For the second year running, Network Rail Scotland’s engineering conference was combined with the Railway Industry Association’s (RIA) Scottish Unlocking Innovation event. The result was a conference with around 400 delegates entitled ‘Network Rail and RIA Scotland Engineering & Innovation Conference’.
The event had nine plenary presentation and three workshop sessions where delegates could choose from 15 topics which included: innovation; climate extremes; electrification; Future Rail Mobile Communications System (FRMS); passenger perspectives; sustainability; and supply chain opportunity. Your writer chose the workshops on Signalling Scotland’s future, Air operations, and Infrastructure monitoring.
This was certainly the event to attend to learn of engineering developments on Scotland’s railway.
First plenary sessions
Opening the conference, Network Rail Scotland Route Managing Director Liam Sumpter reflected on the recent tragic accident on Spanish railways which highlighted the company’s duty to operate a safe, reliable railway where everyone gets home safe every day.
Liam then advised of four other key challenges:
- Provide a resilient rail infrastructure despite a changing climate.
- Provide the required service in a constrained fiscal environment.
- Apply systems thinking across all activities.
- Collaborate to deliver even more for our environment, economy and communities.
Alan Ross, Network Rail Scotland’s director of engineering & asset management, then considered the route’s infrastructure challenge. Scotland’s railway includes around 2,776km of track and over 12,500 structures with an asset value of circa £60 billion, requiring a £500 million annual renewal spend. Scotland’s railway is a vast, ageing asset that is under increasing pressure from demand, geography, and climate, all of which is stressing assets for more than they were designed.
Alan explained the benefits of moving asset-type thinking to corridor based systems management, which also provides a better focus for investment. He also stressed the need for efficiencies and revenue focused engineering decisions due to limited control period funding. Innovation is also needed to improve efficiency. He closed his presentation by emphasising that the only way to manage Scotland’s railway infrastructure is for track, train and the supply chain to work together.
Managing director of GBRX, Toufic Machnouk, then outlined how GBRX was addressing the wider challenge of adopting technology in a fragmented rail industry. He considered that the difficulties of implementing innovation stem not from a lack of creativity, but from structural barriers such as complex liabilities, procurement law, safety validation, and scarce specialist skills.
He emphasised the need for new adoption pathways, coordinated capability building, and strategic initiatives such as data apprenticeships, pathfinder projects, and GBRX’s incubator initiative. He stressed that a long term innovation capability needs to be embedded across the sector.
Catherine Hall, Network Rail Scotland’s director of strategy and investment, explained how the railway can make a real difference to communities and businesses. She also explained how her team are working closely with local authorities, regional transport partnerships, and the Scottish Government to determine what tomorrow’s railway needs to provide.
With audience participation, she explained the distinction between project, scope, capability, outcomes, and benefits. To make the best use of limited funding projects must have measurable benefits to address the Scottish Government’s investment priorities of economic growth, tourism, air quality, and decarbonisation. As an example, she explained how a new station provides access to education to reduce inequalities, delivers decarbonisation by getting people out of their cars, and improves health as about 30% rail passengers walk to the station from their homes.
Signalling Scotland’s future
Network Rail Scotland’s Control Period 7 (CP7) plan did not include any implementation of in-cab signalling (ETCS) due to the high cost of retrofitting rolling stock. However, the procurement of new train fleets, due to enter service in the early 2030s, makes ETCS a more viable option for CP8.
Regional Asset Manager (Signalling) Lyndsey Hunter explained that the North electric corridor between Helensburgh and Newbridge Junction via Glasgow Queen Street Low Level was a particularly suitable route for ETCS. This is a high-capacity railway with multiple stations, many with a short distance between them, and signalling assets that are almost life expired. She considered that adopting modern in cab signalling could unlock further opportunities to enhance capacity and reliability as well as eliminating the constraints of lineside signals.
Yet she recognised that any decision to implement in-cab signalling would be much more than a technical decision as it would bring significant operational, financial, and cultural challenges as it requires comprehensive track and train integration. Hence, it requires a whole industry consensus and consultation to justify the investment.
Lyndsey noted the importance of taking this time-critical opportunity over the next two years to align with the development of the CP8 (2029 to 2034) work bank and rolling stock procurement timescales.
To ensure all factors are considered, she envisaged forming a team that would engage with the many stakeholders involved to learn what is important to them and focus on their needs. In this way, she hoped that an agreed vision and strategy could be produced this year so that business cases can be agreed by Network Rail and Transport Scotland in 2027.
Throughout her presentation Lyndsey stressed the importance of engaging with stakeholders and being open to their views. Her intention was not to force the agenda by demanding in-cab signalling but to force a conversation to enable an informed positive decision to be taken.
Scottish air operations
National Aerial Survey Specialist Sean Leahy described how Network Rail Scotland’s dedicated helicopter is contracted for 600 hours per year and to be instantly available throughout the year. This uses the latest survey technology to collect data and information and uses GPS with an integrated Inertial Measurement Unit to provide the centimetre-level accuracy needed for surveying.
