Section Activities
A round up of recent activities in our Sections
AS PUBLISHED IN The Journal January 2016 Volume 134 Part 1
V.1.0 1 of 21 Sections
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 LONDON our website. MANCHESTER & LIVERPOOL
MILTON KEYNES
NORTH WALES
NOTTINGHAM & DERBY
SOUTH & WEST WALES
THAMES VALLEY
WESSEX
WEST OF ENGLAND
WEST YORKSHIRE
YORK
V.1.0 2 of 21 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 8th October 2015
Plain Line Pattern Recognition
The Section Joint Chairman Paul King welcomed everyone to the first evening meeting in the new venue of Network Rail’s offices in the Mailbox. Paul commented on the excellent attendance before introducing the evening speaker David Webb, Route Asset Manager Track LNW.
David’s talk began with the historical reasons for track patrolling and talked about the essential role this performed on a railway formed of jointed track. He then moved on to explain how Network Rail had changed their inspection frequencies for track formed of continuous welded rail based on the tonnage and line speed of traffic that a route carried. This would give a more risk based approach to the basic visual inspection (BVI). David then talked about plain line pattern recognition of a train bourne system which takes a still image every 0.8mm at a line speed of 125mph anduses a computer algorithm to identify the kinds of faults that would be picked up by the BVI showing many photographic examples. This includes:-
• Missing or ineffective clips or fastenings • Breaks of cracks in the rail • Missing bolts in IRJ’s • Damaged IRJ’s • Too little ballast, or ballast obscuring the view of fastenings
David went on to talk about the way in which the computers suspect faults were then reviewed by data processing teams and passed to the maintainer to review and rectify within a timescale. He then focused on how the maintainer could reallocate the staff that would normally be performing BVI to other tasks including more detailed inspections of S&C where the highest risks in the track asset lie.
David then spent some time looking at eddy current which is fitted to the ultrasonic testing train to detect rolling contact fatigue cracks and give their depth to the maintenance teams. This identifies those at highest risk allowing prioritisation of defects.
The final section of David’s talk concentrated on where this technology could be expanded in the future. Following a question and answer session a vote of thanks was proposed by Paul and carried in the normal manner.
Tuesday 20th October 2015
IP Track – Bringing Hollywood to the Rail Industry
The Section Secretary Richard Quigley welcomed everyone and introduced the speaker Ameet Masania, Programme Manager.
Ameet’s talk began by discussing the significant funding gap Network Rail currently faces for control period 5. This set the background to the technological improvements that were being developed to make jobs simpler, faster and leaner.
Ameet demonstrated the IPad apps that have been developed to help ease the population of on site forms such as survey witness diagrams, trial hole logs and pre construction plans.
Ameet moved on to show a mapping application that showed the positions of all NR access points with a photograph of the gate and the key number required. The IPad or IPhone camera can be used to show you in real time the location and distance from your current location of the access point.
Next Ameet talked about how mezzanines technology similar to that shown in Minority Report would make it possible to remotely hold meetings like IDC/IDR’s by manipulating and marking up drawings in 3d space with the touch of your V.1.0 3 of 21 Section meetings.
fingers. This is instantly shared with the other meeting participants.
The next item of technology showed how the Wigan Springs Branch blockade was planned using 4D technology where a computer model shows every task in the possession in real time. This is presented as a virtual model where each stage can be evaluated at the whiteboard meeting.
Finally Ameet discussed a virtual safety scenario which took used the real life events from Hope station. This was presented in the form of a computer game to add a new and interesting dimension to a very serious subject. The user could walk around and identify hazards and what has the potential to cause harm. The scenario asked pertinent safety questions along the way and provided feedback on where the users’ actions had potential to cause harm.
Richard proposed a vote of thanks carried in the normal manner.
Thursday 12th November 2015
Stafford Remodelling
The section Chairman Bob Langford welcomed our speaker Simon Clifford, Scheme Sponsor, Network Rail and thanked him for stepping in at short notice.
Simon started with a short section on the background to the scheme and the technical scope of works which included track and OHLE works to enable line speed enhancements from 75mph to 100mph as well as the installation of banner repeater signals. The scope also included significant earth and bridgeworks for the Norton bridge flyover project.
The majority of Simons presentation consisted of site photographs, videos and discussion around the activities and challenges faced on site. These included local community engagement and environmental issues such as newts and trees. Following a Q&A session a vote of thanks was proposed by Bob and carried in the normal manner.
BRISTOL AND WEST OF ENGLAND SECTION No meetings currently planned. Please keep an eye on the website for information as it becomes available.
CROYDON AND BRIGHTON SECTION
Tuesday 10th November, 2015
Mike Curthoys the Section Chairman opened the meeting by introducing Jol Bates the PWI President who was visiting the Section for the evening. Jol shared a few thoughts about encouraging developments and events undertaken by the Institution during the past year. Mike Curthoys then introduced his colleague at Mott MacDonald, Alan Cudlipp and asked him to present his paper “Coleraine to Derry - Londonderry Route Upgrade”.
Alan commenced his talk by giving a short history of his professional career, commencing in York with British Railways Civil Engineering Dept. in 1981. He held various posts with British Railways (and others following privatisation) until he moved to Mott MacDonald in 2004 where he became involved with the “Coleraine to Derry - Londonderry Route Upgrade” project around 2012. He is now the Technical Director, Professional Head (Track Engineering) Mott MacDonald and Vice –President for England (Central) – Permanent Way Institution.
He commenced the project with a walk through the length of the route. The route is 33.5 miles of single line with one passing loop inconveniently placed towards the Coleraine end of the route, limiting the train service to a two hourly frequency. This issue has only been addressed in the later phases of the projected. The initial phase of the project involved 18 miles of conversion of jointed track to CWR and 13 miles of full track renewal. A large part of the track renewals required track slues to enable a CWR compliant ballast shoulder to be created along the banks of Lough Foyle and beside the sea. The original line was built between 1845 and 1861, when the line reached Belfast. The track had previously been relayed in the 1970’s and was in need of urgent attention in many places; hence the considerable amount of work proposed. Part of the driver for the work was to provide a good transport link to the “2013 City of Culture” in Londonderry. A 7 month closure was provided for the works. This allowed removal of the track, and formation lowering and profiling to allow a fall to new cess drainage on the landward side of the line, capturing extensive runoff from the adjacent high ground before it reached the track, as well as that from the track. A series of
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culverts were reconstructed to take the water from the cess drain under the track to Lough Foyle. A value engineering audit was undertaken of the scheme to ensure that all disciplines made best use of the closure. Other works involved the refurbishment of the 11-span bridge over the River Bann, which included the bascule lifting span which is still operational. A two-week closure of the lifting span to shipping enabled the span to be encapsulated. This ensured containment of all the waste to ensure the environment was not affected and a high quality surface coating could be applied. All the level crossings on the route were refurbished. One level crossing, including the associated road, was even lowered as this removed the need to construct extensive and expensive retaining walls to accommodate the refurbished track and ballast shoulders. The level crossing which provides the emergency run off at the end of the runway at Derry Airport was also upgraded.
The cost of the works was as follows: - Track Safety Upgrade from Jointed to CWR £ 7.65 million Track Renewals £ 26.7 million Bann Bridge Refurbishment £ 3.94 million Minor Bridge works £ 0.24 million
Total £ 38.53 million at 2012 prices
The works were completed a week early.
