Rail Industry Focus

Marrying the old and new at Manchester Victoria

01.11.15: RTM’s David Stevenson reports from the official opening of Manchester Victoria’s refurbished station. When RTM rolled in to Manchester Victoria station on Tuesday 6 October, one could almost be forgiven for thinking nothing had...

Network Rail’s planning and delivering safe work programme – national roll-out slips to mid-2016

01.11.15: Justin Page, programme director at Network Rail, discusses the lessons learned from the Planning and Delivering Safe Work programme go-live in the East Midlands and what this means for the overall project. The national roll-out of the Plann...

Freight derailments: a complex and cross-industry system risk

01.11.15: David Stevenson talks to the organisations responsible for managing the UK’s freight derailment risk, to find out what is being done. He spoke to the ORR’s chief inspector, Ian Prosser, and deputy chief inspector, David Keay; acting...

Allerton depot upgrade: an important enabler of North West electrification

01.11.15: The £23m refurbishment project to electrify Allerton Depot will play a key part in supporting the North West Electrification Programme and the introduction of Northern Rail’s Class 319 electric trains. RTM’s David Stevenson rep...

Strengthening the Haymarket tunnels

01.11.15: Angus MacGregor and David Gibson of BAM Ritchies give details of a project to strengthen two Network Rail tunnels in Edinburgh. The Haymarket, a £200m joint venture development in Edinburgh between Interserve and Tiger Developments, i...

Never underestimate the assurance process

01.11.15: Chris Wilson, project engineering manager for Great Western Route Modernisation at Network Rail, discusses the complexities of parallel systems development and delivery. Engineers have been told to never underestimate the time it takes to g...

Revolutionising railway maintenance

01.11.15: Craig Mathys, programme manager at Network Rail, talks to RTM about the introduction of the company’s new fleet of Mobile Maintenance Trains, which have been described as ‘workshops on wheels’. David Stevenson reports. Net...

Understanding electrification risk and complexity

01.11.15: RTM attended The Institution of Engineering and Technology’s Railway Electrification seminar to understand the complexity and the requirements for the design of a safe electrified railway. David Stevenson reports. The Institution of E...

Classic-compatible services will also boost economic growth

01.11.15: Duncan Sutherland, non-executive director at HS2 Ltd, speaks to RTM about the progress being made with HS2 and the impact on Scotland, Liverpool and other places where there are no current plans to build physical high-speed infrastructure. ...

Industry comes together at Derby

01.11.15: Adam Hewitt reports from a great evening in Derby celebrating everything the rail industry has to offer. The sixth Dinner at the Roundhouse was supported once again by RTM, bringing together industry professionals not just from the east Mid...

Pageantry, excitement and a host of VIPs as Hitachi opens its new train factory

30.09.15: RTM’s Luana Salles reports from the formal opening of Hitachi’s £82m new rail manufacturing facility in County Durham. The ceremony was exactly what you would expect from a company of the likes and size of Hitachi: aestheticall...

The centre of excellence for the East Coast Main Line IEP fleet

07.09.15: RTM’s Adam Hewitt took a trip to Doncaster to see the depot that is under construction for Hitachi Rail Europe’s Class 800s and 801s. He was shown around by Neil Lindley, contracts director at VolkerFitzpatrick, and Ross Cunningham...

Full steam ahead for Fillie at Farnworth

13.08.15: RTM’s David Stevenson reports from a recent site visit to Farnworth Tunnel where Nick Spall, LNW route delivery director for Network Rail, discussed how a major block of work is helping to deliver further electrification in the north west....

Digital future for Southeastern

01.08.15: RTM talks to Southeastern’s director of engineering Mark Johnson about a new graduate scheme aimed at students from an IT rather than traditional engineering background. Southeastern has launched a new scheme to take on bright IT gra...

Mind the gap: a look into the new National Training Academy for Rail

01.08.15: RTM’s Luana Salles was impressed with what she saw at NTAR, the new National Training Academy for Rail in Northampton. She met Simon Rennie, general manager of NTAR The rail industry is in a skills crisis: much of its workforce is nea...