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PROFESSIONALTHE BUSINESS MAGAZINE FOR RAILWAY MANAGERSANALYSING THE WHITE PAPERWHAT MADE IT INTO THE PROPOSALS – AND WHAT GOT LEFT OUTSECOND TIME AROUNDNATIONAL EXPRESS’S PLANS FOR THE RE-LET EAST COAST FRANCHISEPEARL IN THE SHELLROLLING OUT OYSTER CARDS TO THE MAINLINE RAILWAYSRECRUITMENT CRISISFINDING ENGINEERS WHEN NUMBERS OF ENGINEERING GRADUATES ARE FALLINGHOW SAFEARE OURRAILWAYS?CHIEF RAILWAYINSPECTOR LINDAWILLIAMS ONBALANCING RISKSAGAINST COSTTHE SENTINELCARD SYSTEMPLANNING FORDISASTERSwww.railpro.co.ukSEPTEMBER 2007 ISSUE 126 : £3.95

CONTENTSContentsSEPTEMBER 2007ISSUE 126EDITORPROFESSIONALKATIE SILVESTERTel: 01223 477426editor@railpro.co.ukEditorial post to:Rail Professional275 Newmarket RoadCambridgeCB5 8JEADVERTISINGRECRUITMENT ANDDISPLAY SALESROB TIDSWELLAdvertising Manager01223 477427 (direct line)01223 477411 (switchboard)01223 304760 (fax)advertising@railpro.co.ukADVERTISING PRODUCTIONALAN BEESONCambridge Publishers Ltd275 Newmarket RoadCambridge CB5 8JETel: 01223 477411Fax: 01223 327356production@railpro.co.ukMAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTIONSVIV RUSKINTel: 01223 477411Fax: 01223 327356subscriptions@railpro.co.ukDESIGN AND PRODUCTIONCambridge Publishers LtdTel: 01223 477411Fax: 01223 327356info@cpl.bizwww.cpl.bizDESIGN: DAVID HOUGHTONCOVER PHOTOGRAPH: JUSTIN GRAINGECONTRIBUTIONSRail Professional welcomes contributions in the formof articles,photographs or letters.If a reply or thereturn of material is required,please enclose astamped self-addressed envelope.All photographsshould have the contributor’s name and address onthe reverse or on the edge of the holder (fortransparencies).While every care will be exercised withcontributors’manuscripts and photographs,neitherthe Editor nor the Publisher take responsibility for lossof,or damage to,material sent.The acceptance ofcontributions is made on this understanding.Published by Rail Professional Ltd every monthISSN 1476-2196©All rights reserved. No part of this magazinemay be reproduced or transmitted in any formor by any means, electronic or mechanical,including photocopying, recording or by anyinformation storage and retrieval system,without prior permission in writing from thecopyright owners.16 18EDITORIAL4 EDITORIAL COMMENT7-9 LETTERSNEWS4-7 News Gates installed at Elsenham; first HitachiBullet train arrives; Grand Central launch;Network Rail fined; freight grants; upgrade forCambrian line; Lib Dems want moreinvestment in railways; conductors ‘too hard’34-35 Business First Eurostar tickets sell out; HST2shortlist revealed; Mayor fights for Crossrail;National Express pulls out of biofuel trials;TubeLines looks at taking over some Metronetcontracts36-37 People George Muir;Andy Wakeford;AndySharp; Paul I'Anson; James Hardy; Chris Waples;Juliet Edmondson;Ambarene Saddique; MarkBurton; Phil Hamshaw; Stuart Wilson;Magnus ConnNEWS ANALYSIS10-11 National Express’ fortunes reviveWhile National Express celebrates a franchisewin – at last – GNER prepares to disappear intoobscurityRAIL PROFESSIONAL INTERVIEW12-15 Linda WilliamsThe chief inspector of railways talks to KatieSilvester about seatbelts on trains, Grayrigg,level crossings and SpadsINSTITUTION OF RAILWAY OPERATORS30-31 Ivor Warburton explains why he came out ofretirement to take a job on the Chineserailways. Plus: Dates for your diaryPRODUCTS AND SERVICES36, 39-40 A regular round-up of key resourcesThanks to Rail Images (www.railimages.co.uk) for photographic assistance.FEATURES16 -19 The white paper examinedTwo commentators analyse the Government’s30-year white paper. Paul Clifton looks at thehighs and lows of the Government’s plans,including the seemingly relentless rise in fares; andAlan Whitehouse wonders why projects such aselectrification and line re-openings didn’t get moreserious consideration20-21 Carrying the cardWithout a Sentinel Card, track workers cannotwork on the railways. Peter Plisner explains how itworks and why it’s done so much to improvesafety22-24 Considered responseWhen major incidents occur on the railways,advance emergency planning and contingencymeasures usually ensure a slick response from theindustry. Katie Silvester finds out about thepreparation work that goes on behind the scenes25 Integrating OysterMainline train stations will notice a few changeswhen they adopt Oyster, says Paul Beaty-Pownall.Card users will top up at machines or even online26-27 Taking a step backThe ORR is looking at making track accessapplications simpler by no longer having toapprove access in the most straightforwardapplications. Our legal team explains28-29 View from across the pondMichael R Weinman considers what lengthsAmtrak needs to go to to win more funding fromcongress38 Engineering the futurePredicted shortages of science and engineeringgraduates could soon leave the railways with nochoice but to recruit from abroad. Tube Linesexplains how it is training up apprentices, as wellas looking for graduates to fill its vacancies32-33 Rail Business AwardsPeter Aldridge’s monthly column begins again inthe run up to February’s awardsSEPTEMBER 2007 : RAIL PROFESSIONAL3

NEWSMore fare rises are on the horizonNational Express’s winning bid for theIntercity East Coast franchise is boundto raise some eyebrows.After all, itspremium payments of £1.4bn are morethan GNER’s commitment of £1.3bn,which it was later forced to retract.And National Express has to makethese payments over seven and a halfyears, whereas GNER would have had10 years to pay up, under the originalterms of its franchise agreement.So far, National Express has beenreluctant to discuss the details of itsbid and how it plans to raise therevenue.There is growth forecast forthe East Coast Main Line – growth of40 per cent or more by 2016 on someparts of the line – so the new franchiseholder will have to hope that thesepredictions hold good.Two of the financial demons whichplagued GNER and its ability to makepremium payments have now beenslain, namely the drop-off in passengernumbers following the Londonbombings and the rise in electricityprices – a new deal between Atoc andNetwork Rail forto fund the sky-highelectricity charges haspremium paymentsbeen struck since then.through increased railBut the third offares.PROFESSIONALGNER’s bugbears is aliveConsequently,and kicking – GrandCOMMENTpassengers on the EastCentral launches its firstCoast Main Line couldservices in September.This was, of see unregulated fares increase 45 percourse, the subject of judicial review cent over the next eight years.instigated by GNER last year and the The fare rises come hot on the heelsfinal straw for the company when the of the HLOS/white papercourt case upheld Grand Central’s case announcement, which sees thefor open access.passengers contributing the majority ofIt will be interesting to see whether the funding for forthcoming upgradesGrand Central’s services do have much through rail fares.Whichever way youimpact on the revenues of National look at it, the public pays, of course, butExpress East Coast (NEEC) in the way if a greater proportion were to comethat GNER feared they would. Only from general taxation, this would showtime will tell.a genuine commitment to promotingNEEC will not just be relying on public transport over the private car ongrowth to make ends meet, of course, the Government’s part, as Paul Cliftonit will also be putting up unregulated argues on pages 16-17.fares by up to 2.1 per cent abovePeter Aldridge, head of HSBC Rail,inflation each year.This is not exactly a proposes on page 33 that the railwayssurprise as it has become a trend for ought to be more self-funding and thatthe Government to award franchises to the Government is right to be cuttingthe highest bidder and for the winners the level of subsidy.This is a viewshared by many. But, as we alreadyhave the most expensive rail fares inEurope, how much are we prepared tosee them rise before we get to thepoint that rail travel is no longer anoption for low earners?Other important public serviceshave long since been paid for out ofgeneral taxation so that they can beused free of charge by those who needthem most – namely education andthe NHS. Deciding to cut publicsubsidy for the railways to a meretrickle so that passengers pay closer tothe full cost of the railways and thetaxpayer pays very little is like chargingschoolchildren or the sick for stateeducation or basic healthcare.And it flies in the face of what mostother European countries – many ofwhom have railways to be envied – aredoing.There has been much talk in thewake of the white paper about who thereal winners and losers are.The clearlosers are the passengers – or at leasttheir bank balances.First Javelin arrives in the UKA crowd of unlookers linedSouthampton docks to see a trainsuspended in mid-air, writes PaulClifton.Not just any train, but the firstHitachi Javelin train, which arrivedin Southampton on 23 August.The first of 29 six-car trains hadbeen shipped from Hitachi'sKasado works in Japan.It was unloaded alongside theQE2 cruise terminal straight ontodockside tracks, and hauled byrail to Hitachi's new purpose-builtmaintenance depot at Ashford inKent.Testing on Southeastern'snetwork is expected to start inOctober. The first 140mphdomestic services on High Speed1, formerly the Channel TunnelRail Link, are due to run fromDecember 2009.‘Bringing this train to the UKhas been my dream over sevenyears,’ said Chiaki Ueda, HitachiRail’s managing director inBritain. ‘And today that dream hascome true. This is very importantfor Hitachi.’The Japanese train will shrinkjourney times between Dover andLondon by 40 minutes to 70minutes, and more than halve thecommuting time from Ashford: 86minutes today will come down to36 when the Javelin runs begin.The Government claims it willbring substantial regenerationbenefits, including supporting100,000 new jobs, 18,000 newhomes and 40m square feet ofoffice space along the route ofHigh Speed 1.Local politicians haveexpressed concern that thepremium fares to be charged onJavelin trains may lead morepassengers than expected toremain on the slower ‘classic’services. They point out that thesimilarly bold promises thatEurostar services wouldregenerate Ashford have so farbeen largely unfulfilled.Southeastern will also providethe Olympic Javelin service,speeding passengers from StPancras to Stratford station inseven minutes during the 2012Olympic Games.David Miller, programmedirector for Southeastern, said:‘The train will be made ready fortesting at Ashford, first in thedepot and then on the track. Thatwill take about four months. Bythen we will have three moretrains for a further six months ofA Javelin is unloaded in Southampton.testing. This is a brand newservice, not a fleet replacement. Sowe need to introduce the entirefleet on the same day, December13, 2009, running a full service.’Only four of the 29 trains arebeing built this year. Hitachi willswitch production to Shinkansenand build the remaining 25 Class395 Javelins in 2009.4 RAIL PROFESSIONAL : SEPTEMBER 2007

NEWSTocs told evicting passengerswithout tickets is ‘last option’Passenger Focus has warned thattrain operators should think twiceabout asking passengers withoutvalid tickets to leave a train –especially if they could end upstranded late at night or arevulnerable. An MP has echoed theconcerns.The warning comes after a 16-year-old boy and girl allege theywere asked to leave a One train atColchester – late at night and morethan 50 miles away from theirdestination – after a mix-up overtickets.At the time of the incident inearly August, a 17-year-old girl wasmissing in the Colchester area.The 16-year-olds had been soldchild tickets from London toNorwich, having been told at theticket office in Norwich theyneeded to be under 17 to qualify.However, the conductor on thetrain said that at 16 they were tooold to travel on child tickets andmust pay again.But not having enough moneyon them to pay again, nor anyproof of their addresses, theteenagers say they were asked toleave at the next station. The onlyother alternative given to them,they claim, was to be met by thepolice on the train’s arrival inNorwich.A spokeswoman for PassengerFocus said: ‘While it is importantthat passengers have a valid ticketto travel before boarding the train,Upgrade for Cambrian linewe would urge train operators touse discretion in certaincircumstances. Asking someone toleave a train far away from homewould have to be the very lastoption for train operators.’Ian Gibson, MP for NorwichNorth, called for train conductorsto be more sympathetic andflexible when passengers hadmade genuine mistakes overrestricted tickets.‘Whilst I sympathise with thestaff on the One railway toNorwich – sometimes there aredifficult customers – the vastmajority of customers are honestfare-paying passengers and maybethe one odd mistake is madethrough no fault of the individual.’He added that conductors weresometimes ‘too hard onindividuals’ and called for moreflexibility and sensitivity.A spokeswoman for One saidthat it would be unusual for apassenger to be asked to leave atrain by one of its conductors.‘We have made some enquiriesinto this alleged incident, butunfortunately we have been unableto fully substantiate thecircumstances, given theinformation provided to date.‘We will, of course, make furtherenquiries if the customersconcerned can provide moreprecise details. We do not routinelyask people to leave the train as theresult of having an invalid ticket.’Arriva TrainsA single track line between Mid-Wales and Shrewsbury, theCambrian line, is to be upgraded.The line, which is notorious fordelays, will get additional passingloops and the track will be raisedat Dovey Junction to reduce therisk of flooding from the DoveyEstuary.The £13m investment will bepaid for by the Welsh Assemblyand Network Rail.Simon Pickering, PassengerFocus manager in Wales said:‘Passengers will be pleased toknow that there is an end in sightto the serious delays that theyregularly experience on this line.After all the problems with delaysbetween Aberystwyth andShrewsbury and the knock-oneffect for those passengerstravelling on from Shrewsbury toBirmingham, the investment inthis line will make a real differenceto passengers.‘Investment in improving theline will improve punctuality ofthe trains, but it is also importantthat there is a further commitmentto funding hourly services on thisroute. This will make a hugedifference to passengers as it willimprove access to West Wales.’SEPTEMBER 2007 : RAIL PROFESSIONAL5

NEWSGrand Central names fourth launch dateGrand Central will try to emulateand surpass fellow open accessoperator Hull Trains when itstarts running six open accessservices between Sunderland andLondon at the end of September,writes Paul Coleman.As Rail Professional went topress, the exact launch date hadstill not been finalised.‘Our crews are chomping at thebit to run that first train,’ saidrailwayman Ian Yeowart, GrandCentral’s managing director. ‘Wewant to show people what we cando.’Yeowart told Rail Professionalthat Grand Central is pressing tooperate a fourth Sunderland-London path from next summer.The York-based operator is alsoseeking permission to run fourBradford-London services viaDoncaster from December 2008.A sister company, GrandUnion, is actively developingservice proposals to run betweenHuddersfield and London thatcould compete with Virgin on theWest Coast line.However, it’s Grand Central’sability to secure a share of theEast Coast Main Line market thatwill be closely monitored by itscompetitors, chiefly by EastCoast InterCity franchise winnerNational Express. ‘We expectsome retaliation from thecompetition,’ Yeowart said.The performance of the Yorkbasedoperator’s own small,refurbished fleet will also bescrutinised. MarcroftEngineering has refurbished the18 carriages. Devonport DMLhas overhauled the six powercars.Grand Central has missedthree launch dates. Yeowart citeda shortage of bogies andIanYeowartproblems sourcing carriagecomponents as responsible forthe failure to launch in May 2007.Drivers and senior conductorswill use laptops to report anytrain faults or line difficulties asthey happen. Conductors willcarry BlackBerrys.‘Turn up and go’ passengerswill be encouraged to buy ticketson the trains. Yeowart expectssome ‘revenue leakage’ on theshorter stops. A 50-per-centrefund for passengers unable tosit is promised.Tickets will be available atGrand Central’s new leasedRiver House HQ in York, whichwill also house a passengerlounge.Private equity firm EquisharePartners financed the £10m deallast spring that enabled GrandCentral to buy, overhaul andrefurbish its own stock.‘It’s costly for us not to beoperational,’ said Yeowart. ‘Wewant to be out there generatingsome revenue so we can payback the people who’ve investedmoney.’Yeowart’s long campaign tosecure access to the network wasdelayed last year after beingcontested in the courts in 2006by the now failed East CoastMain Line operator, GNER.NEWS IN BRIEFNETWORK RAIL FINEDNORTH HAS GROWTH SPURTCities in the north of England have seengreater rail growth than the rest of theUK in the last 10 years, a report byconsultancy MVA has revealed. Leedshas seen rail journeys grow by 80 percent.The report, commissioned by theDfT, recommends faster trains andlonger platforms at key northernstations, a re-examination of the ElectricHorseshoe proposed by GNER and apossible new station for Leeds.A flawed re-signalling project inPortsmouth which led to months ofdelays has resulted in a fine of £2.4m forNetwork Rail.The Office of RailRegulation imposed the penalty for theweaknesses in the planning andexecution of the resignalling scheme.Peter Henderson, group infrastructuredirector for Network Rail, said:‘We arevery disappointed that the ORR hasconcluded the need to impose a fine.’LIB DEMS PRIORITISE RAILThe Liberal Democrats would doubleinvestment in the railways if they cameto power, the party has announced.Theextra cash would come from a toll onroad freight and a tax on internal airflights.The policy forms part of itscommitment to creating a zero carbontransport system.LATE PAYERS IN THE SPOTLIGHTNew Payment League Tables by theInstitute for Credit Management identifythe Go-Ahead Group and Carillion astwo of the worst companies in the railindustry for paying invoices on time. Go-Ahead ranks second in the ‘worsening’category, with average payment time of48 days, 33 days longer than last year.But engineering contractor Carillion fairsworse – it is ranked as the second worstpayer in the entire FTSE 250, taking anaverage of 80 days to settle its debts.The average payment time across thewhole of the FTSE 250 is just 17 days.MORE FREIGHT GRANTSThe Gospel Oak to Barking line inLondon is to get an £18.5m upgrade toallow it to be used as a diversion forfreight trains, the DfT has announced.Afurther £2.1m in Freight Facilities Grantshas also been awarded.6 RAIL PROFESSIONAL : SEPTEMBER 2007

