the british rail case study learning from the past

Recommended

About us | Advertise with us | Contact us

Back to the future – learning lessons from our rail’s past

Posted: 19 February 2018 | Gordon Buchan - WYG | 1 comment

The UK Transport Secretary’s recent comments on the potential use of hydrogen powered trains on the UK rail network is interesting given some of the historical parallels on the Great Western franchise. Gordon Buchan, Director of Transport Planning, WYG, believes the railway’s past can offer advice for today’s implementation of new technology.

The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a pioneer in the development of railways in England and Wales. The engineering geniuses, Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Daniel Gooch, helped shape and develop elements of railway engineering that are still current today.

It is certainly true that there is nothing new in history, however learning from the past can help steer a course in the present and future. So, the question remains, what do the experiences of the past tell us with respect to new locomotive power on the Great Western routes?

When Brunel and Gooch were developing the GWR network, they were pioneers in the field. They used the available technology and materials to help engineer a new form of transport, developing the broad-gauge railway track network for their line, while the rest of the country used what became the Standard gauge of the Stephensons. At seven feet and one quarter inches, the broad-gauge railway was significantly more stable than the Standard gauge at four feet and eight and a half inches. If this had been installed across the country, we would have had more substantial trains that could carry more goods at faster speeds. Unfortunately for the GWR, their considered technical approach was overlooked by the multitudes of other lines being built throughout the UK, that had all adopted the Standard gauge. In May 1892, the last broad-gauge service departed Paddington for the west. Broad-gauge was a Betamax system in a VHS world and the GWR lost in refitting the network to the now Standard gauge of track.

In the early 1900s the GWR developed its railway and employed George Jackson Churchward as its Chief Mechanical Engineer. He developed a new range of locomotives based upon the latest technology and best practices and created a modern and standardised fleet that could cope with the demands placed upon it.

The genius in his design was standardising common components. With a large pool of common parts, it was easy to fix and turn around locomotives during overhaul, improving efficiency and overall mileage.

Churchward’s design philosophy was entirely correct and his influence spread to other firms, resulting in better efficiency and improved performance across the UK. He had reviewed what was on offer in the US and Europe, tested it, refined it and then produced a standardised product that he could deploy to provide a reliable and high use service.

Following World War Two, the GWR was nationalised into British Railways (BR). In the late 1950s, the Western Region of BR decided that it wanted to explore the latest diesel-powered locomotives from Germany. The German designs used Diesel Hydraulic power and had a higher power to weight ratio when compared to Diesel Electric locomotives that were under trial across the other regions of BR.

The use of the units in Germany looked promising and so the Western Region ordered several different classes of locomotive, despite the rest of BR going firmly down the Diesel Electric route.

The Diesel Hydraulic locomotives did not have a long-life span. Like many early British diesel locomotives, new ideas, new construction processes, operating conditions and new technologies did not blend well and in the late 1970s the last of the hydraulics were withdrawn. The unique nature of their design, lack of wider UK knowledge of the technologies within them and the advances in Diesel Electric traction sealed their fate.

We should use the parallels from history to produce important lessons for the introduction of hydrogen powered trains today.

The UK should wait and see all the results of the tests currently being undertaken in Germany. There is no need for the UK to be first here – waiting will allow the railways to review the technology in full without having the abortive costs associated with being a test pilot.

The UK should fully consider where these new trains should be deployed. Restricting them to a small area in small numbers will not make their use efficient or practical. Based upon the test runs, we need to review what the best conditions are for the units to operate in. Do we deploy them to the Great Western franchise or would they be better used in the Far North Line or perhaps on the Trans Pennine route or even other lines where overhead electrification would be difficult or expensive?

How many should be ordered? A small number will make the units non-standard and like their predecessors, the Diesel Hydraulics, they could become a small part of the picture and therefore not a cost-effective contribution to the rail fleet. For their deployment to be effective, careful consideration of how many and where they will be serviced needs to be addressed.

How does the fuel and technology cope in a range of conditions and how can it be safely and effectively maintained? New fuel sources require new techniques of handling and operating. When steam was replaced, it became quickly apparent that the old running sheds would not be fit for purpose. The Government and rail industry will need to consider what conditions the new fuel requires and how this will be maintained going ahead.

Can the new vehicles use existing standard fittings such as bogies and suspension to help reduce costs? Standardisation with more modern existing units may make the vehicles more reliable, longer lasting and more flexible.

Can the technology be feasibly integrated into the more constrained UK loading gauge? Whilst the test vehicles in Germany operate within a larger loading gauge (although on the same track gauge), UK hydrogen train units will need to be slightly smaller to fit within the existing infrastructure. There is likely to be a key design issue to consider how this can be packaged safely and effectively into a financially and operationally viable vehicle.

The history of railways gives several pointers to how and how not to introduce new technology. The rail industry and Government would be well advised to look to the past before it looks to the future.

Related topics

Infrastructure Developments , Rolling Stock Orders/Developments

Related organisations

Related regions.

