During the evening we heard from several young railway professionals who delivered their 10 minute presentation on a railway technical subject of their choice. This offered the Young Professionals speakers the opportunity to showcase their presentation skills on a railway technical topic of their choosing to a panel of judges to win a cash prize.
All of the speakers did a fantastic job on the night and the judges had a difficult decision to make.
And the Winner is…..
The winner on the night was Katherine Clarke, Assistant Project Engineer, Network Rail
Title - Rationalised Autotransformer System Protection on the Great Western Mainline Electrification
A close second place was awarded to Lakshan Subenthiran, Assistant Project Engineer - Northern Line Upgrade 2, London Underground. Title - Unlocking the Northern Line's Potential
The Railway TPN would like to thank all the finalists for their preparation in the final papers and the presentation on the night. It was a learning experience for all who attended.
The Finalists were:
Katherine Clarke, Assistant Project Engineer, Network Rail
Title - Rationalised Autotransformer System Protection on the Great Western Mainline Electrification
Ajtony Farkas, Graduate Mechanical Engineer, ESG Rail
Title - Investigating the Effect of Track Quality on a Railway Vehicle’s Stopping Distance
Lakshan Subenthiran, Assistant Project Engineer - Northern Line Upgrade 2, London Underground
Title - Unlocking the Northern Line's Potential
Mohammad Reza Zolfaghari, Doctoral Research Student & PGTA, Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education
Title - Improving Requirements Management Accuracy for Future Railway Infrastructure Projects by Means of System Dynamics Tools
Chen Zhao, Graduate Design Engineer, Siemens
Title - Feasibility and Performance Analysis of the Static Frequency Converter Supplied AC Traction Power System
Alongside the presentations our keynote for the evening was Stephen Dapré CEng MIET MIRSE, Signalling Design Group Manager Reading/Swindon/Cardiff at Network Rail - giving a talk on Crossrail 2 which will be the next major rail project in London, providing new capacity and connectivity in the 2030s. This talk covered: How is it similar to Crossrail 1 (the Elizabeth line), How is it different, What could we learn from Crossrail 1 and other recent projects and What is it like being an engineer on a project in the early stages of development.
Dr Crinela Pislara, member of the Railway TPN who attended on the evening said ‘The event was well attended and provided an opportunity to celebrate what is great about the railway industry, to inspire a generation of young people into exciting and dynamic careers in rail industry and to redraw the image of rail as the exciting, innovative industry we know it to be.
Also the event was a brilliant opportunity to raise the profile of women in engineering and focus attention on the amazing career opportunities available to girls in this exciting industry. The presentations were excellent.
Congratulations to YRP members for organising a successful and memorable event.’
The Railway TPN would like to thank David Lawes, the Young Professionals Chair for hosting the event and the Railway TPN judges Martin Halligan, Zahangir Hussain and John Easton.