MetroExchange Newsletter #2, July-September 2018

1. Newsletter #2
July-September 2018
Welcome to #2!
It’s our 2nd MetroExchange project newsletter and
we are excited to share our project progress with
you. In this issue you can read about:
- EDUCATION:
• internships
• 1st short course @ MU
- RESEARCH:
• progress with student research projects
- KNOWLEDGE SHARING:
• plans for the 1st MetroExchange forum
- DISSEMINATION:
• 2 MetroExchange STEM activities
- CLARE Transport Seminar Series: MU x UCL
Happy reading!
MetroExchange Team
P.S,
Feel free to share your feedback with us!
CLARE Transport Seminar Series:
METRO OPERATION
RELIABILITY AND
PASSENGER CROWD
MANAGEMENT
by UCL, UK
5th
November 2018
@ MU Salaya
MetroExchange Forum #1:
RAIL SKILLS
DEVELOPMENT
16th
November 2018
@ MU Salaya
MetroExchange Short Course #1:
METRO OPERATIONS
PERFORMANCE AND
BENCHMARKING
by NEXUS, UK
13-14th
November 2018
@ MU Salaya
Project partners

2. We are happy to report that MetroExchange project is
progressing well. Quarter 2 of the project kept us busy
with students placements and events’ planning. We
agreed with our academic and industry partners from
the UK to deliver 3 rail-related events in November at
MU Salaya campus. The events will welcome guest
speakers from University College London (UCL) and
Nexus (metro operator in Tyne and Wear, UK). Keep
reading below for more details.
Dr Waressara Weerawat, Mahidol University, Thailand
waressara.wee@mahidol.ac.th
Dr Marin Marinov,Newcastle University, UK
marin.marinov@newcastle.ac.uk
INTERNSHIPS
[UK]: Nexus and Newcastle University organised 1
summer placement which took place in Nexus’ premises
in Newcastle. The topic of the placement was “Data
Analysis to study Sub-threshold Delays incurred
by Tyne and Wear Metro Trains” and there are plans
to publish the project outcomes as a scientific paper.
[TH]: 2 student placements took place in May-June
2018 in Bangkok. Two operators, BTS and ARL hosted
students in their operation control centres. Students
submitted internal reports after their placements
completion.
1st SHORT COURSE
[TH] A 2-day course on metro performance
operations delivered by 2 colleagues from Nexus (UK)
will take place on 13-14th
November 2018 at MU Salaya
campus. Students and rail/metro professionals are
welcome to attend. The course is open to MU staff and
students and to the wider rail academic and professional
community in Thailand. The agenda for the day includes
the following topics:
• T&W Metro from inception to modern times, current
operational challenges and current performance
regime (incl. timetable design, franchising,
performance monitoring, previous performance
regimes);
• Examples of other performance models in the UK;
• Driving performance improvements in an
organisation;
• Improvement of drivers’ safety and on-time
performance;
• Reducing engineering delays through improvements
in contractors’ performance including considerations
on closure strategies.
The course will be delivered by:
• Dr Aleksandrs Rjabovs, Project Manager,
• Mr James Parkinson, Head of Commercial.
2 RESEARCH PROJECTS
[TH]: The project at MU titled: Safety culture in metro
maintenance environment is delivered as a Master
thesis project by Mr Somkane Srathongkhruen under
the supervision of Dr Anna Fraszczyk. Mr Somkane has
already delivered the first 3 chapters of his thesis and is
getting ready for his proposal exam, which is expected
to take place in Q3 of the project.
[UK]: The 1st project at NU titled: Driverless train
design is already completed. It was delivered by
Zeyuan Niu under the supervision of Dr Marin Marinov.
The project introduces the function and characteristics
of the automatic unmanned train driving system and
elaborates on the differences between the automatic
unmanned train driving system and the conventional
train. A comparison of different types of trains has
also been organised, followed by a discussion on the
advantages and disadvantages of operating driverless
trains.
1st FORUM
[TH] MetroExchange Forum on Rail Skills
Development will take place on 15th
November 2018
at MU Salaya campus. The agenda includes topics of:
skills gap in rail workforce development, review of rail
courses in TH, review of innovation in rail engineering
education (NU+MU), presentation of new STEM
resources developed by MU students.
2 STEM ACTIVITIES
[TH] 3rd year MU students are designing brand new
STEMhands-onactivitiesinspiredbyMetroExchange,
which will be tested in a local primary school in Bangkok
and on MU Salaya campus in November 2018.
STEM career sheets are currently being finalised and
are expected to be published in Q3 of the project.
[TH] An additional 1-day CLARE Transport Seminar
Series event on Metro Operation Reliability and
Passenger Crowd Management will be delivered
by Dr Taku Fujiyama and Ms Natchaya Lailomthong,
University Colege London, UK. Case studies from
London, Tokyo and Bangkok will be discussed.
To register for the CLARE’s events (by 31 October
2018): https://goo.gl/forms/0CHCVpYco5iK2viH3
Project progress
Education
Research
Knowledge sharing
Dissemination
MetroExchange contacts
Extras
Event registration