More than 250 guests gathered in Birmingham for the sixth IRO Annual Members’ Lunch this year sponsored by Parsons Brinckerhoff.
The occasion was the first IRO lunch to be addressed by the Institution’s new Chairman Derek Holmes who told his audience: “I feel both honoured and privileged to take over the reins from Chris Leah. His will be a hard act to follow. The good work he and the rest of the team have done has put the Institution on a solid foundation for the future as well as for the benefit of our members and the industry as a whole. I am very grateful that as Chairman of the IRO I will have the opportunity of being a part of the Institution’s continued progress.”
Wishing the Institution continued success in the future guest speaker Paul Martin, Director General of the Railway Forum, praised the IRO for the work it is doing as well as the many achievements the organisation has attained in such a relatively short time span.
Members and guests at the lunch clearly demonstrated their generosity by raising £950 for the Railway Benefit Fund, the charity dedicated to current and former railway staff and their families. The application of Gift Aid will take to total collected at the event to more than £1,200.

Jill Barratt MBE, HM Inspector of Railways, recent graduate from the IRO Diploma Course in Railway Operational Management, reports on the personal benefits gained from undertaking the Institution’s course.

The IRO Diploma was a challenge that I undertook without knowing exactly what I was letting myself in for. I had never tackled any academic avenues of this nature before and was therefore delighted that my reflective report was sufficient evidence for me to be accepted as a student at Glasgow Caledonian University. Once I had registered at Derby at the Midland Academy on the 1st October 2005 there was no turning back.
Having got my weekends and evenings back I realise how much time and effort it took, not just from me but from family and friends who had to put up with me turning into a hermit and not leaving the house except to go to work. However, taking that aside was it worth it and what benefits have I gained from it?
Undertaking any type of project requires planning, time management and discipline. These three elements formed the bases of my studying and research, writing and just as important time away from the study. As the time went by and another module was completed I found that my routine worked, my goals were met, assignments were in on time, my day job carried on and I had time with the family. On reflection I can see that I have continued with planning my work, being aware of my own time management and disciplined in my current post as a HM Inspector of Railways.
Everybody learns in different ways and at different levels and bad experiences at school (which was many years ago) left me feeling vulnerable about my learning abilities. Memories from school days come flooding back leaving that sour taste on my tongue and the too difficult drawer in the back of my head open to its full extent. Distance learning may not suit all but the prospect of planning the work to suit my life without anyone towering over me and studying an environment in which I worked did form a protective covering over my sour tongue and went someway to closing the too difficult drawer.
Over the duration of the Diploma my ability to write in a structured way improved significantly. My knowledge, understanding and competence of railway operations increased considerably (due to studying in order to answer the questions and work-based learning) and my confidence in my learning ability shot through the roof. The difficult drawer is now firmly closed. Proof you are never too old to learn, age should not be seen as a barrier. It also gave me the self assurance to apply for a higher position within the Inspectorate as I had been able to utilise my new found knowledge within my day job. Meeting other students, on the course during the study weekends, allowed the sharing of good practices along with individual job experiences. It was also helpful in the fact that you discover that others express similar concerns and you realise you are not the only one who needs further clarification. Support was never far away.
It also provided avenues of learning I had not been exposed to under normal circumstances. For example timetable planning, structure of railways before and after nationalisation, operational differences between Underground, light rail and main line railway just to name a few.
My application for promotion was prior to the completion of the Diploma, but the knowledge and ­confidence obtained from the Diploma and the growing self-assurance from putting my learning into actual ­practice empowered me to apply, sit through an assessment day and finish off with an interview. I was successful and promotion swiftly followed.

