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APRIL 2011 Issue 169 £3.95 

THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE FOR RAILWAY MANAGERS 

www.railpro.co.uk 

Growing 

up in the 

public 

gaze 

Devolution heralds a 

more mature 

Network Rail, says 

Dyan Crowther 

It’s good 

to talk 

High Speed Two consultation 

gets under way 

Digging 

deep 

Southampton’s gauge 

enhancement almost complete

Welcome 

issue 169 APRIL 2011 

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Editorial 

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Average Net Circulation 

January 2009 to December 2009 

7,894 copies 

Rail Professional comment and news 

4 

28 

IEP and Cardiff electrification get green light; Hammond 

refutes HS2 detractors; West Coast Main Line open 

access turned down; Cardiff monorail mooted; Glasgow 

subway to be modernised 

Business news 

11 

Network Rail bonuses put on ice; Station retailers outgun 

high street; Unions warn of possible London Midland 

redundancies 

Train of thought 

12-13 

Readers letters: have your say about the rail industry and 

Rail Professional 

News analysis 

14-15 

The HS2 consultation has officially been launched. 

Peter Plisner tries to keep up with the arguments for and 

against 

Wright track 

16-17 

New boy David Higgins has already announced an 

experiment in devolution for Network Rail. But, asks 

Robert Wright, is he already on a sticky wicket? 

Rail Professional interview 

18-21 

Dyan Crowther, Network Rail’s director of operational 

services, tells Katie Silvester how the infrastructure owner 

is improving safety at level crossings, cutting copper theft 

and preparing for the devolution experiment 

Spreading the cost of signalling 

22-23 

A study compares signalling systems in three different 

countries to see how the total cost of ownership can be 

reduced when installing a new system. Stephen Holt 

explains 

High cube highway 

24-25 

Paul Clifton checks on the progress of the programme 

of gauge enhancement for freight heading north from 

Southampton docks 

Carriages of convenience 

26-27 

Katie Silvester looks at the new Class 379s arriving 

in East Anglia and the Class 4000s being shipped to 

Northern Ireland, as well as the Meridian refurbishment 

Southend Airport gets its own station 

28 

Essex’s Southend Airport has always had a train line close 

by, but the nearest station was still a couple of miles away. 

So owner Stobart Air built its own 

Making the break 

29 

Atoc is suggesting that Network Rail is broken up into 

around 10 independent companies. Paul Clifton takes a 

closer look 

Making safety measure up 

30-31 

Ed Gould looks at the way in which improving a company’s 

safety culture can have a real impact on reducing accidents 

Institution of Railway Operators 

32-33 

IRO members explain how the institution’s courses have 

helped develop their careers. Plus: dates for your diary 

Generating growth 

34 

Atoc chief executive Michael Roberts looks at some of 

the reasons behind the growth of passenger numbers 

Products and services 

35 

People 

36-37 

A round-up of essential products and services for the rail 

industry 

John Smith; Kevin Walker; Neil Crossland; Dave Knowles; 

Tim Robinson; Keith Ludeman; Graham Love; 

Andy Doherty; Andrew McNaughton; Phil Gaffney; 

Susan Williams; David Morris; John Faulkner; 

Victoria Hodkinson-Gibbs; Kevin Trehearn; Isabel Siewert; 

Petra Broden; Paul Griffin; Craig Gibson 

Recruitment 

38-39 

18 26 

Vacancies in the rail industry, focusing on senior 

management positions

Rail Professional opinion 

Katie Silvester, editor 

Keep the rolling 

stock orders rolling 

The confirmation of Hitachi as preferred bidder for the rolling stock 

for the Intercity Express Programme (IEP) will have come as an 

enormous relief to the Japanese-based company (see opposite page) 

whose almost-signed contract has been on ice for a year. But there are 

those who believe such a large order should never have been awarded 

to a company who will not be building the trains in Europe, never mind the UK. 

Meanwhile, Bombardier, the only manufacturer to build trains here (see page 26), is 

looking at an empty order book beyond the end of this year. 

UNIFE, the trade body for the European rail industry, has called attention to Japan’s 

refusal to open its main transport procurement programmes to foreign companies, 

while, at the same time, Hitachi is beginning to enjoy success in the rail market over 

here. Just two per cent of the Japanese rail market is open to foreign tenders. In the EU, 

tenders for large orders are usually meant to be open to all other EU countries, plus 

some other countries that are included under a wider agreement brokered by the World 

Trade Organization. Japan isn’t part of this agreement. 

To its credit, Hitachi is to build a UK factory in County Durham for final assembly 

of the units, but the bulk of the manufacturing will be done in Japan. Meanwhile, 

former British Rail Engineering plants around the country are either sitting empty 

or have small refurbishment operations taking place in one corner, while the rest of 

the factory space sits unused. If Toyota and Nissan find it sufficiently cost effective to 

manufacture cars over here, rather than ship them over from Japan, Hitachi ought to 

look harder at whether it could do more than just final assembly work here. 

Using trains that have been built abroad has become accepted practice in the UK 

– Alstom, Siemens, CAF and Hitachi trains already grace our network, bringing new 

technologies and expertise to our railways. But building abroad can bring its challenges, 

as Siemens found out when its Class 380s, which ran perfectly on its German test track, 

did not run perfectly in Scotland. 

There is no doubt that our railways have benefited from the new technology that 

open competition has brought to our shores, with the UK welcoming bids from foreign 

companies, unlike some of our neighbours who don’t take EU open procurement 

rules very seriously. Nevertheless, if the likes of Hitachi, Siemens and Alstom win more 

large orders for the UK, they could consider doing more of their manufacturing over 

here. Alstom already manufactures traction units over here, but closed its rolling stock 

manufacturing works in Birmingham in 2004. Siemens has said it would not rule out 

manufacturing over here. 

Part of the reason that more trains are not manufactured in the UK is the stop-start 

nature of rolling stock orders. Bombardier has said that the feast and famine nature 

of orders increases its costs. And part of the reason that Alstom closed its Birmingham 

plant was that there was to be a gap of several months between finishing one order and 

starting the next, so it shut up shop, fulfilling the second order at one of its European 

factories. If there was more continuity of rolling stock orders, 

manufacturers might be more willing to consider investing in the 

UK. After all, passenger numbers are back up to the levels of the 

1920s, when there were multiple works around the UK churning out 

locomotives and carriages, with plenty of work for all. 

News in brief 

Carstairs Junction like 

‘Medieval cart track’ 

The West Coast Main Line 

will only achieve its potential if 

a 15mph speed restriction at 

Carstairs Junction in Scotland 

is tackled, a campaigning group 

says. Responding to Network 

Rail’s consultation on the line’s 

future, Transform Scotland 

said: ‘This is akin to a motorway 

suddenly being interrupted by a 

Medieval cart track.’ 

Overground link opens 

A vital link on London Overground 

connecting north London, the 

City, Docklands and the south of 

the capital has been opened by 

London mayor Boris Johnson – 

three months ahead of schedule. 

The new 2.1km stretch links 

Highbury & Islington with Dalston 

Junction. 

GWR depot back in use 

The former GWR depot at 

Southall is returning to the days 

of steam as charter operators 

prepare for another recordbreaking 

year. Those who have 

leased part of the depot include 

West Coast Railway. Around five 

steam locomotives are using the 

shed for the growing number of 

tours to and from London. 

Channel Tunnel safety 

change recommended 

A European Railway Agency 

report has backed plans to amend 

safety rules to allow trains using 

distributed traction to access the 

Channel Tunnel. The endorsement 

has been welcomed by Deutsche 

Bahn, which wants to run its ICE 

services through the tunnel. It 

is also good news for Siemens, 

whose order for Eurostar rolling 

stock depends on the change. 

Prosecution dropped 

The Office of Rail Regulation has 

dropped its plans to take Jarvis 

to court over its involvement 

in the Potter’s Bar accident, 

it has announced, though the 

prosecution of Network Rail will 

go ahead. Jarvis has gone into 

administration since the accident 

and the infrastructure was still 

managed by Railtrack at the time 

of the crash. 

Page 4 APRIL 2011

News 

IEP and electrification to 

Wales get the go ahead 

Hammond 

dismisses HS2 

Telegraph attack 

Balfour Beatty 

An electrification 

team at work 

nThe InterCity Express Programme is to 

go ahead, the government has confirmed, 

replacing High Speed Trains with a mixture of 

electric and bi-mode trains. 

Lines between Cardiff, Bristol and Didcot 

will be electrified in a £704m plan, in addition to 

the already confirmed electrification programme 

between London Paddington, Didcot, Newbury 

and Oxford. The £4.5bn train-building programme 

will see Hitatchi-led consortium Agility Trains 

build 500 new carriages, which will run from 

London to Great Western Main Line stations on 

the way to Cardiff and Swansea, as well as to East 

Coast Main Line stations en route to Edinburgh, 

Aberdeen and Inverness. 

Hitachi will open a new train factory in 

County Durham for the final assembly of the 

new order, creating more than 500 new jobs, by 

2013. Most of the manufacturing will take place 

in Japan. 

Transport secretary Philip Hammond said: 

‘This is good news for jobs, passengers and the 

economy. Our decision to buy a new fleet of trains 

and electrify new lines will allow rail passengers 

along the Great Western and East Coast corridors 

to benefit from massive improvements to journey 

times, more seats and more reliable services. 

‘Alongside our plans for high speed rail, it 

completes a picture of massive upgrades to our 

intercity rail corridors over the coming years. 

He added: ‘I expect that the first of the new 

trains will be in service by 2016.’ 

Edward Welsh, from the Association of 

Train Operating Companies, welcomed the 

announcement. He said: ‘Passengers will welcome 

new trains, more seats and faster journey times. 

‘It’s great news that even when public finances 

are severely squeezed, ministers recognise the need 

for sustained and targeted investment in Britain’s 

railways as the popularity of rail travel increases 

and with demand expected to double over the 

coming decade.’ 

In a statement released shortly after the 

government’s announcement, Hitachi said that 

Newton Aycliffe in County Durham would be the 

likely site for its new plant, where final assembly 

of the units would be carried out. 

‘The company looks forward to working 

with the Department for Business, Innovation 

and Skills, local authorities and a new workforce 

to create a world-class manufacturing facility,’ 

Hitachi’s statement said, adding: ‘Agility Trains is 

now looking forward to finalising the commercial 

details and engaging with its lending banks to 

reach financial close on the project by the end of 

the year. 

Not everyone was pleased with the decision, 

however. UNIFE, the body that represents 

Europe’s railway industry, criticised the UK for 

awarding the IEP contract to a Japanese company, 

because Japan will not accept foreign tenders for 

most of its rail work. 

Director-general Michael Clausecker said: ‘The 

decision to accept the Hitachi bid weakens the 

European position vis-à-vis Japan and shows the 

lack of interest of some governments to support 

Europe’s industrial base in the fight for open 

markets and against unfair trade practices.’ 

‘The decision to accept the 

Hitachi bid weakens the 

European position’ 

Transport secretary Philip Hammond 

batted away an attack by high profile 

business leaders, Tory colleagues and 

economists on his plans to bring high 

speed rail to the Midlands and north 

England. 

He spoke to Rail Professional after 

the 21-strong group wrote to the Daily 

Telegraph describing the line through 

Birmingham as an ‘extremely expensive 

white elephant’ and a ‘vanity project’ which 

will cost every family in Britain more than 

£1,000. The signatories include former 

chancellor Lord Lawson; Ruth Lea, former 

head of policy at the Institute of Directors; 

Chris Kelly, chairman of Keltruck; Cheryl 

Gillan, the Welsh Secretary and MP for 

Chesham and Amersham; and David 

Lidington, MP for Aylesbury and a Foreign 

Office minister. 

But the transport secretary told Rail 

Professional: ‘The letter did not particularly 

concern me. The key thing for me is that 

we have seen mainstream business 

leaders throwing their weight behind the 

project. 

‘Nigel Lawson doesn’t believe in climate 

change – neither does Ruth Lea. And Chris 

Kelly, who I know very well, has made 

his fortune importing trucks. He is hardly 

going to be a promoter of the railways. He 

thinks we should take £33bn and widen all 

motorways to six lanes. 

‘It doesn’t surprise me that people who 

are truck importers and climate change 

deniers would find the arguments less 

than persuasive.’ 

But he warned: ‘There are an awful lot 

of people who assume this is a done deal. 

There is a danger of some of the people 

who are going to benefit most from this 

thinking they don’t have to get out of bed 

and argue the case. 

‘The people who think that they will 

suffer from it will not rest.’ 

Bordon has ‘positive case’ for rail link 

nA new rail link to a proposed 

‘eco-town’ in Hampshire has 

a strong enough case to warrant 

further research, according to a 

government-funded study. 

A route from Bordon to 

Bentley, on the Alton branch 

line, with a through service to 

London Waterloo, would cost 

up to £170m, according to the 

feasibility study. 

It examined alternatives to 

heavy rail, including trams and 

buses. It concluded that the rail 

route, using sections of disused 

line from Whitehill and Bordon, 

has ‘a sufficiently positive 

business case to warrant further 

study’. The proposed new town 

would provide thousands of new 

homes on former military land. 

The study was commissioned 

by Hampshire County Council 

and paid for with eco-town 

funding from central government. 

It considered environmental 

constraints, passenger demand, 

construction costs and economic 

benefits. 

Ken Thornber, the leader of 

Hampshire County Council, said: 

‘This initial study has show the 

heavy rail route has potential… 

but we still have a long way to go 

in terms of seeing if this potential 

could be realised.’ 

April 2011 Page 5

Open access applications 

refused on WCML 

■Grand Central and has been 

refused paths from Euston 

to Blackpool on the West Coast 

Main Line in the Office of Rail 

Regulation’s ruling on track access 

for the new West Coast franchise 

for the next 10 years. 

New open access operator 

Alliance Rail has also been refused 

the paths it wanted, but this was 

partly due to its application being 

incomplete. 

London Midland, meanwhile, 

got the additional services between 

Euston and Northampton it 

applied for – subject to timetabling 

practicalities – but was refused its 

application for extending some 

services to Liverpool, as these would 

impact on the core WCML route. 

The next West Coast franchisee 

will be the main beneficiary of the 

changes with more flexible access 

rights than is currently the case, 

allowing services to be more easily 

altered. 

However, the ORR says it has 

left the door open for future open 

access operations, provided they ‘are 

not simply abstracting revenue from 

the franchise’. 

The ORR is still in discussions 

with Alliance Rail – which wants 

paths to destinations including 

www.railimages.co.uk 

Carlisle, Leeds and Blackpool – 

about how to take its application 

forward. 

It will be trading under the 

name Great North Western Railway. 

ORR chief executive Bill Emery 

said: ‘Our West Coast Main Line 

track access conclusions pave the 

way for the new franchisee on 

the route to introduce improved 

services for passengers and to make 

more efficient use of capacity. 

‘It also leaves the way open 

for the introduction of limited 

competition from new operators 

on the route, to complement the 

franchised services, and protects the 

interests of freight operators.’ 

In a statement, Alliance Rail 

said: ‘Alliance is preparing a revised 

submission for its services in line 

with this decision, and is continuing 

to engage with Network Rail and 

the industry to ensure a positive 

outcome is achieved for the many 

passengers and stakeholders who 

have an interest in the continued 

development of the WCML.’ 

Doncaster station on the 

West Coast Main Line 

Greater Anglia 

shortlist omits 

Nat Express 

National Express has failed to 

make the shortlist of bidders 

for the next Greater Anglia 

franchise, despite being the 

incumbent operator. 

The group fell out of favour 

with the Labour government after 

pulling out of the East Coast 

franchise, but had been granted 

a franchise extension under 

the coalition. The East Anglia 

shortlist consists of Abellio, Go- 

Ahead and Stagecoach. 

A National Express 

spokesperson said: ‘We believe 

we put forward a very positive 

and high-quality submission 

building on the signifi cant 

improvements delivered on 

National Express East Anglia. 

‘We are therefore seeking 

further clarifi cation from the 

Department for Transport to 

explain this decision.’ 

The West Coast shortlist has 

also been announced as Abellio, 

FirstGroup, Virgin and Keolis/ 

SNCF. 

Virgin Rail Group CEO 

Tony Collins said: ‘We intend 

to submit a very strong bid to 

retain the West Coast franchise, 

building on the investment and 

customer improvements we 

have made.’ 

Fraud grows on Underground 

by Peter Brown 

Passengers using the London Underground 

network and railway stations in and around the 

capital are being warned to be extra vigilant 

when using debit and credit cards to purchase 

tickets. 

