My role LRT Rolling Stock Engineer is to provide experienced engineering and management knowledge to the companies clients. Services I have provided include Tram/LRV Specification development, Development of Maintenance Procedures and associated documentation, Rail and Bus Depot / Workshop high level designs and requirements, Workshop Equipment Performance Specification, Techical Procurement Assistance, Incident Investigation, Vehicle Procurement, Quality Assurance and Asset Condition Auditing.

I was appointed Tramway Engineering Manager when the Blackpool Tramway reopened from its £120 million refurbishment. My task was to assess current engineering practices as a Heritage Tramway, and make changes to ensure that all working practices and staff training met the latest Health & Safety Legislation. My responsibilities were to provide a safe and reliable tramway to the Fylde coast. This included holding regular Health and Safety meetings, to discuss and rectify issues on and around the tramway with Blackpool Council, Lancashire Council and ORR Officers. Writing procedural documentation to ensure the electrical and mechanical elements of the tramway were safe and compliant with all relevant regulations, then planning and managing the work load ensuring competent staff were available to carry out the maintenance of the system. I was responsible for the recruitment, training and competency management for all Tramway Engineering staff. I managed a team of 28 operatives engaged in the engineering maintenance and repair of the Blackpool Tramway. This included 11 traction substations, 22km of overhead power distribution equipment, 16 state of the art Bombardier Flexity 2 trams, 26 serviceable Heritage trams and a number of Heritage restoration projects, and all equipment associated with the two depot sites. I negotiated and managed contracts with suppliers such as Bombardier to supply vehicle support & components, Electric Northwest to supply maintenance & emergency cover for the systems and 11 substations, and other smaller contracts where specialist services were required. It was my responsibility to interpret and clarify safety and maintenance standards and queries, to create new safe systems of work for the staff to follow ensuring their safety, and to be fully compliant with all latest legislation, whilst meeting the required standard of maintenance recommended by equipment and vehicle suppliers.

As Tram Maintenance Manager at Metrolink, I was responsible for the safety and planning of all workshop activities - engineering, cleaning etc., and for the day to day delivery of sufficient light rail vehicles at appropriate times, to enable the correct level of service to be achieved. I was responsible for the management and safety of 52 members of the maintenance team including team leaders, engineering trainers, technicians and vehicle maintenance assistants across two depots. In control of the vehicle department workforce, contractors and visitors to the workshop, ensuring Safety, Health & Welfare compliance, in line with Metrolink rules and regulations and including all statutory Health and Safety requirements in accordance with relevant procedures. I was tasked with auditing and updating maintenance documentation relating to the older T68 and T68A fleets of LRV, to ensure their safety to carry passengers. When the new M5000 fleet arrived, it was my responsibility to interpret the manufacturer’s recommended maintenance programPart of my role was to accumulate and analyse failure data, to create statistics that formed the basis of reporting safety and availability figures to Transport for Greater Manchester. This I also used as a basis to check that LRV components were being maintained correctly and on time, and that the quality of the components were correct, therefore catching life expired components before failures started to impact on the safety and reliability of the tramway. It was my responsibility to audit and update all procedural documentation relating to depot and workshop access, including risk assessments. As the Tram Maintenance Manager, I was responsible for all repairable tram components, ensuring quality and timely repairs were carried out by subcontractors, to keep a required supply of parts available to maintain the LRVs, which also included the procurement of new parts.

As the Vehicles Team Leader, it was my responsibility to supervise the workforce, providing safe, correctly maintained and serviced vehicles, as required to meet contractual business requirements on 24 hour shift roster. To assist the Workshop Manager in the direction and prioritisation of the maintenance, repair and modification work on all vehicles, on a shift-by-shift basis. I was the first line contact for the Metrolink Control Room Duty Manager, for response and requests for technical assistance in the event of vehicle failure and vehicle recovery. To ensure that planned maintenance, breakdown or reported faults were documented correctly, raising ‘follow on’ work instructions as required. I was also responsible for the collation of fault and availability reports, sent directly to the client TfGM (Transport for Greater Manchester) as evidence that the company was meeting contractual requirements. Out of hours store management, and staff safety and welfare were other responsibilities as the team leader.

