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Year of the apprentice

Marc Johnson
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Year of the apprentice

In striving to raise the number and standard of apprentices, the rail industry has inadvertently made 2016 the Year of the Apprentice.

This first became clear at the start of the year with an announcement backing the creation of 30,000 apprentices in transport over the next few years and plans to write apprenticeship targets into procurement contracts.

In the months since, this magazine has led with stories of apprentice success and explored in some depth the approaches being taken by various companies in recruiting and training new apprentices.

Speaking at a Rail Exec lunch in May, Crossrail’s chairman, Sir Terry Morgan, estimated that around 550 apprentices were learning their craft on Crossrail, often described as Europe’s largest infrastructure project. Last month, that story continued as Crossrail confirmed that it had now created more than 600 apprenticeship roles.

Announcing that piece of news, Sir Terry Morgan said, ‘Having started my career as an apprentice, I have seen first-hand what apprenticeships can deliver. I’m delighted that their significant contribution has been recognised. There are more opportunities than ever before for young people to build exciting careers in engineering and deliver the UK’s pipeline of infrastructure projects.’

When the levy comes

Everything suggests that 2017 will continue this trend. Changes to the way apprenticeships are funded and increased government contributions to rail engineering education, in particular, will make rail apprenticeships more commercially viable.

On 1 April, the Government will introduce its apprenticeship levy. Employers with a wage bill of £3 million and above will have to pay into it. The levy will be collected through PAYE; companies will then be able to draw back funding from the Government which it can use to train apprentices.

‘The levy will encourage more training than would otherwise be the case, there’s no question of that, so there will be more apprentices because of the levy and in that way rail will be the winner because rail needs apprentices proportionately more than other sectors,’ said NSAR chief executive Neil Robertson, speaking to RailStaff prior to the launch of the Rail Sector Skills Delivery Plan this month.

There will also be financial incentives for smaller businesses. The Government has just agreed to provide up to £9,000 per candidate undertaking the Level 3 Rail Engineering Operative ‘trailblazer’ standard. This equates to £27,000 over the period of the three-year course compared to the £18,000 that had originally been specified. The hope is that these steps will help develop the 10,000 or so Level 3 technicians the industry will need in the next five years.

‘That’s a £90 million win for the industry,’ says Neil. ‘That contribution will make a difference, it won’t cover all the costs by any stretch of the imagination but it will make a difference.’

Asked about whether this additional funding could attract ‘rogue trainers’ to the market, Neil said NSAR was continually taking steps to ensure standards are maintained and had recently set up a quality panel.

Network Rail, which runs one of the largest apprenticeship schemes in the industry, is also mindful of the changes being introduced.

‘The introduction of the levy next year will obviously see the apprenticeship landscape change in 2017,’ says Michelle Nolan-McSweeney, head of talent strategy at Network Rail. ‘We’ve been leading on the redesign of apprentice standards for the rail sector as a whole as part of the Trailblazer Group. We’re now focussed on increasing the diversity of applicants for our schemes.’

She added, ‘The Transport Infrastructure Skills Strategy set ambitious plans for businesses to create apprenticeships and 2017 will see the industry respond to this call. For us, it will mean more apprenticeship opportunities that we offer and indeed, we’ve already announced that we’ll be increasing the number of places available on our award-winning Advanced Apprenticeship scheme in 2017, expanding the scheme to two intakes of 140 apprentices each in March and September.

‘We need to get the message out there that university isn’t the only option for people who want to get a fulfilling and rewarding career.’

Trailblazers

As well as these incentives, there are also now examples of apprenticeship quotas being written into franchise agreements and procurement processes. The new trailblazer standard apprenticeships are another change for 2017. As well as the engineering technician standard, a rail engineering design technician standard has been developed and an operations standard is on the way.

‘It covers more breadth,’ said Neil, when asked what weaknesses in the existing framework the new standard was addressing. ‘It brings in more digital into signalling, for example, it covers more commercial awareness because apprentices operate in a commercial environment.’

Another project, announced on the same day as the chancellor’s Autumn Statement last month, seeks to address a perceived lack of promotion for apprenticeships and traineeships within schools. The Government says it will work with teachers and career advisors to make sure they are providing impartial guidance on further and higher education options through what it calls the apprenticeship support and knowledge for schools (ASK) project. Apprentice Champions will also be recruited and placed within schools to promote the pathway to students.

With so many measures being put in place to realise the Government’s apprenticeship targets, this year’s achievements appear to just be the start. Welcome to the Age of the Apprentice.

Heartbeat driver honours lifesavers

Marc Johnson
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Heartbeat driver honours lifesavers

A train driver who suffered a serious heart attack whilst at the controls of his train in Yorkshire has organised a Europe-wide fund raiser for two charities. David Graham could have died had it not been for a hen- party of nurses on the train and prompt action by the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

A seven-strong team of conductors and drivers from TransPennine Express, Virgin Trains and Northern Rail, all based at Liverpool Lime Street Station, took part in a gruelling 63-hour charity train journey across Europe to raise funds for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance and the British Heart Foundation.

Stephen Walker (TPE), David Graham (TPE), Stephen Ward (Virgin Trains), Paul Fletcher (Northern) Andrew Iles (TPE), Marc Wood (TPE), Stephen Gamble (Northern) travelled from Liverpool Lime Street to Paris, Munich, Venice, Milan, Zurich, Basel, Berlin, Cologne, Brussels, raising a grand total of £9,650.

TPE train driver, David Graham, organised the challenge in support of both charities after each played such a vital part in his rescue and recovery after he suffered a dramatic, near fatal, heart attack when driving a train between Liverpool and Scarborough back in 2012.

David was 20 minutes into a journey from Scarborough to Liverpool when he began experiencing severe chest pains and lost consciousness on a remote stretch of track near Malton in North Yorkshire. David managed to bring his train to a halt in a safe place, after which the conductor discovered David and raised the alarm. Following an on-board announcement, a group of Royal Preston Hospital nurses returning from a hen party came to David’s rescue, treating him on the floor of his cab and calling in the Yorkshire Air Ambulance, who took over at the scene and airlifted David to Hull Royal Infirmary.

Last month, the group were invited to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance Nostell Air Support Unit to formally hand over cheques to both charities. The group posed for photographs alongside the crew of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance helicopter with Hayley Gough, British Heart Foundation fundraising manager.

Says David Graham, ‘I will be forever grateful to both charities for the part they played in both my rescue and recovery. My colleagues and I have raised nearly £10,000 for both charities, exceeding our original target of £8,000. I want to take this opportunity to thank all those that donated to our challenge in support of these two very worthy causes.’

Fostering engineering equality

Marc Johnson
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Fostering engineering equality

Gender equality was an ever-present theme throughout the US presidential election. It was the first time a woman had been a genuine contender for the job – a significant moment in history.

The result will go down in history for very different reasons but it means the metaphorical glass ceiling will remain intact for a few more years at least. What’s more it has prompted a charged debate into what it says about professional gender equality and whether the treatment of women in certain male- dominated professions has actually changed as much as we like to think it has.

‘The school I attended in Ireland – Laurel Hill, Limerick – encouraged girls to study STEM subjects. There were no barriers presented to choosing engineering as a career,’ says Joan Murray, managing director of TPS Schal, Carillion’s consultancy business.

Less than 10 per cent of the engineering workforce in the UK are women; the figure for the rail industry as a whole is only slightly higher. The rail sector’s challenge may not be the same as putting the first woman in the White House, but the goal is ultimately the same.

A survey conducted by Women in Rail in 2015 calculated that around 16 per cent of the workforce is female. The balance is gradually shifting. More women now occupy senior management roles – Carillion Rail’s head of engineering and professional head of civil engineering are both women, but the pace of change is slow. It is a sector which rather than smashing through the glass ceiling is choosing to carefully dismantle it piece by piece.

Project members celebrating the first anniversary of SNOWE.
Project members celebrating the first anniversary of SNOWE.

STEM

Almost 40 per cent of Carillion’s 21,000 or so staff members in the UK are female. Within the construction business around 12 per cent are women and the rail division is hovering around 13 per cent, slightly below the industry standard.

Joan founded the Support Network for Operational Women in Engineering (SNOWE) programme within Carillion, which was set up shortly after she was promoted to managing director of TPS Schal in 2015. The main objectives of SNOWE, which sits alongside Carillion’s pre-existing Women in Leadership and Working Mums Network groups, are to support women in operational engineering roles within the business and to promote the study of STEM subjects in schools.

The network, which is made up of both men and women, provides guidance and encouragement to women working throughout Carillion using a ‘buddy’ support system; it has also developed a teaching programme that can be delivered to schools. The aim overall is to aid staff retention and attract more women to the sector.

Says Joan, ‘Girls do not study STEM subjects in the same numbers as boys do. Without a diverse group of people studying then it becomes impossible to employ a diverse workforce.

‘We need more girls studying STEM subjects to improve the potential employment talent of the future. If we don’t improve the numbers of females studying STEM subjects we run the risk of never being able to employ a truly diverse workforce.’

Carillion Apprentices induction

FUN JOBS AND SERIOUS JOBS

SNOWE has grown out of several similar initiatives undertaken by the business. In 2014, Carillion signed up to the Compact Pledge – a national campaign led by Women into Technology and Engineering Compact to increase the number of women training in technology and engineering. In all, 180 companies made the pledge. Carillion also backs the Your Life STEM education campaign.

Joan hopes through SNOWE she can replicate the kind of support that she received while at school. ’Girls with the abilities to tackle higher level maths and science were given every opportunity and support to achieve their very best. Girls were offered the same choices as boys and the freedom to follow paths which were not the traditional female career options. Such enlightened teaching created pupils who saw no restriction in what they chose to study and no barriers to entry in any chosen profession.

‘We need all schools to be like this, to give girls the opportunity to study both the sciences and the humanities. The learning experience should teach girls that they too can have the fun jobs, and the serious jobs, and the jobs in the boardroom. Nothing should prevent girls from becoming engineers if they want to do so.’

RETENTION

Joining Carillion as a graduate civil engineer, Joan has worked within the business for more than 19 years and became the company’s first female managing director. Engineering is out of kilter with society, says Joan. ‘Whether you’re going into a site meeting or a board room, when you sit there and you’re the only woman – no matter what happens – you’re still different.’

It’s this imbalance, rather than some overtly discriminatory macho culture, which she believes can make it difficult for women to speak up and have their ideas listened to.

