The Permanent Way Institution is moving to a new stage in its evolution
The reliability statistics were puzzling. Some years ago, the Victoria Line was behaving well – then suddenly, reliability fell off a cliff. Denis Tunnicliffe, Chief Exec at the time, ordered an investigation. It turned out that ‘old Fred’, who had adopted the points at Brixton as his professional baby and nursed them faithfully, had retired – and no-one had been looking after them in the way he had.
‘This is just the sort of thing that shouldn’t happen – maintaining continuity of knowledge is so important’ says David Packer, Chief Executive Officer of the Permanent Way Institution. This is one of the key roles of the PWI, providing a forum in which track engineers can meet and swop ideas.
‘We aim to provide a technical network for the industry, so you can engage with people from outside your company’, says Mr Packer, a role which is doubly important with the fragmented nature of today’s rail industry. Of the roughly 3,000 members the PWI has in the UK, about 1,000 are employed by Network Rail, while many of the rest work for contractors and supply firms.
The PWI arranges technical seminars around the country, with eight arranged f…
