Prize winning presentations

The final of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers’ (IMechE) Railway Division’s Young Members annual presentation competition – The Future of Rail – was held in London on 8 May. The competitors were winners of heats held at the Railway Division’s centres throughout the UK and were competing for a prize of £1,000. 

The competition is open to all young railway engineers including apprentices, undergraduates, and those in the early stages of their career. Entrants must deliver 10-minute presentations about their contribution to work in any aspect of the rail industry and which can describe project work, research, technical developments, or novel technology.

The event started with heats run by the Railway Division’s Scottish, North West, Midlands, South West, and South East Centres in February and March at which over 20 young engineers gave presentations on a diverse range of topics. The final was held at the IMechE’s imposing headquarters at Birdcage Walk in London. It was organised by the Railway Division’s Young Members (RDYM) committee and hosted by its vice-chair, Ellie Smith.

TOAD

Winner of the North West Centre’s heat was software engineer Kathryn Hurst of Digital Transit. She gave her presentation on the Tram Overspeed Advisory Device (TOAD) which she produced for Blackpool Transport. This enabled the town’s heritage trams to comply with the recommendations of the RAIB report into the Croydon tram crash in respect of an in-cab overspeed warning. To do so, TOAD had to be small and easy to install, be powered from the tram’s 24v DC system, have a speedometer, and provide an in-cab warning.

Kathryn described how geofences were set up and defined in a configuration file so that if a tram approached them at an excessive speed an alarm would sound. She described how the microprocessor was coded, the components required and how the system was tested. After first producing a proof-of-concept prototype, testing, driver feedback and experience, two further design iterations were required before the design was finalised. However, production of the final design is currently on hold while Blackpool Transport have suspended heritage tram operations.

Class 170 C8

Ewan Martin, a project engineer from Brodie Engineering (Scotland) described his role in the C8 overhaul of a Class 180 diesel multiple unit. This involved revising block cards to provide more detail to track the work, providing engineering support, liaising with stakeholders and reviewing progress.

As there were only three days to complete the overhaul’s 14 jobs, timely engineering advice was essential, this included clarifying specification of relays and relocating door button earth studs. To communicate this advice, Ewan trialled new ways to improve communication. He felt he had learned much from this project, not the least being that as nothing and nobody is perfect, and processes and people can always be better.

Optimising alignment

Next to give a presentation was Fareena Saleemi, a graduate track engineer working for WSP who won the South Eastern Centre’s heat. Her presentation was entitled ‘Optimisation of track alignment with a workflow’. She noted producing an optimum track alignment starts with defining standards and identifying constraints. However, ensuring this is exhaustive while being flexible to changed initial requirements can be quite challenging. Hence her presentation considered how software can simultaneously evaluate multiple track alignment options.

Fareena explained that as constraints are not all absolute, weighted factors such as cost, operational efficiency, safety, and sustainability need to be considered for each alignment option. She illustrated her presentation with a brief to develop a new 1,000km passenger railway between Quebec City and Toronto which required the analysis of 28,000 square miles of land with lakes, wetland, and rivers for which there were numerous valid alignments. Using automation, the options that best addressed these constraints were quickly identified. Hence, she had no doubt about the benefits of using automation in this way at the early stages of a project lifecycle.

Hot or not

Winner of the South West Centre’s heat was Aamina Shah, a systems engineer from Angel Trains. Her presentation was entitled ‘Hot or Not? The Use of Thermal Cameras in Third Rail Monitoring.’ Aamina advised that thermal imaging cameras can be used to detect loose and defective third rail components, as well as faulty braking equipment on passing trains. When monitored over time thresholds can be developed to allow machine learning to automatically determine the requirement for rapid defect response or preventative maintenance.

Aamina’s presentation explained the practicalities of fitting both removable and fixed front facing thermal imaging cameras to Class 507 and 707 units which concerned power supplies, water ingress, and calibrating them to take account of emissivity of third rail components. These cameras were used in conjunction with a forward-facing video camera and an Automated Intelligent Video Review system to produce the required alerts and reports. It was found that this system effectively detected defects which included a defective lug with a 48°C temperature exceedance.

An everday occurrence

The final contestant was Shahrukh James, a system engineer from Alstom who had won the Midlands Centre’s Future of Rail heat. His presentation had the intriguing title of ‘An everyday consequence and its impact to the £18.9 billion railway’. The Elizabeth line was the railway concerned, and the everyday occurrence was dropping litter, specifically by train doors.  Litter affecting door incidents had caused 87 incidents over a four-month period making this by far the most significant cause of delay.

Shahrukh explained that the first attempt to solve this problem was the provision of a 3D-printed deflector which was only partially successful. Attention was then turned to the door leaf monitor switch which was being activated by litter when the door was open. It was therefore considered that a software change was needed to desensitise this switch so that it would not activate when the door was in the last 300mm of its opening cycle or the first 300mm of its closing cycle. He advised that this combination of hardware and software changes eliminated this door litter problem.

Deliberations and a result

Following the presentations, the judges retired to deliberate. They were: Tom Scott of Angel Trains (RDYM chair); Farzana Hampshire (RD Board); Callum Nicolson of Vanguard STS (last year’s winner); Oliver Joris of Ford Motor Company (IMechE Young Members Board Chair); and Mark Elliot of Network Rail (Railway 200).

Tom Scott commented that, given the quality of the presentations, the judges had had a difficult task choosing the runners up and the winner. Announcing the results in reverse order,  the second runner up was Ewan Martin, the first Runner up was Shahrukh James, and the winner was Aamina Shah. As they do every year, the industry’s young engineers excelled themselves throughout the heats and at the London final. Their presentations gave a fascinating insight into the impressive work by young engineers across the country, who are the future of rail.

Any young engineer who would like to enter the 2026 competition should contact their local Railway Division Centre, details of which are available at the very bottom of the link below: https://www.imeche.org/industry-sectors/railway/railway-division-how-we-are-governed

Image credit: David Shirres