The IET Society Insights Blog summarises some of the key areas identified by Local Networks at their events that will have an impact on society now or in the future. This month we tackle the latest from the engineering community on trains, planes and power and there is has an interesting section from the Surrey LN on Opening a new railway – a 21st Century challenge.

 

 

One of the most important rail projects in recent years, Crossrail will make a metamorphic difference to travel within the UK’s capital.

 

“London’s been growing hugely since the eighties and London Underground has been struggling for some time to cope. By building a railway that has the capacity to put a train with 1,700 people through the city’s central core at a rate of 30 trains an hour allows a transformational relief to London’s transport infrastructure,” says Charles Devereux, a former Crossrail Head of Rail Operations.

 

The challenges of bringing a new railway into service are many and yet Crossrail, has managed to stay within budget and deadlines and with minimal disruption to the city.

 

A colossal engineering undertaking, Devereux gives credit to the amazing professionals that overcame impressive challenges to build this railway.

 

“One TV documentary demonstrated that the tunnelling machines were having to thread their way just a matter of inches above operational Northern Line tunnels – that really is quite a feat. Unlike the rapidly built metros being built in China, all this has been done in a very established city where they’ve had to contend with numerous existing tunnels, sewers, electricity cables and other underground systems!”

 

Having worked in the sector since 1978, Devereux believes that as motorways become increasingly gridlocked the public is turning to rail as its first choice of transport. He believes, going forward, that technology will continue to improve the railway service for its growing number of users.

 

“A growth in intelligent train control systems will enable more people to travel by rail and more advanced signalling systems will help make the railway more reliable,” says Devereux. “I also think we’ll see far more intelligent maintenance systems deployed, with diagnostics that tell you when a set of points is going to fail rather than waiting for it to actually happen,” he adds.