ATO: Integration to Achieve a Truly Interoperable System

Ben Rule: Director of Railway Operations, High Speed Two (HS2) Ltd

Ben Rule is Director of Railway Operations at HS2. He is responsible for the team which is defining how HS2 will be operated. He has wide experience in railway operations having been Production Director at CrossCountry and Operations Director at GWR. He has also worked in senior operating roles at Network Rail. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Railway Operators.

George Clark: Director of Engineering, Transport for London

George Clark started work with London Underground as an apprentice and has now amassed over 30 years’ experience of delivering modern train and control system engineering on Londons’ Underground, including major projects such as the Jubilee Line Extension and leading the delivery of the first moving block ATO signalling on the Jubilee and Northern Lines. Today he is Director of Engineering at Transport for London as well as President of the IRSE.

His Transport for London role requires leadership of over 1500 engineers across all disciplines and transport modes. These range from streets to bridges, from roads to rail combating challenges with the 150 year old London Underground network through to the complex road junctions and traffic management of the city. The Directorate provide engineering services to meet TfL business needs throughout the asset Life-cycle, underpinning the delivery of such projects as the re-signalling of the sub-surface lines and the new tube trains for the Piccadilly line and continues to support, enhance and modernize our Transport systems, retaining a safe and reliable Transport network. 

George is the sponsor Director for the TfL engineering graduate schemes and a promoter of apprenticeships across TfL and the UK.

Thomas Godfrey: Head of Engineering, UK Rail Control Solutions Division, Bombardier Transportation

Thomas is an expert in systems engineering, focussed on CBTC and ETCS. Thomas started work as a graduate engineer with London Underground.  Since then Thomas has accumulated considerable experience including 12 years in Asia delivering projects in China, India, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia. Thomas returned to the UK in 2015 and is now working on developing Bombardier’s business in the Digital Railway sector. Thomas graduated from the University of Manchester and is a Chartered Engineer with the IMechE. Thomas is also a Fellow of the Institution of Railway Signalling Engineers.

Carine Marin: Acting Head of CCS and Communication, High Speed Two (HS2) Ltd

Carine has been working on many ATO and ETCS projects with Network Rail, SNC Lavalin and HS2. She has over 20 years international experience in both supply and client side of the engineering industry working in various roles from project management to system engineering. She has extensive knowledge of working with ERTMS and ATO systems, from writing the specifications and remits for deployment, to helping manage successful trials of the systems. Carine has managed the development of the concept of operations and technical specifications for an interoperable ATO over ERTMS on behalf of the ERTMS Users’ Group. She has specified the requirements for HS2 onboard and trackside ATO systems and is involved in the development of the NR ATO reference designs.

Stefan Rosendahl: Senior Technical Project Manager, Stadler Altenrhein AG

After joining Stadler in 2015 Mr. Rosendahl is leading the Glasgow Subway Project for Stadler Rail AG since March 2016. After finishing his studies of Electrical Engineering in Aachen he started his career in the rail industry. He worked for different system integrators and component suppliers in projects across the world. This covers several types of project like the supply wheelsets for North America, streetcars for Japan or homologation of American track machines in Germany. Mr. Rosendahl is a certified IPMA Project Manager. For Glasgow subway he is responsible for the development of the new vehicles with the integration of the Hitachi STS CBTC system.

T C Chew: Director, Global Rail Business Lead, Arup

Mr. T C Chew is a Chartered Engineer and a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, UK. He is also fellow of number of UK professional institutions including IMechE and IRSE. He has been involved with the railway and construction industries globally for over 40 years, On January 2018, TC joined Arup family in London as Director, Global Rail Business Lead. Prior to that, he was President, Global Business & Operations for Samsung C&T Corporation based in Singapore. Between May 2009 to October 2015, he was the Projects Director with Hong Kong MTR Corporation, overseeing all the railway projects in Hong Kong as well as the MTR overseas ventures. Previously, he was a Divisional President for Bombardier Transportation on the London Underground modernization public-private partnership program. Up to 2003, he spent eight years with Singapore Land Transport Authority as their Senior Director for Projects and Engineering, overseeing all the Singapore railway and road projects. TC also have the privilege to work on the London Underground Jubilee Line Extension project. He graduated from Manchester University, holding a Bachelor and Master degree.

Phil Dubery: Director, CPC Systems

Phil graduated from Brunel University in 1985 with an honours degree in Mechanical Engineering having completed a final project on vehicle combustion engine tuning.  From 1983, Phil was sponsored by London Underground and after graduation has spent 35 years working for various operators, suppliers and consultancies on railway project delivery, operational support, maintenance and design and development for rolling stock, signalling, control and depots as well as developing whole railway solutions including power, track and other aspects.

Phil has been responsible for facilitating the introduction into service and operational robustness and reliability of several CBTC railways, during which time he has first-hand experience of managing and optimising the service performance of these modern systems.

Imtithal Aziz: Principal Engineer – Control Command & Signalling Engineering (CCS), Network Rail

Imtithal is leading work on the Future CCS technologies for Network Rail in both the GB and European environment. This involves providing a leading role for Network Rail in the Shift2Rail Innovation Programme 2 to advance the development of traffic management and control systems across Europe. She is also an architect in the development of Network Rail’s CCS R&D portfolio in CP6 working with a specific focus on the future CCS Reference Architecture alongside ETCS, ATO and Traffic Management.

She is a Chartered Electrical Engineer with over 15 years’ experience in UK- Railway System Integration/Engineering, including ETCS, Communication Based Train control (CBTC), Rolling Stock Interfaces & Integration, Radio Communication Systems and Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC). 

Imtithal has previously worked on a number of major upgrades programmes for TfL, including the Jubilee & Northern (JNUP), Victoria (VLU) & Deep Tube (DTUP). She has also has worked in Fleet Engineering for a Rolling Stock Leasing Company (ROSCO) and Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) for an International Railway Consultancy.

Pradeep Vasudev: Technical Director, WSP