The warning has come from the Dedicated 

Cheque and Plastic Crime Card Unit, formed 

of officers from the Metropolitan Police, the 

City of London force and card payment industry 

inspectors. 

They say the use of card skimming devices has 

grown since ticket office opening hours were cut. 

Detective chief inspector Paul Barnard said: 

‘We urge Tube users to stay on their guard to 

help prevent them from being scammed. Officers 

are working closely with TfL and BTP to ensure 

these fraudsters will not benefit from their 

criminal activity.’ 

London Underground’s chief operating 

officer Howard Collins told Rail Professional: 

‘Although crime on the Tube network is very low 

with an average of only 13 crimes per million 

passengers, we want to make sure passengers 

take a couple of steps to minimise the risk of 

becoming a victim of bank card fraud.’ 

Meanwhile, TfL has announced that by the 

end of 2012, card readers across its network will 

have been upgraded to lead the world with a 

contactless bank card swipe system. 

■ peter.brown@railpro.co.uk 

‘The use of card skimming 

devices has grown since 

ticket office opening hours 

were cut’ 

shutterstcok 

Passengers using cards in ticket 

machines are at risk of having 

their card details copied by 

fraudsters 

PAGE 6 APRIL 2011

News 

MPs warn of regional 

disparities in investment 

nBig transport schemes in 

northern England could 

suffer from ‘regional disparities in 

investment’, according to the House 

of Commons Transport Committee. 

MPs on the committee warn 

that regional imbalances could 

worsen, and important projects 

might not be looked at. 

The committee’s chairman, 

Louise Ellman, said: ‘Transport 

spending in London in 2008-09 

was almost twice the UK average 

per capita and with schemes like 

Crossrail this trend looks set to 

continue.’ 

The Labour MP for Liverpool 

Riverside continued: ‘The economic 

recession has had a bigger impact 

in the north, so there is an urgent 

need for increased investment 

in transport schemes within and 

between northern cities – such as 

the Northern Hub rail scheme – in 

order to boost their capacity for 

economic growth.’ 

Ellman added that a fully 

integrated economic development 

strategy to back up ministers’ vision 

for transport investment was ‘so far 

absent’. 

The committee said the 

government should publish a white 

paper ‘clarifying its objectives for all 

transport spending and the criteria 

it will use for deciding between 

different claims on available 

resources’. It said the government 

should provide greater transparency 

in the appraisal and decision-making 

process. 

A Department for Transport 

spokesman responded: ‘We have a 

very clear strategy for a transport 

system that supports a balanced, 

low-carbon economy delivering 

future growth and prosperity 

throughout the whole of the UK. 

‘Our business plan clearly sets 

out how we are going to do this, 

including the development of a new 

high-speed railway.’ 

n The only station in Greater 

Manchester which is not owned by 

Network Rail is to become the first 

in the country to be powered by the 

wind. 

Two 11 kilowatt wind turbines 

are being built at Horwich Parkway 

station, near Bolton. They will start 

generating electricity this summer 

to run lighting, heating, and electric 

signs, but will produce so much 

power that some will be sold back to 

the national grid. 

The £3.6m station was built 

in 1999 by Greater Manchester 

Passenger Transport Executive. 

Residents bemoan 

crossing closures 

programme of level crossing 

nA closures by Network Rail 

across Scotland has been criticised 

for failing to take account of access 

rights. 

It has emerged that the 

company has closed at least 50 

Scottish level crossings since 2007 

on safety grounds. 

Ramblers Scotland said the 

closures were being carried out 

without consultation. It claims the 

public has a right to cross at even 

private, user-operated crossings, 

which are among those being 

targeted for closure. 

Network Rail spokesman Nick 

King said: ‘Level crossing misuse 

represents the biggest outside risk 

to rail safety. We need to balance 

access expectations against what is 

required to run a safe and reliable 

network. 

‘While we are committed to 

reducing the number of crossings 

on our railway, we are also working 

with stakeholders to try to provide 

access in a safe and responsible 

manner where a need has been 

identified.’ 

Regional schemes gain from Budget 

nChancellor George Osborne 

announced a £200m 

contribution towards regional 

railway schemes in England in his 

Budget speech. 

The cash will pay for the 

Swindon to Kemble redoubling 

scheme on the Great Western 

Main Line to go ahead – feared by 

supporters to have been ditched 

by the coalition – and the Ordsall 

Chord, linking Manchester’s 

Victoria and Piccadilly stations. 

First Great Western managing 

director Mark Hopwood called the 

Swindon to Kemble announcement 

‘fantastic news’ which would 

improve punctuality and reliability. 

‘I would pay particular tribute 

to the work of MPs Geoffrey 

Clifton-Brown and Martin 

Horwood, who have taken every 

opportunity to press the case for the 

redoubling,’ he added. 

"Express Medicals is pleased to 

announce that it has been added 

to the Crossrail approved list of 

occupational health service 

providers and can now provide 

occupational health services to 

organisations 

delivering Crossrail." 


A life-sized mock-up of a Crossrail underground platform has been 

revealed at construction test centre in Leighton Buzzard. The mockup 

will allow engineers to plan platform designs 

For further information and to discuss Express Medicals’ 

range of services please call our Sales and Marketing Team: 

Philip Stowe -- Marketing Manager: 020 7500 6928 

Rachael Staples -- Sales & Marketing Executive: 020 7500 6915 

Gary Cumber -- Sales & Marketing Executive: 020 7500 6912 

8 City Business Centre Lower Road London SE16 2XB 

april 2011 Page 7

GSM-R roll out begins with 

East Coast trains 

by Katie Silvester 

Installation of GSM-R radios has begun on East 

Coast trains, with the digital radios fitted in 

the cabs of 24 High Speed Trains. The roll out 

follows successful trials in Scotland and on the 

West Coast Main Line. 

The radios, which will be fitted on all 

British trains by the end of 2014, allow seamless 

communications between drivers, signallers and 

controllers overcoming the problems of ‘dead 

spots’ that limit analogue radios. 

GSM-R replaces a mixture of analogue radio 

systems used by the rail industry, with trackside 

communications masts linked to a new fibre 

optic network, delivering digital clarity radio 

signals to and from trains as they pass by. 

The first section of East Coast’s route to go 

live will be a 100-mile stretch between King’s 

Cross and Stoke Summit, near Grantham, 

which includes 18 tunnels. Forty GSM-R 

communications masts and 91 equipment 

cabinets have been installed at the trackside, 

with more than 75 East Coast drivers and 56 

Network Rail signallers trained to use the new 

system.  

East Coast property and projects director 

Tim Hedley-Jones said: ‘GSM-R will deliver clear 

safety and performance benefits.’  

A programme to fit the digital system into 

the remaining six HSTs and 60 Class 91 electric 

driving cabs began in February. 

The roll out will continue across regions of 

Network Rail and on the rolling stock of other 

train operators, beginning with the south of 

England. 

Meanwhile, Northern Rail has begun trials of 

GPS tracking equipment on the Esk Valley line 

to improve the accuracy of travel information. 

Like many of Northern’s lines, the rural 

route has old signalling equipment, which is not 

capable of accurately reporting a train’s location. 

This makes it difficult to keep passenger 

information systems updated if a train is delayed. 

The GPS system, which is far cheaper to 

install than new signalling, has been supplied by 

Nomad Digital. 

The trial has seen the equipment put into use 

on 14 Class 156s. 

‘A programme to fit the 

digital system into the 

remaining six HST and 60 

Class 91 electric driving cabs 

began in February’ 

Cardiff considers 

monorail 

Discussions have begun over 

plans to build what would be 

Britain’s first overhead railway 

system, linking Cardiff Central 

station to Cardiff Bay. 

The company behind it is 

London-based Monometro. 

The elevated railway, following 

an old railway track on councilowned 

land, is said to have been 

inspired by a similar system in 

the German city of Wuppertal 

and has the backing of Saudi 

investors. 

Monometro chairman Gareth 

Pearce met Cardiff council 

representatives in March to 

present their plans. Once finance 

is in place, the proposed scheme 

would take two and a half years 

to complete. ‘Discussions are still 

very much in their early days,’ a 

council spokeswoman said. 

No one was available for 

comment at Monometro, which 

is based in Paddington, but its 

website does not list a contact 

phone number. However, it is 

understood that if the Cardiff 

project proves commercially and 

technically viable, Monometro 

may use it as a model to build 

one in the Saudi city of Mecca. 

Villiers opens new driver 

training academy 

Railway minister Theresa Villiers 

emphasised the importance of 

training the next generation of 

drivers when she unveiled a new 

£1m train driving simulator. 

At the opening of the 

National Express East Anglia 

Training Academy in Stratford, 

east London, in March, Villiers 

pledged government support for 

training. 

Officially opening the new 

suite designed for the Class 379 

units for the Stansted Express 

and Cambridge-London services, 

she said: ‘The railways have 

seen unprecedented growth in 

recent years and we want this to 

continue. 

Training the next generation 

of train drivers is important if 

we’re to continue to deliver the 

efficient services passengers need.’ 

National Express East Anglia 

managing director Andrew 

Chivers said he was delighted that 

Villiers had been able to attend 

the opening. 

Theresa Villiers, Stuart 

Fraser (head of driver 

training) and Andrew 

Chivers 

Page 8 April 2011

News 

Refusal to negotiate 

over East Coast was 

right, says NAO 

The Labour government was 

right to take back the East 

Coast franchise in 2009, rather 

than renegotiate terms with 

National Express when it 

could not meet its premium 

payments, a report by the 

National Audit Office concludes. 

When National Express ran 

into problems, other operators 

were looking vulnerable too, 

and the report suggests that 

large-scale renegotiations with 

several operators could have 

cost taxpayers between £200m 

and £450m. 

The NAO puts the cost of 

taking back the franchise and 

running it under the auspices of 

Directly Operated Railways at 

around £15m. 

Devolved Network Rail unit 

for Wales and the Marches 

takes shape 

nNetwork Rail’s devolution 

experiment in Wales will see 

a Cardiff-centred business unit 

covering Wales and the Marches. 

CEO David Higgins said that 

there needed to be a ‘one-Wales 

strategy’. 

He added: ‘We’re devolving 

accountability so that we can 

get closer to our customers and 

be in a better position to deliver 

improvements to passengers 

and freight users, while forging 

stronger ties with the Welsh 

Assembly Government to unlock 

any untapped potential on the 

railway.’ The new unit will have 

its own managing director, taking 

responsibility for: safety; all 

customer service matters; asset 

management outputs and spend; 

operations; planning and delivering 

maintenance; and the delivery of 

some renewals and enhancements. 

It will cover an area including 

south Wales, mid Wales, north 

Wales and the Marches, which runs 

along the border and will include 

some stations and infrastructure in 

England. 

Meanwhile, Passenger Focus 

is calling for real-time train 

information at every unstaffed 

station in Wales as a minimum, as 

well as waiting area improvements 

and more community partnerships, 

following passenger research. 

Ashwin Kumar, Passenger Focus 

rail director, said: ‘Passengers tell 

us repeatedly that when disruption 

occurs, they need accurate and 

timely information. 

‘However, there are still too 

many instances where passengers 

are left standing on isolated 

stations, waiting for a delayed train 

with no idea when or if their train 

will show up.’ 

Southeastern gets franchise extension 

nGovia’s Southeastern 

franchise is to be extended 

for two years, after the operator 

met all the performance criteria to 

trigger an optional extension in its 

franchise agreement. It will now 

run until 31 March, 2014. 

Keith Ludeman, group chief 

executive of Go-Ahead and 

chairman of Govia, said: ‘We 

are pleased that this important 

franchise, which carries over a 160 

million passengers a year, will run 

to 2014. 

‘In the first five years of this 

franchise, Southeastern has 

increased the number of train 

services operated across the region 

and customer satisfaction has risen. 

‘It has successfully introduced 

the UK’s first domestic high speed 

service and independent research 

shows that passengers using this 

service are the most satisfied in the 

UK.’ 

Govia is the Go-Ahead Group’s 

rail division, which is co-owned by 

Keolis. 

High speed trains ‘will not fit into 

existing Manchester stations’ 

nManchester will need a brand 

new major station within 15 

years, if it is to take advantage of 

high speed trains, Rail Professional 

can reveal. 

The government is planning the 

initial HS2 line from London to the 

West Midlands to be operational 

by 2026, with trains then switching 

to conventional lines at Lichfield 

to reach north west England and 

Yorkshire, until the high speed lines 

to Manchester and Leeds open six 

years later. 

But the quarter-mile long trains 

carrying up to 1,100 passengers – 

Virgin’s Pendolinos carry just 440 

– will not fit into Piccadilly without 

spending millions to move signals 

and points. 

The station is served by six lines 

that converge in a series of points 

and signals at the ‘throat’ of the 

station – which would be blocked 

by the quarter-mile long high speed 

trains. 

The HS2 company and local 

officials are working together and 

looking at potential sites for a new 

station within the city boundary. 

Specialist photo library Rail Images has launched its redesigned website 

at www.railimages.co.uk 

The company, which was started in 1998 by former British Rail 

photographers Alan Cheek and Ian Stoner, has more than 10,000 images 

of high-quality rail photography in its collection. 

The Linkup certified photo library also does commissioned photography 

and has its own video production service. Its photographers are all 

qualified PTS holders. 

Rail Images will be exhibiting at Railtex, stand D135. 


april 2011 Page 9

News 

C2C says 

goodbye to 

blue livery with 

final trip 

Train operator C2C pulled 

off a master stroke in public 

relations when it decided 

to run a special to mark the 

final day of its blue livery 

with the one remaining Class 

357/2 Electrostar, just prior to 

receiving its new look. 

Even before the official 

announcement of the 

‘farewell tour’, passengers and 

enthusiasts were clamouring 

for seats at £20 each for the 

10-hour marathon throughout 

the C2C network, which 

included visits to East Ham 

and Shoeburyness depots. 

The charter, which began 

and ended at London 

Fenchurch Street on Saturday 

5 March, took in rarely used 

routes and sidings. 

For the duration of the 

run, passengers were kept 

entertained by C2C managing 

director Julian Drury acting as 

tour guide on the train, which 

had a carnival atmosphere 

with raffles and the opportunity 

for a cab ride. 

Although No 357 227 was 

the only remaining unit in blue 

livery, such was the interest 

that another had to be added 

to meet demand – 357 029 in 

the now accepted white livery. 

A C2C spokeswoman said: 

‘Another four carriages had to 

be added because the train 

became booked up almost as 

soon as it was advertised.’ 

Glasgow subway to get new 

trains and signalling 

by Arthur Allan 

Glasgow’s ageing Underground 

system is set for a major upgrade 

after the Scottish government 

confirmed it would make a 

substantial contribution to the 

cost. 

Strathclyde Passenger Transport 

(SPT) aims to redevelop all 15 

stations on the city’s subway, as 

well as investing in new trains and 

improved signalling. It also plans 

changes to working practices, 

including driverless trains. 

However, the agency will need 

to find some of the funds from 

other sources. The government’s 

failure to put a figure on its 

support also triggered concern in 

some quarters. 

The subway was last 

modernised in 1980. Business 

groups and other campaigners have 

called for more frequent service 

times and later running – trains 

currently stop at 23.30 on weekdays 

and 18:00 on Sundays. 

SPT says its plans could boost 

annual passenger numbers from 

the current 13 million to around 18 

million. During the recent heavy 

snowfall, 100,000 extra passengers 

used the service. 

Finance secretary John 

Swinney’s announcement follows 

the submission of a £290m business 

case by the agency last year. 

Swinney said: ‘We believe this 

announcement, when combined 

with the government’s ongoing 

capital grant, provides sufficient 

reassurance for SPT to raise funds 

from other sources and progress 

with the subway modernisation 

now.’ 

SPT chairman Jonathan Findlay 

described the news as ‘fantastic’ 

and added: ‘We look forward to 

receiving further details of the 

financial contribution on offer.’ 

The announcement came weeks 

ahead of Scottish parliamentary 

elections, and follows widespread 

disappointment in Glasgow over 

the SNP government’s cancellation 

of an airport rail link for the city. 

Green MSP Patrick Harvie said: 

‘This announcement comes very 

late from the SNP, without a sum 

attached or a timescale.’ 

He said existing but unused 

tunnels could be used to extend 

the network, and that the system 

needed an Oyster-style smartcard as 

well as improvements to ‘creaking’ 

infrastructure. 

