Transport Britain-Issue 1

TRANSPORTBRITAIN 

ISSN 2015-6861 

ISSUE 1 • WWW.TRANSPORT-BRITAIN.CO.UK 

14-19 

OFFICE OF RAIL AND ROAD: THE 

CHALLENGES OF REGULATING 

THE RAIL AND ROAD NETWORKS 

IAN PROSSER SPEAKS TO US ABOUT the 

role of the ORR and the challenges 

associated with regulation. 

22-27 

HOW WILL THE ELIZABETH 

LINE BE MANAGED ONCE 

CROSSRAIL IS COMPLETE? 

HOWARD SMITH tell us about the 

planning & progress the project has 

made, & the challenges that lie ahead.

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FROM THE EDITOR 

Welcome to our edition of 

Transport Britain, the first of 

many instalments covering 

this sector. 

Of that, there is no doubt when 

you consider the activity within 

this industry. 

As with any element of industry 

in the UK at this present time, 

with the political and economic 

climate as it is, there are 

few cast-iron guarantees of 

continued investment. With 

Brexit negotiations ongoing, we 

have seen this in industries such 

as construction. 

However, we can safely assume 

this will not be the case with 

transport. In terms of priorities, 

the government’s intentions 

suggest that improving the 

strategic network throughout 

Britain is amongst its highest. 

The infrastructure provided by 

the roads and railways is seen as 

imperative in the quest to fully 

unlock Britain’s economic and 

business potential. 

We are seeing that with the level 

of investment already committed; 

schemes like HS2 and Crossrail will 

provide a type of transport rarely 

seen by commuters and Highways 

England is hard at work delivering 

its Smart Motorways too. 

In this issue, we look at the 

operational challenges faced 

by Transport for London in 

managing the Elizabeth line once 

Crossrail is complete. 

Given how much money is being 

pumped into improving Britain’s 

transport links, it stands to 

reason that ensuring health and 

safety of employees and users is 

paramount. Key to guaranteeing 

this is sound regulation. This is 

provided by the Office of Rail 

and Road and the regulator’s 

Chief Inspector of Railway told us 

of the work they do to make our 

networks safe. 

We also have an in-depth 

feature on Highways England’s 

health and safety plans, with a 

word from the organisation’s 

Chief Executive. 

And what of ensuring 

distribution of finance is spread 

evenly across the whole of 

Britain? A Transport Summit 

was held last month to discuss 

this very issue for the North of 

England. We take a look at what 

was decided, and we have a 

wider round-up of the significant 

decisions made on road and rail 

projects over the summer. 

John Train Editor 

WHAT’S INSIDE... 

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SEPTEMBER 2017 • TRANSPORT BRITAIN 

3

LATEST INDUSTRY NEWS 

//. MIDLANDS ON TRACK FOR RAIL INVESTMENT 

The Midlands Engine 

showcased the region’s 

capacity, capability and 

opportunities in the rail sector 

for the first time at Railtex 

earlier this month. 

The event took place from 9-11 

May at NEC Birmingham, with 

Midlands Engine exhibiting 

at stand M65. The Midlands 

Engine partners, came 

together with DIT, Rail Alliance 

and Rail Forum to host an 

investors event to present the 

opportunities UK rail presents, 

with the Midlands as the 

perfect place to locate to for 

HS2 and the many other rail 

projects coming to the UK over 

the next 15 years. 

Speakers at the event included 

Gordon Wakeford, MD of 

Siemens Mobility (photo credit 

to Rail Alliance), Simon Rennie 

of NTAR (National Training 

Academy for Rail), Birmingham 

Centre for Rail Research 

and Education (BCRRE) and 

Nick Mallinson from WMG 

at the University of Warwick, 

presenting on very light rail and 

the proposed Revolution train. 

The Midlands is a core 

part of the UK’s £7bn rail 

manufacturing industry that 

employs over 80,000 people 

across the country and 

helps drive the UK advanced 

manufacturing and engineering 

sector. Over 600,000 people 

in the Midlands work in 

manufacturing, delivering 

over 21% of the UK’s annual 

manufacturing output. 

Led by companies such as 

Bombardier, Siemens and 

Atkins, the region is home to 

the UK’s largest rail cluster 

and offers huge supply chain 

opportunities. 

The region is at the heart of 

new UK rail projects including 

the £55bn HS2 rail network, 

mainline electrification, 

station redevelopments and 

extensions to light railway 

networks, along with the 

expansion of rail freight 

infrastructure. Overall the UK is 

investing in excess of £100bn 

in rail projects across the 

country. This makes the UK an 

attractive place to locate for 

overseas companies active in 

rail, and the Midlands, given its 

location and strong rail cluster, 

is the ideal location in the UK to 

invest in. 

Gordon Wakeford of Siemens, 

said: “As chair of the RSG it 

was a pleasure to speak on 

behalf of the Midlands Engine 

at Railtex. The UK has a vibrant 

and thriving rail sector and is 

something of which we can 

be proud, however we also 

recognise that there is a lot 

more that we can offer. The 

Midlands Engine plays a huge 

role in the development of 

UK plc’s rail sector. It is home 

to a young and well educated 

population and to many OEMs, 

universities and consultancies. 

The region is a great 

demonstrator of why investing 

in the rail industry has a direct 

influence on the development 

of our young people.” 

Paul Francis as Chair of Rail 

Forum East Midlands and MD 

Porterbrook Leasing, said: 

“Midlands Engine has the 

potential to provide a strong 

collective brand through which 

Midlands rail companies can 

promote themselves on the 

world stage; working together 

where appropriate to drive 

innovation and win more 

business. Rail is also vitally 

important to Midlands Engine 

providing the connectivity 

needed for businesses to 

thrive. The combined expertise 

of our Midlands transport 

technology sectors is of 

international significance and 

Midlands Engine provides a 

platform for organisations to 

work across sectors to develop 

new and improved world 

leading products and services”. 

Robert Hopkin of trade body 

Rail Alliance, said: “Railtex 17 

saw the launch of the Midlands 

Engine in Rail to a packed 

breakfast networking event 

staged by the Rail Alliance on 

the first day of Railtex. The 

event brought together buyers, 

4 TRANSPORT BRITAIN • SEPTEMBER 2017


suppliers, facilitators all present 

in the spirit of celebrating 

all that the Midlands Engine 

does offer and can offer to the 

UK’s ever-improving railway. 

Presentations from the National 

College for High Speed Rail 

(NCHSR) brought us right up 

to date with the requirement 

for the UK to become a world 

leader in High Speed Rail – 

incidentally, both the terminus 

for HS2 and one of the NCHSR 

sites being in the Midlands 

Engine parish bode well for 

investment, skills and business. 

The Business Lunch on the 

second day of Railtex was 

extremely well attended with 

great representation from 

academia, trade associations 

(including the Motorsport 

Industry Association) and 

the innovation communities 

as well as presentations 

from organisations making 

a difference today to the 

skills and competences of 

railway workers. The headline 

presentation from Gordon 

Wakeford, MD of Siemens 

Transportation (UK) and Chair 

of the Rail Supply Group 

identified the Midlands 

Engine supply base as being 

both highly respected for its 

capabilities and, importantly, 

exciting in terms of prospect 

for the future supply of goods 

products and services to the 

UK railway and abroad. 

Additionally, these events 

showcased the opportunities 

for Foreign Direct Investment 

with several overseas buyers 

arriving for these meetings. 

With presentations from the 

Rail Forum East Midlands and 

others during the two days, the 

profile of the Midlands Engine 

was well and truly raised and 

it was clear to see that the 

Midlands Engine is very much 

open for business!’ 

