Mellitt Lecture

Professor Brian Mellitt born 29 May 1940 who died aged 82 on Saturday 9 July 2022, was one of the true giants of the railway industry, an engineer with significant vision and passion in the field of power electronics and train control systems including modern signalling. His research in, and support for, these areas are recognised globally and he will be fondly remembered. He was educated at Preston Grammar School and then, as an English Electric (EE) apprentice, at Loughborough University and Imperial College. Following EE and a spell lecturing at what was then Huddersfield Polytechnic he joined British Rail (BR) Research in 1968 working on the innovative but ill-fated Advanced Passenger Train (APT). The APT pioneered the concept of active tilting, a feature that has since been used on train designs around the world.

Starting in the Electronic and Electrical Engineering department at the University of Birmingham in 1971, Brian joined the Machines and Control Research Group, and quickly built-up research activity on power electronic control applied to rail traction and its effect on signalling systems. This work was largely done in collaboration with UK industry, London Underground, BR, and overseas companies and railways in many places such as Hong Kong, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. He developed a very successful funding model whereby the modest surplus generated from sponsored research was used to fund PhD students who would carefully test and develop new ideas and techniques that could later be transferred into the industry.

Over three decades after Brian left the University, the foundations he laid have been built on by others, manifest in the Birmingham Centre for Rail Research and Education and the recently opened building housing the UK Rail Research and Innovation Network (UKRRIN) containing well over a hundred staff and PhD students. It is doubtful whether these would have happened without Brian’s ‘seed-corn’. During his time at Birmingham, Brian also contributed greatly to undergraduate teaching and to the running of the University. He became a professor, took the Headship of the Electronic and Electrical Engineering department and finally was Dean of the Faculty of Engineering. In 1988, following major reorganisation in London Underground Ltd (LUL) after the King's Cross fire in 1987, Brian was appointed as London Underground’s engineering director with a remit to set up an ‘intelligent client’ engineering organisation and a professional services ‘internal consultant/ project engineering’ service. This and the parallel authorisation of the Jubilee Line extension led to many innovative ideas and modernisation processes being introduced within London Underground. New faces appeared who helped Brian achieve significant change.

During his tenure at LUL the first train with solid state traction equipment (DC chopper) was authorised, procured and introduced into service on the Central Line, followed shortly after by the first variable frequency, variable voltage AC drives for the Jubilee Line. This technology has become the de facto standard for almost all railway traction. Brian’s former experience helped cut though many of the inter departmental issues that might have held up these developments. He also oversaw the transition from relay to solid state signal interlockings, and the introduction of jointless coded track circuits. His support for moving block signalling has been widely commented upon; suffice it to say that despite some early setbacks this too has become a de-facto standard for modern metros and is still the aspiration for many mainline railways as the article on Hybrid ETCS level 3 in IRSE News Issue 260 demonstrates. In 1995 the government decided to bring forward the flotation of Railtrack on the Stock Market to much earlier in the railway privatisation process than was originally envisaged. I (Rod Muttram, then director of Electrical Engineering and Control Systems) had only joined Railtrack in January 1994 from the defence industry so it was felt the markets would fear my lack of railway experience. Thus, Brian was recruited to the Railtrack Board, with myself and the director of Civil Engineering reporting to him. Railtrack’s CEO, John Edmonds, worried that I would see that as a demotion and react badly. In fact, Brian and I hit it off from our first meeting and I very much enjoyed my time working for him; there is no doubt he significantly accelerated my progress up the railway learning curve. Most people who worked for Brian would agree he was a truly great team leader, a brilliant engineer always willing to explain and mentor, but equally always open to adopting sound ideas from others and respectful of others expertise. He was very much involved with Railtrack’s drive for improved train punctuality and with the problems on the West Coast Main Line (WCML) route modernisation project. Much has been written about the WCML route mod. and Brian’s role in it, a lot of it ill informed. The reasons behind that project’s problems are highly complex and whilst some undoubtedly contributed to Brian’s decision to leave Railtrack in 1999 few were directly related to engineering.

What is often forgotten are the many successes during that period in beginning the restoration of what had become a very run-down railway after years of underfunding with many of the innovations that Brian supported still in use today. After Railtrack, Brian continued to contribute across a broad spectrum. He was chair of the Building Research Establishment (BRE) from 1998 to 2010. He was also president of the IEE in 2001 and very much involved in the transition to the IET. He was on the Board of Jarvis and a railway advisor to NM Rothschild. As a consultant he carried out a lot of work in Australia including contributing to accident investigations such as that into the Waterfall Rail Accident in 2003.

