After overcoming two broken ribs, four falls and a 969-mile bike ride, colleagues from Balfour Beatty Rail have raised more than £32,000 for charity.
Cycling from Land’s End to John O’Groats on the Deloitte Ride Across Britain (RAB) cycle ride, the team were battered by heavy winds and burnt up to 4,000 calories a day but finished the course in nine days.
The money raised will go to Cancer Research UK, Unicef and Railway Children.
Balfour Beatty Rail managing director Mark Bullock, who led the team, said, ‘Balfour Beatty’s thanks go to the RAB organisers and all those who donated so generously to the variety of charitable causes that are benefitting from our efforts.
‘The 2017 RAB was truly an epic experience; and it is not over yet as the Balfour Beatty team are still accepting donations.’
Amy Pressland, who works for DB Cargo UK, successfully represented Team GB in the Age Group World Triathlon Championships in Rotterdam.
Dr Amy Pressland, 32, from York, is International HR projects manager at DB Cargo UK, but is currently seconded to group partner Euro Cargo Rail SAS based in Paris, France.
Amy took part in the four-day event in Rotterdam in September. She achieved 27th place in her category – the 30-34 AG Female Sprint – and competed against 56 other women. Amy completed a 750m swim, a 20km bike race and a 5km run. There were over 20 nationalities taking part in the competition.
During the swim, the water temperature was 16 degrees Celsius but that didn’t deter her. Says Amy, ‘The swim was quite choppy but it’s my favourite discipline, so I didn’t mind too much.’
Amy qualified for Team GB at an event in Redcar in July of this year. She came third in her category which gave her automatic qualification to the Age Group World Triathlon Championships.
She already has her sights firmly on the next competition. ‘I wanted to come in the top 30 at the World Championships; I came out of the water in 16th place, swimming is my strongest discipline, and finished the race in 27th overall.
‘As it was my first World Championships, I wanted to finish in the top half and was really pleased with my result. It was a tough race but I loved representing Team GB.’
Amy’s been competing in Triathlons for seven years and has a gruelling training regime. She trains between 10-12 hours a week
‘I’m competing in the European Age Group Triathlon Championships next August in Strathclyde and my aim is to finish in the top 20. The standard of the other competitors at the World Championships was really high and it was a lot to take in, but I’ll be better prepared when I put on my Team GB triathlon suit again next year.’
Says Sandra Buchser, head of HR at DB Cargo UK, ‘This is an outstanding achievement for Amy and we as an organisation are proud to have her as part of our team. She is passionate about her sport and that dedication and commitment carries through to the role she has at DB Cargo UK.
‘As an employer, we encourage people to take part in activities outside of work as that’s what makes them unique and therefore an asset to our business and an inspiration to others.’
Greater Anglia’s new Aventra is a train built with capacity in mind. Bombardier is manufacturing four variations of the electric multiple unit (EMU) platform for four different customers but, according to project director Alan Fravolini, the Class 720 is one of the most densely populated vehicles they have designed.
The 665 carriages – 89 five-carriage and 22 10-carriage trains – are designed to carry as many people as possible, which was at the core of parent company Abellio’s bid to retain the East Anglia franchise from 2016 to 2025, and is in anticipation of the franchise’s future passenger demands. The Aventra trains will individually carry between 22 and 45 pre cent more than the current fleet.
Leased by Angel Trains – which partnered with Bank of Australia to finance the order – the £900 million Bombardier Aventras are not the only new train class joining Greater Anglia’s (GA) fleet. The operator has ordered 383 bi-mode carriages from Stadler to run on its intercity, Stansted Express and regional services, completing the replacement of its entire fleet in the New East Anglia Trains (NEAT) programme. The Aventras – which are replacing the Class 317, 321, 360 and 379s – and the Stadler Flirts will be in service by 2020.
BOOSTING CAPACITY
In September, Bombardier gave media representatives the first chance to inspect and interrogate a life-size, plywood mock-up of a Class 720 interior.
The walkthrough Aventra carriages will have 3+2 and 2+2 seating configurations, as well as fold down chairs and areas for wheelchair users. A five-car Class 720/5 will have a total capacity of 540, compared to 1,146 in the 10-car Class 720/1 – the latter will shuttle large groups of commuters during peak hours.
GA will be able to increase capacity while reducing the number of cars per train. The Aventra carriages are slightly longer than the current fleet – 24m instead of 20m – making the 10-car variant comparable in size to a 12-car Class 321.
Innovative passenger information systems will display graphical data which will show where space is available within a train in addition to whether toilets are available, route progression and related updates.
Using a cantilever seat design, Bombardier has created more space for baggage and installed under floor heating to remove the need for intrusive wall-hugging heaters. One radical move, for which GA is still considering alternative options, is the removal of first class seating, but modern train design – and the need to add capacity – is about compromise, explains Greater Anglia’s vice managing director, Mike Kean. ‘The real heart of our franchise was providing enough capacity for the full nine years that we operate it, and also maximising the efficiency of that operation. And we do that really through the Bombardier fleet,’ said Mike, who is also the train operating company’s franchise and programmes director. ‘The Bombardier train really forms the backbone of the franchise, it provides the main commuting stock and it carries the most amount of people in our franchise.’
ALTERNATIVE AVENTRAS
But the Aventra trains are not all about capacity. The carriages will be air conditioned, they will have dual USB ports and plug sockets between seats, and passengers will be able to enjoy improved, free Wi-Fi connectivity thanks to GA’s work with BT to improve the trackside and on-train infrastructure.
They will also feature at least one standard and one disabled toilet on each train and four cycle spaces. The trains’ new Flexx Eco bogies provide a 30 per cent reduction in bogie mass and, as a result, consume less energy.
Bombardier’s first Aventra, for flagship customer TfL Rail, entered passenger operation in June this year and will become part of the Elizabeth line fleet. It forms part of a 630-carriage contract for the route.
The rolling stock manufacturer is also making 180 Aventra vehicles for London Overground and 750 for South Western Railway, in addition to the order with GA.
It also has an order with Great Western Railway for Electrostar trains, all of which will come out of its Derby site. That’s 2,225 vehicles in total from the Aventra family, a brand that Bombardier anticipates will become a mainstay of the UK’s regional fleet for the next 20 years.
CUTTING METAL
GA’s new fleet is reaching the beginning of the end of its design stage, with Bombardier soon to start cutting metal.
In November 2017, Bombardier will reach the ‘design freeze’ stage and from February 2019 the five-car trains will begin to enter service. From December 2019, the 10-car units will enter service with GA Aventras running between Liverpool Street and Cambridge, Hertford East, Southend Victoria, Southminster, Braintree, Colchester, Clacton, Walton and Ipswich. Bombardier will then provide ongoing maintenance support to the fleet from Ilford and a new depot near to Manningtree.
Kean says that Bombardier succeeded in the bid process because of its strength throughout and flexibility on vehicle length. Talking about the train’s benefits, he continues, ‘[Bombardier] are still designing it, so you cannot get any more modern than that,’ describing the new train’s layout as modern and sleek. ‘I think Anglia has an average fleet age of around 20 years and when these trains are introduced it will absolutely be at the top of the leaderboard for UK franchises.’
