CUTTING COSTS AND WORKING SMARTER

REDUCED costs and a successful tram-train pilot could unlock UK light rail expansion, the country’s transport minister Norman Baker announced on 26 May.

Mr Baker told the 6th Annual UK Light Rail Confer-ence “I know we can build on the success of operations and schemes… so that future generations can enjoy not simply the light rail projects which are operating in this country now, but perhaps further light rail schemes as well.”

The conference, this year doubled in length to two days, drew over 200 senior decision-makers to Manchester to cover key themes influencing the future of the industry, including finance, technical innovation, light rail’s ‘green’ credentials and – running through all this – a relentless focus on customer service.

PFI ‘looking increasingly expensive’Light Rapid Transit Forum Chairman Mary Bonar wel-comed the endorsement of light rail schemes given by the UK Government in its Comprehensive Spending Review. She said the CSR has provided “very important marks from the Government to give us confidence as an industry, and seeing deals beginning to close in the marketplace and new ones coming on stream.”

Following the collapse of the London Underground Public Private Partnership and set against today’s difficult world-wide economic background, KPMG partner Lewis Atter addressed the fundamental issue of finance – and whether light rail investment needs a new model.

Mr Atter said that funding options were “all about which works best in the particular circumstances,” but he told del-egates: “The 100% private finance route… is looking in-creasingly expensive.”

“The ratio between what you’re asking local taxpayers to put on the table and what you’re able to give them matters a lot. It’s all becoming more transparent.”

Mr Atter said that the UK’s current Public Works Loan Board interest rates would allow schemes to deliver “about GBP15 [of investment] for each GBP1 of nominal, out over 30 years.” Under a typical “classic PPP PFI, we’re looking at perhaps GBP11 per GBP1 invested,” he added.

That, the KPMG Partner calculated, could work out as a GBP350m saving over a period of five to ten years on a ma-jor GBP1bn-plus scheme like Manchester Metrolink’s ‘big bang’ expansion. “If we’re thinking about large programmes for sophisticated places, there are likely to be more cost effective ways… than 100% private finance.”

Mott MacDonald Associate David Wright explained how light rail projects can be ‘de-risked’, with reference to Not-tingham Express Transit – and the topic was then covered in a panel debate.

Responding to questions from delegates about the risks posed by competing bus services, Mary Bonar warned “there is a real tension, obviously, between not being able to regulate the bus services where there’s considerable public investment in light rail schemes.

“I do think it is of considerable interest to people involved in both the bus and the light rapid transit industry… but I don’t think we can assume this will come out in a way that is necessarily favourable to the economics of light rapid tran-sit schemes at high level.”

Regulation: ‘Put up or shut up’In a panel debate on tramway standardisation that drew many questions from the audience, Colin Robey, Centro’s Head of Operations Rail and Rapid Transit, argued that the

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De-risking new schemes – and making existing systems more efficient – were just a few of the talking points of the 6th Annual UK Light Rail Conference – TAUT reports on the debates.REPORT BY TONY STREETER, PICTURES BY NEIL PULLING

UK has a real chance to influence European regulations and that it is now time “to put up or shut up.”

He went on to show that the UK’s second-generation systems have “non-standard tram widths, non-standard platform heights; non-standard alignments, non-standard OHLE; non-standard power supply – and non-standard public information systems.”

Arguing for greater standardisation, Mr Robey said “Procurement methods historically have meant that we’ve ended up with a system that’s actually been built around the tram that was supplied.”

As a partial solution, he argued, “We can stop trying to be too clever in the way we procure things.”

Engagement at a European level was bringing benefits, he claimed, not only in greater international co-ordination, but

