Rail Engineer - Issue 146 - December 2016

Engineer

by rail engineers for rail engineers

DECEMBER 2016 - ISSUE 146

Arch Elev

an intriguing concept

FIRE SAFETY ON TRAINS

MIDLAND METRO ALLIANCE

ELECTRIFYING SEVERN TUNNEL

Two articles look at fire safety and the adoption of the new European Standard for fire prevention on rolling stock.

A long-term alliance of nine companies is extending the West Midlands tram network at both ends.

The reason why the main rail link between England and South Wales was shut for an unprecedented six weeks.

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Rail Engineer • December 2016

Midland Metro - an alliance for the long term Building three different extensions to the tram system in the West Midlands.

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Contents News Croydon tram derailment, National Audit Office report, Railtex 2017 ElevArch – an intriguing concept Grahame Taylor attended the world’s first trial of jacking up a brick arch.

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New London Underground slab track cast in-situ 22 Mark Phillips describes the process for casting concrete track deep underground.

Control & Communications in Gotthard Base Tunnel

Crossrail – approaching the final stages This mammoth engineering challenge is now 75 per cent complete.

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Fire safety on trains Malcolm Dobell investigates new standards to improve passenger safety.

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EN44545 – on track for mandatory use 34 Beth Dean explains the new European fire safety standard and its implications.

The future of Britain’s Railways 36 Network Rail chairman Sir Peter Hendy outlines his thoughts and aspirations.

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Powering forward 50 RJ Power Group successfully tackles its first 25kV AC power supply contract.

Power to the people

SWGR supplies highly trained operators for multi-disciplinary projects.

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Severn Tunnel Electrification – planning logistics and interfaces Collin Carr looks back at the six-week closure of the Severn Tunnel.

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25kV electrification systems David Shirres explains the subtleties of autotransformers.

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15 years in the making 56 Global Rail Construction provides multi-disciplinary solutions to various projects.

Bennerley's new dawn

A joint solution for traction power control 58 Hima-Sella and Mitsubishi Electric use commercial off-the-shelf technology.

Fixed track forms for high-speed lines 62 Mungo Stacy listened in as the PWI and UEEIV discussed different track systems.

Sicat’s 10-year service milestone 68 Siemens’ OLE system after its first decade, and an increasing demand for SFCs. Electrification in the digital age OLE design tool TADPOLE analysed and explained.

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We’re looking to highlight the latest projects and innovations in

Bridges & Tunnels

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See more at www.railengineer.uk

Track

in the February issue of Rail Engineer.

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Rail Engineer • December 2016 Editor

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GRAHAME TAYLOR

Grahame Taylor grahame.taylor@railengineer.uk

Production Editor Nigel Wordsworth nigel.wordsworth@railengineer.uk

Production and design Adam O’Connor adam@rail-media.com

Bridge of sighs - of relief

Matthew Stokes matt@rail-media.com

Engineering writers bob.wright@railengineer.uk chris.parker@railengineer.uk clive.kessell@railengineer.uk collin.carr@railengineer.uk david.bickell@railengineer.uk david.shirres@railengineer.uk graeme.bickerdike@railengineer.uk malcolm.dobell@railengineer.uk melanie.oxley@railengineer.uk mark.phillips@railengineer.uk paul.darlington@railengineer.uk peter.stanton@railengineer.uk stuart.marsh@railengineer.uk

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This month it is the turn of the electrification and power engineers to occupy the limelight, along with colleagues involved in light rail and metro systems.

But first of all, an explanation about the story on our front cover. Those of you who have spent your career being very careful with brick arches may be a tad queasy about jacking them up. But fear not, the ElevArch team has been both careful and successful in raising a farm bridge about 900mm skywards. Not that it needed to go so high, it’s just that they wanted to show they could do it in front of a field full of orange jackets!

Tools Aiding the Design and Production of Overhead Line Equipment. What a gift for the acronym generators!

Yes, you’ve guessed it, it’s TADPOLE – but what is it, or what are they? As Clive Kessell explains, because of a dearth of schemes in recent years, a sizable amount of experience has left the industry so these aids, driven by engineering principles, reduce the chances of error arising from manual calculations.

Start excavating near tunnels and bridges and there are bound to be hidden obstacles, no matter how carefully a job is planned. Sideshows like this did not slow the progress of the Severn Tunnel electrification blockade as Collin Carr found out - with David Shirres on hand to unpack the mysteries of how booster transformers work.

On a similar subterranean theme, Collin has paid a visit to Crossrail where around a quarter of a million holes are being drilled to accommodate brackets for cabling, walkways and other equipment to support the operation of the railway.

The Gotthard Base Tunnel may hit the headlines because of the sheer scale of its civil engineering. Less in the spotlight is the fact that it is bristling with high tech telecommunications equipment. Along with the ETCS Level 2 signalling, there is kit in there for IP phones, emergency call points, video surveillance, a public access system including loudspeakers and SCADA systems. Clive emerges into the daylight to demystify it all.

Nothing works without communications. As existing radio systems age, so the technology that relies on them becomes more and more vulnerable. Clive looks at how the industry is grappling with the need to agree on lifeafter-2G. (If you’re baffled by all these references to radios with various amounts of ‘G’ then you can refresh your memory by looking at an article written by Paul Darlington in the November 2015 magazine).

Malcolm Dobell covers the complex issue of fire

protection on trains and in the railway environment. Even a minor electrical fire on a train sat at a station platform with the doors open can be an unnerving experience. The spread of fire on a train moving at high speed has to be taken extremely seriously. Standards have moved on, not to mention a ban on smoking!

Those of you that are familiar with the street layout in Birmingham may have noticed that the new tram lines that go past New Street station land up in Stephenson Street and then just stop. No buffer stops, nothing. They aim at an open road and soon work will start to continue the route off to Centenary Square and beyond. There is plenty to occupy the Metro Alliance as the Birmingham tram system expands further over the next few decades.

There is a piece of England that is forever London underground. Or, put it another way, Tyttenhanger Quarry near St Albans has put aside a portion of its site so that it will be used in the specialist concrete being installed in the Metropolitan line upgrade. Mark Phillips has been digging into how to cast 10.5 metres of new slab-track in a weeknight.

We welcome back Mungo Stacy who attended a conference on fixed track forms for high-speed lines, held recently in Manchester. Organised jointly by the Permanent Way Institution and Union of European Railway Engineering Associations, the conference was a complete sell-out. Look out for the Rayleigh waves and what they do for vibrations.

You might be forgiven if you thought that impressive steel trestle bridges no longer existed in the UK. But there are two left, one at Meldon and the other – visited recently by Graeme Bickerdike - at Bennerley over the River Erewash and its floodplain. With some fascinating technical background detail, Graeme tells us about the survey work currently underway that may lead to its long term preservation and reuse as a cycleway.

Have a read of Sir Peter Hendy’s take on the modern railway. In a wide ranging speech to the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport and the Railway Engineers’ Forum, he ended with the thought that, whilst the concept of a job for life with one employer is probably a thing of the past, a job for life in the railway industry is still possible.

Through the wonders of time travel – or maybe just early press dates - all the staff at Rail Media wish you a great Christmas and New Year and, of course, a safe one if you are working over the holiday.

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NEWS

Rail Engineer • December 2016

Considering Croydon The recent tragic accident on the Croydon tram network sparked a debate nationwide about the safety of tram travel.

moving vehicles in sight to provide visual prompts of the need for a tram to slow down. It then depends upon the driver’s route knowledge, knowing exactly where he is, and obeying the lineside tram speed signs.”

No doubt more will emerge in the final reports on the investigations.

It mustn’t be forgotten that tram travel in the UK is inherently safe.

Although tragic, this is the first accident involving deaths inside a tram since 1959, when a lorry backed into a tram on Shettleston Road, Glasgow, setting it ablaze.

Three people died, including the driver.

On 9 November, an early morning service between New Addington and Wimbledon fell onto its side part way around a curve on the approach to Sandilands Junction. The right hand side of the two-car vehicle was badly damaged as it slid for about 25 metres before coming to a standstill.

Seven passengers died, and a further 51 were hospitalised, eight with serious injuries.

The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) quickly published an interim report which concluded that the tram entered the curve at a speed of approximately 70km/h (43.5mph) despite that section of track being the subject of a 20km/h (12.5mph) speed restriction.

Three investigations are continuing. The RAIB will look at the causes of the crash, as well as investigate reports of other recent ‘near misses’ at the same location, and make recommendations for the future. British Transport Police is investigating whether a criminal activity has taken place – the driver has been arrested and bailed – and the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) will consider possible breaches of health and safety legislation.

But thoughts are already turning to how this accident could have occurred. In the House of Commons, Andrew Slaughter MP, shadow front bench spokesperson, asked

that the inquiry should consider whether trams should be fitted with automated braking systems which would eliminate this type of overspeed.

While it is impossible to put a price on safety, Rail Engineer writer and former President of the Institution of Railway Signal Engineers (IRSE) Clive Kessell commented: “We must remember that trams in some respects are more akin to buses than to mainline rail. Drive on sight is the norm for trams and only at junctions or main road crossings do the normal white line tram signals get provided.

“It would be a sad situation if a massive over reaction were to set in with the insistence that some form of speed control be applied.

The enforcement of a typical train protection system would make tram networks so expensive that it could kill off any new schemes, let alone finding the money for retrospective fitment on existing networks.”

His colleague David Bickell agreed that a main line solution such as TPWS (Train Protection & Warning System) would be too expensive and complicated for tram applications.

However, he added: “A comparatively inexpensive advisory solution would be to use the technology found in road vehicles that reads road signs or uses a Sat Nav database to display speed limits on the dashboard.

“My Sat Nav sounds a loud beep if I exceed the speed limit. However, for trams it would need to be configured to display a forthcoming lower speed limit and sound a warning at braking distance. But the basic technology is already available, it just needs a company to take the lead and customise it for trams.”

This solution would also overcome the other problem that David identified, that of the driver possibly becoming disorientated. “A significant factor in controlling tram speed and getting bearings is the visual clues all around from other moving vehicles. Had the section involved in the accident been ‘on street’, the tram driver would have seen the brake lights of cars ahead slowing for the curve.

“However, segregated running at speed is much more akin to driving a train. The tram is the only vehicle present, there are no other

Some notes on trams: »» Trams are highway vehicles and operate under highway legislation. »» Trams are driven to the Highway Code and are driven at speeds at which they can be stopped before any obstruction in all conditions. »» Drivers must obey speed limits that are marked in a similar way to the highway. »» Trams are not controlled by a central signalling system. »» Trams have driver safety systems such as a deadman’s device and a vigilance device. They also have emergency stop facilities in the driving cab. »» Trams have far superior braking systems than heavy rail. The braking is roughly equivalent to a bus, this is by the use of electromagnetic track brakes that stick the tram to the rails.

NEWS

Rail Engineer • December 2016

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Great Western Electrification curtailed Two recent announcements have once again focussed attention on the troubled Great Western Electrification Programme.

Rail Minister Paul Maynard addressed the House of Commons on 8 November. First he outlined some recent successes – the digital upgrade of signalling, the modification of over 100 bridges, flood alleviation work, preparation for electrification in the Severn Tunnel.

He then continued: “As a result of this scrutiny from the Hendy review, I have decided to defer four electrification projects that are part of the programme of work along the Great Western route. The four projects being deferred are: »» Electrification between Oxford and Didcot Parkway; »» Electrification of Filton Bank (Bristol Parkway to Bristol Temple Meads); »» Electrification west of Thingley Junction (Bath Spa to Bristol Temple Meads); »» Electrification of Thames Valley Branches (Henley & Windsor).

“This is because we can bring in the benefits expected by passengers - newer trains with more capacity – without requiring costly and disruptive electrification works. The provision of £146 million to £165 million in this spending period, will be focused on improvements that will deliver these benefits. We remain committed to modernising the Great Western mainline.”

The plan therefore is to use the strengths of Hitachi’s new bimode IEP trains to run as electric trains under the remaining wires and as diesels in the gaps caused by these four deferred sections.

The following day, the National Audit Office published its report into the project and was critical of the way it had been planned and executed. “Network Rail’s 2014 cost estimate was unrealistic.

It was too optimistic about the

productivity of new technology. It underestimated how many bridges it would need to rebuild or modify and also the time and therefore costs needed to obtain planning permission and other consents for some works.

“Failings in Network Rail’s approach to planning and delivering the infrastructure programme further increased costs. It did not work out a ‘critical path’ – the minimum feasible schedule for the work, including dependencies between key stages - before starting to deliver electrification.

It also did not conduct sufficiently detailed surveys of the locations for the structures, which meant that some design work had to be repeated.”

The blame wasn’t just aimed at Network Rail. The Department for Transport came in for criticism too. Amyas Morse, head of the National Audit Office, stated: The Department’s failure to plan and manage all the projects which now make up the Great Western Route Modernisation industry programme in a sufficiently joined up way, combined with weaknesses in Network Rail’s management of the infrastructure programme, has led to additional costs for the taxpayer.

“It is encouraging that, since 2015, the Department and Network Rail have a better grip and put in place structures to manage the programme in an integrated way. However significant challenges to the timetable still remain and there is more to do to achieve value for money.”

The next step is for Network Rail and the DfT to face the Public Accounts Committee on 14 December, when more details of the recovery plan may be revealed.

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Rail Engineer • December 2016

Countdown to Railtex 2017

NEWS

In a little over six months' time, exhibitors will be welcoming visitors ar Railtex 2017.

The UK’s major exhibition of railway technology and services returns to the NEC in Birmingham from 9 to 11 May next year, and by mid-October 2016 more than 240 companies had signed up for the event, suggesting that this will be another great show.

Among major industry names taking part are Alstom Transport, Hitachi Rail Europe and Siemens, together with Faiveley Transport, Knorr Bremse Rail UK, Talgo, Unipart Dorman, Voith Turbo and Wabtec.

A quick glance at the list of exhibitors reveals the broad scope of Railtex – Compin Fainsa, manufacturer of train seating; Mechan, supplier of depot and workshop equipment; Pfisterer, providing products for electrification; and telent, specialist in communications and signalling technologies, are all among a growing list of firms planning to be present.

Check the latest list of exhibitors at www. railtex.co.uk/exhibitor-list/ Familiar show features will be returning too.

The Track display area showcasing track-related equipment and machines is being sponsored and equipped by British Steel, exhibiting for the first time under its new name.

The Yard provides a dedicated area of the exhibition hall for exhibitors to display larger items of plant such as RRVs. And the Rail Alliance Hub will again give its members their own feature area.

There will be the usual strong programme of supporting activities, giving insights into industry developments and trends. Its centrepiece will be the daily keynote speeches from industry leaders that have always drawn large audiences.

In addition, there will be exhibitor presentations covering developments in rail technology, project updates, industry briefings and interactive discussion forums, all free to attend as usual.

Among key organisations supporting Railtex are Network Rail, the Railway Industry Association (RIA), the Rail Alliance and the Rail Supply Group (RSG). Reflecting the Government’s increased focus on exporting the UK’s railway products and expertise, the Department for International Trade is also endorsing the event.

With an increase of nearly 10 per cent more occupied floor space, the 2015 exhibition was the biggest Railtex for more than a decade and this provides a benchmark for the 2017 event. Many of the 468 exhibitors said their expectations were exceeded and reported significant successful business connections. The event attracted nearly 7,500 visiting industry professionals, with a further 2,700 present as exhibitors.

Says exhibition manager Kirsten Whitehouse, ‘The enthusiastic response we have seen from the industry for Railtex 2017 points to another great show at the NEC.

‘There has been strong demand for stands, and we have already allocated 16 per cent more space than at the same stage for the 2015 exhibition. This is an exciting time for rail in the UK, with plenty of business opportunities for companies offering the right products.

‘Railtex provides a unique showcase for those firms, as well as for exhibitors keen to export.

We will also offer a free business matching service to ensure a good quality and quantity of meetings and networking opportunities for all attendees.”

Registration to visit Railtex 2017 opens via www.railtex.co.uk in early 2017. In the meantime the website provides the latest show news.

Arch Elev 10

Rail Engineer • December 2016

GRAHAME TAYLOR

an intriguing concept

Rail Engineer • December 2016

O

verheard at last year’s Most Interesting awards in Derby was this brief snippet of conversation: “Really?”... “That’s an intriguing concept.” Perhaps this would have been lost in the general hubbub of networking going on but for the obvious heightof-eyebrow-raising on the “Really?”, the splutter on the gin-and-tonic and the narrowing of the eyes accompanying the guarded reference to ‘an intriguing concept’. Could this have been, in fact, a lightly coded and polite version of “You’re off your trolley pal!”?

But, of course, surprise is everything.

Reactions such as this are understandable when, out of the blue, a proposal to lift an entire brick arch clear of electrification wires is made - and made in all seriousness.

The background Let us look, then, at the background to all of this. Why is such a concept being considered at all? After all, electrification schemes have been progressed for several generations already. Plenty of structures have been in the way and there are several well-established methods of getting round most of the problems.

These have involved either lifting the bridge or lowering the track - except that, in the case of brick or masonry structures, lifting has been seen as far too ‘intriguing’.

In short, it’s never been done before.

And why hasn’t it ever been done before?

Let’s just consider what a brick arch consists of. It’s essentially just a pile of bricks carefully (usually) arranged in a specific order to hold itself up with some spare capacity to carry a little extra. If the structure is disturbed carelessly, then it will revert back to its original form of a pile of bricks - but this time the process happens very quickly. Not for nothing are they called gravity structures.

It’s not been done before because, for most engineers, it is all much too… adventurous… or even reckless.

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Rail Engineer • December 2016

Plain logical

Summary demolition

But for one man, Bill Harvey, a well known and respected expert in brick and masonry arches, lifting an arch was just plain logical.

So long as the line of thrust is kept within certain parts of the arch ring then it will be possible to keep the whole structure stable. Arches may seem to be heavy, but modern jacking technology is perfectly capable of coping with the weight involved and with the required precision needed to manipulate the structure.

Bill knew that. Bill knew that over ten years ago!

Understandably, others were less enthusiastic.

So what has changed? In one way, nothing. The physics are the same, the lifting technology is the same.

Electrification and its disturbance of civil engineering structures is the same. But many disparate issues have all come together. The industry is more aware that, of all the costs of electrification, 25 per cent is spent on altering civils structures. Society is more appreciative of heritage structures, and wholesale demolition, which could occur even in World Heritage sites, is now actively questioned.

Add to all this the disruption to train services in most of the normal methods of ensuring electrification clearances, and it becomes clear that there is a need to add a further option.

The existing methods - as have been referred to previously - include track lowering, which may lead to long possessions and the disturbance of foundations. Deck raising has hitherto only been used for steel or concrete structures. If brick or masonry structures are in the way they have been summarily demolished.

Up to the 1970s, and maybe slightly later, the preferred option was simply to blow them away. It was preferred because it was quick - very quick - and, let’s be honest, really exciting! But carrying around and using explosives seems to have fallen out of favour.

More recently, demolition by specialised long-reach hydraulic peckers and nibblers has been very effective as they can be controlled with some element of precision.

Whatever demolition method is adopted - exciting explosives or clinically efficient hydraulics - the end result is much the same. There is a pile of bricks that has to be loaded away without damaging the tracks or the signal cables.

Trying out an idea in real life RSSB, in association with Network Rail, ran a competition in February 2014 with a view to finding a way of avoiding the disruption caused by the demolition of arch structures.

The nature of such a competition is to bring together people and companies who may find that they have similar aims and facilities but who just need some seed cash to try out an idea in real life.

Such was the case with Bill and his concept. It really was a matter of cometh the hour, cometh the man, cometh the company (Freyssinet), cometh the combined proposal, cometh the business case and cometh a successful bid for a trial on a real bridge.

Freyssinet is a civil engineering company that specialises in the repair and strengthening of structures. It also has a reputation for moving things - at times, very large things.

When Kevin Bennett and John Kennils of Freyssinet met Bill

Rail Engineer • December 2016

at the competition networking session, they immediately realised that the brick arch raising project was bold, but achievable - and definitely something they wanted to be involved in!

