Since the McNulty report was published, there has been much talk about changing the status quo of how major rail infrastructure projects are let and recommendations on how they should be managed. The goal, to deliver projects, cheaper, faster and safer.
With passenger numbers growing, there is huge pressure to reduce possession times and cut costs. So where is the compass pointing today, and where are we heading?
Recently hitting the headlines, was the ‘Innovation in Rail’ competition with nearly £4m of R&D funding being made available by the Rail Safety Standards Board (RSSB) and the Technology Strategy Board. Therefore, it would seem many in the industry (and central Government) that innovation is the ‘great enabler’ for transformation in the rail sector, at all levels.
Further to this, Network Rail has launched an initiative to introduce intelligent infrastructure across the network. Real time data collected from assets installed on the network will facilitate a greater control of fault diagnostics, maintenance planning and improve performance exponentially.
Indeed, we applaud The Railway Industry Association (RIA) who organized a successful supplier conference in November to discuss how to respond to this exciting opportunity. It was at this particular event; Prof. Andrew McNaughton (Chief Engineer at Network Rail) set a challenge to the industry.
“We need suppliers to work with us to deliver solutions, which will help bring a step change in business performance, rather than simply supply engineering widgets.”
After all, you do not want to be the most efficient, cost effective producer/manufacturer of X today, if nobody wants it tomorrow. True rail champions are independent thinkers – would you agree?. If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking. Read the rest of this entry »
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