Tim Kendall proposed a vote of thanks for a very interesting and well-presented paper and asked those present to show their appreciation, which they duly did. The meeting was attended by 26 members and visitors.
Tuesday 8th December
Following the Formal notices by the Section Secretary Martin Cresswell, Tim Kendall deputising for the Section Chairman introduced the evening’s speaker John Doyle Deputy Director of Operations, Crossrail to give his paper, An Update on the Development of the Crossrail Project.
John opened by highlighting some of the major facts regarding the Crossrail Project including the following:-
• The Project has approximately 10,000 people working across 40 construction sites • The total Budget is £14.8 billion and is currently on time and on budget • The finished Project is estimated to generate £42 billion per year in GDP
This is based on 200 million trips/year on the finished Crossrail system. (The Jubilee Line currently has 215 million trips/year.)
The original Project was to terminate in the West at Maidenhead but is now to extend as far as Reading and it is planned that the Great Western Electrification Project will be complete to Reading when Crossrail trains are due to start running to that point in 2020 at the end of the Crossrail Project.
Initially Crossrail has taken over the Liverpool Street to Shenfield service running on the existing railway infrastructure. The first Crossrail trains on new infrastructure will be from Abbey Wood to the new Low Level Crossrail platforms at Paddington in December 2017. The other services will then be added in stages.
Currently all the tunneling is complete and the new stations fit out is at the half way point. Lots of work has still to be undertaken on the existing Network Rail Infrastructure outside the central area tunnels. All the existing stations in the outer areas are to be upgraded to better match the new central area stations and minimise any “tide mark”. All Crossrail stations are to be staffed throughout their opening hours. This has many benefits not least to deter suicides. There is evidence where this has been tried in current suicide hot spots that incidents have been significantly reduced. Full height platform doors are to be fitted to all the stations in the tunnels which will support the operation of the ventilation system. All platforms will have driver only operation cameras with associated monitors in the train cab. All trains will be 9 x 23 metres cars long but passive provision has been made for 11 car operations. Initially the first trains introduced will operate as 7 car trains until platform lengthening is completed on the Liverpool St- Shenfield route. Each car will have three sets of doors and air conditioning.
John Steed closed the meeting with a Vote of Thanks for a very informative and interesting meeting and asked all those present to show their appreciation in the usual way which they did warmly.
V.1.0 5 of 21 Section meetings.
DARLINGTON & NORTH EAST SECTION For future meetings, please visit the website for the most up to date information.
EDINBURGH SECTION
Thursday 5th November 2015
Niall Fagan, head of track engineering for HS2 made the trip north to Edinburgh to deliver a paper on High Speed Track Design.
Niall got the High Speed Track Design (HSTD) evening underway on a humorous note by joking that, if you have not heard of the UKs High speed proposals, you must have been living in a cave. Thankfully even his Scottish colleagues were reasonably familiar with the baseline principles.
One of the key initial fundamentals of high speed is the separation of traffic in terms of speed, capability and track damage. This resulted in the requirement for a dedicated route constructed and maintained to suitable parameters. It was clear that traditional or even current UK standards may be appropriate for existing linespeeds, but the requirements for high-speed are greatly different. This issue leads closer to examining current international standards and guidance. Infrastructure, components and construction processes from around the world have also been reviewed. At the early concept stages of HSTD, it was clear that it was very important to base primary fundamentals on normal/primary values rather than automatically pushing everything to its design max immediately.
Regarding the volume of existing high speed track, The UK is very low in comparison with China and even Spain. However there are aspirations to improve this moving into the longer term future.
In terms of numbers, the scale of geometry elements in HSTD such as vertical curves are of much greater values that normal track engineers will be accustomed to working to. There have however been lessons learnt from HS1 engineering which is being applied to today’s UK HSTD. Again due to speed, when S&C is looked at, the size of a crossover becomes incomprehensible in terms of normal logistic to install and maintain using traditional methods due the S&C being over twice the size of regular domestic S&C. The proposed guidance on the proximity of underbridges to S&C due to differential stiffness is a major issue with significantly greater distances than a standard rail network. The different transitions between track with different track stiffness’s was discussed and it was clear there were a variety of different options for debate.
In addition to engineering feasibility, HSTD also needs to justify its investment, therefore a structured evaluation process which demonstrates value for money has to be applied.
The cradle to grave philosophy is high on the agenda with reduced fragmentation of the stages which provides more ownership and overall accountability. With the high tonnage and dynamic loading, Under Sleeper Pads (USP’s) could well reduce the amount of tamping required and significantly increase the contact area. Even the suitability of regular grade ballast was examined for high speed construction, with a limited amount of quarries available in the UK that can supply the higher grade specification.
Finally Niall ended the evening by admitting that there may be some buildings in central London that may require to be removed to allow a high speed line to be constructed, some of which he will miss, but should we stand in the way of progress.
A vote of thanks was given by section chairman Russell Kimber to Niall for an excellent & methodical presentation, which was warmly seconded by all present.
Thursday 5th November 2015
Edinburgh Vice Chairman Andrew Blakeley, Senior Project Engineer, Network Rail delivered a paper on the Aberdeen to Inverness Route Improvement Programme (A2I).
Andy started by demonstrating the significance of the £170m project when compared with the other Top 5 STPR schemes such as the Forth Replacement Crossing, Borders Route Railway and A9 re-dualling. A quick history lesson on the route was then given, explaining how several different routes merged into one and surprising many of the audience just how old the 108mile route between Aberdeen and Inverness actually is. This V.1.0 6 of 21 Section meetings.
explained the rather confusing mileage changes mid route between ANI1, ANI2 & ANI3.
Due to today’s fairly light traffic density and rural status a lot of the route contains traditional jointed track and obsolete components which although fit for today’s traffic will require upgrading to sustain the increased volume and speed of the proposed services.
Rather than just concentrating on full end to end journey time improvements, the bigger aspirations by 2019 are to provide enhanced commuter capability at both the West end (Inverness to Elgin) and the East end (Aberdeen to Inverurie). This would also include the provision of 2 new stations, Dalcross on the West and Kintore on the East in addition to Platform Extensions at Elgin & Inch.
To accommodate the increased volume of traffic, re-instating the double track between Aberdeen and Inverurie is also proposed. This will often involve re-positioning the existing single track in the centre of the solumn back to its original alignment. This process is not as easy as it sounds, as much of the old solumn now hosts rail infrastructure such as signals, masts and S&T cubicles etc.
The relocation of Forres Station from its current position on a very tight reverse curve due to the previous multi- platform triangle capability reverts to a simple East/West design meaning increased speed capability, reduced maintenance and simplified station working.
It was clear from Andy’s presentation that a lot of thought had been put into how to achieve Journey Time Improvements (JTI), and not just about speed increases. A multi-disciplinary and multi-stakeholder approach was used to look at the capabilities, influences and reliances of each of these to work in harmony to achieve the end result of JTIs.
One of the other significant issues increasing the journey time was the token exchange process which if you have travelled on this route you will know is very laborious. Re-signalling with modern simplified modular signalling will greatly improve this current slight archaic constraint. At one point Andy had several of the members out of their comfort zone when covering the principles of the signalling “Black Art” but was able to simplify the principles and break it down into understandable stages. By the end we all understood the importance of many principles such as simultaneous arrival and safe overrun distances.
