May 24, 2022 • 35 mins
In this episode of Life On Rails, the podcast that takes you behind the scenes at Greater Anglia, we hear from the managing director of Greater Anglia, Jamie Burles, who talks about what it’s like to be in charge of a large train company. We find out everything you need to know about engineering works on the railway and learn how special gadgets have saved the equivalent of over 1000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (the same amount produced by heating 370 homes), while resident fares guru Ken Strong talks about Ranger and Rover tickets. Presenters Juliette Maxam and Lucy Wright also chat with special guest celebrity astronomer Mark Thompson and recommend a train trip in East Anglia for him.
We’d love to hear from you, please tweet us at @GreaterAngliaPR #LifeOnRails. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast as well, and visit www.greateranglia.co.uk/podcast to discover more.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Juliette Maxam (00:02):
Hi, I'm Juliette Maxam.
Lucy Wright (00:04):
And I'm Lucy Wright. And this is Life on Rails.
Juliette Maxam (00:07):
We're part of the PR team at Greater Anglia and
present this podcast that dives behind the scenes of one
of the largest trained companies in the UK.
Lucy Wright (00:15):
We're talking to all types of people from facilities managers
to heads of communication, as well as some special Greater
Anglia celebrities.
Juliette Maxam (00:22):
In this episode, we speak to astronomer, broadcaster and author,
Mark Thompson.
Mark Thompson (00:27):
That image was of a beautiful velvet black background. And I
saw Saturn with the rings and to see that for
real myself, it was just the most amazing image.
Lucy Wright (00:38):
Our resident fares guru, Ken Strong.
Ken Strong (00:40):
So what you can do is buy this ticket and you
can travel as much as you like within the area
of validity of the ticket. Hop on and hop off as
you wish.
Juliette Maxam (00:49):
The managing director of Greater Anglia, Jamie Burles.
Jamie Burles (00:52):
It is full on but the bottom line is I do
enjoy it because what we do makes a real difference.
Juliette Maxam (00:57):
And Mark Ellis, head of facilities management at Greater Anglia.
Mark Ellis (01:01):
It makes economical use of electricity on that station, which
is why we've managed to save so many kilowatt hours and a massive
impact on a carbon footprint.
Lucy Wright (01:10):
To kick things off though, we are going to speak to Kate
Snowden, head of communications for Anglia at Network Rail. We
work really closely with Kate, so it's a real pleasure
to have her on the podcast. Thank you for joining
me, Kate.
Kate Snowden (01:23):
Oh, thanks Lucy. It's a real pleasure to be here.
Lucy Wright (01:26):
So today I'd like to focus on engineering work. So
could you just start us off, give me an example
of some of the engineering work projects and explain why
they're important.
Kate Snowden (01:34):
It's really interesting about engineering works because they can actually
be anything from some simple maintenance, which we do every
single day of the year. And that's around making sure
that all our track, all our signaling is working and
functioning as safely and as effectively as it can be.
And if you think about your car or your house,
you need to make sure that you do your cleaning, you need
(01:56):
to make sure you do your oil change, that sort
of thing. You need to pump up your tires, that kind of stuff.
So exactly the same with the railway, we need to
make sure everything's working, so that goes on all the
time. And we have people out working every single day
and night of the year doing that. But then we
have much bigger projects in which we're actually doing big
pieces of renewing the tracks, or in some cases we're
(02:18):
even actually building new tracks. So I think if we
talk about renewals, probably hear a lot about this, and
this is the sort of stuff that we're doing over several
weeks of the year. And that will be, for example,
let's say we need to renew the track. So just
like, say the tires in your car, the track gets
worn out from having Greater Anglia trains running over it
(02:38):
all the time. And so it needs to be replaced
to make sure that there aren't any defects, means that there
aren't any faults, and that would mean that your train might
get delayed. The metal tracks that you see, it's also
about replacing the sleepers, it's about replacing the, what we
call the ballast, which are the big stones that make
sure that everything sits in place. So it's quite a big
(03:00):
deal. And I've been to see some of these taking
place and it's amazing because they've ripped up the entire
track. There's absolutely nothing there. You're standing around watching them
sort of rip it up, and then amazingly Monday morning,
it's all back down and there's a train running over it
and it's really remarkable. In an ideal world, what you
do is you just close the railway for a few weeks
(03:21):
and you can get it all done. But of course, then we
wouldn't be able to get people to where they need
to be. So it's quite often, it's about doing it
in piecemeal and you need to close down the railway,
say midnight, one o'clock in the morning, get all your
equipment on track, do what you need to do and then
get it all off again. So that's why a weekend
and especially a bank holiday weekend where you get a little bit
(03:41):
longer to do it. It's why you can get so
much more done, more bang for your buck, as such.
Lucy Wright (03:45):
How do you decide when to do the engineering work? A
lot of people have asked, why didn't you do this
during the pandemic, when we were in lockdown? Why didn't
you just get it all done then? Why is it
always shut over Easter? You know, we get those kind
of questions. So what would your answer be to that?
Kate Snowden (03:58):
That's a really good question. A lot of what we
need to get done is decided by our engineering asset
teams. And what they're doing is that they are constantly
looking at how is the asset performing. And by that,
what I mean is let's say you've got a piece
of track, you know how old it is, you know
how worn out it is, because you're regularly sort of
checking on it and testing it. And you know at
(04:21):
what point it will need to be renewed in order
to keep performing at the standard that you need it
to do. So we will know that we need to renew
a piece of track, we'll know that we need to
build a new structure or refurbish our structures at certain
points. And obviously there is some leeway in that, but
you're going to plan it at the most optimal point to
(04:43):
make sure that you're not going to get a detrimental performance
to train services. We are looking at things like... If
we need to do that, when's going to be the
least disruptive time. So we will discuss that with the
train operators and look at where we think would cause
the least disruption. And then it's case of yes, of
agreeing that and getting that sorted. Quite often, that's planned
(05:07):
at least two years in advance, and then there are
several iterations of going back and forth and working that
out over that period. But it's absolutely, definitely now down
three months before the work actually gets started, but most of
it is decided way, way in advance of that. The
other thing that we do is that we look ahead
to try and see if there are any external events
(05:29):
that might have an impact. So obviously COVID's been really
difficult with things like that, because a lot of stuff hasn't been happening.
So things like the London marathon, we work with organizations,
big football clubs. So I recently attended a meeting with
Tottenham Hotspur where obviously with their stadium, they're now hosting
more than just football. They're putting on boxing events and
(05:50):
music events. And so we are looking at on the
days in which they're doing stuff, is there an opportunity
where we can keep the railway running as much as
possible so that people can get to those events as
well? It's not always possible. And our time scales don't
always match with theirs, but we're trying to get there as
much as possible. Your point about COVID, why didn't you
(06:12):
get anything done? I think that goes back to almost the invisibility
of the railway because we were working as hard as
we have ever been during COVID and every single night
and every single weekend we were working to deliver a
huge amount of work to improve the railway. And actually
that's (inaudible) out in terms of now people are
coming back to the railway. But the thing about the
(06:33):
railway is it's never actually... It's never, ever done. You are always
going to have to do more because we're talking about
several thousand miles of track and equipment here and it
will always need more doing to it and it will
always need maintenance.
Lucy Wright (06:49):
Yes, ongoing. But on that note, I think it's really
important to thank everybody because so many people don't have
bank holidays with their family and their children. They miss
out on that. And they're working through the night, so
it's really important that we do appreciate their work. And
like you said, the punctuality is great and we are so proud.
We're so, so pleased with it. So people can always
(07:10):
see what engineering work is coming up, just look at
our website and look at the service alterations tab. And
it's just also worth reminding people that whenever there is
engineering work, we will put on a rail replacement bus
service so people can complete their journeys. We will always
get you where you need to be. It just might
take a little bit longer. So thank you so much
for bearing with us. Kate, thank you so much for
coming on our podcast. It's been really good to speak to
(07:31):
you today.
Kate Snowden (07:32):
Thank you so much. And hopefully I've helped explain a
few myth busters. And of course, if anyone's got any
questions, we'd be happy to help answer anything via (inaudible)
, if anyone's got any specific questions on what we are
up to.
