Dear Readers
Congratulations to all the winners of the 2021 Rail Business Awards – the 23rd year that these awards have celebrated excellence across the rail industry in the UK.
This year’s winners are:
Accessibility & Integrated Transport Excellence
Greater Anglia - New low floor bi-mode train with retractable step
Customer Service Excellence
South Western Railway & Network Rail Wessex - Trespass and Welfare Officers
Diversity in Rail Award
Southern Railway - Angie Doll, Managing Director of Southern and Gatwick Express
Education & Training Excellence
Motion - Motion Reality
Industry Leader of the Year
John Cox - VolkerFitzpatrick
Infrastructure Project Excellence
Atkins and Network Rail - Norwich, Yarmouth and Lowestoft Re-Signalling Project
Marketing & Communications Excellence
GWR - That's EnterTrainment
Rail Freight & Logistics Excellence
DB Cargo UK & Maritime Transport - Intermodal Partnership
Richard Hope Award
Gemma Platt - GB Railfreight
Rail Operator of the Year
Stadler Rail
Rolling Stock Excellence
GWR - Repurposing HSTs into Castles
Supplier & Contractor Excellence
3Squared - Rail Operator Collaboration
Sustainability & Environmental Excellence
South Western Railway, Porterbrook and Eminox - Cleaning up diesel trains
Technical Innovation of the Year
London North Eastern Railway with Revenue Analytics - ROSE (Revenue Optimisation Solution Engine)
Train Operator of the Year.
Greater Anglia
Young Professional of the Year
Jason Kairouz - Balfour Beatty
This week's Jobs of the Week are in Malaysia. We are looking for a Manager PS&DS and a Senior Systems Assurance Engineer.
Regards
Ceri Taylor
Editor
This Week’s Headlines
7 Mar 2021. China. High speed trains in Tibet to start running in July
China will operate bullet trains in Tibet, close to the Indian border in Arunachal Pradesh before July this year, marking the opening of high-speed train services to all Chinese mainland provincial-level regions.
Source: Millennium Post
6 Mar 2021. Egypt. World Bank approves US$440 million development fund to railways
The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors have approved a US$440m loan to support Egypt’s initiatives to enhance the safety and service quality of Egypt’s railways.
Source: Egypt Independent
5 Mar 2021. UK. Siemens and TfL unveil the design for new Piccadilly Line trains
Transport for London (TfL) and Siemens Mobility has unveiled the detailed design of the new generation Tube trains for the Piccadilly line.
Source: Evening Standard
5 Mar 2021. UK. ScotRail takes delivery of its final InterCity 125
ScotRail has taken delivery of its final upgraded InterCity 125 high speed train.
Source: The Inverness Courier
5 Mar 2021. India. Mumbai metro train ready for testing
Test running is scheduled to begin this month with the first of 96 six-car metro trainsets which BEML’s Bengaluru plant is supplying for Mumbai lines 2A and 7.
Source: Metro Report International
4 Mar 2021. USA. Extreme winter weather slows rail traffic
The Association of American Railroads (AAR) has reported that U.S. rail traffic for the week ending Feb. 27, 2021, as well as volumes for February 2021, took a polar vortex hit.
Source: Railway Age
Jobs of the Week:
Manager PS&DS, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Job ID#: 13200
Discipline: Power Supply & Distribution
Language: English & Malay
Positions Available: 4
Job Description:
Our client is looking for a senior Malaysian Electrical Engineer to take on the role of Manager of PS&DS on LRT3 to manage various stages of the project ie tender,design , manufacture,delivery, testing and commissioning to meet budget, program requirement and specifications related to PS&DS. The person is work with other stakeholders in resolving interface and integration related issues and to contribute to the delivery of the project and to manage and review the functions of the PS&DS Senior Engineers and Engineers in their respective roles.
Main responsibilities are to:
* Manage PS&DS scope and Sub-Contractors throughout various stages of the project including tender,design , manufacture,delivery, testing and commissioning to meet budget, program requirement and specifications related to PS&DS.
* Take the lead on all technical issues with the support of the project team for the performance of the work and verification issues.
* Conduct technical review of design submittal, method statement management plan etc against specification requirement with the support of the Lineside Consultant.
* Work closely with related stakeholdrs in resolving interface and integration issues
* Manage and review the performance of the PS&DS Subcontrcator related to the 132kV supply, 33kV system, 750V DC System, LV System and all related work
* Report PS&DS package progress and highlight key issues to the Senior Manager PS&DS.
* Support the Operator and Employer in PS&DS training, trial operation, obtaining safety accreditation and railway operating licence.
