Future of Station Design

19th March 2010 - I attended a pre-conference meeting with speakers and the organisers of the Future of Station Design conference. Sim Harris (Railnews Editor) gave a fascinating introduction that included a review of station design over the years since railways began in the UK. It was interesting to hear that stations were not really focused on passengers in the beginning - they were places to deal with freight of coal and other goods (hence the multiplicity of small rooms for the different people who worked there).

Now, of course, the station is where people start and end their rail journeys (and change trains) and the purpose of the station is entirely different - yet many stations are still laid out for the original purpose. After so much rail investment has been made to improve the journey itself - new rolling stock and improved infrastructure, speed and reliability - many stations are a poor 'shop-window'. Sim says that now is the start of the Age of the Station - to follow up on the 'Age of the Train' !

Chris Green, the 'Stations Champion' who (with Sir Peter Hall) recently advised the government on improving stations, also gave an introductory talk. He showed that there is much to do, with needs to improve many stations , but also a fantastic opportunity to create some new iconic structures that can excite the imagination and be a real showpiece at the entrance to the rail network and to create regeneration in towns and cities.

The Future of Station Design conference will be held at the London Transport Museum on the 28th April. The conference is organised by Murray Media and will have Maggie Philpin as host. See http://events.linkedin.com/FOSD-Ltd-presents-Future-Station-Design/pub/244583

RISC Ltd support Virgin and Pendolino Expansion Project

Paul and David continue to assist Virgin Rail Projects Ltd as they supervise and manage aspects of the safety approval process for the additional Pendolino trains and vehicles that are being supplied by Alstom, and procured by Angel Trains.

Modern rolling stock projects have aspects that are within the scope of European Directives for Interoperability and their associated 'Technical Standards for Interoperability'. Other aspects of a 'new trains' project come in the scope of the UK ROGS Regulations. These two high-level requirements mean that Notified Bodies are required, as well as safety verification processes that may or may not require an Independent Competent Person depending on novelty and risk.

For situations such as this, clients benefit by developing documents that are used to describe the approval processes, including project and safety strategies; written safety verification schemes; and project quality plans. For complex projects, documents created to control different aspects may contain overlaps or have gaps, so a document map is a useful tool to help all project participants understand the parts that are relevant to them, and help to create a set of compatible documents that can be easily maintained.

David Greenway

RISC Ltd enjoy TfL success with Jacobs

David is proud to announce that RISC Ltd has been appointed as a specialist sub-consultant to Jacobs Engineering in connection with the Transport for London Engineering & Project Management Framework contract for 4 years from the end of 2009.

We look forward to working with Jacobs on London projects. This will compliment the work we have done with Jacobs on the Hong Kong - China high-speed rail link, and our listing as a specialist T&RS engineering resource available to assist Jacobs in their UK rolling stock procurement advisory work.

Our services continue to be focused on railway engineering, safety and railway operations, and supporting London railways, whether LOROL, Crossrail, Underground or the mainline railways.

We maintain Link-Up rail industry approvals, and this appointment is a further endorsement of our wide capabilities.