Powering success: electrification and building the future

The Permanent Way Institution’s annual electrification conference was attended by around 150 delegates and was opened by its president, Mona Sihota. While there remains uncertainty about future electrification, both the Midland Mainline and the Transpennine Route upgrades are well underway, and existing electrification assets (which power around 80% of UK rail vehicle-km) need to be maintained, renewed, and enhanced to cope with climate change and traffic growth. The level of Network Rail funding agreed for 2024-2029 (Control Period 7) makes using technology to reduce equipment lifecycle costs ever more critical.

The conference welcomed expert speakers from a range of electrification disciplines and organisations. They focused on technologies that are already enabling cost reduction and would highlight good practice across the UK and continental Europe.

The conference was launched by Lord Patrick McLoughlin who was Secretary of State for Transport from September 2012 to July 2016. He considered this to be a “Wonderful job with difficult times!” He recalled the significant rail industry renaissance prior to the Covid pandemic and viewed the new political appointments for transport as being encouraging for the future, particularly the appointment of Lord Peter Hendy as Rail Minister.

Considering the question of “What is Rail for?”, he felt that rail had a vital part to play in promoting economic growth and regeneration. Cancelling a large portion of HS2 reduced the positive impact of the southern portion south of Handsacre, yet the current scheme had still added around £10 billion to the economy of the West Midlands. It was a matter of regret that too much emphasis had been placed on HS2’s speed rather than its real purpose of releasing significant extra capacity on existing routes.

He felt that the appointment of ‘Metro Mayors’ could have a significant impact on transport planning and investment with a focused understanding of local requirements and preferences, more effectively directing investment. The ability to complete the implementation of Great British Railways would bring a “guiding mind” for the industry and allied to that, the development of technology could drive lower costs.

While responding to questions, Lord McLaughlin felt that there was a need to understand that a railway was a “whole system”, and the audience appreciated his view that a “rolling programme of electrification” was required. Overall, the conference was glad to hear from someone who will bring the experience of senior political office to play in his new role in Transport for the North.

Third rail extension

The first technical presentation considered extending DC third rail electrification. The presenter was Tom Wong, Network Rail’s assistant electrification and plant maintenance engineer for the Sussex Route.

Historically, the pre-nationalisation Southern Railway concentrated on third-rail DC electrification as, in early days, on-board rectification was not easily practicable, and it provided a simple traction current feed to DC traction motors. This was last extended into South Hampshire in the late 1980s. Other than some minor installations the expansion of the conductor rail system then stalled and tended to be discouraged by various agencies. These left pockets of diesel traction with the associated environmentally unfriendly emissions and a lack of flexibility in the use of electric rolling stock.

Tom explained the advances which had been made in engineering the contact system and its associated operation and maintenance. Hybrid traction and energy storage were mentioned but the emphasis was also on safety for the passengers and the public. Proposals included switching the voltage on the conductor rail in platforms to be live only when a train was present. Protection for the workforce had been enhanced by the development of negative short-circuiting devices to bond the conductor rails.

Tom anticipated that acceptance might now be gained to fill in the gaps in electrification and eliminate diesel working. The Uckfield line and west of England routes were cited as worthy candidates to gain fixed electrification. Tom finished with the neat statement: “An electrified Railway is a better railway, no matter how that is achieved.”

Alternative traction

Alternative traction energy sources were considered by Zhongbel Tian, assistant professor in Transport Energy Systems at the University of Birmingham. He noted that the Network Rail traction decarbonisation network study predicts that to achieve the end of diesel-only traction by 2040 and net zero by 2050, some 13,000 single track kilometres (STK) would require electrification with over 1,300 STKs for hydrogen train deployment, over 800 STKs for battery train deployment while there are 300 STKs where a technology choice has not yet been made.

He noted that for lines with low traffic density, it is difficult to make a financial case for electrification. For such lines, Battery EMU trains are suitable for decarbonising short-distance routes with low traffic density, while Hydrogen EMU trains are suitable for decarbonising long-distance routes with low traffic density.

German electrification

Rudiger Stolle, head of engineering at Powerlines Group, provided the conference with a European perspective. Within the UK, around 38% of the system is electrified whereas in Germany the figure is around 60%. He stressed that efficient electrification projects need a constant level of funding to develop and retain well-experience engineering and project management teams, as well as a fleet of specialist electrification plant and equipment.