It is not easy to find a practice bridge, but one fitted the bill on the mothballed East -West route near Milton Keynes. Moco Farm bridge is a simple single span brick arch carrying a narrow farm track. It was built in 1850 for the line engineered by Robert Stephenson. It has a clear span of 10.1m and appeared to be in reasonable condition. It was also in the back of beyond.

The farmer was amenable to the trial and a temporary access road and level crossing was installed so that his daily activities and those of his herd could continue unhindered.

Carefully does it The bridge was thoroughly examined, its parapets were stabilised and, gradually, the fill was removed down to the barrel of the brick arch and the abutment chambers. This was like shaking hands with the original craftsmen as the original framework of the structure was carefully exposed, with construction details very close to those on the original plans. But, as is so often the case with structures of this age, there were a few surprises. Separation cracks that seemed small on the outside were not so small within the body of the structure. Brick headers in the parapet did not carry through, but were what is known as snap-headers effectively a cheat by the brickies.

In order to be sure that the arch, its spandrels and abutment diaphragms stayed intact, a number of strengthening measures were taken. Belts and braces were in evidence, but why not? This was a world first.

The next challenge was to separate the arch, spandrels and parapets from the footings to allow the whole superstructure to be lifted - or rather, to be jacked up.

Vertical and horizontal components At this point, fundamental engineering comes to the fore. The precise line of thrust from the arch can be a little vague. It will be within certain limits, but the best way to cope with this variation is to resolve the thrust into vertical and horizontal components.

The vertical is relatively simple and can be accommodated with the jacking system.

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Rail Engineer • December 2016 The horizontal is taken by a pair of vertical slide plates inserted in a vertical groove in the four wing walls. Above the slide plates, the grooves are angled back to allow the arch to rise without becoming snagged.

Centrally controlled hydraulic climbing jacks are located at each corner and at mid points on the abutments and the abutments horizontally separated with a wire saw cut.

Precise monitoring is carried out, so making sure that every jack rises at the same rate. In addition to an impressive array of electronic sensors, there was a fallback in the form of a water level. This is something that would have been familiar to the builders of the pyramids.

Live demonstration On Thursday 26 October, the industry was invited to a live demonstration of the lift and, of course, Rail Engineer was there. Quite a crowd had answered the call, mainly of people and organisations interested in witnessing something rather extraordinary and something very brave.

The Railway Heritage Trust came along, as there is now an alternative to the wholesale destruction of heritage brick arches.

A raised arch will mean a raised parapet and possibly raised string courses, but there are legitimate ways in disguising cut lines in existing vertical features.

Others at the demonstration included representatives of design houses charged with solving many of the usual problems associated with electrification and structural clearances.

The ElevArch team - that’s Freyssinet and Bill Harvey acknowledge that this technique is not the only option to solve the issue of brick arches, but it does bring to the table another way of doing things and one that can be considered as a legitimate technique along with track lowering and demolition.

And what of the live lift? While some may have been sceptical and some downright doubtful, awaiting with glee to witness a new pile of bricks, Bill and the Freyssinet team were more relaxed than many had anticipated. At about five minutes for every 100mm lift and a pause for re-packing the jacks, the process is not fast. It does not need to be. With all the preparatory works being carried out behind safety barriers and without the need for possessions, the only blockage needed to complete the lift could be just a normal rules of the route possession. Six hours would be sufficient to mobilise the jacking system and to complete the series of 100mm lifts and inspections.

The demonstration bridge was lifted a total of 900mm to demonstrate the scale of what is achievable by this patented technique .

Once in position, the jacks would be removed for reuse, the vertical slides would be grouted in and the whole structure gradually reinstated but with the deck at the new required height.

Confidence So yes, the live lift was a success. Lifting a brick arch is possible, although Bill never doubted it. The ElevArch team knows that the technique can be improved still further. The aim is to get a feel for what preliminary works are really necessary and to ensure that the exercise is commercially viable. The rail network has about 500 such bridges, although not all are contenders for ElevArch.

It will be interesting to overhear the conversations at the next Most Interesting awards in Derby. The ‘intriguing concept’ has proved itself. No need to choke on the gin-and-tonic this time.

We Deliver Carillion has recently successfully electrified two lines in Scotland: Springburn to Cumbernauld, as part of EGIP, as well as Rutherglen and Coatbridge.

Contact us at www.carillionplc.com

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Rail Engineer • December 2016

LIGHT RAIL/METRO

Midland Metro an alliance for the long term

T

he Midland Metro Alliance came into effect on 4 July this year with the ambitious remit to expand the Midland Metro network still further. It is a partnership of nine organisations that aims to “transform the West Midlands by delivering the best integrated transport system for the future” and to contribute to both the social and economic regeneration across the region, delivering local jobs, upskilling and training.

The employees of all nine companies work together as one team. Even their business cards hint at this arrangement. Brightly coloured in magenta, with the logo and values clearly on the back, the front of the card has a cartoon showing three people looking at a drawing of the tram route. They work for different companies, but none of the company logos are visible.

They all work for the alliance, which is basically an agreement between three parties – the client (the West Midlands Combined Authority), the construction contractor (Colas Rail supported by

Why an alliance?

unknowns when working on urban streets.

For smaller schemes, the profitability can be relatively low and thus commercially unattractive under normal contractual arrangements.

“In addition, there is a danger of losing expertise on completion of smaller schemes, and therefore we felt that a move towards an approach that allows for a more strategic and continuous development of both skills and resources would be beneficial. This way, each

Phil Hewitt, Midland Metro programme director at Transport for West Midlands (TfWM), explained why the alliance concept was chosen: “The development of tram systems can be considered as high risk because, not only do they tend to have a very high public profile, there are also lots of

scheme can build on the experience of the last so that there is always continuous improvement in techniques and performance.”

Building on lessons from past projects, the concept of the alliance is to ensure that all parties are incentivised to work together with the gains and losses shared between them.

partners Colas Ltd, Barhale, Thomas Vale and Auctus Management Group) and the designer (a consortium of Egis, Tony Gee and Pell Frischmann).

Rail Engineer • December 2016

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LIGHT RAIL/METRO

Running catenary-free in Victoria Square.

(Inset) The proposed new terminus at Edgbaston. difficult - particularly in the public sector, but in the alliance, savings made will be ring-fenced to be used for this. By ring fencing some of the savings made by the teams it will be possible to develop better ways of delivering a world-class metro system.

While the office is staffed by individuals from the various partner companies, this is not immediately obvious. Staff are all encouraged and trained to Neil Farmer, executive director of alliance member Tony Gee and Partners, developed that theme: “With all these schemes either reaching delivery or in the planning stage, the original system is due to triple in size by 2026.

Therefore, the decision was taken not to design

the schemes as individual projects, but rather to take an holistic approach to system-wide design.”

Another unique feature of the alliance is the commitment to innovation. Raising cash for research and development (R&D) is notoriously

see themselves as, first and foremost, working for the alliance rather than their own parent company.

Collaborative working is central, as is the development of a ‘no blame’ culture, but one where individuals are empowered to challenge the ways of working in order to find the 'best for the alliance' solution.

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Rail Engineer • December 2016

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Planning for the future Looking around Birmingham, it is clear that the Midland Metro is not the only show in town. The cranes are back and construction is booming.

This is both a blessing and a challenge for the development of the Midland Metro.

A blessing, because it means that there really will be a need for an efficient transport system once the building works are complete, and a challenge since land will be at a premium, as will the availability of skilled staff. But if the

Past the remains of Curzon Street station, soon to be the Birmingham terminus of HS2.

alliance can plan strategically and train people to work on its system then, to some extent, it will have a more secure labour resource for the longer term.

And the alliance really is focusing on the longer term with a 2030 study. Midland Metro Alliance director Alejandro Moreno is keen to emphasize its value. He said: “It looks strategically at how the network will be operating in 2030 and beyond, as well as how it needs to be designed, looking especially at asset management and whole life cycle costs. The study doesn’t look at the details, but examines what needs to be done to ensure that the system will perform at its best for the city and across the West Midlands.”

Phil Hewitt agreed. “This will let us optimise the delivery strategy so that we can challenge those historic assumptions about how we do things and how long they should take. It is very

Outside the depot at Wednesbury.

exciting to have the opportunity to take this sort of long-term view - it’s a really exciting time to be here.”

So, over the next ten years, and maybe a little longer, there will be a marked transformation of the transport network in Birmingham.

Birmingham routes At this point it is perhaps worth recapping on what has happened with the Midland Metro. The original system began operation in 1999. The 20.4km track, serving locations such as the Jewellery Quarter, West Bromwich, Wednesbury and Bilston, ran mainly along the former railway line between Birmingham Snow Hill and Wolverhampton, with a short section of on-street running along Bilston Road to the terminus at St. Georges in Wolverhampton.

Birmingham’s Midland Metro city centre extension was opened in May this year by Her Majesty the Queen, extending the tram service from Birmingham’s Snow Hill station to New Street station, bringing the tram right into the centre of the city along busy retail and commercial streets. This extension was part of a £128 million project that saw the purchase of a new 21-strong fleet of Urbos 3 trams, a refurbished depot at Wednesbury and new stops at Snow Hill, Bull St, Corporation St and Grand Central.

From the current terminus at Stevenson Street, right outside the entrance to Birmingham New Street station, there is a logical route along Pinfold Street, past the imposing Town Hall, to Centenary Square. That’s where some of Birmingham’s key attractions are located - the International Convention Centre, Symphony Hall and the Library of Birmingham with its walls made of hoops.

The extension to Centenary Square will provide 840 metres of twin track with trams designed to run on battery power, so avoiding the need for intrusive overhead line equipment in an area of architectural significance. The Urbos 3 trams were purchased originally with the option for battery traction so will be retro-fitted with the equipment ready for the new service which is due to start in 2019.

Funding has been earmarked to extend the route further along Broad Street, past Five Ways and on to Edgbaston by 2021.

Rail Engineer • December 2016

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Track work in Wolverhampton.

A proposed design for Five Ways tram stop.

To the east, there has been an application for a Transport and Works Act Order to build and operate the Birmingham Eastside extension from Bull Street to Digbeth, near to Birmingham Coach Station. Once granted, the order would allow work to start on the 1.7km extension which will serve the proposed HS2 station at Curzon Street, offering connections to New Street, Moor Street and Snow Hill train stations, as well as the bus services including the planned high speed Sprint service.

The route will fork at the junction of Bull Street and Corporation Street and run along Lower Bull Street past the southern edge of the proposed Martineau Galleries re-development to Albert Street.

It will then cross Moor Street Queensway towards Curzon Street and continue along New Canal Street before running into Meriden Street and turning left onto Digbeth High Street with a terminus between Digbeth Coach station and the Custard Factory - Birmingham’s ‘revolutionary entertainment, creative, digital and media quarter with office space, event venues, independent shopping and industrial space’.

Subject to any local public inquiry, work is scheduled to begin in 2019 and the line planned to open to the public in 2023. A number of new trams will come into use at the time that this extension is open to the public, to bolster the current fleet of 21 and provide a service running every six minutes.

The alliance is also working on the early phase of development of a scheme for the system to be extended past High Street, Deritend, via Birmingham City Football Club, Heartlands Hospital and Chelmsley Wood to Birmingham Airport/NEC/Birmingham International Station, with a new terminus at the HS2 Interchange Station in north Solihull. This will provide a key point of interchange for HS2 as well as massively improving accessibility to job opportunities for those living in this area.

Outside Birmingham In Wolverhampton, permission has just been granted by the Government to begin work on the £18 million city centre extension to both the train and bus stations, with completion scheduled for 2019.

Ensuring the benefits of Metro are shared across the West Midlands, a business case is being prepared to extend the Metro from

Wednesbury to Brierley Hill which is an 11.5km route that runs largely along a disused rail corridor, deviating onto the highway to access Dudley town centre and Merry Hill with the terminus at Brierley Hill.

The increased capacity of the expanded network will require a new fleet of trams and a new depot to ensure that the infrastructure can operate efficiently. The control room will also require upgrade to enable it to be sufficient to manage multiple routes.

The capacity, resilience and reliability of power, systems and sub-systems will be reviewed to ensure that, when systems need to be renewed or upgraded due to being life expired or due to the requirements of an individual project, the longer term plans are taken into account. This will significantly improve the reliability of the network, and help the system to deliver one of the frequently stated priorities from customers.

Rail Engineer • December 2016

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Rail Engineer • December 2016

k w c e N tra tu b i a s l s in

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n und o d Lon dergro Un

t cas

Y

ou might think that B2F stands for “Back to the Future”. In fact, it is the acronym chosen by London Underground to signify its project to renew the track in tunnels between Baker Street and Finchley Road on the Metropolitan line.

Back to the future, though, would not be a bad interpretation as the project is all about an innovative process that LU has developed, in conjunction with its partner Tarmac, and which shows promise for many more applications in the future.

The task facing LU was how to replace 3.2km of life-expired bullhead rail, timber sleepered, ballasted track in seven single-bore tunnels.

These range in length between 185 and 720 metres. The track drainage had largely failed and the conditions arising from that were making track maintenance increasingly difficult.

The solution that LU aspired to was to replace all the ballasted track in the tunnels with a concrete slab track form, giving the benefits of minimal maintenance requirements and a design life of 100 years. But how to achieve this economically with short track access periods on this intensively used underground line close to central London? The answer was to be found by deploying a very specific type of concrete (and

by LU granting itself slightly longer night-time access periods than the norm).

Special mix Tarmac, under its specialist division Pozament which provides high performance building products, had developed concrete mixes for

similar situations. These had been successfully used for surface bay replacements on the M42 and M54 motorways and on runways at Birmingham International and London City airports.

So Pozament was approached by LU in the latter half of 2015 to develop a modification of its concrete specification to meet some particular performance requirements. These were to not only have a good strength gain over time and to be placeable within a limited time frame, but also to achieve these within a wide temperature range from 10°C to 30°C. The newly designed mix, which would cope with this temperature range and reach a strength of 15 N/mm² two hours after placement, was ready for the work to commence in May 2016, the start of a two year project.

Roger Eke, technical sales manager for Pozament, explained that, because it was not feasible to transport a wet mix into the

MARK PHILLIPS

Rail Engineer • December 2016

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Track replacement The actual mixing of the concrete takes place within the tunnel on an engineering delivery train which includes a special volumetric mixer wagon. The rail-mounted wagon is one of a range manufactured by the Italian company, Blend. This wagon has compartments for segregating the constituent materials, a cement hopper for up to 5.0m³ of the PQ-X

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tunnels, LU wanted a dry concrete mix that could be produced within the tunnels and have water added close to the point of placement..

Therefore the pavement quality PQ-X mix, previously used on the M42 and other projects, was re-engineered for the specific application of the track slab in tunnels.

PQ-X is mixed with 0/4mm washed sand and 4/20mm aggregate from the Tarmacowned Tyttenhanger Quarry, near St Albans.

The materials from this source were specially selected because of the regular particle size distribution, which results in a homogeneous and workable concrete mix.

Tyttenhanger Quarry has allocated specific reserves to achieve consistent quality from the extracted materials for the life of the project.

Using land-based aggregate rather than a marine source also avoids any potentially adverse chloride reaction. The PQ-X cement is manufactured at Tarmac’s specialist facility at Swains Park in Derbyshire.

As part of the final refinement and approval of the modified PQ-X cement, the London Underground project representatives were invited to Swains Park to witness a typical pour of PQ-X based concrete and to agree on the appropriate slump characteristic. The concrete performance was then re-engineered by Pozament’s laboratory which is responsible for research and development, together with quality control.

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Rail Engineer • December 2016 is that, in programming the concrete mix, the volume of concrete required for each pour can be produced very accurately.

The site team is made up of 16 personnel from the Track Partnership team (Balfour Beatty and London Underground).

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Integral drainage

cement, a sand hopper of 8.0mÂł capacity, an aggregate hopper of 9.0mÂł capacity and a 5,000 litre water bowser.

The volumetric mixer can be programmed to deliver a specific mix from these compartments.

Sand and aggregate are gravity fed onto a conveyor belt and are then transferred to an auger rotating at 300rpm, at which point the cement and water are added. The high speed of the auger mixing process ensures that sufficient energy is imparted to activate the superplasticisers and other additives included in the mix design. The output from the auger is then dropped onto another conveyor belt at a steady rate and delivered to the placement area. The mix is designed to have an S4 slump characteristic.

David Sloane, project manager for LU, explained the planning and delivery arrangements. Extended engineering possession hours of 22:00 to 05:30 each night on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were taken on the Metropolitan line for installation of the track slab. Within this time period it is possible to install 10.5 metres of new track per night.

The works are dependent on an engineering train, which consists of locomotive/GP wagon/ mixer wagon/DISAB/GP wagon/locomotive.

The first operation is to use the DISAB vacuum machine to excavate all the old track ballast from the length to be replaced that shift. The DISAB process is also able to remove all the old drain components along with the ballast. All material up to the soffit of the rail baseplates is removed, the bullhead rail and chairs having

been previously replaced by flatbottom rail and baseplates in readiness for formation of the new track slab.

Once the area under the rail and baseplates downwards has been cleared, shuttering is placed ready for casting the track slab. A base reinforcement mesh is also positioned 75mm from the tunnel invert. The overall depth of the concrete slab is typically 400 to 480mm.

Mixing, delivery, placement and vibration of the concrete can be achieved within 45 minutes.

It is interesting that, in the early stages of the project, it was found that the concrete was not remaining workable for long enough and LU asked Pozament to slow down the mix. It was impressive how they were able to do this very accurately whilst still preserving the required specification and properties of the finished product. Another striking feature of the process

A new square-section U-shape four-foot drain is cast into the top surface of the slab and is provided with a GRP cover. This drain runs to the end of each tunnel section and then goes through a transition slab at the beginning of each open track section where the drainage crosses into the six-foot drain.

Prior to the works in the tunnels commencing, trials of the concrete placement had been carried out on a mock-up of the tunnel cross-section.

This was a full-scale model approximately 15 metres in length, constructed at an LU facility at Northwood. The purpose of these trials was to ensure the feasibility of placing and compacting the mix into the fairly constricted area between the tunnel invert and the shuttering for the surface drain, and to prove the curing and strength gain aspirations of the process were achieved.

In addition to the mix design for the main work of the track slab, Pozament also produce a rapid-setting flowing repair concrete for application on small sections where it is necessary to effect localised patching and small section slab track pours of approximately three linear metres.

Once the project is complete by mid 2018, London Underground should expect very low maintenance within these tunnel sections for a number of years, having achieved the transition to an innovative track form with minimal disruption to Metropolitan line customers.

Pozament can be proud that its expertise and skill in designing specialised concrete mixes has been further refined and applied to a new situation and to one which looks capable of extension more widely within the LU network and on other metro systems worldwide.

Some trackbed replacements have a stricter timetable than others

Replacing a trackbed on an operational network is always a race against the clock.

Cutting track. Removing ballast. Excavating, installing reinforcement and shuttering.

Then, in the time you have left, pouring the concrete itself.

If your concrete is mixed with PQX cement, you can be confident it will cure in time for you to meet your return to service deadlines.

Combining ultra-rapid hardening with high early strength gain, PQX is ideal for rail projects both above and below ground where contractors’ possession allowances mean time is limited.

When money and reputations are on the line, see how our development teams can help.

Visit pozament.co.uk or call 03444 630 046

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Rail Engineer • December 2016

Crossrail

approaching the final stages

COLLIN CARR

A

s autumn approached, Crossrail announced that, following a very intense and busy period, the project had reached yet another milestone - declaring that 75 per cent of the work was now complete.

To understand better just what “75 per cent complete” actually means for the engineers involved, Rail Engineer caught up with Chris Binns, chief engineer for the £14.8 billion project.

First, a recap on the project.

Crossrail extends from Reading and Heathrow in the west to Abbey Wood and Shenfield in the east, a route that is 118km long. It includes a new central core consisting of 42km of new bored tunnels.

