ATO – The Future of Mainline Railway?

Name: ATO – The Future of Mainline Railway?
Start: 2017-02-16T08:30:00
Location: Institution of Mechanical Engineers

Institution of Mechanical Engineers, London

16 February 2017
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Attend the only seminar that will focus on the benefits of using Automatic Train Operation (ATO), including how it enables high-capacity rail operation with lessons learnt from its implementation abroad on metro and underground lines that have been using the system for years.

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Overview

This must-attend seminar, hosted with the Institution of Railway Signal Engineers, will focus on the benefits of ATO for mainline rail in the UK. Hear from metro and underground lines that have been using the system for years and gain an understanding of the ATO system as a whole, along with the benefits and risks associated with its implementation.

Address the critical issue of where the technical integration for ATO comes from, Signal or Rolling Stock, and the importance of both sides’ engineers working together to optimise the performance. Not only will the event feature practical case studies of ATO implementation but also the regulatory requirements for its implementation. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to network with key players in rail from the UK and Europe to discuss ATO along with the future of mainline rail.

Why attend ATO - The Future of Mainline Railway?
•Learn about the ATO system and how it could enable a higher capacity rail operation for mainline rail
•Hear from key international metro companies and their experience of railways and systems that have operated ATO
•Receive exclusive update about plans for optimising ATO and adopting ATO as a standard, interoperable system across the GB network
•Learn about how to manage the safety and reliability risks of ATO technology
•Network and engage with key players in ATO such as train operators, rolling stock manufacturers, systems engineers and regulators

Key Programme Highlights:
• Hear an exclusive update from both the European Union Agency for Railways and Digital Railway about their plans for ATO
• Learn from DB Cargo AG about the successful automation digitisation in European Rail Freight
• Hear about the Next Generation Train Control Project (NGTC) from Thales Transportation
• Systransis share about Holistic Rail Network Operation by Integration of Train Automation and Traffic Management
• Network Rail share their experience of integration testing of ATO over ETCS on Thameslink
• The Network Certification Body give an overview of the process of authorising the ATO system
• Bombardier Transportation share about maximising train performance within an ATO system

Key Speakers include:
• Josef Doppelbauer, Executive Director, European Union Agency for Railways
• David Waboso, Managing Director, Digital Railway (Network Rail)
• Benoît Bienfait, Intercity/ATO System Manager, Alstom Transport
• Miroslav Obrenovic, Vice President, Asset Strategy & Programs, DB Cargo
• Jack Ratcliffe, ATC System Engineer, Bombardier Transportation
• David Harbage, Senior Programme Engineer, Network Rail