More visitors than ever attended this year’s RVE (Rail Vehicles and Enhancements) exhibition which was held recently in Derby.
An annual one-day exhibition for the rolling-stock supply industry, RVE has been steadily growing in size over the last few years.
For 2017, RVE moved to Derby Arena, the purpose-built velodrome that was opened in 2015. The track’s infield easily gave room for the 88 exhibitor stands, with space for more as the event expands further in future years.
Opened by Derby mayor councillor John Whitby, more than 1,100 visitors attended this year, up from under 700 in 2016. They were drawn to the event by the chance to see suppliers who don’t normally appear at the more ‘general’ railway exhibitions.
The range of products and services on show was staggering. Everything from lighting to lubricants, connectors to couplers, and testing services to communications systems were there to be looked at, picked up and enquired about.
All of the stands had experts on hand to answer those questions, and many of the visitors took all day to go around all of the exhibits. Malcolm Dobell, former head of rolling stock for London Underground and now a writer for sister magazine Rail Engineer, was one of them.
‘There are so many interesting things here,’ he said. Highlights for him? A demonstration of self locking nuts showing how some types come loose when others don’t, and a hand-held bolt tightening system that can ‘apply 500Nm of torque without taking your arm off!’
In addition to the serried rows of stands, there were other activities to keep visitors occupied. At one end of the hall, an amphitheatre-style conference area, hosted by industry observer Ian Walmsley, featured speakers on such diverse subjects as communications networks, electromagnetic compatibility risk management, train refurbishment, well-managed supply chains and innovation.
The Department for International Trade staged a meet-the-buyer event that was extremely popular. Fully booked weeks in advance, UK suppliers could sit down with buyers from Alstom, Eurostar, Hitachi, MTR Tech (Sweden), SBB (Swiss national railways), Siemens, ÖBB (Austrian state railways) and CAF (Spain). 114 companies successfully registered to meet these buyers, and so many more applied that ‘we had to beat them off with a stick’, as show organiser Kevin Lane eloquently put it.
All-in-all it was a great show. Plans are already afoot for next year, and there is space for another 20 stands or so, so it should be another good one. Watch out for it.
A booklet entitled ‘The Safety Movement’ was handed out to Great Western Railway employees in 1913 to try to encourage its workforce to adopt safer working practices. It came too late for the 30,000 rail workers who were either killed or injured in that year alone.
This chapter from the rail safety history books was one of several case studies unearthed by RSSB for its Rail Safety Week communications activities. Another explained the first rudimentary method of railway signalling, which involved a policeman flagging off trains from the station platform every few minutes. This system was eventually refined, adding a second policeman at the next station to signal that the first train had departed and the line was clear – the earliest example of a fixed-block signalling system.
They highlight how much – and in some cases how little – things have changed over the centuries and decades. Rail Safety Week returned for its second year between 25 September and 1 October, coinciding by chance with the USA’s annual Rail Safety Week campaign. The event, which this year was backed by more than 120 companies, is an opportunity for businesses to promote good safety practices within the industry as well as to passengers and the general public.
‘It’s promoting rail safety but it’s also celebrating what people do well,’ said Rail Safety Week organiser Alan Tarrant. The week-long awareness event was launched at Liverpool Lime Street – a station which is about to undergo a significant remodelling programme. The underlying message has emanated around the country, with school visits, stand-down days and site briefs held in support across the network.
JUST A FEW EXAMPLES
Alan, a director at Fission Recruitment Services, said the aim of the event was to try and get everybody involved to pass on at least one safety message to their family, friends and colleagues.
Numerous topics were covered throughout the week, including level crossing risk, trespassing and mental health. The safety message was aimed not just at those who work in the industry but to anyone who lives or works near the railway. ‘We want you involved,’ said Alan.
Recruiter Randstad published a report having surveyed more than 3,000 construction workers to highlight how widespread mental health issues are across the workforce. In the report, it indicated that 34 per cent of respondents had experienced a mental health condition in the last 12 months and that 73 per cent didn’t feel that their employers recognised the early signs of mental health problems.
PUBLIC AWARENESS
Much of the activity around Rail Safety Week was aimed squarely at the public. Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) and operator KeolisAmey Metrolink took a tram simulator to Manchester Piccadilly to give the public the chance to experience what it’s like to be a driver and better understand how their actions can sometimes make the driver’s job more difficult.
The dangers of trespassing on the railway were also restated. Last year, BTP caught 555 children trespassing on lines around the country. The ScotRail Alliance’s Rail Safety Week event focussed on this risk and the partnership held interactive workshops to demonstrate the consequences of misuse.
HUMAN FACTORS AND BEHAVIOURS
According to the ORR, there was one workforce fatality in 2016/17 – compared to zero in the previous year – and a slight increase in workforce injuries (6,713). Some of those were life changing for the victims.
Staff injuries were down on the London Underground. However, there was a rise in the number of workforce injuries on Britain’s other tram and metro networks. There were 308 workforce injuries in 2016-17 compared to 247 the year before and 68 in 2008-09.
Alan said it was important to get the message across to everyone – even the most experienced staff members. ‘It’s sometimes those type of people that are their own worst enemy… It’s highlighting it to them as well… It’s still an extremely dangerous place to work.’
One of RSSB’s other safety case studies looked at the rise of human factors and the way this area has affected how equipment is designed and how people are trained.
VolkerRail and Amey are working with the School of Social Sciences at Leeds Beckett University to analyse and attempt to influence the behaviours of their employees in the hope it will reduce accident risk. Announcing the partnership, Stuart Webster-Spriggs, HSQE director for VolkerRail, said it is allowing the company to ‘react to what really drives [the workforce] to make further improvements’.
PROGRESS
Within a lot of organisations Rail Safety Week was an opportunity to further embed and reaffirm good safety practice. AECOM, for example, encouraged everyone in its rail offices to get on social media and spread the Rail Safety Week message.
The activities around Rail Safety Week clearly demonstrate progress. We have gone from an industry that sought to address the deaths of tens of thousands of colleagues by printing a booklet to an industry that, although not perfect, constantly strives to do the right thing.
With appearances from Madonna and Michael Jackson, a retro funfair and its own Club Topicana, the RailStaff Awards celebrated the industry’s unsung heroes with a party like no other.
Hundreds dressed in their finest – or in 1980s fancy dress – to celebrate the industry’s very best, from relative industry newcomers to experienced heads, signallers, station staff and those whose work has been affected by the tragedies of Grenfell Tower, the Manchester Arena bombing and the London bridge terror attack.
Congratulations to all category winners and thanks to our sponsors for their support.
