CPA Bulletin

www.cpa.uk.net CPA Bulletin > May 2020 55 assessment of the tragic accident that took place at Margam East Junction in July 2019. A number of recommendations have been made that could affect the way our members interact on site to ensure safety of all track workers. The hot topic of “Putting Passengers and Freight First” was then looked at in some detail and particularly how devolution of IP delivery teams to the new Regional Capital Delivery organisations was progressing. It was noted that the current indications regarding volumes of work will remain at the low levels currently being experienced until around autumn 2021. Later in the afternoon we received a presentation on the KeolisAmey project on the South Wales Metro which showed how innovation in undertaking rail contracts can be of great benefit when complex projects like this need to be carried out. Capital Delivery However, the main event as far as the RPA members concerned was to hear from Stuart Calvert the Capital Delivery Director responsible for the Wales and Western region. He explained how the new organisation would be working collaboratively with all their partners to ensure that all maintenance and renewals of the infrastructure would be carried out effectively and efficiently. He explained that 60% of the new route’s spend was with the supply chain and so it was important for Network Rail to have a good relationship and make it easier to do business with. This way he thought he would get the best value from the supply chain and indeed all the companies represented in the room would certainly have agreed. Innovation One issue that gave members in the room some positivity was the desire to innovate and embrace new technology where it could lead to a safer environment for track workers and greater efficiencies. This will need a number of things to happen first and the RPA Position Paper released last year notes that a culture change is needed to overcome the inflexible rules-based compliance model. We all agree that a clear regulatory regime is needed that is simple to interact with and can draw on knowledge from other industries but at the moment the rules can be inflexible and make it easier to go with what has happened in the past rather than trying something new for the future. Principally though, the way to get more out of the plant sector is to give clear visibility of workload. This will enable companies that operate the very specialist plant that the industry relies on to train and retain a competent workforce going forward and to invest in the most efficient and up to date plant. RAIL PLANT ASSOCIATION: 2