It is fitted with a Multi Angle Camera System (MACS) which has three 150 megapixel cameras and one 150 megapixel infrared scanner as well an inertial measurement unit. It collected data for the design of the Fife Electrification project as well as the Ayr and Stranraer station projects.
The helicopter is used as required by specialist engineers and undertakes weekly flights on high priority geotechnical routes. During incidents it can provide a live feed to control and those involved. The helicopter’s capability was shown by its use to inspect 1,400 Scottish OLE 1250 Amp current disconnectors within 45 hours as required by a Special Inspection Notice issued in April 2023.
Sean explained that helicopters are ideal for long distance corridor surveys, high altitude imaging and rapid coverage of large areas. They are complemented by the use of drones which are suitable for localised asset inspections and rapid deployment at incidents.
An evolving drone application is AI prediction of trespass and vandalism locations (currently 70% successful prediction) as well as behaviours at events such as this year’s Commonwealth Games. Network Rail is also working with British Transport Police to address concerns about malicious and unsafe drone use.
Digital infrastructure maintenance
Network Rail’s Intelligent Infrastructure programme has developed various digital maintenance systems to predict faults and enable work to be planned at the right time. These tools use a single data warehouse and include the following:
- StrEAMS – all drainage and lineside assets.
- DLI – Digitised lineside assets.
- Mywork and Mywork manager – more efficient completion and approval of works orders.
- MyRoster – rostering and fatigue monitoring.
- Myinfrastructure manager – fault management system linked to MyWork.
- II insight – plan and prioritise track and signalling work.
- RCM – provide reliably centred signalling database.
- eSMTH – digitised signalling maintenance handbook.
- National Relay Database – data on over 750,000 signalling relays.
- Schedule – provides overview of access, work required, staff availability and competency.
The workshop discussed the difficulties of implementing digital tools. These included a cultural shift to get sufficient people using these technologies and poor IT provision in some depots. Nevertheless, it was recognised that digital tools offered significant benefits and their use was increasing.
In Perth last year over 70% of inspections were planned with these digital tools. For example, the DLI tool enables 30 to 40 vegetation inspections a day to be undertaken in a safe office environment. This compares with three or four per day when done in the more hazardous track environment.
The workshop also considered the generation of infrastructure data by the Class 153 Visual Inspection Units (VIUs). There are five such VIUs which are single-car diesel units converted by Porterbrook as part of Network Rail’s Infrastructure Management Trailblazer programme. Their monitoring equipment includes One Big Circle’s AiVR system which has a location accuracy within 30mm and is updated to Network Rail’s digital tools within 24 hours.
As the monitoring equipment on the train is fully automatic, the only person on the train is normally the driver. Being a single-car unit, it does not take long to reverse the unit which can be beneficial when monitoring complex sections of track.
Unlocking innovation
The afternoon’s plenary session was introduced by Bob Docherty, RIA’s business engagement manager in Scotland. He advised the conference that RIA holds several unlocking innovation events each year as well as an annual innovation conference which is to be held in Newport South Wales in March.
Bob felt that the previous sessions had shown how unlocking innovation works by getting the right people in the room so they can collaborate to provide the require innovations. He then introduced Network Rail’s Head of Rail Technology Gareth Evans who advised that his job was to do just as Bob described by connecting challenge owners with solution providers and help remove any barriers.
Network Rail can also help organisations access funding from Government and European organisations. Gareth mentioned the bilateral agreements that Network Rail has with European and global railways which Scottish teams may be able to use. As an example, a joint initiative with ProRail in the Netherlands is digitising schematic diagrams.
He also advised that an innovation incubator was to be run in Scotland on 26 March. This is a structured, fast feedback workshop that brings together Network Rail challenge owners, supply chain innovators, specialists, and academia to rapidly explore a specific problem and form partnerships. Gareth advised that an incubator event on Wales and Western had created partnerships and identified a solution for a long standing signalling condition monitoring problem.
Next to speak was Mark Warrender, Telent’s chief rail engineer. He believed that innovation is more about better behaviours rather than better tools. To illustrate this, he described the early stages of the REACH fibre installation programme, in which his team proposed sharing their open-source tools methods with everyone involved. This initially met with resistance due to intellectual property concerns , but once they committed to openness, competitors began sharing back and a “cascade of openness” emerged. The key elements of this new approach were:
- Shared datasets with all parties inputting hazards, access points, and existing infrastructure onto a common map.
- Joint decision-making of optimal routes.
- Video mapping enabled designers to visualise the site.
- Idea-first design in which teams co-created the design in real time rather than sequentially.
The result was a faster, safer collaborative design process which eased acceptance as everyone was involved from the start. Mark considered that the lessons from this were that openness, collaboration, and cross organisational trust are the real enablers of industry-wide improvement.
Professor John Easton of Heriot Watt University, south west of Edinburgh, then spoke about the UK Rail Research and Innovation Network (UKRRIN) which was established in 2018. This gives universities the opportunity to turn academic ideas into deployable products. It also offers the rail industry guidance on which university can meet their research requirements. UKRRIN is structured into Centres of Excellence (CoE) at the following universities:
- Digital Systems led by Birmingham supported by Lancaster, Hull, and Brunel.
