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National Railway Museum announces reopening dates

The National Railway Museum is reopening after 119 days of lockdown.

Locomotion in Shildon, County Durham, will reopen on Tuesday 28 July and the main National Railway Museum site in York the following week, on Tuesday 4 August.

Both sites have undergone a rigorous cleaning regime prior to reopening and additional site-wide cleaning will continue to take place each day. Visitors will be encouraged to observe social distancing measures and the wearing of facemasks will be recommended.

In a significant change designed to keep the sites safe and comfortable, visitors at both sites will be required to book a timed slot in advance. Tickets will be free and available from the museum websites, but overall visitor numbers will be limited each day to avoid overcrowding.

Tickets for Locomotion can be booked now while National Railway Museum tickets will be available from Monday 20 July. Both sites will begin a phased reopening, initially on a limited number of days each week, before a gradual return to daily opening.

At York, the Great Hall which is home to world-famous locomotives such as Mallard and a replica of Stephenson’s Rocket, will be first to open. The main gift shop and the Great Hall café will also reopen from 4 August. However, steam rides, the miniature railway and the under-five’s play area will remain closed for the time being and the remaining museum areas, such as Station Hall, the Warehouse and outdoor spaces, are also due to reopen soon.

At Locomotion, the main collection building which features more than 40 historic rail vehicles will open from 28 July. The café will also reopen with a limited capacity, serving a reduced menu. The model railway, steam rides and cab access will return at a later date.

A one-way system will be in operation at Locomotion to ensure visitors can observe safe social distancing. Demonstrations of Rowland Emett’s popular mechanical sculpture ‘A Quiet Afternoon in the Cloud Cuckoo Valley’ will increase, to be held hourly.

Judith McNicol, Director of the National Railway Museum said: “We know that our sites – with their large, open buildings, outdoor spaces and car parking, can be great places for people to begin to re-engage with culture with confidence. We are cautiously reopening in stages at both museums, to ensure the safety of our guests and colleagues.

“At Locomotion and the National Railway Museum, we have dramatically enhanced our cleaning processes and introduced practical measures to allow visitors to maintain social distancing whilst enjoying the best of our collection. Although visitors may notice a few changes when they return, they can be assured of a warm welcome and the chance to enjoy our unrivalled collection of railway and engineering achievements.”

Shapps appoints three non-executive directors to the HS2 board

As HS2 enters its construction phase and increases its activity and scale along the route and across the business, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has announced the appointment of three non-executive directors to the HS2 Board to strengthen oversight and scrutiny of the UK’s largest infrastructure project.

The three new directors, Elaine Holt, Ian King (pictured above) and Tom Harris, will respectively take up the roles of infrastructure specialist, government representative and community engagement leader, to improve the way that HS2 Ltd is managed and instil greater discipline of the project.

These appointments are the latest step in the government’s commitment to reset the HS2 programme, strengthen the leadership team and instil greater accountability to ensure decisions made by the Company deliver on the government’s priorities.

Secretary of State for Transport  Grant Shapps said: “When we gave HS2 the go-ahead, we made a clear commitment to draw a line under past problems and to move forward with a strong grip of the project and a laser-like focus on cost control and transparency.

“The appointments of Elaine Holt, Tom Harris and Ian King to the Board of HS2 Ltd will deliver on this promise and ensure this vital project has the robust leadership it requires as it drives our country’s economic recovery from Covid-19 and delivers better connectivity to level up communities across the North and Midlands.”

Ian King will represent the government’s interests on the HS2 Ltd board, bringing with him more than two decades of senior leadership and project delivery experience. He will provide advice to the HS2 Ltd Board on the Government’s approach to issues and will report to the Transport Secretary and HS2 Minister Andrew Stephenson.

Elaine Holt joins as a railway and infrastructure specialist, having had experience in executive and non-executive roles in the transport sector, project delivery and railway operations.

Tom Harris, a former parliamentarian, will strengthen the company’s focus on community engagement, further ensuring that those impacted by the project continue to be listened to and treated with the respect they deserve.

Allan Cook CBE, chair of HS2 Ltd, added: “I am looking forward to working with Elaine, Tom and Ian as they join the board of HS2 Ltd. The scale and complexity of the next phase of the project – which is already making a vital contribution by supporting thousands of jobs all over the country – requires increased levels of expertise and oversight to further strengthen the excellent experience we have on the Board.

