Section Activities

A round up of recent activities in our Sections

AS PUBLISHED IN The Journal October 2015 Volume 133 Part 4

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BIRMINGHAM

CROYDON AND BRIGHTON

DARLINGTON & NORTH EAST

EDINBURGH Our online events calendar holds all GLASGOW of our Section meetings. IRISH

LANCASTER, BARROW & CARLISLE You’ll also fi nd full contact details on our website. MANCHESTER & LIVERPOOL

MILTON KEYNES

NORTH WALES

NOTTINGHAM & DERBY

SOUTH & WEST WALES

THAMES VALLEY

WESSEX

WEST OF

WEST YORKSHIRE

YORK

V.1.0 2 of 12 Here is a roundup of some of our Sections’ activities.

ASHFORD SECTION No meetings currently planned. Please keep an eye on the website for information as it becomes available.

BIRMINGHAM SECTION

Thursday 11th June 2015

The Chairman Paul King, Introduced our speakers and asked them to present their talk.

Bob Langford, Section Chair, opened by giving an overview of the Star Scheme and why it was needed. Bob explained that Steve Featherstone had started with a challenge to his team to come up with a training scheme which would introduce 20 new designers to the industry each year for 3 years.

Bob went on to explain the Passport which would outline learning objectives for the trainees, and then talked about the selection process which was undertaken to select the successful applicants.

Bob finished by showing the team collecting an award for the scheme at the Rail partnership awards.

Bob handed over to Kate Wilson, Track Design Trainee, WSP. Kate started by discussing her background in the fitness industry and why she was looking for a career change. Kate then talked about what she had found appealing about the rail industry.

Kate went on to discuss the foundation degree at Sheffield and the challenges of going back to studying after several years in full time employment. Kate then talked about her experience in employment from time with maintenance and seeing installation taking place on track to feasibility studies and design work in the office.

Kate handed over to Stefano Agnello, Track Design Trainee, . Stefano talked about the range of entrants in his year aged from 18 – 37 and gave a background to the partner companies they would be working with.

Stefano went on to talk about what the intake knew about the industry before joining and some of the surprises that were in store for them when they started the scheme. He talked about how the scheme was structured and some of the teething problems in the first year and how these could be addressed.

Following Q&A Paul offered a vote of thanks which was carried in the usual manner.

Thursday 10th October 2015

Midland Metro Site Visit.

The section Secretary Richard Quigley gathered the assembled members and visitors at Birmingham Snow Hill Metro Station and introduced Fred Roberts who led the tour.

The group rode the metro to Wednesbury Great Western Street and walked to the depot where a thorough safety briefing was given. A talk was then presented by Fred and Lee Ashmore detailing the current tram route and the currently under construction section to Birmingham New Street. The talk went on to detail a forthcoming approved extension to Birmingham Centenary Square as well as other plans for routes in the future. The talk went further to discuss the new Urbos 3 trams which are currently being introduced and the technological advancements that these have over the previously used trams. These included low level floors, improved bogie designs and more powerful motors as well as more powered wheels to help with the gradients in the extension section. The new trams will also have a third more room for passengers.

The tour then started with a walk through the workshop. The attendees were shown the innovative safety system used to protect depot workers which showed clearly when lines in the depot were protected and when OHLE equipment was isolated.

The tour proceeded over the new high level gantry used to access the equipment on top of the tram. Innovatively most of the trams working parts are on the top of the vehicle. This improves the lighting for working on the items and minimises the need for working below the vehicle in a pit.

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The tour moved on to look at the wheel lathe which was a later addition to the depot and had saved its own value many times over by removing wheel defects before they caused the trams to run at reduced speed or be removed from service for repair.

The tour then walked across the at the rear of the depot noting the twin block concrete sleepers, slab track BS80a rail and small turnouts with radii as tight as 25m, showing the contrast between the Metro’s system and UK heavy rail.

The tour concluded in the control centre where the signalling system for the metro was explained and shown in detail.

A vote of thanks was proposed by Richard and carried in the normal manner.

Participants in the Midland Metro visit BRISTOL AND WEST OF ENGLAND SECTION For future meetings, please visit the website for the most up to date information.

