• Low Cost Signalling (Presidential Programme technical paper presented in London in January)
• Renewal of the tunnel control systems technology in the Lötschberg Base Tunnel
• Secure by design: countering cyber threats
• SATLOC – An innovative train control system for low traffic-density lines
• North American Section: A review of the IRSE CBTC seminar held in Toronto

The sixth of our Presidential Programme Technical Papers will be presented in London on 14th March by Henri van Houten (Prorail) and Nicola Furness (Network Rail).  The event takes place at the IET (Savoy Place) at 18.00, with refreshments available from 17.30.

Our railways are full. We need more capacity. ETCS Level 3 should be able to deliver better capacity, reduce costs, improve flexibility and increase reliability in comparison with ETCS Level 2. But does ETCS Level 3 actually exist, or is it still a theoretical concept not yet fully defined?

In this presentation the authors, both of whom are experts in the field of ERTMS, will explore the current status of ETCS Level 3 and share the results of collaborative development work on Level 3 being carried out by Network Rail and ProRail.

Click here for more details.

The IRSE’s Annual Dinner will take place in The Savoy, London, on Friday 21st April 2017. 

Our Guest of Honour is David Waboso, Managing Director of the UK’s Digital Railway Programme. 

Booking forms will be available from mid-January onwards – click here.  To reserve a table now, please contact Hilary Cohen in the IRSE office (hilary.cohen@irse.org).

The Dinner follows the IRSE Annual General Meeting and election of our new President, which takes place in the IET, Savoy Place (next to The Savoy).

WSP|Parsons Brinckerhoff is kindly sponsoring this event.

The Stephenson Conference brings together rail researchers and rail industry people from 15+ countries around the world to present and discuss ~70 papers on a wide range of research, coupled with real-life case studies of the application of that research. 

The event also has several keynote speakers, including Mark Carne (CEO, Network Rail), Carlo Borghini (Executive Director, Shift2Rail Programme), and Professor John Miles Arup/Royal Academy of Engineering Research Professor in Transitional Energy Strategies, University of Cambridge (UK).

The 2nd Stephenson Conference will take place in London on 25 – 27 April 2017.  Click here for more information and booking details.

The 2017 Convention will take place in the Dallas/Fort Worth area of the USA from 25th to 29th September.  Details of the Convention (including the programme), the Booking Form, and the Hotel Booking Form are all now available via the link below.  We are offering Early Bird rates for people booking by 30th June. 

We have produced a “template business case” which you might wish to make use of if you need to persuade your employer to support you attending the Convention, also available via the link below.

For the first time we are also opening the Convention to non-members (at a higher rate). If you know of work colleagues who might be interested in attending, please show them the information about the event.

We are also offering bursaries for younger members – you can find the Application Form via the link below.  Applications for bursaries must be received no later than 30 April 2017.

For all the information and forms for the Convention, click here.

Corporate members of the IRSE (Associate Members, Members, Fellows and Honorary Fellows) will in mid-February receive ballot papers for voting on the election of members of the IRSE’s governing Council.

If you are thinking of taking the IRSE Exam this year, new 2017 Exam Application Guidance (v1) is available on the IRSE website, which you must read in order to understand the process for applying. Click here to see the IRSE Examination webpage.  Downloadable documents, including the Guidance, are available on the right of the page.

In the March 2017 edition of IRSE NEWS there will be an article about taking the Exam.

If you weren’t able to attend the January Presidential Programme Technical Paper in London on January 10th (on the subject of Low Cost Signalling), you missed a cracker of a presentation and discussion.  But all is not lost – you can see the video of the whole event on the IRSE website – click here (you will need to login to see it).

A number of the UK-based Professional Engineering Institutions are exploring what can be done to ensure that PEIs remain relevant to engineers and society in the 21st Century.  The IRSE is actively participating in this initiative.  If you would like to read a little more about this initiative, click here.

The IRSE publishes a set of Proceedings for each Presidential Year, as a record of the Institution’s activities.  Originally these were produced as a printed book, although in more recent years we have distributed them on CD/DVD to members.  For the year 2015-16 onwards we are making the Proceedings available only online, and will not be distributing them in CD/DVD or printed format.  To view the Proceedings for 2015-2016, which have just been finalised, click here.

The IRSE’s International Technical Committee is proposing to produce a paper on Trackworker Protection, focussed primarily on warning and protection systems.  If you have information about such systems, whether as a user, designer or supplier, Wim Coenraad would very much like to hear from you.  You can contact Wim at wimcoenraad@me.com.

On 9th January Judith Ward joined us as our new Professional Development Manager.  She can be contacted via judith.ward@irse.org. Judith is a Chartered Engineer, and a signal engineer by profession.  She will be based in London.  Her role includes:

• Encouraging members to undertake Continuing Professional Development.
• Engaging with employers on matters relating to the IRSE’s support for the professional development of their employees.
• Overseeing the management of the IRSE’s Mentoring Scheme.
• Managing the production of educational material.
• Assessing applications for the certification of externally provided courses.
• Overseeing the periodic review and revision of the IRSE Exam Study Guide material.

The IRSE and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers are jointly running a one day Seminar on the subject of Automatic Train Operation.  ATO is common on metros, but so far has been little used on other rail networks.  But with the pressure to increase capacity, and the introduction of ETCS, there is both a need and an opportunity to broaden the application of ATO to national rail networks. 

For more information, and to book places, click here. 

From the beginning of this year onwards, all those individuals who have professional registration (CEng, IEng, EngTech) with UK’s Engineering Council may be subject to a random audit of their CPD by the Institution through which they are registered.

We will be selecting a number of individuals, at random, and asking to view their CPD logs.  If you haven’t updated or maintained your CPD log during 2016 now is the time to do so.  IRSE supports the Engineering Council’s electronic CPD system mycareerpath and if you haven’t already set up a user account you can easily do so by following the link to the IRSE’s Professional Development webpage.

Do you live or work in Denmark?  We would very much like to hear from you, to find out how many IRSE members might be interested in attending a few local technical meetings or visits in Denmark. There are many projects underway and therefore potentially much to see and discuss. A first visit to witness some CBTC testing, and to view the facilities in the new Control and Maintenance Centre at Vasbygade for the new Copenhagen Cityringen CBTC system, is being planned.  Please make contact with Ross Gammon via rega@bane.dk.

In November 2016 the IRSE and WSP|Parsons Brinckerhoff jointly hosted a discussion workshop on the challenges and opportunities of digital technology for train control systems and traffic management systems in the UK.  The report from the event has now been published, capturing the key thoughts emerging from the discussion.  It is intended to stimulate feedback and further debate - click here to view it.

A further workshop is planned for 8 March.  If you would like to participate, you can find contact details on page 7 of the report.

The UK’s Royal Academy of Engineering has published a report on behalf of the UK engineering profession on the implications on BREXIT.  Click here for more information.