Finally the evening ended with a virtual computer animated journey along the re-developed route which has been used to assist with route modelling for activities such as signal sighting etc.
A vote of thanks was given by section Chairman Russell Kimber to Andy for a very thorough yet understandable presentation which was warmly seconded by all present.
Friday 4th December 2015
The Edinburgh Section travelled to the small town of Throsk to the Black Wolf Brewery for the annual Social Tour.
Graham Coul welcomed the Edinburgh section to the brewery on the Banks of the river Forth. The sharp eyed amongst the visitors had noted on arrival the embedded rails in the external forecourt area. Graham advised us that the building had previously had a military background where it had actually been used to store torpedoes, thus the bogie tracks. Thankfully they had all now gone and been replaced with beer casks and bottles.
The Throsk company rebranded itself in 2014 from Traditional Scottish Ales to the Black Wolf Brewery and now produces 12 core craft beers, craft lagers, heritage and premium products in addition to many seasonal varieties. After the brewing process was explained the afternoon turned to some sampling, starting with the very light beers and finishing on some rather dark and distinctive versions. Whilst bottling is carried out on site, due to the success of the operation, supplementary bottling is farmed out until the existing bottling plant can be extended to accommodate this additional demand.
What with hurricane Desmond looming and the complete closure of the Forth Road Bridge, the delegates made for home after a very enjoyable afternoon.
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A vote of thanks was given by section chairman Russell Kimber to Graham, for an excellent afternoon & being a most hospitable host, which was warmly seconded by all present.
GLASGOW SECTION
Wednesday 16th September 2015
Tom Wilson opened the meeting and welcomed members. We were delighted to welcome David Packer, our Chief Executive Offi cer, who gave his presentation PWI Accreditation Routes.
David set the scene of his presentation by advising us what constituted The Permanent Way. That being any engineering activity from fence to fence. For many years the work of staff within Permanent Way has not been recognised and staff were directed to Civils, Mechanical or Electrical Institutions, to get their competency recognised. However all that has now changed and the PWI is now in the process of awarding competency in Permanent Way activities. Applications are now being taken on the PWI website for EngTech, I Eng and C Eng in Permanent Way. To apply for EngTech, members will need to hold an ONC, HNC, HND or other equivalent qualifi cations. Each application needs to be sponsored by a Supervising Engineer who is known to the applicant. The higher the qualifi cation being sought, the higher the level of achievement will be needed. With a minimum of an Engineering degree for C Eng grade.
PWI will be awarding their fi rst applicants later in 2015, in conjunction with their partner Institution IGEM. However the ultimate goal, subject to Engineering Council approval will be that PWI will be able to award in their own right.
Professional registration is recognition that an individual’s competence and commitment has been assessed and that they have attained the standard required for admission to the Engineering Council Register at the appropriate level. It provides a benchmark through which employers, clients and the public can have confi dence and trust that registered individuals have met the globally recognised professional standard.
Applications will be reviewed and monitored by a Membership Committee and the applicant then invited to a formal interview depending on the grade. The system of recognition will be every bit as vigorous as other Engineering Institutions. After being awarded their qualifi cation, members must be able to prove CPD to keep their qualifi cation. The PWI off ers a uniquely tailored journey to professional registration for rail infrastructure engineers to meet the current and future needs of the rail industry
Eric Ryder gave a Vote of Thanks to David.
V.1.0 8 of 21 Section meetings.
Wednesday 21st October 2015
Tom Wilson opened the meeting and welcomed members. Our speakers for the evening were Paul Reilly from Network Rail and John Lyall from the ABC Consortium, who gave their joint presentation EGIP Works at Winchburgh Tunnel.
Paul set the scene of the presentation by outlining the scope of the EGIP Project and the planned works in the Winchburgh area, which were completed on time and to budget in July 2015. The total value of the EGIP Project is £742M and covers the upgrading of the main Glasgow to Edinburgh lines, via Falkirk High, as well as a diversion route The major part of the Project is to install overhead lines. Winchburgh Tunnel does not have the required clearances for the installation of the OHL. So major works were needed to lower the tunnel floor and install paved track to gain more clearance. Even after this was completed it was still not sufficient clearance to install standard OHL. So the contact wire for trains through the tunnel area will be achieved by a solid conductor fixed to the tunnel roof. To otherwise gain sufficient clearance would need the reconstruction of the tunnel or a diversion route, neither of which were acceptable for cost or completion date. Similar works will also need to be carried out at Glasgow Queen Street tunnel in early 2016. The chosen system for paved track was one used by Austrian Railways in tunnels around the Vienna area. It consists of pre-assembled skeleton panels of track being accurately placed on the cleared tunnel floor, which has had new draining installed before the slab track is placed. After levelling and alignment has been established the panels are dowelled into a fixed position. Concrete is then poured to a final level to fix the units into place. The rails are then attached to the slab track and final check is made afterwards to achieve the required position.
The works at Winchburgh were carried out in a planned closure of the site during summer 2015, when most commuters were on holiday and trains were diverted to other routes.
John Oates, Director of Civil Engineering and Design with Babcock Rail gave a Vote of Thanks to Paul and John.
Wednesday 18th November 2015
Russell Kimber the PWI Vice President for Scotland opened the meeting and introduced our Master of Ceremonies for the evening Bill Reeve, the Commercial Director with Transport Scotland in Glasgow. We had six short 10 minutes presentations, from a wide range of subjects. These papers appear in this Journal.
After completion of the presentations and whilst our distinguished judging panel of Chris Kinchen-Smith, IMechE President, Stephen Muirhead, Network Rail Signal Engineer, Scotland and last year’ presentation winner, Chris Fachie from Network Rail in Glasgow, considered their choice of prize Winners, the assembled members enjoyed a finger buffet.
The winner of the contest was Manuel Neves, a Geotechnical Engineer, with CH2M, in Glasgow, with his presentation Geotechnical Challenges of Railway Improvements on Existing Assets. Manuel’s choice of prize was a trip on the Network Rail Inspection Helicopter. In second place with a presentation from Irfan Ahmed of Network Rail on Plain Line Pattern Recognition. Ahmed won a prize of a trip for two, to the top of The Forth Bridge. In third place was Frazer Howie, from Siemens Rail UK, who gave a presentation on the Installation of Axle Counter Technology on the Borders Railway. The third prize was a signed copy of David Spavens Railway Atlas for Scotland.
IRISH SECTION For future meetings, please visit the website for the most up to date information.
LANCASTER, BARROW & CARLISLE SECTION
Tuesday 13th October 2015
Malcolm Pearce, Thames Valley Section secretary delivered a highly interesting and detailed presentation on the development of plant for track maintenance and renewal with particular reference to the section of West Coast Main Line between London (Willesden) and Rugby, where he gained extensive working knowledge and experience during his career as a railway engineer. A similarly detailed description of the presentation was given by the PWI London section in The Journal – Volume 133 Part 1, following Malcolm’s delivery of his presentation there in October 2014. Questions were invited at the end of the presentation, after which the vote of thanks was given by section Chairman John Parker.