‘All my life, I have been part of a workforce where less than 10 per cent of the population are female,’ says Joan. ‘Being part of a minority brings its own set of unique challenges and so requires an innovative way to deal with them. There did not seem to be any obvious means to support those women engineers in the day-to-day challenges of working in a male-dominated profession. As a consequence retention of female engineers is an ongoing concern.’

She added, ’We are saying that we value their contributions and we want them to be part of the workforce. I most definitely feel that I should be a role model for more junior women.’

unp-carillion-34033-project-snowe056

SNOWE is already showing signs of success. ‘We are on a journey to improve the rates and our commitment in Carillion is to increase the number of women in apprenticeships to five per cent over the next five years. We are in year two and working to achieve our target.

‘We have a number of fantastic female role models within Carillion as well as many STEM Ambassadors. Our website has a web page dedicated to inspirational women in our company working in operational roles leading the way.’

The next step, Joan hopes, will see the model for SNOWE replicated by companies across the engineering and rail sector.

Says Joan, ‘SNOWE came about from a very simple idea. It always seemed to me that something was missing in relation to how we supported female engineers in construction. Networks are hard to get up and running, but we have succeeded within Carillion and we are making a real difference.’

Levenmouth – Scotland’s next railway?

Marc Johnson
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Levenmouth – Scotland’s next railway?

The Borders Railway connects around 20,000 people in Galashiels and another 20,000 in Midlothian to Edinburgh. It’s had a strong start, carrying over a million passengers in its first year.

The line’s construction, which cost the equivalent of £11.7 million per mile, required 30 miles of new railway built on an old track bed with many blockages. This needed 42 new and 95 refurbished bridges, including some major structures, 1.5 million tonnes of earthworks and 3.6 km of new alignment.

At an event in September to mark its first birthday, Scottish Transport Minister Humza Yousaf was glad to see that ‘the line’s increased accessibility has breathed new life into the region, boosting tourism and employment opportunities’.

Borders was an act of faith by the Scottish Parliament who, in 2006, approved it on the basis of a business case which, in strict economic terms, showed a Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR) of 0.96 (i.e. its costs were greater than benefits). However, as events have shown, the parliament was right to consider wider social and economic benefits. Few would now dispute that the Borders Railway is a success story. It also gives a clear demonstration of how communities benefit from their railways.

WHAT NEXT AFTER BORDERS?

The Border’s success begs the question of whether there are any other suitable contenders for re-opening. In Scotland, the largest settlement without access to a railway is Levenmouth in Fife. This comprises of the towns of Leven, Methil, Kennoway and Windygates which have a total population of 37,000. It is the largest urban area in Scotland without a train service.

The area also boasts the largest distillery in Scotland run by Diageo, which has a nearby 150-acre bottling plant which generates 80 HGV movements a day. If the rail line was re-opened, these could be transferred on to two daily container trains.

Although the passenger service to Leven was withdrawn in 1969, it is still rail connected, albeit with a five-mile mothballed railway. This line is in the Sectional Appendix and is still part of Network Rail’s infrastructure. It has an operational connection at Thornton North Junction which until recently was used for freight trains along the first mile of the branch carrying open-cast coal from the Earlseat loading point.

CROSS-PARTY SUPPORT

For some years, the LevenMouth Rail Campaign (LMRC) has been actively campaigning for the re-opening of the line. On 23 September it held a conference to consider the next steps. This was attended by the area’s four Members of Parliament (one MP, three MSPs) who all expressed strong cross- party support. The scheme is also backed by Fife Council, Fife Chamber of Commerce and the Federation of Small Businesses who were also present.

leven-station-before-its-closure-in-1969
Leven station before its closure in 1969.

Deputy Leader of Fife Council Lesley Laird emphasised that the Levenmouth re-opening had the full support of the council who had committed £2 million to its development, including funding two feasibility studies. However, she expressed her frustration that there is no roadmap for such rail re-openings and that, despite numerous discussions, the next step was not clear. New lines do not feature in Network Rail’s ‘Scotland Route Study’ which is understandably concerned with enhancing existing infrastructure to meet increasing demand. The study explains that new lines were not considered as it was felt wrong for the industry to propose how new transport requirements should be met. However, it does commit Network Rail to work with promoters to integrate any re- opening schemes into the existing rail network should any be progressed.

A STRONG CASE

The most recent council-funded study was published last year and was undertaken in accordance with the Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance (STAG). This concluded that, without taking account of wider economic benefits, re- opening of the line had a BCR of 1.3. It is estimated the cost of re-opening the line to be £78.4 million, or £15.9 million pounds per mile which is 35 per cent more than for the Borders Railway.

The reason for this high cost is that STAG report’s estimate has to include a high level of contingency in accordance with Transport Scotland requirements. However, it is surely unrealistic to suggest that re-opening of a mothballed railway will cost more per mile than the Borders which required major civil engineering work and land acquisition. Hence, the STAG report significantly overstates the cost of re-opening and thus understates the Benefit Cost Ratio.

Although there is a strong economic case, the conference also highlighted the benefits to the community in personal terms. LMRC secretary Allen Armstrong explained how recent Scottish Government statistics had shown that half of the Levenmouth area was ranked within the 20 per cent most deprived areas of Scotland and that 36 per cent of its local residents do not have access to a car. He had no doubt that a rail service would transform the area.

Between each presentation LMRC chair, Eugene Clarke, introduced personal stories to highlight the problems people faced without a rail service. These included someone who had to give up her job in Edinburgh because her public transport commute took four hours each day and a family of five who had hoped to visit Edinburgh Zoo but found that public transport was too inconvenient and costly.

The conference presentations, and feasibility work done to date, have shown that the Levenmouth rail re-opening proposal will bring benefits comparable to the Borders Railway at a fraction of its cost. With such a strong case it is not surprising that the LMRC campaign had attracted strong local support. The next step is to seek the Scottish Government’s commitment to this project.

Written by David Shirres

Trailblazer apprenticeship standard launched

Marc Johnson
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Trailblazer apprenticeship standard launched

The National Training Academy for Rail (NTAR), in partnership with Siemens, South West Trains and Fareham CEMAST, has become one of the first rail training centres to adopt the Rail Engineering Technician ‘Trailblazer’ Apprenticeship Standard – launched by Neil Robertson, genial chief executive of NSAR, at Rail Media’s Rail Franchising and Sustainability Conference in Leeds earlier this summer.

The new standard forms part of the highly successful Siemens-SWT apprentice training programme, now in its third year, with the first cohort due to enrol this month.

The three-stage training programme will teach apprentices the fundamentals of engineering while also covering advanced subjects, including project management and rail-specific units such as passenger comfort and traction conversion. The final stage will place apprentices in the workplace, where they will develop further business- specific skills and complete their end-point assessment – a compulsory part of all new apprenticeships.

Says Dan Walker, head of apprenticeship delivery at NTAR, ‘The Siemens-SWT programme has grown over the years, and the introduction of the new standard has allowed us to take it to the next level. The learning experience that these organisations now offer together is powerful. It really sets the standard for collaboration and apprenticeship training in the industry.’

Rob Hulson, apprentice and graduate manager at South West Trains, said, ‘Our partnership has led to amazing results so far and it’s something I’m really proud to be a part of.

‘With the demands of modern trains and new technology, the next generation of  engineers need to be trained to the highest possible level. Through this partnership our apprentices have the chance to build an exciting and fulfilling career within an ever- changing industry.’

EAL is the awarding body for the new Level 3 Rail Engineering Technician apprenticeship. It plans to introduce Level 2 and Level 4 standards in January and April next year.

Says Allan MacDonald, EAL’s rail specialist, ‘EAL has a pivotal part to play in transforming the rail sector in the UK – developing  a workforce that will digitise a Victorian infrastructure.’

Trailblazer apprenticeships are at the centre of a reform of apprenticeships in England. From next year, they will replace the current framework system. One of the key features is the role employers play in helping shape the programmes.

Companies involved in the creation of the Rail Engineering Technician standard apprenticeship include Network Rail, Alstom, Hitachi, HS2, TfL, VolkerRail, Carillion, Babcock, Amey and Telent.

In this month’s training section, three apprentices from telent have spoken about their experience of joining the rail industry and how they view the engineering challenges that lie ahead.

The lost railways of Heathrow

Marc Johnson
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The lost railways of Heathrow

To support the new runway at Heathrow, Andy Milne argues for a comprehensive strengthening of the airport’s rail links.

The choice of building a third runway at Heathrow at first glance appears foolhardy. Public opinion in London is against it. The airport already creates noise, gridlock and pollution. Nearby roads and motorways struggle to cope with the volume of traffic as it is. The prospect of more domestic flights hardly fits with environmental aspirations of a greener, cleaner Britain.

That said the choice of Heathrow if developed responsibly could lead to a net gain for the economy. Railways pressed into the front line of Heathrow’s supporting infrastructure can mitigate the impact of increased passenger volume on the environment. The secret lies in making more effective use of the lost railways that shadow Heathrow’s roads and runways.

EXISTING LOCAL SERVICES

Contemporary experience attests the wisdom of expanding railways to access Heathrow. Locally the railway is already delivering thousands of passengers to and from London Heathrow. The Heathrow Express has become a phenomenon in its own right – easier to use than a cab and faster – 15 minutes from Paddington. Trains are run by well-informed often multi-lingual staff. Heathrow Connect, its sister service, brings new trains and fast services to intermediate stops between the airport and the suburbs of west London.

Similarly London Underground’s Piccadilly line first reached Heathrow in the late 1970s. Plans for its upgrade – the Deep Tube Programme – include new driverless rolling stock, fully air conditioned and digitally controlled – creating extra capacity for more trains. This is still 10 years off but will at least be running by the time the third runway is ready.

The lesson from the London Underground and Heathrow Express experience is that people will flock to airport railways with enthusiasm. Just connect them up as the name suggests. It’s time to stop the dilatory approach to railway projects and open up the throttle.

GREAT WESTERN ELECTRIFICATION

The completion of the Great Western Electrification scheme presents a great opportunity for Heathrow. Traditionally the problem Heathrow has with railways was underground railway safety legislation which banned the use of diesel traction underground. Unfortunately the airport stood by one of the last unelectrified lines in the UK.

The section between Paddington and Heathrow was electrified specifically for the Heathrow Express. However, with hindsight, the creation of a London-facing junction at Stockley Road was myopic. The rather flimsy excuse that the lake to the west stood in the way won’t do.

Trains cannot run westward out of Heathrow. Various erstwhile transport secretaries, including Philip Hammond and Justine Greening, have admitted the mistake of this. Railway managers and, to their credit airport executives, warned that this was  shortsighted, back when the spur was under construction. Network Rail, with admirable prescience, has been getting on with public consultation – an interminable process which will go on throughout next year.

