Prizes & Awards

Sanyawit Aphichatapong is currently a Deputy Chief Signalling Engineer for the State Railway of Thailand (SRT). His responsibilities include on-going signalling systems design and commission for SRT. He contributed to the design and commission of the current SRT Signalling Systems where he introduced ETCS Level 1 to the national mainline network and the Red Line Commuter system in 2018. He is in an influential position In his career to support activities of the Thailand Section and help providing services to IRSE members In Thailand.

Richard J. Leary is the CEO of the TTC – North America’s third largest system delivering subway, streetcar, bus and paratransit services to Canada’s largest city. The TTC has an annual operating budget of $1.9 billion, where more than 70 per cent of that is recovered from the farebox. Richard is also responsible for a 10-year capital budget of $6 billion and well over 14,000 employees. As the Toronto region expands and grows, public transit is expanding and growing with it.

Richard’s rich experience in public transit has him well placed to oversee and lead this growth, having advanced through the ranks throughout his career, beginning as a subway train attendant and eventually becoming the Chief Operating Officer at the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority, the fifth largest and most multi-model transit system in North America.

Prior to joining to the TTC in 2014 as Chief Service Officer, Richard served as General Manager for York Region Transit/VIVA, just north of Toronto. Richard holds a BA with a concentration in Transportation/Logistics as well as a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Northeastern University in Boston. Richard is also a graduate of Harvard University’s Administration and Management graduate program.

Hedley has been the strongest supporter for the development and evolution of Module A of the IRSE examination (The Certificate) for a number of years. He was presented with a Merit Award In 2021 In recognition of his work, it was felt that his contribution both before and since has been much more significant than Is recognised by a merit award. He has encouraged and cajoled numerous members to write exam support materials, and where he has struggled to find someone, he has written material himself. In addition, he has masterminded the preparation of questions for module A by exam question setters, including himself, and re-organised the structure of the questions to simplify preparation and presentation of relevant reading material. He leads the review, moderation and marking process for Module A, and has led the evaluation, selection and introduction of a new online question system for the exam. He has not been alone in doing all this, but we feel that is role in leading the evolution of this particular exam is a very worthwhile activity and fully justified Council ratifying him for the award of Honorary Fellow.

The IRSE received Engineering Council approval in 2000 to register members for professional registration (EngTech and IEng) and later in 2003 (CEng). Non-standard route applications, those who do not follow the accredited degree programs, are assessed on an individual basis by the Individual Case Panel (ICP). Colin has had a large part in these assessments and joined the ICP through his academic background at the University of Birmingham since 2009/2010. Colin has been invaluable to the Institution. Functioning completely behind the scenes, invisible to all but a very select few in Membership & Registration, but many members of the Institution owe their professional registration to Colins evaluation work.

Colin has also been involved in the set up and teaching of the Master of Science (Safety and Control Systems & Railway Systems Engineering and Integration) and the equivalence of the Safety and Control Systems MSc to the IRSE professional exam.

Colin Joined the IRSE in 1995 as a Companion and was awarded Fellow in 2011.

Rod has supported the London & South-East Section since its inception in 2018 as a committee member. He has arranged presentations, technical visits and supported the work of the committee. 

He is also a member of the IRSE's International Technical Committee and written up some of their reports. 

He has made Presidential Presentations and presented papers at Aspect and Conventions. 

He also supports the IRSE as a Council Member

Frazer has worked tirelessly for the Scottish Section over the past 10+ years and in particularly organised the Section Annual Dinner event single handily taking over from Peter Allan our previous Dinner Organiser, while carrying out the Section Secretary duties. He is also essential for our Local IRSE Exam study group following passing his own exams to obtain Member status and passes on his experience and knowledge during these study group sessions on an annual basis to the members applying for said exams. Couldn’t recommend a better candidate for the award in terms of humility and hard work rolled into a Section committee member all the while still doing the 'day job' in the background.

Micheal has been a key member of the IRSE Irish Section committee since its creation in 2014. Micheals position on the committee is Events Organiser. His positivity, can-do attitude and attention to detail has meant that the Irish Section has excelled particularly in the area of social and technical events. Over the years, Micheal has been a key driver in the organisation the annual dinner dance, technical papers, technical visits, Rivval Golf annual event and IRSE presidential visits.

Derek has been an active member of the institution’s examination committee since 1969 - that's over half a century of service. He has contributed to the setting of hundreds of exam questions and has undertaken the marking of thousands of written answers from candidates who have sat the examination.

Derek has attended hundreds of committee meetings, and his energetic and cheerful demeanour is appreciated by his fellow committee members. Not to mention his valued contribution to committee discussions informed by his extensive experience in the signalling industry.

Currently Derek is one of the examiners aligned with the examination's Module C 'Principles of railway control and communication systems' and his work for the committee continues unabated.

Here is a snip from the Institution's 1969/70 proceedings showing Derek's name listed as a committee member for the first time:

The examination committee is extremely grateful for Derek's valuable contribution to their work and hopes that a Merit award will extend this recognition to a wider audience.

Trevor left school at the age of 16 and began a career in the railway industry in 2007 as an advanced apprentice with Tube Lines Ltd. In 2011, he earned the IRSE Fault Finder & Maintainer 1.4.230 licence and took on the role of Technical Officer in the signals maintenance department.