//. NEW RAIL SERVICE 

IMPROVEMENTS 

ANNOUNCED BY DEPARTMENT 

FOR TRANSPORT 

THE government’s drive to 

provide better rail services 

continues today with the news 

that parts of the UK will benefit 

from new trains on lines in the 

north, midlands and Wales. 

Today, the Department for 

Transport has outlined its plans 

to introduce bi-mode trains 

to some rail lines, resulting in 

faster journeys for passengers, 

who will travel in more comfort 

too. 

Transport Secretary, Chris 

Grayling, explained what 

passengers can expect as part 

of the greatest investment in 

rail services since the Victorian 

era. 

He said: “We are making the 

biggest investment in the 

railways since the Victorian era 

and upgrading services across 

the country, including in Wales, 

the midlands and the north. 

“Passengers expect and 

deserve high quality rail 

services and we are committed 

to using the best available 

technology for each part of the 

network, delivering significant 

benefits for those who use our 

railways.” 

The Great Western Main 

Line, Midland Main Line 

and the Lake District will all 

be furnished with the new 

trains which will also include 

better facilities on-board for 

passengers. 

Intercity Express trains will be 

integrated into the services on 

Great Western and Midland 

Main Line, giving passengers 

in Wales travel that gets them 

from one place to another 

quicker. In addition, the trains 

will be more accessible to more 

people, with 130 extra seats 

available. 

There will be a 20-minute 

reduction in journey times 

between Nottingham and 

Sheffield, providing 1,000 extra 

seats an hour in the peak 

time that the train travels into 

London. 

Meanwhile in the Lake 

District, the train operator has 

started working on a trial for 

alternative-fuelled trains. 

Due to these new trains, there 

will be four direct services each 

day going from Windermere to 

Manchester Airport from May 

2018, with new trains expected 

on that line in December 2019. 

The Department for Transport 

also say that this service 

will benefit from much less 

disruption in the near future, 

making the lives of those in 

local communities better. 


5


//. WEC GROUP SUPPLY OLE STRUCTURES FOR 

£100M WEST MIDLAND ELECTRIFICATION PROJECT 

WEC Group Ltd, one of the 

largest engineering and 

fabrication companies in the 

UK, has manufactured a range 

of Overhead Line Electrification 

(OLE) structures for Network 

Rail/ABC’s £100m Walsall to 

Rugeley Trent Valley railway 

electrification project. 

As part of the scheme, which 

runs for 15 miles, the Group 

fabricated a range of steel 

Single Track Cantilevers, Two 

Track Cantilevers, Portals and 

Anchor Portals in-house as well 

as four angle fabricated TTC 

bridges. 

Electrification work on the 

West Midlands track began in 

2013 and is expected to be 

completed in time for the first 

electric trains to run in May 

2018, with a fully electric half 

hourly service by December 

2018, reducing round trip 

journey times by 15 minutes 

and addressing overcrowding 

by introducing more trains. 

David Taylor, UK Sales at 

WEC Fabrication, said: “It has 

been a pleasure dealing with 

staff at all levels within the 

ABC organisation, showing 

professionalism and a desire to 

succeed. 

“Having demonstrated our 

total capacity and capability 

within WEC Group, ensuring 

competitive and economical 

manufacture for the project, we 

look forward to assisting with 

any future project with ABC or 

other Network Rail projects.” 

WEC Group is heavily involved 

with rail electrification contracts 

and is a leading manufacturer 

of overhead steel poles for 

light rail transit systems and 

overhead line electrification. 

Recent projects include the 

Manchester Metrolink Light Rail 

project, Sheffield Tram Lines 

and LRT projects in Hong Kong 

and Istanbul. 

As an approved aluminium 

welding supplier to Bombardier 

Transportation and accredited 

to EN 15085-2, BS EN 1090 

and RISQS, the Group also 

specialise in the manufacture 

of undercarriage and interior 

parts including electrical 

enclosures, bolsters, body end 

cubicles, underframes, side 

bodies and more. 

In addition, WEC provides 

design, fabrication and 

installation services to the rail 

industry for products including 

signal structures, gantries, 

bridges and CCTV products. 

MTL Advanced, the Group’s 

Rotherham-based division, has 

recently achieved BS EN 3834- 

2 accreditation for passenger 

rail and freight wagons and 

supplies Category 1 safety 

critical parts such as cab & 

bogie structures, body shell 

components, bolsters and fuel 

tanks. 

As a leading subcontract 

supplier of laser cut parts, 

sheet metal components and 

fabricated assemblies for the 

rail industry, Coventry-based 

HTA Group also manufacture 

a range of parts including 

interiors, HVAC, chassis 

components and undercarriage 

framework to name but a few. 

www.wec-group.com 

For any press enquiries contact 

Eli on 01789 720026 

6 BUILDING BRITAIN • JULY 2017


//. EUROPE’S RAILWAY SEARCH AND 

INNOVATION SET TO RECEIVE A MAJOR BOOST 

EUROPE’S Railway Research and 

Innovation set to receive a major 

boost resulting from the 2017 

Shift2Rail Call for Proposals with 

proposed projects worth nearly 

EUR 200 million. 

In answer to its 2017 Call 

for Proposals, the Shift2Rail 

Joint Undertaking received 

60 proposals for a total value 

of EUR 192.8 million and 

a funding request of EUR 

136.5 million, equivalent to 

more than twice the available 

funding (EUR 60.8 million). 

With particular regard to the 

Call open to non-members, 

53 proposals were submitted 

(on average five proposals 

per topic) with a request for 

funding nearly five times the 

amount available in the S2R JU 

Budget for 2017. Out of 412 

participants, 29% are SMEs. 

Henrik Hololei, Director 

General for Mobility and 

Transport reinforced his 

support to Shift2Rail stating 

“I am confident that the 

proposed projects will bolster 

Shift2Rail’s ambitious objectives 

to foster competitive research 

and innovation actions in 

the Railway industry through 

developing market driven 

solutions that meet EU 

transport needs.” 

Carlo Borghini, the Executive 

Director of the Shift2Rail JU, 

expressed his satisfaction 

with the number of submitted 

project proposals, noting 

that: “In comparison to the 

number of topics available, 

the proposals submitted 

are almost double to last 

year. This confirms that the 

Shift2Rail JU is recognized 

as an efficient, open and 

transparent partnership to 

defragment research and 

innovation in order to bring 

together innovative solutions 

to the railway system. 

This is also one of the key 

elements contributing to 

the competitiveness of the 

European railway sector in the 

global market.” 

The S2R Programme Office 

supported by independent 

experts, including those from 

the European Agency for 

Railway and GSA, has already 

started the process for the 

evaluation of the proposals 

which is expected to be 

concluded by early June 2017. 

Applicants should be informed 

about the outcome of the 

evaluations by mid-June 2017. 

The R&I actions related to these 

Calls are expected to start on 

the 1st September 2017. 

ABOUT SHIFT2RAIL 

Shift2Rail is the first European rail 

Public Private Partnership tasked 

with developing strategicallyfocused 

research and innovation 

(R&I) and market-driven solutions, 

and with integrating these to 

create the railway system of 

the future. With a total value 

of 920M€ for the period 2014- 

2020, Shift2Rail is promoting the 

competitiveness of the European 

rail industry and ensuring the 

attractiveness of rail as a safe and 

sustainable low carbon transport 

mode. We need it to meet the 

changing transport/mobility needs 

of EU citizens and the economy. 

The Shift2Rail initiative 

successfully started over a year 

ago with the kick-off of four 

“lighthouse” projects with 52M€ 

of research paving the way for 

the main programme. In addition, 

since the beginning of 2016, 

the S2R JU members have been 

able to implement additional 

activities in support of the S2R JU 

work programme, which will add 

leverage and driving force to the 

Shift2Rail initiative. 

