Rail Engineer - Issue 149 March 2017

Engineer

by rail engineers for rail engineers

MARCH 2017 - ISSUE 149

EGIP

ELECTRIFICATION

CLEARANCE WOES

UK SIGNALLING 2017 UPDATE

SMART CABLE MONITORING

ELL TUNNEL EMERGENCY CONTROL

Network Rail’s head of signalling talks about the latest plans for ROCs, Traffic Management and Modular Signalling.

How new multi-tier smart cable insulation monitoring will make faults easier to detect and locate.

The old pinch-wire system in Marc Brunel’s 150-year-old tunnel has been replaced by in-cab radio.

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Anti-Trespass

Rail Engineer • March 2017

Intelligent drones?

The use of unmanned aerial systems and cognitive learning for asset inspections.

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3

Contents Opinion: It’s all about TRUST

6

IRSE president-elect Peter Symons considers the importance of professional trust.

News

7

Bakerloo line, level crossings, Railtex, IEP, greater certainty, ASPECT EGIP electrification clearance woes

10

David Shirres investigates why standards changed, and the resulting fallout.

Wi-Fi and all that jazz - communicating on trains

The Digital Railway - a supplier’s view

24

Christian Fry of Alstom explains what suppliers see as the challenges to come.

Obsolescence management

28

Telent is extending the life of systems that are already obsolete.

East London line tunnel emergency control

31

Carillion replaces crocodile clips with radio communications.

34

The AMCO tunnel screen

36

Peter Stanton discovers how to work in a live tunnel in perfect safety.

UK signalling - a 2017 update Kevin Robertshaw tells Clive Kessell what the future may hold.

20

Smart cable monitoring

42

Tahir Ayub explains how a new standard will make faults easier to prevent & trace.

Power converters: rugged solutions for demanding applications

48

DC-DC converters have all sorts of uses, both trackside and on trains.

Going off the grid

50

Powering a GSM-R repeater largely by solar energy.

Health and safety laboratory

Intelligent power converters

52

Analytic Systems uses digital processing to give engineers a more flexible solution.

Front Cover ScotRail Class 385 at Gourock station while undergoing testing.

Picture: Johnathan McGurk

54

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

Railtex Show Preview

See more at www.railengineer.uk

Innovation

in the May issue of Rail Engineer.

Got a fantastic innovation? Exhibiting at Railtex? Call Nigel on 01530 816 445 NOW!

THE STEPHENSON CONFERENCE: RESEARCH FOR RAILWAYS

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Next April, The Stephenson Conference will bring together academic researchers and industry experts to shine a spotlight on the pioneering work taking place across the railway industry #stephensonconference

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ORGANISING COMMITTEE Railway Division The Institution of Mechanical Engineers

MEMBER CREDITS: Richard Gostling IMechE Railway Division Francis How Institution of Railway Signal Engineers Prof Simon Iwnicki Institute of Railway Research, University of Huddersfield

Sharon Odetunde RSSB David Polehill Association of Train Operating Companies

Visit: www.imeche.org/stephenson to find out more eventenquiries@imeche.org

Rail Engineer • March 2017 Editor David Shirres david.shirres@railengineer.uk

Production Editor Nigel Wordsworth nigel.wordsworth@railengineer.uk

Production and design Adam O’Connor adam@rail-media.com 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 graeme.bickerdike@railengineer.uk grahame.taylor@railengineer.uk lesley.brown@railengineer.uk malcolm.dobell@railengineer.uk mark.phillips@railengineer.uk paul.darlington@railengineer.uk peter.stanton@railengineer.uk stuart.marsh@railengineer.uk

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5

Signalling a new era Britain’s signalling spans various eras encompassing different technologies including mechanical interlocking, the first digital signalling (British Rail’s SSI and RETB) and modular signalling. In this issue, we examine some of the challenges faced by our signalling engineers, of which this technology mix is one. We also describe some solutions and look to the future.

ERTMS offers many advantages and is supported by the Government which recently allocated £450 million to trial digital signalling. Yet Britain lags the rest of Europe, where fifteen countries have deployed ERTMS level 2 signalling. Replacing lineside with in-cab signalling on Britain’s complex mixed-traffic railway presents problems, and the first schemes will require a disproportionate number of cab fitments.

With ERTMS, at least at level 2, being a proven technology, the main barriers to its implementation are not necessarily technical. Its business case must be proved and there need to be incentives for all parties involved. The UK supply chain has much to offer, having implemented ERTMS schemes in other countries. Getting the best from the supply chain is likely to require new contractual arrangements that include early engagement and risk sharing.

Clive Kessell tells us that Alstom shares this view.

Having installed ERTMS on Denmark’s eastern network, this feature about its suggested ERTMS implementation strategy offers a fresh perspective.

Back to the present, Clive meets Kevin Robertshaw, Network Rail’s programme director signalling projects, to review Network Rail signalling developments. Much has changed in recent years with, for example, all eleven Railway Operating Centres now operational. We also learn something of the current ERTMS implementation strategy.

Any signalling supplier needs to be trusted. IRSE president-elect Peter Symons has an equation for this in which the variables are credibility, reliability, intimacy and balance of self-interest. For engineers, the first two factors should be a given, so it is perhaps the last two factors on which good business relationships depend.

Dependant is a word that applies to the thousands of kilometres of cables connecting power supplies to signalling equipment. A cable failure can cause chaos, especially as fault finding is rarely straightforward.

Network Rail’s Tahir Ayub tells us about the insulation monitoring strategy which will introduce smart monitoring to predict the location of imminent cable failures.

This won’t be needed for the pinch wire system through the Thames’s first tunnel. Built nearly two hundred years ago by Marc Brunel, it is now an intensively used part of the London Overground network. We describe how these wires have just been replaced by GSM-R radio and a highspecification telecom cable.

Whilst Brunel’s tunnel wires may be redundant, many old signalling systems have years left in them but may

DAVID SHIRRES

have life-expired components needing replacement with new electronic devices. We explain how successfully mixing new and old kit avoids unnecessary renewals. Reverse engineering and fooling analogue systems into thinking that digital is analogue are just two options which offer significant savings by extending the life of legacy equipment.

Now to Worlaby in Lincolnshire, a remote area where there is a pilot project to power a GSM-R repeater by solar panels. There is not enough sunshine to be totally reliant on these panels, so a diesel generator is still required although it will only need refuelling once a year. This is an initiative that is both sustainable and saves money.

Remote areas can also be a problem for the few hundred passengers on a train who want Wi-Fi access.

We explain why this is such a problem and what can be done.

One beautiful yet remote area is the Peak District above Buxton, which is home to the HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory. Paul Darlington describes its wide scope, how it has assisted rail accident investigation and could do much to help the rail industry meet future innovation challenges.

A useful innovation, described in our January magazine, allows tunnel linings to be repaired during single line working. During a demonstration, Peter Stanton sees for himself the benefits of this impressive tunnel screen whilst safely behind it and finds he was not disturbed by trains in the tunnel.

Why does the ORR want a newly electrified railway to have trains with insulated pantograph arc horns? Our feature on new electrification clearance requirements provides the answer. We consider the risk at stations to understand why there are extra costs and delays to electrification projects following a standards change.

With the Hansford review considering whether third parties could manage infrastructure projects, this is a topical subject. Faced with unexpected additional requirements, Network Rail bit the bullet and got on with the project. An interesting question is, what would a third party, contracted to deliver a project, do in such circumstances? For this, and other reasons, there must be useful lessons for the industry and its regulator from this episode.

Professor Peter Hansford is speaking at our next Rail Exec Club in London on 10 March. There are a few tickets left so, if you want to meet Peter and some of his team, do come along.

6

OPINION

Rail Engineer • March 2017

PETER SYMONS

R

It’s all about TRUST

ail signalling, telecommunications, train control, and traffic management - in short, signalling systems - are all systems that form parts of an operational railway system. But, rather than discussing the technological means of achieving safe, efficient, and reliable traffic operations, I would like you to consider the engineering expertise that makes it all work.

In today’s world, we are all specialists and have to place trust in each other’s expertise but, with the current vogue of alternative facts, whose opinion are you going to rely on when it comes to signalling systems?

Do you do a quick google? Or find a wiki? Or just chose the answer that the search engine has selected for you?

How do you check the veracity of the information provided? Is it current? Do you take the time to determine whether the author, if stated, has the expertise to explain succinctly and correctly the interactions between these increasingly complex and dynamic signalling systems?

Or do you just use social media, where complex ideas tend to end up as a gross simplification boiled down to a tweet?

Obviously, your choice depends on your particular circumstances and the use to which the information is put.

When greater assurance is needed then it all really boils down to trust, and a way of mathematically describing trust is by using the ‘Trust Equation’ developed by Maister, Green, and Galford. This is an algebraic expression of the importance of trust in business relationships.

It reflects mathematically how certain behaviours or attitudes impact on the level of trust that the players have in one another and as we all know, this is a greater determinant of long term relationship success than anything else.

To explain in simple terms, Trust is the sum of Credibility, Reliability and Intimacy, divided by the Balance of self-interest (S).

C - Credibility refers to the words that one speaks or one’s knowledge, experience and

skills of a particular subject or field of study. For example, a doctor has significant credibility in the health profession.

R - Reliability has to do with one’s actions, or one’s level of dependability. An individual that ‘over commits and under delivers’ usually struggles to retain the clients’ confidence as they cannot be trusted to deliver according to the expectation created. To achieve a high score, do what you say every single time and flag it early if you can’t do it.

I - Intimacy refers to the security that one feels when entrusting a person with something, whether it be knowledge of a sensitive subject or a person’s personal circumstances.

S - Balance of self-interest has to do with the focus of the person in question - in particular, whether the person’s focus is primarily on themself or on the client. The more client focussed, the better the outcome tends to be.

CxRxI/S 0<C<10, 0<R<10, 0<I<10, -5<S<+5 C=10, R=10, I=10, S=1 gives 1000 points of trust (the ultimate)

As may be seen from the trust equation, if either party acts selfishly and gets their own way all the time (either -5 or +5), this leads to a lower trust score irrespective of how well the numerator has come out.

Returning to signalling systems, the credibility of a considered opinion from a professional engineer, who belongs to the IRSE, would be a positive, as that engineer has had to demonstrate that they have expertise in their particular speciality.

Today, expertise tends to be very specialised, so correct interpretation and communication is key.

We rely on trust to accept, at face value, what may be a simple statement but one which has

actually been arrived at from the basis of years of professional development. It is also important to realise that words, and indeed facts, can have different meanings, dependent on the context.

Each profession, and signalling and control systems engineering is no different, has developed a vocabulary or shorthand to express complex ideas in an economical way. Information can sometimes be misconstrued and a simple statement may well have a subtle meaning that would not be realised by the proverbial ‘man on the Clapham omnibus’.

This is where the other attributes of the trust equation become important. The Reliability, Intimacy and Self Interest can be broadly categorised as individual attitude and IRSE members abide by a code of professional conduct - a member, called upon in their professional capacity to give an opinion, shall, to the best of their ability, give an opinion that is objective and reliable.

Finally, to answer my posed questions, finding someone whose opinion you can trust really comes down to, do they have HonFIRSE, FIRSE, MIRSE, CompIRSE or AMIRSE as a post nominal? Corporate members of the IRSE have to demonstrate (and maintain) the required knowledge, experience and practice in their particular speciality for signalling systems.

If you practice in any of the rail signalling, telecommunications, train control, and traffic management areas, and are not a member but wish to improve your own trust equation, then you will find kindred spirits in the IRSE. I encourage you to join the IRSE to receive and contribute to its continually evolving body of knowledge and to assist you own professional development.

Peter Symons is president-elect for 2017-18 of the Institution of Railway Signal Engineers (IRSE). More on the Trust Equation can be found at trustedadvisor.com.

NEWS

Rail Engineer • March 2017

7

Railtex keynote speakers confirmed Large audiences are expected for both speeches.

The keynote speech on the second day of this year’s Railtex, 10 May, will be delivered

by Dr Francis Paonessa who, since June 2014, has been managing director of Network Rail Infrastructure Projects.

Assuming overall responsibility for the organisation’s renewals and enhancements programmes, he took up this key role after a successful spell in a number of top positions at Bombardier Transportation.

On the third day of the show the keynote speaker will be Professor Andrew McNaughton, technical director at High Speed Two Ltd. He was appointed to this position in February 2012, following two years as chief engineer. Professor McNaughton also performs a number of senior academic and industry advisory roles, and

was previously chief engineer at Network Rail.

Large audiences are expected for both speeches, which will be highlights in the wide range of activities taking place throughout Railtex. On the opening day Rail Minister Paul Maynard will deliver a keynote address, signalling the start of a programme of technical seminars moderated by Rail Engineer, discussion forums and project briefings, all open to everyone attending the event.

The number of exhibitors continues to grow. By midFebruary the figure was approaching 400. Among companies recently confirming their participation is Camfaud Concrete Pumps, exhibiting in The Yard area in the main hall, which is dedicated to the display of larger vehicles. On show there will

be Camfaud’s new Putzmeister BSF20.09 pump system, one of the smaller pumps the firm offers, with applications at sites with a limited working area.

With its focus on the industry’s civils needs, Camfaud’s presence underlines the diversity of an exhibition that covers all sectors of the supply chain - from OEMs to the smallest specialist firms and offers something of interest

for everyone.

Remember the dates for Railtex are 9 to 11 May at the NEC in Birmingham. You can register for free entry to the show via www. railtex.co.uk. Advance registration gives access to the exhibition over all three days, and enables you to join all the activities taking place as part of the event. The website also features the latest list of exhibitors.

Crossing cameras

NRM gets IEP cab

New red light safety cameras with number-plate recognition are being installed on a level crossing at Yapton in West Sussex.

The National Railway Museum at York has taken delivery of a cab from a Hitachi Class 800 IEP train to add to its collection.

Located on the busy Sussex West Coastway rail line between Barnham and Ford stations, Yapton level crossing is one of the most misused crossings in the south east, with incidents of drivers jumping red lights, vehicles striking and weaving around barriers and queuing over the crossing as the barriers come down occurring almost daily.

The driver’s cab, which is actually from the original mockup that Hitachi had built to show off its design, had been in store at North Pole depot before it journeyed to York.

Museum visitors will be able to compare the latest in cab designs with that of a Class 43 High Speed Train, which is also included in the museum’s collection in the Great Hall. A Hitachi-built Japanese Shinkansen ‘bullet’ train from 1976 is also on display nearby.

National Railway Museum director Paul Kirkman said: ‘As home to some of the great icons of both the East Coast and Great Western Main Lines – including record breaking locomotives such

In one recent incident, a motorist drove onto the track causing 21 train cancellations and severe service disruption which cost the rail industry £160,000.

John Halsall, Network Rail route managing director, said: “The level of driver misuse at Yapton level crossing has got to stop before there’s a serious accident.

Enforcement cameras will give us the ability to identify and take action against drivers who put lives at risk.”

On average, 300 trains pass over the crossing each day. The full line speed of 75mph has been reduced to 35mph to reduce the likelihood of a collision between a train and vehicle.

as Mallard and City of Truro – we are delighted to be able to provide a home and the first chance for visitors to get up close to the latest incarnation of high speed trains.

“We hope that the cab, now part of the world’s most important railway collection, will inspire and excite the engineers of the future to seek a career in rail and maybe one day join the great names of British railway engineering whose work we display at our museums in York and Shildon.”

