Q: Could you briefly explain your role, involvement, and experience related to the focus of this event?
David Lewis, Transport for London (DL): As the fleet engineering manager for the Bakerloo Line 1972TS I am responsible for the engineering and safety of the day-to-day running of the UK's oldest rolling stock still in regular passenger service. It might surprise you to find out that a 53 year old train with a welded steel underframe has a number of fractures. A part of my job is to assure that the train maintenance department adheres to our fracture map, for known fractures, and I manage the identification, risk assessment and mitigation of new fractures.
Neil Dinmore, RSSB (ND): With 33 years in the rail industry, primarily focused on rail vehicle structures, I have plenty of experience of structural analysis. In recent years I have participated in and led the development of standards - UK, European and International.
David Vincent, Hitachi Rail (DV): I'm a Technology Director within the team of the CTO Vehicles, Hitachi Rail. My team focusses on the application of instrumentation and information management to optimise railway maintenance. The objective is to deliver more asset availability at lower cost, by doing the right maintenance at the right time. This is only achievable when you have reliable information, presented efficiently to engineers.
Carl Woolley (CW): I have been working in the field of rail vehicle structural analysis for over 25 years. Initially this was working for Bombardier/Alstom and then I founded Design and Analysis Ltd. in 2003 which specialises in structural analysis. At Design & Analysis we have been involved in many fatigue fracture issues and we are currently supporting Porterbrook, Hitachi and Transport for London in resolution of their current fleet issues.
Matthew Brown, Transport for London (MB): I am a Mechanical Principles Engineer and the London Underground Asset Performance Mechanical Team Leader at Transport for London. My team is comprised of mechanical engineers and also Rolling Stock specialisms such as doors engineers and brakes engineers. We undertaken modifications to LU fleets, manage any emerging safety risks or issues that affect train availability, whilst also providing support to the fleet engineering teams. Our joint presentation at Managing Fractures Safely on the Railway 2025 will be focussing specifically on fractures to TfL’s rolling stock and how using our internal processes we continue to run a service in the event of the discovery of a fracture, if safe to do so.
Q: What, in your experience, has been the biggest roadblock for the industry over the past 2-3 years?
DL: I believe that the biggest risk to the rail industry, especially has been a lack of capital expenditure. Whilst it can look good on balance books to delay or de-scope major projects, ongoing maintenance of old assets can balloon in cost.
ND: Primarily, uncertainty over the emerging role of Great British Railways, and timescales for its full implementation.
DV: Traditional maintenance practices and culture, preventing engineers from taking simple steps to make big changes in how they do their jobs. This is understandably a risk averse industry, resources are tight. We need to persuade colleagues to take the first step towards better informed working practices.
CW: By far the biggest issue in the rail industry of recent years has been lack of funding and investment. A large reason for this has been the effects of Covid as passengers started working from home and stopped their daily commute. However, and almost in equal measure, the change to state ownership and Great British Railways (GBR) has lead to a state of uncertainty which naturally breeds a lack of investment. The rail industry has always suffered from a boom and bust investment regime and throughout my career I have personally witnessed this. We need a long term plan for rail with a consistent long term investment.
MB: Retention of skilled/experienced engineers and budget constraints.
Q: What key topics are you excited to discuss at this year's event?
DL: I am excited to share how well all of the separate departments in TfL work together when a fracture is identified to ensure that the risk reduced to as low as reasonably possible whilst keeping our service levels as high as possible which can hopefully help other train operators/maintainers.
ND: How the theory works out in practice.
DV: Using asset condition information as a basis for maintenance - keep assets in good condition and avoid the risk or failure instead of waiting to spot early signs of failure then having to perform major maintenance to eliminate risk.
CW: I am looking forward to sharing the detail of one of our rail vehicle fracture projects for the Porterbrook owned Class 170 Turbostar fleet. I hope the audience finds the content interesting as there were some twists to the story along the way.
