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Issue 103 – May 2013

More from the top

Last month, Network Rail chief executive Sir David Higgins described how he approached his first few weeks in the rail industry. In this second part he looks at the longer term issues facing the industry but, first of all, he reflects on a topic that, regardless of organisational structure, nobody can ignore.

An area which I am really very unhappy with, in terms of our performance, is track-worker safety. It is just totally unsatisfactory that people should be put at risk. Our systems of getting track access, our systems at work need reforming. We need more training at frontline supervisor and track-worker level.

You’ve changed your safety philosophy recently from the Safety 365 system to this new Life Saving Rules system. Is that partly in reaction to that specific problem?

Well, I think the whole idea of league tables encourages a certain type of behaviour. I want to stamp that out and say this isn’t about league tables it’s about having a safer system of working. The classic safety pyramid says that to avoid one fatality we’ve got to have a thousand close calls reported, so we should be encouraging people to report. We should have a culture where there should be no blame if something happens, even though it doesn’t result in an accident. People should be encouraged to report because, only by reporting close calls, near misses, whatever you wish to call them, are we going to work out what’s unsafe on the railway that we need to correct.

Certainly, the standards, access to the track and the assessments we use need to be reformed because they’re not fit for purpose in terms of providing simple, clear instructions or direction. So, we’ve brought in the life saving rules, but we are in the process now of streamlining all of our other rules to come up with, ideally, a hundred rules maximum
– maybe a few more – that say very clearly what you can and can’t do. Then everything else – the how you do it – should be advisory or should be best practice or available as advice. But it shouldn’t be a rule.

You have landed up in a very fragmented business and perhaps past management have tried to centralise it, but you have deliberately split it into manageable chunks.

We had people in separate organisations for very good reasons – to get the supply chain sorted, to drive down costs and build up performance.

But although this was very successful, it’s now more sensible for decisions to be made locally because that’s where our people and the train operating companies face the customers every single day. I am a huge believer in empowering organisations to make decisions rather than having all the experts sitting at head office. So you need the best, most experienced people right at the customer interface.

It has to be the right thing to combine maintenance and operations but organisations don’t change over night. So much is down to people’s behaviour, gradually building trust within an industry and within an organisation. It’s going to take a long, long time to filter through for us to reap all the benefits. It’s not as if you turn a light on and suddenly everything changes!

Was that process actually under way before you got here?

Yes, of course it was. Nothing I have done is new. I am not the genius that works these things out from scratch. I remember the very first meeting I had with what became the Rail Delivery Group. I asked what could we do to make life easier for customers, and straight back came the request to stop this silly divide between ops and maintenance. Devolution was already spoken of. Alliances were already under way. Even ‘Project Dime’ in the work of the projects business was making much earlier engagement with suppliers, with stricter discipline on client definition. All that stuff was under way.

My reaction? “Great, let’s do it. Let’s launch devolution straight away. Today! It’s a great idea.” So, all I did was to push forward existing ideas within the organisation.

You then split the business again because you created this infrastructure projects organisation. So, what was the logic behind that?

Well, the logic was that infrastructure projects is, as I see it, a service-based business which should be competitive and bought and used on its expertise, not because it is a monopolistic supplier. Despite the complexity and scale of the work that’s being done it’s necessary to prove that it is the calibre of the organisation that could win work here and ultimately overseas, not because it has a monopoly.

So that caused them to look at themselves and say: “Well, if we were a separate, independent, private company how would we look?” And the first thing they discovered was that their margins, overheads and operating costs were high compared with international benchmarks.

As I remind everyone, we didn’t build High Speed 1. A French company designed it and an American company delivered it. We weren’t called in to deliver Crossrail, that was designed by a French company with an American company delivering it.

And we haven’t been called in to deliver High Speed 2 today. Interesting isn’t it? So my message to our organisation is that we need to be in a position where we are the natural party that the government or investors choose to bring in to deliver major projects.

Are there other areas where you have people making demands on you, or setting targets for you, or stopping you doing things, that are really frustrating for you?

Most of our issues are self imposed. I’ll start by saying that we’ve got an unbelievably fragmented railway system which is very, very complex and complicated to work with but, hell, that’s an excuse, we should get over that.

One of the big features of the railway is also it’s a mixed railway. It sounds an obvious statement. We have a very dense, congested, mixed network which is a fact of life and therefore there are a huge number of interdependencies.

I would like more flexibility to be able to align ourselves with our customers. But why should a customer really co-operate with us on our cost of renewals, because there is no benefit to them in the short term? In fact, all there is, is disruption! So I would like more flexibility on that area. Hopefully we’ll have some progress with the next round of consultation with the ORR.

You’re using public money. Do you find that it’s all a bit onerous and it’s a bit long winded and you can’t get ideas through as quickly as you’d like?

Regulations are a necessary part of any monopoly for starters, and certainly any monopoly that benefits from the billions of pounds that we get. You can’t fight it and the public expects it. It’s their right. It would be different if we didn’t take any public subsidies. That’s the price we pay of being a monopolistic, publicly funded infrastructure company.

c04 [online]

Whatever comes out of the next control period negotiations will be incredibly difficult to achieve, no matter what. Therefore we’ll have to change, again, to get more and more efficient, otherwise we’re never going to hit the targets. You just can’t take more track- workers off maintaining the track and think things will go well. It just doesn’t work. You have to look at the underlying procedures and processes we have. You have to get real productivity improvements rather than just cutting workforce.

If you miss your targets, you get fined. But it looks like fining Network Rail, which is publicly funded, is a self defeating principle. Where does fine money come from?

Well, the money comes from the money we’re given. I mean, there has to be some sanction if we miss targets, I can understand that. But ultimately we’re a not for-dividend company. We’re a full profit company, but we’re not for dividend, and anything we make is invested back in the railways.

But, you know, in the end we agreed back in 2008 a certain settlement, and in return for that we agreed to deliver a certain set of outputs. So, if you don’t want to live by that process, then don’t expect to be treated as
an independent company, just become a government department, become a cost centre and apply every year for budget controls. That’s the alternative, so if you want to bid for a control period then you have to expect to deliver outputs. If you don’t there is a financial penalty.

And you feel that the not for dividend status that you have, and the stand alone company that you have, is the right way to run the railways rather than being a government department?

Of course, absolutely right. There is no doubt.

OK, you have compiled your business plan, presumably the next thing is to get it through the ORR?

We have spent a year putting a massive amount of work into our plan along with the ORR.

There’s ninety pages on the website but 22,000 pages is what they will get. I believe it was something like 6 foot 6 inches tall if you stand it up.

