IRSE Bulletin – February 2021

IRSE News February 2021

February’s IRSE News is now available online.  

As well as the latest news from the Institution and local sections, this issue features lessons learned from Singapore re-signalling.

It also features Alžbeta Helienek & Mathijs Arends presidential paper on a Digital Resilience Maturity Matrix for the rail sector.

If you missed Alžbeta’s presentation, it can be viewed on the IRSE’s Vimeo channel here.read online

IRSE AGM 2021

At a Council meeting to be held on 4th February we will be seeking formal permission to hold the 2021 IRSE AGM online. 

Details of how you can ‘attend’ this event via GoToWebinar will be sent out shortly in a dedicated AGM e- bulletin. 

Proposed changes to the Institution’s Memorandum and Articles of Association to reflect the international nature of our organisation and its modern-day needs will be ratified at the AGM, and links to a survey inviting your view on these changes will also be included in this special bulletin.  

Council Elections

This year’s council elections will open for voting on Monday 8th February at 12.00 UTC and close on Monday 8th March at 12:00 UTC.

We have asked Civica Election Services to run the ballot online as before. IRSE Members in the following categories are eligible to vote: AMIRSE, MIRSE and FIRSE. Please use your vote.

If you haven’t received your e-voting form by 9th February please contact electionservices@civica.co.uk

For those who wish to vote by post, a form will be sent to you for completion, along with a reply paid envelope. Due to postal issues in some countries as a result of the pandemic, please allow a few extra days before asking for a replacement.

This year we only have a contest in the category of Fellow as both the Member and Associate Member categories have a balanced number of candidates to seats and so those individuals will be elected unopposed. 

6th Presidential lecture

4th February 2021, 17:30-19:30 UTC Online

Ian Mitchell from the ITC will be joined by Human Factors expert Nora Balfe from Irish Rail to present the sixth in Dr Daniel Woodland’s presidential lecture series. 

We usually think of railway automation in terms of replacing some or all of the functions undertaken by a train driver, but there are other aspects of railway operations where replacement of human operators by automatic systems can reduce costs or improve reliability, performance, capacity or safety.

With this in mind, what is the appropriate level of automation in a railway control centre? How far can the tasks traditionally undertaken by staff with job titles such as ‘signaller’, ‘controller’ or ‘dispatcher’ be partially or fully automated? What are the benefits and what are the risks?

The ITC is currently engaging with railways around the world to determine their experience of automation, its benefits, risks, problems and limitations, in order to add to the existing knowledge base of the ITC members and inform this paper.register now

Have you visited the IRSE Vimeo channel?  It contains a wide range of videos produced by the Institution and its local sections.  

While some of our content is exclusively available to logged in members at www.irse.org, our Vimeo channel is the easiest way to browse our extensive library of publicly available content.

IRSE content has attracted over 16,000 views in the last year.  268 people joined us live for our most recent presidential lecture, while on-demand access makes content available across time zones to a wide international audience.

visit online

IRSE Exam Review and AGM – Younger Members Section

9th February, online; 17:00 – 19:30 UTC

This remote event will include feedback from the examiners on the modules taken in 2020. The IRSE Younger Member’s section will also hold their AGM.more info / register

Developing the timetabling system for the UK railway network – Midland & North West Section

10th February, online; 17:15 – 19:00 UTC

Jamie Thomas is the Timetable Programmes Director within the System Operator function of Network Rail in the UK. In this talk he will describe the processes and issues around the building of timetables on a complex mixed traffic railway network and current initiatives to integrate systems across the industry, improve automation, and strengthen modelling and analysis.
 more info / register

York section event

11th February

The York section will be holding an event on 11th February.  Details are unavailable at time of writing.  Please check the website for any updates.more info / register

4G radio coverage in London Underground’s Tunnels – London & SE Section

25th February, online; 18:00 – 20:00 UTC

This online presentation will cover Transport for London’s recently deployed 4G/LTE capable neutral host radio infrastructure on the Jubilee line. Open to all IRSE members and non-members. Registration required, click for more details.
 more info / register