The Rail Engineer - Issue 96 - October 2012

October 2012

i s s u e

96 A million miles between services PENDOLINO TRAINS ARE GIVEN THEIR THIRD HEAVY OVERHAUL AT LONGSIGHT

Four is better than one

The pressure on performance

Bringing earthworks under control

Bombardier’s new locomotive, the TRAXX DE ME has not one diesel engine, but four.

Network Rail’s Robin Gisby gives us an insight into timetables, delays and costs.

We ask Network Rail how they are getting to grips with drains and earthworks.

written by rail engineers for rail engineers

available online at www.therailengineer.com

october 2012 | the rail engineer | 3

welcome Grahame Taylor’s

Operating notice From timetables to multi-engined locomotives and from Lake Como to Berlin via the delights of South Manchester, this edition of the rail engineer really does cover an eclectic range of topics. So hold tight.

The IRSE centenary Aspect conference and annual convention in London looked backwards, briefly, but then concentrated on developments to come. In an age of seductive hardware and software temptations, Clive Kessell’s account of technological growing pains is a reminder of the need for sound engineering judgement in order to avoid early obsolescence.

The Bluebell Railway needed a new carriage shed but, as Clive explains, being heritage doesn’t make the usual railway logistic nightmares go away.

Building the shed was probably the easiest part of the project. Shifting the ‘stuff’ around first kept everything interesting.

It is no exaggeration to say that the ‘electrification programme’ is huge – far more than has been attempted at any one time. Paul Curtis went to a Network Rail briefing recently along with delegates from the supply chain who must have been reeling at the scale of the project – and at the scale of the orders that will undoubtedly follow.

With all this mass of electrification work under way we thought it appropriate to have a look at the bits and pieces that go to make up the knitting – the catenary for the technically minded. So we sent Nigel Wordsworth off to northern Italy, not far from the shores of Lake Como, to find out how everything is made. What he found was a company that is at the forefront of catenary development that also has all the patterns for installations carried out in the 1960s.

Longsight depot on the outskirts of Manchester may not be quite as touristy as Lake Como, nevertheless Nigel stoically went off to see how Pendolino trains are given their third heavy overhaul.

With a fleet of 52 trains, each requiring 27,764 Editor Grahame Taylor grahame.taylor@therailengineer.com Production Editor Nigel Wordsworth nigel@rail-media.com Production and design Adam O'Connor adam@rail-media.com Engineering writers chris.parker@therailengineer.com clive.kessell@therailengineer.com collin.carr@therailengineer.com david.shirres@therailengineer.com graeme.bickerdike@therailengineer.com mungo.stacy@therailengineer.com peter.stanton@therailengineer.com steve.bissell@therailengineer.com stuart.marsh@therailengineer.com terry.whitley@therailengineer.com Advertising Asif Ahmed asif@rail-media.com Paul Curtis pc@rail-media.com

components to be changed in just two weeks, this is an impressive exercise that is being carried out well away from the public gaze. Pity really, as it would do them good to see it.

Ever wondered what’s behind all the headlines about train delays? Network Rail’s Robin Gisby gives us an insight into timetables, delays, statistics and costs. Thank goodness there’s an emphasis now on average lateness rather than the bizarre Public Performance Measure (PPM) which only measures time late at destination.

Olympics – remember them? Remember too the embargo on possession works? Didn’t happen. Well, it did on the main feeder routes into London, and the south-eastern area in general. But, further north, plenty of work was done on non-critical routes as Nigel Wordsworth discovered on a mixed traffic line near Selby.

The Tyne & Wear Metro is thirty years old – which is a little scary. Time for a bit of refurbishment in the form of a £385 million capital investment, known as the All Change programme. Graeme Bickerdike has been to discover how, among a host of renewals, they’ve managed without crossovers. (Spoiler – they’ve used temporary ones.)

It’s still raining, and as we go to print there are drains overflowing and earthworks relaxing to where they really want to be. Chris Parker has been briefed on how Network Rail is getting to grips with its stock of earth structures, made of goodnessknows-what, so that there’s less relaxing.

There was just about every railway ‘thing’ on show at InnoTrans, from the smallest widget to the largest locomotive. I must have walked miles round the site and have come up with my own brief impressions of not just the hardware, but also some of the stranger sights to be seen including what looked like a rail mounted ‘campervan’, a loco painted all over with daisies and Australians drinking water.

How’s that for a mixed bag? the rail engineer Ashby House, Bath Street, Ashby-de-la-Zouch Leicestershire, LE65 2FH Telephone: Fax: Email: Website:

in this issue

A million miles between services Pendolino trains are given their third heavy overhaul at Longsight.

6

Four is better than one 18 Bombardier’s new locomotive, the TRAXX DE ME has not one diesel engine, but four.

The pressure on performance 22 Network Rail’s Robin Gisby gives us an insight into timetables, delays, statistics and costs.

Bringing earthworks under control 26 Chris Parker speaks with Tony Wilcock, Head of Civils Asset Management (Geotechnical).

Olympic renewals 34 The Olympics and Paralympics are over, and life on the railways can now get back to normal.

If not, then what?

37 Balfour Beatty Rail is halfway through its framework agreement with Nexus.

ASPECT 2012 - 100 years of progress 47 Clive Kessell reports from the IRSE ASPECT Conference and Annual Convention held recently in London.

01530 56 00 31 01530 41 21 66 hello@rail-media.com www.therailengineer.com

Editorial copy Email: news@rail-media.com Free controlled circulation Email: subscribe@rail-media.com The small print the rail engineer is published by RailStaff Publications Limited and printed by Pensord.

An electrifying conference 54 Paul Curtis reports on Network Rail’s briefing to its supply chain on the Electrification Programme.

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features

Sister publication of Plant & Equipment; Concrete

November

Electrification/Power; Light Rail

December

4 | the rail engineer | october 2012

IN BRIEF Guarantees for Crossrail trains The Government has guaranteed private funding for the £1 billion Crossrail rolling stock order to ensure carriages are delivered on time.

In a speech to the Liberal Democrats autumn conference in Brighton, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander named Crossrail as the first project to be offered a new government guarantee designed to drive forward key infrastructure projects.

Alexander said: “Difficulties raising the necessary private funding in the market could delay their delivery.”

The procurement process for the order, which includes a depot and 60 trains, commenced earlier this year.

Interested companies include Siemens, Bombardier, CAF and Hitachi.

news

APPRENTICES

Bridging the skills gap

Keep on innovating Network Rail’s Steve Yianni, no stranger to the pages of this magazine, hosted the recent Rail Innovations Research Conference in Birmingham University’s Great Hall. Two hundred delegates from industry and academia heard presentations on topics including Intelligent Railways, Asset Management, Ergonomics and two different Catapults.

There was also a display area where technology innovators could show off current products and discuss the latest concepts. Exhibitors from the likes of Tata Steel and Omnicom were mixed with various Universities and research associations.

Technology was certainly more important than trains on the day.

However, the links between academia and the railway industry are both significant and far reaching.

Sleeper partners Work has begun on a new factory in Doncaster to make concrete sleepers for Network Rail. Located on the former Woodyard site near Ten Pound Walk, the factory will be owned by Network Rail but built and operated by a new consortium, Trackwork Moll.

Martin Elwood, director of Network Rail’s National Delivery Service, said: “We need around 700,000 concrete sleepers each year and, once commissioned, this factory will produce around 400,000 of those. It will also directly create around 30 new jobs.”

Trackwork Moll is a joint venture between Doncaster’s Trackwork and German sleeper manufacturer Leonhard Moll. Plans are to be in production by the end of 2013.

At a time when the railway industry is still bemoaning the shortage of skilled workers, Network Rail is once again doing something about it. The company has just taken on another 190 apprentices to join its three-year programme, where they will train to become skilled maintenance engineering technicians, after the company received more than 6,500 applications.

The apprentices will spend a year training alongside the Royal Navy at Europe’s largest engineering training facility at HMS Sultan in Hampshire. There they will learn both the technical skills required to work on the railway and develop leadership and teamwork behaviours to make them more effective in their roles.

They will continue their training for two further years

on-the-job at depots across the country, returning to HMS Sultan for additional courses and learning. The apprentices specialise in track, signalling and telecoms and electrification and plant. Once again, Network Rail will also be training a few apprentices for its contractors Balfour Beatty, Costain and Nexus.

Robin Gisby, Network Rail’s managing director for network operations said: “We’ve recruited smart and enthusiastic young men and women with a variety of work experience, education and backgrounds, who we will train to become skilled engineering technicians. With the big projects we have ahead of us, we need more exceptional people to deliver a better value and efficient railway.”

INFRASTRUCTURE

Scotland cut off... again!

Following problems with flooding earlier this “summer”, when both the WCML and ECML were blocked and the only route to Scotland was via the Settle-Carlisle line, this time it was that historic route that was blocked by a landslip on 25 September.

The East Coast Main Line itself was closed at 08:22 on the same day at Eryholme, near Darlington. Water was over the railhead and the track “looked more like a canal”.

Hard work by the local team ensured that service was resumed with single line working on the Down by the end of the day. The Up line remained closed until 11:09 the following morning, when it reopened with a 5mph speed restriction.

Access to Wales was disrupted as well, with services suspended between Crewe and Hereford. The editor’s wife discovered this the hard way - her regular five-hour journey from Newcastle to the Welsh marches taking 9½ hours via Leeds, Halifax, Bradford, Manchester, Crewe, Wolverhampton, Shrewsbury and then the inevitable bus to Ludlow.

There were also no trains between Blackpool North and Preston, and restrictions between Preston and Lancaster.

The great British summer continues…

Such a great idea! We jumped at the chance to get involved with this event.

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6 | the rail engineer | october 2012

rolling stock / depots

A million miles

between services

have featured a few times in the B ogies rail engineer recently. There were two

Exchanging the HVAC.

articles on bogie production at the Siemens factory in Graz (issues 90 and 91, April and May 2012), and bogies and wheelsets featured in a two part article by Stuart Marsh (issues 93 and 94, July and August 2012).

However, until now, there has been little coverage of bogie rebuilds.

Virgin Trains’ Pendolino fleet is maintained

by Alstom at its five traincare centres. At the company’s Longsight depot, as well as ongoing routine maintenance, a major bogie overhaul programme is in full swing.

Your favourite railway engineering magazine went to have a look.

The Pendolino fleet virtually runs the West Coast Main Line. Each train covers 1,000 miles a day, meaning that the fleet travels 17 million miles each year. 48 of the 52 train fleet (the train involved in the Grayrigg accident was retired) have to be available for service every day, 364 days a year.

Ten years and 2.5 million miles after the first service, the fleet is now in the middle of its third heavy overhaul (H3). The first was carried out after 750,000 miles, the second after another 850,000, and this third overhaul after 950,000. The trains will probably have to cover over a million more miles before they get overhauled again.

A history lesson

Preparing for H3

The class 390 Pendolino trains first went into service in 2002. The full series of 53 9-car trains was delivered before Alstom closed its Washwood Heath factory in 2005. Many of that factory’s employees were redeployed to traincare centres in Oxley (Wolverhampton) and Manchester to maintain the trains they had just finished building.

H3 is a particularly heavy overhaul, with 27,764 components being changed on each train. The normal service requirement hasn’t changed either, with 11 trains in the traincare centre every night. In order to cope, an extra 120 people were taken on and trained up for H3, creating a new pool of highly skilled workers.

Alstom invested in the depot infrastructure as well. £3.7 million was spent on new lifting equipment from Mechan, improved staff facilities and enhanced in-house workshops which were built by Cairns Cross Civil Engineering. In addition, as the trains are now being lengthened to 11 cars, £20 million was spent on extending the depot buildings.

H3 project manager Lee Kinsey explained that planning started early in 2011, with the first train due to be worked on from 11 March 2012. Because of the scope of the work, it takes two weeks to complete an overhaul. So, with one train coming into the shop and one being returned for duty every week, two trains would be out for service at any one time.

At the same time, Virgin Trains is proceeding with a programme to introduce four new 11-car train sets, and to buy 62 new carriages so as to convert 31 9-car sets to 11-car. This conversion would coincide with H3 so the updates could be done at the same time. The additional four sets would also allow for the two trains being overhauled to be out of service without affecting the passenger timetable.

The four new 11-car trains arrived from Alstom’s factory in Savigliano, Italy on schedule - in fact the fourth set was five months early, much to the satisfaction of new cars project manager Jason Rowbottom.

To start with, the new sets were downgraded to 9-car so they could be entered into the existing timetable.

However, earlier this year they were restored to 11-car. The extra new cars started to arrive from Savilgliano as well, so H3 could get underway as planned.

The first 31 trains to go through would have a number of engineering changes incorporated into the work, as these would be the trains receiving two extra carriages to make them up to 11-car sets.

october 2012 | the rail engineer | 7

rolling stock / depots

writer

Nigel

Wordsworth

Frames and wheelsets But back to the bogies. As part of the H3 overhaul, the bogies would have a C4 overhaul. Don’t you just love all these terms?

A C4 overhaul is part of the agreement with the train leasing company and is the “periodic (usually based on mileage run) replacement of wheels, bogies, brake gear, etc with new or overhauled components.”

One nine-car train has 18 bogies. These are removed from the train and replaced with a set that, in good Blue Peter fashion, was prepared earlier. The first train through got 18 from the spares stock - after the last train is finished its refurbished bogies will replace those 18 in the stores. This is to allow for a quick turnaround. The programme is still to refurbish a set of 18 bogies every week.

Once removed, they are taken to the bogie workshop, roads 17 and 18 in the Longsight facility. The bolsters are separated and the major components are washed to remove excess dirt and oil.

The wheelsets are removed and sent back to the manufacturer, Lucchini, which is conveniently situated nearby in Trafford Park. The wheelsets are stripped down, overhauled and rebuilt. This involves the replacement of all wheel pans, the overhaul of gearboxes and the replacement on condition of other components such as brake discs and axles. Meanwhile, at Longsight, other bogie components such as brake callipers, yaw dampers, axle guides and other associated components are stripped down and replaced or refurbished.

At this stage the tilting mechanism is accessible, and can receive attention.

Pendolinos use a mechanical system in the bogie to achieve tilt. An electric actuator mounted under the bogie moves a tie-rod backwards and forwards which causes the bolster to tilt with respect to the bogie frame. Small wheels run in a curved rail to control the axis of the tilt, and there is a deflection in the rail which serves as a ‘lock’

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8 | the rail engineer | october 2012

Wheeling out a used bogie.

rolling stock / depots

in the vertical position. It is a reliable system, but like all mechanical devices needs servicing from time to time.

Once rebuilt, with a fresh wheelset installed, the bogie and its bolster are reunited and the completed assembly set up for height and balance. It is important that the four “corner weights” - the weight on each wheel - are near enough identical.

It is all quite precise and complicated, and with 18 being turned around every week the team is rebuilding over three bogies a day.

Twin-track trains

(Below) Withdrawing an inter-car coupler using a special tool.

The team on roads 11 and 12 are busy as well. Each train spends a week on each road as the two week process is split into two halves.

To start with, a 9-car set arrives at Longsight on Saturday night. On Sunday the toilets are stripped out and the water tanks removed before the train is moved into road 11 on Monday morning. The First and Standard Class sections are split and the First Class section is removed. The Standard Class air and brake equipment is replaced and returned to manufacturer Knorr-Bremse for overhaul.

On Tuesday, the inter-car couplers on the Standard Class half-rake are removed using a special tool and a process that looks vaguely reminiscent of a dentist extracting a tooth.

Replacement couplers are fitted and the half-rake reformed.

The First Class section replaces Standard Class on Wednesday. HVACs are removed and are overhauled in Manchester in the new workshops, and replaced by fresh ones.

The air and brake systems are replaced.

The couplers are replaced on Thursday and the half-rake reassembled. The next day, the

two new carriages are coupled up to First Class, and the Standard Class brought back in to form the new 11-car set.

Week two On Sunday, the whole set is moved to road 12 and the bogies and cardan shafts are disconnected. The bogies are exchanged on Monday, the whole train being jacked up high enough that the old bogies can be run out below the ones on the two new cars, which, of course, remain in situ. The wiper motors are also replaced - they will be rebuilt at the Oxley Traincare Centre.

Tuesday is an electrical day. The pantograph tilt mechanism is replaced and the inter-vehicle jumpers reconnected. The Lucifer solenoid valves that control the tilt mechanism are replaced, along with other electrical components.

Interestingly, the flexible jumper cables have never been replaced. Manufactured by LPA Niphan Systems, the original cables are still in use, three major rebuilds and 2.5 million miles later! This speaks volumes for the quality of the original cables. Other components on the train have been replaced, but the original power jumpers just keep soldiering on.

By Wednesday on the second week the train is ready for static testing. This continues for another two days before a dynamic test run on Sunday, after which the whole train goes off to the traincare centre in Liverpool.

And, by this time, the next train has already arrived for its H3 service.

Until 28 April 2013, it will be a never ending process.

We believe the best way to know how a train is running is to ask it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10 | the rail engineer | october 2012

rolling stock / depots

Developing

Lo ngsi ght

being refurbished ready A sforwelltheasmajor overhaul of Virgin’s Pendolino fleet, Longsight depot needed more work just to accommodate the newly lengthened 11-car sets.

This is just the latest in a series of redevelopments on the site. The first proper locomotive shed was built in 1869 by the London & North Western Railway, replacing an earlier 1840s structure. It was brick built and had 12 roads. Six years later a carriage shed was built alongside the main line.