NEWS/LETTERSLOCKING GATES AND FOOTBRIDGEINSTALLED AT ELSENHAM CROSSINGNetwork Rail has installed lockingpedestrian gates at Elsenham 20months after two girls were killed atthe station’s level crossing, writesPaul Coleman.Controversial pedestrian wicketgates have been replaced by electromagneticgates that can be lockedby the level crossing keeper. For thefirst time on the UK rail network,signallers can control pedestriangates.The much-criticised miniaturewarning lights and ‘yodel’ alarm atElsenham – that did notdistinguish between anapproaching train on the upline,downline or both – have beendecommissioned.The locking gates startedoperating at Elsenham on 12August. The crossing keeper locksthe pedestrian gates sequentiallyusing a switch inside his cabinbefore transferring control of themto Cambridge signallers who alsocontrol the vehicle gates.Pedestrians wanting to cross therailway during six-minute closurescan now use a new steel footbridgebuilt over the tracks and theoverhead line equipment.Network Rail confirmed the newgates and footbridge, enhanced(Above) The new blacklocking pedestrian gateswith the pedestrianbridge over the rails.(Right) View from thepedestrian bridge.layout and raised fencing cost£970,000. ‘Hefty contractors’ triedto wrench the locked gates open,but the locks remained secure.Two friends, Olivia Bazlington,aged 14, and Charlotte Thompson,13, passed through the oldunlocked gates onto the levelcrossing on 3 December, 2005 andwere killed.Evidence presented to acoroner’s inquest last FebruaryPhotographs by Chris Bazlingtonsuggested the pair thought that theflashing red light and yodellingalarm related to their downline trainacross the tracks, which was waitingat the platform – not a second oncomingnon-stopping train.They were killed instantly by anupline Central Trains servicepassing through Elsenham at70mph on its way to Stansted.Network Rail said: ‘With railtraffic due to increase in futureyears, the construction of afootbridge along with a pedestriangate locking system will help makethe crossing even safer.’Chris Bazlington, Olivia’s father,responded: ‘We are very pleasedthat the bridge is now built and thegates are locked when trains arepassing. But we are less pleased byNetwork Rail’s implication that thecrossing was already safe.‘It is time Network Rail stoppedhiding behind the fiction that thebridge and locked gates have beeninstalled because of the increase intraffic on the line: everyone knowsit was because of the deaths of Livand Charlie. The safety assessmentsproved the crossing had seriousflaws.’Network Rail’s risk assessmentof Elsenham in April 2005 hadrated it at ‘28’, meaning relativelysafe. The inquest jury then heardthat a similar assessment two daysafter the tragedy, rated the risk at‘47’, making it one of the mostdangerous crossings of its type inthe country and in need ofadditional safety measures.Risk assessment methods havesince undergone review. Similarlocking gates will also be installed atDownham Market.LETTERSHLOS fails to sparkThe recently released HLOS has, likeseveral other big reports and studieslanded with all the aerodynamic graceof a man-hole cover. Much of thereport regurgitates positions that havebeen outlined and announcedpreviously.The failure to develop the case forhigh speed lines and more main lineelectrification is a major strategicblunder that needs to be laid clearly atthe door of the DfT.The case for HSLhas been and is being developed andmakes sense if forecasts of UK railtraffic activity and route capacity underpresent methods of management arecredible.Squeezing more from the existingsystem by changed operational routinesand management processes (we mightusefully learn from the Dutch & theSwiss on this) linked to more capabletrain technologies might have been auseful component of the HLOS plus areally hard look at the delivered cost anddelivery time of projects.Other countries in Europe appear tobe more capable of doing this on aroutine basis in a fraction of the time italways seems to take in Britain. HSLdevelopment would make rail morecompetitive and attractive on key routesand open up existing lines to absorbmore inter-regional, short haul andfreight traffic.The abject failure to to support anyreal movement towards electrifyingmore of the UK rail network is, in myview, the most serious omission in theHLOS.The case for a significantextension of the electrified railwaynetwork is robust in terms of theeconomic and commercial case beforeany consideration of the wider societalbenefits in terms of emissions andenvironmental impact.Such an approach would makemuch more use of the existing wiredup network through system benefitsand also link major cities that do notenjoy the benefit of electrified trainservices. How many cities in Europe ofthe size of Sheffield, Bristol,Nottingham,Aberdeen, Cardiff &Plymouth are without this capability?The continuing obsession by theDepartment for Roads (er sorry…Transport) with diesel traction as thelow cost panacea, in the naïve belief ➤SEPTEMBER 2007 : RAIL PROFESSIONAL7

LETTERS➤ that this type of traction can perform asCatenary erected in the US in thenetwork, Britain, with the exception ofThe re-instatement of the line fromefficiently and effectively as electricmid-1930s is still in place and is tacitwhat is really just an 80 mile-long sidingDalmeny via Kirkliston would have giventrains, beggars belief.evidence of the longevity of this type offrom the Channel Tunnel, makes do withaccess to the Forth Bridge, and aRecent academic reviews by UKequipment (which also doubles up asa network that is based on the 19th-southwards diverging line passinguniversities have totally exposed thispart of the local power distributioncentury ballast track.There are no plansthrough the arches of the existing E&Gposition as being just plain wrong.Thenetwork for the power supplyto build new lines to connect theline viaduct would have given access tofundamental physics limit the energycompanies.The rubbish put forwardMidlands, North of England or Scotlandthe Bathgate line near Uphall Station atdensity of the diesel train and itsagainst electrification needs to beto the European high-speed network.a later date if needed.abilities. Electric traction can exceedexposed for what it really is. Major citiesDespite a number of governmentThe existing E&G route might thennominal ratings for acceleration on aand traffic centres are not going tostudies into new UK rail links and thebe singled for peak/diversionary trafficroutine basis. Diesel traction is limitedmysteriously vanish off the map; peoplestrong environmental and motorwayand freight services, easingby the ability to turn a liquid fuel intoand goods will still want to be moved.congestion arguments for theirinfrastructure problems on that sectionenergy within the confines of theRail needs to raise its game and moveconstruction, Britain has yet to getof line. Perhaps the proponents of anvehicle.from being a bit part player in the UKonboard. Until it does, we must make doairport link line would get more politicalOther parts of UK Government aretransport market.At a strokeand mend with a network whosesupport if planners showed lesssignalling concerns over energy/fuelelectrification could achieve this byefficiency and reliability will increasinglygenerosity in dispersing taxpayersdependency with the transport sectorimproving operational, technical andbe ridiculed by the 21st-centurymoney. I suggest that this plan be re-(apart from electrified rail) being whollycommercial performance as well asnetwork being developed throughoutexamined.dependent on highly refined liquidreducing dependency on oil.Continental Europe.Malcolm Knighthydrocarbons. Rail has the capability toPhil MortimerDavid JonesTrain operations and safety consultantdraw power from a mix of energy andfuel inputs.Diesel traction is locked intowholesale use of a very specific inputcommodity.This position is threatenedby concerns over long term supply, costTruck TrainBritain needsto speed upThe announcement of theestablishment of a pan-European trainDirectorBritpaveEdinburgh Airport – analternativeThe inevitable withdrawal of support forThe two differenttypes of managerAs a former management Instructor atthe old BR Derby School of Transportand then having spent 12 years as aand availability considerations. Peak oilalliance, Railteam, to take advantage ofthe Edinburgh Airport Rail Link (EARL) iscurrent operations shift manager (DCC)years are being mentioned withthe rapidly growing European networka salutary reminder that overplanning offor BR LMR,‘The outsiders’ (Augustincreasing frequency and yet the HLOSof high-speed rail line is embarrassinga project is just as unwise as under-issue) struck a real chord.seems indifferent to this.for Britain with its limited investment inestimation of benefits (August issue).While at Derby, we were primarilyThere are suspicions that the DfT isnew rail links.The scheme as published, diving underinvolved in 'application of managementwholly infatuated with diesel tractionRailteam is the result of anthe Almond river and the main airportprinciples to existing staff' – still beingand other thermal traction optionsagreement between seven countries torunway to a very significant depth mustcarried on today – while when at Creweincluding hydrogen and fuel cells.Thelink their high-speed rail networks tohave had a profound impact on theas DCC I was primarily involved inlatter are ‘jam tomorrow’ options thatmake intercity rail travel across Europecosts of the project, not to mentionputting them into practice on a day-to-have been nearly ready for 40 plus yearscheaper and easier (August issue).creation of inevitable operationalday basis.but never quite cut the mustard despiteTravellers will be able to book theirproblems to be overcome.It was the latter that provedmassive R&D inputs.tickets to destinations in France,I am reminded that, when employedinteresting as I also had, and still have, aHad but a small proportion of thisGermany, the Netherlands, Belgium,by Halcrow in Edinburgh in the lateprofessional interest in all forms ofbeen spent on electrification, then moreSwitzerland and Austria with just one1990s, an outline scheme withcommercial transport, not just railways.of the UK rail network would bepayment from a single website,reasonable gradients was prepared,This led to some curious reactions fromenjoying the benefits of this option.Thewww.Railteam.eu. It is planned thatgiving ground level access to all linessome of my contemporaries.case for no further extension ofSpain and Italy will also join Railteamleaving Edinburgh.The costs would haveI asked, and had to press for, a list ofelectrification just does not stand closeRailteam has been set up tobeen far more moderate than those ofthe most profitable freight trains on theobjective scrutiny.The present structuralcapitalise on the growing Europeanthe scheme presently reported as ‘deadLMR – in order – so that in times ofarrangements between the DfT,high-speed rail network. By 2010, within the water’.disruption I could give the necessaryNetwork Rail and the Tocs militatenew stretches due to open in Spain,In simple terms, a route waspriority to delayed services, even to theagainst the investment in long termItaly, and the Netherlands, Europe willdemonstrated with a grade-separatedextent of running them in preference toelectrification and enforce the continuedhave a high-speed rail network of somejunction with the Edinburgh to Glasgowlocal passenger services.reliance on diesel traction. Has most of4,000 miles. By 2020, this will increase(E&G) just west of Edinburgh Park'That's commercial – you’reEurope got it wrong? I don’t think so.to 5,000 miles when further stretchesstation.The line would then fall to aoperations' was the initial reply, toThe often-repeated mantra thatare opened in France, Germany, Spainstation adjacent to the south-westwhich mine was: 'Which services makeelectrification is costly and loads costs atand Austria. Of this total, Britain, thecorner of the airport terminal.ThisBR the most money? They are the onesthe front end of any project can becountry that invented the railway, willwould have been followed by athat get priority and road freightchallenged by the use of other modelshave only 80 miles – the Channel Tunnelsweeping rise over the Newbridgetransport is our arch competitor.’of financing.The long life of catenaryLink that is due to open this November.motorway intersection to a junctionAt one stage, Fiddlers Ferry powershould minimise any concerns aboutWhilst countries throughout Europeclose to the existing Winchburghstation was receiving 35,000 tons apayback risks.are investing in a 21st-century railJunction.week of imported coal (eight trains a8 RAIL PROFESSIONAL : SEPTEMBER 2007

LETTERSDoes the white paper deliver?The Government white paper:Delivering a Sustainable Railway,provides strategic direction for the railindustry to address the challengeslikely to be faced by the industry overthe next 30 years.The white paper has been producedat a key point in time, with the railindustry facing the challenge ofdelivering an improving rail systemcapable of dealing with increasingpassenger and freight demand,particularly in London, and one whichcan cope with special events such asthe London 2012 Olympics.After the recent studies related totransport and climate change, it wasimportant that the white paperaligned with the recommendations ofthe Eddington Transport Study, theStern Review on Economics of ClimateChange and the explicit objectivesdetailed in the High Level OutputSpecification.Meeting these challenges, though,will require the rail industry to improvehow it procures investments andoperates the railway.This will require industryrestructuring, re-engineering of supplychainsand operational efficiencyimprovement to deliver the railwaycustomers expect.To realise thereliability targets of 2014 there willneed to be significant improvements inthe integration of the capital projectstrategy and maintenance strategy toensure investment results in theoptimum whole life cost and benefit.The clear separation of strategyinto phases reinforces the need tomake the best use of existing assets,whilst planning the investment tocreate long-term improvement.Afocus on tactical signalling, trackenhancement and communicationsprojects is required in the short-termto ensure existing assets andtechnologies enable the requiredincremental step-change inperformance.To achieve the long-termgoals, a clear commitment is neededto high-speed lines, electrification andthe ERTMS roll out programme, whichwould provide long-term benefits andreal alignment to long-term EUstrategy.The white paper recognises theimportance of customers andaddressing overcrowding, particularlyto London and south east stations andlines, making it critical that realdecisions are made and effectivecommunications occur todemonstrate the benefits that wouldbe provided by the proposedadditional carriages and platformextensions.Whilst the highest increase indemand is forecast for London and thesouth east, it is important that railwaydevelopment does not ignore theimportance of creating effectivetransport links to the regions.This is toensure that we have balanced social,economic and environmentaldevelopment throughout the UK.Key to success will be the role ofthe Department for Transport, HMTreasury and Transport for London, aswill effective regional partnershipsbetween local Government, regionalpassenger transport bodies, the railindustry, investors and customers.Only with a coherent and coordinatedlong-term strategysupported by all stakeholders in therailways, rather than the recentfragmented short-term approach, willwe succeed in delivering the objectivesof the white paper.Without this thewhite paper objectives may well bethwarted.Dr Simon Wilkinson LLPEC HarrisMilton Keynesday from Birkenhead Docks) and therewere terrible supply problems – notrains at all on some days.With a littleresearch I quickly found that: a) theywould not stock on the quayside;b) the three ships involved had a totalcapacity of 36,000 tons – any 'hiccup'here and you were 12,000 tons short;c) the coal was being bought on theRotterdam 'spot market' so it was nowonder there was no regular flow.When the officer concerned moanedone morning about the shambles of theday before when he came into thecontrol I told him it was all to do withthe Rotterdam ‘spot market'. His replywas, 'What's that got to do with me?'I was also approached just afterprivatisation and my retirement to talkto 'outsiders' about rolling stock whenit was discovered that many of themhad no idea how many different typesof carriages and wagons existed – tothem a carriage was a carriage, a wagona wagon – so the need for both types oftraining/induction in your article as justas valid as ever.J.H.Edser BA, FCILTAlsagerCheshireFGW:We are workinghardThe current issue of Rail Professional(August issue) states that 'no-one fromFGW was available for comment' inrelation to the story about LondonTravelwatch. I shall be grateful if youwill include our response in the nextissue.We understand passengers'frustrations with the lack of servicereliability. Indeed, we share it. No onelikes this situation. However, we are along way from being in breach of ourfranchise agreement and we areworking hard to make improvements. Infact, we have repeatedly told BrianCooke and London Travelwatch that weare not in breach of our franchiseagreement.Delivering better performance issomething that is down to First GreatWestern and Network Rail workingtogether.While we have been reducingthe delays that are down to us, this isyet to translate into an overallimprovement. Network Rail's £750mtrack renewals programme will makethings a lot better, but this will takeseveral more years to complete.In the meantime, First GreatWestern will continue to invest inimprovements to trains and stations.We have spent more than £68m sofar on refurbished high-speed trains andwe will spend a further £132m over thenext two years to further improve theservice.Adrian RuckExternal relations managerFirst Great WesternSEPTEMBER 2007 : RAIL PROFESSIONAL9

NEWS ANALYSISNATIONAL EXPRESS’SFORTUNES REVIVEwww.railimages.co.ukGNER’s Class 91HSTs will soon berebranded NationalExpress East Coast.Jayne Dubois looks at the detail ofNational Express’s new EastCoast franchiseCoach and train operator NationalExpress saw its run of bad luck cameto an end when the operator wasawarded the franchise for the Inter City EastCoast services. Now the iconic GNER brandwill finally come to an end, when the franchisechanges hands in December – as a last ditchattempt to keep the brand alive as part of theVirgin/Stagecoach bid came to nothing.National Express lost out in the awarding ofthe Midlands franchises and is soon to see itsGatwick Express franchise amalgamated withSouthern. But the East Coast win has propelledthe train and bus operator back into rail’s bigleague – despite concerns in some camps thatits already-successful north-south coach serviceswould give it too much of a monopoly. The EastCoast franchise is made up of servicesconnecting Scotland to England viaPeterborough and the north of England. Thenew franchise will be called National ExpressEast Coast.But the sting in the tail is that NationalExpress will have to find £1.4bn to pay back tothe DfT over the life of the franchise – morethan the £1.3bn GNER would have paid, had itnot backed out of the franchise early. AndNational Express has to make these paymentsover less than eight years, while GNER’s wouldhave spanned 10 years. National Express wasreluctant to discuss details of its premiumpayments when Rail Professional called its pressoffice. As with other recent franchise wins, steepfare rises are likely in order to fund the premiumpayments. National Express told the DfT itmight put up unregulated fares by 2.1 per centabove inflation each year. This could lead to a45 per cent increase in fares by 2015.GNER won the 10-year East Coast franchisetwo years ago, but pulled out when financialpressures caused by unexpected competitionon its routes, hikes in electricity prices and lossof customers following the London bombingsmade its premium payments unachievable. Plusits parent company, Sea Containers, was alsohaving financial problems and so was unable tobankroll GNER until its finances picked upagain. Since the end of last year, GNER hasbeen running the services on a managementcontractNational Express Group Chief Executive,Richard Bowker said of the franchise award: ‘Weare absolutely delighted that we have won theUK’s premier intercity railway. We have wonwith a bid which is ambitious, deliverable andstructured to generate shareholder value.‘Our combined strengths of industry-leadingoperational performance and excellentcustomer service give us confidence that we willbe able to grow the business and increase thenumber of passengers by providing a servicethat is value for money and aimed at makingtravel simpler.’Many of the ‘frills’ for which GNER becameknown will be adopted by National Express,including a high-standard restaurant service andwi-fi access – which will now be free in standardas well as first class. As with all franchise changeoversGNER staff will initially be taken on byNational Express under industry regulations.Alan Hyde, GNER’s head of communications,hopes that National Express will build onGNER’s achievements.‘National Express will inherit a growingrailway, based on the many successes thatGNER has had. We’ve grown this railway by 50per cent more passengers; we’re running 36 percent more trains; we’ve won over 60 awards forvarious things.’GNER staff, he says, are enthusiastic aboutthe improvements National Express is planningand the failed Virgin/Stagecoach bid – whichwould have seen GNER retain a 10 per centstake in the franchise – is now behind them.10 RAIL PROFESSIONAL : SEPTEMBER 2007

