If you’re a rail enthusiast looking for a new home we may have just found the dream location for you.
Clive Emson auctioneers has listed Torre Signal Box (pictured above) on its website for a guide price of £85,000 to £115,000.
The former box and three-storey property is situated on the platform of Torre railway station, Torquay, and even has planning permission to transform it into a holiday home.
The website listing describes it as a “truly spectacularly rare opportunity” and adds that it is “one of the most unique conversion/development opportunities for miles around”.
The ground floor is the living area, the first floor has a bedroom with en-suite facilities and a landing and the second floor has an open-plan kitchen, living and dining area.
According to Historic England, Torre Signal Box was built in 1921 and is a listed building.
One thing is for certain, there would be no excuse for missing your train in the morning.
Passengers will be unable to stop at Rotherham Central station this bank holiday weekend as Network Rail conduct work in preparation for the Tram Train pilot.
Essential engineering works will take place to demolish and replace College Road bridge this weekend, meaning the station will close following the last train on May 26 and re-open for the first train on May 29.
While the station is closed Network Rail will install a higher bridge at College Road to allow the overhead lines that will power Tram Trains to be safely fitted underneath.
Engineers will also bring the signalling system for the Tram Train into operation.
The Tram Train pilot is delivered by South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive, Network Rail, Northern, Stagecoach Supertram and the Department for Transport.
It will enable vehicles to run on both the Stagecoach Supertram system and the national rail network between Sheffield and Rotherham once it is complete.
Repair work is to be begin on the Cutty Sark railway bridge in the next few weeks.
Located outside of Glasgow, the bridge sits on the Argyle line between Bargeddie and Baillieston railway stations and passes over the A8.
Network Rail will strengthen the main girders and bridge deck, blast clean and repair the metalwork, apply corrosion protection to steelwork, paint the entire bridge, repair masonry and clear adjacent vegetation.
For safety reasons a contraflow will be in place on the A8 near to the Showcase Cinema for 20 weeks from June 5.
The project is part of a wider programme of maintenance on Network Rail’s structures which is designed to extend their lifespan and keep the network safe and reliable.
Network Rail programme manager Billy McKay said: ‘Delivering this work in 20 weeks is a logistical challenge but we have planned the job carefully with our contractors and will complete it with the minimum possible inconvenience.’
Transport for London has revealed that more passengers than ever are using mobile phones to pay for their fares.
The local government body – which is responsible for the capital’s Tube and tram network, as well as most of the internal National Rail services – recorded around 31 million ‘pay as you go’ journey’s from 2016 to 2017, the highest figure it has recorded yet.
This figure accounts for almost one in 10 contactless journeys in total across the network.
Android, Pay, Apple Pay and Samsung Pay can all be used to make pay as you go contactless smartphone payments by touching the device on a yellow card reader, much like a customer would use an Oyster card.
Transport for London has accepted contactless payments on the Tube and rail since September 2014.
Network Rail has begun piling on the 17 mile line between Preston and Blackpool North stations.
The upgrade work is part of the North West electrification, a £1 billion investment to deliver more reliable, cleaner and quieter train services by May, 2018.
The piling is expected to continue for several months and will for the most part will take place over night to minimise the disruption to services and the risk to workers.
Piling is a process which involves installing foundations every 50 to 60 metres  for the masts and gantries that will carry electrified wires along the railway.
It is a noisy activity because it involves driving steel piles deep into the ground to provide a secure base for the gantries, as well as the noise from vehicle movements.
A lance corporal, lance sergeant and warrant officer make up the first cohort in East Midlands Train’s ‘Train into Work’ programme.
The trio will work with the TOC’s customer service teams and be introduced to the rail sector in the hope of easing their transition into civilian life.
East Midlands Trains (EMT) has said the work placement – which is opened to members of the armed force who are in the final year of their contract – is the least it can do for the selfless military personnel.
Made up of Mark Bunning, of Derbyshire, Andrew Finlan, of Nottingham, and Mark Evans, of Lincolnshire, respectively, the group will shadow station managers and work on services across the East Midlands Trains network at Nottingham and Lincoln Central stations.
In addition, they will shadow train dispatchers, gate line staff and ticket office clerks.
Career guidance will also be provided to the candidates, regardless of whether they progress with EMT.
Mark Bunning, who will be based at Nottingham station, said, ‘Seeing how all the different jigsaw pieces fit together to make the picture whole has been a real eye-opener.
‘I can see all of the behind-the-scenes work that goes into ensuring services are running smoothly and how to communicate this to customers at stations and on board trains.
‘I’m looking forward to getting around and seeing how the business works from an operational perspective and then continuing to develop my customer-service skills.’
David Hornsey is the employer engagement manager for the Career Transition Partnership, who help members of the armed forces find work after leaving the service.
He said, ‘Work placements such as this provide a fantastic forum for those individuals in the process of leaving the armed forces to gain on-the-job experience in the civilian workplace and the feedback I’ve received from the team so far has been extremely positive.
‘We’re looking forward to continuing the Train into Work programme with East Midlands Trains and helping more service leavers pursue careers within the rail sector.’
Vivarail has announced that its first two D-Trains have come off the production line and are ready for sale.
The firm has scaled up its production capacity meaning the aluminium-bodied Class 230s can be delivered in early 2018, ahead of schedule.
The D-Trains can be supplied as either two or three-car units powered by either diesel and electric (DEMU), battery – with a range of up to 50 miles – or diesel/battery hybrid engines.
Vivarail is converting retired London Underground D78 Stock trains to make the D-Trains, which are viewed as affordable options for regional train services for urban and rural areas.
The trains are being prepared for construction at the Quinton Rail Technology Centre near Stratford-upon-Avon.