Juliette Maxam (07:47):
It's now time for greener Anglia. And today I'm meeting
with Mark Ellis, head of facilities management at Greater Anglia.
Mark is responsible for many projects at Greater Anglia, which
benefit the environment. How are you Mark? Thanks for joining us.
Mark Ellis (08:02):
Yeah, I'm good. Thank you very much. Nice to be here.
Juliette Maxam (08:04):
Can you briefly tell me what being head of facilities management means
and what you actually do?
Mark Ellis (08:10):
Yeah, I have the overall responsibility for making sure that
all of Greater Anglia stations are maintained by a mix
of internal staff and outsource contractors. So we make the
stations safe for all our passengers, we keep them lit,
we keep the seating in good condition. Anything that makes the
(08:31):
station safe for passengers to occupy.
Juliette Maxam (08:34):
So you are also responsible for all of the cleaning
and collecting the rubbish, all of that sort of thing?
Mark Ellis (08:40):
Yes. Cleaning and waste and also maintenance of all the
assets that sit on a station like lighting and seating,
et cetera, et cetera.
Juliette Maxam (08:51):
So over the years you've made quite a few changes that
have made it greener from waste management, recycling and so
on and installing LED lights. But I'm particularly interested over
the last couple of years, Greater Anglia has saved the
equivalent of over a thousand tons of carbon dioxide at
our stations with these wireless energy management systems, WEMS, and
(09:14):
that's the equivalent carbon footprint of heating 370 homes in
the UK, which is pretty impressive, I think. So what
are these wireless energy management systems and how do they work?
Mark Ellis (09:28):
So the system is basically designed... Is almost like a
control panel that takes signals from a series of wireless
temperature sensors that are positioned in various parts of the
station, so you can have them in passenger waiting rooms,
you can have them in ticket offices, ticket halls, you can
(09:49):
have them in staff mess rooms and back of house
areas. And what happens is that you set the system
up to heat an area or call an area to
a certain temperature. And what happens is that those wireless
sensors will send a signal to the main box in
the station telling that box what the temperature is in that room. And
then that enables it to either switch on the heating or switch
(10:13):
on the calling or turn each of those off, for
example. And so what it does, it maintains a steady
temperature throughout the day so you don't get fluctuations of high
temperatures in one room and really cold temperatures in another. So it really
balances the ambient temperature. So what that does then is it
makes economical use of electricity on that station, which is why
(10:34):
we've managed to save so many kilowatt hours and a massive impact on
a carbon footprint.
Juliette Maxam (10:40):
And so for instance, my nearest station is Colchester, where
would I see this WEMS or what rooms would they be in?
Mark Ellis (10:50):
So it's pretty low key really. So if you went
into a supervisor's office on a platform where you'd see
what looks like a little white box on a wall,
which looks very similar to an electrical distribution box you'd
have in your home, and there'd be a black antenna
coming out of that, that is then picking up signals from
(11:11):
these temperature sensors. Now, these temperature sensors, if you went
into a waiting room, you'd see a little white box,
probably twice the size of a box of matches for
a better description, and that'll be mounted on the wall somewhere
that is working away, measuring the temperature, sending signals to
that main control unit to control the heating.
Juliette Maxam (11:30):
So I guess they're great for the environment and in this day and age,
when heating costs are just phenomenal, must be saving a
little bit of money, which must be good for the
railway too.
Mark Ellis (11:42):
It is and the other thing with the energy prices going up is it
means that the system pays for itself much quicker than
first calculated. And the company that installed this system for
us are absolutely inundated now with inquiries from various companies, looking
to put this equipment in, obviously due to the energy
saving desire.
Juliette Maxam (12:01):
Sounds brilliant. Anything else you are working on that's going
to benefit the environment?
Mark Ellis (12:07):
We are looking at 10 particular stations at a high
consuming to look at thermal efficiency to see if we
can do things to those stations, to better insulate, better
draft proof, to save even more energy on what we
were saving already.
Juliette Maxam (12:20):
It sounds good. It's just really great to hear of
all the different things that Greater Anglia is doing to
make rail travelers sustainable as possible. So thanks very much,
Mark, that's been really interesting and look forward to hearing
about more schemes in the future.
Mark Ellis (12:36):
Sure, no problem. Thank you very much.
Lucy Wright (12:41):
Time now for fares guru with podcast regular Ken Strong.
Today, we'll be talking about Ranger and Rover tickets. Hi,
Ken. Welcome back.
Ken Strong (12:48):
Hello Lucy. Thank you for having me back.
Lucy Wright (12:50):
So the good weather's finally here, we're seeing more and
more people returning to rail and we have got Ranger
and Rover tickets on offer. They're a really good way
for people to explore several destinations like along the same
line or in the same area saying, can you just tell me
a bit about the types of Rangers and Rovers we
have on offer, please?
Ken Strong (13:07):
We have Rangers and Rovers in quite a few areas,
generally in our rural Norfolk and Suffolk areas, rather than
in the more commuter- land towards London. We have ones
that cover the entire sort of rural area and ones that cover
specific lines.
Lucy Wright (13:22):
Okay, so what are the benefits of Rangers and Rovers?
Ken Strong (13:25):
Well, a Ranger, let me explain first the difference between
a Ranger and a Rover. A Ranger is a one day
ticket and a Rover is for longer than a day and
that's standard across the country actually. So what you can do
is buy this ticket and it's valid after the morning
peak on a weekday or anytime at weekends, and you
can travel as much as you like within the area
(13:46):
of validity of the ticket. Hop on and hop off
as you wish.
Lucy Wright (13:49):
And can you save money? Are they cheaper than say
day tickets?
Ken Strong (13:52):
If you're just making one out and back journey, then
it's obviously cheaper just to buy a day return ticket.
But if you are making two or three separate journeys
and going to visit two or three separate different places,
then it's better value to buy the Ranger ticket because
they don't cost much more than the basic day return anyway.
Lucy Wright (14:09):
And some of them have a special deal, don't they? I think there's
one on the Wherry lines for...
Ken Strong (14:12):
There's one on the Wherry lines, which is very good. It takes
you from Norwich to Yarmouth and Lowestoft, and the branch
line through Berney Arms as well. You visit Lowestoft and
Yarmouth, if you're starting at Norwich, also stop off at
the Broads if you like at one of the small
stations on route and have a look around. And it's
a very good value ticket. It's only 11.50 for the
(14:33):
day, and there are rail card discounts on that. And what's also
very good about that one and the Bittern line one
on the Sheringham and Cromer line as well is that
there are senior versions that I don't require a rail
card. So if you are over 60, you just pay
the reduced rate of 7. 55 automatically.
Lucy Wright (14:52):
That's a great tip. So if somebody was planning a
little holiday in the region, what would you recommend that
they do?
Ken Strong (14:59):
What you can do is you can base yourself in
one of the main towns in the area, say Norwich
or Ipswich or Cambridge and travel there by one of
our very good value advance or off peak tickets from
London or wherever you're starting from. And then buy either
the day Ranger or the three and seven Rover, which
you can use in any three days in a week
(15:20):
and travel around the whole of the Norfolk and Suffolk area and
parts of Cambridge that it covers, basically most places north
of Cambridge and Ipswich, right up to the Norfolk coast,
the Suffolk coast and between Cambridge and Ely and across (inaudible)
as well. And so you can visit some of
the interesting places that there are in that area, in this
(15:42):
area, there's (inaudible) very nice time to visit. And there's
Norwich of course. There's Ipswich with this (inaudible) area.
There's the Suffolk line and the Norfolk coast, there's Cromer
and Sheringham, which are nice places to visit. There's the
Norfolk Broads. There's the Breckland area around Bedford. There's all
sorts of places that you can visit and you can
(16:03):
do as few or as many as you want in
a day subject to the time that you have.
Lucy Wright (16:08):
And you can just hop on and off the trains as many times as you like?
Ken Strong (16:10):
You can hop off and on, off and on the trains. These tickets start
at generally 8
few concessions to allow slightly earlier travel than that, where
there's a train just before the 8
at weekends. So as long as you don't travel in the
early morning, rush hour, which is if you're making a holiday
of it, you're unlikely to be doing anyway, then it's
(16:33):
absolutely fine. You can go anytime and there's no evening restrictions on it
at all.