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Thursday 5th November 2015
Richard Atkins and Jason Markland from BAM Nuttall gave a presentation on the Ordsall Chord, Northern Hub. The Ordsall Chord upgrade forms Package A of three packages of construction work, which comprise the rail network upgrades of the Northern Hub initiative in the Manchester area. Package B involves improvements at Manchester Airport station, while Package C comprises improvements to Manchester Oxford Road, Piccadilly and Victoria stations. The Ordsall Chord is to be constructed through a Pure Alliance Agreement, the partners being Skanska BAM Nuttall (major civil engineering works), Amey Sersa (permanent way) and Siemens (signalling) together with Network Rail. Richard is employed by BAM Nuttall, while Jason has been seconded to BAM Nuttall from Balfour Beatty to undertake work relating to electrification aspects of the scheme.
The cost of the Ordsall Chord scheme is £85 million, and its purpose is to provide a direct rail link between Manchester Victoria and Piccadilly stations via Manchester Oxford Road. The construction of the chord will be undertaken from seven site compounds in the local area, and the works have necessitated the inspection of more than 200 arch structures to date. The main element of new construction will be an electrified rail chord approximately 340 metres [0.21 miles] in length, connecting Castlefield Viaduct [used by services to and from Salford Crescent (via the Windsor Link) and the Chat Moss line] and Middlewood Viaduct [used by services to and from the Chat Moss line]. The chord will cross the River Irwell on a long bowstring truss bridge of 85 metres span, known as the ‘Network Arch’, which was preferred over the alternative ‘half through’ structure in a public consultation exercise. It will also cross the Manchester Inner Relief Road, Trinity Way, by means of a ‘half-through’ viaduct, the construction of which will involve successive periods of single carriageway working for both road carriageways through traffic management measures. It will be necessary to widen the west side of Castlefield Viaduct in order to accommodate the new construction, and to remove part of the parapet of Middlewood Viaduct at the tie-in point of the new chord. The scheme will require the demolition of the Girder Bridge and partial demolition of the ‘Zig Zag’ Viaduct, both of which are located on the approach by rail to the Museum of Science and Industry site. Prince’s Bridge, which currently forms a route for cyclists and pedestrians only, will also be demolished, and a new bridge for cyclists and pedestrians will be provided. The line will be electrified using the same design of Spanish overhead line tensioning equipment which was installed during the recent Liverpool to Manchester (and Wigan) electrification schemes, where it was used for the first time on the UK rail network. Questions were accommodated during the presentation, through one of which it was confirmed that the location of the Ordsall Chord will cause the rail access between the Museum of Science and Industry site and the rail network to be severed. The completion date of the scheme as described is now scheduled for March 2017, delayed from the end of 2016 through a legal challenge to the scheme option chosen by Network Rail, which was judged unsuccessful in October 2015.
After the conclusion of the presentation Chairman John Parker gave a vote of thanks to both speakers.
LONDON SECTION
Monday 9th November 2015
Five decades of derailment investigation - Mike McLoughlin
Mike started work on British Rail in 1954 and joined the BR Research Department in 1964. He began investigating derailments from the late 1960s and led the Derailment Investigation Team from 1977 to 1994 when he left BR to become an international consultant. Mike has investigated hundreds of derailments, and was a panel member of numerous railway inquiries and an Expert Witness in court. Investigations, training, and consultancy work on derailment topics have been undertaken by him in Bangladesh, Belgium, Hong Kong, USA, Taiwan, New Zealand and Australia.
Mike’s well illustrated talk covered his investigations and key events in five decades, split into six time-periods looking at the general history of derailments in this country, with examples from each decade across the world. It included cases which form the basis of current railway standards, and a personal view of the major changes which have influenced derailment investigations in the UK from the 1960s until the present day.
British Rail Research was asked to put together an independent derailment investigation team, which required the development of processes and equipment to properly investigate incidents. This was based at the Railway Technical Centre in Derby with access to many facilities including a mainframe computer. The British Rail Modernisation Plan led to an increase in derailments in the 1960s, mainly due to two axle wagons and higher speed.
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Investigations included processing of data to establish trends which can be useful in identifying likely causes. One of the most important things in a derailment investigation is to capture as much perishable evidence as possible and the actual point of derailment. A lot of evidence can be destroyed in the derailment itself or in the recovery. Establishing the actual cause and the vehicle which initially derailed is essential.
Up until the mid-70s derailment data was processed manually, but then programmes were written to carry this out. In the 1980s Mike undertook his first overseas investigation in Bangladesh to investigate a series of wagon derailments. This required great innovation to overcome the primitive facilities.
Mike showed how the basic investigation equipment has evolved. In the 1990s the introduction of harder rail steels generated a new mechanism for derailments. This evolvement of equipment, processes and standards in response to new derailment mechanisms has continued until today, where the current NR standard is in the process of being revised.
Mike has latterly moved into training, to pass on his knowledge, skills and experience to others.
The Vote of Thanks was given by Jim Donald.
MANCHESTER & LIVERPOOL SECTION For future meetings, please visit the website for the most up to date information.
MILTON KEYNES SECTION For future meetings, please visit the website for the most up to date information.
NORTH WALES SECTION
10th September 2015
The planned speaker for the evening, Beth Dale, Scheme Project Manager for Farnworth Tunnel, Network Rail was unable to attend due to a structural problem that had arisen on the day at Farnworth Tunnel.
The evening was turned over to a discussion on the institution’s new Professional Registration scheme and the benefits it will bring to the railway industry. A brainstorming session on potential technical and social visits for the section also generated several interesting ideas which will now be explored by the committee and which should provide a wide range of visits for 2015/16. Information to follow shortly.
8th October 2015
The speaker for the evening was Lynne Garner, Reliability Improvement Specialist (Track), Network Rail. Her talk on Risk Based Maintenance focused on the Application of Reliability Centred Maintenance to Track within Network Rail.
She began by giving an introduction to RBM and described in detail the process of RCM. This included the seven steps asked of the system: identifying its function; functional failure; the failure mode and effects; consequences; whether proactive maintenance would be effective; and finally if not, is another management technique effective. She then gave a worked example using failing wooden sleepers to demonstrate how it was being applied to track assets.
Lynne went on to describe how RCM is being used locally to rewrite the maintenance standard and change the way track is inspected and defects are identified and managed. The technology to manage the process was demonstrated and the implementation across track maintenance was discussed. A short film rounded off the talk.
The session ended with a session of question and answers and thanks from the night’s chair, Chris O’Keefe.
12th November 2015
The speaker for the evening was David Packer, CEO of the PWI. He gave a briefing on the PWI’s Professional Registration Scheme: Becoming a Chartered Engineer, Incorporated Engineer or Engineering Technician
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David began by talking about the history of the institution and explained how professional registration is providing a further service to members in addition to those it already off ers. He explained it hopes to provide a route for experienced railway personnel, across all grades, to professionally demonstrate and recognise their skills and experience whether they have academic qualifi cations or practical experience. The experience route will be available by the end of 2016.
David gave an outline of the application processes for each membership route with the website being available to all to guide them. He also explained an online CPD module will be available to all members from early in 2016.
The session ended with a session of question and answers and thanks from the night’s chair, Fred Howes.
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.
SOUTH & WEST WALES SECTION
Wednesday 12th August 2015
Organised by Brian Mills and at short notice, Plant Manager Mr. Jack Davidson kindly agreed to allow a small party of PWI members & friends to visit the Dŵr Cymru water treatment complex at Pontsticill north of Merthyr Tydfi l.
