PWI Practical Trackwork ChallengeWe are delighted to have held our third Practical Trackwork Challenge earlier this month at Leekbrook. This unique two-day event saw young rail professionals gather first-hand experience of a track renewal process in a safe, controlled environment. Since our first challenge in 2017, we have been designing these events to give rail professionals who are often office-bound a chance to get involved in the practical aspects of site work. "It’s a fantastic opportunity for them to learn with confidence on the ground,” says our Technical Director, Brian Counter, "they get to learn about safety considerations, materials, tools handling, site communication, teamwork and working with mechanical plant, all of which can take place in challenging weather conditions." We are very grateful to Churnet Valley Railway and PWI Honorary Life Member Malcolm Pearce who delivered this event and for making the experience possible. We are already looking forward to next year's! Call for papersAbstract submission deadline 6 January 2020 The third PWI electrification seminar will be held in Glasgow on 28th April 2020. The Scottish Government has recognised the benefits of a rolling programme of electrification and Network Rail Scotland is developing those plans. Electrifying an existing railway requires the electrification system to be integrated into the broader railway system: the configuration of the traction system and its constituent parts has implications for the operation, maintenance, and performance of the railway. WelcomeNew corporate member - voestalpine VAE UK voestalpine Railway Systems is the global leader for system solutions in the field of railway infrastructure, offering outstanding products, logistics and services for rails, turnouts, signaling and monitoring applications. Young achiever award 2020Call for papers - submission deadline 31st January 2020 This award is open to all involved in rail infrastructure engineering projects; engineers, project maintenance staff, graduates, apprentices, etc... Please submit an original paper between 2000 and 2500 words on a railway infrastructure project completed between 2013 and 2020. 1st prize - £650 | 2nd prize - £400 | 3rd prize - £250 Professional Registration Start your journey today Professional registration is open to any competent practising engineer or technician. Different levels and pathways to registration are available, depending on the individual’s experience, training and qualifications. We have simple to follow routes to registration for EngTech, IEng and CEng. High Speed Rail SeminarWe held our third High Speed Rail Seminar this month at Birmingham University. A packed lineup of speakers included Niall Fagan from HS2, Marco Rusch from Getzner, William Powrie from the University of Southampton, Gurmel Ghataora, Michael Burrow, Kristianto Usman and Manu Sasidharan from the University of Birmingham, Gareth Dennis from Permanent Rail Engineering, Mohammed Wehbi and Richard Stainton from Network Rail, John Porrill from Pandrol, Ivana Avramovic from PORR, Klaus Pajung from Jacobs, Peter Edwards from Mott MacDonald and our PWI President Joan Heery. Thank you to everyone who contributed! Event resources are coming soon.New PWI Ambassadors We are delighted by the response from our community following last month's call for Ambassadors and have appointed an eager group of individuals to take up this exciting role. This group will be instrumental in helping us raise the profile of our institution. They will be proactively championing our membership benefits to their networks, engaging with us online and at events, and getting involved as much as possible. More information will be announced soon, but in the meantime we'd like to express our thanks to everyone who volunteered. Interested in becoming a Professional Registration Reviewer for the PWI? We are holding a training session on Thursday 14 November 2019 from 10:00 until 13:00 in Euston, London for all new Reviewers and would love to see you there!
As a Reviewer you would perform desk-based assessments of applications at all levels, to determine if the competence and commitment criteria, mapped to UK-SPEC, are met. You would also conduct face-to-face professional review interviews to establish technical competence as well as commitment to safety, codes of practice, risk, environment and CPD. You would need to act in the Reviewer role at least once a year to maintain competence, and attend refresher training and submit CPD records every two years. Want to register your interest or find out more? Contact Liz Turner, our Registration Manager by email at profeng@thepwi.org, or by phone to 01277 230031 (option 2) October JournalThe October Journal is on it's way to you! Don’t forget to circulate the enclosed poster; why not pop it on your notice board at work? Thanks very much! The October Journal hosts two fantastic articles on professional development: the first talks about the PWI Track Engineering Diploma and the second is a guide to what does a good PDP and CPD record looks like.PWI Track Engineering training courses Please share this with your colleagues; these courses are open to members and non-members. S&C RefurbishmentDelegates on this two-part course will gain a comprehensive detailed knowledge of S&C and how to undertake refurbishment safely, efficiently and to the required engineering quality. The course will cover both the track assemblies and the trackbed under S&C. Suitable for both newly qualified and experienced rail engineers. Track Engineering DiplomaMODULE 1 TRACK MAINTENANCE: Gives a basic understanding of track engineering and its theory and context. MODULE 2 TRACK DESIGN: Focuses upon track design for projects and enhancements. MODULE 3 ADVANCED TRACK ASSET ENGINEERING AND RENEWALS: The study becomes more strategic and delivery oriented with advanced asset management techniques and applications. Let's grow our communityPlease share this email to showcase what we've been up to recently; we want to grow our community of rail engineers! Simply click the Forward button in the footer below. Thank you! And finally...feedbackWe are always interested in feedback on the PWI both from members and non members. What could we offer that we are not currently offering? What do we do very well? What could we do better? Please send any thoughts and ideas to michelle.mabbett@thepwi.org |