Then the scheme goes to the Secretary of State for approval, another potential delay. Undaunted, Network Rail already has a secret convocation of junctionnaires ready and poised to put in a left turn at Stockley.

CROSSRAIL AND THE EAST

The Crossrail project strengthens the Stockley Junction argument. By the time the third runaway opens, the Elizabeth line will be operational and connecting the Thames Valley with the hinterlands of Essex.

Trains will run to and from central and east London to Heathrow – largely replacing Heathrow Connect. Once again, the question arises: could provision be made to run trains direct into Heathrow to and from Reading or is the only way Essex?

WALES AND THE WEST

Happily the Welsh Assembly is already on the case lobbying hard for a Welsh Connection at Heathrow. Trains from the airport – given a link at Stockley – could connect Cardiff with airport terminals in under two hours. Great Western Railway (GWR) recently named a train ‘The Welshman’ in recognition of the pre-electrification work done in the Severn Tunnel.

How about naming another The Flying Welshman… and bringing a little more pressure to bear on DfT ground crews at Marsham Street? Imagine a Welsh Connection opening up Heathrow to the west generally – Bristol, Swindon, Penzance, Exeter.

The Welsh Connection articulates another argument for Heathrow’s railway expansion. Any major transport development originating in the south-east has to identify advantages for the rest of the UK. London’s economic ripple effect will be borne westward by rail. The Government can best demonstrate its determination to bridge the gap between regions and the capital by putting rail in play at Heathrow.

SCOTLAND AND THE NORTH

An emboldened Heathrow has to benefit the north country and Scotland. Not with the chaff of terminal-clogging domestic flights but by connecting Heathrow to Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and a host of other cities by rail. This is well within the compass of current railway dynamics.

Heathrow has a little known rail connection with Scotland and the North. The Great Western Main Line (GWML) is connected to the West Coast Main Line (WCML) via Acton Yard and Willesden. Admittedly trains have to snake through at low speed but it can be done. Euston can be similarly accessed by this route.

Plans exist but are gathering dust, drawn up when the railway aspired to run Heathrow Express services to Euston down through Primrose Hill Tunnel. The GWML and WCML are just a few hundred metres apart at Old Oak Common. This route, if developed and expanded, can also give access to HS2 at Euston and HS1 at St Pancras.

SURREY AND THE SOUTH

Heathrow Airport has long argued for a southwest rail link connecting it to the commuter hinterlands of south London and Surrey. Much of the workforce lives down here. Once dubbed Airtrack, no fewer than 10 feasibility studies examined the scheme. The idea is to connect Terminal Five – which already has space for two Surrey-in-a-Hurry platforms – with the Staines and Windsor Line along the route of the old West Drayton and Staines railway.

The link will effectively connect the airport with Waterloo. Unhappily the scheme was shelved in 2010 even though forward thinking aeronauts at Heathrow had done the legwork for a Transport and Works Bill in a game attempt to focus ministerial minds. Glum passengers on flights can actually see this railway as they look south on take off. A Third Runway makes such a link an imperative. A shame it was not progressed in 2010 – a case of who’s Surrey now?

FIT OF THE VAPOURS

To sum up London Heathrow, if it is to flourish it needs re-calibrated rail links with Surrey and the southwest, Wales and the West, HS1, HS2, Scotland, the Midlands and the North. Before Marsham Street succumbs to a fit of the vapours at the cost of all this, consider what Heathrow represents. It’s one of the biggest business opportunities in the game.

The revenue from the new runway will be healthy indeed. Like it or not, the world wants to come to London. Part of post-Brexit policy has to be to make it easy for that to happen. Anticipating projected revenue from the airport can inform the arithmetic of build, running and maintaining rail links.

LOST AND FOUND

Although this article is called the Lost Railways of Heathrow the truth is we all know where they are. Myths and legends abound – all pointing to the eminent practicality of developing Heathrow’s forgotten railways.

A Eurostar secretly sneaked into Heathrow Airport under cover of darkness back in 1998, so old rail hands attest.

A Gatwick Express train – back in the days of the Class 73s – once threaded its way round the West London Line from Victoria to St Pancras. This was to mark the day National Express first braved the metals, proud custodian of two franchises, Midland Main Line and Gatwick Express. I know, I was on that train.

The Government under Theresa May and long-standing transport strategist, Chris Grayling, has taken a difficult decision over Heathrow. Complementing an enlarged Heathrow with a comprehensive railway support structure will draw the sting of national criticism and lodge Europe’s most important airport at the heart of the most successful, can-do, industry in the UK.

The lost railways of Heathrow hold the key to a successful third runway. The Orange Airforce is standing by.

Photo: shutterstock.com

Digital learning curve

Marc Johnson
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Digital learning curve

Skills forecasting is a tricky business. With advanced programmes like Digital Railway, it is not easy to know exactly how technology will evolve in the next five to 10 years and what kind of skills will be required.

‘When I first took over, we were doing it to bolster our workforce and now we’re seeing these individuals as our leaders of tomorrow,’ said Kevin Saron, who heads up the Rail Apprenticeship programme within telent. ‘With the railway changing so drastically and the Digital Railway coming in… it’s quite a hard thing to predict.’

The company has looked to adapt its apprenticeship blueprint in the last couple of years to meet its future needs. It has done so by analysing

feedback from those in the business and looking at changes within the industry to assess what level of proficiency its workforce will need in the future. To help do this, the Digital Railway programme is in the process of formulating a long-term strategy that will give company’s like telent the confidence to invest in training.

Some of the changes to telent’s apprenticeship scheme have focused on the delivery rather than the content. Whilst working as a construction manager on Thameslink, Kevin identified ways in which he believed the Rail Apprenticeship programme could return better results for the company.

Until a couple of years ago, apprentices would immediately undertake a mix of work placements, learning the theory at night through distance learning to achieve an NVQ Level 2 in ICT Systems and Principles.

The apprenticeship programme now puts an emphasis on classroom learning. Apprentices work towards an NVQ Level 3 in Electrical Engineering and spend a full year at Prospects College of Advanced Technology (PROCAT) in Basildon developing practical skills before they are deployed on a live site.

‘The big thing for us is our behaviour and culture which backs it up,’ said Kevin. ‘By bringing the engineers through our own apprentice scheme, the beliefs, the behaviours, the cultures are there all the way through.’

He added, ‘The work we do within telent is quite bespoke. The GSM-R work we’ve done is quite bespoke, the RETB work up in Scotland is quite bespoke… so the guys that we bring through like that they’ve already had the knowledge and they’ve worked and got the experience on these bespoke projects so when another one comes in it’s not daunting for them.’

As well as discussing best practice within telent, Kevin attends a forum between the various engineering companies that deliver their apprenticeship programmes through PROCAT. Although determined to hold on to them, Kevin recognises that investing in apprentices is good no matter where they end up. ‘The industry’s small. We’ll bump into them again,’

During a visit to telent’s headquarters in Warwick, three rail apprentices at different stages in the programme, Charlton, Joe and Alex, spoke about how well prepared they feel to take on the industry’s future engineering challenges.

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CHARLTON MCBRIDE, 23, COVENTRY

‘When I left school I didn’t know what I wanted to do,’ said Charlton, who left sixth form with A-levels in sport science, drama and media.

Charlton plays Gaelic football and is a member of the Four Masters squad, which is surprisingly one of three Gaelic football teams in Coventry. As well as contemplating a career in sport, he had toyed with joining the RAF, and later considered university, before applying for the apprenticeship following a recommendation from one of his teammates.

Charlton was one of the last to complete the old format apprenticeships. The first project he worked on was an RETB scheme in Wales, followed by the resignalling scheme at Nottingham station in 2013.

‘It’s hard when you work away Monday to Friday and then you’ve got to make the most of your weekend really,’ said Charlton. ‘You’ve got to see the girlfriend, see family, try and fit sports in as well, but it’s good, I enjoy it.’

Charlton is currently undertaking a level three qualification in site management after which he plans to look into doing a level seven qualification.

‘There’s constantly going to be work on the railway,’ said Charlton who was also excited by the prospects presented by HS2. ‘We’ve just come on at the right time, so hopefully when HS2 does go off then we’ll be there ready. We’ll have the experience to go work on that.’

JOE NORTHORP, 21, COVENTRY

Working all day and then getting called out late at night isn’t for everyone, says Joe, but he quite enjoys it.

Like Charlton, Joe had been courting a career in sport before spotting the opportunity to join telent online.

Studying a degree only to later pursue a different career entirely didn’t suit Joe. ‘I think you find it a bit more rewarding being an apprentice because you’ve worked so hard for three years, or however long your apprenticeship was, and then you’re going into that industry afterwards… you’re always working towards something.’

Joe is two years into his three-year course. He was one of the first to complete the block training year at PROCAT. Having completed his first year, Joe went to work on the East West Rail project, delivering a new rail link between Oxford and Bicester. The project, which didn’t impose quite the same pressures as working on a live railway, was a forgiving introduction. Even so, Joe was keen to get involved and was undaunted by the tasks he was asked to complete.

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‘It’s responsibility you want to take yourself. It’s not just being forced upon you. You want to take responsibility yourself because you want to learn, you want to get better yourself.’

He added, ‘We want to do it, do it ourselves, do the work not just stand by and hand people tools, you want to actually get involved.’

ALEX ROBINSON, 21, LEAMINGTON SPA

Alex is the newest of the three recruits. With his year at PROCAT complete, Alex is now starting to put into practice some of the theory.

Having worked at sites in Swindon and Bristol, he’s now supporting a project in the capital. ‘Now I’m down in Euston, which is a survey and removal project. They’ve taken me down there to write spreadsheets to record all the data of removing and see what’s left so that’s given [me] a bit more responsibility within the project.’

Alex found information about telent’s apprenticeship scheme on the National Apprenticeship Service website. ‘To me it is a good opportunity,’ he said. ‘It lets you learn, get the skill and obviously the perk of being paid.’

The prospect of a digital railway, what it will mean for contractors and suppliers, is daunting. But there are steps being taken by the rail industry – at telent and elsewhere – to stay ahead of the curve, planning and studying now for a future that although more challenging promises to be much more rewarding than the past.

Vision for stations

Marc Johnson
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Vision for stations

Towards the end of the 19th century, Joseph Pulitzer ran a campaign in his newspaper, the New York World, to raise money for the base of the Statue of Liberty after the US government had failed to raise the funds itself. In return for a few dollars, readers received a miniature souvenir statue – an early example of crowdfunding.

