George Raymond

Rail operations planning

• For a company specialised in developing and applying software for rail operations planning, helped develop brochures, bids, annual reports and licence and maintenance contracts.
• Developed an online help system for a resource planning software package for rolling stock and train drivers. Trained client specialists in terminology search and technical writing.
• Edited documents defining the planning, application and allocation process for international train paths in Europe.
  

Rail freight

• Conducted studies for the development of wagonload, unit-train and intermodal (combined transport) services and terminals and of local and regional railways (short lines) in France.
  
• Helped introduce a US company's software for freight operations planning at two major European train operating companies. Worked with users to establish terminology compatible with both internal usage and the software's concepts. Developed the software's documentation and user interface.

Rolling stock

• Helped a German company market its software for freight wagon fleet management and maintenance in France.
• Served as an active intermediary between German consultants and French experts in a project to appraise fleets of locomotives.

Rail control systems

• Conducted studies for the implementation of European systems for rail traffic control, dispatching and training of dispatchers in North America.
• Developed a French-language version of a German firm’s bid to provide a dispatcher training system.
• In a project to renew signalling at a large station in an EU candidate country, evaluated and recommended revisions to an EU funds application and the corresponding call for tenders.
• Surveyed systems in Europe that advise train drivers on optimal speed to minimise both energy use and delays when approaching conflict points.
• Conducted a world survey of satellite-based train control (see Publication).
  

Infrastructure

• Helped a German company market its track maintenance technology in the US.
• Developed a complete French-language documentation for a German-speaking vendor of electrical components for track, trackside and catenary.
• Developed a standard terminology list for railway turnout (point/switch) components in both British and US English to accompany a German list.

A. Kaufmann AG, Zug, Switzerland
Aprixon Information Services GmbH, Hamburg, Germany
DeltaRail Ltd., Derby, UK
EEIG ERTMS Users Group, Brussels
European Union (*)
French National Railways (SNCF), Paris (*)
Funkwerk Information Technologies GmbH, Kiel, Germany
GBM Wiebe Gleisbaumaschinen GmbH, Achim, Germany
MDS Transmodal Ltd., Chester, UK
MultiModal Systems Practice Inc., Princeton, New Jersey, USA
Office for Economic Policy and Regional Development Ltd. (EPRD), Kielce, Poland
Oliver Wyman AG, Zurich
Qnamic AG, Hägendorf, Switzerland
Rail Standards and Safety Board, London (*)
Railistics GmbH, Dessau, Germany
RailNetEurope, Vienna
Railway Gazette International, Sutton, UK
Regional Infrastructure Agency, Franche-Comté Region, France (*)
Samarcande Transport-Logistique-Territoire (consulting), Paris
Schwihag AG, Tägerwilen, Switzerland
Siemens AG, Rail Automation, Braunschweig, Germany
SMA und Partner AG, Zurich
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich
Swiss Federal Railways (SBB Cargo AG), Basel, Switzerland (*)
Systransis AG, Zug, Switzerland

* as subcontractor

Since
January 2004

Independent consultant, Railweb GmbH, Binningen, Switzerland. See Projects since 2004.

February 2002 - December 2003

Core team member for Euro-Interlocking, a Zurich-based project of the International Union of Railways (UIC) to standardise requirements for interlocking systems in Europe. Helped coordinate and carry out the drafting, review and approval process for standards, including expert workshops.

March 1997 - January 2002

Technical writer at Systor AG, an IT services company based in Zurich that is now part of Accenture. Design and enhancement of user interfaces; user's guides for applications and development tools; writer's guides. Website on rail traffic control west of Zurich.

January 1990 - February 1997

Systems analyst at Danzas AG, an international transport and freight forwarding company based in Basel, Switzerland that is now part of DHL. Specification and user documentation for IT applications to process and track European and intercontinental shipments.

January 1987 -
December 1989

Research assistant, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne, Switzerland. At the Institute for Transport and Planning (now LITEP), specified, developed and used simulations and other IT applications for the planning of rail operations and infrastructure.

September 1982 -
December 1986

Logistics management specialist, Renault Automobiles, France. At headquarters and then the Douai assembly plant in northern France, specified and developed IT support for production planning and materials supply.

September 1980 - August 1982

Research assistant, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. Research project on performance standards and management control systems for rail classification/marshalling yards. (See also Higher education.)

June 1978 -
August 1980

Extensive travel in Europe and North America.

Continuation of independent study begun at Wesleyan University on the deregulation of truck and rail freight transport in the US; worked in this area at Policy and Management Associates, Washington DC, from November 1979 to March 1980.

Summers of
1976 and 1977

Reporter for three months each summer at The Middletown Press, Middletown, Connecticut, USA, a daily newspaper. Circulation at the time was 22,000.

Marketing and procurement

• Development of relationships and partnerships with customers and vendors.
• Capture, analysis, specification and management of customer and user requirements.
• Calls for tenders; writing and evaluation of proposals and bids.
• Introduction and adaptation of solutions to new countries and customers.
• Project management.

Facilitation of communication

• Native English; fluent spoken and written French and German.
• Role as active intermediary between experts in different countries.
• Organisation, conduct and analysis of site visits and interviews with managers, experts and users.

Quality assurance in documentation and user interfaces

• Inquiry, analysis, editing and integration to ensure that structure, terminology, data formats and texts are concise, correct, clear and consistent.
• Guidelines and coaching for writers of all types of documents.
• Establishment of standard terminology and style rules specific to the domain and customer, including capitalisation, abbreviations and data formats.
• Attention to confusables and common errors; US/British and other national differences.
• Appropriate joint presentation of metric and US customary measurements.