AmcoGiffen provides the Civils Asset Management Framework for Network Rail, which includes reactive emergency works, requiring AmcoGiffen to attend a site within 2 hours of being alerted, if necessary. AmcoGiffen operates an on-call service 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for this framework. Strategically positioned geographically across the country, the business has depots in Cumbernauld, Irvine, Glasgow, Perth, Fort William, and Inverness, ensuring close proximity to key transportation routes and links. The teams have extensive experience with all asset types on the rail network. They possess local knowledge of most assets and a detailed understanding of access to the infrastructure, railway neighbours, and stakeholders, which significantly enhances efficiency and fosters good community relations.

In 2022 and 2023, AmcoGiffen had 560 reactive jobs from call-outs, with an average of 3500 hours spent on these jobs monthly. The outcomes of these works ensure that a defective asset is secured in a manner that does not pose any risk to the railway infrastructure, the public, or any other lineside neighbour. Additionally, rail lines are reopened following closure due to the defect reported, which could include landslips, tunnel lining defects, boundary wall collapse, coastal wall rebuild, bund replacement, and track washout.

AmcoGiffen received a letter of thanks from the Network Rail Route Director expressing gratitude for the hard work and dedication shown by the team over the period, ensuring Scotland’s Railway was operating safely and reliably. AmcoGiffen’s skilled and on-call service is highly effective, particularly as climate change continues to cause major asset resilience issues for the industry and local communities.

Fugro’s RILA technology, a remote, flexible, train-mounted survey system, addresses a significant challenge on the Scottish (and UK) rail network, providing Network Rail with frequently updated high-quality track and asset data across Scotland. The RILA® system delivers a continuous scan of the surrounding environment, including areas that manual gauging may have missed. The RILA® Scotland gauging survey for Network Rail filmed and logged 669 station platforms, 110 tunnels, 7,823 bridges and viaducts, 3,203 signals, and 15,926 retaining walls. Fugro’s contribution to the National Gauging Database identified more than 5,000 previously unrecorded structures.

This technology offers significant Health and Safety benefits, reducing personnel’s on-track exposure by 26,675 hours and preventing 72 minor injuries and 3 major injuries. Notably, it holds major potential to aid the Scottish Government’s ambitions for rail electrification to decarbonise passenger services by 2035, addressing significant clearance issues throughout the network in terms of topography, geography, and vegetation. Accurate asset surveying will be invaluable in helping Network Rail better understand challenges and develop possible solutions.

This entry demonstrates tangible benefits, particularly compared to the previous manual approach. Seeing technology achieving cost efficiencies without compromising standards or safety is encouraging.

The Glasgow to Barrhead Electrification project marks a significant milestone as the first major electrification project in Scotland to be delivered with zero defects at entry into service. This achievement reflects SPL’s commitment to high-quality work carried out by its skilled teams. SPL advocates for greater skills training through ‘earn and learn’ job opportunities and is a member of ‘The 5% Club’, aiming to ensure 5% of its workforce are in ‘earn and learn’ positions. In 2023, this applied to approximately 8% of its workforce.

The project enabled the first electric train to run between Glasgow and Barrhead in November 2023, with Scotrail electric passenger services commencing from December 2023. Over the past two years, SPL engineers have installed 360 stanchions and structures supporting more than 66,000 metres of overhead power lines.

SPL’s approach has significantly reduced the cost of electrification projects across Scotland, achieving cost efficiencies of up to 26% compared to electrification projects in previous Network Rail control periods. These cost savings are crucial for funding additional electrification schemes across Scotland, promoting modal shift from road to rail and reducing the railway’s carbon footprint.

These cost savings have been realised through off-site construction techniques, such as mass production and factory assembly of component materials, as alternatives to traditional building. This approach allows repetitive activities to be completed safely off-site, increasing quality while reducing time and cost of site installation.