The full list of winners is as follows:
Award category
Category sponsor
Name of winner
Company
Apprentice of the Year
AECOM
Rebecca Munro
Mott MacDonald
Depot Staff of the Year
Land Sheriffs
Kai Gohegan
Southern
Graduate of the Year
GTR
Conor Maton
telent
Infrastructure or Plant Person or Team of the Year
SPX Flow
Positive Intervention to Control Exposure to Ballast Dust
VolkerRail
Lifetime Achievement Award
Costain
Scott Harrison
SPX Flow
Marketing and Communications Person or Team of the Year
Keltbray
Marketing and Customer Relations Team
Merseyrail
Outstanding Customer Service Award
telent Technology services
Nicola May
TransPennine Express
Project Manager of the Year
Network Certification Body
Amritpal Brom
CrossCountry
Rail Engineer of the Year
Primat Recruitment
Ana Walpole
AECOM
Rail Manager of the Year
ARM
Nick Chadwick
Virgin Trains
Rail Person of the Year
Balfour Beatty
Arron Raimbault
Network Rail
Rail Safety Person of the Year
RSSB
Adrian Pattison and Mark Neal
Freightliner
Rail Team of the Year
Total Rail Solutions
Disaster Victim Identification
BTP
RBF ‘Heart of Gold’ Award for Charity
RBF
Paula Hilliard
GTR
Recruiter / HR Person of the Year
RailSport
Danielle Peach
Ford & Stanley
Samaritans Lifesaver Award
Samaritans
Tek Malla and Purna Gurung
Land Sheriffs
Signalling & Telecommunications Person or Team of the Year
Westermo
IP Signalling Northern LNE Construction Team
Network Rail
Station Staff of the Year
Transport Benevolent Fund
Adrian Suter and London Bridge Team
Network Rail
Train Driver of the Year
London Midland
Colin Newton
Northern
Trainer or Training Team of the Year
Seaton Rail
Learning and Development Team
Greater Anglia
Watch this space for details of the RailStaff Awards 2018!
Railway football hero Gavin Johnson has swapped his boots for racing colours as he pushes ahead with motor racing plans in a Porsche 924.
Motor racing offers him a powerful opportunity to raise money for children’s charity Zoe’s Place.
Gavin, 36, who works as a project manager for Siemens on the Liverpool Lime Street resignalling programme, has represented RailSport GB as a striker on several European football tours and has been on the railway for 17 years.
Gavin said, ‘This year I have secured sponsorship to race in the BRSCC Toyo Tires Porsche Championship in a Porsche 924, and as I speak I sit second in the championship behind my PDC Racing teammate going into the final round at Brands Hatch. In my last outing at Rockingham, I secured my first pole position, fastest lap, lap record and race win.’
Gavin receives some sponsorship from Orion Rail Group but needs more.
‘For Gavin Revs up for Zoe’s Place every point I earn – since the Anglesey round-island race – I am personally donating £1 to the Lime Street project charity Zoe’s Place. This is an independent registered charity providing palliative, respite and end-of-life care to babies and infants aged from birth to five years.
‘As a team, we also visit local primary schools to talk to children about the importance of teamwork, friendship, wellbeing and aspiration.’
The offices of solicitors Eversheds Sutherland near St Paul’s Cathedral in the heart of London was the venue this year. It was my pleasure to introduce Rail Minister Paul Maynard MP – more correctly described as the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Rail, Accessibility and HS2.
He is MP for Blackpool North and Cleveleys and has a degree in history from Oxford as well as having been educated at St Ambrose College Altrincham in Cheshire.
Rail Minister’s concerns
Understandably, he referred to fatigue as the late night Brexit Bill vote had caused him to lose sleep! He said we have the safest railway in Europe and welcomed the RSSB’s clarification of the Rule Book requirements for despatching trains. He highlighted areas of concern about the platform edge, bank slips and the attitudes and culture of some workers. He repeated Network Rail’s mantra about staff getting home safely.
Referring to the Office of Rail and Road’s (ORR) annual report, he stressed the importance of heritage railways and the need for improvements to be made due to the worrying number of incidents involving their operations. Acknowledging that railway suicides are not within anyone’s direct control, he told us that one in 20 of the 200 or more suicides a year take place on the railway. Franchising agreements now include provisions for vulnerable people and suicides.
Credit: HighVizMedia and @LaurentCphoto.
Five billion pounds a year spending
Our second keynote speaker was Francis Paonessa, managing director of Infrastructure Projects, Network Rail. A chartered engineer, Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, with a degree in aeronautical engineering from Manchester, his previous employment has included work as a mechanical designer.
His organisation employs 4,300 people, 3,000 suppliers and spends £130 million in an average week. Crossrail, Thameslink and London Bridge were all mentioned. Although his organisation has seen a reduction in lost-time accidents, people are still suffering life-changing injuries. He commented on the improvement in safety culture immediately following a trench collapse incident, adding that road traffic accidents are now the largest cause of injuries.
He expects digital railway train control systems to provide risk reducing opportunities and drones will soon be in use for surveying sites (due to their improving accuracy). Infrastructure Projects use 40,000 possessions each year and overrun delay minutes have halved over the last two years. He was pleased in August when, during their largest-ever job, staff stopped the job after deeming it to be unsafe. He said this received the right degree of empowerment. Answering a delegate’s question, he commented that two thirds of their possessions are for less than eight hours, and on the current 14 hours door-to-door rule for workers.
Tolerability of Risk – fish and lettuce
Nicola Uijen is a chartered safety professional with over 20 years rail experience, now working for Costain Rail. Following work with Network Rail and automatic track warning systems, she spent time with Costain Highways before returning to rail. She is deputy chair of the Safety Leadership Group and has worked with the RSSB. She highlighted the increase rail has experienced in significant injury accidents, before referring to risk tolerability where she compared rail to North Sea fishing and the risk from eating bagged lettuce! She explained Costain’s decision to change their focus from ‘zero accidents’ to ‘halving harm’. She also commented on the adoption of a positive approach to safety, with the use of PPE always being the last resort.
“Don’t chase the glitter ball”
She described events on Crossrail leading up to the site visit by Her Majesty the Queen. Towards the end of 2015, a spate of non-conformances were put down to ‘a bad day before Christmas’. Then three serious RIDDOR accidents happened in January in the week before the Royal Visit.
For the visit, there was no written Safe System of Work and no briefing was given. Back to basics was the aim; forget time and performance just get it right. This continued afterwards with supervisors starting each task on site. Subsequently communications improved, the result is that there hasn’t been a RIDDOR since January last year. She said time constraints are a danger. Short possessions increase risks, safety should be a valued necessity rather than a priority and in matters of safety ‘Don’t chase the glitter ball’.
Credit: HighVizMedia and @LaurentCphoto.
Repeated mistakes, pockets of excellence and mental health
Ian Prosser is Chief Inspector of Railways for the ORR, as well as being board member. He is an engineer with a chemical engineering first degree from Imperial College London and a Masters from Cambridge. He worked in chemical, pharmaceutical and automotive industries before coming to rail.
He stressed the importance of ORR’s actions being proportionate and consistent. Good safety he opined is good business, but he asked why it is that the industry continues to make the same mistakes? He added that whilst there are now ‘pockets of excellence’ in the industry, there are still many who may be described as merely ‘middle of the road’. Consequently enforcement still has to be used.
Referring to target zero, he suggested that everyone should now strive to achieve a year without a single improvement notice. Safety by design without gold plating was a second theme of his presentation.
