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The vehicle profile screen layout has changed. Documents are now accessed via a button on the lower RIGHT hand side of the screen.
July 2022 Meeting
Ngā mihi. Our July Committee meeting was held today. Proved the power of face-to-face work, rather than always on Zoom. Great to have Aaron Wong and Mike Bradshaw back with us in person.
Awesome Ww post-test run bearing failure analysis report shared by GVR. Learning for all.
Robust discussion around LPG use in wooden cars, great risk assessment from Steam Inc.
Spent time looking at process for FRONZ appointment of new Chair as my time in this role draws to a close.
Look out next week for correspondence and other updates from the meeting.
Po marie
Mike
Sunday update
A productive HTC day today. A good working brunch session with Chair and MSHT's single point of contact to establish timeframes and thresholds for possible HTC endorsement to rejoin the Access Agreement.
This afternoon reviewing a draft visual Gantt chart of our vehicle endorsement timeframe. Committee members please view and comment in our Slack Channel. Thanks to Craig from DTG for putting this together for us.
Also 3 x Feilding Engineering Change Requests (DA loco ditch lights, drawgear, and and ferry tie downs) now lodged in Committee Slack Channel for review. All have prior CPENg sign off. Thanks team.
February 2022 meeting
Kia ora committee members. The drafts of correspondence out from yesterdays meeting are now in the Committee Slack channel for review.
Ngā mihi
Mike
HTC Chair 15 Jan 2022
HTC Chair today. Beautiful trip up the Kapiti Line to meet with Steam Inc. about Asset Management Planning, wooden car gate safety modifications, and a general catch up. Chers Jack and the team.
Meetings update
Two Wellington meetings for HTC Chair today. First up at the beautiful Wellington Railway Station for a briefing meeting with new Access Provision Advisor Karen Binnie (who has taken over from Sheena McQuire). A working lunch with Rufat Bunyatov, (Network Capacity Manager), Andrew Hunt (Professional Head Mechanical) and Karen Binnie.
Then off to Waka Kotahi’s Chews Lane offices for a briefing meeting with Rachel Forrester, new Manager Rail Licensing (the position formerly held by Rob Gould).
FRONZ Incident Learnings Meeting - plain bearings.
For the first time HTC welcomed in all non-network heritage operators to unpack and learn from an incident. The meting is captured here for those who could not attend on the day.
Technical Heads’ meeting tonight.
Kia ora team,
An efficient Technical Heads’ meeting tonight. Topics covered were:
Code reviews and the need for ongoing consultation.
Using the Ab axle failure report as part of each group’s own self-review process.
Looking at the Rm 121 flooring change management application as an exemplar.
Sending good wishes to our Auckland colleagues still enduring COVID lockdown.
A gem from Stuart (see link below). By phone just after the meeting ended. How to save $ with Fleetio in an easy way. ‘Archive’ the inactive vehicles see this link for the instructions.
As always, give me a shout if you need any help with Fleetio logs ins and passwords.
https://help.fleetio.com/.../Archive-Restore-Or-Delete...
Ngā manaakitanga
Mike
FRONZ/KiwiRail Quarterly Meeting
Kia ora team,
HTC & HOC Chairs, FRONZ President & Executive Officer, had another constructive and useful quarterly meeting with KiwiRail Management this morning.
FRONZ Exec' Officer will be publishing a summary of outcomes in due course.
Ngā mihi
Mike.
Self-review after a major incident
Good learning for our whole sector. Thanks to the cooperation between HTC Committee, Mainline Steam, and Rail Engineer Randall Prestidge this covering letter (and link to a self-review discussion document) is about to be sent out to ALL heritage rail and tramway operators. The only good thing to come out of things going wrong is that we can learn lessons and get better at what we do.
Ngā manaakitanga
Mike
________________________________________________________
9 October 2021
All FRONZ Members with a Rail Operating Licence Via email.
Tēnā koutou katoa,
Post incident self-review tool. Axle failure on locomotive Ab 663
The joint FRONZ/KiwiRail Heritage Technical Committee is charged with the promotion of high standards of practice and strengthening the ‘collective technical wisdom’ of the heritage rail sector in New Zealand. You can learn more about us at our website www.htc.kiwi
During a mainline excursion a bearing failure on steam locomotive Ab 663 caused an axle to break when the locomotive was shunting at its terminal depot. If the sequence of events was slightly different we could have been dealing with a major multiple casualty event. Thankfully we are able to learn from this incident without any injury or loss of life having happened.
