to the Netherlands, an extended range of services between Osnabrück and Münster, and extended weekend transport services.

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How the new salt marsh will eventually look

Breaching the Wallasea Island seawall

Crossrail’s environmental legacy makes a breakthrough l Over three million tonnes of excavated material from Europe’s biggest infrastructure project, Crossrail, has been used for a landmark environmental project to turn Wallasea Island in Essex into an RSPB wetland reserve. The first phase of the programme was successfully completed in July when the new sea walls were breached to allow the tide to flow into cell one and create salt marshland.

While Crossrail excavations were at their peak, six ships a day were despatched to Wallasea, transporting 8,000 tonnes of material. A total of 2,400 shiploads of material have been used to create lagoons and other wildlife-friendly features, and to protect these areas with new sea-walls.

The Wallasea Island Wild Coast project is

located eight miles north of Southend-on-Sea in Essex, and will evenually transform 670 hectares of farmland _ an area about 2.5 times the size of the City of London _ back into the coastal marshland it once was some 400 years ago.

Crossrail chief executive Andrew Wolstenholme said: “Crossrail has helped deliver one of Europe’s most significant conservation projects on Wallasea Island.

This major new wetland will be a lasting environmental legacy of the Crossrail project for generations to come as well as supporting economic growth and jobs through an increase in tourism to the local area.”

The RSPB are currently seeking partners to provide a further seven million tonnes to complete the project.

Britain’s railways now the safest in Europe but suicides continue to rise l According to annual figures from RSSB, the rail industry has improved its safety performance while passenger journeys have increased by 4%.

RSSB’s Annual Safety Performance Report (ASPR) revealed that, for the second year running, there were no passenger train derailments which is the longest sustained period on record. Also, for the eighth year in a row there have been no passenger or workforce fatalities in train accidents on the railways.

However, 39 people were fatally injured in accidents connected to the railway during the year. Ten of these were members of the public who died in accidents at level crossings,

and 22 people were fatally injured while trespassing on the railway.

By far the largest number of deaths, 293, were suicides or suspected suicides, which is an increase of 15 on the previous year.

ORR’s director of railway safety, Ian Prosser, said: “Great Britain’s railways have a strong track record on improving safety, and after a decade of investment and growth, are now statistically the safest in Europe. While this improvement is to be commended, statistics only tell part of the story, the industry cannot become complacent. ORR’s inspectors have identified that there is still room for improvement.”

Picture courtesy of Crossrail

l A $700m contract has been awarded to the Rail Delivery Partner team led by Parsons Brinckerhoff and including Network Rail Consulting and LeighFisher, to deliver phase 1 of the new California High-Speed Rail system. Phase 1 will connect the San Francisco Bay to the Los Angeles Basin.

Further phases will extend to Sacramento and San Diego.

Picture by Ben Hall

California high-speed rail team announced

NEWS I Infrastructure

Tunnelling has begun on $10bn Riyadh Metro contract l A consortium led by global engineering, project management and construction company Bechtel has begun tunnelling on Line 1 of the new Riyadh Metro, Saudi Arabia’s first

underground rail system.

Riyadh is one of the world’s fastest-growing cities, with a population expected to increase 50% by 2035. The metro is part of a 25-year strategic plan to cater for this growth. When complete, the 109-mile driverless network will boast 6 lines and serve 400,000 passengers, making it one of the world’s largest.

The BACS consortium of Bechtel, Almabani General Contractors, Consolidated Contractors Company and Siemens, is responsible for the $10bn contract for the design, construction, train cars, signalling, electrification and integration of Lines 1 and 2 of the Metro.

The work includes 39 stations, two of which are key interchange stations: Olaya Station, situated in the centre of Riyadh at the intersection of Lines 1 and 2, and King Abdullah Financial District Station, located slightly to the north on Line 1.

The first tunnel boring machine, Mneefah, named after the horse of Saudi Arabia’s founder King, will steadily ramp up to a tunnelling rate of about 325 feet per week and should complete its journey by mid-2016.

In total, seven tunnel boring machines will be deployed to dig and construct more than 21 miles of tunnels beneath the city.

Alstom’s new computer-based interlocking system now operating in Italy

l A new remotely controllable computerbased interlocking system, produced for the Italian national railways’ infrastructure manager, Rete Ferroviaria Italiana, has gone into operation at Bari Parco Nord.

The €7.6 million project saw the previous electromechanical system being replaced by the latest-generation of Smartlock 400 GP system which was developed at the Alstom railway signalling centre in Bologna and the railway signalling research and development

centre in Bari.

The system provides full automation of route settings and direct links to station services such as passenger information systems. It includes a fully integrated train detection system, direct interface with point machines and signals, and remote diagnostics help to reduce maintenance costs. Installation is simplified by its modular architecture and extensive factory testing of the final configuration.

Climate change _ a threat to the whole GB railway system

l A new research report published by RSSB has found that climate change is likely to affect the resilience of the whole railway system.

Phase 1 of the Tomorrow’s Railway and Climate Change Adaptation project surveyed the possible effects of changing weather patterns on Britain’s railway as part of an industry wide attempt to assess and mitigate risk by anticipating future challenges.

“We are already seeing the impact of a changing climate on the railway – one only has to look back at the images of disruption caused by storm damage in Dawlish last year to see what impact adverse weather conditions can have,” said RSSB’s head of delivery Jane Dobson. “It is vital that the GB rail industry works together to take a long-term view of the projected changes to our present climate and come up with practical measures to make sure we are as prepared as we can possibly be,” she continued.

Conducted by Arup, CIRIA, JBA Consulting, the Met Office and the University of Birmingham, the study concluded that that higher summer temperatures, changing patterns of rainfall, more frequent and intense extreme weather events such as heatwaves, cold snaps, heavy rainfall and storms, higher sea levels and larger storm surges will affect the resilience of the whole railway system, particularly track structures, earthworks and rolling stock.

The report identified over 120 recommendations relating to increasing the resilience of Britain’s railways and its various sub-systems in the short, medium and long term; with 10 key recommendations highlighted as priorities.

Phase 2 of the research programme will focus on what can be done by the rail industry to respond and adapt to the impacts of climate change and extreme weather over the short, medium and long term and is due to publish its findings in spring 2016.

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NEWS I Opinion

Message to Luxembourg Presidency on 4th Railway Package l Tony Berkeley is a board

member of the European Rail Freight Association and chairman of the UK Rail Freight Group. The opinions expressed are his own.

There has been progress; the technical part is agreed, and the package is still together. Keep it together, and ignore the warnings of the monopolists. There are still a few serious outstanding issues which need resolving to make a fair and competitive single market in the rail sector.

Here are some examples of member states’ resistance to change, and an unworkable compromise in the latest text1: France in trouble over SNCF reform. There will never be fair competition above tracks if the proposal to turn SNCF into an EPIC (établissement public industriel et commercial) goes through. One of the main rules that apply to EPICs is that they cannot go into liquidation. The French Government tried this route with la Poste but in 2012 the European Court of Justice declared that this structure was not legal. The same would apply to SNCF’s passenger and freight operators who could not go into liquidation. So how can they compete fairly with the private sector and other state owned companies such as DB if SNCF was prevented by subsidy from going into liquidation. I urge the European Commission to investigate whether the EPIC of SNCF complies with EU law.

Meanwhile, France is trying to get round the Public Sector Obligation (PSO) draft texts by awarding 10 year plus contracts for regional passenger services around France to SNCF. So the French Government can say, in all honesty, that all such services are open to bids from other operators, including DB, but that sadly the first time that this can happen is in 2025. So at the 11 June Transport council, the French delegation stated that the Governance and PSO parts are sensitive areas, ‘but markets must be opened up with clear transparent conditions for this. He stated direct attribution in a competitive market becomes the exception to the rule for PSO contracts and this derogation needs a strict framework, based on objective criteria.’ He did not say that nothing would not happen to comply with these statements because SNCF had sewn up the market for 10 years.

UK _ Cooperation agreements are dead! The first such agreement in the UK, called an ‘alliance’ between South

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West Trains and Network Rail, has been closed as not bringing any benefit. What is left is what there was before it started, a useful commitment for both parties to talk to each other and work together for the common good of all parties, including customers.

So there does not need to be any such agreement in the 4th RP text such as would allow DB Netz and DB Regio/DG Schenker to form an alliance, or SNCF to do the same with a view to continuing to exist as they are at present, to the detriment of fair competition from other operators.

Germany _ DB operations cannot survive without unfair subsidy from Infrastructure Manager! In Germany, DB has admitted to unfair state aid which a senior DBAG Officer admitted at the Smartrail conference in Amsterdam on 19 May 2015: ‘DB cannot survive without transferring funds from Infrastructure Manager (IM) to its Railway Undertakings (RUs).’ This may explain the German representative’s more negative comments at the Transport Council meeting on 11 June.

Essential functions of Infrastructure management must be under the control of the Infrastructure Manager. It appears that the Commission is happy that only charging and path allocation should be with the IM, but that traffic management and maintenance should have a separate provision, being non-discriminatory and regulatory oversight. However, the separate provision could also be the incumbent RU. But that means that other RUs will have to deal with two separate bodies, one dealing with path allocation and another dealing with changes due to maintenance requirements or perturbations; they are unlikely to agree. Certainly SNCF has a good record in favouring its own trains at the commercial disadvantage of other operators.

Secondly, how can one operator really be trusted to deal with traffic management and maintenance co-ordination for all operators fairly? It just won’t happen!

The only fair way is for one body, the IM, to be responsible for and held accountable for charging, path allocation, traffic management and maintenance – in a non-discriminatory way – and to be held accountable for this by their customers.

Note 1: Council of European Union Working Document TRANS TER W. Doc. 2015/109

Legal

Living with the new national wage Forward planning is crucial for new legislation, and the new National Living Wage is no exception.

Ben Daniel discusses the considerations

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Ben Daniel is employment partner at Weightmans

ll those operating in the rail industry need to take careful note of the incoming living wage, which was announced in the July budget. From April 2016 a national living wage will replace the existing minimum wage for all workers aged over 25. The current minimum wage of £6.50 an hour will be replaced with a new rate of £7.20 and this is expected to rise further to more than £9 an hour by 2020.

The concept of a ‘living wage’ already exists (as recommended by the Living Wage Foundation), and has been voluntarily adopted by more than 1,000 employers across the UK who have been given the living wage employer status. Transport for London, for example is an accredited living wage employer. This wage is set at a higher rate and is not to be confused with the new national living wage which will be mandatory and the respective rates of pay will be set by government.

Some questions to consider It is vital that employers across the sector start to plan for this change now, as the national living wage could fuel a significant jump in payroll costs. Employers will need to consider carefully how they implement this change within their organisation, including assessing the knock-on effect it is likely to have in terms of their existing pay scales, pension costs and other employee benefit schemes.

There is significant uncertainty around the impact the new living wage will have. Certainly, it is anticipated that it will rise by much more than inflation. Employers are also losing a significant element of control over what they pay some of their staff, therefore they may have to make difficult organisational decisions which may result in contractual changes; for example, reducing or stopping bonus payments and cutting back on other employee benefits.

There will be questions around whether to retain existing pay scales and use a supplement, or whether to implement new ones and what knock on impact this will have on administration and payroll in the business. There might also be issues around pay scales if the new living wage means an employee’s pay is inflated to a level where they are being paid as much as their supervisor. Inevitably this might mean the employer’s whole pay structure is overhauled. As a part of this overhaul it is important that pay adequately reflects the value of the different roles _ a job evaluation study might be appropriate.

Minimising the risks Some key considerations to bear in mind are: • There is likely to be unpredictability of payroll costs and subsequent issues with budgeting and forecasting.

• E mployers will have to assess the day-to-day administration and payroll implications.

• E mployers should also consider any employee relations issues that might arise, for example, where an employee’s wages have been inflated to a level where they are being paid as much as their supervisor.

• E mployers should also ensure that there are pay structures in place which reflect the value of jobs within the organisation. They should therefore consider whether a job evaluation study might be appropriate. Such studies have been an important tool for setting pay rates among public sector employers, particularly to ensure equality between male and female employees.

• A ny contractual changes to employee terms and conditions will need to be handled carefully and consultation requirements will need to be adhered to and dealt with in good time to avoid expensive tribunal claims. Therefore, employers need to be sure that they are carrying out modelling exercises at an early stage so that they are clear on how they will implement the change in a way which minimises the risk of employee relations issues and/or any associated claims.