For any press enquiries contact 

Eli on 01789 720026 

JULY 2017 • BUILDING BRITAIN 

7


LATEST: PROGRESS ON £15 BILLION CROSSRAIL PROJECT 

Crossrail have released a new video and 

images to show how the tunnel fit-out 

is progressing as work continues on the 

development that will link Reading and 

Heathrow to London. 

Scheduled to be ready in December 

2018, Crossrail is already almost 85% 

complete and the new footage shows 

how much work the team of engineers 

have got through to create this state-ofthe-art 

Elizabeth line. 

In order to supply power, lightning and 

ventilation systems to the railway, more 

than 1,500km of cable will be fitted, as 

work continues to install the overhead 

traction power system. 


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FEATURE 

THE last full week of August 

saw a major summit held to 

discuss the need for greater 

investment in the wider 

transport network in the north 

of England. 

Held at Leeds Beckett 

University Leeds, the main aims 

of the summit were to discuss 

a Cross North project to 

connect this part of the country 

with the rest, and keep pace 

with what is deemed to be 

favouritism for the south and 

London transport. 

There’s certainly weight behind 

this theory, given that once 

Parliament entered its summer 

recess, planned electrification 

works of railway lines in the 

north, the Midlands and Wales 

were quietly shelved, while at 

the same time proposals for 

Crossrail 2 in London were 

backed. 

It led the Greater Manchester 

Mayor, Andy Burnham into 

disagreement with Chris 

Grayling, the Transport 

Secretary. 

Mr Burnham accused the 

government of neglecting 

transport in the north, saying: 

“With every day that passes, 

the promise of a Northern 

Powerhouse becomes ever 

more distant. 

“People have had to put up 

with substandard rail services 

for decades and will simply not 

accept that spending billions 

more on London is the country’s 

highest priority for transport.” 

The transport summit united 

private sector partners from a 

number of different business 

groups, while a speaker from 

the Northern Powerhouse 

Partnership was also present. 

The final hour saw a political 

talk with panellists including 

Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the 

Liverpool City Region, Julie 

Dore, Leader of Sheffield City 

Council, Nick Forbes, Leader 

of Newcastle City Council and 

finally, Judith Blake, Leader of 

Leeds City Council. 

The summit was closed by 

Andy Burnham who hailed the 

conclusions of the event, which 

resulted in a broad agreement 

that a representative body 

should be set up, comprising of 

business and political leaders 

in order to provide the north 

with one powerful voice to air 

its grievances. 

The timing of the transport 

summit was perfect given that 

Mr Grayling ran an editorial 

piece in the Yorkshire Post 

only a day before. 


FEATURE 

He welcomed the 

conference in Leeds to 

debate the need to replace 

some of what he described 

as ‘poor transport’ which is 

holding the north back. 

He pointed to investment in 

northern transport that is 

at an ‘unprecedented’ level 

and referenced the benefits 

of HS2, along with road 

improvements to develop 

smart motorways on the M1 

and M62. 

But, he said: “The message I 

want to send is simply this: 

although one of my biggest 

priorities as Secretary 

of State is to build the 

transport links the north 

needs to thrive, they must 

be designed and managed 

by the north itself. 

“It is central government’s 

responsibility to provide 

funding and a delivery 

structure that ensures 

efficiency, value for money and 

accountability. But beyond 

this, I want the north to take 

control.” 

He finished the editorial 

by adding: “The success of 

northern transport depends on 

the north itself.” 

However, Mr Burnham hit back 

saying: “Need better than this 

from the Transport Secretary. 

We are ready to play our part, 

but we can’t solve without 

serious backing from the 

government.” 

At the summit itself, the Mayor 

of Greater Manchester said 

that the potential of the north 

is being held back by the 

transport system and labelled 

the noises from the Transport 

Secretary as ‘worrying’. 

He said: “Recent statements 

by the Transport Secretary 

have sent worrying messages 

that this essential investment 

may not be delivered in full, 

with some key commitments 

dropped, or substantially 

delayed. 

“We believe that people across 

the north have waited long 

enough for transport services 

on a par with other parts of the 

country. 

“The disparity between 

transport in the north of 

England and London must now 

be addressed.” 

The summit called on the 

government to “honour in full, 

commitments already given 

to deliver improvements to 

rail services across the north, 

including full electrification, 

track signalling improvements 


11

FEATURE 

on key commuter routes and 

the upgrade of hub stations, 

and to remove uncertainty 

about this at the earliest 

opportunity.” 

Mr Burnham said the 

government must set out 

fairer distribution of transport 

funding across all regions 

and said there must be a 

commitment to prioritise 

the manifesto promise of 

delivering new west-east rail 

infrastructure across the north. 

The new body to give the 

north one voice, agreed at the 

summit, will bring the regional 

perspective to issues such as 

Brexit and transport funding, 

allowing a case to be made for 

further devolution in the future. 

Dubbed as a “Council of the 

North,” it could play a key 

role in transport decisions 

in future, and by pooling 

collective political influence, 

the north stands a better 

chance of succeeding in getting 

the transport links that are 

required. 

These rail links are needed to 

improve the economy of the 

regions, according to Councillor 

Susan Hinchcliffe, who added: 

“I cannot stress enough just 

how important investment in 

Northern Powerhouse Rail is 

for the great cities of the north. 

“We need NPR to link with HS2 

in Leeds in order to gain the 

maximum benefits from the 

overall investment. 

“Only then will we see the huge 

economic benefits that these 

major new routes can bring 

right across West Yorkshire and 

the Leeds City Region.” 


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FEATURE 

THE UK is seeing record 

investment in its highways 

and railways. With huge 

infrastructure projects like 

HS2 and Crossrail, as well as 

a multi-billion pound Road 

Investment Strategy, it’s fair to 

say that work will continue at 

pace. 

But with all of these projects, 

health and safety is key; 

it ensures that all those 

working to deliver the 

schemes are safe, and so are 

the many commuters and 

other motorists throughout 

construction and once projects 

are complete. 

The Office of Rail and Road 

(ORR) is the body tasked with 

making sure that the various 

stakeholders looking after 

railways and the strategic road 

network are aware of their legal 

obligations. 

Ian Prosser is the Chief 

Inspector of Railways at 

the regulator. He spoke to 

Business Britain to discuss 

the role of the ORR and the 

challenges associated with 

regulation. 

Could you give us a bit of 

information as to how the 

ORR came to regulate the 

roads and railway? 

The ORR as it’s constituted now 

includes economic regulation 

of Network Rail and certain 

aspects of economic regulation 

of the railways, including 

access regulation. We became 

a joint safety and economic 

regulator in 2006 when the old 

office of Her Majesty’s Railway 

Inspectorate (HMRI) was moved 

from the Health and Safety 

Executive to the Office of Rail 

Regulator, and became the 

Office of Rail Regulation. 

HMRI is actually 177 years 

old so the rail inspectorate 

has been around for a long 

time – in various government 

departments and HSE, where 

it was from 1990. Before 

then it was in the DfT, so the 

inspectorate is very old. We 

became a combined economic 

and safety regulator in 2006. 

Two years ago, we took on the 

responsibility of monitoring the 

strategic road network – such 

as Highways England; that’s 

when we became the Office of 

Rail and Road. 

On the economic side, the 

main task is to hold Network 

Rail to account, which is a 

monopoly. Through certain 

licence conditions, we also 

hold train operating companies 

to account on things like 

protection for people with 

disabilities, passenger 


FEATURE 

information during 

disruption. In terms of 

numbers, we’re about 50:50 

in terms of working on the 

safety and economic sides. 

We have about 290 people 

in total. 

In terms of health and 

safety, what is the 

process of setting out 

these strategies and how 

do you hold stakeholders 

to account? 

