Welcome to the Railway Division South East Centre

Known as the RDSE, the centre is responsible for coordinating learned society activities in the southeast region of England on behalf of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Railway Division. Each year we organise a programme of events on rail-related subjects for those working, or have an interest, in rail.

A message from the centre Chair

Hello and welcome back to events after the summer break.

I'm delighted to have taken over as Chair for the Centre, and I’d like to thank Toby for his dedication during his tenure as Chair, as well as for his ongoing support, remaining on the committee. We have a strong volunteer committee team who organise the evening lectures, which are free for all to attend and provide great opportunities to gain insight into some of the railway engineering taking place in and around London and the South East. They also offer the chance to meet and build relationships with fellow railway engineers and, of course, log some CPD hours.
 
We ended last season with a visit to Acton Works to look at the Central Line Improvement Programme. This was an excellent visit, offering the opportunity to see the entire workings of a Central line train, which had been completely stripped down for its mid-life overhaul. We even got to walk underneath the train (whilst on a pit road) — something many of the attendees had never had the chance to do before.
 
This season kicked off with a lecture from Aaron Rostron-Barrett from the RSSB on adding value in rail freight. This highlighted the important work done by RSSB in making some fundamental changes to standards that help the industry achieve better productivity and efficiency. One seemingly simple change was increasing the load rating of freight wagon couplings, permitting longer trains — a critical improvement, given that freight profit margins are slim and every wagon counts.
 
The next two lectures continue a London Underground theme — with October’s lecture focusing on the challenges faced by a track engineer when a new fleet of trains is introduced (on the Piccadilly line). This promises to be a fascinating topic, not least because of the novelty of the new train — with some of the vehicles having no wheels! The November lecture welcomes Ian Rawlings, London Underground’s Head of Vehicles, who will provide a comparison with other metro systems across the world. I expect this will offer great insight into different conceptual and strategic approaches to engineering and operating railways.
 
The committee has been hard at work organising our calendar of events for the forthcoming year. In 2026, we will be hosting more superb talks from industry experts. Highlights include train-based infrastructure monitoring, new DLR trains, and the South East heat of the Future of Rail presentation competition. We plan to host most of our 2026 events at the Rail Safety and Standards Board’s new office at 25 Fenchurch Avenue.
 
A focus for me this year is understanding what our members and attendees want from us, so we will be conducting some research to ensure we are providing the right things. Please do let us know your thoughts.
 
I look forward to seeing you at one of our events.
 
Chris Field

Centre Chair
Railway Division South East

2026 programme coming soon!

Replay our talks

It's now possible to replay our webinars that you may have missed, or just want to watch again. Links will be added to this page after our webinars have taken place.

The Challenges Faced by a Track Engineer When a New Fleet of Trains is Introduced

Research Adding Value in Rail Freight

2024-2025 playlist

2023-2024 playlist

Archive

Committee Vacancies

The South East centre of the Railway Division is currently seeking volunteers to join our active and friendly committee. Volunteering is a great way to show your commitment to the profession, make new contacts and develop new skills.

Secretary

Responsibilities include: lead on the organisation of committee matters, produce meeting agenda's and minutes, attend the Railway Division centre away day meeting, invite nominations for membership of the Centre Committee from the Centre membership.

Interested volunteers should contact Toby Johnson (toby.johnson@member.imeche.org)