The story behind the Statue of Liberty’s plinth was told by Niraj Dattani, head of community development at crowdfunding platform Spacehive, during the third Rail Delivery Group (RDG) Stations Summit last month.

Crowdfunding has already been used successfully to benefit Britain’s railway. Flying Scotsman owes its comeback in part to public contributions. Niraj, the final speaker of the day, was now pitching crowdfunding as an alternative way of funding station projects. It is an interesting idea to many in the audience in an environment where investment tends to be targeted at large stations, leaving smaller interchanges relying on community rail partnerships to deliver improvements.

RDG began its Stations Summit series in 2014. The first event tried to establish a shared vision for stations for the industry to back, the second launched that vision and the third set out to begin embedding it. ‘Railways really matter and stations are the gateways to our amazing railway system,’ said Dominic Booth, managing director of Abellio UK and chair of the RDG’s Station Strategy Group, opening the conference.

The vision for stations is based on a set of fundamental ideas for what stations should be. These nine principles stress that stations should be designed to meet the needs of all customers, be integrated with other travel modes, be safe and secure, and enhance the communities they are at the heart of.

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The ‘Vision for Stations’ document talks about ensuring that stations continue to meet the fast-changing needs of passengers. To illustrate this, RDG approached BPR Architects to design a set of CGI concepts for a station that incorporated each of these attributes; a model on which the more than 2,500 stations around the country could be based on.

COHERENT STRATEGY

An operator currently struggling with its stations is Northern. The lack of a coherent strategy over the years has left many of the stations across the Northern network bearing little resemblance to one another, said managing director Alex Hynes. Given that Northern manages around 20 per cent of the national stations estate, it is a sizeable challenge to take on.

But, with its new franchise deal in place, Northern is in a position to do something about this. Over the next few years, the operator will invest £60 million in its stations. ‘We’re going to make sure that the small and medium-sized stations get their share of the action,’ said Alex.

One particular point of contention for Alex was the lack of shelter at many stations, but the money will help address a number of other issues as well. ‘We operate more stations than anyone else. Most of them have no real-time information, no staff and no ability to buy a ticket.’

Alex also spoke about increasing the number of station adopters across the network. Earlier in the year, Northern created its Community Rail Executive Group (COMREG) – a forum led by Arriva designed to build on its relationships with community rail partnerships and friends group along the route. In addition, Northern has created new community outreach management roles within the business.

PROJECT OSPREY

‘It’s difficult to deliver exceptional customer service if we don’t have investment,’ said Network Rail’s managing director Phil Hufton at the beginning of the conference, discussing the important role stations play in customer satisfaction.

Although so much of the summit was focussed on the challenges facing small and medium-sized stations, it is actually the smaller stations which regularly outperform Network Rail’s 18 managed stations in the National Rail Passenger Survey (NRPS).

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Network Rail’s stations director, Norrie Courts, later gave details about Project Osprey, an initiative exploring alternative funding models for stations, starting with the 18 largest. Norrie said that with less government funding expected in the future, the industry will need to be clear on its station investment priorities for CP6. Norrie followed Mike Goggins, who spoke about a complementary piece of research Steer Davies Gleave is working on which, in part, is looking at future models for leasing and managing stations.

The vision, by trying to anticipate the needs of future passengers, hopes to bring stations in line with public expectation. One session considered what facilities and services a station for HS2 might need. Will passengers still rely on large passenger information boards in 2027?

By 2030, RDG hopes to have achieved its vision. The Station Strategy Group is currently working with the Department for Transport (DfT) to deliver franchises that offer a transformative future for stations and also with local authorities to consider where stations fit within housing and development masterplans. More funding for community rail partnerships in the next few years will also mean more worthwhile projects will be able to get off the ground than in the past.

As Dominic Booth wrote in his foreword, RDG now needs to come up with a strategy to realise its vision. The complex nature of ownership and funding within the rail industry suggests that this won’t be straightforward, but those passionate about delivering it don’t believe it is insurmountable.

Apprentices going Underground with 4LM

Marc Johnson
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Apprentices going Underground with 4LM

Being scouted by a professional team is the goal for any aspiring footballer, but it’s also where the hard work really begins. ‘You’re classed as an apprentice, so you study while playing football for the first two years,’ explained Mitchell Nelson, who was signed by Colchester in 2009 before going on to spend two years at current Premier League side AFC Bournemouth, among other clubs.

His first couple of years as a professional were spent cleaning boots and sweeping up the changing rooms in addition to a demanding training schedule and playing fixtures. However, a bad injury sadly put Mitchell’s football career on hold, forcing him to re-evaluate his future and plan for a career away from the pitch.

Mitchell, 27, is now entering the final year of a signalling apprenticeship with Thales.

His dad and brother were both mechanical engineers and when a friend recommended Thales’ apprenticeship scheme, it sounded like an interesting opportunity.

The three-year scheme incorporates a combination of classroom and on-the-job training, with apprentices spending less time at college and more time completing placements within the business as the course goes on.

Aaron Lendor, 21, who has just graduated from the scheme, had been planning to go to university to study engineering before finding out more about the apprenticeship programme. For Mitchell, university was never an attractive prospect.

‘When they went to university, both my brother and sister were changing their mind a bit,’ said Mitchell. ‘And when they finished they didn’t even do the same thing they actually studied. For me, it was a huge benefit to be able to learn whilst working and earning good money.’

Based in London, Mitchell and Aaron have spent their apprenticeships working on one of the largest re-signalling projects currently underway anywhere in the world. Not a bad way to begin a new career.

4LM

Known as the Four Lines Modernisation programme (4LM), the project covers a series of major improvements to London Underground’s District, Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines.

Installation is now underway and the first section of line to use the new signalling will be commissioned in 2019 – the same year that the new Hammersmith Service Control Centre opens. By the time the project is completed in 2023, the entire network will benefit from service frequencies of up to 32 trains an hour across the network in peak times.

Mitchell worked with one of the teams tasked with surveying the tunnels of the Sub-Surface Lines; the data from which is being used to plan the installation of the sensors that will provide the signalling control centre with the positional data of trains on the network. Both Aaron and Mitchell have been seconded to subcontractor Kelly ITS to work with the teams installing the lineside infrastructure before taking up their role as testers. Opportunities for employees to take on these secondments is one example of the collaborative approach taken by the 4LM supply chain.

‘I was speaking with my mum yesterday and was saying how much of a good opportunity it is for us all,’ said Mitchell. ‘Years down the line, having experience on 4LM will be so good to have on our CVs. We were part of the modernisation of one of the biggest transport systems in the world.’

Paul Scott, who manages Thales’ signalling apprentices, said 4LM was ‘a great advertisement’ for Thales when looking to attract apprentices and graduates. ‘When we’ve got massive projects like 4LM, it’s almost one of the first things they talk about in their interview. It’s so widely known and certainly for those who live in London; it’s personal to work on the Underground lines which some use every day.’

FOCUS ON QUALITY

The security and publicity generated by major projects is something the rail industry will need to leverage in coming years to attract skilled young talent to fill the rail engineering skills gap that is so widely discussed.

The UK government has committed itself to creating three million apprenticeships by 2020 and next year it plans to introduce an apprenticeship levy to help provide the funding needed to achieve that target. Companies with a wage bill over £3 million will have to pay into the levy, but in turn will be able to draw from the fund to support apprenticeship programmes.

Most large and medium-sized companies appear to have already seen the value of setting up an apprenticeship scheme and hope the reforms will allow them to do more. Thales is a good example and says it is committed to getting the most from the £1.6 million it expects to pay into the levy from next spring by  continuing to develop its apprenticeship scheme. Says Paul, ‘Having run the scheme since 2013, the business is reaping the benefits that apprentices have had on operations, from bringing diversity and new ways of thinking into teams, to having a flexible and eager workforce on hand, keen to work where they’re most needed across Thales’ projects in the UK.’

Mitchell and Aaron both speak positively about their experience. Aaron said the plan for him, and the feeling among his apprenticeship group in general, was to ‘get as high as we can in the organisation as quick as we can’, showing the ambition and vision that undertaking the apprenticeship at Thales has inspired.

Aaron and others in his year have also become good friends. They regularly socialise at the weekends and after work or college. It illustrates the camaraderie between the apprentice groups, something which ‘makes going into work or college each day something to look forward to,’ says Aaron.

Paul, who began his career as a trainee with British Rail in 1990, was impressed by the progress made by his fledgling engineers.

‘Of all the jobs I’ve had, this is by far the most satisfying,’ he says. ‘To see these girls and guys come in and be very green to the industry and progress to where someone like Aaron is now. To get them, nurture them to a certain degree, and develop them to become top quality engineers – I’m a proud manager.’

Mitchell still plays semi-professional football: he’s a star defender at Welling United in the Vanarama National League South. But engineering is where his passion lies and he looks forward to promoting apprenticeships to others in the future. ‘I found out about an apprenticeship at Thales by it being recommended to me. I’m proud to talk about it, so if I can do that for other people, the benefit would come full circle.’

Expansion for rail apprenticeships

Marc Johnson
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Expansion for rail apprenticeships

Network Rail is to expand its award winning Advanced Apprenticeship Scheme.

The company has pledged to recruit 140 new apprentices to start training in March 2017. The three-year scheme will now offer 300 young people the chance to ‘earn while they learn’ in 2017.

Apprentices will be recruited in two intakes – in March and September – gaining valuable work experience, transferable skills and recognised qualifications.

As well as the 50 per cent increase in the number of opportunities available over the year, Network Rail has moved the Advanced Apprenticeship to a new home at its modern training and development centre near Coventry in the West Midlands.

Apprentices will spend the first five months of the three-year scheme at the training centre, specialising in one of five areas: electrification and plant, overhead lines, signalling, telecoms or track. They then move to local depots for on-the-job training on the railway’s front line, gaining knowledge and vital skills from experienced team members.

Says Network Rail apprentice, Hamzah Kola, ‘I’m currently working in my depot and getting to put the theory that I was taught during my first year of the scheme into action. Most of my managers are former apprentices so I can see there is lots of opportunity to progress within the organisation and Network Rail offers so many career paths and opportunities. Joining the Advanced Apprenticeship scheme is the best decision that I’ve ever made.’ Apprentices join the 20,000-strong orange army of front line engineers and technicians responsible for Britain’s rail infrastructure.

The majority of those coming through the apprentice scheme build successful careers with Network Rail. Eighty-five per cent of those who started on the scheme in 2005, when it was first launched, are still working for the organisation.

