Consultancies help out on major projects

Consultancy practices have an important role in providing technical expertise for railway projects around the globe.

Historically, Europe’s big state railways were self-sufficient. All the engineering skills were on hand in-house: when a new project was sanctioned by the government, the state railway would generally be able to design and execute the project itself. The experience and expertise gained in such work would enable the state railway to sell consultancy services to developing countries embarking on new railways and railway improvement projects.

This pattern still holds true to some extent, with DE-Consult, the consultancy arm of Deutsche Bahn (German Rail), and Systra, which is jointly held by SNCF (French Railways) and RATP (Paris Transport), major forces in railway projects around the globe. But the deregulation and privatisation of the rail systems in some European countries has prompted a new requirement for consultancy services. In a fragmented network, such as that of the UK, many of the companies have either taken a decision to focus on their key tasks, or are too small to have expertise in-house, or both, and thus have a need to buy in expertise from outside consultancies.

High-speed success

The traditional pattern can be seen at work in the high-speed sector. Countries such as France and Germany have spent large sums on constructing purpose-built high-speed railway lines, and have sought to exploit that experience when other countries have followed their lead.

France was of course the high-speed pioneer in Europe, with the Train à Grande Vitesse network marking its 25th anniversary this year. TGV technology has been exported to Spain, Belgium, The Netherlands, South Korea and the UK.

Britain’s first high-speed line, the Channel Tunnel Rail Link from Folkestone to London, is in effect an extension of the TGV Nord route on the other side of the Channel. The first section of the new line is already open and the remainder of the line, into the refashioned St Pancras International station in the heart of London, is due to open next year.

The CTRL uses French technology, such as CSEE’s TVM430 in-cab signalling system. SNCF offshoot Systra has had a major hand in the construction of the line, being a shareholder in London & Continental Railways, the company selected by the government to build and operate the link. Arup, Bechtel and Halcrow are also shareholders in LCR, and with Systra own Rail Link Engineering, the company set up to design and project manage the CTRL.

Similarly, DE-Consult, the DB consultancy arm, has a long history of involvement in high-speed routes. DE-Consult works both on extensions of the German high-speed network and on systems in other countries. For example, for the Rhine-Main high-speed line between Cologne and Frankfurt which opened in 2002, DE-Consult undertook extensive work for DB. The 204-km-long high-speed railway line was built in the same transport corridor as the A3 motorway. With 30 tunnels and 18 valley viaducts and a top speed of 300km/h, design and construction was a considerable engineering challenge. For this project, DE-Consult undertook:

• Basic fact finding
• Surveying
• Engineering planning for structures/plant and equipment
• Site supervision
• Project coordination
• Geo-technical consultancy and site supervision
• Design of an operations programme

The company designed the southern junction complex on the territory of the state of Hesse.

Experience on the high-speed network at home has stood DE-Consult in good stead when tendering for consultancy work on high-speed projects in other countries. DE-Consult has won considerable work in Spain, where the high-speed network is a hybrid between the French and German systems. For Spain’s first high-speed line between Madrid and Seville, DE-Consult undertook a system comparison of electrification concepts and production of an optimised design proposal. The company also provided technical assistance in the specialist fields of railway power supplies, catenaries, control and safety systems, telecommunications, site supervision of technical railway equipment and acceptance of supplies and workmanship for the 462km-long, 300km/h high-speed line.

DE-Consult has since gone on to work on the Madrid–Barcelona–Perpignan high-speed line, providing technical and operational support for mixed operation of high-speed passenger trains along with freight trains on the Barcelona–Perpignan part of the route. The project includes the conversion of the old railway line to Port Bou harbour to the European standard gauge.

DE-Consult has undertaken a feasibility study to estimate the likely additional passenger potential that could result from building a station for Barcelona Airport on the high-speed line to Madrid, based on an analysis of the modal split within the catchment area, air passengers’ selected means of transport to and from the airport and their domestic and foreign destinations.

West Coast Route Modernisation

In the UK, one of the biggest rail projects in recent years has been the £8 billion upgrade of the West Coast main line linking London Euston with the Midlands, the North of England and Scotland.