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The plant treats water from the Neuadd, Pentwyn and Taf Fechan reservoirs south of the Brecon Beacons and supplies water to Merthyr Tydfil, some of the towns of the Rhondda and Cynon valleys, Senghenydd, and the Vale of Glamorgan. Jointly, the Pentwyn & Taf Fechan reservoirs hold some 15 billion litres of water when level with the spillway at the Taf Fechan 100 ft.-high dam and between 2013 & 2015 Dŵr Cymru (Welsh Water) was spending £200 on improvements to the water treatment plant and distribution system throughout Wales.The original Pentwyn reservoir was annexed by the Taf Fechan reservoir, dam and filter house completed by 1927 but the latter structure was abandoned after a new Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) plant was constructed in 1995 and recently, further improvements have been effected at the site and comprise primary and secondary rapid gravity filter stages with wash water recovery and sludge thickening process and was designed to yield 105 million litres per day but normal maximum daily flows were stated as being around 85 million litres per day. The station supplies some 106,000 customers through its network.
A valve tower exists at the south west corner of the dam and near to it a circular spillway exists and discharges through an impressive circular overflow exit brick-lined tunnel some 110 feet below and adjacent to the old filter plant and the exit portal is 12 feet in bore with very impressive stone block surround and dedication plate at its head. On arrival at the control room, on a beautiful sunny morning, we were greeted by Richard Towell and Alwyn Davies, the manager not being able to be present, and after a mandatory safety induction briefing at the site control room, the control console was examined and it was seen that the plant was controlled from instrumentation which included motorised valves and large pumps and although generally automatic, staff could intervene via computer keyboard and monitor.
All donning hi-vis waistcoats, Alwyn then escorted our party of eight around the plant and explained the chemical dosing, filtration processes and beds. Other necessary plant was visited and it was confirmed that carbon dioxide is a key element in the process together with aluminum sulphate. Turbidity and pH monitoring plays a major part of the treatment.
The tour over, we expressed our thanks to Alwyn and made for the nearby Brecon Mountain Railway terminus at Pant for pre-arranged buffet luncheon and a trip on the line to the summit at Torpantau at the foot of the Brecon Beacons.
SOUTH AUSTRALIAN SECTION No meetings currently planned. Please keep an eye on the website for information as it becomes available.
THAMES VALLEY SECTION
Wednesday 9th September 2015
The Chairman welcomed our Speaker for the evening, Professor David Johnson, Director, DGauge, and invited him to present his paper entitled “Dynamic Gauging”.
David briefly described his career in the railway industry, which led to his current research into the detailed analysis of gauging and his development of tools to create a full understanding of the vehicle/structure interface. He then went on to describe these various tools, including the software tool PhX Rail. These permit train borne collection of data at or near line speed, and the subsequent high speed analysis of the data. The tools allow consideration of the gauging risk and probabilities, rather than just clearance numbers, and have thus been instrumental in bringing in a more refined approach to route clearance issues. David explained the processes in detail, and showed how they are applied to issues related to vehicle behaviour, track condition, platform/train interfaces and electrification.
David entered into discussion with the audience during his presentation; on completion the Chairman conducted a further lively session of comments and questions to which David responded with comprehensive detail.
Purely for reasons of time, Jeremy brought the discussions to a close; he then asked Rodney Pinchen to propose the Vote of Thanks to David. Rodney said that he was sure that everyone present would agree that we had been given a talk containing technical content of the very highest calibre and complexity, developed from extensive research and expert reasoning. He said that David had showed just how far he had taken this subject beyond the long-held concepts and evaluation of gauging principles known to many of us; it had been most enlightening. Rodney then asked everyone to second his motion to David; this was carried with acclamation.
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Wednesday 16th September 2015, Swindon
This was an additional meeting arranged to facilitate the re-launch of the West of England Section
The Chairman introduced our speaker for the afternoon, Tim Kendell, and invited him to present his paper entitled “Tram Train Initiatives”.
Tim explained with the aid of a comprehensive series of informative slides the Tram Train concept, the advent of services in Karlsruhe, Germany in the 1960s, the subsequent expansion of the services in Karlsruhe and to other German cities, and integrated running with heavy rail as the norm in many areas. The Netherlands and France have also developed schemes. The concept is now being evaluated for use in the UK, with an initial scheme at an advanced stage of development for a service between Sheffield and Rotherham. This service will be integrated with both heavy rail and Sheffield Supertram systems.
At the conclusion of Tim’s presentation the Chairman conducted a lively session of comments and questions to which many of the audience contributed; Tim’s responses added greatly to everyone’s knowledge and understanding of the concept. Purely for reasons of time, Jeremy brought the discussions to a close; he then asked Geoff Kennedy to propose the Vote of Thanks to Tim.
Geoff said that the response of the audience was a testament to the technical excellence of Tim’s talk and the interest and information that had been generated. Tim had provided an excellent “opener” for the re-launch of his Section and Geoff asked everyone to second his motion to Tim; this was carried with acclamation.
Wednesday 7th October 2015
The Chairman introduced our Speaker for the evening, Carl Garrud, Managing Director,
Rhomberg Sersa UK Ltd., and invited him to present his paper entitled “Swiss S&C Life Extension and Renewal Methods”.
Carl began by briefly describing his background, and his company’s involvement in the Swiss Railway administration’s formal process for managing S&C renewal and long-term maintenance. He said that he would be describing the philosophy behind the project, how the standardisation was achieved, its implementation, and its delivery system- wide in the subsequent years, in addition to how the work is managed and carried out on site.
Carl entered into discussion with his audience during the presentation; on completion the Chairman conducted a further lively session of comments and questions to which Carl responded in comprehensive detail.
Purely for reasons of time, Jeremy brought the discussions to a close; he then asked the Secretary to propose the Vote of Thanks to Carl. Malcolm said that Carl had given us a comprehensive insight into the development of the process and its subsequent successful integration as a standard procedure. He said that the key had been to define a strategy and build in all the constituent elements to make it work as a basic principle for all situations; there were many parallels on the UK network with the Modular Switch Project, particularly in the planning and site management of S&C renewals. Malcolm referred to the comments and questions put to Carl from the floor, which showed the interest that the talk had generated; he then asked everyone to second his motion to Carl and this was carried with acclamation.
WESSEX SECTION
Tuesday 6th October 2015
The speaker for the evening was Section Member Sean Leahy to enlighten us on the role of the Network Rail helicopters with his talk “Tracked from the Sky”. Sean started his railway career in the length gang at Woking Junction so had plenty of experience in ground level patrolling before his promotional path into management gave him the opportunity to patrol from 1000ft above track as one of the Air Observers for the London and South East helicopter! NR utilises two helicopters contracted in with a defined number of hours. They are twin-engine machines of some antiquity- nevertheless they have the benefit of being analogue, rather than digital so are much easier to fix when they have a problem and have recently had total refits to enable use of a new camera system. The twin engines are a necessary requirement to be allowed to fly low over built-up areas in London.
