iRAIL 2014
themed around ‘encouraging young people into rail engineering’, and it ended with the ‘Distinguished Lecture’, this year given by Network Rail chairman Richard Parry-Jones (see page 51).
Derby 175 – the past and the future
Rail companies and organisations from around Derby and the wider industry exhibited on the day, interacting with the students and ‘donating’ staff to help out as mentors to the teams, who were split into two strands, one looking at the railway infrastructure and one at rolling stock.
The event was designed to fit in with Derby 175, this year’s celebrations of 175 years since the railway industry came to Derby, by looking back at what’s come before and the innovations that made today’s railways possible, but also looking to the future.
iRail chairman Dave Saunders, speaking after the schoolchildren’s visits to Bombardier and the control centre, said: “They’ve now seen signalling in 2014, and how a vehicle gets made in 2014, but we’ve also gone back to when it all first started – showing them how signalling used to be, for example, using men with flags stood on the platform. We’re showing them how it’s all developed through the years.”
Bright ideas The pupils’ solutions to the railway challenges
were occasionally outlandish, but often showed real inspiration and invention – and a big focus on computerisation and driverless technology. Ideas included multi-storey track
designs,
satellite-controlled trains, anti-bacterial seats, on-board seatbelts, talking ‘smart’
obstacle detection lasers, and much more. By the end of the day, many of the students had railway terminology tripping off their tongues – from GSM-R and ERTMS to carbon fibre composite bodyshells and smart ticketing.
The winners of the two strands for the schools category were West Park
trains,
Trust (UKRITT), and you can find out much more about it at
www.ukritt.com
‘A real eye-opener’
West Park School was judged the overall winner on the day. Science teacher Philip Mutch told RTM: “It’s been a fantastic day – it’s really been an eye-opener for the school and for the pupils, to see what goes on in railway engineering. It helps them work on their problem-solving, and they’ve really benefitted from it. It’s lovely that all these people give up their time to promote their work to the engineers of tomorrow.”
School
and Bemrose School, both of whom will go forward to the Gen Y Rail national final at Network Rail’s Westwood facility at Coventry.
Gen Y Rail is run by RTM’s charity, the UK Rail Industry Training
The pupils RTM talked to were no less enthusiastic, including 13-year-old Tom Cripps, who said he couldn’t believe the opportunities on offer in rail. He said: “It was a brilliant day, and really showed just how much stuff there is going on in the rail industry. There’s more than just driving trains, getting on and off. It showed us what happens on the inside of the industry.”
His teammates Harriet Brown (14), Elliott Wilson (14) and Ellie Fooks (14) said the visits Continued overleaf >
rail technology magazine Apr/May 14 | 47
All photos © DB7 Photography
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