Within a heavily unionised sector, it is important to anticipate the union view. In this context, RMT has previously campaigned for a living wage, which they believe should rise to at least £10 per hour at today’s prices for rail cleaning staff. Strike action has also been threatened in the past where the concept of a living wage has been refused. It is very likely that the anticipated union stance will be to use any mandatory living wage level as a mechanism to drive up the levels of pay for all employees. This will inevitably figure heavily in future pay talks across the sector. Certainly, employers across the rail industry must evaluate and review existing business/financial models and start thinking about how to implement the living wage.

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SAFETY

Fast and furious Safety versus productivity is a constant battle in the rail industry, but one that the oil and gas sector has started to resolve. Iain Mackay examines both industries and argues that the rule book might be one root of the problem.Taking a holistic view is improving safety and productivity in the North Sea and could do the same for rail

W Iain MacKay is executive vice president at Petrotechnics

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hen the Golden Age of rail is mentioned, it conjures up images of a pre-Beeching era, of puffing steam trains and classic fiction such as The Railway Children. In reality, the Golden Age of rail is now. More passenger journeys are undertaken today than at any point in history. Passenger density is greater than at any point too. The amount of freight carried by train is growing steadily all the time.

There is another side to this reality: the assets on which these journeys are made are aging. Although clouds of steam and sooty faces are no longer a feature of rail travel, there are still oil lamps and Victorian signal

Productivity under pressure

boxes on remote parts of the network. While these are being replaced and earlier underinvestment is rectified, modern infrastructure requires regular maintenance and upkeep. As the assets are used more heavily and the demands placed on them increase, the rate of wear and tear accelerates.

The rail industry therefore finds itself in something of a vicious circle: as rail use goes up, so do maintenance requirements. Available capacity is temporarily restricted, adding pressures to an already stretched network. The demand for rapid repairs becomes ever greater, while the window in which to perform them gets smaller.

There is a constant tug of war between doing things quickly and doing them safely – called the ‘safetyproductivity dynamic’. The managers responsible for infrastructure availability and position planning are not necessarily the same people appointed to manage the safe delivery of work. The inevitable consequence is that operational decision-making, and with it overall productivity, will eventually be compromised.

However, ‘safety versus productivity’ is the everpresent conundrum in hazardous industries where heavy machinery, extreme temperatures and explosive amounts of energy meet vulnerable humanity. Failures, whether of safety procedures or delivery schedules, are often high profile and have a very high cost.

The oil and gas industry is one such example.

Extremely hazardous when operated with poorly maintained assets, the downtime needed for upkeep and repairs can nonetheless be costly. The pressure is always on to keep a rig or refinery productive but there is an equal pressure to keep people safe.

There are important differences of course. In international oil companies, everybody from the frontline worker to the CEO appreciates that there are risks involved at every stage of the process. These may remain unobserved or simply hidden, and the bigger picture can remain obscure, but it is an accepted fact that this is intrinsically a hazardous environment and therefore the health, safety and environmental factors that come with it are very widely understood, acknowledged and respected.

In contrast, when we look at rail, with potentially equal levels of hazard, understanding of risk is less complete.

The ever-present threat posed by thousands of tonnes of metal coming down the track at 60 mph is well understood by railway engineers – and safety records in this area are strong. But the deadly silence of a third rail, or the less obvious threats posed by lopping branches from trackside trees are more troubling.

The other important difference is that an offshore oil platform, for example, is a highly controlled environment _ no one is there who is not supposed to be. In contrast, railways are public services in public spaces, which introduces many more variables into the mix. Oil industry accidents are rarer but can be catastrophic. Safety failures on railways tend be smaller, but more frequent.

As Mark Carne, chief executive of Network Rail pointed out, a worker is ten times more likely to be killed in the rail industry than in the oil and gas sector.

So what, if anything, can rail learn from the oil and gas industry?

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SAFETY

A common cause If these industries differ in the nature of the risks they present, they are remarkably similar in the way that the pace of work and the safety of workers can be managed.

Both sectors are highly regulated. Both see risk arise from the point where assets or infrastructure, policies and people start to interact. And both tend to have safety rule books that can be measured in metres rather than page numbers. These rule books are a detailed history of every incident or issue that has arisen in previous decades. As a potential problem becomes apparent, or an accident occurs, mitigating procedures are developed and the remedial response added to the list.

However, what certain players in the oil and gas industry have understood for some time, and rail operators are coming to recognise, is that these incredibly detailed safety procedures may actually be part of the problem and not the solution.

First of all, the more complex the rule book, the more certain it is that a compliant decision in one area will be non-compliant in another. A rig or a railway is rather like a huge machine, in which every asset, every worker and every job is a carefully calibrated cog. Adding a fix to an individual asset or a new procedure for a specific work crew will, over time, cause those cogs to skip, jam or misalign. Fixing a broken cog here could lead to a new

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problem over there – until eventually the whole machine grinds to a halt.

Second of all, the good intentions of an extensive rule book often don’t survive interaction with high-stress work environments. Take late-night, trackside maintenance with a diverse crew. When caught between an unwieldy set of procedures, a pressure to deliver to tight timetables, and work colleagues who want to get home to their families, any number of possible wrong decisions can be made.

The law of unintended consequences is never far away, and the best of intentions can lead to the most perverse of outcomes. Workers carry on as they always have. They do what their colleagues do. The cog grinds down... work takes longer or costs more than is necessary.

The challenge is to create processes that deliver coherent and consistent practice across a diverse range of assets, people, tasks, locations, and supply chains.

Rigs, railways and risks Since the Piper Alpha tragedy in the North Sea, the oil and gas industry has had its safety procedures under constant review. Even chefs on oil rigs have specific directives for handling hot food. Lord Cullen’s recommendations for industry spoke of a suitable and sufficient risk assessment for every task.

Over the years, the industry has written a mountain of rule books in reaction to ad hoc incidents. In recent

times, however, companies have reassessed this approach, instead taking a more holistic view based upon a comprehensible series of core principles and essential criteria. Processes have then been adopted that provide a complete picture of operations, and parameters set within which people can make good decisions. The resulting decision-making capability has then been supported with the appropriate technology.

This results in a far more manageable set of procedures that take into account the interrelated nature of the hazards, risks, and future plans for the business.

By adopting this risk-centric approach, smarter oil companies take a step back and consider how an entire program of work can be planned and delivered, or an entire operation managed safely, rather than simply asking how a specific task should be performed.

To make information sharing easier and more meaningful, details about the asset, the policies, the people, is translated into a common language of risk. So instead of defining a task then adding a risk assessment to it, risk is the prism through which every activity is viewed. With this common language of risk, consistent channels are more easily created to share information. Everyone from the ground up has access to the bigger picture.

In this model, front-line engineers know why they are carrying out a given task. They might implement a

much-needed short-term fix, for example, but highlight the longer-term remedy that is needed to support future business plans. Managers can see and respond to their staff’s daily interaction with the assets they run and the policies they implement. Smarter decisions can be made about staffing, scheduling and safety.

Planning and delivering safe work It is easy to underestimate what a radical shift in thinking this represents. But the opportunity is there for rail companies to do the same thing. The parallels are clear: the only difference is the timescales. Oil and gas companies have had 20 years to change their thinking; and rail companies can benefit from this experience in their own mission to plan and deliver safe work.

In the face of technology advances that have transformed our world, it’s also easy to overstate the importance of digital support. The reality is that it’s all about getting the right procedures, empowering the right people, and seeing safety as an inherent enabler of productivity.

Ultimately, what oil and gas firms have found is that once the initial changes have bedded in, and the connections between people, processes and assets are opened up, the age-old dynamic between safety and productivity becomes a complementary, rather than a contradictory force.

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NEWS I Appointments ATOC creates managing director of customer experience role l The Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) has appointed Jacqueline Starr to the newly created role of managing director, customer experience.

Jacqueline Starr joins ATOC having been customer experience director at Barclays UK Retail and Business Bank since 2013. Prior to that, she held head of customer experience roles at O2 and Orange, having started her career at BT. The position of managing director, customer experience at ATOC combines two previous roles within the company, those of commercial director of ATOC and chief executive of National Rail Enquiries (NRE). Chris Scoggins, the former chief executive of NRE left ATOC in early April and David Mapp, the current ATOC commercial director, will be retiring this September.

The new role of managing director, customer experience will play a key role, working with train operators and the wider industry, in shaping the experience of passengers as it relates to information, fares, ticketing and retailing. Jacqueline will take up her post at ATOC in September 2015.

SPX appoints Scott Harrison general manager, rail systems UK l SPX Rail Systems has announced the appointment of Scott Harrison as general manager. Scott will be based in Dagenham and brings to the role extensive experience in the rail transport sector, having previously worked at Network Rail.

As part of SPX Hydraulic Technologies, SPX Rail Systems manufacturers rail products for the UK and international markets, which include Hong Kong, China, Austrialia, Spain, Singapore and Ireland. Rail Systems are manufactured at a bespoke manufacturing plant in Dagenham, Essex, and provide point operating equipment through the Clamplock brand, and level crossing barriers to the rail industry across the UK and Europe.

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Oliver Steele joins Mott MacDonald as economic policy manager l Mott MacDonald has appointed Oliver Steele as economic policy manager in its economic and social development team. He will take charge of developing the economic and policy advisory business for London and the south of the UK. Oliver is a trained economist and professional accountant with a broad range of expertise spanning the strategic planning and development of major infrastructure projects with a particular focus on the transport sector.

He joins Mott MacDonald from Infrastructure NSW in Australia, where he was executive director of economics and planning, and led the New South Wales government’s state infrastructure strategy. Major transport projects included the Sydney Metro.

Prior to his role in Australia, Oliver spent six years with HM Treasury in London, working on a range of infrastructure financing and economic issues. These included funding arrangements for Crossrail and the restructuring of the London Underground public–private partnership.

ESG expands rail offering with new appointment l ESG, a UK provider of testing, inspection and compliance services, has appointed Chris Ford as sales director of its infrastructure services division.

This is a new position and reflects ESG’s continued expansion within the rail and infrastructure sectors.

Chris has more than 20 years’ experience in the rail industry and has worked both in the UK and internationally with organisations including: Ford Group Engineering, Siemens, Balfour Beatty, and Morrison Utilities. His initial focus will be on further developing the infrastructure services business portfolio, and also assessing opportunities to expand ESG’s offering for rail and other strategic markets.

Jim Murphy, managing director, infrastructure services, ESG, said: “Chris’s knowledge of the rail market will enable us to reinforce our relationships with existing partners, and build new relationships with key stakeholders in the rail and infrastructure industry. He has a proven track record of building new business and is joining ESG during an exciting period of growth.”

Mark McCole returns to Manchester to lead Metrolink bid

Waterman Group appoints national framework director

l RATP Dev has appointed Mark McCole as project director, to manage the company’s bid to retain the contract for the Metrolink light rail system in Greater Manchester. Mark will join the business in his home city of Manchester, where he will report to CEO Tim Jackson.

Mark has a background in tram and metro operations in the UK and the Middle East, including a spell as operations director of Metrolink and as operations manager at Croydon Tramlink. His recent international experience at Serco bidding for major transport contracts means he is well placed to fulfil the requirements of the role.

Tim Jackson, CEO of RATP Dev UK, welcomed Mark’s appointment: “Mark’s combined experience of operations and commercial bidding gives him the clarity needed to focus on the future of Metrolink. His local affinity and enthusiasm for the task are infectious and I’m confident he will complement the current management team.”

l Ajaz Chaudhri has joined the engineering and environmental consultancy, Waterman Group, as national frameworks director. He will take a leading national role in the infrastructure and environment business.

His upcoming work will include developing and managing a portfolio of frameworks across the nation, for public sector clients including government agencies and local authorities, and for clients in the private sector. He will also be responsible for promoting the growth of regional work streams in the Midlands, Northern and Scottish Regions.

Ajaz has 30 years of experience in the infrastructure sector, including engineering disciplines for both public and private sector clients. Prior to joining Waterman, he held board and senior management positions with AECOM in the UK and overseas. In his role as engineering director, he took on the design and delivery of several infrastructure contracts for the Public Works Authority in Qatar.

CRM

Looking for a revolution Train companies can use data in so many innovative ways to keep customer relationships on track, but it might take a revolution in data collection to make it happen, says REBECCA EVANS

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Rebecca Evans is client services director, Amaze One

ig data experts often claim that the deluge of personal information will be the driver of delightful customer experiences across most, if not all, industries. It’s fair to say, however, that despite millions of people using public transport every day, many operators are still stuck in the slow lane when it comes to harnessing customer information to increase the value of marketing campaigns.

Despite the fact that UK consumers spend more on commuting than their European counterparts, a low proportion use digital touch points to pay for their journeys. As little as 18 per cent of customers currently book their train tickets online in the UK meaning the train operator doesn’t have the customer insight to feed into an on-going CRM programme.