NEWS ANALYSIS‘The initial disappointment is now history; we’vegot to look forward as a business and we do sowith a great deal of excitement and anticipation.There’s a positive mood in the camp. NationalExpress is a very good company, it’s gotsignificant transport experience, it’s got a strongbalance sheet. National Express has put forwardsome exciting plans about delivering a biggerrailway, with more services. We’re delighted tosee they’re going to keep the headquarters inYork and they’re retaining restaurants. Inrunning a bigger railway they’ll need lots of staffto make sure customers are looked after. We’llbe meeting with National Express at the earliestopportunity to find out more about their plansand ensure a smooth handover.’Bob Mackenzie, chief executive officer ofGNER’s parent company Sea Containers, isclearly disappointed by the demise of theGNER brand. ‘By teaming up with Virgin andStagecoach we were part of a strong and robustbid for the next franchise,’ he says. ‘And so weare disappointed that the Government hasdecided that our combination of talents did notmeet its financial requirements.’Passenger groups, meanwhile, have raisedconcerns about rises to unregulated fares.Guy Dangerfield, Passenger Focus managersays: ‘Recent Passenger Focus research showsthat “value for money” is at the top ofpassengers’ priorities for improvements. Whilewe welcome transparency from the Governmentthat unregulated fares are likely to rise by 2.1per cent above the rate of inflation each year,we are concerned that at current inflation ratesthis could amount to a 45 per cent priceincrease over the length of the franchise.‘This could mean a York to London StandardOpen Return rising from £179 to £259 by 2015.’On a more upbeat note, he added thatpassengers wanted to see National Expressbuild on the standards that GNER had set –passenger satisfaction currently ranks at 87 percent. Passenger Focus also welcomed proposalsfor extra capacity from December 2010 and acommitment to improving punctuality.‘The initial disappointment isnow history; we’ve got to lookforward as a business and wedo so with a great deal ofexcitement’Alan Hyde, GNERHighlights of the new NationalExpress East Coast franchise• The Leeds half-hourly service will continue,with additional trains and rolling stockbrought in from 2010;• Journey times will be cut: London-Leedswill take just two hours and there will beadditional fast trains to Edinburgh;• Performance will be improved with nineout of 10 trains running on time;• A website will provide easier online bookingand customers will be offered a full refund ifthey have reserved a seat, but none areavailable;• Restaurant services will be retained andimproved;• Onboard wi-fi will now be free in standardas well as first class;• National Express will pay a premium of£1.4bn back to the Government over theseven and a half years of the franchise; and• The new franchise starts in December 2007and ends in March 2015, but the final 17months are dependent on reachingperformance targets.SEPTMEBER 2007 : RAIL PROFESSIONAL11

INTERVIEWTHE RAIL PROFESSIONAL INTERVIEWLINDA WILLIAMSCHIEF INSPECTOR OF RAILWAYSIt’s not the most popular of jobs in the railway industry, butthe current chief inspector has worked in health and safetyfor 30 years, so she is used to taking the flak. But there ismuch to be proud of too – 2006 was one of the safest inrecent years.Katie Silvester met LINDA WILLIAMSPHOTOGRAPHS BY JUSTIN GRAINGEIf one thing is for sure, when it comes to safety on therailways, there is never room for complacency. The year2006 was good for safety – for the second year running, nopassengers or staff died in train accidents and there were fewerfatalities at level crossings than usual. It was also the safest yearfor trackworkers since 1997. But then along came Grayrigg inFebruary of this year.As chief inspector of the railways, Linda Williams’ job is toensure that safety on the railways continues to improve and thatrisks are highlighted before they lead to an accident. ‘We wantthe industry to be efficient and highly performing withoutcompromising safety,’ she says. ‘And we want itto be safer without compromising performance.It’s quite challenging to balance that and to doit without costing excessive sums of money.Passengers take for granted that the railway issafe and they’ve got to be able to continue totake for granted that the railway is safe.’Statistically, of course, the railways are still farsafer than the roads. ‘Rail is not not safe,’continues Williams. ‘It’s doing a good job incomparison with other forms of transport, butundoubtedly public confidence is destroyed if there’s one or twonasty accidents; this is an industry that’s fairly exposed if there’sa nasty accident – it gets a lot of media coverage. We think thatthere are further improvements that can be made by attentionto detail.’Originally from the Midlands, Williams trained as ametallurgist and started out working in foundries, before a postas a factory inspector began her health and safety career in 1976.She moved across to the railways three years ago, following stintsas an agricultural inspector and the Health and Safety Executive’s‘Passengers take forgranted that therailway is safe andthey’ve got to beable to continue totake for granted thatthe railway is safe’director of the Midlands area. She was soon promoted from headof rail operations to chief inspector. ‘Railways were a newchallenge, it’s an important industry,’ she says. She doesn’t getout into the field much these days, though. Her day-to-day jobrevolves more around high-level meetings with senior managersin the industry explaining policy and urging them to do better.Plus there are always on-going policy reviews or updates tooversee.A team of 100 inspectors visit locations across the country.Most are from the rail industry or have particular specialismssuch as signalling or structures; others are from a health andsafety background, but have been trained in rail. HM RailInspectorate (HMRI) is responsible for all trains and light rail,including heritage, but excluding narrow gauge miniaturerailways. Up until last year, HMRI was part of HSE, but now ithas become part of the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) and isbased at the ORR offices just off the Strand in London.The move was fairly ‘seamless’ says Williams. Some policytweaks are still being finalised to make HMRI’s remit clearer.‘When it was all done together, it didn’t really matter if it was arailway or a dock. Now it does matter, so we’ve had to be moreprescriptive about what is for ORR and what is for HSE,’ sheexplains.The main work of HMRI now is to issuecertificates and authorisations, check safetymanagement systems and monitor track activity.‘We try to not to put a huge amount of effort intomaking sure the paperwork is done, becausewhat actually matters in terms of safety is whathappens on the ground. We want to make surethat whatever is set out in management systemsis delivering safety on the ground. So we dopreventive work, we have assignments set out totest whether elements of their safety management system areworking properly.’Unlike other industries, railway professionals do not have toendure unannounced inspections, but they do not always knowexactly what an inspector is going to be looking at. HMRI setsout its priorities and plans its visits to try to get a good overviewof the industry. ‘We go out to see how things are working on theground and then we assemble the results to form an impressionhow well things are going. Of course, if we come acrosssomething that’s particularly bad or a blatant abuse of the law12 RAIL PROFESSIONAL : SEPTEMBER 2007

INTERVIEW‘I hope that our main dutyholders accept our advice andrespect the fact that inspectors do a professional job.You’renot going to like being inspected, but you should think thatoverall it’s a good thing’Linda Williams inORR’s reception at itsoffices at 1 Kemble St,London.or a significant safety risk we take it up straight away, butotherwise we gather the information over the course of the year.So we have to be quite organised. If we were just to say “thereyou are inspectors, you all know about the railway, just go outand look at things”, we wouldn’t necessarily form that planned,structured impression.’HMRI also does accident investigation. The Rail AccidentInvestigation Branch (RAIB) investigates train accidents to findthe causes and makes recommendations to the industry tosuggest improvements. But RAIB does not apportion blame, ifthere may have been breaches of health and safety law, this iswhere HMRI comes in.This seems like a good time to mention Grayrigg. Withinvestigations continuing, Williams is not at liberty to say muchabout February’s accident, which saw one person die and 22others requiring hospital treatment when a Virgin Pendolinoderailed at Grayrigg in Cumbria due to a problem with the points.‘The investigation’s continuing, the British Transport Policeand RAIB are still in the lead and we’ll work closely with both.Everybody was horrified by Grayrigg because it had been arelatively calm, benign period. It was a tragedy and it was the lastthing anyone wanted to happen. And the reaction of the wholeindustry was of shock and of determination that if any lessonscould be learned they would be learned.’One of the side effects of Grayrigg has been to re-ignite thedebate about whether seatbelts should be fitted on trains. Likemost in the industry, Williams thinks they would be completelyimpractical.‘A feature of railways is to be able to walk about in the carriageand to have freedom of movement; it’s not like being on anaeroplane. And the whole focus of safety on the railways is toavoid trains being involved in collisions, not to minimise theeffects. It’s always a balance of risks. If you had seatbelts ontrains, this is my personal point of view, how many people wouldfall over them and break legs? Would you really go to the lengthsthat you do on a plane when you have someone inspecting themand you have to sit down at all times, just to get a very very smallreduction in risk? If you look at the number of passengerjourneys that would seriously be altered if you did somethingas draconian as that, versus the actual risk of an incident, thenthe balance would not be to go down that route. But it’s verydifficult for someone who’s seen an incident, and thinks in thatparticular set of circumstances a seatbelt would have made adifference, to see the bigger picture.’The number of visits train operators, freight operators andNetwork Rail, get from an inspector depends on their safety recordand on what the particular focus of HMRI is at any one time.‘We deal with Network Rail a lot, they’re everywhere; so it’salmost impossible for us not to interface with them every timewe go out. The amount that a particular firm sees of us dependsa bit on what our priorities are that particular year and what wethink of them. If we know they’re very good at something, there’sno point in us going back to have another look. If they’re anunknown quantity or we think the last time we looked at that itwasn’t very good, they might see us again. But it’s not like aperiodic examination; it’s not like we say we’re going to go everysecond year and do X. We do not want our activities to be toopredictable,’ she smiles. ‘If they thought, “I’m not going to seethem again for another three years”, where would the deterrentbe?’HMRI also deals with complaints: from the public, fromindividuals or bodies in the rail industry and from unions. Fewof the complaints that come from the industry are spurious, saysWilliams, but not all can be remedied by HMRI. However, themajority of complaints that come from the public are misdirectedand often concern situations which do not fall under HMRI’sremit. The ORR takes calls most days from members of thepublic who want to complain to someone because their trainwas late or fares have gone up – staff gently re-direct them to therelevant Toc or passenger group.When an inspector finds something that is cause for concern,there are a number of options open to the inspectorate. AnImprovement Notice can be issued requiring the dutyholder toput it right within a specified time frame. A more serioussituation could require a Prohibition Notice, which means thata problem has to be fixed before some element of work cancontinue. Ultimately, HMRI can prosecute, but this is usually inconjunction with some other type of enforcement.‘Prosecution itself doesn’t put the problem right, so it mightbe that we issue a Prohibition Notice and we prosecute. We’vegot licence conditions that can be modified and we’ve got powersof persuasion. The office has got powers to set incentives.’So what does she think the biggest achievements in rail safetyhave been?‘Overall, rail safety has improved over a long period of timeand it’s continuing to improve. There are fewer incidents, thefatalities rate has gone down and overall most of the indicatorsfor safety are going in the right direction. The Rail Safety andStandards Board produce a very sophisticated risk model forthe mainline railway industry as to the cause of accidents andin that way they’re quite far ahead of other industries that can’tmodel their risks in quite the same ways.‘A few years ago, before the days of Cullen, Spads were the14 RAIL PROFESSIONAL : SEPTEMBER 2007

iggest cause of danger. The introduction of TPWS hassignificantly reduced the risks, plus the efforts made to reduceSpads in absolute terms have meant that they are no longer thething most likely to cause an accident. In RSSB’s model , thething that is most likely to cause a train accident is levelcrossings.’The Cullen Report followed the Ladbroke Grove accident in1999, where a driver passed a signal at danger and ploughedinto another train. It was a big turning point for the industry andsaw the widespread introduction of train protection and warningsystems (TPWS), where the brakes automatically kick in if a signalis passed at danger. Cullen’s criticisms were far-reaching andeven required the inspectorate to tighten up its procedures. Hisinvestigation revealed too relaxed an attitude towards Spads,where it was generally assumed that a driver passing a signal atdanger had simply overshot it.With level crossings now the leading cause of accidents, whatcan be done to reduce the risks?‘There’s a lot of level crossings, so you can’t wave a wandovernight and say there will be no more level crossings. Thebiggest risk is not that the level crossing will fail, but that theORR’s headquarters,to which HMRI wasrelocated last year.The inspectorate waspreviously part of HSE.users won’t behave properly. Network Rail are running acampaign to raise awareness about that at the moment. You canalso make sure it’s the right sort of crossing installed, so thatthere’s less temptation to behave badly.’The rail union RMT is campaigning for an end to levelcrossings – it wants to see bridges and tunnels keep roads andtracks entirely separate. ‘Well the very safest thing, of course, isfor the level crossing not to be there,’ says Williams. ‘But youhave to be realistic about what can be afforded. I think there willbe level crossings in places that are very busy where the idealsolution will be a bridge or a tunnel. But even that doesn’t meanit’s easy to achieve, because if you live next to an idyllic levelcrossing, you may not want it replaced by a flyover. The policyfor a while has been no new crossings and if you get theopportunity to get rid of one, you do. But we’re not alone, othercountries have the same problem and the UK does not have theworse death rate by any means. If you were starting againbuilding a new railway from scratch, I don’t suppose you’d inventlevel crossings.’Other areas for concern are broken rails, ‘anything to do withthe track’ and challenges caused by the environment, such asstorms, floods, ice, snow and high winds. The inspectorate isalso reviewing the Rogs (Railways and Other Guided TransportSystems (Safety) Regulations) regulations and considering therecommendations of the Rail Accident Investigation Branch.‘We don’t want to end up in a situation where we only chasethe last accident, we need to look at other accidents that couldhave happened but didn’t and we need to take a balanced view.’In terms of numbers of deaths on the railways, suicides remaina big issue. Deaths from trespass and suicide were 288 in 2006,40 more than the previous year. But, concedes, Williams, there’snot a lot more that the industry can do to prevent them.‘Suicides are tragic for a whole number of reasons, not leastfor the person who is driven to suicide. And all sorts of peopleare affected – you can’t imagine what it’s like for the poor driver.We expect people to assess the risks and where there are suicidehotspots take steps to make them less accessible, but of coursethe line is always going to be open at stations and level crossings.London Underground did quite a lot of work at stations to makesure there were Samaritans posters. There’s also a lot ofpsychology behind it, and I’m no expert, but if you put too mucheffort into prevention, you might actually attract people.’Other casualties, all too frequently, are track workers. Two diedin 2006 and there have been other fatalities since. ‘There’s a lotof effort gone into improving the safety of trackworkers. In allindustries there are jobs that have higher risks, which are intrinsicto the nature of the work. If you are working on a railway, evenif you are not working on a live railway, you’re not working onthe nice level floor of a factory. We expect the industry to assessthose risks and take reasonable precautions. There are a lot ofslips and trips, but the fatalities are generally caused by contactwith trains. You always need to ask: “Do we actually have to dothis work with the railway live?” Most times if people takeshortcuts it’s because they think it will get the job done better,so being realistic in the planning process is also important.’Now aged 61, Linda Williams’ contract ends next year. Untilthen, she wants to continue to make a difference. ‘I hope thatour main dutyholders accept our advice and respect the fact thatinspectors do a professional job. You’re not going to like beinginspected, but you should think that overall it’s a good thing.’SEPTEMBER 2007 : RAIL PROFESSIONAL15

