RailStaff October 2011

ISSU

E 16

7

Nationwide , ,&Network Maintenance RepairImprovement Plant Hire

stobartrail.com

See Stobart in theRail Training FocusPage 23

In this issue...

Driver of the SecondDriver Paul Livings has beaten

the record for a train travelling

between London and Cambridge.

Page 3

Rail replay for Rihanna

Page 4

Viennese Waltzfor BlackpoolThe Bombardier-built Flexity 2tram, made in Vienna and

Bautzen, has made its debut in

Blackpool.

Pages 20-27

Rail.co - Up to the minute global rail news

Page 6

LAST FEW TABLES AVAILABLEPlease call Pat or Helen to book a table on 01530 56 00 26www.railstaffawards.com“It’s going to be afrightfully good night!”ICC, Birmingham29th October

RailStaff

Keen not to keep fans waiting,

Rihanna took the London Under-

ground to her gig at the O2 arena

recently.

The London Olympic and Para-

lympic Games 2012 emphasise

the importance of training.

Training Focus

OC

T 2

011

London’s biggest array of solar panels will

top the new river-spanning Blackfriars

station.

Engineers are installing over 4,400 solar

photovoltaic (PV) panels covering an area of

6,000 square metres. The new Blackfriars sta-

tion, being built on the historic bridge, will

span the River Thames. Originally built in

1886 Network Rail is upgrading the bridge

and building a large new station as part of

the Thameslink programme.

The solar panels will generate an estimated

900,000 kilowatts of electricity every year, pro-

viding 50% of the station’s energy and re-

ducing CO2 emissions by an estimated 511

tonnes per year.

In addition to solar panels, other energy

saving measures at the new station will in-

clude rain harvesting systems and sun

pipes for natural lighting. Once the up-

grade is complete, up to 24 trains per hour

will be able to run through central London

boosting capacity on the popular Bedford-

Brighton line.

Blackfriars Bridgeworld’s largest solar bridge

1000’s of UK rail jobs online at RailwayPeople.com

In his speech to the Conservative Party conference, David Cameronemphasised the seriousness of the financial crisis that threatensBritain. However, he urged his listeners to take heart. Britain is toooften portrayed as a fading imperial power looking for a role in a worldit no longer understands. The problems of the eurozone and the stag-nation of the American economy only serve to emphasise Britain’ssense of disconnect. Many argue, Cameron said, that our best daysare behind us, that we’re on a path of certain decline. The prime min-ister is to be applauded for roundly condemning such defeatism.

Can Britain ever be great again? As proof Mr Cameron might havepointed to Britain’s railways and an industry whose best days lieahead. Thirty years ago railways in this country were dismissed asan economic disaster. With the arrival of cheap cars and motorwayspatronage dropped away, lines were closed and train building pro-gressively dwindled.

The privatisation of the railways by John Major, the same leaderwho took Britain into the disastrous exchange rate mechanism, splitup British Rail into 400 separate entities. Major thus removed anycentral strength the rail industry might once have had for pushingits case. Rather more happily it removed central controls on wages.Able rail staff made up for shortfalls long decreed by flint eyed pis-toliers from the treasury.

Best of all freed from the damp clinker of state control, railwaysfired up again attracting new passengers and new freight flows. Man-agement buy outs like FirstGroup and Freightliner became seriouswealth generators. Encouraged by ex-clippies and fitters in ill-fittingsuits, startled railway staff found themselves empowered to driveup custom any way they could.

Ideas poured out and the results were spectacular. Self effacing asever railway visionaries always admitted returning patronage owedmuch to circumstance. Few could have foreseen the extraordinarygrowth in the export of Chinese goods, by sea and thence rail. Nei-ther was the effect of the burgeoning economic dynamism of Lon-don and its sponge-like watering of the commuter market readilyapparent in 1996.

However the railway industry rose to the challenge. Had it been anyless than professional it would not have retained new custom. Les-son one: Be very good at what you do. However what must be re-membered is the 1000s of rail staff who stayed the course workingon with the unshakable conviction that the country needs railwaysand more of them.

Keep the faith. This is the real rail lesson for Cameron and the na-tion: Believe in who you are and what you do. Ignore all evidence ofmanaged decline. Keep on keeping on. No one can predict the fu-ture with any accuracy. Time and chance happen to us all. Howev-er the need for an intelligent exponent of democracy and freedomwill never diminish - quite the contrary. Believe in yourself and thiscountry. Railways came back from the brink - so can Britain.

Among the many projectspowering ahead on Britain’srailway system BlackfriarsBridge perhaps best illustratesthe new confidence lighting upthe rail industry.

Delayed for years – it wasoriginally dubbed Thameslink2000 – the £6 billion projectwill provide longer, 12 car trainsand more of them, more often.

Says Lindsay Vamplew, Net-work Rail’s project director forBlackfriars, ‘We’re creating aspacious, modern station anddelivering a vastly improvedtrain service for passengers,while at the same time in-stalling London’s largest solararray to make Blackfriars moreenvironmentally-friendly andsustainable.

‘The Victorian railway bridgeat Blackfriars is part of our rail-way history. Constructed in theage of steam, we’re bringing itbang up to date with twentyfirst century solar technology tocreate an iconic station for thecity.’

A new entrance on the southbank of the river will give pas-sengers direct access to theTate Modern and Shakespeare’sGlobe Theatre.

Says Derry Newman, chief ex-ecutive, Solarcentury, the solarengineering company, ‘It’s fan-tastic to see this project finallycome to fruition. BlackfriarsBridge is an ideal location forsolar (power); a new, iconic largeroof space, right in the heart ofLondon.

‘Station buildings and bridgesare fixed parts of our urbanlandscape and it is great to seethat this one will be generatingrenewable energy every dayinto the future. Unknown tomost, there are many hundredsof buildings now powered by so-lar in the capital as investmentin this technology increases.For people to see that solarpower is working is a vital steptowards a clean energy future.’

Earlier this year 16,000 solarpanels were laid on the top of arailway tunnel in Belgium,above trains travelling betweenParis and Antwerp. The elec-tricity produced was equiva-lent to that needed to power allthe trains in Belgium for oneday per year.

Railways continue to lead theway in the development of en-vironmental power. The high-efficiency solar modules usedare manufactured by SanyoElectric Co. Ltd. The only othersolar bridge known in the worldis in Brisbane, Australia. TheKurilpa Footbridge was con-structed in 2009.

As well as the river-spanningrailway station the London Un-derground station is being com-pletely remodelled with new

lifts, escalatorsand extended platforms. Itshould be ready by Christmas.Blackfriars station itself is ex-

pected to becomplete in time for the 2012London Olympics.

Deputy Prime Minister, NickClegg has backed High SpeedTwo, saying it is essential as aboost for the economy.

‘I think it’s a good thing thatthis Government, with LiberalDemocrats in it, has finally tak-en the decision that govern-ments have ducked for gener-ations. That is we’ve got tolearn the lessons from Franceand from other countries that

it makes a dramatic differenceto a country if you’ve got a lotof wealth in one part of thecountry, as we do, and lot ofdeprivation and economic un-derdevelopment in other partsof the country. One of the waysthat wealth is spread more fair-ly is to make sure differentparts of the country are muchmore quickly connected witheach other.’

Clegg told delegates at hisparty conference that he wouldnot be swayed by opposition inthe Chilterns and the stock-broker belt. The government iscurrently reviewing the schemeand will announce its decisionin December.

‘You’ve got to remember weare coming out of an econom-ic crisis which was generated inpart by an approach to eco-nomic development, from asuccession of governments indifferent parties, which basicallysaid look, as long as we look af-ter the south-east and the cityof London, and they become thelocomotive of economic growthfor the rest of the country,everything will be alright.

‘That basic model of eco-nomic growth has collapsed. It’snot going to come back,’ MrClegg said. ‘We need to makesure we don’t rely on one partof the country or one sector. Ithink high speed rail is ab-solutely crucial to that longerterm vision of a more balanced,stable economy.

Clegg backs HS2

2 | RailStaff | October 2011

Publisher: Paul O'ConnorEditor: Andy MilneSenior reporter: Jonathan WebbPictures: Colin GarrattTrack Safety: Colin WheelerAdvertising: Nigel Wordsworth

Asif AhmedPaul Curtis

Production: Adam O'ConnorSubscriptions: Pat Tollar

Contact Email AddressesPress releases & news:[email protected]: [email protected] Information:[email protected]

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Contact DetailsRailStaff Publications LtdAshby House, Bath Street, Ashby-de-la-Zouch,Leicestershire,LE65 2FH

Tel: 01530 56 00 21Fax: 01530 41 21 66Web: www.railstaff.co.ukEmail: [email protected]

RailStaff is published byRailstaff Publications Limited.Part of the Rail Media Group.Printed by Harmsworth Printing.

Contact RailStaff

RailStaff Editorial Blackfriars – mark of confidence

Rail Freight: December IssueTransporting freight by rail is now more efficient

and growing year on year.Is your company making a difference in freight?

Contact Paul on 01530 560021 or email [email protected]

© LIBERAL DEMOCRAT PARTY

RailStaff | October 2011 | 3

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Rail News in brief

> Save the ChildrenFirstGroup has been recognised by Save the Children for its

outstanding contribution to the charity’s work.Save the Children, which is FirstGroup’s charity partner, pre-

sented the Aberdeen based company with the award for ‘Out-standing Results in Engaging the Public.’

> Manchester boosts tram fleetAn additional 12 new Bombardier-built M5000 trams are set

to enter service, in addition to the 62 already ordered, on Man-chester’s Metrolink network allowing the older T68 trams to bephased out.

The new yellow liveried trams have proved a great success withpassengers and staff alike and are on average four times morereliable than the old trams. The M5000s are much lighter andreduce wear and tear on the track which saves money and time.

> Redditch reprisePlans to double the track between Redditch and Alvechurch

in the West Midlands moved a step nearer after a series of suc-cessful public consultations in the area.

The proposal includes doubling the line from just north ofAlvechurch station to Weights Lane, near Redditch, and con-structing a second platform at Alvechurch.

> Footb ridge lifts inA 12-tonne footbridge has been lifted in to place at

Wrexham General.The work was carried out over 12 hours by 18 engineers work-

ing round the clock with no disruption to passenger services. Aswell as the new footbridge, a new lift will provide step-free ac-cess connecting platform 4 to the ticket office and other platforms,making it much easier for people with reduced mobility.

Driver of the second

Driver Paul Livings (pictured above) hasbeaten the record for a train travellingbetween London and Cambridge.

Mr Livings shaved four seconds off the jour-ney time completing the trip in 48 minutesand 13 seconds. The previous record hadbeen set by a Class 86 in the 1980s.

The record breaking run formed part of aceremony by National Express to launch thenew 379s into service on the London-Cam-bridge and Stansted Airport routes. A de-

lighted Cambridge Mayor, Ian Nimmo-Smithnamed the train ‘City of Cambridge.’

Although the station is one mile away fromthe actual city centre it is now among thebusiest in the east of England generating 8million passenger journeys a year.

166 years ago university authorities initiallyresisted the railway and tried to block stu-dents from using it. Says the Mayor, ‘The wor-ry was that students would find it easier toreach the flesh pots of London.’

However, thanks to Driver Livings andhard working colleagues at ‘Litchurch Lane’the new fleet can whisk students and localpeople down to London in less than anhour. Plenty of time for business travellersand party goers alike to reach the capitaland get back in time for business the nextmorning.

Network Rail is currently expanding ca-pacity at Cambridge with new lines, longerplatforms and a new island platform.

© JO

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Keen not to keep fans waiting Rihanna took the London Under-ground to her gig at the 02 Arena recently.

The singer, who uses an Oyster card, wanted to be bang on timeand used the Jubilee Line to speed across London beating the rushhour gridlock. Astonished fans on their way to the concert chattedto Rihanna. The singer appeared relaxed and friendly and happy topose for photos and sign autographs.

Arriving at North Greenwich station a security outfit met her andwhisked her the 100 yards to the back stage entrance. Rihanna’s tourcontinues in Europe. She returns to the UK on 13th November.

Rail replay

for Rihanna

It’s a sell out

Despite the recession, figuresreleased by Network Rail showretail sales on station con-courses are holding their own.

Results for April, May and June2011 show a 3.7% growth in likefor like sales, compared to thesame time the previous year.Gatwick, followed by London sta-tions in particular London Bridge(8.6%), Fenchurch Street (7%) andEuston (6.8%) achieved the bestsales growth over the period.

Outside of London, Manchester(4.98%) and Leeds (4.60%) stationsachieved the best results.

Says Gavin McKechnie head ofretail at Network Rail, ‘Despitethe fact we had two successivefour day bank holiday week-ends, the results are very en-couraging in this challengingeconomic climate. The high foot-fall of our stations continues togive our partners the edge overthe high street.’

All profits from Network Rail’s retail activityare reinvested in the railway.

A former train driver now ahelicopter pilot with the Hum-berside Police, helped stop atrain from ploughing into anabandoned car, left on a levelcrossing near Hull.

Helicopter pilot, CaptainKathryn Chapman, a formertrain driver, flew low over thetracks and flashed her lights atthe oncoming train. ‘I was awareof where the incident was andwas looking across the Humberand saw the train going past theArco building going into town.

‘I knew the train was gettingclose. I just decided it was sen-

sible to carry on and put a stopon the train if we could,’ saidCaptain Chapman. ‘I pulled thehelicopter up to maximumspeed to get ahead of the train,to round about 150mph. I wasjust determined to get ahead.’She managed to hover above thetrack and flash a warning atthe driver who competently tookaction.

Kathryn drove trains in 2007to 2008. ‘I don’t see it as hair-raising - it is just part and par-cel of what we get asked todo….I knew roughly the signalsthe driver would have been

looking for,’ she said. ‘The rulebook says lights being flasheddirectly in your field of viewshould be taken as an emer-gency stop signal.’

Kathryn also served in theRoyal Navy and is a Gulf War vet-

eran. Network Rail signalmenand the driver of the NorthernRail service were also praised fortheir prompt life saving actions.The driver of the car has sincebeen arrested for suspecteddrugs offences.

Driver in the Sky

New challenges planned

for Railway Children supporters

The Railway Children has unveiled a dra-matic programme of events for 2012.

Whilst media attention may be focused onthe London Olympics the action continuesthrough 2012 as intrepid railway staff andtheir friends and families take on a multi-tude of fund raising challenges.

Parachuting, mountain climbing and longdistance cycle rides are proving perennialfavourites. New events include a cyclingchallenge through the Sierra Nevada, Cal-ifornia, called Summit to Sea; Cycle Indiawill see intrepid cyclists making a 480kmbike ride from the Taj Mahal to Jaipur. Alsonew for next year is the Welsh 3000’s.Climbers will bag fifteen mountains inWales all over 3,000 feet.

The popular Three Peaks Challenge by Railcelebrates its 10th anniversary next year.Supporters climb the highest mountains inEngland, Scotland and Wales with a specialtrain travelling between the mountains.

There is also the memorable London toParis bike ride that spins through thecountryside and ends at the Eiffel Tower.

Running events and marathons proveenduringly popular and next year is no ex-ception. Overseas further expeditions in-clude the adventure of a lifetime in some of

the world’s most spectacular destinations. Trek to the summit of Kilimanjaro, the

highest freestanding mountain in the worldand visit a Railway Children project in Tan-zania to meet the children who benefitfrom your hard-earned sponsorship money.

‘I took part in this last year,’ says AdamO’Connor, production manager, Rail MediaGroup, ‘And it was tough but very reward-ing. I changed as a person as I undertook thechallenge and also afterwards.

‘The Railway Children is my personaladopted charity. Its effect on the people in-volved and those who it benefits is beyondmeasure. I urge everyone thinking of getting

involved to just do it! Whether it’s a fun runround the park, a marathon or a climb upKilimanjaro.’

Other expeditions include a trek to the lostcity of Machu Picchu, a walk along the GreatWall in China as well as many differentchallenges.

Says Katie Mason of the Railway Children,‘If you have been thinking about doingsomething different or life changing, theRailway Children will help you all the waywith lots of support, training advice andhelp with fundraising.

Not only will you do an amazing personalchallenge, you will also be helping some ofthe world’s street children at the sametime. These events are great for corporateteam building, comradeship, personalachievement and simply having fun.’