Passengers might always buy their ticket at the booking office and even if they do buy online it could be they are just one of the ticketholders – other people’s details would then remain uncaptured. This makes it extremely difficult for companies to understand the daily commuter, or indeed any of their customers, in an age when people are rightly expecting more targeted communications.

The challenges ahead Give a commuter a good experience and they are more likely to use public transport outside of their daily journey. We need a transport data revolution, in my view. Aside from online bookings, mobile is also likely to play a much bigger part within travel this year. Currently, 60 per cent of Northern Rail customers use their phones to check messages and communications. Tickets can be booked via apps and mobile ticketing is becoming more prevalent, aping the Passbook for airplane boarding passes. The problem is these technological advances aren’t being matched with the roll-out of infrastructure at train stations which would make the whole process slicker and more satisfying.

The ultimate goal for train companies would be to perfect the end to end customer journey _ from receiving an email about an offer, booking online, logging on to Wi-Fi at a station, and finally receiving an online survey about their experience. This could then be tracked and logged in the database to make the future experience even better.

Stations have started introducing Wi-Fi hotspots in the hope of capturing people’s information. This is currently the most effective way to capture details about a business traveller as they have the greatest need to log in to the service. However this may only capture travellers who have time to wait at stations rather than those who leave travel to the last minute. Increased mobile connectivity by travellers will increase the availability of geo-location data,

allowing the train company to identify the route taken and frequency of travel, even among passengers who don’t book online. Predictive analytics will enable key routes to be mapped, driving marketing around offers such as day out promotions – creating a true value exchange for each individual journey-maker.

So many possibilities Train companies are set to become more than a means of travel, bringing the latest offers direct to their customers and becoming an information hub. Similar to how thetrainline.co.uk has started to develop its offering, train operators can send personalised information to customers depending on their interests and previous travel habits _ for example, targeting students with a 2 for 1 offer on travel tickets to a concert in a major city, or a family of four receiving discounted tickets to an attraction in London. In the future mapping a customer’s travel habits and interests could make the train companies more money than all their overpriced refreshments combined.

Meanwhile, season ticket holders could receive a reminder email when they are due for a renewal and direct communications can be sent if there is a delay on their usual route with suggested alternatives.

A perfect example of this is Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport partnership with Dutch rail operator NS to trial the Schiphol Warranty Service. Priced at 5 euros, the service ensures that registered customers are monitored throughout their journey to the airport so that they catch their flight – regardless of any delays or problems occurring en route. Journeys are constantly tracked via a mobile app which updates passengers as they progress towards the airport and check-in. If anything goes wrong, the app notifies customers, and NS will organise alternative travel – via bus or taxi – or even book a hotel or new flight in a worst-case scenario.

Statistics show why data is an important part of delivering a decent travelling experience. When questioned on their biggest commuting bugbears, 30 per cent cited delays, 17 per cent said overcrowding, 13 per cent stated other people’s personal music and 12 per cent said poor commuter etiquette such as hogging two seats. This demonstrates that apart from the more obvious monetary cost of commuting, there are intangible costs to a commute which could be improved by a train company for example, sending text alerts when a train is delayed.

Big data as a whole will improve the journey, but having access to customer data is key. The opportunity to glean passenger information needs to be matched by the right level of investment in IT and station infrastructure. Spend wisely and it could just be the case that the Age of the Train, heralded in the famous ad campaign more than four decades ago, has yet to dawn.

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ENVIRONMENT - Sustainability

Steeling the show

How material choice and forward planning has enabled Birmingham New Street station fit-out to meet exacting environmental demands

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irmingham New Street station is the busiest station outside of London and was originally built to accommodate 650 trains and 60,000 passengers per day. Yet, even before the start of the refurbishment project in 2010, it handled 1,350 trains and over 140,000 commuters, operating well over its capacity. And since the first half of the refurbishment was completed in 2013, the station has been able to accommodate a yearly 8.3 per cent rise in passenger numbers.

The team are now working towards achieving BREEAM excellent as the 1960s station is transformed into a modern, bright 21st century transport hub for Birmingham and the West Midlands. Recently awarded the Chamber of Commerce Award for Excellence in Sustainability, the station refurbishment aims to continue to push the boundaries in low carbon technology and sustainability until completion in September 2015.

In order to meet modern day environmental requirements while providing a functional space, factors such as material choice, durability, acoustics and safety of the final design had to be considered.

Material choice With the growing number of passengers at Birmingham New Street station, the demand for innovative and interesting interiors had to be balanced with the use of high performance products.

Building materials such as steel are being supplied for

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transportation projects for their durability, withstanding significant stresses in high traffic areas. Metal is a longterm investment, and although it incurs higher costs initially, unlike cheaper materials it will not struggle under conditions that require high performance characteristics, both in terms of robustness and aesthetics.

The properties of steel enable it to suit a variety of product applications for which there are no energy and cost-effective substitutes. In transport environments steel is being used for applications such as cladding, wall panels and ceilings, providing long-term value whilst meeting environmental credentials and offering greater design flexibility.

Early involvement Early involvement in the design and manufacturing process is necessary to avoid having to fix problems further down the line. Furthermore, installation time, cost and waste can be kept to a minimum when specifiers and manufacturers are working together from the get-go.

A good example of the benefits of early involvement are the platforms at Birmingham New Street. Bespoke ceilings comprising of fixed angled bulkheads were placed in line with the platform edges, many of which are curved, and installed on the platforms. The bulkheads, typically trapezoidal in shape, were bolted end to end in order to form a faceted layout to follow the platform curves.

This posed a significant challenge, as the geometry of the project’s BIM model revealed that the platform curves were all non-uniform, which called for the data to be analysed. Eventually, the number of unique panel types had to be rationalised to keep within budget, whilst ensuring the aesthetic result was not compromised.

Electronic total station setting-out techniques were then used to set out the panels along the curve.

Maintenance Difficulties in maintenance or accessing areas can affect the sustainability of a transportation hub; the upkeep of the interior can dictate how a building will last and function. Options for maintenance and access need to be designed in from the beginning, including the considerations for growing traffic. Metal solutions provide a durable, easy to clean surface with quick access for essential ongoing maintenance, without damage, reducing maintenance costs as well as commuter inconvenience.

Birmingham New Street station specified a variety of architectural metalwork for exactly these reasons.

Installations across the platforms, the Grand Central and the concourse included a range of metal ceilings, from bespoke, to racetrack and linear systems, designed to allow easy access to the services behind for essential ongoing maintenance. The sturdiness of the material offers resistance to wear and tear, expanding the life-span of the product significantly.

Coatings used on products such as ceilings or wall panels are another very important aspect to consider as transportation environments have some of the highest demanding foot fall areas for interior finishes. The bespoke ceilings installed on the platforms at Birmingham New Street were made of galvanised steel panels which were coated in a polyester powder on both sides for easy cleaning. The absence of a liquid carrier allows powder coatings to produce a thicker, more protective coat than conventional liquid paintings. Furthermore, since no carrier fluid can evaporate, the coating process emits few volatile organic compounds (VOC), making powder coating a more environmental friendly option.

Acoustics The station concourse is a naturally noisy area, requiring acoustic treatment solutions which are suitable for open, exposed interiors, and do not impede smoke extraction or air ventilation systems.

The ceilings on the platforms had to provide acoustic performance for sound absorption. However, working with main principal contractor, Mace, to minimise the trapping of airborne dirt and particulates found in station environments, SAS International proposed to make the ceiling substantially plain, leaving it unperforated and without acoustic inlay.

Acoustic performance was achieved by using small areas of discrete black perforated panels recessed into the ceiling. The large open area of these panels allows sound to enter the ceiling void, reducing reverberation on the platforms which is essential for the speech intelligibility of PA systems for train announcements. These panels also provide the ‘change of direction’ detail to allow the radial layout to follow the curved platform geometry.

Safety and security All systems are subject to rigorous Network Rail standard approvals for structural integrity and fitness for purpose, which guarantees the safety of the final design. Metal solutions also provide for significantly improved impact resistance in external or semi-external spaces such as public concourses.

When 1,800mm diameter aluminium discs were supplied for the main concourse during the third and last phase of the station refurbishment project, special attention needed to be given to the effect external forces such as wind would have on the structure.

SAS International’s design director Richard White explained: “The discs being installed in a semi external environment was a first for SAS International, as previously, they were only installed internally. Therefore, we had to factor the wind load in when designing the discs to guarantee stability.”

Furthermore, the ceiling panels on the platforms are all locked in place for added security and wind loadings, and can only be accessed by using special keys.

The safety of any members of staff is also high on the priority list. SAS International material was brought to site by a special train from the Bordesley rail depot where it was stored, making the delivery more sustainable as no lorries were used. This helped to provide a safe working environment for staff when working on the platforms adjacent to the tracks.

Waste management and recycling The ever increasing burden on landfill is an issue which must be considered for any development. With the use of metal products lasting for a minimum of 25 years, a sustainable option can be provided for building projects with the 100 per cent recyclability that metal offers.

To reduce storage and material losses, the materials delivered by train were supplied unassembled, implementing the ‘just in time’ delivery approach. Using the train as a mode of transport, an immediate clean up at the end of each shift was possible by reloading the containers with any waste and removing them from site.

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NEWS I Rolling stock

New milestone for biomass supply chain Chennai’s first metro line enters commercial service l The first phase of the Chennai Metro was inaugurated on June 29, when the section of line 2 from Koyambedu to Alandur entered commercial service. The line runs above ground for 10 km and services 8 stations. More than 80,000 passengers are expected to travel per day on the new line.

Alstom, which carried out track design for the project, is providing 42 Metropolis trainsets (168 metro cars) worth €243m for the Metro.

To date, the company has delivered 25 of the 42 trainsets. The first nine of these were produced at the Alstom factory in Lapa, Brazil.

The remaining 80% will be manufactured in a purpose built facility set up in 2012 at Sri-City, 55km north east of Chennai.

The 4-car Metropolis train, which can carry over 1,200 passengers, is equipped with air-conditioning, a passenger information system with LED displays _ including dynamic route maps in Tamil and English _ CCTVs, luggage racks and special sections for ladies and people with reduced mobility.

l Electrical power generation company Drax has taken delivery of its 200th specially designed biomass rail freight wagon.

Designed by Lloyd’s Register Rail and manufactured by W H Davis, these wagons are playing a major role in Drax’s conversion to burning sustainable biomass in place of coal.

Since 2013 the wagons have collectively travelled over 12m miles and have transported around 4.5m tonnes of sustainable biomass material from the ports of Tyne, Hull and Immingham to the Drax power station at Selby, North Yorkshire. Some 30% larger than any other rail freight wagon currently used in the UK, they are able to carry a biomass load weighing 71.6 tonnes.

Drax group operations director Peter Emery said: “Lloyds Register Rail and W H Davis have been important partners in the development of our biomass operations. The delivery of our 200th wagon marks a major stage in a process which has been a huge success both in terms of modifications to Drax’s supply chain and for UK engineering as a whole.”

Originally the UK’s largest emitter of CO2, Drax is now Europe’s largest decarbonisation project.

Siemens develops dual-mode GSM-R radio for South Africa l Siemens has developed a unique dual-mode cab radio solution for South Africa’s commuter railway, which should future proof all new installations.

The new dual-mode system will provide a single man-machine interface capable of operating on the current analogue system, and this will transfer seamlessly to GSM-R communications if required in the future.

While there are currently no plans to roll out GSM-R on South Africa’s 12,000km-long rail network, the country’s entire fleet of trains is to be replaced by 2023, so the new dual-mode radio delivers a range of benefits for train manufacturers, operators and drivers.

For the manufacturer, installing a single unit with dual capability and just one loudspeaker (rather than having to fit two systems, one for analogue and one for digital), will save valuable space in the cab as well as significantly reducing installation time and expense. It will also minimise the requirement and cost of ongoing maintenance and future upgrades.

From the drivers’ viewpoint, the use of a single radio for all network areas means being trained on, and becoming familiar with, just one system rather than two, and then benefitting from uninterrupted operation across an entire journey.

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TfL signs deal with Bombardier for new train fleet l Transport for London is to buy a fleet of 45 new Derby-built trains from Bombardier. These will go into service from 2018, improving customer experience on routes scheduled to became part of the TfL network in May. Mike Brown, managing director of London Rail, said: “These 45 new trains will significantly improve the comfort, reliability and overall quality of train services for our customers. Some of the trains we have inherited along the West Anglia route are over 30 years old and have not been in use for some time. We’re now working hard to overhaul these trains to make them more reliable until the new trains come into service from 2018.”

The old Class 315 and Class 317 trains currently operating on the Overground West Anglia and Romford to Upminster routes will be replaced by 31 of the new trains. Eight more are destined for the electrification of the existing Overground route between Gospel Oak and Barking, and the remaining 6 will be used to bolster services on other Overground routes.