There are 40 stations on the route, including 10 new Crossrail stations that are entering their final stages of construction. Some are in very complex locations - Paddington, Bond Street, Whitechapel and Liverpool Street to mention a few. In addition, there are complex, redesigned track layouts both west and east of the capital.

Bombardier is currently building 66 new trains at its factory in Derby.

Each train is 200 metres long and designed to carry 1,500 passengers.

The first trains are now coming off the production lines for trials and testing, ready to be introduced to services on the route between Liverpool Street and Shenfield by May 2017. This deadline will be followed by further targets of May 2018 from Heathrow to Paddington then Paddington to Abbey Wood by December 2018.

Myriad of system interfaces More than 35km of permanent track has been installed inside the new tunnels and the fitting out of the mechanical and electrical equipment for the stations, signalling systems and power supplies is now well underway.

Engineering teams are being refocussed and are slowly moving away from production issues toward the intricate requirements associated with the testing and commissioning regime. Not only do the myriad of system interfaces need to be tested in the new tunnels but also with the different Network Rail environments both east and west of the capital.

Chris was keen to point out that none of the fitting-out work of tunnels and stations can be carried out without the skill and support of a competent and innovative supply chain.

Back in April 2013, Crossrail awarded the last major suite of contracts, valued at £300 million, to a joint venture comprising Alstom Transport, Costain and French track work specialist, Travail Sud Ouest (TSO). Normally referred to as ATC JV, it is the joint venture’s responsibility to ensure that the tunnels are fitted out with the necessary equipment for an operational railway system.

When the tunnels were completed, the construction included a mass concrete base ready to receive the various track slab designs. The base has a raised curb either side, which can carry a specially built multi-purpose gantry. There are four gantries working on the project

Rail Engineer • December 2016

Heavy and light track slab Chris stated that about 64 per cent of the track required in the tunnels has been installed. This is not an easy calculation because there are five different types of track being used, including: »» Standard slab track which forms 80 per cent of the track on the new railway - 70 per cent complete; »» Direct fixed track using Australian Delkor two-holed baseplates to reduce dynamic stresses and installed throughout the Victorian Connaught Tunnel - 100 per cent complete; »» High-attenuation sleepers, similar to standard slab

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and each one has the capacity to carry and position 28 sleepers at a time ready to receive new continuously welded rail.

A total of 70,000 sleepers are being installed. These are manufactured in Nottingham by SBC Rail and then stockpiled in bales at the railhead depots at Plumstead Logistics Centre in south east London and Westbourne Park temporary railhead in West London. Both locations are being used throughout the contract for providing engineer trains and for storing materials and equipment.

The Plumstead railhead is going to be the permanent infrastructure maintenance depot for Crossrail.

British Steel is supplying more than 57km of heattreated, wear-resistant rail. The steel blooms are produced in its Scunthorpe plant but the slight surprise is that these blooms are then transported to Tata’s Hayange mill in northern France to be rolled and finished. Apparently, that’s where the heat-treatment furnaces are.

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track, used in a few areas where noise and vibration need to be kept to a minimum – 25 per cent complete; »» Floating track slab light, used to reduce noise and vibration in the Soho area – 50 per cent complete. »» Floating track slab heavy, with a high iron ore content which doubles the density of normal concrete, is being used in the most sensitive areas such as under the Barbican Centre - work just starting.

ATC JV also invested in a refurbished concreting train in August 2015. It is a 465-metre-long mobile underground concrete batching factory using dry materials. Chris explained that running and maintaining the concreting train is a 24-hour operation. Concrete pouring takes place during the night with restocking and maintenance carried out during the day.

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Rail Engineer • December 2016

The train has piping running from the front of the train, like a giant insect proboscis, for about 300 metres. This means that the train does not have to run on freshly laid concrete the next day, thus allowing the concrete adequate time to gain strength.

Based at the Plumstead rail depot, the train is being used for the construction of standard track slab with a peak production rate of 377 metres in a seven-hour shift.

Turning a train One disadvantage to the train, that Chris pointed out, is that it is designed to European gauge. So, when needing to turn the train to go in a different direction, they couldn’t just run it round a triangle. Instead, they had to lift each of the 23 wagons on to a low loader, turn it around using the gantry crane in Plumstead rail depot and then put it back on the tracks. This process took three weeks to complete. Fortunately, it was something that had been planned for!

A different, smaller concreting train, known as the Shuttle, was also brought into action in January 2016. Chris explained that the Shuttle is being used to construct the standard track slab in the tunnels from the Royal Oak Portal through to central London.

The Shuttle train uses batches of ready mixed fibre reinforced concrete so time becomes an even more critical factor in the process.

High welding standard Long welded rail trains are being used to install the continuously welded rail which is being welded together using a Plasser & Theurer road-rail flash butt welding machine, acquired by the ATC joint venture. It is specially designed to produce welds to a consistently high standard in a tunnel environment.

As part of the tunnel fit-out, it has been estimated that more than 250,000 holes will need to be drilled to accommodate brackets for cabling, walkways and other equipment to support the operation of the railway.

A state of the art drilling rig, owned

by ATC JV and manufactured by Rowa Tunnelling Logistics in Switzerland, is now being used to drill the majority of the holes, thus minimising the need for manual drilling.

Once the track slab has been laid, the rig sits on the track and moves through the tunnels, drilling the holes in pre-determined locations.

The machine has a dust suppression system in place, helping to produce a clean and accurately drilled hole every time. The rig is configured to work in conjunction with real-time 3D laser surveys of the tunnel to ensure accuracy. To date, approximately 25 per cent of the holes required to fix walkways, cable troughs and other equipment have been drilled and it is proving to be an invaluable piece of equipment for all concerned.

Platform screen doors More than 92 per cent of the platforms being built in the central section are completed and 93 per cent of the platform edge screen fixings that will incorporate the platform screen doors, passenger information screens and advertising space are in place. The first prototype of the platform screen doors has been manufactured at Knorr-Bremse’s workshops in Melksham, Wiltshire.

Three rail wagons, adapted from a shipping container design, are employed to install the door panels.

Each wagon carries three panels, which are brought to the station platform along the tracks using a road/rail machine and then the units are just hydraulically slid into place.

It is a very impressive engineering process.

A continuous band of lighting is incorporated into the top of the door panels so that the light is reflected off the curved fibreglass-reinforced concrete panels that form the cladding for the walls and roof of the

Rail Engineer • December 2016

Copenhagen trial When the new Elizabeth line opens, 24 trains per hour will operate in each direction through the centre of London. The new signalling system will incorporate Automatic Train Operation to support this service, with the capacity for higher frequency of 30 trains per hour in the future. As a consequence, Siemens is installing the

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station platforms. It looks good, and it is interesting to note that 96 per cent of Crossrail contracts have been placed with companies based in the UK, Knorr-Bremse in Wiltshire being one of them.

The Crossrail route will be powered by a 25kV overhead line system using a Cariboni 110mm deep rigid overhead conductor bar throughout the tunnels. Although from a different manufacturer, this design concept is similar to the one being installed in the Severn Tunnel that doesn’t require weights and pulleys.

In the central section, 25kV traction power for the Crossrail trains will be provided by two new bulk supply points from National Grid 400kV, at Pudding Mill Lane in the east and Kensal Green to the west. Super grid transformers have been installed and fitted with fans and additional coolants.

A 22kV high-voltage network will be installed in the central section from Royal Oak Portal in the west to Limmo Peninsula in the east with an 11kV high-voltage non-traction spur to be installed from Limmo through to Plumstead. This network will supply mains power to each Crossrail station, shaft and portal within the central section.

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Communications-Based Train Control system (CBTC).

It is similar to one already successfully installed in Copenhagen, so expectations are high.

Chris was off to a meeting to review testing and commissioning plans and procedures. The emphasis is slowly changing from “how should we build it” to “how do we make sure it all works together?”

The teams are having to adapt to the new challenges of assurance but, clearly, the scale of these challenges will remain high. It appears to be a situation that Chris and his team are relishing, but the clock is ticking with just over 300 days to go before tests start in November 2017.

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Rail Engineer • December 2016

Fire safety on trains MALCOLM DOBELL

F

rom its discovery in ancient times, humans have both been in awe of, and frightened by, fire.

An uncontrolled fire is a risk to which we are all exposed and manage daily. Steam trains, of course, depend on a well-controlled fire for their very operation, although their emissions often cause uncontrolled fires on the lineside.

As with much of railway safety, lessons have been learned from accidents over the years.

There have been many fires, often with tragic consequences, that have led to significantly improved fire safety. However, we could still be caught out and we must never be complacent.

I recall my introduction to fire safety in the early 1970s when many people still carried lighters. As a young engineer, I would find a new component that might be suitable for use on a train, and a colleague might whip out his lighter and subject it to the flame; a very basic fire test that separated the ‘awful’ from the ‘possible’.

There were also occasional incidents where a train would catch on fire several hours after coming out of service. Smouldering cigarettes, hardboard panelling and oil-based paints were not a good combination.

Lessons learned In one incident in particular, a terrible choice of materials led to a devastating fire, fortunately without serious injury. On 23 June 1949, in Penmanshiel Tunnel, two carriages of an express

train from Edinburgh to London were destroyed by “a fire of great ferocity which spread very rapidly,” to quote from the inquiry report.

These coaches, only two years old, had steel underframes and exterior panelling with wooden frames and interior cladding. The wood on its own was not the cause of the fire.

The inspectors discovered that parts had been painted with a cellulose nitrate varnish that was shown to be extremely easy to set alight and to have exceptionally rapid rate of flame spread. It was thought that a discarded cigarette ash set the varnish alight.

There was some consternation from the inspecting officer that this varnish had been selected in the first place, given that the dangers of cellulose nitrate were well known at the time.

More recent incidents have led to big changes in the industry. On the main line, the Taunton sleeper fire in 1978, which killed twelve people, was caused by imported material (bedding) catching fire when stored against an electric heater. The Taunton fire led to fundamental changes to the design of the mk3 sleeper coaches which were being considered at the time.

For London Underground, it was the King's Cross fire in 1987 which led to changes to underground station legislation, management process, improved fire systems and the upgrade of materials for improved fire performance on stations and over 3,000 metro cars.

In terms of standards, these fires also led to engineers and chemists developing standards that drove the supply industry to develop better materials. LU developed its Code of Practice for the Fire Safety of Materials, the main line industry developed GM/RT 2130 - Vehicle Fire Safety and Evacuation and BS6853 - Code of Practice for Fire Precautions in the Design and Construction of Passenger Carrying Trains followed. In 1989, an international committee was set up to develop a European standard that finally gained approval in 2013 and brings us to the subject of this article.

Presentation So much for a micro-history, the story was taken up by David Tooley in his recent lecture to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, “Rolling Stock Fire Safety - Where Next?” David’s paper concentrated on EN 45545 revisions, FCCS systems, PHRR calculation methods and CFD. Baffled by standard numbers and acronyms?

Don’t worry, all will become clear!

Rail Engineer • December 2016

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EN 45545 David moved onto the topic of the current standards applicable to train fire safety. He mentioned EN 50553 - Requirements for Running Capability in Case of Fire on Board of Rolling Stock and EN 45545 Railway Applications: Fire Protection on Rolling Stock.

The latter is the Euronorm that is replacing BS 6853 as the requirements to control the risk of ignition, development, consequences and management of fire on trains. It is a suite of standards in seven parts covering: »» General »» Fire behaviour of materials and components »» Requirements for fire barriers »» Requirements for rolling stock design »» Requirements for electrical equipment »» Fire control and management systems »» Requirements for flammable liquid/gas installations.

EN45545 took a long time to develop, mainly because of very different approaches to fire safety in EU member states, but finally appeared in 2013. There was much concern in the UK that some requirements were being significantly diluted, especially those for upholstered seats, and the UK’s concern was such that it voted against its adoption. The main problem was believed to be the seat test, which seemed to be inadequate to eliminate poorly performing products.

RSSB commissioned research projects T843 and T1012 to explore formally the weaknesses and strengths of the new standard. These reports showed that the transition to EN 45545 was a risk to the continued improvement to fire safety compared with BS 6853. David illustrated the results of tests on a number of seat designs that would fail the BS 6853 criteria, but would pass the EN 45545 test.

These results were instrumental in persuading CEN to set up a new working group to introduce revisions to EN45545. This work started in 2015 and needs to be completed by 2018 to coordinate with changes to some of the TSIs, which must become mandatory by that date.

The principal change is to increase the heat source applied during the seat test from 7kW for three minutes to 15kW for the same time.

Moreover, the assessment will, in future, include both the heat release rate and smoke produced by the sample. Other changes have been made to improve test repeatability. David reported that this new test does indeed separate good seats from bad. David also touched briefly on work to transpose the results of recent research (the Transfeu programme) into standards.

the development of a small suitcase fire. The aim is to be able to suppress or extinguish fires so that there is no effect outside a 30-metre zone around the fire with no physical barriers.

David added, however, that a colleague had carried out a survey and found that the only recorded event of carry-on luggage causing a fire was when someone took a motorcycle fuel tank on an aircraft. That said, deliberate acts cannot be ignored.

Fire Containment and Control Systems (FCSS)

The next acronym, PHRR, - ‘the rate of heat energy released during a rail vehicle flashover fire’ is used to help define infrastructure safety, structural, and ventilation requirements. There is a hierarchy of needs when developing a system strategy for fire protection (thinking particularly about tunnels): »» The rolling stock engineer is concerned to design a train where its materials are really difficult to set alight but, if they do ignite, they should burn slowly with low smoke and toxic products. This enables passenger evacuation and represents the short term - a few minutes. »» The station manager has a somewhat longer timescale to manage. The passengers are off the train, but have to be evacuated from the station, then safe access has to be provided for fire fighters. »» Infrastructure managers must ensure that the structure can withstand the worst case credible fire and the PHRR is used to define infrastructure ventilation and structural requirements - basically to ensure that the structure is not compromised by the fire.

This has probably been one of the most difficult areas to nail down. There are differing views about how to calculate and apply PHRR. Calculations have typically been carried out on spreadsheets and make several significant assumptions which are not valid for modern trains:

The presentation moved onto the control of the situation once a fire has started on a moving train.

FCCS is the process of making sure that it is tenable for passengers to survive in a fire event until they can reach a place of relative safety (another acronym explained!). Often, this is achieved by provision of physical fire barriers and by moving people away from the fire beyond the fire barrier. Indeed, the Safety in Rail Tunnels TSI requires fire barriers every 30 metres for some types of train unless an alternative ‘equivalent’ FCCS protection is provided.

It often possible to have a fire barrier between coaches as they are rarely longer than 30 metres although, increasingly, suburban trains are provided with open wide gangways between coaches. This is also an issue on metro trains (where TSIs are not applicable). Clearly, where open wide gangways are provided, fire barriers are impracticable.

A variety of techniques have been used instead to control smoke and/or fire on such trains including airflow management systems on Thameslink and Crossrail trains and use of water mist systems on Italian trains. A standard under development for FCCS will set the requirements to ensure that conditions are tenable for passengers and staff on ‘adjacent’ cars. This will set the requirements for managing

Peak Heat Release Rate (PHRR)

LIGHT RAIL/METRO

PHOTO: ORISSA POST

Firstly, some recent background. We all know that passenger numbers are increasing and that train movements and mileage are also increasing. Against this expansion, however, the number of reported train interior fires has fallen by 95 per cent since 2004, with just 10 fires being reported in 2015.

Technical fires on trains (engine fires, electrical fires and so on) have also fallen, but not to the same extent, giving an overall total of just 30 fires on the UK main line railway reported in 2015, two thirds of them technical fires. Most of them are of very low power and flashover fires are very rare. This is good news, but, as ever with safety, one cannot be complacent.

LIGHT RAIL/METRO

32

Rail Engineer • December 2016

Assumption

Whereas, for today's trains...

Fire develops rapidly

Trains designed to modern codes have materials that are hard to ignite and limit flame spread.

There is a significant contribution from noncompliant minor materials and carry-on luggage.

There is no record of carry-on material causing a fire except for deliberate arson or suicide attempts.

Whole car fire develops simultaneously All combustible material will be completely consumed.

Fires grow outwards from the initiating location - it is not likely that fire will simultaneously affect all areas especially in open gangway designs.

All combustible material will be completely consumed.

Rate of development is significantly affected by the level of ventilation, now often controlled.

Illustrating the benefits of modern train design, David outlined the recent research project carried out in Sweden where they set fire to an older train in a tunnel by setting simulated luggage alight. Fire spread rapidly with a PHRR of 70MW after 10 minutes.

They then repeated the test with a simulated modern vehicle (panelling over all the old vehicle’s cladding with metal and fitting modern seats). The PHRR was much the same at 70MW but it took 100 minutes to develop. It was suspected that the old materials which had been hidden by the metal cladding were eventually involved in the fire, but the principle of slowing down fire development had been demonstrated.

David also highlighted an exercise carried out

by London Underground in late 1990s where they demonstrated the fire performance of upholstered seats on a 1992 Central line car.

Rather than use the normal test involving one standard no.7 wooden crib, eight of these, amounting to one kilogramme of timber, were piled on a seat and set alight. The estimated PHRR of the wood was 1MW, significantly in excess of the test specification. David illustrated the test with photos showing ignition, burning furiously, and the remains when all the wood had burnt which is when the fire went out without any fire suppressant being used.

The repair required a new single seat, a new melamine panel and some paint.

David mentioned calculation techniques developed for use in Singapore and the UK and applied elsewhere which, essentially, involves calculating the PHRR per unit area, HRRPUA (yet another acronym), which is calculated for each type of material taking account of ignition source

and carry-on luggage and then summed for the overall vehicle. From work of this nature, a typical metro car is usually assessed as having a PHRR of approximately 8MW and a main line car of approximately 13MW. Is this a real or credible value, David asked? That takes us onto the next section.

CFD Modelling Computational Fluid Dynamics (last acronym!) is a process that is used to model how fluids (liquids, air, smoke) move over time in a given

space. It has been used to assess PHRR by some train builders and they have been able to establish PHRR for metro cars of approximately 3MW, less than half the value calculated by other means.

So, which is the right value, 8MW or 3MW? If the lower value is the right answer it could significantly reduce system cost as the infrastructure controls would be less onerous.

David explored whether this is a valid process for rolling stock, whilst recognising that it has been used in infrastructure projects for many years.

He highlighted that a realistic model requires significant processing power to calculate the output. However, having such a model would allow both the FCCS and vehicle PHRR to be assessed, along with modifications to the vehicle and changes to the fire scenarios.

If CFD is to become an accepted technique for certifying designs it needs to be developed into a standardised process.

Drawing his fascinating presentation to a close, David explained how train fires are shown on the RSSB risk model (approximately the same risk as a two-train collision in a station from permissive working) and reminded everyone that, whilst fires are low probability events, they have a high potential for injury or fatality, so there is no room for complacency.

Thanks to David Tooley, principal rolling stock engineer at Mott MacDonald, for his support in developing this article.

Testing seats using No.7 wooden cribs.

Rail Engineer • December 2016

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Rail Engineer • December 2016

LIGHT RAIL/METRO

BETH DEAN

EN45545

On track for mandatory use

F

rom 2018, EN45545 railway standards on fire safety in rolling stock will be mandatory across Europe. The adoption of this standard follows a well-documented pan-European project over the last 20 years and will have a huge impact on the rail industry.

The development of the updated standard, which involved experts from Europe’s laboratories, train builders, certification bodies, regulators and component manufacturers, has brought significant changes to the rolling stock sector. The harmonised fire safety requirements require almost everything weighing more than 100 grams on a train to undergo stringent fire safety testing. This standard affects a wide range of operators and manufacturers, including upholsterers, cable suppliers and producers of floor coverings and ceilings, but brings muchneeded consistency.

Following its publication in 2013, which created a significant step towards harmonised fire safety on European rolling stock, the standards have undergone further assessment and revision. As a business that provides fire testing, Exova Warringtonfire has been involved throughout the process of developing the new standard. The company was a partner in both of the EC projects (FIRESTARR and TRANSFEU), which significantly contributed to the development of the standard, and continues to work on the European committee responsible for the development of the specification.

