Wheelsets: Life Extension, Maintenance Reduction and Sustainability

Simon Groom: Project Leader R&D, Alstom

Simon is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer who has principal responsibility for the engineering aspects of the maintenance and overhaul of the Class 390 Pendolino Wheelsets. Simon joined British Rail as a graduate trainee in 1995, followed by Virgin Trains and finally Alstom, and has worked in a number of roles within the railway business, such as warranty management, production management and research and development in France. Simon has been in his present role as Wheelsets and Components Engineer since 2012 with engineering responsibility for the maintenance and overhaul of the Class 390 wheelsets, and in this time has overseen improvements to safety, reliability, maintainability and life cycle costs.

Neil Cooney: Technical Director, SET Ltd

Neil is the Technical Director at SET Limited, a Systems Engineering and Electronics rectification SME. He joined SET to lead a team in developing the WheelMotor, an innovative rail wheel traction system. Successful trials brought further exploration into the potential of the WheelMotor and, working alongside the IRR, the subsequent development of ActiWheel, a radical guidance and steering system for rail vehicles that significantly reduces wear, energy consumption and environmental impact. Previous to his position at SET, he was a chief engineer with Perkins Engines, leading teams in the design and integration of control electronics into mechanical platforms, addition of engine emission aftertreatment technologies and running International JV engine development and production programmes. Neil’s current focus is on applying the WheelMotor and ActiWheel technologies to commercial projects within the rail industry.

Les Bryant: Vice Chair, Rail Wagon Association

Currently in my 43nd year in the UK rail industry. I started my railway career in 1978 as a BR apprentice fitter at Ilford depot in London.

Spending the first 23 years in the passenger industry, mainly on the LTS/C2C line, working through the BR workshops supervisory grades, rising to a WS/E Senior Rolling Stock Inspector.

Seconded to Adtranz/Bombardier in 1998 to work as a project engineer on Electrostars, before moving to the Freight Industry in 2001 with leasing company, GE Rail Services as a Fleet Engineer. Eventually becoming European Engineering Manager with engineering and technical responsibility for a fleet of 5000 wagons leased across Europe.

Currently Group Engineering Director for Davis Group, consisting of two businesses, Davis Wagon Services, and ECM and one of the largest wagon maintainers in the UK and WH Davis, the last UK wagon manufacturer.

Vice Chair of the Rail Wagon Association (RWA) and Chair of the RWA Engineering Committee, Les is know to be a strong vocal advocate for the UK rail freight industry.

Rob Wheeler: Director Sales and Customer Service UK & Scandinavia, Transportation Systems, Liebherr Aerospace and Transportation

Rob is responsible for the Sales of OEM product and the support Services delivered out of the Liebherr UK operations.

He has been part of the Aerospace and Railway sectors since 2001 with a majority of time spent in the Railway market space. Gaining a wealth of knowledge and experience through the MRO activities and launch of new variants for the Train protection and Warning System (TPWS) at Thales.

Since joining Liebherr in August 2019, Rob has been able to re-align the current UK operations in line with business objectives and customer requirements. Rob sees real potential in improving the Passenger Experience through the HVAC and Actuation systems supplied by Liebherr, as well as assisting in decarbonisation goals and operational costs savings.

Bridget Eickhoff: Principal Infrastructure Engineer, Rail Safety and Standards Board

Bridget is Principal Infrastructure Engineer at RSSB and Honorary Professor of Railway Interface Engineering at the University of Birmingham (Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education) where she supports the MSc programmes. She has extensive experience in wheel-rail contact, including the study of derailment mechanisms, track forces and deterioration, vehicle-track interaction, related standards and approval processes. She has been involved in the development of GB and international standards in associated areas as well as supporting a number of research and innovation projects. She is also a past Chairman of the IMechE Railway Division.

Roger Deuce: Principal Specialist & Technical Manager, Wheelsets, Alstom

Based out of Alstom’s Component Development Site for Bogies in Siegen, Germany where Alstom have established a modern new-build wheelset assembly centre as well as a wheelset and bearing overhaul facility, Roger interacts with his regionally based colleagues around the world to provide innovative wheelset solutions and specialist support.

Serving a wide spectrum of applications from low-floor trams to heavy haul locomotives, from metros to very high speed trains, from single deck to double deck, from hot desert routes to icy arctic routes, from narrow gauge to broad gauge, Roger’s international wheelset and bearing activities covering design, validation, manufacture, assembly, maintenance, overhaul and service performance, span the five continents of the world.

