The first PWI conference in York for many years focussed on arguably the most important and under-pressure element of modern railway infrastructure, earthworks and drainage. The evening before the event organisers hosted the seminar speakers, enjoying a pre-conference dinner sharing knowledge and fine tuning their presentations. Two hundred people attended this seminar held at the Park Inn by Radisson in York, many of them wanting to know more about this essential and often overlooked or over-simplified subject area whilst of course recording this in their Continuing Professional Development (CPD) records. 

CHALLENGES OF RAILWAY INFRASTRUCTURE, EARTHWORKS AND DRAINAGE SYSTEMS 

The seminar laid out the challenges facing the inseparable railway infrastructure earthworks and drainage systems. Presenters focussed on their own areas of expertise including an in depth look at asset management, maintenance, operation responsiveness and project-based solutions. 

THE PWI IS GRATEFUL FOR ALL THOSE WHO SUPPORTED THIS EVENT ESPECIALLY THE KEY EVENT SPONSORS MURPHY AND BAM RITCHES, TOGETHER WITH THE OTHER EVENT SPONSORS AND EXHIBITORS WHO HELPED TO ENSURE AN INFORMATIVE AND ENGAGING SEMINAR. 

The seminar programme included morning and afternoon sessions, with breaks to engage with event sponsors and catchup with industry colleagues over refreshments. 

The morning session was Chaired by Steven Bell, PWI President. Steven welcomed attendees to the conference setting out the day ahead, encouraging attendees to engage and raise questions at the end of each presentation. 

The presentations started with an eye opening keynote address about the investigation carried out by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) into the fatal accident at Carmot in August 2020. Nick Bucknall, Inspector at RAIB provided an informative and sobering review of what happened, including the challenges associated with undertaking the investigation in a remote part of the rail network. 

KEYNOTE AND MORNING SESSIONS 

Following on from the keynote address the morning session included presentations as listed; 

• Earthworks; Preparing for change by Julian Harms: Network Rail 

• Drainage challenges in CP7 and beyond by Mona Sihota: Network Rail 

• Global Warming: the big picture by Gareth Dennis: Railway engineer and writer 

• Rail Infrastructure Drainage Issues – A Solution by Russell Jack: Readypower Group 

• Use of polymer injection to stabilise railway embankments by Mohamed Wehbi and Andy Lee, Geobear Global 

• The innovative TDS-400 Transport Drainage System by Carl Hopkins: Civil Water Management and Mark Howells: Network Rail. 

LUNCH, EXHIBITION AND AFTERNOON SESSIONS 

Before the afternoon session commenced attendees took the opportunity to network and meet event exhibitors over lunch. The afternoon session was Chaired by Mona Sihota, PWI Deputy President and included presentations as listed; 

• Using remote monitoring for flood risk management on Eastern region by Matt Shelton: Network Rail 

• Real time incident management following earthworks and drainage failures: Sam MacDougall: Network Rail 

• Emergency repair of emerging earthworks and drainage – Making it happen by Charles Mortimer, Kieren Taylor and Natasha Steele: CML 

• Innovating to deliver an accelerated drainage programme on WCML by Tony Morgani: J Murphy & Sons 

• Delivering major piled solutions to resolve railway earthworks problems by Craig Wilkinson and Edward Mountain: Story Contracting. 

The morning and afternoon sessions included time for questions from the audience to seminar presenters. Ben Brooks of Network Rail hosted the final Q&A and provided closing comments including a sincere thank you on behalf of all who made this seminar possible, and of course to all those who work on railway infrastructure to ensure railway earthworks & drainage remain fit for the future. 

CONCLUSION AND RECORDING CONTINUAL PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT 

For those attending who would like to revisit the day and those unable to attend the seminar presentations are available on the PWI’s Knowledge Hub. Finally, PWI members who attended this seminar are reminded and encouraged to update their CPD records to include this excellent event hosted by the Yorkshire Section with support from the PWI core team.