For more information, take a look at thewebsite:www.railwaychildren.org.uk/eventsor call Katie Mason, Events Manager –

01270 757596.The Railway Children supports street chil-

dren living alone and at risk on the streets,many of whom live on railway platforms. Thecharity provides shelter, food, healthcare, ed-ucation and above all, friendship.

Rihanna, with Oyster card at the ready.PHOTO: @CleideCarina

Courtesy of Twitter

© ADAM O’CONNOR

© A

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5WORKING

DAYS

Two new appointments havestrengthened the team atWabtec Rail Limited.

Gordon Innes is the new HVACBusiness Manager. Gordon joinsWabtec Rail from EMI where hewas the Business DevelopmentManager for Rail. Prior to thisGordon was Fleet Engineer andProject Manager at SouthernRailway for over three years,Fleet Engineer at East Coast(then GNER) for two years and atInterfleet for five years.

Gordon is a Chartered Engineer

and has a Masters degree inElectrical/Mechanical Engineer-ing and Business Studies. Hebrings considerable engineer-ing knowledge and business ex-perience to the company.

Paul Attwood also joins as thenew Bogie Production Managerfollowing a recent reorganisationin the Bogie business division.Paul joins Wabtec Rail from LNSTurbo, a market leader in thesupply of material handling so-lutions to the machine tool in-dustries worldwide.

Paul was Works Manager forfour years during his time atLNS Turbo. He has a great deal ofengineering experience gainedwithin the machine tool, medical,rail and aerospace industries.

Paul holds a Masters Degree inMechanical Systems & DesignEngineering from Liverpool Uni-versity. He is well versed in leanmanufacturing and continuousimprovement techniques, aswell as having a good under-standing of modern productioncontrol systems.

New faces at Wabtec Rail

Mark Allen has joined the National Skills Acad-emy for Railway Engineering as Business Devel-opment and Stakeholder Manager.

Mark, a career railway man, joins NSARE fromPortec Rail Group in Sheffield where he was headof rail engineering. Married with three children

Mark joined the rail industry in 1997 as a gradu-ate trainee with Railtrack. He worked for NetworkRail as a contracts manager looking after track en-gineering on East Anglia, Eastern and Southern re-gions. Mark later moved to Network Rail’s corpo-rate HQ as a Senior Track Engineer.

Mark Allen joins NSARE

Graeme Thompson has been appointed ChiefFinance Officer at High Speed 1.

Thompson’s appointment follows the resignationof Graham Gunn, who had held the post since 2007.

A chartered accountant Graeme Thompsontrained with PWC and has worked for Powergen,EON and Central Networks where he was Financeand Regulation Director. He was educated at Lan-

caster University where he studied accounting andfinance. His family is involved in running a topAfrican safari outfit called Ngok.

Nicola Shaw, Chief Executive said, ‘I look for-ward to working closely with Graeme and he willbring strong business skills to HS1 which willhelp us move forward working closely with ourpartners.’

Big game for Thompson

Mark Hopwood, First GreatWestern’s managing director,has become president of theRailway Study Association forthe next year.

Mr Hopwood made his inau-gural address entitled ‘AllChange (again)’ recently. TheRSA provides a forum for the ex-change of experience, knowl-edge and opinion on issues re-lating to all aspects of the rail-way industry.

Says Mark, ‘It is a great honourto take on the role of Presidentat a very exciting time for the railindustry. We are seeing recordgrowth in customer numbers,and significant investment inboth rolling stock and infra-structure. There are challengesand the industry will need toface up to these and make somedifficult decisions.

‘There are also some great op-portunities to realise faster more

comfortable journeys. The RSAallows us to debate these issues,and discuss solutions, and I amgreatly looking forward to theyear ahead.’

Study in Change

Andy Pitt is stepping down asmanaging director of SouthWest Trains and will be re-placed by Tim Shoveller, cur-rently in charge of sistercompany, East MidlandsTrains, where David Horne willtake over.

A career railwayman Andy Pitthas been in railways for 28 years.He worked for BR in South Walesand the Western Region anddid a spell with Opraf (the Officeof Passenger Rail Franchising)before joining Stagecoach in1997 as commercial directorSWT. Andy plans to retire.

Tim Shoveller (38), began hiscareer at Guildford and workedfor Eurostar, Silverlink and Vir-

gin Trains. He was operationsdirector at Midland Mainlineand took over at EMT in 2007.David Horne is currently Com-mercial and Customer ServiceDirector at East MidlandsTrains. He has worked in therail industry since 1993.

Pitt Stop

Network Rail has a new legalexecutive.

Suzanne Wise, currently withPremier Foods plc, will join Net-work Rail as general counsel

early in the new year. She takesover from Hazel Walker, groupcompany secretary, who leftNetwork Rail at the end of Sep-tember after nine years with

the company. Says chief executive, David

Higgins, ‘Suzanne joins us at apivotal time when the companyand the industry are undergoinga period of intensive change.Suzanne brings great experi-ence from the FTSE 100 and250, which will be invaluable inhelping the executive drive thecompany forward to deliver abigger, more reliable and af-fordable railway.’

The new title of general coun-sel reflects a broader role cover-ing transparency, data protec-tion, business ethics and ac-cess to information. Mr Higginspaid tribute to Hazel Walker,‘Hazel will be greatly missed.She’s been with Network Rail

since its inception. Her insight-ful advice and guidance hasbeen invaluable to the companyand I wish her every success inthe future.’

Suzanne will report to PatrickButcher, group finance directorand will be a member of thecompany’s group executive.

She joined Premier Foods inJanuary 2008 from GallaherGroup plc where she was headof legal affairs. Prior to Gallaher,she was a solicitor in a privatepractice. Suzanne qualified as asolicitor with Lewis Silkin andwas admitted to practice in 1987.She graduated from the Univer-sity of East Anglia in 1983 andstudied at the College of Law,Guildford.

Wise move

The rail engineer magazine,sister publication of RailStaff,is sponsoring the Signal andTelecommunications Volun-teer Technician of the YearAward, organised by the IRSE- the Institution of Railway Sig-nal Engineers.

The award was conceived in2010 to increase the awarenessof the contribution that volun-teer railway signalling and

telecommunications designers,installers and maintainersmake to the safe and efficientoperation of minor railways.

All entries will be judged by anindependent panel of ac-knowledged S&T profession-als and the award will be pre-sented at the Section’s Techni-cal Conference at the SevernValley Railway Museum on 12thNovember.

Says Tom O’Connor, of the RailMedia Group which publishesRailStaff and the rail engineer,‘We are delighted to be sup-porting this worthy award. Manyof our readers and contributorsare actively involved in pre-served railways. This award willencourage them and help raisethe profile of this vitally impor-tant but too often overlooked as-pect of railway preservation.’

The IRSE Minor Railways Sec-tion S&T Volunteer Technicianof the Year Award is designed torecognise those individuals whodemonstrate an outstanding

individual commitment, on aregular basis, to the practice ofS&T engineering on their par-ticular minor railway or in a mi-nor railway context.

The award is open to candidatesover the age of 16 and entry is free.Railway Administrations wereinvited to nominate individualsby means of a short statementclearly demonstrating the rea-sons for the nomination. Thewinner will receive nominal own-ership of the S&T Volunteer Tech-nician of the Year Trophy for oneyear, £100 in cash and a person-al trophy and framed certificate.


Viennese waltz for Blackpool

The Bombardier-built Flexity 2tram, made in Vienna andBautzen, has made its debut atBlackpool.

The town’s historic tram sys-tem celebrated it’s 125th an-niversary last year and has re-cently enjoyed a £100m upgrade.The 16-strong fleet will be inservice by next Easter.

The new low-floor trams arebased on Bombardier’s previ-ous light rail designs. Bom-bardier’s president, Andre Navar-ri, joined local leaders at the newtram depot at Starr Gate as thefirst tram took to the streets.

One of Britain’s only survivingfirst generation tramways,Blackpool’s street trams were indanger of being closed down asmany vehicles and stops did notcomply with disability legisla-tion. New trams are fully com-pliant and a small number of

heritage trams will be modifiedto comply with disability accesslegislation. Some of the morehistorical vehicles will be re-

tained as a museum fleet. Quicker journey times and a

reduction in the number of stopswill make the light rail system

much more competitive withlocal bus services. The newtrams are being built in Ger-many.

Says Blackpool Council leader,Simon Blackburn, ‘Providing amodern tram service that op-erates as an effective trans-port system while still offeringvisitors and residents the op-portunity to enjoy uninter-rupted views of our coastline issomething unique to Black-pool. The new Flexity 2 modelwill help us improve access forpeople with prams or withwheel chairs for example andwill run alongside our heritagetrams.’

Production of the trams beganin August 2010 at Bombardier’sfactories in Bautzen in Germany,and in Vienna, Austria. Eachtram has 74 seats plus capacityfor 150 standing passengers.

Profits of zoom

East Coast, which is sponsoringthe Train Driver of the Year atthe RailStaff Awards, has in-creased its profits and passen-ger numbers.

Between April 2010 and March2011, East Coast made a pre-taxoperating profit of £182.8 million.This meant it was able to pay£177 million to the Departmentfor Transport, for whom it runsthe company. This compareswith a pre-tax operating profit of£52.7 million from November2009 - when the company start-ed operations - to March 2010.

East Coast says passengergrowth on the line had increased3% in 2010/11, with turnoverreaching more than £645 million.First class passenger numbershave risen 24% since the new

timetable was introduced inMay this year.

Says East Coast chairmanElaine Holt, ‘While we’re makinggood progress with the turn-around, we have much still to do.During this year, we shall con-tinue to focus on delivering aconsistent service across ournetwork, working harder to en-sure we get the basics right, fix-ing the problems we inherited,improving and building for thefuture, and restoring the pride inthe East Coast railway.’

East Coast’s parent compa-ny, Directly Operated Railways,took over the line when Na-tional Express gave up the fran-chise. The line is due to revert tothe private sector again at theend of 2013.

East Coast has boosted profits and passengers.

An intrepid team of 32 volun-teers has successfully com-pleted Railway Children’sLondon to Paris Bike Ride.

Cycling the 180 miles in threedays, they raised £50,000. Facedwith torrential rain on theirdeparture from Crystal Palace,the cyclists - including thosefrom VolkerRail, Network Railand Barclays - headed out fromLondon and onto quieter roadsas they made their way to theferry crossing.

Riding south through Francethey spun through villages andopen country on roads with nopot holes. The group reached theEiffel Tower and celebrated witha glass of champagne.

Says Graham Jackson of Uni-part Rail, ‘Superbly organised,with great company from col-leagues from across the rail in-dustry, this was an excellentchallenge event to raise moneyfor the Railway Children Charity.Well worth the effort.’

Tours des

Enfants

Volunteer backing

Edinburgh tram project untied

Edinburgh’s trams are back ontrack after the city councilsigned a new deal with itsmain contractor, BilfingerBerger and the Scottish Gov-ernment stepped in to back thescheme.

Says Council Leader JennyDawe, ‘This is an important mile-stone in restoring our vision fora clean, green and efficient trans-port system in Scotland’s capital.It is essential for everyone wholives or works in Edinburgh thatthe project gets going now assoon as possible. I am pleasedwith the spirit of cooperationshown by all parties and grate-ful for the hard work that hasgone into taking us forward.’

Transport Initiatives Edin-burgh (TIE) will cease to exist asan operating entity with its pre-vious functions executed bythe Council supported by Turn-er and Townsend. The ScottishGovernment has also stepped into help.

Says Council Chief ExecutiveSue Bruce, ‘I’m very pleased to

welcome Transport Scotland’sinvolvement which will see ourstaff and theirs working closelytogether as we look to enter a

new phase in the project’s his-tory. As with any major con-struction project I’m sure we willhave hurdles to overcome, but

our new governance and opera-tional arrangements are aimedat dealing with those as effi-ciently as possible.’

Back on track – an artist’s impression of the new Edinburgh tram.

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John O’Donnell, Director,Express Medicals Ltd, reportson better provision of occupa-tional health by considering anumber of delivery models.

Homographic ModelAn interesting model can be

seen during the period of the Sec-ond World War. WinstonChurchill, who was then in his70s, had an extremely demand-ing role. Travel demands includ-ed trips to Washington, Moscow,Cairo and Yalta.

Whether travelling on a RoyalNavy ship or flying on an RAFconverted bomber Churchill wasalways accompanied by his per-sonal physician, Lord Moran.

This can be viewed as the ulti-mate delivery model in whichthere is one-to-one attentionwith immediate referral to ap-propriate supporting profes-sionals and all the advantagesthat come from such close at-tention. Such a delivery model isideal for specific individuals suchas heads of state.

Sports ModelAnother model has evolved in

the context of modern sportssuch as football and rugby. A

team of medical professionalsworking under professional lead-ership support individual sports-men and women and their teams.

For example, a premiershipfootball club will have an in-house sports doctor who willdeal with the club’s medical re-quirements. The doctor will haveaccess to an array of appropriateinvestigative equipment (for ex-ample: scans of injured joints) andtreatments (eg: rehabilitativephysiotherapy).

Industrial ModelA third model was seen in

large manufacturing companies,employing thousands of workerson large company sites, duringthe twentieth century. This mod-el was characterised by the pro-vision of a dedicated on-sitemedical centre which was staffedby company doctors and nurses.

The core services included pre-employment questionnaires andmedical examinations, the treat-ment of workplace injuries andthe holding of occupational med-ical records.

The Static ModelA fourth model is a direct de-

scendant of the previous one.

This variant on model three re-lates to very large constructionsites. Readers can learn aboutsuch an example by consultingthe following publication issuedby the ODA (Olympic DeliveryAuthority), “Be safe Be healthy”(2010).

Once again, the key component

of this delivery model is the pro-vision of a dedicated medicalcentre (on-site as opposed to in-house) with dedicated medicaland complementary staff.

The ODA says that more than10,000 pre-employment healthchecks and nearly 3,000 full med-icals were carried out. A pro-gressive approach is taken tothe deliverance of wellbeing serv-ices to the workforce.

Working in partnership withthe Department of Sexual Health

from Homerton Hospital, theHackney Diabetes Centre andthe Men’s Health Forum, themedical team was able to deliv-er an array of health initiatives tothe workforce.

Projects addressed diet, smok-ing, exercise, blood pressure andsexual health. On a big site withthousands of workers this isclearly a model that has much tocommend it. However, it is lim-ited as the on-site medical cen-tre is closed at the conclusion ofthe project, leaving no occupa-tional health legacy.

The ABC Model -adaptable, bespoke andcommercial

A fifth model is that devel-oped by Express Medicals Ltd,over the past 15 years in re-sponse to clients’ requests. Thishas enabled Express Medicals todeliver some 90,000 medical ex-aminations over the previous 5years.

The core components of themodel have been designed tomeet the needs of constructionand transport companies with lo-cations across Great Britain.Whilst some client companieshave large sites, we have beenvery mindful that large numbersof companies have workers scat-tered on sites of varying size,some being quite small, through-out the country.

This model optimises service toclient companies by offering theflexibility to attend multiple sitesof varying size from huge to tiny,in multiple locations and at veryshort notice.

We deliver our services fromthree sources. We have two fixedmedical centres in London andStoke. We have mobile staff whocan visit any site at home orabroad and we have session clin-ics across the country. This givesus the flexibility to solve clientneeds in different ways at a val-ue–for–money cost.

The model enables the deliveryof a wide range of services, in-cluding the provision of traditionaloccupational health services (forexample: surveillance, fit-for-taskmedicals and referral to a di-verse array of medical consultantsand other specialists) and inno-vative wellbeing services.

Model five includes an occu-pational health legacy where anon-site medical centre has beenused as part of the delivery ve-hicle. Administratively, any on-site medical centre functions aspart of our total facility with allthe long-term advantages thatthis brings.

For example, records will bestored within the database of allour records and medical facilitieswill still be available for workersrequiring services after an-siteproject ceases.

Model of Good HealthMedical Spotlight

Rail backing for Royal BoltonA senior traffic clerk in Man-chester has helped organise a£1,000.00 donation to the RoyalBolton Hospital Breast Unit.

James Kelly, who works forFreightliner in Manchester, nom-inated the charity following thesuccessful treatment his mother-in-law, Sylvia Thomason, receivedfor breast cancer at the clinic.