Rail staff conquer Mount Kenya

Marc Johnson
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Rail staff conquer Mount Kenya

A team of 20 intrepid rail staff has raised £90,000 for the Railway Children in a dramatic 11-day expedition to the summit of Mount Kenya. Climbers braved storm force winds and bad weather to raise money for the charity which helps children at risk on the streets.

At a height of 4,985m, the group had to contend with the effects of altitude, including headaches, nausea and exhaustion as well as freezing temperatures. The bold attempt to reach the summit was nearly cancelled by winds of 90 mph.

Says Katie Mason, events manager from Railway Children, ‘This year we saw some of the toughest conditions ever. But despite a couple of the group suffering from extreme vertigo, they conquered their fears and, as dawn broke, all twenty reached their goal and were rewarded with a sensational sunrise over East Africa. The support from our sponsors, Worldline, has been amazing and to have raised £90,000 is a fantastic achievement for everyone involved. Funds raised from the trip will go directly to children in need in East Africa, India and the UK.

From providing shelter, food, and clothing to medical supplies, education and counselling, we will be able to reach and transform the lives of so many more children. Children like Ravi, aged just three years old, who was found a couple of weeks before tied to a tree in the middle of a forest with burn marks and a broken arm. Thanks to the Mount Kenya trekkers, children like Ravi now have a future.’

After the trek, the group travelled to Kitale and spent a day at a drop-in centre for street children funded by Railway Children to see first hand what a difference their fundraising efforts will make. The group also visited a short-term home in Birunda, where children stay until Railway Children can help them be reunited with their families or an alternative long-term solution can be found.

Says Lisa Coleman, UK&I chief executive, Worldline, ‘The challenge of climbing Mount Kenya was hard by our standards, but incomparable to the daily hardships these children have faced, the horrendous conditions, the starvation, just to survive another day. And Railway Children’s frontline staff at Kitale are incredible. Seeing how they connect with the children, working with each one individually, as well as supporting the children’s families to get them the best possible outcome for the future is truly inspiring.’

Curzon plan brings HS2 boom to Birmingham

Marc Johnson
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Curzon plan brings HS2 boom to Birmingham

Birmingham has unveiled ambitious plans to maximise the benefits of HS2. City leaders have launched the Curzon Investment Plan, a 30 year strategy to  regenerate the 141 hectares of land around the planned HS2 Curzon Street Station.

Almost £1 billion of investment is being committed to the project. HS2 will help create 36,000 jobs, 4,000 new homes and 600,000 square metres of commercial floor space. The HS2 station at Curzon Street will form the focus for a regenerated neighbourhood, with houses, offices, shops and squares.

Theresa May, Prime Minister, welcomed the plan. ‘I’m delighted that Greater Birmingham is making this investment in the future, working to maximise the potential of HS2 by investing in jobs and housing – and encouraging more business investment.

‘It was in Birmingham where I outlined my plan to build an economy that works for all, with a proper industrial strategy that delivers prosperity, job creation and higher wages across the country, not just in London. That’s what the Curzon Investment Plan aims to do in Greater Birmingham.’

She added that her administration was right behind the initiative. The Curzon Regeneration Company will take responsibility for driving the delivery of Curzon.

Crossrail archaeology

Marc Johnson
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Crossrail archaeology

The building of the Elizabeth line, the biggest infrastructure project in Europe, has revealed a wealth of archaeological treasures. Artefacts from earlier times have excited archaeologists and are considered well worth a major exhibition which will be staged at the Museum of London Docklands near Canary Wharf from the 10 February to 3 September 2017.

The museum is one of the few old buildings to survive in London’s Docklands. The erstwhile No.1 Warehouse for Sugar at West India Quay looks proud but out of place amongst the sea of glass, steel and concrete. Inside it affords a timely reminder of what the London Docklands were like some 60 years ago.

The scope of finds

Jackie Keily, the lead curator for the exhibition, tells of 10,000 individual artefacts being found, of which around 300 will be in the exhibition. All of these originate from the central core of the Crossrail route, covering Stratford in the east, Abbey Wood in the south and Westbourne Park in the west. Most have been found where the new tunnels are close to the surface.

Some 200 archaeologists worked at the various sites when tunnel boring work was at its peak. The findings tell the story of the men and women who lived and worked in the locality several thousand years ago.

A sample of findings

Relics include:

  • A neolithic flint scraper used for tool making found near North Woolwich station and dating from 8,000 years ago
  • A Tudor bowling ball probably used for games at Johns Court Manor and found near Stepney Green station
  • Seventeen Medieval iron horse shoes (known as hipposandals) found near Liverpool Street, then a gateway to the city and clearly where much horse changing activity took place
  • A selection of 16,000 jam and pickle jars from the Crosse and Blackwell bottling factory that existed near to Tottenham Court Road station in Victorian times
  • Medieval animal bones fashioned into skates for times when the river was frozen over.

Not all the finds have been that pleasant. Many human remains were found in a mass grave at the Bedlam burial ground near Liverpool Street. DNA evidence shows that these people died of the plague. Animal remains also abound and most of the environmental findings were concentrated in Liverpool Street.

Preserving the past

With the massive boring machines used to excavate the tunnels, the question is: how does the work stop before the machines churn up all that goes before them? Jay Carver, the archivist for Crossrail, explained that this needed very careful planning and consistent team work.

Research from earlier archaeological digs had indicated the likelihood of finds in the various layers of soil. In these areas, specialist archaeologists were assigned to the boring teams and were given time to inspect the earth in the particular spot. Should the machine bring out something of interest, then work would be stopped for a short period to allow hand excavation to take place. Thus a process developed that all parties recognised as vital to the unearthing of history. No serious disruption to the work programme occurred.

Many other relics were unearthed and it begged the question as to when the past begins. The answer is ‘yesterday’ as many items emanating from the late 20th century will be of interest to future generations. More recent past finds have to be treated with a degree of pragmatism and genuine rubbish is consigned to the bin where it should have been put in the first place.

Keep an eye on the publicity for Tunnel: the Archaeology of Crossrail.

Written by Clive Kessell

Photo: Crossrail

Northern powerhouse turns apprenticeship hub

Marc Johnson
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Northern powerhouse turns apprenticeship hub

‘This is the start. This is the start of your career… Set your own targets, set your own goals,’ said the Mayor of Doncaster, Ros Jones, directly addressing a new cohort of Intertrain apprentices.

On September 27, new and current apprentices were brought together at Intertrain’s Balby Court headquarters for a celebratory event entitled ‘Driving for Success’. Sixty-five new apprentices will complete placements with various companies in the Sheffield City Region. The event served to bring local employers together to demonstrate the role they are playing in achieving the UK’s skills strategy.

The group are the latest apprentices to be trained at the Balby Court Business Campus – the largest of Intertrain’s nine sites around the UK. The vast facility includes a 100-metre test track and 16 classrooms, which allows Intertrain to deliver a comprehensive training programme, ranging from courses in track safety, electrification and for becoming a machine/crane controller, among others.

Since Intertrain began offering apprenticeships, with the guidance and support of RNN Training, in 2011, more than 300 apprentices have gone on to gain qualifications, thanks to Intertrain’s experienced team of trainers, and are currently employed by agencies and contractors around the country, including the likes of Carillion, Babcock Rail, Ballycommon, Aspin Group, VolkerRail, Coyle and ISS Labour.

Intertrain’s managing director Keith Jessop said he hoped the open day would demonstrate to employers what the company had to offer. It was also a reminder to apprentices that ultimately the industry needs them to ‘come good’.

150 APPRENTICES IN 2017

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Tom Harty.

‘You’ll never have this opportunity again and you have to grasp it with both hands,’ said Brian Jebson, general manager of Carillion Rail Resourcing, in a similarly spirited rally cry. He too joined the railway as an apprentice following the decline of heavy industry in Sheffield during the early 1990s.

Carillion is one of the supporters of Intertrain’s apprenticeship programme. In recent years, the company has moved to directly employ more of its workforce and has committed in its budget to creating 150 apprenticeships in 2017. Its partnership with Intertrain in South Yorkshire is in addition to the company’s own technical apprenticeship programme. If successful, it’s an approach Carillion may adopt in other regions.

Speaking to RailStaff, Brian said, ‘Really it was how do we develop and grow a viable workforce for Carillion. For me, it’s about starting with young people and giving them that chance because that way we can mould them, we can mirror them in our image, we can give them the Carillion values.’

He went on, ‘We are looking to roll this model out in other parts of the country. We’ve a partner we’re looking to meet with in Wales and Scotland.

‘We have the work. We have the workforce to manage these people, so it’s only right to get people in.’

A SOLDIER, A CHEF AND A BOXER

Two of the Carillion apprentices who spoke on the day included a former soldier and a chef. Tom Harty, who now works as a crane controller for TXM Plant having come through the apprenticeship scheme, used to be a boxer. Tom qualified for his crane controller license within just three years of starting his apprenticeship. ‘Keep your heads down lads; it’s all there for you,’ he told the group.

Andy Joy, managing director of Carillion Rail, was sat in the crowd as they spoke about their reasons for pursuing a career in the industry. ‘We all recognise that the future of the rail industry requires new talent and new people to be attracted into the industry and this is a fantastic example of providing that first step and entry into the rail industry.’

Much of the focus on apprenticeships has been on driving up numbers, but the way in which schemes are funded and delivered is fundamentally changing. Tim Gladman from RNN Training explained the move towards having independent end-point assessments for all apprentices and, significantly for employers, how the new apprenticeship levy will work.

Andy said Carillion should be in a good position to benefit from the levy. ‘The levy encourages you… Carillion are as well placed as anybody to draw down on that and looks to support the ongoing apprenticeship schemes; and not just apprentices in this environment but also to provide further development and structured learning for our existing employees who maybe want to retrain.’

BLUE HATS

Although slightly dejected at realising he had become one of those grey-haired managers he remembered seeing early in his career, Steve Welsh, senior programme manager at Babcock Rail, spoke about how he thought the ‘blue hats’ supplied through Intertrain had benefited the business, but acknowledged that their introduction hadn’t been without its challenges. Site managers working to demanding timescales crave a ready-made workforce and Steve said it had taken time to identify the best people to coach and counsel newcomers. ‘It doesn’t matter if they’re white or blue hats for me, it’s how enthusiastic they are,’ said Steve.

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Brian Jebson (left) with Alex Pond.

Through labour supply agency First Structure, Steve is able to employ eager Intertrain apprentices, giving them the necessary experience to progress.

Alex Pond, managing director of First Structure, said that in order for the industry to address its ageing workforce it needed to bring in young, enthusiastic, skilled people. ‘For me the apprenticeship programme ticks every box.’