MB: I am excited to share TfL's processes for managing the operation of railway in the event of a safety issue and sharing our specific case studies. I hope this can promote positive discussion and sharing of positive practices.
Q: What do you consider to be the key areas of innovation in this industry, both in the UK and internationally?
DL: I think that the move towards predictive maintenance on newer rolling stock is very exciting to me. I know it's a bit cliché but I do think that with the vast amounts of data new trains generate AI could be very powerful in analysing past faults, implementing ways of predicting precursor events to the faults and scheduling maintenance before they occur.
ND: New materials (and manufacturing methods) for structural application. More widely, alternative motive power sources. These are a particular challenge from a standardisation perspective; it's important to accommodate innovation but to balance this with safety and risk management.
DV: Our ability to deploy large numbers of sensors economically, then gather and analyse the data to generate information on asset condition that is new and usable. This is delivering many new insights, but there's so much more work to be done.
CW: In my field the innovation has been the increase in computer power which has allowed a much more detailed analysis of rail vehicles with the ultimate aim being to avoid these fatigue fractures entirely in the future.
MB: The use of friction stir welding in the rail industry developed by TWI. We undertake a lot of welding for repairs in LU and if this repair is required on the carbody, then we electrically isolate the train, which is time consuming. I would be interesting to see the innovative uses of friction stir welding in rolling stock repairs.
Q: Who else are you most interested in hearing from on the programme?
DL: I am looking forward to hearing Muhammad Ali Khan speak as it's always interesting to learn about how other industries manage similar issues. As a fan of welding I am also very keen to hear David Howse talk about welding standards!
ND: It will be good to learn from engineers in other industries, as well as from rail infrastructure colleagues. I'm sure some of the challenges we face are similar!
DV: It's a privilege to share a platform with such an auspicious group, and I hesitate to pick out any one presentation but it's always a pleasure to hear Bridget speak.
CW: I think we have a great lineup this year and I am looking forward to hearing all the presentations on a topic that I'm really interested in.
MB: I have recently worked with Carl Woolley of Design & Analysis on a few projects for the Jubilee Line, so am interested to hear about his work for dealing with a yaw damper bracket fractures on Turbostar.
Q: Why is it important for engineers to join this event?
DL: In the railway industry, fractures have the potential to quickly shut down a passenger service. Knowing how to identify, quantify the risk of and manage fractures is an incredibly powerful tool to have in your engineering arsenal. This event is bringing together engineers from across the railway industry and beyond so hopefully there will be the opportunity to learn something really useful.
ND: This seminar offers opportunities to learn, to share ideas, and to network with industry colleagues.
DV: Fractures in the railway system can be catastrophic and affect so many aspects on both sides of the wheel rail interface. We can try to prevent them, but understanding how to manage them is also critical. In many cases the damage has already been done. These are common challenges and its important to share knowledge and experience across the industry.
CW: This conference has plenty of technical content that will feed your hunger for engineering knowledge.
MB: It is important for engineers to attend this conference because it provides a forum for us to learn from the successes and mistakes of others, improve their own fracture detection and prevention strategies, whilst building a stronger network for tackling structural integrity issues. Ultimately reducing costs, downtime and safety risks.
The Managing Fractures Safely on the Railway 2025 seminar will be taking place on 10 September 2025 at One Birdcage Walk, London.
Join this seminar to find out more about:
- Developments in materials and fatigue understanding
- The application of standards
- The management of defects in service
- The wheel-rail interface and how it contributes to wear, fatigue, and ultimately structural failure, and how improved design, monitoring, and maintenance can help reduce these risks
After the seminar, join Railway Division Chair's HQ Address 2025, which will be given by Rebeka Sellick, 57th Chair of the IMechE Railway Division. The address will be followed by a networking reception in our library, where we will unveil the newly restored painting of our first president George Stephenson. This restoration is part of the celebrations marking the 200th anniversary of the Stockton and Darlington Railway.