So somebody has had to write 22,000 pages and somebody else has got to read 22,000 pages?

Correct, yes. And it has taken us a year, basically, because what we did this time was to compile our initial industry plan, which is basically top down head office driven, with what we think the railways should cost. Then we went out to our routes and we said that now you are devolved, now that you have customers out there, you prepare your route plans bottom up and tell us what you think is the right plan to run the railways. Then we’ll merge it with our version.

So, it’s a much more rigorous process now. I would always like to have a greater supplier involvement and greater customer involvement, but we are a long way ahead of where we were in the last control period. It’s a much more thoughtful, resilient document.

I don’t expect an easy settlement, but what I do want is a settlement we know how we can deliver, because in the last control period we got 3 billion less than we thought and then we spent the best part of two years trying to work out how the hell we were going to make it work. As a result the industry suffered because a lot of the work slowed down dramatically.

We are trying to forecast forward what will happen in the next 5 years – what improvements, productivity, technology, external events will occur. And it’s understandable that the Regulator expects results based on things which haven’t been thought of which will improve productivity and of course that’s reasonable. I am sure we will come up with ideas. But trying to estimate what those are and how they will work and then enter a binding settlement that doesn’t constipate the industry is a challenge!

But then, also in the next 5 years, you’ll have work come up or be thrown at you that you weren’t budgeting for now.

That’s what happened this time, the growth we’ve had within the industry is substantially higher than anything anyone ever expected. We’ve had substantially higher growth than was ever predicted at the start of CP4 on our rail network.

We are coping with a 50% increase in 10 years, 25% in 5 years, 8% last year. It’s a huge struggle, particularly when you are set a budget. You have to say, as things change, that you need to be able to change the settlement. That’s not something anyone as a Regulator would like but that’s how you have to operate.

So the first challenge is that we need to convince the ORR to give us the money we’ve asked for. But then we still need to be flexible because we know a year, two years down the line, we’ll be back to try and change the settlement – but for specific reasons.

What to see at Railtex 2013 #7

In the run up to Railtex, Rail.co and the rail engineer will be looking at the must-see innovations on display at this year’s event.

Hurst Green Plastics

Stand H13

Hurst Green Plastics has worked with many of the World’s largest aerospace companies such as Airbus, BAE Systems and Lufthansa and has supplied them with their unique TwinBin kanban storage system. It has now developed a heavy duty system, specifically designed to work in the rail environment.

The TripFlag system allows companies to store and dispense any type of part, consumable, fastener or fixing required by engineers to build or maintain rolling stock. Being highly visual, the TripFlag and TwinBin systems enable users to manage their stock levels very efficiently, and by incorporating RFID technology, stock management can be done remotely and in real-time._DSC0679R [online]

The TripFlag dispensers have two compartments; an in-use stock compartment and a back-up safety-stock compartment, and have a visual “trigger” when re-order is necessary.

Other benefits include reducing inventory levels, reducing man hours, reducing administrative costs, environmental contamination and reducing stock-outs.

Ixthus Instrumentation

Stand J56

Ixthus Instrumentation can now achieve accurate wheel diameter measurement in under 30 seconds! The simple to use Riftek IDK is a robust tool for maintenance engineers. Its three point measurement principle offers averaging of multiple readings to give one clear number.

The design is easy to use, either trackside or from a pit below. It offers excellent resolution to 0.01mm from an LED display, is powered from integral rechargeable batteries and weighs only 0.5 kg.

The optional bluetooth output for connection to PDA and PC based software provides for data storage and wear tracking.

Ixthus Instrumentation provides full technical support and calibration services for this and the other Riftek railway gauges – IKP wheel profiler and IMR back to back gauge.

Jewers Doors

Stand B97

Jewers Doors will be displaying its Swift sliding and folding doors, which are increasingly being specified for train and tram entrances to maintenance depots, and other vehicular openings to depots, wheel lathes, train washes, train assembly workshops and a variety of industrial buildings.

Designed, manufactured and installed by UK-based Jewers Doors, Swift doors are designed to open and close safely around live overhead-line equipment. Rail tracks are not affected by the operation of the doors, as the leaves sweep across the tracks without the need for a bottom guide channel in the threshold.

Opening horizontally, Swift doors provide full-height visibility to the train driver at all times, and can easily be interlinked with the depot protection system to prevent accidents.

Swift doors are simple to design into new-build projects or can be retro-fitted into existing buildings to replace tired roller shutters or overhead doors.

KOREC Group

Stand F34

KOREC specialises in the provision of construction, machine control and rail survey solutions for the Rail Industry. The KOREC team will be on hand to chat about the full range of equipment on display. Centre stage will be the GEDO rail trolley equipped with laser scanning capabilities. This provides accurate as-built survey documentation and clearance information for railway track maintenance and modernisation.

The Aibotix Aibot X6 hexacopter will also be on the stand, allowing delegates a first hand view of the product which featured on Channel 5’s The Gadget Show last year.

Representatives from Trimble – Ron Bisio, the General Manager for the Railway industry, and Matthew Moss, Railway Applications Engineer – will also be presenting during the Railtex show. Their seminar will be on Applications of Positioning & Scanning Technologies in Railway Construction & Operations.

Kwik-Step

Stand F71

The Kwik-Step Modular Refuge will be showcased at Railtex 2013.

Made with lightweight GRP composites the Kwik-Step Modular Refuge is designed to be installed quickly and safely by your own teams at the trackside.

With pre-assembled base frames the installation is very quick and simple, requiring only basic hand tools and minimal site preparation to assemble. Once installed the Kwik-Step Modular Refuge is ready for immediate use.

Kwik-Step Modular Stairways continue to provide the safe and simple access solution to the railway infrastructure.

Reading Station transformed

Before Easter, Reading Station was a major building site. The travelling public could see what Network Rail was trying to do but it took a degree of imagination to appreciate what it would look like. Then came the Easter break, and the station area was totally transformed and it looks incredibly impressive. Without doubt, passengers can now enjoy a bigger, brighter, better equipped station after Network Rail successfully completed an 11-day programme of upgrades over the Easter weekend.

Following this intense period of work, Graham Denny, Network Rail’s senior programme manager of station works, reflected on what had been achieved: “It’s gone absolutely brilliantly. We opened some of the improvements over the Easter weekend and then we opened the new platforms at the end of the blockade ready to receive the first train when it came in at 04:40”.