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Why use a helicopter? The key reasons are the ability to look at the railway without needing track access (reduced risk exposure), to be able to respond quickly, to cover a lot of inspections quickly, and thus cheaply, (e.g. 170 booster transformers in a day when ground based inspection would achieve only 2 per day) and to see things that are not visible from ground level. An example of the latter - during the floods across the Somerset levels the depth of water was determined from photographs of a signal post by counting the rungs of its ladder visible above the water! His listeners remained slightly skeptical at this point, but were then quickly convinced by being shown the detail that can be recorded by the cameras from 1000ft. In pure photography terms the resolution is stunning with “enlargements” capable of showing whether a bolt head is square or hexagonal, and even being able to read the manufacturers stamp on the head. The camera gear is not cheap. The Star Safire 380HD camera was first used during the 2012 London Olympics, and the more recently acquired GSS turret, mounted on the front of the helicopter, utilises semi-secret stabilisers from cruise missiles to ensure its still pictures are pin-sharp. In addition, by use of a laser to point to an item in the picture, the location can be geo-tagged to as close as 150mm in track ELR and mileage.
The well-known examples of the use of the NR helicopters are the “disaster” events like Dawlish, large flooding episodes, or landslips - and even here the accuracy of the equipment allows pictures to be compared over time to measure the changes that have taken place. The real value, though, is in the day-to-day spotting that the helicopter performs. This ranges from identifying incursions onto NR property by illegal backyard extensions, incipient bank slips, OLE inspections (not otherwise easy to do from the top, and which can potentially reveal major problems like support wire strand breakages at mast pulleys), waterlogging of ballast (shown up by surface temperature differences), and spotting cable thieves at work (or even the scrap yard skip where the cable ended-up). Even field ploughing in an orientation likely to cause flooding of the railway has been picked-up and dealt-with.But the scope does not stop with the visible light cameras. The ability of infra-red equipment is quite well known and so electrical problem areas causing overheating are easily seen - everything from conductor rail ends leaking to earth through ballast, via point heaters left on in high summer, to individual rail joints with bonding defects. One photograph of the Waterloo throat revealed more issues than could have been found in a 24 hour trains-free period of ground based inspection, and a follow-up shot showed, a while later, that they had all been successfully resolved.
New to the arsenal of cameras, with some very interesting developments on test, is a UV camera which can spot corona discharges from defective OLE insulators (the fizz you hear under HV cables in wet weather). This shows good promise but it works best in the weather that sometimes means the aircraft cannot fly! Also being trialed, and almost spooky in its potential, is “hyperspectral imaging”. This records the full electromagnetic spectrum, but the clever bit is the follow-up processing of the image because it contains the atomic spectrum of all the materials in the photograph. By subtracting from the image, for example, everything except the spectrum of chlorophyll, it is possible to detect sick trees even before an experienced specialist might be able to identify the problem. There is truly a lot of unexplored scope here.
Sean works on a cycle of 10 days on and 4 off, within the LSE helicopter team. He is normally flying for 7 of each 10 day duty period. Many of the questions that followed his presentation revolved around how the cost of the operation was met, and how managers on the ground utilised the data that was available. Essentially the Routes are allocated a number of hours and are able to request additional hours if they see potential benefits. Also, in part, it depends on how well the local managers are aware of, and makes use of the outputs, such as linear surveys uploaded to Route View (it ought to, but cannot, be called Google Rail) and so exploit the chopper’s value. There is clearly a need for some salesmanship and buy-in for air operations to survive into the future but certainly the audience seemed convinced of its value.
Wednesday 2nd December 2015
Ninety minutes prior to the meeting the speaker had called to say he was held up in traffic some 60 miles away, so Jim Wheeler hastily put together a slideshow describing his current activities on Project Wareham – the re-opening for regular passenger traffic of the 5 miles between Norden and Wareham on the Swanage Railway. He covered major embankment strengthening, relaying into CWR, remodelling of the Furzebrook area and creation of a new road-rail transhipment facility. Thanks to a good supply of questions the gap was successfully filled until the booked speaker arrived!
With much relief Jim was then able to welcome Colin Brading to give his talk on the GWR Electrification Bridgeworks. Colin’s involvement followed-on from retirement from full-time employment but could easily have exceeded a standard week! He also noted his involvement in the works on the upgrade of the GWML for 125mph running back in the 1970s so could justify his current role as a true “swan-song”. As with much on the current electrification scheme his talk covered a tale of inadequately scoped works, inappropriate procurement arrangements, and contractors geared to claims as each job inevitably grew in substance
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(for a start, service diversions had not been included within the fixed price documents). As such there was much to learn from Colin’s presentation.With reduced time available it was only possible to skim over the scale of the electrification scheme, covering 609 miles and affecting 176 bridges of which 50 are listed, often at Grade 1.
Bridgeworks were divided amongst 5 contractors on NR9 Design and Build fixed price contracts. These were let for groups of similar bridge structural types. This resulted in adjacent bridges being reconstructed by different contractors. Not only did this result in increased set-up and demobilisation costs but it inevitably led to conflicts between road closures and possession planning. Indeed, it had sometimes been assumed in the early stages of planning that several adjacent closures of roads would be happily accepted by local residents – WRONG! Some potential diversions involved considerable distances - in the case of the very busy A338 bridge at the site of the former Wantage Road station, some 20 miles through winding country roads. Unsurprisingly this proved unpalatable to locals, bus companies and the County Council, and the only solution was to build a new bridge alongside the old. If adopted at the start this would probably have been the cheapest option, but cue the appearance of Great Crested Newts and then nesting birds, illustrating the environmental challenges of modern day projects. Work is well underway on the new bridge now.
Probably the biggest single problem to emerge, once on site, was the inadequacy of the approach ramps to overbridges which generally are situated in a more-or-less flat landscape. Lifting the soffit level inevitably raised the road surface and necessitated extensive re-design of the highway. Even though fully compliant design to modern standards is not required as a rule, lines of sight, vertical profile, and carriageway width can obviously not be worsened, and improvements are almost always delivered in terms of drainage and safety barriers. More substantial betterment would require Highway Authority funding. Cue major slope widening and stabilisation within a limited footprint, with extensive sheet piling and soil nailing.
Some of the contractors did bring innovative approaches to their reconstructions. The use of multi-wheel self- propelled transporters, working on the decked-out track, proved an excellent way of removing a simply supported span for a few hours before reinstatement on raised abutments. However, a less than aesthetic, but no doubt economic, treatment of iconic 3 arch bridges involved the concrete in-filling of the side arches to take care of the arch thrusts whilst the central span was demolished and replaced with standard portal beams. The infills were not even faced with a brick skin so will attract the attention of graffiti artists as well as outraged conservationists! In the reduced time available Colin gave an informed and well-illustrated presentation on the significant task of creating clearances for 25kv electrification. His talk really brought out the issues that arose from the lack of experience of a large segment of NR staff - now finally recognised by Mr Carne and his co-Directors. Colin’s talk should be presented to a very-much wider audience!
17th December 2015
Visit to Swanage Railway
Wessex Chairman Jim Wheeler invited members to join a special train which was run over the Swanage Railway to show representatives of Dorset County Council and other funding organisations the results of their financial input. Collectively they had provided several million pounds of funding for ‘Project Wareham’.
Project Wareham is being undertaken to rejoin the railway from its current termination at Norden to Worgret Junction and thus allow trains to run from Swanage to the junction and thence over Network Rail infrastructure to Wareham Station for connections with main line Waterloo to Weymouth services. A trial service is planned to start in 2016.