James praised the hospital andsaid, ‘The outstanding care andher survival and lust for life are inno small part due to the supportfrom the team at Bolton BreastCare Unit. Every single pennythey receive is put to good use forpast, current and future patients.’

The employee charity schemeenables staff to choose a chari-ty. Tibor Kovacs, Breast Surgeonand Lead Clinician at the BoltonBreast Unit, said, ‘We’re verygrateful for the generous dona-tion from Freightliner staff andwould like to thank them andMr Kelly in particular for think-ing of the unit. The donation willbe put to good use on behalf ofour patients.’

The Royal Bolton Hospital isone of the busiest NHS hospitalsin the North West of England,and its Bolton Breast Clinic cov-ers the areas of Bolton, Buryand parts of Wigan.

James Kelly and Sylvia Thomason presenting the cheque

to nurses from the Royal Bolton Hospital Breast Unit.

A former British Rail employeehas been elected as Zambia’sfifth president.

Michael Sata, 74, swept to vic-tory in the recent presidentialelections at the head of the Pa-triotic Front party. Mr Sata, acommitted catholic and familyman, held a variety of jobs in hisyouth among them a position atLondon Victoria.

Returning to Zambia he en-tered politics and quickly won areputation for asking hard ques-tions and agitating for betterconditions for the poor. Presi-

dent Sata plans to negotiatebetter conditions and deals forworkers involved with foreigninvestors.

Mr Sata remains concernedat the level of Chinese involve-ment in his country’s economy.Nicknamed King Cobra for hisblunt manner he was a popularfigure among colleagues at BR.

Once employed as a porter heswept platforms and helpedpassengers on their way at Lon-don’s busy international sta-tion. Mr Sata has promised aclean sweep of Zambian politics.

Railway manelected president

The people of Zambia come out in force to watch the ceremony

of Michael Sata becoming president.

Mick Whelan, 50, a former train driver, has been elected GeneralSecretary of Aslef.

Mr Whelan won the close election gaining 3,683 votes with SimonWeller getting 3,458.

Mick said, ‘It is a privilege and an honour to become the leader ofthis proud union. I would like to record my thanks to all those mem-bers who voted for me and to the other candidates who actedthroughout with dignity and decorum. I would also like to thank Kei-th Norman for the work he has done on behalf of our members dur-ing his period in office.’

Whelan winsAslef vote

Hard working Network Rail staffhave unearthed a Roman bathhouse whilst excavating landfor the Thameslink project.

Believed to be one of the biggestRoman finds in London the bathhouse once stood on the cornerof London Bridge Street and Bor-ough High Street. The site, whichformerly sported a night club

and a fish and chip shop, hasbeen earmarked for the con-struction of a new office block.Specialist archaeologists are nowexcavating the site.

The bath house appears to in-clude a range of rooms includ-ing a cold plunge pool as well ashot rooms warmed by underfloor heating.

Early Bathat Borough

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On 16 September 2011 the RailAlliance staged its inauguralMacroRail Exhibition at itsLong Marston HQ near Strat-ford-on-Avon.

Over 60 Rail Alliance memberstook stand space and welcomedinvited visitors from the RailIndustry. The aim of the 2011event was to prove the conceptthat a successful exhibition forthe sector does not need to costthousands of pounds and thatquality can win over quantity.

‘With a ‘flash to bang’ time ofless than 3 months, we had setourselves quite a challenge,’ re-ports Robert Hopkin of the railAlliance. ‘However, a determinedapproach by all in the Rail Al-liance saw it come to fruition,providing an exhibition oppor-tunity for our members (at nocost to them) in a live, workingrail environment.

‘Through collaborating withother businesses on site at theLong Marston Business Park -not least the innovative use ofwarehouse accommodation -we have proved that, to quoteone of General Colin Powell’s fa-mous rules, ‘It can be done!’

In particular, we are very grate-ful to the CEO of Motorail UK,Ruth Flack, and the MD of Mo-torail UK, Steve Dunmore, andtheir team for all their hardwork on our behalf, both duringthe preparation for the eventand on the day.

Our grateful thanks also go toRichard Popple, the Site Man-ager of the Long Marston Busi-ness Park, for his team’s effortsin smoothing the flow of ex-hibitors and visitors alike

through the main gate. It is always difficult to put a val-

ue on any exhibition; indeed,that factor alone provided thechallenge for us to seek torewrite the rules of this partic-ular game in an attempt tocome up with a value-basedconcept of exhibiting.

The combined marketing ef-fort of the event by the mem-bers, as well as the Rail Al-liance’s targeted marketing to in-fluential contacts in the indus-try ensured that the majority ofvisitors to MacroRail were in-formed decision-makers as op-posed to the well-intentioned‘tyre kicker’ fraternity.

Back to the exam question of‘How much business was donethen?’ The majority of our mem-

bers reported having receivedgood quality leads, includingone member getting a stronglead into the automotive sector.

Additionally, we have had feed-back from a handful of our mem-bers where aggregating the val-ue of their potential orders wouldexceed £1M - itself proof positivethat the concept does work.

Throughout the day there wasalso the opportunity for typicalRail Alliance ‘Four Walls Working’with many members seeing eachothers’ products and servicesfor the first time with, impor-tantly, plenty of time and spaceto learn more about each other’scapabilities and requirements.

So, we are particularly pleased,but not surprised, that the initialfeedback we have received in-

dicates that a significant num-ber of members reported doingbusiness within the four walls.Importantly, such is the range ofour membership, there was lit-tle or no chance for ‘own goals’where, as can happen at largerevents, companies fight withcompetitors to secure the sameleads.

The planning for MacroRail2012 is already underway andwith 12 months to plan nextyear’s event, the concept can befully developed and we look for-ward to partnering with otherclusters with a simple, com-mon philosophy that underpinseverything we do as an organi-sation - the staging of ‘lowcost/high value’ business de-velopment opportunities


Join the Rail Alliance now

Rail Alliance membership starts

from just £500 per year

log on to www.railalliance.co.uk

email [email protected]

or call 01789 720026.

EVENTSThe Infrastructure Show 2011

17th-19th October - Location... NEC Birmingham

RailStaff Awards 2011

29th Oct - Location... ICC Birmingham

Rail Interiors Expo 2011

15th-17th November - Location... Cologne, Germany

AusRail 2011

22nd-24th November - Location... Brisbane, Australia

Members’ Meeting & Networking Event

2nd Nov tbc - Location... London hosted by Clyde and Co

Members’ Meeting and Lean Process Seminar

Dec tbc - Location... Worcester – hosted by Southco

UKTI/Rail Alliance NW Regional Rail Briefing Event

27th Jan tbc - Location... Crewe tbc

Members’ Meeting & Networking Event

Feb tbc - Location... TRaC Global, Skelmersdale - tbc

Infrarail 2012

1st-3rd May - Location... NEC, Birmingham

InnoTrans 2012

18th-21st Sept - Location... Berlin, Germany

New members

Cover Systems

(Design and Manufacture of a Wide Variety of Equipment Covers) www.cover-systems.co.uk

A Bratt & Son Ltd

(Supplier of Ladders andOther Non-conductive Access Equipment) www.brattsladders.com

Portaramp UK Ltd

(UK Market Leader in theSupply of Access RampSolutions) www.portaramp.co.uk

Vital Rail

(Provider of Major Support Services to the Rail Industry including Contingent Labour and Security Solutions) www.vital-rail.com

Thomas Dudley Ltd

(Family Owned Iron Foundry and Manufacturer of Plastic Injection Moulding) www.thomasdudley.co.uk

CSE International Ltd

(Provider of Systems, Safety Assurance and Consultancy Services to Rail Organisations Worldwide) www.cse-international.com

DAN DRYER A/S

(Manufacturers of Warm-air Hand Dryers and OtherBathroom Equipment to theRail Industry – Based inDenmark)www.dandryer.com

MacroRail works magic at Long Marston

The Technology Strategy Board and RSSBare investing up to £4m to accelerate busi-ness innovation in the UK’s rail industry.

Transport KTN is helping to deliver thisfunding competition.

The ‘Accelerating Innovation in Rail’ fund-ing competition aims to support the de-velopment of technologies that are able toaddress the challenges facing the rail in-dustry, as well as meeting customer re-quirements in both UK and internationalrail markets.

Themes include: reducing infrastructurecosts, energy efficiency and carbon emis-sions reduction, operational safety and ef-

ficiency, network management and control,and improving customer experience.

To support this competition and enablethose interested in participating to gainmore information, share ideas, and under-stand how to make a compelling entry, theTransport KTN is running an ‘Accelerating In-novation in Rail’ consortia building and in-formation day on the 20th October 2011 atCoventry University Techno Centre.

The event will present the full scope of thecompetition along with information onsome of the challenges facing the rail sector.It will be an essential step for companies,universities and other organisations to un-

derstand the aims and scope of the com-petition, discuss convergence scenarios andbuild relationships with potential collabo-rators that can be leveraged for the compe-tition and beyond.

The workshop is multidisciplinary andwe welcome the participation of organisa-tions from all relevant sectors.

You can register for this event by emailing:[email protected] with the subject: Innovation Rail 20 October Registration.

To find out more, visit the official TransportKTN group at: www.ktn.innovateuk.org/web/accelerating-

innovation-in-rail1

Accelerating Innovation in Rail

This month the Institution of Mechanical En-gineers is offering a new style of hands-ontechnical visit.

As many young engineers do not get the oppor-tunity for practical experience, the Railway Divi-sion Young Members Committee is delivering‘Hands on Heritage’, a three day event at Kent andEast Sussex Railway. Delegates will don overalls tocarry out maintenance tasks utilising traditionalmethods on a range of locomotives.

The visit will help young engineers learn about theintricate workings of the railway and gain an ap-preciation of the operational challenges met everyday by railway staff. The activities involve replacingthe floor of an old pipe wagon, stripping down asteam locomotive, maintaining the boilers and car-rying out inspections of the operational stock.

As a reward for all of their hard work delegateswill be able to get on the footplate and learn thebasic skills required to drive a steam locomotive.


Glass ceiling for KX

Part of King’s Cross station isnow bathed in natural daylightfollowing the completion of thefirst section of the new roof.

As part of an extensive six-

year redevelopment of King’sCross station, the 270m-longiron and glass roof above plat-forms 1 to 8 is being complete-ly refurbished.

Says Ian Fry, Network Rail,‘The new roof is an importantpart of our plans to transformKing’s Cross station. The glasspanels will make the stationbrighter, more environmentally-friendly and a better place forpassengers to be.’

A small number of skilledworkers slid 130 tonnes of scaf-folding 80m along the length ofthe roof to shield passengersduring the work. The roof isGrade I listed and consequent-ly, English Heritage and conser-vation planners have been close-ly involved in all aspects of therestoration.

Hand on Heritage trainingFootplate training gives students a real feel for railways.

! 08450 100 500 • etd 00 38571 • www.tbf.org.uk • e-mail [email protected] Transport Benevolent Fund (known as TBF) is a registered charity in England and Wales (1058032) and in Scotland (SC040013)

The fastest growingmembership charity in the

public transport industryTransportBenevolentFund

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covers you, your

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Jointoday!

Dave Stannard hasrun 170 miles ineight days in a bidto raise money forBliss, the prematurebaby charity, as atribute to the hospi-tal that saved hisson.

Corey Stannard wasborn 12 weeks early.Corey spent fivemonths in hospital and

Dave was told to spend as much time with his sonas he could. Dave vowed that if Corey did pullthrough he would try to help others in a similar sit-uation. Without the team at Jessops Hospital inSheffield, Corey would not be here now, almost 8years on.

Says proud mum, Cath Stannard, ‘Thankfullythose dark days are over and Corey is a veryhealthy and amazing little man. He’s a tough guyjust like his dad!’

Dave, an Operations Training Manager for EastMidlands Trains, based at Derby, used the EMTroute as his guide and ran via Bedford, Welling-borough, Kettering, Market Harborough, Leicester,Long Eaton, Alfreton and finally Sheffield. Dave fin-ished his mammoth event at 12 noon on Sep-tember 17th at Sheffield train station. Apart fromthe odd blister he finished in good health and hasso far raised over £1500.

The website for donations is:www.justgiving.com/stannarddave

Tribute run for Corey’s dad

Passengers in hot water Passengers and crew came tothe rescue of a stranded trainduring the recent hot spell.

The incident happened out-side Ipswich. The National Ex-press East Anglia service cameto a halt after coolant levelsdropped causing the engine tocut out. The train crew collect-

ed as much bottled water asthey could. The water levelswere replenished and the trainwas soon on its way again.

Says Peter Meades of Na-tional Express East Anglia,‘We’re very grateful to pas-sengers on the train who will-ingly came forward to assist

the train crew in offering bot-tles of water which enabled thedriver to restore the coolantlevels, following a fault that oc-curred with the engine of thetrain.’

Engineers found a leak in thecooling pipe, repaired and re-turned the train to service.

One of Scotland’s major routes for commuters andfreight, the Paisley corridor, is being three-trackedand having new signalling systems installed aspart of a comprehensive expansion project.

The final stretch of the line from Arkleston toPaisley Gilmour Street will also be upgraded to afour-track railway for even greater flexibility. En-gineers have been renewing and extending track,signalling and overhead power lines between Glas-gow and Paisley. Once complete in January 2012,the Paisley Corridor Improvements project willboost capacity on the route and allow for increasedlevels of service between Glasgow and Ayrshire,Renfrewshire and Inverclyde.


Panzer signalman diesA former member of the HitlerYouth who later enjoyed along career with British Rail asa signalman has died.

Heinrich Friedrich Carl Metel-mann fought on the EasternFront in the 22nd Panzer Divi-sion. He was born in Hamburgin 1922. Taken prisoner by theAmericans, Metelmann re-nounced his childhood Nazismon reading of the Holocaustand seeing pictures of recentlyliberated concentration camps.He was held as a prisoner ofwar in Britain until 1948. On hisrelease he decided to settle inEngland and worked as a farmlabourer in Hampshire.

In the 1950s he joined BRwhere he stayed until his re-tirement in 1987. Disturbed bythe war crimes of the Third Re-ich Heinrich Metelmann joinedthe Campaign for Nuclear Dis-armament and the BritishCommunist Party. His left wingleanings did not prevent histaking a part time job as a gar-dener at Charterhouse publicschool upon his retirement.

In 1991 he wrote his memoirs,‘Through Hell for Hitler.’ Rail-way colleagues were startled tolearn he had joined the Hitleryouth aged 11. Seeing Hitlerspeak, he admitted, resultedin him being completely swept

up by the man’s oratory like somany of his countrymen.

‘To us, he was the greatest hu-man being in the world. Peoplesay he hypnotised us, but wehypnotised ourselves. Often wecouldn’t hear what he was say-ing: we all screamed anyway.We truly thought we were partof a crusade.’

Metelmann’s father, who diedduring the war, warned his sonthat Hitler was wrong. In hisbook he writes that he wished hecould have apologised to his fa-ther and say, you were right, Iwas an idiot. Metelamnn’s wife,Monika, a Swiss, died in 1980. Heleaves a son and a daughter.

A £16.3 million contract hasbeen signed for six new tramsfor London Tramlink.

The new trams will boost serv-ices on the network in Croydonfrom early next year. Croydonwas hard hit by the riots thissummer with parts of the trackand over head wires reduced tomolten metal by arsonists.

At 32 metres the new trams,made by Stadler in Germany, are2½ metres longer than the ve-hicles currently in use and areair conditioned and fully acces-sible for disabled passengers.The first of the new trams willarrive later this year and enterservice next spring after testing.Some tram stops will need to belengthened to accommodatethe longer trams.

Boris Johnson praised railwaystaff for getting the tram systemmoving again. ‘Our Tramlinkteam did a great job of restoringtram services to the town centreso rapidly following the distur-bances. And we hope the sign-

ing of contracts for the six newtrams will provide a real boost toservices when they begin run-ning early next year.’ The tramsare Variobahn models and arebased on vehicles currently inuse in Bergen, Norway.

New trams for Croydon Ten year team salute

A group of cyclists has beenpraised by The Railway Chil-dren for raising thousands ofpounds for the charity over thelast ten years.

The riders come from variousrail companies. Dedicated andhard working organisers includeDavid Padley, Anita Mulingan, EdGardiner, David Nutbrown,Rachel Carter, Janet Jenkins andAdrian Blocking. The group hasraised a fantastic £8,000 eachyear for the charity.

