Q: Could you tell us a bit more about your role, as it relates to railway depots?
David Pearce (DP): I am responsible for the daily delivery of the Class 345 fleet, with depots being one of the key facilities used to provide a safe, reliable, clean fleet. I have primarily worked at engineering depots of different shapes and sizes, being involved in depot upgrades and depot decommissioning and closure.
Lyndon Platt (LP): As the Technical Manager for the Class 185 fleet and my current tenure in Siemens meant I was involved heavily in the design of the depot for maintenance efficiency and our “Pit Stop” strategy that was introduced when the depot opened in 2006 to maintain the Class 185. I am now consulted on changes to the depots that involve any effects to the maintenance of the Class 185.
Sara Rolando (SR): I am a Senior Consultant in the Data Science and Analytics team of Amey Strategic Consulting. In my time at Amey I have mostly worked on performance analytics in the rail industry, collaborating with Network Rail to use data to find insights into delays on the network. In the past year I have worked with NR’s North & East Route to investigate the causes of poor performance at the Neville Hill Depot (near Leeds).
Mark Molyneux (MM): I am the workstream lead for the GB mainline depot related aspects of the RDG Network Performance Board sponsored Industry Network Reliability Action Plan.
Q: What are the key technical challenges concerning improvement of railway depots and what are the most common issues you hear from colleagues?
DP: Often depots are constrained by their heritage; being designed for trains which are long obsolete, fitted out with materials which are no longer safe (asbestos for example) or being ill equipped for modern maintenance requirements. As fleets grow to match passenger demand, the constraints on depot facilities tighten - something the industry is now struggling with in many areas, which hopefully sharing knowledge and information will help to resolve.
LP: From our experience at Ardwick, key challenges have been discovery of challenging ground conditions due to the historic use of the site previously, when new sidings or structures need to be erected. Developing the business case under the current franchise and contractual climate presents challenges as well, such as changes to the depot for maintenance or technology improvements. When the depot was electrified in 2014 many adaptations had to be made each with varying degrees of technical challenge, such as changes to walkway gantries given the different Kinematic Envelop of the Class 350/4.
SR: I would say there are two key challenges my team has encountered in the past year. Firstly, there seems to be a disconnect between on-network and off-network performance, making it difficult to implement and share best practices. Secondly, the data that follows units inside depots (GPS) is not centrally available, which creates a real challenge when investigating operational requirements inside facilities.
MM: Whilst depots are critical to the provision of our train service, I genuinely believe that they are often treated ‘second class’ citizens.
Q: Have you been involved in any particularly relevant projects recently?
DP: I have been the engineering lead for the Heathrow Express fleet, being part of the team responsible for closing the Old Oak Common Heathrow Express depot. In recent years I have also worked within teams updating Norwich Crown Point for the introduction of the new Stadler fleet.
LP: At the Ardwick depot the most recent project was to build the additional stabling sidings for Northern so that the Class 323 fleet could benefit from extra overnight storage and stabling. Previously, I was involved in the depot extension and preparation for the maintenance of the Class 350/4 EMUs that were maintained in Ardwick from 2014-2019.
SR: Yes, I was leading the analytics in the Neville Hill Project. The remit was to investigate poor performance through the use of granular train movement data and work collaboratively in a cross-functional working group to enact performance initiatives.
MM: Yes, I am supporting industry initiatives to improve GB mainline depot performance and safety – and I will outline this during my presentation.
Q: What will your seminar presentation address?
DP: I will be sharing my experiences and the lessons learned from closing a maintenance depot, transferring responsibility of maintenance to another operator. This includes the introduction of a refurbished sub-fleet. This will look at the people aspects as much as technical, as well as exploring the cultural changes within a business.
LP: My presentation will showcase the depot and maintenance operations at the Ardwick depot. It will demonstrate how this Siemens depot has evolved over the last 15 years responding to additional demands and changes to the rail service in the North West. It will give a summary using video footage of some of the key heavy maintenance activities and services we provide at the depot.
SR: I will cover the techniques and the approach we used at Neville Hill, as well as our findings. I will also talk about the successes and the limitations of the data that is currently centrally available. The presentation aims to demonstrate the practical use of data to produce tangible benefits, which can be applied to a wider variety of functions and industries outside of performance.
MM: I will explain the background to the recent focus on GB mainline depot performance and safety - and outline what the industry is currently doing about it.
Q: What other presentations or topics are you looking forward to hearing more about and discussing at the seminar?
DP: The whole programme should be very interesting, however two items particularly pique my interest. As someone who has recently started working at the Old Oak Common Elizabeth Line depot, I’m naturally keen to hear about that from Mark Wilde on the challenges faced whilst building the site. Equally, the modernisation of Underground depots, as this is a challenge which many companies are facing now or in the near future.
LP: I am looking forward to seeing how other depots are coping with change either modifying an old site or adding new features to a relatively modern building and how this benefits the maintenance of the trains, or the service provided to the running railway.
SR: I am looking forward to all the presentations mentioned in the programme, especially the ones covering the use of new sources of data to improve design and operations within depots.
MM: I am particularly looking forward to obtaining insights from others that will be sharing their ‘war stories’ so that we can all benefit from their experiences.
Q: Why do you feel it is important for engineers and other industry professionals to join this seminar?
DP: Railway depots are integral to the provision of safe vehicles to provide a service to our customers; something that is common across all railway operators. Many different operating models exist, however many of the same challenges exist, therefore sharing knowledge, experience and best practice will be of benefit to any colleagues with a close working relationship with depot activities or facilities.
LP: This presentation will give access to material that is otherwise unavailable in the public domain, giving a true behind the scenes look at the activities and the history of the site.
SR: With some very important changes occurring in the industry at the moment, it is essential that insights and best practices in depot design, operations, and maintenance are shared and discussed. I also hope this is an opportunity to break down silos between network performance and maintenance delivery and to improve the visibility of performance outcomes for engineering teams.
MM: As I stated previously, I believe our GB mainline depot assets have been neglected for too long. This event is ideal to make a good start to address this problem.
The Evolution and Revolution: Railway Depots Today and Tomorrow seminar will be taking place live online on 9 June 2021.
Join this seminar to address:
- Changes to depot processes to adapt to ECM legislation
- Depot upgrades including the Piccadilly Line
- Depot automation
- Smart rolling stock maintenance
- Meeting changing demands with case studies from Ardwick Train Depot
- The challenges of building a new depot onto an old railway site
- Improving depot efficiencies at Neville Hill via the use of data analytics
- Decommissioning and transfer of maintenance to others organisations
To book your place, please visit the event website.