“Elaine, Tom and Ian have a huge wealth of experience in each of their specialist areas. I am certain they will make a valuable contribution to the success of the HS2 project as we progress through the construction phase and ensure that, with the other members of the Board, we meet our commitments to Government and UK taxpayers.”

Photo credit: BAE Systems

Total Rail Solutions gets a new home

Total Rail Solutions, the rail specialist plant hire company, has completed its move from Basingstoke to Greenham Business Park, Thatcham, near Newbury.

Managing director Paul Bateman said: “The re-location of our head office to Greenham Business Park will be a key milestone for our business, following the successful completion of a management buyout in November 2018.

“Our strategy of investment in both fleet and support infrastructure will allow the business to better serve its UK rail industry clients. Our new office and yard facility at Greenham Business Park will allow us to showcase our fantastic people, modern fleet and industry leading processes.

“With easy access to all major transport routes, state of the art facilities and award-winning sustainable offices, Greenham Business Park really does tick all the boxes.”

The new headquarters is a purpose-built, 7,000 square feet office giving a good working environment for TRS’ staff. Just eight miles from the M4, 16 from the M3 and 30 miles from the M40, it is certainly centrally located and will allow TRS to send its equipment off to railway work sites all over the country.

Professor Felix Schmid steps down

Felix Schmid has retired from his post as Professor of Railway Systems Engineering at the University of Birmingham after 15 years.

He moved to Birmingham in 2005 from the University of Sheffield, where he had built up the MSc programme in Railway Systems Engineering over 11 years. Before that, he was a lecturer in Control Systems Engineering at Brunel University for 10 years.

Born in Switzerland, he studied Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Zürich, before moving to the UK to join GEC Traction in 1978.

A huge enthusiast for all things railway and engineering, Felix is a regular judge for the IMechE Railway Challenge and, with partner Bridget Eickhoff, organises the Institution’s annual Technical Tour.

Despite retiring, he still has plenty to look forward to.  He is the chair of the IMechE Railway Division for 2020/21 and has also been appointed Professor emeritus of Railway Systems Engineering at the Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education.

In a post on LinkedIn, the Permanent Way institution wished him well. “Over a long and very vigorous career, he has made a huge contribution to railways, inspiring countless students to establish themselves as leaders in our industry in the UK and worldwide,” a spokesperson said.

“He has been a great asset to the PWI, giving talks at our meetings and helping Brian Counter to set in motion the actions that led us to be able to offer professional registration on the way to becoming the full blown Professional Engineering Institution we are today.”

Even though he will still be around, Felix will be sorely missed.

Michael Peter is now Siemens Mobility’s sole CEO

Michael Peter will become Siemens Mobility’s sole CEO as Sabrina Soussan, who has been his co-CEO until now, is leaving the company to take on a new challenge.

Roland Busch, member of the Managing Board and Deputy CEO of Siemens AG, said: “We deeply regret that Sabrina Soussan is leaving us. At the same time, we understand her decision. We thank Ms. Soussan for her outstanding achievements at Siemens and wish her every success in her new role.

“With Michael Peter as CEO, Siemens Mobility has a recognized expert for transportation, automation and digitalization at its helm. Together with Sabrina Soussan, he has very successfully developed our mobility business and has further improved its performance. For customers and employees, he stands for continuity in the top management of this successful area of business.”

Up to now, Michael Peter has headed up the turnkey solutions and rail electrification businesses in addition to being responsible for rail automation and road-traffic management systems. He will now also run the functions in the rolling stock area and customers services for which Sabrina Soussan had been responsible.

Peter earned a degree in electrical engineering at Technische Universität Braunschweig (Germany) and Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (Spain). For the past 25 years, he has served in various capacities at Siemens in countries including Germany, Spain, Thailand and the U.S.

Sabrina Soussan has been working at Siemens for more than 20 years in a variety of positions in Germany, France, Japan, the UK and Switzerland. As head of the Mobility Division, she was also responsible for the Mainline Transport and Urban Transport Business Units – the businesses with high-speed trains, commuter and regional trains, locomotives, metro systems, and tram and light rail systems as well as service. She holds a university degree in mechanical and aeronautical engineering and an MBA from universities in Poitiers (France) and Dublin (Ireland).

Network Rail supports First of a Kind innovators

A total of 11 out of the 25 winning entrants of the government’s £9.4 million First of a Kind (FOAK) 2020 competition to provide a better, more reliable and efficient railway for passengers and freight users are being supported by Network Rail.