- Rolling Stock led by Huddersfield supported by Newcastle, Loughborough, Cambridge, and Bristol.
- Infrastructure led by Southampton supported by Nottingham, Heriot Watt, Sheffield, and Loughborough.
- Testing Facilities led by Network Rail which has test facilities at Melton and Duxford.
Heriott Watt University supports UKRRIN’s infrastructure work with its Heavy Structures laboratory which can simulate a year’s loading of railway track in a one day. The university is also the home of the National Robotarium which is researching the industrial use of robotics.
In 2021, UKRRIN invited expressions of interest to establish two new CoEs on Inclusive Passenger Experience and Rail Economics, Policy and Operations (REPO). Professor Easton advised that the REPO CoE will be led by University of Leeds.
The graduates’ view
In the penultimate session of the day, Lynsey Hunter, Regional Asset Manager (signalling) for Network Rail moderated a panel discussion with five Network Rail graduates: Kush Kotecha, Emily McLaren, Hamish Cameron Miller, Muhila Ramanan, and Angus Robb.
She first asked them why they joined Network Rail. Their responses included that the company “ticked all the boxes of public service, decarbonisation and a strong employee culture,” and that, at interview, Network Rail did well at selling itself to graduates. One graduate joined Network Rail after a recruitment mix up but stayed as the work was very interesting.
When asked about the difficulties they had experienced, all agreed that acronyms and “railway language” was a particularly problematic. Other issues were data fragmentation across systems and long, unfocused documents. The graduates had experienced inconsistent working practices across regions and found that people often don’t understand what other teams do.
The group considered that there should be exchange placements between regions, improved visibility of what other teams do, and better data sharing. They also felt that there is a major opportunity to use AI to automate workflows and improve customer service.
In the discussion it was clear that the graduates felt welcomed, found their work to be interesting, valued access to specialists across the organisation, and were encouraged to contribute. One noted that “every person I’ve spoken to has been so happy to share their knowledge with me”. Another pointed out that “the best thing about being a graduate in the railway is getting to work with awesome people”.
High performance engineering
Performance is the biggest driver of customer satisfaction as passengers rely on every train to run and be on time. Hence, any deterioration risks reversing fragile recovery of passenger numbers. This was the key message of a joint presentation by Network Rail Scotland Route Director Ross Moran and ScotRail Service Delivery Director Mark Ilderton.
Their presentation noted the post-Covid shift in travel patterns with less commuter travel and increasing leisure travel. As a result, Edinburgh Waverley may soon overtake Glasgow Central as the busiest station in Scotland. However, although passenger numbers are increasing, the 2026 forecast of 93 million is less than the pre-Covid peak of 98 million.
Research by Transport Focus shows that the top three passenger requirements are affordability, reliability, and punctuality. Although eliminating peak price tickets has addressed the first requirement, a relentless focus on train performance is required. ORR data shows that ScotRail is near the top of the performance table. Over the 12 months to 2025/26 Q11, ScotRail’s Public Performance Measure (% trains under five minutes late) was 89.7% compared with the national average of 85.61% over this period. However, more needs to be done as the ORR’s target is 92.5%.
It was explained how lessons were learnt from an incident at Glasgow Central when the station lost half its platforms due to a failure of the 1962 fixed tension overhead line equipment (OLE). This affected over 500 trains and spread disruption across the network causing 3,500 delay minutes. Following the incident, Scotland’s Targeted Performance Fund was used to install OLE monitoring cameras on Class 334 units and set up a dedicated OLE monitoring desk in Motherwell.
It was noted that the changing climate is a growing operational threat with recent heavy rain, repeated storms, and sudden snowfall. Action taken to meet this threat includes Scotland being the only route to have dedicated meteorologists and the use of a dedicated helicopter which can be rapidly deployed.
The presentation introduced the North Clyde Line Integration Programme – a whole system initiative, inspired by Swiss practice to operate railways within railways. It brings all engineering and operational aspects of the route together and includes a revamped command and control centre at Yoker. Also highlighted was the importance of cross organisation working to enable one team to make the best decisions for customers.
Another initiative was dynamic timetable stress testing to simulate the introduction of the East Coast timetable which was introduced in December 2025 by considering such things as perturbation, regulation points, and crew and unit diagrams.
The significant customer benefits of more reliable electric trains with faster acceleration were also stressed. They were considered one of the reasons why the main Edinburgh-Glasgow route now exceeds pre-Covid patronage. Hence electrification is considered to be a revenue driver.
The presenters concluded by calling for engineers who can analyse timetables and understand system interactions, as well as using data and modelling to drive performance.
Alan Ross echoed this call as he closed the conference. As well as thanking everyone who organised the event, he encouraged the engineers present to challenge both themselves and Network Rail. He considered that there were huge opportunities for Scotland’s railways which required everyone to apply themselves to the challenges needed to deliver these opportunities.
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