Transport campaign group 

Transform Scotland welcomed 

the government’s announcement. 

‘With the last major upgrade 

having taken place over 30 years 

ago, this programme is now 

necessary to ensure day-to-day 

reliability,’ said the group’s Calum 

McCallum. 

n arthur.allan@railpro.co.uk 

‘SPT chairman 

Jonathan Findlay 

described the news as 

fantastic’ 

Strathclyde Partnership for Transport 

Higgins: HS2 is about capacity 

nThe debate about High 

Speed Two has to focus on 

capacity, not speed says Network 

Rail’s new chief executive David 

Higgins. 

Even with the extra carriages 

that the West Coast Pendolinos 

will be getting, the West Coast 

Main Line will be at full capacity 

in six years, he told railway 

journalists. 

‘The debate’s been all about 

speed – it’s not about speed it’s 

about capacity. With the way 

that the West Coast is growing, 

it will be full, even with the extra 

carriages, within six years. 

‘After that, there’s only one 

way to control demand – pricing. 

People need to understand the 

consequences of not having 

HS2,’ Higgins said, speaking at 

Network Rail’s London offices 

near King’s Cross. 

‘The industry needs to lobby 

for HS2 and the north needs to 

lobby for it. We need to sell the 

idea of the extra capacity that 

will be created on other parts of 

the network. 

‘You could fill up High Speed 

Two on day two by diverting 

traffic from the West Coast, 

which may give you a lot more 

flexibility. It will be the single 

biggest additional capacity 

scheme for the UK rail network 

in 100 years. It’s unique in terms 

of what it will do.’ 

GBRf launches 

road-rail hub 

Freight operator GB Railfreight 

has launched an integrated road 

and rail freight hub, offering a sixday-a-week 

door-to-door service 

between London and the south 

east and Manchester and the 

north west. Single boxes to whole 

train loads can be accommodated, 

with onward connections to 

Europe also offered. Called 

InterhubGB, the service will be run 

in partnership with 4Rail Logistics. 

Page 10 april 2011

Network Rail bonuses on hold 

while scheme reviewed 


An annual bonus will not be 

paid to Network Rail’s executive 

directors for the financial year 

2010-11, the organisation has 

announced. 

Steve Russell, chairman of 

Network Rail’s remuneration 

committee said: ‘Last year, the 

board suspended the management 

incentive framework for 

executive directors and, after 

a comprehensive review, will 

shortly be proposing to members 

a radically different approach 

to incentivisation from 2011-12 

onwards, including transitional 

arrangements from extant long 

term incentive plans to the new 

scheme.’ 

Gerry Doherty 

The subject of directors’ 

bonuses at Network Rail has 

always been controversial, with the 

six executive directors taking home 

more than £2m between them in 

bonuses alone for the year 2009-10. 

That was on top of their 

already generous salaries, which 

range between about £300,000 and 

more than £600,000 – way above 

what any MP earns, including 

the prime minister whose 

parliamentary earnings are just 

£142,000, excluding expenses. 

Russell added: ‘We intend 

to retain the past arrangements 

for the annual incentive scheme 

across all other employee grades 

for 2010-11, based on challenging 

targets that were established at the 

beginning of the year.’ 

Speaking on behalf of the 

directors and the committee, he 

added: ‘All recognise that the 

public expect consistently high 

network reliability and overall 

service delivery within a strong 

safety culture before the top 

leadership of the company should 

become eligible for payment under 

any annual incentive scheme.’ 

Rail union TSSA would like 

Network Rail to abandon its bonus 

scheme for good, but the new 

CEO David Higgins has already 

indicated that he supports the idea 

of bonuses in principle. 

TSSA leader Gerry Doherty 

said that Network Rail needed to 

improve its safety record before 

bonuses were reinstated. He 

referred to its under-reporting of 

accidents – which was the subject 

of an RSSB report – and the 

Elsenham level crossing tragedy. 

‘We would like to see these 

safety questions being addressed 

seriously before Mr Higgins starts 

talking about paying himself huge 

bonuses of £600,000 a year like his 

little lamented predecessor Iain 

Coucher, he said. 

‘Mr Higgins has repeated 

the old line that NR is a private 

company to justify the huge 

bonuses. He fails to mention that 

we the taxpayers fund it almost 

entirely with £4bn of our money 

every year.’ 

■ katie.silvester@railpro.co.uk 

■ See page 29 for Atoc’s proposal 

about breaking Network Rail 

into separate companies 

News in brief 

Unions warn of 

redundancies 

London Midland is considering 

closing some of its ticket offi ces 

and restricting the opening 

hours of others. The RMT and 

TSSA say this would mean up 

to 122 posts being cut. London 

Midland has issued launched a 

consultation on the closures. 

Private sector rail 

investment falls short 

A lack of private sector funding 

has seen government targets for 

rail spending fall short by around 

£16bn, says a report by analysts 

TAS. The 2001 Ten Year Plan for 

transport envisaged £31bn of 

private sector investment over 

the following decade, but only 

half of that materialised. 

Customers would like 

to set up own Tocs 

Passengers would be willing to 

invest in a rail operator that was 

passenger-owned if that meant 

cheaper tickets and improved 

customer service. The survey, 

by Co-operatives UK, found that 

regular commuters would invest 

as much as £900 in such a 

company. 


Station retailing outguns high street 

Retailers at railway stations 

outperformed their counterparts 

on the high street in the fourth 

quarter of 2010, with five per 

London Victoria station 

cent growth on the previous 

year, compared to less than one 

per cent growth on the high 

street. 

The previous quarter also 

saw five per cent growth. The 

figures are based on the results 

of retailers operating at the 17 

stations operated by Network 

Rail, with London Euston (up 

13.51 per cent), Birmingham 

New Street (up 12.85 per cent) 

and London Bridge (up 11.20 per 

cent) seeing the most growth. 

Food and grocery outlets were 

the most successful, followed by 

clothing and accessories. 

Network Rail’s head of retail 

Gavin McKechnie said: ‘Whilst 

the high street shivers in the 

cold economic climate, rail 

passenger journey numbers 

remain high at 1.3bn a year – the 

highest number for 70 years. 

‘Retailers at our stations 

benefit from these high 

passenger numbers and from an 

upmarket demographic who are 

keen on impulse shopping.’ 

Revenue management 

system boosts East 

Coast’s ticket sales 

■Annual ticket sales at East 

Coast have been boosted by 

£4m a year, thanks to its revenue 

management system, says head of 

revenue Suzanne Donnelly. 

The system allows the company 

to gauge on which trains to offer 

the biggest discounts and how 

many discounted tickets to make 

available, enabling it to attract 

passengers onto the quietest 

trains, while not discounting 

unnecessarily on the more popular 

services. 

‘With three-quarters of 

passengers booking in advance, 

we’re able to analyse demand data, 

as well as monitor and understand 

our customers’ behaviour to 

accurately price our seats and 

encourage passengers to travel on 

less high-demand services,’ said 

Donnelly. 

East Coast uses JDA Rail Price 

Manager. 

APRIL 2011 PAGE 11

WSM should have 

known about restrictive 

clause 

If the promoters of the 

Wrexham Shropshire & 

Marylebone Railway (to 

give it its full title) were 

unaware of the Moderation 

of Competition element 

of the franchising regime 

(‘Shropshire or bust’, March 


Readers air their views about the railway 

industry and Rail Professional 

Email your letters to: editor@railpro.co.uk Fax them to: 01223 327356 

Or post them to: The Editor, Rail Professional, 275 Newmarket Road, 

Cambridge CB5 8JE. Letters may be edited for length 

2011 issue) before they 

started development work, it 

simply displays breathtaking 

ignorance, particularly when it 

was closely associated with an 

existing franchise operator. 

However, it is noticeable 

that Wrexham & Shropshire 

never sought rights at 

Birmingham, Leamington 

Spa or Banbury. If this was 

Electrification must 

continue to Swansea 

The government has announced electrification only as far as 

Cardiff – that would imply that there is no viable economic 

activity beyond Cardiff, so travellers from Swansea, Neath, Port 

Talbot and Brigend will have to commute to Cardiff to get on an 

intercity service. 

Presumably all the economic regeneration including, for 

example, the new Swansea University campus in Baglan Bay 

(close to Neath and Port Talbot) are nothing more than local. 

The civil servants should revisit their analysis after they have 

understood market behaviour and the essential prerequisites 

to retain and increase long distance passenger numbers. 

David Phillips 

Cardiff Central 

because it would have resulted 

in dilution of its partner’s 

(Chiltern’s) franchise income, 

it would make any expectation 

on their part of sharing the 

‘Orcats pot’ at Wolverhampton 

(in which Chiltern had 

no involvement) similarly 

breathtaking. 

Nevertheless, when it 

found Virgin unwilling to give 

up the terms under which 

it was bound to the DfT, 

Wrexham & Shropshire had 

the opportunity to change its 

mind (or to defer start-up until 

2012 when the clause expires) 

but chose to go ahead. 

The outcome has simply 

been that it got its (revised) 

sums wrong. Wrexham & 

Shropshire demonstrated 

that there is a downside to 

the greater freedom to take 

commercial decisions that a 

number of Tocs are banging on 

about these days. 

By the way, Mr Plisner 

seems to be unaware that 

Virgin operates one roundtrip 

a day Wrexham to Euston 

through service, and that a 

number of county towns – 

including those just across 

the border in north Wales 

– had no direct rail service to 

London. 

I should add that I hold 

no brief for any of the 

protagonists! 

Richard Maund 

Gated community? 

In respect of these ludicrous 

‘gates’ at Kings Cross, I agree 

entirely with Richard Malins, 

who is an expert on revenue 

protection, so I think he ought 

to know what he is talking 

about (Page 10, Rail Professional, 

March 2011). 

I really like the ‘spin’ that 

was provided by Mr. Hedley- 

Jones of East Coast Property, 

who actually thinks that we 

believe him when he says it 

will ‘create a more pleasant 

environment and a better 

travelling experience’. 

Who is he kidding? I had 

the unpleasant experience of 

trying to get through them 

recently, with people trying to 

get through with cases, pushing 

and shoving with tickets that 

would not open the gates and a 

frustrated staff member having 

to open gates for customers. 

The resulting chaos was 

similar to that one associates 

with Cambridge, where in 

the rush hour the gates are 

left open as they cannot 

accommodate the wall of 

people trying to reach the 

platforms. 

Unfortunately, the whole 

East Coast travel experience 

has deteriorated considerably 

since GNER and previous 

companies like Intercity left 

the scene. 

The larger stations have 

become virtual shopping 

centres, where the train 

passenger is a bit of a nuisance 

and is pushed into the 

background. 

And now they have inflicted 

these gates on the traveller and 

we are going to get them too at 

my home station! 

Please can we go back to a 

time when you felt welcome at 

the stations, where you could 

pop onto the open stations and 

have a cup of coffee and see 

what bargains are available, see 

your friends off with no hassle, 

and not be seen as a potential 

criminal. 

Everywhere Chris Green 

ran trains, the stations had 

‘Welcome to xxxx’ on them. It 

is time these train operators 

realised the passenger railways 

are only franchised – they 

Page 12 APRIL 2011

Letters 

are under contract to run 

the railways on behalf of the 

British people. The supreme 

arrogance of some of them 

beggars belief. 

Bob Hex 

Peterborough 

Gornegrat is 

independent 

May I just offer a correction to 

the Swiss article in the March 

issue, ‘Keeping the clockwork 

railway ticking’? 

The box on ‘Peak 

performance’ says ‘One of 

Swiss Federal Railway’s 

crowning glories is the 

Gornegrat Bahn…’. 

This is factually incorrect, 

as the Gornegrat Bahn is not 

owned or operated by the state 

railway. It is, and always has 

been, independent. 

The railway is under 

common management with the 

Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn. 

Richard Lemon MIRO 

Chepstow 

Making the most of 

small stations 

I am writing about the article 

in your excellent publication 

Rail Professional (Serving the 

few, March 2011 issue). 

One may reflect that 

the purported aim of the 

development of rail user 

groups over the last four 

decades was to seek to bolster 

the pivotal roles of local 

stations creatively if they were 

slightly under par or poorly 

performing, an issue often 

mooted to justify closures in 

the late 1950s and 60s. 

Local examples in my neck 

of the woods were Ampthill, 

Oakley and Sharnbrook on the 

Midland Main Line. 

Examples of boosting 

stations included things like 

provision of adequate car 

parking, ensuring buses link 

to local stations in a timetable 

co-ordinated way, ensuring 

Smallbrook: small, but a 

vital interchange 

It was interesting to see Smallbrook Junction 

on the list in Paul Clifton’s piece for having 

fewer than 50 passengers a day (Serving the 

few, March 2011 issue). This is, of course, 

the Island Line interchange with the Isle of 

Wight Steam Railway, and the platform is 

not accessible, apart from interchanging 

passengers (the Island Line stops there only 

when the steam trains are running). I have seen 

50 people join an Island Line train at one go! 

I suspect the numbers given to Paul come 

from ticket sales, which is another matter 

altogether. Island Line conductors can rarely 

get round all the passengers on summer trains, 

basic standards such as waiting 

shelters, customer information, 

adequate lighting, disabled 

access and keeping toilets 

properly serviced. 

The train itself is also 

important, as is the stock used, 

frequency and so on. In the 

1970s and 1980s, these groups 

were largely ad hoc and set up 

by volunteers. Progressively 

over the 1990s and 2000s formal 

professional and contractual 

quango arrangements have 

eaten into niches and – from 

single station adoption schemes 

to full blown community rail 

partnerships – have filled some 

gaps. 

So the question is, are the 

stations and lines mentioned 

in the article covered? If so, by 

what agency? 

Richard Pill 

Bedford 

and certainly not short distance riders such 

as Smallbrook Junction to Ryde; it’s painful to 

watch them keying in details on the screen, 

waiting for the ticket to print and sorting out 

change. It seems to average 90 seconds per 

transaction. 

Presumably in the great South West Trains 

revenue count, Island Line is so miniscule that 

losses from uncollected fares on the Isle of 

Wight do not register with the bean counters 

at Waterloo. 

Michael Taplin 

Isle of Wight 

APRIL 2011 PAGE 13

The market town 

of Wendover in 

Buckinghamshire, 

which HS2 will 

pass through. 

Residents have been 

campaigning against 

the line 

Shutterstock 

Official HS2 

debate begins 

High Speed Two is fast turning out to be 

the UK’s most controversial new railway 

scheme, but the public consultation 

has only just begun. The six-month 

information-gathering exercise began 

with a big launch event in the West 

Midlands and the inevitable publication 

of yet more documents. Peter Plisner 

leafs through them 

The public consultation should have started last 

autumn, but the general election, a new government 

and a major review of the preferred route meant that 

it didn’t actually begin until the end of February. 

Much had already been said about the scheme, both 

for and against. But now the official forum for debate 

is finally there. Birmingham’s International Convention Centre 

was the launch pad for what promises to be one of the biggest 

ever consultations into a railway scheme. Speaking at the event, 

the transport secretary, Philip Hammond made it clear that the 

government was still 100 per cent behind the scheme, even if some 

Conservative MPs, whose constituents are affected by the plans, 

appear to be wavering. 

Hammond said: ‘I believe that a national high speed rail 

Page 14 APRIL 2011

News analysis 

network from London to Birmingham, with onward legs to Leeds 

and Manchester, could transform Britain’s competitiveness as 

profoundly as the coming of the railways in the 19th century.’ 

Speaking to an invited audience, that didn’t include objectors to 

the scheme, Hammond added that high speed rail would: ‘Reshape 

Britain’s economic geography, helping bridge the north-south 

divide through massive improvements in journey times and better 

connections between cities.’ 

After months of criticism and a barrage of arguments as to 

why the scheme shouldn’t go ahead, Hammond came out with all 

guns blazing. High speed rail, he stated would ‘address Britain’s 

future transport capacity challenge – providing a huge uplift in 

long-distance capacity and relieving pressure on overstretched 

conventional lines’. 

New government figures published along with the consultation 

document estimate that it would bring around £44bn of net 

monetised benefits and support the creation of thousands of 

new jobs, as well as delivering what the government terms 

‘unquantifiable strategic benefits’. But it wasn’t long before objectors 

to the scheme were once again picking holes in the government’s 

arguments. The HS2 Action Alliance was first to have a go. It chose 

to dismiss Hammond’s premise that HS2 would help to reduce the 

north-south divide. It points to figures in the latest set of documents 

suggesting that of the 30,000 jobs created by HS2, seven out of ten of 

them would be in London. Hilary Wharf, spokesman for the alliance, 

said: ‘Since when has creating more jobs in London helped narrow 

the north-south divide?’ 