Jimmy Wilson, Ballycommon’s rail director, agrees, ‘We are happy to invest in apprentices because if they are mentored and supported correctly, then they offer real value to the business as well as improving their social and economic status.’

South Yorkshire is already a valuable contributor to rail’s training sector. It will gain international recognition with the opening of the National College for High Speed Rail in Doncaster next year, which will rely on providers like Intertrain for its ‘hub and spoke’ approach to work.

Doncaster’s reputation as a historic railway town was assured by Mallard and Flying Scotsman, but the training being delivered at Intertrain ensures the railway will be part of its future as well.

Getting the industry talking about suicide

Marc Johnson
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Getting the industry talking about suicide

Many of us avoid talking about suicide; but, sadly, it’s something many of us will be affected by in our lifetime. Rail industry staff encounter it more than most.

In 2010, Samaritans and Network Rail began a rail suicide prevention programme on behalf of the industry in 2010 that set out to get the industry talking about suicide: it has succeeded. In the past three years, there have more than 2,000 interventions by railway staff and British Transport Police (BTP) officers which have prevented someone from taking their own life on the railway.

The programme’s Managing Suicidal Contacts training course helps give staff the skills and confidence to identify vulnerable people and act. To date, more than 11,500 railway staff have completed the course. The charity also runs trauma support courses for train drivers and other staff who have been affected by a suicide. More than 1,500 people have attended one of these courses to date.

Samaritan’s latest campaign, ‘We Listen’, aimed to reinforce the message that Samaritan’s volunteers are on hand not just to hear problems, but to really listen and try to help.

Lifesaver Award

‘People may be in crisis because of something that has happened in their lives. It is often a silent and excruciating pain,’ said Samaritans’ programme manager Ola Rzepczynska, who was speaking to RailStaff for an article which was published earlier this year about the partnership’s work.

‘One of the most valuable things about the Network Rail and Samaritans partnership is making people aware. It gets the rail industry talking about suicide, and the more aware people are and the more they can understand the complex issues behind it, the better equipped they will be to help or seek support for themselves.’

Samaritans once again sponsored the RailStaff Awards Lifesaver Award, which each year recognises people who have saved a life or made a lifesaving intervention on the railway. In the past few years, numerous stories have been told about staff who have stepped in to protect passengers or prevent individuals from taking their own life on the railway.

Courage

Ola added: “Samaritans are delighted to be sponsoring the Lifesaver Award for the fifth year in a row. We have been working with the rail industry since 2010 on the suicide prevention programme and have delivered our suicide prevention courses to over 11,000 staff, giving them the tools to be able to help vulnerable and potentially suicidal people on the network.

“During this time there have been many examples of potentially life-saving interventions by rail industry personnel and British Transport Police officers all over England, Scotland and Wales. Approximately 1,000 interventions have been carried out since April last year.

“All of the individuals involved have proved that having the courage and taking the time to talk and listen to someone in need can make a real difference to a person’s life.

“It is fantastic that we are able to recognise the huge positive difference that rail industry staff have been making on the network at the RailStaff awards this year by sponsoring the award once again.”

‘Commuter’s hero’ and young rail professional steal the show

Marc Johnson
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‘Commuter’s hero’ and young rail professional steal the show

Southern driver Steve Copley, described in his nomination as a ‘commuter’s hero’, was named the RailStaff Awards Train Driver of the Year.

Steve, possibly the only driver in the world with his own hashtag, hosts a daily guess the year quiz in an attempt to brighten the day of his passengers.

Says Steve, ‘I am absolutely overwhelmed. I never thought for a million years that I would win considering the tough competition from people who have had fatalities and done a lot more worthy things than I have.

‘All I’ve tried to do is keep people talking on a train. That’s all, that’s it and I’m really humbled.’

Steve, who is based at Victoria, worked for London Underground as a track engineer before achieving a childhood goal of becoming a driver nine years ago.

He explained where the idea of hosting a quiz came from. ‘It started off sitting at a red signal when there’s only so many things you can say… It was just something to do to pass the time.’

Steve thought it was the ‘human touch’ he provides which had led to his nomination. ‘You can put the automatic announcement out, say we’re sitting at a red [signal], but that doesn’t really help anyone.’

Hitachi Rail Europe sponsored the Train Driver of the Year category this year – a reflection of its growing status as one of the UK’s premier train builders.

In September last year, the company opened its Newton Aycliffe site, which is currently delivering the Class 385 fleet for ScotRail. It later acquired Italian manufacturer AnsaldoBreda and a majority stake in Ansaldo STS, developing its rolling stock and rail systems business across Europe.

Says Ian Dawson, head of operation and delivery, Hitachi Rail Europe, ‘Hitachi are delighted to have this particular award and Steve is, quite rightly, humbled because the competition was incredible, it really was. When I read all the citations it was a really, really tough category to decide on but he’s done an excellent job. If you get on his train in the morning, it’s a different experience.

‘His people have spoken. He could probably have won three maybe even four of these categories, so I take my hat off to him. If Hitachi had drivers up and down the line, I would certainly recommend that my MD hired him tomorrow.’

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Stephen Head (left) with City Surveys’ Ian Johnson.

The final accolade of the night, Rail Person of the Year, was won by Adam Stead. As well as running his own consultancy business, Adam is a prominent supporter of Young Rail Professionals (YRP), the Railway Study Association and INCOSE. This year, Adam spearheaded Rail Week, a series of some 150 events around the country run over one week in July to engage young people with the rail industry.

Adam’s friend and YRP colleague Stephen Head, who collected the award on his behalf, described Adam’s passion for the rail industry.

Says Stephen, ‘Adam’s done a tremendous amount of work with Young Rail Professionals, which is all voluntary, and that’s all about promoting the rail industry and promoting young people in the industry.

‘He’s some fantastic initiatives and really helped YRP grow as an organisation, helped a lot of young people in the industry come together and network, and just to understand more about this industry we work in.’

This year the sponsor of the Rail Person of the Year category was City Surveys. A Network Rail principal contractor, City Surveys started with just one member of staff and a couple of pieces of surveying equipment. The company, which offers track surveys and monitoring, ground investigations, ecology surveys and utility mapping services, now employs around 60 people at three offices around the country.

Ian Johnson, key accounts director at City Surveys, said he believed the category ‘embodies the entire awards’ in the way it recognises such a wide variety of roles.

He added, ’A lot of the awards ceremonies seem to focus on companies, teams, organisations, significant projects… and too often the individual can be the person who gives the most and is most valuable to that project.’

TRAIN DRIVER OF THE YEAR HIGHLY COMMENDED

Davinder Shanker, East Midlands Trains

IanPalmer, Northern

RAIL PERSON OF THE YEAR HIGHLY COMMENDED

Lee Clinton, telent
Ajmal Akram, Great Western Railway

SNC-Lavalin flying the flag for rail managers

Marc Johnson
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SNC-Lavalin flying the flag for rail managers

2016 has been a big year for us says SNC-Lavalin managing director Richard George. In the company’s own words, it has been a year of transition. On 1 January 2016, the Derby-based engineering consultancy Interfleet became SNC-Lavalin Rail & Transit after assuming the name of the company that acquired it back in 2011.

RailStaff spoke to Richard earlier this year. He had initially been anxious about what impact the re-branding could have on the company, but was subsequently buoyed by the early reaction. ‘Around the world the profile has now changed and that will take time to come through, but it certainly has not done us any damage at all and there are some opportunities that have been opened up as a consequence.’

SNC-Lavalin has continued to publicise its new image over the last few months, as it looks to grow its technical capability and workforce in the UK and overseas.

SNC-Lavalin sponsored this year’s RailStaff Awards Rail Manager of the Year category. A traditionally well-contested category, the trophy was presented to Heathrow Express’ Brian Keenan last year after he saved the life of a passenger and this year to Merseyrail’s Ian Taylor.

Below, Richard explains why the company is supporting this year’s event and what value he believes it brings to the industry.

Q: Why are you supporting the awards this year and specifically what drew you to the Rail Manager of the Year category?

2016 has been a big year for us – as it kicked off with our re-brand – adopting the name of our owning company SNC-Lavalin has given us the opportunity to go out and wave the flag a bit more than we might have done in other years. But as always, it’s also been a big year for the rail industry as a whole, with many things keeping us in the news.

The challenges of railways always take good management; we wanted to celebrate this, and sponsoring Rail Manager of the Year seemed like a good way to do so.

Q: Do you feel it is important to have an event in the calendar which recognises individuals in the rail industry rather than companies?

Absolutely. Our business is firmly grounded in the experience of our staff. It is their combined skills and experience which make us a leader in
our field. Each company – no matter what size – is made up of individuals, and it’s important to recognise this. At the end of the day, people do business with other people.

Q: In terms of retention and development, how important do you feel this sort of recognition is for staff?

Very important. We hold our own employee recognition awards internally, as part of our Great Place to Work initiative. Since introducing this scheme, we’ve seen staff retention improve and satisfaction levels increase. I think it’s fantastic that the RailStaff Awards do this on a bigger scale, on behalf of the entire industry.

Q: The RailStaff Awards bring together people from all different kinds of rail industry roles. Is there value in bringing together people in the industry who probably have very little interaction with one another normally?

Yes, 100 per cent. Occasions like this provide a great opportunity to network, meet new people and catch up with familiar faces that you haven’t seen in a while. Obviously it’s a social event so it’s not all about ‘talking shop’, but there will be lots of guests sharing experiences and swapping stories; and that is invaluable.

Photo: SNC-Lavalin’s Michael Grace (right) with this year’s winner, Ian Taylor.

First class honours for Network Rail graduate and NTRS

Marc Johnson
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First class honours for Network Rail graduate and NTRS

Ambitious Network Rail graduate Lucy Hoyle won the 2016 Graduate of the Year award.

Lucy, who studied geography at University College London (UCL) before joining the Network Rail graduate scheme in September 2015, said she had always been interested in working in infrastructure and construction.

She is currently part of the Network Rail Transformation team, which is responsible for implementing new ways of working within Network Rail. The role requires Lucy
to demonstrate outstanding stakeholder management skills.

‘It’s quite a surprise,’ said Lucy, reacting to her award win. ‘It’s also really exciting because I think there is a lot of talent in the industry, and I think it’s important to recognise the talent, so I feel really proud to have been recognised as the winner.’

Lucy described her experience within the rail industry as a ‘whirlwind’. ‘I’ve had two six-month placements and they’ve both been completely different, but I think that’s put me in good stead for the future.’

She’s now looking forward to what a career in rail could offer. ‘There is literally so much to see… I think there’s so many more avenues to explore and that’s why I’m thinking going forward I’d like to explore more different opportunities and different teams.’