In Germany, politicians now recognise that due to the lack of funding from the early 2000s, there is now a requirement to renovate 4,229km of track which will be done by a series of route closures with associated diversions. This work is the subject of a 2019-29 funding agreement which allows for more robust long-term planning. In addition, since 2009, a performance and financing agreement between Deutsche Bahn and the German government funds ‘replacement investment’ which accepts that maintenance costs fall as old electrification assets are replaced.

Rüdiger explained how Powerlines was constantly investing to ensure the retention of technically competent design and construction teams. Closing his presentation, he made the point that individual companies can only do so much as government intervention is needed to ensure a steady flow of work for the supply chain.

After the first period presentations there was a change of pace. To avoid a day-long continuous flow of slide-related presentations, the conference then split into three breakout sessions which considered: DC conductor rail technology developments; electrical systems with static frequency converters for traction supplies; and catenary systems at bridges. These three sessions gave rise to active and high-quality debate and offered the opportunity for greater delegate engagement.

RSSB research

The afternoon sessions commenced with a presentation on the Rail Safety and Standards Board’s (RSSB) Research programme by Edordu Chibuzor, principal energy engineer, and Mark Hanham, senior research analyst, at RSSB. The title was ‘Feasibility of Smart Traction Energy management on the Western Route’. Mark spoke about the role of RSSB and its importance in acting as a collaborator in bringing various groups together to help solve problems.

This particular research project involved representatives from Network Rail, First Great Western, First Group, and Hitachi, with RSSB acting as the facilitator. It considered power demand management across Western Route in real time and, through various modelling exercises, aimed to understand how power can be efficiently delivered across the route. To date, the theoretical work has shown multiple benefits in managing power demand in this way at both train and system level operation.

OLE asset management

In her presentation, Ellen Wintle, Network Rail’s infrastructure director – West Coast South Route, explained her views on Overhead Line Renewals and Maintenance. She first reminded her audience of the definition of asset management which is “the balancing of costs, risk and performance to achieve an organisation’s objectives.”

Achieving this requires a strategy with guidance for the various asset types considering their renewals, refurbishments, and repairs as well as inspection and maintenance activities. These activities need to be planned in the light of safety requirements, the age of the asset, and the utilisation of the asset such as line speed and pantograph passes. The control period seeks to maximise the funding available over a greater asset base. A key theme is greater life extension works and campaign changes with less full wire run renewals.

Ellen’s team has also started to look at smarter ways of working, for example Risk Based Maintenance (RBM) is now applied to OLE assets, which allows for alternative inspection regimes to tradition practices. This is supported by using emerging technologies such as AIVR, Drones, PANDAS, and OLE StAT to investigate issues. The intention is to enable maintenance teams to concentrate on removing high risk defects on the rail infrastructure as well as providing faster response times. This is particularly important for circuit breaker operations which are one of the biggest causes of rail disruption.

Noting that track access is at a premium, with a five- or six-hour possession typically allowing two to three hours machine working time once boards have been put out and switching and earthing completed. Ellen made a plea for designers to consider the workforce during early design stages to consider location of road rail access points and earthing points.

She spoke about the Control Period 7 settlement which for her route was broadly £800 million capex and £650 million opex and she stressed the need for every pound spent to achieve the best value. This requires route asset managers and engineers balancing requirements of the policy, local operational demands, and competing risks within the funding available.

Towards the end of her presentation, Ellen showed an absorbing video which stirred memories of some working practices from past decades which included the alarming process of walking along the top of a moving train attaching droppers. Ellen finished her presentation by posing the question of how we can come together within the industry, stating: “We all play a part in moving our industry forward – whatever our roles!”

To conclude

The last session of the day was a panel Q&A discussion. There was enthusiastic reaction to the news that Network Rail is developing plans for a proposed extension of the DC third rail network south of the Thames. Issues of electrical clearance and discontinuous electrification generated some lively questions with overwhelming support for cost effective solutions developed in the Valleys scheme and the Midland Main Line. With a spontaneous round of applause, the conference loudly endorsed a panel call to arms to reject risk averse attitudes and adopt best practice innovations and proven European solutions without elaborate, time consuming, and costly trials.

Paul Hooper, technical director at AtkinsRéalis, rounded off the day by highlighting the valuable insights from influential industry experts. He particularly welcomed the inclusion of DC third and fourth rail systems on the agenda, and the inclusion of a wider European perspective. He thanked all who had organised such a successful event and looked forward to the 2025 PWI Electrification conference planned for July in Cardiff.