He stressed the importance of talking to people face to face and his concerns over the increasing number of assaults on rail staff . He said that communication to ground level needs to improve. Early next year, he expects Network Rail’s chief executive to launch a safety campaign involving the Samaritans organisation focussing on mental health awareness.
Psychological factors in developing a safety culture
Mandy Geal is the founder of Learning Partners. She aims to emphasise the ‘personal’ aspect of personal safety. She stressed the psychological factors that affect behaviours. People’s reactions when threatened and concerns for their own safety may include the wish to fight or take flight; become aggressive, freeze, or take action to avoid the situation.
She went on to explain how removing fears and being rewarded affects motivation and conscious awareness. Workforce culture and the need for individual engagement and involvement, as well as developing a balanced view of risk and safety, should always be taken into account.
A psychological trust in safety matters and the performance of colleagues plus the open admission of mistakes and the outlawing of a culture of blame are all needed for a good safety performance.
Listening and being seen
Emma Head was appointed corporate safety director HS2 in August 2015, having previously been director of safety strategy at Network Rail. Safety culture and responsibility were her themes.
She spoke of the importance of caring for the workforce, designing for safety, construction, operations and maintenance. Listening to people, being seen and approachable were all necessary if confidence and a good safety culture is to be achieved. HS2 has started from first principles. Emma said they had produced projections based on HS1’s construction.
They found that if they didn’t do anything differently, HS2 would suffer three fatalities and 713 non-fatal accidents. Their holistic health strategy aims to ‘put safety at the heart of all they do’; and prevention rather than mitigation is the aim.
A Smart T-COD
Lex Van der Poel is chief executive officer of Dual Inventive and an adviser to the European Committee for Railway Standardisation.
His interest in the Internet of Things resulted in the development of the MTinfo 3000 cloud platform. ZKL 3000 is the name given to their remotely activated/controlled track circuit operating device which has Network Rail approval at SIL 4 level. It can be used as a semi- permanent installation in the four- foot and or may be installed at any convenient time before a single or series of possessions. It can be activated by a smart phone.
In Amsterdam they have been fitted to 205 sets of points. The speaker described their use to the growing interest of all.
Avoiding 157 annual close calls!
David Underwood a civil engineer project manager Track Renewals with Network Rail had previous experience with London Underground. He described the use they have made of the ZKL 3000 system in West Yorkshire. Their organisation has two high output track relaying systems and five ballast cleaning ones. The former undertake some 70 per cent of the track renewals carried out by Network Rail each year. For track renewals on average there are 12 line blockages taken every night with for ballast cleaning.
During 2016/17, the placing or misplacing of possession protection resulted in 157 close calls. The use of ZKL 3000 has used a dispensation from the putting out of detonators etc, resulting in fewer people at risk on track and considerable time
saving.
Further developments currently being trialled include an in cab ‘flexible train arrival point’ system and personal warning systems together with remote temporary speed restriction boards. The question and answer session included the comment from the ORR that the current CP6 submission should include ZKL 3000 system introduction.
Credit: HighVizMedia and @LaurentCphoto for Rail Media @rail_media
Freight wagon maintenance
James Collinson is the managing director of the Network Certification Body (NCB) and a chartered mechanical engineer. His focus was on freight wagon maintenance and loading. He began by explaining the task operators faced following rail privatisation.
Over 3,000 vehicles both two axle, with bogies and specialist types were privatised to the freight operating companies but without clear responsibilities for their maintenance. The problems were recognised by the ORR and after twenty years in CP5 by a legislation change identifying capability and responsibility.
Asymmetric loading data analysis from 183,000 wagon recordings revealed only 380 were outside the set limits. Further condition monitoring at specific places is being carried out using a vehicle identity recognition system.
Safety incident legal expectations
Tim Hill, partner of Eversheds Sutherland is a solicitor advocate, specialising in criminal regulatory matters including fatalities, corporate manslaughter and health and safety.
He was involved in the Ladbroke Grove Inquiry and more recently on industrial relations issues of Driver Only Operation. Delegates were reminded of the new guidelines that have been in place since 1 February last year in respect of corporate manslaughter and health and safety offences.
Sentencing guidelines take into account continuous improvement and ALARP initiatives but company turnover (especially £50 million or more) now influences fine levels, although one third discounts are awarded for early guilty pleas.
Investigation techniques
Simon French is the Chief Inspector of the Rail Accident Investigation Branch. Railway risk and its management are central to their investigations. He spoke of his concern at the number of trackworker accidents in particular. He said that their investigations look for gaps in safety defences and their purpose is to capture lessons learnt and recommend improvements.
Amongst current concerns he cited Cardiff where an investigation had uncovered rostering of 10 successive 12-hour shifts without a day off; and on South Devon Railway a toilet available for travellers with a large hole to the track in its floor – he showed the picture with the toilet roll still in place. Drilling down to ‘shop floor’ level is their aim, as is the uncovering of hidden relationships. He concluded by referring to their class investigation into workers on track whilst trains run, and said that he was looking forward to the end of red zone working.
Cost, learning and incidents
Simon Grundy, innovation manager at Amey, has worked in the rail industry for just two years. Acknowledging the zero fatalities achievement of 2015/16, he reminded everyone of the 6,597 workforce injuries and 157 life-changing injuries that occurred at that time. He spoke with passion about the electrification project worker who was killed when a driver using a mobile phone crossed the central reservation and collided with him head on.
He stressed the importance of self-accountability, correct behaviours and risk perception as well as the danger of complacency. Incidents he said were not inevitable. He described the use of task rehearsals, site familiarisation and operational briefings, before advocating the use of virtual reality equipment to simulate near misses, and drones to assist with inspections.
Stressful situations, a new way – Havening
Mark Wingfield from Max Training spoke about the work he has done to help individuals suffering trauma following train assaults. He described the process of Havening which can be effective in reducing fears and stresses following incidents. It is a psycho-physical process which he explained uses delta waves in the brain.
In a first for the Rail Safety Summit, he demonstrated the technique to all present by encouraging the audience to stimulate delta waves by crossing arms and stroking heads and sides of chins before almost rubbing noses with the delegate sitting alongside. Participation levels were high.
Credit: HighVizMedia and @LaurentCphoto.
Improving track safety without lineside signals
This was a joint presentation from Pat McFadden of Network Rail and Tom Lee Director of Standards at the Rail Safety and Standards Board. They explained that the Digital Railway incorporates rail traffic management, automatic train operation, telecommunications, European Train Control Systems and connected driver advisory
systems.
The overall aim is to reduce cost, reduce carbon emissions and increase capacity. Whilst the individual elements referred to are known, the collaboration between the two organisations aims to knot the elements together so as to achieve maximum benefit.
Diesel fumes, ballast dust and other risks
The final speaker of the day was Matt Coldwell an occupational hygienist with the Health and Safety Laboratory who spoke of managing health for the future. He began by telling us that currently 1.3 million people are suffering from work-related illness. He said that this was being addressed by the ORR’s 2014/19 Occupational Health Programme.
His involvement covers mental health, lifestyle choices and health risks. He gave illustrated rail site examples including diesel fumes, ballast handling and dust. He acknowledged RSSB’s initiatives which have led to exposure controls including the use of water suppression to reduce ballast dust.