There are two very 

distinctive regulatory 

frameworks: health and 

safety and economic and 

they are very different to 

each other. 

Health and safety is 

based on ensuring that 

stakeholders comply with 

the law, which is primarily 

the Health and Safety at 

Work Act (HSWA), and with 

legislation called ROGS – the 

Railways and Other Guided 

Systems Regulations. 

In effect, we regulate the 

whole sector including London 

Underground, heritage and 

tramways. We ensure they 

meet the requirements of 

HSWA and various other bits 

and pieces. 

That means we act as the 

National Safety Authority. We 

do that in a number of ways: 

inspection, audit and the 

investigation of risk controls. 

We also issue safety certificates 

for the mainline railway 

operators – and check over a 

period of five years that their 

safety management systems 

are working. 

In addition, we provide 

guidance on specific policy. 

We focus on every single 

duty holder, but it’s not our 

responsibility to manage 

risk – our responsibility is to 

check that duty holders are 

complying with the law. 

On the economic side, it’s 

much more about holding 

companies to their licences. 

This applies for the mainline 

railway because there is no 

economic regulation of the 

London Underground, or 

heritage. 


15

FEATURE 

By far the biggest licence in 

terms of conditions we monitor 

is that of Network Rail. We also 

set funding requirements on a 

five-yearly basis. 

Enforcement works very 

differently in our health and 

safety and enforcement 

functions. In health and safety 

if we think an offence has 

been committed , we act as 

a prosecutor, build a case 

and present it to court which 

then decides if they are guilty 

and sets a fine if so. On the 

economic side, we act as a 

judge, jury and prosecutor. 

It effectively means ORR’s 

Board can fine Network Rail – 

and has done in the past – as 

well as different operators. It 

is quite different process but 

is laid out in statute in the 

Railways Act. 

Obviously, those type of 

sanctions are the last thing we 

want to impose, but we have to 

sometimes if the law has been 

breached, because it’s our duty. 

Therefore what we try to 

do - especially in the case of 

Network Rail - is to monitor 

their ongoing performance; 

not just in safety but in asset 

management, performance 

and condition so that they’re 

managing their assets not just 

safely but sustainably, that is 

very important. 

When we are monitoring 

stakeholders such as Network 

Rail we make absolutely sure 

that we don’t just look at 

numbers – we get out on the 

ground. My inspectors go out 

and check what people are 

actually doing. We get a lot of 

information from investigations 

regarding things that have 

gone wrong. 

What would you say are the 

main challenges in the work 

you undertake at the ORR? 

I think there are several upfront 

challenges; one of the 

main goals that applies to us 

both as an economic and a 

safety regulator is to encourage 

stakeholders to become what 

I call more capable and more 

mature, so that they fall below 

the line less often. 

That’s why we developed the 

Risk Management Maturity 

Model (RM3) which uses 26 

separate criteria to gauge 

where a company is in terms 

of its health and safety 

performance. This includes 

asset management, which 

is important from both an 

economic and safety regulation 

point of view. 

A key issue in the sector 

is maintaining safe and 

sustainable assets; many of 

our assets are quite old, and 

are vulnerable to bad weather. 

There have been deferrals 

in renewals, so maintaining 

safe and sustainable assets is 

becoming ever more critical. 

Another place where we need 

to see improvements across 

the sector is managing change. 

Growth has taken place and 

that, in turn, is bringing about 


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FEATURE 

changes - we’ve seen 

changes in franchises, new 

rolling stock coming on 

board. So managing that 

change, and the impact 

it has on workforce and 

passengers, is important. 

Organisational culture 

and occupational health 

are still not where they 

need to be in this sector. 

I believe that if we focus 

on improving occupational 

health management and 

health and wellbeing, we will 

improve the culture in the 

industry. 

Also, one of the things at 

the forefront of our mind 

is the concept of ‘safety by 

design’. When new assets 

are planned we encourage 

the designers to consider 

health and safety issues at 

the planning stage so that 

risk can be designed out 

of projects before they are 

built. 

These are some of the 

key aspects but they are 

centred on improving the 

capability and the maturity of 

these organisations, which we 

try to help by using RM3 which 

is our business model. RM3 

has been taken up by most of 

the sector, which uses it as a 

tool to help themselves. That is 

very important. 

How do you feel the 

organisations have 

managed the challenges of 

increased maturity? 

In some parts, we’ve seen it 

plateau and we think there’s 

a way to go overall, with 

individual companies such 

as Network Rail who are in a 

middling area. We think they 

have an opportunity to strive 

towards excellence, to push 

and make that next big step. 

To really do that, it’s going to 

depend on the competence 

and capability of the people in 

the sector, and the space for 

them to develop. That’s why we 

believe devolution in Network 

Rail is important and will help 

the sector to grow its capability, 

although the routes have 

different levels of capability 

and maturity – over time, and 

we’re going to use RM3 on 

every route, we should be able 

to help them improve and 

develop capability. 

In your time at the ORR, have 

you seen a skills shortage 

in road or rail and if so, how 

does that impact on the 

success of health and safety? 

I don’t think it’s had an impact 

on safety directly, but I think 

in some places there are skills 

shortages that have caused 

difficulty on certain projects – 

electrification comes to mind, 

where they’ve tried to ramp 

up too fast. There is also an 

ageing population in the rail 

sector; the National Academy 

of Rail Engineering Skills has 

been set up to help things like 

Network Rail’s apprenticeship 

programme. 

One of the things the supply 

chain needs is certainty of 

work, because that gives some 

stability in terms of being 

able to plan and develop the 

workforce. So, I think that’s an 

area that still needs to improve, 


FEATURE 

both with the Department 

for Transport and Network 

Rail making sure they have a 

stable plan, because without 

it, it causes difficulties in the 

sector. 

I think if we can improve 

the capability and maturity 

of people inside these 

organisations, we can make 

accidents less likely. That is 

where I am trying to get them. 

Regarding the referendum 

and upcoming Brexit, 

how does that affect the 

measures that are driven 

by EU legislation? Have 

you seen any changes? 

We haven’t seen any 

changes yet and we 

don’t foresee any in the 

immediate future because 

what we have in place, we’d 

probably put in place even 

if it wasn’t driven by EU 

directives. 

We have been through 

red tape challenges in the 

past, particularly after 2010 

and 2012 and when our 

regulations were put through 

those sort of challenges, 

and people were asked to 

comment, it was virtually 

all favourable, so I think the 

regulatory regime we have 

– and the Health and Safety 

at Work Act – seems to be 

effective. 

The HSWA is not driven by 

European legislation; it is an 

act of Parliament before that. 

Therefore, at this stage, I don’t 

see much changing. 

In the health and safety 

report there was a mention 

of HS2. Is this something 

that you will regulate, and 

what have you put in place? 

We’ve been working with HS2 

for a couple of years or so. 

I’ve had a dedicated principal 

inspector working with HS2 

as they develop their plans. 

I’ve had agreements with HSE, 

so that we act as a virtual 

regulator because HSE will be 

the regulator for construction. 

We have an agreement with 

HSE that we are the enforcing 

authority on HS2 and other 

projects for what is built. Not 

actually how it’s built on the 

ground, but what is built in 

terms of railway engineering 

and technology. 

In relation to that, I had a 

meeting a couple of weeks ago 

with the new Chief Executive 

of HS2, Mark Thurston, and 

I’m going to the Board’s subcommittee 

in October. 

So, we’ve been well linked-in, 

and as critical decisions are 

made, we’re going to be part 

of the assurance process. 

Therefore, when it comes to 

authorising HS2 – and I’ll be 

authorising Crossrail next 

year hopefully after we’ve just 

authorised the trains – we’re in 

a good place to be able to give 

it authorisation. 