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NEWS

Rail Engineer • March 2017

Extending the Bakerloo Line

Transport for London has now released plans for the extension of the adjacent Bakerloo line to Lewisham following a public consultation in 2014.

With London Underground’s Northern line extension to Battersea under construction, tunnelling is due to start this month. Transport for London has now released plans for the extension of the adjacent Bakerloo line to Lewisham following a public consultation in 2014.

Proposals for the route, which will be in tunnel the whole way, include two new stations on the Old Kent Road (one at Dunton Road and the other at St James’s Road or Asylum Road), one at New Cross Gate and a terminus at Lewisham. New Cross Gate will be an interchange with London Overground and local services on the Brighton main line while, at Lewisham, passengers will be able to change onto the Docklands Light Railway and the south-east London commuter network.

The intention is to provide up to 65,000 additional journeys for commuters at peak times, relieving current road congestion and also supporting new housing development and regeneration, particularly in the area of the Old Kent Road.

In addition to the four stations, ventilation shafts will be constructed between Elephant & Castle and the first station on the Old Kent

Waterloo

TOW E R HAMLETS

Lambeth North

Elephant & Castle

Old Kent Road 1 Old Kent Road 2

L A M B E TH

GREENWICH

KEY

Tube Stations Interchange Stations London Underground Docklands Light Railway London Overground National Rail Existing Bakerloo line Extended Bakerloo line

New Cross Gate

S O UT H WA R K

Lewisham LEWISHAM

Proposed New Stations

Future potential extension options

Old Kent Road Opportunity Area Lewisham, Catford and New Cross Opportunity Area

Road, between New Cross Gate and Lewisham station and at the end of the line in Lewisham.

Tunnel construction will continue beyond Lewisham to provide an overrun where empty trains can be parked. This could also act as the start of a further extension beyond Lewisham if that becomes desirable in the future.

More consultation and design work will take place. TfL hopes to apply in 2020 for permission to construct and operate the extension

through a Transport and Works Act Order, with the new line coming into service in 2028/29, two years earlier than had been predicted.

TfL’s acting managing director of planning Alex Williams said: “London continues to grow and we need to ensure transport has the capacity to accommodate this growth.

The Bakerloo line extension plays an important part in these plans, improving connectivity for an area under-served by public transport where there is potential to support

25,000 new homes and 5,000 new jobs.”

Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, is enthusiastic about the project: “I’m delighted that we’re pushing ahead with the Bakerloo line extension two years earlier than originally planned. It will provide substantial benefits for thousands of Londoners, providing a new direct route for commuters into the heart of central London and joining up key transport links across south London.”

The industry needs greater certainty Balfour Beatty has published a report entitled "Staying On Track" which lays out the group's views on the funding of the UK rail industry.

The report acknowledges that the upgrade of the national rail network has the potential both to enable and drive economic expansion.

However, it continues, delivering this is inextricable from ending the current stop-go pattern of funding. The investments required in capability, R&D and critical strategic equipment cannot be justified by the industry without greater certainty.

Chief executive Leo Quinn commented: “The current combination of low-cost borrowing, a general appetite for infrastructure assets and growing demand for train capacity are a powerful catalyst for accelerating the development of our national rail network.

“However, the scale of investment this requires of the sector’s suppliers makes it imperative to provide long-term certainty in the project pipeline.

This means cracking the code on the underlying funding model. The prize is to develop a worldclass rail industry in terms of innovation and capability, and provide jobs for many thousands of people.”

NEWS

9

Rail Engineer • March 2017

ASPECT 2017, 28/29 November, Singapore ASPECT, the title of the Institution of Railway Signal Engineers' annual technical conference, stands for Automation, Signalling, Performance, Equipment, Control and Telecommunications This year’s ASPECT will take place on 28/29 November in Singapore, the first time that the conference has been held outside the UK. The venue was chosen as Singapore is a worldleading centre of urban transport technology, and is at the heart of one of the world’s most dynamic regions, Asia.

The themes of this year’s conference are metro technologies, professional development, condition monitoring and high speed rail. These have been chosen to focus on the passenger railway, both metro and high-speed rail, which are of significant interest to Singapore and the local region.

In addition, the use of condition monitoring to deliver highly available and reliable railways, and the professional development of the engineers within the rail industry, are key areas of current interest that will contribute to meeting the objectives of a twentyfirst century railway.

There will also be an introductory day held on Monday 27 November 2017, predominantly targeting those with less experience in the industry. Hewlett-Fisher bursaries will be available to younger members attending this conference.

Further information is available on the IRSE website www.irse.org.

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Rail Engineer • March 2017 DAVID SHIRRES

EGIP

ELECTRIFICATION

CLEARANCE WOES

O

n 25 August, Network Rail announced that, for six months on Mondays to Thursdays, there would be no service after 20:30 on the main Edinburgh to Glasgow line due to ‘intensification of delivery’ of the Edinburgh to Glasgow Improvement Programme (EGIP).

Rail Engineer was interested to find out why. Having done so, it is only fair to warn readers that the result is a standards-heavy article.

The Scottish press responded with headlines such as “Blunder sees cables installed too low on Glasgow to Edinburgh rail line”, which led to livid and ill-informed online comments blaming Network Rail for this shambles.

Some observations, however, were intended to be helpful, such as the suggestion that this problem could be solved if trains had smaller wheels.

August also saw publication by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) of its “Annual efficiency and finance assessment of Network Rail”. This showed the cost of EGIP has risen by £32 million and is running six months late, with completion now scheduled for July 2017.

Understandably, the Scottish Parliament was not impressed and asked ScotRail Alliance chief executive Phil Verster to explain the EGIP cost and time overruns.

He explained that Network Rail attempted to keep costs down by asking if it could risk assess things to get a derogation to avoid having to comply with a new stricter standard and stated: “Last year, when all the shenanigans started and the cost issues became really clear, it became obvious to the ScotRail Alliance that, if we had continued to debate the matter, we would have got late into the programme and built the railway only for the ORR to say that we could not run anything on it.”

Rail Engineer • March 2017 Development of new standards

Annex G GL/RT1210 came into force in 2015 and superseded GE/RT8025 “Electrical provisions for Electrified Lines”. In respect of the clearance between structures and overhead line equipment (OLE), GL/RT1210 specifies a minimum clearance of 270mm, although it permits smaller clearances where justified by a CSM RA compliant risk assessment.

Prior to 2015, GE/RT8025 allowed for “reduced” and “special reduced” clearances of 200mm and 150mm respectively. With the EGIP contract to rebuild 41 bridges to provide the required electrical clearance let in December 2011, the imposition of a revised clearance standard three years later was problematic.

Perhaps the most challenging requirement of GL/RT1210 is its mandate of Figure 4 of BS EN 50122-1:2011, which only allows

PHOTO: JOHN ANDERSON

Six years ago, there were no such problems for the Airdrie to Bathgate project electrification, which included the first part of the Edinburgh to Glasgow main line electrification from Haymarket to Newbridge Junction.

Since then, an amended European Technical Standard for Interoperability (ENE TSI) for rail energy systems has been issued. European Standard BS EN 50122-1 “Railway applications. Fixed installations.

Protective provisions relating to electrical safety and earthing” was updated and the Common Safety Method for risk evaluation and assessment (CSM RA) was introduced in support of the Railways and other Guided Systems (Safety) Regulations (ROGS) for placing subsystems into service.

The new ENE TSI concerns traction power supply infrastructure and came into force on 1 January 2015. Prior to then, much work was done to align previous standards to this TSI, including the production of Railway Group Standard GL/RT1210 “AC Energy Subsystem and Interfaces to Rolling Stock Subsystem” which contains the UK national technical rules mandated by ENE TSI. This work was coordinated by RSSB and included the production of a strategy for the implementation of ENE TSI in 2011 which “notes that GB railway is constrained by its small loading gauge which is difficult and expensive to alter” and that “there should be a working presumption that current GB practice should be preserved unless a conscious decision to adopt standard European practice is made by industry through its stakeholder groups, having understood the economic consequences of such a decision”.

During a break in testing, Hitachi’s new Class 385 for ScotRail sits alongside a Class 380 at Gourock station.

live 25kV equipment within a 3.5 metre radius of the platform edge unless a CSM RA compliant risk assessment can justify reduced clearances. Prior to that, GE/RT8025 specified the minimum platform clearances to be those in Annex G, BS EN 50122. This is a UK special condition that takes account of the restricted British gauge by allowing a 2.75 metre radius of a platform edge.

However, in 2013, the relevant British Standards committee, which is not part of the railway standards process, expressed concerns about a minimum 2.75 metres clearance and, in 2013, updated BS EN 50122 with a national forward requiring that, until Annex G is revised, an appropriate risk assessment is essential if clearances less than specified in Figure 4 are used.

The clearance requirements of BS EN 50122 are, in effect, those that must be followed to comply with the Electricity at Work Regulations, which require potentially dangerous conductors to be suitably placed but do not define this requirement. In such cases, compliance with the relevant British Standard is generally the minimum deemed necessary to comply with the law.

RSSB advised Rail Engineer that, during the development of GL/RT1210, the energy standards committee, which includes representation from Network Rail, agreed that this standard should reflect the updated BS EN 50122 by specifying the European practice of a 3.5 metre minimum clearance unless an appropriate risk assessment was undertaken.

RSSB also mentioned the extensive consultation exercise for the standard that had attracted over 400 comments and that they understood there to be an industry consensus for this proposal. A senior source in Network Rail, however, commented that

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Rail Engineer • March 2017 In the several years that it takes to deliver a major electrification project, there may be changes to standards which can only be retrospectively applied at significant cost. As an example, early decisions on bridge clearance work, for which the contract was let in 2011, would not have considered the need to modify low bridges at stations to meet the minimum clearance of 3.5 metres as this was not a requirement of the then-applicable standard GE/RT8025.

This illustrates the need to freeze standards at the project design phase, as acknowledged by the Interoperability Directive’s consideration of advanced projects. ORR has issued guidance on how this issue should be addressed for rolling stock projects, and similar advice is required for infrastructure projects.

Pantograph problem

removing Annex G was a late change that they had not agreed to and that no one in the company had been consulted. Their view is consistent with the impact assessment for GL/RT1201 not mentioning standing surface clearance and stating that it will retain the use of Annex G. Furthermore, there was also no assessment of the economic consequences of this decision as required by the TSI implementation strategy. In particular, there does not seem to have been any consideration of a minimum clearance of slightly less than 3.5 metres which, as will be seen, would have significantly reduced the impact of this standards change.

Projects and new standards ENE TSI applies to “new, upgraded or renewed ‘energy’ subsystems”, so it is not concerned with the existing infrastructure. Its clearance requirements specify compliance with the notified national technical rules that are the relevant clauses of GL/RT1210.

For projects at an advanced stage, the 2008 Interoperability Directive allows EU member states to issue a derogation against a new TSI. Although the Department for Transport advised the EU that EGIP was such an advanced project, as it had “reached a significant degree of maturity when the TSI was published in terms of tenders, contracts and detailed design”, the project was not issued with a derogation so had to comply with GL/RT1210.

As shown in the diagram, the minimum 3.5 metre clearance from the platform edge is only slightly encroached in the worst-case scenario of low wire height and a large platform-side stagger. Thus this clearance requirement should not be particularly problematic as far as overhead line equipment is concerned.

Train pantographs are another matter, as their arc horns are below contact wire height and protrude into the minimum 3.5 metre clearance area. BS EN 50122 does not consider how clearances should be measured when a train occupies the minimum clearance area as shown in the diagram. As this standard refers to “touching in a straight line”, it would be reasonable to measure the clearance distance in a straight line from pantograph to platform over the train body as shown in the diagram.

As indicated by the pantograph clearance diagram, measuring clearances in this way results in only a slight encroachment of the 3.5-metre clearance, with no encroachment at the platform edge.

In a letter dated 5 April 2016, ORR advised Network Rail of its doubts about this line of sight criteria as “other interpretations of BS EN 50122 are available that make it harder to meet the 3.5 metre benchmark” and that “it is foreseeable that people might make contact with a pantograph by reaching round the profile of a train”. The credibility of this response is considered below.

All trains have an orange warning band at cant rail level, typically 2.4 metres above the platform. On electric trains, this band must be at least 0.6 metres below roof-mounted exposed live conductors, so a total of three metres from the platform edge. To put this in context, only 1 in 50,000 of the UK population is over 2.06 metres tall.

Should a much taller individual reach around the train’s cant rail, it is likely that he/she would anyway first contact the roof-mounted pantograph frame which is unaffected by wire height.

A good safety record There are about four hundred stations on AC lines that were electrified, on average, around forty years ago. During this time, around fifteen billion passengers have used these stations with no known record of any passenger fatalities from 25kV electric shock. Version 8.1 of 'Train and pantograph at station' RSSB’s safety

Rail Engineer • March 2017 risk model (SRM) ranks estimates that a passenger fatality from 25kV electric shock at a station will occur once every 300 years. It shows that this represents 0.008 per cent of all risks to passengers.

No doubt for this reason, this risk is not mentioned in either the RSSB’s strategy “Leading Health and Safety on Britain’s Railway”, which promotes cross-industry action, or in its recent booklet on platform safety (which does mention the risk of third rail electric shock). Furthermore, a recent RSSB guide on station safety research included 24 topic areas, none of which was concerned with the risk from 25kV equipment.

This shows that 25kV electrification presents a very low risk to passengers, yet the industry should not be complacent.

With increasing numbers of passengers having selfie-sticks, longer umbrellas and helium balloons, this is perhaps a risk that could be usefully considered by a crossindustry working group as it concerns both infrastructure and passenger behaviour.

Suitable and sufficient?

Whatever the standards, employers have a duty to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to those affected by their business. Furthermore, the Construction, Design and Management Regulations require project designers to eliminate, so far as is reasonably practicable, foreseeable risks to the health and safety of any person.

New standards requiring risk assessments for 25kV clearances under 3.5 metres are only reinforcing the need to comply with legislation, so why should this be a problem? The answer is the interpretation of what constitutes “a suitable and sufficient assessment of risk”.

The Health and Safety Executive’s publication “How to control risks at work” notes that “risk assessment is about identifying and taking sensible and proportionate measures to control the risks in your workplace, not about creating huge amounts of paperwork.” The ORR’s guidance on the CSM RA advises that hazards that are considered to have a ‘broadly acceptable’ risk need not be analysed further.

With 25kV equipment at stations not resulting in any accidents for many years, it could be argued that encroaching on the 3.5 metre clearance requires a simple generic risk assessment that records that the high cost of infrastructure alterations is grossly disproportionate. The CSM RA could similarly consider that this is a ‘broadly acceptable’ risk.

A generic assessment could also record that the pantograph’s infringement of the 3.5 metre minimum clearance is generally by a small amount. Trains are only at platforms for a short time, during which passengers are focused on boarding the train at doors away from the pantograph position. In addition, part of this risk is from the pantograph frame fixed to the train roof.

13

In April, a letter from ORR advised Network Rail that such pantograph infringements require highly detailed site-specific risk assessments which, amongst many other things, must identify likely exposure in terms of station usage, points of congregation in relation to potential pantograph positions, dimensions from platforms to fixed equipment and pantographs, identification of control measures and how these will satisfy the legal duty. This was a particularly onerous requirement for EGIP and other electrification project teams.

This letter also notes that the risk from pantographs requires an industry programme to develop insulated arc horns for use under the new Great Western wires. It states that “we recognise that an insulated pantograph Train at station where contact wire height is an estimated 4.3 metres.