Jim, in his role of Swanage PW advisor, has been very involved with the infrastructure works on the project including, tree clearance, embankment strengthening, reballasting and track relaying, all carried out within the constraints required by the many SSSIs (Site of Special Scientific Interest) that the route passes through.
10 members met on the platform at Swanage, most having enjoyed travelling from Bournemouth, via the Sandbanks ferry, on the open top bus - in the exceptionally warm weather for mid-December. The two car class 108 DMU waiting in the platform was boarded and departed at midday. Travelling in the rear saloon allowed a good view through the glass screen and cab windscreen as was common in the 1970’s and 1980’s. As the journey progressed Peter Milford, Company Secretary of the Swanage Railway gave a commentary on the infrastructure, history of the gradual stages of reconstructing the line from the Swanage end, and the features of the Purbeck area the route passes through. Of particular interest was the surprising number of industrial activities being undertaken in this area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The largest on-shore oil field in Europe lurks below ground, with its infrastructure hidden within the landscape. It is the second largest consumer of electricity in the south of England after Heathrow! In addition there
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is signifi cant mining for pottery clay, plus the factory processing the clay, not to mention stone and slate extraction. Industrial heritage, in the form of narrow gauge railway remains, crisscross the landscape.
When the train reversed at the River Frome bridge, half a mile short of the junction, Jim took over the commentary pointing out the extensive track rehabilitation work that had been completed or was still in progress. Having spent much time both in planning the work, and then assisting on site, he was able to detail how the work was undertaken, the problems that arose, and solutions found. The American practice of ballast shoulder cleaning by means of the two RRV’s owned by Swanage Railway had proved a highly economic way of radically improving drainage, the new ballast being delivered by NR autoballasters in several special trains. Perhaps the centrepiece of the work, so far as the P way was concerned, was the complete relay of the single line through an SSSI which included not just the cutting faces, but the track itself. Seriously degraded BH rails and wood sleepers were replaced with nearly 1000 track-yards of FB rail and concrete sleepers in 15 days of work by an average of 6 staff plus the 2 RRVs. This relay has already been converted to LWR and awaits tamping before it will have the remaining welds carried out in April to produce the SR’s fi rst stretch of CWR.
At nearby Furzebrook the original layout has been modifi ed to swap the Main and Loop alignments to provide the potential for 50mph operation at some point in the future, and the hoped for station platform rather sooner. A new Curved C to 1 in 12 BH turnout has been installed as part of this sub-project, and 2 further turnouts are envisaged, when the money can be found, to complete the loop layout in this area.
On the return journey the train stopped at Corfe Castle station where the signal box was visited and the group photo below was taken. Jim had explained how the key to the re-opening to the mainline had been the inclusion of the branch line in the Dorset Coast Resignalling Project. Corfe Box now interfaces with the NR ROC at Basingstoke to operate the heritage Token Block system and the token machines on Wareham Station platform. The Signalling Dept. of SR can also claim the fi rst full barrier level crossing installation in the UK by the Swiss fi rm Schweizer, and with full UK certifi cation, at Norden Level Crossing. It is being commissioned in February 2016.
The train then returned to Swanage to end what had been a very enjoyable and informative trip, viewing the work of reconnecting Swanage to the main line.
Wessex Section visit to the Swanage Railway
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WEST YORKSHIRE SECTION
Tuesday 19th May 2015
Phil Kirkland gave a talk on the Tyne & Wear upgrade & mechanisation
Phil began by stating that the mechanisation, with a budget of £400m over 9 years, was driven by a number of issues, including an ageing workforce, and a complex mixed infrastructure. Metro developed from a test track in 1975 and includes 60 stations and is owned by local government. A lot of the system is built on former British Rail (BR) assets then regarded as life expired. Metro had its own version of the Battle of the Gauges, which resulted in a restricted structure gauge that precludes the use of standard tampers and continues to cause problems. In response to a question, Phil suggested that the cost of overcoming this error now is prohibitive, as many structures have been built above the city centre tunnels. The system opened in 1980 and was extended to the airport by 1991.
Track quality was allowed to deteriorate until it was realised that without remedial action the system would cease to function. Due to its success in transporting large numbers of people it was appreciated that its absence could bring the area to a standstill. It was agreed that major works were needed costing circa £40m per annum, and blockades lasting several weeks would be required to enable work to be done.
Phil reported that the public seemed to accept that the delays and inconvenience caused by the essential works were a temporary measure, which would provide a long term improvement.
The many innovations which brought about this improvement included the acquisition of a fleet of double deck buses to provide services while repairs and improvements were carried out. Low level box wagons are used to distribute ballast and a road rail Unimog, a purpose built tamper and other specialist vehicles helped to overcome the logistic problems caused by the restrictive gauge. Staff learned how to use existing equipment in a different way to repair and renew the overhead line electrification equipment. Similarly, points have been fitted with protection flaps to reduce the time taken to transport materials and equipment to and from work sites. These hinged metal flaps are secured alongside the points during normal operation and are then ‘flipped’ to cover the rails to enable vehicles to be driven from the ballast onto the track without causing damage.
This fascinating presentation proved that innovation and teamwork can overcome problems caused by lack of correct investment. It was also a demonstration of teamwork within our institution. Phil offered to give his paper on learning that Gordon Reed who was scheduled to present ‘A Railway Life’, had been admitted to hospital on Saturday 16th May, shortly after returning home from the Institution’s Annual General Meeting. Many, who had attended the meeting to listen to Gordon, enjoyed Phil’s paper and were pleased to learn that Gordon is recovering.
Tuesday 15th September 2015
Brian Madison gave a paper on Scour Damage and Underwater Inspections
Brian began with an image of a section of track dropping into a void as a method of showing the relevance of his presentation to the PWI. After outlining his career as an engineer/diver and author of the Standards used for underwater Inspections by British Rail, Brian used a number of slides to define scour damage, and explain and illustrate the different types, numerous causes, the method of inspection, and some of the remedial works.
The causes included the natural action of water over the course of time, the gradual deepening and movement of a river bed which leads to once apparently substantial bridge foundations being undermined. There were also examples of the impact of increasing water levels due to global warming, obstruction of flood plains or debris carried down rivers in flood.
There were some spectacular pictures of damage to various structures including: the harbour wall at Holyhead, the Cefyn viaduct, the brick arch of a railway bridge over the river Rother, and a bridge on the railway line between Belfast and Dublin.
The latter example highlighted the need for both diligence and specialist knowledge. At first glance the fact that the river had created a deeper channel between Piers 4 and 5 didn’t seem a problem, until Brian pointed out the significance – the erosion of the foundations under one of the piers which prompted it to collapse and leave the multiple tracks ‘floating in thin air.’
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Other images, notably those of a bridge carrying a farm track at Ruddington, illustrated the need to give careful consideration to potential solutions. In this instance, the bridge foundations have been protected by the installation of piles under the arches. However, the amount and design of the piling had to allow for the fact that the piles made the channel narrower, thus increasing the rate of flow.
Similarly, extending bridge foundations upstream with the intention of providing enhanced protection, can cause eddies and currents to erode the foundations at the downstream side of the bridge!
Brian’s pictures also proved that the modern use of concrete isn’t a panacea. The ‘wrong’ sort of concrete is simply washed away, exposing the reinforcement to rusting and eventual failure.