Passenger information

One can imagine the relief that the team must have felt since Reading station is used by 14 million passengers annually and any delays could have caused major problems. Station users will now have more space, easier access to platforms, and new passenger information screens. With passenger numbers predicted to more than double to 30 million by 2030, these new improvements are essential.

The new platforms have two sections, A and B, to enable trains of varying lengths to occupy different ends of each platform at the same time, thereby improving efficiency and timings for customers. Each platform now has escalator and step-free access to the new passenger footbridge. Some existing platforms have also been upgraded to the same specification.

More than 2,000 engineers from Network Rail and its team of contractors including Costain, the principal contractor for the station reconstruction, worked round the clock through Easter from late Thursday evening through to the early hours of Tuesday morning to carry out the carefully planned work. This intense period of work enabled Network Rail to complete the work over the Easter period which would ordinarily have taken around 20 full weekends.

Footbridge demolished

The existing footbridge, that spanned the station from the multi storey car park in the north to the booking office on the south side, was successfully removed. This was necessary so that the new platforms could be extended.

It also ensured that signal sighting for the new signal and track layout would be acceptable and that there would be sufficient clearance for the overhead wires for the recently sanctioned Great Western main line (GWML) electrification project.

A 500 tonne mobile road crane, supplied by Ainscough, was used to do this. The bridge was removed in three stages by Costain’s subcontractors, Gilpin Demolition. The first stage took place before Easter, when the north end of the bridge leading to the car park was removed.

During the blockade, the track had to be adequately protected and the remainder of the bridge was broken up in two stages, lifted out and then cut up and taken away from site in skips. This sounds quite straightforward, but care was needed firstly to protect the track and secondly to ensure that the work did not interfere with essential engineering train movements. As Graham explained: “It was a significant logistical challenge, and also it turned out to be quite a public spectacle with crowds watching throughout the night.”

Now that the old footbridge has been removed, an existing subway will provide the sole means for pedestrians to get from one side of the station to the other. The intention is for the subway to become a separate responsibility from the station infrastructure and to be maintained by Reading Borough Council. New lighting and a digital CCTV system has been installed in the subway to provide an important route into the city centre for those who live on the north side of the Thames.

New passenger transfer deck

Even before the Easter period, contractors had been working flat out for about six weeks to ensure that the new passenger bridge would be ready in time. The flooring was a big task and the freezing weather did not help. There were over one hundred sub contractors working to ensure deadlines would be met.

New escalators were installed, new lifts and then electricians were employed to carry out testing to ensure that everything worked correctly. Graham described them as ‘the last men standing’ and that they did an excellent job.

Whilst all this was progressing, sub- contractors were fixing the impressive blue and grey cladding, ensuring that everything fitted correctly. Inevitably, reality on site was slightly different to the drawing office design and minor modifications were successfully introduced.

Kirow crane east of station [online]

As a result, the station now has two new entrances, four new platforms and a new 110-metre long, 30-metre-wide passenger footbridge, with escalators and lifts providing step-free access to the new platforms.

Track and signalling modifications

Fifty one new turnouts have been installed by Carillion throughout the station area during this period of intense working. The contractors have been under enormous intense pressure to ensure that their plant and machinery was always in the right place at the right time. To ensure that happens requires a huge amount of thought, planning and preparation from engineers who know what they are doing and understand what is happening around them. All this work was carried out without incident, ready for signalling testing.

With all the changes being made to the track rail layout, hand in hand with this has been the introduction of revised signalling. The local element to this in the Reading area was carried out by Invensys and included all the new point machines and signals to operate the revised layout. The work required had previously been described in issue 99 of The Rail Engineer (January 2013) when an invitation in late 2012 to see the ’state of play’ was taken up.

Signalling modifications

The Reading area is controlled from the Thames Valley Signalling Centre at Didcot which replaced the old Reading Powerbox in 2011. The heart of the signalling system is the Invensys WESTLOCK computerised interlockings and the DeltaRail Integrated Electronic Control Centre (IECC) that provides the operating ‘front end’ to the signallers as well as providing intelligence for train routing and information systems.

DeltaRail’s contribution to the improvements during Easter 2013 involved making modifications to the existing IECC ‘Classic’ equipment relating to Reading IECC A and IECC B along with minor updates to the adjacent

Didcot IECC ‘Scalable’ – the company’s new flagship Signalling Control System. The ‘Classic’ data changes were successfully installed / commissioned on time overnight on the 28/29 March 2013.

The existing Sonning relay interlocking was de-commissioned with associated changes being implemented to the IECC RII (Relay Interlocking Interface) sub-system to support this recovery. This Reading Stage F project work undertaken for the commissioning also included all IECC data works to support the next stageof the programme, known as Reading Stage H, providing Network Rail with a significant time and funding efficiency.

ARS (Automatic Route Setting) sub-system modifications were made in order to support the new signalling layout, ensuring optimal ARS operation and regulation in and around the Reading Station area.

State of the art solution

DeltaRail, in conjunction with Network Rail, implemented the core requirements of module E420 of the Signalling Principles Handbook, concerned with Overrun Detection and Management – a solution deemed to be ‘state- of-the-art’.

Whilst Network Rail has temporarily postponed the commissioning of the Reading Train Care Depot (RTCD) until May 2013, all IECC data including associated Train Describer modifications have already been incorporated providing Network Rail with a ‘flick the switch’ solution.

New viaduct work underway

There is still much to do. Graham remarked that “this project is probably the biggest engineering project on the GWML railway since it was built by Brunel”. As regular readers will be aware, Balfour Beatty has been appointed as principal contractor to build a new two kilometre railway viaduct, valued at £70 million, to the west of the station alongside the old depot. This will separate the heavy freight trains heading north from Southampton docks from the GWML.

The good relationship between contractors also includes train operator First Great Western, which is fully integrated into the process. Over the coming months, more platforms will be upgraded with the station elements of the project due for final completion by February 2014. The programme as a whole will upgrade the station and unblock the bottleneck on the railway serving it – so trains won’t need to queue while approaching the station. All work is scheduled to be completed by 2015, a year ahead of schedule and, hopefully, there will be many more articles for The Rail Engineer to write, reiterating the success that has been achieved to date.

Railtex: Westermo preview

At Railtex this year, Westermo will be exhibiting a range of rail approved, Network Rail Certified, industrial data communications products such as the Ethernet Extenders, a great problem solver enabling businesses with legacy copper infrastructure to carry large amounts of Ethernet traffic.

For newer infrastructure, where fibre networks are available, the Lynx Industrial Ethernet Switch has one the lowest power consumption and some of the highest MTBF figures in its class and so help to play a small part in the rail industry’s target of reducing its carbon footprint and building a sustainable, easily maintainable railway for the future.

