"All of the content was good and Nigel's style of lecturing and presenting the information was great."

Courses in Railways

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Courses in Railways

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A suite of three courses covering the themes of Railway Management, Railway Economics, and Railway Planning

These courses are specifically designed to familiarise delegates with the concepts and techniques of railway management, economics and planning, and their application in addressing a wide variety of current issues facing the industry.

Topics covered will include:

  • Railway Management: management and business planning, ownership and structure, safety, rail freight
  • Railway Economics: macro and micro economics, estimating the demand for new stations and services, public transport network modelling
  • Railway Planning: major planning, timetabling and rostering, track and signalling infrastructure design, terminal and station design.

The courses are led by Dr Nigel Harris of The Railway Consultancy.

Course Objectives
  • to enable participants to acquire a coherent understanding of the whole rail industry;
  • to provide familiarity with modelling techniques, management processes, and with key concepts in safety, economics and design;
  • to enable participants to develop a wide range of subject-specific and more general skills of use both to them and the economy as a whole;
  • to encourage participants to think through complex issues logically and objectively.
Who should attend

The courses are suitable for those:

  • already employed in planning functions in the railway industry, local authorities and consultancies wishing to deepen their understanding
  • railway staff from other disciplines wanting to undertake scheme appraisals, or to widen their knowledge of the railway as a system
  • young professionals wishing to understand the key concepts of railway planning in order to further their career.

Course Outline

Railway Management

Formal elements take place between 1400 on the Monday and 1400 on the Tuesday of each course.

  • Railway Management and Business Planning: Railway Objectives, Efficiency, Returns to Scale, Market Positioning, Management Structures.
  • Railway Ownership and Structure: Ownership and Fragmentation, Methods of Privatisation, Financing the Railway, Industry Structure.
  • Railway Safety: Purposes of Signalling, Block Signalling, Interlocking, Braking, Single Lines, Automatic Signalling, AWS, ATP & ATC, Accident Analysis: Case Study of Clapham Junction.
  • Rail Freight: Trends, Costs, Impact of the Channel Tunnel, CRG Proposals, Intermodal, Parcels, Estimating the Demand for Freight, Future Prospects.
Railway Economics
  • Railway Macro-Economics: Cyclical Problems, Road v Rail, Methods of Analysis, Profitability, Issues Outside the Market.
  • Railway Micro-Economics: Demand Curve, Generalised Cost, Value of Time, Elasticities, Fares Policy.
  • Estimating the Demand for New Stations and Services: Types of Techniques, Trip End Modelling, Gravity Modelling, Generalised Cost Comparisons, Network Assignment Models, Logit Models, Stated Intentions, Stated Preference, Complications.
  • Public Transport Network Modelling: Elements of a Network Model, Model Output, Levels of Complexity, Recent Developments, Current Year Modelling.
Railway Planning
  • Major Schemes: Capital Costs, Rolling Stock, Technology, Demand Estimation, Public Consultation, Case Study: UK and France.
  • Timetabling and Rostering: Appropriate Frequencies, Service Regularity, Basic Interval Timetabling, Through-running, Interchange, Balancing Loads between Trains, Merging Passenger and Freight Traffic, Numbers of Trains Required, Punctuality, Rostering, Systems.
  • Track and Signalling Infrastructure Design: Number and Alignment of Tracks, Single-Track Sections, Train Graphs, Flat and Flying Junctions, Bi-directionality, Junction Types and Parallel Running, Assessing Punctuality, Case Study: The Fen Line.
  • Terminal and Station Design: Freight and Parcels Terminals, Station Construction Costs, Station Capacity and Evacuation Capability, Commercial Considerations, Design, Passenger Flow, Elements of Station Stop Time.

Presenters

School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences
Industry Professionals

Fees

  • Railway Management: £500.00 (22 October 2012)
  • Railway Economics: £500.00 (5 November 2012)
  • Railway Planning: £500.00 (19 November 2012)

Book on all three courses at a discounted price of £1350.00.

Academic module outline

This course is also delivered as a Module on at least one of the School's Masters programmes; delegates will attend with full and part time registered students. The Academic Module Outline is available via the University's Module Catalogue.

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In association with:
In association with Railway Consultancy Courses in Railways in association with Railway Consultancy
Endorsed by:
endorsed by Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation Courses in Railways endorsed by Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation

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