Gathering momentum: Electrification work has been carved up into six framework contracts With opportunity comes challenge, and that is certainly the case for the rail industry as it mobilises to carry out a huge programme of electrification. Last month, four suppliers were appointed by Network Rail to electrify more than 2,000 miles of Britain’s railways over the course of the next seven years.
Most experts agree that the work will deliver faster, quieter, greener and more reliable journeys for long-suffering passengers. There is only one slight concern about this £2 billion programme. The industry hasn’t carried out any meaningful electrification activities for almost 20 years. Does it have the necessary skills? And can the project be achieved on time and to budget?
Simon Kirby, managing director of Network Rail’s infrastructure projects division, is delighted to be overseeing such a grand-scale improvement to the railways. But he recognises that the industry is going to have to work together in a more efficient and productive manner than it has in the past if it is to make a success of the opportunity it has been given.
“With billions of pounds set to be invested in electrification schemes over the next decade, and with many projects at different stages of development, it is vital that the supply market gets a clear message from Network Rail about what the company needs from its partners, where and when,” he says.
“It’s a massive programme that will create 2,000 jobs. It will require investment in people – as skills are a big issue – and it will require investment in plant. There needs to be collaboration and long-term partnerships, and national coordination. It’s a great opportunity to show that the industry can deliver such a big programme.”
Simply getting to the brink of delivering electrification has been something of a journey in itself. As recently as seven years ago, the Labour government was still issuing white papers ruling out any such activity, saying that “it was not prudent to commit to electrification as the longer-term benefits are uncertain”. The case for it had to be made – so stakeholders in the rail industry set about changing hearts and minds in Whitehall.
Key to that was a joint venture between Network Rail and the Railway Industry Association, which set about identifying several factors that would underpin any future electrification programme. These included low-cost options for the work; what innovative construction approaches might be used; and how logistics could be better handled across the supply chain. Those studies firmed up key metrics around issues of deliverability and systems reliability.
Network Rail is on record as having said that, if it had not been able to demonstrate such support from across the industry, it would never have been able to make the case for electrification to the Department for Transport.
Fast-forward to today, and the industry can now look forward to a clearly identified rolling programme of electrification. Major schemes include the Great Western and Midland main lines, Liverpool to Manchester and Preston, the Valley lines in South Wales and an ‘electric spine’ from Southampton docks to the West Midlands and Yorkshire. Once all this has been completed, more than half of Britain’s rail network will be electrified, with electric trains accounting for three-quarters of all traffic.
“We have long argued for the need for a rolling programme of electrification,” says Jeremy Candfield, director general of the Railway Industry Association (RIA), which represents companies in the supply chain. “The forward visibility it offers will encourage suppliers to invest in people and plant, strengthening the industry’s ability to deliver.”
Most of the work announced to date will be carried out as part of Network Rail’s control period 5 (CP5), covering 2014-19, which forms part of its overall ‘high-level output specification’. But Candfield thinks that additional electrification projects could stretch even further into the future.
“Electrification is a major part of CP5,” he says. “But the industry must be seen to deliver the early schemes successfully to justify and help defend the ongoing spend on the electrification programme. New electrification could extend to CP6 and beyond. It could see us go from 40% to 60% of the network being electrified, and we are committed to supporting that effort.”
But the RIA, like Network Rail, is well aware that the dearth of electrification work that has taken place over the past two decades could severely hamper the industry’s ability to deliver future programmes. So the two organisations have got together to hold a series of special workshops to outline the deliverability challenges and to identify specific areas of skills shortages. These discussions, complementing research by the National Skills Academy for Railway Engineering, have led to the formation of various working groups to drive the electrification delivery programme.
This work includes a value improvement programme, a workshop-based approach being overseen by the RIA that highlights open and collaborative working, so that the supply chain can produce efficiencies and reduce cost. In the past the industry has been accused of being too adversarial, with different organisations failing to see the benefit of cooperation.
Candfield says such short-sighted approaches have to be consigned to history: “So far, the value improvement programme has resulted in more than 100 workshops that will help to deliver powerful tools to drive project efficiencies and subsequently reduce costs.”
New blood is also being brought into the industry in preparation for the rolling out of the electrification programme. The National Skills Academy for Railway Engineering has endorsed new apprenticeship schemes, several of which are specifically related to electrification.
Network Rail admits that, as no electrification work had taken place for many years, what it calls overhead-line equipment competency wasn’t high on its training agenda. Guy Wilmshurst-Smith, head of professional development and training at the company, says: “Electrification has been the Cinderella when compared to signals and track, so there’s a fair bit of catching up to do.
“When I joined the organisation three years ago, there was half of one trainer dedicated to electrification across the whole of the organisation, and certainly no facilities of any quality. There’s been much progress and improvements since then, and we are now making real headway when it comes to establishing a collaborative approach to training.”
Indeed, over the past 18 months Network Rail has opened a total of nine overhead-line training centres across the country. The most recent, a 6,500m2 super-centre opened in York last month, represented an investment of £14.6 million. It features interactive training rooms and a range of electrification equipment, representing what Wilmshurst-Smith describes as a real step forward in capability.
The spread of training facilities isn’t yet complete. Centres in Swindon and Basingstoke will be added later this year, while additional AC and DC distribution facilities are also being built.
For the training centres to be of real value, they have to be used by as many people as possible. And for that to happen Network Rail has to make itself more accessible and accommodating to the rest of the supply chain.
Wilmshurst-Smith admits that, in the past, that hasn’t always been the case. “If you go back a few years, the Network Rail training centres were a closed door to anybody in the supply chain,” he says. “But that is not the case now. We’ve opened them up – Carillion, for instance, has been delivering overhead-line competency training at our Walsall centre for the past few months now.