The announcement follows an incident on December 30 when a D-Train caught fire on a test run – there were no passengers onboard at the time and Vivarail staff were able to leave the train safely. An incident report by Vivarail found the fire was caused by a fuel leak.
Prior to the fire, a trial service of the D-Train had been planned with operator London Midland but was later cancelled.
Following a spike in demand from customers, Chiltern Railways has announced an increased timetable for the 121 Bubble Cars before they retire.
The TOC’s last two remaining Class 121 trains were first brought into service in 1960 and later bought by Chiltern in 2003, but – with maintenance costs increasing – the decision was made in March to put them into retirement.
The last day of service will be on May 19 from which point the Bubble Cars will be put up for sale.
Famed for being the last trains in service that use vacuum brakes, the single-carriage trains are recognisable for their small size and open environment which allow customers to see ahead through the train’s front windows.
Since 2003 the two trains have serviced the 18-minute journey from Princes Risborough to Monks Risborough, Little Kimble and Aylesbury, in Buckinghamshire.
Managing director of Chiltern Railways Dave Penney said: “Since we announced the retirement of the class 121 Bubble Cars in March, we’ve been inundated with requests from rail enthusiasts and members of the public wanting to take a last ride.
“As we near their final day, we anticipate even more interest so we have added additional services out of peak time to accommodate the extra passengers.”
On the final week of service from May 15 until May 19 there will be one additional service per day departing from Aylesbury at 16.39 and arriving at Princes Risborough at 16.53. This is in addition to regularly scheduled services during peak time.
On the final day of service on May 19 – which will be marked with a short ceremony at Princes Risborough station at 12.15pm – there will also be these additional services:
(Place of departure, departure time, arrival time)
Princes Risborough to Aylesbury 12.50, 13.04
Aylesbury to Princes Risborough 13.19, 13.33
Princes Risborough to Aylesbury 13.50, 14.04
Aylesbury to Princes Risborough 14.19, 14.33
Princes Risborough to Aylesbury 14.50, 15.04
Following their retirement the number of services running daily will remain unchanged.
An unexploded World War II bomb has forced the closure of the Birmingham New Street to Lichfield Trent Valley line.
According to London Midland, the section will be closed for the rest of the day (May 15) with emergency services in attendance.
The TOC is advising passengers affected by the disruption to use alternative transport to complete their journeys.
West Midlands Police has said that the explosive device was found at a construction site in Priory Road.
Officers were called to the scene at 9.45am and after an initial consultation a precautionary 500m perimeter was put in place, with houses and businesses in the surrounding area being evacuated and, because it runs parallel to the A38, train services affected too.
In addition the police said that a bomb squad was on route to the site as of the last update.
The Central metro station in Newcastle has been twinned with Tower Hill Tube station in London to share best practice as tourism gateways in their respective areas.
Nexus – the public body which owns and manages Metro – welcomed 18 frontline staff, including workers from Tower Hill station, for a knowledge sharing day on May 11.
The two stations were twinned because both are situated close to visitor attractions, hotels and shops.
Metro services director Chris Carson said: “This visit has been a great experience for Metro staff. They have had the chance to meet with their colleagues from London Underground and talk with them face to face about a whole range of issues connected with customer care.
“By sharing knowledge we will be able to make improvements to what we offer our customers here in Tyne and Wear.”
Piling will begin on a stretch of the Midland Mainline in Northamptonshire this weekend (May 13 and 14) as part of the ongoing work to electrify the line.
Between Kettering and Corby, Network Rail will mostly be piling – installing foundations for the masts and gantries every 50 to 60 metres that will carry electrified wires along the railway – overnight to minimise the disruption to passenger services. The work is expected to last for several months.
Residents have been told to expected some disturbance as piling involves driving cylindrical steel piles deep into the ground to provide a secure base for gantries and is, therefore, a noisy activity.
In addition, from Friday night (May 12) until Saturday (May 13) morning, Network Rail will be carrying out essential trackside vegetation clearance from Glendon Hall to Little Oakley and from Little Irchester to Kettering.
Passengers across Scotland will benefit from new digital customer information screens (DCIS) which are being rolled out across 28 stations.
In total ScotRail Alliance has already installed – or will soon be installing – 94 DCISs at stations across the country by the end of the summer.
The new screens are brighter, clearer and show real-time data for connecting transport such as nearby bus, ferry or flight times, alongside train times.
Currently “dot matrix” signs can only display text and basic diagrams but the HD screens will give more detailed information with images and video on train disruptions.
ScotRail Alliance’s programmes director Ian McConnell said: “We’re working hard to improve and renew stations across our network. Customer information is hugely important, and the more detail the better.”
The stations that have already had or will soon have new DCIs are as follows:
The International Railway Sports Association (USIC) and the International Union of Railways (UIC) have agreed to donate the proceeds from their sporting events to a chosen charity.
AÂ leaked version of the Labour party’s election manifesto includes plans to nationalise Britain’s railways.
Among a number of proposals, the draft manifesto, which had been leaked to several media outlets, advocates bringing the railway back into public ownership as existing franchise agreements expire.
Under the plans, Labour will introduction a Public Ownership of the Railways Bill to repeal the Railways Act of 1993, which privatised the railways, if  the Labour party is successful in the general election on 8 June.
Building on the platform of the publicly owned Network Rail, a new public rolling stock company would be formed too.
The manifesto reads: “In public ownership, we will deliver real improvements for passengers by freezing fares, introducing free wi-fi across the network, ensuring safe staffing levels and ending driver-only operation, and by improving accessibility for disabled people.”
Striving to tackle the country’s rail capacity problem, companies are making a sustained push to digitise the railway. Stewart Thorpe reports from the Digital Rail Summit to find out what progress is being made.
