Andy Naylor, General Manager of Island Line
Running 70-year-old Tube trains may not be cutting edge but it can be a stimulating affair. PAUL WHITING took a trip across the Solent to talk to Island Line general manager ANDY NAYLOR about the transformation taking place on the sunshine isle.
Andy Naylor is wearing a wide grin as the train on which we are travelling rattles across a half-mile long pier at the start of the shortest franchised route on the national rail network.
He could be forgiven for being less than excited about a route which has a top line speed of 45mph and is operated by somewhat tired-looking electric trains which began their lives running beneath the streets of London nearly 70 years ago.
In fact, Andy has plenty to smile about. The Island Line, of which he is general manager, is preparing for an exciting 2008.
Running from Ryde Pier Head station on the Isle of Wight to the holiday resort of Shanklin, the eight and a half mile line has been part of the South West Trains franchise since earlier this year.
In its unique fashion – the SWT business unit is effectively ‘vertically integrated’, with train running and infrastructure maintenance all managed on the island – the line has a plethora of improvements on the way.
Stations are being upgraded, the former 1938-built London Underground trains are receiving rust repairs and being repainted in their original red and white colours and Ryde Esplanade station will be partly demolished to make way for a £6.2 million train, bus and hovercraft transport interchange funded by the Department for Transport.
The interchange will give the Island Line a new platform and ticket office whilst providing new facilities for passengers. The project, which has been planned since 2004, is part of a tripartite arrangement between Network Rail, the Island Line and the Isle of Wight County Council.
All that, and confirmation that the line is one of the best performing in the UK, with recent figures showing more than 99 per cent of services on time.
Andy, 48, a career railwayman who joined the railway 30 years ago and has spent all his working life at locations in the SWT area, says with a smile: “We may not be GNER and the East Coast main line but we do run 68 services a day, with just six two-car trains operational. We just don’t run as far.”
The Island Line trains usually transport around 3,000 people a day, a mixture of holiday-makers and local commuters who make the high speed catamaran boat trip across the Solent to Portsmouth Harbour station.
Sixty to seventy per cent of the 1.1 million passengers a year use the trains between March and September, but Andy accepts that 2007 will not see record loadings. A combination of poor weather and the delayed Portsmouth resignalling scheme, which has reduced London to Portsmouth trains to five an hour instead of seven, have hit the holiday trade.
But life goes on as usual for Andy’s 39 staff in what is a small, self-contained unit where job flexibility is the name of the game.
He has nine drivers and nine guards – plus a relief guard – with some of the guards currently being trained as drivers. “The whole idea is to make sure we are never stuck for someone at the front end,” he says.
The other people who make up Island Line include four fitters and a depot manager, three signallers plus a relief signaller who also does ticket office work, a relief guard who also does ticket office work, four ticket office staff, a cleaner who works at stations and on trains and a handyman.
“We fix all our own faults,” says Andy, who started as a booking office clerk at Cosham on the mainland.
He also has three direct report managers covering operations, stations and depot.
The line, serving resorts such as Sandown and Shanklin which usually boast some of the highest levels of sunshine in Britain, engenders loyalty from the small team.
“I have a platform assistant who is 70 plus. He used to work in the signal box but still comes in two days a week. Everyone who works here is an island resident and everyone understands the sustainability needed to keep the railway running. They really believe in it and have a sense of pride about it. Some have lived on the mainland but felt the siren call to come back.
“I have been here for just 15 months and I still don’t know it all, but I do have an exceptional team.”
He adds: “It’s all a matter of job flexibility here, all hands to the pumps.
We have an electrical sub-station and one of our fitters from the depot maintains that.”
The small train maintenance depot is responsible, under depot manager Jess Harper, for ensuring that four out of the six old Class 483 Northern Line Tube trains are available for the twice-an-hour services every day. They each cover about 60,000 miles a year.
Main components such as bogies and electrical equipment go to Metronet/REW in Acton, west London. Routine maintenance exams are carried out on the island.
“It’s like keeping vintage cars going – we rely on technique, rather than technology,” says Andy.
Like most railways, the Island Line stations are its shop windows and they are all scheduled for upgrading. “We are painting the stations in green and cream to bring back a heritage feel to them. This is a unique electric railway,” he says. “Ryde Pier Head has been repainted and others will follow.”
Use of the Island Line is encouraged by the work of the Isle of Wight Community Rail Partnership, set up in 2005. A rail development officer is based at Ryde St John station.
The Partnership is developing plans for bringing back into use redundant areas of Sandown station, which is to be the centre of a ‘healthy hub’, featuring a healthy eating café and other facilities.
“We also have environmental projects going on. One involves working with schools, involving children in the work on flower planters to encourage them to take a pride in their station.”
Elsewhere, Brading Town Council has secured heritage money and is refurbishing the old station building.
There are ticket discount schemes to encourage locals to use the railway. The Isle of Wight Council subsidises free rail travel for pensioners and there is a student scheme for children aged between five and 19 that offers travel for 50p a single journey.
Special tickets are also available for Wightlink, Hovertravel and the Isle of Wight Steam Railway which runs between Smallbrook Junction and Havenstreet.
Every effort is made to ensure that trains connect with boats arriving at Ryde Pier Head station but, as Andy points out, there can be problems.
“The Wightlink boat services are geared to movements in the Solent and we are geared to our infrastructure restrictions. Much of our railway is
single line and there is only one loop, at Sandown. So we don’t have much flexibility.
“On some summer Saturdays people are coming in all day, often 300 per boat, and we co-subsidise an additional train to give three trains an hour. People arriving are the lifeblood of
the island.”
Meanwhile, for the first time in his career Andy is having to manage an infrastructure maintenance contract, usually the responsibility of Network Rail. The Island Line’s p-way, signals and telecommunications are run by French company Colas, whose seven staff look after everything above sleeper level. Atkins are also employed to ensure safety standards.
Network Rail carry out all track renewals and major work, such as the huge tamper brought over to the island in July this year to clear a troublesome permanent speed restriction at Rowborough, near Brading.
“It really is one railway to get your hands around,” says Andy. “Next year, for about 26 weeks, there will be major earthworks on embankments for over a mile in the Rowborough area. It will mean substitution buses in October.
“It’s going to be a challenging year – but with the host of improvements going on, it should be a very interesting one as well.”