WHITE PAPERTHEPRICEPaul Clifton – there’s barely an original idea in itOFPROGRESSJust before Parliament rose for the summer recess,the Government slipped out its delayed white papersetting out a 30-year plan.So there was little chanceto debate it until this month’s party conferenceseason.Perhaps that’s just as well,suggestsAt least the rail industry knows where it is going. Steady progresson existing infrastructure, with passengers picking up the bill fora handful of minor tweaks and long overdue improvements. Andmaybe that’s better than we’ve had in the past: it’s the first rail strategyproduced by the Government in decades; previous iterations came fromBritish Rail, Railtrack and the Strategic Rail Authority. Now we have ashopping list rather than a wish list, as Anthony Smith of Passenger Focusput it. Passenger numbers are rising faster than anyone had anticipated,despite some eye-watering fare increases. Journeys are getting slower andrush hour overcrowding is becoming intolerable.The white paper covers over these cracks and satisfies the short termneeds. There’s enough investment to keep the system going, clear somebottlenecks and satisfy the needs of the Olympics. But beyond that, thereis little vision. Cut through the political rhetoric about doubling passengernumbers in 30 years and examine the firm commitments. There aren’t many.Instead, the Department for Transport has chosen to hide behind the fallacythat it is impossible and inappropriate to plan for the long term. There’s nodecision on Crossrail; that’s been deferred. Whilst the Government remainsoutwardly supportive towards the £15bn scheme, there is no mention inthe white paper of how much public money might go into it or on whattimescale. Crossrail’s supporters find little to praise in this.Thameslink 2000 – given the name because that was the year it shouldhave been completed – will only be half ready in time for the 2012 Olympics.The section from Blackfriars to Bedford will carry 12-car high-frequencytrains. But the rest, via London Bridge to Brighton, will not be finished until2015. Yet these run-down trains with peeling paintwork and scrappy interiorsare some of the most overcrowded on the network. Delaying this half ofthe scheme side-steps decisions about how to alter London Bridge – acritically important bottleneck as anybody who squeezes themselves ontoa First Capital Connect platform will attest – and the linked redevelopmentof Borough Market.But Reading station gets the full works. It will get £425m from centralgovernment and a further £90m from various other sources to remove oneof the country’s biggest rail bottlenecks, the effects of which are frequentlyfelt as far away as Cardiff, Plymouth and Birmingham. The Reading projectincludes demolishing the existing depot where the Class 165 and 166 fleetis maintained. It’s to make way for a flyover to take lumbering freight trainsheading north from Southampton docks away from the busy Great Westernmain line. A new depot is to be built north of the line, which will have scopeto accommodate the replacement for high speed trains after 2015.Passengers will fund the majority of the white paper projects through fare rises.It will also have passive provision for Crossrail stock as well as the potentialfuture Airtrack project for a new westerly access to Heathrow Airport. Whilstthese aren’t part of the current plans, there will be space for them at a futuredate. Crossrail’s vocal supporters in Reading continue to hope the routewill once again be extended this far west. It’s currently planned to terminateat Maidenhead, but there is logic in reverting to the major interchange ofReading – the second busiest station outside London with 750 trains a day.There is no mention of the specific projects one might expect of a 30-year strategy. Greengauge 21, the advocate of a high speed north-south line,was disappointed by ‘the five years of thinking time that the white papersignals’. Nor is there a view on future electrification to meet both capacityand environmental sustainability targets. ‘The case for network-wideelectrification will be kept under review,’ states the white paper. There is nomention of local infill electrification such as extending westwards fromReading to Newbury.With new intercity express design work in hand, it seems the GreatWestern will be staying on diesel for another entire generation. In trying toavoid falling into the trap of making vague promises that may later not bekept, the Department for Transport is stuck firmly in short-termism. Wouldother western European countries take such a tame view? What of thewww.railimages.co.uk16 RAIL PROFESSIONAL : SEPTEMBER 2007

WHITE PAPERCambridge-Oxford link? No word. One small section of track needs creating.A report last March by the East West Rail Consortium highlighted a strongcase for it, linking Milton Keynes to Oxford, Aylesbury and Bedford. Morerecently, Steer Davis Gleave was appointed by English Partnerships todevelop the business case for the route, which could provide a route foreast coast freight without the need to travel across London.What of reinstating the missing Lewes-Uckfield link, which enjoysenormous local support? No mention. Returning the Uckfield branch intoa diversionary route for the Brighton Main Line makes obvious sense inthe context of Thameslink. It reduces the distance that commuters in EastSussex have to trek by car to reach their trains, and releases that strain fromthe Brighton line. Rail is not put in its wider context. Passengers will haveto pay rapidly increasing fares, while the cost of travelling by car remainsat worst static after a decade of falling gently. For a family looking for areasonably cheap weekend day out, taking the car instead of the train willbecome the only option.It’s the peak commuters who dictate the cost base of the railway, and theoff-peak passengers who travel on the less popular margins. By cappingpeak fares to increases of one per cent above inflation, but allowingunregulated off-peak fares to rise rapidly – 20 per cent this year in severalcases – off-peak travellers will indirectly end up subsidising the peaktravellers. The white paper’s claim that the government ‘is deliveringimprovements without imposing new burdens on passengers’ isdisingenuous. Between 2009 and 2014, passengers will fund £39.2bn ofthe railway’s finances, with government providing £15.3bn. Whilst theDepartment for Transport estimates that an extra 180m passenger journeysa year will raise about half the increasing passengers’ contribution, the restwill have to come from higher fares.Witness the off-peak increases built into the most recent franchise awards.In total the percentage of total rail funding coming from passengers willincrease from a little over 50 per cent now to 75 per cent by 2014. In hailingit as ‘the most ambitious plan for expanding the railway in 50 years,’ theGovernment is less than explicit on this critical point. It’s in there, butwrapped up in references to post-Hatfield spending and reverting to ‘historiclevels’ of funding.How does this square with the public belief, expressed in PassengerFocus surveys, that rail fares already represent poor value for money? Overallpassenger satisfaction, although high, has fallen in the last year.There’s £200m to ‘start work’ on a strategic freight network. The routefrom Southampton to the Midlands must surely be the most pressing partof that. Again, no firm commitment. Southampton specialises in the fastgrowingtrade with the Far East, which is seeing the most rapid migrationto high-cube 9-foot 6-inch containers. As a result of the increasing numberof bigger boxes, rail’s share of the transport to and from Britain’s secondbiggest container terminal is slipping. That has already created thousandsmore lorry journeys a year onto the M3 and A34.We had already been promised 1,000 new carriages over seven years.That’s risen to 1,300 to tackle overcrowding. Around 900 will go oncommuter routes into London. Most are to make existing trains longer.Longer trains need longer platforms. But £150m to upgrade 150 stationssounds pitifully inadequate. The aim is to accommodate passenger growthof 22.5 per cent between 2009 and 2014. But with growth of more than 40per cent in the preceding decade, coupled with the heroic forecasts of recentfranchises, the estimate appears conservative.So how will the industry plan ahead? Steady progress: solid andunspectacular, so that it is always struggling to cope if growth is maintainedat current unexpectedly strong rates – especially in London and the southeastwhere 70 per cent of all rail journeys occur. But shifting the financialburden more heavily onto passengers is essentially a reversion to usingprice as a means of stifling demand. Forcing marginal off-peak fares throughthe roof, when the most popular commuter journeys remain capped at oneper cent above inflation, seems illogical in every respect. Why fleece peoplechoosing to buy currently empty seats when the overcrowded journey-toworktrains are to remain affordable? It also flies in the face of planning,housing and environmental policies, ensuring the trend for people to workin London but travel huge daily distances in search of affordable housing,encouraging people to live as far as they can stand – physically andfiguratively, given the overcrowding – from where they work.Since the advent of the private car, railways have not been able to pay forthemselves. All western European countries have concluded that rail’sexternal benefits justify substantial support from taxpayers. In Britain, theconcept of road users supporting railways has been viewed in the samevein as healthy people funding the NHS or childless people contributingto the cost of education. Making rail users pay an increasing proportion ofrail’s total costs undermines its role as a catalyst for wider economic growth.This is a fundamental shift in emphasis: surely the six per cent of thepopulation that regularly travels by train cannot be expected to supportsomething which benefits society as a whole?Most people in the rail industry will conclude that there is absolutelynothing inspiring, innovative or even remotely original in the government’sthinking behind this white paper. Despite the fine words from Ruth Kelly,below the surface there is no firm strategy beyond the short term, explainedaway by a need to remain ‘flexible’. Rail is firmly back in the box labelled‘too expensive, delay for the next government to worry about’. Anopportunity that won’t come around again for another five years.Paul Clifton is the transport correspondent for BBC South.SEPTEMBER 2007 : RAIL PROFESSIONAL17

WHITE PAPERMISSEDOPPORTUNITIESThe white paper should haveembraced projects such aselectrification, rail-reopeningsand community railways – all ofwhich were noticeably lacking,says Alan WhitehouseBalfour BeattyFor a document that was supposed to setout a 30-year plan for the railways, thecombined white paper, HLOS andSoFA was a frustratingly vague document.Long on unquantified promises, short on firm,costed plans. The industry seems fated for itsmissed opportunities and this was just another.Too many of the big issues were either brushedaside as impractical because we do not knowwhere we will be in 30 years’ time, or simplyignored.So, here is a summary of just a few of theissues that deserved more thoughtful treatmentthan they actually got – in particularelectrification, community railways and line reopenings.Electrification is a dirty word in today’sindustry, at least within the DfT. ‘We cannotconsider it,’ say the custodians of our railsystem, ‘because it would amount to planningtoo far ahead, and we cannot possibly knowhow the rail network will grow and develop,only that it will.’One electrification advantage that we havenever exploited in the UK is the synergisticnetwork benefit of creeping electrification.Today only two of the great main lines out ofLondon are diesel powered: the Great Westernand the Midland. Electrifying Bedford toSheffield would add another radial route to theelectric network and, because an electric routenorth of Sheffield would be needed to gettrains to and from Leeds for servicing, it wouldopen up the chance to electrify on toDoncaster and possibly one of the two routesto Leeds.Here comes the synergy, because at a strokethis would create an Edinburgh-Derby electricroute that might be exploitable by creating aAn electrification team puts up wires – a rare sight in England where electrification seems to have stalled.hybrid Voyager, adding a fifth pantograph andtransformer equipped car that could supplythe traction motors along the rest of the train.With the wires running to Derby, the costeffectivenessof bolt-on schemes could then betested – on to Birmingham perhaps or theSheffield-Leeds route that did not get electrifiedfirst time round.It would be a genuine test of how cheaplyand effectively electrification could be appliedto the post-BR network and, if the network isgoing to grow at the rate anticipated by thewhite paper – 40 per cent or so – then it isinconceivable that the Midland Main Linewon’t see at least that level of growth, possiblyvastly more, given that it parallels the M1. Thatalone ought to make electrification worthwhile.Anything more would be a bonus.And so onto community railways, whichstarted well but have lost momentum. TheDfT’s own community railways strategy reviewpainted a picture of patchy success with oneof the front runners – the Esk Valley line toWhitby – actually performing marginally worsethan before it became a Community Railway.One commitment the white paper did makewas to rule out line closures completely. Good.After a decade of mixed signals – rememberthe infamous Northern Rail Review? – theindustry now knows where it stands. But manylocal lines still handle only penny packetnumbers of passengers.Maybe the ‘soft’ measures of communityinvolvement have gone about as far as they canand the Esk Valley Line would be a perfect testbed to look at the effects of piling in some extrahardware. The line’s big problem is that thetimetable it runs is geared around one targetmarket: schoolchildren. The line is next touseless for anyone else with four trains a dayrunning in and out to suit school start andfinish times.For the first time since privatisation thereare now significant numbers of suitablesurplus trains. A stored Pacer train or twocould be drafted in to test a better timetablethat would support commuting along thevalley, along with more tourist use, inconjunction with the new steam-hauledservices to Pickering.18 RAIL PROFESSIONAL : SEPTEMBER 2007

WHITE PAPERIt would cost money but it would help todecide once and for all how far the communityrailway concept could be taken – better thanleaving the idea hanging in the air, which hasbeen the effect of the community railwaysstrategy report.Meanwhile, rail re-opening is not an issuethat needs any thought or discussion inScotland or Wales where it is happeningalready. But in England, the idea of reviving adisused rail corridor still provokes reactionsfrom disbelief that it could ever happen, tohorror at the potential cost. But Scotland ismaking the concept work time and time again,so here’s a couple of deserving cases in thenorth of England.The route of the York-Beverley line is stilllargely intact. It parallels a busy, congested roadwith a poor accident record. All the preliminarywork suggests it would attract significantnumbers of users on a revived York-Hull service.One recent study suggested that the localeconomy was actually suffering by not havingthe line there already. It has also been namedas the best bet for a rail re-opening in England.All excellent reasons to make it a test bed. Aswith electrification and community railways,simply doing it for real instead of theorisingMeanwhile, rail re-opening isnot an issue that needs anythought or discussion inScotland or Wales where it ishappening alreadywould give a real handle on what is and is notworth considering in the future.The Woodhead Line is a different case. Noone in the know believes that it is worth reopeningas a conventional rail corridor. Butwith a public inquiry currently running intoplans for a bypass and other improvements thatwould attract more and more traffic throughthe heart of the Peak National Park, re-openingit as a dedicated lorry shuttle might makeconsiderable sense. We do not know becausewe have never tried it. The Swiss have andappear to like the benefits the idea brings.But with the Highways Agency saying thatimproving the rail network is not theirresponsibility, even though it could solve a bigproblem on their own network, this is an ideathat is almost certainly going to fall betweenthe cracks. A pity, because this is anotherlargely intact rail corridor linking the M60Manchester Orbital Motorway with the M1 atSheffield. At a time when rising traffic levels arecausing concern, there should be some betteruse for it than a cycleway.The list could go on. How about a concrete,stated commitment to creating a 24-sevenrailway? Or even one that handled engineeringwork as well as British Rail did? Network Raillists it as an aspiration, but the DfT missed thechance to throw some ministerial weightbehind an issue that could improve the lot ofrail users – and the public face of the industry.Or the Taktfahrplan interlocking clockfacetimetable? Much work has been done on theeffects this could have on the East Coast MainLine – the very route currently suffering acapacity crunch. Or weatherproofing thesystem to reduce the effects of flooding andhigh winds? A commitment to a carbon-neutralrailway like the French?The white paper was not a total disaster. Farfrom it. But it is difficult to see it as the routemap for a reinvigorated, newly-confident andgrowing industry. And that is a great pity.Alan Whitehouse is transport correspondent forBBC North.SEPTEMBER 2007 : RAIL PROFESSIONAL19

SAFETYCARRYINGTHE CARDIt was designed to help minimise the risk ofaccidents for workers on the railways and it’s almosta decade since it was introduced.The Sentinelsystem governs the safety of workers via theiridentity and training – it now records some 47separate competences.Peter Plisner explainsPrivatisation of the railways left the rail industry fragmented with scoresof different contractors doing what used to be managed by just onecompany, British Rail. The privatised world meant that trackside workwas carried out by a variety of companies and often their workforce wassupplied by third party agencies. In some places you could be hired on oneday and be out working on the tracks the next. Minimal training in a highrisk environment was a recipe for disaster and judging by the number ofserious incidents and fatalities, it often was.The new breed of railway workers was often ill-prepared to be working onthe tracks and although there were safety standards that had to be adheredto, it was up to each individual company to make sure the training was fit forpurpose. Unfortunately, on all too many occasions, it wasn’t. Action wasfinally taken by Network Rail after a series of negative media reports, whichrevealed that almost anyone could obtain Personal Track Safety (PTS) cardgiving them access to the tracks without any kind of formal training. Withcards freely available and often being sold in pubs and nightclubs, it was clearthat something needed to be done and Sentinel was the answer.The system was introduced in April 1999 and its purpose was to minimisethe risk of untrained personnel carrying out safety critical work on the railwaysby having a national training, competence and identification database. Thescheme is managed by the National Competency Control Agency (NCCA),a subsidiary of the Capita Group. Capita has a contract to run the agencyon behalf of Network Rail. The NCCA runs an integrated managementsystem which ensures that all personnel have the necessary prerequisitesand competencies to carry out their duties safely.Steve Diksa, a health and safety specialist with Network Rail says: ‘Thosewho have undergone training are issued with a uniquely numbered Sentineltrack safety card which is presented to designated staff at work sites. To workThe Sentinel card,which workers need a‘sponsor’ to obtain –usually theiremployer.Thanks to the Sentinel card system, employers can quickly verify that workers have hadthe right training and experience for each job they undertake.in safety-critical areas, a Sentinel (PTS) card must be shown. If workers don’thave the card, they won’t be allowed to work. The card is really regarded likehigh visibility clothing. If you don’t have it you won’t be allowed to go on thetrack.’ Cardholders must be registered and managed by a ‘sponsor’, a rolethat’s usually done by their employer. They’re required to take responsibilityfor the training, assessment, drugs and alcohol testing and briefing activities,when rules are changed or updated.It all helps to ensure that both the employer and employee are adheringto the strict requirements for each competency. The management for thescheme falls into two distinct areas. The first is the guardianship of thecomputerised records of the individual’s identification, medical details,training and competency requirements and the production, distribution andcontrol the cards themselves. Across the whole of the rail industry around90,000 people now hold Sentinel card. The second main area of control bythe NCCA is the training, accreditation, licensing and assessment of trainingproviders. Training the trainers to deliver in-house training is also a rigorousprocess. All those involved are required to have a detailed knowledge of therailway industry gathered, preferably, over a number of years. Special coursesput prospective trainers through a series of demanding tests. They’re evenrequired to deliver courses three times under supervision and then be auditedby the NCCA. If they fail to meet the standards they won’t be allowed to train.For companies that do gain a license to provide training, it can be verycost effective. David Wightwick, competence systems manager for Grant Rail,says: ‘We debate this quite a bit, but internal training gives us that much more20 RAIL PROFESSIONAL : SEPTEMBER 2007

SAFETYNCCA runs an automated system for employersand on-site managers to check the validity ofcards being offered by workers not known tothem.Around 15,000 frontline checks arecarried out each month using the system whichoperates 24 hours a daypre-employment checks to ensure that potential employees aren’t banned.The Sentinel system won many plaudits and awards from the rail industryover the years. Even the rail unions have backed the idea. The RMT’s AndrewCandlish says: ‘Clearly we need people to be identified as having the necessarycompetencies for the task which they’ve been given to carry out. It’s improvedin leaps and bounds since the old system where you could buy a card in theback room of a pub for a fiver to get yourself a job on the railways, to beinga sensible system to control the risks.’Network Rail’s Steve Diksa agrees. ’In eight years now we haven’t had anyknown recorded incidents of fraudulent certification within Network Rail,the contractors or agencies. Its hard to say exactly what impact theintroduction of Sentinel has had on fatalities and injuries amongst railwayworkers, although the number of reported accidents has certainly fallen.’Most agree that it has certainly helped in the development of a better safetyculture. In the past almost anyone could work on the railways. Now if youhaven’t got a card, you simply can’t work on the tracks.Peter Plisner is the BBC’s transport correspondent for the Midlands.Metronetflexibility and control over the standard of the training.’ Courses arestandardised and all the material needed is provided by Network Rail.Wightwick says: ‘They give us all the training and lesson plans. We have tokeep a fully audited record of the fact that the course has been delivered.’Licensing of trainers and their facilities is provided by Derby-basedcompany Achilles, on behalf of Network Rail. It manages the 90 or so trainingand assessment providers around the country and some 300 accreditedtrainers. Achilles undertakes annual pre-accreditation audits to ensure thatall of the providers have systems, processes, facilities and the necessaryequipment to deliver the training and assessments. The company also carriesout random checks of training events, where auditors will often turn up unannounced.A final check on the quality of the courses is provided by a‘mystery shopper’ type exercise. It means that trainers never actually knowwhether the course they’re running is being audited, again helping to ensurethe highest standards of training.The Sentinel scheme, like many employers on the railways, has a strict drugsand alcohol policy, which is again something that’s subject to random checks.Anyone found to be under the influence can, and often does, have their cardwithdrawn. They can also be banned from working on the tracks for up to fiveyears and there’s also a risk they could be dismissed from their job too. Diksasays: ‘It’s not as common as it used to be in the beginning. But now everyoneknows the policy they know it’s not to be messed with.’Cards can also be suspended if employees are found to be using unsafeworking practices. NCCA runs an automated system for employers and onsitemanagers to check the validity of cards being offered by workers not knownto them. Around 15,000 frontline checks are carried out each month usingthe system which operates 24 hours a day. The same system can be used forSEPTEMBER 2007 : RAIL PROFESSIONAL21