Is there anything you 

haven’t mentioned? 

It’s important to point out that 

safety by design is also very 

important in projects like HS2 

and Crossrail. 


19

FEATURE 


FEATURE 

DESCRIBED as one of Europe’s 

largest infrastructure projects, 

Crossrail is making significant 

progress and is hurtling 

towards its completion date 

of December 2018, when the 

Elizabeth line – as it will be 

known – will open to the public. 

It is more than 85% complete 

and when it is fully finished, the 

project’s 13-mile twin tunnels 

will increase central London’s 

rail capacity by 10%, helping 

with commuter congestion and 

the city’s growing population. 

The line will be managed by 

Transport for London (TfL) 

once it is completed and 

with an infrastructure project 

on this scale, planning and 

managing the line is a huge 

undertaking. 

Howard Smith is TfL’s 

Operations Director for the 

Elizabeth line. He spoke to 

Business Britain to tell us about 

the planning and progress 

the project has made, and the 

challenges that lie ahead. 

Could you first tell us a bit 

about yourself and what 

your role is at TfL in regards 

to Crossrail? 

I started off on the British Rail 

graduate scheme 30 years ago. 

I did a degree in economics 

and I’m a Londoner by 

background. 

After that I ran lines in south 

and west London, I’ve also 

worked on the Channel Tunnel, 

Docklands Light Railway, 

helped create the London 

Overground, and then onto the 

Olympics. 

I came to Crossrail in 2013, 

though I’d been involved in 

the project for about 10 years 

before this. 

The physical construction is 

the responsibility of Crossrail 

Ltd which is joint-sponsored 

by TfL and the Department for 

Transport. But next summer, 

when the infrastructure is 

complete, we take it over, test 

it, and trial-run the scheme. 

From when we start operating 

passenger trains in the tunnel 

in December 2018, the services 

will be fully managed by TfL – 

the whole way from Shenfield 

and Abbey Wood in the east to 

Heathrow and Reading in the 

west, eventually. 

What were the origins of 

the Crossrail scheme and 

how will the running of the 

Elizabeth line fit in to TfL’s 

operation? 

Going right back, the idea of 

having an east-west railway 

across the middle of London 

dates back well over 100 years. 

It’s had various incarnations, 

but nothing seriously came of 

it until the 1990s and at that 

point, the idea came was to do 

what we are doing today – to 

take suburban rail that ends 

either side of the centre of 

the city and connect it across 

town. Going back to Victorian 

times when there were so 

many proposals for railways 

through the centre of London 

that the government prohibited 

railways coming north of the 

river, south of the Euston road, 

and into the city. 

Therefore every railway comes 

to the edge of the city and you 

have to get off and go on the 

Underground. In the 1990s, the 

plan came forward to create 

the railway we are basically 

building today. It’s a little bit 

like the RER in Paris and what 

Germans call S-Bahn – railways 

that run in from the suburbs 

like national rail, but then carry 

on through the centre. 

The advantage of that is you 

save people a lot of time and a 

lot of effort in changing trains, 

and you remove the need to 

do something quite odd when 

you step back and think about 


23

FEATURE 

it, which is get on a big 

train, get off, go down an 

escalator, get on a small 

train and come up to the 

surface again. 

After the plans in the 1990s 

which eventually came to 

naught, in 2003/04, the 

scheme was picked up 

again by government and 

by the new Greater London 

Authority, and TfL. This 

quite quickly moved on to 

a Parliamentary Bill stage – 

you had to get a so-called 

‘Hybrid Bill’ passed to build 

a railway like Crossrail. This 

allowed us to move onto the 

start of construction and 

through to where we are 

today. 

How do you feel the 

project has progressed? 

Have you hit any bumps 

in the road, so to speak? 

It’s a really good question 

because in a project of this 

size, when you’re doing 

something this big, you 

will hit hundreds, maybe 

thousands of what you 

might term ‘bumps in the 

road’. 

But equally, that’s to be 

expected. That is what the 

project, its planners, brilliant 

engineers and contractors 

are there to manage and 

overcome. 

Overall, we’re going very 

well. We’re just over 85% 

complete now. The tunnels are 

complete, and the tracks are 

also now finished. So what’s 

going on at the moment is 

fitting out things like stations, 

putting in overhead power, 

communications and signalling. 

After that, we will move onto 

the rigorous testing process 

and doing the trials, exercises 

and staff familiarisation next 

year. 

There’s a huge amount of work 

to do over the next 18 months. 

There is a lot to do and, no 

doubt, challenges ahead but 

overall we’re where we should 

be at this stage. 

What steps have you got 

in place ready for looking 

after the operations of the 

Elizabeth line? 

There were two very big 

contracts that we put in 

place about three years ago. 

One was for the Operating 

Concession, as we term it. The 

day-to-day operation of the 

trains, recruitment and training 

of drivers, punctuality – we’re 

doing that in the same way 

that we have with our London 

Overground services and 

Docklands Light Railway. That’s 

a big contract that we let to 

MTR – the major train operator 

from Hong Kong. They work 

as MTR Crossrail here, and 

they have the contract that 

runs from 2015-2023 – right 

through the opening period. 

We also let a big contract for 

the building and maintenance 

of the trains and the 

maintenance depot. That was 

around £2 billion in total and 

that went to Bombardier who is 

currently building us 70 trains 

in Derby. 

Those trains are being 

delivered from now right 

through until 2019. 

They are the two most longstanding 

things we’re doing, 

but beyond that, we obviously 

need to have staff to control, 


FEATURE 

signal and maintain the 

new infrastructure. This is 

additional work. 

We have already taken 

on Service Managers and 

Traffic Managers who will 

control and signal the 

service. 

They will be in the control 

centre which will be in 

Romford. We have also got 

a large team including 36 

apprentices who will be 

maintaining the railway. 

Overall, about 200 people 

are being transferred in or 

recruited to train on the 

new assets so that we’re 

ready to maintain the 

railway when we take it over 

in readiness for opening 

next year. 

Regarding putting staff 

in place and managing 

stock, how is this being 

funded? 

When the Elizabeth line 

is running, it will make a 

surplus; the revenue will 

exceed the day-to-day costs 

of actually running the line. 

It will be a very efficient 

railway if you think about it – 

you’re busy in both directions, 

better than railways that run 

most people in one direction 

into London in the morning 

and then back out in the 

evening. 

That’s why TfL can afford 

to invest in the costs of 

construction and trains, as 

well as recruiting and training 

people to operate the railway. 

Regarding the operations 

and looking after the line 

after December 2018, what 

are your biggest challenges? 

The most difficult things are 

bringing any really complex 

pieces of new infrastructure 

together. There’s lots of 

very clever, world class 

engineering, indeed lots of 

British engineering in there. 

Bringing it all together, testing 

it and making sure every bit of 

it works – because you’re only 

as strong as your weakest link – 

that is a challenge and one that 

we are all focused on. 

The other challenge 

operationally that I’m very 

conscious of is that we operate 

alongside other operators’ 

trains on the surface sections 

of the railway. So we might be 

running alongside a freight 

train in the west but we’re 

still trying to get the train 

into the tunnel with a very 

tight precision – 30 seconds 

either way – so that it can run 

through the tunnel as part of a 

very high frequency service of 

24 trains an hour. 

You’re trying to run to a greater 

degree of precision than you 

would if you were rolling into 

Paddington, waiting 15 minutes 

and turning around and 

going back out to Reading, for 

example. 

Those are the challenges; 

bringing the infrastructure 

to life and then connecting 

everything up, railway-wise. 

In the long term, how do 

you envisage management 

of the whole transport 

network and what impact 

will the Elizabeth line have 

on this? 