. Beyond PPP: Do we need a new financial model? Lewis Atter – Partner, KPMG

. De-risking LRT developments David Wright – Associate, Mott MacDonald

. Transit-oriented development Mary Bonar – Chairman, Light Rapid Transit Forum

. Tramway development: Standardisation vs customisation Colin Robey – Head of Operations Rail and Rapid Transit Group, Centro Rob Whyte – Business Development Manager, Light Rail and Infrastructure, Alstom. Transforming transport through technology Lindsay Robertson – Director of Member Services, ITSO Jayne Davidson – Project Manager, PayWave Transit Solutions, Visa Europe David Busby – Interim Integrated Transport Systems Manager, Transport for Greater Manchester Mark Elliott – Director, Infrastructure and Transport Services, Accenture. Seamless integration: Are we doing enough for our passengers? Roger Harrison – Projects Director, Light Rail, Keolis (UK) Ian Brown CBE – Former Managing Director, London Rail Bernard Garner – Director General, Nexus David Sidebottom – Passenger Director, Passenger Focus. Tram-train: Progress with UK schemes Simon Coulthard – Head of Tram-Train Projects, Network Rail Mark Terry – Associate Director and Head of LRT Rolling Stock, Mott MacDonald Stefan Sanders – Director, Arup. Attracting and maintaining light rail ridership Philip Purdy – Metrolink Director, Transport for Greater Manchester. Urban Impact: The operator’s role in the optimisation of tram deployment John Rymer – Managing Director, First Tram Operations. Demand smoothing and cost savings through wireless operation Mikel Rodrigo – Project Manager of Urbos 3 and ACR projects, Trainelec. Track maintenance innovation Dr Jay Jaiswal – Director, Track Engineering and Technologies, Rail, Tata Steel Rail Neil Searle – Mott MacDonald (on behalf of Johannes Bartolomä, Development Engineer, STRAILastic, Gummiwerk Kraiburg GmbH). Effective depot management and maintenance strategies Dr Robert Carroll & Paul Seddon – Fixed Equipment Technical Engineer and Rolling Stock Technical Engineer, Stagecoach Supertram Maintenance Ltd. Is it possible to make remanufactured trams work in the UK? Phil Hewitt – Director, London Tramlink, Transport for London Mark Terry – Associate Director and Head of LRT Rolling Stock, Mott MacDonald. Ticketing technology: The next generation Lindsay Robertson – Director of Member Services, ITSO Nick Baker – Head of Operations and Contracts, London Tramlink David Busby – Interim Integrated Transport Systems Manager, Transport for Greater Manchester Mark Elliott – Director, Infrastructure and Transport Services, Accenture. Safe station environments: The human factor in light rail security Bob Gough – Operational Security Manager, Serco Docklands Mike Mabey – Head of Passenger Services, Manchester Metrolink Sharon Kelly – Customer Service Director, DB Regio Tyne & Wear Anthea Antonio – Engineering Manager, Nottingham Express Transit. Managing complex construction projects Bryan Diggins – Project Director, Laing O’ Rourke, Volker Wessels and Thales Consortium. Minimising passenger disruption during major projects David Fielder – Project Manager, Docklands Light Railway Ltd. Offsetting the carbon footprint of system renewals and major projects Frances Storey – Regional Manager, Environmental Services, Mott MacDonald. Recycling and minimising energy usage on major projects Tony Slater – MPT Project Leader (Oldham and Rochdale sections), Laing O’Rourke, Volker Wessels and Thales Consortium

. The conference was opened by Transport for Greater Manchester Committee Chairman Keith Whitmore; Light Rapid Transit Forum President Colin Walton performed the welcome address. Chairman on 25 May was Geoff Inskip, Chief Executive of Centro and Chairman of UKTram and pteg; Chairman on 26 May was former London Rail Managing Director Ian Brown CBE. The keynote address on 26 May was performed by Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport Norman Baker MP.

THE THEMES

Left: Centro Chief Executive Geoff Inskip chaired the first day of the Conference and also contributed to the many panel debates from his position as Chair of UKTram and pteg.

Above: Are we doing enough for our passengers? This was the panel that attracted much of the debate on Day 1, led by Tramlink Nottingham Chairman Roger Harrison (far right). He was joined by (from left) Geoff Inskip, Ian Brown CBE, Bernard Garner, Director General of Nexus and David Sidebottom, Passenger Director of Passenger Focus.

Below: As Project Director of the consortium responsible for the Manchester Metrolink upgrade programme, Bryan Diggins showed some of the innovative techniques that have allowed his team to make such rapid progress on the UK’s largest network expansion.

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also in a realisation that “there are often highway standards that are far more appropriate to trams than railway standards.”

The conflict between a manufacturer’s desire to build large numbers of standard products, and a customer want-ing something bespoke was explored further on the panel by Rob Whyte, Alstom’s Business Development Manager, Light Rail and Infrastructure.

Alstom’s solution, he said, was modularisation, as used on the French company’s Citadis trams. Referring to Citadis vehicles supplied to Reims (France) and Dublin (Ireland), he said: “They all look like an entirely different product, but the reality is quite different.