Graduate of the Year was sponsored by rail telecommunications specialists telent, which has been designing and delivering telecomms networks for over 30 years. telent runs its own two-year graduate scheme for aspiring engineers and project managers.

Says telent’s Stephen Dalton, ‘The industry as a whole is going through a bit of a transition.’

He believed that graduates bringing ‘new passion’ and ‘new energy’ into the industry would play a key role.

‘We at telent, we’re transitioning as a business as well from a traditional lineside operational comms organisation through now to the IP and technology for Digital Railway and we see graduates playing an important part in that.’

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Jason Garside (left) with Alex Pedley.

The NTRS training team won the Training Team of the Year award. NTRS has a City & Guilds-accredited and EAL- approved training centre in Sheffield. As well as supporting the training requirements of its parent company, Linbrooke, the centre offers training services to the wider rail industry.

Jason Garside, head of client development for NTRS, said the award was ‘absolutely fantastic’.

Construction and Rail Training (CART) was the sponsor of this year’s Trainer/Training Team of the Year award. Established in 2015, the company has more than 40 years of combined experience within the rail and construction sectors. Initially operating from a single site in Baldock, Hertfordshire, the company now has a satellite training centre in Sheffield and is preparing to open a second in Essex.

Alex Pedley, business development and funding director, CART, believed CART and NTRS share the same focus on quality in training. ‘That is what everybody in the rail industry has got to work to,’ said Alex. ‘We’ve seen it in the past where things maybe have not been done quite right, but it’s getting to that stage now where everything has got to be done to a tee. We’ve got to do it and NTRS are demonstrating that.’

He added, ‘It’s a fantastic night that highlights the quality throughout the industry. I think as an industry as a whole the quality of everything we do from training to delivery to engineering, everything we do, it’s gone through the roof in the last few years and I think it’s only going to get better.’

GRADUATE OF THE YEAR HIGHLY COMMENDED

  • Emma Taylor, SNC-Lavalin Rail & Transit
  • Chris Kelly, Alstom Transport UK

TRAINER/TRAINING TEAM OF THE YEAR HIGHLY COMMENDED

  • Steve Tollerton, Jason Alexandre and Rob Christopher, Samaritans’ Managing Suicidal Contacts and Trauma Support Training Team
  • Nigel Roberts, VolkerWessels UK

Access team and Merseyrail manager share the spoils

Marc Johnson
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Access team and Merseyrail manager share the spoils

Bridgeway’s Access Services team took home the Rail Infrastructure/ Possessions Team of the Year award and were followed swiftly by the 2016 Rail Manager of the Year winner, Merseyrail’s Ian Taylor.

The Bridgeway Access Services team has been providing possessions, line blockages, AC and DC isolations for clients across the UK since 1995. Recent projects include Thameslink and Crossrail East/West.

Mike Harris, access services director, Bridgeway Consulting, said the few people there on the night represented a team of between 300 and 400 people within the company. The team includes delivery managers, planners, engineering supervisors, PICOPs, COSSs and safe work leaders.

‘We were against some stiff opposition out there. There’s a lot of people that we really respect and there’s lots of people out there that really we’re in awe of, but we work really hard to deliver for our clients. What we look at is exceeding expectations in what we deliver. We’re both pleased and humbled by the award really.’

Deploy UK Rail, part of the DE Group, sponsored this year’s Rail Infrastructure/ Possessions Team of the Year award. Deploy UK Rail was established in 2013; at the time with just three employees. Since then, the company has grown substantially and now employs over 300 sponsored staff. Initially focussed around London and the South East, Deploy Rail has gone on to open regional offices in Plymouth and Manchester, and has plans to open more in the future.

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Ian Taylor (left) with Michael Grace.

Ian Taylor was named as the 2016 Rail Manager of the Year. Nominators described Ian as an ‘inspirational’ leader and someone who is ‘always actively seeking out better ways to do things’.

‘Absolutely over the moon. I really can’t believe it,’ said Ian, who joined Merseyrail 14 years ago as a mobile technician and is currently based out of the Birkenhead North TMD. ‘I love working for the rail industry. It’s the togetherness,’ said Ian.

On 1 January 2016, Derby- based engineering consultancy Interfleet became SNC-Lavalin Rail & Transit after adopting the name of the company that acquired it in 2011. SNC-Lavalin Rail & Transit has an experienced team of 1,500 rail experts working on a variety of rolling stock, infrastructure and control system projects around the world.

Says Michael Grace, who presented the award for SNC-Lavalin, ‘We’re really focussed on having a sustainable business and the only way we can do that is having good talent coming through the business, so having good managers and good leaders is absolutely critical.

‘Our number one priority within SNC-Lavalin is staff engagement that’s the one thing that we focus on more than anything. If we get that right and deliver quality then everything else falls into place.’

RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE/POSSESSIONS TEAM OF THE YEAR HIGHLY COMMENDED

  • PPS Rail, PPS Rail Ltd
  • Dover Sea Wall, Costain

RAIL MANAGER OF THE YEAR HIGHLY COMMENDED

  • Kissore Kher,Heathrow Express
  • Andrew Fawkes, VolkerRail

Awards for MTR depot team and AGA lifesaver

Marc Johnson
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Awards for MTR depot team and AGA lifesaver

MTR Crossrail’s maintenance team were recognised with the Depot Team of the Year award for their contribution to the service’s fast-improving reliability and satisfaction scores.

Within just three months of being set up, the maintenance team had implemented new maintenance management software and procedures in ready for the launch of TfL Rail services between Liverpool Street and Shenfield in May 2015. They’ve also overseen a full fleet refreshment programme which has helped double the reliability of the fleet.

Says team member Tetyana Nedilko, ‘We’ve been working really hard to achieve this to get where we are.’

Adding, ‘We have a great team looking after our fleet, working together with Abellio Greater Anglia, and they’re awesome. Thanks for their efforts and we also have a great team in engineering at HQ who were all amazing. Thanks for all your hard work.’

Seaton Rail is the proud sponsor of Depot Team of the Year for 2016. Set up in 1995, Seaton Rail is managed by father-and-son team Shane and Matthew Seaton. Seaton Rail, which is based in Bridlington, specialises in possession and works planning. In 2008, the company also began offering contingent labour supply, training and on-track protection and warning services.

Seaton Rail, an approved Rail Training Accreditation Scheme provider (RTAS) through the National Skills Academy for Rail (NSAR), is also a member of the Association of Railway Training Providers (ARTP) and the British Safety Council.

Shane Seaton, managing director of Seaton Rail said the MTR maintenance team were ‘well deserved winners’ and that he’d found it nice ‘to meet up with some old colleagues’ on the night.

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MTR Crossrail Maintenance Team.

Depot Team of the Year was followed by the Samaritans Lifesaver award, which this year was won by Scott Paton – a performance manager for Abellio Greater Anglia (AGA) who performed a life-saving intervention during a routine station visit.

‘It’s an absolute privilege to be recognised but I feel like all the nominees were deserving of this,’ said Scott, who doesn’t believe he would have had the confidence to intervene were it not for the training he had received from the Network Rail/ Samaritans partnership.

The award is sponsored by Samaritans, which in 2010 joined forces with Network Rail to run a rail suicide prevention programme. In the past three years, the programme has received information about more than 2,000 recorded suicide interventions by railway staff and British Transport Police (BTP) officers. Samaritans has seen the number of interventions rise by 30 per cent in the last year.

He went on. ‘It’s nice to be recognised by judges, peers, everyone, and it just proves that this is not just about me it’s about the Managing Suicidal Contacts course and what the Samaritans do as well.’

The programme’s Managing Suicidal Contacts training aims to give staff the skills and confidence to identify vulnerable people and act. To date, more than 11,500 railway staff have completed the course. The charity also runs trauma support courses for train drivers and other staff who have been affected by a suicide. More than 1,500 people have attended one of these courses to date.

Says Ola Rzepczynska, strategic programme manager, Network Rail, ‘It’s absolutely inspiring. It’s above and beyond a day job.

‘For most of us, we don’t go into our daily job thinking that something like this, someone taking their life, might actually happen… but unfortunately on the railway it is, so giving people the skills to be able to cope with that is hopefully making that difference and we believe at Samaritans that suicides can be preventable and as does the suicide prevention programme that we’re all part of.’

DEPOT TEAM OF THE YEAR HIGHLY COMMENDED

  • Bristol Traincrew Depot, Great Western Railway
  • Fatality Cleaning Team Streatham Hill, Southern

SAMARITANS LIFESAVER AWARD

  • Andrew Reid, Great Western Railway
  • Lee Klingenspor, Land Sheriffs

Charity and safety take centre stage

Marc Johnson
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Charity and safety take centre stage

Network Rail’s Bill Cooke would have been briefly disappointed to miss out on the Safety Person of the Year award to John Abbott and colleague Roan Willmore, but his fundraising exploits ensured he’d come away with a trophy before the night was over.

John Abbott, from RSSB, and Network Rail’s Roan Willmore collaborated to produce the recent ‘Leading Health and Safety on Britain’s Railways: A strategy for working together’. The strategy looks at what the industry can do over the next 10 years to further improve its health and safety performance.

Says John, who collected the award, ‘On behalf of Roan and myself, I’m delighted that we’ve won the award because it just reflects the importance to the industry of safety and the work we’ve done which we hope to further improve our already impressive health and safety performance.’

He added, ‘To put it in context, Britain’s railways have never been safer and I’m proud to say that over the last few years we have become the safest railway in Europe. But there is still considerable room for improvement on many aspects, whether that’s to do with the workforce in terms of health and safety, but also there’s further improvements that can be made to passenger safety and public safety. ’

Bridgeway has been the sponsor of the Safety Person of the Year category since the first RailStaff Awards in 2007. Like the awards, Bridgeway has grown in stature since it was formed by three British Rail underwater inspection unit divers in 1995, now employing some 700 members of staff and holding a Network Rail principal contractor license.

The company provides a range of engineering services, including on site and ground investigations, isolations, geomatics, Business Information Modelling (BIM), utilities, structures examinations – including diving and rope access, AC/ DC isolations, possession management, worksite management, permanent way engineering and signalling and telecommunications.

Says managing director Pino De Rosa, ‘As a rail industry stakeholder, as an organisation that has a commercial challenge to succeed and survive and prosper, the one thing that underpins everything we do is the importance of making sure that all our people go home safe at the end of every shift.’

