From tgw1001@hermes.cam.ac.ukThu Mar 16 11:09:48 1995 Date: Thu, 9 Mar 1995 15:52:18 -0800 (PST) From: Tim Wells To: Gopher-Submit Subject: |curc| The Role of The Railway Engineer Minutes of the CURC Meeting 17/2/95 Mr. D. R. Temple, "The Role of the Railway Engineer" The meeting was held in the Buckingham Room, Magdalene at 2045. After initially apologizing for being unable to speak to us last term, Mr. Temple then gave us an introduction to GEC Alsthom. Apart from the maintenance division, GEC Alsthom has been involved with the TGV, the InterCity 225, and more recently, the Euro star. However the main part of the talk was concerned with the engineer's view of these projects, particularly with reference to the 225s. Customers' requirements were the order of the day, with saloon comfort coming high on the list. However those armrests on the Mark 4s had been positioned at just the wrong height! We also received an indepth analysis of the toilet design for the Mark 4s. Ride quality was another factor, the calibrated soup bowl being an important measuring device here. Other areas discussed were cost, reliability and finally maintenance. This lead on to their contract to maintain the Northern Line trains for the next 20 years. However the main theme which linked all of the topics together was the benefit of 'Continuous development' to the railways. After questions and a vote of thanks, the meeting was closed at 2209.