* Manage Interfaces and Integration as required for the PS&DS System with stakeholders
* Ensure the Works Requirements by the Sub-Contractors are carried out to the desired Project Quality & Systems Assurance Requirements
* Attend to the FAT, site inspection and Testing and Commissioning
* Measure and evaluate works progress against payment milestones
* Ensure safe working procedures are adhered to at all times by all related parties
* Maintain the requirements of the Company Health and Safety policy in the work place at all times.
Job Requirements
* Possess degree in Electrical Engineering or equivalent.
* Minimum 12 years working experience in PS&DS, Systems and Power Supply Project.
* Good command of spoken and written English and Bahasa Malaysia
* Working experience in Railway Industry is preferred
* PC literate and familiar with the use of Microsoft Office software, including Outlook, Word, Excel and Power Point.
* Committed team player and able to work with other stakeholders of the project.
Contact: David Hyland (davidh@railpersonnel.com)
Senior Systems Assurance Engineer, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Job ID#: 13197
Discipline: Safety
Language: English
Job Description:
Our client is looking for a Senior Systems Assurance Engineer to play an integral partin their ongoing growth within the transport infrastructure sector.
The Senior Systems Assurance Engineer will call on experience and expertise gained from working within complex, multi-discipline rail design projects. You will enjoy a fast paced, performance focused workplace where you will have the opportunity to work autonomously and develop your career. You will also be involved in but not limited to;
* Provide Safety and System Assurance support across primarily multidisciplinary rail projects/bids and in addition to that, providing support to the wider Jacobs business where applicable.
* Responsible for ensuring that projects are delivered to the Jacobs engineering framework, fully integrated and fully assured, to meet our obligations in support of engineering project delivery.
* Lead and support proposals as appropriate, ensuring a robust assurance methodology is applied.
* Implementation and delivery of Safety and RAM on a wide range of projects
Job Requirements:
* With a relevant bachelor"s degree, you will be a qualified engineer registered with BEM with proven track record experience on major and multidisciplinary Rail Projects
* With excellent communication skills together with a broad experience in safety assurance (preference from Consultancy / Client background) within the Rail Industry
* You will have a proven background in Systems and Safety Assurance engineering along with implementing systems engineering framework throughout the life cycle of the project.
Contact: David Hyland (davidh@railpersonnel.com)
Rail News
7 Mar 2021. China. High speed trains in Tibet to start running in July
China will operate bullet trains in Tibet, close to the Indian border in Arunachal Pradesh before July this year, marking the opening of high-speed train services to all Chinese mainland provincial-level regions, Lu Dongfu, Chairman of China State Railway Group Company Limited has said. A 435-km rail link to the regional capital of Lhasa will run Fuxing high-speed trains powered by both internal-combustion and electricity. Construction started in 2014 on the railway line connecting Lhasa with Nyingchi in eastern Tibet. It is the first electrified railroad in Tibet and is slated to begin operations in June 2021. The track-laying work was completed by the end of 2020. The railway has a designed speed of 160 km per hour, according to Tibet Railway Construction Company Limited, a subsidiary of China State Railway Group.
Source: Millennium Post
6 Mar 2021. Egypt. World Bank approves US$440 million development fund to railways
Egypt’s Minister of International Cooperation Rania al-Mashat has announced that the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors have approved a US$440m loan to support Egypt’s initiatives to enhance the safety and service quality of the country’s railways. The Railway Improvement and Safety for Egypt (RISE) total project cost is $681.1m, including a $241.1m contribution from the Egyptian National Railways (ENR). The project will focus on modernizing the signalling for the Cairo – Giza – Beni Suef segment of the ENR network and supporting the reforms needed to enhance the ENR’s performance and competitiveness. The ENR network comprises of over 5,000 km of rail tracks and primarily offers passenger services for low-income Egyptians.
Source: Egypt Independent
5 Mar 2021. UK. Siemens and TfL unveil the design for new Piccadilly Line trains
Transport for London (TfL) and Siemens Mobility has unveiled the detailed design of the new generation Tube trains for the Piccadilly line. The 94 new trains, with more space, air conditioning and walk-through carriages, will enter service from 2025, replacing trains that will be 50 years old. They will allow peak frequencies to increase from 24 to 27 trains an hour by 2027 – but the ability to run more than 30 trains an hour will be delayed until the line’s signalling system is upgraded. The Inspiro London trains, the contract for which was signed in 2018, have wider doors and can carry 10 per cent more passengers due to a more efficient use of space. They are lighter than current models, reducing their energy needs by 20 per cent. They are being built by Siemens Mobility, initially in its factory in Vienna, Austria, and latterly in Goole when it opens in 2023. The Piccadilly line trains will be the first off the production line in Goole.