Upcoming Events

Day 1

08:30 - One-Day Programme

08:30	REGISTRATION AND REFRESHMENTS
09:00	CHAIR’S OPENING REMARKS
9.10	KEYNOTE: AUTOMATIC TRAIN OPERATION IN A EUROPEAN CONTEXT Josef Doppelbauer, Executive Director, European Union Agency for Railways
9.35	ATO IN A GREAT BRITAIN CONTEXT David Waboso, Managing Director, Group Digital Railway (Network Rail)
	SETTING THE SCENE TO ATO
10:00	ATO AS PART OF A DIGITAL RAILWAY Aidan McGrady, Senior ERTMS Engineer, Network Rail • Overview of challenges facing the railway currently • Benefits of ATO use in the rail system • Impact of the use of ATO on operations
10.05	HOLISTIC RAIL NETWORK OPERATION BY INTEGRATION OF TRAIN AUTOMATION AND TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT Xialou Rao, Senior System Engineer, Systransis
10.30	THE NEXT GENERATION TRAIN CONTROL PROJECT (NGTC) – COMMON ATO FOR URBAN AND MAINLINE David Dimmer, Director, Product Strategy, Urban Rail Business Line Thales Transportation Solutions A summary of the NGTC project Overview of the project’s goals and achievements Outline of system architecture with a common ATO
10:55	NETWORKING REFRESHMENT BREAK
11:25	ATO/DAS OVER ETCS: THE WAY TOWARDS UNATTENDED OPERATION FOR MAIN LINES Benoit Bienfait, Intercity/ATO System Manager, Alstom Transport Results from previous projects implemented including the ATO GoA2 program and the quick wins Interoperability needs currently and ERA involvement in meeting these Drive less and unattended operation (GoA3/4): the roadmap for the program
11:50	SUMMARISING SETTING THE SCENE FOR ATO Aidan McGrady, Senior ERTMS Engineer, Network Rail
	CASE STUDIES
11:55	ATO over ETCS on Thameslink David Harbage, Senior Programme Engineer, Network Rail Sundip Laroya, ETCS/ATO Engineer, Siemens Rail Systems Overview of Thameslink and Systems Engineering approach System architecture and Integration testing Challenges and lessons learnt from the testing so far
12.20	INNOVATION STRATEGY AT DB CARGO: AUTOMATION AND DIGITISATION IN EUROPEAN RAIL FREIGHT BUSINESS Miroslav Obrenovic ,Vice President Asset Strategy & Programs, DB Cargo The rail freight sector is facing huge challenges – currently and over the next years. The core strategy and main innovation topics DB Cargo is focusing on are crucial for our economic viability and success as well as our ability to shape the future of the European rail freight business As main levers towards profitability and growth we see “Automation” and “Digitization”. DB Cargo is implementing concrete projects in these prioritized fields of action
12:45	QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSION FOR MORNING SPEAKERS
13:00	NETWORKING LUNCH
14:00	EVOLUTION OF THE SIEMENS PRODUCT LINE: METRO PASSENGER FREIGHT Ray Clifton, Senior Technical Authority ERTMS, Siemens Rail Automation • Positive impact of rail market transformation • Challenges in mainline, regional line and freight traffic • Product evolution and outlook for the future
14:25	METRO CASE STUDY: LONDON UNDERGROUND’S ATO EXPERIENCE Graham Neil, Head of Rolling Stock, London Underground History and types of ATO systems used on the London Underground Issues encountered regarding the system and infrastructure Brief summary of the benefits of ATO
	GIVES AND GETS – THE ROLLING STOCK
14:50	ROLLING STOCK: THE ROSCO PERSPECTIVE Euan Smith, Head of Product Management, Angel Trains Investing in a train that will last for 30 years: Getting the most out of ATO The need for backward compatibility in the systems as well as the need for it to be easy to retrofit and upgrade Some of the barriers to avoid, including network constraints that limit ATO potential and flexibility
15:15	NETWORKING REFRESHMENT BREAK
15:55	MAXIMISING TRAIN PERFORMANCE WITHIN AN ATO SYSTEM Jack Ratcliffe, ATC System Engineer, Bombardier Transportation How to optimise rolling stock performance using the parameters of ATO The impact on defining the traction and braking system for use with an ATO system Challenges associated with the infrastructure, and how Systems Integration is required between track, rolling stock, power and signalling
16:20	AUTHORISING THE ATO SYSTEM Richard Feasby, Senior Conformance Engineer, Network Certification Body (NCB) Bob Calder, Principal Conformance Engineer, Network Certification Body (NCB) Principles of assessment either as part of a system (ERTMS) or separated Overview of the rules and specifications to be assessed against The Health of the UK Certification Body market and what looks good and what needs attention
16:45	QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSION FOR AFTERNOON SESSION
17:00	PANEL DISCUSSION: WHAT ARE THE FUTURE OPPORTUNITIES OF ATO? What’s the process for integration e.g. operations, signal control, rolling stock? What leads the system design, rolling Stock or operations? Are we using the correct instruments e.g. EuroBalise? Security?
17:15	CHAIR’S CLOSING REMARKS
17:20	END OF SEMINAR

