Paul Dobbins

Said the following about Stephen Pears:

“After studying Engineering at Aston University, Steve Pears joined Marconi Radar in Leicester in the late 70’s. Since then, both he and the company have continued to progress and evolve in tandem.

Steve worked on radar projects for the Royal Navy developing the 11kV radar transmitter power supply unit. As a junior engineer, Steve used to build lab prototypes, which often failed during testing, with the result of firing molten metal from the insides of the inverter power transistors across the lab - much to the amusement of the other members of the team.

Steve also spent time on the island of Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides, where he worked on providing a system to track missiles at the MOD test facility. This was a very significant project for Marconi, with a large software element, though it is probably more for developing his love of fine Whiskey that he remembers it.

Paul Dobbins, Chief Technology Officer, telent said, “I joined Marconi Radar as a student on my sandwich placement in 1981 on the Spearfish Torpedo project. This was my first time working for Steve - and he was no different back then from how he is today!”

Steve remained with Marconi until leaving for GPT in 1998, where his first job was to take the Midland Metro Project into operational service in 1999, something he managed to achieve without building a new radio mast in the middle of Wolverhampton, which is what he was told was needed on inheriting the job.

With GPT evolving into Marconi, he briefly took on stewardship of GPTs involvement in providing all of the communications systems for the Northern Line, but with the West Coast Mainline Communications contract being secured, Steve was made Project Director. He successfully led the project from conception to completion. This was a massive task involving hundreds of miles of fibre, a complete transmission system and the first GSM-R implementation in the UK, from RF design, planning applications, concrete bases to base-stations and masts:

Peter Felton, Account Director – Rail, recalls, “One of the unique characteristics of the WCML project was that it was the first time that GSM-R technology had been deployed in the UK. The turnkey responsibilities therefore required the team, lead by Steve, to develop and agree the critical system performance characteristics that, at that time, had not been defined in the international standards. They then had to reach agreement of these standards with the Joint Project team and the HMRI. Those standards were later adopted across the entire network deployment that followed. The construction and commissioning programme which was taking place within the larger route upgrade being undertaken by numerous other contractors was completed on time and below budge. This required great ingenuity and innovation. Even by today’s standards, this was a huge achievement for a project of that scale.”

Following successful delivery of the West Coast Mainline project, Steve continued to build and develop a rail business. Steve’s passion for delivering a high quality service was the driver for developing a maintenance business with the Train Operating Companies and from humble beginnings telent now maintain communication assets on more than 1100 stations across the UK.

In 2010 the Rail and Metro divisions merged, with Steve becoming MD of an £80m business, which included multi-million-pound Metro projects and communications maintenance for all of London Underground’s 270 Stations and depots.

From that first foray into train radio with Midland Metro, Steve’s involvement in this increasingly important technology for the railway has grown significantly. The telent Radio Systems business has undertaken a number of key high profile projects and assignments for Network Rail, including the GSMR De Risking contract and the RETB Next Generation contract. Both delivered successfully and both projects’ strategy and implementation were shaped by Steve's expertise and leadership and his close collaboration with Network Rail.

Phil DeSilva, General Manager – Traffic, says, “Having worked with Steve Pears since the late ‘90s, when he recruited me as a Project Manager, I have always been impressed by his ability to balance the demands of managing an operationally complex business while giving strategic direction to the telent team. The rail business has grown significantly over the last 10 years and key to the successful growth has been Steve working closely with key decision makers in Network Rail, advising and providing thought leadership in Rail Communications. I am very proud to have been part of Steve's organization, having recently moved to a more senior job within telent, I often reflect on my time working for Steve and have realised that working for Steve has given me skills that have enabled me to further my own career.”

Steve’s drive for innovation and investment in new technology has been key to the development of the rail business which has grown in size and scope. Telent’s Acumen Asset condition monitoring system is widely used across London Underground, saving money and improving customer service across a range of assets. The MICA station management system continues to develop embracing IP and wireless technology. Telent’s Power Scada system is about go live to manage traction power across the whole of Network Rail. All of these initiatives faced uncertain times, and it has been Steve’s passion to try new things and tireless support that ensured their success.

Steve has a relentless attention to detail and his energy and enthusiasm has helped forge a strong service culture which has helped the business grow and develop. Innovations such as live site surveys have improved responsiveness and quality and telent’s Technical Support Centre have underpinned year on year improvements in quality.

The telent rail business now employs more than 500 staff and serves 20 major customers across the UK. The emergence of internet-based systems has enabled a new approach. Live site surveys, remote monitoring and fixing of assets and internet-based security and management systems have all become a reality under Steve’s guidance.

Steve retires this year, having dedicated nearly forty years to the development and implementation of innovative, customer-focused systems which have benefitted the UK rail industry.“