Recruitment
“Andy has seen it all: from a teenager on the Shipley Kango gang in the 1970s; as a crane operator, often working 50 plus hour shifts; a walkout inspector, buried service manager, information and archive manager, the list goes on, right through to his current role as an information development manager.
Today, in what is his sixth decade on the railway, his lifting and packing days might be over but the tireless work he is carrying out, and the innovation he is bringing to the railway, is having a direct and positive impact on the maintenance teams tasked with keeping train services running, and ultimately the passengers who travel on the network.
In his current role on Network Rail’s (NR) Intelligent Infrastructure (II) programme, he is driving a data transformation that is helping railway engineers to carry out predictive maintenance of the rail infrastructure.
Andy has been instrumental in designing an algorithm that predicts where and when track faults and cyclic top events are going to occur. A development that has potential for the global rail industry.
Not only that, his years of data-crunching, analysis, long days and nights pouring over data and relentless testing in the field to produce the algorithm, has received global recognition. He is now a published academic author, having worked on and produced a paper within the Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board.
His paper: ‘Novel Algorithm for Mutual Alignment of Railway Track Geometry Measurements’ was produced in Andy’s own time and took almost a year to write, review, edit and publish.
It’s a brilliant piece of work that explains how NR’s masses of collected data can now be aligned by the algorithm Andy has designed. It resolves a long-standing and critical problem for the railway: revolutionising the way big data is collated, analysed and ultimately drives enhanced decision making for engineers to carry out the right work, at the right time, in the eight place.
His algorithm is accessed via the ‘insight’ tool designed by NR’s II programme. Data from Network Rail’s measurement and track geometry trains creates masses of data. Andy was tasked with turning this data into usable, intelligent information. The first version of the tool rolled out this year gives engineers information on cyclic top events - which can be catastrophic if not fixed - and track geometry exceedances that impact performance.
Maintenance engineer Dan Collins said: “This is a massive breakthrough. We can use trusted algorithms to convert trace and fault data and can then predict when to intervene with a repair. Sounds simple, but the benefits are huge.”
His passion for the railway, for the people that work on it, has never dimmed and it drives him today in his mission to provide engineers with critical data.
For Andy, the railway is in his blood. Both grandfathers worked on the railway, one as a steam train driver, the other a railway draughtsman. His father was a plate layer and his brother a rail facilities manager.
His understanding of what data could bring to the railway stems back decades to his roles within BR, RailTrack and NR. He has experienced life out on track in all conditions. He knew then that data could transform how we work and today’s technology is finally allowing him to realise that potential.
Andy is an inspiration to me and everyone in the team. His dedication, work ethic and passion to succeed has not only helped me reach where I am in my career today but has also helped me in all aspects of my life. Andy is self-taught in all aspects of his career and I have enjoyed watching him reach his full potential resulting in the creation of the cyclic top prediction models and his success as a published author.“
“Andrew has been working in the rail for over 40 years, he has dedicated his life to NR and deserves this award. Currently he is a crucial part of the R&D team and supports Development using his vast knowledge.“
“Andy has worked for a very long time in NR and has also supported R&D team in every project worked upon till now.“
“Andy has been in the rail industry for over 40 years and still possesses the same enthusiasm and the zeal to learn new things as a newcomer.
Andy's vast knowledge and skills are a great inspiration to anyone working with data and within railway. I'm glad we have someone like Andy within the R&D team whom we can reach out to for anything data or railway related.“
“Well done to you and everyone else who was involved for the Awards event last weekend, it went really well didn't it. Eve and I had a great time thanks, and it was really good to see everyone.”
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