As a young man Brian was also a capable bridge player, augmenting his student income by playing competitively, although he claimed to have given up bridge in his thirties as he feared its time demands might interfere with his professional life. Whilst his work ethic was legendary (people used to say that rather than a 9 to 5 job Brian’s was 5 ‘til 9) he did have other interests. He was an avid cricket and rugby union fan. In recent years this was confined to televised contests; he loved the Indian Premier League T20 games. In former years he greatly enjoyed attending live rugby and cricket all over the world during his years consulting on the globe's railways. He had been known to fly to Brisbane just to attend a five-day test match at The Gabba and then fly home again. On a more cerebral level, he had a life-long passion for history, specifically mid to late 20th century political history, and he read widely on this subject. Brian is survived by his wife Lyn (Evelyn Waring) who he married in 1961, along with their son, John and daughter Anna.

This article appeared in IRSE news in October 2022. It was written by Professor Rod Muttram. BCRRE is grateful for permission to reprint it.

Dr Jeff Allan has made significant contribution to academic and industrial research, development and innovation and has a long history with railway research at Birmingham. Between 1980 and 1989 he was a full-time member of academic staff with research interests in power electronics, microprocessors, electromagnetic compatibility and computer simulation of railway systems, laying the foundations for key BCRRE current research themes. He has since combined an industrial career in London Underground, private consultancy and government, with lecturing and project support to BCRRE. Over the course of his career Jeff has published more than 80 papers on his research in journals and international conferences, together with significant consultancy work for railway operators and railway equipment manufacturers world-wide and is author of a well-read book on electric vehicles. He gained his first degree and PhD in Electronic & Electrical Engineering from the University of Birmingham and is a Chartered Engineer, a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering & Technology and a Fellow of the Institution of Railway Signal Engineers. He is also holder of two Guiness World Records for electric road vehicle range in the UK and mainland Europe.

Clive is Executive Dean of the Faculty of Science at Durham University, where he has responsibility for 8 academic departments, 7 research institutes, and 28 research centres, totalling more than 1000 staff and 7000 undergraduate and postgraduate students.

Before he moved to Durham earlier this year, Clive was Director of the University of Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education. BCRRE is the largest railway research group in Europe with over 140 researchers and staff and with a broad portfolio of research, aimed at improving the performance of all aspects of railway systems. His main research interests lie in the areas of railway traffic management, condition monitoring, energy simulation and system integration, all of which is underpinned by a systems engineering mindset. He has worked extensively with the rail industry and with academia in the UK and internationally, more often being in a plane than a train!

In 2017 the University of Birmingham, with Clive at the helm, became lead academic partner in the UK Rail Research and Innovation Network, unlocking £92m worth of public and private investment in railway research and facilities. UKRRIN is now 20 universities and 20+ industry partners, going from strength to strength. In 2018 Clive kicked off £4m worth of ERDF-funded innovation projects which brought new digital products and solutions to the rail industry. Between 2019 and 2022 Clive took a turn as Head of School of Engineering, where he oversaw the opening of its new 15,000 sqm, £62million building, which houses new research facilities for BCRRE and other research groups as well as the School’s 300+ academics and researchers, and developed the School into one of the UK’s most sought-after study destinations.

Clive holds a raft of visiting and honorary academic positions. As well as being one of our very own Honorary Professors here in Birmingham, he is also Visiting Professor at Beijing Jiaotong University and Universiti Tun Hussein Onn in Malaysia.  In 2010 he was named as one of the National Science Foundation of China’s International Young Scientists, and currently holds the position of Foreign Expert to the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs.  He is co-chair of the IEEE Technical Committee on Railroad Systems and Applications, and he is a member of the Advisory Board for the National Railway Museum, the Investment Board for the Rail Supply Growth Fund and the Railway Industry’s Vehicle/Train Command and Control System Interface Committee.  He is a member of the Technical Advisory Panel for SMRT, and a Technical Advisor to Guangzhou Metro.

Clive continues his railway focussed academic interests: you can take the man away from the research group but you can’t take the research ambition away from the man! He is part of a £46million, 5-year, multi-partner project which has just got started. The project will use digital twins to identify lowest cost, least risky and most energy efficient ways to decarbonise transport and brings us perfectly to this evening’s talk. Clive will explain this systems-approach, bringing us examples from his extensive research, to take us through the rationale behind his approach and the benefits of measuring, simulating and predicting how we can improve rail system dependability.