SAFETYNetwork RailFlooding on the Cotswold Line in July saw the line shut for two weeks. Some trains were stuck between stations when flooding hit and flooded roads made bus replacements difficult.A CONSIDEREDRESPONSETerrorist attacks,train crashes,extreme weather,derailments – whendisasters come to the railways they are always unpredictable;yet theindustry needs to have contingency plans in place to help manage anysituation.Katie Silvester finds out how the railways prepare for the worstWhen the storms in June and Julybrought some of the most extensiveflooding in living memory, therailways had their share of problems. On 20 and21 July, parts of central England were delugedwith up to two month’s worth of rainfall in justa few hours. First Great Western’s Bath toReading route was flooded, so trains had to behalted – but in many places the usual back upprovision of replacement buses were notpossible either as roads were under water too.The next day, Oxfordshire was hit closing linesfrom Oxford to Worcester and Oxford to Didcot.Adrian Ruck, FGW’s external relationsmanager, says: ‘We had hundreds of peoplestranded at stations across the region. We triedto get replacement coaches or taxis but becausethe roads were equally affected, it was extremelydifficult to secure alternative transport. Weended up booking hundreds of hotel roomsacross the region to accommodate passengers.‘The main line between Oxford andWorcester was under water in several places andlarge swathes of ballast were washed from underthe track. Oxford to Didcot was closed for abouta week, Oxford to Worcester was closed foralmost two weeks. Obviously when you knowthat a stretch of line is closed for a long time,you treat it like long term engineering works.We put in an amended train plan wherepossible, offered road transport between Oxfordand Didcot and we were able to run someservices through Cheltenham and Gloucester,and into London that way.’FGW also appealed to passengers not toattempt to travel by train during the two worstdays, as the company could not offer transporton any of its main lines. For other passengers,though, the warning came too late. Several trainswere stuck between stations when flash floodinghit. Most units were able to either continue orbacktrack within a relatively short space of timebut one train, near Newbury, was stranded forseveral hours.‘We had to liaise closely with the emergencyservices on the Friday and obviously withNetwork Rail to make sure it was safe to movethe trains back,’ explains Ruck. ‘The responsethat we had from passengers was extremelypositive, they knew it was circumstances waybeyond our control. Staff were also stuck – someof them had been flooded out of their ownhomes, but still turned up for duty. We’ve hada lot of praise from customers.’Will July’s experiences help to inform futureemergency planning for FGW?‘We have highly evolved plans to deal with arange of service disruption scenarios andobviously we are used to planning around, forexample, an incident which revolves around asuicide on the line, a points failure or a signalfailure and we also have plans for bad weather.But, to be completely honest, on the Friday itreally was unprecedented. We haven’t dealt withanything as severe as that and it closed all ourmain lines.‘No matter what plans are in place, you justhave to do the best you can and respondaccording to the conditions and you can’t reallyrun an emergency train plan when all the mainlines are closed and there’s no alternative road22 RAIL PROFESSIONAL : SEPTEMBER 2007

SAFETYtransport. It also means your own staff aren’tparticularly mobile and have the same problemsas everyone else.‘You learn from everything and we will addthis to our experience. Our procedures arealways under review. The thing about anyemergency is it’s always different from the lastone, so you see if you can work it into yourfuture planning.’From Network Rail’s point of view, thecompany tries to stay ahead of the game whenit comes to bad weather. Designated staff keepan eye on weather forecasts, so pumpingequipment can be kept on standby in the rightlocations and track experts are dispatched toareas known to flood to monitor whether it isstill safe to run trains. The name of the game isto keep the trains running as long as possibleand not close lines prematurely if the floodingis only minor.John Gill, Network Rail’s area generalmanager for the West Country, says: ‘When thewater goes over the railhead you’ve actually gotto stop all traffic. But that’s quite a significantdepth, that would be about eight inches abovethe ballast. If it’s under the railhead it’s notaffecting the trains at all. But it depends on thetrain. For Virgin Trains, a couple of inches‘On the Friday it really wasunprecedented.We haven’tdealt with anything as severeas that and it closed all ourmain lines’beneath the railhead and we have to stopbecause it doesn’t do their electrics any good.In the July flooding, it was four foot above therailhead in some parts.’Other types of incidents on the railways, suchas derailments, usually come out of the blue –so Network Rail’s planning then concerns whathappens after the event.‘With a derailment, as soon as it happens thepolice are involved and it’s usually classed as aNetwork Railcrime scene for a number of days,’ explains Gill.‘We liaise with all the other parties, the police,the ORR etc. There’s a formal process in placewhere we will contact all the emergency servicesstraight away and we have contracts to get heavyplant and heavy cranes to site. We haveprocesses as to who from Network Rail willmanage the site, our press office is contactedand we co-ordinate the press coverage in acontrolled way.’Network Rail has three levels of incidentmanagement, ‘gold command’ which is locatedin the integrated control centre in Swindon,‘silver’ which is located in the local area and‘bronze’ which is actually on the site affected.When HMRI inspectors look at trainoperator’s, or Network Rail’s, safety systems theyexpect to see that the management has thoughtthrough different scenarios and how to deal withthem, should they occur. This ranges fromprocedures about informing emergency servicesand Network Rail when an incident first occurs,to wider considerations, such as dealing withthe station overcrowding that inevitably occursat main stations when services are disrupted.To this end, train operators, Network Rail andAtoc work closely together to ensure that thereis ‘joined up thinking’ across the industry, whenSEPTEMBER 2007 : RAIL PROFESSIONAL23

SAFETYit comes to putting procedures in place.Network Rail has a programme of tabletopexercises it runs throughout the country, whichgets Tocs, Network Rail staff and the emergencyservices together for discussions andpresentations.One of Atoc’s initiatives has been to set up asystem of customer care teams in order to lookafter any casualties and their families in the days,weeks and months after an incident. Volunteersin each Toc are trained to provide support afteran incident, such as moving relatives and friendsaround or retrieving clothing or luggage. Trainoperators also lend their care teams to other Tocsin times of emergency.When a Pendolino derailed at Grayrigg earlythis year, contingency planning and safety drillshad prepared Virgin staff to deal with theaftermath as best they could. Richard Shotton,Virgin Train’s West Coast safety director, says:‘In the event of a major incident, we have anemergency handbook, defining what action totake and when. You’ve got the immediateresponse, which starts with our control beinginformed, then we have our response team whoare spread all over the country. A limited numberwill attend the site, others will go to stationsalong the route where people’s friends andTocs send their staff to do disaster planning exercises and simulated response workshops.relatives might be turning up. We set up anincident centre adjacent to our control, whichwill become the information centre for our partof the incident, whatever it is. The third level isthe executive and senior management team, whowill form a crisis executive, looking at the biggerpicture in terms of the response, what to do overthe next few days and the media response.’Virgin also arranges drills for its on-callresponse and customer care teams, where theyundertake semi-real time stimulated response.‘At Grayrigg, the planning kicked in and itworked,’ says Shotton. ‘It was probably the firsttime large-scale deployment of Atoc’s customercare teams was used. It was tragic, but the otherside of it was that it is good to see a responseworking well. That doesn’t mean, of course, thatthere haven’t been lessons to be learnt, andthere have been a number of reviews sincethen.’Shutterstock24 RAIL PROFESSIONAL : SEPTEMBER 2007

TICKETINGINTEGRATING OYSTERPaul Beaty-Pownall explains howOyster cards, and all theassociated technology, willimpact on mainline train stations© Transport for London 2005An agreement on infrastructure fundingin March this year could mean thatsome passengers will be able to usetheir Oyster cards on the rail network as earlyas next year. This means that the industry muststart to consider the practical issues and longtermeffects of smartcard technology.Reluctance on the part of the industry toadopt smartcards has been widely publicised.The problem lies not in the principle, but in thefiner details of the scheme. The process ofaccepting pay-as-you-go smartcards is complex,requires higher processing power and isexpensive to install. Changes will be needed notjust in the purchase of new equipment but alsoin back office systems. Whether the £20mpledged by London Mayor Ken Livingstone willbe sufficient remains to be seen. Anotherproblem for National Rail, aside from TranSys’operating costs, is the huge reliance on TranSysto make no mistakes. The transaction data willbe sent to them and they will establish whichtrain company should be paid what.This issue of trust extends to passengers.Where there is no gating system, traincompanies will receive their revenue forpassenger travel only if a passenger touches inand out at the start and end of their journey.Given that only approximately 70 out of 320stations are gated, the revenue risks for NationalRail are significant. That said, France has beenusing an Oyster-style system for years and theDLR relies on trust in most of its stations. Oneof the very real issues to be addressed is howexisting stations and their infrastructure canbest accommodate Oyster readers if no gatingsystem exists. Research has been undertakento explore this very issue. So what are thechallenges and opportunities?The first is footfall. Currently, passengers aredrawn to ticket machines or ticket desks andthen to barriers that allow access to the platformand their train. With Oyster, the additionaltouch in and out points could be spreadthroughout the station concourse reducing thebuild-up of people in one or two areas andavoiding the bottle neck situation at the gates.This is great news for congestion relief, but onlyif the placement of Oyster readers iscomprehensively thought through. This processmust not be rushed. By removing theregimented process of ticket-purchasing queuesand gate barriers, operators are relying on theintuition and instinct of their passengers toshow them the way to go. If they don’t providewhat is expected and logical in ‘way-finding’terms, how can they control throughput and thesmooth operation of the station?This intuitive way-finding must be backed upwith physical signals directing people to thereaders. Announcements to notify passengersof the readers’ locations and clear signs will beneeded, especially in large and busy stations.People with disabilities must be accommodated.Space planning will also have an impact onthe ambience of stations. They will appear moreopen, informal and less regulated – easy, andfree flowing transport interchanges rather thana place of barriers, queues and long waits. Thereis the opportunity for more flexible layouts tochange people’s perceptions of stations further.This change in atmosphere will have one of twoeffects on the retail element of stations. If peoplecan move more quickly through a station, willthey stop to make purchases? Will they arrive atthe station later knowing they do not have toqueue for a ticket or at a barrier to access aplatform? Or will they enjoy the experience moreand consider shopping at a station on their wayto their destination? Will retailers pay premiumsfor units by touch-in and touch-out points?The answer to these questions may well lie atthe door of the operators, who will need todecide how they wish to change the face of railtravel to ensure that they safeguard profits. Theymay need to look to airports and shoppingcentres for inspiration. There is also anopportunity for the ticket office to evolve. Withauto pay, ticket office transactions will bereduced, mainly, to long distance travel andenquiries about lost cards. Station ticket officestaff could, therefore, be more available toprovide travel information or even begin to sella small selection of retail goods – therebychanging the face of the ticket office entirely.There are certainly a series of challenges tobe faced, not least the initial disruption that maybe caused as alterations are made to stations.However, there are some exciting opportunitiestoo, and it is time to take a long hard look at thelong-term benefits. If we are to have smartcardtechnology installed in our stations by 2009, weneed to start debating now how we are going tochange our stations and the concept of rail travelforever.Paul Beaty-Pownall is a director at BPRArchitects which has been acting as an adviser toAtoc about the use of Oyster cards at stations.SEPTEMBER 2007 : RAIL PROFESSIONAL25

LEGAL OPINIONTAKING ASTEP BACKwww.railimages.co.ukThe ORR is considering whether it might be able totake a step back from the regulation of track accessand let the industry deal with the less complexapplications without intervention.Suzanne Knightand Martin Watt explainThe functions of the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) as an economicregulator require a delicate balance between intervention andmarket freedom. The ORR wants to fine-tune this balance in theway it regulates access to track, so earlier in the year it launched a reviewof its criteria and procedures for approving track access contracts. Againstthe backdrop of the Government's own better regulation initiative, andmoves by the new Department for Business Enterprise and RegulatoryReform to overhaul regulation generally, the ORR published its conclusionsin July. They aim to cut some of the red tape and are consistent with theannual priorities ORR published last November, which include reducingregulatory burdens, and improving the proportionality of ORR's regulatoryactions. They are a continuation of the ‘lighter touch’ that has been thehallmark of the ORR since its inception three years ago.Operators of both passenger and freight trains need access to trackto run their services. Without it, they're literally going nowhere. Theterms on which access is granted are contained in track access contractsthat operators conclude with the owner of the relevant track, which inthe vast majority of cases is Network Rail. These contracts are regulated,with some exceptions, and need to be approved by the ORR to be valid.This is because the contracts allocate network capacity – of which thereis rarely enough to go round – and the architects of privatisationrecognised the need to ensure a fair and efficient allocation across theindustry that serves the public interest.The ORR approval process, however, can be lengthy, taking monthsto conclude. It can also be bureaucratic and expensive. In consideringapplications for approval, the ORR has maintained a fairly rigorous levelof regulatory scrutiny, specifying criteria that need to be met beforeapproving the application and even publishing a model contract that itexpects the industry to adopt. This relatively prescriptive approach wasthought necessary in the still relatively nascent market of five or sixyears ago. But ORR now thinks that the market has come of age andintends to step back a little to focus on those issues where it feels thatit can add value.In order to effect this stepping back, the ORR will concentrateincreasingly on areas of disagreement between the parties to a proposedcontract, the actual and potential impact on third parties and the efficientuse of available network capacity. The ORR makes it clear, however, thatbefore it lets go it wants to ensure that there are materiality criteria andguidance for establishing the parameters and the level and extent ofscrutiny that it would expect the industry to work to, proportionate tothe nature, complexity and timescales of the application for approval.Temporary changes to track access contracts may no longer need ORR approval.The ORR has also made it clear that it is not walking away from itsresponsibilities and says it will continue to ‘oversee the fair and efficientallocation of capacity on the railway network and other railway facilitiesthrough our approval of track access contracts with the aim of ensuringa public interest outcome’. It will work within the framework of legislationand European directives and in a way which is consistent with itsstatutory duties.It envisages a dual approach. First, it will make further use of generalapprovals – these provide for the ‘automatic’ approval of certainamendments to track access contracts without the need to obtainspecific approval. Second, the ORR is contemplating a series of changesto the model track access contract itself.FLEXIBILITY ON MINOR SERVICE CHANGESThe ORR intends to introduce a new general approval which will permitspecific agreed amendments to track access contracts. These agreedamendments include permitting: changes that have already gone throughthe established industry approval process (for example the introductionof new types of rolling stock under the Network Code); short term changes(up to one timetable period) to allow inclusion of charges below a certainthreshold level; and short term amendments (up to one timetable period)to include additional routes over which the operator may run its services.Certain amendments will be allowed to continue to apply across atimetable change date to cover minor changes that straddle two timetableperiods. But in the case of rights for additional services that are to be26 RAIL PROFESSIONAL : SEPTEMBER 2007

