Railway Safety in a Period of Change: Public Lecture

Date: 27 September

Start time: 18:30

About this event

The railway in Great Britain is going through a once in a generation period of change. The Williams-Shapps report sets out ambitious objectives to make railways the backbone of a cleaner, fairer, more environmentally friendly and modern public transport system.

The railway is a unique industry. It transports huge volumes of people every day safely, efficiently and sustainably. But the potential for a major accident is ever present and must be guarded against with eternal vigilance. The travelling public’s confidence can be lost at any time and this presents an existential threat to rail as was demonstrated by the collapse of Railtrack in the aftermath of the rail accidents at Hatfield, Potters Bar and Ladbroke Grove.

The lecture will cover:

• What previous railway set ups, and the rail accidents of the time, have taught us about how to deliver world class health and safety.
• The natural strengths and weaknesses in adherence to the safety principles in a national railway administration.
• The tensions that will inevitably become manifest as the railway goes through transformation, and what can be learnt from other sectors.
• Changing expectations, accountabilities, technology and culture in the GB Rail industry and the new challenges and opportunities they create for the reform agenda.

George Bearfield is a Professor of Railway System Safety at the University of Huddersfield, Institute of Rail Research (IRR). He has worked in the GB Railway industry for over 25 years and has held a number of senior roles in railway system safety and assurance.

The lecture will begin at 18:30.

Please note that this event booking is for the in person event at the University of Huddersfield, in the Brontë lecture theatres (Campus map here).

There will be an opportunity before the lecture to visit the IRR Laboratories, including the HAROLD full scale roller rig, THOMOS ride simulator, PANTHER Pantograph dynamics rig and the SRSMRF Robotics for train maintenance laboratory. Tours will be available from 17:00. The IRR is based in the T5 corridor of the Technology Building (See the Campus Map - link above). Please confirm in advance if you would like to join a tour by e-mailing Professor Gareth Tucker (G.J.Tucker@hud.ac.uk).

If you are unable to attend the event in person, online access to the lecture is being provided separately by the Safety and Reliability Society here.

An online 3D tour of the IRR labs is also available.

The photograph is named "Small town connector" by Kevin Dooley and is licensed under CC BY 2.0.