10 Years of S-Stock
Dr Joanne Lewis CEng FIMechE FSaRS
Bridging the gap between rolling stock engineering and commercial railway contracts | Optimising rolling stock performance
I’ve seen a number of social media posts about trains failing on their first day in service. I know how hard those engineering teams will have worked to get to that point. I know how disappointed they will be. Here’s my story about THAT squeaky bum moment in my career.
10 years ago, almost to this very moment, I sat in my parked car. I felt sick, and the crazy lady in my head (yes, we’ve all got one) was doing her very best to ruin my day.
For, what was about to happen hundreds of miles away from where I sat, was one of the biggest milestones a rolling stock project team experiences; your train entering passenger service for the very first time. The dignitaries and press are gathered, the spotters are in position and the passengers are largely oblivious to all the fuss going on whilst they go about their day.
For the 5 years leading to that point, I had worked tirelessly to design and create the metro train that London deserved, modern spacious air conditioned underground trains, and THIS was the moment that fare-paying passengers got to ride on it. I was excited and proud to have been in the team that brought this product to the network but sick to the pit of my stomach. What if it didn’t make it off the depot? What if it failed in front of the hordes of press? What if……?
As 10am approached, I constantly checked my mobile phone. Was it on? Was the volume turned up? Did I have a signal? But it was silent….nothing. I sat for about an hour, waiting. Still silent. In my head the crazy lady was still there chuntering away ‘ha ha there’s no way you’ll pull this off’, ‘just you wait, you’ll be working all weekend to sort it out’…. *sigh.
But as that hour passed, the crazy lady calmed, and I knew the phone was silent because all was well as a quick call to the project engineers confirmed. So, what was supposed to be one of the biggest milestones of my time on the S-Stock project was an anti-climax, which is just how it should be I guess.
10 years on from that moment, the S-stock remains a world-class metro and I’m having a little smile to myself today over my morning coffee that I have helped to mobilise London for the last 10 years. I’m still proud to have been in the team that delivered S-Stock. Here’s to the next 10 years.
Chief Technical Officer at Rowe Hankins, Trustee of Rowe Hankins EOT ltd and Stockport County Anglers Association Est. 1894
4 年I loved being a key player of the one of the small team of research and development engineers for the CSDE and SDO RFID tracklink iii system. Great times.
WfH
4 年Great piece. We've all been there and had that empty pit.
Group Vice President Operations | Chartered Engineer, Transit Operations
4 年And remember how well the Litchurch Lane factory and operations team improved on this build which was recognised and won an global railway award for the improvement.
Semi retired
4 年We on commissioning teams have all Had that moment and yes getting the electrostar from t cert to passenger service took a long time.( circa 2000) On delivery to site first test run didn’t get us off the platform at Margate. Rail track seemed tougher to deal with than network rail today. But now after commissioning over 500 of them there everywhere in London. A legacy I am proud of. Barrie
Founder and Director, Learning Partners Limited and Coaching Partners
4 年Well done Joanne. I saw how hard everyone on those S-Stock related projects worked over the years from having the privilege of spending time on team effectiveness activities with them. Proud memories indeed!!