Lucy Wright (16:36):
Brilliant. That's great. Thank you so much, Ken.
Ken Strong (16:38):
Thank you, Lucy.
Juliette Maxam (16:41):
It's now time for me to meet a member of staff.
And today we're here with Jamie Burles, managing director of
Greater Anglia. Hi Jamie, how are you?
Jamie Burles (16:49):
I'm okay, Juliette, how are you?
Juliette Maxam (16:52):
I'm good, thank you. So you are our managing director,
very important role. What's it like to be managing director
of a large train company?
Jamie Burles (17:02):
Well, I guess it's certainly not boring, so that would be
my first comment, Juliette. So on the one hand, it's
pretty relentless because as you might imagine, we as GA
we run trains every day of the year, except Christmas
(17:22):
Day. So we have, I guess we really, we have one day
off. So it is pretty much, it's a 24/ 7
operation. So yes, it is full on, but the bottom
line is I do enjoy it because what we do
as a train company and what all train companies do
makes a real difference to the lives of the people
(17:44):
who use our service.
Juliette Maxam (17:49):
So what do you actually do?
Jamie Burles (17:49):
My role is really, really varied, so I'm often focused
on overseeing a lot of the performance, the punctuality improvement
initiatives. Then I'm spending lots of time liaising with Network
Rail, the infrastructure, the people who run the tracks, the
signals, and so forth. Liaising with Network Rail to again,
(18:09):
make sure that they're focusing on the right reliability improvements
and the right investment initiatives because of course we are
a collaboration, it's a partnership. We run the trains in
the stations, they run the tracks, the signals and overhead
lines. So another aspect is liaising with the government. So
(18:29):
the government's very keen on ensuring that we're doing a
good job. We're doing the right thing. We're spending money
on the right things. We're making savings where we need
to make savings. Another element is liaising with stakeholders. And
then of course, as a lot of listeners will know,
we're spending a lot of time focusing on the rollout
(18:50):
of our brand new fleet of trains. So we're about
halfway through now upgrading every single train that we operate
right across our networks. And that's been a big, big
focus for the organization because it is genuinely transforming the
service that we offer to our customers, where we very
shortly, we're going to have the newest train fleet in
(19:13):
the entire country, which is brilliant for customers, but it's
taken a heck of a lot of hard work to
get to this point.
Juliette Maxam (19:19):
Goodness me, it really is incredibly varied and it sounds like you
have a lot of meetings. Is there a favorite part
of a job? I mean, apart from dealing with the
communications colleagues, obviously.
Jamie Burles (19:32):
Well, the favorite part of the job is when we
get it right, so as you can probably imagine Juliette,
we've been through all sorts of phases, haven't we? We
can think back to things like beasts from the east,
or flooding, or a particularly hot period where there may
(19:55):
have been some disruption and so forth. So we've been
through the full cycle of what can be thrown at
the railway if you like, because it's a very complex
operation and everything has to come together absolutely right for
it to operate well. The most enjoyable part for me
has been definitely despite the pandemic, because that's been awful
(20:19):
for everybody, of course, but the last two and a
half years, we've really seen a lot of improvement at
GA. So we've seen the new trains coming in thick
and fast, customers liking the new trains, the new trains
getting more and more and more reliable. We've seen our
colleagues at Network Rail grappling with the challenges that they've
(20:41):
had to make the (inaudible) lines reliable, the track reliable
and so forth. And they've done a fantastic job as
well in the last two and a half years. So
these stars have all aligned and that's produced record breaking
reliability, record breaking punctuality. So we've been on every single
(21:02):
line that we operate. We've been running far, far more
trains on time. And that has been very, very satisfying
from my perspective.
Juliette Maxam (21:13):
That sounds fantastic. And I remember you setting up performance
and punctuality summits with Network Rail and challenging everybody to
do what we could to start making sure that our
trains run on time and our punctuality is astonishing. You
can't really say, oh, the trains are always late because
it's wrong, isn't it?
Jamie Burles (21:31):
Yeah, we were just in the last sort of four
weeks, we were just a smidge under 95%. What that
means is the vast, vast majority of the time, whether
you're traveling in peak times, between, let's say seven and
nine in the morning, or you're traveling at off peak
times, just nearly every train is on time. And a
(21:52):
lot of hard work's gone into that.
Juliette Maxam (21:54):
So we are not complacent though, we are always looking to
see how we can improve more and sometimes people are
critical and you being that the man at the top,
come into criticism, how do you deal with that negative feedback?
Jamie Burles (22:08):
Yeah, and so Juliette, it's an absolute truth, isn't it?
From time to time, there is negative feedback. So to
be honest, negative feedback doesn't make me feel any worse,
to be honest. Now let me, I guess let me
explain, because the fact is that if we, as a
(22:28):
company have done something wrong or it's our fault that there's
some disruption, for example, if it is our fault and we've done something
wrong, I'm already beating myself up about it and already
working on trying to put it right for the future.
And so the situation really is that for many of
(22:49):
us in GA, we are, and I believe quite rightly
we are our own biggest critics when things go wrong,
because we're not here to let people down, that's not
our job. Our job's not to let people down. So
if on occasion that does happen, we are the first to
beat ourselves up. And sometimes we can be quite harsh
(23:12):
on ourselves, but I think that's ultimately, absolutely healthy because
being harsh on ourselves has driven us to tackle the
root causes of issues, tackle some of the things that
people thought couldn't be solved, couldn't be made better. But
taking the attitude of being very critical on yourselves, it's
(23:32):
made us drive some very significant improvements over the past
few years.
Juliette Maxam (23:38):
Brilliant. Do you use the trains yourself?
Jamie Burles (23:41):
Yes, I use the trains all the time because I
live in Cambridge. I've never driven to London. I wouldn't
fancy that drive to London. So I'm using the trains
all the time. You know, once I joined the industry,
I would say that 85% of the travel I do is
by train just because it really works for me, because
(24:04):
it's much quicker, I can work on the train. And
then even during my spare time, I use the train as
well. So whether that's going down to London or it's
going see my mom who lives in the northwest of
England. So I've either got the choice of a nice
trip up the west coast with (inaudible) to west
coast, or I've got a four and a half hour slog in
(24:25):
the car up to my mum's. So I choose to
train just because it just makes much more sense to
me. So no, I am a big train user, rest assured.
Juliette Maxam (24:36):
When you are on the train or you are at stations, you always seem
to have time to talk both to members of staff
and to customers.
Jamie Burles (24:45):
Yeah, absolutely. At a station or on a train, then I
am identifiable, whether it's your lanyard around your neck, so
people they do know who I work for and some
people know me. So I think it's important to be
open to, once again, to both good and negative feedback.
(25:08):
And then when I pass through the stations, obviously with
our staff, it's great to talk to our staff because
they, nine out of ten of them want to engage,
they want to give you feedback, they want to ask
you questions about the future or what's going on. And
I always find you get into good conversation and then
you always invariably learn something that you didn't know, whether
(25:31):
it's something specific about that station or it's something specific
about what passengers are saying about something. I always think
that you come away a bit sort of richer for
having interacted. I don't want to sort of wander around sort of
anonymously type thing, so I'd prefer to interact with the
people. If they want to have a chat, if they
want to chat to me, I'm happy to chat to them.
Juliette Maxam (25:52):
That's brilliant. It's been really great talking to you, Jamie.
Thank you very much.
Jamie Burles (25:57):
You're very welcome, Juliette.
Lucy Wright (26:01):
We're finishing off the episode with travel surgery and today
our guest is Mark Thompson. Mark is an astronomer, broadcaster
and author who explores the world of STEM. He's best
known for his role as one of the presenting team
on BBC Stargazing Live, but has done all sorts including
attempting to break a Guinness World Record last year for
the longest marathon lecture.
Juliette Maxam (26:20):
Hi Mark.
Mark Thompson (26:21):
Hello there.
Juliette Maxam (26:22):
How are you?
