Ever got to the platform to discover that you train has been cancelled? If yes the chances are that thieves or vandals may have stolen valuable copper items, like rail cable or electrical earthing components, without which the trains cannot safely run. In the East Midlands, FM Sudafix’s home region of the UK, the costs in compensation for cancelled or delayed rail services are enormous and rising, and this does not include the costs of remedial action. FM Sudafix Group CEO, Steve Hutchinson, commented, “Whenever I read reports of thefts leading to problems on the railways I can’t help but think that a theft resistant, reduced copper Conducrete system may have prevented the problems. As an Achilles Link-Up supplier to the rail industry we are contacted when remedial works happen and you can’t help but notice the waste; I would always much rather see our products and services used on a new project, which expands and improves the UK infrastructure as opposed to having to put something back that should be there.”

The thieves who steal valuable non-ferrous metal products from electrical safety systems expose themselves to great personal risk as injuries can result in death. Steve further commented, “Anyone who thinks that stealing copper is a good idea should check the internet and search to see the injuries that they could suffer. Desperate people, or those attempting to make cash quickly from stealing, often end up dead. The people who steal copper and get away with it often have the narrowest of escapes from injury probably without realising how lucky they are; in that way by catching and stopping criminals the British Transport Police are probably saving those people from horrendous personal injury.”

The FM Sudafix Group supplies a range of railway electrical safety products and services featured on a dedicated website, where customers can see the range, which includes railway earthing cable, rail contact kits, rail bonds, Voltage Limiting Devices (VLDs) and many others. The company is recognised for its ability to engineer solutions for railway projects, often finding suitable applications for the cost, time and life-saving conductive aggregate Conducrete, which prevents theft and reduces a reliance on copper products to create electrically safe zones.

If you have concerns about the electrical safety, or wish to safeguard operational continuity, then please contact the team.

The FM Sudafix Group has launched a totally rebuilt website for its Rail Earthing domain. Speaking to FM Sudafix Strategy & Communications Director, Sean Elliott-Maher, earlier today the website was advised, “the team and I examined the previous Rail Earthing website, and as good as it looked its performance just did not match our intentions or requirements. We decided that no matter how we re-worked the content it was not going to meet our performance expectations, so we took the step to kill it off and start from scratch.

“It always makes me smile when you see organisations tweaking and trying to refine how they present their company, but then insist on using a flawed medium. Sometimes you have to recognise a problem for what it is and take the difficult decision to start again on fresh foundations, and yes there will almost certainly be a cost implication, but the common thought process of “this has cost me money, and so this will get my money back,” is naïve beyond belief and we don’t shy away from deficiencies here, we tackle them head on and make them right.

“The new website is more functional, aids navigation and allows faster access to the information that users require. We may need to polish some of the aesthetics and there is a potential that further changes may be required, but the truth is that I am happy with this and believe that the development team has once again done an absolutely stunning job.

“From this point forward our clients will be able to gain more usage from the Rail Earthing website, and I think we have finally got the structure to achieve the coverage at which we aimed.”

Visit the Rail Earthing Website to see for yourself.

The Nottingham Express Transit light rail system has been a demonstrable success, helping improve links to the city centre and in turn regenerate areas. Despite the success of the first phase of the Nottingham Tram it came as some surprise when the enhancements to the NET system were confirmed to proceed due to the dramatic spending cuts affecting many aspects of British life; consequently the enhancements to the system have been held up by the government on a few occasions as symbols of progress within the austerity measures.

It has recently been announced by various news agencies that the Tramlink Nottingham consortium has been nominated as the preferred bidder by Nottingham City Council. John Maher, FM Sudafix Technical Director, made the following comment on the announcement: “This announcement came as a surprise to many who expected the Arrow Connect consortium to be the preferred bidder. Clearly Tramlink Nottingham have demonstrated to Nottingham City Council that they have the right strategy to take the NET system to the next level. It is going to be an interesting build programme, and having worked extensively on NET Phase 1 I would dearly love for the FM Sudafix Group to be involved with NET Phase 2. It would make a nice addition to our current portfolio of light rail projects and I know that we can accommodate it due to the knowledge base, ability, and flexibility within the team. It’s one of those things that when you have experience of these projects then you can appropriately manage them, but if this is your first time being involved then you can expect to face the costs of learning on the job, that certainly should not put anyone off being involved, but they should be prudent and try and walk in with their eyes as wide open as possible because the challenges can be considerable.”

