During the week commencing Monday 3rd October we are changing over to our new Membership and Licensing Database.  This also affects access to the members’ area of the IRSE website.  Within a few days you will receive an email from us with instructions about how to set up a new password to enable you to access the members’ area.  If you currently have a password for accessing the members’ area and you do not receive an email about the change of password by the end of the week, please email irseonline@irse.org to inform us.

The new database will provide us with more facilities for managing membership and licensing information, although at present we are still in the early stages of using it.  Your patience is appreciated while we get up to speed with the new system!

This month’s edition of IRSE NEWS brings you all the news about what is going on in the IRSE, with papers and articles on:

• The evolution of signalling technologies in Hong Kong
• Seven myths of railway systems engineering
• The future of Signal Post Telephones
• ETCS level 2 meets existing interlockings – a challenge?
• Cyber-Security — The Network and Information Security Directive

Click here to access October’s IRSE NEWS (no login needed this month because of website changes).

The Malaysian Section of the IRSE is holding its annual seminar on 27th October in Kuala Lumpur, to which all are welcome. It will include presentations, a site visit and an evening dinner – click here for details.

The second paper in our 2016-17 Presidential Programme series will be presented on Wednesday 9th November 2016 in London. The author is Jan Swier, Strategic Advisor, ProRail (Netherlands), and the subject is “Asset Management”.  The venue is the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 1 Birdcage Walk, London. Click here for more details.

Asset management continues to be a hot topic in the rail industry. There is much discussion about it, but people often have trouble in articulating what it is, how it is done and what is really new in the field. Cost reductions and performance improvement are promised but it is unclear how these are achieved, and what the results are. This paper is a case study of the development of ProRail, the railway asset manager in Netherlands. It describes what ProRail considers as the essence of asset management, what the challenges are, and the critical milestones in its development.

Join the CBTC experts on 1st December at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel in the heart of downtown Toronto, Canada for an all-day IRSE Seminar on the subject of communications-based train control (CBTC). You will also have the opportunity to join the technical visit on the next day and visit the CBTC test track at the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) facilities. This is a unique opportunity to learn, visit and network with your peers and other members of rail industry. Topics related to CBTC that are expected to feature in the papers and presentation include:

• Safe and reliable methods for train positioning
• Safe and reliable methods of wayside and train-borne communications
• Methods to establish and enforce the limits of movement authority
• Regulate train movement and operations at capacity
• Increased level of automation
• Improving operational reliability and availability
• Maintenance and diagnostic capabilities
• Interoperability and interchangeability standards
• Cyber security

More details will be available on the IRSE website shortly – click here.  In the meantime:

If you are interested in attending, please register your interest as soon as possible by emailing Hilary Cohen (hilary.cohen@irse.org) in the IRSE office, with your name, company and preferred email address. Please use “IRSE Toronto CBTC Seminar” as the title for your email.  We will send you more information as soon as it is available. A booking form is being sent with this e-bulletin, and it will also be available on the IRSE website shortly.  This event is also open to non-members.

If you are interested in making a presentation at the Seminar, please see our Call for Papers.  Abstracts setting out your proposal for a presentation should be sent to Yousef Kimiagar (Yousef.Kimiagar@parsons.com), the Organising Committee Chairman, no later than 28th October.

Save the dates between 25th and 29th September 2017 for the 2017 IRSE International Technical Convention, IRSECON17, to be held in the Dallas / Fort Worth area of Texas, USA.  Planning is well under way for an exciting programme of technical papers and site visits for the delegates and of course a special programme for the guests, along with the traditional Convention events.  Look out for more news in the coming months as the schedule is firmed up.

The IRSE’s international technical conference returns on the 28th – 29th November 2017. For the first time ASPECT will be held outside the UK, in the dazzling city state of Singapore, a world leading centre of urban transport technology at the heart of one of the world’s most dynamic regions, Asia. It will be held at the Land Transport Authority Headquarters at the Hampshire Road Campus.

Look out for the Call for Papers in November’s edition of the IRSE NEWS, and on the IRSE website over the coming months for more details of the event. The themes of the conference will be

- Metro technologies

- Professional Development

- Condition Monitoring

- High speed rail

Younger Members please note: Hewlett Fisher Bursaries will be available for you to apply for. Successful applicants will receive support for travel to this career enhancing event.

Contact us by e-mail at aspect@irse.org to discuss sponsorship and exhibition opportunities or visit www.irse.org/aspect.

In January each year we invite nominations for members to fill the vacancies on the IRSE’s governing Council.  In the November edition of IRSE NEWS there will be an article about what Council does, and how the nomination/election process works.  Please read it – we really do want the Council’s membership to reflect the wider membership of the Institution.

With the kind permission of the Bluebell Railway PLC we have arranged a Technical Visit to the Bluebell Railway on 5th November, starting from East Grinstead station. We will view the new signalling installation at Kingscote Signal Box, featuring a Westinghouse ‘L’ type frame. We will then travel to Horsted Keynes by train to inspect the signalling works there, and finally continue on to Sheffield Park by train to complete the visit. There will be a registration fee of £35.00 for this visit. Click here for more details and the booking form.

The Scottish Section’s Annual Dinner will take place on 10th November 2016 in Glasgow, and will be preceded by a Technical Meeting featuring a presentation and paper on ‘Planning Scotland’s railway – Routes to the Future’ by Network Rail’s Strategy and Planning Team.

The Dinner, which this year is generously sponsored by AECOM, is now firmly established as the largest annual rail event in Scotland, whilst retaining an informal and friendly atmosphere. For more information and to book tickets, click here.

The Annual Younger Members’ Seminar is being held in Glasgow on 9th-10th November. The Seminar on the 9th will feature presentations from across the country on the topic of “Enhancing Railway Capacity across the UK”. There will be Technical Visit on 10th to the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport depot facilities. As usual the event is open to members and non-members alike and is free to attend. For more information, click here.

The IRSE is an event partner for this Conference being organised by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in London on 15-16 November 2016.  The programme is still being developed, but you can already book online – click here.  Key topics are expected to include:

• Investigating organisational issues and culture
• Selecting what to investigate for effective improvements in safety
• Investigating safety management systems
• Causal Analysis: what technique is best?
• Post-accident communications with multiple and parties
• The use of drones in investigations
• Automated and software controlled systems
• Understanding derailments

Host your next conference, seminar or meeting at One Birdcage Walk, Westminster and as a member of IRSE, receive a 10% room hire discount*.  Close to Westminster tube station and minutes from the Houses of Parliament, One Birdcage Walk offers you:

• 16 event spaces at competitive prices
• Room hire rates free of VAT
• Flexible spaces – from boardrooms for 5 to a lecture theatre for 210
• AV requirements fully supported by our in-house team
• A full range of refreshment options created by Ampersand, our in-house caterers

Please contact the Venue and Room Hire Team on enquiries@onebirdcagewalk.com or +44 (0) 20 7973 1248 and quote IRSE2016.

*please note this discount is applicable on our standard room hire rates only for bookings taking place in 2016 and is not applicable in conjunction with any other promotions.