Funded by the Department for Transport and managed by Innovate UK, the competition encourages innovation in the rail industry by asking companies for ambitious ideas that could transform the railway. The projects that will directly support Network Rail’s Research & Development (R&D) Portfolio include:

  • Demonstrating low cost 10Gigabit+ connectivity for the railway
  • Creating a novel and cost-effective composite footbridge for use on the railway
  • Improving resilience through a surface water flooding decision support system
  • Tunnel and station monitoring using railway optical detection to identify obstructions
  • Integrated optical fibre sensing to optimise rail switches & crossings maintenance

Mark Gaddes, R&D third party funding and engagement manager at Network Rail, said: “We were delighted to encourage innovators to approach Network Rail with their proposals for this First of a Kind competition. The range and quality of ideas put forward was exceptional, and we’re looking forward to working with the winners to improve the railway for passengers.

“This will be particularly welcome when we can encourage more passengers back to the railway, but for now people should continue to follow Government advice around the use of public transport, and only travel if they have to.”

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: “The winners of this year’s First of a Kind competition will support better, more environmentally friendly journeys. Crucially, these pioneering projects will also ensure that passengers have a more efficient, reliable and responsive railway, making journeys simpler and easier.”

In addition to the FOAK 2020 competition, Network Rail continues its partnership with Innovate UK to run competitions using the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) approach – where innovators compete for a share of funding to solve a certain challenge.  Winners of the competitions that have been delivered so far proposed a number of solutions to address:

  • Developing detection technology on the ends and edges of platforms to detect and reduce trespass on the railway
  • Automating data processing for railway structure gauging – a process that ensures a safe distance exists between trains and structures such as tunnels
  • Automating tunnel examinations and undertaking security surveillance and analytics to reduce the need for workers to monitor the network and test asset condition manually

Danielle Stephenson, project manager at Network Rail for the safety, security and analytics project said: “As a new member of the R&D team I have been blown away with the excellent ideas and solutions that the companies have come up with so far. I am looking forward to seeing them implemented in a live station environment in September.”

The solutions for all challenge areas under the four competitions will use information technology and machine learning. This provides an opportunity to carry out monitoring faster and generate information that is more consistent than could be achieved through the judgement of people.  It also frees up our workforce to focus on keeping the network safe and available for passengers and freight users, rather than gathering data.

The competitions generated from the combined partnerships between Network Rail, Department for Transport and Innovate UK in the last year have collectively been worth over £15 million, with each initiative providing opportunities for smaller organisations to work with Network Rail to bring innovative technology into the railway. This is enabled through the support from Innovate UK and the Knowledge Transfer Network.

Kelvin Davies, Innovation Lead for Rail at Innovate UK, highlighted: “As the UK’s innovation agency we are here to support the best ideas from the UK’s most innovative companies. Through working with Network Rail we have seen the strength of interest, quality of applications and enthusiasm. This shows there is a real confidence that businesses large and small can grow by focussing on opportunities in rail. This is vital as we all work together to build a bigger, better and greener railway”.

These initiatives form part of Network Rail’s R&D portfolio for CP6 and will help drive improvements in efficiency and safety in the rail industry through new technology.  The partnership with Innovate UK and the competition opportunities also fit with Network Rail’s desire to be easier to engage and work with as part of the Open for Business programme.

Chancellor ignores rail as he seeks to boost jobs and economic recovery

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak has set out his ‘Plan for Jobs’, to spur the UK’s recovery from the Coronavirus outbreak. However, while going for ‘shovel-ready construction projects’ to boost jobs, he completely ignored the Department for Transport’s own list of rail jobs that was published last October.

The Treasury commented on the Chancellor’s speech: ”As the UK enters the second phase in its recovery, the Chancellor’s plan is designed to support jobs by focussing on skills and young people, create jobs with investment in shovel-ready projects and greening our infrastructure, and protect jobs through a VAT cut for the hospitality sector and a landmark Eat Out to Help Out discount scheme for diners.”

The Chancellor spoke about supporting, creating and protecting jobs. However, when he got to the part about creating jobs by encouraging spending on infrastructure, what he said was: “£5.8 billion will be spent on shovel-ready construction projects to get Britain building. This includes:

  • £1.5 billion for hospital maintenance and upgrades
  • £100 million for our local roads network
  • over £1 billion to start to rebuild schools in the worst condition in England, plus £760 million this year for key maintenance work on schools and FE colleges
  • £1 billion for local projects to boost local economic recovery in the places that need it most
  • £142 million for court maintenance to repair around 100 courts across England.”