So, in answer to my own question, what have I gained?
• Ability to plan
• An awareness of time management
• To be disciplined in tackling difficult or long term tasks
• Improved writing skills
• Increased confidence and competence
• A greater appreciation and understanding of railway operations
• Ability to learn and understand how I learn
• A Diploma in Railway Operations
• A brilliant graduation day
• Promotion to HM Inspector of Railways – the Diploma assisted with my application
• A financial increment
• Letters after my name

The Diploma took nearly two years of my time to complete. It was demanding, difficult and at times frustrating (particularly when the IT played up when away on other training courses) but the benefits that I have gained, not only professionally but personally, have definitely made the Diploma worthwhile.

If you would like to take on the challenge of studying for a professional qualification in Railway Operations Management, the next intake of students is October 2008. The IRO will be offering three courses: the Foundation course aimed at front line staff or those new to the industry, the Diploma Course and the Degree Course. The deadline for applications is 31st July 2008. For further details and an application form visit our website at www.railwayoperators.org. If you have any questions, please contact Mike Hill (Programme Organiser) by email at education@railwayoperators.org

University Challenge – the Professionals

Tricia Meade is to take on the full time role of IRO Training and Development Manager. At present working as a ­business consultant in safety and risk management Tricia, 46, is currently reading for the Institution’s Degree and sits on the Board as student representative.
Tricia is a business studies graduate of Liverpool John Moore University with experience gained during a broad-based and varied nine-year career in the human resources field. She recently obtained chartered member status with the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and is nearing completion of her B.Sc. Degree at Glasgow Caledonian University in Railway Operational Management.
Keenly looking forward to her new role, which she took over on February 11, Tricia said: “It’s obviously going to be quite a challenging time. As an undergraduate student myself I have direct experience of the education ­programme. I completed the affiliate to associate course and am due to finish my degree shortly. Being the student representative on the IRO board I have been involved in negotiations for the renewal of the partnership agreement between the IRO and Glasgow Caledonian University. My role will be about driving forward the IRO strategy and where we want to go on the education side to develop the skills and professionalism of people in the rail industry.
Chris Daughton, IRO CEO, said: “This is a key appointment at a pivotal time in the Institution’s development. We extend a warm welcome to Tricia under whom I am confident our edu­cation programme will continue to flourish and grow.”

Top TOC joins up as corporate member

East Coast main line operator National Express East Coast is the latest major train operating company to become a corporate member of the Institution of Railway Operators.
National Express East Coast’s membership brings the number of IRO corporate members to 25 railway related companies and organisations.
Formed last year as a subsidiary of National Express Group, National Express East Coast successfully bid for the East Coast mainline franchise formerly operated by GNER. National Express began operating the route linking the English and Scottish capitals formerly and widely regarded as the UK’s premier rail route, in December 2007.
Andy Meadows, National Express East Coast HR director, said: “Our corporate membership of the IRO will bring a raft of benefits to the company. Our employees will have access to the IRO’s excellent Education Programme with opportunities to enrol on the Foundation, Diploma or Degree Courses. In addition National Express East Coast will, through our corporate membership, have direct access to the board of an organisation that has become one of the rail industry’s most influential professional bodies. In return we look forward to being able to add our contribution to the IRO’s unrivalled reserve of combined operating experience and knowledge.”
Chris Daughton, IRO CEO, said: “We are delighted to welcome National Express East Coast to corporate membership of the IRO. Having the operator of one of the UK’s top rail franchises as a member can only add to the IRO’s growing prestige within the rail industry and bring mutual benefit to both the company and the Institution.”

Rail 2008 Summit

The IRO stand, manned by Tricia Meade and Chris Daughton, attracted strong interest from delegates attending the event, which is now the largest rail summit in the UK.
Chris and Tricia fielded numerous enquiries about membership and enrolment on the IRO Diploma and Degree courses from delegates from across the UK rail industry.
Now in its third year the Summit was attended by more than 250 senior figures from central Government, the Olympic Delivery Authority and the TOCs, including representatives from Crossrail and Thames Gateway, who gathered to discuss the future and review recent rail successes.
Chris said: “It was a successful day during which we were able to raise the profile of the Institution and hopefully attract new members and students for our courses.”