More investment followed in 1905, when a new 50-foot turntable and a

new engine shed were built for £30,000. A second turntable followed in 1907, and a 13-road, 950 feet long carriage shed was built next to the new engine shed. By 1912, Longsight was home to over 200 locomotives.

The locomotives changed, as did the depot’s owners - the LMS in 1923 and British Railways in 1948. That same year, the North Shed received a new roof and in 1957 the South Shed was modernised for the new diesels. The last steam locomotive left Longsight in February 1965 at around the time that the new Electric Traction Depot was built.

Recent enlargement Alstom took over the depot in 1999 and have steadily improved and extended it. In 2012, to accommodate the new 11-car Pendolino sets, extensions were made to the facilities, including pits on two of the roads, a maintenance shed, and new Controlled Emission Toilet (CET) facilities which also supplies potable water to the fleet.

The multi-disciplinary project to

design and build the new CET facility was delivered in 12 weeks, on time and under budget, with extremely challenging logistics to ensure the depot facility remained operational throughout. It was a fast track project with concurrent detailed design, stakeholder engagement, material procurement, specialist supplier involvement and construction.

Good team work and communication was demonstrated by all involved - the designer (Arup), end user (Alstom), client (Network Rail) and contractor (Babcock) all worked closely to produce an efficient, buildable and practicable facility to very challenging timescales.

The environmental success of the project can be measured by the 7000 tonnes of spoil that was reused to construct a new access to West Coast Main Line, saving around £350,000 in landfill taxes and enabling better access for engineering and less disruption to passengers.

So Longsight continues to expand and develop. It will be interesting to see what comes next.

october 2012 | the rail engineer | 11

rolling stock / depots

RAIL DEPOT AND WORKSHOP EQUIPMENT • Railcar Lifting Jacks • Bogie Changing Systems • Bogie Test Machines • Under Car Handling • Maintenance Machines • Workshop Equipment

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12 | the rail engineer | october 2012

rolling stock / depots

Operation Undercover

writer

Clive Kessell

(Above & left) Carriage and wagon workshop at Horsted Keynes.

(Right) Interior of the new carriage shed.

Room for expansion

Building the shed

To the west (Up) side of Sheffield Park station, where the Bluebell has its Headquarters, was an industrial site known as Woodpax that made preprepared timber for the construction industry. A rationalisation of the firm’s activities resulted in the site being closed in 2001 and the land made available for purchase. The railway was offered the entire site but lack of

The design had to fit in with the architectural style of Sheffield Park station and appropriate standards were set out by the Bluebell Railway trustees. A design contract was awarded to Atkins, as professional help was seen as essential to ensure the somewhat limited long but narrow tract of land was used to maximum advantage. This resulted in a three-track shed of around 23,000 square feet, accessed from a headshunt but with the final set of points partly contained inside the building.

Morgan Sindall was awarded the job of main contractor

heritage railways have little M ost difficulty in acquiring passenger rolling stock. Carriages can either be readyto-run surplus stock from the main line or older vehicles that require extensive renovation or rebuilding. However, keeping operational or restored carriages in good condition is another ball game. Stabling these outside or restoring them in the open air, with only a tarpaulin to give protection between work periods, is the more normal scenario. Deterioration can occur quickly, making the time between overhauls ever more frequent.

The Bluebell Railway, being the oldest standard gauge heritage line (Middleton Railway excepted), has been mindful of this problem for some time. It owns more than 25 operational carriages and has around the same number of hulks scattered around the railway awaiting restoration at some future time. Whilst it has an excellent carriage and wagon workshop at Horsted Keynes, this site was never intended, nor is it big enough, to act as a carriage shed as well. Thus most of the fleet, including lovingly restored Victorian and Pullman coaches in operational use, have had to be stabled outside in all weathers between turns of duty. This situation is far from ideal.

finance did not permit this. A new owner was found and, as part of the deal, the Bluebell was able to purchase the land at the rear of the Up platform. So the vision of a covered carriage shed emerged.

Obtaining the land was only the first step.

Funding the design and construction of the building was the second. Obtaining Lottery money seemed an obvious proposition but anyone who has applied for a Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) grant will know that it is a tortuous path. Firstly it must be proven that the project has educational benefits and to achieve this, a new themed museum had to be part of the package. Negotiations started in 2002 and an award of nearly £3 million was agreed in principle in 2004. It took until early 2008 for the design work and planning approval to reach the stage at which the HLF money could be confirmed, still with many conditions attached. However work packages and contracts could at least be progressed.

operating from their Brighton office, with many other subcontractors being appointed to progress the various ancillary works. The main shed building is a typical industrial unit with a series of steel frames clad in steel sheeting to blend sympathetically with the Up-side station canopy. This latter has been retained and extensively renovated although the waiting room that held the original museum was demolished as it was in bad structural condition. Accompanying work included drainage, HLV, electrics, rainwater collection, provision of walkways and of course the laying of track.

A special project team was set up and work started in 2010 with building work completed by November 2011 and final tracklaying early this year. The shed became operational in April 2012. This was the first project to be carried out under

30 years later and we’re still on track

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Working closely with the design team we are able to offer tailored solutions with both our tightly bonded and loose-laid sheet $3 "&,&%%5#/0#*-* "2*#%11"&./0#(.* ./4 #%/6*. "#3/(#./6*. +# ,"&1%&23/4"#3(73/ 30"*#,&%7.(./0#3#%/"6* %,#$3 "&,&%%5#/0# solution for the rail industry.

Stirling Lloyd’s solutions for the rail industry include: !"#$%&'%()&*+,%!-!../&0$&&&&&&&&1200%3&*+,%!-!../&0$& 4,+,".0&5%62!7"89:%0,&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&;+!&<+!)&5%62!7"89:%0,&& =..,7!"#$%8&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&;.3.2!&'%:+!(+,".0

<5>?@A& 5B'C@&'@;D&*E1@5<5>>=BAC @3":"0+,.!® is a seamless, cold spray applied system that cures &3,.('-# %#1%&2#3#(+&38'")#9#":.8'"#2"28&3/"#$. !#/%#7+'/"&38'"# joints or seams. Developed with rail engineers to produce the .("3'#8&.(0"#("4;#$3 "&,&%%5#/0#2"28&3/")#@3":"0+,.!® offers long-term, effective protection that outlasts the design life of !"#8&.(0"<#="" *# !"#>?#@3.' &34;#A,"4.5#43 .%/#B@CDECFGHCIJK# for tightly-bonded systems. 4@5;>&<E'4&FGHIJKFFFGL Hytec#.*#3#'%%*"6'3.()#9#":.8'"#*!"" #2"28&3/"#$. !#":4", .%/3' mechanical properties. Developed for fast track rail possession working, when deck and climate conditions are uncertain and 23*%/&-#3&4!#8&.(0"*#$!"&"#/%#4%/ ./+%+*#("4;#":.* *<#="" *# !"#>?#@3.' &34;#A,"4.5#43 .%/#B@CDECFGHCIJK#1%&#'%%*"6'3.(# systems. 4@5;>&<E'4&FGHIJHFMJGL

Stirling Lloyd’s Major Rail Projects include:

St Pancras Station, London, UK ELIMINATOR

Moorcock Viaduct, Cumbria, UK HYTEC

Blackfriars Bridge, London, UK ELIMINATOR

For more information on our rail systems, FREE CPD or to discuss how we can assist you with your rail project, please contact: JANET TOON

janet.toon@stirlinglloyd.com 01565 6332150

or

KATH KING:

kathryn.king@stirlinglloyd.com 01565 6332149

STIRLING LLOYD UK & WORLD WIDE Stirling Lloyd Polychem Ltd. Union Bank . King Street . Knutsford . Cheshire . WA16 6EF . UK Tel: 01565 633111 . Fax: 01565 633555 . Email: marketing@stirlinglloyd.com Web: www.stirlinglloyd.com/rail

East London Line, London, UK ELIMINATOR & SENTINEL SABA

14 | the rail engineer | october 2012

the new Bluebell Safety Verification by retired railwaymen with the requisite specialist knowledge. It followed a logical process to ensure all standards including the correct design materials had been met.

Preliminary and ancillary works

(Below) Carriage shed entrance showing rainwater collection pipe.

(Inset) New amenity block.

The actual shed building work was perhaps the easiest part of the project.

Clearing the site and its approach tracks of obstructions proved to be a major task. First to be moved was the portable building housing the two Edmonson ticket printing machines. A new wooden shed on a substantial concrete base - the machines are very heavy - has been constructed on spare land behind the main station building at north end of the Down platform. Now known as “The Print Room”, this is the permanent home for the provisioning of all Bluebell tickets.

Next to be re-accommodated was the Bulleid Society shop located to the south side of the canopy on the Up platform. A complete new building has had to be provided so as not to obstruct the near side set of tracks leading into the shed.

More significantly has been the need to relocate the boiler wash-out pit. In its existing position south of the station, it would have had to be incorporated into the headshunt for the carriage shed, thus stopping any movement into or out of the shed whilst wash out work was in progress.

The decision was taken to build a new facility on

rolling stock / depots the other side of the line at the south end of the locomotive yard. This in turn meant demolishing the collection of huts used by loco crew for messing and storage of parts.

Specialist contractors constructed a purpose built reinforced concrete pit with side wall lighting and with drains to a new separator tank from where the boiler water is cleaned of oil, grease and cinders before being discharged by pump into the land water drains. Space is severely constrained at this site and locomotives have to make two reverse moves before accessing the pit, again requiring new trackwork.

The provision of rainwater collection from the carriage shed roof has meant laying a pipe route along the boundary fence to a large tank installed adjacent to the old water tower. From here the water is pumped into the water tower and, being entirely natural and untreated, can be used safely in locomotive boilers.

The final ancillary work is the construction of a new staff amenities block to the east of the locomotive workshop. Not yet complete, this two story building will provide office and dormitory accommodation for locomotive department staff and volunteers.

Completion is expected in 2013.

signalbox located on the Down platform but, once the train has made this move, a release lever in the box enables shunting to take place back into the shed.

The three points giving access to the carriage shed roads are hand operated but are also equipped with detection equipment so as to add direction information to the shunt signal permitting movement into the shed. This shunt signal has a repeater at the far south end to enable the locomotive driver to see where the train is to be positioned. Carriages are hauled loco first into the headshunt and then reversed back into the shed. A shunter must always be present to direct movements and prevent an overrun which could damage the end shed wall. The driver and shunter are in two way radio contact.

The track nearest to the platform is reserved for the Golden Arrow Pullman train where it can be serviced and provisioned.

The other two tracks are used to stable wooden bodied coaches overnight and for periods when the railway is closed. A total of 16 full length (60’) carriages can be accommodated. There is no public access to the shed other than by viewing from the platform or a window in the museum.

Nearing completion Carriage shed signalling and operations Using the new shed in its somewhat confined space and siding configuration has generated the need for new procedures.

Entry to the headshunt is a signalled move from Sheffield Park

A complicated project is almost complete.

It has encompassed not only the building of the shed but other sub projects that were necessary to clear the way. Without funding from the HLF, the project would not have been possible, certainly in the timescale achieved. Even with HLF help, the railway has needed sufficient financial reserves for the project to succeed. When work is done, the contractors have to be paid including VAT, and only then on sight of authenticated bills will Lottery money be forthcoming and VAT can be reclaimed. Nonetheless, despite all the hurdles, the Bluebell now has secure undercover accommodation for much of its precious carriage fleet and a number of other new facilities as part of the package.

Thanks are due to Chris White, Bluebell Railway infrastructure director, for his help in preparing this article.

october 2012 | the rail engineer | 15

rolling stock / depots

writer

Clive Kessell Railway has had a museum T hesinceBluebell its very nearly days. Situated in the waiting room on the Up platform at Sheffield Park station, it contained a number of photographs, models and other relics, some connected with the Lewes - East Grinstead line but mostly a haphazard collection of material that had been acquired or donated.

With the plan to build a new carriage shed and the deteriorating condition of the old waiting room, providing a new and larger museum became an integral part of the bigger project. The museum plans indeed became an important part of the Lottery funding since the educational aspects were key to meeting HLF requirements.

The new museum is integrated into the new carriage shed, being built between the Up platform canopy wall and the shed itself.

Access is from the old waiting room doors

Bluebell Railway Museum and the interior has been designed so that, upon entry, the ambience of the first section matches the style of the canopy. Indeed, an initial display is a full size replica of a Victorian ticket office complete with ticket racks and date stamp, candlestick telephone and manual typewriter. In this section is a geographic display showing the history of the line from opening to the present day.

Formally accredited A further two sections of the museum building show: the development of railways, railways in Sussex, track and signal technology, railway catering and shipping services, locomotive development with appropriate models and a final display showing the work to extend the line back into East Grinstead, work that is now nearing completion. Video screens show the Bluebell history mainly in the preservation era and an

interactive screen enables visitors to understand the purpose and function of signalling including block working and the setting of routes.

Beyond the museum building, at the north end, is access to the old Withyham signal box from the closed East Grinstead Groombridge line, which has been installed complete with lever frame and block shelf to show how it was used as a block post and level crossing control. Museum curator Tony Drake explained that, although never so equipped in its operational days, the intention is to install a gatewheel to show how crossing gates could be opened and closed from within a signal box.

Since its opening in 2010, the new museum has gained many accolades for its themed presentations and has been formally accredited by the National Heritage Museum authorities.

16 | the rail engineer | october 2012

rolling stock / depots

Whiteboards

written off rail networks are getting busier.

T heThisUK’sis reflected in increasing activity levels within depots, in turn placing increasing burdens on depot staff and existing infrastructure. Improving productivity and efficiency are therefore key to reducing these pressures and to the continued successful operation of rail depots across the country.

Good planning, organisation and communication are essential factors in the effectiveness of almost any team-based work. In depots, this co-ordination has historically been based around a whiteboard, usually located in a control room or supervisor office somewhere onsite. Information is handwritten upon this whiteboard, detailing train expected arrivals and departures, together with the rolling stock maintenance tasks that need to be carried out.

This, of course, presents the challenge of dissemination of relevant information to staff working around the depot who cannot directly see the whiteboard itself. It is also open to both the loss and corruption of information, as it can be wiped off the whiteboard, unclearly written and even just misread. Simple, easy-to-make mistakes are inevitable, and could have a significant effect on the depot’s output.

More work, more strain

Adding benefits, removing problems

As the depot gets busier, so does the whiteboard, with new information being produced more frequently and the amount of information being displayed growing. This places increasing strain on the whiteboard system and those operating it - who have to juggle updating the whiteboard with the multitude of other tasks they need to carry out. This obviously increases the likelihood of errors being made. It also absorbs valuable staff time in its administration, which could be more productively utilised if released from the tedious manual updating requirements involved.

A modern, IT-based solution would therefore seem a natural development, in the same way that computer-based applications have been created for so many other information processing and control activities. With the above issues in mind, UKbased rail technology company Zonegreen has developed its Operator Planning Suite (OPS) specifically for use in rail depots.

Zonegreen’s Operator Planning Suite (OPS), a multi-user, web-based graphical task planning application, is designed to be a cost-effective replacement of the traditional manual whiteboard. It has a graphical map layout representing the depot on which users can position trains and create and assign maintenance tasks, together with schedules for train arrivals and departures.

Instead of being physically handwritten on a board, all information is added to the system electronically. Entering changes and progress reports is straightforward and easy, and they are automatically and immediately recorded and updated, improving system reliability and reducing the likelihood of any communication failures and breakdowns.

OPS instantly transmits all information to anywhere in the depot - or elsewhere. It provides up-to-the-minute information on any train in the depot including train ID, train location within the depot, expected arrival

october 2012 | the rail engineer | 17

rolling stock / depots and departure times and types of maintenance required. This real-time operation allows maintenance information to be updated and displayed in an accurate and synchronised manner.

External access This leads to another feature of the system, which is that more than one copy of the whiteboard can function at the same time. Zonegreen’s OPS is a web-based system using cloud technology - allowing anyone with suitable login credentials and an internet connection to access the system anytime, anywhere. The system has various user levels allowing for differing levels of user rights of operation and access.

As well as management and planning personnel, the system is useful to other staff working in the depot. Tasks can be shown in easy-to-read lists, making planning daily workloads simple. Graphical depot map layouts allow easy identification of rolling stock as well as forming an intuitive platform for the operation of the system.

It can also be beneficial to other areas of an organisation located outside of the depot, especially in large maintenance organisations or TOCs who can benefit from having up-to-the-minute information easily available to its various departments. All information handled by OPS is securely hosted online, instead of via any additional hardware, so any equipment that has an internet connection is able (with the relevant user login details) to access the

-

most up-to-date information in real-time excellent for transmitting information quickly and efficiently within an organisation.

The OPS system also has the ability to produce reports at the click of a button. All maintenance histories and logs are fully recorded, visible and traceable, allowing a user to produce complete activity reports for any specific vehicle or time period. This simple method of report generation has the potential to save hours of filling in maintenance forms and rifling through paperwork - the OPS system can do all the searching. The traceability that the system offers by recording actions, and its facility for

report generation, removes the aforementioned risks of loss or distortion of information inherently associated with the operation of a traditional, manual wipe-clear whiteboard.

With the Operator Planning Suite, Zonegreen, already widely known in the rail industry for its depot protection and points converter systems, now provides an affordable and dedicated solution, designed especially for rail depots, to augment depot planning, co-ordination and communication with the very latest in modern, web-based technologies.

