THE BI-ANNUAL FOR MEMBERS OF THE CHARTERED INSTITUTION OF RAILWAY OPERATORS November 2023

Welcome

Welcome to this issue of Bulletin , here ’ s a summary of what we ’ ve been up to since the last edition

The Brand-New

Members ’ Portal

We introduce the new CIRO Members ’ portal and all the outstanding benefits it will bring to your membership experience

Tyne and Wear Rolling Stock Maintenance Depot

In our feature article , Stephen Allday writes about the similarity of challenges and opportunities in Australia and the UK , despite being “ half a planet away ”.

I felt both fortunate and honoured to be afforded the opportunity to go along with a number of other CIRO colleagues and visit the Nexus facilities and see first-hand their operations with respect to the Tyne & Wear Metro .

In many respects it felt like ‘ coming home ’, as the first phase of Tyne and Wear Metro system completed in 1984 , the year I moved to Newcastle Upon Tyne and decided that the Northeast of England was to be my chosen place to live .

The Tyne and Wear Metro serves a total of 60 stations across its network , with two lines covering 77.5 km and is the largest light rail ( metro ) system outside of London .

As part of the visit we were invited to look at their state of the art training facilities located in South Shields , which houses their newly acquired train simulator , used for driver training and familiarisation on the new fleet of rollingstock being manufactured , supplied and maintained by Stadler . The training facility also contains a physical replica track layout , which houses examples of all signalling , train control & civil systems that are in operation throughout the Metro network and is used to enable engineering training and competence retention . Also included in the facility is a train stabling arrangement , classrooms that facilitate all other forms of necessary training to take place and a large conference room . It is clear

Stephen Allday

Executive Director at ARCS , CEng , FIET , FIRSE , FPWI ,

FCIRO , MICRI

Train Simulator , South Shields Training Facility

In Their Own Words – Membership Upgrades

We catch up with two members who recently upgraded their membership to discover their motivations and future ambitions

Meet Your Area Councils

We talk to some of our wonderful Area Council members who are working hard to extend CIRO ’ s reach , offering networking opportunities and events in your area

Course Launch

The latest cohorts of Academic students meet at the CIRO launch event in London

Network Rail Collaboration with CIRO Awarding Organisation

hree new Network Rail capacity planning learning programmes launched in partnership with CIRO

Sydney Metro Depot that Nexus have invested a significant amount of time and commitment to its employee ’ s continuing professional development and training , providing a facility that ranks up there with what I ’ ve previously witnessed from other world class operators .

As part of the visit , we were also provided with a tour of the Tyne & Wear Metro Network Control Centre , located in South Gosforth which houses their train control , traction power control and customer services facilities . This was then followed by a visit to their new rolling stock maintenance depot , which at the time housed the first three sets of the new fleet of trains , that have been supplied by Stadler and were in the process of being subjected to trial performance tests over the network .

Applying Apprenticeship Skills to the Real World

We spoke to some of current and former apprentices to see how their new skills and knowledge is impacting their working life