LEGAL OPINIONoperated for more than 90 days or the use of additional routes for morethan seven days, a Network Rail-led consultation will be required. It is notyet clear how long or what form this consultation will take, but the ORRhas said that if there are any material concerns of any third party whichcannot be resolved by the consultation process then the general approvalwill no longer be valid in respect of that application.WIDER CHANGES AND ALTERATIONS TO THE MODEL CONTRACTSThe ORR's review also deals with wider changes that could result inchanges to the model track access contract. Within the next few monthsit intends to amend the model contracts to allow all operators to run‘special’ trains to accommodate anticipated customer demand as a resultof special or seasonal events. This is seen as a quick win. And it isconsidering amendments to allow an operator short term rights to useany rolling stock that has been route cleared despite not being the typeof rolling stock that it generally has rights to use for the purposes of itstrack access contract.Other, more substantial, changes are contemplated for the mediumterm. These include permitting the use of non-specified diversionaryroutes when engineering works take place on the operator's usualroutes and the flexibility to run services that are different to the actualcontractual quantum rights where this involves using parts of twodifferent quantum rights that share a common mid-point.The ORR will also look into the possibility of introducing a provisioninto passenger track access contracts that allows the operator the rightto operate services that have been accepted into the timetable via thespot bid process, without having to explicitly specify those rights inthe contract. The ORR says that, although it can see the benefit of sucha provision, in order to ensure that the legitimate interests of thirdparties remain protected, the use of such a mechanism would requireconsultation among potentially affected operators and other interestedorganisations, for example the DfT and other franchising authorities.In order to prevent potential revenue extraction by an open accessoperator using the provisions to run more services, potentially affectedfranchised operators and the relevant franchising authority would beable to lodge objections. If the dispute could not be resolved throughthe consultation between the operator and other relevant bodies, anapplication for the access rights would need to be made to the ORRthrough the usual statutory process.The ORR also proposes limiting the scope of this provision to minorservice changes. It's yet to work out all of the detail and how it wouldfunction in practice, but envisages that it would not be valid forsituations where service changes involve additional use over networkthat has been declared ‘congested infrastructure’, or on routes notalready included in the operator's track access contract.approval or in a model clause that can be included in the accesscontract itself.To make the regulation of access work better, ORR plans to improvealignment with industry processes in a number of areas. For example,it sees value in ensuring better integration between access processesand timetabling processes. ORR has also concluded that it would helpif more consultation took place before track access applications aresubmitted, so that ORR's involvement in the process is reduced. Itenvisages Network Rail leading the consultation.IMPLEMENTATIONORR has set out a timetable for making all of the proposed changes. Itsees this being in two phases, culminating in early 2008. ORR emphasisesin its conclusions that its proposals are a ‘stepping back’ rather thana ‘stepping away’. Its overarching role continues to be governed by theRailways Act 1993. Whilst this role will not change, it is equally clearthat the current regulatory framework has had some years to bed down,and that the familiarity of industry parties with its requirements hasmatured. Clearly, ORR believes it's time to loosen the reins a little.FURTHER INFORMATIONReview of ORR's Criteria and Procedure for the Approval of Track AccessContracts: The Way Forward, ORR, London, July 2007ORR’s annual priorities: www.rail-reg.gov.uk/upload/pdf/reg-prioritiesconsult-0708.pdfSuzanne Knight and Martin Watt are part of the rail team at Denton WildeSapte LLP.ADDITIONAL NEW YEAR'S DAY SERVICESMany operators run additional New Year's Day services that are fundedby a public authority, where the performance regime that usually appliesto penalise delays and cancellations is switched off. For safety reasons,the police often ask for trains to be held at stations until they aresufficiently full to deal with the potential demand – continued applicationof the performance regime in these circumstances would act as adisincentive to the support of public safety.Until now, this has required ORR approval of a supplementalagreement that disapplies the performance regime for the relevantservices. Provided there remain safeguards to ensure that thedisapplication of that regime only applies in appropriate circumstances,the ORR wants to make this easier for operators and is thereforeproposing to include such services either within the scope of a generalSEPTEMBER 2007 : RAIL PROFESSIONAL27

VIEW FROM ACROSS THE PONDWARDING OFFEVIL SPIRITSMichael R Weinman wonderswhat radical changes theUS passenger railways needto consider making in orderto get more funding – andincrease passenger numbersShutterstockAhaunting Canadian folk song usingNative American references mentionsthat, despite the ritual sacrifice ofthings of value, ‘mesachie tamanhous’ – the evilones (bad spirits or magic), remain.Looking at Amtrak's 36-year history, therehas been much sacrifice of things of value, anddespite some infusion of better managementpractice and some weeding of the team, underthe leadership of president Alex Kummant,there remains a touch of mesachie tamenhouswithin the ranks. This becomes evident whenone searches for some real wins. As thiscolumn has opined, one of the best ways to getcongressional funders to stand up and takenotice is to make the headlines for reasonsother than the recent Florida-New York trainwhich struck not one, but two vehicles, atseparate level crossings, on the same trip.Yes, there has been increasing recognitionof the need for rail passenger service. Butdespite some gains, there have been no homeruns – a baseball reference to whacking theball out of the ballfield – which is exactly whatAmtrak must do to make those positiveheadlines. A good example might be thePhiladelphia-Harrisburg service, which is nowbenefiting from an investment of well over$100m investment by the state of Pennsylvaniaand Amtrak. Three hundred yards from myoffice, Amtrak's track laying machine marchedthrough two weeks ago on Track 1, the third offour to be relaid, to the bane of thousands oftemporarily-inconvenienced commuters, andthe utter delight of 18-month-old AndrewClouse, the granddaughter of a colleague whois possibly on-target to become a fourthgeneration railroader.It left in its wake concrete sleepers, twinribbons of our equal of UIC60 rail, andassociated fastenings but, due to budgetlimitations, no sub-grade work, and the samenon-constant tension catenary designoriginally installed in 1915 as one of the firstmain line electrifications. When it's done, we'llhave smooth-riding 70mph railroad, albeit thatthe central and western portions of the 100mile route merit speeds up to 110mph in parts.Nothing wrong with that, as it will bepossible to bring schedules under a marketable90 minutes from the state capital in Harrisburgto the biggest city in the state, Philadelphia.28 RAIL PROFESSIONAL : SEPTEMBER 2007

VIEW FROM ACROSS THE PONDNow imagine an expedited,memory pattern service, withspruced up, well-brandedequipment, well-marketed,and with such amenities asfirst class offering – whatpolitician would decline afirst class seat?However, a baseball team out to hit a home runin this park would have linked up theHarrisburg-Philadelphia Keystone Service,many of whose trains reverse direction inPhiladelphia and proceed to New York, usinga DVT at one end of the standard five carAmfleet rake with the New York-Albany EmpireService. It is a US phenomenon that thestrongest corridor markets, apart from theNortheast Corridor, have always been those inwhich the biggest city in a state was connectedby rail to the state capital, over a distance of50-200 miles.Such a linked service would have servedthree such combinations – Harrisburg-Philadelphia, Newark-Trenton (capital of NewJersey) and New York-Albany (capital of NewYork state). In addition, it would link New Yorkand Philadelphia, the largest single rail marketin North America. Indeed, the service mighteven have been marketed as the ‘ThreeCapitals Service’ (sound familiar?). But mostof the New York-Albany trains, and theHarrisburg-Philadelphia trains have no foodservice, and run at random intervals, far lessfrequent than hourly.Now imagine an expedited, memory pattern(clockface) service, with spruced up, wellbrandedequipment, well-marketed, and withsuch amenities as first class offering – whatpolitician would decline a first class seat,especially if constituents were paying – andfood and drink onboard. Considering theinfluential people who would use such aservice, and the sheer volume in themarketplace, and assuming a service managedby the best and brightest at Amtrak, and notthe neigh-sayers or evil spirits, that would bea home run!But let us hope that the future brings muchmore positive thinking, and less sacrifice ofthings of value. For it is in this latter area thatwe share more than a common language. A tripto Delaware, a small state with a major Amtrakpresence – the national operations centre, thenational training centre, and two of three majorequipment maintenance facilities – revealeddozens of Amfleet coaches laying fallow. Indead storage were dozens of P40 4,000 hpdiesel locomotives, and no fewer than threefive-car Turbotrain sets owned by New YorkState and the subject of state-Amtrakcontroversy, all out of service.And my mind's-eye view from across thepond saw the same fences encircling deadMark III carriages, of the same vintage andeven better quality, some 3,000 miles east ofthe Delaware shore line. Here, Amtrak isshining up its beggar's bowl as the usual sparse2008 appropriation is deliberated inWashington. There, the HLOS and SoFA areabout to debut. In Canada, VIA Rail Canadais on its usual starvation rations, with imposingunfunded mandates an additional irritant. Butwhat things of value will we all have to sacrificeto finally rid our railways of mesachietamenhous?Michael R Weinman is head of PTSITransportation USA, a railway managementconsultancy. He is a former officer of New YorkCentral, Penn Central and Amtrak.SEPTEMBER 2007 : RAIL PROFESSIONAL29

IRO NEWSP O Box 128, Burgess Hill RH15 0UZ • Tel: 01444 248931Fax: 01444 246392 email: info@railwayoperators.orgWebsite: www.railwayoperators.orgCrouching tiger, hidden dragonCareer railwayman, former Atoc chairman and Virgin Rail Group directorIvor Warburton has had a lifelong fascination with China, which hasculminated in a top railway job in the world’s most populous country.With fluent Mandarin Chinese,Warburton happily came out ofretirement to become general manager of the Tangula luxury train projectin the People’s Republic. Here, he explains what he has been doingIwrite from Shanghai and lookback on how various threads oflife and career have combinedto bring me here. Could the samebe in store for you in your future?REVOLUTION IN CHINAThe year 1949 saw theestablishment of the People’sRepublic of China and theexpulsion of Western missionaries.I remember vividly a retiredMethodist missionary who visitedour church to preach and alwaysillustrated his children’s addresswith a Chinese character and talesof his experiences.When I was a little older hismessage was not of the need tosend missionaries to China but ofthe need for the rest of the world tounderstand the Sleeping Dragon,for one day it would awake.UNIVERSITY AND AFTERI went to university to studymathematics but realised it gave meno pleasure. I changed to Chinesein autumn 1966. History recordsthe outbreak of the CulturalRevolution in China that year andthe continuing complete isolationof the country from the rest of theworld when I graduated.A career choice with the BRManagement Training schemeseemed a good option. It was partof the golden era of recruitmentpost-Beeching.The nationalised railwaydelivered astonishing results andsteady change towards a modernbusiness-led railway against a vagueinstruction from a series ofgovernments on the services to beprovided.I benefited from a year atWarwick Business School andreturned to apply textbookmarketing to the passengerbusiness and, in a job asinternational tourist manager, totravel the world working with touristauthorities and international aircarriers and hotel groups.CHINA AGAINI even managed to sneak a side tripfrom business in Hong Kong intoChina for a few days in 1981. Tenyears later, after experience insenior positions in marketing,industrial relations and generalmanagement, it was time for anextended holiday on a backpackingtour of China, mainly by rail, and areturn to the re-arrangement of BRfor privatisation.This seemed to produceincreasing reward for diminishingresponsibility!One year I was president of theRailway Study Association and alsoparticipated in their convention inthe United States of America,where I met Michael Weinman ofPTSI, a fellow of the association andcontributor to this magazine. Anunsuccessful management buy-outbid for InterCity West Coast, with abusiness plan which the tax-payermay subsequently have found to bebetter long-term value, was followedby two years as a director of VirginRail Group.The title of director businessdevelopment and industry affairsgave me a good chance to meet allsorts of visitors from overseas withideas which they thought wouldbenefit from application of theVirgin brand and to both visit andreceive delegations from theMinistry of Railways in China(MOR) for lectures on the benefitsand perils of re-organisation andprivatisation.My text was translated intoChinese and a picture greeting theminister in front of a Virgin train atEuston was used thereafter on thebooklets for later groups!RETIREMENT OR SABBATICAL?I have always counselled my staff toensure that as they approachretirement, they must already have ahobby or interest. It is no goodwaiting until the day, for the choiceis too great and you do not thenknow where to start. Following myown advice I had started to refreshmy Chinese by attending eveningclasses for a part-time degree just ashort distance from the office inLondon.Retirement in 1999 allowed fulltimestudy and then I spent asemester as a student at the BeijingSecond Foreign LanguageUniversity. Where was this leading?I did not know and did notcontinue the study. There were toomany other places in the world andso many other things to do.A few years of providing pro bonoadvice to various fledgling railwayschemes and possible overseas railprojects led to two seasons as ahands-on tour manager for GreatRail Journeys.Then a call came from PTSI tojoin a small team on a one-weekconsultancy in Shanghai inDecember 2005. The crazy ideamentioned a few years earlier for aluxury tour train in China hadreceived outline approval from theMOR but the promoters had norailway knowledge at all.Perceptive readers may see wherethe previous paragraphs areleading, but I did not! At the end ofthe week, the CEO saw an availablemanager with extensive railexperience in operations,passenger marketing and generalmanagement, with knowledge ofChina and Chinese (I speak, readand write), with experience of theinternational tourist market andproducts and with recentknowledge of tour groups and theirneeds.His offer to go and join theproject as general manager was stilla surprise. However, the prospect ofsitting in the UK seeing the projectlaunch successfully and thinking: ‘Icould have been part of that!’ meantthat the retirement was over. It hadbecome simply a seven yearsabbatical and I was now going togive three years to this project.HALF-WAY THROUGHThere was one particularly usefulpiece of material for myintroduction here. Remember thatbooklet with the picture shakinghands with the former minister atEuston? A chance shot helpedestablish immediate credibility. Onthe other hand I have made onespectacular error.I failed to bring to the task myextensive experience of dealingwith and within a large bureaucracyand my limited experience of thetruly risk-averse nature of privateenterprise. The original timescalefor the task of planning, building30 RAIL PROFESSIONAL : SEPTEMBER 2007

IRO NEWSDIARY OF EVENTSSCOTTISH AND IRISH AREA11 September: Talk by DuncanSooman, territory engineer(civils) Network Rail Scotland –The 2030 Railway: A ScotlandPerspective. Network RailBoardroom, Buchanan House,Glasgow, 17:15 for 17:30 start.For information on ScottishArea events please contact ChrisOwen on 01506 854537or email:scottish@railwayoperators.orgSOUTH EAST AREA10 September: Change ofvenue – this event will now takeplace on the 10th Floor ofLondon Underground’sheadquarters at 55 Broadway,St James Park, SW1. Andy Barr,London Underground, will bespeaking about major assetrecovery following a seriousincident. We look forward towelcoming both Overgroundand Underground colleagues tothis event. As usual doors openat 18:00 for 18:30 start.1 November: Fire and Steam –Christian Wolmar lecture andbook signing at the RoyalGeographical Society, London,introduced by Pete WatermanOBE. Leading commentator ontransport, Christian Wolmar willtake us on an exciting journeythrough the social history ofBritain's railways. Tickets are£15. To purchase tickets, pleasevisit our website or contactRailway Children on 01270757596 or email us.Monday 12 November: HighSpeed 1 – speakers TBAAll South East Area meetingstake place at the Union JackClub, Sandell Street, oppositeWaterloo East Station. Doorsopen at 18:00 for an 18:30 start.For information on the SouthEast Area contact:southeast@railwayoperators.orgSOUTH WEST AREAFor information on all SouthWest events and matters, contactLawrie Hall on 01453 822150 oremail southwest@railwayoperators.orgNORTH EAST AREA15 September: AGM and visit toNorth York Moors Railway.There will be a talk by PhilipBenham, general manager, onthe extension on the NYMR’sOperators Licence and the safetycase for service to Whitby.This will be followed by a tripon the NYMR to view operationof the railway first hand.Transport will be provided fromYork to and from Pickering.Families welcome. The eventlasts all day6 November Visit to seerefurbishment of GNER’s HSTs.The trip, during the daytime, is toWabtec in Doncaster to seeGNER’s Mallard HST sets.For information on all NorthEast Area events please contactChris Prior on 07801 905204or email:northeast@railwayoperators.orgNORTH WEST AREAFor all North West Area eventsplease contact:northwest@railwayoperators.org.MIDLANDS AREAFor all Midlands events contactJulia Stanyard 0121 345 3833 oremail: midlands@railwayoperators.orgYOUNG PROFESSIONALS6 September: InformalNetworking at the Euston Flyer,between Kings Cross St Pancrasand Euston.For all events contact us at:comms@iroyoungprofessionals.org.ukand introducing Tangula luxurytrains onto the rails of Chinaenvisaged six months to finalisationof financing, 12 months ofconstruction and introduction intooperation by now.The reality was nine months tofinalise the joint venture with ourrailway partner and a further sevenmonths to organise a source ofequity finance to complement thedebt portion secured on the assetof the trains.I should have foreseen this andadvised that timescales were toooptimistic. However, June 2007 wasa true landmark as construction ofthe 49 luxury vehicles has juststarted. Each train will be of 15vehicles (six luxury suite vehicles,kitchen dining car, scenic car,kitchen dining car). There are nobunk beds, and all passengers haveprivate en suite facilities andshower with just four suites in eachcoach.All 96 can be accommodated formeals at the same time and thereare four itineraries.But to write more would takevaluable space and duplicate theinformation onwww.tangula.com.cn where youhave a chance to enter acompetition.CONCLUSIONSo what are you doing now? Isuggest you answer for both yourlife and your work. Take a fewMEMBERS’ NEWSmoments to reflect on what youhave done and what you are doingand how it might be adding to yourskill set and preparing you for somesatisfying future challenge.It may be the unexpectedexperience that turns out to bemost relevant and produces for youthe most satisfying job you couldhave. Certainly the apparentlymundane task of train schedulingand showing periods of daylight byseason on a train graph has beenvital to getting the Tangula projectthis far.Remember the world is largerthan your job of today – there areopportunities everywhere and youmay inadvertently be preparing forthem. Good luck!The following employers operate a corporate membership scheme, by paying a one-off annual fee that covers all theiremployees’ affiliate or associate membership subscriptions:Network Rail ● Eurostar UK Ltd ● First ScotRail ● First Great Western ● One ● Railnews ● Iarnród Éireann (Irish Rail)● EWS Railway ● Northern Ireland Railways ● Central Trains ● First Transpennine Express ● First Capital Connect● Atoc ● Southern ● London Underground Ltd ● Docklands Light Railway ●Transport for London● South West Trains ● Sheffield Supertram ●Arriva Trains Wales ● Parsons Brinckerhoff ● Southeastern Railway●Virgin Trains ● London Lines ● Silverlink Trains ● c2c Rail ● Gatwick Express ● RWA Rail ● Midland Mainline.Those with full membership will continue to pay their subscription personally, irrespective of whether they cansubsequently claim it back. Please note that, as the IRO’s subscriptions are tax-deductible, a receipt will be issued for allpayments – whether by cheque, standing order or internet payment.If your company would like to explore the benefits of corporate membership of the institution, please contact us.Wewelcome applications from all industry companies, suppliers and associations – please contact Chris Daughton on01444 248931 or admin@railwayoperators.orgSEPTEMBER 2007 : RAIL PROFESSIONAL31