A core part of fire safety rests on the use of materials that limit fire development and produce low levels of smoke and toxic fumes in the event of a fire. Part 2 of the EN 45545 series defines the test methods used to assess the reaction of materials to fire performance and the applicable criteria. The tests within the standard

comprise small-scale tests (such as ISO 5660-1 and ISO 5659-2) and full-scale tests (such as ISO 9705). The conditions required depend on the type of product and its location on the train.

During the development of the standard by the FIRESTARR project, a classification system for the reaction to fire performance of products for trains, based on international fire test methods, was established. This pragmatic approach allowed a large database of small scale ISO and EN tests on 80 products (such as interior

linings, seat upholstery and electro-technical components) to be created. The data was validated by full-scale tests conducted in a small railway compartment.

Review and amendment The development of standards of such significance for industry takes many years of revision and review. Following the publication of Part 2 in 2013, it was immediately identified that, while it is an excellent tool to ensure selection of fire safe products, there remained room for further development. As all the comments raised through the development of Part 2 had not been fully considered, Simulated carriage.

Rail Engineer • December 2016

equipment specification changes. The changes were largely influenced by the work conducted within the EC TRANSFEU project. As with EN16989, the new standard will only detail test procedures, with the detail criteria remaining in EN45545-2.

European Interoperability Directives The switch from national specifications such as BS6853 to the mandatory European specification falls under European Law. The mandatory technical regulation which will allow interoperability across the European rail system will be introduced via the EC Directive 2008/57/EC which is supported by the Technical Specification for Interoperability (TSI), Commission Regulation (EU) No 1302/2014.

If all regulatory, technical and operational conditions are met, Interoperability will provide a trans-European rail system with safe and

uninterrupted movement of trains that achieve the specified levels of performance throughout the entire network.

The standard, which will be mandatory from 2018, is already being adopted across Europe.

The creation of Interoperability will further deliver significant economies of scale through the reduction in the number of tests that need to be performed during the manufacture of rolling stock.

As the final revisions to the standard continue, it will be vital for manufacturers, specifiers and operators to keep on top of the changes and adapt their business practices accordingly. EN45545 has been more than 20 years in the making, but will change the rail industry significantly for many more years in the future.

Beth Dean is a fire scientist at Exova Warringtonfire, UK.

LIGHT RAIL/METRO

PHOTO: N.I.S.T

revision work started almost immediately after publication, focusing on areas known to require improvement.

Revision is still ongoing and two areas are currently being targeted for development and non-technical change.

Procedures for seat vandalism and a full-seat fire test (EN 45545-2 Annex A and B) will be transferred from annexes in EN 45545-2 and published as a standalone European Standard, EN 16989, hopefully in 2017/18. The main changes that will be included are to the ignition source (increased from 7kW to 15kW), change to extraction rate (0.6m3/s to 1.2m3/s) and the inclusion of smoke measurement in addition to heat release measurement.

It should be noted, EN 16989 will only detail test procedures rather than detail criteria - these will continue to be defined within EN 45545-2.

A change is also being sought to the method one chamber toxicity test which will be transferred from EN 45545-2 Annex C into a standalone European standard. While a number has not yet been assigned to this new document, it has already been drafted and will shortly be circulated for approval. Again, it is anticipated the document will be published as a European Norm in 2017/18.

The draft document couples ISO 5659-2 and ISO 19021, with the main changes being the measurement of toxic fumes continuously throughout the test duration alongside some

35

36

Rail Engineer • December 2016

SIR PETER HENDY

W

hen I was Transport Commissioner for London, we used to talk about what transport did for London. Not about transport itself, but what it did, how it created growth, jobs, and housing.

But, in the industry it’s very, very easy to talk about how it works and not what it does.

The railway makes a huge contribution to the national economy and it’s been growing for the past 15 or 20 years, delivering growth and jobs and houses. The Government is now investing more in real terms than anybody has ever invested. That’s not a political statement, it’s a matter of fact, if you count it in real terms.

The railway has been growing by three or four per cent for 20 years. That’s the fastest level of growth since the Victorian era and it’s quite fantastic.

And it is a significant change. When I first started in my transport management career, which incidentally was more about buses than trains, I spent most of my time making people redundant. We were all managing a very different, very difficult business, trying to make do with less money and to keep the thing going.

Now, we’re in a different position, and that’s one of the reasons that I’m so optimistic now about attracting and retaining people in this industry, because there’s something positive to do which is essential for the national economy.

Congestion As a result of the railway having retrenched so much since the 1950s, we’ve got the most congested railway in Western Europe. That’s not a problem, it’s a success. It’s good that we’ve got a congested railway, we’ve just got to fix it.

If I look out of my office window at Waterloo, I can see 100 million people a year using just that one station. Even the retail spaces in our stations are now fantastically valuable because they’re vibrant places, and that’s really good for the railway.

Why do so many people travel? They travel because they’re accessing work, and not just in London and the Southeast. The pressure in the Northern Powerhouse is tremendous because people know that the potential is there and they’d like to see more of it. In Scotland, Glasgow and Edinburgh they live off their railway systems for the same reason. There’s pressure in the Welsh Valleys, in the Midlands, and in Bristol the railways are crowded.

To relieve all this pressure, routes such as Thameslink and at Crossrail, which are parts of the national railway network, are going to operate 24

trains an hour, which looks like the Tube. In fact, it’s higher frequency than much of the Tube was, certainly in the last 30 years, and actually, the trick of it is, it’s going to be run like the Tube.

PPM is the standard measurement of railways performance, but you don’t measure the Tube on PPM, you measure it on excess waiting time.

So you should, because passengers don’t go for a particular train, they go because the service is frequent and they want a frequent and reliable service.

But the national railway network isn’t measured like that, and it doesn’t work like that yet, mainly because the signalling which has been used on the national railway network for nearly 200 years is really not suitable for the twenty-first century in which we’re living.

Digital implementation The big railway has had a number of digital signalling projects, none of which have ever been completed. That has resulted in a patchwork quilt of everything from Victorian lever frames, through technology from the 60s, 70s and 80s, and 90s to the present decade, and none of them have ever quite been finished.

The Victorian stuff costs a lot to run, but it’s usually reliable and you only need a blacksmith and hammer to fix most of it. On the other

future

Rail Engineer • December 2016

37

The

of

hand, the equipment that’s 40 and 50 years old has to be replaced because the cables have been degrading. Obtaining parts for this old kit is difficult - we literally have to buy green screens and computer parts off Ebay. The signal engineers at Network Rail are doing their best to balance all of the replacement targets with the obsolescence that they’ve got and the life that’s left.

But actually, the real answer is not to replace them like for like at all. The real answer is to change the way in which we signal railways to allow more trains to run without improving large parts of the railway infrastructure.

That policy does have some other implications.

One of the effects of it is that some of the costs of the railway go up because we’re using it more, we’re using it for longer, so it wears out quicker.

We have to repair it in a shorter space of time, we can’t send a couple of people out to repair things on the track during the working day so we’ve got to do it at night. The more we use the railway, the more it costs to keep it running.

I have nothing but praise and admiration for Mark Carne. More has happened in terms of major change in his tenure since February 2014 than most people have in their working lifetimes, but he has been an evangelist for digital rail.

What he discovered when I turned up was

Britain’s railways

that I’d already run a railway which had digital signalling. If the growth continues, we should be seeking to expand the railway to fit the number of people that want to travel on it. The way of doing that is to get more trains on it, and that’s really all we did with the Underground.

The Victoria line is a good example. They knew that they could get 34 trains an hour. They might get 36, they might even get 38 out of it, which if they do would be fantastic, because that would be four trains more capacity per hour in peak hours, and the peak hours now last longer and longer and longer, and that would be a fantastically good investment.

But it is also extraordinarily reliable if you do it properly. On the Jubilee line, putting it in was hell, but that wasn’t because of the signalling system, it was because the PPP didn’t allow the correct relationship to deliver the project. But passengers on the Northern Line barely noticed - it was really done quite elegantly.

I know it’s different on the big railway. It doesn’t have homogenous trains and they don’t all stop at every station. There are also freight trains, and their acceleration is different, they take longer to brake, they run longer trains, all that sort of stuff, but the principles are the same.

All we need to do is adapt the technology that we’ve already seen to do a similar job.

That’s one of the reasons that I’m really excited that David Waboso, who managed the Capital Projects Department on the Tube, has decided to join us. So now David can begin to assemble a programme in the knowledge that he’s done it before, he knows how to do it, he knows who the suppliers are and it’s all down to leadership.

Already, he’s told me that it’s not just an infrastructure project, it’s a whole industry project. It’s got to embrace the entire industry.

It has to embrace us of course, because we’re the custodians of the infrastructure. It has to embrace the DfT, because they’ve got specified franchises that take advantage of it. It has to embrace all the operating companies, both freight and passenger, it has to the embrace the rolling stock companies and the manufacturers.

David knows what it does, because he’s done it on the Victoria, Jubilee and Northern lines. It changes the way that the railways work, and it’s a project that he will deliver, over as short a period as possible, to benefit the whole country.

Who will pay?

The plan rightly ought to be related to benefits, so we should do it first where we can create the most benefit - growth, jobs and houses. That’s not just in London and the Southeast, it’s in other regions as well.

38

Rail Engineer • December 2016

We should also do it in order to get revenue up - more trains will produce more revenue in terms of track access charges - because that will help pay for it. However, there will have to be some adjustment because the railway revenue goes in through a different door of the Treasury to the one which Network Rail costs are paid out of, which is not a problem we had at TFL, so that needs to be resolved.

There’s also a question about who might pay for all the upgrades. Actually, it’s not entirely clear whether the public purse will pay for them.

One of the advantages in keeping on talking about growth, jobs and houses is because there are many beneficiaries of good transport, such as businesses which expand as a consequence of better access, and developers which are able to build houses that otherwise wouldn’t be economical. I can’t see any reason why you can’t harness that economic improvement to pay for some of the developments, particularly since it’s new technology.

You don’t particularly want to take a risk on 190-year-old infrastructure. But the digital railway will be a new project, and it will be largely train-based. The stuff that’s fitted to the physical railway will be new, and I think that there’s a very good case to actually look for third-party funding for it. That includes the supply industry, for whom this is a fantastic opportunity to do this first in Britain, even if they’re not British companies, and then extend the concept to other congested railways in the rest of the world. I think that’s a very, very bright future.

There are some constraints. Money is obviously one of them. Getting access to the railways to do this as well as everything else could also be a constraint, but I think it could be overcome.

The breadth of the supply industry to cope with this is also potentially a constraint. We don’t want this to be a 50-year programme, because it produces economic benefit almost immediately as there will be more trains. So we need to look at it as a much shorter programme, for which there’ll have to be more suppliers.

Skilled workforce As a result of CP5, and looking into CP6, we’ve got a huge project portfolio of work in Network Rail alone, and it affects the whole supply chain.

We’ve got digital railway, we’ve got other new technologies coming in, we’re developing the means to look at what’s happening to railway assets, the earthworks and so on, before they fail.

The railway operations part of Network Rail also needs to develop more skills because the railway is getting more crowded.

And we’re decentralising, which we are doing for a very good reason. Without it, our approach is unbalanced and we won’t look after our customers in the way that we should.

For example, we’ve now got route score cards, which are the way in which our customers in train operating companies can agree with us on what we should be delivering. We need to build up the management in those routes. They’ve got to be ready to run themselves through an individual regulatory settlement with the ORR, under the umbrella of Network Rail, so that’s quite a different sort of organisation.

They’ll need to build up the engineering teams.

They will need commercial teams to deal with the Western England Partnership, Midlands

Connect and Transport for the North and so on.

They will clearly need more financial muscle than if they were just a cost centre, and they will need some decent operating people as well.

So, even within Network Rail, there are huge opportunities, some that we can build internally and some we can build externally. There is, in any event, a skills agenda, not merely in Network Rail, but also in the rest of the railway industry, as we are all short of skills. We are moving from people going round with hammers and doing heavy things, to roles where technical skills are far more valued - skills and techniques which are far from ordinary manual labour.

The consequence within Network Rail is that we’re increasing apprenticeships as much as we can. We will move to at least 300 advanced apprenticeships and the thirst in the market for these places is incredible - we get thousands of applicants.

The Government is committed to it as well. There’s a rule of thumb, which is one apprenticeship for every £3-5 million turnover, and quite right too. It’s absolutely necessary because it gives the winners of medium to longterm contracts an obligation to train people, so they’ve got enough people to actually deliver it.

Rail Engineer • December 2016 Then there are university graduates. We’ve tripled our number in four years and we’re participating in the new concept of university technical colleges or UTCs. We supported one in TFL and there’s another one in Westminster that we’ve supported. And, it’s a massive, massive effort.

Positive message We must have these people, and the rail industry has historically not been very attractive, because we haven’t explained what we do. The result is that we need to promote the diversity agenda by getting a much wider supply of people in than ever the railways have done before. We now have the Young Rail Professionals, who have a much more balanced agenda, come from a much wider range of ethnic backgrounds and can commit themselves to the job in the railway industry for a long time.

In the past, we haven’t explained ourselves quite in the way that we should. You don’t naturally open the papers and find that the railway is a growth industry, you open the papers and find there’s a strike on Southern. So we’ve got to work hard against that background, that miserable media coverage. But I think that, amongst the people who might join the railway, there’s a growing realisation that it’s a great place to go.

There are some great things happening in the press. In a recent Evening Standard, there was a fabulous picture of four women, three of whom I know, dressed up for Vogue. They’re dressed up because they’ve been working on Crossrail, and it was headlined ‘Hard Hats and High Heels’.

These are not dull blokes in hard hats, these

are members of a vibrant younger community who have chosen to work on a railway project because it’s exciting and because it teaches them new skills. That is exactly where we ought to be, so we’ve got to promote it.

For many of our people, this is not just a job, it’s a vocation. They talk about working on the railway because their employers have changed, but their commitment to the railway is absolutely total, and I think one of the things that young people and people at the start of their careers need to realise is that you not only need technical skill, but you need to understand the mind-set of people.

I can’t quite say that any particular employer in the rail industry will give you a job for life, because that’s too presumptive about

39

organisational change, but what I can say is that, given the growth in the industry, if you want to work in the railway industry and if you’re prepared to change who you work for, where you work and what you do in the train industry, you have a job for life.

That’s extraordinary, because there aren’t many industries in Britain now where you can say that. This industry has a job for everybody if they’re prepared to change who they work for, what they do and where they do it, and I think that’s quite remarkable and I think that’s a cause for great optimism.

In an era of continuous change, it is that very change which nearly always frightens people in the industry. However, in my experience, change always creates more opportunities in the end, because you lose people on the way who don’t want to change. I can’t think of any change that I went through when there weren’t more management opportunities at the end than at the beginning.

So there’s a job for life in the industry for anybody who wants one if they’re prepared to change who they work for and where they work and what they do, and those changes actually produce opportunities at the end of it.

So I am optimistic about the future, and the opportunities it presents. But if you give me the choice of completely reorganising the railway over the next 10 years, or delivering a digital railway, I’d choose the digital railway because that will deliver more for paying customers.

Sir Peter Hendy was speaking to the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport and the Railway Engineers’ Forum.

40

Rail Engineer • December 2016

ELECTRIFICATION/POWER

CLIVE KESSELL

Control &

Communications in the

Gotthard Base Tunnel

C

rossing the Alps in Central Europe has been a challenge for centuries and no more so than for the early railway pioneers. In 1882, after a 10 year construction, the first rail tunnel through the Saint Gotthard Massif opened, being 15km long and connecting Gőschenen with Airolo in Switzerland. It provided a route from Zurich through to Italy. Originally powered by steam traction, it was electrified in 1921 and has been a main route for nearly a century.

With increasing traffic levels and the need to eliminate the gradients to the tunnel approaches, the Swiss embarked on the building of a new deeper and longer tunnel. Alp Transit Gotthard (ATG), the company formed to construct this new Gotthard Base Tunnel, began work in 1999 - final break through happened in 2010.

Commencing with the boring of access shafts and construction of work site galleries to accommodate the boring machines, the tunnel consists of two single-track bores with two crossover points, at 1/3 and 2/3 distance, plus cross passages at 325 metre intervals to house electronic equipment cabinets. These also provide access for track workers and escape routes for passenger use in an emergency.

The maximum depth is 2.3km and temperatures would reach 46ºC if forced ventilation were not provided.

The tunnel is 57km long (35.4 miles) and is the longest rail tunnel in the world. It connects the towns of Erstfeld in the north with Bodio in the south and shortens the route by 40km compared to the old tunnel, reducing the transit time from Zurich to Milan and Lugano by around 40 minutes. Electrified at 15kV 162/3 Hz, it will permit passenger trains to run at 250km/h and freight trains at between 100-120km/h.

Commissioned for trial running on 1 June 2016, the new tunnel will be in full commercial service by the end of this year.

A project of this size was never going to be cheap and expenditure of SFr12.8 billion (around US$9 billion) has been incurred. These figures are based on 1998 prices excluding inflation, value added tax and construction interest.

As stated above, construction has been the responsibility of ATG, a wholly owned subsidiary of SBB CFF FFS, the Swiss national railway company.

Signalling the tunnel The Swiss, despite not being members of the EU, have been strong advocates of ERTMS and have led the way in the development of ETCS. Most lines are now equipped with ETCS Level 1 Limited Supervision (LS), which is a non-continuous train supervision system that protects the train should the driver not react correctly to the lineside signal.

Higher speed corridors, such as the BerneZurich and the Loetschberg Tunnel routes, are equipped with ETCS Level 2, giving continuous train supervision via the GSM-R radio link. It was a natural choice, therefore, that the new tunnel should be equipped with similar technology.

Whilst the application of ETCS Level 2 is now reasonably well established for conventional main lines with ‘normal’ tunnels, would the

Rail Engineer • December 2016

41

Designing the system Many decisions had to be made before detailed design work could commence. Spacing of the block sections, and the relationship of these to the issue of Movement Authorities, needed to be determined so as to maximise the anticipated traffic flows. All of this was modelled on a simulation programme devised jointly by Thales and SBB engineers. The result was to have balises spaced at a typical distance of 800 metres inside the tunnel and between 200-400 metres on the approach tracks at each end. This gives an improved safety separation inside the tunnel.

ETCS marker boards (along with Swiss national rail boards) are provided at the balise locations.

Movement Authorities can be granted up to a length of 32km but are limited to only a few

block sections if trains are running in close headway. Normally freight trains will operate with a 5km separation, rising to 9km (about 10 block sections) for passenger trains owing to their higher speeds. Only one Radio Block Centre (RBC) is provided for the tunnel operation, this being housed at Bodio. Other RBCs are being installed for the whole Gotthard Base Line route and, indeed, for other rail routes in the surrounding area.

Four interlockings are required for the two crossover locations in the tunnel and for crossovers on the approach tracks. The interlockings provide the safety intelligence of

the signalling system as well as the safe route setting. The RBC can only allow a Movement Authority if the interlocking has safely set and locked the necessary route.

Thales ELEKTRA 2 interlockings are installed in the equipment buildings at Erstfeld and Bodio.

This electronic interlocking design has been in service for around 15 years and has a proven track record. It has full hardware redundancy and operates using two separate data channels, each separately programmed by two teams, from which comparisons are made before the final data configuration is agreed (diverse programming).

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ELECTRIFICATION/POWER

deployment of a system be different in a tunnel of this length? And should any special measures be made to ensure continuity of service?

ETCS Level 2 remains a fixed block system with the block sections being marked by ETCS marker boards. With its GSM-R radio bearer, there is no need for conventional line side signals providing all trains are fitted with the on-board equipment.

After a competitive tendering process, Thales was selected to design and supply the ETCS system, including all the signalling peripherals, with a contract that was let in 2008 with a current value of SFr190 million.

Rail Engineer • December 2016

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Element controllers are installed in the tunnel locations. Whilst train position data is transmitted every 6 seconds via the GSM-R link, independent position information is derived from axle counters, the Alcatel AzLM type being used. Thales absorbed the Alcatel rail signalling interests in 2007, so it was a natural choice.