Says Organiser David Padley,who also took part in this year’sLondon to Paris Bike Ride, ‘It allstarted back in 1998 when staffmembers from GTRM, Carillionand Network Rail got togetherand decided to do a charity bikeride. We had around sixteenriders who dusted off their bikes,tents and legs and set off fromShrewsbury to Swindon.

‘We all had such a great timewe decided to make it an annu-al event. The event got bigger

each year with riders joining usfrom other rail companies, withColas Rail, Carillion and NetworkRail taking the lead roles andmany of the riders returningyear after year.

‘All the rides follow the Sus-trans network, so with buyingthe maps we like to think we aresupporting the Sustrans charityas well. We have cycled all overthe country and have seen andexperienced locations that lotsof people don’t get to see.’

Cliffhanger reaches

tipping point

The future of the BridgnorthCliff Railway, which dates from1892, has been secured follow-ing its purchase for £750,000by the Tipping family.

Locals were concerned thatthe funicular railway which con-nects Bridgnorth high town andlow town, via the 111 ft sand-stone cliffs, would have to closeif a sympathetic buyer couldnot be found.

The railway is open 362 days ayear and makes approximately200 trips a day, saving localsfrom climbing the steep stepsthat connect the two halves ofthe busy Shropshire town. Witha journey time of just over a

minute the railway saves themmuch time too. The cliff railwaywas formerly owned and oper-

ated by Allan and Jean Reynoldswho are keen to step down (orup) and retire.

The six surviving A4 Pacifics, two of which areabroad, could be reunited next year if plans bythe National Railway Museum come tofruition.

Next year marks the 75th anniversary of Mallard’srecord breaking speed run and the opportunity isbeing taken to try and bring together the six sur-vivors at York.

60008 Dwight D Eisenhower, currently preservedat the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, Wis-consin and 60010 Dominion of Canada, currentlyat the Canadian Railway Museum in Montreal,would be temporarily repatriated under the pro-posal before returning to their respective museums.

Mallard broke the steam speed record on 3rd July1938 with driver Joseph Duddington at the regulator.

Pacific reunion planned

Paisley corridor progress

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More than 5000 graduates applied for a place onthe 2011 Network Rail graduate training scheme,more than double the amount in 2008.

However, Network Rail is focusing on potentialengineers who will take forward the unprece-dented planned expansion of Britain’s rail network.With the company receiving the green light fromgovernment to electrify hundreds of miles oftrack on the Great Western main line from Londonto Cardiff and in the north west of England, Net-work Rail’s chief executive David Higgins wants toattract the very best young minds to the railway.

‘While we’ve had unprecedented levels of ap-plications across the board, we’ve struggled to at-tract a great number of candidates for our electricalengineering graduate scheme. We understand

that other sectors can be attractive but we need toshout louder about the exciting opportunities andchallenges that lie ahead for electrical engineersas we develop and improve the network includingour plans for electrification,’ says Mr Higgins.

‘We’re delivering a vital public service used bymore than three million people every day to get towork, home, for business and leisure. A success-ful railway helps drive a thriving economy and wehave big plans to expand it and make it even bet-ter – today’s graduates can be part of that future.’

A recent skills report by the Institution of En-gineering and Technology found that 23% ofBritish electrical engineering employers haveexperienced problems in recruiting engineeringgraduates.

Record numbers apply

for graduate scheme

City chiefs in Newcastle,Gateshead and Sunderlandwant to expand the hugelysuccessful Tyne and WearMetro.

A full consultation is plannedas the £500m revamp of thenetwork and fleet continues.The proposed 20-year projectcould see the network extended

further into Sunderland, NorthTyneside and Gateshead.

Britain’s first urban light railnetwork began operating in Au-gust 1980 and now boasts 60 sta-tions. Nexus, which owns thesystem, will be presenting itsideas to the public early nextyear.

Plans are being prepared for a

further nine routes. These willinclude lines to Doxford Inter-national Business Park in Sun-derland, Killingworth in NorthTyneside, Washington and theTeam Valley Trading Estate andMetroCentre in Gateshead.Street trams could be used onsome routes instead of tradi-tional light railway carriages.

Metro expansion proposed

for Tyne and Wear

DLR’s new extension has beenpronounced ‘Match Fit’ as Lon-doners flocked to take advan-tage of the new section andstations.

The Docklands Light Railway’snew fully accessible DLR Strat-ford International extension gotoff to a flying start, carrying130,000 passengers in the sameweek that saw Westfield Strat-ford City shopping centre open-ing for business. This boostedpassenger volume on the DLRnetwork to record numbers.

The £211m new four mile ex-

tension between Canning Townand Stratford Internationalsports four new step-free sta-tions and will play a central rolein the London Olympics nextyear. The previous daily record of303,000 passengers on the wholenetwork was shattered onThursday 15 September when340,000 customers used the DLR,with the whole network carryingaround 1.9 million people duringthe last week.

Says Mayor of London, BorisJohnson, ‘Stratford Internation-al station and the new DLR ex-

tension are playing a crucialrole in the regeneration of eastLondon and are already showingthey are match-fit to transportthe millions of visitors that wewill be welcoming to theOlympic and Paralympic Gamesnext year.’

The extension completes£500m of DLR upgrade works,creating a 50 per cent increase incapacity across the network.The four new stations are Strat-ford International, Stratford HighStreet, Abbey Road and StarLane.

Match

fit

One of Britain’s most successful urban rail systems the Tyne and Wear metro looks set for further expansion.

Signal success for

CapEx team

This summer Network Railused one of its InfrastructureMaintenance CapEx teams toundertake the installation, test-ing and commissioning of anew signalling scheme.

Commissioned over the Au-gust Bank Holiday weekend, theRochdale resignalling projecthas been entirely financed byTransport for Greater Manches-ter. The existing Rochdale signalbox was demolished to makeway for a Manchester Metrolinkextension that will serve

Rochdale town centre. A replacement signal box, con-

taining an NX panel and namedRochdale West, has been con-structed two miles up the line.Somewhat bizarrely, its loca-tion is a mere 100 yards from itsneighbouring signal box, Castle-ton East Junction, but this site of-fered ready access and obviatedthe need to purchase addition-al land. Both signal boxes will re-main in use for the foreseeablefuture.

The scheme was driven by

the need to clear the old signalbox site on a tight schedule, soNetwork Rail decided to runthe project as a ‘hub and spoke’contract. Network Rail Invest-ment Projects acted as the huband five subcontractors formedthe spokes, one of which wasthe CapEx maintenance deliveryteam. The Network Rail staff in-volved are justifiably proud oftheir achievements and see thismethod of project implemen-tation as a beneficial model forthe future.

© JO

NA

TH

AN

WEBB

© STUART MARSH

14 | RailStaff | October 2011 RAILSTAFF AWARDS 2011

TBF backs Station Staff of the YearThe Transport BenevolentFund is backing the StationStaff of the Year Award at thisyear’s RailStaff Awards.

Says Tom O’Connor, manag-ing director of the Rail MediaGroup, which is organising theRailStaff Awards, ‘For most pas-sengers their first point of con-tact with the railway is throughrail staff at stations. Often over-looked at a busy terminus orcommuter stations they arethe heroes quietly helping pas-sengers on their way.

Great ambassadors‘Station staff make great am-

bassadors for the industry andwe owe them a tremendousdebt. It is a special privilege towelcome the Transport Benev-olent Fund which has done somuch down the years to helprailway people and their de-pendants.

The RailStaff Awards is aboutthe people who deliver the rail-ways often in darkness anddanger. The TBF is a charitywhich has been there for manyyears helping the same peopleand their families.’

Registered CharityThe Transport Benevolent

Fund (TBF) is a registered char-ity and offers a wide range ofbenefits including health, legaladvice, convalescence and cashhelp to its members and theirdependants. The TBF is run byTrustees who understand theindustry and the needs of staff.

TBF is here to support thosewho work in the public trans-port industry when they are inneed, hardship or distress. Al-most anyone who works in theindustry may join TBF. If you area member of the TBF, you maychoose to continue your mem-bership in retirement. It is notpossible to join once you haveretired.

To help all people in therail industry

Contributions to the TBF are£1 a week. Please contact TBFfor more details. When you dieyour family will normally con-tinue to be treated as depen-dants in accordance with theTBF rules.

Says Chris Godbold, Directorof the Fund, ‘Many of our mem-bers have been involved in, orstarted their career at a railwaystation. TBF exists to help allpeople in the railway industry.We are pleased to be involved in

the RailStaff Awards and tohelp celebrate the achieve-ments of ordinary men andwomen who make this such agreat industry.’

The Transport BenevolentFund was originally establishedto help families of London pub-lic transport workers serving inthe First World War. A perma-nent trust was set up in 1923.

TBF has been helping publictransport workers for nearly 90years. In recent years TBF hasshown extensive growth na-tionally and now has membersin most parts of England, Scot-land and Wales.

Essential to the success of topperforming CDI AndersElite,sponsors of Rail Team of theyear, are team members likeRob Enright.

Safety Critical Consultant, Rob,has been consistently recog-nised as one of the company’stop professionals. Rob’s com-mitment to delivering 100% allthe time has seen him backfillroles for clients at weekends toensure they are fully staffed atall times.

Quality staffA lot of work goes into helping

all rail clients ensure they havequality staff provided to guar-antee the success of their proj-ects. Top reliability is a result ofhours of hard work, particular-ly on Friday evenings when it iscommon for people like Rob towork late into the evening to or-ganise staff for the impending

weekend. Clear communication chan-

nels ensure CDI AndersElite’sRail Team goes above and be-yond client expectations, trulydelivering a flexible service.

Top calibreCDI AndersElite is a market

leading staffing provider in theUK, supplying top calibre tech-nical and professional Rail andSafety Critical staff. An unri-valled expertise has seen railbecome one of CDI AndersElite’slargest growth sectors in the UK.

A diverse, skilled, team of re-cruitment and resource con-sultants work specifically with-in the rail industry, uniting fullLink Up approved staff and ex-pert knowledge. CDI AndersEliteoperates a 24-hour service with-in the rail industry. The teamrecognises that almost alone inthe construction industry rail-

way works progress round theclock, day and night.

Flexibility is the keyThis organisation works under

a philosophy of supportingchange and encouraging teamsto be involved at all stages ofclient planning, implementa-tion and delivery. Flexibility iskey. CDI AndersElite has invalu-able experience of working withBritain’s largest engineeringcompanies and has supportedthem through some of thebiggest projects in the industry.

Top projects include LondonUnderground’s Bakerloo, Victo-ria & Circle lines upgrade andthe East London Line projec-tion. CDI AndersElite is involvedin many station upgrades andother engineering projectswhich are helping make it thenumber one rail recruiter ofchoice.

Late night for Rob Enright

Going to the TopRailStaff Awards 2011

The spread of rich and colour-ful characters in the railway in-dustry is nowhere betterillustrated than at this year’sRailStaff Awards.

Nominations have flooded infrom all parts of the industry,from mess rooms, and bookingon points, T&RS depots, ticket of-fices and control rooms. The di-versity of characters and thetriumphs of ordinary men andwomen make the process of se-lecting a winner harder thanever.

This spread of different peopleremains a sublime and all toorarely acknowledged strength. Inwhat other industry could yousee an ex-porter successfullyrunning to be president of hiscountry, a former panzergrenadier becoming a peace ac-tivist and working as a signal-man on BR?

In this issue of RailStaff alonewe see a former train driverturned daring helicopter pilotstopping a level crossing acci-dent, a father and ops managerrunning 170 miles to raise mon-ey for a premature babies char-ity, recognising the hard work ofthose who saved his son.

Another man who started hisrailway career as a junior rail-man, aged 16, at Salisbury sta-tion is now rail director KeolisUK. David Franks, Dave Stan-nard, Captain Kathryn Chap-man and President Michael Sataof Zambia might be too late fornomination at this year’s Rail-

Staff Awards. However their tri-umphs and spectacular careeraccomplishments remain an in-spiration.

This is an industry where staffcan and do go right to the top,not just of the railway but oftheir country as well. The com-panies sponsoring the RailStaffAwards prove this still further.

FirstGroup started as a man-agement and employee buy outin Aberdeen. Now it is a globaltransport provider. Others areyoung and full of enthusiasm.

Network Rail, Associate Spon-sor, came into being just nineyears ago taking over railway in-frastructure on 2 October 2002.It has done much to restoreconfidence in the rail industryboth among the public and ourpolitical leaders but most im-

portantly among railway staffwho have invested their careersin the railway.

All our sponsors have done agreat deal to shine a light on rail-ways, winning new recruits, pas-sengers and investors to thecause. We wish them well. Theirhard work is helping build therailway of the future as well asdelivering it day by day.

We wish all those nominatedat this year’s RailStaff Awardsevery success both on the nightitself and throughout their ca-reers. The stories they tell willlong serve as an inspiration anda delight to the hundreds ofmen and women who go tomake up Britain’s most vibrant,recession busting, can-do in-dustry.

Colin Flack, chief executive of the Rail Allianceand this year’s host at the RailStaff Awards hasbeen out in all weathers on a 1,000 mile fundraiser for the Railway Children.

Together with Swiss mountaineer, Felix Schmid,Colin set out to cycle from Land’s End to JohnO’Groats, climbing Snowdon, Scafell Pike andBen Nevis en route. The trip also involved kayak-ing the length of Lakes Bala and Windermere andLoch Ness.

Unhappily the early autumn sunshine changedto torrential rain when the pair set off. Tempera-tures in Scotland dropped to just above freezing.Despite the hard work there has been time for lightrelief along the way.

The team met up with Dave Ellis and Katie Ma-son of the Railway Children, with their supportteam Jules and Fred, at Carnforth Railway station.After hot drinks and cake in the lovely ‘Brief En-counter Café’ Dave and Katie joined Colin and Fe-lix for the switchback ride to Windermere.

The aim of the expedition is to raise money forthe Railway Children. If it goes well Colin Flackplans a bigger event next year open to more sup-porters and railway staff.

Says Colin, ‘I know that calls on everyone’spockets are many and varied these days but thisis a great little charity, doing so much good workbut like all small charities it has a constant strug-gle to make itself heard!

‘I am hoping that I can get friends, colleagues andbusiness links to raise some much needed cash.At the very least if you have taken the time to readthis and check out the website I will have achievedpart of my aim which is to raise awareness of thecharity and what it does.’

Colin Flack will be hosting this year’s RailStaffAwards in Birmingham. To donate and check outthe expedition go to:www.ultimate3.org.uk

Awards Host adds upUltimate Three


At TQ Catalis we realise the importance of quality training within a safety criticalenvironment, however the success of any training event is reliant on the trainer, that’swhy we are proud to sponsor the Trainer of the Year award!

We have our own great team of trainers that specialise in safety critical technicaltraining for rail engineering, operations and essential Health and Safety skills requiredfor today’s rail businesses. Many of our courses are accredited by NEBOSH, IOSH,Sentinel and City & Guilds.

Our trainers deliver solutions enabling clients to meet compulsory legislation, keeping

staff safe and the company performing to its full potential. Our drive is to provide a

service that exceeds our client’s expectations.

Delivering performance through people is not just a motto but a belief embeddedwithin our business for over 70 years.

TQ Catalis The Derby Conference Centre, London Road, Derby DE24 8UXT: 0845 880 8108 E: [email protected] www.catalis.co.uk

Proud sponsor of Trainer of the Year 2011

RAILSTAFF AWARDS 2011

eastcoast.co.uk

East Coast is proud to sponsor the 2011 RailStaff Awards – Train Driver of the Year

www.transportation.bombardier.com

Bombardieris pleased tosupport theRailStaff AwardsBOMBARDIER AVENTRA: The train with proven innovation

LAST FEW TABLES AVAILABLEPlease call Pat or Helen to book a table on 01530 56 00 26

“It’s going to be afrightfully good night!”ICC, Birmingham29th October

The Transport BenevolentFund is proud to sponsor

the Station Staff of the Yearat the Rail Staff Awards.

