IRSE NEWS

The September edition of IRSE NEWS is now available – click here to view it (you will need to log-in).  You can also see all the recent editions on the “Recent Issues” page of the IRSE website. This month’s edition contains articles on:

§  An engineer’s journey to achieving conscious competence

§  Do we have the backbone to support emerging technologies?

§  Control room integration and innovation

§  Common shared networks for signalling applications

§  Cybersecurity in railway signalling systems

§  9% is not enough: addressing female shortfall in engineering

Presidential Programme Technical Meeting

12 October, London

The second technical paper in our Presidential Programme series will be held on 12th October at the IET, Savoy Place, London, starting at 18.00 (refreshments are available from 17.30).

The speaker is Stuart Calvert of the GB Digital Railway Programme, who will be speaking about Disruptive Technologies and the Digital Railway. All are welcome to come for what should be an informative presentation and lively discussion.

Click here for more details.

IRSE China Section: Technical Workshop

Xi’an, China, 24 October

With the kind support and sponsorship of the 7th IEEE International Symposium of Microwave, Antenna, Propagation, and EMC Technologies (MAPE 2017), the IRSE China Section will be holding a technical workshop in terms of rail signalling and telecommunication technologies at Xi’an, Shaanxi Province on 24th October.  This technical workshop is free to IRSE members and non-members, but places at this event are EXTREMELY limited – early registration is strong recommended. To confirm your attendance, please register your intention (including your name, institution, contact) to join us by emailing: irse_china@yeah.net. For more details, click here.

ASPECT 2017

28-29 November, Singapore

Our 9^th ASPECT Conference will take place in Singapore in November.  The event will feature around 40 high quality technical papers selected from many more that were submitted.  They address the broad themes of the Conference, which also features a suppliers’ exhibition, optional additional days for Younger Members (27 Nov), technical visits (30 Nov) and an Australasian and Singapore Sections Seminar (1 Dec).  The event is being supported by the Institution of Engineers Singapore (IES).

More information is available on the IRSE website – click here.  To view the Programme, click here, and click here to make a booking.

We have arranged good discounts for members wishing to stay at the Hilton Garden Inn Serangoon in Singapore. Click here for more details and the promo code.

CBTC Seminar – Call for Papers

30 November / 1 December 2017

On 30^th November 2017 we are holding our second CBTC Seminar in Toronto (followed by a one day technical visit on 1^st December).  Make a note in your diary!   We are now seeking papers for the event, and in summary we are looking for papers addressing the following topics:

1.         Project descriptions and updates, including specifically Canadian CBTC projects currently being implemented or planned;

2.         The application of CBTC on LRT and commuter rail transit systems;

3.         Lessons learned in implementing CBTC in a brownfield environment;

4.         CBTC revenue service operating and maintenance experience;

5.         Papers looking to the future; what are the user business needs?  What research and development is currently underway on new/improved technologies?

Click here to see the full Call for Papers.

Scam and Phishing emails

We are aware that occasionally members may receive phishing or fraudulent emails purporting to come from the IRSE. In particular, recently we have seen emails that ask members to pay overdue invoices, with a link to make the payment. 

Please be aware that when we ask you to make a payment (eg for membership subscription), we never provide a link for the payment to be made. You can only access the online payment system by logging on to the website in the normal way.  We do sometimes send personalised emails with invoices as attachments.  They will come from a valid irse.org email address. If you have reason to doubt the validity of an email that appears to come from the IRSE that is asking for payment, refer the matter to the IRSE office in London.    

Statement of Ethical Principles

It is a requirement of the IRSE that all its members behave responsibly and ethically, and we explain this in our Code of Professional Conduct (see the “About” page of the IRSE website).  The UK’s Royal Academy of Engineering and Engineering Council have recently produced a revised “Statement of Ethical Principles” to reflect changing expectations of engineers in today’s world.  You can view the Statement at http://www.engc.org.uk/professional-ethics.  We will be incorporating these obligations into the IRSE’s Code of Professional Conduct in the next few months.

The following items will be of interest principally to members in Europe (including UK):

Minor Railways Section: Level Crossing Technical Workshop

9-10 September 2017, Derby

With the kind support and sponsorship by Señalización Ltd, Signet Solutions and Green Dragon Rail, the Minor Railways Section will be holding a technical workshop at Signet Solutions Ltd in Derby, on the above dates.  This workshop follows on from the previous successful workshops on Signalling held by the Section in previous years. The workshop is open to, and aimed at, individuals involved with and responsible for level crossings on minor railways.  For more information, click here.