The Elizabeth line will be fully 

part of TfL’s network, so people 

will use it seamlessly I’m sure; 


25

FEATURE 

as part of a journey, you’ll travel 

on the Central line to Bond 

Street. You’ll change onto the 

Elizabeth line to go to Canary 

Wharf. You might then carry 

on somewhere else on the 

Docklands Light Railway, so it’s 

part of the network. 

The most fundamental thing 

is that London’s population 

continues to grow quite 

strongly, London now has the 

highest population level we’ve 

ever had, and the numbers are 

continuing to rise, so we’ll see 

in due course 10 million people 

living in London. Therefore, 

where people transfer off 

another line – say the Central 

line – to use the Elizabeth line, 

that capacity will get filled up 

again quite quickly. 

Is there anything else that 

you’d like to mention? 

We’re in a good place with the 

project, ready to move into the 

interesting hard work in terms 

of the final stages. 

When it opens, it really does 

bring a significant step-change 

in terms of public transport. 

It’s around 10% extra capacity 

in central London and these 

are 200-metre long trains 

underground, the likes of which 

people won’t have seen before. 

There are benefits which we 

haven’t talked about that stretch 

beyond direct transport benefits. 

Obviously, building a railway 

stimulates work, development 

and jobs around it. 

The other point to emphasise 

is that this isn’t just about 

London. The work that’s being 

done on the trains for instance, 

is largely in Derby. Bombardier 

have recruited hundreds of 

staff and built a new test and 

inspection facility in Derby – 

the first they have put up for 

decades, all because they are 

building those trains. 

So a lot of the work and people 

involved in Crossrail are spread 

out around the UK. There’s 

worldwide involvement in 

Crossrail in various respects, 

but it really is a national 

project rather than just one for 

London. 


FEATURE 

TIMELINE OF THE ELIZABETH LINE OPENING 

The Elizabeth line opens 

from December 2018 and will 

be fully operational serving 

41 stations from Shenfield 

and Abbey Wood in the east 

to Reading and Heathrow 

(Terminals 2, 3, 4 and 5) from 

December 2019. 

PHASED OPENING 

MAY 2018 

TfL Rail services will run 

between Paddington and 

Heathrow (Terminals 2, 3 and 4), 

replacing the existing Heathrow 

Connect service and part of the 

Great Western inner suburban 

service. (TfL Rail will continue to 

operate its Liverpool Street to 

Shenfield route.) 

DECEMBER 2018 

The Elizabeth line opens. Three 

separate services will operate: 

• Paddington to Abbey Wood 

• Paddington to Heathrow 

(Terminals 2, 3 and 4) 

• Liverpool Street to Shenfield 

MAY 2019 

Direct services will operate 

Paddington to Shenfield and 

Paddington to Abbey Wood. 

Services from Paddington to 

Heathrow will continue to start 

and terminate in the National 

Rail station. 

DECEMBER 2019 

The Elizabeth line will fully 

open, with services running 

from Reading and Heathrow 

(Terminals 2, 3, 4 and 5) in 

the west through the central 

tunnels to Shenfield and Abbey 

Wood in the east. 


27

ADVERTORIAL 

SILTBUSTER, the UK’s leading 

water treatment specialist, 

works with most of the UK’s 

largest construction and civil 

engineering companies and its 

equipment has been used on 

many of the large construction 

and transport infrastructure 

projects undertaken in the UK 

over the last ten years. 

Involved in both major road 

and rail projects, Siltbuster has 

helped tackle the contaminated 

water produced by the 

construction of Crossrail, the 

reconstruction of New Street 

Station in Birmingham and 

the new Manchester Airport 

Relief Road to name just a 

few. Outside the transport 

sector, its systems have been 

used on projects ranging 

from the construction of new 

petrochemical/gas terminals 

in Pembroke and the Corrib 

Gas pipeline works, to the new 

Metro in Qatar being built 

as part of 2022 World Cup 

preparations. In fact, you could 

say that Siltbuster has become 

the construction industry’s 

fourth emergency service. 

Here they tell us about just 

some of the ways in which 

the company has come to the 

rescue. 

We have the largest hire 

fleet in the UK with over four 

hundred treatment units 

which can be deployed at a 

moment’s notice. This rapid 

response capability ensures 

the construction industry 

has a genuine ‘emergency 

service’ to call on when it has 

a problem with contaminated 

water, be that surface water 

run-off with suspended solids 

through to groundwater with 

hydrocarbons. 

Below are just a few of 

examples of projects we 

have been involved in: 

A DUAL CARRIAGEWAY 

IN SCOTLAND 

We were called in to help 

out on the construction of 

the new Aberdeen Western 

Peripheral Route / Balmedie- 

Tipperty (AWPR/B-T) project in 

Scotland. Comprising 58km of 

dual carriageway, this is one of 

the longest road construction 

projects currently underway 


ADVERTORIAL 

in the UK. Periods of heavy 

rain had created significant 

amounts of runoff containing 

large amounts of slow settling 

solids. 

Aberdeen Roads Limited 

wanted to ensure that this 

contaminated runoff was treated 

to a sufficiently high standard 

to enable its release back into 

local watercourses – so we 

brought in our portable lamella 

clarifiers combined with a flow 

proportional chemical dosing 

system. Having initially deployed 

one system on the site, this was 

quickly extended to sixteen of 

the bespoke treatment systems 

(consisting of pipe flocculators, 

mix tanks, PMPU systems and 

lamella clarifiers) enabling 

flows of up to 150m 3 /hr to be 

treated. Because of the length 

of the project, each system was 

specifically configured to suit the 

varying geology along the site. 

Specialist water treatments 

were used, which allowed us 

to improve the particle settling 

rate and remove the treated 

particles via gravity separation 

techniques. To date, we have 

treated over one million cubic 

metres of water on the site. 

A RELIEF ROAD IN THE 

NORTH-WEST OF ENGLAND 

In the case of the 10km 

Manchester Airport Relief 

Road, where soil stripping has 

exposed areas of clay, periods 

of heavy rain again resulted in 

run-off collecting slow settling 

solids. Within a week of being 

contacted by Morgan Sindall, 

the main contractor for the 

project, we had installed the 

first of ten portable lamella 

clarifiers at the site, treating 

up to 200 cubic metres of the 

contaminated water per hour. 

The clarifiers used a chemical 

dosing system to coagulate 

the solids, making them large 

enough to be separated and 

removed leaving the water 

clean enough to meet the 

Environment Agency’s strict 

discharge standards. Bringing 

further environmental benefit 

to the project, the resulting 

sludge was moved to storage 

lagoons where it was left to dry 

out before being used in the 

restoration and landscaping of 

the site. 

THE REDEVELOPMENT OF A 

LONDON MAINLINE STATION 

As well as being able to react 

quickly, we also react cleverly. 

The vast amounts of waste 

collected by the sweepers 

during the redevelopment of 

Kings Cross, consisted of a 

significant proportion of water 

along with smaller amounts 

of silts, clay, litter, grit and 

vegetation. If this water could 

be separated out and treated, 

the volume of waste for 

disposal would be reduced by 

up to 90%. So Alandale turned 

to Siltbuster, who provided an 

onsite system to dewater the 

waste, its RORO sweeper Waste 

Dewatering System. For over 

two years, the system was used 

very effectively to minimise the 

material handling and disposal 

costs and enabled Alandale 

Logistics to reduce the number 

of site sweepers they were 

operating by half, whilst 

still maintaining the highest 

environmental standards. 

A LONDON UNDERGROUND 

LINE EXTENSION 

Innovation is key to our 

success and gives us the ability 

to create bespoke systems to 

meet the specific needs of each 

project we’re involved with. 

