Tag Archives: Rail Industry

9 May 2016

Subcon 2016 is only a few weeks away now and with that in mind the organisers have asked some of their speakers their views and opinions on some key areas of manufacturing.

Not surprisingly, when asked about the biggest challenge facing the industry this year, 4 of the 7 said that they saw political and economic uncertainty as a major challenge in the coming months. The debate about staying or leaving the EU means that people are reconsidering longer term commitments and may even be delaying projects as they are unsure as to how they will be affected. Things will be clearer after the referendum in June, but there still may be longer term issues to consider depending on the outcome. It would be prudent for any business to consider the impact on them should the result be that the UK exits the EU. Of course it will take time for any exit policies and agreements to be put into place, but there’s likely to be some sort of immediate impact on existing contracts and projects. Should the vote be to stay in, then of course, things will settle back down, but it still may take a little time for that uncertainty to settle completely.

21 Apr 2016
9 Apr 2016

9 months after the tunnelling was complete we thought we’d take a look at the progress of the Crossrail Project; the new line linking rail services from Reading and Heathrow in the West to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the East.

In case you missed the announcements in February, the line will be named the Elizabeth line when it opens to passengers in 2018. For those of you wondering which new colour will be added to the London rail service map systems, the new line will be purple. HRH Queen Elizabeth visited the Bond Street station in February where she met with workers and was presented with a commemorative purple Elizabeth line roundel.

28 Dec 2015

As we approach the year end, we thought we’d take a quick look back at some of the top manufacturing and engineering news of 2015.

We started 2015 with the great news that the new Hitachi Class 800 trains were being introduced into the UK rail network with testing due to start in the spring of 2015. That wasn’t the only good news. In addition to the new stock entering the UK network the bulk of the fleet was also going to be manufactured here in the UK with a new facility being built in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham. The factory which represents and £82bn investment was completed on schedule in September 2015 and has resulted in 730 new jobs in the area.

7 Dec 2015

Less than a week after the good news that Carlisle station is to get a £14.7m upgrade the rail network in the north, and particularly Carlisle has suffered at the hands of Storm Desmond. Stations have no power and long stretches of track are under water causing travel chaos.

Whilst Network Rail are promising to get things back up and running as soon as humanly possible, the safety of rail passengers has to be at the forefront of everything being done. So whilst in an ideal world commuters would love to back to normal as soon as possible, there is much more to getting back to normal than just the water receding. Network Rail’s crews of maintenance people (known as the Orange Army) are clearing fallen trees and landslip debris where they can (read more here), but it’s not just what’s fallen onto the tracks that is the issue.

27 May 2015

Rail switches or ’points’ are used in the rail industry to guide trains to their correct route. They work by using a tapered set of rails (points) lying between the outer rails that can be moved to direct the train travelling across them.

They make up less than 1% of the entire length of railway routes in the UK, yet they account for 20% of the expenditure on track maintenance. With a working life of approximately 3 years, frequent maintenance and replacement of rail switches is needed to avoid disruptions in services.

1 May 2015

Being involved in the rail industry, we at PRV like to keep an eye on the latest developments and innovations coming over the horizon, whether it’s to do with passenger travel, the moving of freight or the development of the trains of the future. So the recent headline about a UK company winning funding to develop a solution for passenger travel and the movement of freight for the future caught our eye.

A St Ives based company has won a share of £2.2m through the Tomorrow’s Train Design Today (TTDT) programme.

Their train carriage design, where passenger carriages can be reconfigured to carry freight or passengers at different times, is one of 3 designs that won a share of the funds to develop the rolling stock of the future.

3 Apr 2015

Siemens has recently landed a contract to provide and maintain trains for the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan area. The Rhine-Ruhr Express (RRX) is being hailed as the project of the century for the region, whose rail connections and public transport systems have been heavily burdened for years.

The region is one of the largest metropolitan areas in Europe with a population of approximately 10 million, many of which commute along the Rhine and Ruhr rivers in Germany. It is hoped that the RRX project will steadily ease the conditions for commuters from 2018 when delivery of the new trains begins by eliminating thousands of car trips, shifting traffic from the roads and on to rail.

19 Mar 2015
This week saw 2 announcements of funding for the UK Rail Industry

First came the announcement by UK Rail Minister Claire Perry of a £6m funded train operator competition aimed at encouraging innovation among operators and improving services for passengers.

Organised by FutureRailway and funded by the Department for Transport, it is hoped the competition will accelerate research, innovation and development in the rail industry. Passenger numbers continue to increase and expectations of service continue to rise so it is hoped that operators and their supply chains will come up with innovative solutions to address the issues and demands of rail users. In addition, any project will also need to address the future challenges of the rail industry, providing long term solutions. Each project will have to deliver innovative services, processes, designs and technology, from concept to working operational prototype and beyond.

16 Feb 2015

At a time when development within the rail industry is gathering pace, battery powered trains are poised to make a comeback. Battery powered trains have been used for around 100 years, but expanded use has been held back by battery technologies.

Now, the first passenger train of its kind in over 50 years has recently undergone a five-week trial in a bid to prove the viability of more eco-friendly alternatives to diesel-powered locomotives.

Back in 2013, The Independently Powered Electric Multiple Unit (IPEMU) came into force. It draws power from overhead lines and then lowers its pantograph to allow it to run on its batteries instead, so enabling it to run over non electrified lines. The challenge was in finding an effective energy storage system or battery.

2 years and much development later,  the IPEMU will now run a weekday service between Harwich International and Manningtree stations in Essex.

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