Engineering the Railway Passenger Journey

Name: Engineering the Railway Passenger Journey
Start: 2016-05-18T09:00:00
Location: Institution of Mechanical Engineers

Institution of Mechanical Engineers, London

18 May 2016
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Overview

Engineering the Railway Passenger Journey will explore the creative and practical elements that engineers play in shaping our movement through railway trains, stations and ticket barriers.

Since privatisation, passenger numbers have doubled and we continue to see further growth. Whilst this is great news, trying to accommodate more passengers on an already busy railway poses real challenges for operators. Those challenges become even harder when disruption is caused by engineering work or by extreme weather events like we’ve seen over the winter.

So, what are the solutions?

How can we meet passenger expectations of easier, more reliable and comfortable journeys as our network and trains become more crowded?

How can we keep train services running when there’s disruption?

How can we communicate better with our passengers to give them the information they need when they need it?

This seminar will bring together leading industry experts to examine the issues that really matter to passengers, to identify best practice and to consider the role of technology and innovation in improving the passenger experience.

Confirmed speakers include:

- Anthony Smith, Chief Executive, Transport Focus
- Peter Wilkinson, Managing Director, Passenger Services, Department for Transport
- Mike Stubbs, ‎Director London Overground, Transport for London
- Martijn Gilbert, CEO, Reading Buses
- River Tamoor Baig, Co-Founder, Hack Partners

More details, including a full programme agenda and speaker line-up, will follow shortly.

Day 1

08:30 - Full Day Programme

08:30 REGISTRATION & REFRESHMENTS

09:00 CHAIR’S OPENING REMARKS

Session 1: Practical Best Practice

09:10 KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Anthony Smith, Chief Executive, Transport Focus

‘Do passengers trust the rail industry?’

• What drives passenger satisfaction now and in the future?
• What drive how passengers feel about rail services?
• What drives passenger trust of the rail industry?

09:35 PUTTING PASSENGERS IN THE DRIVING SEAT
Peter Wilkinson, Managing Director, Passenger Services

• Who are our passengers?
Segmenting the market for rail travel and identifying passenger needs so they can be addressed in a way that makes a difference to their journey
• What is Passenger Services in Government doing?
How Passenger Services have made changes to competitions and contracts to put passengers at the centre of all rail choices and decisions
• How the industry should respond:
How infrastructure providers, operators and investors can work with Passenger Services to make the changes necessary to meet customer needs now and in the future

10:00 IMPROVING THE END-TO-END PASSENGER EXPERIENCE
Gary Cooper, Director of Operations, Engineering & Major Projects, ATOC and Jacqueline Starr, Managing Director, Customer Experience, ATOC

• Understanding what the end-to-end journey means
• Exploring opportunities for innovation within the industry

10:25 QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSION

10:35 NETWORKING REFRESHMENT BREAK

Session 2: Practical Best Practice

11:00 THE TRANSPORT FOR LONDON PERSPECTIVE
Mike Stubbs, Director, London Overground, Transport for London

• Delivering a safe railway is a given, but should not be forgotten
• Thoughts on ‘delighting’ the customer

11.25 ALL CHANGE PLEASE: GOVIA THAMESLINK RAILWAY’S (GTR) FOCUS ON THE PASSENGER
Keith Wallace, Programme Director, Govia Thameslink Railway

• GTR has the UK’s biggest franchise, with a huge change programme including Thameslink
• The many and varied passenger benefits being introduced over the life of the franchise
• Passenger focus on the Thameslink programme during design, construction/manufacturing, and entry into service

11:50 MAKING A STEP CHANGE IN CUSTOMER SERVICE
Mark Evers, Director of Customer Strategy, London Underground

• The LU environment and its challenges
• The role of technology in maintaining and improving the customer experience
• LU initiatives to improve customer service
• Role of technology in making the Underground more accessible to customers

12:15 QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSION

12:30 NETWORKING LUNCH

Session 3: Practical Considerations

13:30 INTEGRATING BUSES WITH TRAINS: HOW A STRATEGIC APPROACH CAN IMPROVE THE PASSENGER EXPERIENCE
Martijn Gilbert, CEO, Reading Buses

• Lessons learnt in the bus sector
• How can it influence other industries, particularly rail?
• Understanding passenger requirements by using information from bookings and databases

13:55 GIVING RAIL PASSENGERS A FAIRER DEAL: THE CREATION AND OPERATION OF AUTOMATIC DELAY REPAY (ADR)
Anand Sampat, Head of Customer Experience, c2c and Kishan Vaja, Digital Marketing Manager, c2c

• There is increasing dissatisfaction with the way train companies compensate passengers for delays
• To combat these negative perceptions, c2c recently launched the country's first Automatic Delay Repay (ADR) schedule
• An overview of ADR and the associated issues with its introduction
• How the innovation can/is helping to improve trust in the rail industry

14:20 SHIFTING THE FOCUS FROM TRAINS TO PASSENGERS IN PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT?
Stephen Draper, Performance Analysis Manager, Network Rail

• Performance is one of the biggest drivers of passenger satisfaction
• Passengers need to trust that the industry understands the issues they face
• Different challenges the industry needs to address when this happens

14:45 QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSION

14:55 NETWORKING REFRESHMENT BREAK

Session 4: Practical Considerations

15:25 HACKTRAIN: AN ALTERNATIVE PERSPECTIVE
River Tamoor Baig, Co-Founder, Hack Partners

• How HackTrain is working with the UK’s biggest train operators to introduce innovative ways to improve the passenger experience and increase operational efficiency

