A very Happy New Year from the PWI executive team to all Institution members and supporters. We hope you had a good Christmas and New Year, whether enjoying a well-earnt break or hard at work: the latter an inevitability for some in an industry that never truly stops. We wish all of you the very best for 2023: a year which, even in January, looks to have more than its fair share of challenges. Whatever the year delivers, the PWI will seek to use its unique resources and capabilities to help you in your career journeys and to support the wider industry as it continues to embrace new technological, organisational, commercial, and political challenges. Please use the PWI website to explore our ever-growing range of technical, professional, and social membership services. 

As I write in mid-December, the news is dominated by the disputes over pay and conditions which beset our industry. Whilst it is somewhat reassuring to note that agreements have been reached and disputes settled in some geographic and business areas, rail transport in the UK continues to be seriously disrupted and its prospects harmed by widespread industrial unrest. 

In the context of the joint threats to society posed by global warming and economic stagnation, railways should be front and centre in efforts to chart a sustainable path to decarbonisation, and in many parts of the world they already are. Rail transport also has much to offer the UK as the country seeks a route to economic recovery. In both contexts industrial strife represents an enormous distraction and a waste of valuable resources. It isn’t the role of a Professional Engineering Institution to take sides in such matters, but we earnestly hope that realistic and honest negotiation can lead to resolution of the various remaining disputes sooner rather than later. 

STRATEGIC CONSULTATION

More positively, 2023 is the year in which the PWI will determine its strategy for 2024-2028 and beyond. Over the last quarter of 2022 the PWI executive team has been preparing for the Consultation with members and stakeholders which will start early in the New Year. Look out for our Consultation document inviting responses to specific questions and more general feedback on how the PWI should be developing as it approaches the 2030s. Look out too for the various opportunities we’re providing to meet face-to-face with colleagues and peer groups to discuss and contribute to the Consultation. We’ll send out more information in January and there will be regular updates via our Newsletters and website. 

As I outlined in the last Journal, the Consultation will inform our work with the PWI Board to determine the outcomes the Institution should seek to achieve, the consequent developments and changes we should make, their priorities, and the budgets and physical plans we’ll need to deliver them. So please let us know your thoughts: make your voice heard!  

GLANCING BACK THROUGH AUTUMN

The PWI’s Autumn was characteristically hectic. The season was punctuated by our second 2022 Practical Trackwork Challenge (PTC), two seminars (one of which was run for Network Rail), Technical Board at Huddersfield Institute of Rail Research, multiple education and training courses, professional reviews and subsequent registrations, and our Celebration Event, the latter formally recognising individual members’ professional achievements and successes in PWI award competitions. In amongst that “hands-on” activity the executive team has been busy devising the 2023 programmes for seminars and education and training events, drawing up our budget for 2023, and preparing for the Strategic Consultation. 

The Celebration Event was held in Birmingham for the first time, following our decision to move this event’s venue around the country, thus increasing opportunities for celebrating members to attend. The covid pandemic-inspired deferment of the 2020 and 2021 Celebration Events meant there was a backlog of achievements to celebrate. So, it was great to see a bumper turnout and to meet so many members face-to-face and get their “take” on how the PWI is performing, how it has helped individuals develop, and how member services could be further improved. 

The PTC held on the Kent and East Sussex Railway (K&ESR) offered a remarkable educational variety of work to both observe and participate in. Plain line track renewal, renewal of transverse bearers and track refurbishment on and around a “wheel timber” bridge, and refurbishment of switch and crossing work, coupled with exhibitions of track components, plant and equipment, and a practical explanation of derailment mechanisms in switches and crossings kept delegates well-occupied. Heavy rain was an unfortunate addition to the second morning’s proceedings but didn’t dampen spirits. 

Many thanks, as ever, are due to those corporate members who loaned plant, equipment, and personnel to make the PTC happen, to the individual PWI members who put so much personal effort into planning and delivering the event so professionally, to the K&ESR for hosting and facilitating the work, and to the 30 or so PTC delegates themselves for their enthusiastic participation. 

The PWI Sustainable Infrastructure seminar, planned and organised by the West of England Section, was another remarkable event and the first PWI seminar for many years to be held in Bristol. Thanks to the Section committee and to the first-class slate of presenters who made the event so informative and enjoyable. 

In December I was privileged to join Network Rail personnel and guests at its annual Track Renewals seminar in Birmingham. This event offered valuable insights into track renewal strategy and good practice delivery, clearly demonstrating an increasingly strong focus on carbon management. Informal discussion there also gave me an opportunity to (again) promote ballast cleaning as the lowest carbon form of ballast renewal! One slightly disappointing revelation (for UK aficionados) was that Schedule 4 (train service disruption) costs are still not included when attempting to evaluate best value track renewal options: an example perhaps of accounting policies getting in the way of industry best value? 

AND THE YEAR…

From a PWI perspective, 2022 has been a good year. Institution activity has recovered and surpassed pre-covid levels. For the first time in the Institution’s history, turnover (primarily what we spend on developing and delivering member services) will break the £1m barrier. Whilst such round numbers are noteworthy, they are only of real value if they represent products and services delivered effectively and efficiently. I can only hope that members and stakeholders will agree that the PWI continues to offer excellent value for money. 

AND A FINAL THANKS…

This issue of the Journal is the last to be designed, edited, and produced by our Creative Manager, Kerrie Illsley. Having done a fantastic job for the PWI and its Journal, Kerrie has decided to pursue a new career challenge outside the rail industry. She leaves the Institution with the heartfelt thanks and best wishes of the executive team. I trust you will join me in thanking her and wishing her well for 2023 and beyond.