16.05.14
Lots not to miss at Infrarail 2014
With Infrarail 2014 preparing to welcome visitors in just a few days’ time, Heidi Cotsworth, exhibition manager at organisers Mack Brooks, outlines some of the highlights awaiting visitors to this year’s show.
Products and services for all sectors of the rail infrastructure market plus a diverse programme of thought-provoking and insightful speeches and presentations will all be on offer at the this year’s Infrarail show at Earls Court in London from 20 to 22 May.
This will be our tenth Infrarail, with more than 180 companies taking part. Together they will be presenting numerous innovations for the construction and maintenance of fixed railway assets. Requirements for signalling and communications, track construction and maintenance, civil works, electrification, station facilities and security systems will all be covered. Also present will be suppliers of cable products, lighting, worksite safety and site access systems, as well as specialised consultancy, recruitment and occupational health services. Take a look at the Infrarail website www.infrarail.com to see the latest list of companies taking part.
Features in the exhibition hall will include The Track, sponsored by Tata Steel, to showcase track-mounted equipment and products, and the Recruitment Wall, enabling visitors to search exhibitor vacancies live as they consider their next career move.
CITE 2014
And an important development for us this year will be a new Mack Brooks event accompanying Infrarail in the main hall at Earls Court. The Civil Infrastructure & Technology Exhibition (CITE) 2014 will share much common ground with the rail show by featuring equipment, products and services needed for building and maintaining strategic infrastructure such as roads, ports, utilities and communications networks. Together, the two shows form the UK’s largest exhibition of infrastructure technology and products this year, and their layout will allow visitors to move freely between them.
This move has been warmly welcomed by many of our established Infrarail exhibitors as they are also active across the wider infrastructure market. At the same time, CITE has attracted companies that are new to us and have much to offer the rail sector.
Keynotes and updates
Taking place alongside the exhibition will be a wide-ranging programme of activities intended to enhance the value of time spent at Infrarail. Daily keynote speeches will provide insights into the future direction of the rail industry. This year’s speakers are minister of state for transport Baroness Kramer, Network Rail’s managing director of Infrastructure Projects Simon Kirby, who is soon to move to HS2 Ltd, and the director general of the Rail Executive at the Department for Transport, Clare Moriarty.
A series of project updates covering major UK rail infrastructure programmes will take the form of presentations by managers from Network Rail, Transport for London and HS2. And daily interactive discussion forums covering aspects of procurement will take place at The Platform, hosted by Rail Technology Magazine and Rail Champions.
In addition, industry seminars by managers from leading organisations specifying or implementing major UK rail infrastructure schemes will form part of the Infrarail programme. Speakers will include senior figures from Amey, Balfour Beatty Rail, Siemens Rail Automation and Transport for London. Other presentations will cover innovations by firms exhibiting at the show.
All these features are open to everyone attending the show, free of charge. Full programme details can be found on the Infrarail website
Not overlooked either are opportunities for people to get together at the show to renew acquaintances or develop business contacts. A Networking Reception with drinks and canapés will welcome exhibitors and visitors on the show’s opening day, while the following evening’s Infrarail & CITE Awards dinner will mark significant achievements by exhibiting companies. The host for that event will be footballing legend Kevin Keegan.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
www.infrarail.com
Heidi Cotsworth, Mack Brooks