“What we try to do is have core components within the design that are exactly the same, so we pick up on the stand-ardisation element with key components, and we change the little bits that we can to make the customer feel as though they’re getting a more customised product.”

“There’s no point having the most fantastic design of tram if it’s four times the cost of anybody else’s. These things have to be designed for a particular customer but at the lowest cost possible.”

Standardisation also allows innovation, claimed Mr Whyte, as development costs can be spread across a large manufacturing volume.

Innovation in vehicle design was also the theme of the presentation by Trainelec’s Urbos 3 and ACR Project Man-ager Mikel Rodrigo. Mr Rodrigo explained CAF’s wireless trams energy storage solution, which is based on batter-ies and super-capacitors, and for which he claims energy savings of up to 35%.

Innovation – but this time in vehicle operation and maintenance – was covered by Dr Robert Carroll and Paul Seddon from Stagecoach Supertram. The Sheffield operator decided to carry out the mid-life ‘refresh’ of its Siemens-Düwag trams in-house at its Nunnery depot, resulting in major time and cost savings.

From an initial estimate of 62 days, Supertram was able to bring the time needed for the complete overhauls of bo-gies, bodies, and mechanicals down to 22 days. It’s esti-mated that carrying out the process in-house saved around GBP2.5m – not including the benefits by returning trams to service more quickly.

Appropriately, the current major progress being made in Manchester was an important recurring theme through the conference, which included a presentation by Bryan Diggins (Project Director, Laing O’Rourke, Volker Wessels and Thales Consortium) on the “very challenging project” to deliver GBP800m-worth of work towards the Metrolink expansion.

Innovative methods have included using pre-fabricated structures for platforms, liftshafts and stair units – reducing the time and cost of construction work, and increasing safety at the same time. Other techniques have included using weath-ered steel, which needs no painting, for bridge structures.

Above: LRTF Chairman Mary Bonar said the funding approvals given by the new UK Government in its Comprehensive Spending Review of 2010 should “give us confidence as an industry”.

Right: Day 2 focused on technical issues and Dr Jay Jaiswal of Tata Steel explained his work with Sheffield Supertram on developing more durable and easily maintained track.

An eagerly awaited debate was that on tram-trains, and progress on the UK’s pilot between Sheffield and Rotherham that will connect Supertram with the Network Rail system.

NR’s Head of Tram-Train Projects Simon Coulthard told delegates the project was “not about one side of the equation setting out requirements. We’re open to both infrastructure and vehicle interventions to achieve the necessary compatibility.”

The plan is to start trials in 2014 on a route that will be electrified throughout, have three additional tram-style stops on the heavy rail

section of route and a new 400m line connecting the new systems. When public services start, it is planned to have at least four tram-trains in service at any one time, with a 20-minute headway service.

Mr Coulthard said that fitting of Train Protection and Warning System equipment to every signal on the NR section of infrastructure had been agreed in order to address the issue of train protection. The pilot project is currently expected to cost GBP18m – but the Department for Transport has pushed for cost savings on that.

Responding to criticisms that the UK is moving too slowly on tram-

trains, Mr Coulthard said: “Where I think the industry is frustrated and is quite right to be frustrated… is the myriad of schemes that have come to nothing. And we sit here slightly embarrassed looking across the Channel at France and Germany and see what they’re doing, and then reflect that it’s taking an awful long time.

“In terms of the actual time it’s taken this project to go about its business, I’m quite happy, subject to the funding gateways which all projects have to go through where government money is involved, we’re going as smartly, as appropriately, as possible.”

UK TRAM-TRAIN PILOT ‘GOING AS SMARTLY... AS POSSIBLE’

Simon Coulthard from Network Rail (lead sponsor of tram-train), updated the audience on progress with the UK’s tram-train schemes.

“If we’re thinking about large programmes for sophisticated places, there are likely to be more cost-effective ways… than 100% private finance.”

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LEWIS ATTER, KPMG

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Some 2000 people have been working on the expansion, which by the time it is finished will provide Metrolink with an extra 50km (31 miles) of track and 50 stops on top of the 37km (23 miles) and roughly 30 stops already in place.