! 08450 100 500etd 00 38571

e-mail [email protected]

TransportBenevolentFund

The Transport Benevolent Fund (known as TBF) is a registered charity in England and Wales (1058032) and in Scotland (SC040013)

tbf

16 | RailStaff | October 2011 RAILSTAFF AWARDS 2011

Delighted to sponsor Signaller of the Year

Rail Team of the YearProudly sponsored by

For more information please visit

Or call us on 0207 680 3100

www.anderselite.com

www.amey.co.uk

Proud Sponsors of the Rail Staff Awards 2011

Sponsors of the Rail Safety Person of the Year 2011With a reputation built on safely delivering multi-faceted projects we continue to provide a service of exceptional value to all of our clients.

!"#$%&'()*+,-./0",$1-)#"2%!-%)3+!04+/"+)+4)-%!2"5%-)%,-.!%-)+.!)5/"%,0-)5+,0",.%)0+)6%,%70)4!+8)+.!)‘one stop shop’ service offering. We know that the quality of our people ensures that we provide a quality service and this is why we are pleased to sponsor the Rail Safety Person of the Year in the 2011 Railstaff Awards.

w w w . b r i d g e w a y - c o n s u l t i n g . c o . u k0115 919 1111 |[email protected]


Network Rail is proud to!sponsor!the! RailSta" Awards!2011It’s your hard work – the individuals and teams within our industry!– that’s helping us build a better railway for Britain. From pioneering investment and development projects, to!innovations that make everyday services faster, smarter and!safer,!we believe in recognising the excellence that’s enabling!the transformation of our network.

That’s why we’re very proud to once again sponsor this year’s RailSta"!Awards.

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Proud sponsor of the Lifetime Achievement Award

at the RailStaff Awards

A couple of months ago I recommended

in my safety article that the Rule Book

should now be abandoned.

I expected responses from any whocan’t envisage life without it. I suggestedthat the advantages were a reduction inthe number of detailed rules that lawyerscould fight over. Removing the Rule Bookas a significant target for the Rail AccidentInvestigation Branch’s report recom-mendations would also be advanta-geous. Frequent Rule Book amendmentsare not in anyone’s best interest.

Distant or Far Away

My suggestion of doing away with theRule Book resulted in an invitation tomeet Steve Roberts of the Rail Safety andStandards Board (RSSB) which I did onSeptember 21st. He reminded me that thecurrent Rule Book, all 48 modules of it, wasintroduced in 2003.

I remember it well since I was involvedin the drafting when we sought to bringrules together from the previous book sothat individuals would be able to findeverything relevant to them in a singlemodule or two. We removed a lot of du-plications between sections of the oldRule Book.

I remember the frustration a number ofus felt when the operating department’sspecialists sought more and more qual-ifying refinements which increased thesize of each draft module. However, thecrystal mark was received from the PlainEnglish Society. Some things don’t changeand I learnt that they have again sug-gested that “Distant Signals” should be re-named as “Far Away Signals”; an easily re-fused idea.

Sticking in the amendments

When the 2003 modules replaced theprevious Rule Book the stated intentionwas for fewer Rule Book changes andwhen changes had to be made we wereall assured that this would be done by re-issuing the entire module.

I felt strongly about this having over theyears seen the consequences of a relianceon sticking tiny slips of reprinted rules intoa Rule Book and over writing in biro! Alas,it did not take very long before the prin-ciple of module re-issue was abandonedand the industry took on the task of be-coming an efficient source of regular up-dates to the modules that affect us all.

New Rules by December 2014!

Steve explained that his aims were todefine the scope of the Rule Book, reduce

the continual changes to it and make iteasier to use. Worthwhile I agreed. ThisRSSB project kicked off in July 2008 witha “Workshop”. The objective is to com-plete the re-writing of the rules in time forrepublishing so that all the new rules arein force by December 2014!

The work is divided into 12 tranches thefirst of which is already complete. Sixyears sounds like a very long time to me.I hope the new rules will be drafted in amanner that reflects the ways in whichcompanies and Network Rail peopleneed to work. We still meet people ontrack who believe, and indeed state cat-egorically, that some of the rules don’t ap-ply to them because they work for Net-work Rail.

No amendments to Handbook 1

for five years

I was encouraged by the questionsRSSB is asking, including “how do youstop the Rule Book growing?”, “do we needa simpler Rule Book” and “we need to re-view the flow of Rail Accident Investiga-tion Branch (RAIB) extras”.

Steve told me that the 2003 vintage RuleBook had 91 pages devoted to the Rulesabout walking on the railway. He con-trasted this with the June 2010 issue ofHandbook 1 which provides all the samedetailed information in just 21 pages (i.e.75% less). Issue 2 came out in June of thisyear and I was assured that in line withthe principles behind the project, therewould be no amendments to it for fiveyears!

Further handbooks will be issued cov-ering the additional rules applicable forCOSS (Controller of Site Safety), ES (En-gineering Supervisor) and PICOP (Personin Charge of Possession). These will bestand-alone handbooks so their ownerswill not need copies of other Rule Bookmodules for their work.

Clearly a big improvement, but I recallthere were even fewer rules in the oldBlack Rule Book of the nineteen fifties,which is now only found in museums! Iwonder if RSSB would find borrowing acopy for reference useful now?

There are just too many rules

The RSSB have held eleven workshopsseeking views on the current rules andRule Book. Each was attended by a mix-ture of track workers, supervisors, traindrivers, signallers etc. I am not surprisedby the findings.

Critical comments made include; “thereare just too many rules”, “the rules are notsuitable to today’s railway”, “the rules nolonger let you think ”, “too complicated”,and “encrusted with bullet points”. For methe most telling is the comment that thecurrent detailed rules discourage peoplefrom thinking about what they are doing.

So far train operating companies andprincipal contractors have been con-sulted. Between 60 and 70 people havebeen given the chance to comment on theformat and presentation. Their compar-

ative perceptions of the old and newforms indicated an improved under-standing of the wording, easier to read,and for the finding of specific information.For more details visitwww.rssb.co.uk/RGS/Pages/rule-bookandnational.aspx

Behavioural change, leading by

example

Network Rail’s Safety Central websiteprovides refreshingly up to date infor-mation. It now includes details of a fol-low up to last June’s “Freeze Frame”event when many sites stopped work sothat everyone could be briefed on the de-tails of two sadly fatal accidents.

The announcement by Simon Kirby isof a “Safety Stand Down Week” between30th October and 6th November. The ob-jective is to assist a “behavioural change”.Companies and their site employees areurged to emphasise use of the Close CallSystem (now branded as “CCS”) and tocarry out site inspections accompaniedby Network Rail representatives.

Observing how work is being done andthe environment in which people areworking are the focus. Those visitingsites are urged to talk to people, challengeany unsafe practices or conditions andsee if the work can be done differently andmore safely.

Unannounced site visits

The principles are right. However, allmanagers should be leading and man-aging by regular site visits and listeningto the workforce’s concerns already?Unannounced visits at unexpected timesare always best in my experience.

When working in a pie factory I recallthat keeping hourly production up wasparamount almost all the time. But everymonth or so the major customer’s teamvisited the factory and came round to seeus all at work. These “unannounced” vis-its were preceded by the issue of cleannew white overalls on the morning of thevisit and the suspension of all productiontargets.

The management made us all awarethat working “per the book” was all thatmattered whilst the inspection tookplace. They encouraged us all by con-firming that we would get our averageproduction bonuses anyway whilst weworked to rule during the audit. Next timeI recommend unexpected visits in themiddle of the night and a few hours be-fore the shift is due to end.

Two avoidable and significant

accidents

Two accident reports recently pub-lished by the RAIB emphasise how im-portant it is to have motivated and val-ued track staff who know that they willbe thanked rather than criticised whenthey speak out.

On September 25th at White HouseFarm Crossing near Kings Lynn a pas-senger train carrying 41 passengers col-lided with a tractor. The tractor driver wasseriously injured and the train driver wasaffected by shock.

The crossing was used by the farm andon that day the sugar-beet crop was be-ing harvested. A local arrangement be-tween the signaller and farm staff hadbeen agreed using mobile telephones butit failed resulting in the accident. Wouldthings have been different if the localmanagement had been involved in thespecial arrangements?

Between 0530 am on September 23rdand 0330 am on September 24th the rail-way between Three Bridges and Hay-ward’s Heath had to be closed due toproblems near the mouth of BalcombeTunnel. The good part is that staff on anengineers’ train leaving the tunnel at 0524reported problems with the steel framingnear the tunnel mouth.

Five steel structures attached to thetunnel lining supporting water ingress;diversion sheeting had come loose andwas hanging down by half a metre. Thestructure was installed 12-years ago buta dozen of the supporting studs in thetunnel lining had become loose and fall-en out. Others were loose but still inplace. Three transverse steel girderswere consequently only attached atone end.

Questions now being asked includehow the work was done 12 years ago andwhy had subsequent tunnel inspectionsstaff, track patrollers and their supervisorsnot taken action earlier. Did the impor-tance of the route and the performancepressures on the local gangs and their su-pervisors to keep the railway running re-sult in delays in reporting these defectsand taking planned action?

Leadership and Motivation

Leadership by example, building a rap-port with staff and empowering as wellas delegating responsibilities and ac-countabilities are the crucial factors inmanaging our railway, whoever the em-ployer may be. Creating a working envi-ronment where people are proud ofwhat they do and want to please their su-pervisors and managers is and always hasbeen more important than generating pa-perwork and record keeping.

With a relatively new Chief Executive incharge at both Network Rail and the Of-fice of Rail Regulation, now is a good timefor the industry to review its priorities andhow it goes about doing work on track.The Periodic Review which will lead to thesetting of a Network Rail budget from2014 to 2019 is already underway.

The inevitable savings that the in-dustry will have to make must take intoaccount the importance of improvingour safety culture and behaviours. Con-frontational management and con-tracting need to become merely badmemories.


Colin Wheeler writes...

And the new initiative to bring about the behaviouraland attitude changes we all need

Can the rule book be reduced in size by 75% or replaced by

task tailored handbooks?

TRACK SAFETY


The Snowdon Mountain Rail-way came to the rescue whenexasperated park officialsplanned to take down a 4x4pick-up truck which had beenparked near the top of Snow-don.

The Vauxhall Frontera hadbeen driven up by its owner,Craig Williams, 39, from Glouces-tershire. Mr Williams said thespur-of-the-moment trip wasone of 50 challenges he’d sethimself to complete before hedied. Park rangers remainedunimpressed and Williams facescourt charges next month.

Railway staff loaded the vehi-cle onto a flat bed railway wag-on. It was then carefully broughtdown the mountain by theSnowdon Mountain Railway. The

vehicle has now been put up forsale on ebay. Craig Williams haspromised to donate the moneyraised to Ogwen Valley and Llan-beris mountain rescue teams.

The Final Frontera

Train drivers and London Un-derground have reached anagreement guaranteeing flexi-ble working arrangements dur-ing the London Olympics nextyear.

All train drivers employed byLU on 26 July 2012 will receive aone-off payment of £500. In ad-dition long shifts finishing in thesmall hours (after 01:30) willqualify for extra payments.

Says managing director, MikeBrown, ‘This agreement is agood deal for London Under-ground, our drivers and thosethousands of customers whowill be attending the London2012 Olympics and ParalympicsGames.

‘We are committed to ensuringthat the train service we providecontributes to the successfuloperation of the Games and I am

pleased that we and the unionshave been able to engage inconstructive dialogue to reachthis agreement.’

Drivers win Olympic Gold

The North Cotswold Line, be-tween Worcester and Oxford isattracting more passengers fol-lowing the completion of its 21mile redoubling project.

The improvement work hasundone some of the cuts inthe 1970s by re-introducing adouble-track railway betweenAscott-under-Wychwood to the

east of Charlbury and fromMoreton-in-Marsh to Evesham.New platforms have been re-built at Charlbury, Ascott-un-der-Wychwood and Honey-bourne. The out-dated sig-nalling system has also beenmodernised.

Says Mark Hopwood, manag-ing director, First Great Western,

‘I am very proud of the waythat the railway industry and lo-cal customers have come to-gether to restore this part of thenetwork. The team at First GreatWestern is confident that thecompletion of this work willprovide a further platform forimproved services for customersalong the line and beyond.

Cotswold celebration Stuart Mason:

Once Met Never Forgotten

A former operations managerwho joined the railways as abooking boy has sadly died,Paul Marks writes.

Stuart Mason, formerMerseyrail Operations In-spector, was a life-long rail-wayman, starting on the rail-way when he left school as abooking boy in the signalbox-es around Manchester Victo-ria. As soon as he was oldenough he became a fullyqualified signalman. He trans-ferred over to the footplate, ac-cepting a secondman’s posi-tion at Dover.

Returning to Manchester afew years later he became a Re-lief Driver at Newton Heath.Later, at Southport, in the ear-ly 1980s he worked as a driverand soon gained the position ofDriver Instructor. He became aTraction Inspector at Liverpoolin 1988, a position he held un-til his retirement in April 2009by which time he was againbased at Southport.

Known and loved by many,Stuart was responsible for thetraining, instructing and nur-turing of countless train driv-

ers across the North-West ofEngland. The Merseyrail op-erations team from the top tothe bottom owes a huge debtof gratitude to Stuart. At somepoint Stuart Mason trained,coached and mentored everysingle member of the currentOperations Managers, In-spectors and Leader Driversteams.

He was deeply respected by allwho knew him and by thosewho worked alongside him, forhe was a person of enormousintegrity. He had the highestmoral values and always dis-played a great sense of fair-play.Added to that, he possessed aphenomenal knowledge of rail-way operations, which it couldbe argued, was second to nonein the company.

Occasionally cynical and re-silient to change he may havebeen, but it was mostly goodnatured and he very rarelycomplained, taking all the anti-social shifts and the massive in-dustry changes in almost fortyyears of service in his stride. Al-ways witty, he never missed theopportunity to share a laugh

and a joke and could often beheard bursting into song orputting into rhyme the latestoccurrence on the line.

Away from the railway Stu-art was enthusiastic aboutaviation and enjoyed usingcomputer flight simulators.He was also a keen modelmaker. In recent years Stuartenjoyed crown green bowl-ing, playing regularly in the lo-cal leagues and competitions.At the time of his death heheld the position of Presidentat the Scarisbrick BowlingClub in Southport.

Until his early retirement in2009 he served the railwaysand the people of Merseysideand the North-West with greatpride and dedication. He was atruly vocational railwaymanwho will be deeply missed by allwho knew him.

Stuart Andrew Mason (1953-2011) leaves a wife, Debbie. Col-leagues have sent condolencesand agree Stuart Mason was anoriginal. ‘Once met never for-gotten.’ Paul Marks, is an Op-erations Inspector atMerseyrail, Southport.

Track work on the Cotswold Line.

© SIM

ON

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ITAC

KER

20 | RailStaff | October 2011 TRAINING FOCUS sponsored by... RailwayPeople.com

The National Skills Academy for RailwayEngineering has been awarded the Net-work Rail contract to manage its Rail Train-ing and Assessment AccreditationScheme.

The new arrangement starts in January

2012 and is for three years. NSARE willwork closely with Network Rail, the NCCAand Achilles to ensure a smooth transition.

NSARE is an independent, not for profit or-ganisation. Formally established as part ofthe government’s National Skills Academy

programme in November 2010 the academyis jointly funded by industry, governmentand other sponsorship partners.

The academy will be self funding by 2013through the sale of employer-focussedproducts and services.

Training deal for NSARE

The London Olympic and ParalympicGames 2012 emphasise the impor-tance of training.

Several railway staff are taking part inthe games and started training monthsif not years ago. Railway companieshave been in the main generous withtime-off and free tickets to travel awayfor qualifying events. These and othertraining occasions are all designed tohelp our athletes shine in London nextyear.

Debate ranges about methods of train-ing, whether to run through injuries,what diet supplements to use and howhard to train. The old maxim of trainhard fight easy is nowhere better illus-trated than in the railways.

Railway training encompasses a widerange of disciplines. However the un-derlying message is: Get this wrong andpeople’s lives could be at risk. Safety re-mains of paramount importance. Thechallenge for railway companies is todeliver the job on time and on budgetwithin stringent and exacting safety pa-rameters.

Moreover the pressure is on to attractand retain new staff. The railway in-dustry urgently needs committed pro-

fessionals intent on building careers ina regenerated and newly confident in-dustry. Finally after years of asking forbetter funding, sustained investment

and increased capacity we have a gov-ernment and indeed a political con-sensus that accepts this.

