Two years down the line

Growth and achievements of the IoRW after the first two years

The IoRW celebrates its second birthday on 22 April 2004 and it is pleasing to report that membership has continued to grow, that the services and benefits of membership have expanded and that there have been significant achievements with regard to competence and QA improvements. However, there is much more to do.

All IoRW activities continue to be supervised by the Management Committee which comprises representatives from a wide range of stakeholders, see Table 1. The Committee meets about three times a year and has operated successfully since the inception of IoRW. The Committee is also involved in forging new links between IoRW and other relevant organisations, for example the Centre for Rail Skills and the Permanent Way Institution.

Table 1

Firstly some facts: current membership stands at 996. This is 156 more than one year ago and shows that there is a continuing high level of support for IoRW. Membership continues to be free to UK residents with a valid interest in rail welding. It is pleasing that, despite many organisational and fiscal changes, Network Rail have continued to underwrite the IoRW. This will continue for at least another year.

From the very beginning, and all through the first two years, interest and support has remained at a high level and this has enabled significant progress to be made in a number of key areas.

Newsletter - The commitment to publish four IoRW Newsletters per year has been fulfilled. Feedback on Welding Lines has been good but more comments, letters, etc would be welcome. A particularly popular feature has been the Job Knowledge section. These will build up into a significant information resource which members can always refer to. The topics covered so far are shown in Table 2.

Table 2

Website - This has evolved continuously during the first year. It now contains a wealth of information, not only on the IoRW itself but also on news of the industry, events, technical articles and standards and specifications.

This information is constantly updated so it's important to visit the website regularly to keep up to date. You will also find valuable information on training organisations, suppliers, contractors and manufacturers, job vacancies in welding and NDT and links to other relevant websites.

A recent new feature of the website is the 'Members Only' area. This means that certain parts of the website are accessible only to IoRW members and in order to gain access you have to log on with the username and password we have provided. Non-members who try to access the 'Members only' area are directed to a 'Join Now' page. Here it is possible to complete and submit a membership application form on line. Individuals who do not qualify for free membership (eg non UK residents) are required to pay the current annual subscription (£58) in order to join.

A further website feature to be introduced shortly is a discussion forum. Here you will be able to post questions, request information, provide information, etc. and receive answers and opinions from other members. We hope that you will make full use of this facility.

Technical Meetings - The schedule of Technical Meetings is shown in the Table 3.

Table 3

Average attendances at each of these events have been around 80 which demonstrates their popularity with members.

Reports on all the meetings are published on the website, together with technical presentations where available, and in Welding Lines.

Technical enquiries - IoRW members have access to a technical enquiry service on rail welding matters which is provided by relevant experts from within the industry and from other bodies. Since the launch, some 150 enquiries have been dealt with.

In future, members will, in addition, be able to post enquiries in the discussion forum of the website.

IoRW members also have access to the benefits and services of the Welding & Joining Society. These include: a journal, Welding and Cutting; a magazine, Connect; Technical Group and local Branch meetings; and access to information services through TWI.

IoRW members also have access to the new TWI professional/WJS website: www.twi.co.uk/professional

New approach to competence and QA in rail welding

This work runs in parallel with the IoRW activities as described above and the IoRW, through its Management Committee and Sub-Committees, is responsible for the developments and their implementation.

The programme so far includes:

• Development and production of a standardised aluminothermic welding training package. This is now substantially complete and it is expected that the package will be available for issue shortly. Look out for news on the website.
  
  
• Development of a standardised arc welding training package. This has been delayed but it is hoped that work will begin shortly.
  
  
• Development and accreditation of National Occupational Standards for rail welding, covering aluminothermic welding, arc welding and flash welding. This has been completed.
  
  
• Development of training and certification schemes for rail welding inspectors. The scheme documentation is almost complete and will be posted on the website shortly.
  
  
• Certification criteria for rail welder training organisations and rail welding instructors (already on website). Network Rail have mandated these schemes and, at the time of going to press, a number of training organisations and instructors were close to achieving certification.
  
  
• Certification criteria for rail welding contractors based on EN 729/ISO 3834 (already on website). The implementation of this has been delayed due to the recent re-organisation of Network Rail.
  
  
• Development of a training and qualification scheme for rail welding engineers. The first draft has been produced and consultation is underway.

Questionnaire

A questionnaire was issued to all members last year. Some 99 people, about 10%, of the membership replied which is considerably higher than is achieved with most questionnaires. The results are shown in the Figure 1 and these indicate a general high level of satisfaction with IoRW.

Fig.1.

Rail weld failures

One of the key performance indicators of the IoRW is the number of rail weld failures that occur in the UK permanent way. Recent figures show that the number of rail breaks at welds has been reduced by about 50% in the last two years. It is hoped that IoRW can contribute to the continuation of this trend!

A number of comments and suggestions were also received and the common ones are shown in Table 4.

Table 4

These are all being evaluated and addressed by the Management Committee.

In conclusion, we can be happy with the accomplishments thus far but there is no room for complacency! We look forward to continuing to work with the rail industry to build upon the successes and address the shortcomings.

Eur Ing T J Jessop
Executive Officer