Source: Evening Standard
5 Mar 2021. UK. ScotRail takes delivery of its final InterCity 125
ScotRail has taken delivery of its final upgraded InterCity 125 high speed train. The rail operator has been introducing them on rail routes connecting each of Scotland's seven cities – including the Highland mainline and Inverness-Aberdeen route. The refitted trains, which were also rebranded as Inter7City in recognition of the seven city destinations, can carry more passengers owing to their size. They also provide more luggage capacity. The arrival of the trains has increased seating capacity by a third. Journey times between Inverness and the central belt have also been reduced by 10 minutes on average, with Glasgow to Inverness taking less than three hours.
Source: The Inverness Courier
5 Mar 2021. India. Mumbai metro train ready for testing
Test running is scheduled to begin this month with the first of 96 six-car metro trainsets which BEML’s Bengaluru plant is supplying for Mumbai lines 2A and 7. Line 2A will run 18·5km from Dahisar East to DN Nagar, serving 16 stations, while Line 7 will run 16·5km from Andheri East to Dahisar East with 13 stations. Commercial operation is planned to begin from May.
The 25kV 50 Hz stainless steel bodied driverless trainsets are equipped with air-conditioning, regenerative braking, CCTV and real-time track monitoring equipment. They have four sets of doors per car and capacity for 1,800 passengers.
Source: Metro Report International
4 Mar 2021. USA. Extreme winter weather slows rail traffic
The Association of American Railroads (AAR) has reported that U.S. rail traffic for the week ending Feb. 27, 2021, as well as volumes for February 2021, took a polar vortex hit. “During February snow and ice covered wide swaths of the country, including many areas that rarely see harsh winter weather wreaking havoc on all forms of transportation, including rail,” said AAR Senior Vice President John T. Gray. “In fact, total U.S. rail carloads in the third week of February were the lowest for any week in AAR’s records that go back to 1988. U.S. railroads originated 824,636 carloads in February 2021, down 11.1%, or 102,972 carloads, from February 2020.
Source: Railway Age
4 Mar 2021. Italy. Webuild Group to build Brenner Base Tunnel line extension
The Webuild Group has been selected as the best bidder to design and build a 22.5km railway line from the Brenner Base Tunnel between Fortezza and Ponte Gardena. The project is to cost 1.07 billion euros. The commissioning party is Rete Ferroviaria Italiana S.p.A. (RFI). Webuild will lead the executing consortium with a majority stake of 51 per cent. Its consortium partner will be Implenia. The railway extension at the southern end of the Brenner Base Tunnel along the Munich-Verona railway axis will run mostly underground. The project will also include underground interconnections and further works at Ponte Gardena. A further aspect of the project is that it would improve the existing Munich-Verona line by utilising standards that exceed the speed and performance limits of the current line. These force trains to travel at slower speeds, particularly on inclines. The Brenner Base Tunnel will form a key part of the Scandinavian-Mediterranean Corridor on the Trans-European Network (TEN-T). The tunnel, which will connect Austria and Italy, is scheduled to open in 2028.
Source: Railway-News
4 Mar 2021. Israel. Support for section of ‘Gulf to Gulf’ railway
Israel’s National Infrastructure Committee has given its backing to proposals to extend the Jezreel Valley railway to the border with Jordan, in what is envisaged to be the first stage of a possible ‘Gulf to Gulf’ railway linking the Bay of Haifa with Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Israeli Transport Minister Miri Regev said the existing Valley Line would be extended from Beit-She’ to a station and freight terminal at the Sheikh Hussein border crossing with Jordan. There would be three freight trains per day in each direction, helping to take traffic off the roads. The proposed 15 km [150 km?] double-track alignment would require various tunnels, road and river bridges and the re-routing of a road. Construction is expected to cost about US$4·56bn.
Source: Railway Gazette
3 Mar 2021. UK. Rail receives some benefit in Budget
Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s budget has been met with a mixed response from the rail industry. The chancellor confirmed £50mto help pay for five new stations in the West Midlands and another £50m for transport improvements around the future HS2 station at Birmingham Interchange. Another boost came for a Global Centre for Rail Excellence in Wales, where the Westminster government will be providing match funding worth £30m along with contributions from the Welsh Government and private companies. The chancellor also said his budget would ‘unlock’ funding worth more than £40m to reinstate passenger services between Okehampton and Exeter St David’s, subject to final approval of costs and contracts.
Source: RailNews
3 Mar 2021. UK. Network Rail to upgrade Chiltern main line
Network Rail has invested more than £2.2m for the renewal of the Chiltern main line between London Marylebone and Bicester. Under the improvement project, around 2.5km of railway track will be replaced along the line. Some routes will be closed as old track will be replaced by new modern railway lines. As the upgrade work will be executed during the latest period of national lockdown, the closures will impact only a small section of passengers.
