1. Wheel Flats on Abellio Greater Anglia Autumn 2015

2. Overview of the problem
Increase in wheel flats seen in Class 15x fleet
44 occurrences of wheel flats on 15x units during autumn 2015 compared to 38 in 2014
Notably concentrated during November
2014
2015
September 2
October 10 3
November 7 28
December 13

3. Impact on Service Wednesday 11 Nov to Sunday 22 Nov
No service Marks Tey to Sudbury and Ipswich to Felixstowe
Thursday 19 Nov to Sunday 22 Nov
No service Norwich to Great Yarmouth
Monday 23 Nov
No service Ipswich to Peterborough

4. Fleet position DMU Fleet Size 27 units in total
5 x 153
9 x 156
4 x 2 car 170
8 x 3 car 170
1 x 37 hauled set
27 units in total
22 required for traffic

5. Principal Causes of the increase in wheel flats
Key driver was the seasonal conditions during November of persistent and concentrated autumn conditions
A wide range of contributory factors:
Low level of vegetation management on rural routes
Little targeted action on high risk sites on rural routes
Some rural routes not treated by RHTT
Fitment of sanders to 15x units has contributed to an increase in wheel flats (comparable experience from Northern)
Lack of continuous improvement approach to autumn within both NR/AGA
No NR route Seasonal Delivery Specialist
Opportunity for AGA to engage more with AWG and for NR Anglia route to establish clear links with expertise at Milton Keynes

6. Recommendations 1
Under the leadership of the Performance Board, AGA and NR need to adopt an integrated project approach to the proactive management of autumn and other seasonal events. NR should give consideration to establish a Seasonal Delivery Specialist within Anglia route, AGA should give consideration to identify a senior post to coordinate cross function seasonal preparation. Senior AGA role identified and is currently developing the seasonal calendar and project plan
AGA and NR need to bring together all available data on autumn events into one integrated database which can then be used to facilitate a detailed route by route review of the existing high risk sites, and other locations identified from RTM and drivers reports. A small number of high priority sites should be targeted for intervention prior to autumn and a longer term strategic plan developed to be deployed as part of the new franchise. NR/AGA Fleet & Ops working group established
As a matter of urgency a workshop should be convened to establish the feasibility of extending rail head treatment to those high risks sites and poor performing routes that are not currently covered. It should also address the high level losses incurred due to conflicts with engineering work during autumn The workshop should bring together all those involved in planning and delivering rail head treatment on the route. NR Route/Ops planning/NCS/AGA workshop arranged

7. Recommendations 2
NR, in conjunction with operators, should develop a medium term 7 year strategy for vegetation management on rural routes which needs to reflect the output of the detailed route by route reviews. A small number of high priority “Super Sites” should be identified for treatment to prior to autumn NR/AGA Session planned
AGA should review the timetables on the rural routes to establish if overall customer benefit during autumn would be enhanced by making alterations to reduce the risk of wheel tread damage and consequential loss of units. This study should look at best practice from across the industry with regard to amended stopping patterns and extended journey times. Possible improvements identified and their performance benefit/customer impact currently being analysed
Plans to deploy NR’s mobile wheel lathe to Crown Point for autumn 2016 should be given highest priority by AGA/NR. AGA should engage with Bombardier to increase wheel lathe availability and contractually committed slots at Ilford. AGA should carry out a review to establish further contingency wheel lathe capacity for autumn 2016, where possible this should be contractually committed and robust resource plans for the associated movements developed. Mobile wheel lathe obtained from April 2016.

8. Recommendations 3
AGA should review recent developments in train braking and sanding for applicability to the fleet. Specifically -
Northern experience with sanding in step 1 and step 0 on their 15x fleet
The availability of multiple sanding on EMUs
Revised braking and WSP software trialled by Siemens on SWT 450 and 444 fleets
Possible availability of WSP for tread braked units from Porterbrook AGA Engineering team currently exploring all recent developments.
The availability of RTM for autumn 2016 will provide the opportunity for real time information to the autumn control and the collection of data that will aid a better understanding of the causal events of wheel tread damage, overall train performance and time loss and changes in braking patterns with the onset of autumn. AGA and NR need to work together to ensure an appropriate structure of alerts is available within the RTM system prior to autumn. NR/AGA working group established to maximise benefit from RTM in Dec 2016
AGA Driver Management team should visit the skid pan training facility provided by GWR during 2016 and consider the applicability of this to its overall training package. The DM team should review the emerging data from RTM regarding driver behaviour and consider whether any changes to training and briefing are appropriate Good practice visits to Northern, GWR and Scotrail arranged

9. Recommendations 4
NR Anglia should ensure that a number of their MOMs attend the Front Line Practitioners’ Workshop and seek out best practice from other routes and share their findings with colleagues on Anglia. FLP session arranged. AGA attending
NR need to resolve the issues around the use of powered equipment by MOMs and adjusting rosters such that the two main rail head scrubber can be deployed. Work stream already underway to develop possible solutions
NR should review the appropriateness of sand rover for use on those rural branches not covered by the RHTT Work stream already underway
AGA ensure suitable attendance and involvement in industry bodies (NTF-OG, AWG, ARG) AGA Attendance arranged
NR should ensure that it gets maximum benefit from the specialist expertise available at Milton Keynes. Issue raised at Senior level with NR to ensure ongoing dialogue and good practice sharing

10. Thank you