The Railway Industry Association (RIA) is continuing its regional seminars to encourage innovation around the UK, holding its latest event in September covering the South of England and asking whether improved services might result from the introduction of new and imaginative thinking.
The venue for this event was the Ricardo Innovation Centre in Shoreham, just west of Brighton. The company has a history dating back to the early years of the 20th century and has a fascinating record of engine development, primarily for the automotive industry. Now housed in modern premises, its current work includes vehicle emission testing and improvement, the use of alternative fuels for internal combustion engines with a mix of methane and petrol to reduce carbon emissions, plus the development of hydrogen as a fuel with all the logistics that go along with that in terms of supply and storage. Some of the work will spill over into the rail sector, hence the opportunity for RIA members to see what is going on.
Setting the scene
Without doubt, the railways in the Southern area are busy, according to Ryan Anderson and Bryony Goldsmith from RIA. Seventy percent of all rail passenger journeys happen here, generating £5.4 billlion of revenue and 1.6 billion journeys each year. The population is growing and is expected to reach 10 million by 2030. Some 3,300 miles of track exist and important projects are in the offing, including: a western link to Heathrow airport; a Docklands Light Rail extension to Thamesmead; extending the Bakerloo line southwards from Elephant & Castle; resignalling at Hither Green and south from Victoria into South London; and station upgrades at Lewisham and Peckham Rye. In the 2022/23 year, TfL spent £6.9 billion with just over 2,000 suppliers, of which around half were SMEs.
With the change in government, the appointment of Lord Hendy as the Transport Minister of State is seen as a positive step by Harry Shackleton from Inflect Partners. For the wider transport perspective, some changes have already been announced with the public ownership of TOCs and restoration of council run bus services. It is expected that a cheaper high speed rail line from Birmingham to Manchester will be considered, the HS2 extension to Euston is likely to happen, and the thrust to move more freight on to rail is important. The term ‘levelling up’ does not feature in the South and devolution of transport policy is unlikely except perhaps for the Solent region.
That said, the Department for Transport (DfT) is expecting budget cuts given the stated position with the national economy. Already, the Restoring your Railway initiative has been dropped so there will be some difficult choices to make in deciding investment priorities.
Transport in the South East
The South East has one of seven subnational transport bodies within the UK covering rail, road, ports, and airports. It was established in 2016 and Rupert Clubb is its chief officer. The aim is to produce a transport strategy up to 2050 which will take account of post pandemic changes, government policy, the impact of Brexit, and climate change. A public consultation document will be produced in December 2024 with a submission to government expected in October 2025. The document is expected to include financing options especially private funding opportunities, multi modal investment packages, and carbon reduction projects including removing bottlenecks on the A27 at Chichester, Arundel and Worthing, but all of these must align with national transport policies.
For rail priorities and connectivity, it is noted that the average speed of journey times is pitiful. Very few routes have end-to-end journeys of over 60mph, most only manage 59-50mph, many are as low as 49-40mph, and too many are under 40mph. (see image bottom left) Some routes are slower now than when electrified in the 1930s.
The focus for investment will be:
- Improving reliability on radial routes.
- Enhancing east to west connections.
- Provisioning for ticket integration.
- Increasing freight on rail.
There are expected to be eight packages of rail interventions containing 79 schemes and £24 billion of expenditure. Very little seems to be happening at the moment on track upgrades, new lines / extensions, or new stations and upgrades. For freight, there will be a South East freight forum to study intermodal opportunities and the development of alternative fuels for freight transport including rail.
Network Rail challenges
With a train service of 5,500 passenger and freight movements daily on many of the ex-Southern Region lines, keeping the infrastructure in good order is both a necessity and challenge, so says Mark Killick, Network Rail’s director for engineering and asset management. The four national principles of Network Rail culture have to be honoured: everyone home safe every day; delighted train companies; a great place to work; and the railway to pay for itself. The local objectives are a timetable that gives 75% right time operation and a doubling of external investment. Capital works need to offer greater value and efficiency by a better understanding of the contractual models and a longer-term relationship with the supply chain.
To achieve this, a Southern Renewals Enterprise (SRE) has been created that comprises a Southern Integrated Delivery (SID) team that, in addition to Network Rail, includes the four partners Volker Fitzpatrick (buildings and civils), AtkinsRéalis (signalling), Volker Rail (track), and Octavious (electrification and power). This is intended to bring an affordable and profitable projects structure that is cleaner and greener, maintains health and safety standards, and leaves a positive legacy for future generations of engineers. Ninety percent of capital spend is associated with renewals for which the Network Rail principles for faster project delivery to ensure the minimum of delay. Business development managers will be appointed to steer the projects throughout their lifespan. A ‘One Team’ thinking is the objective.
To date, major renewals have taken place at Crystal Palace involving a nine-day blockade, closing Barnes Bridge for repairs with a six day shutdown, repairing and waterproofing Blackheath tunnel during a 10 week blockade, and repairing the lift ropes on the Kingsferry Bridge across to the Isle of Sheppey.
