A global view Insights, projects and people from across the world of Rail & Transit at SNC-Lavalin NEWS IN BRIEF News from Norway The SNC-Lavalin Rail & Transit team exhibited at Jernbaneforum 2017 in Oslo. The annual Norwegian railway forum attracts delegates from across northern Europe. SNC-Lavalins Norwegian office was also nominated for a Gazelle Award. To qualify, a business has to increase its revenues by at least 20% annually for four years or more, effectively doubling its revenues over the four-year period. Time to tackle leaves on the line The Class 15x series of trains were built in the UK in the 1980s, when wheel-slide protection systems were not fitted as standard on treadbraked trains. As a result, they suffer wheel damage during the leaf-fall season. Leaf fall is widely recognised as a problem within the rail sector, causing delays and a lack of availability of trains for passenger service, and leading to longer stopping distances in some conditions. Porterbrook Leasing owns around 250 Class 15x vehicles, so was keen to find a solution to the problem. By working with SNC-Lavalin, KnorrBremse Rail Services (KBRS), Loram and Abellio East Anglia, it helped to develop a new design of wheel-slide protection for the UK. KBRSs latestgeneration wheel-slide protection system (MGS3) had been used on highspeed trains elsewhere in Europe, but it was a new product to the UK market and had never before been fitted to tread-braked vehicles. The project was a team effort; Porterbrook acted as lead organisation; KBRS supplied and adapted the equipment to ensure the design was suitable for the application; SNC-Lavalin led the system integration to the existing vehicles and with support from Loram carried out the installation of the first in-class unit. Train operator Abellio East Anglia supported the dynamic testing. The first unit performed well, and the system activated multiple times when slippery tracks were encountered similar to the way in which an anti-lock brake would on a car automatically managing the train traction and braking systems, preventing serious damage to the wheels. This unit remained in service, unlike similar Class 15xs, which had to be stopped for wheel reprofiling. Plans are ongoing to roll out the installation to the remainder of the fleet. Colin Dobson, the Engineering Director at Abellio East Anglia, said: The WSP system installed on the 156 provided a critical capability... We were also able to gather invaluable comparative data to show how the system added operational resilience and protected service levels. US contracts The SNC-Lavalin Rail & Transit team has been awarded a fiveyear contract with the Kevin George Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA). The contract is for engineering and administrative consultancy support services for the electric locomotives, and MultiLevel Cab & Coach Car procurement projects. These services include project management, engineering oversight and review, and qualityassurance activities. The team has also been awarded an engineering contract by the Illinois Department of Transportation, to supply fleet-management services, including the oversight of maintenance and operation for a pool of nextgeneration high-speed rail equipment. The contract has an initial term of three years, valued at US$4.8m, and there are two additional three-year options, with a combined value of US$14m. The new fleet will consist of at least 33 locomotives and up to 88 bi-level cars. These will replace the current equipment, which is leased from a different service provider. The equipment purchased will be jointly owned by the states of Illinois, Michigan, Missouri and Wisconsin. We are proud to have been awarded these strategic projects in the United States, said Kevin George, Vice-president of Rail & Transit Engineering, North America. This demonstrates our ability to work closely with our clients and partners to deliver world-class expertise. snclavalin.com IRSE exams The UK Control Systems team ran an Institution of Railway Signal Engineers (IRSE) professional exam study group. Employees achieved a 100% pass rate, with Duncan Robb, Janan Shanmugaratnam, Rob Watson and Antonis Phasouliotis taking the exams. After an exceptional performance, Duncan was awarded the IRSE Thorrowgood Scholarship. Infra Engineering win The Infrastructure Engineering team was presented with the SNC-Lavalin 2017 Award of Excellence for a Performancedriven Culture at the bi-annual Senior Management Team meeting in Montreal. This was in recognition of the teams dedication to employee engagement, operational excellence and client focus. British Columbia award SNC-Lavalin took the top award for Alternative Transportation at the Deputy Ministers Consulting Engineers Awards. This was in recognition of the teams work onthe Evergreen Line in Vancouver.Read more about the project here.