Would anyone hack a railway? That was the leading question in an investigation carried out by Koramis to discover just how vulnerable the railway network is. The German IT specialist partnered with security firm Sophos in 2015 to create a real control system for what appeared to be a real rail network somewhere in the world – it was in fact simulated.
The results from Project HoneyTrain, says SNC-Lavalin Rail and Transit principal consultant David Robson, were ‘a little scary’. Complete with real CCTV feeds, in-cab driver videos and a fully operating customer-facing website, over a six- week period the control system was attacked 2,745,267 times.
‘I think the sheer volume of attacks shows that people don’t care if it’s a railway, they’ll happily have a go at hacking because it’s fun,’ says David, who has a background in developing control systems.
‘During an interview with the chief research officer, he stated that HoneyTrain was a great experiment to analyse the adversary’s moral limits. He went on to say that they had attackers derailing trains and running them at full speed into a dead end. These hackers did not know this was a pretend railway, as far as they were concerned they’d found a railway and thought they’d have some fun.
MISCONCEPTIONS
Held at international law firm Bird & Bird’s London office, David’s talk at the Digital Rail Summit focused on overcoming two common misconceptions: that no one would hack the railway and that its systems are too sophisticated to infiltrate. The HoneyTrain report was the most startling of a dozen presentations held at the summit on 26 April, which examined the major initiatives to digitise the railway.
Referring to an incident which saw Devon County Council held to ransom for £3,000 for the safe return of its allotment waiting list, David says that hackers will hack anything and that this needs addressing on the railway network. But it is not a case of a one-off change, cyber security is an evolving subject that needs constantly reassessing. Legacy equipment needs protecting as well as new technology and staff need training to prevent them giving system access to malicious software.
‘We need to accept that the world is getting more and more connected. Cyber security is not going away. Cyber security incidents are only likely to increase. Do we really need to wait for a major incident before we start taking this as seriously as other safety issues?’ David concluded.
SMART TICKETING
The digital railway may have its challenges but there are great opportunities to seize as well. The Rail Delivery Group (RDG) is trying to create a ‘frictionless’ customer experience with the introduction of smart ticketing across the country. Demanding that all train operating companies (TOCs) make Oyster-style cards available to customers by 2018, Secretary of State Chris Grayling is a driving force behind the change.
Smart tickets will allow for great information management, to be able to accurately calculate peak load and to figure out how many passengers are coming through and ways to influence that traffic, as well as making it a better user experience.
RDG’s managing director of technology services Dennis Rocks says that they’re working to connect disparate ticketing systems to break down the virtual barriers.
‘What we’re saying is that, some time between 2020 and 2022, magstripe will be the least used ticket fulfilment, but it will still be there,’ says Dennis.
‘The challenge to us is how we move from what is a fairly analogue age into a digital age and eventually how we also move away from card and into using phones. It’s all about the customer and doing the right thing.’
The fact that there are currently 600,000 smart cards in circulation, compared to 920 million magnetic stripe cards used across 2,500 stations every year, helps to put the size of the transformation into perspective.
DENMARK ERTMS
A central part of the digital railway programme is the implementation of European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) and Hanne Nybo Johansen of Atkins has been leading the rolling out of ERTMS level 2 in Denmark since 2014.
‘The traditional railway has a lot of signals, ERTMS level 2 is a detailed radio-based system which continuously transmits the data to the cab on the train,’ explains Hanne, who says that the project’s implementation will reduce the number of traffic control centres from 60 to two. ‘It will enable us to double the number of passengers travelling on the rail by 2030.
‘We are looking forward to having about 80 per cent of the delays caused by the signalling system disappear after introducing the new system. We are also looking into the reduced cost of maintenance and operation cost.
‘It might not be an overnight big bang but it is a big bang done in a very short time. It is also the first time it is being done nationwide and it is a chance to get to this whole solution approach rather than people managing their own systems. This is all about getting a more attractive railway.’
Representatives from Siemens, Alstom, EAMS Group, ESP Group, Huber+Suhner and Nexus Alpha spoke about ‘visible’ and ‘invisible’ aspects of digitising the railway.
Figures from Bird & Bird spoke about the respective legal perspectives on a number of topics and members of the audience were given the opportunity to ask questions too.
Above all else, the Digital Rail Summit showcased the opportunities that are available to the rail industry to overcome its capacity conundrum without the need for expensive infrastructure projects.
Britain was at the forefront of developments in the railway and, if events such as the summit continue to provide the platform to share and discuss experiences, there is every hope that Britain can be at the forefront of the digital railway revolution too.
Thanks to event sponsors ADComms, Amey and Costain, lanyard sponsors Westermo Data Communications and Bird & Bird for hosting the Digital Rail Summit. The next event is the Rail Safety Summit which is taking place on September 13, followed by the Rail Sustainability Summit on September 14. For more information go to www.railsummits.com.
When Transport for Greater Manchester’s head of rail, Amanda White, joined the body in 2014, it had one major goal in mind.
Manchester had just signed a devolution deal with Whitehall in which the city set specific objectives around the better integration of public transport in Greater Manchester.
One priority was to look at how stations are managed and whether the current model makes the most of the city’s assets.
Amanda joined TfGM from HS2, where she had been designing the route from Birmingham to Manchester. She had slowly been making her way up to the North West even then, she joked. For the past two years, one of her priorities has been to add some meat to the bones of Manchester’s rail devolution plan. The first substantial detail was published in TfGM’s ‘Case for Change’ document in March.
Although only a proposal at this stage, it clearly signals TfGM’s intentions. The authority said it wants to own and manage 97 stations around Greater Manchester, including Manchester Piccadilly. By owning the stations, TfGM can look at long-term investment programmes and tailor the facilities to match the communities they serve.
