The Award went to Senceive,
a company of around 30 people
specialising in wireless solutions
for geotechnical and structural
monitoring, which has launched
two major products/services
in the past year. The first is the
Optical Displacement Sensor
(ODS) with in-built triaxial tilt
meter. This ODS uses a highly
accurate laser to measure sub-
mm sliding movements up to
150m range, whilst at the same
time measuring rotation using a
triaxial sensor. This highly precise
and reliable device is completely
wireless and has a battery life of
approximately 10-12 years.
An even bigger advancement
is the launch of GeoWAN, a
wireless platform that offers
long-range monitoring at up to
15km range. This complements
the existing FlatMesh system,
which is used for dense sensor
distributions. The new GeoWAN
platform allows clients to have
even more remote locations,
such as those in Australia, and
also has the ability to penetrate
through buildings, which is ideal
for urban environments and
buried equipment geotechnical
sensors.
ATL Transformers was highly
commended for supporting
Network Rail in its copper-
elimination, Class II safety and
sustainability charter initiatives
to reduce carbon emissions.
ATL engaged with the industryto define the requirements
specific to magnetics, to find
a solution and to deliver that
solution to Network Rail while,
at the same time, further
beneficial enhancements that
could be engineered into the
product solutions presented.Driving Efficiencies
This category recognises
companies that have made
strides in designing and
delivering work more efficiently,
to generate cost savings and
value for money to create a
more efficient railway. Network
Rail chief financial officer
Jeremy Westlake and Graham
Richards, director of planning
and performance for the Office
of Rail and Road, were the
judges for this one.
They decided to recognise
Great Western Railway in
this category, supported byNetwork Rail, Oxford University,
Incremental Solutions and
Icomera. Although electrified
railways offer huge customer
experience, operational
and environmental benefits,
the costs and challenges of
operating and maintaining
them can be significant,
particularly when things go
wrong.
As an example, the Schedule
8 cost of OLE and pantograph
incidents on Network Rail’s
Western route for the last 12
months was £5.5 million, with
750 trains failing to arrive
within the allotted time. To
address this, OLErt is a ground-
breaking project that exploits
imaging from the cameras
that are fitted as standard
to all new electric trains to
enable early interception of
potential faults. Based on
cutting-edge research by
Oxford University, developed
through collaboration between
Great Western Railway (GWR)
and Network Rail, this new
technology helps to avoid
potential disruption to the
train service and will benefit
passengers, train operators,
infrastructure managers and the
tax payer.
Currently deployed on a Class
387 unit running in the Thames
Valley, OLErt has successfully
demonstrated how image
recognition technology can be
used to monitor the OLE and
pantograph interface, enabling
the early intervention that
prevents potential faults turning
into failures.The award for Driving
Efficiencies went
to Great Western
Railway, Network Rail,
Oxford University,
Incremental Solutions,
Icomera for the OLErt
project.38 RAIL PARTNERSHIP AWARDS