CROYDON AND BRIGHTON SECTION

Tuesday 8th September 2015

Paul Ebbutt Principal Project Engineer and Peter Kinselley Track Design Engineer presented their talk on the Northern Extension. Their talk was split into several parts.

Paul commenced with a section giving the background. The UK Government has set out a strategy entitled London Opportunity Areas which includes; the White City area – including the Westfi eld Development, Stratford area including the Olympic Park legacy and the Battersea area around the old Power Station which ceased generation some years V.1.0 4 of 12 Section meetings.

ago. The Battersea Power Station site and its surroundings have seen a number of developers make proposals for the site over the years. However one of the difficulties for the site has been poor transport links. This is one of the issues the Northern Line Extension project will address. It will also provide relief to the very crowded Victoria Line Vauxhall station.

The extension will leave the existing Northern line from the Kennington loop tunnel and will take over the Northern Line Charing Cross branch service whilst the City Branch services will run to Morden although it will still be possible to run from either branch to Battersea or Morden. The extension will have one intermediate station, at Nine Elms in Pascal Street, and terminate in a station at Battersea which will be incorporated in a high rise residential development, the over-run sidings beyond the station will be below the current Cats and Dogs home.

The current development scheme at the Battersea Power Station site was produced by a group of Malaysian developers who commenced the production of a Transport and Works Act for the Underground railway extension. This was taken over Secretary of State for Transport but still took 12 months to receive approval. The current programme is to open the line in 2020. The Contract for the work, which includes building, tunnels, station and track works, also includes additional rolling stock for the Northern Line. It is an NEC3 Target Price Contract with a 50/50 pain gain share mechanism. Site clearance started in March 2015 and the Tunnel boring machine will be launched in 2016 from the Battersea station box site towards Kennington where it will be removed through the new vent shafts which will be constructed near the Kennington loop.

Peter took over the presentation at this point to describe the track work. The line will 3.2 Km. long including the overrun/stabling sidings beyond the Battersea station which will lie below the Network Rail viaduct carrying the Brighton main line near Battersea Park Station. The tunnels will be 5.2 m. internal dia. and 5.76 m. external dia. This comparatively large diameter for a London Underground tube tunnel will allow for an access walkway which is required because the vent /evacuation shafts will greater than 900 metres apart. The route of the tunnels will have a minimum radius of 300 metres and this will allow the use of a non articulated tunnel boring machine. The boring machine will have to pass over and under and close to a number of existing tunnels carrying the London ring water main, electricity cables and the Victoria line. Boring will commence in the London clay a good boring medium but approaching Kennington will pass into the Lambeth gravel beds which are known to be water bearing and will pose more problems for tunnel construction. The maximum track gradient will be 2%. maximum 125mm and maximum design speed 90 km/h. All P&C will use Cv9.25 turnouts at both the Kennington loop junctions and the Scissors approaching Battersea station. The junctions of the new tunnels with the existing Cast Iron tunnel lining on the Kennington loop will be constructed using the Step plate technique which will prove quite challenging in the water bearing Lambeth gravels in that area. This section of the new tunnels will be beyond that constructed by the tunnel boring machine and will have a spray concrete lining.

Ground borne noise and vibration from the new line is a particular concern and must be limited to 35dB “in any room of any adjacent building”. This will be monitored in selected buildings after construction. Sonneville LVT concrete block in rubber boot track support form will be used throughout the new line to counteract ground borne noise and vibration. If there is still a problem a floating track slab on steel springs below the base plates track form will have to be used.

Paul and Peter then dealt very ably with a considerable number of questions. A vote of thanks was proposed by Tim Kendell and accepted with applause.

DARLINGTON & NORTH EAST SECTION For future meetings, please visit the website for the most up to date information.

EDINBURGH SECTION

Wednesday 3rd September 2015

Neil Hamilton, Network Rail and John Lyall, Rhomberg-Sersa jointly delivered a paper on Winchburgh Tunnel Slab Track.