It’s time to throw out all those whiteboards….

Old fashioned whiteboard systems are now due to be replaced

by Zonegreen’s Operator Planning Suite.

the zonegreen

Operator Planning Suite train maintenance planning for the 21st century

Operator Planning Suite (O.P. S.) is the cost-effective, web-based replacement for the whiteboard currently used to plan depot maintenance activity.

Features and benefits include: • intuitive visual depot map layout platform • instantaneous real-time information updating and dissemination • traceability through activity recording and report generation

• simultaneous multi-user operability • advanced web-based cloud technology • releases valuable staff time for more productive utilisation

Find out more at www.zonegreen.co.uk Tel: +44 (0)114 230 0822 Fax: +44 (0)871 872 0349 Email: info@zonegreen.co.uk

18 | the rail engineer | october 2012

4

rolling stock / depots

1

is better than

(Top/Bottom) The new TRAXX DE ME being assembled at Kassel, Germany.

(Middle) The locomotive has a central aisle between the four engines very different from a conventional locomotive. has largely forgotten that B ritain locomotives can usefully pull passenger trains. With most of the TOCs almost exclusively using DMUs and EMUs in various configurations, the humble locomotive has been primarily consigned to freight and work trains.

But that is not true of other countries around the world. Even developed railways such as DB in Germany still use locomotives for passenger services, gaining operational flexibility as they do so. If a breakdown occurs, or major maintenance is required, they just swap the loco - they don’t have the whole train out of service.

So it is not really surprising that a modern range of locomotives can sell in large numbers. Bombardier alone has delivered over 1,500 examples of its TRAXX family for freight and passenger services in the last 12 years.

With the various standards of electrification in different countries, there are naturally different models. The TRAXX AC covers 15kV and 25kV AC systems. The DC model is for 1.5kV and 3kV DC systems, and

there is even a Multi System model that will handle all four supplies. And then, of course, there is the diesel-powered DE. Now, a new model has made an appearance, the TRAXX DE ME. ME stands for multi-engine, as the new locomotive has not one diesel engine, but four.

Four? Why four?

Just because the loco has four engines, it doesn’t have to use all of them all of the time.

It does when it needs full power, but when power requirements are low, such as when running light or with an empty train, or

downhill, the excess engines can be simply shut down, saving fuel and running time (and hence maintenance costs). Compared to a single engine system, fuel consumption can be reduced by up to ten percent. Over 20 years, this may generate savings of around one million Euros in a single locomotive.

Every one of the four engines in the new locomotive is independent - it has its own generator, its own coolers, and its own fuel supply. So when one or more engines are shut down, the rest keep running.

It’s even cleverer than that. When more power is needed, and an extra engine has to be started, the computer automatically selects the engine with the lowest running time, so as to keep the usage on all engines as even as possible. A neat touch that keeps maintenance costs down.

Talking of costs, small engines are cheaper than big ones. The ones in the new DE ME are C18s made by Caterpillar, which makes them in large volume on a production line.

By the way, large and small are still relative terms. The single-engine TRAXX DE locomotive uses an MTU 16V 4000 R41L engine - 64 litres capacity and with an output of around 2,200kW (2,950bhp). The “small” engines are 18 litres each (72 litres in total) with a total rated power of 2,252 kW. By way of comparison, a standard car diesel engine is doing well to get up to 100kW. Another advantage of going for a high-

october 2012 | the rail engineer | 19

rolling stock / depots volume engine is that they are produced to the latest emissions specifications. The Caterpillar C18s are certified to the Stage IIIB EU emission standard. The use of a sealed particle filter system makes the TRAXX DE ME one of the cleanest diesel locomotives worldwide.

And of course, volume-produced industrial engines are mature designs, reliable and quick to repair. The maintenance costs are approximately two thirds less than those of a comparable modern single-engine locomotive.

And using smaller engines, of which one or more may not be running at any one time, makes the whole thing quieter and reduces emissions.

Nothing is new Having several engines in one locomotive is not actually new. Bombardier has done it before, in various forms.

Between 1998 and 2003, 36 twin-engined locomotives were delivered to the Greek national railway OSE which still uses them for passenger transportation.

Bombardier also produces a TRAXX AC Last-Mile. This is a conventional AC-powered electric locomotive, but which has an onboard diesel engine as well. While it normally runs underneath overhead lines, the additional engine allows it to bridge short distances, for example in cargo terminals or in harbours. The locomotive actually has three power sources, as it also recovers braking energy to its batteries and then reuses it.

And in North America, the TRAXX ALP45DP dual power locomotives operate on partly electrified routes in urban areas, where emissions are most annoying.

Therefore, its two diesel engines are only started where there is no overhead line, saving both diesel fuel and emissions wherever possible.

And it’s a TRAXX As well as having the new engine configuration, the new locomotive benefits from being part of the TRAXX family. Ulrich Jochem, the president of Bombardier’s locomotive business unit, explained why.

“It can be configured for operation in different countries with the same modules as our TRAXX electric locomotives. As a platform product, the TRAXX DE ME offers operators the benefits of long-term spare parts availability. Further, it offers savings due to commonality within a mixed fleet of TRAXX locomotives and a high residual value beyond the service life of the locomotive. Our TRAXX customers also benefit from the fact that we have a successful service network which extends throughout Europe.”

Future possibilities Mr Jochem described how he saw this and other concepts developing in the future.

“Modern drive technology will permit us to offer a completely different combination of various sources for the output and storage of energy,” he commented. “For example, we could imagine replacing the fourth engine of the TRAXX Diesel Multi-Engine with a battery storing re-utilised braking energy.

“Another important project on the way towards the locomotive of the future is the Eco Rail Innovation (ERI) Platform, which is intended to help achieve the zero emission target of DB by 2050. The largest project within the ERI initiative is the Energy Tender Project which addresses electrification

without overhead contact lines. We are extremely proud that this project will, from now on, be carried out with our support.

One of our DB class 146.2 locomotives (a TRAXX P160 AC2) will serve as a test locomotive.”

That sounds like another project which the rail engineer will be covering in the coming months.

(Top) The first body, newly arrived from Bombardier’s Wroclaw plant.

(Middle) Fitting out continues at Kassel.

20 | the rail engineer | october 2012

rolling stock / depots

Improved

weighing

Rail, quite rightly, imposes N etwork strict limits on the axle loads of freight wagons. This can cause loading problems for operators as not only does the entire vehicle need to be loaded within limits, but the load has to be evenly distributed otherwise one end will be heavier than the other, and possibly overweight.

Hanson Cement, part of Heidelberg Cement group, had exactly that problem at its Ribblesdale works, near Clitheroe, Lancashire, compounded by

MULTIRAIL ® Weighing & Sandbox Filling Systems For greater efficiency and reduced turn-round times

The re-filling of sand boxes or hoppers on trains and trams is an important factor to ensure the correct operation of the vehicle’s braking system and to assist with traction when there is slippy track conditions. The MultiRail ® SandPiper mobile and static sand filling stations pneumatically pump sand direct into the sand box without the issues associated with manual handling methods.

MultiRail ® systems also include static and dynamic weighing of train vehicles for a wide range of industrial applications.

Schenck Process UK Limited, Carolina Court, Lakeside, Doncaster, DN4 5RA, UK. TEL: +44 (0) 1302 321 313 www.schenckprocess.co.uk

enquiries@schenckprocess.co.uk

having an old rail weighing system that was also unreliable.

David Holgate, works engineering manager for Hanson Cement, explained: “Due to the unreliability of the system, many of the rail cars were under-filled to prevent the train weight exceeding the limit set by Network Rail. This was a costly and uneconomical exercise.”

Hanson Cement therefore approached weighing specialists Schenck Process.

The brief was to have a solution that was “reliable, accurate and cost effective” and one that could be adapted to operate utilising their existing loading system and within the existing confines of the rail loading facility.

arrival on the weighbridge and provides a tare weight record. Filling stops when the preset full set point is reached and, after a short time delay to allow for any in flight material and settling of material in the rail car, a final gross weight is recorded. The operator can then print out either the individual weight records or a total weight of the train.

Design proposal

Low headroom

The Schenck Process team proposed a static weighing solution that would utilise three individual weigh platforms while having the facility to weigh as one weighbridge, if required. They had to overcome the problems of being able to fill two different types of wagons, one a twin-bogie design with a gross weight of 100 tonnes (80 tonne working capacity) and a conventional twin-axle 50 tonne wagon (38 tonne working capacity). Both had to be filled using the existing twin out-loading spouts.

The final solution consists of three inground weigh platforms, measuring 5m x 3m, 6m x 3m and 5m x 3m, giving an overall length of 16 metres. Each platform is fitted with four load cells controlled and monitored using the Schenk Process Disobox and Disomat system controller. These units enable the facility to switch between each platform and measure individual or the total weights.

The operator selects which type of wagon is to be filled. The system automatically tares each vehicle on

Another consideration that the design team had to overcome was the low head room under the twin silos and how the eight-tonne platforms could be manoeuvred and installed safely into position above the preconstructed in-ground pit. New concrete platforms were designed and manufactured by Schenck Process.

Within the design of each weighbridge, the design engineers have included built-in inspection points and preset lifting points to facilitate installation.

The new weighbridge has provided Hansen Cement with a totally reliable plant that has had no downtime since being commissioned in late 2011. It has also improved train movement and logistics with an increased number of trains entering the site weekly and delivering Hanson Cement to their distribution points within the UK. David Holgate is pleased with the result. “The system has provided a very accurate method of rail loading and rail car weighing as well as increasing the efficiency of the loading operation.”

october 2012 | the rail engineer | 21

rolling stock / depots

It’s (no longer)

The Pits New approach

any ‘traditional’ railway E nter workshop, and one of the first things to be careful about is that you don’t fall into the inspection pit. A trap for the unwary, and unpleasant places to work, pits have always been a necessary evil in workshops and depots.

However, things are now changing for the better. After many years’ success developing the market for prefabricated pits for the commercial vehicle, bus, coach and car sectors, specialist manufacturer Premier Pits believes that the rail sector could also benefit considerably from their use.

Maintenance pits have been transformed from being dirty, damp, holes in the ground into sophisticated pieces of maintenance equipment.

Premier Pits has developed a design approach that can be adapted to any pit length and ground condition, including piled solutions where necessary. It takes into account vertical static loads from floors and wheel loads plus surcharged loading from superimposed loads along with earth and ground water lateral loading.

Dependent upon the depth of the pit and loading requirements, flexural and bending resistance is catered for by the reinforced concrete that surrounds the pit, with the reinforcement fixed to the pit in the correct location prior to delivery to site. The concrete is poured in stages between the inner face and the steel liner and the excavated material or shuttering.

Strengthening framework is welded to the outer face of the steel liner, for which the pit design takes into account any composite action developed between the concrete and steel liner. It could be said that the steel pit is a superior watertight permanent shutter.

Significant advantages There are many advantages in prefabricating a pit off-site as opposed to constructing a traditional reinforced concrete design.

• On site construction/installation times reduced by up to 70%;

• The fully welded construction guarantees that pits are watertight; • Workshop fabrication enables greater dimensional accuracy; • The inner pit surface is more robust and doesn’t crack and degrade over time; • Services such as lighting and pipework can be fitted prior to installation; • The steel liner provides longer life expectancy and reduced ongoing maintenance; • With the reinforcement fixed to the pit prior to delivery to site, there is no need for the workforce to enter

the excavation with a clear benefit to Health & Safety; • Under chassis and bogey wash down option available.

There are now over 3,500 installations supplied by Premier Pits across the UK, Europe and even wider afield. Amongst these installations are two 54 metre rail pits at Heathrow’s Terminal 5 and pits for aircraft tow tugs weighing over 70 tonnes.

Next time you see a pit, don’t just try not to fall in. Instead, stand back and admire the engineering.

T H E U K ’ S L E A D I N G M A N U FA C T U R E R A N D I N S TA L L E R O F P R E FA B R I C AT E D V E H I C L E P I T S Premier Pits’ prefabricated vehicle pits offer the following benefits: • • • • •

Guaranteed water tight Very quick installation High quality finish Improved efficiency Unlike lifts, minimal maintenance costs

Range - ATF/ATL, working, maintenance, inspection and rail pits also the new under chassis washing package. Plus a wide range of accessories and safety products.

For further information on our prefabricated pits please visit www.premierpits.com

Tel: +44 (0)1775 821222 www.premierpits.com Premier Pits is a division of MBE Fabrications Ltd

22 | the rail engineer | october 2012

feature

The

Pressure Performance

on writer

Robin Gisby Network Operations MD, Network Rail

are operating more trains and W emoving more passengers and freight than ever before and our asset performance is at an all time high. We are reducing the number of incidents that affect train performance as well as our operating costs while undertaking record levels of renewals and we have a large and expanding programme to increase capacity.

So why the headlines about “fines for poor performance”?

Well, even though train performance continues to improve, we are not going to meet all the punctuality targets set by ORR back in 2008 for the current five year Control Period (CP4). Perhaps that’s not surprising on a more congested network when many of the targets did not anticipate the growth we have seen. However, we must do, and are doing, all we can to meet our own revised internal targets and to get as close as we possibly can as an industry to those set for us for CP4.

Punctuality is clearly critical to passenger satisfaction, which is why we are quite pleased with the progress we have actually made in improving the Public Performance Measure (PPM) and Cancellation and Significant Lateness (CaSL) measures, recognising there is yet more we can do. But also important to passenger satisfaction are frequency, capacity, journey time, stopping patterns, interconnections, consistency, evening and weekend availability and the access we need to do essential maintenance and renewals. And cost.

As this article will illustrate, many of these are now valued as highly by our customers as further increases in punctuality much beyond what we are currently achieving.

That is partly why we have different targets in the joint performance plans we have developed with our customers. The debate has moved on. We certainly need a different approach for CP5, 2014-2019.

There are four main parts to running a railway. It all starts with the timetable which is planned and updated twice a year to accommodate new services and to reflect what we have learned in analysing delays with current performance. Then we need to have the infrastructure in the best possible condition and minimise external events such as cable theft and fatalities and mitigate the impact of more extreme weather. Third is the seamless operation of the timetable by our signallers and controllers together with drivers and station staff to keep to the plan. And then we all need to respond quickly when something more serious happens - and keep doing all of this relentlessly, day in day out.

Timetable structure We have two. They are closely related but have important differences. And, if either of them is substandard, then everything that follows is much harder.

The GBPRT (Great Britain Passenger Rail Timetable) is what passengers see and expect and what PPM is measured against. It is also the basis for the delay compensation mechanism between Network Rail and the train operators.

The Working Timetable (WTT) is the internal timetable or operating plan and reflects the actual engineering and operating characteristics of the infrastructure and trains. It is built up from many component parts (e.g. linespeed, train characteristics, stopping patterns) to create overall journey times. Trains are actually operated to this timetable.

Distributed within the journey times that make up the WTT are some small additional time allowances, typically a minute here or there, to help manage each train and the overall network on the day. These might reflect operating conflicts at junctions or stations, or they might take account of the likelihood of a Temporary Speed Restriction (TSR) after a planned track renewal or because of poor track quality or other reasons such as the sighting at a level crossing. There are further allowances between the WTT and the GBPRT (known as “Public Timetable differentials”) which typically reflect the commercial needs of operators. Their size and location are at the Operators’ discretion. It follows that journey times in the GBPRT will invariably be longer than in the WTT with the planned differences being fixed at given locations although the actual differences may occur elsewhere.

Developing and refining the WTT is a skilful and complex task.

What is delay?

The average attributed delay for the network is less than two minutes per train.

That may seem surprisingly low but makes sense in the round. On a typical weekday we operate around 22,000 trains and Network Rail causes roughly 22,000 minutes of attributed delay, and the TOCs cause half as much again. So, after allowing for freight, around 1.5 average delay minutes a train seems about right. But of course that is against the GBPRT, which already had the few minutes of allowances against the WTT. A further complication is that we measure two types of delay - delays (and cancellations) caused by an incident and the delay attributed to (or cancellation of) an individual train. They are related but rather different.

For an incident (e.g. a points failure, fatality or TSR) we record the cumulative impact on all the trains affected, each one by a different amount. And some of the delays may be incurred a long way from the location of the incident and much later - a few hundred miles away and several hours later is quite possible.

The attributed delay to a train is specific to that train along its journey. It may be “primary” delay, because the train is directly and immediately affected by an incident on the route, or “reactionary” delay when the delay is transferred from a different incident elsewhere by other trains. Over the last few years we have seen a massive growth in reactionary delay, reflecting the more congested network.

Measuring delays We are measured against the Public Performance Measure (PPM) of each train and the aggregate number of delay minutes we cause. PPM has different timebands depending on the nature of the train service.

The industry’s systems firstly record how each train is running compared to its WTT timetable at regular points along its journey.

When the degree of lateness in a recording section (known as a “Trust” section) is three minutes or more of real delay, the system asks for the cause of such delays to be captured through the delay attribution process. Delays of less than three minutes (“sub threshold” delays) are normally not attributed. There are roughly as many delay minutes recorded that are above as below the threshold.

An individual train’s lateness against the GBPRT at certain monitoring points is also recorded - usually where it makes intermediate stops and of course at the end of the journey. And then what is called “average lateness” is computed. This is a blend of all the lateness recorded for all trains run in that service group, against the GBPRT timings at monitoring points along the route, weighted by expected traffic loadings.

The very important next step is the allocation between Network Rail and the TOC of average lateness of trains against the GBPRT which is based on the Trust delays for incidents on the day as picked up from delays against the WTT. It is this attributed average lateness that is used for the delay compensation calculations.