Josef Doppelbauer: Executive Director, European Union Agency for Railways

Dr. Josef Doppelbauer holds a degree and a Doctorate, both in Physics. He started his career in 1987 at the Alcatel Research Centre in Vienna, Austria. In 1997 he became Technical Director for Transport Automation Systems in Alcatel Austria. In 2001, he moved to Paris to become Chief Technical Officer for Alcatel Transport Automation Solutions. Dr. DOPPELBAUER joined Bombardier Transportation in December 2002, first working in the Rail Control Solutions division, where he held several positions in Engineering, Sales, and as President, based in Stockholm and Reading (UK). In 2008, he moved on to the global headquarters of Bombardier Transportation in Berlin. From July 2008 to June 2012, he was Vice President Project Management, and from July 2008 to December 2013 Chief Technical Officer.
Between January 2014 and December 2014, Dr. DOPPELBAUER was appointed Vice President Research and Technology, Bombardier Transportation.
He has 25+ years of experience in key aspects of railway technology, including signaling and communications and control. Since the early 1990's, he has been involved with the development of the European Rail Transport Management System (ERTMS).

David Waboso: Managing Director, Group Digital Railway (Network Rail)

David Waboso is an internationally renowned engineer and project manager who has worked for some of the world’s most prestigious engineering and consulting firms on infrastructure programmes in the UK and internationally.
He has advised governments and agencies around the world on Railway strategy. He is a past president of CoMet (the international organization of Metros), working to share and benchmark best practice. A Chartered Engineer, he is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers, a Fellow of the Institution of Railway Signal Engineers, a Fellow of the Association for Project Management, and also holds a Fellowship to the City and Guilds Institute.
He started his railway career leading the upgrade of the Docklands Light Railway, where in 1996 he was awarded UK Project Manager of the Year. Following this he was recruited to the Jubilee Line Extension to take charge of completing the trains and signalling systems in time for millennium opening
He worked on the Thameslink and train safety programmes and for a period was the UK representative on the European Rail Agency. He held the position of Director Technical, at the Strategic Rail Authority where he led cross-industry programmes on ERTMS and system integration as well as being a non-executive director of the Rail Safety and Standards Board.

Aidan McGrady: Senior ERTMS Engineer, Network Rail

Aidan McGrady studied a Masters in Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the University of Edinburgh before joining Network Rail in 2007 as a graduate engineer. Aidan worked for 3 years on the GSM-R project as a project engineer. Between 2012 and 2016 Aidan was seconded to the ERTMS Users Group in Brussels were he led a number of European Projects for the EUGs members; primarily the TEN-T projects developing the GPRS specifications that were introduced in the ERTMS Baseline 3 Release 2 and the development of the ATO over ETCS system. Aidan currently works for the Digital Railway Programme and is the technical lead for the ATO system development.

Xialou Rao: Senior System Engineer, Systransis

Dr. Xiaolu Rao started to work on her PhD research since 2011 and completed her doctoral study at ETH Zurich in June 2015. She spent most of her research time at the company Systransis Ltd (100% owned by Siemens Switzerland Ltd) as a doctoral student. Her PhD thesis “Holistic rail network operation by integration of train automation and traffic management” has won the ETH Medal for outstanding PhD thesis. She proposes a new rail optimisation model by integration of two optimisation methods: traffic management and train automation. Currently, she is a senior system engineer and railway researcher working at Systransis Ltd in Switzerland.

Benoit Bienfait: Intercity/ATO System Manager, Alstom Transport

Benoit Bienfait has over 30 years’ experience in the field of Railway Transport Systems. Benoit has worked extensively in the fields of; conventional signalling, Solid State Interlocking, Automatic Train Protection, Automatic Train Operation and Traffic Management Systems. Benoit is currently a senior expert in the European Railway Traffic Management System (ERTMS) with Alstom Transport, he is leading the development of the ATO system and also chairs the UNISIG ATO Working Group. Benoit has been appointed the Work Package leader for the ATO work package in Shift2Rail.