Also available to comment to the website was FM Sudafix Group CEO Steve Hutchinson, “The expertise in our team is top notch, so whether NET Phase 2 needs support with the earthing, equipotential bonding, stray current management or lightning protection, our team can help. When it comes to having the electrical safety products to install then the NET Phase 2 project team can rely on us to supply everything from VLDs (Voltage Limiting Devices), rail contact kits, pre-made and certified rail bonds, SPDs (Surge Protection Devices), rail drilling kits and our fantastic Conducrete, which is ideal of creating safe earths in demanding conditions such as the low excavation earths this system may need for rail signalling earthing or other earthing requirement. The FM Sudafix Group is great when it comes to rail earthing needs and our clients will confirm this, so we hope the NET Phase 2 project team knock on the door soon so we can start helping out by applying our value engineering techniques.”

Rail infrastructure projects are always exciting. Measuring progress on construction projects will obviously vary, however in rail progress is usually measured in kilometres or miles of track, and I think that is incredible, which is one of the reasons that I take great satisfaction the FM Sudafix Group presence on so many rail projects.

But what do rail customers seek when they come to the FM Sudafix Group? It could be a range of things. Usually first contact is made when project consultants or designers require assistance with the notoriously difficult task of specifying and designing effective earthing / grounding systems or to determine bonding / coupling requirements to ensure that lineside infrastructure does not present a hazard to the public. It could also be the task of designing, specifying and determining the requisite quality control and testing measures to establish effective control of stray current; indeed stray current management systems are frequently required. Obviously the JMI technical team has a long history of supporting these projects and I know that I speak for John Maher and his team when I say it is always a pleasure to help and form a safety net of support for project teams.

But let us presume that the conscientious and prudent project team have contacted JMI for its technical services, is that where the FM Sudafix Group ends when it comes to rail projects? No, far from it. These projects require high performance and robust products in order to provide electrically safe zones. FM Sudafix supplies a whole range of rail specific products, as well as materials with attributes that make them ideal for rail projects, such as Conducrete conductive concrete. FM Sudafix rail products include rail drills, rail cable, rail contact kits, pre-made rail bonds, stray current collector cable, surge protection devices (SPDs), voltage limiting devices (VLDs) including products that have been specifically designed to meet light rail / tram performance criteria, rail earthing / grounding materials and testing equipment for a range of rail electrical resistance performance requirements.

Whilst we always like to see the entire range being used on rail projects the best sellers are certainly the rail contact kits, which are used to affix rail bonds to the rail. They have to meet stringent performance and quality standards and are designed to be quick and easy to install. Rail contact kits are sometimes referred to as rail bonding kits or rail coupling kits, but essentially they all describe the same function. If customers decide to use our pre-manufactured rail bonds / rail couplers service they are complete and ready to install to pre-drilled rail using a rail contact kit the second they arrive on site.

Whether it is a sector leading JMI service or a robust and effective product the FM Sudafix Group is an ideal choice of partner for all rail projects, and it is for this reason that the company is sought the world over. Want to know more? Please get in touch with the team.

Thursday 25th November saw the UK government announce that as much as £8bn will be invested in improving the country’s railway infrastructure. Early analysis by various news outlets including the BBC indicated that this investment was likely to impact on end users who can expect increases in ticket prices to help fund the improvements. FM Sudafix Group Technical Director John Maher, who has previously been interviewed on film by the BBC News team about rail infrastructure projects, has evaluated the proposals and provided the www.fmsudafix.com webteam with the following comment:

“Any announcements about investment on this scale is always going to attract attention, particularly when the government making the announcement is becoming characterised more regularly by its cuts. It is clear that a key public concern is that it will be paying for these improvements long before they are going to benefit from them, and as legitimate as that is it seems that is a key contribution aspect that will fund the improvements; that being said we have seen this before in other rail schemes under the previous government. I will not be drawn into a debate about which government played politics with this one, or who funded what with money drawn from this source or that: this is not the forum for that discussion. What I can comment on, based upon my decades of experience working on rail projects in the capacity of designing and specifying electrical safety systems in earthing / grounding, bonding / coupling, stray current management, coordinated surge protection systems (SPDs), voltage limiting device allocation (VLDs) and lightning protection, is the need for upgrades. As I have previously commented to the BBC, the current state of the UK rail system, both in terms of light and heavy rail, is not good enough.