No mention of investment in rail infrastructure, or accelerating Network Rail’s programme of rail enhancements.

In October 2019, the Department for Transport finally published Network Rail’s enhancement pipeline, something it had been pushed to do by the rail industry for over a year since it published its ‘new approach to Rail Enhancements’ in March 2018.

A total of 58 projects were listed as being in the three-stage ‘pipeline’ – 13 of them were in the final stage of working up to needing a ‘Decision to Deliver’.

So, it would have been easy accelerate those 13 projects, and perhaps some others, and get them delivered, creating jobs.

But no mention was made of them.

Darren Caplan, chief executive of the Railway Industry Association, which represents the sector’s manufacturers and contractors, was less than impressed.  He commented: “Although today’s plan set out a strong strategy for job retention, many in the railway industry will be disappointed that Chancellor Rishi Sunak didn’t mention anything about new rail infrastructure in his speech.

“The government has said it is seeking to ‘build build build’ and has recently spoken of an ‘infrastructure revolution’, calling publicly for shovel-ready projects to help reboot a green economy post-Coronavirus.

“Yet, we are concerned that no accelerated rail infrastructure projects were mentioned today, such as those in the government’s own list of 58 rail enhancement schemes directly within its power to speed up.

“The Chancellor specifically unveiled a “Plan for Jobs”. Yet, in the current circumstances, few sectors can generate jobs and GVA (gross value added) as quickly as rail. UK rail has kept going throughout lockdown, enabled key workers to get to workplaces, and has shown it can continue to safely maintain and build track and train – even in difficult lockdown conditions – essential to the UK’s connectivity and levelling-up agenda.

“So, whilst we and rail supply businesses will welcome the Chancellor’s job retention measures, we will continue to campaign for the Treasury to ‘Speed Up Rail Enhancements’, benefiting not just the railway industry, but also UK plc, its communities and long-term connectivity in the difficult months ahead.”

Video: Keswick-Threlkeld Railway Path reinstatement

The section of railway between Keswick and Threlkeld in the Lake District was closed in 1972 and subsequently became a well-used footpath. However two striking bowstring bridges were washed away during Storm Desmond in 2015, severing the route and impacting on local tourism.

The structures had been engineered by Sir Thomas Bouch whose reputation was shattered when his bridge over the Tay collapsed in 1879, at a cost of 75 lives.

Now a £7.9 million project is underway to reinstate the path, replacing the missing spans, repairing a damaged abutment, constructing 200 metres of off-line route and excavating a 92-yard tunnel which had been filled in following the railway’s closure.

This video report considers Bouch’s legacy and charts some of the challenges associated with the ongoing works.

New hybrid locomotives arrive on the Snowdon Mountain Railway

The Snowdon Mountain Railway, which has been carrying visitors up the five-mile line from Llanberis to the top of the highest mountain in Wales and England sin 1896, has taken steps to keep the national tourist attraction accessible for many years to come by improving its sustainability.

Two brand new Clayton Equipment hybrid diesel locomotives have arrived on the mountain from Staffordshire, purchased with seven-figure support from HSBC Equipment Finance UK. These eight-tonne battery equipped trains will replace existing diesel locomotives and will be the first mountain hybrid train in the world.

Making an average of 750 journeys a year each locomotive, the updated locomotives will reduce emissions by up to 98 per cent compared to the diesel locomotives.

Heritage Great Britain PLC, the organisation operating the Snowdon Mountain Railway, will continue to operate traditional steam locomotives as part of its service. Its group finance director Peter Johnson-Treherne said: “We’re delighted to bring innovative hybrid technology onto the famous slopes of Snowdon. 2020 has obviously been a difficult period for everybody, especially those within the tourism sector, but we’re confident that this investment will keep us on the right tracks for the future.”

Jon Higginson, corporate relationship director for HSBC UK, added:

“It’s not every day you get to be involved in a special project like this, so we’re delighted to play our part in ensuring the future of such an iconic national tourist attraction. Heritage Great Britain understands the importance of putting sustainability at the heart of its portfolio and, in due course, we look forward to seeing the new locos in action.”

Working in line with Covid-19 Welsh Government guidance, operations will begin again on 10 July 2020 to welcome back the public.

Rail Engineer May/June 2020 – The Kilsby genie, Blockage success at Guildford, Value of call out contract and Reducing electrification costs.