‘At the moment the rail stations are the missing piece of the jigsaw for us,’ says Amanda. ‘Because we can’t have as much influence as we do say with your Metrolink infrastructure or your bus infrastructure.’
Photo: Goonerette/ shutterstock.com.
She went on, ‘Even today, we don’t have any responsibility for the stations but we do receive the complaints, so there’s confusion about ownership now.’
Having worked in the industry for 14 years, Amanda understands all too well the network’s complex ownership structure. Prior to working for HS2, Amanda was at Network Rail. Out of university, she joined Network Rail’s electrification and plant division in York, eventually moving down to London to work on enhancement schemes.
She explained why she felt the current system wasn’t delivering for the city and wider county on the issues of . ‘The rail industry is focussed on running trains, they’re not incentivised,’ said Amanda, adding that the industry doesn’t have a remit to explore opportunities for local regeneration or integrated travel.
Starting with the basics
Of the 97 stations mentioned in the document, around half are unmanned and three of them serve the Glossop line outside the Greater Manchester boundary. The largest by far is Manchester Piccadilly, the fourth busiest station outside of London.
From the day it receives the keys, TfGM says it will look to rebrand and deep clean the stations, first targeting what it can immediately improve – things like access and comfort. ‘We’re starting with the basics and building up,’ says Amanda.
Long-term plans have already been produced for 21 stations. Over the next 18 months, plans for the remaining 76 will be drawn up. In particular, they are looking at what services could be offered at stations to address certain community issues, says Amanda. A desk for community support offices could be created at stations with high levels of antisocial behaviour, for example.
TfGM’s role in shaping rail services in the North West has been growing for some time. As part of Rail North, it was one of the strategic partners whose feedback helped define the specification for the current Northern and TransPennine franchises. But the same kind of partnership wouldn’t allow TfGM to achieve all of its aspirations, says Amanda.
‘You can get so far with a partnership or alliance but you can never guarantee the delivery of the outcome that you’re looking for as a single owner or single responsible organisation.’
In the future, TfGM hopes to develop its capability, says Amanda. The idea of it operating services directly is not entirely unlikely and although a new 10-year operating concession was awarded for Metrolink earlier this year, TfGM may choose to follow Midland Metro and bring its tram services in-house in the future.
‘As our responsibilities grow and as our network grows it may be that in another eight years time when we’re considering what that contract looks like we might want to bring in-house, completely in- house, the operations and the maintenance work or it might be that we see that there are advantages to leaving it as a concession and that’s how we manage the rail stations.’
Amanda White
Solid foundations
TfGM already owns Horwich Parkway, which sits on the Manchester to Preston route. The initial outlining business case suggests that the 94 local stations could transfer to TfGM in the next two to three years. A target of the mid 2020s has been put on the three larger stations – Piccadilly, Victoria and Oxford Road.
All of the operational staff for these stations would be transferred over to TfGM – a move that will provide more long-term stability for those employees, says Amanda. She believes that the infrastructure already exists within TfGM to begin running a portion of those 94 local stations straight away.
‘It really depends where we end up,’ says Amanda. ‘If we have a big bang and we get what we’ve asked for here with the 94 then we’re going to need to bring in a mobilisation team with the expertise to write up the contracts, legal agreements and do all the condition assessment that’s required alongside that. But on a very, very small scale, we do have the foundations of the right kind of expertise right across the organisation.
‘We already have our facilities management team who directly manage the maintenance of facilities, management of bus infrastructure and our own property estate. We have a very strong commercial, legal and financial team who are running the contracts for Metrolink as they stand. Plus the rail team that exists today which has within it our own very small, but completely relevant, asset management process for managing Horwich Parkway station.’
Governance
When the current Northern franchise launched last year, new operator Arriva set out how it planned to improve its stations. It has an obligation to the Department for Transport (DfT) to deliver on these plans. Under the Case for Change proposals, TfGM will instead have a contractual obligation to the train operating companies and a political obligation to taxpayers.
Says Amanda, ‘We’ll have a contract and we will have performance measures that are monitored through that franchise, but secondly we will be monitored through taxpayers and our own governance through GMCA.’
The rail infrastructure itself would remain Network Rail property. Major events and maintenance activities would require the same kind of close working that already goes on in the background.
‘There is no doubt that whatever we do the train operating companies and Network Rail will be our partners because Network Rail are the ultimate landlord,’ says Amanda. ‘We will always have to seek their approval and work closely with them to protect their assets.’
There may also be more opportunities to support the work of station adopters and community rail partnerships.
Says Amanda, ‘What we should do is actually open up more doors, generate more funding, improve the number of opportunities and relationships that can be generated with the CRPs, so we’re not going to walk away from those relationships either.
Rose Hill
Cheadle Hulme
Horwich Parkway
Irlam
‘We already sit within the steering groups that work with the CRPs, but we can bring in a whole host of other relationships with our health departments or our policing or skills and make the connections a lot easier.’
Transformation
Amanda was the only girl in her A-level physics class. She was also one of just three women out of 30 students to complete the university mechanical engineering course she was on. The rail industry presents opportunities to work on transformative projects, said Amanda.
‘With a project like HS2, it’s a legacy that you can leave, understanding that it’s my name behind that route design to Manchester. A lot of people will not like it, but I do actually sleep well at night knowing that we went through a process and a consultation which I know is the right thing to do for that infrastructure design and I’m proud of being part of that.’
Taking charge of Manchester’s stations may not transform the country in the same way as HS2, but the ripple effect could see more local authorities seeking greater control of their railways.
Making the first step onto the career ladder can seem a daunting task if you are a jobseeker.
The endless job applications, the need for experience without an opportunity to impress and the intimidating prospect of an interview can be difficult to get past.