Southeastern

Greatest assets

R Barbara Thomas, Passenger Services Director, Southeastern Top left The latest NRPS figures commend the attitude and helpfulness of Southeastern employees Top right Charismatic gatekeeper Orin Pile-Gray stars in Southeastern’s #AmazingJourneys

Southeastern’s Barbara Thomas, Passenger Services Director, thanks the hard work of employees as the company rises through the ranks of delivering customer satisfaction

ailway Strategies last featured Southeastern back in June when Managing Director David Statham discussed the company’s efforts to improve customer satisfaction ratings on one of the UK’s busiest rail networks. Since then the latest National Rail Passenger Survey (NRPS) has been released, which identifies Southeastern as having increased its customer satisfaction rating by three per cent to 75 per cent. Adding to this in July, the Institute for Customer Services, which rates companies from all sectors on a national level, placed Southeastern as the second most improved company in the year in their Customer Satisfaction Index (UKCSI).

“We have a very simple mission to look after our current passengers better and to attract new customers to our services,” says Barbara Thomas, Passenger Services Director. “Our employees across the business are fundamental to achieving this, they are vital in turning a good journey into a great one for our passengers.”

The Southeastern network is currently undergoing a number of large improvement projects including the extensive upgrade of London Bridge station as part of the Government-funded £6.5 billion Thameslink Programme. Yet despite this, in the NRPS the company clocked an impressive eight per cent increase on its customer satisfaction with the attitude and helpfulness of Southeastern employees.

“The results are testament to all of the hard work our employees have put in and we are extremely proud of them,” continues Barbara. “The most important thing for me is that the passengers are starting to recognise the efforts that have been put in to improve their experience despite the works.” This has been made possible through a programme of additional recruitment, employee training and development, as well as investments into making information more available through station and frontline technology, and an improved 24/7 Twitter service.

The UKCSI result, which particularly singled out the helpfulness, friendliness and competence of its staff, also goes some way to illustrating the improvements that have been implemented. “Our passengers are often praising our employees for the work they do and it is because of this that we have been singled out,” expresses Barbara.

“It is really significant for us to be ranked above wellknown brands such as Love Film, EDF Energy, and Volvo by

such an influential organisation. It’s an excellent result and we’re very pleased.”

Despite this recent wave of success, however, the company remains aware that it still has a long way to go.

“We still know there is more work to do to further improve the service as the passengers rightly expect, so we will continue to invest in our people right across the business to achieve this,” Barbara continues.

One ongoing effort to engage with its passengers is a short video series, #AmazingJourneys, which follows the inspiring stories behind some of the stations and employees at Southeastern. The latest film highlights Orin Pile-Gray, a charismatic gatekeeper at London Victoria station who is becoming famous for his ‘golden touch’ and ‘golden smile’.

“Orin is just one of many Southeastern employees making a difference to passengers every day,” Barbara adds. “Orin says that the best thing about his working day is helping passengers get from A to B, and this perfectly sums up the attitude and helpfulness of all our employees.”

In the short film on Southeastern’s YouTube channel, Orin recalls his first day, two years ago in December, saying: “I just thought, ‘this is going to be exciting because I love helping passengers’.” He has been making them smile ever since, drawing inspiration from his mum.

Barbara explains: “She’d done a lot of care work in her past and that rubbed off on Orin. He’ll tell you he always gets a good feeling inside to know he can help someone.

You can see he means it when he talks about going home feeling he’s always done his best and has been there for people when they’ve needed help.”

Through regular focus groups, Southeastern is keen to involve its entire workforce in business decisions, and it holds an annual awards ceremony to recognise the excellence in service and hard work of its employees from frontline to head office.

As Barbara concludes: “The big thing for me is that without the tremendous efforts of all our employees, with their enthusiasm and professionalism, we wouldn’t be able to improve our performance, get everyone home safe every day, improve the passenger experience and ultimately build a better business. So it is important that we recognise them and show them how much we value their efforts.”

www.southeasternrailway.co.uk 19

FACILITIES MANAGEMENT

Fire safety

Adaptaflex looks at the latest EN 45545 standard, and shows how it is being applied to provide comprehensive fire safety protection on the underground

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here is an on-going challenge facing the management of all underground transport systems; namely the requirement for constant vigilance of fire safety. So let’s take a look at the fire safety standards and solutions that protect the underground rail infrastructure used by over 1.2 billion people every year.

Originally created in the 19th century, the London Underground (LU) is one of the world’s oldest and most famous transportation networks _ even its map is held as a design icon. Thousands of people use the transport network every day and cover its 249 miles of track, including 113 miles of tunnels and 260 stations, 118 of which are sub-surface.

Both old and new rail infrastructure environments, especially underground networks, are unique in design and therefore demand specialist safety measures. After all, fire safety in this challenging environment is as much about preventing the creation of smoke and the provision of an escape route, as it is about combatting flames.

This means that a high-quality, flexible conduit system which ensures the safety and reliability of critical cable and wiring, is essential. This protection extends to a variety

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of external influences, be they mechanical, electrical, or environmental. In many sectors, and particularly across rail infrastructure and in relation to fire, compliance with strict standards and regulations is mandatory.

The evolution of today’s regulations The requirement for constant vigilance and improvement of fire protection standards is reinforced by the history of the London Underground. In November 1984, 14 people (four passengers, one police officer, and nine staff) were taken to hospital for smoke inhalation at Oxford Circus.

In November 1987, 31 people were killed at King’s Cross with many more injured. The fire burnt out the top level of the station which mainly consisted of entrances and ticket halls. This tragedy led to the introduction of new fire safety legislation and fortunately, is still the last major loss of life due to a fire in the UK. A key measure for controlling fire risks continues to be through the safety properties of all the materials used in the stations themselves. The Fire Precautions England Regulations 2009 and the G-085 Code of Practice specifically relate to the fire safety of materials used in the Underground, whilst rolling stock

Setting the new standard

requirements are covered by 1-085 A3 – Fire Safety Performance of Materials.

Brigitte Beck, global product manager for Flexible Cable Systems, commented: “The demands in the rail industry for a single European ‘cross border’ safety standard in terms of fire safety has, over the last decade, culminated in the creation of the EN45545 standard.

EN45545 is considered to be the most comprehensive set of fire safety standards ever developed, defining the categorisation of products in terms of their reaction to fire, according to the level of environmental risk imposed.

“Products meeting the EN45545 standard allow engineers and designers to plan ‘interoperability’ across systems,” he continued, “ensuring compliance to stringent local and European fire safety requirements from the design stage.”

There are seven parts to the standard but only Parts 1 and 2 are applicable to conduit systems. Part 1 covers general definitions, operation, and design categories, in addition to fire safety objectives. Meanwhile, Part 2 recognises the reaction to fire performance, harmonising the requirements for fire safety on railway vehicles that operate within Europe.

The highest risk applications naturally apply to sleeper cars, where passengers would have to be woken before being evacuated and when in operation as side evacuation is made impossible. The material requirements for these advanced risk HL3 applications cover the highest levels of flammability, smoke emissions, and toxicity. Not only do these stringent requirements need to be met, but all rail products need to be type-tested to the fire tests specified for their application in the future EN45545-2. This is where the new SPL-EF conduit systems and SPB fittings from Adaptaflex play a crucial role.

The new system, meets the EN45545-2 standard achieving the highest HL3 fire performance rating for both interior and exterior locations. The system provides higher performance levels of flexibility, impact and abrasion resistance, combined with enhanced chemical resistances especially to oils and greases, with a much higher and lower temperature rating (-40°C to +105°C), than any other metallic conduit system with a EN45545-2 HL3 rating.

The SPL-EF system can be installed both interior and exterior locations requiring the highest level of fire protection such as, sub surface line stations and tunnels.

The system can also be used to protect data cables connected to wider rail infrastructure, such as escalators and lifts, HVAC, passenger information systems and CCTV applications.

Ultimately, the threat of fire is always going to be a potential risk to the rail sector. The good news is that the forthcoming introduction of EN45545-2 will bring even greater protection and there are innovative products readily available to have a positive impact on the 1.2 billion people using the underground infrastructure annually.

www. adaptaflex.com

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ENGINEERING - CASE STUDY

Gaining true tunnel vision During the Bond Street station upgrade, 3D modelling and simulation of the main tunnelling works ahead of construction gave engineers valuable insight into the effects of the work at each stage of the project Above Vertical ground movement around the southern tunnels

PRODUCT: Dassault Systèmes’ SIMULIA, Abaqus/CAE (Computer Aided Engineering), FEA (Finite Element Analysis)

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s population pressures in metropolitan areas rise, major world cities often respond by expanding networks of trains to promote more efficient travel. The London Underground is no exception: it now serves Greater London and surrounding counties with 270 stations and 250 miles of track. Some 1.23 billion passengers were carried in and out of the region in 2012/2013.

At the geographic heart of this system are the world’s first underground railway tunnels, opened in 1863 and built just below the surface of metropolitan London using the cut and cover method. Later, circular tunnels _ giving rise to the nickname the Tube _ were dug through the London clay at a deeper level.

Complexity Solved Now celebrating 150 years of operations, the Underground is still growing: The current Bond Street station upgrade (BSSU) project, slated for completion in 2018, has been dubbed ‘one of the most complex tunnelling projects in the UK’. As London’s future Crossrail line intersects with the Bond Street station, passenger numbers in the expanded interchange are expected to rise from 155,000 to 225,000 daily.

Much of what makes the BSSU so complex is all the construction that is already there. The station is located in London’s busiest shopping district, the West End, and

Achieving optimum design

comprises a complex web of train tunnels, pedestrian walkways and escalators that include connections to the Jubilee and Central lines.

“The new tunnels are located in close proximity to so many existing ones,” explained Dr Ali Nasekhian, senior tunnel/geotechnical engineer with Dr Sauer and Partners, London, the firm providing tunnelling expertise to the project. “As a result, the design challenges we faced included complex tunnel geometry and alignment, limited clearance to existing building foundation, restricted worksite and strict settlement criteria.”

Dr Sauer and Partners have been designing railway and road tunnels for over 30 years. In 2010 the company was subcontracted to a joint venture of Halcrow and Atkins (the main contractor is a Costain Laing O’Rourke JV), and has responsibility for preliminary-to-detailed design and construction on all BSSU sprayed concrete lined (SCL) tunnels.

These include two access shafts, one lift shaft, four construction adits (entrance passages), two binocular cross passage tunnels, four large concourse and connection chambers, three underpass tunnels, two overbridge tunnels cutting through existing platform tunnels, two niches for electrical and mechanical equipment and four inclined tunnels for escalator barrels. The total length of tunnels, at widths varying between four and 10 metres, amounts to some 450 metres.

Dr Nasekhian came on board at Dr Sauer in 2011 after finishing his PhD in geotechnics at Graz University of Technology, Austria, and his eight years’ experience with computer-aided design was immediately put to work. “In such projects as the London Underground, where large tube systems are already in place and the impact of new structures on existing ones has to be carefully considered, comprehensive 3D analysis benefits both client and designer,” he said. “In addition to 2D analyses, where time and budgets allow, 3D models can greatly assist in identifying the optimum design.”

The Dr Sauer design team of eight engineers used Dassault Systèmes’ SIMULIA, Abaqus finite element analysis (FEA) software to perform all 3D numerical analyses ahead of the main tunnelling works. Dr Sauer & Partners have employed Abaqus since the 1990s.

“We find SIMULIA’s Abaqus solver to be very powerful, stable and speedy for plastic analysis of models with large numbers of elements,” said Dr Nasekhian, who led the FEA modelling effort. “It is well recognised that the quality of FE models is largely dependent on the quality of the mesh. Of course, finer meshes require a larger number of elements. I myself had not used Abaqus before joining the Dr Sauer team, and I found that pre- and postprocessing, and creating and manipulating large, complex geometries, is amazing with this software.

“If any changes need to be made in the geometry, which often happens when you are creating the most efficient design, Abaqus lets you modify them fairly rapidly. Such handy tools available in Abaqus/CAE reduce the risk of delay in delivering large 3D FE models.”

Geometry modification For the geometric foundation of their FEA models, the team first considered importing existing CAD models of the station complex from another type of software.

But conversion and meshing issues would have added extra work. “We preferred to create our own working geometries right within Abaqus/CAE,” Dr Nasekhian continued. “This enabled us to modify the geometries easily if we had meshing issues.”

In the preliminary design stage, the team conducted a series of 2D analyses to establish the varying dimensions of tunnels required along the different structures. Once the tunnel geometries were ‘frozen’ in final form, the creation of the 3D models could begin.