The axle counters are located adjacent to the balises but separated by a minimum distance of 1.2 metres, to avoid any unwanted mutual interference.

The two crossovers within the tunnel are equipped with Hydrostar point machines supplied by Linz-based Voestalpine, allowing a 110km/h turn out speed.

The entire tunnel is provided with a no-break power system based primarily on batteries and invertors and designed to be fully resilient.

Similarly, the signalling transmission system is designed as a dual ring (red and green) fibre cable using SDH transmission to give continuous connection and guard against both equipment failure and cable cuts. Thales designed the fibre configuration, with the actual fibre rings being supplied by the Swiss company Alpiq, part of the Transtec consortium alongside Thales.

The operational control centre for the tunnel is located at Pollegio, near to the southern portal of the tunnel. The train control system there is a Siemens-supplied system that will eventually control the whole of the region.

Train fitment Many trains in Switzerland are already equipped with either ETCS Level 1 LS or Level 2, as well as GSM-R radio. Only those fitted with an ETCS Level 2 capability are permitted to operate through the tunnel.

The ETCS train-borne equipment is supplied by either Alstom, Siemens or Bombardier, and all trains will be retro-fitted with Level 2 equipment.

A new fleet of 250km/h trains, to be supplied by Stadler Rail, will come fitted with Level 2 at the factory.

Since the tunnel is required to facilitate public mobile communications (see below), the trains have to be fitted with repeater equipment to enhance the signal within the carriages. This repeater is manufactured by Commscope, a global leader in infrastructure solutions for communications networks, which is supplying the ‘In Train Com’ company as part of a joint venture with the public mobile operators to work with SBB and the train build companies.

Telecommunications A tunnel of this importance inevitably has a comprehensive telecom network supporting both rail operations and public requirements.

The fully resilient fibre optic cable network was supplied as part of the power provision contract of the tunnel construction consortium (TTG), which specified the cable parameters using various specialist companies to assist with the task.

Once installed, the provision of the associated transmission was entrusted to Nokia as the system integrator using IP/MPLS Multiprotocol Label Switching telecommunications technology.

Nokia, also a member of the Transtec consortium, was already involved in supplying GSM-R equipment to SBB prior to the Gotthard Tunnel project so was well known to the client.

Telecom requirements come in three parts.

The fixed line, data and servers networks using multi service Ethernet over IP/MPLS technology, support the tunnel communication requirements. These include IP phones, emergency call points, video surveillance and a public access system including loudspeakers.

The latter led to a problem with reverberations in the long thin ‘tubes’ in the two multifunction stations Sedrun and Faido - only overcome by adhering sound absorbing material to the tunnel wall.

Connections of the 19 sub-control systems to the SCADA-based tunnel control systems provide for alarm gathering, network management, power supervision remote

Rail Engineer • December 2016

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Rail Engineer • December 2016

monitoring and many others. During simulations, it became evident that there would be over 150,000 datapoints with sensors even being able to trace loose connections. Every door, light and air vent is supervised from the control centres in Erstfeld and Pollegio. The comprehensive system is designed to cope with all scenarios including emergency situations and was supplied by Siemens as a sub-contract to Nokia.

The tunnel radio system, based on radiating cable (leaky feeder) in both tunnels, has a length of 120km and is sectioned into 900-metre lengths. This is a backbone for all radio services with SBB doing the functional specification and Commscope providing much of the hardware as a subcontractor to Nokia.

The provision of public internet access is achieved by ATG/SBB in conjunction with the three Swiss mobile operators - SALT (pre Orange), Sunrise and Swiss Com. SBB is contracted to provide the infrastructure for the mobile operators who then provide the 3G and 4G services. These operate on the 900Mhz, 1.8GHz and 2.1 GHz bands.

GSM-R The radio bearer for ETCS, GSM-R, is a vital part of the communications network. SBB took on the responsibility for the provision of GSM-R and achieved this with a contract awarded to Nokia.

The GSM-R radio system is borne upon the same radiating cable as that which carries the public cellular services. The system is split into 900-metre sections, meaning that 32 base stations (BTS) are needed.

The initial design was built and configured in an SBB test laboratory with two base station controllers and three BTS. This tested out the dual redundancy arrangements and the handover scenarios in simulated tunnel conditions as well as the Radio Block Centre connection and the functionality for ETCS. With both Nokia and SBB satisfied, installation commenced in the two tunnels with the system progressively commissioned ready for the opening in mid 2016.

Currently controlled over the SBB SDH (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy) transmission network, the GSM-R system will migrate to the IP data network also being provided by Nokia in due course.

The approximate value of the telecom element of the control and communications contract is less than 10 per cent of the whole railway technology delivery contract from Transtec Gotthard.

Degraded mode operation Whilst the signalling and communications systems have been designed for maximum reliability and availability, there could always be the odd occasion when the systems fail.

With the near certainty of trains being in the tunnel should this happen, measures have to be in place to ensure train movements can still be made. This is known as Staff Responsible Mode whereby trains can be driven, not under the supervision of the RBC, at a maximum speed of 40kph.

In extreme conditions, trains are permitted to be driven ‘on sight’ even if the communication path is also failed.

Should the failure be a train breakdown, then operational procedures are prepared for a rescue locomotive to be signalled into the tunnel to assist the failed train.

Safety verification and system testing In 2010, the main system components were assembled in the Thales laboratory in Zurich so as to prove the integrity of the design.

Installation could then begin and, in 2013, field tests were commenced which included the GSM-R communication link. Thales, the tunnel construction consortium (TTG) and the client (ATG) were involved with this, later to be joined

by SBB technical staff who performed their own separate tests as well.

As with all modern day safety requirements, a verification and validation exercise of the system was necessary, this being carried out by Thales.

An assessment of the Safety Case requirements covering the four separate elements - RBC, Interlocking, Train Control and Whole System - was contracted to a specialist assessment company in Vienna.

Completing the route The Gotthard Base Tunnel is not the only major upgrade on the new route from Switzerland into Italy. South of the Gotthard tunnel is the Monte Ceneri, another mountain crossed by an old high-level tunnel. The 15.4km twin-bore Ceneri Base Tunnel is currently under construction, with breakthrough being achieved in January 2016.

The control and communications systems are expected to be broadly similar to those in the Gotthard tunnel but the technology for this engineering of the project is being provided in four separate elements - track and logistics, electrification and telecommunications, the tunnel control system and signalling. Installation and fitting out has begun, with completion expected in December 2020.

The Ceneri Base Tunnel will run from Camorino to Vezio near Lugano and, like the Gotthard, it will shorten the route as well as allowing much longer and faster trains to operate, reducing the transit time by a further 20 minutes.

The renaissance of rail during the last 20 years has resulted in a number of major infrastructure projects to increase capacity and line speed.

These have created new engineering challenges, including within the control and communications sector. The Gotthard Base Tunnel is within the ‘big league’ of these and, once the full service is introduced, many eyes will be watching to see if the technologies are able to deliver the predicted business improvements.

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Rail Engineer • December 2016

Power People to the

T

he future may be digital, but rail remains a people industry. Highquality operatives, appropriately trained, qualified and safety-approved, will always be the lifeblood of rail projects large and small, to serve the needs of the travelling public.

Digitisation is changing all industries, including rail. As a commercially focused entity, the railway is now able to utilise a variety of digital alternatives. Trains are controlled using digital signalling and traffic management systems, passengers buy digital tickets and are kept informed by digital information systems. Even train maintenance is now planned using digital asset information.

Specialised workforce All aspects of rail are changing, and the industry is having to adapt to keep up with demand - and to drive innovation wherever possible. One constant is that quality people will always be needed to implement the hardware necessary to bring about the required improvements. As a result, labour supply companies also have to adapt, and that is bringing increasing specialisation.

Originally founded in 1985 as Scotweld Employment Services Limited, SWGR operates from several service centres throughout the UK and worldwide and is managed from a purpose-built headquarters in Glasgow. The organisation was originally founded to supply manpower services to the oil and gas sector, later diversifying its core offering to the rapidly growing rail market in the mid-1990s.

Over the past 30 years, SWGR has accommodated a number of professional people services, from labour provision through to

training, occupational health, specialist services and minor works. Today, the organisation has a vast, international client base with high levels of customer retention and a focus on quality of delivery in all areas.

The company’s uncompromising commitment to sourcing people with the requisite skills and experience is illustrated in the Winchburgh Tunnel project, a key link in the Scottish government’s Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme (EGIP), delivering 150km of electrified railway. Overall, around 900 individuals worked on the tunnel - some of whom came from as far afield as Norway and Sweden - completing the project in just 44 days between 13 June and 27 July 2015.

Of those 900 workers, 53 were singled out for special commendation for undertaking vital track and slab work. Some worked many more than five shifts. SWGR was proud to have supplied all 53 workers.

Supplying Scotland Resourcing the right people is the cornerstone of projects in the rail industry, and is the core part of SWGR’s business. The company is currently the possession management contractor for the Scotland route for Network Rail, providing safety critical staff and possession support services. As a result, SWGR’s possession teams are made up of the kind of highly trained, experienced and dedicated professionals that the multiple disciplines within the rail industry require.

As part of its contract, the company has built up a local knowledge database to ensure that the controllers of site safety (COSSs) and engineering supervisors (ESs) it chooses have the local knowledge to keep everyone on the project safe while implementing a safe system of work (SSOW) in the correct manner. It’s a system that pleases SWGR’s customer, Network Rail.

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Rail Engineer • December 2016

“I’m extremely happy to report that Period 5 has now finished and has been delivered with no instances of irregular workings,” commented Craig Milne, Network Rail’s senior operations delivery manager. “We managed 475 possessions in the period with over 8,300 man hours required to deliver them - and we have not had a single safety issue. This is a fantastic result, well done.”

OHL Specialism With all of the electrification work that is currently being undertaken around the network, skilled resources are scarce and skilled workers are in demand. As a result, SWGR’s overhead line (OHL) division has seen particularly strong growth since it was established in 2006.

The company’s head of electrification, Frank Tierney, explained the reasons behind the division’s success: “At the moment, the biggest contract SWGR’s OHL division is working on is our five-year contract with Network Rail, and we are a tier one supplier in seven of the company’s nine regions. This has led to us being the main supplier for OHL work across the whole of the UK, working very closely with Network Rail, particularly in Scotland, and supporting all of its isolation and OHL maintenance work.

“Right now, we have offices in Rochester, Bristol, Derby, Manchester, Carlisle and Glasgow, and we are looking to open another office in Birmingham to assist with some of our larger nationwide contracts. This will also mean we will be hiring another OHL delivery manager to expand our highly experienced team, helping to develop the division to its full potential.”

Training and development In one of the most safety-critical industries in the world, it is crucial that all railway operatives have the necessary training and qualifications to carry out their jobs competently and safely. Therefore, training and development is integral to SWGR’s business and includes rail qualifications, welding and occupational health services.

The company’s training services division is a fully licensed provider of Network Rail training and assessment courses, from personal track safety (PTS) training to senior person in charge of possession (SPICOP) training.

As the emergency services may be required to attend incidents on or near to railway infrastructure, SWGR’s training division approached the Ambulance Service and arranged for a number of its workers to attend the company’s training facility in Glasgow for specialist up-skilling. This kind of initiative broadens the capabilities of emergency services workers, making them an even more vital resource in times of need.

SWGR Training Services also supplies occupational health services both internally, across the group business, and externally for clients. Meanwhile, the Welding Services division focuses on the development of practical welding capabilities, helping rail workers to achieve current European and American standards.

Specialised yet versatile Whilst SWGR’s core offering remains in supplying (and training) professionals for multi-disciplinary rail projects, its services have expanded to encompass the wider

built environment and infrastructure sectors, including construction, engineering and energy.

The company now supplies experienced and skilled site personnel for building, construction and civil engineering projects; professional, technical and skilled trades for mechanical, electrical, structural and process engineering projects; and highly skilled and certified personnel for renewables, oil and gas, power generation and distribution, utilities and HV projects throughout the UK and overseas.

Focusing on the present-day rail industry, some of the most significant projects in history are in progress, involving a huge number of contractors. SWGR has recently been credited with providing services to well-known projects including the Borders Railway, significant packages of EGIP (Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme), including Winchburgh Tunnel and Queen Street Station, and the Ipswich Chord in East Anglia.

Investment in the country’s rail infrastructure looks set to continue, as the Government seeks to put the UK amongst the world’s best, and SWGR aims to become known as the industry’s first port of call for rail personnel with the skills, training and experience to help make this happen.

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Rail Engineer • December 2016

ELECTRIFICATION/POWER

50

Powering forward G

ospel Oak-Barking was one of London’s forgotten railways, neglected and unreliable. Its trains were among the oldest on the network and were often lightly used as a consequence.

Its unstaffed stations also made it a route to be avoided, given a choice.

The electrification of this line, as part of the £2 billion National Electrification Programme to electrify more than two thousand miles of Britain’s railway up to 2020, will see new Class 710 four-car electric trains, able to carry double the number of passengers and so relieving overcrowding, entering service in 2018. It is a complex undertaking, and involves extensive re-modelling of track and bridges to unlock vital space needed for new electrical infrastructure.

The electrification system adopted is a classic 25kV AC classic boosterless. RJ Power Group is working closely with Amey-Inabensa - the 50/50 joint venture which is delivering Network Rail’s electrification requirements in the Southern region.

This success comes just six months after RJ Power Group Limited restructured, adding a power networks contracting division to its business and undergoing a rebrand to reflect its greater offering and continuing drive to employ innovation on a range of projects to improve rail travel in London and the South of England.

RJ Power Group’s scope of electromechanical work on the Gospel Oak to Barking contract includes 25kV traction power supplies, ancillary

equipment and LV power supplies, substation bonding and pre-commissioning of all HV and LV supplies. It also takes in the installation of 25kV cabling and terminations, busbar and jumper installations, earth connections and bonding, DNO power supplies and control wiring and connections.

Up to now, RJ Power Group has built up a trusted reputation for electrical engineering, working chiefly in 750V DC. This latest project for Network Rail and Amey-Inabensa sees the group working with 25kV AC for the first time.

This project will raise RJ Power Group’s profile as a contractor with the expertise and resources to deliver works on a much larger scale, with a greater breadth of expertise and experience.

Collaboration on Crossrail The largest railway project in the London area is, naturally, Crossrail. A number of contractors are working together to deliver one of the most significant infrastructure projects ever undertaken in the UK, with contracts totalling several billion pounds.

RJ Power Group secured a significant contract for signalling and power supplies (stages 3-7) as part of a £50 million scheme at Ilford Depot. The group is collaborating with VolkerFitzpatrick to create ten new sidings and a new building for train drivers and other rail staff.

The two organisations have worked together successfully before, collaborating to deliver a time-challenged major rail project at Three Bridges Depot - resulting in the VolkerWessels Group Platinum Award for Project of the Year.

Rail Engineer • December 2016

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ELECTRIFICATION/POWER

Enabling works for Ilford Depot began in July as the team began work with VolkerFitzpatrick to complete electrical enabling works in preparation for the main improvement works.

These included the installation of temporary LV supplies to depot support buildings, including the yard controller’s office and mess rooms, as well as cable pulling, installation, termination and testing.

The main works have now commenced with RJ Power Group supplying and installing the distribution substations with an interface to the DNO provider, including connecting the services from both substations to the distribution cubicles, the points heating cubicles, the PSP and two separate buildings to create power within the new sidings. Also part of the E&P works is the provision of the supply and installation of the 650V signalling power supplies to support the changes within the Depot.

Significant evolution The restructure and rebrand of RJ Power Group in March 2016 was effectively the start of a new era for the company. Significant evolution has taken place over the course of the year, with a number of key appointments in the team.

The addition of operations manager Owen Marsh back in the summer has seen the development of a number of new strategic opportunities for the group, and new business development director Mike Wakeford has also been pivotal in allowing the group to pursue its ambitions for expansion.

Simon White was appointed in September as the Group’s new rail testing and commissioning manager, helping to further consolidate the company’s growth and success over recent months. The most recent addition to the rail team is Andy Gore, who is the new senior construction manager.

With the successful implementation of a graduate programme to secure a skilled workforce for the future, RJ Power Group is gradually fulfilling its aim to be Network Rail’s contractor of choice for power and electrification projects in the south of the UK. However, as managing director Glenn Rowatt explains, the company’s ambitions don’t end there: “This year has seen RJ Power Group move into new spheres of work with great success, and our workforce continues to grow to meet our expanding schedule. The current project on the Gospel Oak to Barking line illustrates how we are diversifying.

Of course, we will continue with our core provision of traction power works. But as a company, we are now a proven quantity in 25kV, fully skilled and resourced to work with Network Rail in delivering its plans to electrify lines across London and the South East. The result will be a faster, cleaner, more efficient rail network capable of carrying far greater numbers of passengers in comfort. We are proud to be part of this.”

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Rail Engineer • December 2016

ELECTRIFICATION/POWER

COLLIN CARR

Severn Tunnel Electrification Planning Logistics and Interfaces

O

n Monday 24 October, Great Western Railway introduced a new service between Cardiff and London called, appropriately, “The Welshman”. It consists of 59 daily train services between the two cities and has been introduced to mark the re-opening of the Severn Tunnel, which had been closed from 12 September until 21 October 2016.

The 130-year old, 6.8km long, Severn Tunnel was closed for almost six weeks so that engineers could complete the work to install Overhead Line Equipment (OLE) as part of the £2.8 billion project to electrify the Great Western main line (GWML) route, planned to be completed in 2019.

The reopening of the tunnel was a critical milestone in the project to deliver electric trains for passengers in South Wales. As well as improved journeys, economists expect electrification of the line between South Wales and London to deliver the economic boost for South Wales that will result from better connectivity to London, a critical factor for attracting investment for the electrification of the route in the first place.

Preparatory work The closure was known as the ‘Severn Tunnel Autumn Disruption’ (STAD) and, to keep the closure of the tunnel to a minimum, a significant amount of preparation work was undertaken in the previous 12 months. Forty tonnes of soot were removed from the tunnel, as well as repairs to the brickwork.

However, the scale of the engineering challenge involved, and the extensive machinery required to electrify the tunnel, meant that the STAD was unavoidable. Network Rail claim that it would have taken up to five years to complete the electrification project if the STAD had not

been actioned.

Instead of installing a conventional overhead wire system, Network Rail decided to install a new system, developed by a Swiss company Furrer+Frey, throughout the tunnel. The system is in fact being used in several other tunnels on the GWML and consists of an aluminium rail, held to the tunnel roof by drop tubes and registration arms, with the contact wire that carries the power supply fed into a slot in the base of the rail.

Robust system This Rigid Overhead Conductor Rail system (ROCS) has several advantages over the usual overhead wire system: the system is more robust than overhead wires and the maintenance required is reduced; the contact with the pantograph is thought to be more reliable and efficient and the system is considered to be more compact than the traditional wired system.

Also, ROCS can be used in tunnels where headroom is constrained, whereas wired solutions need more headroom. This is not easily achieved in a tunnel environment and using the conductor rail system has reduced the amount of work needed to the track levels in order to provide the necessary clearance.

Rail Engineer • December 2016

Environmental factors Some particular problems facing the ABC Electrification team are the environmental factors in the Severn Tunnel, including saline water from the Severn Estuary above it and soot deposition from the freight trains carrying coal that pass through it. As a result, ABC said

that the metalwork holding the ROCS to the tunnel structure would be made of high-grade stainless steel, with a lifespan of around 60 years.

Also, although the system is more commonly used in Europe, it is probably the first time that ROCS is to be used above the ballasted track which exists throughout the Severn Tunnel.

Previously, on high-speed routes, it was used in conjunction with slab track, where the tracks are concreted into the base of a tunnel.

Local skills Rail Engineer spoke to Dan Tipper, who is the Network Rail project director for Wales, and John Skentelbery, ABC’s programme director, just after the completion of the work.

