CU2105

TECHNOLOGYfocus
FINDING THE RESOURCES
There are two major considerations that
need to be taking place in this huge and
long-lasting project. The first is an
increased demand for a trained and
talented workforce - bearing in mind the
competition for resources from HS2 and
the Transpennine route upgrade.
Consequently, Tim said, we have to
energise the recruitment and training of
engineers in the local colleges and
universities, and to liaise with contractors
and consultants to ascertain their
preferences for new talent. Most of us in
the industry are middle-aged or older, and
it is the younger generation who will be
taking this forward.
The other issue is the adoption of the
latest technologies to enable the projects
to be run efficiently, meet demanding
environmental targets, and overcome the
endemic under-investment in the region. At
the forefront of the technological
enhancements will be the recourse to
digital twin technology, which will enable
simulations to be made and decisions
made in a virtual environment before they
are implemented on the ground.
The need to improve efficiencies within
the project were highlighted by Antony
Oliver, fielding a question from one of the
TwinTalks audience - Roger Ford of
Modern Railways - who was concerned at
the replication of bureaucratic overheads
impacting costs on the Transpennine
Route Upgrade (TRU), and the need to set
up an environment that would not create
the same failings as in the TRU. Another
question was asked about the impact of
COVID-19 on our working practices,
undermining some of the assumptions
made prior to the report's development.
Tim responded by stating that the North
was disproportionately impacted by the
pandemic, partly because the economy
and industry in the region didn't allow
large parts of the population the
opportunity to work from home, but he
explained that HS2, TRU, and NPR are
long-term programmes, and we would
eventually be getting back to the sort of
growth (194%) in rail patronage that we
saw in the last 20 years.
NPR will use lean principles and be a
challenging client dedicated to delivering
value for the taxpayer and maintaining tight
deadlines, which so far on the programme
have been achieved in full. NPR will
provide increased capacity in the form of a
Turn up and Go Metro System with 6 trains
an hour in each direction between key city
regions like Manchester to Leeds via
Central Bradford, or Liverpool to
Manchester via Central Warrington and a
new Airport station at MIA, this coupled
with journey times slashed.
NPR will build more stations that reflect
the way people's working habits are
changing: i.e. to use them as business
meeting places, rather than as just a
thoroughfare, and to ensure that they are
integrated with local transport facilities,
such as trams and buses.
THE USE OF DIGITAL TWINS
Northern Powerhouse Rail is, according to
Tim, the most complex rail scheme he has
seen, with a complete upgrade of a
network laid down by the Victorians, and
which involves new lines and significant
upgrades, decarbonisation of the network
by electrification of the technology, and the
digging of numerous tunnels through the
Pennines, having first of all surveyed the
terrain they will go through. It also needs to
allow HS2 trains to run on NPR lines.
That means a huge amount of data is
being amassed from every technology
involved. Tim worked with Mark Coates of
Bentley Systems on a Major Project
Association paper, which looked at the
power of digital twin technology and its use
in data predictive analysis. It has now
become an important feature of the
project, enabling huge efficiencies to be
made by simulating sections of the
network and to provide a working and
sustainable virtual environment to support
the strategic plans.
A fascinating insight into the extent of the
technology being used, and its
possibilities, has been provided by
Tim Wood - Northern Powerhouse Rail Director
Professor Peter Woodward at Leeds
University, who has used some of the data
to analyse the terrain's geology and
undulations in order to create a simulated
train line on the track which responds to
curves on the line at different speeds. It
allows users to get a feel for what it will be
like travelling on NPR (and perhaps
forestall the initial negative reactions that
Pendolino passengers raised).
NET-ZERO MITIGATION
The drive towards a net-zero economy is a
large feature of the project. The aim to
reduce operational carbon emissions from
the transport network has resulted in a total
shift away from fossil fuel burning diesel
transport to electrified systems, and the rail
electrification program is a large part of
this. NPR will put more trains into the
network and reduce reliance on diesel
trains. Set against this, as mentioned in
NPR's Options Appraisal, is a
corresponding reduction in carbon reliant
road transport - and the more road
transport is decarbonised, the lower the
carbon benefits of NPR become. The
project is reliant on the decongestion of
the alternative routes as a motivating or
validating factor.
Like HS2, the pros and cons will continue
to be debated, but we have to remember
we are aiming to develop a viable transport
strategy for the region that will last as long
as the legacy Victorian one has.
www.bentley.com
May/June 2021 13