RAIL BUSINESS AWARDSRAIL BUSINESS AWARDS 2They’re off! The HSBC Rail Business Awards 2007 are now into the firstfurlong heading for a thrilling February finishwww.railbusinessawards.comNow in their 10th year, the Rail BusinessAwards are open to any company, largeor small, associated with the UK railindustry – passenger or freight. This year there area dozen awards categories designed to rewardexcellence in business, technology, engineeringand environmental innovation, in safety andsecurity, in stations and trains as well as forcreativity and individual achievement.This year we have introduced a brand newcategory – Environmental Innovation of the Year.In addition there will again be the InterfleetTechnology Rail Business of the Year for whichno entries are required. Our panel of judges,AWARDS WIN MORE THAN ‘A PAT ON THE BACK’Interfleet Technology was one ofthe first companies to win theHSBC Rail Business of the Yearaward and is now the category’ssponsorSince its founding more than a decadeago, Interfleet Technology hasestablished itself as one of the world’sleading international rail consultancies.It has grown from employing just 99consultants to more than 500, operating from10 international divisions across threecontinents.Born out of British Rail’s IntercityEngineering arm, Interfleet Technology is nowthe only management buy-out from UK railprivatisation that is still entirely independentlyowned and managed by its founders. InterfleetTechnology has built its success and rapidgrowth on the skills and expertise of its peopleand the highest standards of client care, toestablish itself as an international leader intotal rail systems and business solutions .For the eighth year running InterfleetTechnology is once again sponsoring the RailBusiness of the Year category –‘the pick of thewinners’ – in the Rail Business Awards.‘We are committed to supporting the RailBusiness Awards for a very good reason,’ saidDavid Rollin, Interfleet’s managing director.‘Without any doubt, our win in the 1997 RailBusiness Awards provided a catalyst for theInterfleet Technology's new training team (left to right)Rob Gordon, Neil Finlay and Steve Dowden.success and expansion that followed. Lookingback it’s plain to me now that the award, given– as it still is – by respected industry figures,really did boost our self-belief as well as providea motivation for our work force.‘It’s is my firm belief that the HSBC RailBusiness Awards offer much more than a paton the back and clearly demonstrate there arepeople across the UK rail industry with theability and vision to help it succeed.‘In itself, the process of compiling an entryfor the awards can be beneficial. Preparing anentry is much akin to presenting a businesscase for further investment. It makes you takea long, hard look at what you are doing andrefocus your business plan.’Now in its 11th year, Interfleet Technologycontinues to expand. A recent acquisition inCanada is the latest addition to its worldwidebusiness, with the purchase of the specialistrail consultancy LDK Engineering Inc inBurlington. LDK has now been re-branded andre-launched as Interfleet Technology Inc,alongside Interfleet’s US office in Philadelphia.Another recent addition to the servicesprovided by Interfleet Technology is thefounding of the Training & CompetenceSolutions team. The team of specialist trainers,led by Rob Gordon, offers a range of trainingservices for the rail industry, including railwayoperations, human factors and competencemanagement. The training team is integratedwith the other Interfleet technical teams tobring about unparalleled technical resourceavailability to a UK training provider – ‘trainingfor rail professionals by rail professionals’.This new training expertise reflectsInterfleet’s continued expansion of itsconsultancy service-offering. The company hasalso recently launched a suite of newenvironmental services, including energymanagement, energy efficient driving andadvice on environmentally friendly fueltechnology, reflecting the growing concern forenvironmental issues within the rail industry.‘The scale and pace of change sinceprivatisation has been enormous,’ said DavidRollin. ‘There have been many and variedimprovements but there are still manychallenges ahead. I believe there has neverbeen a brighter future for the UK rail industrybut the train operating companies andNetwork Rail must continue to invest both inproduct and environmental improvement.Interfleet Technology has much to contributeto this and will be a willing and enthusiasticpartner.’32 RAIL PROFESSIONAL : SEPTEMBER 2007

RAIL BUSINESS AWARDS007 – THE RACE IS ONchaired by Steve Agg, chief executive of theChartered Institute of Logistics and Transport,and comprising leading rail industry figures, willselect the winner of this award from the winnersof each of the other Rail Business Awardcategories.So now is the time to start preparing your entriesfor any of the categories in which you feel yourcompany’s achievements deserve recognition. Theclosing date for entries is 9 November 2007.Again this year organisations, from across therail industry have been eager to sponsor the 2007awards categories. For the seventh year runningHSBC Rail has agreed to act as the event’s mainsponsor.In the months leading up to the awardsceremony, which will take place at the GrosvenorHouse Hotel in London’s Park Lane on 27February 2008, the sponsors will tell RailProfessional readers something about themselvesand the importance of the HSBC Rail BusinessAwards.Strong on the short term, poor on the long termPeter Aldridge, head of HSBC Rail,looks at the recently releasedDfT rail White PaperBy coincidence, the launch of this year’sHSBC-sponsored Rail Business Awardscoincides with what I believe is one ofthe most exciting developments in the railwayindustry since the 1950s.The release of the DfT’s rail White Paper, inJuly, was followed the next day by a TransportTimes conference in Westminster, where newlyappointed transport secretary, Ruth Kelly,presented the paper to many of the industry’stop movers and shakers. For me, it provided anopportunity to gauge how well, or badly, thepaper was received by colleagues attending theevent.The general verdict was ‘quite strong on theshort term but poor on the long term’.Surprisingly, in a straw poll vote, only 25 percent expressed disappointment with the contentof the paper. Coming from top rail professionals,75 per cent approval is an interesting result.I began this column by mentioning the 1950s– a decade that began with rationing still inplace and ended with Harold McMillan’sfamous phrase ‘you never had it so good.’Obviously I wasn’t around at the time! However,from what I have read it was an exciting era forthe recently nationalised railway. Steam wasgiving way to diesel and electrification was beingexpanded. Then the mood changed. The firstmotorways came into use – the car became kingand the Beeching axe fell. From the beginningof the sixties, British Railways, as it then was,began to manage decades of decline andcontraction.With privatisation, the process began toreverse but it has taken a long time to get towhere we are now. In the 10 years sinceprivatisation, we have been squeezing the pipsout of what we already had. We have reachedthe point where it’s essential that governmentinvests in increasing capacity. We now, for thefirst time, have an official statement – with realmoney behind it – allowing the industry toprogress in this way.The 1,300 new carriages mentioned in theWhite Paper are critical to any expansion ofcapacity. They are promised not as replacementsfor existing vehicles but asadditional new rolling stock.Over the last decade we havereplaced almost the entire fleet;this has been replacement ofevery old vehicle dispatched tothe scrap yard however, not anactual increase in the volumeof vehicles.Also, the £200m earmarkedfor freight is generallywelcomed, being seen as goodnews in the short term.However exciting all of this Peter Aldridgeis, it’s still only short-term stuff.From my reading, it only takes us up tosomething like 2015. I believe there is arealisation we need to start planning now, for afuture beyond that date. Over the coming six orseven years, fares are going to increase and growrevenue. As a result we may well reach a point– not in this control period but the one after –where passenger income is covering themajority of the cost of the railway, rather thanGovernment subsidy. There will be upset asfares rise; it’s worth recognising however thatbus passengers get just 10 per cent of the costof their journey subsidised by Government –rail passengers currently enjoy a 50 per centsubsidy. Bus users, who generally have lowerincomes than the average rail passenger, haveto stump up a hefty 90 per cent of the cost.So, is now the time to start shifting the costof the railway from the taxpayer to thepassenger? I believe this could be carriedthrough as we now have such high demand forthe railway, driven in particular by roadcongestion. Economic and population growthacross the country will also bea factor, producing the wealthto pay for the new servicesthat will be needed.Added to this is a strongenvironmental argument,making it clear that peopleshould, in any event, be gettingout of their cars and onto thetrain. This can’t be anythingother than great news for anyrailway in the world.With a fairer balance beingstruck between subsidy andfares paid, it might be the timefor Government to start thinking about somesubstantial capital projects – such as a newstraight-line link to Scotland, as well as othermajor capacity increases. There was even someoptimism about Crossrail, with a feelingemerging that the project could get the greenlight in the Government’s October spendingreview.SEPTEMBER 2007 : RAIL PROFESSIONAL33

BUSINESS NEWSBy business editor Chris RandallEurostar feels the warmglow of St PancrasWith less than three months to gobefore its move to a newinternational terminal at St Pancras,Eurostar has revealed that morethan 110,000 passengers havebooked to travel on its servicesbetween the middle of Novemberand Christmas.The overnight move to StPancras from Eurostar’s currenthome at Waterloo will coincidewith the opening of High Speed 1,the UK’s first purpose-built highspeed line.Seats on the first trains from StPancras to Paris and Brussels on 14November were sold out soon aftertickets went on sale in July. Theopening of High Speed 1 will seejourney times to Paris cut by 20minutes with non stop servicestaking 2h15m. Brussels will bewithin 1h 51m of London when StPancras opens.Eurostar is predicting that theopening of High Speed 1 and theintroduction of a new timetable willincrease its dominance over theairlines, particularly in the businessmarket.Improved journey times meanthat from December passengerswill be able to reach both Paris andBrussels before 9am local time. Thenumber of weekday services fromLondon to Paris will increase from15 to 17 by February next year, with10 daily departures to Brussels.Richard Brown, chief executiveof Eurostar, said: ’We are seeing ahuge surge in advance bookings fortravel on High Speed 1. It’s solidevidence that the travelling public isexcited by the prospect of journeysthat are at least 20 minutes quicker,the experience of travelling at186mph in the UK, and the desireto switch from flying in order to “dothe right thing” for the environment.‘More and more travellers arerealising that going by Eurostaravoids airport delays, fuelsurcharges, waiting for baggage, andtime spent getting to and from outof-townairports.’Eurostar is also hoping to appealto travellers’ green instincts. It aimsto slash carbon dioxide emissionsA Eurostar leavesSt Pancras International,as trials pave the way forthe November opening.by 25 per cent per passengerjourney by 2012. From November,any emissions it can’t eliminate willbe offset, which, it claims, will makeit the world’s first train operator toprovide ‘carbon neutral’ journeysfor all its customers.Eurostar’s ticket sales in 2006topped the £500m for the first timeand sales between January andJune this year totalled £296m, anincrease of 13.6 per cent on thesame period the previous year.LCR/ TroikaBullet train builder on short list to make HST2Three organisations, including thecompany that makes the Japanesebullet train, have been shortlisted tobuild the next generation of highspeed trains in the UK.Hitachi Europe will compete withAlstom-Barclays Rail Group andExpress Rail Alliance, a consortiummade up of Bombardier, Siemens,Angel Trains and Babcock & Brown forthe government contract.The new fleet, which will replace30-year old Intercity 125 trains, willenter service in 2015, starting on theEast Coast and Great Western MainLines.The trains will be lighter andmore environmentally friendly thanthe iconic 125s.They will also belonger and capable of carrying morepassengers.‘We are developing a flexible trainthat can be deployed on differentlines, in different lengths and withdifferent sources of power – so thistrain can operate wherever we needit to in the future,’ said rail ministerTom Harris.The Government’s decision to optfor a hybrid train, capable of runningon diesel and overhead lines, hasproved controversial, with someexperts claiming that widespreadelectrification of the network wouldbe more cost effective.However, ministers have rejectedthe idea, saying that widespreadelectrification would be too expensiveand ‘vulnerable to the development oflow carbon alternative fuels’.Hitachi welcomed the Governmentannouncement.Alistair Dormer,general manager of the company’s railgroup, said:‘This is a firmendorsement of our internationalreputation for delivering world classrail solutions and of our commitmentto the UK rail market.’The first of Hitachi’s ‘Javelin’ highspeedtrains that will operatedomestic services on the High Speed1 arrived in the UK at the end ofAugust.34 RAIL PROFESSIONAL : SEPTEMBER 2007

BUSINESS NEWSLIVINGSTONE TELLS BROWN TO BRIDGE FUNDING GAPKen Livingstone has warned thatLondon’s status as a leadingfinancial and tourist centre isunder threat unless theGovernment finds the moneyneeded to fund Crossrail.London’s Mayor KenLivingstone is claiming the £15bneast-west rail link will providecapacity for 200,000 extra jobs inthe capital and give a £37m boostto the UK economy.But he said that if GordonBrown pulled the plug onCrossrail, London’s creakingtransport network would beunable to cope with the predictedgrowth in passengers. Writing inthe Evening Standard newspaper,Livingstone said: ‘I could give youdetailed statistics on why thepresent transport system cannotcarry 200,000 extra people intocentral London every day. But it issimpler to take one trip on theNorthern or Central line duringthe morning rush-hour to knowthe answer.’Ministerial backing for themuch-delayed project has failed todispel doubts over its future. Ashortfall in funding from theprivate sector means theGovernment is faced with theprospect of filling a £3bn hole,having previously said thattaxpayers should pay no morethan £2bn towards the rail link.The transport secretary, RuthKelly, had been expected to makean announcement about Crossrailin July when she unveiled theGovernment’s 10-year spendingplans for the railways. But adecision was deferred, fuellingspeculation that the scheme couldbe delayed again or even scrapped.Ministers now say a statementwill be made in the autumn whenthe chancellor, Alistair Darling,reveals his comprehensivespending review.The proposed route forCrossrail, running fromDocklands in east London toMaidenhead in Berkshire, wouldlink Canary Wharf and the Citywith Heathrow Airport.Tube Linescould take onMetronet workThe company responsible formaintaining and upgrading threeof London Underground’s 12lines says it hasn’t ruled outtaking on some of the work ofthe failed contractor Metronet.Tube Lines, which has a 30-year deal to rebuild the Jubilee,Northern and Piccadilly lines,has already had exploratory talkswith Alan Bloom from theadministrators Ernst & Youngwho were called in by Metronetin July.Terry Morgan, Tube Lines’chief executive, said he is waitingto hear how Metronet’s twocontracts, to upgrade nine deeplevel and sub-surface lines, are tobe re-allocated before making adecision. ‘We have a lot of workto be done here and we will notput at risk what we have alreadyachieved,’ he added.Tube Lines, which is owned bythe Spanish construction groupFerrovial and Bechtel, the USproject management companycredited with rescuing theconstruction of the ChannelTunnel Rail Link, plans to spendover £4.5bn during the first sevenand a half years of its 30-yearcontract rebuilding andmaintaining some of the busiestlines on the Undergroundnetwork.Unlike Metronet, which wasforced into administration bycost overruns of £2bn, it remainson-target and on-budget with itspublic private partnershipcontract with LondonUnderground.Last month Tube Linesrevealed that it had completedwork on 47 of the 97 stations it isdue to upgrade by 2011.Metronet’s programme toA Tube Lines tampingtrain gets to work.modernise the Tube is on holdwhilst the company remains inadministration.But a spokesman forTransport for London told RailProfessional that maintenancework was still being carried outas planned and that the safety ofthe network remained TfL’spriority.Balfour Beatty, theconstruction and engineeringgroup, has gone into the redafter being forced to write off its£103m stake in Metronet. It lost£52m in the six months to theend of June, compared to profitsof £35m in the same period theprevious year.Tube LinesNational Expresspulls out ofbiofuel trialNational Express has suspended a trialof biodiesel at its UK bus operations,casting further doubt over the role ofthe plant-based fuel in the railindustry.Although Virgin Trains has beentrialling biodiesel on one of its Voyagertrains since July, a number of expertshave criticised the use of biofuels intransport, claiming their benefits havebeen exaggerated.In August Professor Roland Clift, agovernment advisor and an authorityon climate change, told RailProfessional the biofuels industry was‘a scam’. He said biofuels couldincrease harmful greenhouse gasemissions and were contributing todamaging deforestation in Malaysiaand Indonesia, where the plant fuelsare sourced.National Express said it had calleda halt to the trial on its UK buses afterconducting an internal review andconsulting with green lobby groups.Richard Bowker, National Expresschief executive said:‘The issue withbio fuels is complex and what appearsto be the green option may notactually be green after all.’SEPTEMBER 2007 : RAIL PROFESSIONAL35