“Speaking both as a resident of Nottingham and someone involved with NET Phase 1, I was delighted to see the Nottingham tram extensions survive the Comprehensive Spending Review. Nottingham demonstrates that light rail projects are a great benefit to the infrastructure of a city, and it is encouraging to see the ongoing developments and enhancements of the Manchester Metrolink. Trams are not silent, nor are their construction phases without inconveniences to the wider populace, however the benefits to a city far outweigh their construction cost or construction phase inconveniences.

“By investing in rail we should hopefully see fewer cars on the roads, and areas regenerated through improved infrastructure links and this is not just good for an area, it is good for a country, and on a macro level the continent and world, when we are all still living through the hangover of a global financial crisis. Am I encouraged on a commercial level? Well the prospect of getting involved with some of these new rail initiatives would be very appealing to the company and yes, rail installation companies can certainly rely upon both the JMI Earthing technical team and product disciplines of the FM Sudafix Group for support. Whilst companies have to locate opportunities in order to survive in a shrunken economy this is not the time for organizations to be thinking on an immediately self-serving level, the wider economy has to be considered and growth will come out of entrepreneurial adaptability and more established companies behaving responsibly, and I’d like to hope that the FM Sudafix Group will certainly fall into that category.”

The FM Sudafix Group has a long established legacy of involvement with rail projects, with the JMI Earthing technical team having provided earthing / grounding and bonding / coupling designs, stray current control / stray current management systems, lightning protection and other electrical safety systems, whereas FM Sudafix has provided a range of electrical safety system products and components ranging from rail contact kits, rail bonds, rail cable, Conducrete conductive concrete, generic earthing / grounding materials and electrical protection devices such as surge protection devices (SPDs) and voltage limiting devices (VLDs).

The Qatari construction industry cultivates and develops an excellent domestic knowledge base whilst attracting some of the best experts from all over the world. A concentration of this standard of expertise has resulted in some of the most impressive construction achievements in the Middle East. The ability of countries in the Middle East, notably Qatar, to set new benchmarks and in many cases pioneer the latest technological advancements in the construction sector is a great motivation for companies to keep improving their capacity to support this market.

A vital and growing section of the construction industry is the light and heavy rail sector. These projects are essential for establishing, improving, and eventually determining the future for any country’s internal infrastructure, and their access to international markets. I have been involved with rail projects for decades and I must confess that whilst I have enjoyed all of the projects upon which I have worked, rail programmes are very close to my heart. Rail projects, of course, are subject to idiosyncratic problems that you would never encounter on any other sort of build programme, which is part of what makes it all so very interesting.

As Qatar has a vested interest in domestic rail performance and rail projects occurring in the wider Gulf region it is important for businesses to respond to this issue and support the country. My close friend, and Chief Executive Officer of the FM Sudafix Group, Steve Hutchinson has spearheaded the development and launch of a range of products specifically to support rail projects. Steve has made his hopes clear from the outset of the initiative: “We embrace new opportunities and a key issue for our organization is redefining ourselves in the eyes of the Qatari market. It is ironic in a way because we are long established and renowned in the rail sector in Europe, and have been very active both in terms of service and product provision on a number of significant rail projects such as the Manchester Metrolink (UK) and Dublin LUAS (Ireland). On numerous projects we are preferred suppliers of practical, easy to install products such as rail bonds, rail cable, VLDs (Voltage Limiting Devices), SPDs (Surge Protection Devices) and many others; all of them obviously meet the robust performance demands of rail projects.”

Issues that may challenge Qatari rail interests include creating safe earthing systems for substations, platforms, cubicles and signalling, whilst ensuring that a robust earth bonding design has been undertaken to mitigate the dangers in cases of unforeseen de-wirement of the overhead line. Earth bonding designs for rail applications should make provision for items that may fall within the potential de-wirement area, or the running path of a carriage, which in the rail sector is referred to as the DKE, or dynamic kinematic envelope. An essential consideration for any rail project is that of the hazards presented by stray electrical current.

Projects may refer to stray current in different ways, but essentially it is when electrical current leaks from the rails, usually due to poor insulation. When direct current discharges from the rail it will seek conductive materials in the ground in a comparable way that lightning seeks conductive elements. If stray current discharges through an underground conductive element it is likely to corrode that item; this can include foundations, bridge supports and many others, and the damage caused can be disastrous. On one project where I was brought in to identify and rectify stray current issues I discovered a twenty-four inch gas main was corroding due to stray current that was discharging over a kilometre and a half away; that could have led to an explosion that would have been a catastrophe. It was also completely avoidable.