Bridging the gap, The Prince’s Trust has set up an initiative to remove these barriers and support disadvantaged youngsters to become the rail industry’s next generation. Since 2013, more than 200 unemployed jobseekers aged 16 to 25 have joined the rail industry through The Prince’s Trust ‘Get into Customer Service’ programme.
The scheme teaches jobseekers the skills to succeed in the field and provides them with a platform to practise by manning ticket barriers, providing assistance to customers on platforms and supporting staff on board train services.
By collaborating with Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) and FirstGroup, the youth charity is helping unemployed youngsters get on track with a career in the rail industry.
From the most recent GTR programme, 16 out of 18 on work experience were offered jobs, including Daniel Ratchford, from Stevenage, who worked for the TOC’s Great Northern franchise at the Finsbury Park and King’s Cross stations.
‘I’m so pleased to have the chance to wear this uniform again to make a good life for me and my son,’ he says. ‘I’ve been a single dad for the last three years and I wanted a chance to challenge myself.
‘I was really grateful to be accepted by the station team I worked with.’
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Across four weeks, youngsters are taught first aid and customer service skills, working in the classroom and in stations to develop a skillset that will help them find employment in customer service, but with a particular focus on the railway.
In return, the TOCs fulfil a social responsibility requirement that is needed to bid for publicly funded contracts such as HS2 or for retendered franchises, according to The Prince’s Trust.
Joining Daniel, six graduates from the Get into Customer Service programme have since found employment with Southern, five with Thameslink and another four with Great Northern as part of the TOC’s two-year partnership with The Prince’s Trust.
During the scheme, candidates’ employability is further enhanced with tips on CV writing and interview techniques to help them in their job hunt.
‘Youth unemployment is a worrying issue so it’s important to provide as much support as possible for young people finding work,’ says Peter Yarwood, programme manager at The Prince’s Trust. ‘This group of young people are an inspiring example of just how much can be achieved.
‘With the right guidance, positive and long-term steps to success can be made.’
PRACTICAL AND VOCATIONAL SKILLS
Through the one-year partnership with FirstGroup, The Prince’s Trust has worked with Great Western and Transpennine Express (TPE). A group of 10 from the latter has recently graduated.
Sue Whaley, TPE HR director, said, ‘It has been an absolute pleasure welcoming our new colleagues to TPE over the last four weeks.
‘Not only have they taken huge steps to progress their practical and vocational skills in customer service, they have also been a real asset to TPE, truly becoming part of the team.
‘It is obvious to everyone that has worked with the group that they have both the ability and work ethic to succeed, and I wish them the best of luck in the future.’
But The Prince’s Trust isn’t the only charitable organisation creating a new pathway into the railway industry. The Construction Youth Trust runs a similar programme but with an emphasis on practical skills. The ‘Budding Builders’ programme supports young people across London to achieve their Level 1 Award in Health and Safety in a Construction Environment as well as their CSCS card, which tells employers that the holder knows about safe working practices in the industry, as well as basic construction skills.
Held across three weeks with three sessions each week, students are given a foothold onto the employment ladder.
All 25 of the recent cohort graduated from the scheme, three of which have been made promising offers, and if those figures are anything to go by work experience programmes like The Prince’s Trust and the Construction Youth Trust can only serve to strengthen the industry’s work force and give dozens more jobseekers an opportunity to establish a career for themselves.
With snow, gales and gusts of up to 94 mph hitting parts of Britain, Storm Doris was a ‘painful event for the railway network’ recalls Network Rail’s go-to authority on lineside safety, Paul Meads.
The weather bomb, as the Met Office later classified it, caused transport disruption across the country but arguably nowhere was the impact felt greater than on the Conwy Valley line.
On 23 February, a tree fell onto the Welsh line between Llanrwst and Blaenau Ffestiniog, Snowdonia – close to where the Met Office recorded Doris’ highest winds – disturbing lineside vegetation on the nearby rock face.
More than six weeks after it had closed, and only after Network Rail conducted an aerial assessment of the rock face and completed essential repair work, it re-opened to services.
Network Rail preemptively issued temporary speed restrictions on parts of its network, deployed extra staff and issued warnings of delays but it could not prevent the impact of the fallen tree.
A delay of that magnitude is not common – there were logistical issues due to there being no road access, dense vegetation and extreme weather conditions to contend with – but trees falling onto the railway cause thousands of pounds of damage and thousands of minutes of passenger and freight service delays each year.
In 2016, there were more than 470 incidents of vegetation on the railway, from compounded fallen leaves affecting train braking to fallen branches causing overhead line dewirement and trees blocking routes entirely.
Network Rail is unable to give a precise figure for the cost of dealing with vegetation incidents but, according to the Linear Infrastructure Network, a group made up of infrastructure asset owners, managers, consultancies, Government and its agencies, the annual cost of vegetation impacts on train performance to the UK economy is £100 million.
TREE CENSUS
Network Rail decided the answer to the problem was to survey the estimated 10 million trees across its 20,000 miles of railway.
It may sound like an epic challenge but that is exactly what has been done, with the help of aerial surveying from drones and helicopters.
After capturing the data, which covers a number of tree attributes, it is fed through a risk model, simply referred to as a black box, which outputs key problem trees in priority order.
Beginning in 2014, the tree census has covered nearly all areas of the rail network – except for exclusions around airports, for example – and is the latest offering from the Offering Rail Better Information Service programme (ORBIS), a programme aimed at supporting the railway industry by collating, analysing and exploiting data.
Already ORBIS has helped to save £207 million, according to Network Rail, by helping engineers to make smarter decisions and it expects to save another £281 million by 2019.