David Harbage: Senior Programme Engineer, Network Rail

David Harbage is a Chartered Engineer undertaking a leading role for Network Rail in delivering the implementation of ETCS and ATO on the Thameslink route. Prior to joining Network Rail, David studied Mechanical Engineering at the University of Leeds, before beginning his career at Bombardier Transportation installing the Automated People Mover system at Heathrow Terminal 5.
David has spent the last seven years on the Thameslink Programme, developing the system requirements and building models of scenarios on the concept simulator to animate the solution to the operational stakeholders. David is currently leading the integration testing of the ETCS/ATO trackside and trainborne solution in the Thameslink System Integration Laboratory, whilst supporting the testing at the ETCS National Integration Facility and in the core.

Sundip Laroya: ETCS/ATO Engineer, Siemens Rail Systems

Sundip Laroya is an ETCS/ATO Engineer working for Siemens for the past 2 years on the Thameslink Programme.
Sundip is responsible for implementation, commissioning, training and maintenance of the ETCS On Board Unit in the Class 700 fleet. This includes supporting Network Rail and Govia Thameslink Railway with Class 700 ETCS and ATO interface testing at the ETCS National Integration Facility (ENIF) and through the core of London.
Sundip previously worked at a rail consultancy in various aspects of the industry before focussing on ETCS related work, mainly retro-fitment of ETCS on UK rolling stock.

Miroslav Obrenovic: Vice President Asset Strategy & Programs, DB Cargo

Dr. Miroslav Obrenovic is Vice President Asset Strategy & Programs at DB Cargo AG. He has an extensive career in the Rail Field with DB. Prior to joining DB he worked for DLR at the Institute of Transportation Systems as researcher and team leader. In 2008 he joined DB Netz as consultant for the ETCS Strategy and in 2009 moved to DB Schenker Rail AG (now DB Cargo AG) as Head of Innovation and Interoperability Management. In 2011 he was promoted Vice President European Technology & Innovation Strategy.

Graham Neil: Head of Rolling Stock, London Underground

Graham Neil joined London Underground LU in 1971 on a 4 year electrical apprenticeship followed by 5 years in rolling stock electronics maintenance. He then joined the rolling stock engineering department as an auxiliary equipment engineer responsible for the specification, procurement, testing and commissioning of various electrical components, communications and on-board telemetry monitoring systems. During this period he also introduced the replacement auto-driver boxes (ATO equipment) for the Victoria Line. After a short period as head of LU’s rolling stock electronic development department he became the rolling stock standards engineer and subsequently became the New Stock Engineer responsible for defining the requirements for, and acceptance of, the new fleets for the Central and Jubilee Lines. Later he became the project engineer for the introduction of the Northern Line fleet and for delivering improvements during its reliability growth period.
Since 2004 he has been the Head of Rolling Stock with responsibility for the strategic development of future rolling stock and for ensuring the safety, design, maintenance, acceptance and approval of all existing, new or modified LU and 3rd party rolling stock used on the London Underground.

Jack Ratcliffe Ratcliffe: ATC System Engineer, Bombardier Transportation

Jack Ratcliffe is a Signalling Systems Engineer with 13 years of experience, working for Bombardier Transportation in Derby Having graduated from the University of Birmingham with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, he has since worked in onboard signalling integration projects, such as the Victoria Line Upgrade Project, Sub-Surface Lines Re-signalling Project, Crossrail (Elizabeth Line) and new rolling stock for London Overground. These projects have involved integration of both new and old rolling stock with a range of systems from various suppliers including metro style Communications Based Train Control Systems (CBTC), (some with fully automatic driverless capability), European Train Control Systems (ETCS) and conventional UK mainline systems (AWS/TPWS).

Richard Feasby: Senior Conformance Engineer, Network Certification Body (NCB)

Richard Feasby is an engineer with over 30 years’ experience in the UK railway industry. His background is railway signaling and telecommunications, specializing in UK operational railway telecommunications. Richard has worked in renewal, enhancement and maintenance engineering roles and moved to policy and standards development prior to his current position in NCB. He currently undertakes the role of Lead Assessor on a wide-range of railway infrastructure and systems projects. Richard has a thorough knowledge of technical, safety and performance standards relating to all aspects of telecommunications engineering which is now complemented by his experience in safety assessment.

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