Report of PWI S&WW Section Meeting 10th December 2018 Chairman: Andy Franklin Venue: Rail Office, St Patrick’s House, Penarth Road, Present: 32

Andy Franklin opened the meeting and welcomed everyone to the Network Rail Route Headquarters Offices in Cardiff

Apologies for Absence: Dave Williams, Phil Marshall (W of E), David Crowther, Steve Patterson, James Eustace, Ivor Davies, John Buxton Technical Meeting at Cardiff 10th December 2018 To a large audience Andy Franklin invited Richard Briggs and Lee Jones of Transport for Wales to deliver a presentation ‘The Journey Begins: The Transformation of the Rail Franchise’. Richard gave a brief resume of his previous projects including Midland Metro Centenary Square extension and preparations for battery-powered trams. In 2016 he was seconded into Transport for Wales franchise procurement team and is now the Technical Lead for the transformation of the Core Valley Lines around Cardiff. Lee joined Amey from British Rail having started his career in Newport. With Amey he is now Strategic Growth Director for Amey Rail and Chair of KeolisAmey Wales Cymru ODP. With Amey he was Operations Director for London Underground JNP lines including during the 2012 Olympics and then became involved with the ongoing joint venture partnerships with Keolis for Docklands Light Railway and Greater Manchester Metrolink franchises. In a joint presentation Richard concentrated on the developments to come in the Core Valley lines and Lee the wider Wales and Borders operations. But before this came an explanation of the organisation of TfW as an arm of Welsh Government with TfW Rail the franchise operator of rail services being a Keolis/Amey joint venture. Amey have a specific interest in infrastructure which is to be a major consideration in the restructured franchise and already had a good working relationship with Keolis on other franchises. Setting the scene was completed by the showing of a video produced by Transport for Wales outlining the aims and objectives of the new franchise. In a variation to the standard UK franchise the Welsh franchise is to operate to an Outcome based approach with 4trains per hour per route in the core valleys. The franchise seeks to grow the passenger market with Passenger facilities as No.1, including new trains and more seats when the full-service plans are fully operational by 2023. Service Improvement Plans are part of the committed obligations of the franchise with better trains to replace everything from the Pacers, to the Mk2 carriages on the Gerald of Wales but older trains may be kept in reserve to share the peak loads. Improved ticketing is also proposed to link with bus services allowing Heads of Valleys transport links. Wi-fi at stations will be a spin off from £200m of station improvements. £40m in station facilities will be engineering intense with £20m for catering and retail lead by commercial requirements. Lee, with nods of agreement from Richard as sponsor, said that there were many aspirations in the franchise that would be tried but if they did not match expectations they could be modified or even dropped if there was no need or market in a similar way to the fax machine which has become a piece of outdated technology. For the North Wales Metro to Wrexham class 230 D trains Vivarail trains are proposed and by a process of cascade, conversion and new build the average age of rolling stock on main line services will reduce from 25years currently to 7 by 2023. Reviewing the first 6weeks of the franchise Lee commented on the stormy ride through Storm Callum and leaf fall challenges which had caused the Canton Wheel Lathe to be in use 24/7 in recent days. Richard then explained the transformations proposed for the core valleys which no longer existed to transport coal but now were a lifeline for taking passengers to Cardiff. A limited service of coal trains still used the valley lines and provision would remain for services to increase if the need arose. For Passenger traffic there was an increasing need for heavy rail, Bus, Bus RT and light rail to encourage public transport on existing and new routes in the region. This required increased train seats and new services. From Autumn 2019 the core valley lines would transfer to Welsh Govt control under TfW and proposed a series of new works were proposed for completion by 2024. This will involve remodelling at Queen St and extensions at Cardiff Bay and redoubling some valley lines. New valley train stabling facilities at would be built at Taffs Well enabling Canton to be remodelled for main line stock. New Valley trains are on order. 36 tram train sets, (Electric/battery) will be built to main line crash worthiness standards because main line freight still uses these lines. 26 tri-mode (Electric, Battery, diesel) will work on both core valley and national rail. Richard explained how it was proposed to overcome the classic electrification cost escalators by utilising innovative methods. Permanently earthed sections of OLE would overcome bridge clearance interventions at 55 locations. Battery power on sections of line where no wire could be accommodated would enable multi mode stock to work through Caerphilly Tunnel. It was also proposed for line of sight wire free running in the Cardiff Bay extensions with rigid bar recharging at stations and termini. With the restoration or doubling of tracks in the Valleys the modified signalling system would also move away from the Network Rail WROC to a new signalling centre at Taffs Well. Asset transfer from Network Rail to WG was now in the discovery phase with a Transfer Framework Agreement the formal document which would transfer the assets and risk to WG. Future funding would be under WG control and carried out through the ODP part of the franchise.

After concluding their presentation, the speakers invited questions. These ranged from BREXIT implications and interoperability requirements, the provision of toilets at Metro stations and not on tram trains, elaboration of freight trains operating in the valleys, co-ordination of signalling infrastructure improvements with Network Rail on the Marches line and at other locations and the interface between track and signalling between NR and TfW. The speakers emphasised that toilets would be provided on all but Metro tram trains. Toilets would be provided on tri-mode trains to Rhymney. Being a small network with unique local situations the speakers foresaw the need for bespoke differential standards to those of Network Rail and these standards would be both quicker to implement and change than on the national network. In a commentary on recent improvements in travel it was stated that a journey on the Ebbw Valley train took 40minutes but the return journey by bus took two hours. Amplifying that journey opportunities were everything and the first and last mile of any public transport journey were not by public transport the speakers postulated future possibilities of autonomous bus travel or scooter hire. A vote of thanks to our speakers was carried unanimously when proposed by Paul Dally and further discussion later resumed when the speakers had a glass in their hands and went on into the evening. Date of next Meeting. 14th January 2019. Brian Whitney (Engineering Expert [Track and S&C]) Network Rail: Recent Developments in Rail Management – Eddy Current to Induction Welding.