Exhibitors prepare for 11th Railtex

Railtex 2013, the UK’s premier rail event, will take place at the Earls Court exhibition centre in London from 30 April to 2 May. Organised by Mack Brooks Exhibitions, this will be the 11th edition of these popular exhibitions that provide both a technology showcase for customers in the domestic rail market and an opportunity for the country’s suppliers to present their capabilities to a wider international audience.

Over the years, Railtex has developed to also include a wide range of supporting features in the form of seminars, project updates and discussion forums – a trend that continues this year. This latest show coincides with an upbeat mood in the industry, prompted by optimism for its future prospects. Strong government support for the development of Britain’s rail system is leading to unprecedented levels of investment, intensifying interest in this market by the supply industry. Behind this support is a continuing increase in the number of passengers using the national network – up by nearly 8% to 1.46 billion in 2011/12, and a healthy increase in freight volume, up 9.5% to 21.06 billion tonne-km.

Tunnelling is now in progress on London’s £14.8 billion Crossrail line which is due to open in stages from 2018. A major programme of mainline electrification is getting under way and wholesale modernisation of the signalling system is being undertaken as part of a wider strategy of enhancing the capacity and performance of the existing network. The government has also shown its determination to press ahead with plans for a national high-speed network starting with the HS2 line between London and the West Midlands.

These projects will be attracting the interest of many of the expected 400 companies taking part in the show, ranging from well-known international names supplying total rail systems such as Alstom, Bombardier and Siemens to suppliers of the many specialised products and services essential to the safe, efficient and costeffective operation of main-line and urban railway networks.

Rolling stock focus

Bombardier will be focusing on rolling stock, train control systems and asset life manage – ment services on its stand. The Aventra commuter EMU, ZEFIRO very high-speed train and TRAXX P200 AC electric locomotive adapted for the UK’s infrastructure will all be featured, together with the Movia metro design currently being supplied to London Underground’s subsurface lines and the FLEXITY 2 tram, which made its debut last year in Blackpool. The Cityflo 650 automatic train control system, also being delivered to London Underground, will be among the signalling technologies on offer and Bombardier will also detail its fleet management services.

Having already supplied high-speed EMUs for HS1 services between Kent and London, Hitachi Rail Europe is also the lead partner for Agility Trains’ £4.5 billion contract to supply and maintain new trains under the government’s Intercity Express Programme (IEP). Hitachi is additionally a shortlisted bidder along with Bombardier, CAF and Siemens to supply rolling stock for the Crossrail project. On its stand will be the new prototype inner-frame bogie and the company’s ETCS signalling solution.

Also exhibiting will be Siemens, which has been named preferred bidder to supply around 1,200 EMU cars for the upgraded north-south Thameslink line through London. The company’s Desiro UK EMUs are widely used by two oper – ators, London Midland and South West Trains, and more are on order for the former and for Trans Pennine Express. Siemens is also supplying 10 Velaro high-speed trainsets to Eurostar.

Another exhibitor active internationally is GE Transportation, which has recently supplied examples of its new Powerhaul diesel freight locomotive to Freightliner and will also be outlining its capabilities in signalling and train control technology.

Among innovations in rolling stock subsystems will be advances in transmission equipment from ZF Services UK. Voith will present the latest version of the Wedgelock coupler, the DIWA Rail hydro-mechanical transmission and Scharfenberg couplers with the new One4 head. Railtex will see the UK launch by Knorr-Bremse of a new, compact product which monitors train on-board systems including HVAC and door-operations, allowing remote adjust ment and pre-emptive maintenance to keep trains running. IFE, the Knorr- Bremse Rail Group’s train door specialist, will show its retrofitted obstacle detection system using a special interactive display. Also, Faiveley Transport will mark recent successes in supplying train air-conditioning systems.

Signalling and train control systems will also be strongly represented. As well as firms active in this sector already mentioned, Invensys Rail (acquired last year by Siemens and a major supplier to the UK market) will be present, plus Signalling Solutions Ltd – a joint venture between Alstom Transport and Balfour Beatty Rail.

Display areas

An established feature of Railtex is ‘The Track’ – a display area for rail-mounted machinery and equipment that is sponsored by leading rail suppliers Tata Steel. Among innovations to be promoted by Tata will be its 108m ‘stress-free’ heat treat rail to be launched later this year. Exhibitors hosted on The Track will include Rosehill Rail, presenting a new version of its level crossing anti-trespass panels.