One has to question the use of blockades as, while it enables the work to be carried out in a concentrated and efficient manner, the impact on the travelling public must not be overlooked. Bus substitution is invariably hated and is often poorly organised. A bad experience on one occasion can lead to people being put off rail travel into the future. Blockades have always been necessary, but it seems that nowadays nothing can be done without a blockade. Network Rail managers need to be mindful of the consequences of blockades and should always try to find ways of carrying out work without completely shutting down the train service.
The London perspective
UK growth needs London and London needs Transport for London (TfL), so says Theo Haughton, TfL’s head of operational innovation. It spent £6.5 billion in 2022/23 with 2,070 suppliers, of which 93% were UK and 50% were SMEs. The city calculates that £4 out of every £10 on national income comes from London. A £3 billion black hole emerged during post pandemic-emergency changes, but finances are now back to a breakeven situation.
There is a back log of asset investment and government funding is needed to progress capital projects. In rail the London Underground Central Line is under pressure, the Bakerloo Line trains are 50 years old, and the Croydon tram network is increasingly unreliable. Significant successes have been the opening of the Elizabeth Line and the extension of the Northern Line to Battersea where many new jobs have been created in the associated areas.
An average of £650 million per annum is needed for investment projects in support of rail transport. Innovation is always wanted to help spend this money in a more efficient manner and current challenges are: i) making the platform train gap safer and easier; ii) combatting tube railway dust; and iii) improving customer accessibility.
Debating the issues
Having raised some of the challenges, it was then up to a panel of experts and the assembled gathering to discuss what might emerge from the supply chain in particular, and the industry in general, as to how new thinking might bring out new ideas.
The use of expertise within universities has been around for some time and Rod Anderson from Southampton (who had also spoken at the RIA London event in June) told of the work being carried out to make ballasted track more resilient, to examine how electrification costs might be reduced, and how to adapt for climate change especially extreme heat and rainfall. While a number of universities are collaborating in rail research projects, getting the outputs out into the real world is a challenge in itself.
On that same topic, Jon Salisbury, head of innovation at the Southern Renewals Enterprise, spoke of the difficulty of bringing in innovative ideas, particularly getting buy in from ground level staff. The utilisation of management and staff must be improved, with knowledge sharing being a weak area. Access to work sites is disruptive which leads to inefficient weekend working and the imposing of blockades. Remote monitoring of assets has been available as a technology for some time and can bring huge benefits but there remains a reluctance to use it.
Standards are important but are they fit for purpose? Electrification, which is universally seen as the way forward, needs to be made cheaper. While much of this relates to ways of working, the technical aspects must also be examined.
The often-stated requirement to digitise records and do away with paper once again got a mention, but this must be done in a way that is easily understood by those who have to use it and keep it up to date. Modelling of projects and their intended output is considered very worthwhile, but the classic feedback loop of constantly trying it out to prove it works is essential.
When questioned about poor end-to-end journey times on so many routes in the South, the responses had little to bring comfort. The combination of rolling stock performance, signalling / line capacity, and timetable construction seemed not to be aligned. The holy grail that ETCS will be the solution to bringing better journey times might well be the long-term future, but the current ETCS programme does not feature lines south of the Thames for decades to come. Can customers really wait that long for improvements, especially on routes where end-to-end journeys now take longer than a decade or so ago?
Powering regeneration
Mention has been made of the Northern Line extension to Battersea, where a combination of private finance and mayoral backing all contributed to a regeneration of the Wandsworth area. The regeneration of the rundown area at Kings Cross, after the opening of the Channel Tunnel terminal, has yielded immense benefits. The extension of HS2 from Old Oak Common to Euston should surely be treated in the same way so said Alessandra Cosa, a principal consultant with Metro Dynamics.
Euston needs vision and drive for it to go forward. The finance required is £4.2 billion, but the benefits for jobs, homes, and land values would more than repay this. One can only hope that the new government will steer this towards a solution, not just to ensure HS2 has a proper London presence but for the good of the city in so many other ways. It is not just finding the money: revised planning processes will be all important. A portfolio approach is needed so that all interested parties can see what is on offer.
Outside of London, it becomes more challenging as there is no metropolitan regional authority to bring the necessary focus. It is also an area of the country where vocal opposition can be quite vociferous and, if not handled sensitively, large numbers of people get upset very quickly. Funding is however the crux of the dilemma and despite perceptions to the contrary, the South is not well placed compared to other parts of the country.
In summary
This session was quite different to the London RIA event in June, which Rail Engineer reported on. There, it was all about firms of many sizes having the opportunity to showcase their ideas and products. Many of the same companies were present at this more recent event but exposing the weak areas and challenges of the South were all designed to invite innovative ideas that might help solve some of the inherent problems. We shall have to wait and see what transpires.
Image credit: RIA