Orange hazard line on train is about 2.5 metres above platform.

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Rail Engineer • March 2017

Proportionate action

solution, if viable, might not be available until after the introduction of electric services (on Great Western) and, therefore, that Network Rail might incur significant infrastructure costs in controlling the risk by other means before then”.

In addition, in its policy on electrical clearances published in October 2016, the ORR notes that the “costs of redesigning features and retrospective modifications due to the lack of rigour in the duty-holder’s original design should not be used to inform any cost-benefit analysis”. This implies that, for ongoing projects, Network Rail cannot use excessive cost as a reason to avoid retrospectively modifying previous designs to comply with GL/RT1210 and that designs undertaken in accordance with the then approved Group Standard GE/ RT8025 were flawed.

ENE TSI embodies a pragmatic European approach to standards. It allows for projects at an advanced stage and enables member states to specify their own rules, for example to take account of UK restricted infrastructure clearances. Yet, in Britain, the standards changes resulting from this TSI have resulted in a more demanding regime by specifying a minimum pantograph clearance that cannot be achieved at stations with low bridges and an onerous method of assessing the risk to passengers from 25kV equipment at such stations.

Until a few years ago, standards required OLE to be designed to minimize the risk of injury and that, if necessary, a minimum platform clearance of 2.75 metres could be used. This requirement was met by keeping the contact wire at its normal height, resulting in platform clearances of around four metres unless there was a low structure. In such cases, the reduced clearances were closer to 3.5 metres than the then-allowed 2.75 metres. Whilst this approach has proved to be safe, it may not have been adequately documented in a risk assessment.

In its publication “Reducing risks, protecting people,” HSE states that good regulation requires proportionate action commensurate to the risks. Although 25kV equipment at stations has a good safety record, there is the potential for a fatality. This would require a literally extraordinary action by someone acting differently from the millions of passengers who use such stations each day.

The hazard is therefore a generic one of abnormal behaviour at stations, for which a key risk control is passenger management by the station operator. A cross-industry study to evaluate the electrocution risk at stations on the 25kV network would be an appropriate response to this risk. In contrast, the action currently required of electrification project teams does not consider the overall network risk and has resulted in significant costs and delay to their projects.

Rail Engineer believes that there must be broad lessons to be learnt from this issue which concern proportionate risk assessment, pragmatic regulation and standards development, including impact assessment, long-duration infrastructure projects, and effective communication of pending requirements. In short, all concerned need to understand why there were no such problems with electrification schemes delivered just a few years ago.

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Rail Engineer • March 2017

Intelligent drones?

D

uring the 1980s, the information technology revolution transformed the global economy, requiring whole sectors to re-model how they operated and enabling organisations to change how they delivered products and services.

Today, a similar technical revolution is emerging that once again presents organisations with the opportunity to reshape how they do business. This advancement in technology is the ability to remotely capture data using unmanned piloted systems and use machines to think for us, using the power of deep machine learning.

These two technologies will change how businesses make decisions.

Combining these two new ways of working provides infrastructure operators and asset managers with really powerful insight into how structures, earthworks and equipment are performing, enabling critical points of failure to be identified and thereby instigating earlier interventions to stop outages to service function – in effect making infrastructure intelligent.

The need to survey An example of how data and intelligent infrastructure technology has a wider potential for the rail industry was covered in two recent articles, ‘The Internet of Things’ (issue 138, April 2016) and ‘Control and communications – asset management’ (issue 143, September 2016).

Both articles explored how capturing data and processing more intelligently empowers rail operators and asset owners to make smarter decisions.

This is entirely feasible considering that the UK rail network is made up of over 20,000 miles of track and 40,000 structures, all requiring regular inspection, monitoring and maintenance.

Whilst advancements in some areas have been made, this work is still predominantly completed through traditional surveying and inspection methods. But are these sustainable to support a growing railway of the future?

Conventional inspection and surveying is often labour intensive and time consuming, requiring personnel to access structures within hazardous or difficult-to-reach environments. Equally, it is sometimes impossible to deploy personnel to certain locations due to the high-risks involved or to physical environmental barriers, meaning the data that is needed to make decisions on critical infrastructure is simply unavailable.

Where personnel have to be deployed, strict safety procedures have to be implemented to protect the workforce, often resulting in disruption to train operations and the knockon impact to the passenger. Accordingly, asset owners and operators need to balance the operational necessity of maintaining infrastructure with reducing disruption to the network.

Dealing with data

This is where Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) or drone-powered solutions can add value. In September 2014 (issue 119), Rail Engineer reported “Rail Survey technology reaches new heights”, so the use of drones is not new to the rail industry with a number of organisations already using this technology as part of their workflow.

An example of this was covered in Mark Phillips’ article “Cliff terrain surveys using UAVs” (issue 139, May 2016).

But using unmanned aerial systems can also support a longer-term strategy of reducing ‘boots on ballast’ whilst offering infrastructure managers the ability to capture data from previously inaccessible areas not possible using traditional methods. This opens the possibility of being able to gather data easily and more frequently.

However, simply having the ability to increase inspections of multiple assets starts to present a different problem. The more frequently a structure is inspected, the more data is captured. This ultimately needs analysing, which increases the demand on specialists to review the data – and so the cycle continues.

But current estimates are that less than 0.5 per cent of all data collected (not just in the rail sector) is ever analysed, so remotely capturing data on its own is clearly not the answer. This is where emerging data processing techniques, often referred to as cognitive learning, can add real value.

Using cognitive or ‘deep machine’ learning, these advanced processing techniques can autonomously review data, enabling images to be used more intelligently. This means that asset owners, managers and operators can make better-informed business decisions, enabling the dynamic use of resources more safely, quickly and efficiently, ultimately optimising whole-life cost whilst reducing the impact on passengers and rail freight operators.

Rail Engineer • March 2017

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But what needs to be considered when integrating remotely piloted systems into a business’s workflow? Introducing UAS technology into the rail industry, as with any new system of work, requires necessary safety concerns to be addressed. As with any emerging technology, the maturing UAS market now offers an increasing range of systems and operators. But with this choice comes the need to understand the capabilities and limitations each of these various options offer.

Specialist equipment Whilst a large number of ‘drones’ are available on the market, in reality there are only a limited number of systems that are capable of operating successfully in challenging commercial environments. One UAS that has been designed purely with commercial operations in mind is the Altura Zenith ATX8 from Aerialtronics - a global manufacturer of commercially designed remotely piloted systems.

The ATX8’s strength is its reliability, stability and versatility, having been built specifically for the commercial market. It is able to accommodate a range of sensors or cameras which can be changed simply and quickly in the field. A flight time of 25 minutes, coupled with its ability to operate in 14m/s wind and carry a payload of 2.9kg, gives the ATX8 significant flexibility not available with a number of other models available on the market.

Also a purpose-built UAS gives confidence to regulators, such as the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), who are concerned about the stability and safety of operating such a device in challenging or high risk areas. This is important, particularly since railways are a predominant feature of the urban landscape, as regulators need to grant additional permissions to operators using UASs in congested areas, beyond the normal agreements granted as part of the standard Permissions for Commercial Operations (PfCO).

This confidence has resulted in telecoms a​ nd power distribution companies remodelling their workflows to use UASs, saving significant time and operating costs when inspecting mobile communication towers and high-voltage overhead powerlines.

One telecoms company doing this is T-Mobile, which recognised that inspections of cell tower masts that could take up to seven days using traditional methods (for example using a team of technicians in cherry pickers) now take a third of the time using a UAS. The Netherlands-based energy infrastructure management company Joulz also uses UAS technology - an ATX8 assists in the management of high-voltage overhead lines.

Maintaining overhead powerlines involves examining pylons, inspecting insulators, and detecting thermographic problems. Inspection is predominantly dependant on technicians climbing structures to access power lines, or by using helicopters.

PHOTO: KAARTA/SOUTH SURVEY

Both images are produced using the Stencil scanner a lightweight LiDAR unit that is compatible with UAVs.

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Rail Engineer â&#x20AC;˘ March 2017 Unmanned aerial systems provide a safer, cheaper, and easily deployable alternative.

A camera that produces high resolution and thermal images enables the UAS to record and transmit live footage both to engineers on the ground and to experts located elsewhere, making the whole process more efficient.

Another example is a wind turbine installed in a remote area of Scotland. Its blades can be inspected by UAS. If a critical issue is identified during that inspection, the image can be immediately transmitted to the manufacturer in Sweden where the data can be reviewed by a specialist team and specific advice given concerning appropriate remedial action.

Intelligent decisions But the needs of infrastructure owners and asset managers to make effective decisions can be improved even further through combining remote data capture technology with enhanced data processing, or cognitive learning capability.

In simple terms, this uses computers that learn and understand what we, as humans, are looking for through the application of visual recognition.

An example of this would be identifying corroded structures, loose or damaged cabling and equipment and for computer processing to automatically review images during future inspections to identify whether the issue is getting worse.

Therefore, combining visual recognition and remote data capture technologies enables teams to inspect critical infrastructure by deploying UASs to gain an immediate 360-degree, high resolution overview of a structure. This data can then be sent from the site for immediate cognitive processing and near real-time analysis. This cognitive analysis

of images over an ongoing period can result in specific areas of concern being identified through computer processes that are constantly learning - building points of reference that understand what to look for in future data.

Using this combination of technology enables asset owners to continue to provide safe operations across the rail network through supporting engineering teams to have an enhanced evidence base to make informed decisions and prioritise remedial action.

Capturing images safely and dynamically allows efficient analysis of data whilst targeting the use of specialist human resources and reducing exposure of the workforce to undue hazards. Longer term, the data provides information that will increase asset ownersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and usersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; confidence in the integrity of critical infrastructure and therefore underpin decisionmaking, including future investment strategies.

Over the next decade, combining remote data capture techniques with powerful cognitive computer learning will bring significant benefits to the rail sector which will be felt by asset owners, infrastructure managers and, ultimately, passengers. Furthermore, this powerful analysis can be enhanced further when UAS-captured data and cognitive learning are linked with Building Information Modelling (BIM) system data. This will provide clients with a range of interests in critical infrastructure to build longterm, evidenced-based organisational memory about the structures they rely on.

In turn, this new technology will also contribute to reducing the need for the rail workforce to be exposed to hazardous environments, as well as reduce downtime from infrastructure outages, structural failures, or unscheduled work. Over time, the costs to asset owners, operators and users will reduce due to efficient inspection processes and improved data supporting decision making about planned maintenance.

This technology also supports more targeted responses when assessing the damage to infrastructure following disasters, for example major flooding or extreme weather events, to which the UK is becoming exposed.

Example of a land survey completed by a commercial drone.

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Rail Engineer â&#x20AC;˘ March 2017

SIGNALLING AND TELECOMS

UK Signalling A 2017 UPDATE PHOTO: NETWORK RAIL

CLIVE KESSELL

I

t is nearly four years since Rail Engineer reviewed the state of signalling within Network Rail and much has changed in the intervening period. The organisation is now different and a more pragmatic view is being taken on the deployment of new technology.

A recent discussion with Kevin Robertshaw (programme director for signalling projects) explored progress on all the main elements for the future of main line signalling delivery in the UK, which have resulted in the much greater confidence that now exists for successful outcomes to the plans being put forward.

Organisation A recent development has been the introduction by Network Rail of an Infrastructure Projects Engineering Group.

Heading this up is Helen Samuels, the Engineering Director for Infrastructure Projects (IP), who has responsibility for level 2 assurance and the Integrated Design Group for each engineering discipline. There is a drive for engineering to become focussed on railway systems rather than allowing the individual disciplines to dictate the technology and methodology to be deployed in decisionmaking isolation.

Work is now delivered through four regional directors with only two national delivery groups remaining - track under Steve Featherstone and signalling under Kevin Robertshaw.

Devolution has empowered the route managing directors, who are accountable for assessing asset and customer needs, to spend their infrastructure budgets in the most effective way. Route control of output

specifications, taking into account the important local knowledge factor, is leading to a reduced need for change in support of improved project delivery. Work is delivered internally within the routes or contracted to outside suppliers via the Infrastructure Projects group as appropriate.

These changes to the organisation should lead to spending the available money in a more effective way and the associated reduction in unit costs. Of course, in the period of change, there is always a risk of changing project scope and an associated increase in costs.

Railway Operating Centres The projected ROCs are making good progress.

Intended to eventually replace all existing signal boxes and signalling centres, they are located at Gillingham (East Kent), Three Bridges (South of England), Basingstoke, Romford (Anglia), Didcot (Thames Valley), Cardiff (South Wales), Derby (East Midlands), Rugby (WCML), Manchester (North West), York (ECML), Edinburgh (East of Scotland), Cowlairs (West of Scotland).

The number 11 is not set in stone and debate continues as to whether the existing signalling centre at Saltley, covering the West Midlands, will become a ROC. Similarly, the RETB centres in Scotland at Inverness and Banavie are likely to remain as will the ETCS control room

Rail Engineer â&#x20AC;˘ March 2017

Currently, only three applications are being progressed - at Romford, Cardiff and Three Bridges, the latter for the Thameslink central core. The Romford system, being provided by Thales, is about to become operational in two stages: the first stage will be an isolated system to support the operators with decision making at Upminster; the second stage will be a fully integrated TMS located at Romford TOC, thereby closing Upminster as an operating location. A TMS pod simulator has been in Romford as a functional training facility that fully replicates the Upminster area of control.

Once proven, the system will be extended to other areas of the Anglia route commensurate with signalling upgrades.

At Cardiff, the TMS, also being provided by Thales, will be an isolated standalone system that will produce real time train graphs and other tools for the signallers to see and react to in the way of a decision support. The effectiveness of this approach will be monitored as it could mean a quicker deployment elsewhere if of value.

For Thameslink, managing the arriving trains in an optimum sequence from the various lines north and south of the central core will be a challenge. Everything will be fine if the timetable is running exactly to plan, but operators know that the opportunity for delayed arrivals is considerable.

Hence the need for TMS, with Hitachi having the contract to deliver a system which will assist the signallers at Three Bridges to minimise the disruptive effects of out-of-course running.

These three pilot schemes will be analysed closely and will hopefully lead to a rapid roll out once the success criteria are established.

In parallel, many TOCs are providing DAS (Driver Advisory System) to achieve more efficient train running and fuel minimisation. Already seen as effective, the concept cannot reach full potential until every train can take account of other train movements and this will only occur when C-DAS (Connected DAS) is available. Whilst some connectivity to existing train describer systems can be achieved, the full potential is unlikely to be realised until a linkage with TMS systems is widely available.

Traffic management and C-DAS The early vision of TMS (traffic management systems) being rolled out across the network in quick succession has not been realised. The â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;beauty paradeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; of three suppliers, whilst useful, revealed that integrating these into existing signalling and operations technology in both ROCs and existing power boxes would not be as straightforward as first thought.

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SIGNALLING AND TELECOMS

at Machynlleth. The C2C route from London Fenchurch St to Southend, currently controlled from Upminster, will be transferred to Romford ROC utilising full traffic management pod working (with control desks arranged in a cluster) but with the interlocking equipment remaining in situ.

All ROCs are now operational with Derby (East Midlands Control Centre) close to reaching its full capacity and potential. More importantly, the ROCs are delivering what was intended, the integration of signalling and operational management. With all parties sitting in the same premises, decision making and mutual co-operation is significantly improved, all helping to achieve optimum performance.