Following Railtex, on Wednesday 12 June, Westermo will once again be holding a Rail Seminar for those interested in the topic of Signalling and Data Communications.

For the third year running, Westermo will be supported by industry leaders as the event moves to the Science Museum and the topic will be The Three Ss – Sustainability, Security and Safety.

Network Rail’s Strategic Business Plan, published in January, identified sustainability as essential in making the business more efficient, protecting the value of its assets and delivering a railway that is fit for future generations.

The aim of Westermo’s Seminar is to provide an understanding and insight into how industry expects achieve these goals whilst maintaining safety standards and ensuring the security of the rail network’s critical data communications infrastructure.

Come see us on stand B81

What to see at Railtex 2013 #6

In the run up to Railtex, Rail.co and the rail engineer will be looking at the must-see innovations on display at this year’s event.

Harmill Systems

Stand C111   

Harmill Systems, the specialist depot plant and equipment engineers, will be exhibiting its new innovative road rail Train and Bogie Mover (TM300). A 4-wheel-drive vehicle with 4-wheel-steering able to run on road and rail, the vehicle is remote controlled and is able to pull a 300 tonne train with ease.

9037_Train_mover_1 LARGE [online]Highly manoeuvrable, the vehicle weighs 6 tonnes and each of the four wheels is driven by a 6 kW motor. For maximum manoeuvrability, there are three steering modes: rail, crab and four wheel steering.

Other equipment manufactured by Harmill includes rail mounted inspection vehicles both powered and self propelled together with pit manipulators, side pit manipulators, autocoupler removal tools and a vast range of depot plant solutions Harmill Systems also carries out specialist design and build contracts in the railway environment such as centralised vacuum cleaning systems, dust removal systems and de-icing systems.

Healthcare Connections

Stand F61 

Healthcare Connections, established in 1998, is a highly experienced and trusted provider to the railway industry and beyond. The company operates a nationwide service specialising in drug & alcohol screening, industry-related medicals, preventative health schemes, health surveillance programmes, medical consultancy, absence management & medication checking.

Details of their new, innovative web-based bookings and administration system will be highlighted at Railtex. The secure interface provides clients with their own portal in which to make/manage bookings and receive results. Benefits to the client are numerous:

•    Clients will be able to login securely to perform a range of operations – make online bookings and appointments, complete online medical questionnaires, view/amend existing bookings, manage referrals and deliverables such as laboratory results and certification,

•    Instant client access to real-time and historical reporting and printing of certification copies,

•    Employers can view the live status of a job or referral,

•    Reminders of appointments via email or SMS messaging, reducing costs and avoidance of ‘did not attends’

The system is intuitive and simple to use – the map search facility makes finding a medical centre easy.

Henkel

Stand G94   

Henkel, the world leader in engineering adhesives, sealants and surface treatment products, is introducing two brand new systems at this exhibition.

The first is the new Loctite® Axle Corrosion Protection System that has been developed to extend the life of axles and reduce the high cost of premature replacement. This new introduction comprises a suite of proven Loctite® products that pre-treat the substrate to inhibit corrosion and promote adhesion and a flexible sealant to prevent corrosion at the axle transition and wheel overhang. This is topped by a fast-curing 2-part paint system that provides impact resistance and a very smooth surface finish. All products have been tested in accordance with CR/PE 0102.

The second highlight at Railtex is a new system for lubricating slide chairs. Originally developed for SNCF, the Loctite® LM416 is central to this new method. Following track trials at Norwich, Banbury and Penzance, this highly effective and cost saving product gained its HK072 Railtex 2013 image [online]Network Rail Certificate of Acceptance in September last year.

Henry Williams

Stand J60

Henry Williams continue to lead the way with their Class II products. They were the first to not only comply with but exceed the requirements of the Class II specifications written by Tahir Ayub and his team for “non-earthed” Signalling power distribution. They received Product Approval months ahead of any other suppliers in this field.

“Our products are blue sky thinking solutions, starting with a clean sheet and a wish list and engineering a bespoke product that fulfils all of the requirements, not just of the specification, but also of installers and maintainers whilst being mindful of the harsh environment that the equipment is being used in.” Says, Sales and Marketing Director, Steve Cotton.

The company has of course got the benefit of over 130 years knowledge of manufacturing products for the railway from permanent way products such as fishplates and G-clamps. Through wiring of signalling Location cases and REB’s to train detection and signalman’s panels.” This knowledge of the network literally from the ground up, allows our engineers to design a Joined up solution, they know what the equipment is for and how it will interact with equipment both up and down stream of the piece they are working on, because we make that piece too.” Adds, Managing Director, Andrew Nelson.

Henry Williams manufactures all of its products in the UK from the same Darlington site they have operated from for over 100 years. The company is a multi-discipline engineering firm that embraces its past as well as having a firm idea of the future and it’s place in it. Henry Williams is one of those companies that make you proud to be British.

Hughton International

Stand G31 

Specialist traction motor and MA set repairer Houghton International will be highlighting HiTRAX™, its solution for life extending traction motors and MA sets, and HiTRANS™, its patent pending transient dynamic MA set test process.

HiTRAX™ is claimed to be the only life extension insulation system in the world developed and marketed specifically into the traction motor market by a traction motor repair company, while HiTRANS™ electrically simulates full load conditions on any type of MA set, replicating exactly what happens in service.

The company is currently undergoing a £1.5 million expansion plan which will double capacity and see the installation of new balancing and undercutting machines along with a new silicone VPI plant, providing multiple VPI and TIG welding technology to ensure the comprehensive range of operations required for high quality AC and DC traction motor rewinds.

Railtex 2013 preview: Bosch Rexroth

The railway market makes special demands on its suppliers. Standards that cover difficult environmental conditions or electromagnetic conformity need to be met. Products also have to last the lifetime of the train, with ongoing engineering support.

For years, Bosch Rexroth has been supplying a multitude of components and subsystems for use in rail technology. Branded ‘the drive and control company’, Bosch manufactures across a range of technologies, including electric, hydraulic and pneumatic, and therefore can put forward the best solution irrespective of the base technology.

This provides clients with a truly objective perspective to enable them to consider and select the best solution for their needs. Bosch Rexroth has a huge product programme across a wide application field including hydrostatic auxiliary drives, electric or hydraulic driven cooling systems for trains and locomotives, hydrostatic traction drives for special vehicles and ball screw drives for rail switches, to mention only a few.