However, others had praise for the government’s continued 

support for HS2. Jim Steer, director of the campaigning group 

Greengauge 21, said: ‘It is a great credit to the coalition government 

that, faced with tight spending constraints, it has not only set aside the 

funds necessary to secure the powers to build HS2 – should that be the 

course it wishes to pursue – but it has also protected the substantial 

capital programme of investment in the existing rail network.’ 

The government, in its consultation document, maintains that 

Britain’s road network cannot offer an effective solution to the UK 

rail capacity issues and that congestion and unreliability of road 

journeys means more and more people are turning to the railways 

for journeys to city centres. That, it claims, is leading to high levels 

of growth. The document states: ‘The government has focused on 

reviewing the costs and benefits of the key strategic rail options for 

meeting the capacity challenge.’ 

The review, according to the government, has included looking 

at new lines, both high speed and conventional, and upgrades to 

existing infrastructure. But, it concludes: ‘A new high speed rail 

network would generate significantly greater benefits for travellers 

in terms of capacity, connectivity and reliability than any of the 

other options considered.’ 

Those opposed to the scheme have long maintained that a littleknown 

study by Atkins, which proposed a series of special packages 

of improvements, would do much to enhance capacity. Protestors 

have stated that the so-called Rail Package 2 would provide enough 

additional capacity for the future, at a fraction of the cost of high 

speed rail. Further backing for the government’s argument in favour 

of high speed rail comes in a claim in the document that a UK-wide 

network could deliver very significant benefits whilst remaining 

broadly carbon neutral, despite significant increase in passenger 

miles. At best, its authors state, ‘high speed rail has the potential, 

ultimately, to deliver valuable carbon reductions, depending, in 

‘It wasn’t long before objectors 

to the scheme were once 

again picking holes in the 

government’s arguments’ 

particular, on the level of modal shift achieved from aviation.’ 

However, environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth 

disagrees. A statement issued on the day consultation started said: 

‘The UK urgently needs a fast and efficient rail system, but the 

current high speed rail plans will do little to encourage people out of 

planes and cars or tackle climate change.’ 

And when it comes to significant increases in passenger 

numbers, there’s some confusion over exactly how much demand 

there will actually be into the future. In March last year, projections 

contained in the original documentation suggested that background 

growth in rail travel would be around 133 per cent, but that figure 

doesn’t appear in any of the latest reports. Indeed, the consultation 

document doesn’t actually mention any demand forecasts, although 

a separate report analysing the economic case does. Its best guess is 

that demand for long-distance trips will increase by just 64 per cent 

by the year 2043, very different from the previous forecasts. 

The report’s authors add the caveat that there are differing views 

on the future. ‘Slower growth would not necessarily mean that HS2 

would not be worthwhile investment.’ The changing situation over 

the demand forecasts does appear to add weight to the arguments 

put forward by protestors that the original business case for high 

speed rail simply didn’t add up. 

On the subject of the preferred route, the consultation 

document maintains that the route originally recommended by HS2 

Ltd back in December 2009 has continued to be refined to address 

the environmental impact and, in particular, how it affects nearby 

communities. However, the document does admit that the proposed 

line would generate noticeable noise increases in a number of areas, 

as well as having an impact on landscape, including in the Chilterns 

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. There’s a further admission 

that such impacts cannot be eliminated entirely but, according to 

the document, HS2 Ltd’s recent work to review and improve its 

proposed alignment demonstrates that sensitive route design and 

refinement can substantially reduce them. It emerged last December 

that up to 50 per cent of the route announced in March last year by 

the Labour government, had been changed in an effort to make the 

alignment more acceptable. 

The latest batch of documents makes yet more interesting 

reading for those campaigning both for and against the controversial 

line. No doubt those opposed will find yet more issues to call into 

question. At least now they have the chance to do exactly that as part 

of the long-awaited consultation. The event will feature a variety of 

meetings and exhibitions along the whole route of the proposed line 

and the Department for Transport has even set up a special website. 

Those wanting to express their views have around six months to do 

so. The consultation is due to end on 29 July 2011, with the results 

expected in the Autumn. 

Peter Plisner is the BBC’s Midlands business and transport 

correspondent: peter.plisner@railpro.co.uk 

APRIL 2011 Page 15

Network Rail’s new Australian boss David 

Higgins has announced an experiment 

in devolution to enable the organisation to be more responsive 

at a local level. But, says cricket fan Robert Wright, there will be 

testing times ahead 

Is Higgins on a 

sticky wicket? 

David Higgins at Network 

Rail’s London headquarters, 

with King’s Cross station in 

the background 

David Higgins, Network Rail’s new Australian chief 

executive, must have felt like one of his compatriots 

in a World Cup cricket match when he announced 

plans for changes to the organisation on 21 

February. Faced with a tricky spinning delivery 

– pressure to devolve power in the organisation – 

he took a bold, metaphorical step out of his crease. After less than 

three weeks in the job, he announced he was devolving significant 

decision-making power to 10 regional managing directors. In his 

head, he may have watched the pesky issue streaking away to the 

boundary fence. 

But Higgins’ move onto the front foot created only a polite 

ripple of applause. The problems surrounding Chiltern Railways’ 

Evergreen 3 project have made his stroke look rather riskier 

than it previously appeared. The Association of Train Operating 

Companies, meanwhile, think he should be hitting still riskier sixes, 

not fours. 

It would be no surprise if, by now, Higgins felt that he was in 

the predicament customary for England’s one-day cricket captains. 

Incumbents in both jobs seem to be continually barracked for 

contradictory reasons for nearly every decision. 

Yet there can be little doubt that, just as English one-day 

cricket has been continually undermined by incessant changes 

of strategy, Network Rail needs a period of calm with a settled 

strategy and personnel. The question may be whether, with so many 

different actors interfering and proffering contradictory advice, the 

organisation can ever get it. 

The arguments involved fundamentally revolve around the 

tensions – which are also being played out in national politics 

– between centralised, standardised delivery, and localism and 

flexibility. Higgins believes he has found the right balance by 

pledging to hand significant power to the regional managing 

Page 16 APRIL 2011

Comment 

‘Structural solutions often seem 

to address a problem, while 

distracting those involved from 

tackling it properly’ 

directors while keeping planning, large-scale purchasing and some 

other key functions within a central, national organisation. 

Each regional managing director, he points out, will be running 

a significant infrastructure business in its own right. The central 

organisation should prevent a return to the days when Railtrack 

regional managers confounded long-distance passenger and freight 

operators by each developing separate standards. The gamble is, 

ultimately, that a more decentralised company, working more 

closely with its biggest customers, will find new ways to cut costs 

and improve performance. 

But it has never looked to be a foregone conclusion that 

devolution would be an improvement. This column’s regular readers 

may recall its warnings in March about the conflicts of interest and 

unintended consequences that might result from handing greater 

power over infrastructure investments to train operators. It is a 

key attraction from the present government’s point of view that 

devolving power in Network Rail should allow more such joint 

ventures. 

I was unaware when I wrote March’s column how many of 

the predicted problems were already manifesting themselves in 

Chiltern Railways’ Evergreen 3 project. In January, Chiltern’s project 

manager handed over control of the project to a new manager – 

from Network Rail. A confidential assessment of the scheme rated 

its chances of hitting a May completion deadline no better than 

one in 10. The scope of work each weekend seems, at times, to have 

been decided only days before, leaving workers sometimes short of 

wagons to take away spoil and other waste. 

Adrian Shooter, Chiltern’s chairman, angrily refutes the Office 

of Rail Regulation’s characterisation of the management change as 

a transfer of control from Chiltern to Network Rail. He also denies 

the affair has wider implications for rail policy. But the project has 

undoubtedly suggested that, whatever Network Rail’s shortcomings, 

it is worth leaving large infrastructure projects in the hands of 

an organisation that can draw on a deep well of experience and 

expertise. 

The devolution of power will have to be handled sensitively 

if individual regions are not to lose the benefits of Network Rail’s 

wider, nationwide pool of expertise. 

Yet, so far from advocating a more defensive approach, the 

Association of Train Operating Companies wants to see the ball 

sail straight into the crowd. In a paper published on 9 March, it 

called for Network Rail to be dismembered altogether and for train 

operators to be given far more say over the resulting 10 companies. 

The paper left some issues unaddressed – many people would 

be curious about the fate of Network Rail’s £24bn, governmentguaranteed 

debt in such a scenario. But its core point was that only a 

breaking-up of Network Rail would truly liberate an infrastructure 

company to tap train operators’ expertise about how to run the 

network. 

As is by now traditional in Atoc documents on the network’s 

future, there was a hint that some train operators would like to take 

over signalling and other operational issues. It goes on to advocate 

replacement of some core Network Rail responsibilities with a 

‘lean central function’. Among other things, it accepts that central 

ownership of some key, expensive pieces of equipment – highoutput 

track laying machines, for example – ought to remain with 

this organisation. 

It remains impossible, nevertheless, to imagine how the good 

from such a dismemberment would outweigh the harm. How would 

a future Great Western route undertaking electrification build 

up expertise from scratch? Would the ‘lean central organisation’ 

employ enough electrification engineers to rush the necessary 

numbers to a site if, for example, there were a repeat of the severe 

engineering over-runs suffered in January 2008 at Rugby? 

The truth is that structural solutions often seem to address a 

problem, while distracting those involved from tackling it properly. 

It seems worth experimenting with decentralisation to improve 

Network Rail’s responsiveness to its customers. There will be more 

creativity in a looser organisation – and more scope for one area to 

develop better practices that others can then adopt. 

But the key remains for Network Rail to improve its basic skills 

– to control costs better, manage performance better and organise 

maintenance better. A reshuffling of the batting line-up might just 

as easily distract from that task as help with it. The main imperative 

it to allow Network Rail’s new captain time and space to get his eye 

in. His previous career suggests that, given the opportunity, a really 

solid innings should follow. 

Robert Wright is transport correspondent for 

the Financial Times: robert.wright@ft.com 

n See page 29 for more on Atoc’s ideas for breaking-up Network Rail 

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Page 18 april 2010 2011

Interview 

Rail Professional interview: Dyan Crowther 

There are things that 

train operators can do. 

I don’t think signalling 

is necessarily one 

of them 

Dyan Crowther is a busy woman. As Network Rail’s 

new director of operational services, she works 

across all the routes. In between meetings, she tells 

Katie Silvester what she’s currently working on 

PHOTOGRAPHY Anna Branthwaite 

Network Rail is sometimes accused of 

not having enough insight into how 

its customers, the train and freight 

operating companies, work and what 

challenges they face. But no one could 

level that charge at Network Rail’s 

director of operational services, Dyan Crowther. A 

British Rail graduate trainee, she worked in all manner 

of positions, including station management, before 

joining Railtrack at privatisation. When Railtrack went 

into administration she left and went to work for Arriva 

Trains Northern. 

Even though she has ended up back on the 

infrastructure side, she says her favourite role so far was 

that of commercial director for Arriva Trains Northern. 

‘Probably because I joined the company when it had a 

lot of challenges and most of its staff base were on strike. 

It had just been voted the UK’s worst train operator, so 

I thought, I can’t do anything that’s going to make it 

worse!’ 

A geography graduate who clearly enjoys working 

in the railway industry, she chose British Rail, she says, 

because it was an organisation that gave you a lot of 

responsibility early on, unlike other graduate schemes. 

Other familiar names of her cohort year were Heidi 

Mottram, Dominic Booth and Rail Professional founding 

father Andrew Goodman. 

By contrast, her twin sister went into banking. 

‘You really did get exposure to a lot of different 

experiences with British Rail. I sold tickets, I cleaned 

platforms at Peckham when the cleaners didn’t turn up. 

You tended to move every six or seven months.’ 

A reshuffle at Network Rail earlier this year saw 

Crowther take over the role of director of operational 

april MAY 2010 2011 Page 19

‘Devolution is the right 

thing to do – putting the 

responsibility for delivery 

out with the routes’ 

services from the late Derek Holmes. So what does her 

new role involve? 

‘Ultimately, my job is about leadership now and 

central support. It’s more of an enabling role. I’ve then 

got another element, which I call operational support, 

and that’s a team of people who provide information and 

guidance to the route teams. That’s on things like level 

crossings and signals. 

‘Level crossings are a big part of what I do. I’ve always 

been passionate about level crossings. In a previous life, 

when I worked on London Northern Eastern, I had about 

3,500 of them and they are a big challenge. We’ve got a 

programme associated with level crossings and we’re 

concentrating on the new level crossing enforcement 

vans, focusing on user behaviour. We’ve got over 7,500 

level crossings across the country.’ 

Network Rail has found itself in the firing line over 

safety at level crossings. There was the tragic incident 

at Elsenham, where two girls died on the crossing. Two 

trains passed in quick succession and the teenagers, 

thinking the warning system was referring to the first 

train, nipped across the track into the path of the second. 

Network Rail was criticised for not having a system in 

place where the pedestrian gates locked automatically 

when a train was approaching. And the company has 

just been fined following the death of a 17-year-old at a 

crossing in West Lodge, Northumberland. The crossing 

had poor sighting of the line and Network Rail had not 

implemented safety recommendations from a previous 

risk assessment at the site. 

Crowther cannot comment on Elsenham because 

there is a legal case in progress. West Lodge, says press 

officer Kate Snowden, was down to an internal systems 

failure, but new systems are now in place. 

‘Level crossings we look upon very much as a system 

and all the attributes need to come together to make the 

system work,’ says Crowther. ‘Finding things that work 

that are cost effective is a challenge. We’ve got a GPS 

trial coming up that we’re hoping to start in early April, 

which is all about using basic telephone technology to 

be able to advise our signallers where a train is in a long 

signal section. In many non-track circuited sections, 

where we have many of our crossings, a train can be in a 

section for anything up to eight or nine minutes and it’s 

quite difficult for a signaller to identify exactly where 

that train is. 

‘So if you’ve got a number of occupation crossings 

within that section, and users will be saying “Where is it?” 

and we’re saying “Well, it’s another eight or nine minutes” 

and people aren’t always very patient. But we have to 

recognise our part in that if we’re trying to reduce the risk 

as much as possible. 

‘We’ve got a detailed risk assessment process and it’s 

worked very well. Ultimately, the best solution might be 

to close the crossing completely. We’ve closed over 400 

crossings in the last couple of years and we want to close 

more. We need to work with the rest of the industry: 

the ORR and the unions. A good example is that we’re 

sending a joint party over to Estonia to share some of 

the good work we’ve done on the education side of level 

crossings.’ 

Another important part of her work is trying to 

minimise copper cable theft and the effect that it has on 

services. With the price of copper high at the moment, 

thefts are happening all over the network. 

‘We’ve got a responsibility to throw everything that 

we’ve got in our toolkit at this challenging problem. 

What is obvious is that there’s not one answer to it. The 

key thing, from my perspective, is that our stakeholders 

know that we take this seriously, it’s not just a financial 

interest for us. Yes it’s cost us a lot of money, but it has a 

massive impact on our customers in terms of disruption 

and the end users’ experience. It’s a big cause of delay for 

us; it could impact quite significantly on CP4 targets and 

it’s an area of external influence that we’ve got very little 

control over. 

‘We have to think of ways we can mitigate it. There’s 

lots of things we’re doing in terms of burying cable, and 

making cable more difficult to steal.’ 

Network Rail is also trialling a system called Smart 

Water, where cable has a forensic marking, which will 

Page 20 APRIL 2011

Interview 

identify the location it was taken from. The system can 

also be used to spray chemical markers on thieves, so 

police can trace where they have been operating. 

‘The other key thing is recovery of the network,’ says 

Crowther. ‘Clearly when you get a powerline cable gone, 

you get all the signals turning to red and everything stops, 

so we’re looking at how we start moving trains again more 

quickly. There’s the speed of response to mend the broken 

cable and there’s also the rulebook – how do we move 

trains safely when we’ve got no power? 

‘The GPS trial is one of those solutions; if you know 

where the train is, in some situations you can get the 

trains moving without having to deploy lots of hand 

signallers and do temporary block working. So we’re using 

modern day technology to move trains and get customers 

to their destinations.’ 

Network Rail has been working closely with other 

cable theft victims like BT to share experience of what 

works and what doesn’t. ‘Changing legislation on scrap 

yards is important, but it’s not the whole answer. It’s 

always been a drip drip drip effect.’ 