Our newest water treatment 

unit, the iHB20R, was 

developed for use on the 

Northern Line extension and 

is being used by FLO (the joint 

venture between Ferrovial 

Agroman and Laing O’Rourke) 

at two separate sites. The 

units are being used to remove 

solids from, and adjust the 

pH levels of, water generated 

during the tunnelling and 

groundworks, ensuring it meets 

Thames Water’s discharge 

consent before it is released. 

The Northern Line Extension 

involves two shafts in 

Kennington, 3.2km of tunnels 

and two new underground 

stations at Nine Elms and 

Battersea. To build these, 

high volumes of concrete 

are needed. Furthermore, 

groundwater runs high in 

London and the cementitious 

water created during the 

construction work contains 

large amounts of solids and 

has a very high pH of 12 – 13. 

This is equivalent to the pH of 

oven cleaner, making it so toxic 

that the water cannot be safely 

discharged without treatment. 


29

ADVERTORIAL 

We created the iHB20R 

specifically for this dual task 

– to perform both the solids 

removal and pH adjustment 

in one, single integrated unit. 

Easy to operate, it works at 

high and low flow rates and is 

capable of handling 20m 3 of 

water per hour. 

Another reason why FLO chose 

our system is because the 

pH adjustment is done using 

carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) on a fully 

automated basis. Using CO 2 

to adjust pH offers several 

advantages over rival systems 

which use citric acid. CO 2 is 

cheaper to use and it is more 

controllable so there is no risk 

of over-dosing and creating 

acidic water. Furthermore, 

CO 2 is safer for workers to 

handle than an acid and with 

our system, no manual dosing 

is required. Lastly, there are 

no disposal considerations 

with CO 2 whereas with citric 

and mineral acids, any unused 

acid must be disposed of as 

hazardous waste which is 

costly. 

ROAD WIDENING IN WALES 

Environmental protection is 

at the heart of everything we 

do so when we were called in 

to help on a major highways 

construction project in Wales, 

we knew our systems would do 

the job. 

The Heads of the Valleys 

project is a large scale 

programme of road 

improvement involving the 

dualling of the A465 in South 

Wales. Due to the geographical 

and geological constraints of 

the area, the job is a complex 

one involving a narrow working 

area and the excavation of 

over a million cubic metres of 

earthworks. 

This inevitably created a 

significant amount of mud 

with a very high risk of it being 

washed into local watercourses 

which could cause pollution, 

harming aquatic life. Following 

extensive research to identify 

the best solution, we provided 

three systems that used a twostage 

chemical dosing process 

to isolate the solids in up to 

180m 3 per hour of water. The 

treated water was then passed 

through lamella clarifiers to 

collect the solids and clean the 

water, enabling it to flow safely 

back into the watercourses. 

PREVENTION HOWEVER IS 

BETTER THAN CURE… 

That’s why we established 

our nationwide series of CPD 

training courses focused 

on helping site personnel, 

managers and environmental 

advisors, minimise and manage 

pollution on construction 

sites. The courses led by our 

CPD-accredited Principal 

Environmental Scientist, 

provide practical guidance on 

how to plan works to minimise 

water contamination, and how 

to implement appropriate 

treatment solutions, engaging 

with both decision makers and 

site workers. To keep abreast 

of UK environmental legislation 

is a must particularly with the 

new sentencing guidelines in 

place and in the context of 

recent record fines. To date 

over 2,500 people have been 

trained on this programme 

with many of the large civils 

contractors inviting Siltbuster 

to run bespoke courses for 

their teams. For more details 

and to book a one or two-day 

CPD course please visit our 

website. 

GET IN TOUCH 

As these examples 

demonstrate, our modular 

systems are responsive and 

effective and can be adapted 

to meet the unique needs 

of individual projects. The 

extensive range of systems 

from mobile clarifiers, chemical 

dosing and filter presses to 

systems dealing with concrete 

wash water, are supported by 

our in-house laboratory, PhD 

level expertise and our site 

support engineers, ensuring 

we provide a technical solution 

and not just a product. We also 

regularly work with customers 

to design and build bespoke 

solutions where needed and 

this year we’ve been awarded 

the Queen’s Award for 

Innovation. 

For further information about 

Siltbuster, please visit www. 

siltbuster.com, call 01600 

772256 or email enquire@ 

siltbuster.com. 


On-site Water Treatment for Construction 

At Siltbuster we pride ourselves on providing a technical solution and not just a product. We offer 

full support at all stages of a project via our process engineers and regional representatives. 

Our rapidly deployable solutions include: 

• Silt / Solids Removal 

• Concrete Washwater 

• pH Correction 

• Chemical Dosing 

• Material Recovery 

• Hydrodemolition Blastwater Treatment 

• Filter Presses & Geotextile Dewatering Bags 

• Hydrocyclones 

• Dissolved Metals Removal 

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FEATURE 

OVER the last few months, we 

have seen Highways England’s 

commitment to improving the 

road network and delivering 

safer, more efficient roads and 

motorways. 

In July, the government 

unveiled a significant £6.1 

billion road improvement 

programme, as part of a wider 

£23 billion spend to upgrade 

the road network in England. 

Since this time, Highways 

England has unveiled its 

Delivery Plan for 2017 to 2018. 

It is a closer look at the wider 

Highways England Delivery Plan 

2015 to 2020 which set out 

in some detail how strategic 

outcomes would be delivered. 

Published last month, the 

document looks at how 

Highways England can meet 

its priorities to ensure our 

roads are safer, delivering the 

government’s Road Investment 

Strategy in the process. 

Complementing the original 

Delivery Plan, this latest 

release looks at the activities 

between 2017 and 2018 and 

how plans for the rest of the 

aforementioned five-year 

strategy can be brought to 

fruition. 

The Highways England 

Delivery Plan 2017-2018 

understandably prioritises 

undertaking work in an efficient 

and effective way, which 

provides value for money, as 

well as improving the road 

network to minimise delays, 

while also providing customers 

with the best possible 

experience. 

Jim O’Sullivan, Highways 

England Chief Executive, told 

Business Britain of the reasons 

for this work and what it aims 

to achieve. 

“We care about our road users’ 

journeys and are working 

hard to improve them, making 

good progress delivering the 

government’s £15 billion Road 

Investment Strategy. 

“Also, we recognise the impact 

doing all this work has on road 

users while it is happening 

and so we have taken steps 

like shortening roadworks 

and providing better journey 

information to improve their 

experience. 

“And we will reinforce our focus 

on safety, customer service 

and delivery as we press 

ahead shaping the next Road 


FEATURE 

Investment Strategy 2020- 

2025.” 

A FOCUS ON SAFETY 

There is so much to focus on 

if the road strategy is to be 

successful, but it is clear that 

Highways England’s number 

one priority is the safety and 

welfare of road users and the 

workforce. 

Mr O’Sullivan sets this out in 

the his foreword to the Delivery 

Plan: “Our commitment to 

reducing the number of people 

who are harmed on our 

roads continues to underpin 

everything we do. 

“We are working closely with 

our customers, suppliers and 

stakeholders to promote safer 

driving and working practices. 

“This includes exploring ways 

to use new technology to drive 

safety improvements, as well 

as implementing targeted 

communication, awareness 

and enforcement campaigns to 

improve road user behaviour 

and reduce the risk of 

accidents.” 

In the document, there’s a 

greater in-depth look at what 

Highways England are doing to 

ensure the end result is a safe 

and serviceable network. 

Highways England say that its 

road network is the world’s 

safest. However, despite 

this, safety remains the main 

priority, with a set aim of 

reducing the number of people 

killed or seriously injured (KSI) 

on the strategic road network 

by 40% in the next three years. 

This will be done, they say, 

by continuing “to develop 

innovative programmes to 

improve road user behaviour 

and will look for new ways to 

make our own people safer 

when they work on the roads.” 