He criticised inadequate training and risk assessments, the lack of occupational health expertise and a general over-reliance on the use of PPE.
Thank you all
I had the pleasure of thanking both our hosts at Eversheds Sutherland and the speakers who had ably answered delegates’ questions throughout the day when I drew the proceedings to a close. I concluded by offering a huge thank you to Tom O’Connor and all the Rail Media Team for making the arrangements, including the excellent buffet-style lunch, and ensuring that the day ran smoothly.
Thank you to this year’s sponsors: Amey, Bolle Safety, OnTrac, Rail Safety Solutions, RSSB and Stobart Rail.
Alstom said it is building a new generation of highly skilled rail engineers with the official launch of its academy in Widnes.
Over the course of the next five years the centre is expected to train 500 apprentices, starting with 20 this autumn.
Five of those apprentices will work in a 80-strong team, which is repainting 56 Pendolinos alongside the academy at Widnes.
The Alstom Academy for Rail will work with other education providers to deliver its apprenticeship programmes.
The training will include safety and maintenance of vehicles such as Alstom’s Pendolino trains, which are used on the West Coast Mainline, or the Citadis trams, which operate on Nottingham’s tram network.
Transport secretary Chris Grayling said, ‘Our rail network is growing and I have been clear we will need thousands more people working in the sector in the years ahead.
‘We are investing £13 billion in transport across the north and there are some great, rewarding careers working on our railways.’
The new Wales and Borders franchise competition has deviated sharply from the process that awarded the previous contract to Arriva Trains Wales 14 years ago. The Welsh Government has aspirations to run a ‘not-for-profit’ railway that delivers for passengers, but how much do we know about what it will look like?
On 28 September, an invitation was issued to Abellio Rail Cymru, Arriva Rail Wales, KeolisAmey and MTR Corporation (Cymru) to submit their final bids for the new franchise. The bids will seek to address a list of priorities set out by the Welsh Government for the new 15-year franchise which, it says, is deliberately less restrictive than a typical Department for Transport (DfT) tender to allow for some creativity in the bidding process.
The successful bidder will become the custodian of a network that is growing in popularity. Passenger numbers grew from around 18 million in 2003 to 29 million in 2013 – a trend that has continued.
The Welsh Government has already said the new deal will include no increase in the subsidy level and will be run very much like a concession, where the operator is paid a certain amount to run the railway but doesn’t accrue any profits from ticket revenue. The aim is to put the focus on running a good quality service where the profits are invested back into the railway.
Although much of the detail won’t become clear until the winning bid is announced early next year, the Welsh Government’s aims for the route give some indication as to how the country’s railways will change from October next year.
Credit: LandFox/ Shutterstock.
Operator and development partner
‘It’s different isn’t it,’ said Mike Hewitson, head of policy at Transport Focus, which was approached by Transport for Wales (TfW) to gather passenger views and expectations for the future franchise. ‘You’re not even allowed to use the F word for this one,’ he joked.
One thing we know for sure is that the role of the new franchisee is changing. The winning bidder will become the Operator and Development Partner (ODP) for the route, essentially making it responsible for operating services and maintaining part of the network.
Ownership of a section of the route will change hands from Network Rail to TfW. The Welsh Government has said that Network Rail will retain the infrastructure outside of the Core Valley lines. However, it is unclear at this stage how the assets would be split and whether Network Rail would have to be contracted to carry out certain activities, like high output track renewals or rail grinding.
Rolling stock
The need for investment in new rolling stock on the Wales and Borders route was highlighted in a report earlier this year, which showed that the average age of its fleet was 27 years old. Arriva Trains Wales did announce in July that it was acquiring five four-car Class 319 Flex bi-mode trains for commuter services in Cardiff – although these are far from new.
New trains will likely be a central part of all of the bids. The Welsh Government has issued a handful of priorities for the prospective operators around rolling stock requirements beyond 2018. This includes procuring electric traction on the Valley Lines which it hopes to electrify – at least partially – within the next franchise term. The new operator would then be able to look at phasing out its Class 142 and Class 143 Pacers.
Other expectations include having controlled- emission toilets, complying with current accessibility requirements and offering Wi-Fi and charging points to ‘meet increasing passenger expectations’.
This matches the research undertaken by Transport Focus. Unsurprisingly, it showed that passengers wanted to see longer trains, more seating or better standing areas and to feel that they are getting value for money. There was also a lot of feedback around station facilities, said Mike, something that could well feature highly in the final bids.
Credit: Welsh Government.
South Wales Metro
The creation of a South Wales Metro is the most eye-catching proposal. All options appear to be on the table and consultant Mott MacDonald is supporting the delivery. In this role, it is looking at possible new stations, enhancements to the existing network and even potentially replacing the Core Valley Lines with a light rail system.
Whatever technical solution is pursued, the government has set out some minimum service requirements. The new operator will need to provide at least four trains per hour on the Core Valley Lines, with higher frequency services south of Pontypridd and Caerphilly into Cardiff , reduce journey times by 20 per cent and introduce new direct services between certain large residential areas.
Staffing
When Transport Focus was asked to gather passenger views on the Wales and Borders rail service, it was the friendly and helpful staff that received some of the highest praise.
Last month, the Welsh Government offered a few concrete commitments around staffing for the new franchise. The most notable was a promise to have a ‘safety critical conductor (guard)’ on all services – a response to the trade union stance on driver-only operation (DOO).
Following discussions with the Wales TUC trade union body, First Minister of Wales Carwyn Jones said there would be ‘more staff not less employed on the franchise’ and that technology would be introduced to ‘complement staff and not replace them’. There will be a trade union representative on the TfW board, pensions will be protected and there will be no compulsory redundancies.
In a statement, Carwyn Jones said, ’Our hard-working railway staff are a major asset in delivering a modern and safe railway and it is right that they are central to our ambitious plans for the new Wales and border services and South Wales Metro.’
Passengers at its heart
Transport Focus has been working closely with the DfT over the past few years to ensure that passenger feedback is helping to shape future franchises, so passengers are at the heart of the discussion. ‘If we do the research early enough we can try and get it into the specification in the first place,’ said Mike.
Research carried out by Transport Focus around devolution, which particularly focussed on developments in the North West, found that, although there was general support for local influence on services, passengers still wanted to be part of a national network. We’ll just have to wait and see how the new franchise will balance local priorities with the aims of the national network.
Although it gets thousands of visitors a year, Coventry’s Electric Railway Museum has to close as the city council is not renewing its lease with the site being required for a new development.
The museum is the only one in Britain dedicated to railway electric traction and was formed in 2007. Amongst its exhibits are seven complete AC and DC EMUs, six coaches from different EMUs and three industrial electric locomotives and an APT power car. Some of the units have been converted for use as museum galleries. One features a display on how electricity revolutionised Britain’s railways. Another contains the old Victoria line signalling centre.
The museum’s last open day took place on October 8 when almost a thousand visitors gave the museum a good send off and sampled its attractions which, on this occasion included shunting demonstrations, rides on a 7 ¼ inch miniature railway and a beer and cider festival. A vintage shuttle bus service from the city centre was also provided.