There is always pressure on Network Rail to cut its 

costs. When the McNulty report on value for money 

comes out, this pressure will increase. With Crowther’s 

experience of both the nationalised and privatised railway, 

does she have any insight into how costs have crept up? 

‘I quite often use the example from when I was a 

station retail manager at King’s Cross. I ran the stations 

from King’s Cross up to Peterborough, so if anything 

happened on the stations on that line, I knew about it, 

I was Mrs one-stop shop. But if you go to King’s Cross 

now, not only is there a Network Rail station manager 

and Network Rail duty managers, you’ve then got 

an East Coast representative, and you’ve then got an 

FCC representative, so you’ve immediately got lots of 

duplication, which you can multiply around the piste. 

You’ll get it on Toc-led stations too, where everybody from 

the industry wants their representative. But I don’t think 

the end user, the customer, actually cares. They just want 

somebody who’s going to find their left luggage or meet 

their grandmother off the train – they don’t really care if 

they’re in a blue jacket or a pink jacket.’ 

She thinks Network Rail gets more than its fair share 

of blame for costs increasing. 

‘I think, from Network Rail’s point of view, we’ve 

already got to cut our costs by £5bn in this control 

period and we’ve got a good track record of doing 

that. We’re already taking steps to respond to the early 

recommendations of the interim report from McNulty, 

so devolution is the key thing that we’re responding to. 

There are groups of people working on that. Routes need 

to have more responsibility, accountability and budget. 

What’s clear is that we need to be able to respond to that 

quite quickly and transparently. 

‘Having been a route director myself, and also a 

customer on the other side, then devolution is absolutely 

the right thing to do in terms of putting the responsibility 

for delivery out with the routes. I think where Network 

Rail can further contribute is to be more trusting and 

give up things that it’s traditionally always done. We’re 

seeing some of that on the new franchises that are coming 

out. On Greater Anglia, we’re talking to the DfT and 

the industry about different models. We’re being more 

open-minded in looking at what is possible on things like 

delivery of small investment projects. But the reason we’re 

devolving is not just to cut costs but because there’s a clear 

mandate from our customers for that.’ 

On small projects, Tocs may be able to get the work 

done themselves, she says. But on major infrastructure 

projects like Thameslink, it’s hard to imagine any other 

organisation with the experience to get the work done 

efficiently. 

Atoc is keen for Tocs to take over some signalling, 

never mind engineering. Unsurprisingly, Network Rail is 

less keen, but Crowther doesn’t dismiss the idea entirely. 

‘There are clearly things that train operators can do. 

I don’t think signalling is necessarily one of them, but 

we shouldn’t be arguing about one-size-fits-all. There 

are examples where there are small geographical areas 

where you might be able to go down the route of vertical 

integration – that’s part of Network Rail being mature 

and being open minded.’ 

Although I met her at Network Rail’s London 

headquarters, Crowther has already moved up to the new 

Network Rail centre at Milton Keynes. Centralising staff 

in this way may also help to reduce duplication of roles, 

she says. 

On top of her demanding workload, Crowther 

has three children, aged nine, 12 and 16. Her husband 

used to work for Network Rail too, but is now an 

electrician. Outside of work, she recently climbed Mount 

Kilimanjaro to help raise money for the Railway Children. 

So how easy is it to juggle work and family life, 

particularly now that she’s commuting to Milton Keynes 

from her family home in Hertfordshire? 

‘You’ve got to decide what’s important to you and 

communicate that. So if I need to leave a meeting to go to 

a school play, I need to make sure my schedule says that 

I’m not going to be available. It’s about setting out your 

expectations and not trying to be Superwoman,’ she says 

before disappearing into another meeting. 

Curriculum vitae 

1963 Born in Bath 

1985 BA Hons in geography, Middlesex Polytechnic 

1986 British Rail graduate programme 

1993 Various posts including head of major stations and 

franchise development manager for Railtrack 

1996 MSc in transport and logistics, University of Salford 

2002 Commercial director of Arriva Trains Northern 

Diploma in marketing 

2003 Managing director of Arriva Trains Northern 

2004 Network Rail route director, initially for London North 

Eastern, then Midland and Continental 

2010 Director of operational services for Network Rail 

APRIL 2011 Page 21

Spreading 

signalling costs 


New signalling systems need to be viewed in terms 

of the total cost of ownership, as opposed to just the 

installation costs. A study by Invensys Rail looked 

at ways in which costs could be reduced, as 

Stephen Holt explains 

Basingstoke 

signal box 

When it comes to 

running railways 

safely and 

efficiently, the 

signalling system 

is as important as 

the trains. It must ensure safe working by 

not allowing one train into a section of track 

occupied by another, while ensuring that as 

many trains as possible can share the rails. It 

must operate reliably in all conditions and 

when unexpected disruption happens – such 

as a failed train – it should allow the railway 

to keep a service running. 

Designing and installing signalling is an 

extremely demanding task, but with many 

existing signalling systems in the UK, Europe 

and Asia nearing the end of their design lives, 

attention is now focusing on how best to 

replace them to meet future demand for rail 

travel, which is widely expected to soar over 

the next two decades. A new independent 

study commissioned by Invensys Rail, 

and carried out by UK strategy consultant 

Credo, sheds light on the total costs of new 

signalling systems and offers fascinating 

insight into how they can be reduced without 

compromising safety or network capacity. 

The study examined four similar 

commuter railways in North America, 

Europe and Australasia to assess the total 

cost of ownership (TCO) of signalling, and 

to develop a model which can be applied 

to comparable railways around the world. 

It found the average cost per kilometre to 

upgrade the signalling on a 30km electrified 

commuter route with last generation 

signalling was £1.4m – a figure which 

remained constant even though there were 

significant differences in operations and 

regulation between the railways studied – to 

the surprise of the study’s authors. 

The bulk of the TCO for a signalling 

system – 60 per cent – occurs in the first 

year, with design, equipment acquisition, 

construction and commissioning accounting 

for most of the costs. After the first year, 

however, the remaining costs are largely 

related to operation, planned and reactive 

maintenance and power consumption of the 

equipment. 

This inevitably places pressure on 

railways to constrain spending, with the 

result that too often attention is paid to the 

first year’s cost, even if TCO is higher than 

competing offers. Repeated experience 

has shown that high-quality engineering 

during the implementation phase is critical 

in ensuring TCO is reduced, particularly 

as benefits and return on investment often 

accrue during the last years of a project’s 

design life. 

Modular approach 

It is possible for railways to reduce the TCO 

of new signalling systems from the outset if 

they adopt some of the measures employed 

by the railways involved in the study. One 

of the biggest complications of railway 

signalling is that many upgrade schemes 

involve custom-built configurations, which 

Page 22 APRIL 2011

Infrastructure 

cost more to design, install, commission and 

maintain than if they could use standard 

forms. Adopting a modular approach, which 

uses multiple standard signalling modules, 

means components can be fully tested before 

site delivery and are quicker to commission, 

as staff have to become familiar with fewer 

different types of equipment. 

Installing and commissioning signalling 

equipment should also become simpler 

and cheaper in the years ahead as European 

Rail Traffic Management System becomes 

a global standard – it is in operation or 

planned for the Middle East, Asia and 

Australia as well as Europe – and common 

standards are applied between countries. In 

addition, equipping engineers with handheld 

computers, which can do elements of the 

testing process on lineside equipment, can 

also save money and reduce the time taken to 

commission new parts. 

Once a signalling system is installed and 

in operation, attention can then focus on 

cutting the costs of maintenance. Although 

there is wide variation in maintenance 

practices, with some railways carrying 

out many more periodic inspections of 


engineers carry out 

maintenance on a 

signal 

equipment than others, modern signalling 

equipment can easily be adapted to report the 

condition of components to a control centre, 

alerting maintenance staff to impending 

failures and allowing precise intervention. 

Better liaison with maintenance teams 

by management can also inspire front-line 

engineers to share best practice and drive 

failure levels down across an entire network. 

Both of these philosophies have lead to major 

cost reductions in railways involved in the 

study. Their combined effect can make a 

tangible difference to the reliability and cost 

of maintaining a signalling system once it is 

installed. 

Viewing a signalling system in terms 

of the TCO opens up the potential for a 

completely new way of undertaking route 

upgrades. By taking a partnership approach 

with signalling providers, it may be possible 

to spread the costs more evenly over the 

lifecycle of the signalling system by using 

long-term performance-based contracts, 

with the equipment supplier undertaking 

maintenance of the system. This would, in 

turn, allow the railway to concentrate on its 

core task of running trains, while still gaining 

the benefits of best practice in signalling 

maintenance from around the world. 

This methodology has proved particularly 

successful in the aviation industry and is now 

being adopted in the rail sector, with some 

success, by train builders. 

A previous study by Credo suggests that 

upgrading railway signalling is the most 

effective method of increasing transport 

capacity in any mode. 

STePHeN HOLT is Invensys Rail’s marketing and 

communications manager 

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i

Network rail 

the old tunnel at St 

Cross, Winchester 

High cube 

highway 

The two-year upgrade of the freight route from 

Southampton docks to the Midlands, which will take 

thousands of lorry loads off the road each year, is 

almost finished. The first high cube containers are 

running on standard wagons. Paul Clifton reports 

Southampton is the UK’s 

second busiest container 

port, and the main gateway 

for Far East trade. Seven 

per cent of all freight going 

in or out of Britain passes 

through the docks. But when the global 

logistics industry began gradually moving 

towards 9-ft 6-in ‘high cube’ containers, rail 

freight carriers had a problem – the larger 

boxes could not get gauge clearance on the 

tracks out of Southampton. To avoid hitting 

platform edges and tunnels, freight operators 

had to switch to unpopular ‘lowliner’ wagons. 

Extensive infrastructure works have 

begun to clear the way for high cubes to 

travel on standard wagons. The headline 

project was digging out the delicate tunnel 

under Southampton city centre. Lowering 

the track bed so that 9-ft 6-in high containers 

could fit through the Victorian structure was 

by far the biggest part of this £70m project. 

But there were scores of smaller jobs 

along the key freight route. And now the 

focus is shifting to diversionary routes to 

keep this vital artery flowing. When the 

rail project started, around one in three 

containers at the port were high cubes – a 

foot taller than the older boxes. By next year, 

the proportion will rise to one in two. 

Without this project, rail’s market share 

would have dwindled, and the queues of 

lorries heading down the M3 would have got 

steadily longer. 

‘The first train with W10 clearance ran 

at the end of February,’ says Charles Varey, 

Network’s Rail’s senior sponsor and the 

man in charge of the commercial side of 

the project. It was a routine Freightliner 

service from Trafford Park to Southampton, 

which included three 9-ft 6-in containers 

on standard wagons. ‘Some snagging works 

continue. We’re on site at Abingdon Road in 

Oxford finishing a bridge, but by and large it 

is done.’ 

The whole route has also been done 

with clearances for electrification. And 

not just on the parts affected by the Great 

Western project; structures on the third 

rail system have been cleared for fitting 

overhead wires too. ‘A bridge will last 100 

years,’ Varey explains, ‘so the cost of going a 

few centimetres higher is negligible in that 

context.’ 

The freight upgrade was first proposed 

by the Strategic Rail Authority in 2002. A year 

later it was shelved. By 2007 it was back. Most 

of the money came from the Department 

for Transport, but the regional development 

Page 24 april 2011


agency, Seeda, found £6.4m, Network Rail put 

in £5m and ABP, the owner of Southampton 

docks, added £5.8m. 

ABP intends to recover its investment 

by charging a £3 ‘infrastructure charge’ on 

laden import containers, starting in April and 

continuing for up to eight years. UK freight 

forwarders are asking the Office of Fair 

Trading to review that charge. They say that 

because the development was outside the 

port environment, the port should not have 

the ability to levy the fee. They also believe it 

is unfair that the charge should be levied on 

all containers, including those that travel by 

road, which make up the majority. 

In total, 16 bridges have been rebuilt – 21 

of which have required the track bed to be 

lowered. Thirteen station canopies have been 

modified, two platforms rebuilt and three 

tunnels have been altered. 

‘It was signed off at £70.7m,’ says Varey. 

‘The benefit:cost ratio was 4.26. So for every 

£1 spent, the UK economy benefits to the 

tune of £4.26. We had to build a business case 

on road-to-rail transfer: the DfT places a value 

on sensitive lorry miles, and that includes 

road degradation, pollution and noise. 

‘The freight companies can’t charge a 

premium for carrying bigger containers. 

Using special wagons reduces a train’s 

capacity by a third and the economics weren’t 

stacking up. So the upgrade couldn’t be paid 

for commercially. But it will build up to 

taking 50,000 lorry journeys a year off the 

road.’ 

At £60m, the project is £10m under 

budget. 

‘The main efficiency saving was 

completing the tunnel in one Christmas 

blockade,’ explains Jamie Davis, the project 

manager for Network Rail. ‘We had planned 

for two, so that shaved £3.5m off the cost.’ 

Some bridges that had been scheduled 

for reconstruction were also switched to 

track lowering projects. Davis says most of 

the main industry contractors had slices of 

the work. Carillion, Birse and BAM Nuttall 

did the bridges and platforms. Amco did 

the station canopies and Carillion had 

Southampton tunnel. 

‘There were plenty of challenging jobs 

but the tunnel was the big deal,’ says Davis. 

‘The consequences of getting it wrong were 

just so awful. We could not possibly hand it 

back late; it was a doomsday scenario and it 

made everyone a player in the game. 

‘St Cross tunnel in Winchester was the 

other big one. It meant closing the main road 

into the city from the south for four months, 

and that wasn’t popular. We built a new 

structure on top of the old one. And then in 

one four-day possession, we demolished and 

removed the old tunnel underneath it. 

‘Coventry Road in Birmingham was 

another headache. It’s called a bridge but 

really it is a 47-metre-long tunnel, and it’s 

right beside Birmingham City football club. 

The council wasn’t keen on shutting the road 

at all during the football season. So we had 

to do the lot in one 77-hour possession last 

August. And inside the tunnel were 130kv 

cables, a 600mm gas main, two water mains, 

30 blocks of telephone cables, fibre optic 

cables and a sewer. We had to move them all!’ 

From 3 April Freightliner will run two 

additional daily services to Trafford Park and 

Leeds. The Leeds route is not expected to be 

cleared for larger containers until after 2014, 

but the existing work will enable Freightliner 

to switch more lowliner wagons from the 

west coast to that route, increasing capacity. 

‘From this month we’ll be able to carry 

an extra 170 larger containers a day,’ explains 

Lindsay Durham, Freightliner’s head of rail 

strategy. ‘And that’s 170 lorries off the road.’ 

But freight services are still frequently 

disrupted by snags and routine engineering 

work. The double-track line through 

Southampton to Basingstoke, Reading and 

Oxford is very busy. So the focus is shifting to 

creating a diversionary route. 

‘£38 million has been allocated for the 

secondary route via Romsey, Laverstock and 

Andover,’ says Varey. ‘We’ve been developing 

the case for the last 18 months. We start work 

on the ground in September and we hope to 

have it finished in December 2012.’ 

To minimise the number of bridges 

replaced, three of them will have deep 

The new St Cross 

tunnel 

‘From this month, 

we’ll be able to carry 

an extra 170 larger 

containers a day’ 

notches cut into the Victorian brickwork. 

‘Taking a big lump out of a bridge affects 

its strength quite a lot,’ says Varey, adding 

with a smile: ‘We have to be careful!’ 

Durham says discussions are also under 

way about the next part of the diversionary 

route, from Basingstoke to the West Coast 

Main Line via Kew in west London. 

‘That is not funded yet. But it would 

enable a complete parallel route, apart from 

four miles around Basingstoke. It would 

get us around the disruption of the Reading 

station upgrade, and later on avoid the Great 

Western electrification and major signalling 

upgrades at Oxford and Didcot. It’s hanging 

in the balance at the moment and we realise 

the pressures on capital funding. 

‘But Southampton represents a third of 

Freightliner’s total business,’ she concludes. 

‘We need reliability and certainty seven days 

a week to compete with road transport. And 

because taking bigger containers by road 

doesn’t cost the customers a penny extra 

compared with older boxes, we can’t charge a 

penny extra either.’ 

An event to mark the completion of the 

project is being planned at Southampton 

docks in early April. 