New this year and complementing The Track in the exhibition hall will be ‘The Yard’. Successfully introduced at last year’s Infrarail, the sister event of Railtex, and supported by the UK’s Rail Plant Association, this display area for larger items of rail plant such as road-rail vehicles provides manufacturers and hire companies with a unique opportunity to showcase their latest equipment. Products on show will include Rail- Ability’s new Rail-Reach III access platform and hybridised MAN 4×4 road-rail vehicle.

Other products on display will underline the diversity of Railtex. For example, ABB will outline its pioneering work in the develop – ment of regenerative energy solutions to feed power back into the electrical grid, citing a project in the U.S. in which battery manufacturer Saft has also been involved with its Li-ion energy storage technology.

Security products will be well represented by companies like Axis Communications, with its CCTV installation at Reading claimed to make this the first UK station to be equipped with IP-based surveillance, and Wireless CCTV, which will show a new auto-tracking dome developed to help counter the major problems of cable, depot and remote site theft, graffiti and vandalism. Passenger information products will include ESUBs (Electronic Service Update Boards) supplied for the London Underground network by Met SYSTEMS and a new touchscreen Help Point from Commend UK. Developments in trackside phone technology will be on show by DAC and GAI-Tonics.

Other fields that will be covered include rolling stock maintenance, station equipment and fittings, railway civil engineering products and services, cable technology and electronics systems.

Minister to open show

Railtex 2013 will be opened by the UK’s Minister of State for Transport Simon Burns MP on 30 April. On the same day, the Minister will deliver a keynote speech as part of an extensive free seminar programme running over all three days of the event. Keynote presentations will be made on subsequent days by Richard Parry-Jones, Chairman of Network Rail, and by Crossrail Chief Executive Andrew Wolstenholme.

Also open to all visitors will be the Project Update Theatre, where project directors and managers will outline the status of major UK rail schemes, with three presentations by Network Rail, an update on the UK’s planned high-speed rail network, including an outline of procurement strategy and business oppor – tunities for British companies, and a briefing by Hitachi Rail Europe on the IEP rolling stock programme.

Additional industry insights will be provided by ‘The Platform’, staged for the first time at Railtex in partnership with Rail Champions. This will take the form of an interactive discussion forum with panels of industry experts addressing topical themes, with audience participation welcome.

Railtex 2013 boasts an impressive list of supporting organisations and show partners. Endorsing the event and in most cases taking a stand at the show are the Railway Industry Association, representing the interest of the UK’s leading suppliers, the Rail Alliance suppliers’ networking association, Derby & Derbyshire Rail Forum, the Institution of Railway Signal Engineers, the Permanent Way Institution, the Institution of Engineering and Technology, the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (UK) and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, plus the NSARE and the YRP.

Online registration for Railtex 2013 is available via the show website. Pre-registering gives free entry to the exhibition, avoiding the £20.00 ticket price payable on the door. This also provides fast-track access to show and entry to the extensive programme of additional activities taking place during its three days. For more details of everything taking place at the event, go to the regularly updated show website at www.railtex.co.uk.

Eurotech Solutions for rolling stock

Eurotech develops EN50155 compliant rugged solutions that are the perfect answer to all the needs of the IT infrastructure on-board rolling stock: data acquisition and computing, train control, communication, information to passengers and services to the operators. Designed specifically for mobile IT infrastructures, Eurotech platforms not only provide a very rugged and reliable design, but also come standard with advanced auto-diagnostic functionality for monitoring system status, temperature and operation. These systems can also feature remote status monitoring with pre-alarm utilities to further simplify maintenance and enhance system reliability.

Many support Eurotech’s Everyware Software Framework (ESF) and Everyware Device Cloud (EDC). These products deliver: Vehicle control; Accurate location tracking; Public announcement systems; Passenger information systems; Enhanced communications; Passenger counting; Fleet management; and Security/ Surveillance capabilities.

Eurotech will be exhibiting at Railtex 2013 between 30th April and 2nd May – visit Stand J40 to find out more information or to discuss how we can help with your projects. www.eurotech.com

Date: 30th April – 2 May 2013

Location: London, UK

Website: www.railtex.co.uk