North Eastern Railway Engineers Forum (UK) : Annual Seminar

19 September 2017, York, UK

The UK North Eastern Railway Engineers Forum is holding its annual event on 19^th September in York, this year on the subject of “New Railway Technologies in the North”. There is no need to book but pre-registration by email to ivmi@cowi.com is advisable.

For more information, click here.

Younger Members’ Northern Line Extension Technical Visit

20 October, London, UK

The IRSE Younger Members are pleased to invite you to a technical visit to one of London Underground’s biggest projects – the Northern Line Extension (NLE) to Battersea. This visit provides a chance to see and learn how the team manages and undertakes the first major Tube extension since the Jubilee Line Extension in 1999.  If you are interested in attending, click here for more details and register your intention to join us by e-mailing younger.members@irse.org.

As this technical visit is being held on a Friday, attendees are encouraged to join the Younger Members Committee for a social / networking opportunity. Details will be announced along with the joining instructions for the event, if you are interested in attending this social element please drop an email to younger.members@irse.org and we will send you the details.

IRSE Scottish Section Annual Dinner and Lecture

9^th November, Glasgow

The IRSE Scottish Section Annual Dinner, sponsored by SVM, is to be held on Thursday 9th November 2017. This is now firmly established as the largest annual rail industry event in Scotland, but still retains a friendly informal atmosphere with a mix of Corporate and Open tables. The dinner will be served at 8:00pm with guests assembling in the bar area from about 7.30pm following the lecture in the adjacent room (5.30pm start).

Continuing from previous years’ successful events, we are holding the dinner in the Marriott Hotel, Argyle Street, Glasgow. This will follow the November IRSE lecture on Low Cost Signalling by Graeme Christmas (NR) & Andy Stringer (Siemens).

Click here for further details and booking forms. If you have any queries please email: scottish.section@irse.org.

Minor Railways Section: Technical Seminar

18 November 2017, Kidderminster, UK

The sixth technical seminar of the IRSE Minor Railways Section will be held at the Kidderminster Railway Museum, located at the Kidderminster Seven Valley Railway Station, Worcestershire on the above date. This meeting will be a continuation of the successful events held bi-annually since 2009, the theme this year is – “New technology applied to Minor Railways”, the day will concentrate on the management and implementation of new technology and its application on Minor Railways. Click here for more details and booking arrangements.

Also at the Seminar will be the presentation of this year’s award of the Section’s “Minor Railway S&T Technician of the Year” award – nominations are still being accepted (click here for more details about making nominations).

North Eastern Railway Engineers Forum (UK) : Annual Seminar

19 September 2017, York, UK

The UK North Eastern Railway Engineers Forum is holding its annual event on 19^th September in York, this year on the subject of “New Railway Technologies in the North”. There is no need to book but pre-registration by email to ivmi@cowi.com is advisable.

For more information, click here.

Systems Engineering Seminar: Call for papers and presenters

19 April 2018

Following our highly successful joint seminar with INCOSE/IRSE last year on Systems Engineering for Signalling, we are holding a successor event on 19 April 2018, at the University of Birmingham (UK).

This time we are planning to concentrate on one aspect of Systems Engineering and explore its impact on the wider railway industry, not just signalling. The subject we have chosen for the seminar is the application of Requirements Management for railway projects and we are seeking papers and presentations on this subject.

If you are interested in presenting a paper at this Seminar or would like more information about the event, please contact Karl King (karl.king@wspgroup.com).

Digital Railway: output from third workshop

The Digital Railway Think Tank is a group of thought leaders from a number of organisations who come together to discuss key issues facing the implementation of digital railway technologies in the UK. The Think Tank aims to offer some useful perspectives that can be used by decision makers in the rail industry. The Think Tank is led by IRSE Chief Executive Francis How with support from WSP and participants from across the industry.

We held our third workshop on 15^th June, and the output from it has now been published. Click here to view it.  In November we are publishing a White Paper that will bring together all the consolidated outputs from the workshops that have been held.  The fourth workshop is being held on 18^th October in London – if you would like to participate, please contact Samantha Avis (samantha.avis@wsp.com).

UK Local Sections Programme

The Programme of events for the UK Local Sections has now been published – click here to view it (you can also access it via the UK Sections page).