Analysing delays We spend a lot of time on this so it is worth reviewing some of the tools we use. The arrival bell curve is a fundamental measurement tool for analysis.

october 2012 | the rail engineer | 23

feature Arrival Bell Curve, 0-5 PPM service

35% 30%

%Arriving

25% 20%

92%

5%

3%

15% 10% 5%

Oa SL

-3 0 15

11

-1 4

10 6-

On

Arrival time band (minutes)

The difference between average lateness and PPM

The aim is clearly a steep curve with a low tail and as many trains as possible before either the 5 or 10 minutes “late” used to measure PPM. Poor regulation, extended dwell times, loss of time in running and TSRs are some of the many causes of more trains arriving beyond the cut-off point. When PPM slips below a target, a relatively small percentage actually moves to just the other side of the cut-off point.

A second useful tool is to look at the accumulation of delays along a route for a particular train. An example of these “washing line” graphs charts 95 separate runs of Virgin’s 14.15 Manchester - London and shows the percentage of trains that are within different time bands (left hand scale) compared with the right time path and where the allowances are (right hand scale in minutes).

5

4

3

2

1

e Ti m

-1

-2

-3

0%

The average lateness is designed to measure, as accurately as possible, the average lateness of a person disembarking from that train. For this reason it measures the lateness of each train not just at its terminus, but also at the key locations on its journey. Each location is given a weighting based on the proportion of people disembarking at that station - a London to Aberdeen train would be measured at Peterborough, Doncaster, York, Newcastle, Edinburgh and Dundee and the average lateness, and therefore the delay compensation cost, will depend much more on the performance at these intermediate stations than the lateness of the train arriving at Aberdeen. Note also that average lateness is an absolute measure so every

Example of a train service measured at 0-5 minutes PPM performing at 92% PPM and 3% CaSL.

minute of lateness counts - the threshold for inclusion is “on time” not the PPM bandwidth.

This compares to PPM which only considers how late the train is at destination.

For many trains the number of people getting off at the final destination might be relatively low. Thus, where allowances are back-end loaded in the timetabled journey, a train may have poor punctuality along the route but could end up with reasonable PPM.

Below: ‘Washing line’ graph charting 95 separate runs of Virgin’s 14:15 Manchester to London service.

Delay compensation Once the systems have calculated the types and levels of delay a financial value is then ascribed. This is known as “Schedule 8” within the track access agreements. The industry’s performance regime is designed to make sure that the TOC has no windfall

Key Path Allow Perf Allow Eng Allow Time-to-15 Time-to-10 Time-to-5 Time-to-2 Right Time

Punctuality v WTT - Weekdays 12th December 2011 - 21st April 2012 1A42 14:15 Manchester - London (Arrives 16:20)

Camden South Jn D

London Euston A

16:17

16:17

18:20

Willesden West London Jn D 16:14

Camden Jn D

16:08

16:10

16:05

Harrow & Wealdstone D

Watford Junction D

15:58

16:01

Wembley Central D

Tring D

15:50

15:55

Bourne End Jn (Herts) D

Bletchley D

Ledburn Jn D

15:41

15:45

Milton Keynes Central D 15:47

Hanslope Jn D

Milton Keynes Central A

15:29

15:35

15:28

Hillmorton Jn D

Rugby D

15:20

15:28

Weedon D

Nuneaton D

15:04

15:07

Rugby Trent Valley Jn D

Colwich D

14:55

Rugeley North Jn D

Stone D

14:50

14:51

14:48

Stoke-On-Trent D

14:42

Stoke Jn D

Kids grove D

Stoke-On-Trent A

14:34

14:39

14:27

Congleton D

Cheadle Hulme D

14:24

14:26

Macclesfield D

Edgeley Jn No1 D

Adswood Road Jn D

14:22

0

14:23

1

0%

Stockport D

2

10%

14:20

3

20%

Heaton Norris Jn D

4

30%

Stockport A

5

40%

14:18

6

50%

14:17

7

60%

Slade Lane Jn D

8

70%

Ardwick Jn D

9

80%

14:15

10

90%

Manchester Piccadilly D

100%

24 | the rail engineer | october 2012

feature

Table showing the variance in 2011/12 actual figures against CP4 assumptions for the same year.

gain or cost from unexpected Network Rail performance and so it is based on a link between performance and user-ship and therefore TOC revenue. It should be neutral during this control period if performance targets are met. There is a netting off each month and (previously at least!) Network Rail typically pays money during Winter and Autumn when performance tends to be poor and receives money during the rest of the year.

Overall this creates a situation where it might appear that four aspects of the performance regime are now rather more stacked against Network Rail: • It is responsible for external events (including weather, cable theft etc) and these have not reduced in incidence; • Network Rail tends to be responsible for bigger incidents which are themselves getting larger. They have a more pronounced increase in delay per incident (DPI) from a tighter network and more stretched industry resources. Also the type of incident attributed to Network Rail usually shuts more of the network - it can be easier to work round a failed train than a fatality or signalling fault; • Its benchmarks are getting tighter and the TOCs are not; • As the allowances get squeezed between the GBPRT and the WTT a payout is more likely if the regime is not recalibrated.

Firstly it is worth noting that, although the targets are being missed, PPM overall has increased by around 1.5% in CP4 and that the growth in train miles (originally planned and additional) is now 8.4%. Making the broad assumption that the changes in train miles, trains run and passenger loadings are similar this indicates that the absolute number of trains or passengers delivered within PPM over the last couple of years has increased by around 10% or nearly 2000 trains a day. The industry is not getting credit for this.

The significant implication is that the network is simply busier, making it more difficult to keep to time after an incident.

And the other factors mentioned in the opening section are now more valued by operators than further increases in punctuality alone.

A perhaps surprising number of trains are still arriving on time or early. But the arrivals bell curve graph has shifted to the right by an average of about one minute in the last 12 months. The important detail is where the line crosses the +10 minute mark.

Network Rail is now engaged in a massive effort to try and move what is already quite a flat tail by a very small amount (down and to the left) to raise the area under the curve (up to the +10 minute cut off) from around 88% to 92% by the end of the control period. This indicates how we are now dealing with very small margins.

What has changed in the last few years?

Complicated

Given this background it is worth looking at what has changed since the targets were set before the start of Control Period 4. The table above shows the variance in 2011/12 against the CP4 assumptions for that year.

I am sure there are many more mature readers who are now thinking a) this is all far more complicated that it used to be or need be and b) if you have to understand all this then

how can you have time to run the railway and c) simply focussing on the precision of a right time railway with a good timetable, professional signalling and excellent asset condition will make everything else come right.

And they would be correct.

So let me assure everyone that we will continue to do all we can to drive up performance. And of course there is a strong counterargument to what I have set out above. With a few minutes in the hour between the WTT and the GBPRT and a further 5 minutes for a time to 5 PPM service there is a lot of scope to get it right. This is the perfectly reasonable argument of Passenger Focus and others - the industry should not be claiming that five minutes late is “on time” hence we have also started to report “right time”.

But the continued success of the railway has moved us all to a position in which focussing solely on a couple of performance metrics is necessary but no longer sufficient. Especially when these targets were set four years ago and given the growth we have seen since. There are other important factors to balance in running the network. We have important trade offs to make between performance, capacity and cost.

In this article, Robin Gisby has explained the challenges faced by Network Rail in monitoring and measuring punctuality performance against set targets.

Next month, the rail engineer will look at the steps being taken from an engineering point of view to minimise those delays.

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26 | the rail engineer | october 2012

track & drainage

Bringing earthworks

under control

a railway civil engineer, one of my A sgreatest concerns related to the

Train passing a Maccaferri rock fall catch fence on the approach to Cumberworth Tunnel, South Yorkshire.

condition of the earthworks on my patch. A failure of an embankment or cutting slope could cause severe risks to the safety and operational integrity of the railway under my care.

For engineers on the UK rail system, this is probably a greater issue than for those of many other countries. Britain pioneered the development of modern railways in the nineteenth century and suffers for this in many ways. Our tight structure gauge is well known, but is not the only difficult legacy that we have inherited from our Victorian forebears. We also have to manage other challenges resulting from the fact that our railways were built very early in the engineering learning curve.

Not least among these challenges are those relating to earthworks. These include earth and rock slopes that were constructed at angles far steeper than hindsight shows us they really ought to have been, embankments formed from materials of doubtful and very mixed quality, and railway corridors narrower than

desirable. The drainage arrangements originally constructed were also often less than adequate, and over the passage of time many of them have become obstructed, neglected or forgotten.

As a consequence, the management of banks, cuttings and rock faces on the national network has always been a challenge, and disruptive failures have been too common.

Defining earthworks Tony Wilcock is head of civils asset management (geotechnical) for Network Rail, so he has the task of managing and improving this situation. He acknowledges that, in general terms, Railtrack did not inherit good asset records of earthworks and drainage from British Rail, nor was there what would now be recognised as a systematic regime of inspections in place for these assets at the time of the handover. Since then, under both Railtrack and Network Rail, great efforts have been made to change this. About ten years ago a formal inspection regime was introduced for earthworks (including rock

cuttings) similar to that which was well established for other structures such as bridges, tunnels and retaining walls.

An earthwork is recognised as being anything of at least 3 metres height or depth, and each one is divided into lengths of five chains (about 100 metres) for inspection and records purposes. The ongoing inspection frequencies for each site are determined according to the condition found. The worst sites are now the subject of an annual routine inspection regime, better ones being inspected less frequently. Of course, if an earthwork deteriorates seriously, annual inspection may not be sufficient and it may be made the subject of much more frequent inspection and monitoring until its condition can be rectified, just as would occur with a bridge that was in a serious state.

Asset inspection About five years ago, Network Rail decided to adopt an asset scoring system for earthworks. This was designed to support the management of the large earthwork asset inventory by making it easier to compare earthworks of different types and by ensuring consistent marking of common features irrespective of the earthwork type. For example, there are now standard ways to report animal infestation or vegetation problems for cuttings and embankments or any other earthworks. This is extremely useful to the company and its stakeholders when considering priorities and funding for the network as a whole, taking account of all asset types.

Detailed information is collected about each 5-chain length of earthwork and entered into a handheld data logger. Information collected includes height, slope, animal activity, vegetation present, earthwork drainage (if any) and details of any failure indicators. The information entered feeds into an algorithm which generates an asset condition score for that length. Based upon these scores, the

october 2012 | the rail engineer | 27

track & drainage (Right) Bauxite wagons derailed at Loch Trieg.

assets are categorised as poor, marginal or serviceable and it is this categorisation which determines the future inspection frequency.

Network Rail now has formal earthworks asset data covering the last ten years .

Treating each side of the line separately (factors such as height may vary signiďŹ cantly between one side of the line and the other)

there are just under 10,000 miles of earthworks, a total 160,000 individual 5-chain lengths. Roughly speaking, there are earthworks on about half the 10,000 route miles of the network. About 90% of them have now been scored under the current system, and the remainder will be included very soon as the inspection regime continues.

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28 | the rail engineer | october 2012

(Top right) The top of the exposed blind shaft at Lindal Tunnel and above fitting rock bolts and netting.

asset information in a format consistent with the other asset data it holds, and in CP4 the budget for earthworks has been £450m. This will have enabled remedial works to around 2½ million square metres of earthworks by the time the control period ends.

Drainage survey A similar story to that of earthworks relates to the past inspection of track and structures drainage, and Network Rail recognised this.

An integrated drainage programme was initiated, leading to a rapid national survey. It was decided that where possible this should be undertaken by in-house staff as this would enable them to gain valuable first hand understanding of the drainage assets for which they are responsible. In-house resources being unavailable in Wessex, the surveys on this route have been undertaken

by WaterFlow.

A training programme was undertaken by MWH UK to give the staff improved knowledge about drainage and give them the required skills in using the data logging devices. These devices are GPS enabled and, like those used for earthworks, require data to be entered in a standard format to ensure complete and consistent data collection.

Collected data is fed into a version of the Network Rail’s Ellipse work scheduling tool which has been specially developed for drainage assets. Currently about 80% of the network’s drainage has now been surveyed at a cost of about £3m.

track & drainage

In addition, Network Rail has been undertaking topographical surveys of its network and surrounding lands to enable it to identify high-risk natural slopes adjacent to Network Rail boundaries. Techniques such as aerial LIDAR (LIght Detection And Ranging) surveys are also feeding data into systems such as the water concentration database.

This identifies additional risks to the network, such as from external watercourses, drainage ditches or reservoirs on adjacent land.

Information is collected in a WERM (Washout and Earthflow Risk Management) database.

Work like this will enable the company to extend its risk management beyond the confines of its own land boundaries.

In due course, this work should lead to the management of risks such as those which led to the Loch Trieg derailment earlier this year.

In that incident a Class 66 locomotive and 5 bauxite wagons ran into a landslide that had originated in a natural slope outside the Network Rail boundary. Boulders in the washed down material led to the derailment of the train.

All this is enabling the development of a proper five-year asset management plan for track and structures drainage for CP5. It will allow the company to make a credible bid for funding for drainage for that control period, the first time that this has been possible. All track engineers recognise that good and lasting track condition is not possible without a well drained trackbed. However, without a detailed asset record, it has sometimes been difficult to justify and obtain sufficient budget to undertake all the work required.

External assistance Network Rail is not doing all of this on its own. The company has been using the resources and expertise of a number of external organisations. Mott MacDonald and Arup have both been involved in assisting in the development of the relevant policies.

Amey has the national contract for the examination of earthworks, and employs around seven examinations engineers and about 35 examiners for the purpose. JBA Consulting holds the asset management database and has been helping to develop

asset data collection systems for Network Rail for about 10 years. Their work has resulted in the current web based set-up using handheld devices for data input.

What has been the outcome of all this in practical terms thus far? Well, since the earthworks asset data collection regime began roughly 10 years ago, and up until this year, there was a consistent falling trend in incidents involving earthworks. The 28 such incidents in 2011-12 was the lowest figure for 7 years. Unfortunately the severe weather conditions of 2012 have caused a reversal of the trend, with about 40 incidents to date this year. Given that rainfall across the UK in April was three times the average for that month, June had double the average and July much the same, this picture is not surprising.

There does seem to be evidence that the climate in the UK is trending towards more extreme weather. Not only do there seem to be more periods of very intensive rainfall, some of them very localised and severe, but also there appear to be more periods of drought. The latter can exacerbate the former by causing cracks and other forms of weakness in earthworks that make them more likely to fail when heavy rainfall does occur.

Further afield Network Rail is not leaving things to chance.

As well as taking care to thoroughly investigate all incidents itself and learn the lessons from them, and ensuring that they take full heed of any further lessons from other investigations such as those of the RAIB, the company is looking further afield for understanding. Network Rail has been benchmarking its activities against other railway administrations in Europe and elsewhere and Tony considers its approach to be better than most that he has seen.

Work is also being undertaken with other railways in countries where more severe climatic conditions already prevail. One such country is Hong Kong, and Network Rail is actively engaged in learning from the experiences of railway managers there in countering the effects of severe weather.

The results of these benchmarking activities, the lessons learned form failure investigations and the studies of practices abroad are being fed into revised company standards and policies to deliver better future outcomes.

All told, Network Rail is taking a professional and pro-active approach to mitigating risks and improving performance, rather than reacting to incidents. The peak season for earthworks asset inspections is November to April (due to the die back of vegetation), so Tony and his colleagues are going to have a very busy winter.

october 2012 | the rail engineer | 29

track & drainage writers

Wojciech Nawrat and Kevin Gatzwiller

project is much in the T henewsCrossrail at the moment, as it will be for some years to come. A new, full-sized railway running under London in tunnels, it will naturally throw up a lot of challenges for railway engineers.

With trains running on metal rails on steel track bolted to the concrete floor of the tunnel, one of those challenges will be how to minimise vibrations and any accompanying noise nuisance.

These vibrations normally lie within the frequency range of 30 to 250 Hz, with the range from 50 to 125 Hz being the most critical. Such vibrations can cause the walls and floors of nearby buildings to vibrate and to emit a humming sound that is designated as structure-borne noise (or secondary airborne noise) and which can be extremely unpleasant.

Good track design can help to reduce vibrations and structure-borne noise. As much as possible, this should be independent of the type of rolling stock in use.

Attenuation of these vibrations can be achieved by using an effective mechanical filter. Installing a resilient

layer below the superstructure produces only one dominant trackform resonance which suppresses all other trackform resonances at higher frequencies. This is shown in the diagram, which compares trackform dynamics caused by resilience within the track structure to that generated using a resilient support system below the track structure - in this case the RHEDA RX system from German manufacturer RAIL.ONE. The chart shows a smooth plot of insertion loss above the zero-crossing point (the onset of isolation), which is independent of the other resilient elements in the track superstructure and of the unsprung mass of passing trains.

This special version, RHEDA RX, was especially developed to attenuate structure-borne noise for metro trains with speeds of up to 100 km/h and axle loads of up to 18 metric tonnes. This solution is designed as a mass-spring system and consists of a track concrete

(Below left) Chart comparing resilience within the track superstructure and below it.

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30 | the rail engineer | october 2012

The components of the RHEDA RX system.

slab with integrated bi-block sleepers that rest with full-surface support on RockXolid® rock-wool based mats.

