On the Right Track
On the Right Track - A Life in Track Renewals
Wednesday 6th May 2026
We were entertained by Sean Devaney, a lifelong railwayman who worked with British Rail between 1974 and 1993, subsequently transferring to infrastructure engineering following Privatisation in 1994 until 2019 after which he spent the last 6 years of his career with the Office of Rail and Road as one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Railways.
After the privatisation of British Rail, the various infrastructure maintenance and renewals business units were franchised out to the private sector principally to a number of major contracting companies some of whom still remain in this capacity within the Industry.
Sean’s talk concentrated on the track renewals processes during which he explained how the track formation is constructed and the reasons underpinning the need for renewal.
He then went on to explain the timescales under which infrastructure renewals are now planned and the various interfaces between the different parties who are now involved such as Railtrack/Network Rail and the different Train Operating Companies. He briefly touched upon the difficulties that this created in co-ordination as well as giving examples of how this, along with fragmented and dysfunctional industry management, led to poor and inadequate specifications and decisions which led to negative financial outcomes.
He described the structure of the track-bed and the controlled maintenance required to keep it in operating condition. Projects are planned 5 years in advance and then a programme of operation commencing with a 52-week headway to order rolling stock and locomotives and the many delivery mileposts until work commencement. Completed projects should usually last between 30 and 50 years depending on traffic levels but intervention during emergencies also has to be planned in. Added to the challenging timetables is the often lack of cooperation between TOC’s.
Sean was also able to show pictures of the type of rolling stock and plant used during BR days as well as some of the new equipment that started to appear once the major contractors started to introduce new and sometimes innovative engineering solutions.
Sean also gave some interesting insights into his many operating experiences some of which raise eyebrows but which were seen as normal in those days.
This was a fascinating presentation on a vital side of the railway that goes unseen, and is often passed over and in reality Sean only touched lightly on some of the subject areas and will be back in due course to fill us in with more detail.
John Owen