When the Elizabeth line is completed in 2019 it will not just represent a great feat of 21st century engineering.
The route’s core has required the construction of a brand new underground railway and the above-ground sections out to Shenfield in the east and Reading in the west have needed careful modification. In both cases, expert contractors and resources have needed to work in collaboration to be effective.
Total Rail Solutions (TRS) was one of those contractors, providing the plant services supporting the electrification works being delivered by Network Rail.
ISO9001, ISO14001 and OHSAS18001 certified, Total Rail Solutions is one of the UK’s leading providers of fully managed safety critical rail plant services and its logo is a common sight on possession sites. The company is also the sponsor of the Rail Team of the Year category at this year’s RailStaff Awards.
Working in tandem
Projects recently undertaken by TRS demonstrate how a variety of stakeholders are often required to work in tandem to deliver critical infrastructure works.
TRS was contracted by Balfour Beatty and AMCO to help deliver two extremely high-profile enhancement projects on the Western route. TRS supported AMCO on the electrification of the Severn Tunnel last year and has been working with Balfour Beatty on the Crossrail works around Maidenhead. For both projects, experts from TRS were embedded in the project teams to ensure the right plant was deployed in the right places.
Says Paul Bateman, chief operating officer, TRS, ‘We are pleased to be involved again with the RailStaff Awards. We sponsored Rail Manager of the Year several years ago and this time we are pleased to be back sponsoring Rail Team of the Year.
‘Total Rail Solutions is all about teamwork, working hard with our partner companies to deliver high quality engineering using our extensive range of plant and equipment. RailStaff Awards gives us the chance to nominate some of the teams we work with and also to pay tribute to those staff who put in that little bit extra on the job.’
Teams in all areas
Tom O’Connor, from event organiser Rail Media, said the award is there to highlight the hard work of teams in all areas of rail businesses.
Says Tom, ‘The railway relies on teams of engineers to build it, teams of technicians to repair it as well as onboard and station teams to run it. That’s not forgetting those in administrative, health and safety and recruitment departments. Good team work shouldn’t be taken for granted. Very little would get done without it.
‘Most of those who are nominated for these awards don’t put in all the extra effort to receive recognition, but that doesn’t mean we, as an industry, shouldn’t make an extra effort to celebrate them for it.’
All the information about this year’s event can be found at www.railstaffawards.com