Adapting to the demands of Qatari rail concerns is not easy and will be dependent on companies sourcing the appropriate level of experience. In all of the many projects with which I have held responsibility for the electrical safety of the installation team and every future user of a rail scheme I have learned valuable lessons and companies wishing to become involved with these projects cannot take the decision lightly; the consequences of making a mistake could be loss of life on a staggering scale so any company making the move to rail have to sufficiently resource their knowledge base. That is a broader point for any business leader whose company operates in the Qatari construction industry; to survive and thrive it is absolutely essential that enterprises respond to the ever developing market in a meaningful way. All companies make claims relating to continual improvement, making those statements are a vital part of obtaining and retaining ISO 9001 accreditation, but these statements need to be backed by conviction, and even more importantly, action and ensuring that an appropriate knowledge base is obtained.

Ultimately the proving ground for the various claims made by companies is what happens in the market place. Organizations that claim to innovate, to develop and improve have to be able to demonstrate that. Steve Hutchinson feels very strongly about this issue and recently gave a seminar in the UK about this issue. “Meaningful change, such as that we constantly see at the FM Sudafix Group, is not an easy process. Determining new opportunities to enhance any aspect of an organisation, whilst ensuring that business continuity is sustained, then managing the transition and delivering it to market is a challenging endeavour, but for a company like ours we see it as essential to our continual expansion in Qatar, the Middle East, indeed the global market. Because we put so much resource behind it at FM Sudafix, it is disappointing when other organisations make comparable claims but then do not do anything to commence and manage change.

“A lot of the times the reason for the disparity between those claims made and actual performance is due to their marketing departments or public relations partners. These people have to say something and frequently they make throwaway statements that sound impressive but are ultimately misleading or at least not fully substantiated. In truth the most frustrating thing to witness in business is watching long established companies, who have grown and expanded over many years and whose customer base is largely sustained through project buyers following habits, decide that they would like to see an improvement in their business prospects but then do not do anything to change it. Change does not come about through repeating the same process and expecting different results. There are some big players guilty of this, but thankfully we are not one of them,” Steve Hutchinson recently commented.

Making the move into the rail sector is likely to be a rewarding experience for any organization, but I would encourage business leaders to fully evaluate the environment and challenges that face rail projects. With my career’s worth of experience, whether gained through direct responsibility for electrical safety from the outset of a project, or on occasions when my team and I have been brought in to undertake remedial design and re-specification to get a technical aspect right where others have underperformed, or more sadly when an active rail system has failed due to poor performance by others and we are brought in for immediate problem identification and rectification, I have always taken my responsibilities seriously. Qatar demands the best, and companies have to deliver this.

The FM Sudafix Group has redeveloped the Conducrete website to ensure that it continues to provide the information that interested parties may require when learning about this industry changing product. The demand for the product is considerable as more and more projects learn about its versatility and incredible performance capabilities. The new site has been designed to be easy to navigate using the headings on the left hand side of the page, and is fully supported by the full breadth of FM Sudafix Group web resources and can be found at www.conducrete.com.

EnvirAnode is a unique solution to the challenges of cathodic protection applications and as such it necessitates its own web presence, beyond mere inclusion in the main FM Sudafix website, and the online product portfolio. As it is an environmentally neutral solution it does not result in the environmental impacts of many cathodic protection products, whilst having an incredible longevity. It is no surprise that interest in this product is considerable and FM Sudafix is delighted to offer this redeveloped site to meet the needs of our customers. The new site can be found at www.enviranode.com.

The most significant growth sector for FM Sudafix is in the various applications associated with rail earthing and electrical safety on rail projects. As the expertise of the FM Sudafix team in rail applications becomes more widely sought and recognised the interest in our services and associated rail product range increases. FM Sudafix is pleased to deliver the revamped Rail Earthing website at www.railearthing.com and if you have any questions relating to rail bonding, stray current management, surge protection for rail applications, voltage limiting devices or any of our other rail services or products please do not hesitate to contact a member of our team.

Rail and infrastructure projects form a substantial part of the activity of FM Sudafix Group companies. Our clients, customers and interested parties have genuine needs to establish the latest developments in the earthing/grounding, stray current management and cathodic protection aspects of the rail industry. The FM Sudafix Group is committed to providing its stakeholders with an industry leading standard of communication and access to current information about its ongoing performance and its involvement in rail and infrastructure projects is no exception. Whether our customers require effective, safety enhancing and theft resistant earthing/grounding products, or sector leading support services the FM Sudafix Group is demonstrably the choice of prudent buyers and project managers alike.

Visit: www.railearthing.com