2019 / 2020 PROGRAMME

We hope you will find our 2019/20 programme to be varied, topical and relevant. It’s an exciting time to be part of Scotland’s Railway with so many developments now coming to fruition. Our planned programme reflects this, as well as addressing future challenges faced by our Engineers.

On the transition theme, our programme starts with ScotRail’s new Engineering Director, Syeda Ghufran, explaining the challenges of introducing new fleets whilst maintaining existing fleets. We also have Hitachi covering the new Azuma fleet introduction on the East Coast route to Scotland. 

We have two presentations from Network Rail, the first will be on delivering cost effective electrification, and nicely ties into David Shirres’ decarbonisation presentation, and we also have Network Rail’s Chairman Peter Hendy talking about their current issues and their plans for the future.

As always, we have a presentation from our Railway Division Chair. This year this is Graham Neil of TfL who will explains the gaps we need to fill to deliver future Rail challenges.  On the theme of new challenges, our own David Shirres will be covering the big challenge of Rail Decarbonisation and the 2050 zero greenhouse emissions target.

These lead us nicely to our future engineers, who will be participating in the Future of Rail Competition in February which is organised by our younger committee members.  We also have Aimee MacDonald. one of SNC Lavalin’s graduate engineers, describing the challenges of entering a miniature locomotive into the I.Mech.E Railway Challenge. Our season ends with a technical visit to Brodie Engineering.

If you have a technical interest in railways, do come to one of our events.  We welcome new members, encourage active participation and would be glad to hear your ideas. The wine and nibbles we serve after our events provide an excellent opportunity to chat informally to presenters, and network with colleagues from a wide range of engineering companies. 

Please feel free to contact the Centre with ideas for future events or if you wish to be on our email distribution list. Email us at rdscotland@imechenetwork.org  

The IMechE Railway Division, including the Scottish Centre can be also followed on Twitter @IMechE_Rail  

Iain Rae

Chair, Railway Division Scottish Centre