Engineering Focus

In my first RailLive 2019 post I wrote about the UK's first hydrogen powered train which caused quite a stir at this year's event. In this post I wanted to cover some of my highlights from the event. The site on which RailLive is held is enormous and there is a huge amount to see, so I chose before hand what I wanted to try to see in the limited time that I had Mirage Rail induction welding One of the first displays that I set time aside for was that of Mirage Rail who were demonstrating their mobile induction welding system. Using electromagnetic induction to weld sections of rail together is nothing new, however the mobile system developed by Mirage is unique. The whole system which includes a generator, HIAB and induction welder can be mounted on a single rail trailer and towed by an RRV to wherever it may be required. The image below shows the entire system mounted on a rail trailer. The induction welder which is manoeuvred over the rail using the HIAB, ...

In 2018 the UK Government announced its intention to phase out “diesel-only” trains from the UK rail network by 2040. An ambitious target which would be nearly impossible to achieve through electrification of the rail network alone. According to the DfT in 2009 just over 5000km [1] or roughly 33% of the UK's rail network was electrified, since then, and despite a wide spread programme of electrification between 2014 and 2019, that figure has only increased by an estimated 1000km. Given that the length of the UK rail Network is 16,000km, Network Rail would have to electrify 500km of railway every year for the next 20 years to electrify the remaining network by 2040. Considering it has taken 5 years and cost in the region of £4-5bn to electrify just 1000km of railway you can see how this would be a challenge to say the least. This means then, that the challenge to phase out diesel-only trains by 2040 has been passed to train manufacturers and rolling stock leasing companies (ROSCO...

PLANTWORX is an event held every 2 years which brings together major players in the field of plant machinery from around the world, as well as a wide variety of small and medium sized companies who wish to demonstrate what they have to offer. The huge outdoor space allows companies to demonstrate their equipment, with working machinery on display, which in many cases provides operators the opportunity to try the equipment out for themselves. In 2017 PLANTWORX attracted over 15,000 visitors, ranging from construction contractors in charge of entire fleets of machinery to individual owner operators. It has been 4 years since I last attended as I was unable to make it to the event in 2017, having first visited in 2015. Since then it seems there have been some major changes with regards to operator safety, especially in relation to operators of site dumpers. It's easy to see why this has become such a big issue, according to The Construction Index “ Between June 2016 and July 2017...

Travelling from Chester to Leeds by rail isn't anything new, but prior to May 2019 passengers had to change trains at Newton Le Willows, having caught the Chester to Manchester Piccadilly service operated by Transport for Wales Rail, then changing to a TransPennine Express service to Leeds. However, being able to travel directly from Chester to Leeds and vice versa is novel. The direct Chester to Leeds service operated by Northern has been operating for almost 3 weeks now, having started on the 20th of May this year. The service forms Part of what Northern are calling their 'Northern Connect' services, which are long distance services, operated supposedly by high quality rolling stock, namely refurbished class 158s and the new class 195s, when they finally begin to enter service. 142 051 pulling into Chester The title of the article suggests that the service may not have got off to the best start, which is certainly true if my journey is anything to go by. I kn...