Safety seal manufacturer Roxtec appoints rail infrastructure manager as it ramps up efforts

Sam Roberts joins Roxtec with a wealth of experience from the other side of the cabling sector – having previously worked as a signalling and maintenance engineer for Network Rail. 

His appointment as market manager for rail infrastructure has come six months after the international safety seal manufacturer, which has its UK headquarters in Bury, reported it had doubled sales in the European rail sector and that UK sales grew substantially too, going up by 120pc following a series of high-profile project wins in the sector.

Roxtec’s cable, pipe and conduit seals are found widely in facilities and systems within electrification, signalling and communication in the rail and rolling stock markets, and are Network Rail and London Underground approved.

Sam said: “I’ve worked directly with cabling for about six years as a signalling and maintenance engineer and when I came across Roxtec I was really interested in the concept.

“I was attracted by the innovative sealing system, as well as the ambition of the business, which is around growth. Roxtec is the market leader already but wants to dominate the market so that they are the one name people think of.”

Roxtec offers a complete package including support in all phases, from design, engineering and installation training through to maintenance and inspection.

The business has secured orders for Crossrail, the Four Lines Modernisation (4LM) project, East Anglia, London Bridge, South Western Railway and High Speed 2 (HS2). Growth is also being assisted by ongoing infrastructure projects, including the delivery of multi-cable transit systems for London Underground and heavy-duty cable seal solutions for HS2 tunnels. The Crossrail contract is for the Elizabeth Line for London and the South East, which passes through 42km of tunnels and is currently one of Europe’s largest infrastructure projects.

Sam’s role involves finding new business and then guiding a project through the design stage, right through purchase and installation.

He said: “It’s been an immense learning process but I’m really enjoying the freedom of the role and the chance to show how I can help grow the business.

“Rail is a main focus of growth in the UK for Roxtec and it’s a market that we’ve never really gone after proactively so my rail background and knowledge should assist in increasing market share. I’ve been on the opposite side so I understand the customers’ requirements, which makes it easier for me to assess what they need. We have some huge contracts in the pipeline already and I want to build on this by working with existing and new customers.”

Roxtec seals meet flammability, smoke emission and toxicity (FST) requirements for railway stations. The seals are easy to install around existing infrastructure without disrupting operations.

Projects have included providing Prague Metro with water-tight, gas-tight and fire-proof seals for tunnel sections after the flooding of 19 stations meant the need to rebuild and refurbish its metro station. Roxtec also assisted with the upgrade of the rail network in Sydney, Australia, securing substations against multiple hazards of fire and water ingress, while ensuring cable retention.