The long-term objective of including electrical control rooms inside ROCs has yet to be commenced, but the intention is for this to happen at York when the existing signalling control centre for the York area of the ECML moves across. Derby and Rugby were the earliest ROCs and lessons learned from subsequent ones may mean some retrospective changes in layout and operation at these two places.

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Rail Engineer • March 2017

SIGNALLING AND TELECOMS

Footbridge added to Cornton closure plans.

Both TMS and C-DAS will need to progress in parallel if the capacity gains from optimised train pathing and regulation are to be achieved.

Modular signalling The concept of modular signalling to achieve a more cost-effective approach for secondary lines was emerging around four years ago. The idea of building a complete signalling system in a factory from standard components, and then shipping to site as a tested entity, appeared to be very attractive and would lead to lower costs. The number of foreseen modules was quite small; signal posts that could be lowered, minimum number of lineside phones, measured cable lengths with plug couplers, standard electronic interlockings with common data sets, level crossings to a standard design and common power modules all made technical and economic sense. No deviation from this principle would be allowed.

In practice, it has not worked out quite like that. Every rail route is different and it was soon realised that alterations to a standardised design would be needed to fit the particular circumstances. This, together with the tendency for a typical development cycle to identify additional requirements, often results in a change of project scope.

It is, however, recognised that elements of the modular signalling principle have real value and will be included in new future signalling projects as a standard offering. Put simply, with devolution to the route managing directors, the choice will be theirs. At one extreme, they may adopt a ‘standard signalling offering’ concept to the maximum possible extent with minimum

technology and low cost or, at the opposite extremity, they could go for a signalling system at a higher cost to cater for every operational circumstance that is likely to occur. It will be interesting to see what transpires.

Vehicular level crossings These remain the biggest safety risk on the railway and big efforts are being made to improve that. Whenever a road level crossing comes up for renewal, a hierarchy of options kicks in. These are: »» Close the crossing; »» Provide a bridge or underpass as an alternative; »» Use a four-barrier crossing, automated with obstacle detection (OD); »» Provide a four-barrier crossing controlled and monitored by CCTV; »» Install an ABCL (Auto Barrier crossing Controlled Locally).

Note that AHB (Auto Half Barrier) and AOCL (Automatic Open crossing Controlled Locally) do not exist in this hierarchy as these are seen as having the highest safety risk. AHBs are also expensive to provide and maintain from a whole life cost perspective. Where they exist currently, they may be replaced on a like for like basis if no other practical alternative exists but new AHB sites are highly unlikely to be provided.

The OD crossings are now finding favour as expertise is established around the country, building familiarity with the design, application and operational use of the technology. Early reliability problems with the LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) equipment have been largely resolved and confidence is now at a high level that this is the future wherever level crossings have to be perpetuated. It is recognised that it will need to be horses for courses and, on higher speed lines, the emphasis will be on getting rid of crossings in their entirety.

Rail Engineer • March 2017

23

SIGNALLING AND TELECOMS

Martin Vickers using the Hitachi ETCS driving simulator with screen in background.

ERTMS / ETCS Rolling out ETCS systems remains a challenge. Whilst the overall project has now been taken over by the Digital Railway group, designated as the System Authority and which will do all the planning and generic design. The IP Signalling team will still be delivering the associated infrastructure and conventional schemes in ‘ERTMS ready’ form.

The recent report in issue 147 (January 2017) of an interview with Digital Railway head David Waboso revealed that eight potential routes are identified as candidates for ETCS deployment in the foreseeable future.

These are all in need of re-signalling, which the IP team would normally have as its responsibility. The two groups will therefore work together to ensure that any work undertaken before the ETCS design criteria is finalised will be ERTMS compatible.

Two examples of this are already in being. Something has to happen on the Norwich to Yarmouth/Lowestoft route and, as mentioned in January, a conventional signalling scheme is being developed which will eventually convert to ETCS at a later date.

More significant is the re-signalling of Kings Cross station, where the signalling and existing track layout is over forty years old, based around a GEC geographical interlocking with a Henry Williams NX panel, double slips point work, bespoke iron work, all of which is difficult to maintain reliably. A scheme is thus being developed to renew all of this by March 2020 with conventional signalling out toward Wood Green.

The southern end of the ECML is an early candidate for ETCS, but this will not be ready in time for the new track layout, which involves re-opening the third Gasworks tunnel so that train routing into platforms does not have to happen in the immediate station throat area. Clearly, eventual conversion to ERTMS operation will form part of the route’s future plans.

Two committed ERTMS projects are underway. One is the Thameslink central core including the ATO (Automatic Train Control) overlay, and it is worth recording that a successful trial of two trains running simultaneously under ATO conditions took place recently.

The other is the Paddington to Airport Junction route where ETCS will provide a train protection system for Crossrail trains of equal safety status to the GW ATP system which is life expired.

Resources and finance Network Rail has worked hard to increase the number of signal engineers, both internally and externally with its suppliers. This has been very successful, with signalling design and testing resource levels at an all-time high leading to a much more confident situation when compared to four years ago.

The pressure on Network Rail finances is well publicised and this may well cause changes in scope for future signalling plans. However, all projects underway in CP5 will be seen through to completion, so the short-term outlook is secure. For the longer term, the Government is actively promoting ways of increasing rail capacity and ERTMS/ETCS is seen as a major contributor to this. It is therefore likely that digital signalling schemes will have a high priority within rail investment plans.

In summary, the way forward is clearer and more realistic. It is evident that the IP Signalling and Digital Railway teams need to develop a very close working relationship as this will be key to success.

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Rail Engineer • March 2017

SIGNALLING AND TELECOMS

24

CLIVE KESSELL

The Digital Railway

A Supplier’s View T he Digital Railway project continues to generate interest from many quarters.

The latest position from Network Rail was explained in issue 147 (January 2017) following an interview with David Waboso, the project’s managing director.

Just how does this fit in with the suppliers’ perception of what needs to happen and, more importantly, what can the supply industry do to ensure that the project delivers its objectives?

To answer that question, Rail Engineer met with Christian Fry, director of strategy and market development at Alstom, to discuss his perception on how progress should be made.

Alstom is an international company with a strong British heritage, having acquired the GEC signalling interests many years ago. Alstom is, of course a major rolling stock, signalling, infrastructure and services provider and recently acquired both General Electric’s signalling division and Nomad Digital to further develop its digital capabilities and on board Wi-Fi service provision.

In 2016, as part of its ongoing commitment to the UK rail market, Alstom acquired 100 per cent ownership of Signalling Solutions Ltd, previously a 50:50 joint venture company set up with Balfour Beatty. The track and train capability is therefore complete and it is with this expertise that Alstom is keen to be a major player in delivering the Digital Railway vision.

The Digital Railway There has been some confusion as to what the Digital Railway actually is. In the context of UK rail, the Digital Railway is a collection of digitally enabled signalling interventions that include: TMS (Traffic Management Systems), ERTMS/ETCS, C-DAS (Connected Drivers Advisory System) and ATO (Automatic Train Operation). This tool kit, when implemented appropriately, has the potential to increase capacity and transform the operational performance of the rail network.

In a show of commitment to the Digital Railway (DR) concept, the UK Government announced in the Autumn 2015 statement an additional £450 million of funding for early DR projects. In parallel, Network Rail’s Digital Railway team is developing a number of route-wide business cases where DR interventions will deliver significant capacity and performance benefits. The supply industry is understandably keen to get on with making the much-heralded Digital Railway a reality.

Jonathan Willcock, Alstom UK & Ireland’s managing director of systems, signalling and infrastructure, commented: “If Network Rail,

suppliers and operators can all agree, then a lot of complexity in Digital Railway starts to fall away. I’m glad to say that Network Rail, and David Waboso in particular, are very much on the same page as us on that.”

If only it were that simple! The reality is that, with so many parties involved in the roll out, getting mutual agreement on the way forward is always going to involve protracted discussions. At a first count, the ORR, RSSB, Network Rail (Digital Railway, Infrastructure Projects and Routes), the TOCs

Rail Engineer • March 2017 Recognised challenges

realise economies of scale. In a move away from traditional detailed design specifications, Alstom would like to work with its customers (Network Rail and the relevant TOCs / FOCs) to develop an outcome-based performance specification for how they want the train service to operate. The design and implementation of the system would then be entrusted to a single contractor that would

be given the freedom to leverage the return on its global experience and take on the risk for successful performance outcomes as part of its responsibility.

Of course, the design of the system would have to conform to the latest European standards and the UK ERTMS reference design, thus ensuring both interoperability and UK operational requirements are satisfied.

There would be challenges to be overcome in this approach. Placing the supply chain much closer to the customer (Network Rail routes and train operating companies) will require a new behavioural approach; the relationship with the supply chain must transform from today’s transactional nature to one of long-term strategic partnership.

As the industry embraces the digital age and moves from an environment where technology is stable and well understood to one where technology continuously evolves and design, delivery and long term sustainment responsibilities are transferred to the supply chain where reward is measured against operational performance outcomes.

The industry must move from a lowest cost approach with suppliers in a ‘bottom line price’ competition to a whole-life engineering services orientation focussed on value creation, encouraging ongoing investment in innovation and continuous improvement throughout the life of Digital Railway assets.

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and FOCs, the ROSCOs, the train builders and maintainers, the ETCS supply industry (both infrastructure and rolling stock), the safety certification organisations and even the European Directive authority, all have to be consulted and given due consideration.

Deep down, the suppliers know this, but they do have a pragmatic way forward which needs to be given serious consideration.

The supply industry has more expertise and experience in rolling out ERTMS than any other UK body simply because these are global organisations which have delivered successful projects in many countries across the world.

Thus, many of the problems and challenges of undertaking the design, manufacture, installation and commissioning are known in advance and can be tackled as a scheme progresses.

The Alstom view would suggest that a route such as Great Eastern (London to Norwich, in essence) is a significant piece of railway where a route-wide Digital Railway strategy could

25

SIGNALLING AND TELECOMS

26

Rail Engineer • March 2017

Operating Rules is another potential problem area, where demands for changes to the performance specification to meet UK operating conditions might well arise. This has happened in other countries and, whilst some ‘tinkering’ might be accommodated, most demands must be resisted otherwise bespoke preferential engineering results and the benefits of having a standardised system are lost.

ETCS, by definition, crosses the wheel/rail divide and, whilst a contract for a route might include both infrastructure and train borne requirements, it is a certainty that rolling stock from other parts of the country will operate over the line on a regular basis. The supply industry is well acquainted with the air gap interoperability requirements and the contractor’s responsibility must extend to ensuring other makes of trainborne equipment will function reliably as part of the package.

The challenge in such a complex ‘system of systems’, and with Britain’s fragmented industry

structure, will be to define a set of performance outcomes within the control of the Digital Railway supplier against which they would take on and manage performance risk. Alstom knows this is a complex but not insurmountable challenge.

Managing a Digital Railway contract If such an approach is to succeed, it will need new collaborative contractual mechanisms.

Alliances across Network Rail, train operating companies and Digital Railway suppliers will need to be formed. Combining the core competencies of the train operators and infrastructure providers with the technology capabilities of the supply industry, to deliver the right interventions to eliminate current rail network constraints, will be the key to success.

Alstom is keen to emphasise that the Digital Railway is not a ‘silver bullet’ that can solve all the challenges facing Britain’s railways. As Christian points

out, “a flat junction is a flat junction and no amount of digital technology can change the laws of physics”. Alstom believes a balanced approach is required that considers the constraints on the network and the options available.

This will include the Digital Railway tool kit alongside more conventional civil engineering and station management modernisations.

The Digital Railway is a term that encompasses this complex ‘system of systems’ and is one of the reasons that Alstom believes it is essential that suppliers are engaged to provide whole-life support. Over the life of the system, the operational requirements of the railway will change and evolve, as will the underlying engineering that makes up the Digital Railway.

It is inevitable that new and disruptive technologies will emerge that must be accommodated within the Digital Railway model, one example being the demand for data increases within the mobile data bearer that will cause GSM-R to migrate to either a 4G or 5G system.

Within other high-capitalcost complex engineering asset industries, there has been a move towards ‘whole life engineering services’ as performance and sustainment responsibilities are increasingly transferred from the operator to the systems provider.

In the aerospace industry, for example, this service base model

is common and has led to a stepchange in asset performance as incentives between the operator and technology provider are leading to continuous innovation and a relentless focus on in-service performance. Alstom suggests that this approach could deliver huge benefits to UK rail and in turn create the environment to attract outside investment in rail infrastructure.

Supplier inter-relationships Alstom acknowledges that there are many other suppliers in the business of providing Digital Railway systems. The likes of Siemens, Thales, Bombardier and Hitachi have all delivered Digital Railway solutions that will increasingly become their mainstream signalling offerings in the future. Sure, there is competition between them, but the whole basis of the ERTMS ethos is an interoperable system as demanded by the European dictate.

Co-operation must exist between the various suppliers to make this work. Alstom believes that a good spirit of co-operation exists between all the players in the UK industry through associations like RSG (Rail Supply Group) and RIA (Railway Industry Association).

The recent Digital Railway Early Contractor Involvement work streams have demonstrated the willingness of the supply industry to work together to make the Digital Railway a reality.

Rail Engineer • March 2017

Traffic management Traffic management systems (TMS) form an important element of the Digital Railway tool kit, and one that can deliver significant early performance benefits. By providing optimised network operations by means of early conflict detection and resolution capabilities, significant gains in capacity and network resilience can be achieved. Alstom is proud of its TMS product, known as ICONIS, and its deployment in Italy has resulted in a significant improvement in train punctuality and increased train movements. Interfacing to different marques of signalling interlockings and train describers, it has demonstrated that optimised decision-making can be achieved in both old and new control centres.

The delay in the introduction of TMS to the UK, beyond the initial three projects, is a frustration to the suppliers. The experience of the first deployments has highlighted that managing industrial relations and business change is at least as big a challenge as the development of complex engineering interfaces.

International comparisons The nationwide deployment of a Digital Railway solution in Denmark is now at the point of system testing. Split into two halves - east and west - Alstom has the contract for the entire eastern network, which includes provision of ETCS and TMS plus a 25-year maintenance commitment.

Unsurprisingly with such grand ambition, there have been challenges and some delays.

However, through an environment that supports collaborative behaviours, the project delivery partners of Banedanmark and

Alstom have worked through these challenges to define the performance requirements, operational concept and system migration. Alstom has successfully leveraged the return on experience gained from other contracts to equip over 18,000 km of trackside ETCS and 5,400 trainsets.

The digital railway system in Denmark will be progressively deployed across the entire national network between now and 2023.

“There is nothing significant that prevents us from working the same way here as in Denmark,” Jonathan Willcock commented. “You always have the complexity of different routes with a number of operating companies and interchanges, but generally there is nothing fundamentally different.”

The current UK position Other than the initial Cambrian route, which has had an ERTMS system in service since 2010, only two projects are currently being progressed, both relatively small in scope. These are: »» The Thameslink central core, which includes the addition of an overlay ATO package and is being provided by Siemens - the results of the testing so far are very encouraging and the system is essential to realising the 24 trains per hour throughput; »» The Crossrail West project as part of the Great Western main line upgrade needed to replace the near-obsolete legacy British Rail ATP system - the first stage contract is let to Alstom but the small distance involved fails to achieve any economy of scale.

