Reference no: EM133170009 , Length: word count:1000

Scenario:
The focus of this summative assignment is the National Rail network west of Exeter St. David's through to its terminating station at Penzance.

The railway has, historically, suffered repeated weather and climate-related damage to the infrastructure west of Exeter, particularly the sea wall section between Dawlish Warren and Teignmouth.

The social and political importance of maintaining a continuous level of service from Cornwall and West Devon, in particular through day services to London, Cross Country services to the Midlands and North of England and an overnight sleeper service to London is high. Breakdowns in service and long-term disruption of the network, akin to the previous disruption resulting from the failure of the Dawlish sea wall, are not considered to be acceptable.

Coupled to this resilience issue, is the future of the railway with decarbonisation targets in mind. Electrification does not extend as far west as Exeter and there are no immediate plans to extend the current AC electrification infrastructure westwards.

Task:

Based on the scenario above write a report which addresses the following four tasks:

Question 1. Explain the risks to business of a repeat failure of the seawall. This should highlight risks to local businesses and the community west of Teignmouth and also risks to the incumbent TOCs, FOCs and Network Rail if the same levels of service disruption are repeated.

Question 2. Identify three options for contingency service provision in the event of a future failure of the sea wall section, from a resilience point of view. Your three options should be wide ranging and may include innovative proposals to maintain continuous service options should the sea wall fail again.
o The lowest level (i.e. most simple) of your three options should highlight the actions to be taken if a sudden collapse of the sea wall were to occur - i.e. how would we respond in an emergency situation. The other two options could be longer-term contingency arrangements with sufficient time in hand to plan their implementation.
o Highlight the core aspects of all three schemes and the dependencies and implications that may arise from each option (i.e. time, cost, other agencies, resources, etc.).

Question 3. Identify and evaluate possible traction options available to eliminate diesel traction from the railway west of Exeter.

Question 4. Then, discuss what change management processes will be required to enable the decarbonisation target, of delivering a decarbonised railway by 2050, to be met. Relate to change management models where appropriate.

Attachment:- Formative Assignment.rar