Don’t miss Rail Live 2018: book your place NOW

With Rail Live 2018 fast approaching, don’t miss out on your chance to be at Europe’s largest outdoor rail show.

Rail Live will take place at Quinton Rail Technology Centre in Long Marston (Warwickshire) on June 20-21, and incorporate the National Rail Convention (see separate panel).

The event has been successfully run by Rail Alliance at QRTC for the past five years, chiefly as a plant show. This year, RAIL magazine publisher Bauer Media has taken ownership of the event, in association with Rail Alliance, with the aim of developing it further into a major business event for the UK rail industry.

Rail Live has become synonymous with on-track machinery demonstrations and displays of the latest equipment, products and services available. That remit has been expanded in 2018 to include displays of new rolling stock, including:

•  Porterbrook’s Class 769 Flex conversion (an innovative Class 319 EMU converted to include a diesel engine).
•  Vivarail’s battery-powered D-Train.
•  A working hydrogen locomotive built by students from the University of Birmingham.
•  A Direct Rail Services Class 88.

In addition to new rolling stock and locomotives, a whole host of off-track displays and demonstrations will be taking place, from the British Transport Police, Network Rail Air Operations, Rail Accident Investigation Branch and many of the trade exhibitors at the event.

The BTP will stage a number of live demonstrations, including the detention of an armed person from a train, and safely removing a protestor from a train roof. A mobile crossing safety vehicle will be on-site for visitors to look round, while other displays and demonstrations feature those from serving police dogs and their handlers, who will attend the show to meet visitors. This will include retired explosive detection dog Mojo and handler PC Phil Healy, who were first on the scene following the terrorist attack at Manchester Arena on May 22 2017.

Don’t miss all this and much more (see ‘What’s on’ panel for an overview). Register today at www.railliveorg.uk.

• Rail Live and the National Rail Convention is a trade show for individuals working in the rail industry. You will be required to register with a verified rail industry email address in order to attend. Go to www.raillive.org.uk to register

What’s on at Rail Live?

So much is happening that it would be impossible to list it all here, but you can find full details at www.raillive.org.uk. Here are the headlines:

• National Rail Convention two-day conference
• New rolling stock and locomotives
• Track demonstrations including OLE, track renewal and more
• Export Hub for drop-in advice on doing business internationally
• Innovation Zone
• Displays and demonstrations from BTP, RAIB and Network Rail Air Operations

National Rail Convention

The National Rail Conference, organised by RAIL magazine, is taking a step up this year - both in content and location.

Rebranded as the National Rail Convention, the conference programme will run over both days of Rail Live 2018, taking place in a bespoke suite in the internal exhibition structure on-site.

The NRC will bring the best content presented by the best speakers in the country. Each session is designed to provide relevant and practical knowledge that will make a difference to your business when you get back to your desk the next day.

It is free to attend the National Rail Convention and you will automatically have access to the whole of Rail Live when you register, so you can dip in and out of both to suit your needs.

For the full programme, visit conference.railbusinessevents.co.uk. But here are the key things you need to know:

June 20

Session one: The UK’s Industrial and Transport Strategy

Curated by Nigel Harris, Managing Editor & Events Director, RAIL & RailReview

This session will give you the opportunity to hear Government communicate its Industrial and Transport strategy to the rail industry and supply chain, and understand the opportunities this provides to rail businesses.

• N Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling
• N UK Industrial Strategy and the importance for rail
• UK Transport Strategy and the opportunities for rail - Philip Hoare, Chief Executive, Atkins & Industry Lead for the Rail Sector Deal
• UK Export Strategy and the opportunities for rail
• Opportunities for the rail supply chain

Lunchtime session: The Power of Good Leadership

Curated by Women in Rail

This session will focus on the experiences of inspirational and successful leaders in the rail industry, who will be giving their views and advice on what makes a good leader.

How do you motivate and inspire your team? How do you ensure you employ the best people and take positive steps towards a diverse workforce? What advice do you wish someone had given you before you started managing people?

How do you go about adapting yourself as leader to the changing needs of the workforce (for example - flexible working, the fact that employees don’t always want a job for life, and that the ethics/values of an organisation are becoming increasingly more important when individuals are making employment choices)?

• N My seven principles of good leadership (based on my own mistakes, experiences and occasional success!) - Dyan Crowther, Chief Executive Officer, HS1 Ltd  
• Neil Robertson, Chief Executive Officer, National Skills Academy for Rail
• The journey of a good leader: Challenge, Reflect and Support - Jane Simpson, Head of Capital Delivery at Severn Trent Water
• Shamit Gaiger, Programme Director, RSSB  

Session two: Tomorrow’s Railway People

Curated by Neil Robertson, Chief Executive Officer, National Skills Academy for Rail

As an industry, the importance of our people is often overlooked. Currently the skills gap is largely seen as a problem for the rail sector, rather than an opportunity. This session will highlight that the skills gap represents an opportunity for business to develop competitive advantages by recognising and acting on the importance of its people.

• HS2: Building for the future - Mark Thurston, Chief Executive Officer, HS2 Ltd
• Safety and Culture: How can safety support a more innovative culture in rail? - Mark Carne, Chief Executive, Network Rail
• Apprenticeships: Creating relevant capabilities for tomorrow’s railway - Mike Brown, Commissioner, Transport for London

June 21

Session three: The opportunity devolved Transport Authorities represent

Curated by Stephen Joseph, Chief Executive, Campaign for Better Transport

Directly elected mayors and devolved local transport authorities represent a fundamental change in transport policy and funding. What priorities are key to these devolved transport authorities, what strategies do they have in place, and how should rail businesses engage with them?

• Welcome to the West Midlands - Cllr Roger Lawrence, Lead Member for Transport for the WMCA and Leader of City of Wolverhampton Council
• Introduction: what has changed and what does it mean for rail and transport policy and funding? - Stephen Joseph, Chief Executive of Campaign for Better Transport
• What objectives and strategies do local authorities have? - Tobyn Hughes, Chairman, Urban Transport Group
• A specific example/case study of a local authority - Laura Shoaf, Managing Director, Transport for West Midlands
• Practical steps that rail businesses can take to engage in this opportunity - Jan Chaudhry-van der Velde, Managing Director, West Midlands Trains

Lunchtime session: How to be a success on the railway

Curated by Young Rail Professionals

• Sir Peter Hendy CBE, Chairman, Network Rail

Session Four: Making Innovation Pay

Curated by UKRRIN Steering Group

This session will outline the innovation needs of the rail sector, identify the programmes and finance in place to support innovation initiatives, and explain how businesses can access this support.

• Why research and innovation matter to the industry - Jo Binstead, Chairman, UKRRIN Steering Group
• UKRRIN’s perspective on research, development and innovation - Prof Clive Roberts and Prof Simon Iwnicki (UKRRIN)
• The programmes and finance in place to support innovation and how businesses can access this - Luisa Moisio (RSSB)