CPA Bulletin
www.cpa.uk.net CPA Bulletin > August 2018 55 rail plant association RAIL PLANT ASSOCIATION: 1 David Simmons RPA Chairman It is with a great deal of pride and a little trepidation that I write this article as the new Chairman of the Rail Plant Association. However, before I get into full flow, I must pay tribute to all the previous Chairmen and indeed all the various committee members who have provided considerable wisdom as well as their time to ensure continued success of the Association. The new committee took up the reins in February of this year and immediately undertook a substantive review of the best ways to move things forward and take on the challenges faced by the membership. As part of their review it was decided to appoint a part- time independent Chairman, with no specific day to day industry interest. In looking forward they decided to also look in the rear viewmirror and consequently decided on my appointment. For those who do not knowme, I was one of the original committee members when the Rail Plant Association came into being some 19 years ago. At the time I was involved in running a modest plant hire company offering an assortment of rail equipment to the industry. For personal reasons I moved away from the rail industry a few years ago but have continued to keep a sharp interest in developments and remain a council member of the Construction Plant-hire Association. So having been put in this position and in collaboration with the management committee, I recently sent a request to all the membership asking what the three principle concerns were that affected the way their companies operated on the rail infrastructure. The RPA continues to enjoy a very diverse membership and so we expected a varied response. Some selected non-members were also contacted with a view to making the survey as comprehensive as possible. The response was excellent and at the time of writing the committee are assessing the results and will use them to inform their future strategy. There are many issues where we believe, with the co-operation of Network Rail and its agencies, we can improve the processes inflicted on us for the mutual benefit of all stakeholders. The principle concerns however, can be summed up as follows- DELIVERY POINT MANAGEMENT We are aware of a number of failings of the “meet and greet” process where deliveries to site and collections from site have had to be carried out unsupervised. There are also issues of responsibility where plant is left on Network Rail infrastructure prior to or post shift. A working group has previously been set up to look at the issues and ensure all parties take responsibility and they are planning to deliver a guidance document when all the evidence has been fully assessed. PRODUCT ACCEPTANCE PROCESS The survey has identified a number of improvements that could be made to the way in which new plant and equipment can be brought into use. There are some inconsistencies relating to who bears the costs of taking a piece of plant through the product acceptance process and this we believe could be made clearer. There are a number of other issues that are being looked at including the time it takes to introduce new equipment and grandfather rights for existing plant. RIS 1530 PLT ISSUE 6 Whilst there is an acceptance that the latest issue of this Rail Industry Standard is now in place and members will need to comply with all the various clauses, there are concerns relating to the way that the stakeholder review was implemented. It is the committee’s intention to propose helping the Plant Standards Committee in future by offering our considerable knowledge and experience of on-track plant when formulating the next review of the standard. KPI REQUIREMENTS Each member is required to upload a set of Key Performance Indicators so that the principle contractors can measure their performance and show any trends. The difficulty is that each contractor requires similar information and in a similar format but there is no standard and so the preparation of the data cannot be automated. We will be looking to see if there is a way of standardisation to reduce the element of manual input. TERMS AND CONDITIONS Members have advised the committee of a number of issues relating to the terms and conditions imposed upon them. It is problematic to move away from the principles of hire and so we will be looking for a more collaborative approach in the future. LACK OF FORWARD PLANNING The survey has uncovered issues relating to the proposed
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