Failure to manage the West Coast Route Modernisation (WCRM) properly was a major factor in the collapse of Railtrack, the former private sector rail infrastructure company in the UK. When Railtrack had gone, Bechtel, one of the largest US engineering consultancies, was called in to assist in completing the project. This followed the company’s successful completion of the Jubilee Line Extension (JLE) in London, which had to be open in time for the millennium celebrations in 2000 but which had fallen badly behind time when being managed in-house by London Underground.

WCRM has provided work for many other consultancies. For example, Parsons Brinckerhoff provided programme management support, while Scott Wilson Railways has acted as design consultant on the TV4 project, the quadrupling of track in the Trent Valley.

Atkins Rail, the largest UK consultant, has been prominent as a partner in the overhead electrification alliance, along with Balfour Beatty and Carillion. A new electrical traction system was required to accommodate new high-speed tilting trains on the route and to provide greater route capacity. Atkins designed the overhead line electrification (OLE) system to facilitate use of an improved installation method based on specially manufactured overhead wire renewal trains. The company developed computer models of the new power supply system as well as computer-aided design programs to simulate the effects of junction remodelling and to assess signal sighting of the new tilting trains.

Atkins is involved in most areas of railway consultancy and has become a major player in the UK signalling market. The firm purchased Bombardier’s interest in the SSI (Solid State Interlocking) type of signalling that is virtually a British standard. This is standing Atkins in good stead as the UK signalling market is growing rapidly, following several years in which very few projects were authorised. At present Atkins is involved in designing and implementing a major re-signalling project at Port Talbot, on the South Wales main line.

Crossrail coming

With the CTRL and WCRM projects drawing to a close, the UK is now looking at a new project: Crossrail, a plan to drive a new tunnel under the centre of London between Liverpool Street and Paddington stations. While this has not yet been sanctioned by the Government, design work is proceeding in the hope that finance will be forthcoming.

Bechtel, which now has an impressive track record in UK rail stretching from the JLE and WCRM through to the CTRL, has been appointed Development Manager for Crossrail.

Other consultancies are working with Bechtel on specific aspects of the project. Mott MacDonald is Multi Disciplinary Consultant (MDC) responsible for the central tunnels, and also has oversight of the systems and rolling stock aspects of the project. Scott Wilson Railways is MDC for the surface sections of the project, while Halcrow is MDC for the south-eastern branch of Crossrail that would serve the Canary Wharf financial district of London.

Vehicles too

So far this article has considered big infrastructure projects, but consultancies also get involved in other areas of railways, from operations to vehicle design. For example Halcrow has co-ordinated the UK rail industry’s effort to reduce the number of signals passed at danger (SPADs), a very successful initiative that has seen SPADs driven down to historically low levels.

Consultancies can sometimes add a little flair to vehicle design. The French consultancy MBD Design has been involved in many rolling stock projects, from the TER regional train to the design of the BB36000 locomotive. Atkins Rail has an extensive vehicles practice based in Derby, which has worked on projects ranging from designing the interior for the refurbishment of the Class 144 fleet of ‘Pacer’ vehicles used in West Yorkshire in the UK, to advising the municipality of Budapest, Hungary, on procurement of low-floor trams. Halcrow has worked on the engineering acceptance of Class 333 electric multiple-units in the UK, amongst other projects.

The vehicle acceptance procedures instituted when British Rail was succeeded by the fragmented privatised system have provided much work for consultancies, which have worked as Vehicle Acceptance Bodies and Independent Safety Assessors. For example, on the Voyager diesel multiple-units built by Bombardier for Virgin CrossCountry, Atkins was the VAB, AEA Technology the ISA and Serco acted as testing authority.

With the move to the European Union’s interoperability rules, many consultancy firms have been authorised to act as Notified Bodies (NoBos) under the regulations. For example, a year ago Halcrow became the tenth body in the UK to be authorised to act as a NoBo for high-speed rail interoperability. With this authority, Halcrow will be responsible for confirming that new and upgraded high-speed railway works are designed and built to meet the requirements for interoperability throughout the European high-speed rail network. The process requires all new and upgraded high-speed trains and infrastructure to comply with Technical Standards for Interoperability.