Hence, the supply industry is supportive of the Digital Railway’s

desire to progress a number of route-wide long-term DR deployment strategies. From a supplier perspective, this is key to gaining the economies of scale and learning and providing the commitment that will encourage suppliers to invest in building worldclass digital railway capabilities here in the UK. It is the intention that future signalling schemes will conform to the ERTMS ready trackside specification. Schemes due to be migrated to Digital Railway in the short term, less than five years, shall be subject to more mandatory

requirements than schemes due to migrate in the 5-10 year and 10-15 year timeframes.

The position with rolling stock is more advanced, with all new train builds since 2012 being required to be ready for ETCS fitment. At present, tenders for fitting the entire UK freight locomotive fleet are being evaluated and Alstom has contracts to design and fit the ‘first in class’ equipment for the Class 180 and 365 multiple units.

Everybody wants the Digital Railway to succeed but, for this to happen, it is apparent that some new thinking on how to modernise the contracting arrangements will need to be put in place. The good news is that all parties are in discussion, and it is to be hoped that a winning formula will emerge in the near future. As Jonathan Willcock stated: “We want to change people’s perception of the railway, rather than just proving the technology works.

“There are lots of acronyms flying about, but when passengers see improved performance it starts to become real.”

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SIGNALLING AND TELECOMS

Network Rail’s ETCS test train has now been fitted with Alstom train-borne equipment.

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SIGNALLING AND TELECOMS

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Rail Engineer â&#x20AC;˘ March 2017

Obsolescence

Management CLIVE KESSELL

A

sk anyone today how long electronic systems are supposed to last and the answer will likely be between five and ten years. Technology advances so quickly that equipment rapidly becomes outdated.

Manufacturers love this situation and sales personnel are geared up to telling customers that systems will not be capable of being supported for very much longer and therefore it would be best to plan a replacement right away. None of this sits well with railway philosophy, where a 40-year life for trains and signalling is regarded as the norm.

Have you been taken in by this obsolescence approach? Probably, but is it right and is there an alternative?

The London Underground scene Like many long established metro systems, London Underground has a plethora of telecom assets from many different manufacturers which supplied systems on a project-by-project basis as new and upgrade work was authorised.

The result is a variety of assets across the network, many of which are showing reliability problems with the associated challenge of keeping systems in service. Whilst

most are infrastructure-based, a growing number are train-borne, making the challenge even greater as responsibility for service continuity involves more than one department.

Warwick-based communication specialist Telent Technology Services often supplies new telecom systems with ongoing support services, but it has also gained many maintenance contracts for existing legacy equipment.

Telecommunications means much more in a railway sense than just telephone and data systems.

The portfolio includes customer information systems (CIS), CCTV for both security and platform monitoring, video recorders, passenger help points, public address including long line application and voice alarm usage, access control equipment, fire detection and alarm systems plus telephones and associated concentrators.

Typical of this diversity is the Northern Line system providing CCTV monitoring of platforms with an in-cab display enabling the driver to ensure no one is trapped in a door before the train moves off. Transmission between platform and train is by means of a radio wireless link so the system is quite complex. It is classified as a safety-critical activity and getting it wrong can result in injury or even death, so reliability is absolutely essential.

Rail Engineer • March 2017

29

The equipment was 15 years old and reaching the end of support from the original manufacturer. Replacement with new equipment would be expensive as well as being operationally disruptive. Telent reviewed the options and put forward a proposition that would extend the life of the system for a further 15 years, thus avoiding the disruption and capital investment.

There is no magic bullet for this. A number of ways of achieving life extension are possible, including: »» Obtaining a ‘last time’ buy from the original manufacturers before the equipment goes out of production; »» Obtaining equivalent components and design these into the system - normally at assembly board level but this can go down to individual components under certain conditions; »» Designing a replacement unit that can be integrated into the existing system and use the displaced items as a source of spares for other units in the system; »» Sourcing a second-hand component, but great care needs to be taken to ensure that any replacement is fully tested and possibly enhanced before being fitted; »» Bespoke servicing of systems, once data sheets and service manuals have been obtained; »» Finding partners who can assist with the environmentally controlled storage of components.

Importance is given to the creation of a risk register for every asset as there needs to be a rigorous test regime set up to determine whether the work will be acceptable.

SIGNALLING AND TELECOMS

Extending life

This includes such factors as temperature, fan control and dust ingress. Sometimes, this will mean destructive testing of the replacement component to ensure all those stocked are still fit for purpose.

Often the units of a system are mounted in purposebuilt housings that fit in with the ‘ambience’ of the station and architects and environmental managers get upset if a new housing is proposed. Thus re-engineering often has to include the physical as well as electronic aspects of the installation.

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Rail Engineer • March 2017

SIGNALLING AND TELECOMS

To pay or not to pay?

Analogue versus digital Another public perception is that analogue=bad, digital=good. We have been conditioned to believing everything digital is state of the art with good performance and reliability. It is a myth, and many analogue systems give equal or even better performance than their digital equivalent.

However, the supply industry is geared to designing new products around digital technology and analogue hardware is increasingly difficult to obtain. The challenge is to keep a system in good working order without having to replace everything. This, of course, requires a detailed knowledge of the system infrastructure and subsystems.

In one recent example, at Canary Wharf, on the Jubilee line, the CCTV cameras were replaced with digital ones. Telent fitted these with a bespoke ‘software box’ to fool the control system that the cameras respond to the same analogue commands. This solution allowed full reuse of all the existing legacy cable and infrastructure, and enabled a complete changeover in engineering hours without a single period of operational disruption. The recovered cameras were then overhauled and used as spares for the rest of the line.

Getting the expertise Having the knowledge to delve into the electronics and workings of a legacy system takes a special kind of person. Generally, these

will be seasoned engineers who probably started their working life as a field technician and have firsthand experience of installing and maintaining electronic systems.

They will have instinctive knowledge of how the system operates, how the various individual components are connected together, the test equipment required to measure performance and a geographical awareness of where other similar systems are still in operation so that a source of spares might be found. These people are qualified in the ‘university of life’ and know all the tricks.

However, nobody lives forever and Telent is mindful that younger engineers will be needed to take over from the ‘old hands’ as they retire.

Thus, apprentices and graduates are being recruited to learn the tricks of the trade and ensure an ongoing retention of knowledge.

Work will need to embrace both on site replacement/testing plus workshop-based activity for failed component repairs. In London, Telent rail operates from two sites - one at Canning Town in the East End, which is the main depot, the other at Feltham in the west. Software development is undertaken at the company’s main HQ in Warwick.

The work is broadly categorised as ‘reverse engineering’ and is seen as a growing business stream. At present, the team is about 10 people but this is set to grow as more customers become aware of the advantages.

Does all of this make financial sense? Certainly, from a customer perspective, it does since expensive and premature renewals can be avoided. For Telent, it is very much mix and match and will depend on the maintenance contract put in place.

London Underground has different contracts for different lines. The Northern Line track-to-train CCTV contract, for instance, is a whole-life contract with all the obsolescence and reliability risk being borne by Telent. On other lines, obsolescence management is a joint activity with LU. Where reverse engineering makes sense, Telent will sometimes bear the cost in house. The value of ‘goodwill’ must not be underestimated and is part of the company’s business philosophy of delivering ongoing value and service excellence.

Whilst this article has centred around London Underground, Telent is a business that extends way beyond the rail sector. The BT System X digital exchanges date from the 1980s, and this is another technology where the obsolescence factor is a major worry.

Similar reverse engineering work has been adopted for both hardware and software, leading to remarkable new innovative ‘products’ being introduced from which the general public gains benefit as everyday users of the telephone network.

The Telent MICA system for station management, as described in issue 147 (January 2017), is there to integrate different types of legacy equipment into a single control package and act as the hub for the convergence of digital systems. It’s all part of driving new levels of efficiency into the infrastructure whilst also managing the obsolescence problem.

Telent would like customers to be mindful of the term ‘vendor agnostic’ in the hope that readers, seeing this article, will think twice before committing to a full blown renewal programme when valuable life remains in the existing equipment. It’s an important message.

Thanks to Reg Cook, Telent’s director for asset management, and to Adil Kazmi, obsolescence and reliability manager, for their thorough explanations.

Rail Engineer • March 2017

31

Safety systems

CLIVE KESSELL

T

he East London line, re-opened in recent times as part of the London Overground network, has an interesting history. To go under the Thames, it utilises the original Marc Brunel pedestrian tunnel.

Construction of the Thames Tunnel started in 1825, with son Isambard in charge of the ground works. After various technological problems that caused water to break in (which on one occasion nearly killed young Isambard) and financial difficulties, it finally opened in 1843 as a pedestrian tunnel amid much public interest. Anticipating that horse drawn carriages would use the tunnel, it was built with generous headroom, which was to prove fortuitous.

The novelty of walking through a dark tunnel in a not-too-salubrious district of London soon wore off, and the twin tunnels were converted for rail use in 1865. By building north and south cut-and-cover tunnel sections, an underground railway was created. So began the East London line, offering a service from the New Cross area to Wapping, Whitechapel, Shoreditch and, at one time, Liverpool Street, which eventually became a branch of London Underground’s Metropolitan line.

Brunel’s construction was so robust that it was not until 1995 that the Thames Tunnel, which had required only minimum maintenance down the years, was closed for urgent repairs, reopening in 1998.

The growing ambition of recent London Mayors to improve transport links led to the vision of creating an ‘outer circle’ route, of which the East London line would form part. This required main line signalling systems, so the line was again closed in 2007 for the conversion work. It is now busier than ever and carries services from West Croydon, Crystal Palace and Clapham Junction through to Dalston and Highbury & Islington.

East London line conditions Maintenance of the East London line, including track, civil works, signalling, power supply, telecommunications and radio, is contracted to Carillion. The maintenance contract began in 2010 and is due for renewal shortly.

In London Underground days, the line was fitted with trip cocks, but these were not required once the line was re-signalled for main line use and AWS and TPWS train protection systems were installed.

London Underground had introduced radio communication using its ‘Connect’ Tetra system, but this was replaced

by GSM-R as used throughout the London Overground network. The radio transmission is borne upon radiating cable and tunnel-mounted antennae in the underground sections.

SIGNALLING AND TELECOMS

Emergency Control East London Line Tunnel

As indicated previously, the Thames Tunnel is, in fact, two separate bores, although the underground extensions north and south are normal double-track brick-lined tunnels.

The UK rules for electrified underground railways require a system to be provided that enables the train driver to communicate with the signalling control room and for the driver to get the electric current switched off in an emergency. In addition, tunnel telephones are provided at stations and any sub surface equipment rooms that enable quick access to the signaller should a problem occur.

The technical solution for this requirement is well known and has been established practice for many years. It consists of two exposed copper wires running the length of the route at the height of a driver’s cab, mounted on ceramic insulators at periodic intervals that are bolted to the tunnel wall.

Drivers are provided with a portable telephone including a length of connecting cable and two crocodile clips. Once the train is stopped, the driver clips the telephone to the copper wires and a call is automatically initiated to the control room.

At the same time, traction power is cut off as a signal is sent to the substation.

Pinching the two wires together creates a short circuit that also removes the traction power - an arrangement that is well proven and is familiar to staff.

32

Rail Engineer • March 2017

SIGNALLING AND TELECOMS

The renewal project

The control centre for the line is at New Cross Gate, which is also the depot for train stabling and maintenance. South of this point, towards Croydon, the control interfaces to the Three Bridges ROC while the new link to Clapham Junction from Surrey Quays requires an interface with the Wimbledon signalling centre.

At the north end of the line, the train service does not go beyond Dalston or

Canonbury

East London Line extension

HAC K NEY

Dalston Junction

Highbury & Islington Victoria

Haggerston IS LIN GTO N

Hoxton

TOWE R HAMLE TS

Shoreditch High Street

CAMDEN

Whitechapel District Hammersmith & City

C ITY OF LOND ON

Shadwell

CITY OF WESTMINSTER

DLR

Wapping

Challenging the standard

Rotherhithe Canada Water Jubilee

Surrey Quays SOUTHWARK

K E NS I NG TO N AN D C H EL S EA

Surrey Canal Road GREENWICH

Queen’s Road Peckham Denmark Hill

Wandsworth Road

Clapham Junction

Clapham High Street

New Cross

New Cross Gate

Peckham Rye

Brockley

Northern

Honor Oak Park

WA NDSWO RT H

LEWISHA M

L AM BETH

Forest Hill

Sydenham

Crystal Palace

Penge West Anerley

Key Stations currently served by National Rail

BROMLEY

Phase 1 extension completed Summer 2010 Original East London line reopened as part of Phase 1 in Summer 2010 Phase 1 extension completed 2011

Norwood Junction

Phase 2 extension completed 2012

S U T TO N

Highbury - passengers beyond these stations needing to change trains. The line is therefore almost self-contained.

The Brunel twin tunnels, having had major maintenance work in recent years, are remarkably dry.

However, the double-track tunnels to the north and south are very wet in places and, whilst pumps keep the tunnels clear of surface water, it is not a good environment for exposed telecommunications systems. The area around Canada Water is typical of these bad conditions.

Maintaining a pinch-wire system is thus a constant challenge with corrosion and dampness meaning that the system needed regular visits to clean, dry and often replace the pinchwire components.

West Croydon Tramlink

Before the days of radio communication, the pinch-wire system was the only means by which drivers could communicate with the control room. Now, with the introduction of GSM-R, drivers use the radio instead and the reliability of the system is very good. An analysis revealed that the pinch wires were rarely used. So could the system be removed, thus avoiding an expensive renewal?

A proposal was put to the ORR by TfL and, providing certain conditions were met, it was agreed that the pinch wire system could be removed. A tunnel telephone system, however, had to be retained so that staff and travellers at stations had easy access to the control room in any emergency. The GSM-R radio was considered robust enough for drivers to use should they need instant access to the controller.

Carillion, therefore, put in place a renewal plan to install a new highspecification telecom cable throughout the tunnel sections. To this would be connected the existing tunnel telephones and the system would terminate on its own concentrator, with a red handset, at New Cross Gate control room.

The cable is two pairs of 0.9mm conductors, double-sheathed and with an aluminium foil between the sheaths, terminated in weatherproof boxes supplied by Abtech of Sheffield at the telephone locations. The phones are the normal weatherproof type supplied

by Ford Electronics. Calling control is achieved by lifting the handset, as in a standard, central battery operation.

The new cable was run in during 2016 under night-time possession arrangements - typically only three hours long - using rail mounted trolleys as these were seen as safer and more flexible than a road-rail vehicle. The three-kilometre section took two weeks to complete.

After an independent test of the system, carried out by Atkins, the system was commissioned on 21 December 2016, just before Christmas, and the drivers’ portable handsets were recovered. Much improved speech quality has resulted. Maintenance requirements are now minimal, with checks programmed for five times per year instead of every week, thus saving considerable expense.

Use of the GSM-R radio for emergency purposes is by pressing the red button that immediately alerts the controller and prioritises the call over any others that are in progress. The signaller can immediately switch off the traction current by means of a ‘trip’ on the telephone system console or by contacting Lewisham Electrical Control Room on a direct-line telephone. A box on the signaller’s desk enables the trip to be reset once it is safe to do so.

Tunnel pinch wire systems are thus likely to gradually become a thing of the past, a logical step forward with the advance of technology.

Thanks to Nathan Methven and Rubel Miah of Carillion for explaining the project and circumstances.

We achieve together Carillion has successfully installed a modern telephone system in the Brunel Tunnel on the East London Line.