An outcome of the investigation into this incident is the circulation of this discussion document for you to use as part of your own self review. You do not need to respond or share your answers to the questions raised. It is offered to you in the interest of promotion safety and continuous improvement. You can access the document here https://tinyurl.com/selfreviewAb663
This document is not just for steam locomotive operators to use. Plain bearings are present on many passengers cars, wagons, electric, diesel, and diesel electric locomotives. All operators also have people engaged in safety critical work, so this document has relevance for all FRONZ rail operators.
Ngā mihi
Mike Anderson HTC Chair
October Meeting
A very full meeting agenda today. Thanks to those who travelled to Wellington to attend. And to our Auckland COVID Zoom attendees. Chair/Secretary Correspondence Day tomorrow so expect outcomes to be hitting your inboxes soon.
Farewell to Sheena
Kia ora,
An email today from KiwiRail below.
Sheena is moving on to a new position within KR which is a positive move for her.
Recognising her professional support for Heritage Operations on the KR network and the excellent positive relationships she built with our sector. You will be a hard act to follow Sheena. Thank you on behalf of all of us.
He taonga rongonui te aroha ki te tangata (Goodwill towards others is a precious treasure).
Ngā manaakitanga
Mike
________________________________________________________________
Good morning,
I’m writing to inform you that Sheena McGuire has decided to move on from her current role and will transition into a new position within KiwiRail on 11th October.
Recruitment process for the Access Provision Advisor position is underway and I’ll let you know you once the replacement has been appointed.
Please continue to direct all your enquires and charter requests to Heritage.Excursions@kiwirail.co.nz. Until the replacement has been appointed all emails and charter applications will be actioned by the relevant Regional Network Capacity planners. Sheena has kindly agreed to provide “on call” assistance to the team until a replacement appointed and trained.
I want to thank Sheena again for the excellent work in the Heritage and the Access Provision perspective and wish her success in a new role.
Please don’t hesitate to contact me if there are any issues or questions
Regards,
Rufat
Rufat Bunyatov | Network Capacity Manager
DDI: +64 4 474 2338 (internal extn 42338) | MOB: +64 275 67 9824
Level 3, Wellington Railway Station, Bunny Street, Wellington | PO Box 593, Wellington, New Zealand
Risk Management Workshops
Risk Management Workshops Postponed.
Due to ongoing COVID level uncertainty, Waka Kotahi have postponed November’s risk management workshops until next year.
They are going to add more risk management resources for operators on their website and are still committed to face-to-face sessions once the COVID issues calm down.
Ngā manaakitanga
Mike
Venue change for 8 October committee meeting
Kia ora team - venue change for 8 October Committee Meeting.
KiwiRail has a very strict Level 2 approach which precludes non-staff members going to the Wellington Railway Station offices.
Having taken advice from KR we are moving the meeting 5 minutes walk up the road to the Atura Thornton Hotel at 24 Hawkestone Street. Same time 10am to 3:30pm.
Please RSVP to David (htc.fronz@gmail.com) ASAP. The cost of the venue is based on the number of attendees so we need an accurate number to finish the booking.
This is our last face to face meeting for the year, and with some meaty items on the agenda we need as many there as possible.
Also, if you need me to book and flights or accomodation for you please let me know ASAP also.
Ngā manaakitanga
Mike
Brake Code Test for Standard Railcars - Reviewed.
Committee members please engage with our Slack Channel to review recent changes to this code developed in consultation with the team at Pahiatua. Looking to approve at our 8 October Wellington meeting.
Ngā manaakitanga
Mike
John ‘Skippy’ St Julian
We are sorry to learn of the passing of HTC Committee member John yesterday. He was an incredibly talented engineer and a larger than life character. He leaves major legacy contributions to both the Ferrymead Railway and GVR. Those of us lucky enough to work with him over the years know the huge hole he leaves in our industry. Moe mai ra te rangatira, moe mai.
July Committee Meeting
July Committee Meeting on Friday. Please ensure David Webb has your apology if you are not attending in person. Ngā mihi Mike
CPEng Future Use Survey
Kia ora team,
After our most recent CPEng meeting we want to get a rough idea of use of this resource in coming years. Technical Heads are about to be emailed this survey.