Paul Clifton is the transport correspondent 

for BBC South: paul.clifton@railpro.co.uk 

april 2011 Page 25


Philip Hammond (right) 

and Andrew Chivers 

unveil the first Stansted 

Express Class 379 at 

Liverpool Street 

Carriages of 

convenience 

Katie Silvester looks at the latest rolling stock 

designs to be introduced onto the UK network 

While the rail 

industry is waiting 

with bated breath 

to hear the longoverdue 

decision 

about who will 

win the Thameslink rolling stock order, two 

smaller train orders have begun arriving on 

the UK’s network, helping to create much 

needed extra capacity. 

National Express East Anglia’s Stansted 

Express rolling stock will soon be of a similar 

standard to that of Heathrow Express and 

Gatwick Express, thanks to the delivery of 

the first of 20 Class 379 EMU Electostars 

from Bombardier. 

The first of the Class 379s to be produced 

arrived at Liverpool Street on 17 March, 

where it was greeted by transport secretary 

Philip Hammond. A further 10 Class 379s 

have been ordered for National Express 

East Anglia’s Cambridge to Liverpool Street 

services. The 30-train order is the first of the 

new carriages promised in the HLOS. 

Hammond said: ‘This is a fantastic 

example of the partnership working between 

government and the private sector to deliver 

better services to passengers and a better 

railway for the future. The Department for 

Transport has supported an investment of 

£185m in improved trains and train services 

in the east of England.’ 

The Class 379 trains are based on the 

successful Electrostar design, with additional 

enhancements, some of which are based 

on Bombardier’s Aventra design that is a 

contender for Thameslink. The new trains, 

which will comprise 120 carriages in total, 

have a top speed of 100mph. Each fourcarriage 

train will have 20 first class and 189 

standard class seats. New features include an 

integral internal CCTV system for passenger 

Bombardier’s Derby output surpasses LMS and BREL 

Manufacturing output at Bombardier’s 

Derby site is now seeing more trains 

completed per week than has ever 

previously been achieved in the history 

of this site. 

During March more than 100 cars 

were produced. If all these cars were 

placed nose to tail, the trains would 

cover a distance of two kilometres. The 

Derby site is currently producing MOVIA 

metro cars for Transport for London’s 

Victoria and sub-surface Underground 

lines, Class 379 Electrostars for National 

Express East Anglia and Class 172 

Turbostars for Chiltern and London 

Midland. 

The site, originally known as the 

Derby Wagon and Carriage Works, 

has a long history, having been opened 

by the Midland Railway in 1840. It 

subsequently passed to London Midland 

Scottish and then British Rail. 

British Rail’s engineering arm 

was bought by Asea Brown Boveri 

at privatisation, and later became 

Bombardier Transportation. 

The current high output may be 

shortlived, however, as no new rolling 

stock contracts have been signed in the 

UK for several years, so the work could 

dry up when the current projects are 

completed at the end of this year. 

Bombardier is still waiting to hear 

whether it has won the Thameslink 

rolling stock contract, for which it and 

Siemens are the two final contenders. 

Page 26 April 2011

Rolling stock 

safety, 2x2 seating, large luggage racks, a wi-fi 

network, new train management system and 

regenerative braking. 

An ethernet network, which was 

developed for Aventra, will enable 

Bombardier’s diagnostic system, Orbita, to 

operate on the train. Cameras will monitor 

the condition of the bogies, track and 

pantograph. The trains have been funded 

by Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets, a new 

entrant to the Rosco market following its 

takeover of HBOS, which owned leasing 

company CBRail. 

Andrew Chivers, managing director 

of National Express East Anglia, said: 

‘Over three years ago, we began a project 

at National Express with a very important 

aspiration. Put simply, we wanted to provide 

our customers with more seats consistent 

with the daily demand and a greatly improved 

travel environment.’ 

Meanwhile, the first of 20 brand new 

trains have arrived in Belfast from CAF’s 

plant in Spain. Known as the Class 4000, 

the new fleet is part of a complete overhaul 

of Translink’s fleet, which will see all the 

old trains replaced. Passenger numbers in 

Northern Ireland have grown 60 per cent 

since 2002. 

The 4000s represent a £114m 

investment by the Department for Regional 

Development. On arrival, each train will 

‘The new trains 

are based on the 

existing C3k design, 

but feature new 

additions’ 

The CAF-manufactured 

Class 4000s arrive at 

Belfast docks 

undergo an intensive period of testing and 

commissioning before entering public 

service. The new trains are based on the 

existing C3k design, but have new additions, 

including five tonne weight reduction, an eco 

meter to help drivers manage fuel efficiency 

and reduced exhaust emissions. 

Passengers will be able to take advantage 

of additional multipurpose storage areas for 

bicycles and buggies, as well as improved 

accessibility for disabled passengers and babychanging 

facilities. 

Speaking at Belfast docks, group chief 

executive Catherine Mason said: ‘Two years 

ago, the contract was signed securing the 

supply of these new trains and it is with great 

delight that we are now welcoming the start 

of their arrival. 

‘This new fleet highlights government’s 

continued commitment to providing people 

with state-of-the-art public transport and I 

would like to thank the regional development 

minister and the NI Assembly for their 

ongoing support.’ 

EMT begins internal refit of Meridians 

The new Meridian first 

class seating 

East Midlands Trains has begun 

refurbishing its 27 Class 222 Meridians, 

as part of a £30m programme to update 

the interiors of its entire fleet and install 

wi-fi. 

The improvement programme, which 

is being carried out at the company’s 

Etches Park Depot in Derby, will see new 

leather seats in first class, as well as new 

seat covers and carpeting in the standard 

class coaches. There will also be an 

increase in the amount of luggage space. 

EMT project manager Chris 

Elliot explains: ‘Part of the franchise 

commitment was refurbishment of the 

whole of the fleet that East Midlands 

Trains took on. The trains are six and a 

half years old and a lot of the soft fabrics 

within the vehicles – the seat covers, 

carpet and curtains – were getting very 

untidy, so all of those items are being 

replaced. There are also some safety 

modifications that have been made in 

line with recommendations resulting from 

accident statistics.’ 

The First Class leather seats are 

now dark blue and the standard 

accommodation features Stagecoach’s 

corporate red colour. 

Each set will be assessed six weeks 

before work begins on it, so that materials 

can be prepared to minimise the amount 

of time it will spend out of service. 

Over a period of 10 days, carpeting 

and seat covers are being replaced, 

all heating grills removed and cleaned, 

damaged panelling repaired and 

repainted and there an external heavy 

clean of the whole set carried out. 

Other minor modifications are made, 

such as installing redesigned versions 

and introducing new seat armrest 

bump strips. Costs have been carefully 

controlled through the use of local 

contractors – while manufacturer 

Bombardier still carries out maintenance 

of the trains, it has not been involved in 

the refurbishment work. 

The first refurbished Meridians have 

already been returned to service, with 

the rest to be completed by end of 

February 2012. 

ww.railimages.co.uk 

April 2011 Page 27


Southend Airport gets its own station 


Having good rail connections is seen as 

increasingly important by airports, with most 

UK airports now having their own station. 

Southend Airport was an exception, with the 

nearest station a few minutes away by road. 

So the airport’s owner, Stobart Air, built its 

own. 

With the airport sitting just off the 

Shenfield to Southend Line, operated 

by National Express East Anglia, the 

development of the new station was 

relatively straightforward, as it slotted onto 

the existing line. 

Stobart Air’s sister company Stobart 

Rail took charge of the work, with designs 

commissioned by Atkins Global. Planning 

permission was gained and the station built 

in just 23 months, all for £12.5m. 

Stobart Rail managing director Kirk 

Taylor says: ‘We’ve been working with 

Network Rail and other rail engineering 

clients for some years, but Southend Airport 

Station is our biggest project yet – a complete 

design and build from the ground up, with 

very intricate working conditions on a busy 

commuter line into London.’ 

Stobart consulted with the Southend 

line’s operator National Express to ensure 

the finished station would meet with the 

operational requirements of all the other 

stations along the route. The company also 

met with the Office of Rail Regulation to 

apply for a licence to operate the station itself. 

In January 2009 preliminary work began. 

Archaeological explorations found and 

logged Iron Age fire pits, while 150 slowworms, 

lizards and rare spiders had to be 

relocated. 

Before construction of the twin 250- 

metre platforms could begin, Stobart had to 

straighten and level the track. The overhead 

electrification also had to be repositioned 

to fit around the platforms. To save time 

and money when accessing the track, 

Stobart piggy-backed on other contractors’ 

possessions. 

New embankments were constructed 

for each platform, requiring 10,000 tonnes 

of hardcore and earth, around half of which 

came from waste material already on the site. 

Finally, the station needed an overhead 

walkway linking the eastbound platform to 

the entrance and concourse on the other side 

of the railway. The station opened in January 

this year. 

‘It’s a quality design that pleased the 

planners and we’ve carried that quality 

through into the build,’ says Taylor. 

The new station


Making an even break 

Network Rail’s plans to experiment with devolution 

don’t go far enough for Atoc. The organisation would 

like to see the Network Rail completely split up into 

independent entities, as Paul Clifton explains 

The Association of Train 

Operating Companies has 

called for Network Rail to be 

broken up into ‘around 10’ 

independent infrastructure 

companies. It believes the 

fundamental reform of the industry should 

be completed in three years. 

Atoc says Network Rail’s recent 

announcement devolving more responsibility 

to regional units does not go far enough. 

The organisation claims its proposals would 

deliver significant cost savings. It says each 

independent infrastructure company should 

be separately licensed and regulated by the 

Office of Rail Regulation, claiming these 

would be attractive to potential investors. 

A small central organisation would 

be retained for ‘essential network-wide 

functions’ but governed by the industry as 

a whole rather than by just Network Rail. 

It would act as a service provider. Atoc 

says there should be new franchising and 

regulatory arrangements to encourage train 

operators to form alliances or commercial 

agreements with the new infrastructure 

firms. 

Michael Roberts, Atoc’s chief executive, 

says: ‘Network Rail’s recently-announced 

setting up of regional business units is a 

positive first move, but must go further if we 

are to generate significant savings.’ 

In its report, entitled A New Structure 

for Success on Britain’s Railway, Atoc states: 

‘The key to better value for money is a more 

commercial railway that releases the full 

potential of the private sector… This means 

a new “horses for courses” approach in 

which franchises are designed around the 

commercial and operational realities of each 

route.’ 

It says the scale of cost efficiencies 

demanded requires ‘a real step change’, 

which can only be achieved through 

fundamental reform, allowing train operators 

to play a much bigger part in prioritising 

infrastructure expenditure. 

The new regional infrastructure 

companies would operate signal boxes, 

although, over time, some of these could 

be transferred to train operators, say the 

report. Each would set their own track 

access contracts, adding to an already highly 

complex matrix of contractual arrangements 

in the railway. 

Atoc suggests this would speed up 

projects that would benefit passengers and 

provide much clearer incentives to improve 

performance, patronage and income. The 

regional structure would enable the different 

infrastructure companies to be benchmarked 

against each other. 

Atoc says the larger sections of a brokenup 

Network Rail would still be FTSE-250 

sized companies, comparable in scale to 

equivalent operations in the Netherlands, 

Sweden and Denmark. It also believes vertical 

integration of trains and tracks should take 

place where appropriate. The organisation 

says passenger train operation and track 

provision could be done by a single company 

in East Anglia and the areas covered by South 

West Trains, Kent, Merseyside and Scotland. 

It further suggests that some train 

services could be run as long-term 

concessions offered for sale by auction, rather 

than as franchises. It suggests this approach 

would fit premium-paying long distance 

operations on the East and West Coast Main 

lines, and on Cross Country. 

They would be regulated by ORR rather 

than by the Department for Transport, in 

line with current open access operators. Atoc 

wants the reform completed by the start of 

the next regulatory control period in 2014. 

The West Coast franchise competition is 

already under way and will be complete next 

year. 

But Atoc says the West Coast tenders 

should incorporate key elements of franchise 

Network Rail 

reform, including greater service flexibility 

and responsibility for maintaining stations. 

It adds that the Anglia region should be 

separated from Network Rail in time for the 

next franchise competition in 2013, allowing 

it to be a pilot for vertical integration. 

Network Rail offered a lukewarm 

response, which avoided outright criticism – 

or praise – for the proposals. In a statement 

it said: ‘Network Rail has been playing a vital 

role in the government’s McNulty review 

into value for money for the railway and is 

committed to change. By better aligning risk 

and reward with passenger, freight and open 

access operators… we can all help each other 

succeed.’ 

The proposals are unlikely to find favour 

with freight companies, which would operate 

across many boundaries and whose interests 

may not align with local passenger services. 

The Rail Freight Group favours retaining 

a national infrastructure organisation. Atoc 

responds that both freight and secondary 

passenger operators would continue to be 

protected by ORR against abuse of regional 

monopoly positions. A spokesman for the 

Department for Transport said: ‘We will 

consider Atoc’s report in the context of 

the conclusions that emerge for Sir Roy 

McNulty’s Rail Value for Money Study.’ 

n See page 21 for Dyan Crowther’s views on 

Network Rail being broken up 

Atoc envisages Tocs 

taking over some 

signalling 

APRIL 2011 Page 29

Making safety 

measure up 

The UK’s railways have a good safety record, compared to other countries and 

other industries. But, with three track worker deaths in one year, there are still 

improvements to be made, says Ed Gould 

Health and safety is an important issue for any 

industry, but for the rail sector – which uses heavy 

equipment, much of it moving at high speeds – issues 

of risk management must remain at the forefront. 

According to the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) the 

number of worker major injuries has fallen over the 

last reporting year, but concerns over the reporting of minor injuries 

exist. 

The ORR, which took over the function of HM Railway 

Inspectorate, reports annually. ‘We are in a period when economic 

issues are, quite rightly, at the forefront of the rail sector’s thinking,’ 

said director of rail safety Ian Prosser at the launch of the last report. 

‘However, we must all remain absolutely committed to achieving 

excellence in health and safety, alongside value for money and 

performance,’ he added. 

Given such a clear message from the regulator, what is the industry 

doing to improve its record and to spread best practice? 

Firstly, it should be said that despite three rail worker fatalities 

in 2009-10, rail in the UK continues to be relatively safe. ‘When 

benchmarked with Europe through the European Rail Agencies 

common safety indicators, there is no doubt that Britain’s railways are 

one of the best performing,’ the ORR states. 

The Rail Safety and Standards Board’s (RSSB) annual report 

for 2010 noted that it was the third year running with no passenger 

or workforce fatalities in train accidents, and that there had been 

reductions in train accidents and fatalities to members of the public 

at level crossings. However, 2010 saw an increase in fatalities to 

passengers at stations, workforce fatalities and Spads, though this 

should be viewed in the context of increasing passenger numbers. 

The railways still compare well to other industries – continuous 

improvement of procedures and practice is one way the industry 

maintains its good position relative to other transport sectors. 

Translink, the Northern Ireland train and network operator, has 

invested heavily in staff training and has built a state-of-the-art £1.7m 

facility named Rail Operations Training Academy (ROTA). ROTA 

includes a signalling simulator, a full-task driving simulator and a 

track-builder tool, which will benefit more than 400 drivers, signallers 

and conductors. 

Page 30 april 2011

Safety 

‘It will enhance the effectiveness of safety mechanisms in place 

by equipping our employees with the expertise required to maintain 

optimal standards of safety for passengers, colleagues and the general 

public,’ says Catherine Mason, group chief Executive Translink. 

‘We would be happy to showcase our safety practices to any other 

rail operator who would be interested and we continue to learn from 

industry best practice,’ Translink told Rail Professional. 

Balfour Beatty has promoted a business-wide Zero Harm 

campaign, which, like Translink’s, puts an emphasis on knowledge 

sharing. The worldwide programme is focused on eliminating serious 

accidents and injuries by identifying and reducing exposure to risk in 

various industries, including its rail division. 

‘We are challenging the way the industry has worked and, 

through our partners and suppliers, seek radical solutions,’ said Sally 

Brearley, director of health and safety at Balfour Beatty. ‘Zero Harm 

has twin approaches, culture shift and risk elimination,’ she told Rail 

Professional. ‘We are delighted when customers, suppliers and partners 

adopt Zero Harm. For instance, Network Rail is fully aware of it and 

likes it.’ 

She said that Balfour Beatty refers to partners and others that 

work with them as ‘the village’. ‘We carry out “deep dives” into our 

businesses, holding days with village partners to offer an opportunity 

for exchange.’ 

The ‘dives’ take a diagonal approach in order to reach into a wide 

range of levels within a partner organisation’s hierarchy. According to 

Brearley, leaders in business create cultures, so if they enable changes 

to a particular practice, then staff are likely to feel engaged by that. 