Hosted by Virgin Trains, more than a dozen members of the IRO North-West Area visited the Class 390 Pendolino driver simulator in Crewe.
Representing a variety of various railway organisations in the region the group enjoyed an evening with members of the Virgin Trains world class training and development team who showed them the capabilities of the most modern of training facilities.
Each member had the opportunity to take the Pendolino simulator controls. Sitting in the driver’s seat of the full scale replica cab they were able to run at full tilt along sections of the flagship West Coast route, driving their train as best they could contending with a variety of everyday restrictions and some more unusual problems while the rest of the group looked on from the control room.
In an introductory talk the group learnt about the comprehensive driver training programme syllabus that Virgin Trains provides and how current drivers’ competence in out-of-course working is regularly assessed, as well as how railway simulator technology has advanced in recent years to become a vital tool in the training and development of drivers today.
Our gratitude goes to Virgin Trains Driver Trainers Martin Thomason and Christopher Leedham for hosting us on what was a most enjoyable visit, as well as to Brett Hobson, Fleet Planner for Virgin Trains, who helped organise the event.

A view expressed by Robin Hirsch

What is ‘World Class’ and has the UK a real desire to achieve it?
In East Asia, on the other hand, railways have been seeking out qualified comparisons and best practices across the world since at least the early 1990’s, not to pat themselves on the back, but to learn how to improve.
It is not just in infrastructure management that East Asian railways are superior to those in the UK and Europe. In rolling stock reliability, the comparisons are equally stark: despite substantial improvements, spurred on by Roger Ford’s Gold Spanners awards, the best performances for EMU’s in UK are still under 50,000 miles per casualty, and that is using a 5 minute threshold. Older rolling stock still tends to perform better – teething problems with new trains take far too long to resolve in the UK.
On East Rail, KCRC improved performance from 57,000 miles per casualty in 1996 to 150,000 train miles in 2006, using a 3-minute threshold. With new rolling stock, the performance is even more impressive.
The four-year-old West Rail achieved ‘only’ 264,000 miles in 2007 using a 3-minute threshold, but 482,000 using Network Rail’s 5-minute threshold. Ma On Shan Rail started operations in December 2004 with 136,000 train-miles, but within two years the figure was up to 502,000 miles – between 3-minute delays!
Of course, all this has an impact on punctuality. Network Rail’s target is 90.2% PPM in 2008/9 overall, with 92.0% PPM on Gatwick Express. Since 2002, East Rail’s punctuality has never dropped below 99.7%; by 2006, it reached 99.91% using its more rigorous 3-minute threshold.
Japan Railways’ threshold is even tighter: if a train is one minute behind schedule, it counts as late. The Shinkansen’s average delay is now only 0.3 minutes per train, down from 24 seconds or 0.4 minutes in 1999. Everywhere in East Asia, continuous improvements are not just a slogan; it is a way of life and a driving force for railways and other service industries. If we do not learn this, if we are working in the dark, we will be doomed to fall further and further behind their level of excellence. Network Rail will not achieve its aim to be world class if it does not compare itself with world-class railways.
It does not take magic to achieve such results. They are due to a ­combination of disciplined effort and consistent root cause analysis, driven by a constant urge never to be satisfied with the status quo, but always to improve and to set higher, ever more ambitious standards. These railways are constantly benchmarking against the best elsewhere in the world and against other industries. ‘You can always learn things from others, even when they are not as good overall as you are’ said Andrew McCusker, Operations Director of MTR Corporation and one of the driving forces behind the CoMET and Nova worldwide benchmarking groups.
UK railways would do well to emulate such an approach. London Underground has gained substantially from its experience in benchmarking, but there is scope for a great deal of expansion of this valuable discipline amongst most of the rest of the UK rail industry. Without a clear view including qualified figures for world-class ­performance, how can the UK achieve the improvements that are so long overdue?
The attention of IRO members is drawn to the special offer – copies of the best practices from KCRC are made available to us at only £20.

