Prof. Roderick Muttram interviewed by David Maidment

Made:
2019-03-06 in Westminster
maker:
David John Maidment

Oral history interview with Prof. Roderick Muttram, conducted and recorded by David Maidment in the Fellows Room, Royal Academy of Engineering, Westminster, London on 6 March 2019. Duration: 1 hr. 20 min. 57 sec. Early career; Atomic Energy Authority; Chloride; Ferranti Instrumentation; headhunted for Railtrack 1993; Bob Reid; John Edmonds; solid state interlocking (SSI); Institute of Railway Signal Engineers (IRSE); Clapham accident; sale of British Rail Research; post-Clapham consequences; British Rail Infrastructure Systems (BRIS) privatised; promotion of competition; privatisation of Railtrack 1996; Tom Winsor (Rail Regulator) new access rules; problems with West Coast Main Line (WCML) upgrade; Train Control System (TCS); shadowing David Rayner; Automatic Train Protection (ATP) systems; Clapham and Purley accidents; investigations into signals passed at danger (SPADS); Train Protection & Warning System (TPWS); signals passed at danger reduction and mitigation (SPADRAM); driver reminder appliance (DRA); development of TPWS; implementation of TPWS; European Train Control Systems (ETCS); Southall accident 1997; Ladbroke Grove accident 1999; safety cases; Richard Spoors; Ladbroke Grove signalling; European Rail Train Monitoring System (ERTMS); role of privatisation in Hatfield accident; response to Hatfield; train protection systems; Safety Integrity Levels (SILs); IEC 61508 Functional Safety of Electrical/Electronic/Programmable Electronic Safety-related Systems; Confidential Incident Reporting and Action System (CIRAS); Railway Safety and Standards Board (RSSB); Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB); Railtrack focus on safety; departure from Railtrack Group; RSSB; doubts about RSSB model; driver only operation (DOO)

One of over 150 oral history recordings made as part of the Britain’s Railways All Change (BRAC) archive project. BRAC was set-up to cover gaps in documenting the railway privatisation process in the United Kingdom, between 1994 and 1997, when the government-owned British Rail was dismantled into over 100 privately-owned companies. The interviews capture the recollections of people involved in the planning and implementation of the privatisation process, the management of change and running the railway during privatisation.

Details

Category:
Oral Histories
Collection:
Britain's Railways All Change
Object Number:
2020-351
type:
oral history interview
credit:
Courtesy of Roderick I Muttram FREng. Britain Railway’s All Change (BRAC) oral history archive, created in partnership with the Friends of the National Railway Museum, the Retired Railway Officers' Society and the National Railway Museum.