Contact us at www.carillionplc.com

Rail Engineer â&#x20AC;˘ March 2017

Wi-Fi

and all that Jazz

SIGNALLING AND TELECOMS

34

COMMUNICATING ON TRAINS

CLIVE KESSELL

G

one are the days when, to pass the time on a long train journey, people read newspapers, books, or just looked out of the window at the passing scenery and seasons.

No, the young and not so young of today must have some kind of electronic device that connects them to the internet so that emails, music, videos, games and even digital books can be viewed as if it was oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own home.

Since Wi-Fi services began to be offered on trains some twelve years ago, the popularity of the service has mushroomed beyond the aspirations of the early pioneering companies. As in all walks of life, people have become addicted to their mobile devices and a goodly percentage of the population need to be constantly connected. Walk down any train these days and you will see a variety of laptops, tablets and smart phones showing a myriad of information and entertainment. The user age ranges from around six (mainly for games) right up to the 70s where a mix of genuine work and doubtful videos engross people for hours on end.

Is this a good thing? Whatever your opinion, it seems certain that this habit is here to stay. Train Wi-Fi provision service is becoming a victim of its own success, with a number of challenges now causing the supply companies to explore different innovative ways to cater for such high demands as a result of the relentless growth in tablet and, particularly, smartphone usage. The quality of service is already being stretched, so what can suppliers do to reverse this situation?

Coverage The first problem is coverage. To connect all the clever equipment on the train to the outside cellular world, linkage has to exist with the 3G, 4G and future 5G mobile networks.

The providers of these plan their infrastructure to give the most beneficial financial return, and this is dense urban areas and the motorway/trunk road routes. In other locations, it is pot

luck and, whilst national coverage intentions are happening, in many places this will be only by one network provider so, if your device is hooked to some other provider, then you will struggle to communicate.

For the railways, there is the added problem of deep cuttings and tunnels where coverage will be poor or non-existent because of how radio propagation works. One solution is to extend mobile network coverage with purpose-built base stations to fill these gaps, even including leaky feeder cables being installed in tunnels. The techniques to achieve this are well known but they cost money as well as the hassle of planning consents and civil engineering specification sign off.

So, who pays? That is the big question with no easy answer.

It may have to be a combination of the Network Providers, the train operating companies and the Wi-Fi supply companies. Just how willing are these to stump up hard cash in order to provide the service required?

A further step forward would be for the government to insist that the mobile network providers allow free roaming of mobile users to access an alternative network if only one signal is available in an area. Users enjoy this facility when travelling abroad, so why not allow it on home territory? Doubtless there are commercial considerations, but the lobbying interests should be strong enough to overcome these.

Rail Engineer • March 2017

35

Capacity

SIGNALLING AND TELECOMS

The second challenge is capacity. Distributing the necessary bandwidth throughout the train can be difficult. New rolling stock should be easy as these are specified to come with the necessary cabling installed in the factory. Retrofitting older trains is never straightforward and is more expensive. An internal radio solution to link between carriages may be the only answer, but this is never as good as train wiring and can be subject to interference.

However, it is usage demand that is so often the barrier. An intercity train may have upwards of 500 people on board and, if everyone wants internet access at the same time, then that is a challenge. Couple that with downloading large files or even videos and it is inevitable that many will struggle for access.

The Wi-Fi providers are well aware of the situation and are introducing new on-board equipment to give more capacity within the train. However, it is still going to need increased bandwidth from the train to the outside world and this is always likely to be the crunch point.

One solution is to drive down demand and there are various ways of doing this. The obvious one of charging for the service is not seen as customer friendly and increasingly train operators are likely to be forced to offer a free Wi-Fi service for all passengers. Another is for media content such as videos, games, music and frequently accessed web pages to be stored on the train for distribution over its internal Wi-Fi service.

An alternative is to offer different types of information and entertainment. Keeping the passengers’ attention focussed on other things will help stop them demanding high bandwidths for a personal internet connection. Seat-back video screens, which are commonplace on aeroplanes, have been briefly tried on trains but have logistical and maintenance problems.

Although many people reserve a seat, a lot do not bother and the ethos of ‘turn up and go’ is still one of rail’s main selling points. End-ofcoach screens to show films or, more usefully, ongoing travel information are beginning to appear on the latest trains for the Thameslink service and will likely feature on all new train builds. It is too soon to know whether these will prove popular.

Education The 5G concept of being able to connect with whatever the strongest signal is in any particular area from whatever source should help enormously, be this localised Wi-Fi - terrestrial or satellite. However, a nationwide 5G service is still some time off, not soon enough to help with the present demand increase and, anyway, it may never truly benefit the railways.

More likely are dedicated sections of private purpose-built broadband coverage along the tracks where the investment matches demand.

Education is important and the travelling public needs to be taught that capacity is something dependent on the laws of physics and will never be available on a limitless basis. There is an argument that passenger behaviour should be conditioned to tailor bandwidth consumption to the route and time of journey. For instance, can files be easily downloaded beforehand in the office or at home, while motionless? If so it makes perfect sense to avoid using up valuable bandwidth on the train.

Promoting the concept of a savvier connected passenger will encourage a myriad of ways to keep entertainment and work pursuits satisfactorily connected throughout a long and busy train journey.

Railway requirements General train connectivity can include railway operational requirements, with the goal of obtaining savings through the more efficient running of trains to minimise congestion problems and achieve improved energy usage.

Operators are beginning to implement systems that should achieve these objectives - remote download of train system data being one of them - but this obviously relies on the availability and reliability of a public mobile connection service.

The provision and updating of information screens in carriages will become a norm as will be the sending of condition monitoring reports

on train performance. The present 2G railway GSM-R network cannot accommodate these requirements, thus making a further demand on the public mobile connection.

Crossing the safety divide to embrace train control system communication is a different ball game and using a public mobile service for such a facility would likely be a step too far. From a technical perspective, it is entirely possible but, from a capacity viewpoint, it is highly risky as any failure to reliably communicate every five seconds to every train in the area will result in trains being brought to a halt.

Maybe some sort of shared service, or the installation of private purpose-built broadband coverage along the tracks will be the solution, but that is something that is taxing the minds of those planning for the future. A prioritised service guarantee may have to be part of the solution if dedicated bandwidth is not to be provided. This could, of course, have a detrimental effect on other users.

The progress made with train connectivity over the last decade has been impressive and has transformed the journey experience for many. Access to Wi-Fi on journeys is now commonplace right across Europe and must be applauded.

However, the popularity of the service poses challenges for the future and exploring new ways to provide flexibility and choice for the passenger is important. Education has a part to play, but new technology using media platforms to provide both entertainment and information to passengers must be part of the solution.

Suppliers and operators cannot work in isolation: strong partnerships between government, network providers, train operators and suppliers must be formed to provide an industry-wide collaboration to realise the potential for the future. The ultimate goal is to provide a service that can be delivered consistently, reliably and with a guaranteed quality.

36

Rail Engineer â&#x20AC;¢ March 2017

Tunnel Screen PETER STANTON

The AMCO

PHOTO: AMCO

PHOTO: AMCO

Rail Engineer â&#x20AC;¢ March 2017

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38

Rail Engineer • March 2017

B

ack in the January Rail Engineer magazine (issue 147), we were introduced to the “Great Divide” - an impressive proposal to enable safer working in tunnels with the added bonus of carrying out that safe work while trains ran at realistic speeds on the adjacent line. That article was supported by some clever 3D visualisations and pictures of the control systems on the plant.

The application was put clearly into focus by a picture of typical tunnel repairs with both lines blocked; meaning closure of the tunnel route or extremely restricted rail service levels.

Rail Engineer has since attended a demonstration of the equipment on the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway, using a short tunnel on the branch line at the Duffield end which offered the ability to put the screen to use with two tracks in place, one running trains and one taking the AMCO screen.

The Ecclesbourne Valley railway is a most attractive heritage line running from Duffield to Wirksworth in the Peak District. Here, the ‘My Test Track’ organisation offers testing facilities on-line with full support.

To put the reasoning for the tunnel screen and accompanying hardware into context, it is worth remembering the history and events that have driven the development.

During the tendering process for Control Period 5 it was clear that Network Rail wanted their suppliers to improve safety performance, reduce cost, innovate and challenge the ways that work has previously been delivered.

Last November, three years into that five-year control period, the Rail Delivery Group stated: “The Railway must harness new technology and change the way we work.” Access to the congested railway network is becoming more and more difficult as the train operators seek to run more and more trains for longer periods of time.

Traditional possession working has been quite appropriate for small interventions and maintenance but, by its own nature, is highly inefficient because:

»» A published eight hour possession can give as little as four hours effective working time; »» Working in a blockade only one day out of seven increases preliminary costs; »» Weekend working, with other contractors pressing for the same access times and use of the same access points, is inefficient; »» Wage rates for weekend works tend to be higher; »» Higher plant rates are incurred.

Dave Thomas, AMCO’s contracts manager, emphasised that, to such a specialist contractor, there is a particular resourcing issue. That is, how to keep the highly skilled workforce busy between weekend working sessions - there not necessarily being alternative work during the week.

As related by Dave, the AMCO vision for the future is: »» We want to increase working time on site; »» We want to work in a tunnel at night during the week, and then possibly leave access free for others during the weekend; »» We want to reduce cost and increase efficiencies; »» We want to provide regular midweek work for our specialist tunnel resources; »» WE WANT TO DO IT SAFELY. There seems to be nothing in the operating rules that prevents blocking one line in a tunnel and carrying out

Rail Engineer • March 2017 work from that line whilst trains pass on the other line. The conventional safe system of work could be using site wardens - a situation that would be unattractive on any scale.

However; the tunnel screen offers the kind of protection that one has come to expect in the current age and is an innovative idea from the AMCO/ Foulstone Forge partnership.

The demonstration at Duffield was arranged to take the covers off the tunnel screen and share the principles and benefits of the equipment with industry professionals. To emphasise the purpose of the day, Dave insisted that the company wished to hear from experts and work in collaboration with Network Rail. In summary, he told the assembled audience: “We want to make this work!”

The demonstration A useful asset within the ‘My Test Track’ portfolio is the short tunnel, some fifty metres long, at the Duffield end of the line. The tunnel is of double track arrangement with a through line and a siding with access from the main line at the south end of the structure.

There was considerable interest from industry in the demonstration and, to enable access, the group gathered at the railway’s headquarters at Wirksworth. A very effective safety briefing took place while the assembled occupants rode on a well-presented heritage diesel multiple unit up to the test site at Duffield.

A short train of the AMCO/Foulstone equipment had been assembled in the siding with a Total Rail Solutions (TRS) road-rail vehicle to act as motive power. The focus of the train was the trailer with the screen equipment plus the suction units and a ‘ManRider’ which gives a low risk method of getting to the worksite in a safe environment.

The audience was conducted to a safe place behind barriers in the tunnel and the screen and associated vehicles were then shunted into place in the siding.

The equipment performed as planned, with the screen and platform quickly deployed. Most effective then was the inflation of the seals to create a dust tight joint between the screen and the tunnel walls. (In the

39

demonstration only one end screen was deployed to allow easy access for the observers.)

The practicality of the screen was soon demonstrated as the observers were able to take their places on the platform and appreciate the excellent access to the tunnel walls and roof. However the most effective demonstration was to come.

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40

Rail Engineer • March 2017 The screen contains filter panels which not only filter air but also mitigate the pressure pulse effect of a passing train. AMCO was able to demonstrate the safety and comfort of the equipment as the DMU was now put to good use, running on the line adjacent to the platform at around fifty kph. It has to be said that, behind the tunnel screen, there was no feeling of risk or any disturbance from the rolling train during several passes.

The base of the tunnel screen gave a very firm footing with risk at the tunnel wall side mitigated by a barrier which was raised to block off the gap between platform and wall.

With the AMCO team on site, there was plenty of advice to deal with questions on both technical and operational aspects. The team were well briefed and was able to advise on piston effect pressures - quoted in Pascals of course! Observers were educated to the sense of differing pressures between approaching and departing trains on the move.

The platform was suited, indeed designed for, concrete spraying - a very effective seal being made with the ability to capture overspray and dusty particles and clear these away into the suction wagon where the dust can be collected for safe disposal later. The concept is not limited to one trailer but, within the limits of the available traction, several units may be coupled togther with easy access from one to another.

My Test Track The Ecclesbourne Valley Railway is an attractive heritage railway just north of Derby and associated is ‘My Test Track’, host to the AMCO demonstration.

There are several heritage railways offering testing facilities to the rail industry and the site at Wirksworth specialises in short-notice and high-availability work. There is a nine-mile test site suitable for low and medium-speed vehicle testing. The site includes a variety of switches and crossings, a range of rail types, a three per cent (1 in 30) gradient and a stability test site with a 150mm cant.

The facilities have been optimised to provide a discreet and readily available site for engineering companies seeking to test and certify rail vehicles and associated equipment. On offer is a variety of loads, support vehicles and haulage options, while the covered depot facilities include an inspection pit and basic workshop facilities. The site also provides facilities for training, offering a full safety briefing as standard, while testing is supported by one of the resident engineers.

The company acts as the preferred test site for several major longterm customers and is the official site for possession-only vehicle testing to RSSB standard RIS-1530-PLT.

After the robust demonstration and safe return of the equipment to the stabling point, the assembled multitude was able to return to the DMU and engage in useful debate during the return to Wirksworth. At the railway’s base an excellent light lunch was provided by AMCO allowing productive networking and further technical briefings.

To complete the demonstrations, AMCO also had a display of other tunnel access equipment, including purpose-built drilling rigs, in the yard at Wirksworth, completing a most absorbing and valuable visit.

Network Rail’s view As well as contractors and consultants, AMCO was pleased to host Network Rail representatives and Colin Sims, head of tunnels, was able to view the site and the operations. He was impressed with what he saw and commented: “Going forward, the industry will be facing challenges to carry out repairs on

infrastructure, even more safely and efficiently, as access opportunities become condensed to meet the ever-increasing demand on network utilisation.

“It is very encouraging to see contractors such as AMCO rising to this challenge and applying their expertise to develop innovative solutions to these problems, as have been exhibited today.”

In summary, the experience of the equipment was very positive, access was safe and the working platform gave every confidence when standing on it. The opportunity to erect access equipment was there and would be quite safe to use.

As well as for use in tunnels, the equipment would also give very effective access to cutting walls such as those through Belper or the approach to Birmingham New Street, giving vegetation control teams the chance to attack the dreaded buddleia without the existing disruption to traffic!

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Rail Engineer • March 2017

ELECTRIC AND ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS

Smart cable monitoring Improving network performance and extending the life of signalling power cables using smart monitoring and intelligent analytics.

TAHIR AYUB

S

ignalling power cable failures can be very disruptive to railway traffic. Even short-term interruptions can have a wide impact on performance across the network.

A typical SPDS network typology.

With digital railway technology seeking to increase capacity, the need to detect emerging power distribution cable insulation failures, and the ability to locate and quickly recover from these failures and the associated perturbations, becomes ever more critical.

This has resulted in a radical rethinking of how digital technology and data analytics using artificial intelligence can be integrated into an open architecture using flexible and agile multi-tier platforms for future cable monitoring systems.

Nigel Edwards, Network Rail’s professional head of power distribution HV/LV, said: “We are seeking to build on today’s technology that can be used to support early warning of degradation and combine condition assessment of signalling power cables along with the ability to pinpoint the position of failures.

