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“The West Outer Structures team have proved themselves to be efficient and results driven; and have thus far designed, manufactured, constructed and commissioned 5 cantilever structures within 14 weeks from start to finish; and built the team up from nothing in doing so.
They have remained even in times of adversity (and there have been many!) responsive and decisive. Emergency works needed for T477 structure may not have been their finest hour, but the delivery and design team promptly put together a resourced plan in two days to provide an emergency remedy: they showed how well they react to how the situation demands; and even had operatives staying out over-night to make sure the boom didn't move.
The team has shown true pedigree in flexibility & Collaboration. They strive to always support Network Rail when others are not able. They frequently demonstrate collaboration in the way they integrate their work with the other contractors, and retain a good working relationship with the teams working in their area. This has allowed them to smooth over conflicts in respective programmes; and provide support in say sharing plant with other contractors who had become constrained.
As a team they continually look to improve - they certainly went through the Storming, Forming, & Performing stages of team development, and have successfully come out the to develop their Norms. Through this the team has needed to deliver their work in challenging timescales. They have great pride in their work and a strong team ethic; more recently leading to a 95% score in their recent STAR assessment.
They are innovative and have continually looked at how to better their service to Network Rail, and have become more efficient and safer. Their Team Spirit developed whilst they were Storming, and have been described as a 'Rag Tag' team that works! - they know each others strengths and work to them, get on well (mostly!) and give each other space to air their idea’s - the root of success in challenging conditions.“
“The Amey signal structures team were initially mobilised at short notice in Autumn 2014 in response to an emerging urgent scope requirement to achieve W10 gauge clearance on the Acton to Reading route to secure a critical freight diversionary path, required to enable future possession patterns that were pivotal to the delivery of the GWML upgrade programme.
That initial requirement to provide 5 x twin track cantilevers in just 14 weeks from inception to commissioning was successfully delivered at Christmas 2014 to meet the January milestone for gauge clearance.
Key factors in this achievement were the behaviour and attitude of both the Amey contract team and the Network Rail delivery team, working together they behaved as a truly collaborative partnership that generated a 'can do' energy around the challenge.
Utilisation of lightweight structures with no permanent maintenance access was crucial to reduce manufacture and construction times, but required close liaison with the local maintenance and RAM teams to provide justification on the approach and support to fault team response. This included 24/7 on call response from the delivery team and a commitment for mobilisation of MEWP provision. This is a requirement that has not yet been required, and hopefully will never be needed, however the manner in which this arrangement was facilitated is a measure of the behaviours of the teams. The requirement was accepted, embraced and responded to, rather than rejected or pushed back on.
In terms of execution, there were teething troubles that you would expect with forming a new team, but with a massively steep learning curve these issues were quickly and effectively addressed and contingency was built into the plan from the outset such that we soon began to see certainty of delivery established in the weeks leading up to Xmas.
The Xmas commissioning itself was once again a truly collaborative event, with Network Rail staff integrated with Amey teams to deliver a one team, one outcome approach standing side by side on site.
The success of this initial tranche of structures was subsequently transferred to the Easter 2015 commissioning, which supported the Slough PSB Relock/Recontrol with provision of a 5 track gantry and 2 further cantilevers delivered in the 12 weeks between Xmas and Easter.
The team continue to deliver further structure renewals to provide OLE compliance to facilitate electrification of the GWML route to the west of Airport Junction.
All of this compressed delivery programme has been delivered safely and to quality, whilst also hitting all the key milestones.“
“Thank you so much for Saturday. It was a fantastic evening and we really appreciate you choosing Railway Children as the RailStaff Awards charity.”
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