In 2012, Trevor transitioned to the response department as a Technical Officer, focusing on failure investigations based at Wembley Park. Just a year later, he progressed to the role of Control Room Technical Officer at the Jubilee Line Service Control Centre.

By 2017, he had been appointed as a Signal Incident Manager, responsible for managing, organising, and controlling signalling maintenance and failure investigations across the Jubilee, Northern, and Piccadilly lines. During this period, Trevor gained the IRSE Functional Tester 1.3.170 licence and carried out a range of functional testing activities, including electro-pneumatic to electric point conversions at Camden Town and West Hampstead. Additionally, he became an approved assessor for a variety of signalling courses, including the controlled final signalling assessments and CBTC systems.

In 2018, Trevor joined the Signals Technical Delivery team, which provides specialist technical support and delivers small-scale projects across the business. Two key workstreams led by him recently include:

• The Large File Transfer Project on the Jubilee and Northern lines, where Trevor acted as the lead London Underground Signal Engineer. This project involved replacing obsolete assets and implementing a new DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) for automated signalling log transfers used in data analytics. He oversaw installation, cyber security testing, and functional testing onsite.

• The replacement of a Second-Generation Vehicle Control Centre (2GVCC) I/O Rack on the Northern line, a complex and high-risk task that required detailed planning and specialist knowledge to address reliability issues.

In 2020, he began working toward the IRSE exams and proudly achieved the IRSE Advanced Diploma in Railway Control Engineering.

In 2022, alongside his existing role, Trevor was successful in securing the position of On Call Duty Signal Manager (DSM). In this capacity, he is accredited by the Professional Head of Signalling to authorise irregular adjustments and serve as the first level of escalation for signalling irregularities.

Trevor has also progressed through the engineering registration levels - from EngTech to IEng, and ultimately to CEng, which he was awarded by the IRSE in 2023.

Sundip Laroya AMIRSE of HS2 Ltd, who has excelled in the IRSE professional exams in October 2024

Sundip began his career on the Interfleet (now part of AtkinsRealis) graduate scheme, undertaking placements across various disciplines before joining the Control Systems team. Following the graduate scheme, one of his initial projects involved supporting the UK ERTMS Freight programme.

Subsequently, he joined Siemens as an ETCS/ATO engineer, contributing to the Class 700 introduction for the Thameslink Programme. In this role, Sundip took a leading position to commission the first ever Automatic Train Operation over European Train Control System (ATO over ETCS) on the mainline globally, achieving the first passenger run on 26th March 2018.

After four years with Siemens, Sundip transitioned to Crossrail Ltd, focusing on the delivery of signalling and automation systems including CBTC, ETCS, and AWS/TPWS. His involvement spanned test and commissioning activities for both track and train systems, encompassing static and dynamic integration testing and aiding in the resolution of complex software integration challenges between infrastructure and rolling stock suppliers.

Since June 2021, Sundip has been with HS2 Ltd, where he is responsible for delivering significant CCS activities and developing the technical standards and specifications to which the systems will be designed and constructed. This role requires engaging with programme stakeholders and providing strategic direction for business-critical workstreams.

Sundip gained a Credit in Module B in October 2024’s exams. He previously achieved a Credit in Module C and a Pass in Module D in October 2023’s exams, and a Credit in Module A in March 2022.

Brendan is currently a Senior Digital Train Control Engineer with GHD (UK), providing engineering and consulting services on ETCS, CBTC and conventional signalling projects across the UK and Australia.

He has over seven years experience in railway signalling engineering, starting in Australia with John Holland and the Victorian Level Crossing Removal Authorities industry based signalling cadet programme, including completion of a Graduate Diploma in Railway Signalling Systems. During this program he worked in various site and project engineering roles across Victoria.

In 2021 he joined Metro Trains Melbourne as a Signalling Project Engineer, as part of the Melbourne Airport Rail Project development and early works, delivering functional specifications, signalling contractor engagement, and leading engineering activities for stage work and permanent design packages. 

When MAR was paused, Brendan was redeployed to Metro's Operational Control and Monitoring Systems (OCMS) Department, joining the OT Systems team as a CBTC Engineer then Senior CBTC Systems Engineer. He provided commissioning and technical support for the transition to operations and maintenance of the mixed-mode CBTC systems progressively handed over by the Metro Tunnel Project.  

Personal circumstances led to a move to London and into his current role with GHD, joining the Rail Systems Engineering and Safety Assurance team in August 2024. 

Brendan completed Module A and B in 2023, and Module C in 2024, with aspirations to complete Module D in 2025 and become a full member of the IRSE. 

• The 15 IRSE members who have been awarded the Hewlett Fisher Bursary to attend Convention 2024 are: 

• Davis Kitagawa AMIRSE
• Rohit Yadav MIRSE
• Yuk Fei Poon Affiliate
• Glenn Mitchell MIRSE
• John Carter Affiliate
• Tiffany Wong AMIRSE
• Anastasia Ivanova AMIRSE
• Rushan Pun Affiliate
• Spoorthi R Affiliate
• Hanumesh Pujar Affiliate
• Harry Morgan Affiliate
• Wessel van den Brink AMIRSE
• Pavitra Utla Affiliate
• Jack Neil  AMIRSE
• Ben Stockton Affiliate