United Kingdom

Related people

Gordon Buchan

Digital Twins 101: Enhancing workflow efficiency and cost-effectiveness through advanced simulation technologies

Gibson’s Engineering reopen St Rollox depot, ‘The Caley’

By Emily Budgen

Brightline West selects Siemens to manufacture high speed rail train sets

Metrolinx: New line will see nearly 400,000 daily boardings

Network Rail’s Eastern Region launches new partnership to streamline infrastructure improvement work over the next five years

One response to “back to the future – learning lessons from our rail’s past”.

I agree with what you say and I was so pleased to see your comments on Brunel v Stephenson, something I often mention, especially when referring to HS2. I am also a great believer in KISS and standardisation, but I believe we have such a mixed fleet that introducing Hydrogen powered trains in certain areas would be no bad thing.

In particular, the Tyne and Wear Metro, which is non standard anyway, for which the proposed replacement rolling stock is Independently Powered EMUs. In the write up, it seems the batteries are there to provide for cases of overhead cable failures – treating the symptom and not the cause. The overhead power system is non standard and is the most unreliable part of the Metro system, so getting rid of it and using Hydrogen powered trains I believe, is the way to go.

With regard to fuelling and storage, there is plenty of experience out there, such as Aberdeen buses

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

© Russell Publishing Limited , 2010-2024. All rights reserved.

Website development by e-Motive Media Limited .

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorised as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are as essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. For our other types of cookies "Advertising & Targeting", "Analytics" and "Performance", these help us analyse and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these different types of cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. You can adjust the available sliders to 'Enabled' or 'Disabled', then click 'Save and Accept'. View our Cookie Policy page.

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Performance cookies are includes cookies that deliver enhanced functionalities of the website, such as caching. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Analytics cookies collect information about your use of the content, and in combination with previously collected information, are used to measure, understand, and report on your usage of this website.

Advertising and targeting cookies help us provide our visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns.

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to  upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

• We're Hiring!
• Help Center

The fragmentation of a railway: A study of organisational change in British Rail

Related Papers

Journal of Management Studies

David Parker

Andrew Pendleton

Applied Geography

Richard Gibb

Critical Perspectives on Accounting

Robert Jupe

Nikita Cherkashin

This work aims at assessing the current state of the railways in the United Kingdom, with a goal of assessing what would make it better for businesses and people. The study is extremely important especially today, since the Labour Party has proposed renationalisation (BBC, 2018), which would be a dramatic change for the businesses operating in the industry. The study identifies the problems that exist within the industry, which affect businesses and general public in negative way. The work analyses the railroads industry in the UK with a focus on franchised passenger train operators. The research was conducted to evaluate the impact of privatisation, suggestions were also made concerning possible improvements. The work analyses the industry both from the perspective of public and the business, but it predominantly focuses on the strategic management issues.

Sean McCartney

Journal of Transport Geography

Ricardo Recht

Public units that have been through a deregulatory process operate in a new market, see their legal framework radically altered, have to fight for customers and to generate their own resources. Such changes affect the way a company operates and obviously also affect the culture an organisation has. This study illustrates how the organisational culture of Ferrocarriles Argentinos, an Argentinean state-owned-enterprise, was transformed as a consequence of the company's partitioning and subsequent transfer into private hands. The case provides a good example of how a weak and dysfunctional culture was re-oriented towards an emphasis on customers, cost-reduction and efficiency. It also provides an interesting example for the management of ongoing as well as future privatisation processes. The insights gained through this study could find application within organisations that, though belonging to the private sector, have been heavily regulated and are trying to get rid of the pernici...

Business History

Financial Accountability and Management

RELATED PAPERS

Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences

Alexander Fantalkin , Stefanos Gimatzidis , Anno Hein , Udo Schlotzhauer

Paola Martínez

Pradnya kartika

judith davila

candra novita

Z vrcholu na okraj. Elity a marginalizované skupiny v dejinách našich miest.

Identità, genere e diversità Una Guida per i genitori

Fondazione Hallgarten - Franchetti Centro Studi Villa Montesca

Between the Keys: A publication of the JALT materials writer's SIG

Neil Heffernan

Revista de Informação Legislativa do Senado

Murilo Avelino , Ravi Peixoto

Genesis Ferrera

PATH research report

Ashkan Sharafsaleh

Information Systems Frontiers

Marjan Kuchaki Rafsanjani

Restu Ilham

The Journal of Chemical Physics

Murali Palla

Vanina Cambiaggi

ATTILA TOROK

Carl During

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Applications in Civil, Mechanical, and Industrial Engineering

Gebrail Bekdaş

The Journal of Membrane Biology

Aritri Dutta

Arsitektur Universitas Pandanaran Jurnal

SyArif Hidayatullah

Clarence Faye D E L E M O S Bobis

• Mathematics

Prof. Dr. Mohamed Shaban Zaky

Mutation Research/Genetic Toxicology and Environmental Mutagenesis

maja jazvinscak jembrek

Transplantation Proceedings

Dariusz Zadrożny

Sándor Klein

Sukhendu Kar

Journal of King Abdulaziz University-Engineering Sciences

عبدالعزيز غالب عبدالعزيز

Beyond the clouds

Prince Adewale

RELATED TOPICS

•   We're Hiring!
•   Help Center
• Find new research papers in:
• Health Sciences
• Earth Sciences
• Cognitive Science
• Computer Science
• Academia ©2024