Rail Heritage Centre provides opportunities for young talent to shine
10 November 2009
Project Engineer, Daniel Bosley from Robsons was awarded the Young Achiever of the Year by the Permanent Way Institute (PWI) on Friday 30 October for his role in the upgrade of the Rail Heritage Centre at Thirlmere.
The award, presented at the annual PWI conference which was held at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, recognised Daniel's invaluable contribution to Stage 1 of the upgrade which included the building of the new Roundhouse, track works and the relocation of a 105 foot turntable, which forms the centre piece of the Centre's heritage rollingstock operations.
"Judging covered a number of areas where I was able to demonstrate experience including innovation, the ability to deal with many difficult components and competing constraints. It hasn't been a straight forward rail job as it involved design, remediation of the site, civil works, building works and rail works," Daniel said.
"I was able to demonstrate a high amount of innovation as well due to the fact that it was a design and construct project, where we were able to alter the design when needed."
Daniel said he was pleasantly surprised with the win as the category was open to people who were aged up to 35 years.
"I was extremely surprised when they called my name. Being so young (24) in a category that is open to people up to 35 years old, I thought I was going to struggle against people much older and more experienced than me," he said.
The category was judged by Michael Hickey from Transport Infrastructure Development Corporation, Lachlan Daniel from Sinclair Knight Merz, Tania Page from John Holland Rail and Geoff Wannan from GJW Management.
Having never travelled overseas before, Daniel said he is very much looking forward to using the $10,000 prize money to partake in a rail conference overseas.
"I would really like to travel to America as part of my prize because I have also heard that there are many large and exciting conferences in America," he said.
The award was presented by Michael Hickey who is the Director Reliability and Operational Resources for Transport Infrastructure Development Corporation.
Media contact: Julia Southgate (02) 9234 3812
Background
Permanent Way Institution was formed in 1884 in England by a group of dedicated railway men, who were responsible for development of railway track across the British Isles, and who felt the need for an avenue for exchange of track design, construction and maintenance. They realised the educational and social value of communications between all levels of men engaged on the railway tracks and associated structures.
The safety of rail travel has been brought to the present standards, because of a better understanding of the behaviour of the tracks under load; the Institution has played a vital part in gaining this understanding. Realising this, the New South Wales Section was formed in 1974, not only to benefit from those who had gone before, but also to add to the development of still more efficient rail transportation in the years ahead. Each branch or section arrange regular meetings for the presentation of discussion papers with the exchanging of views together with field trips several times each year. In Britain there are about 29 sections with sections also in Central and South Africa, Nigeria, Hong Kong, Malaysia, South Australia and Queensland.
The upgrade of the Rail Heritage Centre at Thirlmere commenced in November 2008 as part of the NSW Government's commitment to conserving the state's rail heritage. The Sustainable Rail Heritage Asset Management Strategy, adopted by the NSW Government in 2006, builds on the commitment of the many volunteers who care for our rail heritage assets.
The Centre's upgrade will provide improved heritage trains maintenance facilities, improved display spaces and interpretation and flexible venues for events.
On site developments can be followed closely at www.railheritagecentre.com.au.