The rock wool based mats perform two functions. Firstly, they decouple the track structure from the tunnel, thereby providing the desired vibration isolation level. Secondly, they give the required resilience to the overall system. The appropriate mat thickness is selected as part of the design of the massspring system, particularly the relationship between the required mass and stiffness.

Currently 30mm, 50mm and 80mm thick mats are available.

As well as having outstanding static and dynamic properties, the rock wool core material, which is inorganic, naturally compressible, chemically inert and creep-free, has a long service life and is insensitive to climatic factors such as water, ambient temperature and ultraviolet light. It is fire and smoke safe, as it withstands more than 1,000°C, and the underlying mat can even form part of the internal drainage system.

Installation

Predictions of vibration - isolation insertion loss for the RHEDA RX variants.

The cramped space in tunnels results in difficult conditions for the supply and handling of construction materials. RHEDA RX is designed to overcome these constraints by reducing the volume and weight of the materials, accessories, and machines required on the construction site. The RockXolid® mats are pre-sized in the production plant and can usually be laid by hand on the construction site, without use of machines. The mats are then covered with sheeting to protect them from fresh concrete during track construction as this could otherwise produce acoustic bridges. The mats can be walked and driven on, which simplifies the construction process.

Depending on the thickness of the track concrete slab and the installation process selected, construction may take place in one or two stages. Relatively thick slabs are divided into two layers. The next step is preparation of the track panel, which consists of sleepers, rails, fastenings, and - if required reinforcement. Assembly of the track panels can be undertaken either directly on-site, or in advance off-site.

After rough alignment of the track, the remaining components, such as drainage and earthing, are installed. Precise vertical adjustment is performed by means of spindles which are integrated into the

track & drainage sleepers.

Horizontal adjustment takes place by adjustable supports braced against special bearers, although simultaneous vertical and horizontal adjustment can also be made using a spindlebracket mounted on the rail foot. Using these, the track can be positioned down to the millimetre. Once aligned, the track concrete layer is poured, integrating the sleepers into the finished slab. After the concrete has cured, the spindles are removed and the remaining holes are sealed. One or two days later, depending on the mix of the concrete, associated work such as the installation of signal systems and power supplies can be undertaken.

Acoustic attenuation Once complete, the RHEDA RX system provides an effective mechanical filter below the track superstructure that dominates the dynamic characteristics of the entire track system. This is due to the greater mass above the resilient layer.

Using an advanced multi-degree-offreedom (MDOF) based pipe-in-pipe model developed by the University of Cambridge, the benefits of this solution can be clearly demonstrated. Amongst other things, this model determines the insertion loss for vibration isolation - shown here as a colourcoded cross-section diagram - for three selected RHEDA RX variants. This demonstration model is based on a tunnel at a depth of 40 metres with one RHEDA RX

track on which runs a typical metro train. The concrete slab thickness is 500 mm, and it is elastically supported on 30mm (MFS), 50mm and 80mm thick RockXolid. The diagram shows predictions of vibration-isolation insertion loss of up to 25 dB for a typically critical frequency of 63 Hz. Design of the system is always projectrelated and must take numerous vibration-related parameters into consideration. The MDOF track model provides prediction of the vibration-isolation insertion loss and helps to define the best combination of slab thickness and mat type for each project.

Maintenance and service life With the exception of the rails themselves, no special maintenance measures are required for the central components of the RHEDA RX system - the concrete slab and the non-exchangeable rock-wool based mats located between the slab and the tunnel invert. A Norwegian field study has been undertaken which proved the long-term life and efficiency of the system, and the mats were tested for fatigue resistance with up to 100 million load cycles. Results showed that the values for dynamic stiffness were virtually identical at the beginning and at the end of the tests.

The resilience in the system considerably reduces the loads placed on the rail fastenings, which results in a significant lengthening of their service lives. All fastening components are accessible at all times and can be disassembled and replaced. Similarly, work on the rails can be carried out as normal, with no special considerations due to the RHEDA RX system.

And the reduction in vibration, and noise nuisance, will be very welcome to all who live and work close to busy metro systems.

Wojciech Nawrat is head of research and development, RAIL.ONE Group, Germany Kevin Bo Gatzwiller is technical director at RockDelta (Rockwool A/S), Denmark

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34 | the rail engineer | october 2012

track & drainage

Olympic Renewals writer

Nigel

Wordsworth The High Output Ballast Cleaner is long. The worksite, in the distance is actually only halfway down the train.

and Paralympics are over, T heandOlympics life on the railways can now get

back to normal. That, of course, means nighttime and weekend possessions as the never-ending job of maintaining and renewing the railway continues apace.

However, not everything stopped during the Olympic period. Certainly, there was a hold put on disruptive work on the main feeder routes into London, and the southeastern area in general. But, further north, that simply meant that more work was done on non-critical routes. High output machines were diverted to freight lines, where more work was actually done than normal.

To see what was happening in the middle of the Olympic shutdown, the rail engineer went off to a mixed traffic line near Selby in Yorkshire. South Milford is on the Leeds to Hull line, (Left) Rigging the near where it crosses the East Coast Main cutter bar in the Line at Milford Junction. It is a passenger prepared excavation. route used by both First Transpennine and (Right) HOBC in Northern, and also carries 8.5 EMGTPA operation. (equivalent million gross tonnes per annum) of freight, mainly coal.

Over time, the ballast has deteriorated due to the tonnage of freight that is carried on that route, and also from the coal dust that drifts down from passing wagons. Without intervention, a temporary speed restriction would have been required.

Track Delivery The job of replacing the ballast falls to Network Rail’s track delivery team. This is part of the new Network Rail Infrastructure Projects organisation and is headed up by Steve Featherstone, with a budget of £600 million per annum. Its primary role is delivering condition-driven renewals of plain line rail, sleepers and ballast, using both conventional and high output means, and switches and crossings.

Track delivery is divided into four regions, with Ben Brooks managing the LNE and East Midlands (EM) routes. Meeting Ben at the Network Rail offices in Doncaster, he explained some of the challenges that track renewals teams have in general.

“Introducing the seven day railway concept has been exactly the right thing to do - moving passengers when they need to travel is our primary purpose as a railway after all. We’ve reduced our typical weekend renewal durations from 30 hours to 16 for conventional renewals on primary routes, with a maximum of eight hours available on weekday evenings. This is why the high output track renewals fleet is so important to us - this machinery can deliver

effectively in eight hours with adjacent lines open safely, achieve high hand-back speeds and minimise the likelihood of network disruption.”

Ben currently has three high-output machines in his area, one ballast cleaner and two track renewal systems. Like all the high output machines, they belong to Network Rail but are operated by Amey-Colas under a contract that runs from January 2010 to March 2014.

Conventional renewals on Ben’s LNE and EM routes are contracted out to Babcock, which had won the contract which also runs to March 2014 after Jarvis folded in April 2010. In total, Babcock delivers 50% of the national track renewals programme. Its Doncaster Shaw Lane depot delivers more S&C and more conventional plain line than any other depot in the country, and set a record by installing 1002 yards of plain track in 9.5 hours on the Boston to Skegness route last summer.

There must be something about being based in Doncaster. Amey-Colas has also set records from its Doncaster depot, at Gresley House. In one midweek, eight-hour possession earlier this year, 800 yards of ballast was cleaned using the same Plasser & Theurer RM900 high output ballast cleaner that was now working at South Milford.

But, just to show that not only Doncasterbased teams can break records, this September the high output team located in Newcastle delivered 968 yards of rail and sleeper replacement using a track relaying system on the Newcastle - Carlisle line. There seems to be some healthy inter-team rivalry going on.

october 2012 | the rail engineer | 35

track & drainage

High Output

Ballast cleaning explained

To call high output systems “trains” is no misnomer. At 845 metres long, and weighing 3,200 tonnes, the ballast cleaner is over three times as long as one of the new Thameslink trains (243m) that are soon to be ordered from Siemens. Each system costs over £50 million, and has an operating crew of 15 plus one fitter.

In a normal midweek shift, a ballast cleaner can deliver 300-500 metres, and 600-800 metres in a 16 hour weekend shift. That is over 20 kilometres in an 11 week campaign.

However, don’t think that 800 metres in 16 hours means that the train runs at 50 metres per hour - it is not that simple.

A ballast cleaner works by scooping out all the ballast under a section of track, using a cutting chain. The old ballast is recovered into the train where it is shaken through screens so all the dust and small stones are removed. The ballast which is still the correct size is returned to the trackbed, and new ballast is mixed with it to restore the correct volume.

The working section of the train is roughly in the middle. In front of it is a row of empty wagons which will take the discarded small stones and dust, known as spoil. All the wagons are fed by conveyor belts that run the length of that section of

train - when one wagon is full the spoil is automatically taken to the next empty one.

Behind the centre section is a row of identical wagons, but these are already filled with fresh ballast. As it is required, the conveyors bring new ballast forward to be mixed with that which was recovered in the cleaning section.

How much work a train can do depends on the percentage of recoverable ballast there is in the existing formation and the time available for the renewal. If it is to be completely renewed, so that all the old ballast goes off to the spoil wagons and is completely replaced by fresh ballast from the back of the train, then after about 250 metres the on-board supplies are exhausted.

Separate work trains have to be brought up so that spoil can be loaded onto it and stock of new ballast replaced. At South Milford, better than 50% of the ballast was being recovered, so that was not an issue.

Complex setup To get back to running speeds, the simple fact is that the ballast cleaner cannot run throughout the possession. A look at the time chart shows why.

At South Milford, on the weekend of 18/19 August, the possession was due to be taken at 22:25. At 23:15, S&T engineers started the twohour process of disconnecting any signalling cables that ran under the track. If they were left in place, the cutter bar of the ballast cleaner would just rip them out along with the ballast. Any that were to remain in situ had to be buried much deeper than normal.

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36 | the rail engineer | october 2012

Off loading top stone at Immingham.

(Inset) Cutting rail.

(Below) All finished at Immingham after five months hard work.

At the same time, an RRV excavator dug a hole in the ballast in which the cleaner’s cutter bar and excavator belt could be rigged and started. When that was completed, the whole train could be slowly brought forward until the central cleaning stage was over that hole.

The entire Amey-Colas team now got to work. The site management team and track gang were joined by the 15-man system crew on the train. The cutter bar was rigged in the previously dug hole, running under the track. The chutes down which both recovered spoil and dispensed fresh ballast were deployed and the machine was ready to go. It was 00:45 and, although the S&T wasn’t completely finished, it was clear far enough ahead so that the train could start rolling.

The chain began to move, digging ballast out from under the track and carrying it up the left hand side of the machine. As the whole train inched forward, fresh ballast was

track & drainage

poured back into the hole created and blades under the train pushed it into place.

The whole thing moved along at a slow walking place.

The plan was to work for 285 minutes, until 05:30 - four and three quarter hours. In that time it would do about 800 metres. After that, the cutter bar and other equipment would be removed, the train could move off, and the S&T team could start reconnecting again. That in itself would take over three hours.

A tamper would go through the worksite once the ballast cleaner was clear. Each high-output machine has a Plasser and Theurer 09-3X tamper, complete with an onboard dynamic track stabiliser, working with it. Once that had completed two passes, taking another three and a half hours, the site could be handed back at a linespeed of up to 80mph.

So in a sixteen hour possession, the expensive high-output train only worked for less than five hours. It seems inefficient, but it isn’t. The rate of work is so high that renewals are now 15% cheaper than they were back in 2009 and high output delivery methods are cheaper than conventional renewals.

Conventional is not old-fashioned While the big train was working at South Milford, more conventional techniques were being deployed not far away, at

Immingham. This is the busiest freight port in the country in terms of tonnage, and consequently the railway line takes 48 MGTPA, making it the UK’s most heavily trafficked freight railway. As it is so busy, the only access possible is on a Saturday night, typically from 23:10 Saturday to 15:10 on Sunday.

Working only in those tight time restricted windows for five months, Babcock have replaced five miles of life-expired track formation, ballast, rail and sleepers, at a rate of a quarter mile of new railway per week.

Supported by suppliers SES and Network Rail NDS (Hydrex), Babcock introduced innovative parallel working methods to maximise output. The bar chart shows 32 different work activities happening across the 16 hours, many at the same time and all coordinated to make sure that the work was delivered in full, to budget and with no unplanned performance impact on railway freight operations.

Access issues were overcome through use of specialist road rail vehicles from Hydrex and Trac, whilst Network Rail maintenance signalling personnel supported with the disconnection and reconnection of equipment.

So while the rest of the country was busy watching the Olympics, the LNE/EM track renewals team was busy working on the nation’s railways. Embargo? What embargo?

october 2012 | the rail engineer | 37

track & drainage writer

Graeme

PHOTOGRAPHY: FOUR BY THREE

Bickerdike

n North Shields, the whole of the shops I were closed and nearly every window exhibited some sign of rejoicing, either in the shape of a Union Jack or, in humble imitation, a red petticoat. The day was observed as a general holiday. Long before the hour of starting, a number of persons had collected about the railway station and all along the banks on each side of the line, or where a glimpse of the passing trains could be obtained. When all was in readiness, a shrill whistle was sounded and on this instant the band commenced playing God save the Queen, in the midst of which - the firing of cannon, the waving of handkerchiefs by the ladies and the mingled plaudits of a thousand voices - the train proceeded along the line.”

Much relief was felt locally when services on a six kilometre section of the Tyne & Wear Metro resumed on 3 September following a 23-day closure for track renewals. Hardly surprising really - more than 7,000 Geordies ride the rails between Tynemouth and Wallsend daily. Replacement buses bridged the gap.

Whether the festivities quite matched the colour and vibrancy of those on 18 June 1839 - described above by the Newcastle Journal - seems unlikely. Cannon firing?

Think of the risk assessment. But the line’s 173 years of operational history officially began on that Tuesday as two locomotives, Wellington and Hotspur, hauled the first adventurers along the Newcastle & North Shields Railway.

Changing times Authorised by a parliamentary Act of 1836, engineering for the new line was entrusted to Northumbrian-born Robert Nicholson, then just the tender age of 28.

The route was staked out during the autumn of that year; construction got underway in earnest on 13 January 1837.

Problems inevitably presented themselves, extending the timescales. But the outcome was a 6½-mile railway with few curves and gradients no stiffer than 1:200. A tunnel of 70 yards, 24 bridges, numerous culverts and substantial earthworks were unable to steal the limelight from two iconic stone and timber viaducts at Ouseburn and

Willington Dean. Both still carry trains today, although timber had given way to cast iron by 1869.

The Newcastle & Berwick Railway soon extended the branch to Tynemouth, moving thereafter to a nearby through station when an end-on junction was made with the Blyth & Tyne. 1904 saw the route incorporated into the Tyneside Electrics network with the installation of a third rail system. Diesels took over in the Sixties as both rolling stock and infrastructure tired. But with passenger numbers dwindling, British Rail turned its back on the line in August 1980. However, it re-emerged two years later as part of the Tyne & Wear Metro - a modern urban transit

Muscle power helps to flip the switch plates over.

38 | the rail engineer | october 2012

system connecting existing railway alignments via new tunnels driven beneath Newcastle and Gateshead.

Like the rest of us, the Metro is creaking a little 30 years on. Daily ridership is considerable, topping 110,000. So a £385 million capital investment, known as the All Change programme, launched in 2010.

Funded largely by central government, it will see Nexus - which owns and manages the network - modernise stations, install new lifts and escalators, refurbish the fleet of 90 Metrocars and lay 60km of new communications cable. On top of all this, drainage is being improved, bridges and earthworks repaired, signals upgraded and 30km of track renewed, including four major junctions. It’s an ambitious plan, aiming to secure the Metro’s future for years to come.

Gearing up The first substantive phase of those track renewals has benefited the section between Byker and Tynemouth, heading eastwards to the coast from Newcastle city centre. A 23day blockade over the spring of 2011

A road-railer uses the temporary crossover at Brewers Lane.

track & drainage

delivered 6km (everything here is measured in metric) of new track. A similar output was achieved during this summer’s exercise which was scheduled for the school holidays when passenger numbers are lower, but taking care to avoid the Olympic football at St James’ Park.

Fulfilling the works thus far has been Balfour Beatty Rail which is currently at the halfway point of its three-year framework agreement with Nexus. Hopes are high for an extension. An Early Contractor Involvement period began in February, allowing practicalities around the year’s planned projects to be considered. As well as the blockade, October’s renewal of a double junction at South Gosforth and new drainage around Howdon level crossing were encompassed. Contract award came in May, triggering a number of preparatory works including reballasting and tamping through the Tynemouth tunnels and the renewal of North Shields Junction over two 54-hour weekend possessions.

Two fundamental constraints have focussed the mind of Mark Wood, Balfour

Beatty Rail’s project manager, and his team: Nexus’ commitment to minimising the blockade’s impact on the public - in other words, closing as few stations as possible and the 12-tonne axle loading over some of the network’s structures.

The latter served to preclude deliveries of long welded rail by train, so one of the more laborious activities involved the almost nightly welding of 60-foot rails - about 800 of them - into 72m lengths in a compound at Hylton Street. As with other materials, these were then distributed through the site using Unimogs, trailers and roadrailers.

Tamping duties were discharged by a Dutch crew operating a lightweight machine provided by VolkerRail.

Mother of invention The Metro system isn’t blessed with many crossovers. Only one, at North Shields, was located within the limits of the planned blockade, beyond the eastern extent of the sections being relayed and rather distant from the two main compounds at Limekiln and Brewers Lane. This could have proven logistically challenging. Widening the blockade to cover the nearest crossovers at either end would have resulted in the closure of at least two more stations and created operational difficulties. A non-starter in other words.

