6th May 2004

School students met Crossrail civil engineers and planners recently on a special visit to the projects' head office in Victoria.

Northfleet Technology College students - potential civil engineers of the future - presented their 'design a Crossrail carriage' project to the Crossrail engineers and then discussed aspects of engineering.

Norman Haste, Cross London Rail Links (CLRL) Chief Executive, himself a Chartered Civil Engineer, said: 'This is a curriculum-based activity currently involving entire year groups and gifted and talented students from schools along the preferred Crossrail route. Students have been given a set of criteria to work on and find an answer to - just as Crossrail engineers are currently doing.'

He added: 'This country needs more engineers and it is vital our young people get the message of its importance as a career, and vital they take up that challenge for the future of the UK.'

'We wanted to show them how interesting, stimulating and challenging engineering and planning can be. Crossrail will need around 15 per cent of the country's engineers for what will be the largest infrastructure project in Western Europe, and it is a matter of great concern that there is a shortage of engineers available now.

'I have myself worked on projects involving building power stations, bridges, and airports. Such items are important for our society so anyone who is thinking about becoming an engineer should remember that it is an essential and responsible job playing a key role in developing a successful economy.'

Earlier, Chris Pond, Member of Parliament (MP) for Gravesham, Kent, visited Northfleet Technology College which is in his constituency, and viewed designs produced by the students for their curriculum based project.

Six students representing the 150 boys from Year 10 who had worked on the design project for Crossrail's new rolling stock, gave a presentation and showed a short film about their work.




Chris Pond told the boys: 'I am very impressed by the standard of work and
delighted to meet you.'

He also heard how the work produced by the college would be up for
evaluation by some of Crossrail's designers and engineers.

Norman Haste, CLRL Chief Executive commented: 'This is one of Young Crossrail's first projects to enable young people in schools to develop their creative talents, and to be creative and learn about the challenges of design through taking part in the Design a Crossrail Carriage Project. This will help develop their design skills working within real life design and budgetary constraints.'

Mark Davies, Head of Technology & Design at the College explained to the
MP that the boys had conducted preliminary research on the current rolling
stock before commencing work on their designs .

The students produced designs for the general look of the new Crossrail trains. Some of the aspects they tackled included seating, door handles and refuse bins.

Whilst conducting their initial research they had discovered that discarded
broadsheet newspapers were the biggest cause of rubbish in train carriages
because they were too big for the bins currently in use.

Chris Pond was particularly interested in one student's idea to incorporate
recycling into the use of rubbish bins on Crossrail's trains.

The Design a Crossrail Carriage Project, launched in September 2003, has
involved eight secondary schools and one sixth form college.

Crossrail's partners for the curriculum project are London's Transport Museum and Bombardier Transportation Ltd. 'We are very pleased to be working with London's Transport Museum and their partner Bombardier in this exciting project,' added Mr Haste.

Undertaken as part of Design and Technology in the National Curriculum, the project will be displayed along with those of other schools at the Museum in the next few months.