Source: Railway Technology
3 Mar 2021. Germany. ODEG retains Baltic Sea Coast II contract
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern transport authority (VMV) has awarded East German Railway (ODEG) a long-term contract to continue operating the Baltic Sea Coast II sub-network, which represents around 1.8 million train-km annually. The contract will begin in December 2021 and run until December 2034, and covers the operation of RE9 Rostock–Stralsund – Sassnitz/Ostseebad Binz with additional services on the island of Rügen, and RE10 Rostock –Stralsund –Züssow.. A short-term contract was previously awarded to ODEG in 2019, with the decision by VMV subject of legal action by former operator DB Regio The contract was unusual in that the winner was obliged to lease the fleet of seven new three-car Desiro ML EMUs owned by Alpha Trains, currently leased to ODEG. The full fleet entered service in August 2020. Prior to delivery, services were initially operated by ODEG using trains leased from Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB).
Source: International Railway Journal
3 Mar 2021. Egypt. RATP Dev to operate Cairo light rail line
National Authority for Tunnels (NAT) has selected RATP Dev Mobility Cairo, a subsidiary of RATP Group, to operate and maintain the ‘light rail’ line linking Cairo with 10th Ramadan City and the New Administrative Capital. The contract is for a period of 15 years, renewable for 5 more years. With 11 stations stretching over about 65kms from Adly Mansourto the New Administrative Capital, the electric line will offer passengers state-of-the art transportation and service from the heart of Cairo to the new cities located to the east of the capital. A key component of the NAT’s vision for an integrated transportation system linking all modes, the line will be connected to Cairo Metro Line 3 at Adly Mansour interchange station. The New Administrative Capital City Electric Train is scheduled to commence operations in the 4th quarter of 2021.
Source: RATP Dev
3 Mar 2021. Australia. Three on shortlist for new Sydney airport metro tunnelling
Three consortia have been shortlisted to deliver the tunnelling works of the new Metro railway line, which will service Greater Western Sydney and the new Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport. The shortlisted consortia are: Bouygues Construction Australia; John Holland Gamuda Joint Venture; and Acciona Construction Australia. The successful tunnel builder will deliver 10km of twin Metro railway tunnels and the associated excavations of station boxes. The station box and tunnelling contract is expected to be awarded by the end of 2021, with the first of four tunnel boring machines expected to be in the ground by the middle of 2023. The Federal and NSW governments are jointly delivering the 23km Metro railway and six stations between St Marys and the Western Sydney Aerotropolis, including two stations at the airport. The project will support 14,000 jobs,.
Source: Infrastructure Magazine
2 Mar 2021. Japan. ATO set to go live on Joban Line
East Japan Railway (JR East) expects to start automatic train operation (ATO) in commercial service on March 13, on the Joban Line (Local) services in northern Tokyo. JR East decided in October 2019 to install ATO on a 29·7km section of the Joban line between Toride and Ayase, 13km northeast of Tokyo station, for use by the all-stations stopping trains. The Series E233 EMUs which work this service have now been equipped. The trains will operate in Grade of Automation 2, with the ATO overseen by a driver who will initiate departure from each station. When ready, the driver presses a ‘depart’ button on the cab console. After this, the train automatically accelerates up to the permitted line speed, recognising all the ATC train control information (such as temporary speed restrictions) in each signalling block.
Source: Railway Gazette
1 Mar 2021. Australia. Arcadis awarded Inland rail signalling contract
The Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) has awarded a A$30m contract for the signalling and signalling civil design for significant sections of the Inland Rail. Arcadis Australia Pacific is will deliver the design of rail signalling systems from concept through to final commissioning for the Inland Rail sections north of Illabo in New South Wales, through to Acacia Ridge and Bromelton in Queensland. ARTC Inland Rail CEO, Richard Wankmuller said there were benefits of having a significant component of the signalling and signalling civil design work delivered by a single team. ““Economically, it makes sense too, because it has reduced the need to hire scarce signalling design experts for each of the individual projects under the program delivery strategy.” Sais Mr Wankmuller. After a competitive tender process, the signalling design services commenced in November 2020 with an expected completion date in 2027.
Source: Infrastructure Magazine
1 Mar 2021. Australia. Designs revealed for Gold Coast Cross River Rail stations
The Queensland Government has announced the start of detailed design for the Gold Coast’s three new Cross River Rail stations. GHD, along with its architecture arm GHD Woodhead have been awarded the design contract for Pimpama, Merrimac and Helensvale North stations. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said: “This is the very first important step towards building three new stations on the coast as part of my government’s A$56bn infrastructure guarantee.” Detailed designs for all three stations will be developed during 2021 and will inform the preferred construction methodology and timing. Stations will be operational in time for Cross River Rail’s opening in 2025.
Source: Mirage News