Mark Thompson (26:23):
I'm absolutely fine. When you just mentioned my Guinness World
Record attempt last year, it just brought all the emotions
and the experiences back momentarily there. And it was quite a
strange experience, thank you for reminding me of that really
quite bizarre moment in my life.
Juliette Maxam (26:37):
Yeah. It makes me feel tired just thinking about it,
I have to say. But let's start with science and
astronomy. How did you become interested in science and astronomy?
Mark Thompson (26:47):
It started for me as a child and I remember
as a 10 year old, only a few years ago
now, probably a few more than I care to mention.
My dad took me along to my local astronomy society,
the Norwich Astronomy Society when it was based on the
edge of the University of East Anglia playing field. And
I saw Saturn through a telescope and I've seen better
(27:08):
images since then, myself, but that image was of a
beautiful velvet black background. And I saw Saturn with the
rings and to see that for real, myself, it was just
the most amazing image. And that is absolutely what kind
of captured my imagination and got me absolutely hooked on astronomy.
Juliette Maxam (27:29):
It does sound absolutely incredible. I can't imagine it because
I have to say I've only ever seen Saturn in
photographs, never through a telescope. But are we lucky in
east Anglia because obviously it's not really built up, is it?
And there's not huge cities everywhere. Is it a good place
for stargazing?
Mark Thompson (27:48):
There's a number of different factors. First of all, you've
got the clear skies help and you can't really... We
can't control that, the weather is what the weather is. Although,
different parts of the world have different types of weather.
So of course you could always move to a desert
and get guaranteed clear skies for most of the year.
But east Anglia is a superb place, it's flat mostly,
which helps enormously because the flatter an area is then
(28:11):
you don't get hills and huge built up areas, which
actually obscure the horizon, so you can't see things lower
down. So east Anglia is great for that. But also
it's not a highly industrialized area as well because it's
generally a fairly rural part of the country. When we
get clear skies, it's not full of pollution and sort
(28:31):
of almost smog that you get in the big cities. And
so when we get clear skies, they are really clear.
So yeah, it's a wonderful part of the world to
explore, not just the countryside, but also the universe above
your heads.
Juliette Maxam (28:43):
Because actually I'm sure there's been some news stories recently in
the local press about people even seeing the Northern lights
from the Norfolk coast. Have you seen them?
Mark Thompson (28:51):
Absolutely. And I've seen it loads. I've moved around Norfolk
a few... Where I live, I've moved around to live
in a few parts of the county and I've seen
it from parts of Norfolk and the north Norfolk coast,
but also from where I am now, near Sithney, Helston,
I've seen it.
Juliette Maxam (29:08):
Wow, I'm going to have to get out at night.
I'd love to see those. You've just had a sellout
of your spectacular science show and you've done BBC Stargazing Live
and you've been on the One Show. Do you think
people like you and Brian Cox have made science more
interesting, more popular to children in the public in general?
Mark Thompson (29:26):
Well, of course I've worked with Brian on Stargazing Live,
so I like to think I make it more enjoyable and accessible than Brian,
but yeah...
Juliette Maxam (29:34):
I'm sure you do.
Mark Thompson (29:35):
I think so. I think science has had to change,
rather scientists and people who work in science outreach have
had to change because science isn't just about locking yourself
up in your laboratory or your observatory and doing your work.
Lucy Wright (29:49):
Now, Mark, I'd like to talk to you about slightly
different area of your work. I'd like to talk about
your sleeping campaign. So can you just tell us, I know it's so interesting, can you just tell us a
bit about it, why you're doing it and why sleep is
just so important to human beings?
Mark Thompson (30:03):
Yeah. Oh, do you know what Lucy, I could go
on for hours about... I could bore you to sleep.
Not actually, I'm sure you wouldn't sleep. So many years
ago I gave a 24 hour lecture to raise money
for Marie Curie. And at the time I wondered what
the Guinness World Record was for the longest lecture, learned
it was over five days and very swiftly put out
of my mind as an absurd, ridiculous, crazy thing to
(30:24):
do. The 24 hour lecture went well. I felt shattered
at the end of it, absolutely exhausted, but I recovered.
And then I was talking to colleagues at the Norwich Science
Festival and they talked me into having an attempt at
the Guinness World Record. So in September last year I
attempted, to still wait to find out if I was
successful or not to break the record, which meant talking for
(30:45):
over 139 hours, 42 minutes and 56 seconds, the current record.
I went on for 140 hours. I had three hours
sleep across the whole event. But because of that experience, I
had become absolutely fascinated with sleep and the effect of
not having enough sleep. Now I experienced hallucinations. There were
telescopes on the stage that I was convinced were alive.
(31:07):
I heard people talk, I heard voices and of course, none
of this was there. So I became acutely aware of the importance
of sleep. You know, if you're constantly failing to get
a good night's sleep that increases your chance of cancer,
diabetes, heart disease, dementia, obesity to name but a few.
And all we have to do is just make sure
we get a good night's sleep every night. And that
(31:27):
increases our health and our wellbeing substantially. So I'm starting
up this campaign called Get Sleeping to try and encourage people
to improve their relationship with sleep.
Lucy Wright (31:38):
After your lecture, how long did you sleep for when you got home?
Mark Thompson (31:41):
I think I slept for about 24 hours or pretty
much a day, but I was... I'll tell you what, I had
the most... I remember yawning towards the end of the
lecture and the yawns felt ecstatic. The yawns just felt
so lovely filling my lungs with fresh oxygen. Oh, do you know what?
I can remember feeling them. It felt so nice those yawns. But
yeah, I slept for about 24 hours or so. And
(32:03):
I was back to normal. I was napping throughout the
following week, sort of every afternoon I have a sort of half hour nap and
within about a week and a half, two weeks, I kind
of felt back to normal and felt back to my
normal wide awake self.
Lucy Wright (32:15):
Wow 24 hours.
Mark Thompson (32:17):
Yeah. It was a lush sleep, I can tell you.
Lucy Wright (32:19):
I bet it was the feeling when you wake up,
you just must feel so refreshed, so good, ready to
face the day. So what do you do when you're not researching, working? What do you do in
your downtime?
Mark Thompson (32:30):
I like getting outside. I do like looking at the
night sky, so I love going out to remote places
to enjoy a really proper dark, clear sky. I like
walking, getting out there in nature. And I think that's
probably just a nod to the fact that I'm so busy
all the time, that it's just nice just to switch
off a little bit.
Lucy Wright (32:48):
Absolutely. Well, we've worked hard to pick out a good
destination for you today.
Mark Thompson (32:53):
Yes. I'm very curious. What have you been conjuring up?
Juliette Maxam (32:57):
What I'm going to suggest is that you take the
train to Ely and you can either do that via (inaudible)
Norwich and then Norwich to Ely, or you could
get to Attleborough and get on that line and go
across to Ely. And in Ely, there is of course
the magnificent cathedral, which did you know that there was
actually one of the canons who used to live there
(33:19):
set up a solar observatory in the grounds, well in
his garden, it was canon William Selwyn. And he set
up this solar observatory and took pictures of the sun
for every possible day, from 1863 to 1874. Seems to
me that's a good place for you to go. And
(33:41):
then there's lots of walks to do from Ely out
into the Fens, which I thought you could go and
check some of those walks out and see if you
could go back later on when it was dark. Because
I would imagine the Fens, the lowest point in England
must be great stargazing country.
Mark Thompson (33:58):
That sounds wonderful. I want to hunt down this canon's garden and
see if I can find where he used to observe
the sun from. That sounds wonderful. I'm looking forward to that.
Juliette Maxam (34:06):
If you look on the visit Ely website as well,
there are loads of walks including this walk called the
Hereward Way. So yeah, loads to do in Ely for you.
Mark Thompson (34:14):
Excellent. That sounds wonderful. I should look forward to that
with great anticipation.
Juliette Maxam (34:18):
Brilliant. Well, it's been really great talking to you, so
thanks very much and enjoy your trip.
Mark Thompson (34:23):
I will. Lovely to talk to you both. Thank you very
much, indeed.
Juliette Maxam (34:28):
And that's it for this episode of Life on Rails,
we hope you've enjoyed learning more about Greater Anglia.
Lucy Wright (34:33):
Please do tweet us at Greater Anglia PR and leave
a rating or review on your podcast platform.
