Clive Kessell

In these strangest of times, the Railway Industry Association (RIA) decided to continue with its annual conference, albeit online. The issues facing the rail industry are very much in debate and an opportunity for government, the industry and the...

The lengthy time taken to get new projects, systems and equipment into service is something that gives many of us a sense of despair. It never used to be like that, so what has happened to make things so...

Chris White was the epitome of the dedicated railwayman. Born in 1942, his parents ran a market gardening business in the Devon village of Budleigh Salterton. He loved trains from an early age and on leaving school, he became...

PAUL TAYLOR, 80 YEARS YOUNG AND STILL WORKING FOR NETWORK RAIL, TALKS WITH CLIVE KESSELL With the relaxing of age discrimination legislation, more and more people are choosing to work beyond the traditional retirement age of 65. Often, this is...

Driver Advisory Systems (DAS) are becoming established as a useful operating tool in the thrust to achieve improvements in train running performance. First Group have led the way with DAS implementation and an article describing the usage and experience appeared in issue 104 (June 2013). Since then, other train operators...

The much-publicised advent of a Digital Railway by Network Rail has raised questions in the eyes of many engineers working in the rail industry. What does it mean, when digital technology has been in use for many systems since the late 1960s? Virtually all the NRT telecommunications network is digital...

The railway signal and telecommunications sector is now more diverse than it has ever been. Operating on an international scale, a multitude of organisations have to co-operate in the business of delivering new schemes that requires a comprehensive and mutual understanding by all players as to roles and responsibilities. It...

The many articles on ERTMS (European Rail Traffic Management System), in both this magazine and other publications covering the rail industry, have generally reported that the system with its component parts of ETCS (European Train Control system), GSM-R and the ETML (the still to come traffic management level) will yield...

Nowhere is the shortage as acute as in the rail industry and especially in the train control & communications and electrification disciplines. The National Skills Academy for Rail Engineering (NSARE) predicted back in 2012 that the number of ETP (Engineering, Technical and Planning) skills requirement will fall short by around...

The major routes of the old London Brighton & South Coast Railway have been resignalled many times since the company went out of existence in 1923. However the secondary routes, although mainly electrified many years ago, retained their traditional signalling right up to the present day with lever frame boxes...