To me, the overriding message was that foundations, especially in water, must be diligently designed, deep, substantial, very carefully constructed and subjected to rigorous and knowledgeable inspections.
Brian explained that Regulations governing diving work are, quite rightly, strict. Many inspections are undertaken from the surface, or ‘merely putting one’s head under the surface.’ However, when greater depth is involved, personal air tanks are for emergency use and divers have to be provided with ‘on-demand’ air delivered by a pipe from equipment operated by qualified personnel. Transporting this heavy equipment to remote locations can be a considerable challenge, and divers have to be careful that the pipes don’t get tangled, or damaged.
YORK SECTION
Tuesday 22nd September 2015
The 19th Annual North Eastern Railway Engineers Forum (NERERF) took place in Network Rail’s York Engineers’ Triangle building. The theme for this year’s meeting was ‘Rail Initiatives in the North East’. Over 120 people attended the evening meeting, including several young engineers’. There were representatives from the North East PWI’s; also IRSE; IET: ICE and IMechE.
The first of the four short 20 minute presentations was given by Simon Richards from Hitachi Rail Europe’s new Class 800/801(IEP) Heighington Assembly Depot. Simon gave a brief synopsis of the eventual 730 staff, production schedules and proposed workings within the new £82m factory. The presentation included several interesting illustrations of the plant. Next up was Penny Gilg, a Civil Engineer from Network Rail, who gave a presentation ‘Leeds Station Southern Entrance’ showing what has been happening behind the temporary screens on the southern side of Leeds Station. A full time laps set of photo presentation, including how the new build over the River Aire has been achieved was well presented. This new entrance will open up access to the new Leeds Southbank Regeneration area. After a short questions and answer session; the meeting chairman proposed a short break and requested the audience to finish off the generous buffet.
The third presentation was given by Tim Fuller, MICE, Network Rail’s Senior Gauging Engineer and a York PWI member, entitled ‘Gauging for Freight’. Tim opened his presentation by stating due to the closure of so many coal burning power stations, container traffic was the growth sector in the Network Rail’s freight business. He produced a chart showing the plethora of container sizes and freight wagons capable of hauling containers. Several combinations cannot be used as they are out of gauge in combined height and side clearance parameters. Clearing routes from the many new container ports and along main lines is one of the current projects for his small national team and consultants. Tim stated a lack of cleared cross links between the WCML and the ECML currently restricts the number of possessions available to north and south bound freight container trains. Blocking sections of both the WCML and the ECML at the same time, the only routes currently cleared for larger containers, without suitable cleared diversionary routes is a current railway operating problem.
The final presentation was entitled ‘District Line Trains for our District?’ given by from Vivarail Ltd Chairman Adrian Shooter. Adrian is well known in the railway industry, until relatively recently he was Managing Director of Chiltern Railways. Adrian explained how Vivarail is currently rebuilding some London Underground District Line D78 stock into new DMU stock with a life expectancy of about 20 years. Under slung lorry diesel engines are to be used for propulsion of the rebuilt stock. In fact only a modified body shell is used; all the other electrics and components are new. He showed illustrations of crash testing one of the prototype vehicles. The rebuilt D78 stock is proposed as a short term economic solution to the current stock shortage caused by passenger growth, and the lack of any new build diesel multiple units. He suggested the local Huddersfield-Penistone-Sheffield route was suitable for D78 stock.
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After a second question and answer session, the meeting Chairman Ian Moore (Yorkshire IRSE secretary) gave a vote of thanks. The meeting was summarised and closed by Stephen Thompson, Managing Director of Sabre Rail, an Aycliffe based rail company who specialise in rebuilds to rolling stock brake and suspension systems; Sabre Rail are also a sponsor for the meeting.
Thursday 1st October 2015
Unable to procure a speaker for the evening, the York Secretary put together an ad-hoc railway DVD show. The DVDs showed railway civil engineering being carried out over the years. All the DVD material shown had been donated by York PWI members. First up was a Network Rail commissioned 2014/15 short production entitled York ‘Scarborough Bridge, Underbridge Reconstruction ’. This showed the recent erection and use of a 500t crawler crane lifting in the new railway bridge sections over the River Ouse; bridge units having been previously delivered through the narrow streets of York. The trackwork was carried out by Storey Rail. The second DVD shown was a year 2000 production ‘Newark Dyke – A Bridge for the Future’, produced for Skanska Construction, the principle contractor to Railtrack. The existing 1890’s Whipple Murphy truss bridge was life expired and replaced with a modern 77m bowstring steel arch structure, with new track and OHLE alignment. This new arrangement over the River Trent will allow the ECML track line speed to be raised to above 100mph. Finally a 60 minute Andrew Dow’s Fast line Photograph DVD titled ‘Behind the Scenes Vol.2, Early Track Machines – mainly clips from the 1950s,1960s and 1967s’. The DVD showed the BR(E) Morris Tracklayer; Early Ballast cleaners, Twin Jib Track Layers, Cranes and Tampers. Also early methods for off-loading long welded rail; the use of Trenching machines: Gradall machines and the Simon Hoist inspection platform in use. The original film was shot by the BR(NE) Photographic Unit, and showed the BR North Eastern RCE’s Plant Section development work. The number of attendees for this meeting was unusually low due to several regular members attending York member Martin Squires funeral (and wake) earlier the same day!
Thursday November 5th 2015
York PWI Section finally got a deferred June 2015 presentation from John Birkinshaw. The Section Secretary introduced John who for the last twenty years has worked as an Independent Railway Consultant; previously he worked for BR, Henry Boot and then Balfour Beatty. John is also the owner of the railway supply company, PWMM Ltd. located in Chesterfield, Derbyshire. When not working or photographing somewhere around the world, he now resides in Switzerland. After a short technical hitch with the projector; John started his presentation by telling how after producing annual steam railway calendars’ over many years, he had been persuaded to produce an initial 600 limited print run of a 174 page colour book entitled ‘Through the Years’. The book has photographs taken on trips from 1986 until 2014. He explained how he had decided the book format, batching together photos into the four seasons of the year. He initially visited East Europe, India, Turkey, China and other far off countries: chasing the very last real steam workings. In recent years he has become part of a loose syndicate of enthusiasts who charter steam locomotives and rolling stock to recreate past railway scenes. He said he had re-visited several locations especially in China many times to try and get his ideal photo shot, all before steam had finally finished. He said he had spent many Christmas holidays in China at -30 degrees just to get the right photograph. He explained the difficulties of getting permissions, access, travel and accommodation in far off places. He also explained the techniques of getting the right light at the right time of day. He admitted the odd inducement had to be given to locomotive drivers to create steam or smoke at the right moment, or induce local taxi drivers to chase working trains on charter trips. Using actual double page spread illustrations from his book he took the audience to railway locations around the world, many locations now long gone, all featuring steam locomotives. South Africa, Eritrea, Syria, Myanmar, Brazil, Patagonia and the Khyber Pass (with armed guards) and many other locations all featured in the book. He managed to squeeze in this presentation during a week-long UK visit. John said he had not pre-viewed the sequencing, but knew the detail without script. He has plans to release a second book titled ‘Time Passages’ in 2016. This was a quality presentation from a railway enthusiast. He took up all the allocated room time so with no time for questions, Chairman Ian Kitching proposed a Vote of Thanks.
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