Juliette Maxam (34:38):
Life on Rails releases every other month so be sure
to check back soon for episode six.
Lucy Wright (34:44):
And in the meantime, follow or subscribe to the podcast
for free so you never miss an episode and visit
our website at www. greateranglia. co. uk/ podcast for more information.
Juliette Maxam (34:55):
Thanks for listening. Bye.
Hi, I'm Juliette Maxam.
Lucy Wright (00:04):
And I'm Lucy Wright. And this is Life on Rails.
Juliette Maxam (00:07):
We're part of the PR team at Greater Anglia and
present this podcast that dives behind the scenes of one
of the largest trained companies in the UK.
Lucy Wright (00:15):
We're talking to all types of people from facilities managers
to heads of communication, as well as some special Greater
Anglia celebrities.
Juliette Maxam (00:22):
In this episode, we speak to astronomer, broadcaster and author,
Mark Thompson.
Mark Thompson (00:27):
That image was of a beautiful velvet black background. And I
saw Saturn with the rings and to see that for
real myself, it was just the most amazing image.
Lucy Wright (00:38):
Our resident fares guru, Ken Strong.
Ken Strong (00:40):
So what you can do is buy this ticket and you
can travel as much as you like within the area
of validity of the ticket. Hop on and hop off as
you wish.
Juliette Maxam (00:49):
The managing director of Greater Anglia, Jamie Burles.
Jamie Burles (00:52):
It is full on but the bottom line is I do
enjoy it because what we do makes a real difference.
Juliette Maxam (00:57):
And Mark Ellis, head of facilities management at Greater Anglia.
Mark Ellis (01:01):
It makes economical use of electricity on that station, which
is why we've managed to save so many kilowatt hours and a massive
impact on a carbon footprint.
Lucy Wright (01:10):
To kick things off though, we are going to speak to Kate
Snowden, head of communications for Anglia at Network Rail. We
work really closely with Kate, so it's a real pleasure
to have her on the podcast. Thank you for joining
me, Kate.
Kate Snowden (01:23):
Oh, thanks Lucy. It's a real pleasure to be here.
Lucy Wright (01:26):
So today I'd like to focus on engineering work. So
could you just start us off, give me an example
of some of the engineering work projects and explain why
they're important.
Kate Snowden (01:34):
It's really interesting about engineering works because they can actually
be anything from some simple maintenance, which we do every
single day of the year. And that's around making sure
that all our track, all our signaling is working and
functioning as safely and as effectively as it can be.
And if you think about your car or your house,
you need to make sure that you do your cleaning, you need
(01:56):
to make sure you do your oil change, that sort
of thing. You need to pump up your tires, that kind of stuff.
So exactly the same with the railway, we need to
make sure everything's working, so that goes on all the
time. And we have people out working every single day
and night of the year doing that. But then we
have much bigger projects in which we're actually doing big
pieces of renewing the tracks, or in some cases we're
(02:18):
even actually building new tracks. So I think if we
talk about renewals, probably hear a lot about this, and
this is the sort of stuff that we're doing over several
weeks of the year. And that will be, for example,
let's say we need to renew the track. So just
like, say the tires in your car, the track gets
worn out from having Greater Anglia trains running over it
(02:38):
all the time. And so it needs to be replaced
to make sure that there aren't any defects, means that there
aren't any faults, and that would mean that your train might
get delayed. The metal tracks that you see, it's also
about replacing the sleepers, it's about replacing the, what we
call the ballast, which are the big stones that make
sure that everything sits in place. So it's quite a big
(03:00):
deal. And I've been to see some of these taking
place and it's amazing because they've ripped up the entire
track. There's absolutely nothing there. You're standing around watching them
sort of rip it up, and then amazingly Monday morning,
it's all back down and there's a train running over it
and it's really remarkable. In an ideal world, what you
do is you just close the railway for a few weeks
(03:21):
and you can get it all done. But of course, then we
wouldn't be able to get people to where they need
to be. So it's quite often, it's about doing it
in piecemeal and you need to close down the railway,
say midnight, one o'clock in the morning, get all your
equipment on track, do what you need to do and then
get it all off again. So that's why a weekend
and especially a bank holiday weekend where you get a little bit
(03:41):
longer to do it. It's why you can get so
much more done, more bang for your buck, as such.
Lucy Wright (03:45):
How do you decide when to do the engineering work? A
lot of people have asked, why didn't you do this
during the pandemic, when we were in lockdown? Why didn't
you just get it all done then? Why is it
always shut over Easter? You know, we get those kind
of questions. So what would your answer be to that?
Kate Snowden (03:58):
That's a really good question. A lot of what we
need to get done is decided by our engineering asset
teams. And what they're doing is that they are constantly
looking at how is the asset performing. And by that,
what I mean is let's say you've got a piece
of track, you know how old it is, you know
how worn out it is, because you're regularly sort of
checking on it and testing it. And you know at
(04:21):
what point it will need to be renewed in order
to keep performing at the standard that you need it
to do. So we will know that we need to renew
a piece of track, we'll know that we need to
build a new structure or refurbish our structures at certain
points. And obviously there is some leeway in that, but
you're going to plan it at the most optimal point to
(04:43):
make sure that you're not going to get a detrimental performance
to train services. We are looking at things like... If
we need to do that, when's going to be the
least disruptive time. So we will discuss that with the
train operators and look at where we think would cause
the least disruption. And then it's case of yes, of
agreeing that and getting that sorted. Quite often, that's planned
(05:07):
at least two years in advance, and then there are
several iterations of going back and forth and working that
out over that period. But it's absolutely, definitely now down
three months before the work actually gets started, but most of
it is decided way, way in advance of that. The
other thing that we do is that we look ahead
to try and see if there are any external events
(05:29):
that might have an impact. So obviously COVID's been really
difficult with things like that, because a lot of stuff hasn't been happening.
So things like the London marathon, we work with organizations,
big football clubs. So I recently attended a meeting with
Tottenham Hotspur where obviously with their stadium, they're now hosting
more than just football. They're putting on boxing events and
(05:50):
music events. And so we are looking at on the
days in which they're doing stuff, is there an opportunity
where we can keep the railway running as much as
possible so that people can get to those events as
well? It's not always possible. And our time scales don't
always match with theirs, but we're trying to get there as
much as possible. Your point about COVID, why didn't you
(06:12):
get anything done? I think that goes back to almost the invisibility
of the railway because we were working as hard as
we have ever been during COVID and every single night
and every single weekend we were working to deliver a
huge amount of work to improve the railway. And actually
that's (inaudible) out in terms of now people are
coming back to the railway. But the thing about the
(06:33):
railway is it's never actually... It's never, ever done. You are always
going to have to do more because we're talking about
several thousand miles of track and equipment here and it
will always need more doing to it and it will
always need maintenance.
Lucy Wright (06:49):
Yes, ongoing. But on that note, I think it's really
important to thank everybody because so many people don't have
bank holidays with their family and their children. They miss
out on that. And they're working through the night, so
it's really important that we do appreciate their work. And
like you said, the punctuality is great and we are so proud.
We're so, so pleased with it. So people can always
(07:10):
see what engineering work is coming up, just look at
our website and look at the service alterations tab. And
it's just also worth reminding people that whenever there is
engineering work, we will put on a rail replacement bus
service so people can complete their journeys. We will always
get you where you need to be. It just might
take a little bit longer. So thank you so much
for bearing with us. Kate, thank you so much for
coming on our podcast. It's been really good to speak to
(07:31):
you today.
Kate Snowden (07:32):
Thank you so much. And hopefully I've helped explain a
few myth busters. And of course, if anyone's got any
questions, we'd be happy to help answer anything via (inaudible)
, if anyone's got any specific questions on what we are
up to.
Juliette Maxam (07:47):
It's now time for greener Anglia. And today I'm meeting
with Mark Ellis, head of facilities management at Greater Anglia.
Mark is responsible for many projects at Greater Anglia, which
benefit the environment. How are you Mark? Thanks for joining us.
Mark Ellis (08:02):
Yeah, I'm good. Thank you very much. Nice to be here.
