Interviews

AT200s: bringing Japanese expertise under British control

09 February 2016Ian McConnell, programmes & transformation director at ScotRail Alliance, and Jon Veitch, general manager in Scotland for Hitachi, speak to RTM’s Luana Salles about the ongoing task of building the new Class 385s and the importance of sharpening B...

The evolution of design standards on the Underground

01 January 2016RTM talks to Gareth Powell, London Underground’s director of strategy & service development, about the new ‘Design Idiom’ for the network and how it is being put into practice.

Tackling health and safety collaboratively

01 November 2015John Abbott, external engagement director at RSSB, discusses the development of a new Rail Health and Safety Strategy that will be launched early next year. Against a backdrop of increased passenger numbers and record levels of investment, rail s...

Why three hours matters

01 November 2015RTM interviews Henrik Anderberg, who took over as Alstom’s HS2 director this summer, having previously been the company’s managing director for transport in the Nordic countries. ‘Why three hours matters’ was the title of...

Fixing the skills shortages – Interview with NSARE's Neil Robertson

01 November 2015Neil Robertson took over from Gil Howarth as chief executive of NSARE, the National Skills Academy for Railway Engineering, in the summer. RTM’s Adam Hewitt went to talk to him at the organisation’s London headquarters. RTM has chroni...

‘We don’t want Stafford to be a one-off’ – Interview with Atkins' Philip Hoare

01 November 2015RTM interviews Philip Hoare, the head of rail for Atkins in the UK who also now runs the company’s wider transportation business, including highways. The ‘pure alliance’ delivering the West Coast Main Line upgrade in Staffordshi...

Stafford set for resignalling switchover

01 August 2015Ian Johnson, Alliance operations manager on the Stafford Area Improvements Programme, talks to RTM about the major resignalling commissioning work at Stafford. David Stevenson reports. The £250m Stafford Area Improvements Programme (SAIP)...

A new dawn for New Street

01 August 2015Chris Montgomery, Network Rail’s project director for the New Street project, talks to RTM’s David Stevenson about the final touches being made on the redevelopment of Birmingham’s main station and the programme’s impressive safety record.

World-leading asset management on London Underground

01 July 2015London Underground is only the second metro in the world to receive the new ISO 55001 accreditation endorsing its asset management systems. RTM heard more from its head of asset strategy and investment, Andy Jinks, and head of asset management Ric...

Caledonian sleeper: Poor performance figures and the role of new loco's

01 July 2015Since becoming a separate franchise, the punctuality and performance for Caledonian Sleeper have dipped substantially. But David Simpson, performance & safety director at Serco Caledonian Sleeper, told RTM’s Sam McCaffrey the figures are...

The 'British Bullet Train'

01 July 2015Hitachi used Railtex 2015 to launch the interior concept for its latest generation of ‘very high speed’ vehicles, the AT400 range. RTM spoke to Hitachi Rail Europe’s Andy Barr at the show. Hitachi has been working on its ‘...

Delivering Digital Environment

01 July 2015Phil Bennett, commercial director for the Digital Railway programme within Network Rail, discusses the lessons that can be learned from the aviation industry in delivering a digital railway. Network Rail is expected to establish its strategic out...

‘We want to be involved with everything that moves using steel wheels on rail’

01 May 2015One of the world’s biggest engineering and consultancy firms, CH2M, is helping deliver Crossrail, HS2, and important projects for Network Rail and Transport for London. RTM caught up with its rail director for Europe, Sue Kershaw. “We...

Apprentice talk: Gen Y Rail finalist discusses his progress at network rail

01 May 2015A national finalist at RTM’s Gen Y Rail initiative last summer talks to David Stevenson about the progress he is making on Network Rail’s advanced apprenticeship programme. When RTM held its first Gen Y Rail series in 2014, we were in...

‘They don’t make trains like this anymore’

01 May 2015RTM’s Sam McCaffrey visited the Vivarail depot at Long Marston to see the prototype D-Train in the middle of the conversion process. “There is nothing quite as exciting as this in the industry at the minute.”  Those are th...