Political leaders and most of the pub-

lic understand the need for an ex-panded and updated railway system. In-dustrialists and trade unions have beenunstinting in their support. The

Olympiad is not just the over all eventitself but the individual sports andskills that go to make up the whole.

In parallel the rail industry is traininghard for the future as it pushes aheadwith ambitious plans to expand theTyne and Wear Metro, build and train anew generation to excavate and oper-ate Crossrail as well as recruiting andteaching a small Olympiad of new ap-prentices, men and women who willbuild Britain’s high speed rail network,electrify hundreds of miles of trackand upgrading and expanding thecurves and flyovers of a newly em-boldened railway.

In this section we take a brief look atsome of the visionaries already open-ing up opportunities for the railwaymen and women of the future. And it isnot just about graduates and schoolleavers; this industry like no other en-joys the unique privilege of attractingmen and women from almost everycountry and socio-economic back-ground in the world.

The multi–cultural society might be ar-gued over elsewhere but it started yearsago in the railway and remains our abid-ing and inherent strength.

Olympic efforts for training community

Akthar Hussainis hard at work onthe electrical engi-neering graduatescheme at NetworkRail.

The study andtraining is payingoff. Making theright decision atthe right time is anessential part ofleadership devel-opment at Net-work Rail andnewcomers get touse their newskills quitequickly.

Says Akthar,‘My first place-ment at Strat-ford in Londonbrought allsorts of unex-pected chal-lenges. Whenwe needed to discuss se-curity cameras, I organised and hosted a meeting with sen-ior managers and stakeholders.

‘I enjoyed challenges in telecoms, signalling and played a role inincreasing line capacity. On a typical day at Stratford there are40,000 people using the station. When the Olympics gets going therewill be 120,000. The decisions I’ve made so far will make a real con-tribution and I’m so proud of that. I love pushing myself forwardin such a complex organisation.’

Graduate trainees are earning salaries of £24,500 with incrementsfor London working. Whilst at Network Rail there are many engi-neering opportunities, there are also roles in network operations, fi-nance, information management and commercial property. NetworkRail is one of the largest land owners in Britain.

New faces back

rail training

TQ Catalis deliver a high quality professional training and assessmentservice in several market sectors, specialising in safety critical railengineering and track safety competencies. We are proud of our longestablished rail training business centrally located in Derby withadditional sites in Clapham, York, Manchester and Crewe.

We offer a wide selection of open programme events and dedicated solutions.Current products include:

Contact us on 0845 880 8108 or email [email protected] todiscuss your training requirements.

The Derby Conference Centre, London Road, Derby DE24 8UX T: 0845 880 8108E: [email protected]

• Track Safety Competencies

• Signalling & Telecommunication Engineering- Design, Installation, Testing & Maintenance

• Health and Safety, IOSH, NEBOSH,Working at Height, Confined SpaceTraining, Manual Handling

• Behavioural Based Safety

• Electrical Engineering - 17th Edition Wiring

Regulations, PAT Testing, Inspection &

Testing, Electrical Skills Training

• Automation Systems - Programmable Logic

Controllers

• Rail Engineering Apprenticeships

• IRSE Licensing

• Track Engineering, Permanent Way skills

training

• Plant Training - all types of small plant

and tools

• Rail Operations

• Traction & Rolling Stock

• Overhead Line Training

• Leadership & Management

• Bespoke Training Solutions

Solutions for safety critical environments

Bridgeway Consulting hasopened a new training acad-emy at West Horndon in Essex.

Says Managing Director, PinoDe Rosa, ‘These are excitingtimes for Bridgeway’s rail train-ing and assessment services. Ibelieve that the opening of theWest Horndon academy willfurther reinforce our position inthe market place, whilst theacademy will make a valuablecontribution to the rail industry.’

Bridgeway Consulting is one ofthe leading rail training and as-sessment providers in the UK.Founded and run by profes-sional railway engineers WestHorndon Training Academymarks an integral part of thecompany vision and reflects thenext chapter in Bridgeway’s net-work-wide expansion.

South of EnglandThe opening of the new site pro-

vides a platform to further ex-pand Bridgeway’s operations inthe south of England and providea cost efficient and robust serviceto existing and new clients. Theacademy has a dedicated trainingteam with many years of experi-ence of successfully delivering railtraining and assessment servic-es to the rail industry.

Range of TrainingBridgeway delivers the follow-

ing rail training and assess-ments, which will be offeredfrom West Horndon:• Sentinel Track Safety• Permanent Way Engineering • Small Tools and Plant Equip-

ment • Machine Crane / Controller /

Operator• Health and Safety Training.

Bridgeway’s proactive ap-proach to delivering a qualityservice is underpinned by a de-tailed management process.Says Steve Diksa, AssuranceServices Director, ‘Bridgewayhas become synonymous withexcellent rail training, mentoringand assessments. We have nowexpanded our facilities andstrengthened our team of train-ers and assessors.

‘Our vision is to deliver train-ing that makes a real differenceand enhanced contribution tothe rail industry. We believe thatthe opening of the West Horn-don academy will help achievethis vision.’

Bridgeways’s rail expertise al-lows them to provide a dynam-ic and innovative style of train-ing that equips individuals tocarry out duties efficiently, pro-fessionally and more impor-tantly safely.

Further features of the Bridge-way’s training and assessmentservice include:• A national online track safe-

ty training open programme

• Pre/Post training advice andsupport

• Trainers and assessors thatcarry out operational roleson a regular basis, theorybacked with first hand expe-rience that is CURRENTTODAY

• Electronic archiving and 24/7availability of all training /competence documentation.

Unique Training SolutionsBridgeway’s experience of lo-

gistical planning, coordinationand delivering training ensuresthat they can devise bespoke so-lutions for their clients whoneed to manage their trainingand assessment requirements.Solutions have included:• Invensys Rail – Total Sentinel

Competence Management• MPI – Track Safety Assess-

ment Management• Irish Rail – ECO training• Irish Rail - Signaller training• Merseyrail – Safety Work-

shops• Eurostar – Root Cause Analy-

sis and Accident Investiga-tion

• Network Rail – Key RailwayPrinciples.

National CoverageWith a wide range of training

facilities around the country,Bridgeway is able to deliver itstraining services to meet itsclient’s demands.

24/7 ServiceBridgeway also has the flexi-

bility of sending its trainers to avenue of the client’s choice. Thisis also applicable for their as-sessors who are available to de-liver workplace assessmentsanywhere on the rail network.

In addition to this, Bridgewayprovides a mentoring servicethat is available to suit the

client’s requirements. This al-lows our clients to call aBridgeway mentor or asses-sor 24/7, making Bridgewaydistinctively available mid-week days or nights and alsoduring weekends.

Online Booking SystemSays Satnam Thiara, Sales

and Marketing Manager, ‘Withour innovative approach tofinding solutions, we devel-oped an online competence &training administration sys-tem (OCTAS). This has allowedour clients to book trainingevents online quickly, all with-out the traditional paper book-ing forms.’

Key features of the online sys-tem are:• Easily accessible and simple

to use • Instant visibility of training

events and availability • Instant joining instructions• No phone calls required• No booking forms required• A more unique feature of

OCTAS is that it is also acompetence management

system. It can be used tomanage track safety compe-tence expiries, so that anindividual’s competencescannot be mistakenly takendown.

• Bridgeway is able to providedemonstrations of OCTAS atrequest.

Assurance andCompliance Services

Bridgeway Consulting are alsoable to provide further man-agement support through theirAssurance and ComplianceServices (ACS) team. The ACS

team can assist clients throughAchilles (Link-up) accreditationand audits, whilst keeping youfully informed of what safetyand compliance changes arebeing made in the rail industry.

With a professional team ofsafety and compliance specialists,we possess a successful record ofunderstanding and assisting ourclients achieve or maintainAchilles (Link-up) registration.

Key benefits of the serviceinclude: • Simplifying the maintenance

of your rail industry accredi-

tations • Keeping you up to date with

all changes regarding railindustry rules and standards

• Reduction of administrativecosts

• Professional rail expertiseand knowledge across manyrail disciplines.

A new addition to the ACSteam is Martin Cannon, whorecently joined Bridgeway Con-sulting as a HSQE Specialist.Martin’s experience in the rail in-dustry, specifically within healthand safety allows him to offersound and practicable adviceto many organisations and com-panies across the rail industry.

Martin says “I am very happyto be joining Bridgeway Con-sulting and look forward toworking with the ACS team, ex-isting and new clients”.

For further information aboutBridgeway Consulting’s RailTraining, mentoring and assess-ment services please contact:

Satnam Thiara on0115 919 1111 or 07812 049462/

[email protected]

For further information aboutBridgeway Consulting’s ACS Railservice please contact:

Martyn Durrant - 0115 919 [email protected]

Bridgeway launches new training academy

RailStaff | October 2011 | 21TRAINING FOCUS sponsored by... RailwayPeople.com

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Fast Line Training Services


Former Rail Trainer of the Year finalist TerryRayner has been appointed Training Manager ata brand new training facility in Rainham, Essex.

Terry, who has been responsible for RailwaySafety and Skills Training since 2003, is now incharge of delivering all training for Fast Line Train-ing Services Ltd.

As well as offering courses covering PTS, Lookout,IWA, COSS, ES, Protection Controllers, Fast Line Train-ing Services also covers Health & Safety Courses andTools and Equipment Training.

Terry is passionate about training and believesthe choice of location and learning environmentis important. ‘Training Centres are often one of thefirst points of contact that individuals have withthe rail industry and if it is a positive experienceit could completely reshape a person’s attitude to-wards safety.

‘Setting up a new Railway Safety Training and As-sessment facility has given me the opportunity tointroduce innovative as well as tried and testedmethods right from the start. The most pleasur-able aspect was choosing a suitable location for atraining centre. It was the perfect opportunity totest the theory that a good learning environmentcan improve training and knowledge retention.’

After the long process of visiting various differ-ent sites The Centre of Engineering Manufactur-ing Excellence in Rainham, Essex was chosen. Thelight and airy venue is purpose built for training.

‘Prior to delivering the first training course at thevenue I wondered if the quality of the training fa-cilities would actually make an impression ontrainees. More importantly would it enhance theeffectiveness of Railway Safety Training?

‘During the opening week I delivered a PTS Ini-tial course at the new centre. A majority of the

group had never been involved in the rail indus-try. However, two out of the ten candidates had ex-tensive previous railway experience but had lettheir competencies expire.’

The new centre brought out the best in the stu-dents. ‘Throughout the two days the enthusiasmthe trainees on the course demonstrated wasmarkedly different from what I’d seen at other ven-ues. What struck me as particularly intriguing wasthat the more experienced trainees took an inter-est in passing on their knowledge.

‘A pattern developed and this cheerful transferof knowledge and experience hugely increased thevalue of the course. Helped by the relaxed sur-roundings the railwaymen’s enthusiasm for theirindustry and the subject matter of the course in-spired the others. All trainees, whatever the levelsof experience, showed a marked improvement inattitude towards the training.’

Feedback on the course was good. Subsequent ex-perience backs up the winning combination of agood environment and the relaxed interaction be-tween old hands and new faces. It’s proving a greatsuccess and Fast Line Training is expanding.

For further details about courses and costs logonto www.fastlinetraining.com

Fine tuning for Fast Line

Virgin Trains’ Crewe-basedLearning and Developmentteam has won an award for itsCoaching Culture programme.

The West Midlands award, partof the National Training Awards,recognises and celebrates thesuccess of Investors in People-accredited employers that have

delivered exceptional businessbenefits to their organisationthrough meeting the trainingneeds of their staff across theWest Midlands.

Says Patrick McGrath, HR Di-rector at Virgin Trains, ‘Our man-agers are now better skilled tosupport the frontline teams to

challenge, to take on more re-sponsibility, to come with anddrive forward new ideas. Thishas been reflected in the im-provements in measures such asthe staff survey, increases inrevenue and reduction in costs,all of which are key to our or-ganisational strategy.

Want MCIPS status?If you want professional recognition for your sup-ply chain skills you may want to avail yourself ofbecoming a Member of The Chartered Instituteof Purchasing & Supply which would entitle youto use the letters MCIPS after your name.

A very convenient and cost effective way of se-curing the MCIPS accolade is to use the NVQ in Sup-ply Chain Management route. This NVQ approachhas some very attractive benefits:-• No examinations are required contrasted with

the more academic route to MCIPS• No college attendance required - all work is

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• Probably about 1/3rd of the cost of the exami-nation route.

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High culture

Course TitlePersonal Track SafetyLookoutPTS Re certification

LKT Re certificationIWA Re certification

COSS Re certificationPC Re certificationES Re certification

MC/CC AssessmentOTP Re certificationCPCS Practical Tests

TenEightEightEightSixSixTwoTwo-----

OneOne

One & !Three!

OneTwo

Various-----

£95.00£95.00£120.00£250.00£75.00£95.00£POA£POA

£130.00

Individual Working AloneCOSS OLP/CRP

Protection ControllerEngineering Supervisor

On Track PlantCPCS Theory Tests

TenEightEightEightEightSix

FourTwo-----

TwoOne

ThreeFiveOneTwo

Min of SevenVarious

-----

£170.00£95.00

£250.00£400.00£95.00

£170.00£POA£POA£90.00

Machine/Crane Controller

Max Number Course Duration Tariff Per DelegateTRAINING COURSE TARIFF“Expert training froma name you can trust”

CONTACT US:Solway Business Centre,Kingstown, Carlisle,Cumbria, CA6 4BY.Tel: 01228 882 300Fax: 01228 882 [email protected]@stobartrail.com

All charges are inclusive of: •Additional charges: Registration and clerical/ NCCA fees.Medicals (incl. D + A Screen) £135.00 per headRule Books - POAMachine Hire – POAMC/CC/OTP Attachments – POA. These may add additional training daysCPCS notifications fees at £25 per notification plus plant hire where required.•••••

VAT @ 20%

We can also offer CPCS plant Training and Testingand follow up with the appropriate NVQ; for moreinformation please contact a member of theTraining Team on the details below.For multiple delegates and dedicated coursesplease contact a member of our training team aswe can offer discount on the above rates.This tariff is for training carried out at our facilities.For training at customer’s own premises the costmay be different. Price on application.


Stobart Rail has opened abrand new Training Facility innorth west England.

With over 8500 square metres ofspecifically designed ground to fa-cilitate some 37 categories ofCPCS plant the new training fa-cility forms a welcome addition toStobart Rail’s already establishedtrack safety training facility at Sto-bart Rail Head Office in Carlisle.

The new centre will also com-plement the plant training fa-

cility at Widnes in Cheshirewhich includes a 500 metre sec-tion of twin track railway. Thetraining track features a 1:30gradient and level crossing pro-viding candidates with experi-ence of real working conditionsand the safety issues that sur-round them.

Competency AssuranceSays Managing Director Kirk

Taylor, ‘Stobart Rail is well re-

spected for its safety record inthe industry. Making this new fa-cility and the skill and knowl-edge of our trainers open andavailable to other businessesworking in the general con-struction and railway sectorswill assist companies in meetingtoday’s ever increasing demandfor competency assurance.’

For the plant sector Stobart Railoffers a one stop shop. An indi-vidual can go from basic training

on construction plant via the redcard route to an NVQ and aBlue competence card. Thosein the rail sector can transferskills to the Network Rail Sen-tinel OTP operator scheme.

Stobart Rail has used thewealth of experience that itstrainers and assessors hold tobuild a training environment asclose to what the delegatesshould encounter in the realworld as is possible. This is

achieved whilst still maintaininga Safe Training Environment.

As well as plant training for theCPCS scheme and NVQ Diplo-mas for the ConstructionAwards Alliance, Stobart Railcan offer a wide range of serviceswithin the rail sector including:• Track Safety Training and

Assessments• Machine/ Crane Controller

Inc. Tandem Lifting Trainingand Assessments

• On Track Plant OperatorTraining and Assessment: ona wide range of machinesand attachments.

Other courses include:CAT & Generator training, Man-

ual Handling, Abrasive Wheelsand PASMA tower scaffold ac-credited training provider. For allof your training needs pleasecontact one of our training teamon 01228 882 300.

Stobart Rail opens new rail

training facility in the north west

With the rail economy pickingup speed the need for skilledstaff is growing.

Rob Clark Reports:Over the last couple of years

the economic climate has notbeen very good. The railway in-dustry was never going to be im-mune to that.