Neil began with a background to the Edinburgh to Glasgow Improvement Project (EGIP) which is investing some £740m on service/journey time improvements including electrification within the central belt of Scotland to enable the new fleet of electric rolling stock. The main body of the programme is being delivered via the Network Rail, Morgan Sindall and Costain Alliance partnership. The works were delivered at Winchburgh Tunnel by specialist contractors V.1.0 5 of 12 Section meetings.

Babcock and Rhomberg –Sersa on behalf of the Alliance.

Winchburgh Tunnel is located on the main Edinburgh to Glasgow line, just over 10miles west of Edinburgh. Even with the use of rigid bar OLE, to enable electrification, the existing ballasted track through Winchburgh had to be significantly lowered and replaced with a high fixity slab track system. Due to logistics and the constraints of the site, the use of a part precast system was developed to reduce the quantity of wet pour during the 44 day disruptive access blockade (13 June to 27th July 2015)

Although straight in the centre section, the tunnel is flanked by curves at both ends with pre cast curve transition units required to facilitate this. Vertically, the tunnel sits fairly level, with a shallow gravity drain heading east. Dolerite rock and mudstone were removed from the tunnel invert to provide the new trackbed level. Dowels at 3m centres were then set in to the bedrock and the base slab poured. The main drain is set in the 6 foot whilst supplementary drainage exists in each cess linking up to the 6 foot.

The historically tight clearances were well known at this location but the extent of the tunnels horizontal alignment irregularities were not as well known to the delivery team.

John then took over starting with the concept of the V-TRAS Transition unit between the slab and the ballasted track. He explained it is not a bridge or a structure, merely a transitional unit fixed at one end onto a cast beam which was packed via Robel Packers.

The 184 individually numbered pre-cast POR panels needed 46 truckloads of 4 panels per wagon and 11 salmons to get to site, then placed with “monsterbug” plant. The Vossloh fastenings at 650mm centres on this occasion were retrospectively fitted. Once the panels were jacked to +/- 2mm the self-compacting concrete (grout) was then placed after 6-12 hours curing the spindles were taken out. 11 Newton’s were achieved after 11 hours, however 15 hours were allowed for in the process.

During the works the management of ground water was a continual challenge and several historical drainage pipes were located during the works, some of which had no formal records and one that even ran directly under one of the lines.

With the exception of a small number of post pour thermal curing cracks which were expected, the concrete pours went very well and were often fed via the pump from above. The 5m3 loads were provided every 20 minutes and went on for 34 loads.

A strict monitoring regime was set in place both during and after the works covering both the existing tunnel and the new track system. From the traces and data feedback, the trial is so far deemed to be a success and it looks like further sites will progress in the UK including the Queen Street High Level Tunnel in 2016.

A vote of thanks was given by section Chairman Russell Kimber to Neil & John for very rewarding presentation and this was warmly seconded by all present.

GLASGOW SECTION

Wednesday 18th March 2015

Eric Ryder welcomed members and introduced the speaker for the evening, David Trainer from Babcock Rail in Hamilton, who gave his presentation Tunnel Slab Track Works. To set the scene of his presentation David advised that Asfordby Tunnel forms part of the Old Dalby Test Track in . The tracks are still used to test new and refurbished trains. It is electrified at 25Kv OHL as well as 3rd rail and is currently testing new trains for London Underground and London Overground, which are being manufactured at Bombardier in Derby. This also allows a testbed for new innovations which cannot be accommodated on live railway . The site of Asfordby tunnel has been used to evaluate new types of slab track for use on Network Rail, where Babcock Rail installed a selection of systems in the tunnel for Rhomberg Systems; There are 21Km of track on the Old Dalby system, with a maximum speed allowed of 90 mph for conventional trains or 125 mph for tilting trains. The system being tested in the tunnel was one which has been installed in Austria in Vienna stations to allow more clearance in tunnels for OHL.