Cross-industry solution

Bosch Rexroth also offers factory automation products to provide a versatile and very effective base to manufacture from small to very large products. For example, the Airbus A350 XWB wings, 33 metres in length, are manufactured using Bosch Rexroth platforms that provide variable height, ergonomical design for access points and integrated point of use for electrics, air and pneumatics close to the operation. These factory automation products could be used to improve the manufacturing process of locomotive and rolling stock.

There are many functions that can improve the performance of the locomotive and train, and Bosch Rexroth has long experience
and the product range, including the newly- introduced filtration product line, to provide expert advice and assistance in developing new ideas to improve design and overall performance.

For example, fan drives can include controls to improve efficiency by controlling fan speed in relation to the actual need of engines and exhaust systems. These fans can either be electrically or hydrostatically driven using roof modules, or even custom made. Once the technology is chosen, a cooling study can be systematically validated using an internally developed model combined with wind tunnel testing and structureHydrostaticTransmission (2) [online] simulations.

Keeping it compact

A regular challenge is to produce a design which uses the minimum amount of space, either on, in or under the vehicle, weighs as little as possible, is as quiet as legislation stipulates and, of course, is reasonably priced.

In this connection, and with the aid of simulation of heat transmission and flow, the ‘Fluid Mechanics’ Centre of Competence is in a position to examine and optimise in advance the various designs ‘virtually’, taking into consideration the cost-benefit aspects. It is precisely this introduction of high performance computing technology and the enormous calculation resources available with Bosch Rexroth that forms the basis and advantages for evaluating the design at the earliest possible stage.

Linear actuation for wipers, door couplings, ventilation ducts and doors can be supplied in all technologies including hydraulic, pneumatic and electric to suit the best design requirement and efficient operation considerations.

Group benefits

Bosch Rexroth develops, produces and sells components and systems in more than 80 countries. As part of the Bosch Group, it has access to the vast range of tried and tested components, sensors, security equipment and instruments. For example, driving aids such as systems to improve night vision provide a broad field of view using infrared lighting, giving an extremely clear image irrespective of light conditions. This improves safety by giving excellent visibility of objects and persons in the dark or in shadows.

Bosch is also involved in braking systems and controls. Its brake slipper discs have low cost and good thermal properties thanks
to the lamellar phosphorus cast that is self lubricating, providing consistency of braking performance. Indeed, brakes were one of the first products Bosch Rexroth supplied into the rail market as early as 1853.

All of these ways to select the best products and systems, whether to improve safety, efficiency or performance, will be on the Bosch Rexroth stand at Railtex.

The future of GSM-R and its possible replacement

GSM-R (Global System for Mobile – Railways) is now well established as the radio system of choice for track- to-train voice communication in Europe and many countries beyond. A comprehensive description of the system was given in issue 48 of The Rail Engineer (October 2008). It is also a constituent part of ERTMS (European Rail Traffic Management System), being the transmission link between the control centre and the ETCS (European Train Control System) equipment on the train. Its use in that role is much less understood, mainly because ERTMS deployment is still somewhat limited.

GSM-R is, however, an old technology by current standards and, unlike its public network equivalent (GSM-P or 2G), the railway radio system has not been developed into 3G or 4G offerings. So how long can GSM-R exist and what are the implications for the longer term? This subject was extensively discussed at the recent RailTel conference in Vienna with some illuminating facts emerging.

GSM as a standard

Whilst newer technologies have emerged, GSM-P or 2G systems continue to be used by a significant proportion of the population worldwide. There can be no escape from this and the European Radio Licensing authorities, under instruction from the EU, have to keep the technology supported until 2025. The mobile radio supply industry must equally continue to supply products for this period, meaning that these radio sets M3391M-1012will continue to be made and sold. The same situation should exist for GSM-R where there remain two suppliers of infrastructure (Siemens and Kapsch, the latter acquiring the erstwhile Nortel business) plus sufficient makers of train radio equipment.

The UK GSM-R network is now fully operational in the south of the country and has replaced the National Radio Network (NRN) between the Wash and the Severn. It will be extended to the whole country shortly and, whilst the Cab Secure Radio systems operating in the South East will remain for the time being, eventually these too will transfer to GSM-R. Other countries are also moving to nationwide networks so a lot of capital has been invested. Railway management would not be impressed if it were to be announced that GSM had to be switched off within, say, five years!

GPRS and ERTMS

GSM was designed primarily for voice communication, this being foreseen as the prime need at the time – early 1990s. Its capacity for sending data has always been somewhat limited and the growth of texting and internet connections meant that some improved data capacity would be needed. Within the GSM standard has thus been developed the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) which, instead of establishing a connection to a mobile and holding it, sends data in small packets to different mobiles near-simultaneously. The GPRS service has been available on the public networks for some time, much use of it being made by people needing internet connectivity.

The ERTMS programme has similarly encountered data capacity problems with its GSM-R bearer and only a circuit switched connection (i.e. the connection to a train is held continuously) is currently approved for ETCS operation. This has meant that, in busy traffic areas such as terminal stations and complex junctions, there is insufficient capacity to have all the trains connected to the system. As such, railways have resorted to conventional lineside signalling in these localities. So why not use GPRS? Tests done so far might have indicated some evidence of packet loss but this is being disputed. Signal engineers, being a conservative breed, thereby declared GPRS as ‘not proven’ and have insisted on keeping circuit switching, a decision that is unsustainable.

Mindful of the problem, the ERTMS Users Group based in Brussels has commissioned a new set of trials that have progressed beyond the laboratory testing stage and are now progressing to field tests. These will be conducted firstly on a typical suburban line, secondly on a high speed line and finally on a line that crosses a country border. The trial will include the Hertford Loop section in the UK, where a Class 313 EMU is being equipped for extensive ERTMS proving trials before a final commitment to rolling out the technology on the Great Western main line. Tests will also be done on a TGV Unit in France to prove the high speed element.

In parallel, the ETCS specifications are being modified in anticipation of GPRS operation which will impact on the delay performance for timely Tunnel Repeater [online]packet delivery, modifications to the coding criteria and a network assisted cell change.

Every indication is that GPRS will be successful. No evidence of packet loss has so far occurred. The final outcome is crucial as, without GPRS, the whole ERTMS program is at risk since circuit switching will not enable any national roll out right to the ‘buffer stops’ and a mixture of signalling technology will continue to be necessary. The data demands of ETCS are not great but they need to be continually available otherwise movement authority data will be lost. Calculations indicate that a GPRS based service will be adequate for the task within the present dedicated frequency allocation of 4MHz uplink and downlink of the GSM-R band.