Particular emphasis has been placed during the scheme on ‘green’ issues, such as leaving vegetation in place where possible, and minimising carbon emissions through meth-ods such as recycling. Other innovations developed for the project include a new lighter form of sleeper.

Tony Slater, MPT Project Leader for the Oldham and Rochdale sections (Laing O’Rourke, Volker Wessels and Thales Consortium) expanded on that theme: “We need to look at recycling material… if we take it off site we can use it, there must be a use for it and we must maximise those.”

‘Part of the community’“Trains are a mode of transport, I always say that trams are part of the community.”

Those words from Philip Purdy (Metrolink Director, Transport for Greater Manchester) echoed the sentiments of speakers throughout the two-day event. Serving the custom-er was at the heart of a number of the conference’s themes, none more so than Mr Purdy’s address.

“Everything that we do… it’s all about attracting and maintaining ridership, or as I put it quite bluntly, putting bums on seats,” said Mr Purdy. “That’s what the whole in-dustry’s about.”

Reminding delegates that “we’re buying new trams, we’re trebling the size of the network,” Mr Purdy added that power upgrades to allow ‘double trams’ to run, vehi-cle refurbishments and a new tram management system to

replace block signalling with line of sight operation are all part of the ‘Big Bang’ investments currently being seen.

“We’ve done a lot of work with the districts to understand where people want to go, why they want to go and therefore we’ve worked up our business plans in a lot of detail,” the Metrolink Director of the newly-rebranded Transport for Greater Manchester said.

“We all sit here and we’re all experts in our field, and we all know what we need to deliver, and we all know what the customer wants. Well, I learned a long time ago that’s not true. You need to talk to the customer.”

That theme of customer service was taken up by many other speakers – from those explaining how to best achieve safe passenger environments, to the panel discussions on new ticketing and passenger information technologies and how best to serve passengers when you only just have enough trams to match the service.

Concluding the biggest UK Light Rail Conferece to date, second-day chairman Ian Brown CBE was optimistic: “I still think there’s an opportunity in this country to go large and seeing what Manchester is doing, going large means seriously large… we’re at a bit of a turning point.”. Conference supporters included Laing O’ Rourke, Thales, Volker Rail, Transport for Greater Manchester and Mar-keting Manchester. Tramways & Urban Transit was the event’s sole official media partner. Sponsors of modules were Bircham Dyson Bell, CAF, Scheidt & Bachmann, Accenture, Tramways & Urban Transit, World Light Rail, STRAILastic, Stagecoach Group, and Mott MacDonald.

. Accenture: Global management consultancy, technology services and outsourcing.

. Arup: Consultants with experience of light rail and metro systems around the world.

. Be-Ge Seating UK: One of the oldest driver seat manufacturers in the world, with a wide range available. Bircham Dyson Bell: UK top 100 law firm whose rail work centres on promoting major rail and light rail projects.. Corus Cogifer Switches and Crossings: Supplier of track systems and components.. DTS/Contec: Rail supplies and specialist switch point machines.. Elektroline: Signalling and systems for automatic operation of switch points and depots, and overhead contact line systems.. Init: Supplier in Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) and Fare Collection Systems.. Light Rail Awards: The industry’s only dedicated awards held in the UK.. Mecno Service: Manufacturer of innovative rail grinding systems.. Mott Macdonald: Leading consultancy with a proven track record in light rail.. Raspberry Software: Bespoke software solutions across a wide range of industries.. Scheidt & Bachmann: Fare collections specialist with wide portfolio of products.. Strail (UK): Vulcanised rubber track products and embedded rail systems.. Thermit Welding (GB): Supplier of Aluminothermic welding products to the rail industry.. Tata Steel Rail: Comprehensive supplier of rail products ranges.. World Light Rail: Online directory of light rail, metro and tramway systems worldwide.

THE EXHIBITORS

Above: Ticketing and payment mechanisms were debated hotly over both days. From left: David Busby, Transport for Greater Manchester; Mark Eliott, Accenture; Jayne Davidson, VISA; Lindsay Robertson, ITSO.

Left: Amongst the debates on rolling stock, Mary Terry from Mott MacDonald joined Transport for London’s Phil Hewitt to discuss whether refurbished rolling stock could be made to work on UK systems.

One of the many visitors from overseas showcasing their technical innovations, Mikel Rodrigo from Trainelec explained the benefits of ‘wireless’ operation in terms of cost-savings and demand smoothing.

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