David took us through some of the major components. The Austrian components are 650mm wide and a distance

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of 124m was laid in the tunnel. There is also a transition unit installed from the slab track in the tunnel to normal ballasted track. The track is laid on an asphalt base and is secured by Vossloh clips. There is also another section laid in the tunnel which uses skeletal slabs 5.1m long and 2.4M wide. These are dowelled together to form a distance of

The results of renewals work at Asfordby Tunnel have come out in favour of the skeletal system. The opportunity to use this system will be taken in Scotland in June 2015 when Winchburgh Tunnel on the Glasgow to Edinburgh line, via Falkirk is closed for track lowering and OHL installation, as part of the EGIP Project. It will also be used in the Queen Street Tunnels, when this is closed in 2016. The system was chosen for its ease of installation as well as installation time. Once installed it should come with a 60 years guarantee from Rhomberg Systems.

Phil Cave gave a vote of thanks to David.

Wednesday 15th April 2015

The meeting was held in the Network Rail Conference Centre in Glasgow. Eric Ryder opened the meeting and welcomed Members. We were delighted to welcome Steve Featherstone, Programme Director,Track Infrastructure Projects, from Network Rail, who gave his presentation “Track Delivery Update”. Steve set the scene of his presentation by outlining how infrastructure projects must add value to the network. Each project is reviewed on a six monthly basis; there are four Regions who look after projects nationally, each giving customers a single point of contact. These are centres of excellence covering Track and Signals.

Recently the track renewals contracts have been renewed with new contractors now in place. Contracts have been split into Plain Line and Switch and Crossing contracts. In Scotland, the plain line contractor is Babcock Rail, who also have similar contracts in the Southern , Wales and Wessex, Western and the South West. The switch and crossing contract is a consortium, covering installation and design. In Scotland the contractor is Amey Sersa.

The National High Output Track Renewals and High Output Ballast cleaning contracts have also recently been taken in house by Network Rail. The original contractors’ staff have transferred to Network Rail. High Output Ballast Cleaning can also now be carried out in areas. These activities represent a £500M investment in modern machinery, employing 500 staff. The 15 years vision is to increase the production rate by utilising 25% more possession time on sites.

Modern track renewals sites now make extensive use of Road/Rail vehicles to make best use of the possession times available on site. To simplify work on site in plain line renewals there are five types of work. Drainage and IBJs may also be part of the work.

Russell Kimber our Vice President for Scotland gave a vote of thanks to Steve and the meeting closed.

Wednesday 20th May 2015

This was the Annual General Meeting of the Glasgow Section. Eric Ryder our Chairman opened the meeting and welcomed those present. .Under the election of Section Officials for 2015/16, the following were elected, Chairman – Tom Wilson, Vice Chairman Eric Ryder, and Secretary - Jack Scott. Committee – Tom Wilson, Eric Ryder, Jack Scott, Jill Coleman and John Oates,

Eric then introduced Andrew Blakeley, from Network Rail in Glasgow who presented his paper “Carstairs Conundrum”

Andrew set the scene of his presentation by outlining the problems faced with the current Carstairs layout. There is a high speed main line for the Virgin Trains on the WCML, passing loops at the station and a two platform layout. The major constraint is the connection to the ECML where a 15 mph PSR exists.

There is an opportunity in the next few years when the signalling is due to be renewed. Quite a lot of the existing S&C is approaching the end of its life, so will need to be renewed. A number of options are currently being looked at. Some of the current S&C has turnouts on a curve, which is not desirable, as well as access to Ravenstruther coal load facility not far away from Carstairs. The existing cant through the platform on the main Line is 100mm and speed improvements could be possible if this was raised to 150mm.

Network Rail’s aspirations for the area is to provide more trains and increase the speed. A lot of the existing layout was planned when services were very different. Before the advent of HS2 reaching Scotland, Virgin would like to

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improve its existing service between Glasgow and London to a timetabled 4 hours. If HS2 happens the services would be improved to 3 hours, The Serco Caledonian sleeper service is the only train which now joins and splits at Carstairs. In the new signalling plan it is expected that all lines will be bi-directionally signaled. There is also the opportunity to lengthen the freight loops for larger trains. With a realignment of the station lines and a higher speed, along with rationalisation, it should be possible to produce a new layout with 12 S&C units. This should show a saving of 2 to 3 minutes on the WCML trains. The ultimate goal would be a 4 track WCML layout, but that may not be aff ordable. However if HS2 ever crosses the border to Scotland it could also be in the Carstairs area, but that could be many years away for now.