Another twist in the situation is whether GSM-R networks should be migrated to IP (Internet Protocol). Existing GSM-R networks rely on TDM (Time-Division Multiplexing) infrastructure that is not IP compatible. Jochen Nowotny from Kapsch suggested that preparation for a transition to IP needs to happen since the telecom industry will progressively standardise around secured mobile IP access, a process that was conceived more than ten years ago. Above all, safety of connection must be maintained since both voice calls and the ETCS bearer have safety implications.

IP interfaces should follow the adoption of GPRS. A sensible plan will be to prepare the infrastructure first, leaving the mobile radios as the ‘last mile’ of the transition. If achieved, this will converge with the evolution of other standards used for secure communication that potentially could make GSM-R a workable system for long after the 2025 date proposed.

Beyond GSM-R

There has been considerable speculation as to what will eventually replace GSM-R with much talk, principally by some radio equipment suppliers, that LTE (Long Term Evolution) within a 4G service is the answer. Detecon, a specialist consultative firm based in Germany which has studied and advised on railway radio technology for many years, has investigated the possibilities. Certainly, LTE has a much higher data handling capability than GSM. A high peak data rate, greater than 100Mbit/sec with 150Mbit/sec maximum, will be possible. Using an IP based flat architecture, flexible bandwidth allocations of 1.25MHz, 2.5MHz and up to 20MHz will be available. High spectrum efficiency for both uplink and downlink ‘round trip’ times will be much better than GSM – typically 10msec as against 150msec.

The word ‘evolution’ is important as LTE is a mixture of well proven techniques combined with other standards and technology. Duplex operation can be either in separate frequency bands or a single time-shared band. LTE spectrum in Europe will initially be in the 0.8GHz, 1.8GHz and 2.6 GHz bands. As other mobile services are closed, additional spectrum in the 0.85GHz, 0.9GHz and 1.9GHz bands is likely. Applications such as on-board CCTV surveillance, passenger entertainment and information, and maintenance diagnostics will all be possible. Products are not yet readily available but, as the service takes off, so the price will fall. Backward compatibility with existing networks and enhanced interoperability will be a requirement.

CoreNetworkDiagram [online]There is a downside: LTE has been conceived as a data highway and voice services may be difficult. Although voice over IP (VoIP) is reasonably well established, it is not readily useable on LTE at the present level of maturity. Voice calls remain currently on the 2G and 3G networks. Since GSM-R was conceived for track to train speech, this situation is a show stopper in the short term. Group call and call priority requirements, also back to back radio operation and local call routing, are all under consideration but it will be some time before they become available. The specifications for voice services in LTE, even in the public sector, are not due to be finalised until mid-2014 with roll out unlikely before 2016.

So, whilst LTE will offer many advantages over GSM-R, migration is probably not going to be a practical proposition until 2022. This will give some comfort to railway management in terms of getting a payback on the considerable investment already spent.

So where are we?

GSM-R has taken a long time to get established. With GPRS it can do the job it was designed for, including supporting ETCS operation, and should remain in service until at least 2025. By sensitive negotiation with the licensing authorities, it may well be able to continue longer than that. As such, the lifecycle should be much more aligned to what railways expect for technology.

When change does come, there are a number of questions to answer:

» Will there need to be special features built into LTE
to satisfy railway requirements if that is the eventual chosen system, such as an LTE-R? The consensus seems to be ‘No’, since deviating from standard products means higher cost and long development times.

» Will there need to be a dedicated frequency allocation for railway use? Opinion is divided on this, although some moves are already being made to reserve spectrum for ‘public services’ operation including fire, police and ambulance. If this transpires, the railways could well be part of it.

» Will there need to be a dedicated railway radio infrastructure – masts, towers, base stations, etc? Again, opinion is divided with one vision being to build networks on a shared basis with other operators. Calculations indicate this would lead to a 30% cost reduction.

» How would a future LTE network operate for the railway? If a shared network proposition were to be established could this create an ‘IP cloud’ that would connect a network control centre to the relevant group of base stations.

» It is likely that Gateways will be designed to link LTE to earlier radio systems. How will this work with GSM-R and will this be the solution for a migratory path?

So, there is some comfort in the short term but time marches on. It only seems like yesterday that GSM-R was first thought about but it is in fact 20 years ago. In less time than that, it will be necessary to decide what will replace it, so resting on one’s laurels would be foolish. Railway telecom and radio engineers need to continue collaboration at a European (actually worldwide) level to keep abreast of what is happening and actively plan for the future.

What to see at Railtex 2013 #4

In the run up to Railtex, Rail.co and the rail engineer will be looking at the must-see innovations on display at this year’s event.

Ellis Patents

Stand D72

Ellis Patents, the world’s leading cable cleat manufacturer, will be launching a tamper proof cleat at Railtex 2013, which it says will go a long way to eradicating copper cable theft on Britain’s railway network.

This well documented problem is estimated to cost the UK economy £770 million pounds per annum, and according to Richard Shaw, managing director of Ellis: “Thieves are currently able to disconnect and remove long lengths of copper cable quickly and far too easily.”

“By installing our tamper proof cleats at regular intervals along the cable their task will be made significantly harder, meaning they will no longer have sufficient time to remove the cables before they are apprehended.”Tamper proof 1 [online]

Ellis will also introduce Pegasus, a range of lightweight composite cable hangers which have been designed specifically for use in rail tunnels at Railtex. The company will also showcase a wide selection of existing solutions, many of which are LUL approved.

Based in Yorkshire, all Ellis products are designed and manufactured in the UK.

Erlau

Stand B112

Erlau outdoor furniture offers customers a great degree of functionality and design combined with versatility and durability. Its furniture range consists of a variety of innovative benches, seating systems, litter bins, bicycle parking systems to planters and bollards to name a few.

All Erlau furniture is manufactured to IS0 9001 in Germany. It can be expanded, extended or completely refurbished even many years after being purchased and comes with a 10 year anti rust protection guarantee.

The user-friendly railway platform bench range was developed in accordance with the specifications of Deutsche Bahn and tailored to meet the requirements of railway stations. Resistance to vandalism and durability, paired with appealing design, were the key specifications that Erlau managed to fulfil, according to a statement from the product development department of DB AG.

Erlau’s long-term contract confirms its quality. A ten-year anti-rust guarantee, a brake dust-resistant and solvent-resistant surface with a 350µ Rilsan coating and concealed wire ends are just a few of Erlau’s quality criteria.