The search for salvation led to NonIntrusive Crossover System Ltd (NICS), developers of a temporary solution which was trialled during the Trent Valley fourtracking scheme some years ago. Product approval inertia, driven by the fear of importing risk, subsequently thwarted further application and, as a result, it had not gone into manufacture. However, with Nexus buy-in, NICS was asked to build three systems, two of which were fitted providing a left and a right-hand turnout and used extensively during the blockade.

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40 | the rail engineer | october 2012

Due to loading restrictions, 60 foot rails had to be welded together in a compound to form 72m lengths.

Ballast is unloaded from one of the six trains operating in the blockade.

“This was the only way we could see, economically and practically, of achieving the outputs required by Nexus within the timescale”, asserted Mark. NICS facilitated the renewal of both tracks within one blockade, obviating the need for another closure at the same location next year clearly a preferable outcome for communities along the line.

As its name suggests, NICS provides a temporary crossover for engineering movements without impacting on the existing tracks or signalling. It can remain in situ - locked out of use - when the lines are open although some components may need to be removed depending on vehicle clearances. Weighing 13.5 tonnes and transported in palletised sections, it comprises four main parts • ramps which lift the train by 48mm so that its wheel flanges are clear of the permanent track’s railhead, and then lower it again after the movement; • switch plates to support and turn out the train; • crossing plates which carry the train over the existing six-foot rails; • gut rails forming connections between the switch and crossing plates.

track & drainage

The resulting crossover is 58m long and can be installed in less than 12 hours.

Precision is required with the site survey, ensuring the correct track geometry, sleeper type and spacing. Although here it was used on straight track, the system can cope with some curvature as long as the tracks are coplanar.

Balfour Beatty Rail staff travelled to Scotland for training on how to operate NICS. Changing the configuration from normal to reverse, and vice versa, is muscle-powered, taking about five minutes. It’s simple - as the best ideas often are - and cost effective. Mark insists “They’ve worked really well.”

Perpetual motion Beyond a willingness to innovate, the key to successful delivery of the blockade works was granular-level planning - long hours spent analysing the methodologies and cycle times. Resources had to be in the right place - and in the right order - before the gobutton was pressed. A hundred tower lights went out over two preceding weekends to allow round-the-clock working.

At the western end of the site, the Limekiln compound acted as the main distribution point for the new ballast and concrete sleepers - mostly G44s with Pandrol Fastclips. Redundant track panels made their way out to Hylton Street. The majority of the spoil - some 20,000 tonnes of it - was brought to the former council site at Brewers Lane, becoming a substantial feature in the landscape until Lafarge made it disappear for recycling. The old sleepers will also find new roles elsewhere.

On site, a merry-go-round of movements was established using the nonintrusive crossovers: spoil

train, ballast train, sleeper train - six in total, comprising Unimogs and trailers. In addition to the 5,500m of renewals, a further 6km of track was reballasted, tamped and restressed. Just under 120m of drainage went in at North Shields, along with a new turnout. NRL Rail acted as subcontractor for the signalling design and fitment of point motors for the new S&C. A number of track slews were programmed to obtain the optimum alignment geometry, particularly through the stations. Arup, working on behalf of Nexus, was responsible for the design.

Associated with all this were adjustments to the 1,500V DC overhead line equipment, including the renewal of some cantilever arms. An early requirement was the removal of around 40 impedance units which had to be reinstalled and tested prior to handback.

Due recognition Much was done over 23 days and more is on the way. Tentative plans are coming together for another blockade next year. The All Change programme ensures the Tyne & Wear Metro will continue its rejuvenation for much of the next decade.

It’s fair to presume that the workforce of 2012 will not receive the same acclaim as those who pioneered the Newcastle & North Shields Railway back in 1839.

Perhaps that’s only right. But with this story, the rail engineer might have redressed the balance a little, even if in marginally less purple prose than the Newcastle Journal’s.

“Every person appeared highly gratified and the greatest admiration was expressed at the excellent construction of the line, whilst the smoothness of the motion and the comparative freedom from jolting and noise fully proved the superiority of the mode of laying down the rails. There can be no doubt that the undertaking will be duly patronised.”

october 2012 | the rail engineer | 41

track & drainage

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42 | the rail engineer | october 2012

A drain his summer has undoubtedly been one that will go down in the history books.

The Jubilee, the Olympics, the Paralympics the eyes of the world has been on the UK. The doubters have been silenced, the Union Jacks flown, and the country displayed at its very best - the UK in summer 2012 was the place to be. One thing however, has let us down… the weather.

You could argue that it wouldn’t be right if it was blazing sunshine, and no Jubilee street party would have felt the same without the ever-present plastic mac. However, with record levels of rain recorded in some areas of the UK, and dreary drizzle blighting the rest, the soggy summer has had a disastrous effect on the rail network.

T

A Multicar jetter being prepared in Quattro’s yard.

Not just tourists While London and the South-East was flooded with tourists from around the world, during mid-summer the North saw flooding of a very different nature. High levels of rainfall throughout the summer months saw areas of the country hit with some horrific flooding which made a huge impact on transport and had engineers and emergency workers scrambling to try and maintain services.

At the end of June, normally a reliably dry period, unprecedented levels of rainfall saw main line services between England and Scotland completely cut off due to flooding and subsequent landslides, bringing a crucial service grinding to a complete halt.

The major West Coast main line at Tebay in Cumbria was also closed because of a landslide during this time, cutting off all services in this area. Localised flooding also affected stations around Oxenholme in the Lake District.

track & drainage

on resources The effect that incidents like these have on passengers is undeniable, especially when you take into account that surrounding road networks were also affected, meaning that road travel is also out of the question for many. In some areas, buses were able to replace train services although the state of the roads meant that this still added up to an hour to journeys.

Moving into August, with the festivities in London reaching fever pitch, the battle against the weather still raged further north.

In late August, heavy rain caused a landslip between Stirling and Dunblane stations, causing major delays on the route. Further heavy flooding in the region led to lines being closed completely, and emergency engineering work had to be carried out in order to get the busy service back up and running.

As we move into the winter, it’s undeniable that there’s more rain to come - after all, we’re dealing with a climate that can go from sunny to stormy in the blink of an eye.

This summer has proved that flooding and water damage is a very real threat to the UK’s rail infrastructure, and that we need to be prepared to deal with the worst case scenario.

With most tracks built before engineers had a full understanding of soil mechanics, the soil and rock based structures of most of the UK’s tracks are easily damaged by extreme weather conditions, and heavy rainfall such as that experienced earlier this year poses a very real danger to the security of much of the country’s tracks, and in turn the services that they provide.

Poor drainage An engineering report published by Network Rail found that many asset failures were directly caused by drainage problems.

Dangers such as mud pots (or wet bays depending on where you live), a problem that occurs when water collects in a pool under the tracks, can cause lasting damage such as the disruption of ballast, leading to not only potential delays in service, but also lengthy and expensive maintenance work.

This problem can be alleviated by the simple addition of proper trackside drainage trenches, which allow the excess water to drain properly.

It may not be the most glamorous side of the rail industry, but trackside drainage is becoming one of the hottest topics in the industry. As well as the provision of proper

october 2012 | the rail engineer | 43

track & drainage trenches, adequate thought also has to be given to their maintenance to ensure that they are working to their full potential. One of the key elements in the battle to keep the drains flowing is vegetation management.

With much of the UK’s infrastructure running through tree-lined or “green” areas, the potential for leaves, branches and vegetation debris to become trapped in drainage trenches is a real issue, and one of the key causes of blocked drains. This problem can be cured with regular clearing of the drains, but it is also obvious that it should be tackled at source by implementing proper vegetation management, thus helping prevent the problem occurring in the first place. After all, nobody could have predicted the flooding in June and August. If a “clear out” hasn’t been scheduled before a bout of heavy rainfall, even the best drainage trenches will struggle to handle any rainfall if they are full of branches and leaves!

With modern, custom-designed machines such as Multicar jetters and powerful gully suckers, designed to flush and remove blockages in drains, as well as key attachments for core machines used to deal with track-side vegetation, the Quattro Group can not only clear the blockage - but also go some way to ensuring that it doesn’t happen in the first place.

While Mother Nature is seemingly doing all in her power to keep us on our toes, it is important that we prime ourselves for the very worst she can throw at us. With the best will in the world, nobody could have expected the examples of extreme weather we experienced this “summer” in the UK. Drainage remains a key consideration to the ongoing maintenance of the UK’s rail infrastructure.

This year has been a stark reminder of how easily flooding and water damage can wash away the service that we cherish.

Dedicated machinery The Quattro Group, one of the UK’s largest rail plant suppliers, has recognised the need for such action, and has dedicated an entire department to the maintenance of trackside drainage and associated issues. As well as providing a key service in the cleaning, flushing and maintenance of rail drains, the department also provides a wrap-around service which deals with the maintenance of track-side vegetation.

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As one of the UK’s largest rail plant suppliers, the Quattro Group can guarantee to have not only the right equipment, but also the perfect people for the job. With a team of highlytrained operators working from 13 depots around the country last-minute emergencies can always be catered for, and you can be sure that projects will be completed efficiently and with no disruption to existing works or schedules.

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44 | the rail engineer | october 2012

track & drainage

A Story of RRVs is discussed elsewhere in this issue, A srenewal sites are often delivered using track relaying trains. However, short sections, tight curves, or simply a lack of plant availability are all circumstances where an alternative solution is needed. This solution usually involves road rail vehicles that are either supported by engineering trains to deliver new materials and remove spoil, or from a trackside compound and using road hauled materials.

Story Contracting has a strong history of delivering track schemes on some of the most high profile routes on the rail infrastructure, providing specialist services to Network Rail and principal contractors throughout the country and predominantly along the Settle Carlisle line and the West Coast Main Line.

Track renewals

Two RRVs lifting a track panel in tandem.

The flexibility offered by Story Contracting’s fleet of modern road rail vehicles ensures that track renewal can be completed efficiently under almost any circumstances. A typical twin track railway allows the RRVs to remain on-track to carry out all of the excavation needed to renew

the adjacent line. In these circumstances, materials will often be loaded into spoil boxes mounted on rail trailers and hauled between the worksite and the access point by the RRV itself.

When supported by engineering trains, the RRVs can work ‘in the dig’ to load the rail wagons. RRVs with caterpillar tracks - often affectionately known as Bugs - offer the advantage of being able to track along newly placed and compacted ballast. Unlike four-wheeled plant, the greater surface area of the tracks in contact with the ballast spreads the machine’s load sufficiently that they can do this without causing damage to the prepared surface.

Once the sleepers are fine-lined and trackmen have clipped up the rails, an RRV fitted with a clamshell and hauling a trailer full of new ballast can drop the top stone before the tamper arrives. A tamping bank attachment is usually kept handy in case it doesn’t.

A final run through with a profile bucket and a ballast brush completes the many tasks that the road rail vehicle will contribute to a track renewal.

Delivering drainage Once the track is in pristine condition the challenge then moves to keeping it that way.

Amongst the multitude of defects that can afflict our hard pressed infrastructure, wet beds are the one that probably alarm the permanent way engineer even more than their namesakes alarm the typical parent.

Effective track drainage is the crucial feature that helps eliminate this and in turn avoids significantly increased maintenance costs and reduced life of the infrastructure.

One of the main challenges while undertaking drainage works is ensuring that on-site outputs are sufficiently high enough to deliver cost efficiency whilst, at the same time, ensuring that safety is never compromised. With trenches being perhaps as much as two metres deep and usually excavated during darkness along an ever moving workface, the potential for causing serious harm to those on site is immense.

To overcome these issues Story Contracting employ some novel solutions, with the process beginning long before setting foot on site. A desktop study that assembles all available existing information is the first step. This is then consolidated with detailed site surveys that include trial holes, slit trenches and cable scans to paint the most complete picture possible of what might be encountered once excavation begins.

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46 | the rail engineer | october 2012

(Inset top) A tamping bank attachment often comes in handy.

(Inset lower) Liebherr 900 RRV ready to go.

(Bottom) Colmar T10000 FS RRVs arrive on site.

For most drainage schemes, road rail excavators equipped with offset booms are the ideal plant choice, aligning the digging action perfectly along the line of the trench in order to ensure maximum accuracy and efficiency. The actual dig depth is then set using a dual-grade laser and a Dig Pilot attachment mounted on the excavator. This allows the site engineer to control the excavation without ever needing to enter the trench to take readings.

Buried cables are a constant worry when undertaking major work on track. Story Contracting’s road railers are fitted with a purpose-built cable avoidance tool which is mounted just above the bucket on the dipper arm. This continually scans the area precisely where the bucket is about to dig and provides an audible warning to the operator if a previously undetected buried cable is encountered.

track & drainage

As the trench reaches its design depth it will be ready to receive the new drain construction. This is usually formed from perforated pipework and intermittent catchpits, all embedded in granular material and geotextiles.

Safety first It is clearly unacceptable to place a gang of pipe layers in such a dangerous environment as the bottom of a trench. However, that is not the only place that can prove dangerous.

The unsupported sides of shallow excavations pose a significant risk to anybody standing at ground level alongside the trench, whether from a potential earthworks collapse or a fall into the excavation. To prevent this, an exclusion zone is imposed around the trench to ensure that everybody remains a safe distance back from the edge.

So, with the pipelayers unable to get to where the pipes need to be laid, clearly another solution is

required. Story Contracting has adopted a new system using a mechanical attachment fitted to a road railer. This dexterous piece of kit can pick up catchpits and individual pieces of pipe and assemble them accurately within the trench without need of any manual intervention and completely removing any risk of injury.

Powerful road-rail plant is itself just as capable of causing injury, whether from the collision during the numerous movements along the track or during the digging operations. To combat this, trials are underway to fit proximity sensors which ensure that the operator is immediately warned if personnel encroach into the defined operating area. This system is supported by the operator maintaining constant communication with the machine controller via DECT headsets.

Providing high quality and long lasting infrastructure is an important part of ensuring a cost effective railway into the future. Delivering all of this in a way that is safe for everyone involved is vital. The work that Story Contracting is doing in delivering both track and drainage is an excellent example of how these goals can be successfully achieved.

october 2012 | the rail engineer | 47

feature

writer

Clive Kessell

100 Years of Progress

a centenary C ommemorating should always be high profile and the Institution of Railway Signal Engineers did justice to this milestone with its Aspect Conference and Annual Convention in London over the six days, 10 15 September.

The temptation is always to reflect on past glories and achievements, and whilst some past events were recalled, the thrust of the conference was to look to the future but learning from the lessons of the last 100 years. This was done with a worldwide perspective, the IRSE being one of the most international of Institutions. Almost half of its membership has a non UK address and both paper presenters and attendees represented many of the countries where the IRSE has influence.

The two events looked at Signalling and Telecommunications technology both in mainline and metro applications, safety in its various guises, capacity and associated signalling initiatives, maintenance philosophy and methods, projects and system engineering, human factor issues plus some visions for the future.

The capacity challenge Lack of capacity is not a new problem for railways. Oskar Stalder from Switzerland described the changes at Zurich Oerlikon station over the past 100 years where a tenfold increase in traffic has meant considerable growth of the station layout.

Signalling has been updated from mechanical frames to relay interlocking and finally to a computer based system to cope with all of this. More traffic demands more information and an IP network provides the data gathered from the surrounding area to ensure train

operation is efficiently managed.

Similarly, Charles Lung described the rise of rail transport in Hong Kong over the same period where the impact of war, political change and population growth led to the construction of the Mass Transit Railway Corporation (MTRC) and major upgrades to the Kowloon-Canton Railway (KCR), both of which merged into a single business in 2007.

Five more expansions are either underway or planned and high speed train services now link the province with Beijing and beyond. All lines are equipped with both ATP and ATO from a number of signalling suppliers around the world, vital to handle the 4.3 million passengers carried in the 19 hour day period.

Many railways with capacity problems look to the signalling engineer to maximise throughput on existing lines, thus minimising expensive civil engineering infrastructure enhancements. Trevor Moore from the Australian Rail Track Corporation described how computer-based signalling, as developed

by Lockheed Martin, was revolutionising nonurban operations. With the radio-based system proven for service in 2012, it will enable a step change in train operation. Using the public 3G network for communication, it requires minimal track equipment, provides bi-directional operation on double track lines, fleeting of trains on single lines, variable length virtual block sections and speeds up to 160kph. Aimed at both intermodal and bulk mineral trains, train integrity is achieved by accelerometers on the front and back vehicles being constantly compared. All this gives maximum capacity, high speed and enhanced rail safety.

Noel Burton of Invensys informed on the rail resurgence in the suburbs of Auckland. A virtually new railway is being built with electrification, track doubling, re-signalling and two new lines. Fully duplicated interlockings on different sites connected by diverse fibre links give maximum capacity and reliability.

Some pragmatic solutions to capacity challenges are emerging in the UK. The new seven-car S-stock trains being built for London Underground sub surface lines are replacing the C-stock six-car sets. This creates a problem with platform lengths, especially at Edgware Road station where parallel arrivals and departures regularly take place. Until the new Bombardier CityFlo signalling system is commissioned, the old signalling has to be adapted. John Phillips from ARK Signalling Consultants described how moving starting signals outwards, providing extended overlaps and the provision of LED speed signs to drivers as trains enter platforms, enable a minimum cost solution to be achieved.

