Welcome to the South Western Railway Division Centre

Welcome to the South West Centre of the Railway Division. Our centre covers a very large geographic area from Slough in the east and Southampton in the south, to the south west peninsular and south and mid Wales.

Our aim is to bring you an informative and interesting programme of presentations and visits relevant to the rail industry in our area, where much investment is now taking place. Presentation topics vary from the latest developments in rolling stock and infrastructure to updates on major projects and interesting perspectives from the organisations that manage, operate, maintain and renew the railway.

All of our events are completely free. They are designed to further members’ professional development, but all are eminently suitable for anyone with an interest in railways generally. We aim to encourage links across engineering disciplines, and between the institutions, employers, and universities in our area.

Most events take place on Monday evenings in Swindon, (normally with tea, coffee and sandwiches at 17.00 for a 17.30 start). For further details of future events please view our Events section.

Building on the successful careers fairs and lectures which we have held at Bath University in 2010 and 2012, we are holding a prestige lecture at Cardiff University on March 11th 2013, on the subject of the Crossrail project. We are attempting in particular to demonstrate to students that railway engineering is a great career, but we hope that many IMechE members will come to Cardiff to hear this progress report on Europe’s largest construction project.

We would also like to draw your attention to the symposium on the theme of innovation and cost reduction opportunities in rail engineering, on November 5th 2012. We are able to attract excellent speakers to these symposia, and these events are now well established as a highlight of our annual programme.

The Annual General Meeting of the Centre will be held on April 15th 2013. If you have any suggestions for future lectures, visits or other matters, or would like to be considered for a position on the Committee, we would be very pleased to hear from you at that meeting, or via the the Hon.Secretary at any time.

We encourage informal debate after our events. At some events, drinks and nibbles are provided after the presentation, as outlined in the Events section. For those held at Western House, the Chairman and Committee will be pleased to have such discussions at ‘The Glue Pot’, 5 Emlyn Square, Swindon SN1 5BP. This is a traditional pub in Brunel’s Swindon Village, close to Western House and the station and opposite the Mechanics Institute (which can fairly claim to be the birthplace of the railway division!).

If you would like a copy of our 2012 - 2013 Programme flyer please click here.

I look forward to welcoming you at our events.

Chris Kinchin-Smith
Chairman, Railway Division SW Centre