PEOPLEFIRST CAPITALCONNECT APPOINTSNEW HEAD OFCUSTOMER RELATIONSAndy Sharp is the new customerrelations manager for First CapitalConnect.Currently FCC’s accessibility andinclusion manager, Sharp, 24,started out at TransPennine Expressas a management trainee. In hisnew role, he will be working withFirstInfo, the company’s customerrelations contact centre.Sharp said: ‘It is essential thatwe listen to what our customersare telling us, and act upon theirfeedback to ensure the business issuccessful.‘I am looking forward to buildingon all the good work that has beenachieved to date and to ensuringcontinued quality improvementsare made.’ATOC DIRECTORGENERAL TO RETIREGeorge Muir, director general of theAssociation of Train OperatingCompanies, will retire when he turns65 next year after more then eightyears’ with the association.Adrian Shooter, chairman of theAtoc board said:‘On behalf of theboard, I would like express our sincereThe Rail Safety and StandardsBoard (RSSB) has appointedJames Hardy as head of researchand development. Hardy, achartered civil engineer,currently works for theHighways Agency, where heholds a similar position incharge of its research anddevelopment programme.thanks to George for the importantcontribution he has made inrepresenting the interests of trainoperators to the Government andstakeholders.The Board of Atoc and Iextend our gratitude to George and wewish him a happy retirement.’A new director general is being sought.RSSB announces new head of researchHardy will oversee RSSB’sindustry R&D programme,which has a budget of around£12m per annum.The programme is funded bythe Department for Transportand delivers industry-wideresearch that no individualcompany or sector can addresson its own.George MuirIn recent years it has shiftedfrom a focus solely on safety,towards a broadly-basedbusiness agenda.Hardy said: ‘I am very pleasedto be given the responsibility todrive the railways’ R&Dprogramme forward and to helpRSSB meet the future needs ofthe industry.'PRODUCTS AND SERVICESBRITISH SAFETY COUNCILThe welfare of the capital’s transport workers was boostedrecently as 88 Transport for London (TfL) line managers tookthe BSC Awards Level 2 Certificate in Supervising Staff Safely.Addressing health and safety issues in the transportindustry has resulted in a lower rate of both fatal and nonfatalinjuries suffered by employees during 2005/06 comparedto 2004/05, according to HSE statistics, a trend that the BritishSafety Council is committed to see continue.This QCA-accredited Level 2 qualification offered by theBSC is aimed at those with general responsibility for the healthand safety of others.As with the content of all the BSC Awardscourses, it has a flexible learning and assessment approachensuring that the tailored hands-on assignments could becarried out in the TfL candidate’s own workplace, for themaximum benefit of both themselves and the organisation.TfL’s surface transport safety training manager, DavidMcLellan, was drawn to the BSC Awards qualification for thisvery reason. He commented:‘The course has already provedinvaluable. It has had a major effect on our line managers; theyalready understand more about their health and safety roleand have been able to pass on the benefits to otheremployees.’As an independent authority on occupational health, safetyand environmental sustainability, the BSC is ideally placed tomeet the diverse demands of today’s workforce.The work ofthe BSC reflects the Government’s national skills strategy 21stCentury Skills, Realising Our Potential.● Tel: 020 8741 1231MERSEY RAILJuly 2007 saw theofficial opening of thefirst two M to Goshops at Moorfields(Old Hall Streetentrance) andHamilton Square.What is M to Go?M to Go is unique inthe UK. It is an Patrick Verwer, managing director,integrated ticket office Merseyrail and Councillor Mark Dowdand convenience shop. OBE, Chairman, Merseytravel.Unlike other shops atUK railways stations, M to Go is not a franchise operation butan integral part of Merseyrail’s station organisation staffedwith Merseyrail’s own staff. It combines the sale of the fullrange of Merseyrail and national rail tickets with the sale offoods and other items specifically aimed at busy commutersin a hurryM to Go is based on a tried and tested model of retailing atrailway stations in the Netherlands with an emphasis onchilled areas including an extensive sandwich range. It alsosells high quality coffee and tea and the shop is designed andconstructed to a very high standard specifically with the needsof today’s passenger in mind.A further M to Go shop is under construction atSouthport.This third M to Go will open in September 2007.Depending on the experiences with the first three shops, it isenvisaged that further shops will be opened at Merseyrail’sstations in due course. M to Go is an important element inimproving the general facilities at Merseyrail stations.July was the fourth anniversary of the Serco – NedRailwaysjoint venture, which took over the Merseyrail concession.● www.merseyrail.orgEXPRESS MEDICALSRail industry medicalprovider ExpressMedicals successfullyreached the finals ofthe British SmallBusiness Championscompetition, gainingan award recognisingexcellent serviceprovision.MP Simon Hughes initially nominated Express Medicals,but the rigorous selection process involved the submission ofvarious written proposals, a presentation to a panel of judgesand a visit from a representative of the Federation of SmallBusinesses.Together these assessments enabled the judges toconfidently decide that Express Medicals belonged in thefinals.Being considered for the BSBC award really made ExpressMedicals look at its internal culture, and consider whetheremployees were happy. Staff were consulted and responsesincluded:‘The best thing about working for Express Medicals is the waythat the ideas of individuals are listened to and everyone’s role isconsidered important. Everyone works together with mutualrespect and good humour.’‘There is a real sense of teamwork.The staff here are willingto help out in any area of the business even if it means workingoutside their job description. It’s this flexibility that allows us toprovide the best service to our customers.’The British Small Business Champions Awards’ galapresentation ceremony was held last month and ExpressMedicals has said it wants to thank all its loyal clients andfriends for their continued support over the last 11 years.● www.expressmedicals.co.uk36 RAIL PROFESSIONAL : SEPTEMBER 2007

PEOPLEPEOPLE ROUND-UPWAPLES JOINSJOHN LAING BOARDJohn Laing has added ChrisWaples to its board in the newlycreated position of operationsdirector.Waples has formerlyheld senior managementpositions with Amey, where hewas a director.Laing has now put its trainoperating arm, which includesChiltern Railways and the LondonRail Concession, up for sale.NEW CONSULTANTSFOR STEER DAVIES GLEAVESteer Davies Gleave hasannounced two new consultants.Senior consultant JulietEdmondson joins from Transportfor London, where she was asenior transport consultant in thesurface strategy and businessdevelopment department.Ambarene Saddique hasjoined as an assistant consultant.She is in the final stages ofcompleting an MSc Transport atImperial College.FABER MAUNSELLTRANSPORTATION GETSNEW DIRECTORPhil Hamshaw has taken up adirectorship at Faber Maunsell'sLondon office. Hamshaw, 37, hasworked in the transport sectorfor over 12 years. He said:‘Thedevelopment planning sectorcontinues to provide me with achallenge due to its everchanging and increasinglycomplex requirements.’CONN JOINS INTERFLEETTECHNOLOGYMagnus Conn, 35, has joined theBusiness Consulting team atInterfleet Technology.Conn, a chartered mechanicalengineer, started out as a BritishRail apprentice in 1988. Beforejoining Interfleet he was chiefengineer on the East Coast MainLine for GNER.He is to act as principalconsultant at Interfleet.Wakeford is head ofcommercial strategyAndy Wakeford is the new head ofcommercial strategy at Atoc. Hejoins the association from SouthWest Trains where he has SWT’shead of commercial services.In his new role he will beworking on a range of commercialprojects including thesimplification of fares, retail andstations strategy.He will also be working withoperators in developing throughticketingfrom stations within theUK to destinations on theEuropean mainland.Paul I'Anson, 47, is to head Eurostar’sAshford Contact Centre (ACC). He hasworked for Eurostar in Ashford since1998, originally as a team manager,Wakeford has over 20 years’experience on the railways,having started out as a British Railmanagement trainee.David Mapp, Atoc’scommercial director, said: ‘I amvery pleased that Andy has joinedthe commercial team at a criticaltime.‘His wide experience of the railindustry will considerablystrengthen our ability to help Tocsmeet the constant challengesbeing thrown up by a high growthindustry.’Eurostar appoints head for Ashford Contact CentreWILSON JOINS RAILRECRUITMENTAGENCYTechnical and engineeringrecruitment firm NES hasappointed recruitmentconsultant Stuart Wilson, 27, tothe rail division at the agency’sManchester headquarters.Mark Tully, UK CEO at NES,said: ‘Stuart joins NESTrackduring a time in which the railsector is experiencing continuedbuoyancy. As a result of this, wehave received increasing demandfrom our clients, and Stuart’sappointment will enable us togrow the business whilemaintaining that high level ofservice that we are renowned for.’then operations manager and mostrecently as ACC’s deputy head.Eurostar employs 300 people atACC. I’Anson said that one of his goalsBURTON TO RUN NEWTRANSPORT UNITMark Burton is to head a newTransport Unit at insurance lawspecialist Davies Lavery.The firm has advised on someof the biggestrail cases ofrecent yearsincludingtunnelcollapses, majorderailments,and levelcrossingfatalities.Burton, a partner in the firm,said: ‘We have a strong cultureof acting as business partners,not just claims lawyers.’for his new role is to ‘make employeesfeel even more valued, which will helpus deliver an even better service to ourmany travellers’.OCTOBER 2006 : RAIL PROFESSIONAL37

RECRUITING ENGINEERSENGINEERING THE FUTURENicky Belben explains what TubeLines is doing to address theskills shortage in engineeringTube LinesThis year, the CBI announced that the UKwill need to double its volume of scienceand engineering graduates by 2014 orsee skilled jobs go overseas. Currently, around45,000 people emerge each year with a degreein science, engineering or technology,constituting around 12 per cent of all UKgraduates. The CBI believes that to match thepredicted growth in skilled jobs in the UK, thisfigure needs to increase to at least 25 per cent.The engineering industry in the UK continuesto go from strength to strength; a recent reportfound that performance in the sector is at itshealthiest for 11 years. For engineeringcompanies, the results from the CBI illustratesomething already known by many – that weneed to get more graduates onto engineeringcourses to sustain this ongoing success.Tube and rail passenger numbers areincreasing at a steady rate and this growthbrings with it an increased pressure on theinfrastructures that maintain these vital modesof mass transit. The average age of the UK’sengineering population is getting older, anespecially worrying fact when combined withfewer students undertaking engineeringcourses. The predicted skills shortage will affectthe rail industry in a number of ways, mostnotably in slowing the rate of innovation andcreating an international recruitment market ascompanies find the need to recruit employeesfrom abroad.For tube and rail, upon which the 21st centurywill place ever increasing demands, forwardplanning and the development of strategies toease potential business impacts is particularlyimportant. Recognising and addressing industryskills shortages through such initiatives as raisingthe profile of engineering as a career, specialisedapprenticeship programmes and good stronggraduate schemes will inevitably bring businessbenefits in the medium to long-term. Indeed, therecent Leitch report on skills recommendedgreater involvement of employers in thedevelopment of educational and vocationaltraining.At Tube Lines, we have implemented anumber of initiatives which aim not only toattract new recruits, but also to address the skillsEnhanced track renewal at Kilburn on the Jubilee line.shortage. For example, we recognise the valueof apprentices and their importance indeveloping the company’s skill base and believethat apprenticeships are another way of bringingpeople into the industry on a structureddevelopment programme – we do not just relyon graduates. In fact our intake of apprenticesfor 2006 is double that of 2003 when weassumed responsibility for the Jubilee, Northernand Piccadilly lines of the London Underground,making us the second largest employer ofapprentices within the London area. We operatean Advanced Apprenticeship scheme over sevendisciplines, covering both the SEMTA and GoSkills frameworks, and encourage ourapprentices to continue their educationpost-scheme and fully support them whilst theydo so.Our chief executive, Terry Morgan, says howproud he and his colleagues are of Tube Lines’apprentice scheme. ‘New recruits can see thatthere is a clear path to climb here and they willbe offered the best training with some of the bestengineers in the industry. The rail industry isgoing to face a massive skills-shortage if we don’tstart to address these issues and start rebuildingengineering as a career path.’The engineering sector needs to think aboutworking with schools, universities and careersadvisers to help spark students’ interests inengineering and lead them to choose it as adegree subject and a career. As well asprogrammes to promote our apprenticeprogramme, initiatives already in place at TubeLines include working with schools to raise theprofile of engineering as a career and a stronggraduate scheme which is currently attractingsome of the best in the industry. Our annualprogramme of activities includes a variety oflinks with the local community and schools,including special targeting of girls’ schools toencourage more women into a typically maledominatedindustry. Interactive workshops, suchas the government funded STEM initiative, wereestablished as a joint partnership between Tubelines and London Underground.Tube Lines’ long term commitment to headingoff skills shortages has involved on-goinginvestment in training. Our purpose-built £10mspecialist Skills Training Centre in Stratford, withtop-notch facilities, includes a purpose-builtsignals training school, available to apprentices,graduates and other employees.If the engineering industry is to move forwardand meet this challenge, it needs to act now. Forsome, the engineering professions have a tiredand dated image. We feel that the reality is verydifferent – we are part of an exciting, diverse andinnovative industry which allows us to getinvolved in exciting projects with a direct impacton people’s everyday lives. By communicatingthis to young people, we stand a better chanceof attracting top calibre students intoengineering, whether through apprenticeships,degrees or other routes. It is vital for theindustry’s future.Nicky Belben is the director of HR for Tube Lines.38 RAIL PROFESSIONAL : SEPTEMBER 2007

PRODUCTS AND SERVICESINVENSYSCANLANDDREWEATT NEATEInvensys Dimetronichas won a contractworth over €4m tosupply signallingequipment for use online 5 of the ValenciaMetro in Spain.Operated by ValenciaRegional Railways(FGV), Metro line 5 isbeing extended by 3.2km from Quart dePoblet, via four newstations, to the airport.Under the contract,Invensys Dimetronic isto supply its Westraceelectronic interlockingtechnology, joint-lesstrack circuits (JLTCs) and automatic train protection (ATP)system.The company is also modifying FGV’s control trafficcentre (CTC) and providing the company with track-train radiocommunications – together with supply and installation of theassociated fibre optics.The contract is due to be completedwithin nine months.Based in Madrid and with facilities in Barcelona,Valencia,Lisbon and Porto, Invensys Dimetronic is the leading supplierof signalling and control systems for both mainline and masstransit railways in the Iberian peninsula.The Invensys RailGroup is a global leader in the design, manufacture, supply,installation, testing and commissioning of safety-related railsignalling and control systems and other rail signallingproducts for mainline, metro and freight railways.● www.invensysrail.comShort notice call outsand working inremote locations inthe UK rail system is asituation thatCanland UK can caterfor – literally. HotPack self-heatingmeals offer a hot, great tasting meal inside 12 minutes,with no other equipment needed.Canland UK set out in 1995 to supply self-heatingmeals to the emergency services, where there is still agrowing need to provide hot food at various incidents, orwhere personnel have to work outside for long periods.Hot Pack and Action Pack meals can help to sustainenergy requirements and offer a morale boost to hardpressedmaintenance staff or security personnel, such asthe British Transport Police.Hot Pack can be stored in a cool dry place, or on avehicle for instant access.These wholesome meals tastegood, are totally sealed in soft aluminium pouches and aresterile until opened; their shelf life is three years fromproduction and they require no refrigeration. Each packweighs approximately 450g.Every Hot Pack contains a recently developed, easy-touse,non-magnesium flameless heater (NMFRH), which isactivated with 45mls of water, included in the pack.Thisnew type of FRH is virtually odourless and contains amixture of lime and aluminium.When the water is added,a reaction takes place, quickly generating heat and steam.With cutlery, salt and pepper, a serviette and a dish, eachHot Pack is truly self-contained, allowing the user to beable to produce and enjoy a meal in a matter of minutes.● Tel: 01844 344474Careful planning and attention to detail are vital whencarrying out engineering works successfully, but one veryimportant aspect often requires special attention.That aspect is the obvious, but often overlooked matter ofhow to get to the work site, which often involves taking accessover third party land and, once on site, how the project can bedelivered with particular reference to the potential need orotherwise of acquiring permanent rights in land.Dreweatt Neate Infrastrutures (DNI) has developed astrong working relationship with both Network Rail engineersand contractors over the last six or seven years and isemployed as a land agent in Western and Southern Zones todeal with exactly these issues.For us to work most effectively it is important that we areinvolved in the project from start-to-finish because advice onproposed routes of access, land purchase or the acquisition ofother permanent rights, such as easements, may in fact informthe design process. And, as all those involved in these projectswill realise, getting the design right in the first instance willsave money in the long run.DNI can negotiate and advise on a wide range of bothtemporary access arrangements and the acquisition ofpermanent rights.● Tel: 01793 437200RECRUITMENT

RECRUITMENTTO LIST YOUR APPOINTMENTS CALLRob Tidswell on 01223 477427TIMETABLING AND PERFORMANCEMODELLING ANALYST/CONSULTANTLoughborough, East Midlands £depending on experienceRWA Rail is a leading provider of strategic and operationalplanning to the rail industry. We use state of the art software toundertake a range of assignments, including timetabling,performance modelling, revenue forecasting and resourceplanning.Due to our full order book, we are looking for two new membersfor our small team of modellers and analysts. An interest inlearning to use sophisticated systems (some with CAD elements,others using operational research techniques) and an eye fordetail are essential. Good IT skills are important but full training willbe given on the specialist systems we use. A willingness to learnabout railway operations, signalling and train performance is alsoessential, if you haven’t already got this kind of experience! Adegree in Transport, Engineering, Maths, Computer Science orBusiness Studies would be advantageous.Please contact us using email viarecruitment@rwa-rail.co.uk with your cvor ring Robert or Ross on 01509 210110 to discuss yoursuitability for these roles in greater detail.

RECRUITMENTRail Professional Recruitment –October 2007Achieve maximum impact with yourrecruitment advertising spend:Contact: Rob Tidswell –Recruitment Sales ManagerTel: 01223 477427Fax: 01223 304760rob@railpro.co.ukOctober Rail Professional recruitmentadvertising:Booking deadline: 20th Sept 2007Copy deadline: 21st Sept 2007Copies on desks: 27th Sept 2007The business magazine for Railway Managers

TO LIST YOUR APPOINTMENTS CALLRob Tidswell on 01223 477427

RECRUITMENTGet where YOU want to beDriver ManagerCompetitive Salary + free travel on Southern and Southeastern Railway Now you’ve shown you’ve got what it takes to providethe highest levels of safety, performance and servicestandards as a driver, your next move should be one thatrecognises and rewards that experience in a variety ofways. As a Southern Driver Manager you’ll find hugevariety guiding and motivating a team of drivers anddeveloping them in the latest rules and procedures.In addition to helping them deliver continuousimprovements in driving techniques, you will activelypromote Southern’s Values and Behaviours.And when it comes to support and benefits you won’tbe left wanting either. You’ll receive exceptional levelsof support from your Depot Manager and enjoy anattractive range of benefits that includes a final salarypension scheme, private healthcare and flexible hours– because we always aim to deliver above and beyondpeople’s expectations.If you’re ready to go places, find out where Southerncan take you.To apply online and for further information please visitwww.southernrailway.com/careersAlternatively, please contact Dave Rudman atSouthern Recruitment on 020 7023 4308quoting reference 000769.Closing date for completed application forms:24 September 2007.An equal opportunities employer.

TO LIST YOUR APPOINTMENTS CALLRob Tidswell on 01223 477427

RECRUITMENT

TO LIST YOUR APPOINTMENTS CALLRob Tidswell on 01223 477427