Rail Electrification: Rebuilding Confidence

Mark Hopwood: Managing Director, Great Western Railway

Mark is the Managing Director of Great Western Railway having been appointed in 2008 and held the post for just over 10 years. During that period Mark has faced a number of challenges. Initially he had to restore punctuality and reliability which had fallen substantially, then address the financial challenges of the recession. Following that Mark worked with government to build the case to add substantial capacity to the business through additional vehicles and in recent times Mark has worked collaboratively with the DFT and Network Rail to develop the enhancements to support the introduction of electric trains, the Crossrail project, substantial rebuilding of key stations including Reading.

Substantial quantities of new rolling stock have been put in to use on GWR to benefit customers with existing rolling stock often retained and cascaded to support other parts of the business. Mark is now working to deliver the December 2019 timetable which will add frequency and reduce journey times on most GW routes.

Mark has worked in UK Rail for thirty years this year and has experience at the front line and in more strategic roles.

Bill Reeve: Commercial Director, Transport Scotland

Bill Reeve joined Transport Scotland to establish its new rail team, following the devolution of rail powers to the Scottish Parliament in 2005. He also leads the programme to introduce integrated smart ticketing across all public transport modes in Scotland. As well as his Transport Scotland role, Bill is the Independent Chair of the new Rail North Partnership Board. Bill is a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and recently served as Chairman of its Railway Division.

Mary Hewitt: Policy Director, Arriva

Mary is Strategy & Policy Director for Arriva UK Trains where she is responsible for developing and implementing an holistic customer focused strategy for the UK trains division, driving improvement and ensuring that Arriva is leading and influencing the policy agenda. Prior to joining Arriva, Mary worked in policy and strategy roles in the UK power sector, including an instrumental role in the development of the Electricity Market Reforms, where she was responsible for understanding and influencing the commercial implications of government policy on existing and future assets. She started her career in strategy consultancy, with PwC initially before working for a smaller strategy consultancy. There she led multiple international assignments across a range of clients, taking her to a variety of places such as West Africa, the USA, The Netherlands and Russia. She has a First Class MEng in Chemical Engineering with Management from the University of Birmingham.

David Clarke: Technical Director, RIA

David joined RIA in 2016 as the Technical Director. His role focuses on representing members interests in the important areas of safety, technical standards, technical strategy, research and innovation. 

David is a chartered engineer and a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers and the Permanent Way Institution with over 30 years rail industry experience. Prior to joining RIA he was the Innovation Director at RSSB where he was responsible for the cross-industry Future Railway Programme which is helping to deliver the industry Rail Technical Strategy. His earlier career includes being Deputy Director, Rail Technical at the Department for Transport, prior to which he was a Director for two of the major rail infrastructure contractors having started his career with British Rail. As an Engineer he has been responsible for structures and permanent way design, installation and maintenance, he has managed all railway engineering disciplines including command and control, electrification and the technical specification of rolling stock. He was heavily involved in the development of the UK Rail Technical Strategy.

Richard Stainton: Professional Head, Electrical Power, Network Rail

Richard Stainton has had a varied railway electrification career spanning over 20 years. He has worked in railway maintenance, project engineering and management, and system design.  He was accountable for the delivery of the first 400 kV derived traction supply connected to the GB railway. He then led the production of designs for the conversion of the West Coast Mainline from a classic to an autotransformer electrification system. 

Richard led the development of regenerative braking on the GB rail network. He developed a risk-based methodology to enable over 1000 rail vehicles operating on the dc conductor rail system to brake regeneratively, saving over 200 GWhrs per year.  

Richard was also the Electrification Professional Head for Network Rail accountable for all technical standards for electrification and plant. He is currently Engineering Expert for Network Rail, supporting electrification project teams to solve technical challenges. He also represents GB on the EN 50119 & EN 50122 working groups.