Julian Stow: Assistant Director, Institute of Railway Research, University of Huddersfield

Julian is Assistant Director at the Institute of Railway Research at the University of Huddersfield. He has 24 years’ experience in the rail industry specialising in rail vehicle dynamics and wheel-rail interface engineering and has led a wide range of projects for the GB rail industry in these areas. He is currently responsible for the delivery of a programme of research work under the strategic partnership between RSSB and the University of Huddersfield. Julian is a chartered engineer and a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

Adam Buckell: Group Leader – Asset Integrity, Frazer-Nash Consultancy

Adam is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer with over 18 years’ experience in the rail industry. Adam has worked on rolling stock with the UK and internationally with a particular focus on asset management and integrity, working with TOC, ROSCO, OEM, and maintainers. Adam has been instrumental in the management of corrosion issues across a range of UK rail fleets, particularly in relation to the management of solebar corrosion issues. As part of his work Adam has gained extensive experience of structured processes to support the selection of materials, tools and techniques. Recent examples include a structured approach to the selection of new coating systems for the application to body shell structures, compatible with existing coating systems.

Chris Hill: Senior Engineer, Frazer-Nash Consultancy

Chris Hill is a Senior Engineer at Frazer-Nash Consultancy working as part of the project team to deliver the T1223-02: Wheelset Coating Systems and Good Practice Guidance project. Chris’ experience includes supporting the selection of new coating systems for rail vehicles by implementing a staged selection and testing approach. Chris also has broader experience relating to management of rail assets, with a recent example being corrosion inspection as part of life extension work of rail vehicle structures.

Steven Cervello: Innovation & Design Manager, Lucchini RS

In Lucchini RS Steven manages the company innovation process and coordinates the wheelset Design and R&D teams.

He is an active member of international working groups like CEN-WG11 and UNIFE-ERWA.

He has participated as inventor of eight patents and developed technical competences in various fields related to railway wheelsets:

• Structural fatigue testing
• Rolling contact fatigue
• Crack propagation models
• Optimisation of maintenance plans
• NDT techniques
• Monitoring of wheelset in service loads and vibration
• Solutions to reduce the noise emission from wheels

He has participated and managed various European R&D project collaborating with many railway companies, research centers and Universities.

Adrian Howson: Chief Technology Officer, Transport Design International

Adrian Howson, FIMechE MBA CEng, started his engineering life working for the MoD Procurement Executive as student engineer then project officer, designing military vehicles for the Royal Ordnance Factories and BAe and Pearson Engineering. He then worked for two of the Cambridge-based technology consultancies, Cambridge Consultants and PA Consulting before joining his current group Idea Catalyst Partners in 2010 which then acquired Transport Design International (TDI) in 2020. For TDI, his principal role is to specify and source the major power and drivetrain systems in road and rail, including on the two recent major products of TDI which are the Revolution VLR train and the Coventry Tram.

Martin Rosenberger: Head of Vehicle Dynamics, Acoustics & Analytics, Siemens Mobility Austria GmbH

Dr. Martin Rosenberger, graduated and PHD in Mechanical Engineering at Graz University of Technology, worked thirteen years in several positions in Railway Research, Conference Chair of the 24th IAVSD - International Symposium on Dynamics of Vehicles on Roads and Tracks - 2016 in Graz, Member of the Shift2Rail JU Governing Board from 2016 to 2017, at Siemens Mobility since 2016. Is now leading the Department of Vehicle Dynamics, Acoustics & Analytics at Siemens Mobility´s centre of competence for bogies in Graz (Austria).

Ivo Kovacic: Systems Engineer for Hydraulic Applications, Liebherr-Transportation Systems

Ivo Kovacic is a Senior Systems Engineer at Liebherr-Transportation Systems in Austria (Korneuburg), who is focusing in the development of active mechatronic and passive hydraulic systems for rail vehicle applications. He has a wide experience with active hydraulic systems, which are used in different sections of rail vehicles and increase the performance, economy and comfort of rail vehicles. In addition to the development of active damping and levelling systems, Ivo has also been working since 2017 on the development of the LiCAS system, which minimises wear on the wheel and rail during curve running and thus also the track usage fees for vehicles.