The new layout will be planned for 2 trains per hour from Carstairs to Edinburgh, from the North, 4 trains per hour from Carlisle to Edinburgh, which avoid the station area and 4 trains an hour from Carlisle to Glasgow. These are all passenger trains, with additional freight trains in the hourly slots.

Eric Ryder gave a vote of thanks to Andrew.

Saturday 13th June 2015

This was the Annual Inter Section Quiz at the County Hotel, Carlisle, with teams taking part from Darlington and the North East, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Lancaster, Barrow, North Wales and Carlisle and Manchester and Liverpool sections.

A special thanks to Ian Ellis for providing this year’s questions for the quiz. After a number of rounds, the victors, by a large margin were the team from Glasgow of Tom Wilson, John Oates and Jim Watson.

Russell Kimber, VP Scotland, presenting the Hardrian Shield to Tom Wilson IRISH SECTION For future meetings, please visit the website for the most up to date information.

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LANCASTER, BARROW & CARLISLE SECTION For future meetings, please visit the website for the most up to date information.

LONDON SECTION

Monday 8th June 2015

This was the final meeting of the 2014/15 programme for the London Section, and was chaired by Jonathan Bray, Vice- Chair of the London Section.

After some brief Section business, Jonathan introduced Toby Oliver who gave a presentation on train arrestor performance covering a review of accidents at terminal stations in the UK and abroad, the assessment of risk at terminal stations and the modelling of Train Emergency Brake / Friction Arrestor performance in the design of LUL terminal stations.

From the very earliest days of railways there has been some measure employed to stop things rolling off the end of a track; the most basic option being a heavy timber beam laid across the rails. This primitive measure of preventing trains from overruns developed through bending the ends of the rails upwards by about two feet, into the most common form of rail-built buffer stop which has served railways across the world for many years.

The desire to reduce the damage caused to rolling stock in the event of overrun has led to the development of a variety of modern train arrestors which are designed to dissipate the impact energy from an overrun. These are frequently used in conjunction with signalling approach and speed control.

Toby looked at the history of buffer stops and variations of them. Buffer stops tended to be the poor cousin of track infrastructure, and used to be made from whatever materials were readily available. The ‘traditional’ designs were only suitable for slow speed collisions with light stock. In an attempt to reduce damage in the event of collision hydraulic arrestors were developed which dissipated impact energy by the transfer of fluid from cylinders behind the buffer beam into a reservoir incorporated into the buffer stop.

Toby then moved onto modern fixed rail arrestors. Traditional buffer stop designs failed in the buffing beam, which absorbed energy by sliding the sleepers through the ballast. There are also designs for temporary fixed arrestors with variations of folding and pivoting mechanisms.

In the Railway Group Standards a number of factors have to be considered for fixed arrestors, and the conflict between speed and operational requirements for services has to be reconciled.

The findings from the Moorgate collision lead to review of speeds, signalling, driving techniques and approach control. Various arresting devices were tested by LU to improve the performance. Chipping arrestors out-performed friction arrestors and became the LU preferred design, although subsequent improvement in friction arrestors was achieved by use of ductile iron shoes.

Toby’s presentation presented a number of overrun accidents around the world from various points in history.

Toby showed testing of friction arrestors, and explained that the advantage of friction arrestors is that they can be reset following a train strike and can be used in conjunction with hydraulic rams mounted on the buffing beam to reduce the peak forces. Any installation of train arrestors needs to look at a number of criteria on a risk basis. In association with the introduction of S stock to LU these criteria were applied to the introduction of train arrestors. Toby explained how it was necessary to calculate the slide distance of each train arrestor if struck by a train, including the effect of emergency brake application, using a time-step model built in Excel using a number of factors.

Test data was available from friction arrestor tests in Upminster in the 1990s, and although it was variable it was sufficiently accurate to validate the model to within 10%. The model was developed to provide a user interface to allow its use by others. Compatibility between rolling stock buffing gear and the train-arrestor face is a significant issue and offers the greatest reduction of risk. Track curvature introduces further criteria to be assessed.

Following a lengthy Q&A session which generated some very interesting discussion the Vote of Thanks was given by Chris White.