“Indeed, Network Rail will open all the electrification capacity it has within the training centres on a not-for-profit basis in order to work collaboratively with the industry. Furthermore, it will be prepared to open them at evenings and weekends and change the way it operates to increase the capacity, should that be needed by industry.”
Training materials are also going to be important. Network Rail has developed a range of 20 courses related to overhead-line equipment competency, and eight more should be added by the end of the year. There’s also a new web-based toolkit, which allows any trainer accredited by the skills academy to access the latest training materials.
And it won’t all be technical training – softer skills come into it. Network Rail, in association with Balfour Beatty, Carillion and Volker Rail, has been piloting a leadership and communications programme for supervisors. This culminates in a practical simulation that brings together leadership components and examines them through the lens of safety behaviour.
Continuing professional development will be at the heart of these training efforts. Wilmshurst-Smith wants to get more qualified engineers to consider careers within electrification. Network Rail is running a conversion programme that takes practising engineers from other fields and turns them into electrification specialists. More than 40 engineers have been ‘converted’ under the scheme so far, with another nine in the pipeline.
“That’s a good building block,” says Wilmshurst-Smith “We are also planning to develop a broader range of conversion training. Some will need just a top-up; others will need a more in-depth development if their background and experience is fundamentally different. It’s an accelerated route to competence for the electrification programme.”
Another crucial area that Network Rail is focusing on is the quality of the trainers that deliver the know-how. And it is here that collaboration with industry really comes into its own. “I’m convinced that good professional development can only be led by practising engineers,” says Wilmshurst-Smith. “Good engineers can really get across what actually happens on the track. They can tell anecdotes that help to bring good training alive. I believe that is fundamental.”
So he wants industry to play its role by releasing its best engineers to aid the learning effort. “The supply chain needs to be prepared to release people for a few weeks across the year to support training across the industry,” he says.
“Companies need to see that developing the new generation of engineers should be part of the day job, not something left to a training organisation. So we are looking for industry support for our efforts on that over the coming months.”
One of the main contractors on the national electrification programme is Balfour Beatty, which has already done work packages between Newton-le-Willows, near St Helens, and Castlefield Junction in Manchester, and between Newton-le-Willows and Liverpool. Balfour Beatty will now also be responsible for the Central (London North Western, North) region framework, under a seven-year deal worth more than £75 million. That covers the design and installation of all equipment for the Northern Hub electrification programme between Manchester-Preston-Blackpool and Manchester-Stalybridge.
Steven Bell, head of operations at Balfour Beatty, says that the company is committed to sharing good practice learned on the early work with the rest of the supply chain in anticipation of the next phase. He says that the industry is far more transparent than it used to be, with companies putting aside traditional rivalries to share technical knowledge and innovation.
“It’s a pretty small industry,” says Bell. “Most people know many of their colleagues spread across the supply chain. There’s quite good cross-pollination and a lot of good connections. If we can build on the training initiatives that Network Rail have announced, then I think there will be a big pool of information out there. It’s our job to harness that. Neither we, nor any other suppliers, want to have to learn lessons two or three times over.”
There’s a similar message from ABC Electrification, an alliance of Alstom, Babcock and Costain, which will be responsible for the Central (London North Western, South) and Western and Wales regions. Jonathan Willcock, a director at ABC, says the industry has worked hard to break down traditional commercial barriers so that information on electrification can be shared effectively.
“There is a need to deliver holistically, setting up the right forums and the right ways of collaborating across industry,” he says. “That’s the only way that this electrification will be a success.”
Willcock says that the learning process has involved liaising with colleagues on other high-profile projects, such as Crossrail. “Embarking on this programme is a huge challenge but there are plenty of other projects out there that we can learn from,” he says.
Nocturnal activity: Lessons learned from earlier electrification work should be passed on to contractors on the latest programme The big four divide up the country Four companies – Balfour Beatty, Amey Inabensa, Carillion Powerlines and ABC Electrification – will work with Network Rail to plan and deliver a range of electrification schemes across key routes in England, Wales and Scotland. Six geographic framework contracts have been awarded, with each having a defined allocation of schemes.
The regional frameworks are:
* Southern: Amey Inabensa
* Central (London North Western, South): ABC
* Central (East Midlands): Carillion Powerlines
* Central (London North Western, North): Balfour Beatty
* Scotland and North East: Carillion Powerlines
* Western and Wales: ABC
Fast track to inside knowledge
The opportunities offered by the national electrification programme will be outlined during Infrarail, the industry exhibition and conference that takes place from 20 to 22 May at Earl’s Court 2 in London. Nick Elliot, Network Rail’s managing director, national supply chain, will be giving a presentation during the first day of the event. Simon Kirby, Network Rail’s managing director, infrastructure projects, will give the keynote address on the second day.
Other top-level project-based speakers at Infrarail include Graeme Shaw, head of the Northern Line extension at London Underground; Beth West, commercial director at HS2; Mark Somers, project director for signalling and track, Thameslink, Network Rail; and Paul Hodson, project director, Northern Hub, Network Rail.
Electrification innovations will feature on the exhibition floor. Most notably, Morris Line Engineering will report on the development of a 25kV fixed earthing device, which can be operated to earth the overhead line for safety and maintenance purposes once traction power has been disconnected and isolated, providing an alternative to the use of portable leads. Operation can be from central control or at a number of points along the route.
The Bonomi Group will show its Omnia range of cantilevers for overhead electrification systems. Omnia was originally developed for use on the Italian rail network, but the product has been adapted for UK requirements, and has been installed on electrification packages in the North West.
Bonomi has also developed a station cantilever for platform use – this keeps the 25kV live section of a cantilever well away from platforms for safety and maintenance purposes. The design provides a wide range of reach from the mast surface to the catenary axis.
PE readers can register for Infrarail free at infrarail.com.