DETAILED ANALYSIS
The census is being rolled out across the country and promises to revolutionise engineers’ work by providing them with a heat map of high priority problem trees that could later impact the railway, explains Paul Meads, who leads the development of lineside policy.
‘We’ve surveyed up to 60 metres either side of the railway covering 20,000 miles, and catalogued over 100 different attributes per tree including height, thickness, health, slope angle, proximity to bridges and power lines, which are measured to predict the risk an individual tree represents to the railway,’ he says.
‘Our analysis revealed the majority of trees that fall on the railway during storm conditions are healthy – yet previous inspections may have assessed these as lower risk.
‘Scotland had done their own survey before 2014, they’ve led the way with this – because they tend to suffer the more extreme weather – and we have adapted their version.
‘They are at the forefront of how we can benefit from this and we are working closely with them.’
WALK THE LINE
Previously the requirement was that Network Rail would undertake the ‘arduous’ process of walking along the line looking for any potentially problematic trees every three years.
This was supplemented with a more thorough report every five years assessing the trees in greater detail.
‘From the first use of the data I was able to identify areas to be managed and remove the need for a tree survey in those locations. This allowed for immediate cost saving for the route,’ says Alex Hinshelwood, Network Rail’s senior asset engineer in Wales, who uses the database in his day-to-day work.
‘From my desk, I can analyse the trees that pose a risk to the railway, and using this data, I am able to develop a work bank for our vegetation management teams.
‘Now, with targeted, evidence-based information, I can save money and reduce the need to carry out lineside surveys.
‘The new heat map is an extraordinary development; I can click on the Cardiff area and in an instant highlight where potential problem areas exist.
‘The clustering data shows how many trees exist and you can drive right down to individual trees to uncover a range of different details, from height and location, to tree width.
‘We can’t simply cut down every tree on the lineside; we have to consider the natural environment and the impact of our work on our lineside neighbours.
‘The vegetation management data has the potential to completely change the way we carry out vegetation and tree management across the routes and will be an invaluable tool that can be used with our existing inspection records and asset data to help us make real asset management decisions.’
Drone photo showing repairs underway at Blaenau Ffestiniog.
DRAMATIC REDUCTION
By using the tree census, Network Rail is expecting there to be a dramatic reduction in the number of trees falling onto the tracks, as a result reducing delays and should be savings thousands of pounds.
There is also a safety consideration, reducing the risk to trains and, by reducing the time they spend trackside, improving the safety of workers, which will free up manpower for more productive activities.
‘Our use of the tree census is emerging,’ says Paul. ‘Feedback will be useful to see the benefits that it has.
‘I can sit here and say there are a great deal but we are really trying to understand how it is being used.
‘It’s very much in its early days but I think it will have a real benefit to the rail industry as a whole.’
In future, with the technology to identify and target trees before they become problematic to the rail network, it is hoped that prolonged delays such as those experienced on the Conwy Valley line can be avoided entirely.
Lincolnshire County Council has appointed a community rail partnership officer (CRPO) to promote the Poacher Line.
Kaye Robinson will work with key stakeholders – including line operator East Midlands Trains and community groups – to build closer relations, organise events and bring about improvements on the line.
One of her key roles will be to extend the station adopter scheme, which sees groups of volunteers become the “eyes and ears” of the TOC, reporting faults, station issues and helping to develop gardens to ensure stations – many of which are unstaffed – are looked after.
L-R: Derwent Valley line CRPO Alastair Morley, Poacher line CRPO Kaye Robinson, Lincolnshire County Council’s transport matrix manager Paul Sanders, and North Staffordshire line CRPO Marika Latham. Credit: East Midlands Trains.
Lincolnshire County Council’s matrix transport manager Paul Sanders said: “We want to make rail a more attractive option, encouraging as many people as possible to leave the car at home and take the train.
“Kaye will not only drive forward improvements along the Poacher Line, but will help put these stations at the heart of their community.”
The Poacher Line originates at Nottingham and runs through Grantham, Sleaford, Boston and Wainfleet before terminating at Skegness.
East Midlands Trains has signed up for the RailSport Games this summer. As well as bringing many of this year’s competitors to the event, the company will be competing for gold across a number of sports.
The operator, which is based in Derby, is supporting the annual sporting competition as it moves from its former home in Blackpool to the East Midlands.
East Midlands Trains (EMT) will field a team of 30 for July’s multi-sport competition. Those taking part come from various areas of the business. Front line station staff will compete alongside colleagues in recruitment and HR, depot technicians and head office employees.
BEGINNER’S LUCK
‘It’s like a company sports day,’ says Tania Basile, a senior talent business partner at EMT, who was confident of her team’s ability to come away with the spoils. Tania will be part of the company’s rounders team, but she’s also a handy tennis player and, at one time, managed a women’s football team – something she thinks will help against the toughest opposition.
Paige Hooton, an internal communications coordinator, will be taking part in RailSport for the first time this year. She only joined EMT eight months ago, her first role in rail, having previously worked in retail. Like Tania, she’s confident the team has medal-winning potential.
‘It’s probably just about having a good time with work colleagues,’ said Chris Buckley, talent manager, giving a more diplomatic rating of their chances.
Chris’ colleague Dave Meredith, a resource strategy manager, operations, will be competing in the 100-mile British Cycling-registered sportive event, which will take place on the second day of competition. Dave spends his working day overseeing train crew requirements for major projects. He’s been with EMT for 20 years and is currently heavily involved in the remodelling of Derby station.
Dave hopes to complete the course, which will cross through Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, in five hours and post a personal best time.
The team will be cheered on by Matt Price, EMT’s head of learning and development. Matt spent 15 years as a physical training instructor with the RAF and will be helping prepare the team before it goes head-to-head with the rest of the industry.