‘By changing the behaviour, the culture is changed,’ she says. 

Network Rail itself has recently been in trouble over failures to 

report accidents. An independent review of Network Rail’s accident 

reporting, under the Riddor regulations, found that a significant 

number of accidents were not being reported. This, said a follow-up 

report published by RSSB, was partly due to a misunderstanding of 

the requirements but was mainly down to pressure from managers to 

improve safety, which had inadvertently lead to contractors and staff 

being afraid to report injuries. 

Julia Levy, an independent health and safety advisor, agrees with 

Brearley that improvements are made by adopting a culture shift. 

‘For example, in a company with a poor culture, where 

management don’t really believe in health and safety, employees tend 

to feel that they will get in trouble for making an accident report,’ she 

says. ‘By providing more information to the employees as to why they 

should report their accidents then cultures can move on.’ 

According to Levy, educating employees as to what improvements 

can be achieved with proper accident and near miss statistics helps. 

The ORR’s line on safety culture, within a rail business, puts the 

emphasis on risk management. ‘An organisation’s safety culture is 

closely linked to its risk management systems as each affects the other,’ 

a spokesman for the ORR told Rail Professional. 

Risk management is most commonly conducted by risk 

assessments and it is an organisation’s willingness to review these, as 

working practices change, that can be key to improving a safety record. 

‘Simply put, a risk assessment is someone taking the time to think 

about the task that is about to be attempted, to consider what could 

potentially go wrong and then to think about what control measures 

they can put in place,’ says Levy. 

Sharing new procedures can improve the safety culture across the 

industry as a whole. The ORR says that it encourages the industry to 

publicise best practice. 

‘We are challenging the way 

the industry has worked and, 

through our partners and 

suppliers, seek radical solutions’ 

‘We can help facilitate in this area as, for example, there might 

be an RSSB or Toc protocol that requires various sectors to be aware, 

which we will highlight.’ 

Brearley says that intra-industry co-operation is essential and the 

fact that a partner on a particular project may be a competitor on 

the next does not matter. ‘There’s no real conflict with commercial 

competitiveness and sharing knowledge,’ she says. ‘You can’t be 

possessive about safety in rail.’ 

The RSSB’s annual reports have pointed to an improvement in 

recent years, but there is still more that can be achieved. 

‘Over the last 10 years, the industry has been able to effect the 

biggest safety improvements in areas where it has direct control,’ 

says Anson Jack, director of policy, research and risk at RSSB. ‘But 

the whole industry, whether front line staff or senior management, is 

resolute in its commitment to safety.’ 

‘My key message, at the individual level, is that people should make 

safety personal, whether that is an office-based design or procurement 

role or site work,’ adds Brearley. ‘It is not just about people on site on 

the day, as the seeds of accidents are not sown at the work face.’ 

Do you qualify for a 

free subscription to 

Rail Professional? 

Rail Professional is circulated free of charge to 

suitably qualified individuals every month. To 

qualify for a free subscription, you must work for: 

A train operating company; 

Network Rail; 

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Agencies involved in regulating 

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To apply for your free 

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subscriptions@railpro.co.uk 

april 2011 Page 31

Supplied by the IRO, PO Box 128, Burgess Hill RH15 0UZ 

Tel: 01444 248931 Fax: 01444 246392 

Email: info@railwayoperators.org Website: www.railwayoperators.org 

Careers take off with 

Professional Development 

Programme 

IRO members testify as to the effectiveness of the institution’s courses 

nA quiet revolution is under 

way, as more and more 

railway employees are taking 

advantage of the IRO’s Professional 

Development Programme (PDP) 

to help make a real impact on the 

industry – and on their careers. 

The IRO launches its latest 

courses in April and with 158 

students successfully graduating 

with a certificate, diploma or 

degree in Railway Operational 

Management, staff at all grades 

are seeing their prospects flourish 

thanks to the PDP. The programme 

currently boasts 183 students, 

who will not only broaden their 

operational understanding but 

also expose themselves to a host 

of career boosting networking 

opportunities. 

Announcing the latest 

recruitment drive, new IRO 

chairman David Franks said: 

‘Our Professional Development 

Programme gives people a realistic, 

achievable and, ultimately, 

rewarding goal. 

‘It unlocks people’s potential. 

It’s so important that rail operators 

across the industry encourage their 

staff to acquire and develop their 

skill set, as possessing the right skills 

is becoming critical to running a 

successful operation.’ 

The programme is designed 

to be flexible enough to meet the 

demands placed on those working 

within the industry. 

The IRO’s learning and 

development manager Tricia Meade 

explains: ‘While we ensure that 

those taking part on our courses are 

under no illusions as to the personal 

commitment required, it is even 

more important to recognise the 

benefits, both in terms of personal 

development and integration. 

‘The PDP lifts the student out 

of their individual role and shows 

them the bigger picture – the 

interaction between all operational 

elements of the industry, from 

signalling and timetabling through 

to customer services and safety 

management.’ 

The IRO’s impact can be seen 

as former students use their newfound 

skills to move up through 

the ranks of their respective 

organisations. 

Two such individuals are 

John Hillman and Ken Byrne, 

both of whom have taken part 

in the Professional Development 

Programme and seen their careers 

move up a gear. 

They put their recent, very 

different, career success down 

to the IRO’s degree and diploma 

courses. 

Hillman believes his degree 

has helped him secure a senior 

transport post in Dubai, while Irish 

Rail’s Ken Byrne has seen his career 

take off since his graduation. 

After almost 30 years in the UK 

rail industry, John Hillman is now 

rail operations chief engineer for 

the Dubai Metro – a role he believes 

would have been previously 

unavailable to him without his IRO 

qualification. 

‘When the degree became 

available,’ he said, ‘I signed up. And 

thanks primarily to that, I was 

able to broaden my horizons and 

secure my current post in Dubai, 

which wouldn’t have been possible 

without the IRO qualification.’ 

Similarly successful, Byrne 

puts his recent three promotions 

down to the power of the IRO’s 


Programme. 

He has been with Irish Rail 

since leaving school in 1991, 

working his way through the 

grades. But it’s during the last 

three years, in which time he 

has successfully completed both 

the IRO’s diploma and degree in 

‘Hillman believes his 

degree has helped 

him secure a senior 

transport post in 

Dubai’ 

Page 32 april 2011

IRO 

Railway Operational Management 

that he has really seen his career 

take off. 

‘There’s no doubt in my mind 

that my qualifications have had a 

real impact on my career. They have 

enabled me to look at transport in a 

much wider context, understanding 

and appreciating operational 

systems both in the UK and further 

afield,’ he says. 

Enrolment on an IRO course 

also leads to IRO membership 

either at affiliate, associate or full 

member grade, with all of the 

benefits this entails. And with 

all courses fully accredited and 

industry endorsed, IRO affiliation is 

now being seen more as a necessity 

for career progression than a ‘nice 

to have’. 

David Franks says: ‘We are 

Ken Byrne 

not purely about education, 

but through our courses and 

membership opportunities, offer 

access to an incredible wealth 

of knowledge, support and cross 

industry camaraderie. 

Only by continually reviewing 

and challenging the way that we 

do things do we actually change 

them and that is what the IRO is all 

about – a catalyst for change with a 

mission to develop and promote the 

safe, reliable and efficient operation 

of the railways.’ 

From a developmental 

perspective, the IRO’s support 

doesn’t end with the PDP. As well 

as the benefits of membership, the 

institution also enables people 

to chart their own progression 

through two initiatives. 

Running alongside the PDP, 

the Continuing Professional 

Development (CPD) programme 

is a simple process that enables 

IRO members to identify, define, 

improve, develop and monitor the 

relevant professional skills and 

work-related knowledge required 

to directly support their respective 

careers through the use of an 

evidence-based portfolio. 

In addition, the mentoring 

scheme pairs skilled and 

experienced IRO members 

(mentors) with other members 

(mentees), helping guide them 

through their career development. 

Tricia Meade adds: ‘As part 

of the mentoring process, the 

mentee sets the agenda based on 

their developmental needs, whilst 

the mentor provides insight and 

guidance to help ensure those needs 

are met.’ 

So in short, if you have 

aspirations within the field of 

railway operations, look no 

further than the IRO, helping 

put you firmly in control of your 

own career. Courses are delivered 

in conjunction with education 

provider Glasgow Caledonian 

University, through a combination 

of distance learning and termly 

tutorials, all taught by recognised 

industry experts. 

n Enrolment for the 2011-2012 


Programme is now open and 

runs until 31 July 2011. For further 

information, please visit the IRO 

website at: www.railwayoperators. 

org or email: education@ 

railwayoperators.org 

Irish Area 

For information on Irish Area 

events, contact Hilton Parr at: 

hilton.parr@railwayoperators.org 

Scottish Area 

For further information on the 

Scottish Area, contact Ross 

Campbell on: 0141 242 8620 or 

email Jim Gillies at scottish@ 


9 April: Safety Regulation in the 

Heritage Sector – presentation and 

afternoon visit to Bo’ness and Kinneil 

Railway. Time: 09:45. Meet outside 

Network Rail reception at Edinburgh 

Waverley. Further details at: www. 

railwayoperators.org/Areas/ 

Scotland/WhatsOn.aspx To book a 

place please contact Chris Owen at: 

caowen7@aol.com 

27 April: Presentation by Nigel 

Wunsch, principal network planner for 

Network Rail. Time: 17:15 for 17:30. 

Location: Ground Floor, Buchanan 

House, Glasgow. For further 

information on this event, please 

contact Jim Gillies at: scottish@ 

railwayoperators.org or Ross Campbell 

on: 0141 242 8620. 

North West Area 

7 April: North West Area AGM. Time: 

18:00 Location: Liverpool. 

12 May: Visit to Longsight Depot, 

Manchester. Time: 17:15. Transport 

will be arranged from Piccadilly. 

Numbers limited. 

All events enquiries should 

be via Roy Chapman at: ironw. 

booking@railwayoperators.org. 

General membership enquires 

to Carl Phillips at: northwest@ 


North East Area 

For information on North East 

Area events, contact David 

Monk-Steel at northeast@ 

railwayoperators.org or by 

telephone on: 01751 473799 

during office hours. All North East 

Area meetings take place at 17:30 

for 18:00 in York. 

10 May: Evening visit to York 

integrated electronic control centre 

and route control. Meet at York 

station on Platform 9 near Pumpkin 

at 17:30 for 18:00 start. 

Midlands Area 

For information on Midlands Area 

events, contact Julia Stanyard 

on: 0121 345 3833 or email: 

midlands@railwayoperators. 

org. Unless otherwise indicated, 

events start at 17:30. 

4 April: Talk on signal engineering 

excellence. Location: West 

Midlands Signalling Control Centre, 

Birmingham. 

9 May: Talk: ‘From sandwiches to 

silver service – the hidden challenges 

of on-train catering provision’. 

Location: Derby. 

25 May: Area visit. Further details on 

the website in due course. 

South West Area 

For information on South West 

Area events, contact Chris Prior by 

email: chris.prior@firstgroup.com 

8 April: Visit to Thames Valley 

Signalling Centre at Didcot. Time: 

13:00. For further information please 

contact chris.prior@firstgroup.com 

South East Area 

All South East events take place 

at London Underground’s HQ, 55 

Broadway, St James Park, SW1, 

unless otherwise indicated, with a 

17:30 for 18:00 start. 

8-10 April: Operating Skills 

Weekend. Undertake operational 

duties including signalling and 

guarding on the Ffestiniog Railway. 

Further information, including costs 

and timings, can be viewed at www. 


SouthEast/WhatsOn.aspx 

To book a place, contact: andrew. 

castledine@chilternrailways.co.uk 

14 May: London Midland Open 

Day. Time: 10.30-17.00. Location: 

London Midland’s HQ, Birmingham. 

For further information visit www. 


SouthEast/WhatsOn.aspx 

To register, please email glen. 

merryman@londonmidland.com by 

15 April 2011. 

For further information on the IRO 

South East Area, contact Jonathan 

Leithead by email at: jonathan. 

leithead@networkrail.co.uk 

More details of area events are 

listed on the website at www. 

railwayoperators.org/Events.aspx 

apriL 2011 Page 33

Comment 

Generating growth 

Michael Roberts looks at the reasons behind the 

growth in passenger numbers on the railways 

To those of us who work in the 

rail industry, it will come as 

little surprise that passenger 

numbers are approaching 

a record high. We have 

seen people flocking back 

to the railways in numbers not witnessed 

for decades, as the popularity of rail has 

continued to grow over recent years. 

Figures published by Atoc show that last 

year there were 1.32 billion journeys on the 

railways in 2010 – the highest number for a 

peacetime year since the 1920s. The last time 

rail travel was this popular, train crews were 

shovelling coal into steam engines and many 

carriages were still lit by gaslight. 

Passenger journeys have grown by 

around a third over the last decade and by 

60 per cent since privatisation. Last year, 

demand bounced back strongly from the 

recession of 2009 with a seven per cent 

increase and growth in London and the 

south east almost reaching double digits. 

But what are the underlying reasons 

behind this growth? How can we explain 

the significant rise in popularity of rail 

travel over the last decade and a half? 

Perhaps the main driving force behind 

the railway’s surge in popularity is the 

significant investment that has been 

ploughed into improving services for 

passengers. Thanks to the money that has 

been invested in the industry, train travel in 

much of the country today has improved in 

many ways, compared to what it was like in 

the final days of British Rail. 

New trains, more services, better 

stations, improved punctuality, large scale 

infrastructure improvements, major strides 

in safety – these are all factors that have 

contributed to today’s record levels of 

customer satisfaction with rail travel. We 

must never be complacent, but by working 

together, the industry has achieved much of 

which it can be proud. 

Another reason for the growth of rail 

travel is its increasing convenience and 

value-for-money when compared to other 

forms of transport. Rising petrol prices and 

congestion have hit drivers, while domestic 

air passengers have to put up with ever 

lengthier security checks at airports. 

Over the course of 2010 alone, the price 

of petrol rose by 15 per cent. Compare 

this with the cost of a train ticket, which 

rose on average by 1.1 per cent. Indeed, as 

people increasingly travel on cheap advance 

tickets, the average price paid for a single 

journey last year actually fell from £5 to 

£4.96. Despite tough times for many people, 

train companies have been able to attract 

ever greater numbers of passengers to the 

railways with a range of affordable tickets 

for all types of customers. 

Figures published by Atoc show a 

dramatic shift from air to rail on the main 

intercity routes over the last five years, as 

people increasingly turn their backs on 

domestic flights. Between 2006 and 2009, 

total journeys by rail on the 10 most popular 

domestic air routes rose by 31 per cent 

while, over the same period, numbers using 

domestic air travel on these routes fell by 20 

per cent. 

Finally, it’s also clear that the 

performance of the broader economy and 

levels of employment are key factors behind 

rail’s increasing popularity. The period 

of growth and rising disposable income 

from the mid-90s until the credit crunch of 

2008 was an obvious driving force behind 

growing patronage. But if the rail industry 

relies on broader economic growth, so too 

does the UK’s economy rely on a successful 

railway. Fast, effective rail links underpin 

economic growth, supporting thousands 

of businesses and millions of jobs. Train 

companies sustain London’s economy by 

transporting half a million commuters into 

and out of London every day, and get the 

UK’s businesspeople round the country to 

meet clients and open up new commercial 

opportunities. 

The successes of the railways during the 

last 15 years have been many. The challenge 

now is to keep on attracting ever greater 

numbers of passengers and ensure that the 

railways can continue to play a central role 

in supporting the economic, environmental 

and social life of the nation. 

Michael Roberts is the chief executive 

of the Association of Train Operating Companies 

Page 34 april 2011

Products and services 

If you would like your company featured here, call James Smyth on 01223 477428 or email: james.smyth@railpro.co.uk 

Cambridge Publishers 

Adaptaflex 

Memco 

You are reading a magazine written, designed, printed 

and distributed by Cambridge Publishers. 

We are contracted to publish magazines appealing 

to a variety of audiences. Our clients work with us 

because they value our commitment, honesty, design 

expertise and attention to detail. 

