TRACK TECHNOLOGY & RAIL LIVE
Track renewals contracts announced as high output renewals taken in-house
Major changes were announced in May to track renewals – plain line, S&C, and high output. Adam Hewitt reports. N
etwork Rail has named the companies to deliver its plain line track works and S&C
renewals over the next fi ve years – contracts worth hundreds of millions of pounds.
Babcock, Carillion and Colas have won work across seven geographic lots to deliver conventional plain line track works worth about £375m over CP5:
• Babcock: Western, Wales and Wessex / Scotland / LNW South – £200m over fi ve years
• Carillion: LNW North / LNE and East Midlands – £100m over fi ve years
• Colas: Kent and Sussex / Anglia – £75m over fi ve years
Switches and crossings (S&C) renewals will be delivered using an ‘alliance’
approach,
combining the skills of designer, installer and Network Rail. Tenderers bid as pre-formed alliances with two – Amey Sersa and Colas URS – each winning work on one of two larger alliance areas worth up to £400m over the next ten years.
• Amey Sersa: North alliance (Scotland / LNE
and EM / LNW North) – up to £400m over ten years
• Colas URS: South alliance (Anglia / Kent and Sussex / Western, Wales and Wessex / LNW South) – up to £400m over ten years
Both contracts will be phased in from late summer 2014, Network Rail says.
The contracts will be able to cover both renewals and enhancements, rather than just renewals.
Network Rail is working with the companies, workforce and unions on a “safe and effective transition”.
High output
About 600 workers who have been delivering high output track renewals for Network Rail are to be transferred into the company as employees in a rare example of ‘insourcing’.
Network Rail says that taking direct control by insourcing its principal contractor team when the existing contract expires in March 2015, rather than re-tendering the contract,
will create a “less complex” organisation with “greater stability”, it says.
The rest of the 1,200 people involved with the £250m high output track renewals contract are either Network Rail employees already (about 100 people), or work for subcontractors to the existing AmeyColas JV, some of whom may also be transferred into Network Rail.
High output track renewals allow Network Rail to replace more and more track while allowing trains to run safely on adjacent lines, minimising disruption to services.
Network Rail will work jointly with AmeyColas to deliver high output track renewals up to the point of transfer
It is now working closely with both the RMT and TSSA to manage a “smooth transfer” of the people affected.
RTM interviewed Steve Featherstone about these changes at Rail Live – see page 108.
opinion@railtechnologymagazine.com TELL US WHAT YOU THINK
PWI corporate membership initiative
Alison Stansfi eld, communications director at the Permanent Way Institution (PWI), explains the new corporate membership scheme.
At
Infrarail on 21 May 2014, the PWI and its fi rst two corporate members celebrated
the initiation of corporate membership of the Institution.
PWI president Steve Whitmore presented corporate membership certifi cates to senior representatives of Network Rail and London Underground on the Institution’s stand.
Steve Featherstone, Network Rail’s programme director for track, accepted his company’s certifi cate. He said: “The PWI has existed since 1884 providing technical advice and best practice to track engineers and project managers. This is as relevant today as it has been for the past 130 years.”
George McInulty, LU programme director of infrastructure, and Andrew Jinks, LU head of asset strategy & development, received their organisation’s certifi cate from Steve Whitmore. McInulty spoke of there being a void where there should be a framework for
the development, formal qualifi cation and recognition of track engineers.
He sees this as the key area into which the PWI needs to develop its activities in order to meet current requirements. Jinks endorsed this but added that he wants to see much closer links between his company and others, particularly Network Rail, for the sharing of knowledge and the development of best practice. The Institution is well placed, as an independent expert forum, to drive this forward.
Whitmore and PWI chief executive David Packer welcomed these remarks as totally supporting the vision that the Institution has for its future. The commitment of the industry to work with the PWI in developing products and services that add real value to the rail industry is hugely valuable.
Corporate members will be represented on the PWI’s Technical Board, giving them the ability to infl uence the Institution’s direction
and, importantly, a stake in its success. The PWI has already had enquiries from other potential corporate members and is very keen to ensure they are representative of the whole rail infrastructure sector. This will ensure that the Institution safeguards and develops its position as a respected independent source of knowledge, held for the benefi t of all.
The PWI is also pressing ahead with plans for professional registration of rail infrastructure engineers. It expects to be able to offer registration for appropriately experienced and qualifi ed engineers within two years. It is felt that this will be particularly relevant for Engineering Technicians and Incorporated Engineers. There are many highly skilled and experienced engineers in the rail industry who don’t have the benefi t of recognition of their professionalism. The PWI, with the help of the industry, is on course to change that for good.
E:
david.packer@
thepwi.org FOR MORE INFORMATION
rail technology magazine Jun/Jul 14 | 107
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