EMT staff will become a familiar sight at this year’s event. For competitors arriving by rail, the friendly staff at Loughborough station will be on hand to help teams as they make their way to the venue.
Loughborough is one of 90 stations managed by EMT, which operates more than 470 regional and intercity services a day. The company won an industry award for its performance last year when 92 per cent of services arrived within 10 minutes of their scheduled time.
Says Kirsty Derry, EMT’s HR director, ‘We’re very excited to be taking part in this year’s RailSport Games.
‘It’s a great team building opportunity for our staff, bringing people together from diverse backgrounds to compete as ‘one team’.
‘We’re really looking forward to getting out on the field; let’s hope we have what it takes to make it through to the finals.’
WORLD-CLASS VENUE
RailSport will be held between the 8-9 July. Supporting bodies for the competition this year include Network Rail, HS2 and Public Health England, which will be promoting its ‘One You’ campaign, an initiative which offers advice and tools to help people live healthier lives; it covers issues like smoking, alcohol, eating, physical activity, sleep and stress.
Loughborough University’s 440-acre campus will host the Games. The event will bring together the university’s strong sporting pedigree with its equally respected, if not so well publicised, rail industry links.
Loughborough University was recently named as the best sporting university in the world. The QS higher education league table put Loughborough in joint first place with the University of Sydney.
Loughborough is renowned for its teaching and its world class facilities. The university has one of the centres that makes up the National Centre for Sport and Exercise Medicine. It is also a popular base for Olympians and other world-class sportsmen and women.
In the past couple of years, the university has also been at the forefront of innovation in the rail sector. Researchers in the university’s Control Systems Group have developed a new fail-safe switch design called Repoint – a past winner of one of Rail Media’s Most Interesting Awards.
Visit the RailSport website to find out more about the event
The railway’s slow rate of change and innovation is a popular topic of conversation at conferences and over networking drinks.
A lack of free Wi-Fi and the limited rollout of things like automatic delay repay and ticketless travel lags behind the expectations of the modern passenger.
Seeking a solution, train operator London Midland launched a tech accelerator programme last month at Birmingham’s iCentrum building. For the next 12 weeks, 10 selected start- ups will develop new products and services that London Midland will look to harness to improve the experience of its passengers.
DIGITAL DISRUPTION
Built by Bouygues UK on the Innovation Birmingham Campus, iCentrum, with its expansive central atrium, opened in 2016 – custom-built to support a new generation of digital ingenuity and disruption.
Photo: London Midland.
More than 100 companies initially expressed an interest in the project. A shortlist of 30 companies was then drawn up and from those 10 were selected. The solutions range from an analytics tool that uses facial recognition technology to an app which can convert audio announcements into text notifications for the hearing impaired.
London Midland has invested a quarter of a million pounds in the Labs project and the company’s managing director, Patrick Verwer, has described it as the beginning of a new era for rail passengers.
‘What we wanted to do here was demonstrate to our travelling passenger that we’re serious about innovation,’ said Ian McLaren, London Midland’s finance and contracts director – the man behind London Midland Labs.
COLLABORATION AND COMPETITION
The potential for hosting a rail innovation accelerator was raised prior to London Midland receiving its direct award contract to continue operating the West Midlands franchise until October 2017. Ian joined the operator in 2014 and brought experience from working in the technology sector. Prior to that, he had held similar roles at Serco and Merseyrail.
The original 120 companies that applied to be part of the Labs project included both individuals straight out of university with an interesting idea and established businesses.
Ian set out what he felt were the benefits of the accelerator format. ‘We’ve seen a number of the start-ups  have actually come in with a pre- conceived idea of how the rail industry worked and morphing and changing. And also competing with each other as well and collaborating with each other to get the best out of their products.’
During the 12-week programme, the 10 participating companies will be able to draw on London Midland’s data and resources. Workshop space at iCentrum and mentoring support will also be provided free of charge.
‘Having a direct link with a train operating company will allow the companies to mature their products and services more quickly for the UK rail market’, said Ian. Following the initial three-month accelerator, each of the start-ups will take part in a demonstration day to show what progress they have made.
POP-UP PODS
One of the companies taking part is PopWork, a supplier of pop-up meeting pods: a posh mobile shed of sorts that can be booked out through a smartphone app. Three of these pop-up spaces will be installed at Milton Keynes station later in the year – the first time they have been trialled at a railway station.
Two of the start-up organisations – Braci and TransReport – have come up with applications that could allow London Midland and Network Rail to better target maintenance activities.
TransReport is a fault reporting app. Once a fault has been flagged, sensors on the train will direct technicians to the issue and the passenger who reported it will receive updates about the repair.
Although it employs different technology, Braci’s sound recognition application could offer similar benefits. The app, once switched on, can listen out for defects on the track or train wheels. This is just one of its applications. It could also help those with hearing impairments, or even just someone wearing headphones, by listening for relevant announcements and sending a visual notification to the user’s phone.
SECOND COHORT
These are just a few of the projects being progressed by the Labs initiative. Others include a delay repay system, a messaging platform and a support service for passengers with additional needs.
Ian went on to explain how London Midland is already directly investing in around half of the companies and what its future plans are for the programme.
‘This is our first cohort. We’ll soon be looking at the second cohort later on in the year and to continue that through future franchises,’ said Ian. ‘We’re doing this because we want to, because it’s the right thing to do and the industry needs to evolve.’
A railway station in Ingatestone, Essex, has re-opened following a £2.4 million restoration and repair scheme.
A disused ticket office has been given a new lease of life as a coffee shop, customer toilets have been upgraded and the footbridge has been refurbished as part of the works.
In addition, both platforms have been resurfaced, repaired and widened, a new waiting room has been created and upgrades have been made to platform canopies and other station buildings.