There’s been a noticeable dropof work in the sector and be-cause a lot of the work is sub-contracted the sub-contractorswere the first to suffer, losing val-ued members of the workforce.Now that the economy is start-ing to pick up again we’re im-mediately finding ourselvesshort of skilled workers.

People at the top of theirgame have moved on to differ-ent disciplines or vocations.Where we come in is by placinga greater emphasis than everbefore on getting skilled work-ers into the rail industry. It is es-sential that we give them theright tools for a long-termfuture in the industry.

Historically staff only had tosit a two-day course to be-come a rail worker. This onlycovered basic procedures,there was no mechanism inplace to skill yourself up voca-tionally. What we are current-ly looking to achieve is to getour trainees to a level 2 stan-dard before getting them outon to the railways and havingthem recognised as young en-gineers.

Any other comparable indus-try, such as plumbing or elec-

trical engineering, has a voca-tional qualification which mustgo hand in hand with othercompetencies, whereas that hasnever been the case on the rail-ways, and that is what I think weare now moving towards.’

Rob Clark oversees traineesembarking on a career in rail-way engineering and is a Voca-tional Rail Trainer Assessor forVital Skills Training, part of theSalford-based Vital ServicesGroup.

Lawrence Dobie AnswersQuestions on VST Vital Skills Training (VST) ispart of the Salford-based VitalServices Group.

It has been involved in trainingfor the rail sector for a numberof years, and works closely withsome of the biggest names inthe industry to deliver high-quality staff for the railways oftomorrow. The man responsiblefor delivering this is LawrenceDobie, Operations Manager forVital Skills Training.

Question: What is Vital SkillsTraining all about?LD: VST is about providing

training solutions which fit theneeds of two groups: First ourexternal clients and secondlyour internal workforce.Question:With specific regard

to the rail industry, is trainingmore important now than itused to be?LD: I think, given the public eye

that’s on the railways constant-ly, training and safety has al-ways been critical, but more sonow that the industry is suffer-ing from skills shortages.

Our focus is to maintain andindeed improve the safety lev-els in the industry and oneway of making sure safety is atthe top of the agenda isthrough good training and in-vesting in the next generationof Rail Engineers.Question: Should safety al-

ways be the first consideration inthe rail industry?LD: It has to be. We think skills

are important, but real skills areachieved through good training,and use of best practice, but al-ways delivered in a safe way, andthat’s critical for the railways.Question: You have your first

dozen apprentices from SalfordCity College’s ‘Salford 500’ pro-gramme starting at the mo-ment. What can you tell usabout them?LD: Our first group of appren-

tices, all between 17-18 years ofage, started on 3 October. They’llbe the first of about 60 who’ll bejoining us this year. They will beemployed by the group’s rail in-dustry contractor, Vital Rail VST,with the training they need to gothrough their apprenticeship pro-gramme being provided by VST.

It’s a highly technical course inwhich they’ll learn about the un-derpinning principles of engi-neering, railway safety, and awhole range of other areas. Safe-ty again is key; they need tolearn the safety processes andprocedures which they will car-

ry with them for the rest oftheir railway careers.Question: If they stay in the sec-

tor what sort of things might theybe doing in a few years time?LD:This is the first step on the

ladder; there are lots of oppor-tunities for them. They canstay within the rail track engi-neering field, which is whatwe’ll be training them in, orprogress to an advanced ap-prenticeship. That could bewith us, or they may wish to ap-ply directly to Network Rail,and try to get on their three-year apprentice programme.

They could then specialise inone of many skills, such as sig-nalling, telecommunications,electrification; there are lots ofopportunities for them oncethey’ve finished their basic ap-prenticeship programme.Question: We understand

you’re working on some spe-cialist courses, including a Con-fined Spaces programme.LD: We’re working with our

trainers to develop a pro-gramme that meets the needsof the Crossrail project. Thereare a couple of aspects to it: oneis Confined Spaces Trainingwhich is a mandatory require-ment on the Crossrail project.Alongside that is ConfinedSpace Rescue, so if there is anincident in a tunnel while staffare working underground thenwe need to ensure that all op-eratives need to know how torescue an individual who maybe in distress.

Besides these two, we’re look-ing to develop a new pro-gramme which is the NVQ inTunnelling Operations so thatwe can best equip our teams towork underground on the Cross-rail project and future schemesof this type.

One of the key features ofCrossrail is that they want togenerate 400 apprentices with-in their supply chain so we hopewe can be part of that pro-gramme by delivering some ofthose apprentices to them.


Want afteryour name?MCIPSUse the convenient APO on-line NVQ routeNo Examinations No College AttendanceFind out more@ www.apomgt.co.uk

TRAINING FOCUS sponsored by... RailwayPeople.com

Jonathan Kerr from Southport decided tojoin Network Rail’s apprenticeshipscheme after talking to railway staff atthe company where he worked afterleaving school.

Jonathan is now a second year signallingapprentice in the north west. SaysJonathan, ‘After deciding not to followthe university route I got a job with a traincompany near home. I loved working in theworkshops and being able to see thephysical results of my efforts so I beganlooking for an apprenticeship where Iknew I would be able to learn on the job.

‘Following recommendations from peo-ple in the rail industry I applied for a placeon Network Rail’s scheme. It is definitelyone of the best decisions I have ever made.There will always be a railway networkwhich will need maintaining so there willbe plenty of opportunities for me upon mycompletion of the apprenticeship.’

Word of mouth

Bridging the skills gap

Lawrence Dobie with some of the apprentices.

University Launches course in Incident Management


The Postgraduate CertificateInThe Management of PassengerTransportEmergency IncidentsA unique new course to equip passenger transport and emergencyprofessionals with the skills to deal with major incidents is being launched bythe University of Wolverhampton.The Postgraduate Certificate in the Management of Passenger TransportEmergency Incidents will be the first of its kind in the UK.It has been designed for people working in the transport sector, emergencyservices and local authorities, or those seeking careers in these areas,and will be delivered by the University’s Schoolof Health and Wellbeing.

The courses will be run by former British Transport Police SuperintendentWillie Baker who will share his experience of every major rail incident he hasbeen involved with and had to manage since 1995To find out more about the course dates and content email:[email protected]

A new course to equip railway staffwith the skills to deal with major railincidents is being launched by theUniversity of Wolverhampton in 2012.

The Postgraduate Certificate in theManagement of Passenger TransportEmergency Incidents has been de-signed specifically for people working inpassenger transport and will be deliv-ered by the University’s School of Healthand Wellbeing.

Serious and challengingWillie Baker, a recently retired British

Transport Police Superintendent, hasbeen instrumental in establishing thecourse and will lead on teaching. MrBaker draws on his unrivalled experi-ence in the field having been involvedin many major rail incidents in the UK.

Says Willie Baker, ‘While large-scaleemergencies are relatively uncommon,even small incidents can be serious andchallenging, and have far-reaching con-sequences.

It is therefore vital that incidents aremanaged safely and brought to a swiftconclusion by people who are both ac-ademically-qualified and operational-ly-skilled. One of the aims of the courseis to engage with companies to regularlyreview and update their plans and pro-cedures. Such individuals need to pos-sess a clear understanding of their roleand responsibilities, as well as those ofothers.

Considerable value‘Completion of the course will

strengthen the talents and careerprospects of individuals and it will addconsiderable value to the business theywork for.’

Mr Baker has been working closelywith the Institution of Railway Opera-tors and Confederation of PassengerTransport to assess industry require-ments.

Students will take 12 months, part-time, to complete the three modules,which will cover all aspects of passen-ger emergency incidents, includingplanning, risk, communication and in-vestigations. These can be accessedremotely via the University virtuallearning environment.

It will also examine case studies of in-

cidents which are often such a richsource of learning. The first students aredue to start early next year.

British Transport PoliceWillie Baker spent 33 years with the

British Transport Police rising to the rankof superintendent. He has worked withemergency services, local authorities,the military and the rail industry spe-cialising in strategic and tactical emer-gency incident management.

He led on the policing and securityarrangements for the new MidlandMetro light railway. In 1999 he was the

first ‘silver’ commander at the Padding-ton (Ladbroke Grove) train crash. Thislead to him receiving a commendationfor ‘Excellent Leadership’ from HRH thePrince of Wales.

Security PlanningWillie Baker is an expert in passenger

transport incident management. Hehas worked on security planning for thetwo recently opened light railways inDubai and Makkah,. This was one of thefirst times such joint training had everbeen done in the Emirates and in Sau-di Arabia.

More recently he has helped reviewemergency plans and procedures forother passenger transport operatorsin Britain and Europe.

Willie has also provided advice in re-spect of strategic transport ‘hubs’ suchas St. Pancras, the Channel Tunnel ter-minal, and helped establish rail-airlinks at London Paddington station.He also managed the transport policinginterface at airports in the midlands andat London Heathrow.

Those interested in finding out moreabout attending the course shouldemail [email protected].

200 promising new apprenticesat Network Rail have set off ona three-year programme whichwill make them skilled mainte-nance engineers.

Network Rail received nearly8,000 applications for its awardwinning advanced apprentice-ship scheme. The new 200 willspend a year training alongsidethe Royal Navy at Europe’slargest engineering training fa-cility at HMS Sultan in Hamp-shire.

The apprentices will learntechnical skills required to workon the railway as well as devel-oping leadership and teamworkqualities. Apprentices continuetheir training over two yearswith on-the-job experience atdepots across the country. Theyreturn to HMS Sultan at regularintervals for additional coursesand learning.

Apprentices specialise in track,signalling and telecoms, electri-fication and plant, propertyworks and mechanical locking.This year, Network Rail is alsotraining apprentices for its na-tional delivery service and forthe channel tunnel rail linkteams.

Lettie Todd, a third year Net-work Rail property works ap-prentice based at London Bridge

station, praised the scheme’sbenefits. ‘I always liked the mix-ture of academic and practicalstudy whilst at school so decid-ed that an apprenticeship wouldprovide me with what I needed.‘I chose this scheme because itis one of the best opportunitiesavailable for women to becomeinvolved in the engineering in-dustry.’

Steve Featherstone, directorof maintenance at Network Railagrees, ‘Our apprentices will bepart of a 34,000-strong teamhelping three million people getto work and home again, totheir day or night out, to theirholiday or to their university or

school. It’s challenging, reward-ing and of great value to Britainand its economic success.

‘In the future we expect therailway to become more popularand we have big plans for mak-ing it more reliable, efficientand better value for money; ourapprentices will play a big role inthat. We now have the buildingblocks in place so that beyondtheir apprenticeships, our engi-neers can undertake a highernational certificate, a foundationdegree and then a full degree inengineering. They can earnwhile they learn and go as far astheir aptitude, attitude and am-bition can take them.’

New apprentices join up

A new tunnelling academy in Ilford,

Essex, will help make good the skills

shortfall in underground engineering.

Graduates could go on to work on oth-er huge tunnel projects in Europe andoverseas. The first students at Crossrail’sTunnelling and Underground Con-struction Academy (TUCA) have start-ed their studies this autumn.

Says Terry Morgan, Crossrail Chair-man, ‘Crossrail is gearing up for the startof tunnelling next spring and we havenow commenced specialist trainingfor the first of many thousands who willwork on the project.

‘TUCA will have a critical role to playin equipping people, particularly thosefrom along the Crossrail route, with thenecessary training and skills to work be-low ground. The Academy will not onlyact as a centre of excellence for tun-nelling and underground constructionin the UK but also for European tun-

nelling projects longer-term.’ Initial training courses at the new

Academy include the Tunnel SafetyCard, essential for tunnel working, andConstruction Skills Certification Schemehealth and safety card training. Voca-tional courses on offer are pre-castconcrete manufacture and tunnel op-erations training.

A variety of other vocational trainingcourses start over the autumn. Work toinstall tunnelling plant and machineryin the major vocational training areas,including a static tunnel boring ma-chine and a simulated tunnel environ-ment, will be completed by the end ofthe year.

Students will gain experience andlearn the practical skills required for un-derground construction. By early 2012,the Academy will be fully open forbusiness with the full curriculum in ac-tion and the vocational training areas

operational. Up to 150 students will beattending courses offered through theAcademy at any one time.

The Tunnelling and UndergroundConstruction Academy will offer train-ing to at least 3,500 people over the life-time of the Crossrail project alone. Theonly other dedicated tunnelling train-ing facility in Europe is located inSwitzerland.

TUCA students will be made up ofnew entrants to the industry as well asCrossrail’s contractors’ existing work-forces. Those already working in the in-dustry can up-skill or formalise theirknowledge through nationally accred-ited technical and safety training in-cluding apprenticeships, NVQs andother programmes.

Facilities will replicate the key areas ofa fully-automated tunnelling project.These will include a simulated tunnelboring machine environment, sup-

ported by a TBM backup area, with aloco and narrow gauge railway to therear.

There will be a separate chamber forSprayed Concrete operations in additionto a large underground constructionworkshop. TUCA will also have fourteaching rooms, a test centre for onlinesafety tests, a large refectory and aLearning Resource Centre.

The National Construction College(NCC) has been appointed to deliverskills and training at the Academy.NCC will complete the development ofthe curriculum and deliver the Acade-my’s full range of accredited and be-spoke skills programmes.

An Industry Advisory Panel, compris-ing representatives from client andcontractor organisations involved inunderground construction, will ensurethe training on offer at TUCA is world-class and responsive to the needs of in-dustry. The Panel will include repre-sentatives of Thames Water and Na-tional Grid.

In addition to TUCA, Crossrail hascommitted to delivering at least 400 ap-prentices through its supply chain overthe lifetime of the project. The first 20apprentices are now employed onCrossrail and this number will increaseas intensive station construction andtunnelling gets underway.

On the face of it Network Rail

looks like a huge national cor-

poration.

However, local power is prov-ing attractive to a new genera-tion of graduate trainees. KateAnderson joined Network Rail’sgraduate trainee scheme afterseeing what was on offer at a ca-reers trade fair. She is now a sta-tion manager at King’s Cross,London, overseeing 25m peo-ple’s journeys every year.

Says Kate, ‘When I was at uni-versity, I knew I wanted to be amanager, I just didn’t know ofwhat. I was looking at retail butafter seeing Network Rail at a ca-reers fair I realised that youcould do almost anything onthe scheme.

It was the only scheme that of-fered that freedom, and I thoughtif I can’t get a great job there, Iwon’t be able to do it anywhere.Managing King’s Cross is likerunning your own business. Ilove having that ‘I did that’ effect.Every day I get to see the result ofmy work.’

Network Rail chief executive,David Higgins, has actively pro-moted devolution of power to lo-

cally accountable managers. Thisrepresents big opportunities forthe next generation of railwaymanagement.


Crossrail students dig in

Robin Miedzybrodzki is on Network Rail’s civil

engineering scheme.

However, as well as building a career in railwaysRobin is training hard to compete in the 2012 Lon-don Olympics. Says Robin, ‘The partnership I havewith Network Rail allows me to develop my engi-neering skills while also providing the flexibility totrain full time for beach volleyball and compete in-ternationally for Great Britain.

‘My playing partner, Tom Lord, and I are currentlycompeting on the FIVB World Tour, CEV ChallengerTour, and the Volleyball England Beach Tour andthese competitions are vital for our team as we aimto gain Olympic qualification points and developour game to a level so to produce a world class per-formance for the 2012 Games. Network Rail’ssupport has been absolutely crucial in keeping myOlympic dream alive.’

Track training for civils Running your

own business

Kate Anderson, King’s Cross

Station Manager who joined

Network Rail’s graduate scheme

after university.Robin Miedzybrodzki, Network Rail’s graduate and Olympic beach volleyballer.

The Association of Railway

Training Providers (ARTP) was

formed in 1997, just after the

privatisation of the railways.

Since then ARTP has becomean essential component of thenew rail industry. The ARTP wasinstrumental in the initial de-velopment of what is todayknown as SENTINEL.

It is reassuring to note thatmany of the original foundersare still members of ARTP. To-day’s railway sees many chal-lenges. First among them is thatof remedying the current skillsshortage. The ARTP’s role is prov-ing fundamental as the widerrail industry rises to the chal-lenges.