For a realistic assessment of the stresses and strains imposed by the surrounding soil layers, the ground through which the tunnels are being dug was simulated alongside the tunnel structures. Including the subsurface geology of the London basin _ layers of chalk, Thanet sand, London clay, river terrace deposits and ‘made ground’ from hundreds of years of human occupation _

Above The overall scheme of the Bond Street station upgrade. Existing tunnels are in dark green. New construction is in light green

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ENGINEERING - CASE STUDY

Above SIMULIA Abaqus FE model meshes created by Dr Sauer and Partners for the London Underground tunnel project

provided for soil-structure interaction analysis. The majority of the new BSSU tunnels are located within the London clay stratum, which has a very low permeability. The conventional method of tunnelling known internationally as NATM (the new Austrian tunnelling method), is being used. In the US this is called SEM (sequential excavation method) and, in the UK, the aforementioned SCL (sprayed concrete lining) method.

In the SCL method, the tunnel is divided into several excavation sequences; after each sequence, sprayed steel-fibre-reinforced concrete (primary lining) is applied to the exposed ground with robotic sprayers, rapidly stabilising it. When excavation of the whole tunnel is completed and deformations of the primary lining become stable, sprayed waterproofing membrane is applied.

This is followed by a final secondary lining of steel-fibrereinforced concrete for a fully watertight tunnel. At tunnel junctions, steel rebar reinforcement is employed as needed to further support areas under severe flexure and tensile stresses.

Realistic values The major construction sequences (ie step-by-step excavation and lining installation) were incorporated into the Abaqus FEA models to provide the engineers with insights into the influence of each construction stage on the new tunnel linings and the adjacent assets. To improve their computational efficiency, the team divided the labyrinth of existing and proposed BSSU structures into three separate models that varied in number of elements from about 450,000 up to one million.

“We selected the limit between two adjacent models

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in places where the distance between the closest two tunnels on either side of the models is more than three times the diameter of the larger tunnel,” said Dr Nasekhian. “In very congested tunnelling areas where this condition couldn’t be met, we modelled a couple of tunnels by overlapping two of the models.”

Dr Sauer and Partner’s Abaqus analyses provided them with: • A good estimate of ground movement and volume loss during tunnel construction, including identifying trigger values beyond which a ground-movement management plan would be implemented. “In this kind of project,” said Dr Nasekhian, “it’s important to have realistic values in hand so tunnels aren’t constructed in an overly conservative manner, which can be cost-ineffective.”

• An evaluation of the stress being induced in the adjacent existing structures while tunnelling was taking place. Deformations in the FE model were initially set at zero and then propagated with on-going excavation steps.

• Dimensioning the new SCL tunnels and a basis for calculation of necessary reinforcements, especially at locations of stress concentration. “The results of our 3D simulations were particularly helpful for optimising SCL design at tunnel junctions, which helped avoid a great deal of rebar installation,” Dr Nasekhian continued.

• Assurance of face stability during excavation.

The Sauer design team found that realistic simulation with 3D modelling gave them a deeper understanding of the many BSSU tunnelling challenges and helped them reach the best design and construction solutions.

“In this very complex project, our Abaqus models helped improve our preliminary design, which was based on series of 2D analyses and the design team’s experience, and led us to an extremely well-detailed final design,” Dr Nasekhian explained. “The ease of working with Abaqus allowed us to develop a number of techniques that improved simulation fidelity and saved time when running such large models. The confidence we have gained from our analyses has helped us push forward the approval process more vigorously and is providing the highest quality of robust design to our clients.”

For further information:

www.3ds.com/products-services/ simulia/overview/

NEWS I Conferences & Exhibitions

Forthcoming Conferences and Exhibitions This listing represents a selection of the events about which we have been notified. It is strongly recommended that direct contact should be made with the individual organiser responsible for each event before booking places or making travel and accommodation reservations. Cancellations and other last-minute alterations are liable to occur. The editor and publishers of RAILWAY STRATEGIES are not responsible for any loss or inconvenience suffered by readers in connection with this guide to events.

3 September National High Speed Rail Conference Where: Glasgow Organiser: Greengauge21 Tel: 07984 647 367 Email: co-ordinator@greengauge21.net Web: www.greengauge21.net 15-16 September Aspect 2015 Railway signalling, control and communication Where: Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, London, Organiser: Institution of Railway Signal Engineers Tel: 02078 081 180 Web: www.irse.org/aspect 17 September UK Rail Industry Forum 2015 Where: Stephenson Harwood, London Organiser: Waterfront Tel: 0207 067 159 Email: conference@thewaterfront.co.uk Web: www.waterfrontconferencecompany.com/ conferences/rail/events 22-23 September Control Command and Railway Communication Conference 2015 Where: Lille Grand Palais, France Organiser: European Railway Agency Email: CCRCC@era.europa.eu Web: www.era.europa.eu/conferences/ CCRCC-2015

28-30 September European Transport Conference 2015 Where: Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany Organiser: Association for European Transport Email: sally.scarlett@aetransport.org Web: etcproceedings.org

1-3 March 2016 IT-TRANS: IT Solutions for Public Transport Where: Karlsruhe Trade Fair Centre, Germany Organiser: UITP and KMK Email: jochen.georg@messe-karlsruhe.de Web: www.it-trans.org/

20-21 October Commercial UAV Show How UAVs are saving money and time in the rail industry Where: ExCeL, London Organiser: Terrapinn Tel: 02070 921 245 Email: paul.gilbertson@terrapinn.com Web: www.terrapinn.com/exhibition/the-commercialuav-show

8-9 March 2016 Middle East Rail Where: Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre Organiser: Terrapinn Tel: +971 4440 2501 Email: jamie.hosie@terrapinn.com Web: www.terrapinn.com/merail

12-13 November Rail Review, Rail Ticketing, Rail Customer and Rail IT Where: Sheraton Brussels Airport Hotel, Brussels Organiser: Terrapinn Tel: 0207 092 1210 Email: tayyab.abbasi@terrapinn.com Web: www.terrapinn.com

22-23 March 2016 Asia Pacific Rail Where: Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong Organiser: Terrapinn Tel: +65 6322 2702 Email: kym.chua@terrapinn.com Web: www.terrapinn.com/exhibition/ asia-pacific-rail

17-19 November RailTech Conference Enhancing capacity by removing bottlenecks in rail Where: UIC HQ, Paris Organiser: Europoint Email: christie.de.vrij@railtech.com Web: www.railtech.com/en/conferences/paris-conference

19-20 April 2016 MetroRail Where: Business Design Centre, London Organiser: Terrapinn Tel: 0207 092 1257 Email: issa.mauthoor@terrapinn.com Web: www.terrapinn.com/conference/metrorail

Institute of Mechanical Engineers Training Courses Technical training for the railway industry A listing of courses currently available from the IMechE (Unless stated otherwise, all courses are in London) 6 October Introduction to rolling stock Provides a basic understanding of the role of traction and rolling stock within the context of railway systems as a whole

14 October Fleet maintenance - Advanced Understand the issues affecting rail vehicle performance and cost of maintenance

22 October Vehicle dynamics and vehicle track interaction Understand the dynamics of railway vehicles to improve safety, comfort and asset life

7 October Traction and braking Principles of traction and braking for railway engineers

15 October Train structural integrity Structural integrity, fire and crashworthiness systems found on today’s rail fleets

23-27 November Introduction to railway signalling technologies An overview of railway control systems, subsystems and technologies used on UK main line and metro railways

8 October Train communication and auxiliary systems New and existing systems in use on today’s rolling stock flee

20 October Train control and safety systems Learn of the systems used on UK fleets that provide safety and train operational control

Brochure is available at: www.imeche.org/docs/ default-source/learning-and-professionaldevelopment-documents/l-d-railway-trainingbrochure-2015_web

13 October Fleet Maintenance - Introduction Improve your processes and fleet maintenance processes

21 October Vehicle acceptance and approvals Introduction to acceptance procedures which apply across the rail network

For more information, please contact Lucy O’Sullivan, learning and development co-ordinator: Tel: +44 (0)20 7304 6907 Email: training@imeche.org Web: www.imeche.org/learning/courses/railway

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PMA AG / PMA UK

Data

protection

As a global leader in cable protection systems, PMA AG products are used by clients around the world operating within the rail industry and beyond

S

ince the company was founded four decades ago during 1975, PMA AG has developed a strong reputation as a market leader in the provision of reliable cable protection systems that are tailored to meet the particular needs of its clients. These products are predominantly produced at its headquarters in Zurich, from where it delivers Swiss workmanship that is globally recognised for its outstanding quality. Its Zurich facility also encompasses intensive research and development activities, which allow PMA to ensure that it remains at the forefront in developing cable protection systems to safeguard critical assets. Additionally the company maintains a strong global presence with distribution centres and sales offices within Germany, the UK, France, Spain, Austria, Italy and the US, that employ some 170 people across the business. As such, PMA is always on-hand and ready to respond rapidly to the requirements of its clients.

The global footprint of PMA is bolstered by its membership within the ABB Group, as part of the organisation’s low-voltage division. PMA joined the ABB family during May 2012, allowing it to move forward as part of one of the world’s largest power and automation technology companies. Presently ABB employs around

27

140,000 people across approximately 100 countries, with shares traded on the Zurich, Stockholm and New York stock exchanges. ABB has a long history of providing reliable, innovative and energy-efficient technologies to the rail sector; manufacturing and servicing all the systems, subsystems and components used in modern urban, conventional and high-speed rail networks. This includes rail infrastructure and components for rolling stock, as well as signalling and telecommunication systems. The co-operation between PMA and ABB has resulted in a shared focus on sustainability and continues to create enormous opportunities for the continued growth and development of PMA and its parent.

The position of PMA as a market leader is built on the company’s extensive range of more than 6500 products, which give its customers reliable cable protection in railway, mechanical engineering and shipbuilding applications worldwide. Furthermore, PMA products take pride of place as the solution of choice in automation, building installation and other projects where power and data cables require reliable and robust protection. Within the rail industry PMA offers protection solutions for both rolling stock and rail infrastructure, allowing it to serve the rail sector across several applications. When it comes to rolling stock the company supplies efficient, custommade cable protection systems that have been developed to provide practical, cost-effective solutions that adhere to the most stringent requirements throughout their long service life. Similarly PMA also provides products that offer enhanced security for track-related installations and its products help to ensure safe, reliable function of signal installations; power supplies to high-voltage rails; train protection and control systems and monitoring/ information systems.

A common challenge for operators within the rail industry is the threat posed to cable infrastructure by vermin. During 2010 for example, millions of pounds had to be spent on

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the repair and replacement of as much as 20,000 miles of rail track, across the UK solely due to rats gnawing and damaging cables. The damage to this cabling brings with it serious implications to trains and commuters, including severe delays, break-downs and in the most tragic instances even crashes. It is therefore critical that rail cabling is protected, as it holds within it vital data that is responsible for controlling the signalling infrastructure of the network. Should these cables be damaged or removed it is simply not possible for trains to run safely on their tracks as electrical short circuits, incorrect signals, miscommunications and fires can easily occur.

In understanding the threat posed by rats and other vermin to rail infrastructure and establishing how to best counter the problem, PMA understands why it is that rats gnaw through and damage cabling in the first place.

Rats have open-rooted incisors and molars meaning that their teeth never stop growing. As a result they need to incessantly gnaw hard materials to keep their teeth ground down. Rats are also natural foragers that use anything they can find – including electrical cabling – as nesting material. However the most common reason for rats to damage cabling is that they are fiercely territorial.

Wild rats use their urine as a means to mark their territory and if and when they smell the urine of another rat on their marked territory, they gnaw the affected material away and thus remove the offending rat’s scent.

To combat these issues PMA has developed a line of products using polyamide, which is polymer based around an amide linkage. More commonly known as ‘nylon’, the term refers to a range of materials, which share similar properties in that they are incredibly tough with great thermal and chemical resistance. As such, polyamide materials are physically resistant to the strength of rats’ teeth and are also resistant to the scent of their urine – removing the need for territorial gnawing to remove competing scents. With polyamide, the risk of

PMA AG / PMA UK

rodent damage is significantly reduced because the rat’s urine and other marking substances do not adhere to its smooth, shiny surface. Furthermore polyamide helps to prevent rats from using cabling as a nesting material.

This is due to the fact that polyamide is considered an unattractive building material for rats, due to the amount of effort required to bite into it. With the material’s hard and elastic properties rat’s teeth are inclined to slip from the surface of polyamide and therefore, they quickly lose interest in trying to remove and use it in their nests.