Juliette Maxam (08:04):
Can you briefly tell me what being head of facilities management means
and what you actually do?
Mark Ellis (08:10):
Yeah, I have the overall responsibility for making sure that
all of Greater Anglia stations are maintained by a mix
of internal staff and outsource contractors. So we make the
stations safe for all our passengers, we keep them lit,
we keep the seating in good condition. Anything that makes the
(08:31):
station safe for passengers to occupy.
Juliette Maxam (08:34):
So you are also responsible for all of the cleaning
and collecting the rubbish, all of that sort of thing?
Mark Ellis (08:40):
Yes. Cleaning and waste and also maintenance of all the
assets that sit on a station like lighting and seating,
et cetera, et cetera.
Juliette Maxam (08:51):
So over the years you've made quite a few changes that
have made it greener from waste management, recycling and so
on and installing LED lights. But I'm particularly interested over
the last couple of years, Greater Anglia has saved the
equivalent of over a thousand tons of carbon dioxide at
our stations with these wireless energy management systems, WEMS, and
(09:14):
that's the equivalent carbon footprint of heating 370 homes in
the UK, which is pretty impressive, I think. So what
are these wireless energy management systems and how do they work?
Mark Ellis (09:28):
So the system is basically designed... Is almost like a
control panel that takes signals from a series of wireless
temperature sensors that are positioned in various parts of the
station, so you can have them in passenger waiting rooms,
you can have them in ticket offices, ticket halls, you can
(09:49):
have them in staff mess rooms and back of house
areas. And what happens is that you set the system
up to heat an area or call an area to
a certain temperature. And what happens is that those wireless
sensors will send a signal to the main box in
the station telling that box what the temperature is in that room. And
then that enables it to either switch on the heating or switch
(10:13):
on the calling or turn each of those off, for
example. And so what it does, it maintains a steady
temperature throughout the day so you don't get fluctuations of high
temperatures in one room and really cold temperatures in another. So it really
balances the ambient temperature. So what that does then is it
makes economical use of electricity on that station, which is why
(10:34):
we've managed to save so many kilowatt hours and a massive impact on
a carbon footprint.
Juliette Maxam (10:40):
And so for instance, my nearest station is Colchester, where
would I see this WEMS or what rooms would they be in?
Mark Ellis (10:50):
So it's pretty low key really. So if you went
into a supervisor's office on a platform where you'd see
what looks like a little white box on a wall,
which looks very similar to an electrical distribution box you'd
have in your home, and there'd be a black antenna
coming out of that, that is then picking up signals from
(11:11):
these temperature sensors. Now, these temperature sensors, if you went
into a waiting room, you'd see a little white box,
probably twice the size of a box of matches for
a better description, and that'll be mounted on the wall somewhere
that is working away, measuring the temperature, sending signals to
that main control unit to control the heating.
Juliette Maxam (11:30):
So I guess they're great for the environment and in this day and age,
when heating costs are just phenomenal, must be saving a
little bit of money, which must be good for the
railway too.
Mark Ellis (11:42):
It is and the other thing with the energy prices going up is it
means that the system pays for itself much quicker than
first calculated. And the company that installed this system for
us are absolutely inundated now with inquiries from various companies, looking
to put this equipment in, obviously due to the energy
saving desire.
Juliette Maxam (12:01):
Sounds brilliant. Anything else you are working on that's going
to benefit the environment?
Mark Ellis (12:07):
We are looking at 10 particular stations at a high
consuming to look at thermal efficiency to see if we
can do things to those stations, to better insulate, better
draft proof, to save even more energy on what we
were saving already.
Juliette Maxam (12:20):
It sounds good. It's just really great to hear of
all the different things that Greater Anglia is doing to
make rail travelers sustainable as possible. So thanks very much,
Mark, that's been really interesting and look forward to hearing
about more schemes in the future.
Mark Ellis (12:36):
Sure, no problem. Thank you very much.
Lucy Wright (12:41):
Time now for fares guru with podcast regular Ken Strong.
Today, we'll be talking about Ranger and Rover tickets. Hi,
Ken. Welcome back.
Ken Strong (12:48):
Hello Lucy. Thank you for having me back.
Lucy Wright (12:50):
So the good weather's finally here, we're seeing more and
more people returning to rail and we have got Ranger
and Rover tickets on offer. They're a really good way
for people to explore several destinations like along the same
line or in the same area saying, can you just tell me
a bit about the types of Rangers and Rovers we
have on offer, please?
Ken Strong (13:07):
We have Rangers and Rovers in quite a few areas,
generally in our rural Norfolk and Suffolk areas, rather than
in the more commuter- land towards London. We have ones
that cover the entire sort of rural area and ones that cover
specific lines.
Lucy Wright (13:22):
Okay, so what are the benefits of Rangers and Rovers?
Ken Strong (13:25):
Well, a Ranger, let me explain first the difference between
a Ranger and a Rover. A Ranger is a one day
ticket and a Rover is for longer than a day and
that's standard across the country actually. So what you can do
is buy this ticket and it's valid after the morning
peak on a weekday or anytime at weekends, and you
can travel as much as you like within the area
(13:46):
of validity of the ticket. Hop on and hop off
as you wish.
Lucy Wright (13:49):
And can you save money? Are they cheaper than say
day tickets?
Ken Strong (13:52):
If you're just making one out and back journey, then
it's obviously cheaper just to buy a day return ticket.
But if you are making two or three separate journeys
and going to visit two or three separate different places,
then it's better value to buy the Ranger ticket because
they don't cost much more than the basic day return anyway.
Lucy Wright (14:09):
And some of them have a special deal, don't they? I think there's
one on the Wherry lines for...
Ken Strong (14:12):
There's one on the Wherry lines, which is very good. It takes
you from Norwich to Yarmouth and Lowestoft, and the branch
line through Berney Arms as well. You visit Lowestoft and
Yarmouth, if you're starting at Norwich, also stop off at
the Broads if you like at one of the small
stations on route and have a look around. And it's
a very good value ticket. It's only 11.50 for the
(14:33):
day, and there are rail card discounts on that. And what's also
very good about that one and the Bittern line one
on the Sheringham and Cromer line as well is that
there are senior versions that I don't require a rail
card. So if you are over 60, you just pay
the reduced rate of 7. 55 automatically.
Lucy Wright (14:52):
That's a great tip. So if somebody was planning a
little holiday in the region, what would you recommend that
they do?
Ken Strong (14:59):
What you can do is you can base yourself in
one of the main towns in the area, say Norwich
or Ipswich or Cambridge and travel there by one of
our very good value advance or off peak tickets from
London or wherever you're starting from. And then buy either
the day Ranger or the three and seven Rover, which
you can use in any three days in a week
(15:20):
and travel around the whole of the Norfolk and Suffolk area and
parts of Cambridge that it covers, basically most places north
of Cambridge and Ipswich, right up to the Norfolk coast,
the Suffolk coast and between Cambridge and Ely and across (inaudible)
as well. And so you can visit some of
the interesting places that there are in that area, in this
(15:42):
area, there's (inaudible) very nice time to visit. And there's
Norwich of course. There's Ipswich with this (inaudible) area.
There's the Suffolk line and the Norfolk coast, there's Cromer
and Sheringham, which are nice places to visit. There's the
Norfolk Broads. There's the Breckland area around Bedford. There's all
sorts of places that you can visit and you can
(16:03):
do as few or as many as you want in
a day subject to the time that you have.
Lucy Wright (16:08):
And you can just hop on and off the trains as many times as you like?
Ken Strong (16:10):
You can hop off and on, off and on the trains. These tickets start
at generally 8
few concessions to allow slightly earlier travel than that, where
there's a train just before the 8
at weekends. So as long as you don't travel in the
early morning, rush hour, which is if you're making a holiday
of it, you're unlikely to be doing anyway, then it's
(16:33):
absolutely fine. You can go anytime and there's no evening restrictions on it
at all.
Lucy Wright (16:36):
Brilliant. That's great. Thank you so much, Ken.
Ken Strong (16:38):
Thank you, Lucy.
Juliette Maxam (16:41):
It's now time for me to meet a member of staff.