“This will allow us to revaluate our asset management plans from reactive to predictive regimes that will drive safety, availability and performance improvements. It will support the life extension of existing power cables networks as an alternative to replacement of cables which may be approaching the end of their life, driving cost efficiencies.”

Signalling power systems An essential sub-system of any railway signalling or traffic management system is the signalling power supply (SPS). This typically includes the following subsystems: source of supply, principal supply point (PSP), signalling power distribution system (SPDS) and signalling equipment. The four subsystems may be discrete entities or contained together within a building, such as a signalbox or rail operating centre (ROC). The majority of distribution systems are autonomous cable networks that are not interconnected although, in new installations, an increasing number are double-end fed systems.

The railway signalling power distribution subsystem is one of the largest low-voltage power distribution networks outside the utility network in the UK. Thousands of kilometres of power cable interconnect the power supply points and signalling equipment housings positioned along the railway via functional supply points.

A signalling power distribution sub-system typically also includes distribution and function supply points transformers, low voltage switchgear, distribution interface transformer assemblies (DITAs), automatic re-configuration systems and feeder protection equipment. A typical configuration of the network can be seen in the diagram.

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Rail Engineer • March 2017

ELECTRIC AND ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS

The reasons for an IT system

Typical rodent damage, in this instance power cable to signalling location cases.

Three types of electrical supply earthing systems are defined in BS7671 (typically referred to as the wiring regulations), defined by the two-letter codes TN, TT and IT. The first letter identifies the way that the main power source or transformer is earthed, the second letter how components and subsystems are earthed.

In a TN system, one of the points on the power source or transformer is directly connected with earth (T=terra). All of the equipment on the system is connected back to this single earth connection via the Network, as is common on domestic or simple commercial power systems.

A TT system has every subsystem independently earthed locally, with no ‘earth wire’ connecting the equipment back to the power source. This system is frequently used in telecommunications as it removes any interference from the common earth wire.

The earth connection on an IT system is Isolated from the power source but all of the equipment is independently or collectively earthed (to Terra).

The railway signalling power distribution sub-system commonly uses an IT electrical system, sometimes referred to as an unearthed power supply. The benefit of an IT electrical system over a TN system is that it is tolerant to earth faults.

Earth faults in TN systems cause the protection (fuses) to operate and hence cause the power supply to switch off. This could have significant disruptive safety impact on the railway signalling system.

There are many potential causes of earth faults in a railway environment: rodent damage (rats chewing the cable), cable strikes by tools, crushing due to railway plant, cable joint failure, water ingress, poor cable installation and aging of the cable insulation over time.

Railways share the use of IT electrical systems with other mission-critical systems such as hospital operating theatres, warships, oil and gas platforms, nuclear installations and airport runway lighting.

IT electrical systems continue to operate under an earth fault condition, but such systems are required to be fitted with cable insulation monitoring systems which continuously monitor and detect the presence

of earth leakage. When the measured earth fault reaches a threshold, an alarm is sounded by the insulation monitoring system which would normally give maintenance teams advance warning of a developing insulation fault, enabling action before a further fault leads to failure, or more importantly, before a second earth fault can occur on the system.

There is also a safety imperative to repair earth faults quickly before the electrical system presents an electric shock risk. If further earth faults also occur, then the system becomes vulnerable to becoming disconnected by the protection system (fuses).

Insulation monitoring systems form a key part of managing the signalling power distribution network. As they help to keep the signalling systems running, they have a direct impact on train safety and performance.

Asset management challenges Whilst signalling power systems may not be unique in using IT-configured distribution, their deployment on the railway makes them distinctive when compared to other mission-critical applications. They typically comprise multiple cable feeders or circuits in a range of outdoor environments including surface cable troughs, under-track crossings (UTX) or being directly buried in the ground.

Cables can be subjected to wide temperature variations, humidity changes and water immersion along the length of the cable network. Cables and joints are also subject to mechanical stresses from the vibration of passing trains and, sometimes, from the movement of cutting or embankment slopes. Typical network cable lengths (multiple feeders) can range from 15 to 70km. Individual signalling power supply feeders can range in length from three to 10 kilometres.

Network Rail asset manager Graeme Beale explained: “Today’s insulation monitoring systems may help in identifying the presence of an insulation failure but, as many of the railway’s historic signalling power distribution networks are so extensive, it becomes very difficult and challenging to locate the position of the indicated earth faults without undertaking a binary chop.

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Rail Engineer • March 2017

ELECTRIC AND ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS

off sections of the signalling power distribution network to allow more precise location of faults. Historically, this rudimentary form of fault-finding involved isolating a section of the network and observing whether the circuit protection operated when the supply was restored to the remainder of the network. This effort, and the time it takes, has a hugely detrimental impact on signalling systems, which cannot be operated under such faultfinding scenarios.

“Nowadays, we have more sophisticated and less disruptive techniques available using handheld, portable earth-fault leakage detectors that work in tandem with the fixed earth-leakage monitor at the supply location. However, this still requires fault-finding teams to be mobilised at short notice, spending many hours searching the railway for faults which could be hidden in UTXs or along the cable route inside cable troughs.

The requirement to protect staff from moving trains means this often has to be done at night and in all weathers. It is very much like finding a needle in the proverbial haystack!”

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Some signalling power supply networks are up to 60 years old and are increasingly subject to earth faults, due to the aging of cables, which are then difficult to trace.

Such large networks have a high leakage capacitance to earth - a function of length and the age of the cable. Under earth fault conditions, it becomes even more critical to detect, locate and repair earth faults before it presents an electric shock risk.

Cross-industry engagement As a result, Network Rail has developed a new product specification - Insulation Monitoring and Fault Location Systems for Signalling Power Distribution Systems (R/L2/ SIGELP/27725). This is the company’s new vision for multiple-tier smart cable insulation monitoring to drive performance and asset life extensions.

The new insulation-monitoring standard is the result of an elicitation and stakeholder

engagement across the industry and supply chain. A two-year review and remote condition monitoring project, delivered by RSSB in collaboration with the Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education, helped to identify constraints and limitations with current technologies and identify methods that could be used for future technologies.

A wide industrial-sector review of cable monitoring systems used for other mission-critical applications was carried out. The results gave insights that could deliver huge benefits if some features of these systems could be transferred to a railway environment. They also shaped the rationale behind some of the requirements for future insulation monitoring systems. A holistic picture of the health of the cable, along with a rich data set, is the key message.

Rail Engineer • March 2017

The new standard now specifies that insulation-monitoring and fault-location systems shall be suitable for configuration into the three network architectures, which are themselves subdivided into three tiers based on functionality, providing network monitoring (tier 3), sub-network monitoring (tier 2) and sub-network section monitoring (tier 1).

Requirements include the ability to measure, monitor and locate resistance and capacitance for all three tiers. In addition, fault location systems shall have the capability to detect and locate line-to-earth insulation faults on a network. The option to detect and locate other network faults are also specified including line-to-line short-circuits, intermittent short-circuits (arcing) and open circuits.

To determine the degree of cable contamination resulting from moisture ingress and/or insulation damage, requirements for deriving the polarisation index and dielectric absorption ratio have also been specified. In order to complete the exercise and determine the full health of the cable, additional parameters such as voltage, line-to-earth voltage, line current, power factor, temperature and humidity may also be included.

By collecting this data, and highlighting any trends on cable insulation resistance, it will be possible to more accurately predict the health of the cable. This is particularly useful when legacy cables are being life-extended.

Where data trending is used, the ability to perform complex analysis using resistance, capacitance and other system parameters could be incorporated to derive condition status.

Patterns may emerge that cannot be identified solely by the use of human experience and intuition.

Complex analysis of the data, using fuzzy logic and/or learning artificial intelligence neural networks, could be used to predict imminent cable failures and to generate early alarms.

In the longer term, the aspiration is to build capability to rejuvenate damaged cable through cable selfrepair properties or through the application of digital signals that excite the structure of the insulation to drive self-healing.

and will welcome applications for product approvals. Mark Downes, head of engineering (Infrastructure Projects Central), stated: “We are keen to support the evaluation and introduction of innovative products and processes that drive technology and business change on our infrastructure renewal and enhancement programmes.”

Investigation into power system remote monitoring alarm revealed a damaged 650V cable lying in a flooded trough route.

Tahir Ayub is a programme engineering manager (enhancements) at Network Rail Infrastructure Projects (Central) and has been the technical lead for the development of the new standard.

Power Solutions for Railway Infrastructure

Business realisation The new platform and system architecture can be used to make the case for reducing or eliminating the need for disruptive cable testing. This would drive significant OPEX savings in maintenance costs and railway disruption. It also could provide alternative cost-effective power supply architecture, in place of other systems, on some installations where the business case is being challenged.

This new specification and the work behind it, forms part of Network Rail’s aim to drive innovation in the supply chain. In fact, these technologies and developments could find outlets in other fields and industries.

Many suppliers and specialists have already been involved in the work behind the new product specification. However, the team is seeking further collaborations

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ELECTRIC AND ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS

Product and system requirements

47

ELECTRIC AND ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS

48

Rail Engineer â&#x20AC;˘ March 2017

Power converters rugged solutions for demanding applications D

C-DC converters are essential to todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s electronic world. They are multidirectional, change voltages up or down and also provide isolation from one system to another.

A common electrical device such as a mobile phone may have several sub-systems, all of which operate at different voltages. The battery supplies only one voltage, the rest are produced by DC-DC converters.

So it is with railway systems. The main AC-DC converter produces direct current from the main power source (25kV overhead line, for example), then DC-DC converters change that voltage into whatever a particular subsystem needs.

All this has to work day-in, day-out, whatever the weather and the environmental conditions, all whilst experiencing vibration, sometimes severe. So power supply products must meet extremely high national and international standards for harsh environments, safety and electromagnetic compatibility and interference (EMC/EMI).

In addition, such products will have undergone rigorous and extensive engineering and design verification tests (EVT/DVT). Strict engineering

Melcher Q-series DC-DC converter.

guidelines ensure low component stress, thermal profiling and high phase margins for stability and dynamic response, including highly accelerated life tests (HALT) and highly accelerated stress screen tests (HASS).

Melcher brand DC-DC and AC-DC converters, manufactured by Bel Power, have an extremely long history of

Rail Engineer • March 2017

applications in the railway industry and the range of products include features and benefits essential for the industry.

Applications can be found both trackside and on rolling stock.

Trackside power A team working for Network Rail needed to power its 24V DC system from the trackside 48V DC battery-backed supply using an EN50121 compliant solution. The project was part of an upgrade to a new SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) system to control traction power and distribution across the national rail network.

For this application, the Q series from Bel Power, which had the additional benefit of being approved by the Network Rail PADS (Parts and Drawing System), was selected. These units are highly efficient, up to 98 per cent, and have wide output voltage trim ranges for ease of use. They are built into rugged aluminium extruded cases for rack or chassis mounting, and all circuits are dip-varnished for good mechanical durability and to withstand high humidity.

There is also a range of AC-DC converters which are mechanically identical to the DCDC ones for ease of design and fitment.

Motorised sunblind A train operator had reported problems with the sunblinds in drivers’ cabs. Traditionally operated by a simple manual chord and pulley system, drivers sometimes found that they

jammed or were hard to operate, distracting them while driving the train.

This rather low-tech problem had a simple solution - a motorised sunblind. The new design was powered from the traction battery supply, for which the Q series DCDC converter was ideal.

Although this doesn’t sound like a particularly arduous application, modern railway trains and locomotives are a tough electrical environment for any electronic equipment. The right solution needed to be reliable, with proven MTBF (mean time between failures) levels, and capable of dealing with voltage fluctuations and inrush current requirements. The Q series DC-DC converter, which is EN50155/EN50121 compliant, is a widely used, tried and tested product that has a good track record in terms of performance and longterm reliability.

With literally hundreds of thousands of Melcher products installed over the years around the world, the principal design features and standards have themselves become a quasi-industrial standard and benchmark. In the UK, Melcher power supply and converter products are available from Relec Electronics, a specialist supplier of equipment to the rail industry.

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ELECTRIC AND ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS

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49

Going off the grid

Rail Engineer • March 2017

ELECTRIC AND ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS

50

S

ustainability covers such a large remit that it is often difficult to define exactly what it means - it’s something the rail industry is still grappling with. It can mean recycling waste goods and investing in renewable energy sources, but for businesses it is also about efficiency and safety.

In the Netherlands, the railway is a leading example of a sustainable business. As of the start of this year, wind turbines supply 100 per cent of the power for its electrified network.

At Rail Media’s Sustainability Summit in 2015, ADComms’ head of next generation networks, Mike Hewitt, explained plans for a hybrid power solution the company was preparing to deliver for a GSM-R repeater at Worlaby in Lincolnshire.

Network Rail was seeking a way of powering the repeater without connecting it to a trackside electricity supply which is a more cost-effective and practical way of powering the repeater.

The scheme is something of a pilot project for exploring the use of renewable energy sources to power Britain’s railway.

Drawing electricity from a trackside power cabinet presented issues with access, high installation costs and a high risk of vandalism.

The solution had been to use a large diesel generator; besides the cost of hiring, refuelling and maintaining the generator, this wasn’t a particularly environmentally friendly option.

Month

Primary and secondary sources ADComms, which has since been acquired by Panasonic, proposed a hybrid solution using solar power as the primary energy source. The challenge with off-grid solutions is the basis to understand in depth the load requirements and the solar energy and surface meteorology data for any given location. The key components are the solar harvesting, the energy storage and appropriate sizing of the generator solution for the site. The aim was to store sufficient energy to reduce the need for refuelling to a single site visit each year.

Instead of connecting it to the grid, the repeater would draw the majority of its energy from a set of lithium-ion batteries. Li-ion was chosen over VRLA (valve-regulated lead-acid) due to its higherdensity storage capacity, increased operating temperature and longer life cycle. These would harvest and store the energy supplied by solar panels, with a diesel generator acting as a backup.

The system design was based on the following base data:

“The high-level objectives were to provide a reliable, cost-effective, off-grid power solution with modern, innovative and best-of-breed components,” explained Andrea Johnston, project manager for ADComms at Worlaby. “Maintenance should be kept to a minimum with the aim of a single yearly visit to service the site and refuel the diesel generator. Site monitoring is key to ensure the site is functioning within design parameters the solution is powering a safety critical device, the GSM-R repeater.”

Andrea added: “The primary power source is a solar array of 12 Panasonic panels, charging the lithium batteries which provide the power to the repeater. The secondary power is provided by a generator which is primed to start and charge the batteries when the solar power is not sufficient.”

The system design was based on twelve 250W Panasonic Solar Panels, connected to a 235Ah Li-ion battery solution. This is supplemented with a 6kW diesel generator set.

The target was to achieve, each year, 2,631kWh of energy production from solar, or 48.5 per cent of the energy production from solar harvesting with an excess of 1,632kWh available for storage.

The intention for the generator was for less than 48 starts per year and fuel consumption of under 500 litres over the annual cycle.