This also means that the larger the conduit, the more difficult it is for animals to bite into its surface. PMA’s testing process ensures that polyamide materials help in the prevention of rodent damage to rail cabling, with all of the company’s products being tested beyond industry standards to destruction. With so many tracks, deep underground in locations such as the London Underground and Glasgow Subway for example and also near vast expanses of water, rats will always be a regular pest on railway networks. However with polyamide cable protection, the threat of damage from any type of rodent can be greatly reduced.

Included in the polyamide range for the protection of cabling from rats and other vermin PMA offers a retrofit divisible system. A one-piece divisible system, it is an ideal solution for repairs, retrofit and pre-loomed applications. This means work can be carried out to existing installations without disconnecting cables.

Additional products for applications within the rail industry include Ty-Rap cable ties and its innovative range of fire barrier solutions. Ty-Rap represents the UVresistant and flame retardant cable tie solution that meets the increasing requirements of modern rail vehicles. Tight installation requirements, demanding environmental conditions and increasing safety standards all require the highest performance. Through Ty-Rap rail, ABB and PMA offers specially developed cable ties that meet the

challenges of operation within the rail industry. The new Ty-Rap for rail is available in lengths of 92 mm to 360 mm and in widths of 2.4 mm to 7.0 mm for cable diameters up to 100mm. Both types of cable ties can resist temperatures from -40 °C up to +85 °C and are made of polyamide 6.6. The material is silicone and halogen free.

A special tool has been designed to enable ergonomic and efficient processing of cable ties.

Additionally PMA offers a number of different solutions that allow cables and wires within a cable protection system to be fed through a firewall without a loss of integrity. Available as either single sided or doublesided solutions, PMA fire barrier adapters employ an intumescent material fixed within the adapter to block the transport of fire, heat and fumes through the expansion of material to fill the cavities between the cables and the adapter. Double-sided solutions that include cable protection fitted on both sides of the fire barrier were developed in co-operation with Roxtec, the Swedish manufacturer of sealing systems. As such, PMA conduits, fittings and specially designed wall transit adapters are combined with a Roxtec sealing module to provide a system offering protection against the spread of fire from one compartment or room to the next.

The products provided by PMA offer a persuasive solution to cable protection when compared to competing alternatives. Plastic does not corrode, is quick and easy to install and has no sharp edges that can damage the very cables it is installed to protect. Furthermore, it is light and flexible, meaning that it can be bent around corners with ease. With so many advantages over existing metal alternatives, PMA is keen to continue to take advantage of the opportunity to deliver its highly innovative and effective cable protection systems to clients old and new across the globe.

www.pma.ch / www.pma-uk.com 29

BCL Power

A reliable

backup

As the rail industry looks to integrate its data management systems to improve reliability, standby battery solutions provider BCL Power thinks it can help

B

rett Communications Ltd (BCL Power) was established in 1994 as a telecoms battery service company. Today the company offers complete end-to-end solutions for UPS (uninterruptable power supply) batteries and critical standby power equipment, including battery testing and maintenance services. The core of BCL’s customer base comes from telecoms divisions of a number of sectors including banking, education, government authorities and NHS trusts. However, with significant success as a supplier of Midtronics Stationary Power battery management solutions, BCL is now looking towards the rail industry as a potential opportunity for future growth.

James Abbey, Director at BCL, explains that there is a lack of awareness towards the importance of ensuring regular testing and maintenance of batteries. “We have seen a real problem where people have had services on their UPS’s but not an actual service or test on the batteries,” he says. “The importance of regular battery maintenance is really simple because it is the key component within a battery back-up system. If you don’t have them tested regularly, then you don’t know the condition of them. And if you don’t know the condition of

30

them, you don’t know if they’re going to work when they are needed. Therefore, it is important that the client can get accurate and efficient information about the systems, so they can be preventative rather than reactive, and that’s where we come in.”

In delivering these solutions, BCL Power excels within the industry with its supplier relationships. “We are a UK distributor for Midtronics Stationary Power equipment,” explains James. “This really gives us an edge over our competitors because we not only provide the battery management service, but also the tools themselves.” One of the problems across all sectors is that there is currently a lack of integration between the way companies test with one device and monitor with another, resulting in multiple streams of data, which then have to be analysed separately. “All Midtronics Stationary Power equipment reports into one system. This means that it is possible to get the data back to the clients quickly and efficiently,” adds James. Often replacing a battery system can set a company back between £500 and £10,000: “With this management system in place it allows company’s to predict failure and therefore budget effectively for new battery systems.”

It is with this solution that BCL Power proposes its services to the rail industry. “Currently, the rail industry will have a monitoring system from one company that focuses on remote batteries at switching sites and telephone exchanges. In addition to this the guys who

stations and signalling applications are relying on standby battery power in case of a power cut, how do they know they will work every time.”

As far as BCL’s own future is concerned, the company is very much focused on expanding its product offering as its target markets become increasingly aware of the importance of battery management. “Over the next 12 months, we are looking at having a hosted service. So if clients haven’t got the employees to manage the data, we can provide a secure management service where we collect the information remotely and can highlight problems for them. We can then inform them of the best way to proceed. Beyond that we are looking to expand into providing cyber power security as well – this will make us even more unique within the market,” James concludes. With a unique position in the market and a strong product and service offering, BCL Power is well placed in an economy where future power sources are uncertain. With power such a critical part of maintaining reliability within the rail industry and across all sectors, the company proposes a sensible solution to making sure this reliability is maintained.

www.bclpower.co.uk

go out to the field will likely be testing batteries with a different system. Then all this data is extracted and analysed by someone else who can then make a decision on whether the batteries need changing or if they are okay. With the Midtronics Stationary Power equipment, there is a central server, which can collate all information from all sites, whether it be from engineer tests or from monitoring remote sites, which can cut down on service visits. This will then allow management teams in the rail industry to predict when the batteries will need changing more accurately, rather than waiting for a test to say that they’ve already failed. So again in the rail industry it allows them to be proactive rather than reactive.”

Focusing on the rail industry is a smart and reactive move by the BCL Power team considering a current push within the industry to integrate data management with operations in order to improve reliability and therefore customer satisfaction. Having recently sold Midtronics testers to Network Rail through a third party, BCL sees the potential for its management systems to also be put in place to help drive maintenance efficiencies throughout the rail network.

“As a nation we are putting more pressure on the power grid and this brings its challenges. So people are becoming more reliant on back-up battery solutions,” comments James who sees big opportunity in the future.

“Going forward it is worth companies investing in a good battery management programme. For instance, if

31

Furrer+Frey

New dawn for Great Western

electrification

To celebrate the end of Series 1 OLE system design phase of the Great Western electrification, we talked to the engineers involved at electrification specialist Furrer+Frey, plus the project management team at Network Rail about the scheme’s strategies, objectives, and outcomes

T

he background

The completion of the design phase of Series 1 electrification is an important milestone in Network Rail’s multi-billion pound modernisation of the Great Western Main Line and its South Wales branch.

The modernisation includes resignalling, new rolling stock, station upgrades and electrification. When the modernisation was announced in 2009, the only electrified portion of the Great Western was between London Paddington and Airport Junction west of Hayes and Harlington.

During a series of reviews between 2009 and 2012 it was announced that the whole GW network from London in the east to Cardiff and Swansea in the west would be electrified. In March 2012 Amey plc was awarded the contract to undertake the electrification works using Network Rail’s High Output Plant (HOPS). For the electrification part of the upgrade, new Series 1 overhead

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line equipment, designed by Furrer+Frey has been specified by Network Rail. It was devised to 125mph operation with a possible 140mph future capability and will be installed using HOPS. The HOPS has five sections, each of which handles a different aspect of the installation - these can be coupled together to work as one unit, or separated to work independently. The train will be maintained at the High Output Operations Base (HOOB) in Swindon, on the site of former sidings.

Unlike the Series 2 used on North West Electrification, which has been described as ‘Mark 3D with sunglasses’, Series 1 was a complete redesign and replacement operation to take the GW network strides forward in terms of speed and reliability. Revolution not evolution.

“Previously we tended to choose lower initial capital cost options over whole life costs so, with the massive increase in trains on the network, reliability can suffer”, says Network Rail’s Glenn Wiles, Principal Design Engineer (Contact Systems).

The electrification brief “The brief for Series 1 was very clear,” says Glenn Wiles. “The system had to be reliable, even with less maintenance, it had to be fully compatible with existing legacy rolling stock and, crucially, be fully TSI compliant at line speed up to 140mph.” Network Rail looked at existing electrification systems with the potential to be used on Great Western but the European systems would not plug into the UK network (with its narrower gauge, higher platforms and features such as bridges and level crossings) and no UK-ready system was TSI compliant. In addition, because of the geography of the GW system with its limited access points, the system had to work with Network Rail’s High Output Plant System (HOPS). Where using HOPS was not practical – at stations for example - the electrification system needed to work with more traditional output methods. This need for reliability, versatility and TSI compliance meant that a completely new approach was needed and the design was put out to tender.

The remit was a tough one. “Even with very limited access points we needed to electrify more quickly than had ever been achieved before in the UK”, continues Glenn Wiles. “We needed the system to be versatile and to address some of the reliability issues of the existing system.” In fact, Network Rail raised 97 reliability issues of the old system, which had arisen largely as a result of too much concentration on initial capital costs without consideration of whole life costs including installation, maintenance and repair.

Network Rail and Furrer+Frey were already working together on Great Eastern, were co-housing at Paddington, and had established a good working relationship. “Furrer+Frey had a good understanding of UK systems and were prepared to undertake a full root and branch redesign without a ‘take it or leave it’ attitude.” Out of a shortlist of five, Furrer+Frey won the contract in 2011 leading to the establishment of a fully operational Furrer+Frey UK operation.

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Photo - Crossrail West Outer - Paul Roszkowski

Furrer+Frey

“As an engineering challenge, this was as tough as it gets,” says Furrer+Frey’s Noel Dolphin. “The inputs are getting harder – the operators want to run trains with more pantographs, it is no longer just one now it is two or three and they want to run these at higher speeds. But the infrastructure remains the same: the tunnels are still too small, there are still level crossings - there are even still level crossings next to low bridges!” These challenges are all in the context of shorter possessions, increasingly tough standards and the need for TSI compliance.

“Network Rail also gave us four additional technical restraints,” says Noel Dolphin. “No tail wires routed across adjacent tracks to anchor, Mechanically Independent Registration, Constructability and independent tensioned conductors.”

The Solution Furrer+Frey’s Telescopic Single Insulator Cantilever was the answer for typical two track areas. With its single insulator telescopic cantilever, the SIC has been designed for the shortest possible installation time. This is achieved by an unprecedented level of off-site factory pre-assembly. The mast brackets are pre-installed at the depot and the SIC is then assembled and adjusted before delivery trackside and simply mounted on two pins on site.

Fewer components mean easier procurement, less maintenance, greater reliability and easier adjustment on site.

In a dewirement scenario there is a controlled dispersion of forces through the rotation of the SIC. Win win.

“The system has been designed for what we call a ‘land and leave’ process,” says Furrer+Frey’s Principal Engineer Rob Daffern. “The idea is that you can build it in the depot in controlled conditions, set it to the right dimensions, rack it up on the HOPS train and just drop it onto place with the minimum amount of fixings. In fact, in test conditions at our yard, we have installed Twin Track Cantilevers in less than three minutes – a process that has traditionally taken 40 minutes to an hour.” With limited access times, these time savings on installation make a massive contribution to the Series 1 system’s reduced

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life time costs. Even in the early days of installation roll out, HOPS teams are achieving more than twice as many mast installations per night than using traditional systems.

Historic Challenge Certain parts of the GW network offered a particular challenge to Furrer+Frey team. For instance the Sydney Gardens section of the GW network running through historic Bath is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and needs the very highest levels of aesthetic attention. Furrer+Frey is a subcontractor to the Lead Design Organisation for Great Western, Atkins/Parsons Brinkerhoff on this section and the two companies have collaborated closely on this complex and sensitive project. Anesh Ramkhelawon the senior designer for Furrer+Frey on the Bath section takes up the story. “There are a number of aesthetic considerations here,” he says. “We need to avoid large beams and tuck them out of public view, placing the overlaps where the public can’t see them. We have been urged to invoke the ‘spirit of Brunel’ in our design work by various interested parties but whether that means rigidly sticking to his original bold design vision and flair or embrace a more sympathetic solution is unclear! What is obvious is that many people are passionate about Bath and its architecture.”

The legacy infrastructure here also offers a particular challenge. “Many of the bridges here are very low so getting the wire at a safe height for the public whilst keeping the line open has been a test,” continues Anesh.

“There will be a whole programme of track lowering and bridge raising to accommodate this. All of this against the backdrop of the tight timescales we are faced with across the network and it certainly adds up to a really interesting engineering challenge.”