We’re specialists in membership and subscriber 

publications, but we also produce a wide range of 

magazines, handbooks, annual reports and electronic 

media for a diverse client list. 

n For more information, visit the website: 

www.cpl.biz, or call 01223 477411 for advice 

on any aspect of your publishing needs 

Specialist conduit 

systems supplier 

Adaptaflex has now 

introduced the Type 

PF non-metallic, 

flexible conduit 

system. A key 

advantage with this 

conduit is that it offers an alternative solution to 

separate interior and exterior conduit systems that have 

been traditionally used for many applications in the rail 

industry. The mechanical properties of Type PF make it 

particularly suitable for both external and internal 

dynamic use on railway locomotives, rolling stock or 

locations where low temperatures are frequently 

encountered. 

It has an operational temperature range of -50ºC to 

110ºC and, combined with its flexibility and high impact 

resistance, offers optimum cable protection in low 

temperature applications such as those encountered 

on docksides, cranes and other exposed areas. 

The new conduit is based on a flame retarded 

Polyamide 12 material. It is self-extinguishing and heat 

stabilised, passing all flammability, smoke and toxicity 

performance tests UL94, ISO 4589, CEI11170 and 

NFF16-101 with an I3, F1 rating. 

n For more information, visit the website at, 

www.adaptaflex.com or contact Adaptaflex 

at: CMG House, Station Road, Coleshill, 

Birmingham, B46 1HT. Tel: 01675 468200 or 

email: marketing@adaptaflex.com 

Memco and its 

sister company 

TL Jones have 

teamed up to 

supply 185 

Pana40+ 3D 

elevator door 

safety systems 

and 600 dot matrix elevator displays to the Delhi 

Metro in India. The systems will be installed in more 

than 200 elevators supplied to Delhi Metro by Kone 

and Johnson Lifts. 

The Pana40+ 3D system incorporates two 

independent detection systems, the first is a light 

curtain of infra-red beams criss-crossing the elevator 

car’s doors; the second is a 3D proximity detection 

system in the landing zone. Any object interrupting the 

direct beams or reflections within the 3D detection 

zone will trigger the system and re-open the elevator 

doors. 

Benefits of the Pana40+ 3D include increased 

passenger safety and improved traffic flow, as well as 

reduced collisions between trolleys, wheelchairs and 

pushchairs, and the elevator doors. Typical applications 

include busy public buildings, such as public transport 

systems, passenger terminals, hospitals, shopping 

centres, hotels and offices. 

The detectors are manufactured in various profiles 

to suit a wide variety of elevator doors. 

n For more information, visit the website at: 

www.memco.co.uk 

Securikey 

Healthcare Connections 

Thermo King 

A new website 

designed to provide 

a one-stop source 

for all security needs 

has been launched 

by Securikey: www. 

securikey.co.uk 

The website 

features downloadable 

product data sheets, 

videos and operation 

manuals of the most 

comprehensive range 

of security products 

including: 

l Key cabinets; 

l Safes; 

l Fire protection; and 

l Security mirrors, including a range of unbreakable 

‘shallow’ mirror domes (pictured above), ideal for 

station platforms, subways and station car parks. 

Visitors will also find details of local stockists on 

the website. 

n For more information contact Securikey 

at: PO Box 18, Aldershot, Hampshire GU12 

4SL. Tel: 01252 311888, fax: 01252 343950, 

email: enquiries@securikey.co.uk or visit the 

website at: www.securikey.co.uk 

Healthcare Connections has been fully approved 

as an occupational health provider to Crossrail, 

authorising it to supply both preventative and reactive 

care to all organisations working on the Crossrail 

project. 

Alison Brown, CEO of Healthcare Connections, 

said: ‘Effective care for such an important project 

as Crossrail is absolutely essential. It is our job to 

make the occupational health requirement as easy 

as possible for anyone working on Crossrail and, 

because we are approved to supply both preventative 

and reactive care, we really can provide a simple, yet 

comprehensive solution.’ 

The company has a proven track record in 

delivering a complete occupational health service 

specialising in medicals, preventative health 

schemes, and drug and alcohol screening. Absence 

management, medication checking and physiotherapy 

services complement its health offerings, enabling it 

to provide all round health and safety packages. 

Healthcare Connections views the Crossrail 

approval as a welcome extension of its services, which 

are conducted to Railway Group Standards. The 

company is a Network Rail and London Underground 

approved provider with Link-up accreditation. 

n For more information visit the website at: 

www.healthcare-connections.com or call: 

08456 773002 

Rail freight operators 

across Europe currently 

face many pressures 

that make it more important than ever to optimise fleet 

operations. TracKing from Thermo King, which is a 

brand of Ingersoll Rand manufacturing temperature 

control systems for a variety of mobile applications, 

provides an up-to-the-minute analysis of load 

conditions to help operators increase energy and 

operational efficiency. 

TracKing has been designed to offer a flexible 

web-based solution that provides customers with 

real-time temperature and location information on 

their refrigerated wagons. This solution integrates 

seamlessly into customers’ in-house logistics and 

planning systems, allowing operators to improve 

response times and more easily make critical 

decisions. The system also helps maximise fleet 

efficiencies and meet ever-changing standards in 

legislation for deliveries and transportation needs. 

A logistics manager no longer has to switch 

between different applications or look at multiple 

screens to keep up-to-date with fleet operations. 

The TracKing website portal provides access to realtime 

data on refrigerated cargo conditions and unit 

performance ensuring transporters have critical cargo 

and data at their fingertips in the system of their 

choice. Using one portal to manage their business 

and their fleets allows transporters to increase 

efficiency and consolidate system supervision. 

n For more information, visit: 

www.ingersollrand.com or: 

www.thermoking.com 

APRIL 2011 Page 35

McNaughton and 

Doherty become 

visiting professors 

The University of Southampton 

has appointed two visiting 

professors, to strengthen its 

work in the field of railway track 

research. 

Andy Doherty, director of 

railway systems engineering 

at Network Rail, and Andrew 

McNaughton, chief engineer of 

High Speed Two, will be supporting 

the EpSRC-funded Track21 

programme 

Grant in an 

industrial 

advisory 

capacity. 

They will be 

andy Doherty 

andrew 

McNaughton 

engaging with 

the university’s 

railway 

research under 

the banner 

Southampton 

Railway 

Systems 

Research 

(SR2). 

GBRf reshuffles 

management team 

nGB Railfreight’s management 

team has been reshuffled, 

as a result of its acquisition by 

Eurotunnel subsidiary Europorte. 

Managing director John Smith 

has taken on responsibility for 

managing and growing Europorte 

Channel, Group Eurotunnel’s 

specialist Channel Tunnel rail 

freight business, alongside the 

delivery of the GB Railfreight 

business plan. 

Kevin Walker, GBRf’s 

operations director, is currently on a 

six-month secondment to Europorte 

Channel to head up operations for 

the business and to increase sales. 

Neil Crossland, formerly GBRf’s 

commercial director, has moved over 

to Europorte Channel where he will 

continue in the same role, working 

alongside Kevin Walker. 

Dave Knowles, head of 

production at GBRf, has taken over 

as GBRf operations director during 

Walker’s secondment. 

Following Crossland’s move to 

Europorte Channel, Tim Robinson 

will assume the role of commercial 

director for GB Railfreight. 

John Smith said: ‘The changes in 

the management structure will allow 

us to develop the European side of 

the business, while still running our 

operations in the UK and without 

detracting from the high levels of 

reliability and customer service we 

offer our clients.’ 

‘The changes in 

the management 

structure will allow 

us to develop the 

European side of the 

business’ 

John Smith 

Willams joins North West 

Rail Campaign 

nSusan Williams is the new 

campaign director for the 

North West Rail Campaign. 

Currently a board member of the 

North West Development Agency 

she was, until 2009, leader of 

Trafford Council. 

She replaces Roger Jones. 

Williams, 43, said: ‘It will be 

impossible for the cities of the 

north to reach their economic 

potential if they continue to 

be hampered by rail services 

that, in the case of Liverpool to 

Manchester, are slower than they 

were over a century ago. 

‘It’s an issue that affects 

services across the TransPennine 

route, and will continue to hamper 

our growth and the prospects 

for important Northern cities 

and towns like Leeds, Bradford, 

Sheffield, Newcastle, Preston, 

Manchester, Warrington, Chester 

and Liverpool. 

‘It’s a situation that we must 

make headway on during the next 

two years.’ 

Love is new Eversholt chair 

Graham Love has been named as the non-executive chairman of rolling 

stock leasing company Eversholt Rail. 

Love is also chairman of LGC Science Group, and a principal with 

the Chertoff Group, a consultancy working in the field of security and 

intelligence markets. 

Mary Kenny, chief executive officer says: ‘I am looking forward to working 

with Graham, who is highly supportive of our strategy and approach and 

Graham’s advice and counsel will be a great benefit.’ 

People round-up 

Faulkner joins amey 

amey has 

appointed 

former civil 

servant John 

Faulkner as 

business 

development 

director to 

oversee growth in its rail and 

highways division. 

Faulkner, who joins from the 

Department of Transport where he 

was head of strategy, is a chartered 

civil engineer. 

acquisitions see reshuffle 

at Wabtec subsidiaries 

Wabtec Rail, which has just acquired 

Brush Traction and Brush Barclay, 

has announced two appointments 

to its new subsidiaries. Paul griffin 

is the new site director at Brush 

Traction in Loughborough, having 

been promoted from his previous 

role of production director. Group 

finance director Craig Gibson moves 

across from Brush Traction to Brush 

Barclay’s Kilmarnock site, where he 

will be site director. 

Four new appointments 

for Q’Straint 

Q’Straint, a specialist in wheelchair 

passenger safety, has recruited 

four new team members. 

Victoria Hodkinson-gibbs, 

38, who previously worked for 

the Department of Transport 

and Highways agency, has been 

appointed technical manager. 

Kevin Trehearn, 45, who hails 

from the heating and gas sector, 

is the new operations engineer, 

while Isabel Siewert, 28, and 

Petra Broden, 44, are both new 

additions to the marketing team. 

Page 36 apRiL 2011

People 

Ludeman joins 

Network Rail board 

Keith Ludeman 

nKeith Ludeman, 61, is to join 

Network Rail’s board when 

he retires in July. 

The CEO of the Go-Ahead 

group will help Network Rail to 

fulfill one of its licence conditions, 

which is to have at least two 

non-executive directors with 

‘substantial relevant experience of 

working in the railway industry’. 

Network Rail’s chairman Rick 

Haythornthwaite said: ‘Keith 

Ludeman brings to Network Rail 

decades of experience of leadership 

in Britain’s transport industry. 

‘The addition of him to the 

board will provide first-hand, 

passenger-focused expertise, which 

will help Network Rail on its 

journey to becoming ever more 

responsive to its customers and 

passengers. 

‘The appointment of Mr 

Ludeman completes a task I set 

myself as chairman to totally 

overhaul the non-executive 

element of Network Rail’s board, 

strengthening it in order to 

provide world-class corporate 

oversight.’ 

Brown and Gaffney join 

Crossrail board 

Crossrail Ltd has appointed two 

high-profile non-executives to 

its board – former Hong Kong 

MTR managing director Phil 

Gaffney and former managing 

director of TfL London Rail Ian 

Brown CBE. 

Crossrail chairman Terry 

Morgan said: ‘I’m delighted that 

Phil Gaffney and Ian Brown will 

be joining the Crossrail Board.’ 

Morris to chair Ciras Committee 

nDavid Morris has been 

appointed chairman of the 

Ciras Committee, the group which 

steers the operation of Ciras, the 

railway industry’s Confidential 

Incident Reporting and Analysis 

System. 

Morris was formerly the Health 

and Safety Executive’s head of 

operations in London and the 

south-east, going on to become HM 

Ian Brown 

deputy chief inspector of railways at 

the Office of Rail Regulation, before 

retiring last year. 

Maurice Wilsdon, head of Ciras 

said: ‘I am very pleased that David 

will be leading the Ciras Committee. 

‘The rail industry faces 

significant changes, which will bring 

uncertainties and strengthen the 

need for staff to have access to a 

system such as Ciras.’ 

You are reading a magazine 

written, designed, printed and 

distributed by Cambridge Publishers Ltd. 

We are contracted to publish magazines appealing 

to a variety of audiences. Our clients work with us because 

they enjoy our commitment, honesty, design expertise and 

attention to detail. 

We’re specialists in membership and subscriber publications, but we produce 

a wide range of magazines, handbooks, annual reports and electronic media for a 

diverse client list. 

Visit the website www.cpl.biz for more information, or call 01223 477411 

for advice on any aspect of your publishing needs. 

We go the 

extra mile 

To take care of your 

publishing needs 

We’re publishing experts so you don’t have to be 


april 2011 Page 37

Recruitment 

Recruitment online 

Visit www.railpro.co.uk/recruitment for all our latest job vacancies 

Don’t miss out! The rail industry’s top jobs will continue to appear in Rail Professional magazine, but please keep 

an eye out for regular job updates on the website throughout the month 

Company: First Group Position: Campaigns and Promotions Manager Location: Manchester HQ Salary: £28,000 - £30,000 pa 

You will develop multi-channel campaigns including TV, press, radio and online advertising, promotional literature (including the customer magazine), point 

of purchase material and the development of promotional partnerships, ensuring that all activity is undertaken according to plan and delivered to budget. 

Visit www.railpro.co.uk/recruitment for further details. Closing date for applications: 31 March 2011 

Company: First Group Position: Sales and Integration Manager Location: Manchester HQ Salary: £28,000 - £30,000 pa 

You will develop and proactively work with both internal and external partners to develop successful business partnerships that drive the business 

forward. You will work with the Marketing Manager, Campaigns & Promotions Manager and E-Commerce Manager and various external agencies to 

develop targeted advertising and promotional activity to support these initiatives. 

Visit www.railpro.co.uk/recruitment for further details. Closing date for applications: 31 March 2011 

Company: First Group Position: Station Service Manager Location: Enfield, London Salary: £competitive 

As a Station Services Manager (SSM) you will report directly to the Group Station Manager (GSM), where you will have full accountability for running the 

First Capital Connect station activities within their area. You will also be responsible for managing and developing your front-line staff, proactively building 

relationships with customers, the local community, and, where appropriate, other Tocss whilst continually monitoring and maintaining standards. 

Visit www.railpro.co.uk/recruitment for further details. Closing date for applications: 1 April 2011 

Rail pro web jobs page HPH.indd 1 24/3/11 16:45:40 

Achieve maximum impact 

with your recruitment 

advertising spend 

Issue 

Recruitment 

deadline 

Mail out 

MAY 2011 19 APRIL 27 APRIL 

JUNE 2011 25 MAY 31 MAY 

JULY 2011 22 JUNE 28 JUNE 

AUGUST 2011 20 JULY 26 JULY 

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NOVEMBER 2011 19 OCTOBER 25 OCTOBER 

DECEMBER 2011 22 NOVEMBER 29 NOVEMBER 

THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE FOR RAILWAY MANAGERS 

Contact Rob Tidswell, Recruitment sales 

Tel: 01223 477427 Fax: 01223 304760 

CPL, 275 Newmarket Road, Cambridge CB5 8JE rob@railpro.co.uk 

MAY 2010 ISSUE 158 £3.95 

THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE FOR RAILWAY MANAGERS www.railpro.co.uk 

All change? 

The railways play host to party politics 

Running a 

tight ship 

Lord Adonis on why the 

railways are sti l a sound 

business to be in 

Uckfield 

alternative 

Second Brighton line 

proposed to bypass East 

Croydon bo tleneck 

Designs on 

the lines 

Finding out what 

passengers rea ly want 

from a station 

Recruitment prices 

Double page spread £3,000 

Full page £1,800 

Half page £1,200 

Quarter page £700 

All jobs that appear in the magazine also 

appear online on the Rail Professional 

website: www.railpro.co.uk/ 

recruitment.php and top jobs are 

highlighted on our Rail Professional 

subscriber email service. 

www.railpro.co.uk 

Jobs can now be placed 

online at the following rates: 

£200 for the first job and 

£100 per additional job 

posting. 

If you have more than five 

jobs to be listed, or require 

unlimited access for a specific 

campaign, please call us to 

discuss rates. 

Same day service 

If artwork is received before 

3pm, your jobs will be posted 

the same day. 

Artwork can be supplied either 

as a PDF, TIFF or JPEG. 

A company logo is also 

required, size 125 pixels 

(wide) x 50 pixels (high). 

If you have any questions, 

please don’t hesitate to 

contact us. 

Recruitment advert HPH.indd 2 24/3/11 15:18:47

Recruitment 

 

website is updated daily 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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News updates throughout the month Jobs 

 

 

RPApr11 Tracis.indd 1 21/3/11 14:34:43 

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