QUICK FIRE PRESENTATIONS ON HACKTRAIN INNOVATIONS:

Presentation 1
Understanding how passengers move about during delays and disruptions to the network and how this affects platform congestion, retail purchases and train loading

Presentation 2
Using mobile technology to reduce congestion on passenger services, drawing on evidence from applying this approach on the c2c line between Fenchurch Street and Southend

Presentation 3
Improving the multi-modal experience, drawing on technology used by the likes of Zoopla and Rightmove to help people decide where to purchase a home, based on transportation links

16:00 CLASS 144E: TRANSFORMING PERCEPTIONS
Helen Simpson, Engineering and Supplier Development Manager, Porterbrook and Andy Houghton, Commercial Director, RVEL

• How did Porterbrook set out to change passenger perceptions of their Pacer fleet?
• How did they set the design vision?
• How can you work collaboratively with suppliers to deliver a one-off, bespoke prototype in short timescales?

• How Porterbrook deliberately chose to showcase new technology

16:20 THE CLASS 321 RENATUS MEETING PASSENGER NEEDS
Mark Smith, Commercial Director, Wabtec

• “Renatus” - born again
• Customer experience of a ‘new train’
• Reliability development and remote condition monitoring

16:40 QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSION

16:50 CHAIR’S CLOSING REMARKS

17.00 END OF SEMINAR

Anthony Smith: Chief Executive, Transport Focus

Anthony Smith originally qualified as a solicitor, working for five years as Principal Consumer Lawyer for the Consumers’ Association, publishers of ‘Which?’ This was followed by a year as the Legal Consultant for Consumers International, a worldwide federation of consumer groups. Prior to joining Transport Focus, Anthony was Deputy and Acting Director of ICSTIS, the regulator of premium rate telephone services. He is also a member of the Civil Aviation Authority’s Consumer Panel.

Mike Stubbs: Director London Overground, Transport for London (TfL)

Mike Stubbs has overall responsibility within Transport for London (TfL) for London Overground. During his career he has worked for both public and private sectors on a number of railway systems in the UK and Hong Kong. In Hong Kong he led the design and implementation of the new signalling control and communication system on the Kowloon Canton Railway East Rail (now MTRC) to enable greater capacity to be provided on existing infrastructure. Following this, he worked on the Jubilee Line extension and then on the National Rail West Coast Route Modernisation as Chief Engineer. In his current role, he is accountable for delivering a safe, reliable and punctual railway with high customer satisfaction.

Martijn Gilbert: CEO, Reading Buses

River Tamoor Baig: Co-Founder, Hack Partners

River Tamoor Baig is the Co-Founder of Hack Partners, an innovation consultancy focused on driving innovation within the railway industry via their HackTrain movement. HackTrain is working with the UK's biggest train operating companies to deliver breakthrough-level innovation, improving passenger experience and operational efficiency of the railways.

Gary Cooper: Director of Engineering, Operations & Major Projects, ATOC and Business Director, National Task Force

Gary Cooper joined British Rail (BR) in 1984, starting as a station supervisor, before eventually becoming one of the first Commercial Directors for British Rail and later the Deputy Managing Director at Network SouthCentral, the BR-owned forerunner to Southern. After privatisation, Gary undertook a number of roles for Connex at TOC and Board level including Group Engineering Director and Group Major Projects Director. In 2002 he was invited to take the then full-time post of Business Director for the National Task Force (NTF). He became Director of Engineering, Operations & Major Projects in May 2012 and is an Executive Director at the Rail Delivery Group.

Keith Wallace: Programme Director, Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR)

Keith Wallace is a Chartered Engineer and a Chartered Director who has spent his career in railways. He has worked on the planning, promotion and implementation of major rail projects around the world. He has always sought to focus on the passenger, bringing to bear his global experience as both a transport practitioner and passenger.

Anand Sampat: Customer Insight Manager, c2c

Anand Sampat is a market research professional, focused on gaining significant insights into customer needs. At c2c, he ensures that new initiatives and processes are designed with the customer viewpoint in mind.

Kishan Vaja: Digital Marketing Manager, c2c

Kishan Vaja is c2c's Digital Marketing Manager. With over eight years digital marketing experience in the hospitality industry, Kishan is now focusing his efforts on ensuring that customers have the best user experience on digital touchpoints, including the ‘c2c Live’ mobile app and website.

Helen Simpson: Engineering and Supplier Development Manager, Porterbrook

Helen Simpson joined British Rail (BR) in 1992 and after a period of graduate placements, worked for Central Trains, leading reliability growth projects and modifications on Diesel Multiple Units (DMUs). In 1997, Helen joined Interfleet where she had a number of different roles including leading the asset management and maintenance services team. Recently, Helen has focused on innovation projects, and in 2014 she joined Porterbrook as their Engineering and Supplier Development Manager. In this role, she describes her job as investigating ways to 'fit new technology to older trains' and is responsible for leading new technology and supplier developments across Porterbrook's fleets.

Mark Smith: Commercial Director, Wabtec

Mark Smith is a Chartered Civil Engineer who crossed the industry following 18 years working on railway infrastructure projects to join Wabtec Rail in 2014. Mark graduated from Loughborough University and worked for Balfour Beatty Rail Projects and Signalling Solutions (Alstom Transport) in project management and business development in overhead line and signalling. Mark is now responsible for the delivery of the vehicle overhaul business at Wabtec Rail Doncaster.

Peter Wilkinson: Managing Director, Passenger Services

Stephen Draper: Performance Analysis Manager, Network Rail

Andy Houghton: Commercial Director, RVEL

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