They were both keen to point out that, in partnership with principal contractor ABC Electrification and key suppliers AMCO, Keltbray, Arup and Furrer+Frey, Network Rail has been able to source about 75 per cent of the team from Wales. He explained that many of the Severn Tunnel engineers have been recruited from former steel and mining industries, while the team also includes a significant number of former armed forces personnel.

The project team has also completed nearly 3,000 training days this year. Training includes rail competencies, career development, professional and technical training, including specialist overhead line equipment (OLE) qualifications.

Dan explained that the first task was to fix 14km of autotransformer feeder (ATF), a large 65mm diameter cable fixed to the tunnel wall every two metres to 7,000 anchors and cleats that had been fixed in the preSTAD work programme. This is part of the 50kV autotransformer power system that reduces transmission losses compared with a conventional 25kV system. See David Shirres’ explanation of electrification systems adjacent to this article.

Once the AMCO work team had become familiar with the process of installing the ATF cable, they were achieving 800 metres in a 10hour shift, a significant achievement.

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The preparatory work and the work to fit all the equipment for the new system for the electrification of the railway track through the Severn Tunnel was installed by ABC Electrification, comprising Alstom, Babcock and Costain. ABC is responsible for delivering the design, preparatory work and the final fitting of the electrification equipment throughout the tunnel and the surrounding area.

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Rail Engineer • December 2016

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Meticulous planning The work that followed had to be planned like a military operation. The devil was in the detail and one minor flaw in the plan would jeopardise the whole process. Meetings with main suppliers AMCO and Keltbray were held daily and, as pointed out by both Dan and John, you could not distinguish one company from another as everyone was working as one team. It was an essential requirement if the work was going to be completed successfully and in time.

The phases of work that were meticulously planned, using equipment and platforms especially designed by AMCO/Foulston Forge and Keltbray for the Severn Tunnel, were as follows: »» Install 857 anchors using a specially designed rig designed to drill three holes, place resin and then fix bolts and anchor; »» Fix 1,700 vertical drop tubes weighing 45 to 60kg, setting them high then lowering into final position; »» Fix pre-assembled registration cross arm to the drop tube; »» Install the aluminium conductor beam in 12-metre lengths, completing 480 metres per shift; »» Install 14km of copper contact wire within the aluminium profile beam; »» Install 14km of earth wire; »» Fix a total of 22 expansion joints into the conductor beam - these expansion joints, a bit like fish-plated joints, are made from aluminium, weigh 100kg, and are approximately two metres long with a sliding mechanism inside.

The work was planned to be undertaken in three 10-hour overlapping shifts. All the work was orchestrated from a central depot at Filton where they operated 24/7 ‘Silver Command control’ across the entirety of the STAD possession, of which the Severn tunnel was one major element, and had the expertise on hand to address any technical issue that arose.

Myriad of interfaces Plans had to be amended on a daily basis to ensure that the work was completed without incident and the successful management of the myriad of interfaces became a critical factor. Not only was there a complex operation to install the equipment for electrification within the Severn Tunnel taking place, but the STAD S&C alliance team also completed the renewal of 750 metres of track in the Down line within the tunnel.

In nearby Patchway New Tunnel, the STAD IP Track/Babcock team lowered 385 metres of track, with design and tunnel stability monitoring and guidance provided by ABC/Arup. The ABC/ AMCO team then installed 1.6km of ATF cable as well as a significant amount of OLE anchors and registration arms working toward an OLE completion date in that tunnel in the new year.

In addition, the STAD IP Track/Babcock team lowered 770 metres of track in Patchway Old tunnel, with design and tunnel stability monitoring and guidance provided by ABC/Arup.

Whilst this work was in progress, they came across an unrecorded old drain and large cross tunnel supports that had to be dealt with, eating up precious time.

Both track lowers were excavated in 20-metre lengths as this was the optimum logistical method for these single-road Victorian tunnels. By monitoring tunnel movement, and by reviewing the tunnel stability model with specialist advice from ABC/Arup/AECOM, the Babcock track-lower method and length of

excavation was reduced, in some cases, to just six-metre lengths to ensure that the structural integrity of the tunnel was maintained.

Despite all these challenges, such good progress was made that two additional designs and a final 90 metres of additional track position were achieved through tremendous teamwork and focus. The track lower and OLE will be progressed in this tunnel during 2017.

Hidden beams At another STAD site in Stoke Gifford, a set of switches was replaced. Also, 72 augured concrete pile foundations were constructed in the area ready to receive masts, 21 masts erected and a signal gantry was replaced and raised to enable the Series 1 catenary wire OLE to be installed. This work was close to another track lowering site at Little Stoke Farm where they came across a cluster of concrete beams dating back to 1920s. The find had to be investigated but it was decided to leave them where they were discovered and design a track alignment over the top.

Both Dan and John are very proud of what they, their integrated team and other STAD delivery teams have achieved, not only because of the work that was successfully completed on time but also because there were no lost-time accidents. They also recorded 1,680 ‘close calls’, a clear indication of the safety culture that prevailed; an attitude that can only work if everyone is working together.

Rail Engineer • December 2016

25kV

electrification systems DAVID SHIRRES

The keystone of sustainability ELECTRIFICATION/POWER

S

ince British Rail pioneered 25kV AC electrification in the late 1950s, power supply arrangements have continually evolved. At first, traction current was simply returned to the feeder station through the running rails, an arrangement that would horrify signalling engineers today. However, as most of the network was controlled by semaphore signalling, it was less significant than it might have been.

One further problem with this arrangement is that some of the return current also flowed through the ground, causing corrosion problems in buried equipment.

In the booster transformer (BT) system, current is returned to the feeder station through a return conductor wire in series with the windings of booster transformers, which are typically positioned at intervals of around three kilometres. At each transformer, there is a break in the catenary supply current which flows through the other winding. As the ratio of the booster transformer windings is 1:1, the traction and return current will be almost the same, thus the return current flow is directed from the rails to return via the return conductor.

Because this return conductor is adjacent to the catenary, the inductive interference from the power supply is almost cancelled by the return current. One disadvantage of the BT system is that the break of supply at the booster transformer can cause arcing and radio frequency interference.

This is not a problem with the autotransformer (AT) system, which uses a 50kV AC supply to power the network’s 25kV AC trains. This higher voltage has a lower voltage drop, thus more power can be supplied with reduced transmission losses. Network Rail has calculated that, over a 30km section, the AT system loss is 1.6 per cent compared with 3.2 per cent for the conventional booster transformer (BT) system.

An autotransformer feeder winding supplies 50kV AC and has an earthed centre tap that is connected to the running rail. The winding thus provides two 25kV AC outputs, each 180 degrees out of phase with the other. This centre-tapped arrangement is sometimes called 50kV CT, or 25-0-25kV, with plus and minus signs to denote the phase difference.

One of these 25kV AC outputs supplies the contact wire, whilst the other is connected to an auxiliary feeder cable. At, typically, ten kilometre intervals, autotransformers are provided. Their windings have a 1:1 ratio between contact wire and rail and the other between auxiliary feeder cable and rail to maintain a 25kV potential difference across each winding. Thus, the return current flows through the rail to autotransformers on either side of the train, and then through its auxiliary feeder winding to the feeder station.

The AT system shares the BT system’s advantage of inductive interference from catenary current being cancelled out by the auxiliary feeder current, but it does not have the BT system’s disadvantage of frequent breaks in supply.

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Rail Engineer • December 2016

ELECTRIFICATION/POWER

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15 years in the making

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ome of the most significant rail infrastructure projects in the UK’s history are in progress at the moment, and will set the course for the future of rail travel. Electrification is at the heart of many of the improvement programmes set out by Network Rail. Ultimately, the aim is to make our railways faster, more efficient and greener, increasing capacity and easing overcrowding for travellers.

A great many contracting companies are involved in projects across the country, bringing their expertise to bear on civil engineering, signalling, telecoms and OLE. Global Rail Construction Ltd (GRCL) - part of the Global Infrastructure Group - is one such company, involved simultaneously on a number of initiatives.

GRCL has a multi-disciplinary design and build focus, providing civil engineering, building, signalling, mechanical and electrical solutions on both heavy and light rail systems.

The common thread in all its projects is its people. GRCL has the resources to consistently deliver to - and go beyond - the expectations of clients.

gantry signal structures and two signals on existing OLE structures. Four are non-man accessible and two are traditional accessible structures.

As part of the design, GRCL’s in house design team produced full 3D designs for each structure.

These were produced in a collaborative way, fully integrated with various other contractors working on the project using the ProjectWise sharing platform, with all drawings requiring conformity to the Crossrail CAD standards.

The project is currently on programme and has been completed to date, to the highest standards, with no incidents or accidents. GRCL’s works are scheduled for completion in December 2016.

Crossrail

The Network Rail West Midland & Chilterns Route Utilisation Strategy (RUS), published

by Network Rail in May 2011, identified the need to develop options to accommodate the current and future passenger demand between Birmingham New Street and Bromsgrove. The RUS also identified a need to address freight growth, particularly between the South West and Birmingham.

Crossrail is billed as one of the most significant infrastructure projects ever undertaken in the UK and will provide easier, quicker and more direct travel opportunities across London, easing congestion.

GRCL was commissioned as principal contractor on behalf of Network Rail, to design and build four cantilever gantries, two portal

Barnt Green to Bromsgrove Electrification

One element of the passenger service enhancement strategy to achieve this objective is to provide electrification and re-signalling of the line between Barnt Green and Bromsgrove, thereby enabling extension of the current electric Cross City services from Longbridge.

The project will see the electrification of approximately 4.5 miles of the route between Barnt Green Station and Bromsgrove Station.

The system to be installed is a 25kV booster-less classic. The system will be constructed to be ATF ready, with increased structure lengths and spare capacity within the distribution sites to be considered.

The initial scope - which forms part of the Midland main line electrification works - will see GRCL as a planning and delivery partner to the ABC Alliance, delivering extensive civil engineering works to the station infrastructure, including extensive remedial works to the platforms and bringing them back into full service.

When the full scope of works are complete, the project will see the design, installation and commissioning of approximately 14 single track kilometres of new electrification between Barnt Green Station and Bromsgrove Station on the route section on ELR’s BAG2, with modification and integration with existing infrastructure on ELR BEA. Within the project’s limits is the Lickey Incline, which has an average 1:37 gradient for two miles.

The steepness of this gradient will present greater design and construction challenges.

Rail Engineer • December 2016

GRCL’s part in the electrification of the Great Western Railway is to enable a sustainable mode of transport by developing a multi-skilled collaborative organisation in which people can succeed by working together.

This involves the construction of a number of substations on behalf of UK Power Network Services, for AST outdoor switchgear including, but not limited to, concrete bases, trough routes, compound fences, URXs, UTXs and cable bridges.

The aims of the project are to: »» Deliver the scope of work efficiently and safely; »» Achieve zero harm to staff, others and the environment; »» Ensure the continued safe operation of the Network Rail infrastructure with a minimum effect on current performance levels; »» Minimise environmental impact of the work during construction; »» Promote sustainable construction through efficient use of resources and promotion of environmental best practice.

Royal Wootton Bassett ATFS - this was a challenging site from the beginning and the site team encountered various problems, such as major design changes and unforeseen ground conditions (high water table) which hindered the progress from the start. However, leveraging good relations with both Network Rail and UK Power Network Services, the GRCL team managed to complete this ATFS site to a high quality standard, on time and within budget.

Little Somerford ATS - Works again on the site have been especially challenging, encountering unforeseen ground conditions, such as the old Somerford station platform, which had to be broken out and disposed of before continuing with the main construction works. All works have generally gone well with no major incidents and finished to a high standard.

Continuing the high standard and winning more tenders, GRCL is currently heading into South Wales and current planning along with the project setups for the next sites is underway, for Severn Tunnel, Cardiff Canton and Maindee.

These sites are due for completion in October 2017.

East Notts Resignalling As the East Notts project now enters the critical advanced level crossing phase, all emphasis is on achieving and completing as many of the construction works as possible on a modular basis to ensure the major commissioning phase runs smoothly and to plan.

July and August saw the successful delivery and installation of seven Si-REBs (signalling island re-locatable equipment building) with the final Si-REB installed at Newark Castle.

As the countdown to commissioning begins, GRCL’s civils team is on schedule, collaborating closely with their client ATUK, with all works being completed to programme. The seven level crossings are being commissioned over three stages, with stage one having been successfully delivered and commissioned on 17 September at Lowdham and Bleasby and stage three on 7 November 2016.

Celebration of success The success of all of these UK major projects up to now is due to the extensive skills and experience of GRCL’s team of specialists which have been developed and honed over 15 years.

2016 has been an exciting year in more ways than one. Both Global Rail Construction Ltd and its sister company in Ireland, Global Rail Services Ltd, have celebrated a 15-year anniversary. The

former has received full PC status and the latter has recently been awarded with a significant light rail scheme in Dublin on the Luas Lines.

There has also been a significant re-branding to encompass the wider rail, infrastructure and telecommunications activities in Australia and Ireland, with the formation of the Global Infrastructure Group - bringing the companies together under one consistent banner and the Global family closer together.

Established by Marco Lombardelli and Ivan Holloway, it has grown into a successful group of multi-disciplined rail engineering and construction delivery organisations. The informal group of companies consists of the UK-based Global Rail Construction Ltd, Irish-based Global Rail Services Ltd, Australian-based Global Rail Australia Ltd and GRA Networks - a specialist telecoms subsidiary operating in both Ireland and Australia.

With 15 years of operation on multi-national rail networks, the Global Infrastructure Group of companies has over 500 years of infrastructure experience amongst its staff. The recent rebrand of the company was a signal of its intention to capitalise on its multi-disciplinary expertise and global reach.

Marco Lombardelli is quick to point to the quality and loyalty of his workforce as the reason for the success to date: “Our incredible journey over the past 15 years has been made possible by the team of specialists we have assembled in the three countries in which we operate - we are so much stronger by the sum of all our parts. Empowering our people and respecting everyone’s views form the basis of our core values.

“Heartfelt thanks go to each and every member of our team. We can now look forward to the next 15 years with great confidence in our delivery capabilities.”

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GWEP (Great Western Electrification Project)

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Rail Engineer • December 2016

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A joint solution for

traction power control

W

ith investment in the UK rail network growing but under continued scrutiny to ensure maximum efficiency is achieved, it is essential that the supply chain is able to bring new and innovative technologies and solutions to the market.

Network Rail’s target for investment during CP5, and forward into CP6, is to focus on infrastructure improvements.

This covers not only signalling renewal programs but also the introduction of additional electrified routes to support the new trains being supplied as part of the Intercity Express Program (IEP).

Essential to electrification is the control of traction power from electrical control rooms using centralised SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) equipment. As a result, Network Rail is investing in a major SCADA renewals program across the electrified network.

Having already worked together on significant integration projects for London Underground, HimaSella and Mitsubishi Electric UK saw an opportunity to combine their industry expertise and proven COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) products to design a modern, cost-effective remote terminal unit (RTU) for traction power substation control.

Drawing upon its 42 years’ experience as a system integrator delivering safety critical control applications, Hima-Sella developed the Tracklink® RTU. This uses a

combination of proven ‘COTS’ Mitsubishi PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) software and hardware, plus the design of industry specific interface technologies, to provide a simple and cost effective solution for substation control.

The two companies have subsequently entered into a formal collaboration and supply agreement, designed to ensure long-term commitment to each other and their customers, for the supply and support of the Tracklink RTU solution over its entire asset life. This

agreement underpins their pursuit, delivery and long-term support of substation automation projects across the UK.

Technology overview The Tracklink RTU has been designed to meet the requirements of new and legacy installations as a flexible solution for substation applications. It can be supplied in a single wall mounted or floor standing cabinet or as a distributed solution, and meets the requirements of the modern electrified network

Rail Engineer • December 2016

Intelligence and control The Mitsubishi Electric Q Series PLC provides the Tracklink RTU with its intelligence and control. The core PLC build consists of a central

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and Network Rail standard NR/L2/ ELP/27229 issue 2 - Specification for Remote Control Equipment.

The design encompasses proven applications and consists of a Mitsubishi Electric Q Series PLC, Tracklink interface cards and a panelmounted HMI (human-machine interface) from Mitsubishi Electric’s GOT 2000 range. All the necessary telecommunications equipment, intelligent device interfaces and battery-backed power supplies are included.

Acting as a slave system to the master control SCADA from which it receives instructions, the Tracklink RTU issues switching commands to the substation equipment and then relays back the plant status as single-bit alarms. Where required, analogue readings can be taken from transducer equipment and relayed to the SCADA to provide voltage and current levels.

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processor unit (CPU) together with communications and input/output modules. These modules are fitted to a high-speed backplane to enable fast data transfer between the CPU, I/O and communications modules, and the central SCADA.

The CPU programming was developed using standard function blocks and has been created for the supply of small, medium and large applications. This enables simple mapping of the I/O for each system once the design has been agreed.

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Rail Engineer • December 2016 A range of communications modules is available to provide a number of options when connecting to the SCADA and other substation devices.

These consist of both serial and IP-based solutions that conform to recognised standards for substation automation systems. The Tracklink RTU has been pre-configured to use legacy system protocols as well as DNP3 (Serial /IP), IEC 60870-5(101/103/104) and IEC 61850.

Intelligent interfaces A key component in today’s modern substation designs is the role of the IEC 61850 communications standard.

Integrating substation devices such as RTUs, protection relays, circuit breakers and other intelligent electrical devices (IEDs) onto one common IP-based bus network provides a costeffective solution with a high degree of component interoperability.

Mitsubishi Electric’s C-CPU module can function as both a DNV KEMAcertified IEC 61850 client and IEC 61850 server, utilising both GOOSE and MMS messaging.

The C-CPU module, acting as an IEC 61850 client, will run the application to interrogate the IEDs and relay this information via a DNP3/IP protocol to the SCADA. It is a standard PLC module and can be fitted to the PLC backplane at any time, allowing existing Tracklink RTU installations to be enhanced at a later stage.

RTU key features The Tracklink RTU solution has been designed not only to deliver the required functionality, but also to implement the following key features and benefits: »» Scalable I/O configurations »» Dummy and mass trip CB options »» Distributed I/O applications »» COTS-based technologies »» Dual-processor option »» Reduced installation costs »» Future-proof design »» Interchangeable modules to reduce downtime »» Flexible enclosure design »» Reduced spares holding »» Reduced maintenance costs »» Master-slave architecture »» Multiple protocol implementation (legacy serial, IEC 61850, 60870 and DNP3) »» Battery back-up.

Plant interface and marshalling To aid in the installation of the Tracklink RTU into new or existing substation installations, dedicated interface cards provide an industryrecognised configuration and point of demarcation. These allow the RTU to be installed using existing plant wiring while delivering the 5kV isolation required to protect the PLC from the substation environment.

Three interface cards provide marshalling and protection for key modules in the system. The Tracklink

10000 card, for the PLC digital input module, comes supplied with 32 individual isolated channels. Each marshalling terminal is fitted with an isolating link and LED for active indication.

The 10001 CO interface card is supplied with 16 relay outputs and 16 individual input channels and works with the PLC digital output module and its corresponding digital input module. Once again, each marshalling terminal is fitted with an isolating link and LED for active indication and the unit is designed for control circuit breakers (CB) and incorporates masstrip and dummy CB configurations.

Designed for the PLC analogue module, the Tracklink 10002 AI interface card is supplied with 16 individually isolated input channels.

Local-control HMI The panel-mounted Mitsubishi HMI can be configured to provide a range of features to aid operation, commissioning and maintenance.

Standard configurations are supplied with an initial display mode of operation that facilitates instant access to the current status of the plant, including: »» Single line diagram »» Plant status alarms »» Analogue values »» Product documentation and isolation plant drawings »» Control of plant

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»» Instantaneous trending of data »» Historic trending of data »» Plant statistics and alarm frequencies »» RTU diagnostics.