Take a look around the upgraded Ingatestone station.
Greater Anglia was able to conduct the work thanks to a £151,000 contribution from the Railway Heritage Trust, to help restore parts of the station to its former glory.
Another scheme, funded by the Rail Development Group and Essex County Council, has seen new cycle storage facilities installed with room for 48 bikes.
Andy Savage, executive director of the Railway Heritage Trust, said: “The Trust has been pleased to make a second investment into this superb historic station.
Credit: Greater Anglia.
“In the late 1980s we invested in the restoration of the buildings on Platform 1 and the forecourt, and now, almost thirty years later, we have been able to see the footbridge restored and the London-bound building brought back into railway use.
“We congratulate Greater Anglia on the scheme, which shows how it is possible to sympathetically use the railway’s Victorian heritage to serve the needs of today’s railway and its passengers.”
Ingatestone station re-opened to the public on April 27.
Tom Lee has been appointed as the RSSB’s new director of standards.
Since May 2016 Mr Lee has been acting director of standards and now takes over the role permanently with immediate effect.
He joined the company in 2002 and brings a wealth of experience as an experienced railway engineer with him.
RSSB’s CEO Mark Phillips said: “Tom has a long and distinguished career as a signalling specialist and detailed knowledge of relevant national and European legislation, including interoperability directives and technical specifications for interoperability.
“He is a dedicated advocate of the positive role standards can play in creating an effective, safe framework which supports the industry and I know he is looking forward to helping to continue to shape the future, building on the work he has already begun while acting director.”
Mr Lee added that he is pleased to be working with the industry to “bust some of the myths” surrounding standards.
He said: “Standards can, and should, reflect the most suitable, economical and safe way to do something – too often the perception is the opposite and I hope to change this.
“In addition, the landscape in which we work is set to change, both from within the industry and as we leave the European Union, so there will be many challenges ahead.”
The 2017 Digital Rail Summit examined the visible and invisible aspects of digitising the railway and took place at Bird & Bird’s offices in London on April 26.
The following is an excerpt of a full report from the summit, which will be available to read in next month’s edition of RailStaff (Click here to subscribe).
For some, the digital railway is narrowly defined as the modernisation of signalling and telecommunications, and this element was duly touched on by speakers from Siemens and Alstom. Progress to implement ERTMS is painfully slow; one of the reasons being suggested is the inability of the supply chain companies to fulfil their real potential by being constrained with over prescriptive specifications and innovation restriction.
The Internet of Things concept is not new but what is it exactly and how does it fit into rail? David Gate from EAMS gave a definition of a ‘thing’ – any object with embedded electronics and a network connection. Such ‘things’ can generate massive amounts of data and from this comes the term ‘Big Data’, 95 per cent of this collected information is reckoned not to be acted upon but if it were to be, reliability, response to incidents, prediction of failures and asset intelligence in many industries would be much improved.
The Digital Rail Summit was held on April 26.
Credit: Paul Darlington.
The summit’s second panel (L-R): David Robson, SNC Lavalin; Simon Shooter, Bird & Bird; David Brewer, Atkins; Hanne Nybo Johansen, Atkins; Richard White, EAMS Group; David Gate, EAMS Group; and Roger Bickerstaff, Bird & Bird.
Credit: Paul Darlington.
Atkins’ market director of strategic rail David Brewer talked about ERTMS.
Credit: Paul Darlington.
Atkins’ market director of strategic rail David Brewer talked to the audience about ERTMS.
Credit: Paul Darlington.
Atkins’ Hanne Nybo Johansen spoke about the progress of ERTMS in Denmark.
Credit: Paul Darlington.
David Gate (far left), joined Richard White (far right), both of EAMS Group, to talk about the internet of things.
Credit: Paul Darlington.
Delegates listened to key industry figures at the conference.
Credit: Paul Darlington.
David Robson, SNC Lavalin, captured the audience’s attention with his alarming statistics on cyber security.
Credit: Paul Darlington.
As part of his talk David Robson posed the question ‘would hackers attack the railway?’
Credit: Paul Darlington.
Bird & Bird partner Simon Shooter spoke about the legal considerations of cyber security.
Credit: Paul Darlington.
Dr Steve Cassidy, ESP Group, discussed the idea of mobility as a service.
Credit: Paul Darlington.
Dennis Rocks, rail settlement plan director of the Rail Delivery Group, talked smart ticketing.
Credit: Paul Darlington.
Above: Pictures from the Digital Rail Summit. Click to see in full.
The big threat to all of this is cyber security. Some alarming statistics were disclosed by SNC Lavalin. Would anyone really want to hack into the railway? To find out, the Honeytrain project was set up with a real control system established on a simulated piece of railway, all set up to a manufacturer’s specification. In a six week period, 2.7 million hacking attempts were observed, a staggering figure.
Smart ticketing is one element of the digital railway and Dennis Rocks from the Rail Delivery Group offered interesting stats. He said that 600,000 smart tickets are already in use, 90,000 of these in London and added that Fenchurch St station had 1.2 million tap ins/outs in 2016. Paper mag stripe tickets are on the decline and likely to be phased out by 2023 but are the only option for some journeys at present.
Has the onset of the digital railway improved traveller experience? Work done by Nexus Alpha would suggest it has. Satisfaction levels measured in 2016 are better than those of 2006 (shown in brackets). Areas probed were: information at stations 82% (77%); staff availability and knowledge 66% (57%); train borne information 70% (63%); train staff helpfulness 44% (37%); dealing with delay 35% (34%). The latter two items, whilst improved, still have a long way to go.
Thanks to the Digital Rail Summit sponsors ADComms, Amey, Bird & Bird, Costain and Westermo.