He added, ‘There are people out tonight working in the dark, in the cold, in the rain potentially, and it’s really important that we make every effort to make sure they’re safe so being the sponsor of the Rail Safety Person or Rail Safety Team of the Year means a lot to me on a personal level.’

Bill Cooke received the Charitable Person of the Year title having helped to raise more than £460,000 for charity over the past 13 years. This has in part been down to Bill’s Annual Charity Partners Golf Day, a popular event which is supported by companies across the rail industry.

Adrian Fricker wrote in his nomination, ‘The amounts that Bill has been able to raise for a number of charities over such a sustained period are exceptional and his passion, enthusiasm and commitment go far above the norm of charity fundraising.

‘He has been an active member of the Network Rail Charity Panel for a number of years and is seen as a role model in terms of his behaviour and delivery.’

The Charitable Person of the Year category was sponsored by Force Contracting Services (FCS). FCS provides construction, civil engineering and role access solutions to the rail industry. From its base in Worksop, FCS supports clients nationwide, including J Murphy and Son, AMCO Rail and Kier.

Jim Broe, who presented the award for FCS, said it was great to be able to recognise ‘anyone that takes time out above and beyond what they do’. ‘It’s key and very important to society in general.’

RAIL SAFETY PERSON OF THE YEAR HIGHLY COMMENDED

Bill Cooke, Network Rail
Stobart Rail Safety Department, Stobart Rail

CHARITABLE PERSON OR TEAM OF THE YEAR HIGHLY COMMENDED

Crystal Danbury, Chiltern Railways
Luke Gardner, TransPennine Express

Photo: John Abbott (right) and Pino De Rosa.

What it’s all about

Marc Johnson
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What it’s all about

‘It’s all about teamwork isn’t it,’ says Roger Stewart, a director at Coyle Personnel, one of the largest suppliers of contingent labour to Britain’s rail industry. For a company that is a primary sponsor for around 900 staff, you can understand why teamwork is so important.

As well as its 900 or so sponsored staff, Coyle Personnel employs teams of full-time management and administrative staff at 10 offices around the country: Harrow, Walsall, Cardiff, Central London, Chelmsford, Glasgow, Ashford, Reading, York and Manchester.

Coyle Personnel was incorporated in 1988. The company had initially specialised in construction labour before building a presence in the rail industry. Now a supplier of electrification and plant works (E&P) and signalling contingent labour to Network Rail, Coyle Rail has grown into a £50 million turnover business, supplying some of the biggest names in the fields of signalling, electrification and rolling stock.

Retention

The shortage and subsequent demand for engineering skills has put a strain on the industry. The reasons are diverse. ‘It’s the work patterns that is the biggest problem,’ says Roger. ‘Construction in the South East is growing so a lot of people have left the rail industry.’

Coyle Rail, like many other companies, is looking at the training it offers to bring new entrants to the industry, but retention of existing staff is equally important. More than 500 of Coyle Rail’s sponsored staff have been with the business for 10 years or more.

‘I know both sides of the coin,’ says Roger, who began his own career as a track worker. In fact, many of the company’s managers dotted around the country have some form of practical railway experience, with many trained to engineering supervisor (ES), person in charge of possession (PICOP) or machine controller levels.

‘The reward for the guys is being treated fairly,’ says Roger.

Reward

Coyle Rail sponsored the Rail Team of the Year category at this year’s RailStaff Awards, which was won by Northern’s Blackpool North station. Last year, a team from Knutsford station in Cheshire took home the Rail Team of the Year trophy. They had received various glowing reports detailing the ways in which they had worked to improve the station for passengers and the community.

Says Roger, ‘It’s good to reward people whether it’s for the office or for the workers themselves.’

He added, ‘It’s all about teamwork isn’t it. To work in the industry we work in, it’s got to be down to teamwork.’

Kirow team and lifelong rail engineer scoop 2016 honours

Marc Johnson
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Kirow team and lifelong rail engineer scoop 2016 honours

VolkerRail’s Kirow Team, winners of the Rail Plant and Equipment Team of the Year award, are used to scaling dizzying heights.

With over 1,500 days without a RIDDOR, VolkerRail’s Kirow Team prides itself on being one of the most reputable plant teams in the sector.

Since acquiring the UK’s first Kirow crane 15 years ago, VolkerRail has expanded its fleet substantially. The company now employs 30 delivery staff to operate its fleet of five cranes.

‘It’s recognition of 15 years achievement,’ said Steve Shields, business manager, VolkerRail. ’We often go into projects that are, shall we say, out of scope, that need a different slant on how you’re going to deliver them; and we’re always there to give our clients and our customers a top level service.’

The sponsors of the Rail Plant and Equipment Team of the Year category, Amey, know the challenges of operating and maintaining large equipment fleets. Amey’s rail business is currently delivering Network Rail signalling, electrification and track framework contracts and in the South West it is working with Network Rail on the electrification of the Great Western Main Line.

Says Simon Rhoden, Amey’s business director, ‘We were delighted to sponsor the Rail Plant and Equipment Person or Team of the Year Award because at Amey we recognise the skills required for this work and that teams and individuals work tirelessly to ensure our railways operate smoothly.

‘We were impressed by all the nominations and are proud to have been able to celebrate the hard work and dedicated attitude of our colleagues in the rail industry.’

As well as its design and consultancy services division, Amey looks after more than 100,000 Network Rail assets as part of its civils examination framework contract. Earlier this year, the company was also named as a member of the construction alliance which is building Manchester’s Ordsall Chord.

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VolkerRail Kirow Team.

Shortly before the mid-session break, Keltbray’s Les Blake, who has worked in the rail industry for 54 years, won the Lifetime Achievement Award. Now 73 years old, Les began his career in the freight department of British Rail before moving over to rail electrification. Since, then he has worked on practically every major electrification project in the country. He remains at the sharp end, working most recently on the electrification of the Great Western through the Severn Tunnel.

During his time at Keltbray, Les has been dedicated to training and mentoring apprentices and junior linemen, but his crowning achievement came recently, working with Keltbray to bring a brand new road/rail full tensioning wiring unit to the UK.

But Les said he feels the industry has given as much back to him as he has contributed throughout his long career. Following the death of his wife three years ago, work has given Les a comforting degree of normality. ‘When you get up in the morning it’s all about sadness,’ said Les. ‘When you head off to work you’re back to what you’ve always done.’

As long as he feels he has something to contribute, Les will continue to get out on track. ‘My family say it’s about time I did slow down, take a bit more time off, and maybe I will do that but at the moment likewise when you get things like this Severn Tunnel coming up you can’t not want to be involved with it. It’s another challenge.’

Specialist video production services provider High Viz Media sponsored the Lifetime Achievement category in 2016. Says managing director Nick Collier, ‘Presenting the award for lifetime achievement was an immense privilege; it serves as a great reminder that whilst the industry is increasingly becoming segmented, the railway family still exists and the drive and passion to remain part of it is very much alive.’

RAIL PLANT AND EQUIPMENT PERSON OF THE YEAR HIGHLY COMMENDED

  • Van Elle Rail
  • Keltbray Electrification Plant Wiring Team, Keltbray Rail

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT HIGHLY COMMENDED

  • JohnSkinner, AECOM
  • Nigel Stockdale, Bridgeway Consulting Limited

Celebrating newcomers and seasoned professionals

Marc Johnson
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Celebrating newcomers and seasoned professionals

An outstanding apprentice and a leading project manager both took to the stage to collect awards for their exceptional efforts over the past 12 months.

‘It feels good,’ said Billy Welch, the winner of the Apprentice of the Year award. Billy, who works as an apprentice civil engineer for Costain at London Bridge, had worked as a HGV driver prior to joining the rail industry three-and- a-half years ago.

During his 18 months on the project, Billy has gained the respect of senior colleagues on what is a complex project, producing reports that have contributed to the Start of Shift (SoS) briefings and helping to ensure works are completed safely.

‘It’s quite hard to stand out at London Bridge due to the amount of staff and the vast amount of work that’s going on,’ said Billy. ‘But you have to make sure you try and stand out from the crowd.’

Jessica Andrews, who nominated Billy, wrote, ‘It is doubtless to say that one day Billy will walk through London Bridge station and be proud of what he has achieved.

‘Billy is also very keen to ensure that the quality aspect of all work is second to none and meets with Network Rail’s whole-life quality criteria. He achieves this by using Inspection Test Plans (ITPs) to ensure that work has been completed in accordance with project design documentation and engineering/ construction specifications.’

‘I think it’s good to receive some recognition for the work you do; it’s quite easy to go unnoticed in a project but once you receive the recognition it spurs you on to keep working and keep working towards another goal,’ Billy said.

This year, the Apprentice of the Year category has been jointly sponsored by Gore and Ballyclare, which together have been supplying rail PPE products to the industry for the past 25 years.

In a joint statement, Gore and Ballyclare said, ‘It was clear that Billy’s hard work, inquisitive passion and holistic approach to the mechanics of his current project, ‘London Dungeons’ section of the London Bridge station redevelopment, had gained him the admiration and respect of his peers and senior colleagues.

‘Added to this, his enthusiasm for his onsite work was equally matched by his thirst for on-going training, his current studies for a HND in construction in the built environment and his desire to become a fully certified engineer.’

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Winner of the Project Manager of the Year category was Craig Young. He joined the Network Certification Body (NCB) as a senior rail vehicle conformance engineer in 2013. Twh years later Craig was appointed project, planning and resource manager. He has risen to the challenge of the role and now oversees a portfolio of around 600 projects.

‘I’m an engineer by trade, so I’ve developed project management skills through my engineering,’ said Craig. ‘It is really nice and I’m going back into work on Monday with a big smile on my face and say a big thank you.’

CPMS sponsored the Project Manager of the Year category. CPMS was formed in 2012 and delivers rail electrification project management services and resources to the industry. Starting out with only four employees, the company now has a team of more than 60 and has supported several major programmes, including the replacement of 320 km of overhead line between Chelmsford and London’s Liverpool Street station and laying the foundations for the Great Eastern electrification scheme.

Says Mat Baine, managing director, CPMS, ’When they asked us what category we wanted to sponsor, it was only going to be one choice.

‘Project management is the lifeblood of the rail industry, and we need quality project managers coming through, people like Craig, delivering week in week out and driving the industry forward. It was a no- brainer for us as a company.’

APPRENTICE OF THE YEAR HIGHLY COMMENDED

  • Annais Siddall, Linbrooke Services Ltd
  • Ramiro Aldana, Amey Sersa North Alliance

PROJECT MANAGER OF THE YEAR HIGHLY COMMENDED

  • Kristine Harris, Network Rail
  • Hannah Jones, Young Rail Professionals
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