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Solar Radiation, kWh/m /day

0.63

1.40

2.65

4.10

5.44

5.60

5.51

4.64

3.22

1.85

0.82

0.47

Clearness, 0 -1

0.32

0.40

0.46

0.49

0.52

0.49

0.50

0.50

0.47

0.43

0.34

0.30

Temperature, ˚C

6.48

5.79

6.47

7.72 10.45 13.30 15.96 16.89 15.40 12.95 9.85

7.81

Wind speed, m/s

9.22

8.87

8.17

7.05

6.49

5.93

6.10

6.41

7.23

8.27

8.36

8.69

Precipitation, mm

54

40

46

48

46

50

53

54

50

57

65

59

19.1

14.8

17.0

15.2

14.2

12.7

12.4

12.8

12.9

15.4

18.6

18.2

2

Wet days

Rail Engineer • March 2017

51

ELECTRIC AND ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS

Key to the system is an innovative cloud-based remote monitoring and management system which provides full site visibility, monitoring and performance measuring. Cyber security is also a key consideration and the remote connectivity included a combination of encrypted radio interface and relies on FIPS140-2 cryptography standard compliance.

Live site Planning for the trial at Worlaby began in 2015.

The site had been prone to fly tipping and so had to be cleared, and the project involved a sizeable amount of civils works. This all had to be achieved on a site with restricted access. Andrea, who has been with ADComms since 2004, typically oversees the installation of repeaters and commented that this project presented a variety of new challenges.

The installation went live in June 2016 and, although the dark winter months will provide the sternest test, it performed well throughout the summer.

Low maintenance The use of solar power technology by this pilot Worlaby project will no doubt inform future projects. Not only was solar power an environmentally friendly solution, it was also the most practical and financially beneficial option. Running a diesel generator throughout

the year costs somewhere in the region of £30,000 and requires more than 16 site visits for maintenance and refuelling.

Although the cost of installing this kind of hybrid system is higher than a traditional grid supply or generator, AD Comms believes the

long-term maintenance costs will be much lower as it removes the need for so many site visits and allows for a predictive approach to maintenance.

The trial will continue until towards the end of this year.

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Rail Engineer • March 2017

ELECTRIC AND ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS

52

Intelligent

Power Converters T

o operate lighting, electronics and communication devices, both on trains and in control rooms, power converters such as inverters, battery chargers and power supplies are often installed to convert available DC or AC to the appropriate power outputs required.

Complicating matters, both the power source (DC in varying voltages from battery banks) and the outputs (such as voltage and frequency) can vary for each piece of equipment.

So much so, that finding the ideal converter can be difficult and often requires a customized solution.

Fortunately, digital signal processing (DSP) technology has significantly simplified the process. Unlike analogue converters, which require board-level component modifications to alter function or features, DSPbased models can be programmed to accommodate a range of input and output parameters as well as safety settings. These adjustments, and even firmware updates for the unit itself, can be made at any point in the product’s lifecycle, even after installation.

This is allowing system designers and installers to choose from a simplified selection of models that can essentially be customized to meet the precise needs of each application.

Rail power In railway operations, power converters are used with battery banks to provide power for emergency lighting and other electronics systems on rolling stock, when AC is not available.

In addition, inverters, voltage converters and battery chargers can be installed in cabinets, at level crossings and in other remote structures to facilitate rail-side communications and control systems powered by batteries or solar panels.

Metra is the commuter rail system serving the Greater Chicago metropolitan area in Illinois and Wisconsin, USA. In its system design, the locomotive supplies 480V threephase AC to power HVAC (heating, ventilation, air-conditioning), lighting, and low voltage electronics. The same power source is used to power the battery charger for the bank of batteries located in each rail car.

When AC power is not available, for whatever reason, the system

automatically switches to the battery bank for continued operation on battery power.

To accomplish this, Metra utilizes a custom converter unit developed

by Analytic Systems that combines a battery charger and 32V DC regulated power supply.

Intelligent offerings Founded in 1976, Analytic Systems is an innovative Canadian manufacturer of battery chargers, voltage converters, inverters, power supplies, and frequency converters and MPPT solar charge controllers.

Although the company still offers analogue converters, the current emphasis is on its new ‘intelligent’ digital offerings. By using the free ‘Power Wizard’ software, companies such as Metra are able to define the output frequency, output voltage, and low voltage shutdown parameters of any inverter from a laptop with a standard micro-USB interface.

Another appeal of the inverters is the pure sine wave they produce, which provides cleaner power than cheaper, quasi sine wave alternatives.

Pure sine wave inverters are ideal when operating sensitive electronic

Rail Engineer • March 2017

53 PHOTO: STEVEN VANCE

ELECTRIC AND ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS

devices that require a high-quality waveform with little harmonic distortion.

According to electrical engineer Piotr Jedraszczak PE, Metra recently began to use new digital inverter units as part of a recent upgrade of the emergency lighting system on passenger rail cars. The project, motivated by new regulations, also required converting the existing DC lights to brighter, AC-powered fluorescent lights.

The configurability of the IPSi series of intelligent inverters allowed Metra engineers to work within the parameters of the existing system design, with the only major change being an increase in battery size.

“Rather than trying to install a proprietary system, we got an inverter that could be configured to run on our specific rail voltages,” Piotr commented. “It is a very good application for the intelligent inverter, because we didn’t have to redesign the fluorescent lighting system on the rail car.”

The inverter from Analytic Systems has two inputs, one from the battery banks and another that feeds 120V AC to select fluorescent lights. The

inverter senses power loss and switches very quickly to the battery bank to seamlessly maintain 120V AC power to select assigned lights as outlined in the regulations.

to the floor and have it built, tested, right there and then get right back to me,” Piotr added.

Simplified reconfiguration Jedraszczak says the inverters were an economical solution given Metra operates several hundred rail cars. He also appreciates that, in the event of changing requirements, being able to reconfigure the inverter electronically and upgrade firmware is ideal.

“If we have to make a change with an analogue inverter, that requires going in at the circuit board level and soldering on a resistor, for example, so it’s very invasive to make even the smallest adjustments,” he said.

“With a DSP-based unit it allows for changing some of those settings electronically so we can make adjustments on a case-by-case basis.”

He also appreciates that Analytic Systems controls every step of the process in house, from concept to finished product.

“From an engineering standpoint, I love that because I can talk to their engineers and they understand my concerns and they can go right down

For the rail industry, whether for rolling stock or railside communication and control, intelligent power converters with their flexibility and ease of programming will allow engineers to select from a simplified list of models to essentially receive a custom solution.

This will not only eliminate the need for application-specific designs, but also enable faster delivery of the power converter at a more economical cost.

54

Rail Engineer • March 2017

Health and Safety Laboratory PAUL DARLINGTON

a National asset and hidden treasure

T

he spa town of Buxton in Derbyshire is the highest market town in England and a gateway to the Peak District National Park. It is close to the county boundary with Cheshire to the west and Staffordshire to the south. There is a mixed economy of tourism, retail, quarrying, scientific research, light industry and mineral water bottling.

Several limestone quarries are located nearby, including the largest high-purity industrial limestone quarry in Europe. The quarries in the area are well connected by rail freight services via Peak Forest.

Buxton railway station is served by the former L&NWR and LMS line via Whaley Bridge, with frequent trains to Stockport and Manchester.

One of the least known secrets of Buxton is that it is home to HSL, HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory. For the UK regulator, HSL works on incident investigation and research. But, more importantly, this national asset is here to support industry to identify common health and safety issues, and support companies with

training, research and consultancy to tackle often-complex health and safety related issues.

Founded by Winston Churchill’s government to conduct research into coalmine explosions, HSL was reportedly located in Buxton because, with quarrying already present in the area, there was a low risk of explosive noise being associated with any coal mining accident.

HSL has used the site for many years but, since 2005, it has consolidated its offices from Sheffield and London to these purpose-built facilities, laboratories and offices in Buxton.

Rail Engineer • March 2017

FROM LARGE SCALE TESTING TO RISK MANAGEMENT TRAINING SPECIFICALLY FOR THE RAIL INDUSTRY, HSE'S HEALTH AND SAFETY LABORATORY OFFERS MUCH MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE The Harper Hill site When a tour of the site was arranged for Rail Engineer, a pool car was booked as the site extends over 500 acres - it’s huge! The facilities here include a railway constructed to investigate explosions on trains. There are also facilities to assess collision impacts using smaller gauge tracks and drop tests.

The old track bed of the Cromford and High Peak Railway (C&HPR) runs through the site, although this part of the route has been shut for over 100 years and HSL is now accessible only by road.

HSL’s expertise has been used to investigate a number of railway incidents including Potters Bar, Ladbroke Grove and Grayrigg, as well as incidents in high hazard installations like Buncefield and in other industries, such as amusement parks.

However, investigative work is only a small part of what HSL does. Its specialist teams provide health and safety solutions to industry and government, and combine their significant scientific, medical and technical expertise to help all industries manage risk and protect their workforces from illness and injury.

What HSL does HSL’s main focus is on helping companies and industries to manage risks well and therefore prevent future incidents. This is done by offering direct access to its world-class experts via training, commissioned research or hands-on consultancy. HSL is part of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), and carrying out investigations for HSE gives it a unique insight into the causes of workplace accidents and ill-health.

Health and safety can’t be considered in isolation. Central to any business are its people and their interaction with plant (equipment, tools), process (how plant is used), product (what is produced) and place (the working environment). That’s why one of the UK’s largest dedicated Human Factors teams is based in Buxton.

A particular strength of HSL is bringing together different disciplines and teams to create practical, innovative and useful solutions, including standard and bespoke testing and modelling, as well as tools and research for health and safety. They take an evidence-based

approach when evaluating workplace problems, drawing on their extensive wealth of scientific research and knowledge gained over 100 years.

HSL employs a wide range of specialists including medical doctors, psychologists, explosives engineers, toxicologists, ergonomists, fire engineers, occupational hygienists, process safety engineers, microbiologists, mathematicians, material scientists, personal protective equipment experts and many more.

This wide range of skills ensures a holistic approach is taken with work or research undertaken by HSL.

Five centres HSL has set up five new centres to drive innovation and support industry even further.

These include: The Centre for Large-Scale Testing and Evaluation: this offers an unrivalled range of impact, blast, and bespoke large-scale testing facilities. For drop tests involving high mass objects, there is a four-metre concrete cube faced with a 50mm steel plate for use as an ‘unyielding’ drop target. HSL’s indoor vertical drop tower has a 10-tonne capacity hoist and a variable drop height of up to four metres. The 10-metre rig can also be used for high strain rate tests on, for example, webbings used in fall arrest equipment.

55

For faster impact speeds, HSL possesses a drop tower which offers a drop height variability of up to 25 metres and the flexibility to accommodate a variety of instrumentation packages.

The 265-metre main impact track consists of a single railway with dual rails (outer and inner gauge) which run down profiled banks on either side of a valley into a flat impact area at the valley floor. The track can be used for impact testing, collision testing, shock testing, high strain rate testing, wire rope testing and other compressive or tensile tests.

The Centre for Human Performance: set up to help any organisation maximise the potential of people, processes, systems and working environment. This positively impacts business leadership, efficiency, productivity and health and safety performance.

The Centre for Health: HSL’s Complete Worker Health solution to protect workers today and for life. The achievable, stepwise approach to health risk management tackles the issues specific to each organisation the centre deals with. This is focused on knowing a company’s issues and prioritising actions, together with integrating good management and wellbeing. The HSL objective is to ensure managing health at work need be no more challenging than managing safety.

The Centre for Risk Management: here HSL helps organisations to get their risk management right, however complex the task is. This results in greater business productivity, reduced costs and a healthier, safer workforce.

The Centre for Energy innovation: HSL works with innovative companies and partners to mitigate the risks associated with the development of new energy technologies.

This contributes to safer, sustainable and environmentally friendly future energy sources for everyone.

56

Rail Engineer • March 2017

HSL’s aim is to help any industry or organisation make better decisions. It has extensive data analytics skills and experience, which can offer new insights into data sets held by companies. This will have even greater importance in the future with systems and the internet of things, generating huge amounts of data. As HSL has access to the national population database and modelling systems, this comprehensive data analysis capability enables the modelling of most hazardous events in order to predict the potential impact.

Risk Management Maturity Model The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) Risk Management Maturity Model - RM3 - was published in 2010 as a tool for assessing duty holders’ safety management systems against the requirements for the Railways and other Guided System Regulations 2006. RM3 describes what excellent management capability looks like by means of a five-point maturity scale for key elements of an organisation’s safety management system.

HSL carried out a comprehensive review of RM3 for the ORR, which included a comparison of the elements of RM3 with the key characteristics of high reliability

organisations - those which manage high, unpredictable risks to the extent that they have low accident rates.

The independent review concluded that RM3 provides clear descriptions of excellence and establishes the maturity of an organisation’s safety management system. It establishes a common language and framework between the regulator and duty holders, facilitating communication and clarity, and strengthening relationships between ORR and industry stakeholders. It also allows the identification of current strengths and weaknesses against each of the elements in the model and the making of comparisons across different areas of an organisation with consistency in health and safety risk management. The review concluded that RM3 provides goal-oriented indicators of performance to feed into the

planning process and enables companies to focus resources on less mature areas of their organisation.

Since then, HSL and ORR have set up a partnership agreement under which HSL is delivering training on how to maximise the potential of the RM3 model. The training also gives a good understanding of how ORR inspectors use the model in practice.

This is just one area in which HSL’s expertise has benefited rail. With the rail industry’s alreadygood safety culture, and the need for innovation to deliver additional safe capacity for the future, HSL, with its vast experience and skills from other industry sectors could do much to help the rail industry meet its future challenges.

Thanks to HSL’s Lorraine Gavin, Simone Pitzal and Paul McCann for their assistance with this article.

58

Rail Engineer • March 2017

RECRUITMENT

Deploy UK Rail are a specialist blue and white collar supplier to the Rail Industry and LUL in Power, Signalling, Electrification, Telecoms and Civils.

We have in-depth knowledge of supplying and planning Rail Safety Critical, Civils, Cabling, Troughing, Trades and Electrical resources to the industry specialising in 3rd Rail environments.

Deploy UK Rail hold the following qualifications: • RISQS Approved via Audit 5* • RCC (Rail Contractor’s Certificate) to supply SWL (Safe Work Leaders) • RIPS (Railway Interface Planning Scheme) 5* • ISO 9001, 18001, 14001 • ROSPA Bronze We are part of the DE Group of companies which all hold individual RISQS Certification as a contractor which complements the services we offer in Rail by providing expertise in Demolition, Asbestos Surveying and Removal and H&S consultancy specialising in Principle Design Services to clients for CDM. We work closely with our clients to help them achieve their project goals by delivering a professional reliable service which is flexible and adaptable to the ever changing Rail and LUL environment.

The core of our business is built up of professionals who have serviced both the recruitment and site requirements for over 10+ years each.

We have strong client relationships built on trust and delivery.

As a business we are able to supply a turnkey solution P.S.D.S (Plan – Supply – Deliver – Safely).

Deploy UK Rail was created with the vision that we can provide a one stop solution to delivering client needs by going above and beyond expectation.

Burdett House, 15-16 Buckingham Street, London, WC2N 6DU Tel: 0207 434 0300 Email us on: railteam@deployuk.com

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Rail Engineer • March 2017

RECRUITMENT

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Quality and safety...

...right down the line.

Since the year 2000, SSE Enterprise Rail has been supplying specialist skills in M&E, electrification and power to the UK rail industry. But that’s just the start of the journey.

We are part of SSE plc, with vast resources and industry expertise throughout the UK and Ireland.

We have delivered some of the industry’s most complex projects, working across multiple disciplines.

We hold a principal contractor’s licence and over 200 RISQS codes.

Contact: Stewart Macpherson stewart.macpherson@sse.com

07810 818069

We put safety above all else and we have received the RoSPA President’s Award for nine consecutive years.