Special IRO £17.50 Discount
The book is available at £30+£7.50 P&P but a special price is available to IRO members of £20 (post free in UK) on orders enclosing a copy of this offer and a cheque or credit card details.
Non-UK orders are also available at £20+P&P at cost: Europe = £12.50 Rest of World £20. Cheques payable to A & N Harris, 43a Palace Square, Crystal Palace, LONDON SE19 2LT

Online credit card orders may also be placed on the editor’s website:
http://www.kingdom-technology.co.uk/IRO_offer.htm

Uni contract renewed

Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) and the IRO are set to continue their association for another three years.
After three successful years during which the university has provided the academic backing for the IRO Degree and Diploma courses the two organisations agreed a new three-year contract to run from April this year.
Chris Daughton, IRO Chief Executive, said: “We are delighted our association with GCU is to continue as we work well together.”
Vince Mills, senior lecturer at GCU’s Scottish Centre for Work Based Learning, who has supervised the IRO courses for the past three years, will continue in that role.

Crossrail invites IRO input

In advance of the Crossrail project reaching its final design stage Cross London Rail Links has invited the IRO to take part in the process of speci­fying in detail just how Crossrail will operate.
Requesting the IRO’s input the company said it wanted to “draw on the best thinking that is around”.
Chris Daughton, IRO Chief Executive, said: “As an organisation we are delighted to be invited to work closely with Crossrail in drawing up a detailed specification for its operations. The invitation demonstrates the respect and influence the IRO has earned within the railway industry. It’s likely that our contribution will comprise workshops and IRO modules on specific operational matters.”

The current Corporate Member Companies:
Network Rail, Virgin Trains, South Eastern Railway, First Great Western, RWA Rail, First Transpennine Express, Southern, First Capital Connect, Arriva Trains Wales, Transport for London, Docklands Light Railway, London Underground Ltd, South West Trains, ATOC, Stagecoach Supertram, Northern Ireland Railways, EWS Railway, Mott MacDonald, First ScotRail, Stagecoach Metrolink, c2c, Iarnród Éireann (Irish Rail), Eurostar UK Ltd, National Express East Anglia, East Midlands Trains, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Railnews, Gatwick Express, Chiltern Railways , National Express East Coast.

Local Area Events

All our Area events are listed on our website: www.railwayoperators.org and you are very welcome to attend events in your own or any other Area. Unless the listing says otherwise, you do not need to advise us that you intend to be there.

The hunt is on for the dozen top railway photos

Now in its third successive year and with the theme ‘Britain’s modern railway’ our prestigious photographic competition is again looking for original and inspiring photography showing the best of today’s railway across the UK.
Open to all IRO members, associates, fellows and affiliates the competition is not focused on mainline passenger trains alone. We are looking for a mixture of light rail, freight traffic, station shots, passengers, scenic views, operational railway and railway infrastructure to make an attractive mix for the 2009 calendar, which we distribute to all our members.
Twelve photographs will be chosen from all entries for the respective months and a winner selected from the twelve to receive a complimentary ticket for the 2009 Annual Members’ Lunch and a gift voucher.

Conditions for entry:
- all photos must be high-res jpeg images 300dpi – 10” x 8” minimum
- all photographs must be accompanied by written authorisation for us to use the photos
- you must obtain the permission of any persons who appear in the photos you submit, (if they are recognisable)
- all photos must be taken from a position of safety – do not go anywhere that you are not entitled or qualified to be.

Please send your entries to:
Debbie Gingell, Woodhouse Communications, 1st Floor Progress House, 141 Western Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex RH16 3LH
E: debbie@woodhousecommunications.co.uk
Closing date: 30th September 2008. All photos will be returned if a self-addressed envelope is provided.