Innovation The scheme is not all Bath stone and heritage sites however. Series 1 has offered up the opportunity for innovative collaboration between Furrer+Frey and Network Rail. Nowhere is this more apparent than at Old Dalby test track. “The test track hadn’t been used at high

speeds since the late 1990s,” says Network Rail’s Charles Lateu Smith. “That meant a lot of work to get the track ready and fit for purpose and this required an excellent level of collaboration from everyone involved. Amey began construction on the piling in October 2013 and we were ready to start testing in March 2014 – and that included realigning the track for high speed testing, hiring a train and adapting its pantograph configuration and restoring the power. The testing was so successful we chose Old Dalby as the test facility for the Furrer+Frey Rigid Overhead Catenary System (ROCS) in Stanton Tunnel in early 2015.”

The refurbishment of the 1.2km long Stanton Tunnel part of the line with Furrer+Frey’s is the first time that the ROCS system has been used at high speeds in the UK - although it has been installed on more than 1900 track km worldwide and tested up to 302kmph line speeds. It is based on a rigid bar design, not the traditional tensioned overhead line, so there is a significantly reduced likelihood of a de-wirement or snapping of overhead contact line.

This absence of mechanical tension also means space provision for bulky tensioning devices is not required within the tunnel and much reduced loads on the

support structures, making it particularly suited to tunnel installation.

The End of the Beginning The end of the system design phase marks an important landmark in the whole electrification programme. Work is already well underway on installation and collaboration between Furrer+Frey and Network Rail continues apace. “We have been working together very closely for 18 months and it’s been a very collaborative working arrangement,” says Charles Lateu Smith. “The contract has really been left in the drawer while we get on with working towards our common goals.”

www.furrerfrey.ch

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Spencer Group

Pushing the

envelope With such a diverse and experienced multi-disciplinary group behind it, Spencer Group’s rail division is playing a leading role as the UK develops its network

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ver the last 25 years, privately owned UK company Spencer Group has developed from delivering demanding marine engineering projects to be one of the UK’s largest multidisciplinary design and construct engineering companies.

Based in Hull and supported by regional branches in Glasgow and London, the company serves the energy, transport, infrastructure, industrial, manufacturing and nuclear sectors with a focus on delivering technically challenging and innovative solutions to its clients. With infrastructure developments a major part of the economic focus in the UK at the moment, Spencer Group’s rail division has a number of successful projects under its belt

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that demonstrate the all-round abilities it has to offer.

Spencer Group stands out in the market as being a forward-thinking, entrepreneurial business with a strong team of industry leading experts. John Kendall, Spencer Project Manager explains: “As an engineering led business we are able to offer value to our clients by providing unrivalled engineering solutions. We employ very experienced practical engineers across a range of disciplines who are able to undertake the complete design of Civil/Structural, Mechanical, Electrical and Materials Handling. This ability is pretty unique and enables us to have a huge control over the engineering approach, programme and risk management.”

As part of the DfT’s Intercity Express Programme (IEP), a five billion pound investment into new trains has been made with Hitachi Europe to replace the existing rolling fleet on the East Coast and Great Western Main lines. To facilitate this development Spencer Group has been awarded a contract to upgrade Light Maintenance Depots for the East Coast line. “At each depot, facilities will be required for interior and exterior cleaning, fuelling, toilet emptying and water tank replenishment,” outlines John. “A fuel system additive (Adblue) also has to be supplied at each fuel point and stabling is required for the trains, as set out in the maintenance and servicing strategy. Spencer has been awarded the Grip 5 to 8 works that will be carried out at eight depots within the UK. As with most projects within an operational depot, the construction of new attenuation slabs and associated works with the Adblue system need to be carried out whilst keeping the operational requirements of the TOC at an optimum level. This is only possible with close cooperation and understanding with all parties involved.”

The contract represents a significant amount of work and deployment of Spencer’s extensive experience and knowledge within the rail sector to successfully and safely deliver. “This is a very important contract for Spencer,” expresses John. “Not only does it allow us to use our knowledge of depot works to value engineer and deliver a

With such exposure to and experience in a breadth of different industries, Spencer Group has a diverse offering that allows it to transfer skills and technological solutions between industries. Innovation driven in one sector may have positive implications within another, and the collaborative approach the company takes allows this cross-pollination to occur making the group a competitive prospect for its clients. John highlights that this is a deliberate part of the Spencer Group’s strategy: “We are constantly challenging and stretching ourselves to create designs, for instance, for diverse projects such as power station main stop valves, mobile radar, biomass material handling and industrial energy recovery projects,” he says.

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Spencer Group

best-option solution, but also gives us the opportunity to prove ourselves to a new client, Hitachi.” The successful engagement of this contract has since lead to another major depot project to extend and upgrade First Great Western’s flagship Train Care Depot in Reading. Keeping the facility fully operational throughout whilst having little impact on the neighbouring Reading Festival site will pose significant challenges for Spencer, but the experience gained from East Coast Main Line projects should help it achieve its goals effectively.

In addition to this, Spencer Group has also been appointed to work on improvements to the Finsbury Park Underground Station to help it achieve stepfree access by 2018. The station, which welcomes 176 million passengers a year, will remain open during the works. This will include the construction of a new western entrance, the building of two lift shafts and the extension of an existing passageway to link up to the new entrance, existing platforms and new residential and commercial developments. James Renwick, Project Director at Spencer comments: “We are delighted to have been given this opportunity by London Underground. We successfully delivered the enabling works for this project to go ahead and we were keen to see the project right through to the end.”

Testaments to Spencer Group’s ability to deliver and perform highly are a number of awards. “We have recently won the ICE South East England Engineering Innovation Award for the pedestrian subway slide carried out during Easter 2014,” points out John especially. “The 850 tonne concrete subway was slid into position on a

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cushion of compressed nitrogen and was the first time in the UK that this method was used.” It is no surprise that with such a breadth of knowledge and commitment to innovation behind it, plus with safety as its top priority, Spencer Group’s rail division is achieving success in a number of nationally important and prestigious contracts.

By continuing to maintain theses standards the company looks set to achieve further success as it moves forward.

www.thespencergroup.co.uk

Morris Line Engineering

Down to

earth

Electrical switchgear manufacturer Morris Line Engineering continues to deliver quality products and services to a demanding market both at home and abroad

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ith nearly 40 years experience manufacturing and supplying high voltage disconnectors and switches to the rail and electric industry, Morris Line Engineering (MLE) has carved a leading position for itself within the market. Last featured in Railway Strategies back in August 2014, Sales Director Nigel Jones talked about the considerable growth in demand and manufacturing capacity within the market and the expansion into the Middle East.

Approaching a year later and the story is much the same: growth has continued to rise, new products have been developed in response to demands and the company’s facilities have expanded in a clear sign that it is confident about the future.

MLE is very committed to its roots as a UK manufacturer based in the UK and Nigel expresses that this is central to the way the company does business. “If there is any requirement for something then we can be easily reached by the client,” he highlights. “We can design quickly with our in-house team and if something needs testing we can take it to Europe and back to do so in time. The fact that the product is manufactured in the UK also means that the customer gets a lot of support from us if something needs changing or if it needs to be serviced, and we can respond to these demands very quickly. Sometimes contractors have issues with installation, for example, so we have people that can get straight out to site and advise on that. We have also completed training with a few of our contractors and Network Rail on the maintenance and installation of our products.”

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Most significantly of note over the last 12 months is the new development of the 1250 amp switch into a full load break switch. “This is currently available to supply to Network Rail who gave us a specification at the end of last year asking us to develop a load break option,” explains Nigel. “We have now fully developed the product and it has completed testing to meet their specifications and demands.”

Commenting on the market conditions Nigel reflects positively: “Currently, the market is very good for us,” he says. “Ongoing electrification programmes mean that we are still supplying into some major projects. However, we are also trying to cut lead times as much as we can as Network Rail and the NSC (National Supply Chain) are implementing just-in-time. This is our main challenge at the moment. With the business growing as it is we have to implement procedures internally to meet these needs. Of course, we could manufacture more stock, but it would then cost us to hold it, meaning that we would have to increase our prices to our customers, so we have

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had to introduce new methods to improve our lead times for Network Rail.”

At present MLE is involved in a number of projects around the country such as the Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme (EGIP), the Cumbernauld Electrification Project where the company installed its first Fixed Earthing Devices (FED) and the First Great Western improvements. However, Nigel points out that as the company supplies directly to contractors, MLE products are being used in a number of contracts that they don’t know the specifics of. Business in the Middle East has also continued to prove to be a positive move by MLE to supply the growing infrastructure projects throughout the region. “We have been awarded a three-year contract

Morris Line Engineering

by one of the largest electricity supply companies in the Middle East to supply equipment from 13.8kV to 36kV from three different ranges of our equipment. This is quite significant for us as it is a high value contract that allows us to collaboratively develop their safety equipment for their existing lines.”

The company’s UAE assembly plant, based not far from Dubai, is also proving to be a good investment by the company as it allows MLE to effectively manage its costs when doing business in the region. “We manufacture all the equipment in the UK in kit form to be sent out to the UAE in large loads, which can then assembled locally,” explains Nigel. “To get a UK assembled unit out to customers in the region is much more expensive so this strategy has helped us develop our customer base in the Gulf area.”

Innovation remains a key part of MLE’s operations as the rail industry in the UK continues to demand everchanging safety and power applications. The FED, a safety switch for earthing overhead lines at fixed points along the line to replace the use of portable earthing devices, and full load break vacuum bottle disconnector have been major developments of recent years. The company has also been asked by Network Rail to develop a smaller footprint for its 1250 amp three-position switch. “This involves using the same product accepted and approved components to create a vertical break switch that takes up a smaller footprint but that can be developed quickly,” comments Nigel.

It is clear that MLE is experiencing considerable growth as it continues to serve a busy and demanding market.

Since the last feature it has extended its facilities by a third to accommodate the production and storage of new products. As well as this, it has added a new dedicated mechanism department to serve the motor mechanism needs of Network Rail, and acquired additional space to allow for further growth in the future. Strategically, the future for MLE is all about continuing to do what has made it so successful so far: working closely with

Network Rail and other customers to meet their demands in the development, manufacture and supply of leading edge products.

www.morrisline.co.uk

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SSE Enterprise Contracting

Extensive With a depth of experience and breadth of offerings, SSE Enterprise Contracting delivers quality contracting services to all sectors including railway

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s the name suggests, SSE plc has taken an enterprising step towards not only providing energy to the UK market, but also its expertise in energy solutions and engineering to better serve it. Consequently, SSE is the only one of the six top UK energy companies to offer end-to-end solutions to help its clients deal with fundamental energy challenges. Across its portfolio of services SSE Enterprise offers a complete solution to the energy, telecoms, utilities, contracting, lighting and metering sectors. Within its contracting division, the company is one of the UK’s largest mechanical and electrical contractors operating nationally through a network of 50 regional hubs.

With such a large and successful organisation and therefore a wealth of resources behind it, SSE Contracting is able to offer extensive services from high voltage engineering, LED lighting and electrical safety to heating, ventilation, energy management and facilities management on any scale or complexity. Operating on a national scale supported by the advantages of regional knowledge, the company is able to offer these services to SME’s, large companies and public sector organisations with an unrivalled level of efficiency.

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Activity in the rail sector represents a significant part of SSE Contracting’s operations, as the company is the principle M&E contractor for Network Rail with full Link-up approval. Enabled by its extensive expertise the rail team at SSE is able to offer design, installation, commissioning, refurbishments and maintenance in a seamless and integrated solution to adhere to any project requirements.

With its experience in the rail sectors, SSE’s railway services division is able to apply its knowledge of regulations and legal obligations to ensure that work is carried out in the safest way possible and the end result is fully compliant. For instance, it is able to offer a full Disability Discrimination Act compliance service with lift installations services, suitable call systems and station refurbishments to ensure requirements are met.

Additionally, it can apply its knowledge to preventative maintenance to reduce the risks of equipment or system failures. This encompasses maintenance of heating, ventilation and air-conditioning, gas and water systems.

Examples of additional services provided by SSE Railway Services are infrastructure re-wiring, ticket halls and automated systems, vending machines, ticket barrier installations, lighting call systems and hearing loop, lift works, fire alarms and plumbing. Car park lighting, CCTV and security, gas services, ductwork, pipefitting and fume extraction also fall into the portfolio. Fuel/oil/ air/lube installation, pit lighting, control, operation and maintenance of existing high voltage (HV) systems, design

best performing electrical contractors across the UK. Managing Director of SSE Enterprise Contracting, Daron Mullineaux responded to the result saying: “We are delighted to have been ranked second in this industryrelated report. SSE Enterprise Contracting focuses on delivering the very best of service by highly trained staff no matter the project’s size and scale. This includes everything from simple remedial works for an independent business through to a major multi-site mechanical and electrical installation project. We have grown to be a truly national contractor providing local mechanical and electrical services to all sectors.”