The current ARTP Board of Di-rectors is made up of:• Andy McKenna (Chairman)

Amtrain Limited• Steve Diksa (Policy Support)

Bridgeway Consulting• Andy Neil - Network Rail• Gail Peters - Cleshar• Andy Crago - Hydrex• Martin Cannon - ACS Rail• Colin Morris - Invensys Rail• Tony Wilkinson - Omega

Consultants• Roger Luckins - RSSB• Jim Dennell - S&T Training• Dick Bonney - Neway Training• Gary Lobue - QSS Group• Wayne Chawner - Trackwork• Graham Howe - West Notting-

hamshire College• Andy Morris - Keltbray

Railing the profile

ARTP represents its members’interests by actively raising theprofile of rail training. ARTP alsostresses the importance of as-sessment providers and com-petence assessors across all dis-ciplines. It encourages profes-sional trainer and assessor de-velopment through events,knowledge and information.

Benefits of ARTP

Membership

There are many reasons to bean ARTP member including:• Training and Competence

workshops, including theopportunity to influencetraining and assessmentmaterials

• Continuous ProfessionalDevelopment events

• Networking Opportunities.

All members also receive adiscount of 15% for NetworkRail training and assessmentplans including:• Track Safety• Auxiliary Operating Duties• Machine Controller• Crane Controller• Authorised /

Nominated Persons.

ARTP Member

Communications

ARTP aims to provide a conduitfor training and assessmentproviders between the RSSB,

Network Rail and the NationalSkills Academy for Rail Engi-neering (NSARE). We providequarterly newsletters, coveringcurrent issues and website to en-hance member interaction.

Special Interest Groups

ARTP has a number of specialinterest groups that memberscan and are encouraged to at-tend. The special interest groupsinclude:• Track Safety Training and

Assessment• On Track Plant & Standards

• Rule book and handbookmodules

• Electrification• Permanent Way.

ARTP: A Valued

Stakeholder

The ARTP has been continual-ly involved with the RSSB work-force development research pro-gramme and its advisory group.ARTP has also provided repre-sentation on Network Rail train-ing and assessment reviewgroups for:• Personal Track Safety

• Controller of Site Safety• Person in Charge of

Possession.

We have also worked closelywith NSARE and have providedsupport for the following stake-holder working groups:

Training & Assessment ProviderLicensing & Accreditation.

Skills Passport Scheme.

Sentinel has now been em-bedded within the rail industrysince 1999 and ARTP has beensupportive of the scheme to date,

providing many innovative ideasand solutions that have becomea part of everyday railway life.

ARTP is also represented onthe Sentinel 2 steering groupand has also been invited to par-ticipate in the Sentinel 2 work-ing groups.

Contact:ARTP22 Headfort PlaceLondonSW1X 7RYTel: 020 7201 0778Email: [email protected]

Rail Training! Personal Track Safety (AC/DC)! Track Induction Course! Lookout (P) (K)! Competent protection Layer! MC/CC Assessments ! SSOW Planner Assessments ! Hand Trolley Controller ! Individual Working Alone (IWA)! COSS (OLP/CRP)

! Protection Controller! Engineering Supervisor! OTP Operator! Manual Handling

Competence Assessments are also available. Additionalcourses available on request.

Training? Think Murphy.

Breathing life into infrastructure

One of the most respected names in the building and civil engineering industry, Murphy are proud to offer a wide range of accredited Rail Safety and Plant training and assessments.

For more details or to discuss your rail training needs, pleasecall 01942 725 326 or email [email protected]

For more details or to discuss your training needs, pleasecall 01909 564 911 or email [email protected]

Other Training CoursesCDM Regulations, Manual Handling, Fire Warden! IOSH approved:

Working Safely, Managing Safely, Managing Safely in Construction, Working with Environmental Responsibilities,Avoidance of Danger from Underground Services,MSic Refresher, MS Refresher

! EUSR approved:SHEA, CCPHSE, National Water Hygiene

! ECITB approved:CCNSG National Safety Course, CCNSG National Safety Course Renewal, CCNSG Supervising Safely

! BSC approved:L2 Risk Assessment, L2 COSHH RiskAssessment, L2 Fire Risk Assessment, L2 Supervising Staff Safely, L2 DSE Assessmentand L2 Manual Handling Assessment

For deeper thinking visit www.murphygroup.co.uk

CCNSG

ARTP rises to the challenge

RailStaff | October 2011 | 27TRAINING FOCUS sponsored by... RailwayPeople.com© BRIDGEWAY CONSULTING

28 | RailStaff | October 2011 APPOINTMENTS

www.sw-gr.comOpportunities throughoutthe UK for Railway Staff(Competitive Salaries)Due to the fulfilment of on-going contracts and continuation of investment being made in RailwayInfrastructure throughout the country, SWGR are keen to hear from the following individuals in avariety of locations throughout the UK.We have an urgent requirement for;We are particularly keen to hear from the following:SPICOP/PICOP

Track Induction Staff General Trackworkers & GangsStrapmen OHL PersonnelIsolation Assistant Linesman 1Senior Linesman PTS Construction StaffRail Welders PTS Qualified Welders

Engineer SupervisorsCOSS Barriers/Points OperatorsLookout PPS PlannersPTS Scaffolders SSOW Planners

[email protected] 692 0692Please send your CV in Word Format toor callU K W I D E S E R V I C E C E N T R E S

Rail RecruitmentManpower

The Department of Community, Culture & Leisure is part of the Government of the Isle ofMan. The Department operates the Isle of Man Steam Railway, the Manx Electric Railway andthe Snaefell Mountain Railway which together cater for over 300,000 passengers per yearmaking them the Island's most popular leisure and tourism attraction. The railways togetherhave a total of 60 miles of track.We are looking to appoint an individual to plan and supervise the activities of the in-houseworkforce and external contractors in inspecting, maintaining and renewing the permanentway and associated infrastructure of the three heritage railways.To monitor the infrastructure against agreed standards and respond to emerging issues toallow safe and effective railway operation.We offer not only a competitive salary but also an opportunity to enjoy a real quality of life.The Isle of Man is a low tax environment (with a maximum rate of income tax of 20%) andenjoys one of the highest resident satisfaction ratings in the British Isles.To find out more about the Isle of Man visit our website at www.gov.imThe closing date for applications is 30 November 2011.Further information can be obtained from: Peter Maddocks, Chief Engineer on 01624 697417.Contact for application and information pack: Charlotte Davies on 01624 697481 or email:[email protected]

Permanent Way TeamLeader Heritage Railways R e i l t y s E l l a n V a n n i nDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY,CULTURE AND LEISUREPublic Transport Division

RailStaff | October 2011 | 29APPOINTMENTS

Our wide range of skills and experience

allow us to meet customer expectations

throughout the UK and abroad. We

provide high quality engineering,

integrated design, construction and specialist

capabilities to a diverse range of clients in

the public and private sectors.

An award winning multi-disciplinary

engineering company

Rates of pay: Up to £90k per annum plus

usual bene!ts and bonus dependent on

position and experience.

Following major project awards we are looking for the following sta! for works from the Scottish Lowlands to the Southern Counties:

Applications should be made via our website www.cspencerltd.co.uk

Commercial Sta!

Project Managers

Rail Infrastructure Sta!(including signalling, telecoms, OHLE and PWay)

Specialist Engineering Services Groupwww.ses-holdings.comExperienced LUL SPiC's needed, must have valid entry permit, trackaccustomed, D&A cert and asbestos awareness - excellent rates of pay - long termcontracts.Experienced LUL Skilled Platelayers, must have valid entry permit, trackaccustomed and asbestos awareness. Other training received, manual handling, ironmen and small tools, excellent rates of pay-long term contracts.Experienced LUL Platelayers, must have valid entry permit, track accustomedand asbestos awareness. Other training received, manual handling, iron men andsmall tools, excellent rates of pay-long term contracts.For the above contact:

email: [email protected] |email: [email protected] 0207 055 0291

mob 07713 307923mob 07702 813403 |

Mick DenyerStephen Bell

For the above contact:email: [email protected] | mob 07872 542225Pete Harper

Experienced Network Rail ES's, COSS's and Trackmen, must have valid PTS 10day track induction course cert-excellent rates of pay - long term contracts.

Experienced LUL Staff Required

ExperiencedTrack Staff Required

30 | RailStaff | October 2011 APPOINTMENTS

Head Office: Ground Floor, The Edward Hyde Building, 38 Clarendon Road, Watford, Herts WD17 1JW

McGinley Support Services is one of the UK's leading technicalinfrastructure recruitment consultancies. Our experienced teamslocated in offices throughout the UK, focus on identifying candidatesand employers needs for permanent and contract assignments.As a 1st tier supplier to many of the UK’s largest engineering companies,McGinley Support Services has developed a wealth of experience in recruitingall levels of personnel for complete projects and individual assignments.Due to our growing portfolio of major UK rail and infrastructure clients andour recently awarded national framework agreements with some of the UK’sleading infrastructure companies, McGinley Support Services are looking toTrackwork and Alignment Specialist, Station Architects, Systems Design.Specialist Procurement / Contract Engineers.

We are currently recruiting the following staff for a major Rail Project in Qatar.Applicants must be able to demonstrate relevant Experience in previous posts.All roles carry tax free salaries and expat allowances.

recruit personnel within the following disciplines:

For further information, please speak to Patrick O’Reilly on 01923 696704or Mobile:07815 887995. Email: patrick_o’[email protected]

International Opportunities

For all international positions please contact: Paul Rance on44 (0)1923 696600 or mobile 44 (0)7817 403642 oremail: [email protected] are also currently recruiting on behalf of our clients on a number of existing infrastructurerail projects throughout the UK.Please get in touch if you have any of the following disciplines:PTS Civils trades (Carpenters/Bricklayers/Steelfixers/Roofers/Plumbers) WeldersSafety Critical staff such as Coss and AODs OLE and Isolations staffFor further information call: Tom on 07816 442901 oremail: [email protected]

T e c h n i c a l C o r p o r a t e S o l u t i o n s

Tel: 0845 543 5953 www.mcginley.co.uk

Construction Managers Project ManagersHealth & Safety Specialists Quantity SurveyorsCommercial Managers Design EngineersPermanent Way Engineers Signalling EngineersProject Support Information Management

Quality Assurance Manager / Safety ManagerCivil EngineersInterface ManagersDocument Control ManagerPlanning EngineersP6 experience Schedulers

If you’re a skilled Engineer, Manager or Technical Specialist looking to work on some of the most exciting and challenging projects in the Rail and Infrastructure sector, then TRS Staffing Solutions can help - now.

We’re currently recruiting for the UK’s leading rail companies and major clients globally, across a wide variety of projects. These include major upgrades for the National Rail network and London Underground. To apply for any of the following vacancies, you should have relevant experience at the appropriate level.

TRS are a global organisation and we are currently recruiting for rail specialists in the UAE, Australia & Far East, West Africa and Canada. If you are interested in working abroad contact TRS today.

To applyPlease send your CV to [email protected] Or if you’d prefer to discuss a role in more detail and in confidence, please contact one of our specialist consultants on

+44 (0)20 7419 5800

Opportunities in Rail and Infrastructure

Heavy Haul Rail Engineers/ManagersAll disciplines for a major new rail project in West Africa, Ideally French speaking.

Rail Construction Managers/DirectorsUK/UAE/Australia/Far East/Africa £80-150KWorking on major freight, heavy haul and high speed rail projects

P-Way/Track Design Engineers + ManagersAustralia, West Africa, UK (London, Manchester & Warrington- 60K+) + Far East - $140K- $200KWorking on major new rail projects + upgrades

Overhead Line Design Engineers + Managers UK and Australia - £60-80K, $120K-$140KMajor Rail Programme, visa + relocation assistance

Electrification EngineerUK - £50K or £70K + BenefitsChartered status is preferred

Senior Project Planners/Project Controls ManagersLondon £40-60,000Airports, Rail & Building services Projects

Signal Engineers, Designers & Project Managers UK, Far East + Australia, Contract and PermanentIRSE Vacancies at all levels

Civils/Structural Engineers – Project Engineers & ManagersUK, West Africa, Australia & Far East £40-60 per hour, $70-120KWorking on major freight, heavy haul and high speed rail projects

Civil Estimators NEC Quantity SurveyorsLondon, £40-60KRail and Civil Projects. NEC contract experience ideal

Amalgamated Construction LtdThe Award Winning Contractor of ChoiceE&P Designer/EngineerAmalgamated Construction Ltd, a multi-disciplinary engineering service provider to the Rail, Energyand Engineering markets is seeking to appoint an E&P Engineer with Rail sector experience to join ouraward winning Engineering Business Stream.The successful candidate will manage and contribute to the production of designs and ensure thatengineering requirements are met during the project life cycle. The role will also incorporate theduties of Contractor Engineering Manager (CEM) / Contractor Responsible Engineer (CRE),encompassing a wide spectrum of distribution and plant infrastructure.Candidates should be conversant with Rail Industry procedures particularly NR L2 INI/02009(Engineering Management of Projects), approval processes and standards and have a proven record invalue engineering solutions, which is focused upon construction buildability.The successful applicant will possess design/installation experience of PSP (SSP) / FSP signallingpower, Distribution electronic protection relays, HV & LV installations and Earthing systems.Candidates will ideally hold a current PTS certificate. Distribution Level A/B will be advantageous andLevel C/D is desirable.Candidates should possess academic and professional qualifications which are commensurate withthe position and should be a member of a professional institute. Chartered Engineer status is desirablealthough not essentialAlthough based at our Barnsley Head Office, the works have a National coverage, requiring someelement of travel.This position attracts a very competitive remuneration package which reflects the importance of thisrole.In the first instance, please write with full CV / career details to: Miss Rebekah MasonHR AdministratorAmalgamated Construction LtdWhaley Road, BarnsleySouth Yorkshire S75 1HT+44 (0)1226 [email protected]. .co.ukT:E:W: amco-constructionSafety Professionalism Innovation Respect Integrity Teamwork| | | | |

Amalgamated Construction Ltd is an Equal Opportunities Employer

Archway

Balham

Investment

Drive

Vision

Innovation

Benchmarking

Improvement

Inspiration

Resilience

Safety

Efficiency

Reliability

RespectCommunication

LeadershipResponsibility

Recognition

Talent

Training

It takes a lot to get 500 million passengers from A to BTube Lines is investing £5 billion to maintain and upgrade the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines, which account for 500 million passenger journeys a year. We’re responsible for 323 km of track, 100 stations, 227 escalators, 103 lifts, 255 trains and 3,954 bridges and structures. But as well as investing in the Tube, we’re investing in the 2,300 people who are delivering our long-term project programme. As we strive to make Tube Lines a great place to work, we’re looking for inspirational leaders with industry experience and impressive intellect for the following senior roles:

Track Maintenance ManagerTo lead and direct track inspection and maintenance activities across the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines – optimising an annual £20m budget and overseeing 350 track staff to meet safety and efficiency targets.

Zonal Maintenance ManagerTo lead, manage, organise and review routine, corrective and preventative signal maintenance, as well as implementing improvements to ensure compliance and efficiency.

Maintenance Operations ManagerTo inspire, manage, organise and control line signalling maintenance across all signal assets, including night activities. The role will include assisting with signal incidents to keep the service running smoothly.

Planning ManagerTo ensure infrastructure areas co-ordinate their activities efficiently and teams work collaboratively in order to deliver on our contractual responsibilities. This will entail co-ordinating a budget of over £70m per annum.

Signals Response ManagerTo lead and manage an asset approach to signalling failures and investigations, including the production of the rapid response strategy. The role involves controlling an annual budget of c.£6.5m, managing 100 employees directly and providing leadership to the whole signalling incident team.

As well as recruiting for these roles, we’re keen to hear from other industry professionals:

• Track Planner • 3x PM3/4 Inspectors • Assistant Delivery Assurance Engineer (Track) • Contract Technical Support (Signals) • Track Competence Assessor • Technical Author (Track) • Rail Operations Assessor/Trainer

For more information and to apply to any of these and other exciting opportunities at Tube Lines, please visit www.tubelines.com/careers or contact David Stradling on +44 20 7088 5619.

020 7500 6900 www.expressmedicals.co.uk

Customer Service Team

Looking after the health of your businessMedical expertise with first-class service levels helping to increase productivity, reduce absenteeism and minimise risk.

Travel Health Vaccinations Wellbeing

Rail Medicals Drug & Alcohol TestingOccupational Health Health Surveillance

Physiotherapy Counselling Blood Testing Skin Assessments

Documents

RailStaff October 2011