25.07.13
National Track Plant Exhibition gets off to a scorching start
Today is the second day of the of Network Rail’s National Track Plant Exhibition at Long Marston in Warwickshire.
The exhibition is ‘live’ for the first time, with suppliers taking advantage of the site’s rail-connectedness to show off the kinds of plant they have never been able to deliver by low loader in previous years, and all visitors having to wear full PPE.
Network Rail programme director for track, Steve Featherstone, told RTM yesterday that he expected more than 4,000 people to visit over the two days of the exhibition, and joked that even if no visitors turned up, just the conversations and interactions between the 219 suppliers at would have made the whole thing worthwhile.
He said the sheer amount of kit on display was the equivalent of five years’ worth of site visits in two days, and praised the supply chain for pulling together to put on the show.
He said the plant exhibition had “outgrown” the previous venues – it has previously been held at Network Rail’s own Westwood site and in Gloucestershire – and said this year’s exhibition had managed to fill most of the 102 acres at the Long Marston site. He said he expects it to grow and grow, and to compete with major global shows like Innotrans in Berlin and iaf in Münster.
He said: “This is all about bringing people with solutions and those with problems together.”
There were displays and demos throughout yesterday, as well as a small seminar programme, with some of the biggest names in track technology and plant showing off what their kit can do.
For a full report from the show, see the August/September edition of Rail Technology Magazine. Visit www.railtechnologymagazine.com/Subscribe
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