IRSE News 140 Dec 08.pdf

DECEMBER TECHNICAL PAPER
IRSE
Is Independence an Overrated Virtue?
by Roderick I Muttram FREng FIRSE
Paper to be read in London on 10 December 2008
Independence? That's middle class blasphemy. We are all dependent on one another, every soul of us on earth.
(George Bernard Shaw, 1856-1950).
Independence — a simple four syllable word but with such complex connotations.
T
a well functioning democracy how much failure to fund it and the privatisation
freedom of action does any of us really process that had prevented this from
have?
happening? In the atmosphere that
his paper presents some
existed at the time, with the media full of
of my own views on the Independence and competence the ‘spin’ that private companies "put
merits and demerits of independence, and
they should not be interpreted as representing
the views of my current employer.
My trusty Chambers dictionary defines
independence as, ‘the state of being
independent,’ and ‘independent’ as ‘not
dependent or relying on others: not
subordinate: completely self-governing:
not affiliated or merged with a larger
organisation: thinking or acting for oneself:
Some reading this will know that I was
Director of Safety and Standards at
Railtrack at the time of the Ladbroke Grove
collision on the 5 October 1999. Hard to
believe that next year will bring the tenth
anniversary of that terrible day, but
satisfying to be able to note that since
then the actions that were already in
process or that were subsequently taken
have meant that there have been no
profit before safety,’ it would have been
easy and popular for the inquiry to agree.
However I and, thankfully, others begged
to differ. Firstly, at that time only ETCS
Level 1 could really be considered mature
technology and Level 1 reduces capacity
(and capacity was already becoming a big
issue). Bombardier (Adtranz at that time)
had indeed demonstrated ETCS Level 2
successfully on the Bern – Olten line in
too self-respecting to accept help: not fatalities in Automatic Train Protection Switzerland, but that was built to ETCS
System Requirement Specification (SRS)
subject to bias: having or affording a (ATP) preventable accidents in the UK in
version 5A and thus was effectively
comfortable livelihood without necessity of
the intervening period. But could it have
been different?
obsolete before it was commissioned. The
working or help from others (I like that
The four independent public inquiries ETCS SRS was still quite unstable; it is still
one!): not depending on another for its
convened after the Southall and Ladbroke not truly frozen even today. Secondly,
value, said of a quantity or function:
Grove accidents dominated my working life there were simply not the skilled resources
subject to no superior authority.’
for over two years; I gave evidence to three available to implement a complex new
technology project on that sort of
Political Independence
of them. The Joint Inquiry into Train
Protection Systems chaired by both Lord timescale. Signalling in the UK had been
The quest for political independence is
Cullen and Professor John Uff looked at plagued for years with ‘stop – go’
something which has led to conflict down
the issues surrounding the implementation investment, and we had just been through
the ages. How many have died in the of Automatic Train Protection informed by a fundamental industry restructuring. It
various struggles for ‘independence’
the circumstances of both accidents and was doubtful there were enough resources
around the world? Was Ian Smith’s by a plethora of witnesses, including to support the necessary urgent renewals
‘Unilateral Declaration of Independence’ members of this Institution. Some argued resulting from the privatisation investment
for Rhodesia independence at all? When it
that the strategy being pursued, of
hiatus in parallel with the implementation
became Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe deploying Train Protection Warning System of even a simple enhancement like TPWS.
most did see it as independent; but it must
(TPWS) as an interim safety improvement For anyone to think that a complex (and
be hard to see much virtue in an inflation
followed by ERTMS/ETCS later, was the unfamiliar) system like ETCS could be
rate now measured in millions of percent wrong one. They argued that ETCS was implemented in a similar timescale was, in
per annum. At ‘independence’ a
already available and, given funding and my view, naïve and ignored the lessons of
Zimbabwean dollar was worth more than a the will, could be deployed all across the history. When I took over as Director
US dollar. In July 2008 the central bank in network in five years or so. After all, the EE&CS in 1994 (the Electrical Engineering
Harare issued a $500 million note which
Hidden inquiry into the Clapham Junction & Control Systems department, home of
at the time of issue was worth 2 US collision in 1988 had recommended that Electrification, Power, Signal and Telecommunication
Engineers), I inherited a
dollars. Today it is worth less than a sheet
once British Rail had completed its
of toilet paper. So QED — political
planned trials of ATP the selected system position where installation of the
independence can be an overrated virtue. should be deployed across the network Automatic Warning System (AWS) was still
It depends on who is independent from
within five years. Surely it was only incomplete, despite having been in
what and who ends up ‘in charge.’ Even in management inaction, the government’s progress for over 35 years.
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Issue 140 December 2008
IRSE
NEWS