As a Vehicle Maintenance Technician my duties continued from the Assistant Vehicle Maintenance Technician role with the added responsibility of taking the role of the workshop responsible person known as the “Duty” on a roster basis. As the Duty person I took responsibility for the day to day running of the workshop, liaising with all operational and engineering disciplines, creating computerised work tickets, maintaining a log of all work undertaken and incidents occurring, in relation to Light Rail Vehicles on the system. Responsibilities within this role also included ensuring the safety of all personnel, contractors and visitors to the workshop, the safe condition of rail vehicles operating on the Metrolink system, and the completion of written Safe Systems of Work and Maintenance Procedures for both light rail vehicles and depot plant. My areas of responsibility also included the following: - The inspection, maintenance and repair of the fleet of LRV’s, during the inspection I would identify problem areas, design appropriate remedial or modification works, manufacture prototypes, where applicable, and obtain the cost requirement for the parts necessary to rectify the issue. Accident inspections and investigations, followed by production of relevant written reports presentable, if required, to HSE (Health & Safety Executive), ORR (Office of Rail and Road formally Office of Rail Regulation) or RAIB (Rail Accident Investigation Board). This included downloading and analysing data from the on-board train monitoring and fault diagnosis systems, then presenting them in a readable and presentable format. Whilst in this position I was involved with setting up an in-house LRV ‘bogie’ (wheel/tyre unit) overhaul department, eventually heading up the team carrying out all ‘bogie’ maintenance, from simple component changes to full strip down, non-destructive testing and fracture repair of the fleet’s ‘bogies’.

As an Assistant Maintenance Technician my responsibilities were to carry out all aspects of day to day inspection, maintenance and repair of the fleet of T68 light rail vehicles. This consisted of fault finding and rectification, to component level electronic, electrical, pneumatic and mechanical systems on the LRV (Light Rail Vehicle). The maintenance and repair of all building plant, including auto generator, heating and ventilation systems within the workshop, and auto train wash was also incorporated within this role.

Whilst at Bolton Area Health Authority my duties consisted of new electrical installation work, including wiring, switchgear and electrical plant, and production of drawings for the installations. Maintenance and repair of all electrical equipment and installations including boilers, fire alarm systems, air handling units, autoclaves, generators and in operating theatres. Other parts of this employment were to pass on instruction and training to others in all aspects of hospital maintenance and electrical systems.

Whilst at Fairport Engineering my primary work was maintenance and repair of welding equipment, overhead cranes, steel cutting and shot blast equipment. Two major projects I was involved in were the rebuilding and installation of a Derricking crane to serve the steel storage yard, and the design and installation of a workshop electrical system that would enable ease of machine movement, with the shortest possible electrical disconnection and reconnection time. This was to give the maintenance team the ability to rearrange all machinery, both large and small, between order runs to set up efficient production flow. Time scales for this rearrange were reduced to one weekend, due to the plug and socket system installation.

Whilst at Richard Hough Ltd I served an EITB (Engineering Industry Training Board) based apprenticeship, attending the Bolton Engineering Training School (formerly British Rail, Horwich Loco Works) for the first year attaining a broad-based engineering knowledge, then specialising in electrical installation and maintenance. At the same time, I also attended Bolton Metropolitan College, on a day release basis, to gain qualifications in Electrical Installation. I began in the electric motor repair shop, carrying out fault finding and repair of electrical motors. This included fault diagnosis using customer information, testing and inspection methods. Repairs carried out ranged from simple bearing changes, shaft replacement and balancing, to full winding replacement and re-commissioning. Mainly re-engineering methods were used, as manufacturer drawings and specifications on old electric motors were not available. I carried out maintenance and installation work for the machine and press shops. This involved dismantling the machinery in the old factory, evaluating the existing electrical systems, reproducing electrical drawings. To specify and procure new switchgear to replace the old systems, to enable use of latest technologies including frequency variable inverters and relays etc, and the construction of new control cabinets, installation of the electrical system, commissioning and subsequent maintenance of the machine electrical systems. This service was subsequently utilised on customer’s own premises, including evaluation, design, manufacture and maintenance of electrical systems for heavy machinery including carding, grinding and boring machines, lathes, calendar bowl presses, extracting/heating systems and overhead gantry cranes. I carried out domestic electric supply design, installation and commissioning within the companies administrative and store areas.