Federal-Mogul Friction Productsferodo brake pads [online]

Stand F41

Federal-Mogul Corporation will display its range of Ferodo® organic brake pads and blocks on stand F41. The friction materials have been designed for a comprehensive range of applications, including freight, high speed, locomotive, light rail and passenger coach.

The company will display its extremely high-grade organic LCC and high-temperature brake pads and blocks. The products provide good frictional stability and friction material flexibility, which reduces the formation of hotspots on the brake discs. These characteristics improve the durability of the brake pads and brake discs, ultimately saving the operator money in maintenance costs and downtime.

“Ferodo has been producing friction materials for more than 100 years. This experience enables us to produce the broad range of organic brake pads and blocks that our customers need,” said Dr. Tim Hodges, Federal-Mogul’s Chief Engineer (Railways).

Fiberweb Geosynthetics

Stand H62 

Fiberweb Geosynthetics Limited will be showcasing its TERRAM permanent way Geosynthetics at Railtex 2013. Alongside these it will also launch its new product HYDROTEX, a permanent way solution for trackbed stability that substantially reduces laying costs by eliminating the need for a sand layer and performing as an effective filter/separator for the prevention of clay pumping.

HYDROTEX is a strong blanket consisting of two opposing robust non-woven layers sandwiching a thermally bonded central filter layer. This effective three layer geocomposite allows upwards and downwards water transmission through the permeable layer, but prevents the upwards passage of particles even as fine as 0.002mm. The greatest advantage of TERRAM HYDROTEX is in obviating the need for a sand layer and the consequent saving in labour not only for pouring the sand but also for the prior excavation required.Geosand-Trace- PW1 #143546D [online]

Approved by Network Rail, HYDROTEX has already established a reputation in the industry for its winning combination of cost efficiency plus speed and simplicity of laying.

Flexicon

Stand D74   

Flexicon will be showing its latest LUL ‘approved for use’ liquid tight flexible conduit LTPLFH for the first time on its stand D74. As a low fire hazard product, LTPLFH is highly flame retardant, has low smoke emissions, low toxicity, is halogen, sulphur and phosphorous free and is self extinguishing.

It has a galvanized steel core, which provides a high mechanical strength and a low fire hazard (LFH) polyolefin outer sheath that is oil resistant.   The conduit has also been vibration and shock tested to EN61373 and can withstand temperatures from -25°C to 90°C.

Says Tim Creedon, sales and marketing director for Flexicon: “Flexicon has more LUL approved flexible conduit systems than any other manufacturer.  Also, because we manufacture in the UK, we can respond more quickly with product and technical help and can accommodate specials more quickly, whether this is to supply cut lengths or perhaps even ready made assemblies.”

Inspiring Innovation

The 177 delegates attending the fifth Railway Industry Association’s (RIA) Technology and Innovation Conference were treated, amongst other things, to a mix of success stories, blue sky thinking and guidance on the current maze of technology initiatives. With such wide ranging topics there was certainly a buzz about the conference. Rail innovation is certainly a hot topic but do the current range of initiatives offer real improvement or is it just so much hype? The Rail Engineer was glad to accept RIA’s invitation to this conference to find out more.

Francis How, RIA’s technical director recalled that whereas a few years ago innovation was barely mentioned, it is now raised at every opportunity. RIA is certainly doing its bit to keep innovation on the rail agenda. As well as this conference, which followed publication of the industry’s Rail Technical Strategy in December last year, RIA is managing an “unlocking innovation” scheme which runs workshops to promote a dialogue between suppliers and clients.

Flying in close formation

With rail innovation now so topical, there are many agencies promoting it which include EIT, London Underground, Network Rail, RSSB, RRUKA, SPARK, TSB, Transport Systems Catapult, TSLG and T-KTN.

The most recently established agency is the Enabling Innovation Team (EIT), set up last year by TSLG, funded initially by the Department for Transport (DfT) and hosted by RSSB. It is the only cross-industry team that matches longer term business challenges to innovative solutions and provide initial funding if necessary. Speaking at the conference its director, David Clark, acknowledged there is a bewildering array of initiatives but explained how they were “flying in close formation”.

The Technology Strategy Board (TSB) was set up in 2007 to promote UK business innovation. TSB fielded two speakers to the conference: Richard Kemp-Harper who explained Knowledge Transfer Partnerships and Daniel Ruiz described how and why the Transport Catapult was being established. He emphasised that one of TSB’s key aims was to develop UK expertise in global markets so the UK transport industry wasn’t its sole concern.

The work of TSB and its Catapults is explained in The Rail Engineer issue 95 (September 2012).

During the conference, the terms TRL (Technology Readiness Levels) and “Valley of Death” were often used. TRLs range from establishing basic principles (TRL1) to widespread proven application (TRL9). As technologies are developed the curve on a cash flow graph / TRL graph shows increasingly negative cash flow until the technology is well proven. This curve is the “valley of death” and the reason why potentially successful technologies fail. EIT’s David Clark puts it another way. He feels there is a “show me” culture that holds back innovation. Investment is needed to prove something works but there is a reluctance to invest until it has been shown to work.RIAs Francis How introducing the Conference [online]

Blueprint for the future

TSLG’s 2012 Rail Technical Strategy (RTS 2012) was published in December. It provides a long-term vision of the future railway’s technology and has six themes (Control, command and communications; Energy; Infrastructure; Rolling Stock; Information and Customer experience) for which objectives, strategy and enablers are described with a timeline for developments. RTS 2012 also explains the seven common design concepts applicable to each theme: Whole-system reliability, Resilience, Security and Risk Mitigation, Automation, Simplicity, Flexibility and Sustainability.

At the conference, Network Rail’s Steve Yianni advised how RTS 2012 was the result of a two year consultation. He also explained its three common foundations to support a cultural shift towards technical development: taking a whole-system approach, supporting innovation and ensuring the industry has sufficient skilled people. He advised how NSARE (the National Skills Academy for Railway Engineering) had identified that the industry required an additional 10,000 skilled people over the next 5 years with traction and rolling stock (T&RS) accounting for half this shortfall. As a result, in a collaboration between NSARE, Government and Siemens, a National Training Academy for T&RS is being set up which will open in 2014.

Andy Doherty of Network Rail believes that is a huge range of possibilities if one is prepared to think outside the box to embrace new ideas, materials and technologies. Explaining the implications of a whole system approach, he felt the big challenge is to achieve the RTS 2012 vision whilst running the railway, an example being conversion of the third rail network to 25kV OLE which could take around 20 years. His presentation included some radical ideas including novel ways of constructing slab track, predictive traffic management and convoying trains.