Helen Simpson: Head of Innovation and Technical Services, Porterbrook

Helen Simpson joined British Rail in 1992 as an Engineering Management Trainee and after a period of training and placements, she worked for Central Trains leading reliability growth projects and modifications on DMUs. In 1997, she joined Interfleet where she had a number of different roles including leading the Asset Management and Maintenance Services team. In more recent years, Helen has had a focus on innovation projects, and in 2014 she joined Porterbrook to help lead new engineering developments. She describes her current role as Head of Innovation and Technical Services as investigating and developing new technology for existing trains across all Porterbrook's fleets. Some of her most interesting projects have included the Class 769 Flex project, a hydrogen fuel cell train and the HybridFLEX project which she will explain about in the presentation.

Phil Doughty: Professional Head of Contact Systems, Network Rail

Phil Doughty is the Professional Head of Contact Systems at Network Rail where he is responsible for providing technical and safety leadership for Contact Systems engineering within Network Rail and the wider industry. Phil is an experienced Contact Systems engineer with a comprehensive understanding of the railway industry, engineering standards, risk management and legislation. In his current role Phil is accountable for Network Rail’s Contact System Asset Management Policy and standards, defining the engineering technical rules and controls. Phil represents the UK at a number of European railway committees including EN 50119 drafting group where he is the convener. 

Steve Cox: Engineering & Technical Director SS&I UK, Alstom

Steve Cox is a chartered engineer, an industry leader in railway electrification with approaching 25 years of experience gained in the UK and internationally, having worked on the first high speed electrification scheme in the USA (Boston to New Haven) and on most of the recent main UK schemes including Trent Valley Four Tracking, Rugby Station Remodelling, Airdrie to Bathgate, Thameslink and Liverpool to Manchester, EGIP and Crossrail. Steve is Alstom SS&I Engineering and Technical Director who leads the engineering function across the Systems, Signalling and Infrastructure business and is responsible for engineering professional development, governance and setting engineering strategy as well as delivery. He is passionate about safe by design and health practices, driving innovation and encouraging collaborative working.

Livia Serafini: Operation Director for Systems & Infrastructures, Alstom

Livia Serafini is an experienced manager covering 15 years in different business and functions. Livia is Alstom Operation Director in Systems and Infrastructures in Italy, in charge of operation activities, leading the infrastructure fields in domestic and international markets through the coordination of installation planning, installation equipment & tools and supply chain. She is responsible to ensure a field supervision in line with project installation scope and design and to guarantee that projects are leaded in safety, on time and within budget. She has excellent skills on managing yard staff ensuring a collaborative working environment to perform efficiently and safely and she is passionate about EHS and cost efficiency in construction activities.

Stephen Gossling: Senior Consultant, Ricardo

Stephen Gossling joined BREL in 1991 as a Sponsored Engineering Student whilst studying Mechanical Engineering at Loughborough. After training placements, he worked for ADtranz in Vehicle Repair and Modernisation, specialising in brakes and pneumatics and project engineering on passenger vehicle upgrades. Following a period in consultancy with Mott MacDonald, he worked at Bombardier Central Rivers as a Project Engineer responsible for traction and powerpacks and then Lead Engineer supporting the operational safety of the Class 22x fleets. Stephen joined Ricardo Rail in 2017, where he has brought his experience of vehicle enhancements, maintenance, safety and project engineering to support Porterbrook in upgrading Turbostars. Most recently he has been the technical lead for the HybridFLEX feasibility study and is now project engineer for the delivery of the vehicle integration design and approvals.

Stephen Kent: Research Fellow, University of Birmingham

Stephen spent 16 years in Derby based rail consultancies before joining the University of Birmingham in 2010 where his time is split between teaching and research activities.  One of his keen interests has been the introduction of hydrogen fuel cells, and he lead the team the built the UK’s first hydrogen fuel cell powered (narrow gauge) locomotive.  He has been a key contributor to several recent studies looking at fuel cell traction and the wider decarbonisation challenge, as well as projects involving autonomous robotic systems and the application of additive manufacturing in rail. 

Ian Walmsley: Writer, Modern Railways

Mark Gaynor: Interim Director of Planning, Engineering and Operations, Rail Delivery Group

Brian Sweeney: Senior Project Engineer, Network Rail