Lengthening trains has all sorts of implications for infrastructure. Platform extensions are sometimes physically impossible or not cost-effective if passenger numbers are small. As an alternative to selective door opening, Michael Toher from

Francis How, IRSE President, welcomes delegates.

48 | the rail engineer | october 2012

In-cab signalling Auckland, New Zealand.

Halcrow told of the Thameslink line study to implement a ‘Double Stop’ process. For a 12car train, this would involve stopping the first eight cars, then drawing forward to stop the rear eight cars. It was reckoned to only increase the London - Bedford time by seven minutes, but somehow the proposal was unconvincing.

Technology plays its part

ATMS in-cab display used in South Australia.

Technological advances and opportunities featured a number of topics. The need for a Systems Engineering approach is vital, according to Michael Leining and Bernd Elsweiler from Germany’s DB Netz AG. DB has 80 different types of interlocking, with 20% requiring renewal in the next 10 years. The interfaces are complicated and likely to include bespoke project requirements, all risking a loss of control. The DB solution is to specify interlockings that will connect seamlessly with IP based data networks, thus leading to a standardised architecture for signalling systems.

Six interface specifications detail how the interlocking connects to i) other interlockings, ii) radio block centres, iii) level crossings, iv) axle counters, v) lineside signals and vi) point machines. A cost reduction of 30% per ‘signalled unit’ is predicted. DB claim to have an agreement signed with the major suppliers and hope that it will become a European initiative.

The overlay of Automatic Train Operation on to ERTMS was advocated by Benoît Bienfait from Alstom in Belgium. ETCS as part of ERTMS provides safety and interoperability but not performance and capacity, thus reduced operating costs are minimal. So could ATO be superimposed to yield additional benefits? A feasibility study by Network Rail in 2011 looked hopeful, as did a later simulated trial. Whilst ATO on mainlines is difficult because of the mixed fleet and infrastructure, an incremental approach aimed at urban mainline services appears possible. Firstly, apply ATO as a speed control on ETCS levels 1 and 2; secondly, with additional ETCS data added, ATO can provide accurate stopping at timetabled locations; thirdly, with timetable data provided from a Traffic Management System (TMS), train movement instructions including reversals and optimum speed commands, would be achievable.

Axle Counters remain controversial as to reliability and ease of installation. Martin Rosenberger from Frauscher Sensortechnik in Austria described recent advances in design and application. Significant progress has been made in dealing with the harsh environment

feature

that axle counters encounter - climate, temperature, vehicle geometrics, magnetic rail brakes and mechanical loads. Attachment to rails without the need for drilling is solved and an integrated axle counter is now feasible. This would have a serial interface to electronic interlockings using an open vital protocol giving diagnostic information, reset variant requirements, direction of travel detection, level crossing activation and point changeover protection.

Integrated Control Centre design is a hot topic as railways concentrate their operational control into ever larger centres. DeltaRail promoted their IECC Scalable aimed at reducing costs by the use of the IBM ‘message broker’ technology that links to many types of interfaces including legacy interlockings, route setting equipment and passenger information systems. A description of IECC Scalable was given in issue 92 of the rail engineer (June 2012).

Difficulties to overcome GSM-R data handling limitations present the biggest challenge to the ERTMS programme.

This is preventing ETCS being used in busy station areas. Alain Bertout from AlcatelLucent in France advocated that the railways collectively adopt LTE (4G) technology as a replacement for GSM-R. 4G exists in both the 700-800MHz and 2.6GHz bands and the specification is capable of handling all the features of GSM-R without a special

development for railways. It is claimed not to be necessary to have a dedicated spectrum for rail use. Whilst a 4G system is likely to be the solution, migration to this from the present GSM-R networks presents a logistics nightmare. Practical suggestions from the cellular radio industry as to how this would be achieved would be welcome.

The signalling of rural routes is a challenge for most countries. Laura Järvinen explained that Finland has many new Bombardier EBI Lock interlockings in place and is committed to introduce ERTMS between 2020 and 2030.

These two elements together do not provide a solution for low density lines. ERTMS Level 1 will not deliver capacity improvements and Level 2 will be too expensive. A simpler system to control trackside equipment and set routes is required but this must interface to the existing interlocking equipment. Maybe the Level 3 system (ERTMS Regional) as being trialled in Sweden is a solution.

In contrast, George Raymond described the 30% ‘dark territory’ of the USA route mileage that has no signals, no track circuits and with train movements being authorised as ‘track warrants’ given by radio. However ‘Positive Train Control’ is to become mandatory in America from 2015 and this will mean some safety enhancements. The use of GPS, end of train devices and turnout position indicators will be part of the package and will be less costly than ERTMS Regional. Perhaps a re-look at the refurbished RETB systems in Scotland could provide inspiration for others.

Human Factors Signal sighting can nowadays use technology to avoid visits to site. Konstantinos Nikolaidis from London Underground explained how both 2D and 3D pictures can be generated to give an accurate view from a simulated cab. Sightline cones set up for a typical eye provide an unobstructed image of signals at the approach, the sighting point and the close view as a train nears the anticipated signal position. The system takes account of curves, cant and bogie movement and from this the signal positions can be optimised.

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The exhibition area gave delegates the opportunity for detailed discussions with industry experts.

Signalling has come a long way in 100 years. This is Zurich Oerlikon in 1909.

The political will to improve train services needs to be matched by the regulatory and licensing bodies being prepared to change legislation so that competence management aligns with the needs of emerging technology. Will Scott from Invensys gave some stark predictions. 30,000 engineers need to join the rail industry every year between now and 2016. The ‘job for life’ scenario that existed before has gone and the average employment of skilled people is now around 10 years. Engineers and HR staff need to understand each other’s position so that multi skilled employees are able to manage the spread of technology that increasingly exists.

Competence standards must aim at reducing cost but not at the expense of safety or quality.

A typical example is signalling testing, where Doug Gillanders from Network Rail suggested that current testing techniques weigh far too heavily on past practice. Much scope exists for automated testing, where complete signalling modules can be tested off site, maybe as a complete system inside a single building, then shipped to site and plug coupled together with only the minimum of further testing being required.

Testing of ERTMS kit should be focussed on Control Centre to Train commands, where if satisfied for one train, should lead to a conformance certificate for all other similar trains. In signalling design, don’t incorporate features that will never be used just because the system can do it; they have to be tested and thus waste time. A mindset change is needed if precious testing resources are to be used efficiently.

feature

Modern traffic management technology automates many railway operations under normal conditions. When out-of-course running occurs, control room staff often struggle to cope with the increased workload. Suzanne Heape from Invensys Rail has studied the human factors that can be encountered. A series of best practice recommendations has resulted including clarity of track diagrams, interpretation of alarms, flexibility of control room roles, understanding of individual responsibilities, design of the man machine interface and prioritising the information available.

Safety management Track worker safety remains a concern. Jos Fries from Movares Nederland described a new process adopted in Holland. This includes dividing up the infrastructure into work zones, each of which is managed by an interlocking(s) under the control of a signaller.

Work zones and associated possessions are arranged through a mobile terminal that leads to much shorter take up times and significant annual savings.

Peter Hughes from the Derwent Group in Australia shed new thinking on level crossing safety where, out of 8,000 crossings, only 2,000 have active warning devices with the remainder having just passive signs. To equip the 6,000 with barriers would cost A$10 billion, not thought to be good value for money. The thrust is thus to develop a low cost SIL2 warning device and to apply this gradually across the network.

Xavier Quayzin from Invensys examined the leadership and culture of safety in 10 accidents across seven industries including space shuttles, Piper Alpha, BP oil spills, Chernobyl, Herald of Free Enterprise and the Ladbroke Grove rail crash. Root causes were remarkably similar throughout: lack of top down leadership, cost and business pressures, safety culture, control and enforcement, contractor management and communication.

Corporate governance responsibilities with statutory backed enforcement may focus minds somewhat better in the future.

In retrospect A hundred years is a long time, and S&T engineering has seen many changes over that period. There will be even greater changes to the way trains are controlled in the next twenty years. Many new factors will have to be considered. Peter Symons, the Australian Vice President, looked at the energy and climate change debate. Transport is responsible for about 7% of the industrial carbon emission spectrum. Rail contributes only a small portion of that, with rail infrastructure even less.

Nonetheless, it is worth pursuing and regenerative braking, more efficient diesels, improved battery use to avoid peak loads, automatic traffic management for driver assistance are some elements that should complement the normal safety and performance agenda.

As a stark reminder of past predictions, Andy Stringer from Signalling Solutions Limited, recounted statements from IRSE Presidents of the past. In 1923, proper train detection with associated warning was called for - it was not really achieved until very recently. Also in 1923, centralised control was thought to be well underway but has yet to be universally achieved. In 1948, the adoption of multi aspect signalling on all main lines was thought to be imminent - it has only just been achieved in the UK with the re-signalling at Banbury. In emerging economies such as India, population growth, new technology and poor environment present their own challenges. Demand for new Metros in more and more cities will be the agent of change for city transport. Can CBTC technology cope with this demand?

Signalling in the future will be as much about train-borne equipment as it is about infrastructure. As such, the signal engineer and the rolling stock engineer will need to form a much closer relationship, including improved liaison between their respective Institutions.

Altogether, ASPECT 2012 provided a fascinating five days, with much to be learned by engineers of all disciplines.

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52 | the rail engineer | october 2012

(electrification)

electrification

The Italian job (Right) Cutting components from their metal sprues.

(Below) the same components as cast.

writer

Nigel

Wordsworth will be one of the big E lectrification stories covered by the rail engineer over the next few years. Millions will be spent on projects to electrify the Great Western, various lines in the North West, and also the Midland Mainline.

The most obvious result of all these activities will be rows of posts alongside the tracks, and the miles of copper traction power cable strung between them. Between the two, fastened to each post and supporting the contact wire, will be a complex arrangement of poles, brackets, clips, clamps and wires that makes up the overhead catenary. The actual design varies from system to system, but whether it is 25kV 50Hz AC as used in the UK and many parts of Europe, 15kV 16 2⁄3Hz AC in Germany and Scandinavia, or even 3kV DC in Italy and Morocco, the same types of components are needed.

Since 1908 Cariboni, or to give it its full name Osvaldo Cariboni Lecco SpA, is a company based in northern Italy not far from the shores of Lake Como. Established in 1908, Cariboni constructed Italy’s first overhead electrification on the Lecco-Colico line in that same year. Since then, the company has been involved in nearly every electrification project in the country, and quite a few outside.

More recently, Cariboni ceased installing complete lines, and concentrated on manufacturing electrification components.

In recent years, the market for new equipment has dried up in Italy as most lines are already electrified and current

requirements are only for refurbishment and repair. As a result, the company’s market mix has changed from being 80% domestic/20% export to almost being the other way around - only 20% in Italy.

However, the core market is still primarily in Europe, with some exports to North Africa.

As Cariboni is one of the world’s major suppliers of these important components, and with the UK set to be a major consumer over the next few years, the rail engineer visited the factory in Pescate to find out more.

The Alstom connection The first indication of the changes taking place was the sign “Welcome to Alstom” (in Italian of course) next to the reception desk.

Alstom acquired 70% of the company in 2008 and purchased the remaining shares from the Cariboni family at the beginning of 2012. Cariboni’s managing director, Marco Rastelli, was enthusiastic about that development.

“Italy is a tough place to do business these days,” he commented. “Small and mediumsized companies struggle to get bank finance and a number have ceased trading for that reason. However, with Alstom

october 2012 | the rail engineer | 53

electrification behind us, we don’t have any of those problems and we can invest in new designs and new processes.”

Although not new, the Cariboni factory was neat and tidy, and almost completely selfcontained. Design and development is important, with no fewer than ten of the 85 employees dedicated to that role. Luca Laini, engineering manager, explained that while many railways have their own standards, all of them different, increasingly the company was being asked to use its own expertise to come up with better, more cost effective solutions. Using computer-aided design and CAD-CAM programs, the development team is able to draw on both their own experience and Alstom technology to refine components used on everything from highspeed railways to urban trams.

Foundry and factory Many of the components are cast, either from aluminium or bronze. These are sand castings, and the patterns are also designed and manufactured in-house. Made either from aluminium or resin, depending on the number of castings to be produced from each pattern, these are CNC machined and assembled by hand.

Mould production is a continuous process.

Each “slab” of compressed sand has half a moulding in each end - the left hand end contains the recess for the right hand half of the component while the right hand side contains the left hand half of the next component. When fitted together, the two halves mate to form the complete mould.

Molten metal is then poured by hand into each mould and allowed to cool. Three crucibles are used to melt the metal, two for different compositions of bronze and one for aluminium as these are the most commonly used materials. Steel castings are purchased from other local foundries.

Once cool, the cast blanks are knocked free of the sand, which is cleaned, dried, treated and recycled. Components are then cut from the metal sprues which are also recycled, but at a rate of 20% recycled material to 80% new metal so as to maintain the purity of composition.

Casting finished dimensions is tricky. The metal part naturally shrinks on cooling, so allowance has to be made for that. Also, moulding the void into wet sand is not the most accurate of processes. However, on one component, the “gap” in a hook is maintained to a total tolerance of 0.3mm so that it doesn’t need subsequent machining.

Those parts that do need finishing are completed on a range of machinery from 4axis CNC machining centres to simple linishing belts. Similar machines also manufacture components complete from bar and the factory turns out around 500,000 pieces a month. 60,000 different designs are held on file, from the very latest specifications to parts from the 1930s that are needed as spares.

Operations manager Bruno Colombo recalled a recent project in Northern Italy. An electrified line dating from the 1960s was to have been replaced, but to save money the decision was made to refurbish it instead.

This produced an order for a variety of components to be manufactured to the original designs, which were still on record at Cariboni.

Other component types are also manufactured in the Pescate factory. Steel tubes for supports are cut to length, drilled and have various machined and cast fittings crimped into the ends. Washers, spacers and pins all form part of the range to make up a complete offering to electrification installers around the world.

Testing is important, whether it is electrical or mechanical, and a variety of test rigs even includes two posts and a gantry at the end of the car park, on which complete assemblies can be tested for strength and performance.

Cariboni views itself as primarily a mechanical engineering company which makes parts for electrification systems, rather than an electrical engineering concern. Thus material testing, mechanical design and production engineering form the core of the wide skill base of its employees.

New products, new markets Involvement, and now ownership, by Alstom has brought other benefits. APS (Alimentation par le Sol, or ground-level power supply) is a third rail system used for powering trams that removes the need for overhead wires. Developed to power trams across historic areas of cities where the wires would be unsightly, the third rail is located between the tracks, with only the top surface exposed, and is energised only under the tram as it passes. The APS rail is fibreglass with a steel top surface to provide the contact. Ceramic spacers at each end ensure that arcing between sections is not possible, and the whole system is manufactured by Cariboni in a satellite factory at nearby Olginate.

Through Alstom, Cariboni is approaching the UK market as part of two joint ventures.

ABC (Alstom-Babcock-Costain) is targeting the Network Rail electrification programmes, in particular those projects to be built around Network Rail’s new strategy of alliancing with turnkey providers. ATC (Alstom-TSO [Travaux Sud Ouest]-Costain) is tendering for Crossrail contracts, including the solid busbar overhead system to be used in the tunnels which is also manufactured by Cariboni at the Olginate facility.

So next time you travel on an electrified route, look up at all the bracketry from which the wire is suspended, and think of all the work that took place to put it there.

Preparing a fibre glass APS rail for its steel conductor.

An array of clamp castings.

54 | the rail engineer | october 2012

electrification

An

electrifying conference writer orget HS2. The next big set of railway projects in the UK will be the mass electrification of the Great Western, the Midland Main Line, the Welsh valleys, a major freight route running north from Southampton and large portions of the North West.

The first high-output electrification train is under construction in Germany, and Network Rail is already planning how it will deliver the various projects. In order to share these plans with the industry, and to discus the challenges they will produce, a conference was held recently at Westwood in Coventry, and the rail engineer was invited to attend.

Phil Bennett, finance and commercial director for the Southern Region, welcomed the 120 delegates and explained that the purpose of the conference was to have early engagement with the supply chain. It is critical for Network Rail that suppliers share the challenge, understand the commitments and identify opportunities and actions that need addressing in advance of CP5.

F

Safety first As always, safety comes first, and Rob Sherrin presented an update on the National Isolation Review. Rob talked about accidents and incidents around electrification and how Network Rail is making a major step change in behavioural improvements.

Delegates were then shown a video which featured Network Rail plant and distribution technician Kieren Brown. Kieren was involved in a very serious accident in July 2009 and is now using that experience to help promote good working practice around electrical equipment. His full story appears in Network Rail’s Aspects magazine for July/August 2012.

Network Rail has undertaken several other safety initiatives. It has engaged with the ORR, and a workshop has been held around strategic design changes that can be applied to achieve safer working on the AC network.

Trials of a new capacitive live line indicator and a localised earthing device are underway.

Rob summarised by saying that the aim is to reduce the unacceptable number of electricalrelated injuries in the industry through gaining stakeholder alignment across the whole of Network Rail, the contracting community and the safety enforcement organisations. Currently, there are over 80,000 workers who hold a competence around either AC/DC work on the Sentinel record scheme and these need to be encouraged to always have a valid permit to work where required, always test before applying earths and never assume equipment is isolated but always test before touching.

Paul Curtis An overview Nick Elliott, Southern regional director, gave an overview of the newly formed Infrastructure Projects business which is divided into four regions. Nick is taking the lead on electrification, so he went on to talk about the challenges of CP5 when Network Rail will move from electrifying 20km of track per annum to in excess of 1000km per annum - no easy task.