Aside from the skills and competencies it can deliver to its clients, the company places considerable emphasis on the service it provides and the approach it takes to business. Its aim is to work strategically with every partner to understand the objectives and demands to deliver the best solution every time. With such a strong and high profile portfolio behind it, SSE’s Railway Services division is currently looking to increase its exposure and experience within the UK rail and transport industry to further cement its position as a leading contractor.

www.sseenterprise.co.uk

and build of new HV systems, shore supplies complete the offer. All applications are then fully supported by a 24hour emergency call-out service.

Such is the prominence and broad expertise of SSE Contracting within the UK industry that the company has been involved in many high profile projects across the country. One such example of this is the contracting division’s short notice management of the Westfield shopping centre group’s £1.2 billion development in London. Spanning five years, the project called upon SSE to replace another contractor at short notice and demanded an 8000 strong workforce spread over a project the size of 30 football pitches. The company was able to call upon its utilities service to provide 15km of cabling to deliver 11kV across 24 sub-stations plus a local gas network in around 12 months. On top of this SSE was able to deliver a fibre network, HV infrastructure, civil works all within safety, legal and compliance constraints.

Ultimately, it was able to complete the work on schedule, on budget and with zero safety incidents, thus exemplifying the level of professionalism and competence it is able to offer to any sector.

Other major contracts for SSE Enterprise include the Riverside Museum in Glasgow, the Millennium stadium and SSE Arena, the Met Office, SSE Hydro, the Bullring shopping centre and the London Aquatics Centre. In 2013, SSE Contracting was ranked second in the year’s top 50 electrical contractor report, which measures the

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DAMAR INTERNATIONAL

Supply and

demand Since its foundation in 1985, Damar International has developed its product portfolio and expertise to become a leading distributor of tooling solutions

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elebrating 30 years in operation, Damar International has grown from its humble beginnings as a supplier to the wire industries to become a renowned specialist supplier of quality hand tools, machinery and equipment for a diverse range of sectors. In fact, the company currently imports from over 30 countries and exports the products of more than 300 manufacturers to over 50 countries to ensure customer satisfaction to those in markets ranging from the wire and cable industry, construction, fencing, railway, sheet metal working, the automotive industry, woodwork, accident rescue services and the nuclear industry.

Keen to remain competitive, the company has significantly increased its product portfolio over the last decade, which has resulted in strong customer demand, as Brian Martin, Founder and Managing Director of Damar International states: “The last ten years have shown an ever increasing range of product additions and even more companies wanting to link with Damar International. We now number 300 suppliers and continue to expand with more innovative and advanced technological contacts all the time. “We operate as suppliers of tools, equipment and machinery to all sectors of industry; we are also known

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as a sourcing company for specialised and bespoke requirements. In more generalised terms, we act as a one-stop-shop to help customers in obtaining various products from one supplier. Because we supply into all of the industrial sectors, our client base covers all major companies in areas as diverse as construction, engineering, automotive, military, oil and gas, petrochemical, marine, power and energy. In addition, we also supply to traditional markets of wire and cable, fencing, gardening, woodworking and specialised products for health and safety,” he continues.

Based in Leicester, Damar International has earned a strong reputation thanks to its purpose built warehouse facility on its Clipper Road premises, where the company brings together its enviable product portfolio under one roof. It is here that the firm offers demonstrations of its bespoke machinery and workshop equipment, should this be required. Furthermore, 95 per cent of orders for main range tool kits are despatched the same day, which has boosted Damar International’s reputation for efficiency, reliability and service. “Our strength lies not only in the fact that we offer the best quality products, but also in the way we believe in the old fashioned approach of giving a personal service to the customers, which

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ensures they return to us again and again while also recommending us to others. Many of our contacts are coming from new companies who have been told to approach us for help,” says Brian.

Moreover, the company has gained recognition as the world’s leading supplier of hand tools and tool kits by stocking this equipment from all of the major global manufacturers and exporting these items to more than 50 countries. Elaborating further on the strong partnerships that Damar International has created over the years, Brian says: “With so many partners it is difficult to generalise as to the reasons we offer their particular products, other than to say it is because these items are the best solutions available when you are looking for quality and reliability. The width in ranges and capability of supply is what makes us unique, which is why so many manufacturers across the globe benefit from our extensive portfolio.”

DAMAR INTERNATIONAL Just a few of the key partners of Damar International include: Albatros, Allround, Arm Sangyo, Baudat, Berma, Betasonic, Carltsoe, Cemastir, Cincinnativr, Diamond, Draper, Egamaster, Felco, Femi, Flott, Gorilla, Greenlee, Halder, Hazet, H. K. Porter, Klann, Klauke, Knipex, Kongcrete, Krenn, Kukko, Leitenberger, Maun, Morse, Starrett MST, NES, O’Keefee’s-Royaltek, Orbis-Will, Pentosin, Petig, Prebana, Rhino Tool, Royaltek, Sam, Slide Sledge, Stahlwille, Stubai, Vale, Vigor, Vogel, Walter, Weber, Worx, Wright Tools.

By working only with leading players in each of their chosen markets, Damar International can deliver to the most stringent of industries, such as railway or oil and gas, in confidence. “The railway industry has particular needs that require a professional supply of many products, whether that may be maintenance tools, safety tools, a Hazet fold down trolley for under train pit servicing, Kukko bearing pullers or even Berma engraving equipment for marking the bogies. Not forgetting Rhino post drivers, Damar wire tools and Gripple fencing products for beside the track solutions,” highlights Brian. “Meanwhile, Slide Sledge, an award winning sledge hammer concept, offers special cotton pin removal tools and C Walter has a history of supplying Deutsche Bahn with special torque multipliers; this is just an indication as to the extent of Damar International’s capability to the railways.”

Although the company enjoys incredible demand on a global scale, it has chosen not to rest on its laurels and instead has embraced the opportunity to further expand its customer base with an even stronger web presence. Indeed, Damar International, under the twitter name @Damarint, offers returning and potential customers updates on products available on its eBay site, as well as breaking news within the company. To further reach its customers, Damar International also has a Facebook page.

Alongside its progression into social media, the company celebrated its 30 year anniversary with the launch of a brand new multi-website (www.damar.biz), a five-in-one site, which features an extensive package of information from the majority of its specialist supply

partners, as Brian notes: “Our new multi section website is the first phase of an ongoing development to expand the site; this will further help customers identify and find their requirements from the one source.”

With a new website in place and a major milestone passed, Damar International can look to the future with confidence as it continues to deliver top notch equipment to its diverse customer base, as Brian concludes: “Over the 30 years of trading we have been at the top end of the quality market as this ensures customer satisfaction. Meeting such demands is more difficult than selling cheap volume items as our target market is a professional and more discerning customer base; however, this also means our customers are the biggest and strongest companies around and those who value our long-term expertise.”

KUKKOWerkzeugfabrik KUKKO-Werkzeugfabrik is one of the world‘s leading producers of extractor tools, clamping and marking tools, made in Germany. From the very beginning, since 1919, KUKKO has specialised in developing and manufacturing extractor tools for the non-destructive dismounting of gears, bearings, ball bearings and similar components in all areas of technology.

This specialisation made KUKKO an esteemed partner of the retail trade and one of the top European system suppliers in the workshop area of the automotive and engineering industry.

www.damar.biz 47

FirstGroup

Industry first

As FirstGroup’s rail division focuses on delivering ambitious improvements for passengers, it looks to technology innovations to provide a better service to its customers

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ith 18 years history in the UK rail industry, FirstGroup plc is one of the UK’s largest and most experienced operators, carrying more than 280m passengers last year. Currently operators of the First Great Western and First TransPenine Express franchises, as well as successful open access operator First Hull Trains the company has its sights set on expanding its network even further, recently being shortlisted for the East Anglia franchise, due to start in October 2016 and with an application to the ORR for rights to offer a low fares, open access operation on the East Coast Mainline. “The rail franchising market is very competitive and the industry is going through a period

of change as expiring franchises come up for tender,” explains Head of Rail Information Systems at FirstGroup, Duncan Waugh. “Our aim within FirstGroup’s rail division is to deliver ambitious improvements for passengers on the franchises we operate, and in our bids for new franchises as well. To do this we need to not only do the basics very well but also be innovative to reduce costs and drive more value from our investment in technology.

We need to adapt to ensure we meet our staff and customer expectations that are continually evolving with the introduction of new technology.”

Technology plays a major role in FirstGroup’s continued drive to improve its customer experience through

innovation. This means managing the data collected from the railways in the most efficient way possible in order to provide the most up-to-date information to staff and customers, and developing effective response systems to provide an improved service. “The rail industry has a wealth of data available,” notes Duncan. “Traditionally this is held in different systems and is used for a specific purpose defined when that system was introduced, often limiting the usefulness of the data to the relevant process. With the advent of new data sources such as train location systems, technology deployed on new trains and digital channels such as the web for customers to connect with us, the amount of data available to the

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FirstGroup

MTU MTU is a core brand of Rolls Royce Power Systems and is a world-leading provider of high-speed diesel engines to the rail industry. MTU has a 90-year history in rail, and has been providing diesel traction solutions into UK rail for over 60 years.

First Great Western (FGW) operates 120 MTU powered Class 43 HST Power Cars maintained by MTU under a maintenance contract, which achieves engine availability in excess of 99.5 per cent. MTU has now commenced delivery of 130 700kW PowerPacks to Hitachi to power IEP bi-mode super express trains that will be put into service by FGW in 2018, with further PowerPacks to be delivered for the East Coast Mainline where service commences in 2019.

industry is growing exponentially.”

By collecting and merging this data together, analysts are able to develop a more detailed understanding of the market. “We have access to a rich resource of information, enabling navigation from summarised information down to transactional details, providing insight into exceptions and trends within the industry,” expresses Duncan. “Some examples of this are using detailed GPS train movement data gathered from our Driver Advisory Systems

alongside timetable data to analyse train headways at key junctions and using on-train passenger counts to assist with capacity planning. All aspects of data allow the relevant analysts and managers to make decisions that have a direct impact on improving either our customers experience or train performance.” To accompany this is a concerted effort to develop a more real-time data integration capability to provide front-line staff and customers with more meaningful and relevant information.

To ensure this innovation is developed in the best way possible, FirstGroup has partnered with systems integrators and information specialists IPL, with a five-year framework. “The rail industry generates a huge amount of

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FirstGroup

data and this is growing all the time,” highlights Duncan. “Therefore, the design and deployment of a platform that is robust and scalable is key if we are to adapt quickly. The aim of our collaboration with IPL is to develop our technology so we have a more consistent and accurate set of data and information available to us.

Our work to date has demonstrated how this platform helps us to understand our customers and their travel requirements better and to provide information that is more personalised to them via the channel that they want to receive it. For instance, it can provide information to staff and customers that relate to any disruption that may be taking place or assisting them when they are about to change their journey at an interchange.”

Commenting on the partnership, Andy Cox, Innovation and Solutions Director at IPL says: “We’re very excited to be working with FirstGroup on this opportunity to improve customer experience, before, during and after their rail journeys. In the partnership we’ll be looking to use technology in innovative ways that make best use of the wealth of information FirstGroup holds about its customers and operations. We’ll also be combining it with other sources, to provide insights that improve operational efficiency

and customer engagement.

Moreover, we’ll be drawing on our experience in other sectors where customer care is as important as it is in rail, to bring best practice from areas such as aviation and financial services to benefit FirstGroup, its staff and its customers.”

This focus on providing more accurate information to its staff and customers very much defines the near future for FirstGroup’s rail division, as it looks to develop staff mobile apps and free Wi-Fi in trains and stations for customers. Aside from this Duncan explains: “We will be concentrating on our commitments under the First Great Western extension that includes preparing for the arrival of the new Super Express Train (SET). For the SET arrival we are working with Hitachi to identify and improve the data sharing between the train and back office systems to enable more accurate information on the train be made available in real-time to engineers.

“Our vision is to continually improve the customer experience and we will exploit technology to achieve this.

We will develop the platforms we have already built to take data, in real-time and from a multitude of sources, that includes from our staff and customers, and then turn this into useful information that can be made relevant to the end user. Ultimately, our strategy is to continually improve the quality of data we have and turn ourselves into a more information rich organisation.”

Below Andy Cox, Innovation and Solutions Director at IPL

www.firstgroupplc.com 53

Editor Gay Sutton

editor@railwaystrategies.co.uk Sales Manager Joe Woolsgrove

jwoolsgrove@schofieldpublishing.co.uk

www.railwaystrategies.co.uk

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