First year of operation

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Commenting on the success of the new unit, and the developing relationship with Mitsubishi Electric UK, Hima-Sella business development manager Chris Elliott said: “The introduction of the Tracklink RTU to the market has been well received. We’ve had a number of units in operation on legacy systems across the routes for nearly 12 months. Achieving Network Rail product acceptance was critical and the support and commitment of Mitsubishi Electric and its technical team to this development was essential.”

David Bean, rail industry sales manager at Mitsubishi Electric UK, added “The combination of Mitsubishi Electric’s proven technologies, offered in a commercial off-the-shelf product with HimaSella’s expertise in both safety systems and traction power applications, has resulted in the

development of the Tracklink RTU, which is a uniquely flexible, scalable, low-cost solution for modern substation automation applications.”

Hima-Sella and Mitsubishi Electric are continuing to develop the Tracklink RTU application for the rail industry and its potential for

use in other markets such as power and water. It is a welcome addition to Hima-Sella’s proven product range which includes Tracklink III for selective door opening applications, Tracklink SCADA, and its Tracklink P2P solution for the control of MOS, NSCD and CTS applications.

Safety Critical Control & Automation Systems Proven Solutions for Traction Power Control.  NR/L/ELP/27229-2 Compliant  COTS Based PLC Solution  Dedicated Marshalling Technologies  5KV Plant Isolation  Modern & Legacy Interface Protocols  Integrated HMI

www.hima-sella.co.uk Carrington Field Street, Stockport, Cheshire SK1 3JN

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Rail Engineer • December 2016

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Fixed track forms for high-speed lines MUNGO STACY

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successful and topical conference about fixed track forms for highspeed lines was held recently in Manchester. Organised jointly by the Permanent Way Institution and Union of European Railway Engineering Associations (UEEIV), it brought together over 100 experts from across Europe.

settlement. However, provision of a consistent support platform and consistent stiffness across earthworks, tunnels and bridges is a fundamental requirement.

Selection of a trackform

When the earth moves

Niall Fagan, head of track engineering for HS2, gave the keynote address on choosing the right trackform for a high-speed railway. He noted that there are no established rules or processes to follow when trying to determine whether slab track or ballasted track is the most appropriate solution. He highlighted the need to apply an evidence-based structured evaluation process.

Two key issues in the selection process are: is ballasted track sustainable at very high speeds and tonnages in terms of performance, maintenance and renewals? And can the risks associated with installingslab track on earthworks be mitigated effectively?

A key risk associated with ballasted track is the ongoing settlement of the ballast under loading. The cumulative tonnage is a key input to the degradation of the track system, with speed an input, but to a lesser extent. Since the life span of ballast

is a function of the number of tamps, then a higher tonnage leads to more tamping, which leads to lower ballast life and hence more renewals. This is against the background of a line designed for high availability.

A statistical analysis by SNCF and Systra has been extrapolated for the design values of HS2 tonnage and speed to give a prediction of tamping effort. The design criteria for HS2 Phase 1 (London to Birmingham), after completion of Phase 1 and 2, is 18 trains per hour travelling at 360kph. This corresponds to 60 million gross tons per annum (MGTPA). For comparison, HS1 carries 14 MGTPA, the Paris to Lyon TGV line carries 27 MGTPA and the Tokaido Shinkansen between Tokyo and Osaka carries 46 MGTPA. Slab track has been perceived as less able to cope with ground movements, compared with ballasted track. There are ways to mitigate these issues, such as adjustable rail fastenings to compensate, within limits, for vertical

Wojciech Nawrat, head of research and development at PCM Rail.One, then gave a presentation about the dependency between the super and substructure in the selection, design, construction and operation of ballastless track systems.

Developing one of the themes highlighted by Niall Fagan, he talked in more detail about the risks of constructing slab track on earthworks.

Movements of earthworks may occur over different timescales there may be settlement during construction but also residual settlements after the commencement of operations resulting from deformation in the subsoil, in the embankment itself and due to dynamic track loading. Added to this, there may be short and long-term movements of structures due to elastic deformation and creep.

Deformations will vary along the line of route, with settlements under high embankments,

Rail Engineer • December 2016

Proven systems Dieter Pichler of Vienna Consulting Engineers and Johann Floh of PORR Bau GmbH discussed the ÖBBPORR ballastless system. The first installation of this proven trackslab system, developed in conjunction with ÖBB (Austrian Federal Railways), was in 1989. Since then, it has been installed for over 300km of high-

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localised hard spots under bridges and over culverts, and potential heave in cuttings. There may also be challenges at the interface if separate contracts are let for the substructure and the rail systems.

The construction programme may need to allow hold periods, to allow for proof that deformation conditions match the predictions, prior to construction of slab track.

Remedial measures may need to be pre-installed to accommodate for residual movements, which typically should be limited to less than 15mm vertically. Where heave is expected in cuttings, it is possible to pre-install compensation plates that may be taken out later to reduce the track level as the heave occurs.

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speed lines and 300km of highvolume lines, including long tunnels such as the Wienerwaldtunnel.

The system comprises precast reinforced concrete slabs, 5.2 metres in length, each containing eight embedded rail fixings. The slabs are set to line and level, then self-compacting concrete is poured to anchor the slabs into position.

Settlement compensation can be provided either by adjustment of rail

fasteners or, if greater compensation is needed, by lifting and re-grouting the slabs.

Later in the day, Walter Antlauf of Max Bögl and Steve Swain of Tarmac presented the Slab Track Bögl (FFB) system. This system has been developed through field tests in Germany since the 1970s. Since 2004, it has seen extensive use in the Far East, with over 10,000km installed on the Chinese high-speed

The first installation in the UK of the STA slabs by Rhomberg Sersa.

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// Rhomberg Sersa Rail Group have introduced SLAB TRACK AUSTRIA (STA) to the UK infrastructure, Winchburgh Tunnel, Queen Street Tunnel, Gospel Oak to Barking Reduced Construction Times Cost effective Maintenance Free Low Construction Height Future oriented modular slab system Rhomberg Sersa Rail Group I T +44 300 3030230 I carl.garrud@rhomberg-sersa.com I www.rhomberg-sersa.com

Rail Engineer • December 2016

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All photos: Rhomberg Sersa installed the STA slabs on the EGIP Projects Winchburgh and Queen Street Tunnels.

network. In Europe, over 200km has been installed in applications, including the Katzenberg tunnel in Germany and sections of high-speed railway near Erfurt in Germany.

The system comprises standard slabs 6.45 metres long, 2.55 metres wide by 0.2 metres deep. The slabs are pre-stressed laterally and longitudinally and, after installation, are mechanically connected longitudinally by post-tensioned steel rods. Track curvature is achieved by precision-grinding each rail seat location. This produces slabs which are customised to their location on the line.

Stefan Knittel of Rhomberg Rail Consult discussed track renewal during engineering hours, focusing on proven solutions to optimise slab track replacement in overnight possessions. In particular, he looked at methods which allowed the track to remain in use during the works, in contrast to the traditional approach of carrying out all work stages in a single shift.

Methods included using temporary support to slab tracks in tunnels, whilst concrete was removed and re-cast. In a case study on the Madrid metro, trains were permitted to travel on the temporarily supported track

at reduced speed. Other techniques included a determination of the concrete strengths required to run works traffic over freshly cast slab track. A case study was presented of the city tunnel at MalmĂś, Sweden, where up to 350 metres of track was cast per day, with works trains run with full axle load over the track just 16 hours later.

Rayleigh waves Prof Peter Woodward of HeriotWatt University, Edinburgh, presented on the role of peak particle velocity and critical speed. The passage of a train over the track causes vibrations in the ground, and these propagate through the surface of the ground as Rayleigh waves.

On high-speed lines, the train speed may start to approach the Rayleigh wave velocity and this can lead to significant increases in the amplitude of vibrations. As accelerations increase to a critical peak particle velocity of around 20mm/s, then ballast can start to migrate, leading to increased maintenance demand.

Once acceleration exceeds 0.7 to 0.8g, ballast starts to destabilise.

Away from the track itself, excessive vibrations can be transmitted to adjacent buildings.

Various definitions have been provided for the critical ratio, which is taken as the train speed divided by the velocity of the surface wave, including the effect of the trackform.

Research shows that, below a

Rail Engineer • December 2016

circumstances in which a stiffer trackform is required, noting that there are a number of inputs to the calculation, many of which include a degree of uncertainty.

Noise and vibration Dr Julie Dakin and Brian Stewart, both of Mott MacDonald, discussed reducing noise and vibration from high-speed railways. They noted that noise and vibration are increasingly a major concern for people adjacent to transport infrastructure and that people are becoming more active in complaining using the various media channels now available.

At low train speeds, up to around 30km/h, the majority of noise from a train comes from the traction equipment. At higher speeds, above 30km/h, the rolling noise due to the roughness of the wheel on the rail becomes dominant. At high speeds, over 250km/h, aerodynamic noise becomes the biggest contributor.

The main sources are airflow around the bogies, around the pantograph, around the front of the train and at the gaps between carriages.

The most obvious mitigation measure is a noise barrier, to avoid straight-line transmission. However, barriers need careful consideration

Rhomberg Sersa V-TRAS

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critical ratio of 0.6, the increase in vibration is likely to be small. Once the critical ratio exceeds around 0.6, accelerations start to increase rapidly and non-linearly.

Where the proposed line speed would appear to exceed this critical ratio, there are two mitigating methods: measures to increase the ground stiffness, such as soil stabilisation or piling, which increase the Rayleigh wave velocity, and/or measures to increase the trackform stiffness, such as using slab track, to increase the critical track velocity. The latter is the Rayleigh wave velocity taking into account the stiffness of the track system.

Analytical methods, typically involving 3D finite element modelling of the ground, can be used to predict the wavelength of the Rayleigh waves. This can be used to assess the depth of stabilisation measures, where ground improvement is proposed, given that the peak displacement drops off rapidly below a depth of half the wavelength. Such analysis can also be used to assess the effect of providing minimum values of ground stiffness, or the

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Rail Engineer • December 2016 so as not to impede access or train evacuation and can become large structures over four metres high.

Likewise, they do not mitigate for tall buildings such as blocks of flats.

Other solutions such as rail dampers may assist in mitigating rolling noise, but this may not provide much benefit for high-speed routes where aerodynamic noise tends to dominate.

Ground-borne vibration is generated by the natural roughness of wheels on the track. It may be transmitted, for example, through tunnel linings into the ground and thence to buildings, where it may be felt as a lowfrequency rumble. It typically occurs in the frequency range 30 to 200Hz; above this, the ground tends to damp out higher frequencies.

There are options to mitigate ground-borne vibration by changing the transmission path. Generally, ground-borne vibration and noise can be reduced by reducing the stiffness of the rail support. Many systems exist to do this, including resilient baseplates, booted sleepers and full floating slabs. However, care is needed to consider the various sources and frequencies of vibration, since modifying the transmission path in this manner can push previously non-critical effects into the zone of interest.

Track structure interaction

Improved ballasted track

Dr David Rhodes of D R Squared and Mike Baxter of Track International Consulting talked about the interaction between ballastless track and bridge structures on high-speed lines.

This issue relates to the relative movement of a bridge structure beneath a trackform of continuous welded rail.

A bridge may move due to bending under traffic loads, due to thermal expansion and contraction or as a response to traction and braking forces. This results in additional stresses within the rail.

Traditionally, this effect is mitigated by installing a rail expansion joint at the structural discontinuity.

However, on high-speed lines, such devices are expensive to install and maintain so it is desirable to minimise their use.

Track engineers may find it somewhat strange that there are codified limits for rail stresses in the structural design standards. These permit the use of a non-linear finite element analysis of the combined track and structure system. Work is also in hand at European level to review the limits, particularly with respect to slab track.

The thermal movement of a bridge structure places a limit on the longest structure length that is possible without exceeding the rail stress limits. However, this can be mitigated by using reduced or zero longitudinal restraint (ZLR) track fixings in the vicinity of the structure movement joint. Case studies were presented of measures which could be applied, including a 225-metrelong continuous viaduct without rail expansion joints, but including ZLR fixings within a 16 metre zone at each structure movement joint.

In the last presentation of the day, Dr Klaus Riessberger of the Technical University Graz put an alternative proposal to the conference compared with previous debates about fixed track forms. He presented the results of in-service testing on alternative sleeper designs which could give high performance ballasted track.

The designs were based on the premise that maintenance of ballasted track could be reduced if the stresses on the ballast are more even, compared with the traditional ‘hit and miss’ loading applied by sleepers. A more even stress distribution should in theory reduce the peak stresses on the ballast and hence decrease degradation under load.

A series of proposals was presented, all of which had the common feature of a near-continuous longitudinal member below the rail. It was noted that, in track engineering, there is nothing new and a version of this was used in 1854 on the Semmeringbahn in Austria.

Full-frame and half-frame design sleepers have been installed at trial sites on Austrian railways and on the Union Pacific railroad in the USA. These sites, subject to heavy traffic and on tight curvature, have indicated a reduction in tamping intervals from, typically, three to four years to over 15 years without tamping. At the USA site, over 1,200 million gross tons of traffic had run over the site over five years without any signs that maintenance was required.

It had been a packed day. As Brian Counter, technical director of the Permanent Way Institution, said in his summing up, the partnership with UEEIV had resulted in a successful and sold-out conference. Attendees had been treated to an informative and thought-provoking set of presentations on a topic of immediate relevance.

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Rail Engineer • December 2016

Sicat’s 10-year service milestone

and an increasing demand for Static Frequency Converters

I

n 2005 the overhead line equipment (OLE) engineering team from Siemens Rail Electrification designed a replacement for the life-expired OLE equipment on the six and a half mile Glasgow Shields Junction to Paisley Gilmour Street line. Ten years on and the equipment has delivered outstanding service, achieving exceptional reliability, availability and maintainability (RAM) scores on this suburban route.

Siemens’ lightweight Sicat SA system was accepted as a replacement for the route’s existing Mark 2 galvanised system from the 1960s, with new aluminium cantilever supports being retro-fitted into the existing infrastructure. This was the first such system to be installed in the UK. Network Rail’s strict brief for the system upgrade specified that no new structures were to be introduced as direct replacements for the existing support assemblies. Siemens successfully met this requirement by introducing a cantilever that was far lighter than the existing steel arrangement and, using readily available solutions, the system designers were also able to interface the Sicat SA system with other Mark 1 and Mark 3 OLE systems.

Catering for a high number of multiplepantographs, (capable of supporting operations up to 160 kilometres per hour), the route called for high availability and robust, long-life performance, which Sicat SA has delivered. The system has proved to be exceptionally reliable, its performance vindicating the decision to replace the original equipment, both from an asset management and a maintenance perspective.

Effectively providing a modern, like-for-like replacement, the system can be installed with minimum disruption and impact on the network. The Sicat SA lightweight arrangements allow for single mobile elevated work platform (MEWP) handling, a reduction in on-line plant, and safer manhandling at height, compared to that of heavier cantilevers. The system may also be constructed both on- and off-site, offering the potential for significant cost savings over the entire programme.

Commenting on the work, James Goulding from Siemens Rail Electrification said: “The durability of the Sicat system in such a demanding application has been outstanding, perfectly demonstrating its exceptional performance capability.”

Danish electrification programme The 14-year programme by Danish rail operator Banedanmark to electrify large parts of Denmark’s rail network is now well into its fourth year.

Developed to create a sustainable and flexible framework within which both passenger and freight rail networks can operate, the network will deliver more stable and more cost-effective operation. It will also achieve significant environmental benefits, with the introduction of an expanded fleet of electric trains providing cleaner, quieter and more efficient operation.

In May 2015 Siemens Rail Electrification was awarded the contract to electrify nine rail routes, with the company appointed to equip about 1,300 kilometres of the country’s rail network with electrical overhead lines.

Working as part of a consortium with construction partner Per Aarsleff AS, by project completion in 2026, the company will have fitted overhead contact lines in a 2x25kV configuration to nine tracks on the network. The electricity supply will also be installed with substations, autotransformer stations and remote control equipment.

The scheme, which incorporates a Siemens Sicat SX solution for the overhead contact line, is now being rolled-out, with work underway on the electrification of the 57-kilometre double track stretch between Esbjerg and Lunderskov in the west of the country.

One of the key benefits of the Sicat SX system is that its lightweight design allows greater distances between poles. As a result, the steelwork requirement is much less than for traditional systems and far fewer foundations need to be dug.

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Rail Engineer • December 2016

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Installation of the system is also fast and straightforward - with the layout being planned and designed by a software tool. The cantilevers are therefore able to be pre-assembled with a quick-fixing device, enabling a more flexible, efficient and cost-effective build programme to be followed.

This all leads to a safer working environment for the installation team, with reduced risk of accidents due to fewer possessions being required in the build phase.

From a UK perspective, James Goulding added: “Building on the work that we are undertaking in Denmark, we would be able to build a model to address some of the challenges that will face the UK’s National Electrification Programme - with the aim of producing a safer, more costefficient and less risky approach to delivery.

“Sicat SX’s design means that it needs fewer posts and therefore fewer foundations per kilometre than conventional systems. These longer span lengths make installation faster, less disruptive and significantly more costeffective, all of which are major advantages given the UK’s tight midweek possession regimes.

“This would particularly benefit routes that are affected by the Government’s electrification review.”

SFCs - now with MMC! As a global leader in the development and supply of traction power supply systems, Siemens has installed static frequency convertors (SFCs) for infrastructure operators across Europe and the United States, the systems delivering single-phase traction power solutions from three-phase networks.

With the first installation over 20 years ago, and over 30 installations successfully commissioned in the last six years alone, the company’s portfolio of SFC projects includes the world’s largest converter, the 180-megawatt (MW) system in the Richmond area of Philadelphia.

In essence, SFC systems consist of only one converter that directly couples two networks, with the three-phase AC voltage being directly converted into a single-phase AC voltage with different frequency.

Supplied as part of the company’s Sitras® range, the newest generation of Siemens’ SFC Plus traction converters feature innovative modular multilevel converter (MMC) technology, which means that no traction transformer is needed to feed the overhead contact line. The company’s multilevel traction converters are quiet, space-efficient and require minimal maintenance.

The system’s flexibility extends to its housing, with both conventional building and containerised solutions available. This smaller physical footprint reduces the turnkey costs and makes this an ideal option where trackside space is limited and/or costly. A simple, single-circuit cooling system is provided for cooling the converter.

Because it uses a relatively low number of proven and robust standard components, MMC technology provides a high degree of flexibility in converter design and station layout, simplifying the design, planning, installation and commissioning processes, as well as any subsequent engineering tasks.

For rail infrastructure owners and operators, this means it is fast and efficient to install - with reduced grid/distribution network operator high-voltage connection costs, as well as simpler and more cost-effective maintenance, and reduced service requirements. The system also provides traction power network resilience.

Covering both central and decentralised traction power supply systems, Sitras SFC Plus systems provide a high degree of efficiency over the entire operating range, optimising the use of the primary energy and delivering high availability. The SFC can control harmonics, voltage flicker, power factor and voltage unbalance at the point of common coupling (PCC).

These modular converters provide the flexibility for each system to be adapted to meet the rail operator’s specific requirements, with block capacities of 12 to 120 MW and the ability to connect multiple blocks in parallel. As a result, a total power rating of up to 600 MW is attainable.

Where multiple converters are specified, a higher-level station control system can also be used. This specifies the operating mode and output power of the individual converter blocks that are operated so that the highest degree of efficiency is achieved with an optimised number of start/ stop operations. This means that in normal operation, the entire system can be operated unmanned, with monitoring and control being carried out remotely at the control centre.

The system can also operate in a number of different modes according to the network requirements - variable or fixed frequency operation (for central networks and decentralised networks respectively) and phase-shift operation in the event of failure of the three-phase network.

Importantly, these systems do not require neutral sections for phase separation within the SFC-fed section or area. This is significant, as neutral sections typically require quarterly to half-yearly maintenance to remain reliable, with design flaws in existing neutral sections proving to place considerable demand on maintenance resource and renewals funding.

James Goulding added: “Already used in rail applications across Europe and North America, Siemens Sitras SFC Plus systems are increasingly being considered for both mainline and metro applications - in the UK and elsewhere. Given their flexibility, cost effectiveness and the range of installation, operational and environmental benefits they deliver, these systems look set to become a preferred solution for infrastructure operators.”