And today we're here with Jamie Burles, managing director of
Greater Anglia. Hi Jamie, how are you?
Jamie Burles (16:49):
I'm okay, Juliette, how are you?
Juliette Maxam (16:52):
I'm good, thank you. So you are our managing director,
very important role. What's it like to be managing director
of a large train company?
Jamie Burles (17:02):
Well, I guess it's certainly not boring, so that would be
my first comment, Juliette. So on the one hand, it's
pretty relentless because as you might imagine, we as GA
we run trains every day of the year, except Christmas
(17:22):
Day. So we have, I guess we really, we have one day
off. So it is pretty much, it's a 24/ 7
operation. So yes, it is full on, but the bottom
line is I do enjoy it because what we do
as a train company and what all train companies do
makes a real difference to the lives of the people
(17:44):
who use our service.
Juliette Maxam (17:49):
So what do you actually do?
Jamie Burles (17:49):
My role is really, really varied, so I'm often focused
on overseeing a lot of the performance, the punctuality improvement
initiatives. Then I'm spending lots of time liaising with Network
Rail, the infrastructure, the people who run the tracks, the
signals, and so forth. Liaising with Network Rail to again,
(18:09):
make sure that they're focusing on the right reliability improvements
and the right investment initiatives because of course we are
a collaboration, it's a partnership. We run the trains in
the stations, they run the tracks, the signals and overhead
lines. So another aspect is liaising with the government. So
(18:29):
the government's very keen on ensuring that we're doing a
good job. We're doing the right thing. We're spending money
on the right things. We're making savings where we need
to make savings. Another element is liaising with stakeholders. And
then of course, as a lot of listeners will know,
we're spending a lot of time focusing on the rollout
(18:50):
of our brand new fleet of trains. So we're about
halfway through now upgrading every single train that we operate
right across our networks. And that's been a big, big
focus for the organization because it is genuinely transforming the
service that we offer to our customers, where we very
shortly, we're going to have the newest train fleet in
(19:13):
the entire country, which is brilliant for customers, but it's
taken a heck of a lot of hard work to
get to this point.
Juliette Maxam (19:19):
Goodness me, it really is incredibly varied and it sounds like you
have a lot of meetings. Is there a favorite part
of a job? I mean, apart from dealing with the
communications colleagues, obviously.
Jamie Burles (19:32):
Well, the favorite part of the job is when we
get it right, so as you can probably imagine Juliette,
we've been through all sorts of phases, haven't we? We
can think back to things like beasts from the east,
or flooding, or a particularly hot period where there may
(19:55):
have been some disruption and so forth. So we've been
through the full cycle of what can be thrown at
the railway if you like, because it's a very complex
operation and everything has to come together absolutely right for
it to operate well. The most enjoyable part for me
has been definitely despite the pandemic, because that's been awful
(20:19):
for everybody, of course, but the last two and a
half years, we've really seen a lot of improvement at
GA. So we've seen the new trains coming in thick
and fast, customers liking the new trains, the new trains
getting more and more and more reliable. We've seen our
colleagues at Network Rail grappling with the challenges that they've
(20:41):
had to make the (inaudible) lines reliable, the track reliable
and so forth. And they've done a fantastic job as
well in the last two and a half years. So
these stars have all aligned and that's produced record breaking
reliability, record breaking punctuality. So we've been on every single
(21:02):
line that we operate. We've been running far, far more
trains on time. And that has been very, very satisfying
from my perspective.
Juliette Maxam (21:13):
That sounds fantastic. And I remember you setting up performance
and punctuality summits with Network Rail and challenging everybody to
do what we could to start making sure that our
trains run on time and our punctuality is astonishing. You
can't really say, oh, the trains are always late because
it's wrong, isn't it?
Jamie Burles (21:31):
Yeah, we were just in the last sort of four
weeks, we were just a smidge under 95%. What that
means is the vast, vast majority of the time, whether
you're traveling in peak times, between, let's say seven and
nine in the morning, or you're traveling at off peak
times, just nearly every train is on time. And a
(21:52):
lot of hard work's gone into that.
Juliette Maxam (21:54):
So we are not complacent though, we are always looking to
see how we can improve more and sometimes people are
critical and you being that the man at the top,
come into criticism, how do you deal with that negative feedback?
Jamie Burles (22:08):
Yeah, and so Juliette, it's an absolute truth, isn't it?
From time to time, there is negative feedback. So to
be honest, negative feedback doesn't make me feel any worse,
to be honest. Now let me, I guess let me
explain, because the fact is that if we, as a
(22:28):
company have done something wrong or it's our fault that there's
some disruption, for example, if it is our fault and we've done something
wrong, I'm already beating myself up about it and already
working on trying to put it right for the future.
And so the situation really is that for many of
(22:49):
us in GA, we are, and I believe quite rightly
we are our own biggest critics when things go wrong,
because we're not here to let people down, that's not
our job. Our job's not to let people down. So
if on occasion that does happen, we are the first to
beat ourselves up. And sometimes we can be quite harsh
(23:12):
on ourselves, but I think that's ultimately, absolutely healthy because
being harsh on ourselves has driven us to tackle the
root causes of issues, tackle some of the things that
people thought couldn't be solved, couldn't be made better. But
taking the attitude of being very critical on yourselves, it's
(23:32):
made us drive some very significant improvements over the past
few years.
Juliette Maxam (23:38):
Brilliant. Do you use the trains yourself?
Jamie Burles (23:41):
Yes, I use the trains all the time because I
live in Cambridge. I've never driven to London. I wouldn't
fancy that drive to London. So I'm using the trains
all the time. You know, once I joined the industry,
I would say that 85% of the travel I do is
by train just because it really works for me, because
(24:04):
it's much quicker, I can work on the train. And
then even during my spare time, I use the train as
well. So whether that's going down to London or it's
going see my mom who lives in the northwest of
England. So I've either got the choice of a nice
trip up the west coast with (inaudible) to west
coast, or I've got a four and a half hour slog in
(24:25):
the car up to my mum's. So I choose to
train just because it just makes much more sense to
me. So no, I am a big train user, rest assured.
Juliette Maxam (24:36):
When you are on the train or you are at stations, you always seem
to have time to talk both to members of staff
and to customers.
Jamie Burles (24:45):
Yeah, absolutely. At a station or on a train, then I
am identifiable, whether it's your lanyard around your neck, so
people they do know who I work for and some
people know me. So I think it's important to be
open to, once again, to both good and negative feedback.
(25:08):
And then when I pass through the stations, obviously with
our staff, it's great to talk to our staff because
they, nine out of ten of them want to engage,
they want to give you feedback, they want to ask
you questions about the future or what's going on. And
I always find you get into good conversation and then
you always invariably learn something that you didn't know, whether
(25:31):
it's something specific about that station or it's something specific
about what passengers are saying about something. I always think
that you come away a bit sort of richer for
having interacted. I don't want to sort of wander around sort of
anonymously type thing, so I'd prefer to interact with the
people. If they want to have a chat, if they
want to chat to me, I'm happy to chat to them.
Juliette Maxam (25:52):
That's brilliant. It's been really great talking to you, Jamie.
Thank you very much.
Jamie Burles (25:57):
You're very welcome, Juliette.
Lucy Wright (26:01):
We're finishing off the episode with travel surgery and today
our guest is Mark Thompson. Mark is an astronomer, broadcaster
and author who explores the world of STEM. He's best
known for his role as one of the presenting team
on BBC Stargazing Live, but has done all sorts including
attempting to break a Guinness World Record last year for
the longest marathon lecture.
Juliette Maxam (26:20):
Hi Mark.
Mark Thompson (26:21):
Hello there.
Juliette Maxam (26:22):
How are you?
Mark Thompson (26:23):
I'm absolutely fine. When you just mentioned my Guinness World
Record attempt last year, it just brought all the emotions
and the experiences back momentarily there. And it was quite a
strange experience, thank you for reminding me of that really
quite bizarre moment in my life.
Juliette Maxam (26:37):
Yeah. It makes me feel tired just thinking about it,
I have to say. But let's start with science and
astronomy. How did you become interested in science and astronomy?
Mark Thompson (26:47):
It started for me as a child and I remember
as a 10 year old, only a few years ago
now, probably a few more than I care to mention.
