DDRF ANNUAL CONFERENCE
far behind the oil and gas sector – in other ways a comparable industry – when it comes to workforce safety, which has flatlined recently after big advances in Network Rail’s early years.
He said the company’s vision is that no-one ever feels forced to make a choice between doing a job safely and doing it on time, and the ‘obligation’ (not right) to intervene if someone thinks something potentially unsafe is happening.
He said Network Rail managed to close more level crossings than it expected during CP4, adding: “The only safe level crossing is a closed level crossing.”
“It makes the West Coast Main Line look like a relatively straigh forward line upgrade.”
He revealed that he keeps a photo in his office of 14-year-old Olivia Bazlinton, who died in 2005 at Elsenham level crossing in Essex, as a constant reminder of the human consequences of safety failures.
Talking about some of the individual projects for Control Period 5, he said that Great Western electrification “is the biggest and most complex thing we’ve done…it makes the West Coast Main Line look like a relatively straightforward line upgrade”.
Timetables will also need completely re-doing, he added, particularly Southern. The current timetables “don’t work” he said, and are impossible to fulfil.
Freight – rising to the challenge
Maggie Simpson of the Rail Freight Group described the trends in freight movements – movements of coal are up more than 9%, as are construction-related goods (more than 12%) and Network Rail’s own materials (almost 6%), while intermodal freight dropped slightly year- on-year by about 2% for a variety of reasons.
Delays caused by Network Rail have been above the benchmark for almost all of CP4, she added, which isn’t good enough, and she said the freight industry will rise to the challenge set by the HS2 Growth Taskforce of explaining
how it will make best use of the classic network capacity freed up by HS2.
There are five key CP5 projects in England and Wales that will help rail freight’s growth, she said: Felixstowe to Nuneaton phase two; Southampton to WCML capacity; GWML gauge enhancement; Northern ports and Trans-Pennine freight capability; and West Anglia gauge clearance.
She warned that while rail investment is up, road investment is about to jump too, to £3bn on major roads per year by 2020.
Business opportunities from electrification
Paul Paddick discussed Carillion’s work and the challenges of Midland Main Line (MML) electrification, which it is delivering as part of the Carillion Powerlines venture under the National Electrification Programme (more on page 166).
There are about 120 route miles (195km) to electrify, but 621 single track kilometres, with 24 distribution sites and four new grid points. The work is being delivered section by section: Borehamwood to Bedford; Bedford to Kettering North; Kettering North to Corby (by 2017); Kettering to Leicester; Leicester to Nottingham (by 2019); Trent South to Derby (by 2019); Derby to Chesterfield; and finally Chesterfield to Sheffield.
The expertise and products of SMEs will be much in demand he said, since the tier 1 and 2 contractors are going to need foundations (steel and concrete), small steel components and bracketry, conductor wire and HV cabling, electrical and telecoms support, fabricated main support steel, insulators and isolators, signage, and small-scale civils work.
Success story
Martin Griffiths gave a more light-hearted speech, in which he noted that the Network Rail alliance with Stagecoach’s South West Trains franchise had achieved some real successes,
But it also looks to the future and the coming decades, with McLoughlin noting that Bombardier’s success in winning the Crossrail rolling stock procurement contract “in open competition” will benefit the city and the railway supply chain within it for years to come.
After the event, Colin Walton, DDRF chair, told RTM: “We thank the Secretary of State, Clare Moriarty and other leaders of our industry for taking the time to come to Derby to celebrate our future. As the world’s largest cluster of rail businesses we have much to contribute to tomorrow’s railway, both at home and abroad – a contribution that was acknowledged by speakers from DfT, Network Rail, the Rail Delivery Group, Rail Freight Group and private sector operators.
“The DDRF rail supply chain is up for the challenge – our message is: We are open for business – how can we do business with you?”
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though had failures and things to learn from too. He said the industry had to be confident and sell itself as a success story, which it truly has been over the last 20 years. He picked that time period – it has been two decades since privatisation – deliberately, praising the achievements of private train operators, saying the unions’ constant talk of vast profits and under-investment were “myths”. He added: “Those who seek change purely for ideological reasons need to be careful what they wish for.”
The RDG’s Michael Roberts also praised the private side of the industry, and the new trend for alliancing. He explained the RDG’s role and formation, and recent changes to strengthen its executive functions, as well as its poster campaign to boost the status of UK rail.
The speakers all praised Derby’s status as a railway hub, and many attendees wore ‘Derby 175’ badges, marking the campaign and year of events being held to celebrate Derby’s 175 years as a railway city.
© All photos Paul Bigland
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