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Rail Engineer • December 2016

CLIVE KESSELL

Electrification

in the Digital Age

E

lectrification has received some negative press coverage over recent times, with delays to major projects and significant cost overruns being widely reported. Why should this be and what has gone wrong?

Part of the problem is that there has been a significant gap between the last major project East Coast in the late 1980s - and authorisation of the more recent schemes such as the electrification of the Midland main line, North West, and Great Western main line, the latter only recently scaled back yet again following demands from the National Audit Office. In that time, many of the people with electrification skills had either retired or moved elsewhere, and a dearth of knowledge has been a major factor in getting these projects progressed.

However even if that were not the case, the planning and design methodology, as developed in the 1960s through to the 1980s, is out of date. It relied on manual surveys, paper records and slow agreement between affected disciplines to get the necessary sign off, along with a restructuring of the railway and more complex contractual relationships postprivatisation. These processes have been part of the problem and are not commensurate with the digital railway initiative.

So what can be done to improve this state of affairs? Rail Engineer met with the Atkins electrification team to learn of the work that has been carried out to develop new design and planning tools. In the context of this article, electrification relates to overhead line 25/50kV systems, although it is perfectly possible that some of the design features could benefit any further expansion of the 750V DC third-rail network.

The basic requirements To outsiders, planning a line to be electrified is a relatively simple process. You work to a set of standards to decide the type of electrification required. Survey the route and mark where structures and gantries need to be, order the materials, arrange a contractor, obtain the necessary possessions, carry out the installation, do some power up tests, run some test trains and hand over as commissioned. Unfortunately the real world is not like that and many other factors have to be taken into account before any real work can begin.

Firstly, it must be understood that electrification involves many engineering disciplines, the main one of course being OLE itself, which includes skills associated with mechanical, electrical, civil, structural and geotechnical engineering. Others include general civils for embankments, retaining walls and bridges, permanent way for line LiDAR point cloud survey model.

TADPOLE-generated 3D model.

speed and track alignments, signalling for signal sighting and interference, telecommunications for immunisation requirements, traction and rolling stock for types of train and associated characteristics, operations for train planning and service frequency.

All in all, it is a very complex matrix, and one where innumerable consultations have to take place to satisfy the concerns and requirements of everyone.

The traditional sequence of events to create a plan for an electrification project is: »» Produce a layout plan following route surveys; »» Validate the layout plan with all concerned; »» Undertake an interdisciplinary design check and an interdisciplinary review; »» Carry out a structural analysis and produce foundation designs »» Do a detailed cross-section design for every individual structure and produce a materials allocation; »» Carry out dropper calculations for the catenary wire; »» Produce a construction submission.

Rail Engineer • December 2016

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ELECTRIFICATION/POWER

All these steps require separate documentation that then has to go through interactive consultation, which is a time consuming exercise. What if all this could be captured and logged on to a single information source that could then be shared by all interested parties and thus form an ongoing electrification plan to be used as a database for the totality of the project?

Electrification engineers within Atkins have been working on such a solution since 2011. They have built on learnings from the Innovate UK-funded Digitally Enabling Electrification project, which saw Atkins work with partners Laing O’Rourke, DHP11 and Imperial College to research and develop digital solutions to enhance productivity throughout the electrification lifecycle.

The resulting design solution represents the next stage in this thinking and has been deployed to deliver ever-increasing functionality to both railway infrastructure providers and electrification contractors over the last five years.

A brief preview of this was given in the June 2016 issue of Rail Engineer and is now described in greater detail.

Every good innovation deserves a catchy acronym, this being Tools Aiding the Design and Production of Overhead Line Equipment - TADPOLE. Designed by engineers for engineers, the concept to combine all the individual elements of an overhead line electrification scheme and produce a common set of data is an admirable one.

Together with software company DHP11 and using the skills of engineers who will eventually use the tool, an XML (Extendable Markup Language) file is built up as the project moves through the design life cycle. This enables high levels of integrity of data, reliability of design and responsiveness to evolving design requirements. It removes a lot of duplicated data activity, while allowing extracts of the data to be taken off and used by the various parties when it is needed.

The whole electrification design can be seen as a single asset base.

Incorporated in this is the capture of all the technologies, (including existing asset information where it exists), which means a complete data set for the project can be created. The data set can be used to produce a very reliable picture of all the proposed installations and additionally include all the associated information for each structure, so as to compile a total visualisation of the route that is to be electrified.

The data can then be interpreted to build 3D models, undertake engineering calculations, order materials or do whatever is required at the relevant stages of the project. As each element of the planning work is completed, so the data set is updated to reflect what has been decided, which everyone can then see. The final version before the main construction work begins is used to complete the materials list and procurement specification.

Another significant advantage of this technology is that the need to disrupt the live railway for the installation of OLE is significantly reduced.

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Information contained

Usage to date

Much of what an electrification scheme is made up of is obvious, but it is surprising to learn just how much information is required.

For a start, every overhead structure or gantry is different even though they are all made up of standard parts.

Data required for every installation includes: foundation type, foundation depth, distance from running line, relationship to other lines, catering for switches and crossings, whether on level ground or an embankment or in a cutting, whether to be fixed to a retaining wall and how high that wall will be, how to locate on bridges / viaducts, proximity to any obstruction such as cable route or drain, existence of level crossings, expected wind loading, even the basic single mast, portal, cantilever, headspan decision.

Add to this the standard requirements for feeder stations, track sectioning cabins, autotransformer feeders and neutral sections, then one begins to see what a complicated exercise this can be.

Once the main decisions have been taken, it is usual to undertake trial borings to confirm the ground conditions. An increasing requirement in the design process is to plan the electrification for optimised possession opportunities required for track and overhead line maintenance. An example would be on a four-track railway whereas in the past, a single portal might be across all four lines, this now may change to have two twin-track cantilevers, thus enabling two lines to be closed with two remaining open for traffic. The use of standard parts sounds good but, with all the permutations, these number well over 1,000.

With each data set comes all the relevant information so that each structure can be viewed as a complete entity. The use of BIM (Building Information Management) techniques enables the sharing of data between disciplines and design stages. The resultant design is agnostic to any one supplier so as to allow many suppliers to bid for the construction contracts.

All this sounds great in theory, but does it work out in practice? The Atkins design philosophy has been tried out on part of the GW project working in conjunction with Amey as the prime contractor, on the NW electrification working with Carillion on the Manchester Victoria to Stalybridge and Bolton sections, with VolkerRail for Blackpool to Preston, also for pre-work on the MML scheme and will be used now that the project has re-started.

It is still being assessed for practicability and how best to ensure the effective distribution and updating of information as the work progresses.

Essentially, TADPOLE is a GRIP 3-5 tool but capable of extending up the GRIP (Governance of Railway Investment Projects) ladder as design transforms into reality.

The design element is not linked to any particular method of contractor or supplier.

Sometimes Network Rail chooses to manage projects with its own internal expertise, on other occasions it might elect to appoint a turnkey contractor with responsibility for the entire project. The aim of TADPOLE is for it to work with any combination of supply choices.

Although Atkins owns the design tool, it does not own the input and output data contained, this being freely available to all.

Resourcing the project The dearth of electrification projects during the late BR period has been mentioned. Supporting the ongoing development of resources is important if the predicted ongoing electrification programme is to enjoy better success.

Atkins has recruited many graduates and young engineers to bolster the discipline and TADPOLE is making it easy to understand and engage with the engineering. It removes much of the manual work and reduces the chance of error, yet remains driven by engineering principles.

To date, Atkins has 60 UK-based people in its OLE team, including 15 apprentices, as well as 22 engineers based in India and 40 in

Scandinavia. Clearly, TADPOLE is a tool that is not confined to the UK and will be employed on overseas contracts when appropriate.

Ongoing development At present, the tool is geared around officebased design activity, but with the data available it has potential for much greater application.

An industry body has been established to explore the next steps for digitising electrification - the Railway Electrification Delivery Group (REDG), which comprises the Data Exchange Working Group. Atkins has a role in the first and chairs the second with the whole thrust being to share knowledge and expertise.

TADPOLE can enable further efficiencies by allowing digital information to be used by frontline staff out on the ground carrying out installation or maintenance work. Transporting the data on to iPad, tablet or other portable smart devices is an obvious next step, but this will require a discipline to keep the data up-to-date and for a routine to be in place that all parties follow so that accuracy and consistency is maintained.

The installation of structures, droppers and overhead wiring has been made more efficient by the advent of the High Output Plant System (HOPS) electrification construction train, but it is still largely a human-controlled movement.

Is it just possible to load the design and route data into the train so that it stops automatically at the right place where drilling or erection is to take place? Maybe a step too far at the present time but, with digital technology, all things seem to become possible.

This design initiative is very much part of the Digital Railway programme, although it is not high profile. Once success is assured and usage becomes commonplace, then it will take its place alongside ERTMS, TMS and the other elements of this step change in railway technology.

Thanks to Ben Dunlop, Paul Rowlands and Francesca Buckley from Atkins for explaining the TADPOLE service.

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W

hen King Coal ruled Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, his monopoly transport servant for much of the nineteenth century was the Midland Railway. But only one party profits from a monopoly and the Midland’s ability to dictate prices on a ‘take it or leave it’ basis seriously dented Derby’s position as an industrial powerhouse. So when local businessmen set their sights on 4,000 acres of coal-producing land on the Duke of St Albans’ Bestwood estate - which hadn’t been worked for want of a rail link - they saw an opportunity to open up the market.

The Great Northern Railway (Derbyshire and Staffordshire) Act of 1872 paved the way for a 40-mile network of main line and branches, ushering in a new era of competition. But it came at a price, beyond the estimated £1.1 million construction cost. To entice the GNR onto the scene, it was effectively given free rein to adopt the cheapest possible alignment, demolishing its way through the middle of Derby. Several streets disappeared. That’s not to say the route was easy though: 2¾ million cubic yards of material had to be excavated as progress was made across the East Midlands, sufficient to form a pyramid with a base of five acres and reaching skywards by 1,000 feet.

Two big-ticket features focussed the minds of Richard Johnson, the Great Northern’s chief engineer, and Samuel Abbott, under whose immediate supervision the works were pushed forward by contractor Benton & Woodiwiss.

The first, a tunnel of 1,132 yards, helped the line to negotiate a ridge to the north-east of Nottingham, whilst the second carried it over the River Erewash and its flood plain. This was Bennerley (née Ilkeston) Viaduct, a striking wrought iron structure, 484 yards long and 56 feet high. It’s one of only two surviving in the UK - the other being at Meldon in Devon - and was reputedly modelled on the impressive Busseau-sur-Creuse Viaduct in central France, engineered by Wilhelm Nördling.

With its 39 puddling furnaces, Derby-based Eastwood, Swingler & Co won the contract to prefabricate the ironwork at its base on Osmaston Road. Construction got underway on the concrete and brick foundations in May 1876; two months later, attention turned to the first pier. Like the others, this comprised 12 tubular columns, riveted together from four quadrants and then cross-braced using interlaced pin-jointed ties to resist buckling and bending strains. Rather than using holdingdown bolts, their bases were only held in position by building the brickwork up around them.

Whilst support for the rails would conventionally have been provided by waybeams, transverse iron troughs were instead installed at 2’4” centres, allowing ballast to the tipped across the deck and the track laid upon it. This low-fixity approach meant that any settlement of the structure - and consequential track misalignment - could easily be rectified through repacking. As the troughs also acted as cross girders, the load on the foundations was further reduced, totalling just 12 cwt per square foot.

Keep it light The main part of Bennerley Viaduct features 16 spans, mostly extending for 77 feet and each formed of three lattice girders, supported by trestle piers. To overcome the Midland Railway’s Erewash Valley line, additional spans of 26, 35 and 52 feet were needed at its western end, supported by brick piers and abutments set at a skew of 15°.

Influencing the design and choice of material were abandoned coal and ironstone workings underlying the structure, the records for which were either lost or unavailable. A traditional masonry viaduct - or even masonry piers - was ruled out as it was assumed the honeycombed formations would be unable to withstand such a weight. As well as being light, the use of wrought iron also ensured a degree of flexibility in the event of foundation settlement.

“Personally, I think the proximity of iron producers was also a factor,” asserts Dave Gent, principal engineer at Atkins and wrought iron specialist. “Transporting materials to site was therefore not as expensive as it might have been. And what better way to showcase the capability of local industries?”

Much like a production line, the process of erection gathered its own momentum, reaching a conclusion in just 18 months. But it was not without incident. A newspaper reporter recounted the scene after walking into the aftermath of a mishap involving a painter. “The poor fellow was adjusting a loose plank when he lost his balance and fell from a height of 40 feet head first upon the permanent way of the Midland Railway beneath.

He was said to have been alive when taken up, but as we listened to the description of the eye-witnesses and glanced, with a shudder, from the dizzy height to the pool of blood, which told its own dread tale too well, we felt that the chances of recovery from such a shock must be indeed small.”

(Above) Timber props temporarily support one span’s lattice girders during construction.

(Right) A glorious sunrise over the viaduct.

PHOTO: PAUL ATHERLEY

Rail Engineer • December 2016

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new dawn BENNERLEY’S

GRAEME BICKERDIKE

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Rail Engineer • December 2016

(Above & left) A visual survey of the viaduct was carried out using a drone.

PHOTOS: FOUR BY THREE

(Bottom) A render from the 3D laser scan.

Time travel The viaduct started to repay the Great Northern’s considerable investment on 28 January 1878 when a limited minerals service started running over the Derbyshire Extension. Its operational life proved largely uneventful, except for the night of 31 January 1916 when a fleet of nine L20 Zeppelin airships crossed the North Sea with their sights set on Manchester and Liverpool.

Several got lost in fog banks; others turned back due to mechanical problems. However it seems likely that the attention of Kapitänleutnant Franz Stabbert was caught by the glow of Bennerley Ironworks, immediately north of the viaduct.

Several bombs were dropped, one narrowly missing the structure but obliterating the adjacent signal box.

Awash with duplicated lines, this corner of the East Midlands suffered deep cuts as the doublewhammy of withering heavy industry and cheap road transport forced the notorious reshaping of the network in the 1960s. The Derbyshire Extension held out as a through route for freight until 6th May 1968, passenger services having ended four years earlier.

The viaduct enjoyed its retirement for a few years, earning a protective listing in 1974. A year later, however, with children risking life and limb on it, British Rail sought permission from two district councils to demolish the structure on safety and cost grounds. This was turned down, but its existence has

been questioned periodically ever since, usually after adventurers have fallen off and injured themselves. Environment Secretary Michael Heseltine sent the matter to a public inquiry in 1980, thus creating some breathing space for the societies and campaign groups who wanted to save it. The outcome though was fudge and prevarication.

A charitable trust endeavoured to secure a useful future for the viaduct, but to no immediate avail and the British Rail Property Board eventually handed custodianship to Railway Paths Limited in 1998 as part of a portfolio which included 210 miles of disused railway routes and 695 structures. The intention was to ease the expansion of the National Cycle Network, under the auspices of sister charity Sustrans. It’s taken 18 years but, to that end, a way forward is now emerging for Bennerley Viaduct.

Power to transform “Its time has come,” insists Kieran Lee, Sustrans’ community engagement officer. “Within the next few years, people will be crossing it again, but they’ll be on bikes.” Having lived nearby for almost 30 years, Kieran’s retirement has been largely consumed by the structure, promoting its future, helping others to learn more about it and leading monthly working parties of passionate people the Friends of Bennerley Viaduct - who are keen to see the project come to fruition.

They see the viaduct as a community asset, with the potential to establish a direct, trafficfree route across the Erewash and serve as the centrepiece of an extended Great Northern Greenway, occupying the trackbed of the old Derbyshire Extension. It will connect visitors with the industrial legacy hereabouts and a fabulous wildlife corridor. Barn owls and kestrels both roost high in the viaduct’s ironwork.

Rail Engineer • December 2016

“It has the potential to rejuvenate this part of the valley,” Kieran contends, “because people will come from a long way to see it. It will also give us pride that something on our doorstep is valued and celebrated. It’s not just ‘a lump of nineteenth-century scrap iron’, as a local councillor once described it. It’s a magnificent piece of railway architecture.”

Bringing all this about will not be cheap - around £2 million probably - but that’s small beer compared with the eye-watering £185 million earmarked for London’s Garden Bridge - crossing the Thames - £60 million of which is to come from the taxpayer. New earthworks will be needed as Bennerley Viaduct currently stands marooned, its approach embankments having long since been cleared away; there are also canals to overcome at both ends, as well as a bypass.

Sustrans is expected to submit a bid for Heritage Lottery Fund money in February; the outcome should be known next summer.

A technician prepares to carry out one of the laser scans.

PHOTO: FOUR BY THREE

Cover all angles

the data. To help the engineering team, the Friends had already spent an arduous year ridding the pier bases of thick vegetation, as well as shifting ballast to expose the deck trough ends.

The work involved a laser scan of the entire structure, from which a set of accurate ‘general arrangement’ drawings has been produced. To reduce cost, time

In part, the size of that bid will be influenced by the findings of a detailed condition survey - carried out during September and October - and the associated optioneering.

This was very much a local effort, all those involved being based within 15 miles of the structure: Dave Gent leading on behalf of Atkins, with Bridgeway Consulting gathering

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Road Rail Access

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Pedestrian Crossings

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Anti-Trespass

and risk, a tactile survey was undertaken of just one span by examiners using rope access, allowing the likelihood of defects in the other spans to be established through extrapolation.

Additionally, a full visual record was captured using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. “The quality of the high-definition photos from the drone is really promising,” says

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Dave Gent, “and is comparable with pictures taken by examiners hanging from a rope. You can measure bolt-head dimensions; rivets though are more difficult as they don’t have sharp edges. I’m hoping to use this as a case study to demonstrate the capabilities of UAV technology to other clients.”

In general terms, Bennerley Viaduct remains in remarkably good condition, despite the withdrawal of its substantive maintenance regime 48 years ago. Although the quality of wrought iron was inconsistent, the trapping of impurities through the manufacturing process had the effect of providing a higher corrosion resistance. This has worked to Bennerley’s benefit as its protective paintwork is now largely non-existent.

Whilst wrought iron could deliver a higher yield stress than mild steel, records weren’t usually kept of what grade of iron was used for which structure, so the loading capacity of two adjacent bridges - or even identical members on the same bridge - could vary considerably. There were no defined standards; section sizes were all determined by the fabricators and engineers.

As expected, the survey found that the trough ends have corroded and there’s some rustjacking between plates. Rivets are missing although there are almost half-a-million of them - and many of the pier bases have lost brickwork due to freeze/thaw action and sapling growth.

Left to their own devices, these defects will inevitably deteriorate so some remedial work is needed. There’s nothing fundamental though.

Solid investment As a piece of engineering heritage, Bennerley Viaduct has national importance. It is however legitimate to question how much value we can be justifiably attach to ‘heritage’ in this age of austerity. There are hospitals to fund, schools to maintain, and less public money to do either with.

The issue here is one of cost-benefit, looking at the broader picture. Ploughing money into a redundant structure is teetering on untenable, beyond the obligation to protect public safety.

So why not restore its functionality? Bennerley can be repurposed to benefit health, transport, tourism, business. There’s more to life than CapEx; schemes like this impact positively on communities long after the compound has been demobilised. Evidence of that can be found up and down the country. Ultimately you get more out than you initially put in.

It’s hoped that Bennerley Viaduct’s next operational period will be underway by 2020.

Get your lycra aired.

One of the spans was subjected to a full tactile examination.

PHOTOS: FOUR BY THREE

82

Rail Engineer • December 2016

RECRUITMENT

Opportunities with Frazer-Nash At Frazer-Nash, we employ dynamic and original thinkers who challenge all boundaries to find the perfect solution for clients. This way of thinking has enabled us to grow into a rapidly expanding systems and engineering technology consultancy, with offices throughout the UK and Australia.

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