Annual Report 2007
   
   
   

At 31 December 2007 the membership was as follows:

Corporate Members

Air Liquide Welding Ltd
Amey Rail
Balfour Beatty Rail Technologies
BOC Ltd
Bridgen Enterprises Ltd
Carillion
Corus Rail Sector
ESAB Group (UK) Ltd
First Engineering Ltd
Grant Rail
Jarvis Rail
Lincoln Electric (UK) Ltd
London Underground Ltd
Metronet Rail BCV Ltd
Network Rail
Railtech (UK) Ltd
Serco Docklands
Tube Lines Ltd
Vital Rail

Individual Members

P J Fenlon
D N Shackleton
W Faville

Each Corporate Member is entitled to nominate a representative to the Management Committee.

Income from subscriptions has enabled IoRW to continue to maintain all the current benefits of membership.

The following benefits have been maintained:

  • Members receive Welding Lines, the newsletter of the IoRW, four times a year.
  • Business briefings provide Management Committee members with a forum for discussion of specific business matters with relevant experts.
  • The website gives up-to-the-minute news and technical information.
  • Twice-yearly technical seminars are open to all (but at a discount to members) and provide technology exchange opportunities with experts from the UK and overseas.
  • Participation in the development of uniform standards for rail welding technology, training and competence.
  • Technical enquiry service for the rail welding community through a network of experts.
  • Automatic access to the benefits of the Welding & Joining Society (WJS), which include Connect magazine, Welding and Cutting, JoinIT®, an e-mail newsletter, the Weldasearch information service and free access to TWI's library.
  • Participation in WJS regional Branch and national Technical Group activities.

Summary of activities in 2007

1. Membership

New members

Serco Docklands joined as a new Corporate Member in 2007.

Resignations

GPX Engineering, Scotweld Employment Services Ltd and Goldschmidt-Thermit left the IoRW in 2007.

Valid letters of resignation were received in 2007 from Amey Rail and Railtech (UK) Ltd which will come into effect in 2008

Outstanding payments

Payments are still outstanding for 2007 from Lincoln Electric and Network Rail.

2. Events

Technical Seminars

Two Technical Seminars were held in 2007, the first in May at the Riverside Centre, Derby TWI on Rail Welding Management - Safety and Solutions, the second in November at TWI on Recent developments in rail welding. Although Technical Seminars are no longer free to members, these events continued to attract a high number of participants, particularly the one at TWI which was attended by 90 or so delegates.

Business Briefings

IoRW members continued to benefit from Business Briefing events. These are designed to provide a forum for discussion with relevant experts on business matters such as Directives and legislation that affect the industry. Three such successful events were organised for members of the Management Committee with presentations on forthcoming changes to Network Rail Standards: NR/SP/TRK/032 and 132, the Innotrack project and Construction Design Management.

3. Annual General Meeting and Management Committee Meetings

The third Annual General Meeting was held in May 2007 and the IoRW Management Committee met three times during the year. All these meetings were well attended, with a high percentage of Corporate Member representatives present.

4. Publications

Newsletter

Three issues of Welding Lines was published in 2007 which included a wide range of relevant technical articles, company profiles and interviews with Corporate Members.

Website

Information on the IoRW website continued to be regularly updated and it received over 60,000 visits during the year.

5. Training and competence

A further survey of members' needs was carried out with the aim of ensuring that the IoRW continued to be responsive and to add value to the membership network. This resulted in the development of two draft guidelines: Diploma in Rail Welding Engineering and Rail Welding Instructor. It is expected to begin their implementation in 2008.

The IoRW certification scheme for training organisations continued but at a lower level as a result of Network Rail's new scheme.

6. RAILSAFE

The RAILSAFE project came to a close in 2007 with the Final Report being submitted to the Leonardo UK National Agency in December. Implementation of the scheme has started in the Netherlands and is being considered in Scandinavia.

A RAILSAFE Phase 2 project proposal on arc welding would be submitted in March 2008.

Overview

Through IoRW's constitution as a membership organisation, commercial or any other kind of bias is avoided. This has brought about a spirit of consensus within the industry which has enabled technology and competence improvements. This will be carried forward into the future through the strong support of the membership.

Annual report 2006