Although it isn’t seen as 

the same level of priority, 

improving roads through 

resurfacing and renewal is 

important in the delivery of 

safe roads; by keeping the 

conditions at a high level, 

it undoubtedly makes the 

roads safer to travel on, 

thereby decreasing the risk of 

accidents. 

To these ends, key 

performance indicators (KPIs) 

are in place to make the road 

network safer, one of which is 

to keep the network in good 

condition. 


33

FEATURE 

For this to happen, there is 

a target in place regarding 

the percentage of pavement/ 

road surface asset that 

does not require further 

investigation for possible 

maintenance. Highways 

England are committed to 

keeping this at 95%, and a 

number of indicators are being 

put in place to measure this 

performance. 

Highways England has 

admitted the need for further 

improvements because, 

although there were fewer 

overall collisions and casualties 

last year, the number of 

seriously injured casualties has 

actually increased. 

This is partly because of a 

new method of recording the 

injury which uses a system to 

classify accidents, rather than 

just relying on police officer 

judgement. 

But, it has resulted in 

collaboration from the 

Department for Transport 

(DfT), Office of Rail and Road 

(ORR) and Highways England 

to improve the understanding 

of how this has changed and 

how accidents can be recorded 

in a way that provides more 

accurate and consistent data. 

More is expected to be 

published on this before the 

end of the year. 

Highways England is 

implementing a number of 

measures on roads to meet 

the aim at the end of 2020 of 

ensuring more than 90% of 

travel on England’s strategic 

road network is on lanes that hit 

a safety rating of EuroRAP 3* 

This will target sections of the 

network by upgrading both 

junctions, lay-bys and central 

barriers, with better visibility of 

road markings provided. 

The organisation is at the 

forefront of forward thinking 

through the use of Vulnerable 

User Insight Studies, which 

will compile reports that 

lead to better understanding 

on the demographic of 

vulnerable road users involved 

in accidents, thereby giving 

Highways England the tools 

to target safety interventions 

more effectively. 

Surveys, analysis and reports 

have formed the basis of 

Highways England’s knowledge 

about motorcyclists and the 

safety measures to implement 

in order to minimise the risk of 

accidents; this includes working 

alongside initiatives that look to 

also improve the awareness of 

motorcyclists. 

IMPLEMENTING THE 

CORRECT CULTURE 

If the number one priority is 

to ensure the health of safety 

of everyone working on the 

network, it stands to reason 

that a culture of safety is the 

most important element; it’s 

one that Highways England has 

tried to foster throughout its 

Delivery Plan. 

From the organisation to the 

supply chain, safety leadership 

and behavioural safety 

programmes are provided to 

help implement a health and 

safety management system to 

improve management of risk. 


FEATURE 

It is hoped that by the end of 

the year, a structured plan 

and toolkits will be in place to 

address issues associated with 

health, safety and wellbeing, 

supported by material to assist 

with risk management. 

The thorough approach will 

see this audited to make sure 

that everything element of 

safety risk is being considered 

throughout any project. 

Another initiative that is 

being implemented is one of 

zero crossing which protects 

workforce by eliminating the 

need for workers to cross any 

carriageway through the use 

of vehicle mounted signage, 

communication technology 

and maintenance vehicles for 

gantries. 

All of this will be supplemented 

by a series of campaigns 

including TV and radio 

advertising that targets 

engagement and collaboration 

to target risks from what is 

known as the ‘fatal 4’: 

• Inappropriate speed. 

• Distraction such as mobile 

phone use. 

• Alcohol and drug driving. 

• Not wearing a seatbelt. 

But TV and radio campaigns 

can only do so much; 

Highways England know this 

and physically got out and 

about to spread the message 

throughout the summer with 

a number of regional launch 

events to key stakeholders that 

delivered outreach events to 

local businesses all over the 

country to educate them about 

awareness to improve safety 

on the roads. 

TECHNOLOGY 

Technology has been a staple 

part of Highways England’s 

push for an improved 

motorway network. 

However, this also makes it 

safer too. Smart motorways 

are becoming more prevalent 

throughout the country. As 

of the start of this year, more 

than half a billion journeys have 

benefited thanks to the M25, 

M6 and M1 smart motorways. 

Crucially, data has shown that 

collision rates have decreased. 

Added to this, Highways 

England has also completed 

a review of smart motorways 

thanks to concerns voiced by 

stakeholders and this will bring 

about the delivery of customerfocused 

improvements on 

these motorways. 

What Highways England is 

certain about is that it will never 

stand still; the plans in place 

are thorough and meticulous 

but the organisation has set 

out an Asset Information 

Improvement Plan in order 

improve the data on record and 

provide a more comprehensive 

data information system, which 

will in turn improve asset 

management capability. 

Surveys will be reduced and as 

a result, the safety of workers 

will be increased as they won’t 

be needed on site. 

The plan will be refined on 

an ongoing basis, changing 

in order to make the road 

network even more efficient for 

motorists and workers. 


37

WITH continuous growth, 

consistent development of 

services and a dedication 

to provide clients with the 

most up to date technology 

accompanied by a superior 

level of customer service- it 

is no wonder TSO Labour 

Ltd is one of the leading 

labour supplier to the traffic 

management industry. 

The renowned company 

operates to ensure effective 

labour is supplied to the 

industry, overseeing the 

fluctuations of major traffic 

management companies 

on a national basis. Since 

its inception, TSO’s client 

base has grown due to a 

foundation of reliable service 

and highly experienced 

operatives of all grades. Now, 

they are considered to be one 

of the most recognized traffic 

management recruitment 

companies in the industry. 

“The past year has been 

extremely busy for us,” 

explained Tony. “We have 

developed the TOAST system 

to include new features 

based on the feedback of our 

clients as well as improving 

the automation of the system 

to further stream line our 

performance. 

“After the predicted slow 

start to the financial year, the 

company has continued to 

grow. The slow start to the 

year has enabled us to use the 

time to develop our workforce 

skill levels to better serve our 

clients, allowing us to bring 

new blood into the industry.” 

TSO Labour Ltd has the 

proficiency to provide 

operatives across the UK 

(from Southampton to 

Newcastle), all of whom 

are highly experienced in 

their grades, whether Traffic 

Safety and Control Officers 

or LANTRA qualified one day 

operatives. Its widely trusted 

reputation has helped the firm 

to build up an ever-growing 

customer base comprising 

some of the biggest names in 

the traffic management sector. 

For the past few years the 

team have been developing 

TOAST (Traffic Operative and 

Shift Tracking), an advanced 

piece of software acting as a 

super-effective online database 

system managing bookings 

and holding qualifications. The 

bespoke technology incorporates 

a live feed to all clients, augments 

the organisation of administration 

paperwork and streamlines 

the overall process by keeping 

everything in one convenient 

place. 

Tracking shifts is made possible 

with TOAST, logging individual 

hours and managing time at 

a live speed in a clear and 

readable format. Its new 

“Flag” feature ensures that any 

subcontractors not meeting 

the expected standards (poor 

attendance, low performance, 

no valid drug and alcohol pass 

certificates being the main 

indicators) are removed from the 

search engines, which will in turn 

leave space only for the most 

reliable and credible candidates. 

In addition, the corresponding 

app allows operatives to monitor 

the flow of data more easily (and 

in seconds rather than hours). 

Having experienced a superb 

year so far, TSO remain 

extremely optimistic about what 

the future holds.

BUSINESS BRITAIN MEDIA 

A 3 Hardman Square, Second Floor, Spinningfields, Manchester M3 3EB 

T 0161 4570490 

E enquiries@businessbritainmedia.co.uk 

w www.businessbritainmedia.co.uk

Transport Britain-Issue 1

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