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Prof. Andrew McNaughton - Articles and news items
Issue 4 2010 / 4 August 2010 /
In Britain, about once a century for the last few hundred years a new long-distance surface transport system has been planned and built to meet the developing needs of a continually advancing society. The 18th century brought the canals and the 19th the railways, both initially more focussed on transporting freight to support the industrial revolution and the development of our cities. Of course, the 20th century brought the trunk motorway network which transformed personal travel. As we get well into the 21st century, we have been considering what is needed to promote the economic and environmental health of this country for the next 100 years. (more…)
Editorial board / 16 December 2009 /
Andrew McNaughton is Chief Engineer of High Speed Two Ltd, and Special Professor of Rail Engineering at Nottingham University. He has been engaged in railway engineering and management since 1973. His first twenty years in British Rail were engaged in maintenance, renewal and upgrade of both main line and rural railways, including leading the introduction of steel sleeper relaying and development of new maintenance techniques.
In 1993 he was appointed Head of Production and then subsequently Director, Great Western for Railtrack. In 2001 he became Chief Engineer, tasked with creating, for Network Rail, an engineering function which includes all rail system disciplines including human performance.
Andrew is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineers, Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers and Past President of the Permanent Way Institution. In Europe he is Vice Chairman of the Transport Advisory Group to the EU Commission; he is Chairman of the International Railway Union (UIC) Infrastructure Forum and the Chairman of the European Rail Research Advisory Council.
Issue 6 2008, Past issues / 3 December 2008 /
Isolated rail head defects formed under traffic, detected either by visual inspection or ultrasonic flaw testing, can significantly reduce the service life of rails if not managed correctly.
Surface initiated defects account for approximately 50% of all defects removed from Network Rail (NR) Infrastructure. These are predominately made up of squats from rolling contact fatigue and wheelburns caused by the heat introduced to the rail surface by friction between the rail and wheels during acceleration transforming the surface due to localised overheating leading to surface spalling and cracking.
Currently, these defects are removed by re-railing or when repaired, are done so by manual metal arc (MMA) welding. Both methods are time consuming with re-railing usually requiring the stress free temperature to be restored and MMA repair prone to introducing further defects such as slag inclusions and stop/start porosity.
In response to the demands for improved track availability with reducing track access opportunities and a need to introduce maintenance cost reductions innovative solutions were sought to enable defects to be removed in a more efficient manner.
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Issue 6 2007, Past issues / 27 November 2007 /
Compare our European railway network today with that of 25 years ago. Safety and punctuality have continued to improve, however, traffic growth has been patchy and costs have risen enormously. Meanwhile there have been revolutionary changes in the communications and transport environment. Mobile phones, internet and e-mail didn’t exist 25 years ago. There were no low cost airlines from a convenient regional airport. Cars used leaded fuel; air bags, ‘sat nav’ and air conditioning were unknown. The world around us is changing much faster than we are!
Now think forward to 2030. What must our railway system be like if it is to continue to be an integral part of European life? If 2030 seems far in the future, remember that a quarter of a century represents just one cycle of main line renewal of infrastructure and trains. So much of what we are already delivering today will be part of the 2030 railway. Our challenge, whilst meeting today’s targets, is to start building tomorrow’s railway. (more…)
Issue 6 2006, Past issues / 28 November 2006 /
The strategy for the maintenance and renewal of track on the Great British network has been transformed over recent years. There is now a well embedded pro-active engineering culture of ‘predict and prevent’, rather than a reactive one of ‘find and fix’.
The results of this approach are demonstrated by steady and continued improvement in all track condition indicators (geometry, numbers of broken rails etc), and has been a major contributory factor in delivering improved train performance across the network, which is now at the highest level for over six years. This is against a background of significant increases in both passenger and freight traffic and resultant reduction in track access opportunity for inspection, maintenance and renewal of the track.
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Issue 4 2005, Past issues / 3 November 2005 /
These are exciting times for the UK rail network and for its infrastructure manager, Network Rail and the next five years will lay the foundation for the next 50.
After nearly five years of hard work, train performance has been re-established at levels good enough to see real growth in patronage once again. Major projects, such as the rebuilding and upgrading of the West Coast Main Line and the construction of the high speed line from London to Eurotunnel, are nearing completion. Other major projects now underway, such as the building of a complete new telecoms network, are creating the backbone of tomorrow’s railway. At the same time, Network Rail has organised itself and is now transforming its processes. Being one of the first of the new European infrastructure managers, and in a complex political climate too, has made for a difficult and testing time since 1994, as has been extensively reported on elsewhere. Network Rail has approached its task of rebuilding Britain’s railways with commitment and tenacity coupled with forging open honest relationships with its stakeholders and customers. Some aspects of Network Rail’s activities are outlined here for the information of those networks now embarking on vertical separation. (more…)
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