Its closure is a devastating blow for its volunteers who have worked hard both the restore the vehicles and provide facilities at the museum. Its Chairman, Ian Brown advises that the museum is working with the railway heritage sector and external parties to ensure that its rolling stock is not at risk. Trustee, Graeme Gleaves has been humbled by offers of help to relocate the museum’s collection and advises that new homes have now been found for the museum’s key exhibits.
Although it is now inevitable that its collection will be split up, the museum will have a residual role and its website and Facebook page will continue to highlight Britain’s electric railway heritage. The website will also provide news about the dispersal of the museum’s exhibits.
For more information, please go to: www.electricrailwaymuseum.co.uk
Transport secretary Chris Grayling has said that passengers will be able to use smart ticketing across “almost all” of the network in England and Wales by the end of 2018.
A planned £80 million will be spent on the programme to ensure the government is able to deliver on the pledge.
In an announcement from the Department for Transport, three project aims have been listed:
All passengers will have the choice of travelling without a paper ticket by the end of 2018
Mobile barcode ticketing will be rolled out in every rail franchise
Passengers will be able to have smart cards hosted on their mobile phone.
A pilot of the latter technology is expected within the next few months.
The Department for Transport is currently working with train companies on the introduction of mobile phone smart cards, with deals soon to be reached with three of them.
The department is also working with the Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operating companies, to expedite the development of a new generation of ticketing systems, to give passengers more tailored options.
J. Murphy & Sons has appointed current chief operating officer (COO) John Murphy as its new CEO.
John is currently responsible for leading the group’s operations in the UK and abroad. He will take over from current CEO Steve Hollingshead, who steps down in December 2017 to take up a role as non-executive director on the company’s board.
John Murphy, who originally joined the business as a civil engineer in 2003, said, ‘To be at the helm of a company that is leading the way in innovation and engineering – a company my grandfather began more than 60 years ago – is a real honour, and I can’t wait to get started.’
Prior to taking on the COO role, John successfully lead Murphy’s business across the north of England as managing director and has represented the company on a number of joint venture boards both in the UK and internationally.
Chairman Alastair Kerr added, ‘[John] takes over the reins at an exciting time for Murphy, where we have a clear long-term plan for where we are going and what we want to deliver.
‘As well as an understanding of the company’s history, John has experience and knowledge of Murphy’s people and values, which will be instrumental for us as we go forward and deliver our growth plan.’
Peter Anderson, who joined Murphy from Balfour Beatty in January as managing director for its south business, will become the company’s chief operating officer.
A team of eight from TXM Projects has completed enhancement work on ScotRail’s fleet of 334s.
This work covered the removal of seats to fit at-seat sockets, replacing fluorescent lighting with LED lights, and new inter-car jumpers.
New CCTV, DOO cameras, ethernet backbone, grab poles and a new cycle area have been fitted and auto couplers have been replaced.
TXM Projects worked closely with Alstom to complete the project on time thanks to an additional four workers coming on board for six moths to accelerate the programme.
Following the award in May 2015, the vehicle technicians and electricians completed the work on the 40 three-car trains in September 2017.
With friends and family putting festive travel plans in place, Network Rail has revealed the major work that is set to take place on the network in December.
Passengers have been told to expect significant closures in the south east through the Christmas and New Year period.
As part of its Railway Upgrade Plan, Network Rail will be undertaking several major projects, including:
Major Thameslink Programme engineering work – including the final significant work to bring the new London Bridge concourse into use and carrying out major resignalling work on the surrounding railway – between London Bridge and Charing Cross, and London Blackfriars and St Pancras International, from December 23 until January 1, 2018
Improvement work at Sevenoaks Tunnel between Tonbridge and Sevenoaks from December 23 to 26
Work to complete the new platform at Redhill station from December 23 to January 1, 2018.
A statement from Network Rail said, ‘Southeastern, Thameslink, Southern and Gatwick Express services will be affected, as well as other train operators.
‘No services will run in the south east on Christmas Day or Boxing Day, including high speed trains to and from St Pancras International.
‘Passengers travelling into central London over this period or to Gatwick Airport on Boxing Day could be severely impacted by the work and will need a ‘plan B’ to complete their journeys.’
Christmas services affected by the Thameslink Programme. Credit: Network Rail.
DB Schenker has been awarded a ‘dynamic and challenging’ contract from Hitachi Rail in the UK.
Under the arrangement, the logistics firm will manage the central warehousing and spare parts distribution for Hitachi’s Intercity Express Programme (IEP).
This includes a wide range of parts, from smaller consumable items, to eight tonne bogies and generator units that are in excess of 5m x 2m in length.
DB Schenker will support Hitachi Rail Europe’s train maintenance centres, fulfilling orders to sites at London, Bristol and Doncaster as well as at future sites at Bounds Green in London and Edinburgh.
DB Schenker will manage two main warehouses for Hitachi as part of this contract, a southern central warehouse located in London and a northern central warehouse, which is planned for completion in 2018, and will be located in or around the Doncaster area.
It did not reveal the duration of the ‘long-term’ contract.
DB Schenker UK contract logistics director Simon Bruce said, ‘This is an incredibly dynamic, challenging and exciting new business award for DB Schenker and we are pleased to have a true partnership with such a prestigious organisation such as Hitachi Rail Europe.’
Signalling and telecommunications will be profoundly affected by the current digital railway agenda. New equipment presents new technical challenges and it requires those trained in traditional skills to adapt to new ways of working.
Earlier this year, Westermo, which will once again be sponsoring the Signalling and Telecommunications Person or Team of the Year category at the RailStaff Awards, announced it was supporting Southampton Solent University by providing the university’s computer networking department with specialist communications equipment. The partnership was a natural choice – the university is just a 20-minute drive away from Westermo’s UK headquarters – but the company is looking at fostering similar collaborations with other UK universities.
Although Westermo’s roots are in Sweden, it has become a key supplier to the UK industry. Its core business has been the supply of lineside communications infrastructure, but in recent years it has developed its offering of On Train networks. The company is a global provider of railway communications networks. It currently employs more than 200 people around the world – a quarter of which work in rail.
Westermo says it hopes by introducing students to the kind of technology that underpins the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) it will be able to make a positive contribution to bridging the widening digital skills gap – a problem which isn’t isolated to rail.
Global communications provider
The winner of the category last year was Alstom’s Jai Smart. He too spoke about a determination to encourage future generations of engineers. He spoke about wanting to bring graduates and trainees back to the engineering sector and put it ’where it needs to be’.
Westermo’s sales manager, Phil Mounter, said the company was now focussing on showing clients the problems that its industrial communications systems can solve under the banner ‘data communications made easy’. There’s also more of an emphasis around cyber security solutions and the need for reliable communications networks.
‘Westermo are happy and proud to sponsor the Signalling and Telecommunications Person or Team of the Year in 2017 for the fifth year running,’ said Phil. ‘Supporting good causes such as the RailStaff Awards rewards people in our industry that have gone the extra mile and also provides opportunities and inspiration for others to do likewise.’