Currently, Network Rail is working on the North West Electrification programme as well as Maidenhead to Cardiff on the Great Western. In 2013 the Welsh valley lines, the Midland Main Line, and Basingstoke to Reading will be added and the DC to AC conversion between Poole and Basingstoke will take place.

However, by the time CP5 starts in April 2014, the work load becomes even greater as TransPennine Electrification will commence, the Cardiff to Swansea element of the Great Western main Line comes into effect and the Oxford to Coventry/Nuneaton and the Gospel Oak to Barking work starts.

By this time there will be 11 major electrification projects running at the same time.

Yet more work will start in 2016 - the remaining part of the Electric Spine between Oxford Bletchley and Bedford will commence, as well as Hope Valley between Sheffield and Mansfield. 2016 will be the boom year for electrification across the whole network.

As well as new electrification projects, there will be a lot of improvements and renewals to existing installations. This will include replacing catenary, renewing contact wires and electrifying neutral sections. There will be OLE structure renewals, DC cable replacement, HV cable refurbishment and new air-insulated vacuum switchgear. At the same time, unit costs need to be reduced down by 20-30% as part of the general efficiency drive on the railways, so innovation will be required to achieve all this whilst having limited access to track.

In Nick’s own Southern region, he will be responsible for installing new switchgear, rectifiers and transformers as part of the Southern power supply - a project worth £450 million. The 1950’s OLE will be replaced by modern, tensioned electrified lines in the Great Eastern area (£100 million), the Gospel Oak to Barking freight link will be electrified (£50 million), the current DC system to 25kV overhead Line between Basingstoke, Southampton and Poole (£150 million) and there will be an upgrade to some systems as part of a national SCADA programme (£80 million).

56 | the rail engineer | october 2012

electrification

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Lindsay Vamplew, fresh from the successful delivery of the rebuilt Blackfriars station, is now electrification project director for Wales and the West.

With EMUs due to run between Newbury and Oxford in December 2016, IEP also coming in between London Paddington and Bristol at the same time, and then on to Cardiff one year later, he has his work cut out.

A plan is being developed around working in 7 to 8 hour possessions between Sunday and Thursday, with longer 8-10 hour possessions on Fridays and Saturdays. Each evening, the team will normally take three twomile possessions on one line - the adjacent line will still operate at 20-60 miles per hour. Approximately 80% of the work will be carried out using highoutput processes, while

the remaining 20% will be delivered by more traditional methods. An immense amount of work will need to be done with 13,784 piles, 1,427 concrete foundations and 13,078 structures all on the “to do” list.

Contracts have already been awarded for power supplies at Didcot, Melksham and Imperial Park. Design and delivery of the high output system has been awarded to Windhoff and a contract for its operation and maintenance and programme delivery has been won by Amey. Initial system designs will be by Furrer + Frey.

Work currently underway includes the design and build of the HOOB (high output operations base) near Swindon, which is due to be completed by March 2013.

october 2012 | the rail engineer | 57

electrification

The bit in the middle Plans for the Midlands and the North were next on the agenda. Ellen Wintle spoke about power supply requirements for the West Coast Main Line. Contracts for new power supplies for phase 3A, between North Wembley and Whitmore (south of Crewe) have been awarded, and tenders are in for phase 3B (Whitmore to Great Strickland near Penrith). This latter includes some 240km of 25kV auto transformer feeder, 120km of return screening conductor, 11 new 25kV distribution sites and modification to several

existing ones, removal of 100 booster transformers and recovery of redundant 25kV equipment.

The remaining CP4 renewals work on the North West DC network includes substation and switchgear renewals and new protection relays, with further substation and switchgear renewals, signalling distribution renewals and OLE refurbishment on the slow lines being carried over to CP5.

Mark Royle took up the electrification story in the North West and described how the work was being delivered in five phases.

Phase 1, from Manchester to Newton-LeWillows, will be completed by December 2013 and phase 2, from Newton-Le-Willows to Liverpool and from Huyton to Wigan, is out for tender as a single multi-disciplined package for delivery by December 2014. To be delivered during CP5 are phase 3 Preston to Blackpool North, Phase 4 Manchester Victoria to Euxton Junction and Phase 5 - Manchester Victoria to Stalybridge.

Shahin Ali was the final presenter for the Central region with a look at the Midland Main Line. Confirmed in the recent HLOS statement, the line will be electrified between Bedford and Sheffield via Derby with a spur to Corby from Kettering and another to Nottingham from Trent Junction.

The existing OLE equipment between Bedford and Borehamwood will be converted to Auto Transformer Feeder (ATF).

Included in the workload are structure clearances at 115 separate locations and parapet works at 100 overbridges. Two new

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National Grid supply points will be required and will be installed at Ratcliffe on Soar and at either Bray Brooke or Irchester. There will be 17 new distribution switchgear/ transformer sites, in the region of 10,000 OLE support structures and around 530 single track kilometres of wiring.

The structure clearances already mentioned comprise 57 bridge reconstructions, 33 track lowers using conventional means and a further 13 using MOBC (medium output ballast cleaners), 11 bridge jackings and one bridge slide.

Some of the work will be quite complex.

Bridges at both ends of Leicester Station need greater clearances, yet both have a North West Electrification

electrification

shopping complex on top of them. A similar bridge at Nottingham Station is under the station building itself. Lowering King Street bridge at Belper will require major reconstruction of the station next to it, and Toadmoor Tunnel is a listed structure with a restrictive profile and an invert that will be difficult to lower.

And finally - the North Andy Wilson was the final presenter of the morning on the Northern and Scottish Region. Andy talked about Paisley Canal, the East Coast Power Upgrade phase 1 and 2 and TransPennine electrification.

The Paisley Canal scheme is currently being designed and constructed by Babcock in an £11 million scheme due for delivery this year. To allow for a quick delivery, clearances will allow only the current trains to use the line, rather than any UK rolling stock. Adopting this special reduced OLE clearance removed the need to modify three structures, reducing both cost and time.

The TransPennine Electrification Project, on the other hand, has 297 bridges along the route from Stalybridge and Colton/Selby. Of these, two will need to be removed, 40 reconstructed, 20 have the track lowered through them, and 31 will need the parapets to be modified. A lot of work.

Andy also mentioned EGIP - the Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme, but as funding was recently cut by the Scottish Government that has all gone back to the planning stage.

Two power supply projects are underway though. Phase one is to improve the traction power supply between Wood Green (north London) and Bawtry (near Doncaster) - a distance of 230 kilometres. 600km of autotransformer feeder and 20 new autotransformer sites will replace 300 booster transformers with a corresponding reduction in the number of DNO (distribution network operator) supply points.

Phase two extends that traction power enhancement another 374 kilometres from Bawtry north to Longniddry near Edinburgh.

Once again autotransformer and sectioning sites with their associated switchgear buildings will be constructed, and the old booster transformers removed.

What a programme At the end of these presentations, delegates were struggling to come to terms with the sheer scale of the programme they had just had outlined. Gearing up the industry will no doubt present opportunities for both training and labour supply companies, not to mention all the civils and electrification work that will take place to deliver what is so glibly called “the electrification programme”.

Electrification is a subject that will run for years to come. The December issue of the rail engineer will be looking at the subject in more detail in an Electrification Focus, with reports on some of the projects and some of the equipment being used. Make sure that you get hold of a copy.

september 2012 | the rail engineer | 59

innotrans

writer

Grahame Taylor

Network Rail ?

Who did we W ell,findthatrightwasbyathesurprise. entrance of hall 22 at InnoTrans? There with an imposing open plan, two storey construction was our very own Network Rail. Dynamic rail images formed the backdrop of the stand, showing people exactly what Network Rail does and the projects they’ve delivered and are capable of delivering.

So, what were they doing there and who were they hoping to talk to?

To an extent this could be answered by listening to the reactions of other exhibitors.

To the remark, “You know that Network Rail is here this year?” came the reaction, “Really!

That’s interesting. We must go and visit them!” And visit them they did. A steady stream of suppliers and potential clients for Network Rail’s new consultancy business made their way to the stand.

Being on two levels gave Network Rail the chance to see from their balcony who was on their way. And down below in the ‘snug’ of an enclosed conference room, where only the torsos of those inside could be seen, intense discussions went on - unless this was really the tea room.

International consultancy InnoTrans presented the perfect opportunity to launch their new consultancy business to the market.

Speaking during Network Rail’s press conference, Nigel Ash, managing director of Network Rail Consulting, said the six-week old enterprise would be focussing its efforts on North America, Central and Eastern Europe and India - countries with ageing networks in need of modernisation.

Network Rail believes its work restoring the Forth Bridge, rejuvenating Birmingham New Street and redeveloping King’s Cross station shows its experience of upgrading worn out Victorian infrastructure which would be attractive to the international market.

Ash explained: “The main focus is actually showcasing our expertise around the world.

And it’s also about bringing some of the expertise and the knowledge and learning processes back into the UK, so by having staff working on international projects they’re used to working in different environments, different cultures and different ways of doing business.

“We’re not going into the market with a ‘this is the way we do things in the UK’. It’s very much around what’s the problem and how does that experience help you stop that problem, are there any similarities, any pitfalls we’ve had.

“There’s been some projects in the past which could have been managed better and that experience is very valuable.”

Adding: “Network Rail Consulting will be selling to other railways and this was the first time we have done any public facing work and gone out to new clients.

“This is very much the start of our marketing campaign to raise our profile in the target markets we’re focusing on. After InnoTrans we will be exhibiting at conferences in America, India, Australia and the Middle East leading to follow up meetings with interested parties.”

Supplier engagement Of course, international business works both ways, and another reason that Network Rail made an appearance at InnoTrans was to engage with foreign suppliers and contractors. Simon Kirby, managing director of Infrastructure Projects, was there for two days, as were all his route directors.

Steve Featherstone, programme director track, who was also on the stand on the first day, commented: “Events like InnoTrans let us see first-hand some of the groundbreaking developments in rail technology and services being made in all four corners of the world. It’s important that we think

globally when it comes to new suppliers, as many of these new ways of working could deliver huge benefits for us in Britain.”

It was obviously a success. The stand was always busy, with UK suppliers, foreign contractors and overseas governments all talking with what was quite a high-powered Network Rail team. It will be interesting to see what business comes of it, and in which direction the money flows.

60 | the rail engineer | september 2012

innotrans

Held every two years in Berlin, I nnoTrans. it is billed as “the world’s leading business meeting place for transport technology”.

But, just how big is it?

It’s big enough to encompass about 2,500 exhibitors and 110,000 trade visitors. There are representatives from 47 countries spread over 81,000 square metres of exhibition space and on 3,500 metres of sidings. In other words, it’s vast.

Imagine a large exhibition hall and then think of 26 of them with some on three levels. Think about walking to an appointment in hall 25 from hall 2 and having to allow at least 15mins - that is, so long as you set off in the right direction and find hall 25. German signing can be minimalist.

Consider an exhibitor catalogue bound together in two volumes each the size of yellow pages. This is a railway trade fair that is not for the faint hearted or for someone carrying luggage!

Themed displays

(Top) Double reduction gearbox for Metro Catania, Sicily by David Brown.

(Bottom) The freyed end of a plastic sleeper.

By and large, halls had themes. So there were halls with mechanical bits, track bits and bodyshells. It was a bit like mediaeval times where towns would have “Fish” Street, “Shoe” Street and so on.

Halls 8 and 9 were the home of rubbery bits - suspensions and shock absorbers.

These sorts of companies sell into the major train builders and are well known in the industry. ContiTech produce a wide range of suspension units and also a very welcome cup of coffee. Vibration control is the forte of Freudenberg Schwab with a UK base just down the road from the rail engineer offices. They demonstrated an extraordinary way of easing a wheel set around a curve. It all had to do with Hydraulic Axle Guide Bearings (Hydraulischer Achslenker Lager or HALL). Here is a solution that, whilst aimed at wheel wear reduction, will undoubtedly reduce track wear as well.

Schrey and Veit were collaborating with a UK university in the quest to dampen noise from wheels and structures. Their clamped-

on absorbers in wheel sets are easy enough to understand. The bolted-on array of tuned damper rods in bridge beam webs were completely baffling.

Power and assorted electrical items were tucked away on the various levels of hall 11.

LEM, a Swiss company, has a range of voltage transducers that have applications, amongst many others, in the monitoring of point machines. These devices come in sizes ranging from the largest which is the size of a briefcase down to something no bigger than a box of matches. The theory behind them is daunting - it’s comforting that someone can understand it.

Bearings and bushes were in hall 22 where at least two manufacturers, SKF and Timken, were proudly showing off gleaming, and spotlessly clean roller and cylindrical bearings.

world with it now installed on several hundred sites. The Sekisui stand had a couple of sample pieces of their ‘timber’ that looked remarkably like the real thing apart from the hairy ends of their demonstration pieces. So, no need to cut down trees, but is there an environmental impact in the manufacture of the binding polyurethane foam? It’s all a question of striking a balance in the end. They certainly seem to outlive their natural counterparts.

There were, of course, the displays of immaculate power units and gearboxes.

There are probably not many in service with so much chrome plating or indeed any chrome plating at all. There were exquisite examples of precision engineered gears of vast proportions including a fabulously presented sectioned chunk of tram by David Brown Company.

From track welding to gearboxes Hall 26 seemed to be the home of the mobile track welding machines. The Holland Company - a major player with machines now arriving in the UK, Schlatter with their AMS60 and AMS100 and EO Paton (Hong Kong) steadily welding up the Far East.

Plastic sleepers have been around for a while now, with even a few being installed on a test site in the UK. Research leads you to Japan, where they did their testing a few years ago.

Now, this product has been expanding all over the

writer

Grahame Taylor

Blimey, it’s

BIG!

september 2012 | the rail engineer | 61

innotrans

In the hall of the radiators and cooling fans, a sculpture from tubular steel was, in fact, a locomotive exhaust system manufactured by Weihe.

Outside in the sun Fortunately the weather was perfect, at least on the first couple of days, which meant that it was possible to crawl round all the outside exhibits. The late autumn sunshine did tend to bore into the camera lens and create very bright highlights and dark shadows. Again, this site was enormous, with all shapes and sizes of locomotive and train sets on show.

Perhaps it is a sign of emerging railway operating practices, but there was only one example of a straightforward railway carriage.

Everything else seemed to come in sets.

Locomotives ranged from huge UKstructure-gauge-busting machines by the likes of Bombardier and Skoda ……right down to the smallest machine that could be called a locomotive manufactured by Zwiehoff. It was a radio controlled shunter no bigger than a dining table, but probably a lot heavier.

Another trend is to provide locomotives that are not totally reliant on diesel or electric power. The Siemens Vectron shunting module - a large locomotive - proclaimed, “Last mile no problem”. Vossloh presented their G6 ME as a green machine and covered it with pictures of daisies to prove it.

Two coaches of Siemens “Lastochka” Russian EMU were probably the most difficult exhibit to transport to InnoTrans having been

carried by road 360 miles from their Krefeld factory to Berlin. Bogies and all underframe components were removed before shipping and then reassembled on site - everything. They towered above other exhibits, being 0.5 metre higher than the UIC standard gauge, and couldn’t even be placed neatly on the sidings. Their 1520mm gauge bogies just didn’t fit, so the whole lot had to be placed on standard gauge wheel skates.

Although this isn’t the show for big yellow machines, there seemed to be plenty of yellow about. Linsinger showed their imposing rail planer and Robel had what appeared at first to be a long ‘campervan’ vehicle which turns out to be their mobile maintenance vehicle providing a totally enclosed workspace on the track.

Last into the exhibition - and probably first out - was a steam engine complete with viewing platform that was snuggling up to a coach provided by H.F. Wiebe, a track construction and civil engineering company.

If the train exhibitors ever thought that they could hold on to their trade secrets then they really needed to think again. Every nook and cranny was being crawled over, every detail assiduously photographed. Groups of intense engineers from one continent were in intense discussions about a product from a rival continent. Short of actually using spanners on them, they were taking everything apart.

InnoTrans seems to be an almost exclusively male event. Males in dark suits were generating a low roar of conversation in all of the halls. A surprisingly large number of

exhibitors still thought that adorning their stands with leggy blondes was the way to promote their products. Slightly reminiscent of the Motor shows of the 70s, it’s a trend that has gone in the UK. If you ever thought that the show was for European companies selling to other European companies then it is time to think again. The whole world was there. This is a global bash that just happens to be in Berlin.

Blocks of stands were taken by exhibitors from China (a huge presence), Japan (a very “red” presence), India, Russia, clusters from France and even Australia. Stumbling across the Australian press gathering it was a slight surprise to see everyone supping….water.

This was in contrast with the copious quantities of German beer being consumed by the Europeans at all times of the day except, of course, the UK contingent who were strictly on the wagon until close of play…..really.

By midday on the second day the place was heaving and life was getting just that little bit difficult for some. There’s a strange lack of seating for the weary - something that extends to the whole of the transport network in Germany. Jet lag was kicking in for a few of the poor souls from the Far East. For some it was really 2 o’clock in the morning and time for a good kip. The Wi-Fi hotspots - seating of a sort - were adorned with besuited souls who were completely out of it. Their day was over.

There were long queues at each of the eating establishments and the ablution facilities were definitely showing the strain but maybe this is just too much detail!

(Left) Linsinger rail miller.

(Right) Vossloh G6 ME with green daisies.

62 | the rail engineer | october 2012

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