Upcoming major online event as five institutions and the Railway Industry Association join together to present a vision of “High Performing Flexible Railway Systems for the Future”
Watch 21 pre-recorded presentations from international industry experts in advance of two live 90-minute seminar sessions, each including an interactive Q & A with speakers.
Batch 1 content available to watch on demand from 23 September with live Q & A webinar session on 13 October
Batch 2 content available to watch on demand from 14 October with live Q & A webinar 3 November
Overview
The need to provide high performance railway systems has never been greater. While the outlook for the rail sector is bright, it faces many real threats in the post COVID era. This autumn, five major institutions (IRSE, IET, IMechE, PWI and IRO) and the Railway Industry Association (RIA) bring together expert speakers from across engineering and operational disciplines to present a vision of “High Performing Flexible Railway Systems for the Future” The seminar will cover factors spanning the operational and engineering disciplines, focusing on how they contribute to increasing capacity, reliability, flexibility and resilience, while delivering the high quality of service that customers demand.
Tickets are £80 for members of partner institutions (with a member’s discount code supplied by your institution) or £120 for non-members. VAT of 20% is applied to all purchases (£96 / £144 total billed at checkout) For booking and full programme details see https://www.highperformingrailways.com/
Programme
Batch 1 content: Systems Capacity and Operations
Keynote – System Capacity: Dyan Crowther (HS1) & Prof Felix Schmid (Manchester Railway Consultancy)
Dyan and Felix jointly explore how HS1 successfully operates an international high-speed service and a commuter service while also accommodating a freight service. They discuss optimising system reliability, the challenge of decarbonisation and opportunities for future productivity gains.
Using Systems Engineering to Deliver High Performing Flexible Transportation Systems: Anne O’Neil (Anne O’Neil Consultants) and Bruce Elliott (Capgemini Engineering)
Anne and Bruce will draw on their international knowledge of current railway systems engineering practice and identify trends, including a move towards procuring outcomes rather than assets. They will illustrate their findings with real-life case studies and propose lessons to be learned.
Every Second Counts: Charles Horsey (Transport for London)
In the mid-1990s the Victoria Line set a vision and stretch target for a 40tph service. Fast-forward to 2017 and the line successfully achieves 36tph on daily basis. Charles investigates how the vision was turned to reality and why a whole system approach is required to consistently deliver this level of high performance.
Track train interface influence on brake rates and hence capacity: Dr Daniel Woodland (Ricardo Rail and Past President IRSE)
Daniel investigates train braking and the wheel/rail interface from the perspective of a signalling and control systems engineering. He explores the limitations of train braking; techniques to reliably enable higher braking rates; and how brake rates impact on capacity. Daniel demonstrates it will require a truly multi-disciplinary approach to safely utilise the techniques and achieve optimal capacity.
Flexible Power for Future Systems: Dr Dela Sharifi (Atkins)
Electrification is key to achieving a sustainable railway, however, current systems have remained unchanged for decades. Dela investigates how Static Frequency Converters (SFCs) could be used to provide a more a highly interconnected electrification solution that could provide greater control, increased operational flexibility and system robustness.
Optimised sander configurations to unlock network capacity in low adhesion: Liam Purcell (Ricardo Rail) and Andrew Lightoller (DB ESG)
Andrew and Liam provide an overview of the problem associated with low adhesion rail head conditions and how sand can be used to improve braking performance. They set out the benefits of the different sanding configurations and suggest an optimum sander configuration for the future which will help to unlock network capacity improvements.
Predicting and managing performance: Steven Brown (Rail Aspects Limited)
For all railways poor operational performance costs money. Steve explores how we can use simulation and modelling to forecast performance, often models will have flaws, but Steve examines how even a wrong model can be useful. He will also cover the subject of planning resources for performance, including some examples of how not to do it.
The role of reliability engineering in the achievement of high performing railways: Nigel Best (Network Rail)
Nigel provides an over of the tools and process adopted by Network Rail to improve asset reliability and performance. He looks at the role Reliability Engineering has in delivering high performance and identifies common themes from recent examples across the different rail modes.
13 October 2021 Live Q&A session with batch 1 speakers 09:00 to 10:30am (UTC+1)
Batch 2 content: Reliability & Tools
Keynote – Technology & Processes to enhance railway reliability: Oliver Bratton (Network Rail)
Oliver Bratton looks at the journey the railways in Great Britain need to take to move from a base of high variability in delivery to one where consistency is the norm. He will explore the challenge of deploying new technology in ‘brown field environments.
Securing worker safety within high performing future railways: Nick Millington (Network Rail)
Nick will talk about harnessing the use of data, intelligence, improved awareness, safety equipment, technology and ‘whole industry will’ to reduce the risk of track workers being struck by trains (or being involved in near misses).
How well can data transform infrastructure asset maintenance?:Jeremy Allen (Cognizant)
Jeremy examines the growing relevance of a data driven approach to maintenance; the challenges faced by organisations wanting to change their asset maintenance approach; the business impact of these challenges — and key imperatives for organisations looking to transition towards a predictive asset maintenance strategy.
Can user friendly point monitoring be developed and successfully integrated to play its part in high performing railways?: Anna Cornish (voestalpine signaling)
Does the traditional method of monitoring current draw of electric point machines go far enough? Do we need to look at the wider aspects of the points system for information and guidance? Anna explores some of the many point monitoring methods, based on her experience in TfL and Voestalpine Signalling, to support high performing railways.
Water is the civil engineer’s greatest enemy- we can’t always prevent flooding so what can we do?: John Dora (John Dora Consulting)
Events in Scotland last summer and in Germany this July show the power of water and how we cannot always prevent catastrophic impacts. John investigates water hazards, their impacts and what we can do about them. Specifically addressing how advancement in forecasting technology can assist in mitigating risks associated with weather and climate change.
The system as designed is not the same thing as the real system: How do you notice it, when does it matter, how do you respond?: Alexandra McGrath (VicTrack)
Alex uses case studies and tools from the resilience toolkit to give attendees a new perspective on this divergence, allowing attendees to see it quicker, evaluate the likely problems, and consider what to do next.
Decarbonisation: Dr Rossa O’Donovan (Network Rail) and David Clarke (Rail Industry Association)
Rossa and David will explore decarbonisation, delving into the entire spectrum not just Traction Decarbonisation but also the challenge of decarbonising the maintenance, renewal and construction of railway.
Topics will include, low and zero carbon rolling stock options, the challenges of low carbon design, materials and construction method for railway infrastructure.
3 November 2021 Live Q & A Session with batch 2 speakers 09:00 to 10:30am (UTC)