Inspire and encourage
The award is also part of the company’s overall skills development strategy to support the industry. Says Phil, ‘We feel that this award is so important because we believe that industry needs to do much more to inspire and encourage our young people to pursue a career in engineering, and particularly the exciting field of signalling and telecommunications where, with Network Rail initiatives such as the Digital Railway, the digital age and the Internet of Things (IoT) will have an impact in transforming our UK railways as it already does in so many other industries, where soon everything will be connected to everything else.
‘We mustn’t forget of course that young men and women are educated at schools, colleges and universities before they start work. This is why Westermo has teamed up with the Solent University in Southampton to provide industrial networking equipment, invest in training and knowledge transfer of skills to professionals and students alike and are looking to do likewise with other training centres and innovation networks whose objective is to make the UK a global leader in rail.’
Information about this year’s RailStaff Awards evening can be found on the website: www.railstaffawards.com
Passengers appreciate good communication. During times of delays and cancellations, it can be the difference between a passenger being just mildly disgruntled or indignant.
The winner of the Customer Service of the Year award at the 2016 RailStaff Awards was won by TransPennine Express’ Danny Roberts – a characterful fixture at Grimsby station. Front line rail staff often garner nominations for their ever friendly manner and helpful approach.
How companies deliver good customer service has changed significantly. Traditional communications methods are being augmented with more and more digital platforms and passengers now rely on service information delivered directly to their smartphone in a way that would have seemed unthinkable 15 years ago. But the role of knowledgable staff hasn’t been depleted by this. By arming them with this same information, the industry has actually been able to enhance the service it provides to passengers.
Everyone’s a customer
At the heart of telent’s rail business is the design, installation and maintenance of station security and information systems; the big-screen displays, public address systems, help points and cameras on the network that passengers rely on to keep informed and protected.
The company’s mission statement is ‘keeping the UK & Ireland connected & protected’. To do that, the company needs each of its 2,000 employees, and especially the more than a thousand technical and field staff, to play a vital role. Every single person is a customer, whether they are a passenger, colleague or client – a point which highlights the important status of this particular award.
The investment and commitment telent makes to its customers was demonstrated recently when the company announced it had been awarded five-star supplier status in its annual Railway Industry Supplier Qualification Scheme (RISQS) audit.
Says Steve Dalton, managing director of telent’s rail division, ‘At telent we never forget that every connection we make is for someone and that’s why our innovative and passionate, respectful and resourceful people have always mattered most to our success and why we go the extra mile to deliver our clients’ promises to their customers.
‘I’m really excited that this year telent is supporting the Outstanding Customer Service Award, and I look forward to meeting the finalists, hearing their stories about how they have gone the extra mile to deliver truly outstanding customer service and to say thank you on behalf of the customers they have helped.’
Get nominating
Steve also wants to stir the industry into nominating inspiring colleagues. ‘I encourage everyone to recognise the talented individuals and teams in their businesses by nominating them for a RailStaff Award and on behalf of everyone at telent I wish every nominee every success in October and in their on-going careers in our most vital rail industry.’
More information about this year’s event can be found on the RailStaff Awards website: www.railstaffawards.com
Note: Nominations for this year’s ceremony are now closed
Northern Powerhouse Rail has been given £300 million funding from the government.
The award is part of a wider £400 million package to improve transport across the Northern Powerhouse, which includes the core cities of Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield, Hull and Newcastle.
The £300 million will go towards ensuring HS2 infrastructure can accommodate future Northern Powerhouse Rail and Midlands Connect services, to make it easier and less disruptive to build Northern Powerhouse Rail in the future.
In response, Railway Industry Association CEO Darren Caplan said, ‘This funding is very much needed in order to speed up journey times and provide better services for passengers and freight customers across the region, and also to improve countrywide connectivity.
‘As we heard from the Rail Minister at RIA’s Rail Interview event at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, and as has now been confirmed by the Chancellor, HS2 – alongside Northern Powerhouse Rail – will have a transformational effect on the UK.
‘It will bring jobs and economic growth, it will act as a spur to investment, and it will bring communities closer together. This is an exciting time for rail and we are pleased that the government is investing further in the sector.’
BakerHicks is a company with a habit for reinvention. The business, which employs around 390 people in the UK, can trace its roots back to the 1950s but the name – which combines the surnames of two of the men that helped found the original company – has only existed since February this year.
Established in 1957, BakerHicks’ founding business was called the IDC Group – a name it kept for 30 years before being acquired by the Matthew Hall Group in the 1980s. IDC later merged with the engineering arm of the Matthew Hall Group, which in 1988 was bought by AMEC. The company changed hands again in 2007, becoming part of the Morgan Sindall Group.
The new name comes from Howard Hicks, the IDC Group’s chairman and chief executive, and Sir John F Baker, who had been the business’ research and development director. The change of name reflects a change in identity for the Morgan Sindall Group company, says director James Howles, who joined the business in January tasked with developing its capability in rail.
From stations to systems
James was formerly the rail infrastructure director for SNC-Lavalin Rail & Transit UK (formerly Interfleet) where he had a particular interest in electrification. He joined the rail industry in 2003, working for AMEC-Spie, and has gone on to work on projects such as the Great Western main line electrification and the Midland main line electrification programmes as well as leading two successful professional services framework bids for HS2.
James is one of three major appointments in rail for the business so far this year. Iain Court, who was rail director at WYG, AECOM and also SNC-Lavalin, and Steve Limbert, a technical consultant with more than 40 years’ experience working with overhead line systems around the world, have also joined the organisation in 2017.
It is electrification and overhead line engineering in particular where the business is looking to grow. ‘A lot of what we’ve done in rail has been in a station environment,’ said James, describing the company’s core design and engineering business. Recent projects include the design and delivery of Whitechapel station (as recently featured in Rail Engineer), which involved combining three complex rail systems in a challenging live environment, and a new DLR station at Pudding Mill Lane. The company, which is based in Stratford-upon-Avon, has a portfolio of mid-sized station works for Transport for London, Network Rail and various train operators. In addition, it recently secured a major new-build depot project in West London.
Iain Court, James Howles (centre) and Steve Limbert.
Timing
James is currently putting together a new team in Derby to build up a base of rail systems expertise; he hopes to have a team of 10 in the city by this time next year. The first step was to find new premises and the company has recently acquired an office within Derby’s rail industry hub – one the country’s most substantial clusters of rail industry suppliers and skills.
With several major electrification schemes dropped over the summer, it could seem a strange time to launch a new electrification-focussed division, but James feels now is as good a time as any. ‘Even if you strip out all of the large-scale electrification schemes, there’s still thousands of route miles of overhead line to maintain and renew.’
The team will be sufficiently specialist and flexible enough to deliver renewals but capable of also supporting larger enhancement projects in the future, said James. The new overhead line team will also be able to call upon the existing civil, structural, electrical, mechanical, high voltage engineering and architectural competence of the wider company to provide a holistic service. James said he wants to achieve the best of both worlds, building up a new client portfolio for BakerHicks while strengthening existing relationships with colleagues in Morgan Sindall Group to meet market demand.
