Description

The RDYM Presentation Competition final was the culmination of the presentation competition process and gave each centre winner a chance to compete for the first prize of £1,000. In contrast to previous years each centre winner was offered the chance to compete at the final. The outcome of each centres heats are detailed below.

The final was supported by two guest judges, Malcolm Doebell and Chris Carr, (Malcolm had previously judged the South East heat) and one committee judge – Stephen Pell. We were treated to an inspirational talk on the pace, need and drivers for change from our guest speaker Andrew Lezala.

Front Row, Left to Right: Tim Dugher, Stacy Thundercliffe, Mark Wallace
Second Row, Left to Right: Malcom Dobell, Sam Bemment, Simon Bailey, Stephen Pell
Back Group, Left to Right: Chris Carr, Andrew Cornish, Andrew Lezala

To allow all the competitors to compete at one event the presentation duration was shortened to 10 minutes with 5 additional minutes of questioning. Despite being short the contestants all provided an excellent introduction to their topics and responded to the challenging time frame well.

The judges were impressed with the overall quality of the entrants and awarded first prize to Mark Wallace with Stacy Thundercliffe being declared as the runner up.

Heats Round-Up

The Midland and North West Region events concluded the local heats of the Railway Division Young Member Presentation Competition. Thanks to all the young engineers who took part for sharing their enthusiasm for our industry and its prospects for the future.

With presentations ranging from crash damage repair, through to line renewals, and encompassing railway activities from shop floor to national strategy, there is no aspect of the industry in which young engineers can’t play an active role.

Congratulations to the winners of the five heats (more details below), who will now go forward to the national final at IMechE HQ, London on the 19th May. These are:

• Stacy Thundercliffe (CrossCountry Trains) North West Region – The impacts which severe weather conditions have upon the rail industry and the steps which train operating companies are taking to reduce delay.
• Sam Bemment (Network Rail) Midlands Region – How lessons learnt from maintenance in the aviation industry are transferred to our railways, from the perspective of the infrastructure manager.
• Andrew Cornish (Imperial College) South East Region - Investigation of Failure Statistics within Switches and Crossings with a view to enhancing the knowledge of Network Rail assets and how to improve performance.
• Simon Bailey (Network Rail) South West Region – Electrification and the development of the high output electrification train to meet the needs of network enhancement whilst causing minimal opposition to continuous operations.
• Mark Wallace (Wabtec) North East Region - The technology and tricks behind the V150 high speed record from an engineer’s perspective.

The event will be supported by guest speaker Andrew Lezala - CEO of Metro Trains Melbourne which operate and maintain the vehicles and infrastructure for Melbourne's railway in Australia. Andrew also worked in the UK rail industry for almost 30 years; a career which started as a Bogies Engineer and spanned to CEO of Metronet.

South East Division Heat

The third Railway Division Young Members Presentation Competition heat was held at Imperial College London and, once again four excellent presentations were given:

• Andrew Cornish (Imperial College) Investigation of Failure Statistics within Switches and Crossings with a view to enhancing the knowledge of Network Rail assets and how to improve performance.
• Myles Gatherer (Network Rail) - The adoption of train borne listening equipment to aide crossing inspection and knowledge of crossing degradation.
• Ivan Grigorchenkov (City University) - Impacts of flywheel uptake in rail transport and the benefit this technology can provide in the development of sustainable traction energy use.
• Richard Flint (Chiltern Railways) - Keeping the Passenger Informed: Improving the Passenger Information Systems Fitted to the Class 168 Fleet.

Left to Right: Ivan Grigorchenkov, Richard Flint, Andrew Cornish, Myles Gatherer

Congratulations to Andrew who will now go onto to represent the South East in the Headquarters final on 19th May at IMechE HQ.

South West Division Heat

Congratulations to the three contestants of the South West Young Member Presentation Competition for their presentations on:

• Electrification and the development of the high output electrification train (Simon Bailey - Network Rail)
• The process behind a modification of the Night Riviera service stock to enable the fitment of a new parking brake (Tahir Mehmood - First)
• Invensys and future developments in the field of signalling (Rhalina Sayers - Invensys)

Left to Right: Tahir Mehmood, Rhalina Sayers, Simon Bailey

Thank-you for all those who attended and a well done to Simon who will now go on to represent the South West centre at the Head Quarters Final.

North East Division Heat

Congratulations to all the contestants of the North East Young Members Presentation Competition. All those who attended were treated to four excellent presentations on:

• The effects of and steps to control the impact of coal mining induced subsidence on the rail network (Simon Peers - Network Rail)
• The system behind, and benefits of intelligent infrastructure (Douglas Hall - Network Rail)
• The extensive work required to repair an accident damaged Class 142 diesel multiple unit (Dan Wright - Wabtec)
• The technology and tricks behind the V150 high speed record (Mark Wallace - Wabtec).

Left to Right: Douglas Hall, Dan Wright, Mark Wallace, Simon Peers

Thank-you for all those who attended and a well done to Mark who will now go on to represent the North East Centre at the Head Quarters Final.

Midlands Division Heat

中部地区铁路部门Presen年轻成员tation competition heat was held at the Ramada Hotel, Derby and,once again four excellent presentations covering an incredible breadth of material were given:

• John Nelson (Network Rail) – The engineering principles and processes behind High Output System Four and its work renewing track on the WCML every night of the week.
• Sam Bemment (Network Rail) – How lessons learnt from maintenance in the aviation industry are transferred to our railways, from the perspective of the infrastructure manager.
• Chris Ward (Loughborough University) - The developments in condition monitoring technology with application to detecting low adhesion conditions in the wheel rail interface.
• Parth Gupta (Interfleet Technology) - The benefits of composite construction and the ways in which the rail industry can benefit from technological advances made in other fields.

Left to Right: Sam Bemment, Chris Ward, John Nelson, Parth Gupta

Congratulations to Sam who will now go on to represent the Midlands region in the national final on 19th May at IMechE HQ.

North West Divison Heat

With the national heats of the Railway Division Young Member’s Presentation competition drawing to a close, the North West heat continued the trend of enthusiastic young railway professionals describing their work across the industry:

• Stacy Thundercliffe (CrossCountry Trains) – The impacts which severe weather conditions have upon the rail industry and the steps which train operating companies are taking to reduce delay.
• Jonathan Powell (Alstom) – How railway vehicle dynamics work and exactly how this affects a vehicle’s performs on our network. Michael Brown (Network Rail) – The engineering and logistical challenges of electrifying a tunnel stretch of the Haymarket North line.
• Adam Long, Nathan Sanlon, Christopher Lomax (Alstom) – Using engineering knowledge and a co-operative approach to solve problems as they occur during overhaul of rail vehicles in order to meet tight deadlines.

Left to Right: Jonathan Powell, Michael Brown, Stacy Thundercliffe, Christopher Lomax, Adam Long, Nathan Sanlon.

Congratulations to Stacy who will now go onto to represent the North West region in the national final on 19th May at IMechE HQ.