The Light Rail Engineering Group (LREG) at UKTram meet at the end of November in Manchester for two days of discussion about current engineering challenges, shared operational insights, and the examination of how emerging technologies can support long-term network resilience.
The two day meeting focused on system updates, recent component failures and the ongoing pressures due to supply chain reliability, in particular service and repair of rolling stock and components.
There were also updates from the LRSSB following a series of recent high-profile tram accidents in Europe. Research into driver safety device timings has prompted the LRSSB to prepare a technical note for UK systems to support consistent timings across networks and help mitigate the risk of derailment or collision.
Positively, several networks reported excellent outcomes from recent apprenticeships and student placements, including award-winning work by an Isle of Man engineering student within the campaign for “LoveTech” promoting women engineers in STEM roles.
On the second day of the get together, the focus shifted to technology partners, examining how data, digital and integrated system design can help operators move from reactive maintenance to future proof and scalable engineering strategies with long-term support.
Discussions centred on the need to treat networks as whole-system environments rather than isolated components, ensuring technologies employed are compatible, resilient and do the job as intended, and ideally support contracts should be maintained throughout the life of the technology despite changes in ownership.
Speaking about the meeting, Phill Terry, Lead Engineer at UKTram, said: “Again, the LREG meeting was very well attended, with 25 joining in person and a further seven online. Attendance at the Best Practice Day was equally impressive, with 19 engineering and supply chain colleagues taking part in discussions on various topics. It was also good to hear about apprentices and students gaining experience within the sector and hopefully building future careers in light rail.”