As well as overhead line renewals and maintenance, James sees other emerging opportunities. For example, various orders for new rolling stock around the country are creating a demand for gauging and clearance works. There is also the potential for overhead line design capability to be deployed in tandem with Morgan Sindall’s electrification team, bringing a new design and build capability to the market in time for CP6.
Opening in the market
Over the past few months, there have been a couple of examples of tier one engineering companies acquiring their competitors. ‘It’s something I’ve been watching for a while,’ said James, who believes the smaller pool of companies left as a result has opened up the market.
‘It feels as though it creates space for organisations like BakerHicks to grow into the market a bit more,’ said James, who is excited by the prospect of establishing a new name in the industry – even if that new name has been around as long – if not longer – than many of its competitors. ‘It feels like the market is ready and open for some new brands, some new faces.’
The year 1980 was marked by the launch of the iconic Ford Escort Mark III, independence for Zimbabwe and the founding date of the popular theme park Alton Towers.
It was also the year specialist railway recruiter Primat opened for business.
Instead of huge computerised databases and smart phones, the Darlington-headquartered firm used a rolodex and a rotary dial telephone.
Over the course of its near 40- year history, the railway industry has remained at the core of the business by offering dedicated rail recruitment as well as payroll and contractor assurance services.
From PTS-qualified workers, civil engineers, site managers and signalling technicians, Primat’s experienced team has used its wealth of knowledge to supply blue and white collar candidates to clients on a permanent and temporary basis across England, Scotland and Wales.
Top recruiter
In 2015, the company placed more than 2,000 candidates across various sectors in the UK and, looking ahead, it believes it’s well placed for continued growth.
Going from strength to strength, Primat was recently recognised as one of the top 50 recruiters in the UK and in the top 20 recruiters for the rail sector by trade publication Recruitment International.
Primat was pleased to be recognised among the recruitment industry’s largest companies and is now looking to give something back at the RailStaff Awards.
For 2017, Primat is the official sponsor of the Rail Engineer of the Year category, which has been inundated with nominations for some of the country’s very best.
This year’s theme is the 1980s so it’s not only an opportunity for Primat to congratulate the unsung heroes of the railway industry, but also a chance to go right back to its roots.
Head of Primat Recruitment Jenny Godden says, ‘Primat has a proud history of working with the rail industry’s leading engineering talent. Our daily interactions with candidates has cemented our belief that the rail sector possesses a depth of world- class engineering and technical expertise, and the industry itself continues to offer an attractive prospect for young engineers, and other professionals, looking to embark on a challenging and rewarding career path.
‘As a people-focused business, we are passionate about recognising and celebrating talent, and as such, we are thrilled to be associated with the Engineer of the Year award.’
Female first
Last year, ISS Labour’s Natalie Dickinson took home the Rail Engineer of the Year gong – the first time a woman has won the award in its 10-year history.
Paul O’Connor, managing director of Rail Media, said, ‘It was fantastic last year to see a woman awarded the Rail Engineer of
the Year trophy for the first time. Hopefully it will help to encourage others to follow Natalie’s successful path in the industry.
‘Railway engineering is a multifaceted discipline and that has been reflected in the breadth and depth of nominations and the projects engineers have worked on.
‘From innovative workers, high achievers and outstanding individuals, it’s going to be difficult to pick a winner this year.’
All the information about this year’s RailStaff Awards can be found at www.railstaffawards.com.
David was also part of the winning team, which included Darren Smethhurst, Rob Dawber and last year’s winner Kevin Melville.
The team competition requires each of the four members to fish in a different section.
They are then scored based on their performance in that section, with the winner awarded one point, second two points, third three points and fourth four.
The scores are then added together and the lowest combined total wins.
‘A lot of the people come year in year out and what we see is some of the people have definitely improved their angling skills,’ said organiser David Franks, who also thanked all the competitors for continuing to support the competition.
Some of those taking part in the UK RailSport angling competition will also be competing at the international USIC angling tournament in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, between 18 and 22 September. Nine teams from across Europe are due to take part.
The breadth and range of apprenticeships offered by the rail industry looks set to expand this autumn.
Plans are in progress to offer 600 apprenticeships with Network Rail.
New and expanded opportunities will include cyber security and digital railway, as the industry seeks to future-proof skills sets.
The company is currently recruiting 177 apprentices to join its award-winning Advanced Apprenticeships Scheme – which delivers front-line engineers.
As well as the Advanced Apprenticeship Scheme, Network Rail wants to increase the number and range of business apprenticeships that it offers.
These include apprenticeships in corporate functions such as accounting, HR, project management and commercial surveying all leading to professional qualifications.
The number on offer will be doubled over the next year.
Says Guy Wilmshurst- Smith, head of professional development, ‘Network Rail is committed to investing in the future talent that we need to build and maintain the bigger, better railway that Britain wants, and apprentices are a vital part of that Railway Upgrade Plan.
‘The rail industry is one of Britain’s success stories as more and more people want to travel by train.
‘Demand has doubled over the last 20 years and is set to double again in the next 25 years, so we need more people to help make that possible.
‘Unlike many apprenticeships, our schemes have no upper age limits, so are suitable for anyone wanting to build a career in an industry that impacts millions of people every day.
‘All that we ask is that our applicants have a passion for making a difference.’
Marisa Bajerski is just completing her first year of the Advanced Apprenticeship Scheme. ‘I’ve loved my time so far on the apprenticeship scheme.
‘There has been so much variety in the job – from working inside an office to being out on a track – and I’m meeting and working with different people all the time.
‘It has given me so much confidence in myself and my abilities, especially now that I’m based in a depot and can really see my work helping people to make their rail journeys and get to where they need to be.’
The Welsh Government has agreed to have a ‘safety critical conductor (guard)’ on all services operated through the new Wales and Borders franchise to avoid the kind of driver-only operation (DOO) dispute that has led to industrial action on several other routes.
In a statement on 29 September, First Minister of Wales Carwyn Jones said there would be ‘more staff not less employed on the franchise’ and that technology would be introduced to ‘complement staff and not replace them’.
The announcement follows discussions with the Wales TUC trade union body.
In driver-only operation (DOO), the train driver is solely responsible for the movement of the train and the opening and closing of the doors. While the trade unions believe DOO poses a safety risk to passengers, operators have stood by the practice – a position that has been supported by the ORR and RSSB.
On 28 September, the Welsh Government issued an invitation to submit final tenders to Abellio Rail Cymru, Arriva Rail Wales, KeolisAmey and MTR Corporation (Cymru) Ltd for the new franchise, which will start in October next year.
As well as operating services, the new franchisee will be responsible for maintaining the route. However, the Welsh Government has said that Network Rail will retain the infrastructure outside of the Core Valley lines, which will transfer to Transport for Wales (TFW).
Carwyn Jones said, ‘Our hard working railway staff are a major asset in delivering a modern and safe railway and it is right that they are central to our ambitious plans for the new Wales & Border Services and South Wales Metro.
‘I am therefore delighted that we have been able to have such positive and constructive discussions with the railway trade unions, something I have been keen to ensure from the offset.
‘These are progressive commitments that will mean a better service for passengers and a better railway in Wales and I look forward to this positive dialogue continuing as we develop our plans.’