My dad took me along to my local astronomy society,
the Norwich Astronomy Society when it was based on the
edge of the University of East Anglia playing field. And
I saw Saturn through a telescope and I've seen better
(27:08):
images since then, myself, but that image was of a
beautiful velvet black background. And I saw Saturn with the
rings and to see that for real, myself, it was just
the most amazing image. And that is absolutely what kind
of captured my imagination and got me absolutely hooked on astronomy.
Juliette Maxam (27:29):
It does sound absolutely incredible. I can't imagine it because
I have to say I've only ever seen Saturn in
photographs, never through a telescope. But are we lucky in
east Anglia because obviously it's not really built up, is it?
And there's not huge cities everywhere. Is it a good place
for stargazing?
Mark Thompson (27:48):
There's a number of different factors. First of all, you've
got the clear skies help and you can't really... We
can't control that, the weather is what the weather is. Although,
different parts of the world have different types of weather.
So of course you could always move to a desert
and get guaranteed clear skies for most of the year.
But east Anglia is a superb place, it's flat mostly,
which helps enormously because the flatter an area is then
(28:11):
you don't get hills and huge built up areas, which
actually obscure the horizon, so you can't see things lower
down. So east Anglia is great for that. But also
it's not a highly industrialized area as well because it's
generally a fairly rural part of the country. When we
get clear skies, it's not full of pollution and sort
(28:31):
of almost smog that you get in the big cities. And
so when we get clear skies, they are really clear.
So yeah, it's a wonderful part of the world to
explore, not just the countryside, but also the universe above
your heads.
Juliette Maxam (28:43):
Because actually I'm sure there's been some news stories recently in
the local press about people even seeing the Northern lights
from the Norfolk coast. Have you seen them?
Mark Thompson (28:51):
Absolutely. And I've seen it loads. I've moved around Norfolk
a few... Where I live, I've moved around to live
in a few parts of the county and I've seen
it from parts of Norfolk and the north Norfolk coast,
but also from where I am now, near Sithney, Helston,
I've seen it.
Juliette Maxam (29:08):
Wow, I'm going to have to get out at night.
I'd love to see those. You've just had a sellout
of your spectacular science show and you've done BBC Stargazing Live
and you've been on the One Show. Do you think
people like you and Brian Cox have made science more
interesting, more popular to children in the public in general?
Mark Thompson (29:26):
Well, of course I've worked with Brian on Stargazing Live,
so I like to think I make it more enjoyable and accessible than Brian,
but yeah...
Juliette Maxam (29:34):
I'm sure you do.
Mark Thompson (29:35):
I think so. I think science has had to change,
rather scientists and people who work in science outreach have
had to change because science isn't just about locking yourself
up in your laboratory or your observatory and doing your work.
Lucy Wright (29:49):
Now, Mark, I'd like to talk to you about slightly
different area of your work. I'd like to talk about
your sleeping campaign. So can you just tell us, I know it's so interesting, can you just tell us a
bit about it, why you're doing it and why sleep is
just so important to human beings?
Mark Thompson (30:03):
Yeah. Oh, do you know what Lucy, I could go
on for hours about... I could bore you to sleep.
Not actually, I'm sure you wouldn't sleep. So many years
ago I gave a 24 hour lecture to raise money
for Marie Curie. And at the time I wondered what
the Guinness World Record was for the longest lecture, learned
it was over five days and very swiftly put out
of my mind as an absurd, ridiculous, crazy thing to
(30:24):
do. The 24 hour lecture went well. I felt shattered
at the end of it, absolutely exhausted, but I recovered.
And then I was talking to colleagues at the Norwich Science
Festival and they talked me into having an attempt at
the Guinness World Record. So in September last year I
attempted, to still wait to find out if I was
successful or not to break the record, which meant talking for
(30:45):
over 139 hours, 42 minutes and 56 seconds, the current record.
I went on for 140 hours. I had three hours
sleep across the whole event. But because of that experience, I
had become absolutely fascinated with sleep and the effect of
not having enough sleep. Now I experienced hallucinations. There were
telescopes on the stage that I was convinced were alive.
(31:07):
I heard people talk, I heard voices and of course, none
of this was there. So I became acutely aware of the importance
of sleep. You know, if you're constantly failing to get
a good night's sleep that increases your chance of cancer,
diabetes, heart disease, dementia, obesity to name but a few.
And all we have to do is just make sure
we get a good night's sleep every night. And that
(31:27):
increases our health and our wellbeing substantially. So I'm starting
up this campaign called Get Sleeping to try and encourage people
to improve their relationship with sleep.
Lucy Wright (31:38):
After your lecture, how long did you sleep for when you got home?
Mark Thompson (31:41):
I think I slept for about 24 hours or pretty
much a day, but I was... I'll tell you what, I had
the most... I remember yawning towards the end of the
lecture and the yawns felt ecstatic. The yawns just felt
so lovely filling my lungs with fresh oxygen. Oh, do you know what?
I can remember feeling them. It felt so nice those yawns. But
yeah, I slept for about 24 hours or so. And
(32:03):
I was back to normal. I was napping throughout the
following week, sort of every afternoon I have a sort of half hour nap and
within about a week and a half, two weeks, I kind
of felt back to normal and felt back to my
normal wide awake self.
Lucy Wright (32:15):
Wow 24 hours.
Mark Thompson (32:17):
Yeah. It was a lush sleep, I can tell you.
Lucy Wright (32:19):
I bet it was the feeling when you wake up,
you just must feel so refreshed, so good, ready to
face the day. So what do you do when you're not researching, working? What do you do in
your downtime?
Mark Thompson (32:30):
I like getting outside. I do like looking at the
night sky, so I love going out to remote places
to enjoy a really proper dark, clear sky. I like
walking, getting out there in nature. And I think that's
probably just a nod to the fact that I'm so busy
all the time, that it's just nice just to switch
off a little bit.
Lucy Wright (32:48):
Absolutely. Well, we've worked hard to pick out a good
destination for you today.
Mark Thompson (32:53):
Yes. I'm very curious. What have you been conjuring up?
Juliette Maxam (32:57):
What I'm going to suggest is that you take the
train to Ely and you can either do that via (inaudible)
Norwich and then Norwich to Ely, or you could
get to Attleborough and get on that line and go
across to Ely. And in Ely, there is of course
the magnificent cathedral, which did you know that there was
actually one of the canons who used to live there
(33:19):
set up a solar observatory in the grounds, well in
his garden, it was canon William Selwyn. And he set
up this solar observatory and took pictures of the sun
for every possible day, from 1863 to 1874. Seems to
me that's a good place for you to go. And
(33:41):
then there's lots of walks to do from Ely out
into the Fens, which I thought you could go and
check some of those walks out and see if you
could go back later on when it was dark. Because
I would imagine the Fens, the lowest point in England
must be great stargazing country.
Mark Thompson (33:58):
That sounds wonderful. I want to hunt down this canon's garden and
see if I can find where he used to observe
the sun from. That sounds wonderful. I'm looking forward to that.
Juliette Maxam (34:06):
If you look on the visit Ely website as well,
there are loads of walks including this walk called the
Hereward Way. So yeah, loads to do in Ely for you.
Mark Thompson (34:14):
Excellent. That sounds wonderful. I should look forward to that
with great anticipation.
Juliette Maxam (34:18):
Brilliant. Well, it's been really great talking to you, so
thanks very much and enjoy your trip.
Mark Thompson (34:23):
I will. Lovely to talk to you both. Thank you very
much, indeed.
Juliette Maxam (34:28):
And that's it for this episode of Life on Rails,
we hope you've enjoyed learning more about Greater Anglia.
Lucy Wright (34:33):
Please do tweet us at Greater Anglia PR and leave
a rating or review on your podcast platform.
Juliette Maxam (34:38):
Life on Rails releases every other month so be sure
to check back soon for episode six.
Lucy Wright (34:44):
And in the meantime, follow or subscribe to the podcast
for free so you never miss an episode and visit
our website at www. greateranglia. co. uk/ podcast for more information.
Juliette Maxam (34:55):
Thanks for listening. Bye.
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