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MANCHESTER & LIVERPOOL SECTION

Monday 7th Sept 2015

This Section meeting was a joint one with IMechE (Railway Division) and IRSE and 42 members and guests of the three institution were in attendance. The subject was five decades of derailment investigation. The speaker, Mike McLoughlin joined the railway industry in the nineteen fifties but it was when he moved to the Derby Research Centre in 1964 that he became involved in derailment investigations and subsequently investigated derailments in China and .

Seven distinct developments in investigations since 1960’s:

• Investigation Methodology • Technical advances in the wheel rail interface • Moves to systemic investigations • Human factors • Rail privatisation • Development of industry standards • Creation of an independent investigating body

During the 1960s introduction of Modernisation Plan locomotives and increases in linespeeds and axle loads increased the number of derailments of two axle freight vehicles.Original investigations used traditional hand surveying techniques to plot track alignment. Whilst the technology has changed the principles remained the same:

• Identify initial point of derailment – find evidence • Work out the sequence of events from the point of derailment to where the train stopped. • Separate out consequences and get back to causal factors (i.e. damage that caused the derailments from the subsequent damage caused by the accident).

In 1986 cyclic top was first identified as a causal factor for derailments involving two axle tanker wagons at 45 mph. Release of energy on exit ramp of dip excited the natural frequency of the vehicles which amplified successive dips until derailment occurred.

Conclusions of the presentation were:

• Over reliance on RAIB – should be separate investigation. • Too much reliance on process – need to identify causal factors. • Reports do not contain technical details or supporting evidence • Too much reliance on technology (loss of old skills) • Derailments in sidings not investigated.

MILTON KEYNES SECTION For future meetings, please visit the website for the most up to date information.

NORTH WALES SECTION For future meetings, please visit the website for the most up to date information.

NOTTINGHAM & DERBY SECTION For future meetings, please visit the website for the most up to date information.

SHEFFIELD AND DONCASTER SECTION No meetings currently planned. Please keep an eye on the website for information as it becomes available.

SOLENT SECTION No meetings currently planned. Please keep an eye on the website for information as it becomes available.

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SOUTH & WEST WALES SECTION For future meetings, please visit the website for the most up to date information.

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN SECTION No meetings currently planned. Please keep an eye on the website for information as it becomes available.

THAMES VALLEY SECTION

Wednesday 3rd June 2015

The Chairman welcomed our Speakers for the evening, Mark Howells and Philip Holbourn, both of whom are members of our Section. Mark is a Committee member, similarly Phil who is also Section Vice-Chairman. Jeremy invited Mark to begin the proceedings and present his paper entitled “Drainage – Refurbishing the Past, for the Future”.

Mark began by describing his role as Senior Drainage Engineer, Network Rail Western Route, and the work that he and his team are carrying out to maintain and renew track and other infrastructure drainage systems on the route. This includes monitoring and in some cases intervening when third party works affect the railway, and contributing to the current GW electrification project when work such as track lowering and installation of mast bases significantly affects lineside drainage. Mark showed many interesting slides depicting investigations into drainage problems, the solution process, and the remedial works undertaken.

Jeremy then invited Philip to present his paper entitled “The Acton Diveunder Project: Slab Track Design and Approval, and Recent Construction Works”.

Philip, who is Project Engineer, Track, Network Rail Crossrail On-Network Works (West), began with a reprise of his previous papers on the subject to the Section, and outlined the current status of the work on the Diveunder and the adjacent area.

He then continued through a series of highly informative slides to explain the rationale for the slab and track design in what are extremely restrictive conditions, and the approvals process which involved extensive modelling together with analysis of installations on a number of other railway administrations in arriving at the final design. He described the construction works, and included other major works in the area which are an integral part of the overall project.

Both speakers entered into discussion with the audience both during and after their respective presentations; on completion of Philip’s talk the Chairman conducted a further lively discussion session with comments and questions directed to both speakers from the floor.

Purely for reasons of time, Jeremy brought the discussions to a close; he then asked the Secretary to propose the Vote of Thanks to both speakers. This was carried with acclamation.

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