Assisted Innovation

Presentations on DMU flywheel storage and digital imaging for condition asset management (DIFCAM) showed how TSB’s stimulation of innovation works in practice. Both these projects were winners of the TSB / RSSB “Accelerating Innovation in Rail” competition. However, TSB’s support is more than just prize money as it helps form the consortia developing these projects. From discussion with the presenters, it was clear that their projects would not have happened without TSB support.

In a feasibility study, sensors attached to a class 158 DMU on Edinburgh suburban routes established that braking accounted for 52% of all energy losses. This established the case for the flywheel energy storage project now being developed by a consortium of Ricardo, Artemis Intelligent Power and Bombardier. Ricardo’s flywheel operates in a sealed vacuum chamber at 60,000 rev/min and transfers torque directly through the chamber wall by a magnetic gearing system. Artemis’s digital displacement hydraulic transmission has high efficiencies at low power. Bombardier’s contribution is system integration to fit this equipment to a DMU drive train. Initial work indicates a 3.5 year payback on stop-start routes and thereafter savings of £13,000 pa for each DMU fitted.

DIFCAM assesses asset condition by comparing digital images taken at different times to detect changes invisible to the eye. It does so by comparing pixel blocks at very high resolution and is being developed by a consortium of Ominicom, National Physical Laboratory (NPL) and Atkins. Initially this will be used to inspect rail tunnels, of which there are 20,000 km worldwide. However, it has possible applications for asset inspection in many hazardous and confined areas. In this consortium, Ominicom provide imaging and measurement platforms, NPL offer measurement science facilities and Atkins offer asset management expertise.

DIY innovation

Whilst it is good to see how TSB promote innovation, many companies develop innovations on their own. This point was made clear in presentations by FirstGroup’s Kenny Scott and Pandrol’s David Rhodes.

As far as Kenny Scott is concerned, the recipe for innovation is people, process and culture. Kenny explained FirstGroup’s suggestion scheme and advised that he never failed to be impressed by ideas from front line staff. He stressed the need for directors to support an innovation culture and ensure staff ideas are progressed. This includes the need to formalise schemes to ensure ideas are not lost. Another message was that innovation was not just about technology.

In FirstGroup, the Kaizen technique is used to continuously improve processes. Kenny described Kaizen as improvement through hundreds of small things. In his presentation he gave the HST re-engine, Class 380 reliability and ScotRail’s winterisation as examples of successful innovations.

For a different business, David Rhodes had another recipe. He advised that Pandrol’s success was due to main board commitment to product development, seeing background R&D development as an overhead and involving R&D engineers in market and product support. Suppliers have to identify a need before the customer. As an example, he mentioned the FastClip that Pandrol had developed for use with track laying trains. Development of this clip started in 1990 when there were no such trains in the UK. This was five years before Railtrack’s West Coast project recognised the need for this clip, large scale use of which started in 1996.

Ricardo Flywheel Cutaway [online]Exhibitors at the conference also had their innovation tales to tell. SRS International’s display featured the road-rail plant used for the Paisley Canal electrification. This included a cable drum carrier that simultaneously dispenses catenary and contact wires at 75% tension. However, SRS advised that this required 18 months development in Sweden before it could be used on Network Rail, perfectly illustrating a barrier identified at one of the group sessions – that project managers are understandably reluctant to use unproven products.

Park Signalling won last year’s conference competition for their virtual lineside signalling, something the company had developed in-house. Another DIY initiative was Hima-Sella’s radio frequency identification systems for use on London Underground and South West Trains. One exhibitor that had taken advantage of TSB’s Knowledge Transfer Partnerships was the LPA Group which produces rail vehicle connectors and is working with the University of Essex to develop Ethernet connectors.

Blue Sky Thinking

Conventional ideas were challenged by presentations of RRUKA case studies. Chris Ward described Loughborough and Salford Universities work on the Half Cost Trains project with its “Design for Control Concept”. He described how control engineering has transformed automotive and aerospace design and compared the stable Hawker Hunter with Eurofighter Typhoon, an inherently unstable aircraft requiring computerised control. In contrast, the 1951 Mark 1 coach and the 2004 Class 350 share the same two-stage passive suspension system. His project was considering how control engineering could transform rail vehicle design. Using the Typhoon analogy, he explained how active suspension and steering systems could result in rail vehicles with flangeless non coned wheels by 2063. A challenging concept indeed for those who will be around to see it!

Peter Muller of University College London described how his project was considering the application of autonomous command and control systems developed for navigation on Mars for use in possessions. Part of this work involved the development of a sensor suite to avoid low speed (under 40km/hr) collisions and a positioning system to give PICOPs the location of all vehicles in the possession.

Innovation Competitions

Henry Ford’s comment that “Competition is the keen cutting edge of business” also applies to innovation. In April last year TSB / RSSB announced the 19 winners of their “Accelerating Innovation in Rail” competition, two of which were present at the conference.

TSB / RSSB have announced that a further competition – “Enabling the digital railway” – would open on 25 March with a £5 million prize fund. EIT has two competitions on its website. The Radical Train competition (see page 26 in this issue) was launched in March and is being run by Frazer-Nash. A Customer Experience competition will open in April with a £1 million prize fund.

Not to be outdone, the RIA conference held its own competition sponsored by RSSB, with shortlisted finalists giving presentations to the conference. These were Interfleet (Driver’s Companion using tablet technology to further develop their Timetable Advisory system), Bombardier and Frazer-Nash (an “Iron Bird” test rig for integration of train systems in a collaborative working environment), URS (Rail Trackbed stiffness testing by Rail Falling Weight Deflectometer) and Atkins / Unipart (use of US Electrolog IXS Vital Logic Controller to eliminate level crossing REBs). The joint winners were Interfleet and URS which will receive funding to develop their innovations.

Plenty to think about

RIA’s conference was successful in promoting innovation and certainly gave everyone plenty to think about. Practical engineers might find some of the more radical concepts a little academic, but there’s nothing wrong with challenging the status quo. However, some might think that asking whether rail wheels need flanges is a question too far!

The conference showed that there are many ways to innovate. Many companies have the commitment and ability to drive their own innovations whilst, for some, external help to bridge the valley of death is essential. When such assistance is needed is not always clear. However, what is clear is that the rail industry must make full use of increased funding from Government for technical improvements.

Perhaps the most important point was emphasised by Kenny Scott and Steve Yianni. The railway needs to recruit, develop and listen to its people to make innovation happen.

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