Permanent Way Institution The Institution for Rail ...

Permanent Way Institution The Institution for Rail Infrastructure Engineers

APRIL 2019 VOL 137 PART 2

INNOVATIVE APPLICATION OF RAIL FASTENINGS FOR HS2

Page 42

AN EXPLORATIVE CASE STUDY

COLLABORATIVE WORKING AND INTEGRATED DATA MANAGEMENT IN TRACK RENEWAL PROJECTS

Page 22

CALIFORNIA: FROM DOUBLE TRACK TO TRIPLE TRACK

Page 16

PWI Practical Trackwork Challenge GREAT CENTRAL RAILWAY LEICESTERSHIRERichard Spoors, Malcolm Pearce and Andy Packham

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PWI Journal APR 2019.indd 1 25/04/2019 14:41

TECHNICAL ARTICLE

AS PUBLISHED IN

The Journal April 2019 Volume 137 Part 2

If you would like to reproduce this article,please contact:

Kerrie IllsleyJOURNAL PRODUCTION EDITORPermanent Way [email protected]

PLEASE NOTE THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED IN THIS JOURNAL ARE NOT NECESSARILY THOSE OF THE EDITOR OR OF THE INSTITUTION AS A BODY.

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TECHNICAL

From the TECHNICAL DIRECTOR

OUT AND ABOUT I finished the last Journal with a picture of David Packer at Canary Wharf so I’ll start this one with saying what a great time we had at the joint leaving event for Alison and David at TfL in London. There were many people from the past and present but the key point made was a recognition of the differences that the PWI has made and what a great organisation it is to be part of. My only wish is that more railway people could see this and join and of course, see what they are missing – you are all ambassadors.

April to June was another incredibly interesting period for me with training, meetings and events, all usually involving meeting people. I wish I had taken a picture of all the young (less than 40!) people at the Notts and Derby section meeting! I have also been talking to students in Leeds and many PWay engineers at Derby who have finally made it to proper training. Our courses at Derby are greatly enriched by people who are section managers and technical engineers currently working on the national rail or underground systems.

CONFERENCES AND EVENTS

It was good to meet up and chat with new and old members and colleagues at our latest national events. We have held two excellent PWI Seminars and had a major presence this year at Railtex. We have more to look forward to soon so please try to find time to participate and meet the “PWI Community”.

In April, we held the PWI Midlands Seminar at the Derby Roundhouse with a theme of Electrification and PWay developments. This was our second OLE event and I have to say it was even better than first, very well supported by our colleagues in OLE. Led by Peter Dearman we were able to draw together and welcome some eminent speakers. I can say that most people thought they had learnt a lot in one day. We have agreed to organise another event in early 2020 and look to establish more formal links with OLE staff as PWI members.

In May it was the London Half Day Seminar at London South Bank University with a theme of Asset Life. We had a lively discussion on

inspection and asset knowledge sparked off by David Godley. He identified that we are all living longer but railway assets last less with all the extra traffic. It a good thing that we are living longer because as railway assets do last a long time we need to know our history. A good day out and I do recommend you come next year as the timing of the day is good for travelling.

Both events were extremely well supported and sponsored by corporate members who we rely on to keeps costs down and encourage people to come and share. There were some exceptional technical papers at the forefront of rail infrastructure knowledge at both events and both events are excellent CPD.

Railtex 2019 was its usual focus on rolling stock, however, being Birmingham we did have good interest from “tracky” people. We had some very good discussions with them and got some more new members – it’s amazing what a free apple will do!

When you read this Rail Live will have happened and let’s hope the weather was better than now (see image 2). Also the Railway Engineering Conference at Edinburgh will have taken place. I am speaking on climate change and will report back fully in the October Journal.

PROFESSIONAL REGISTRATION

We have registered 20 engineers so far this year and continue to process applications. It will be good to see the results of the latest reviews taking place on 18th June at Euston. Good luck to all applicants and we look forward to announcing the successful candidates in the next Journal.

We have had approval from the academic panel to run a pilot Experiential Learning Route where degree holders or pre-1999 HNC/D holders can progress to CEng with a short report. We have 8 members taking up this route. We are also making progress on the approval of the PWI Track Engineering Diploma as a level 6 top-up to enable HND and Foundation degree holders to progress to IEng.

We still wish to see many more people through who I know are “entitled” through their experience to have qualifications – Registration means an Engineering Council number and letters after your name!

Image 1. David Ratledge teaching on PWI Course at Derby Conference Centre (Photo courtesy Brian Counter)

Image 2. Trains stranded at Corby 13th June 2019 (Photos courtesy Will Hargrace)

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TECHNICAL

APPRENTICE / GRADUATE TRAINING AND EDUCATION

We have now successfully delivered 8 Network Rail and Member courses in the first half of 2019 which were modules 1-3 on the Track Engineering Diploma and a new two part course in Track Renewal Planning and Drainage. Congratulations to those 33 Network Rail Graduates and 13 PWI members who will receive their awards in London in July.This year and the first half of 2020 is fully planned with another 8 Diploma courses. Our new course in S&C Refurbishment is also programmed for October and November with excellent take up from Network Rail Works Delivery and others.

We are still working with Colleges and Universities to find out about Higher and Degree apprenticeships and how they could be adapted for Rail; they are levy funded and most will start late September 2019.

The well established MSc in Railway Systems Engineering at Birmingham has been launched as a level 7 apprenticeship.

I am pleased to say that the PWI has been chosen to be the awarding body for EngTech for Colas Level 3 apprentices who should be undertaking their end point assessments.We are very grateful for our volunteer PWI professional reviewers who do a great job in progressing members to Chartered Engineer, Incorporated Engineer and Engineering Technician. We will be holding a reviewer training session and the PWI Annual Reviewer Meeting on Thursday 14th November in London.

We are currently working to link more with the JBM (Joint Board of Moderators) who jointly accredit degrees in civil, structural and highway engineering. This will enhance our standing in UK Universities and raise our profile significantly.

PWI TECHNICAL BOARD

The last meeting was held at Crewe courtesy of Amey on 1st May at the S&C Alliance Office and we were pleased to receive an update from Neil Gofton of RSSB. It was good to see most corporate members there and we discussed apprenticeships and other industry news. At the next meeting in July we will start our planning for the next Practical Trackwork Challenge where we carry out trackwork on a Heritage Railway.

AND FINALLY…..

The last two years I have been talking about extremes of weather. We had storm Doris in February 2017 where high winds blew trees down and shut Birmingham New Street at 5pm on a Thursday. Last year in 2018 we had the Beast from the East, the coldest winter with -18 0C followed by the hottest summer since 1976 and temperatures hitting +36 0C. Here in 2019, we have had the worst general flooding ever with 3 months rain in 3 days in the East. The picture below shows a stranded train near Corby in Northamptonshire on 13th June caused by flooded lines. The passengers were stranded for 8 hours.

The whole aspect of climate change and the need for preparedness for rail infrastructure organisations is becoming an increasingly important issue for track designers, maintainers and operators. The graph in image 4 shows the increase in weather events between 1980 and 2016 and it can be seen that there is 350% increase in extreme climatic events worldwide.

Brian Counter TECHNICAL DIRECTORPermanent Way Institution [email protected]

Image 3. PWI Course visit to Derby Station 12th June 2019 (Photo courtesy Chris Seddon)

Image 4. Loss events worldwide (courtesy NatCatSERVICEMunichRE 2017)

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