Inside Track August 2022

August 2022

August 2022 | Issue 9

railbusinessdaily.com

CHALLENGING CLIMATE CHANGE

Network Rail’s plans to tackle extreme weather 9

Exclusive interview: signalling procurement progress Exclusive: Transpennine Upgrade back on track

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In-depth report on East West Rail programme HS2’s innovative ‘green tunnels’ 4LM – modernising four sub-surface LU lines

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Contents

August 2022 | Issue 9

railbusinessdaily.com

CHALLENGING CLIMATE CHANGE

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Exclusive interview: signalling procurement progress Exclusive: Transpennine Upgrade back on track In-depth report on East West Rail programme

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Unprecedent heatwave throws spotlight on climate change challenges

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Rob Baxter, non-executive director of RBD Advisory, looks at what can be learnt from the development of ERTMS.

Network Rail’s plans to tackle extreme weather 9

Building on the East Coast Digital Programme

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HS2’s innovative ‘green tunnels’ 4LM – modernising four sub-surface LU lines

Network Rail’s Martin Frobisher talks to Inside Track about how the industry is preparing for future weather events.

Tel: 0800 046 7320 Sales: 020 7062 6599 Managing Editor Nigel Wordsworth nigel@rbdpublications.com

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Production Editor James Jackaman

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Advertising Team Christian Wiles – chris@rbdpublications.com Freddie Neal – freddie@rbdpublications.com Amy Hudson – amy@rbdpublications.com

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© 2022 All rights reserved. Reproduction of the contents of this magazine in any manner whatsoever is prohibited without prior consent from the publisher.

For subscription enquiries and to make sure you get your copy of InsideTrack please ring 0800 046 7320 or email subscriptions@rbdpublications.com The views expressed in the articles reflect the author’s opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher and editor.

The published material, adverts, editorials and all other content is published in good faith.

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Innovative East West Rail project runs on time

Phase one of a major programme to improve connectivity between Oxford and Cambridge is progressing well thanks to careful planning and enablement works.

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Driving railway innovation

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Major MetroLink Project to go before planning board

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Transforming the Anglia rail network

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Upgrading the route across the Pennines

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Reviewing Network Rail’s management of depots

A review of depots by Frazer-Nash has made four recommendations for how Network Rail should build an improved understanding of the condition and potential of the sites.

Atkins delivered a £37 million rail improvement at Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, last year. Head of project delivery Alistair Porter spoke to Inside Track about the project.

Dr Greg Morse considers the SPAD and near miss at Sileby, recently reported on

by RAIB.

4LM modernisation programme on track for success

The world’s largest signalling upgrade aims to modernise the four sub-surface lines of the London Underground and involves resignalling, replacing old points and crossings, and introducing new rolling stock.

Inside Track talks to Rail Operations UK Limited group president Karl Watts about his company’s role in helping to bring modal shift to Britain’s railways.

Fatigue and train protection

William Mainwaring, CEO of Sicut Enterprises Limited, discusses how an innovative sleeper made from recycled plastics reinforced with glass fibre can help improve performance, reduces cost and improves sustainability within the track infrastructure.

Patrick Clipperton reports on an exciting plan to help improve connectivity in Dublin through the introduction of a long-planned project.

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Cooling the Tube – testing begins for state-of-the-art panels

Transport for London trials cutting-edge technology at disused London Underground station to reduce platform and tunnel temperatures.

Revolutionising rail freight

First planned more than a decade ago, Network Rail’s Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU) project has undergone various challenges since then but is now on track.

A reputation based on signalling excellence Signal Solutions’ managing director Andy Knight talks about the training his team deliver to signallers both in Britain and around the world.

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Celebrating Wi-Fi at stations, and remembering Jimmy King

Passengers at railway stations across the country can now receive free, fast and unlimited Wi-Fi thanks to a partnership between Telent, Network Rail and Global Reach Technology.

Pioneering approach to HS2’s ‘green tunnels’

Inside Track visits the site of the first of five tunnels on Phase One of HS2 that are being built using an innovative off-site manufacturing process.

HS2 makes history as ‘Dorothy’ breakthrough marks new milestone First bore of one-mile tunnel under Long Itchington Wood completed on Phase One while work continues on new TSS at Euston.

Linbrooke leads the way at Nether Poppleton The next generation of obstacle detection systems at level crossings is being trialled at a site in Yorkshire which can help with safety and reliability.

Published by RBD Media 15 Mariner Court, Calder Park, Wakefield WF4 3FL Printed by Stephens & George

Network Rail’s signalling procurement progress

In November 2021, a signalling market study by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) found that both competition and value for money were being stifled, with Network Rail overly reliant on two incumbent signalling suppliers.

Print Manager Rachael Dean Subscriptions Danielle Burwood

The world’s first rapid battery charger for urban VLR has undergone commissioning at Dudley’s Very Light Rail National Innovation Centre.

In a bid to reduce cost, increase efficiency and introduce innovation, the UK railway is looking at several different initiatives.

Editor Richard Clinnick richard@railbusinessdaily.com Designer/Production Manager Chris Cassidy

New COTS solution to drive down signalling costs

VLR and the decarbonisation of UK’s public transport system

Managing flood risks on the railway in the face of a changing climate With climate change projections showing increasing temperatures, rising sea levels and increased rainfall, Britain’s railways must now prepare to face these challenges.

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Manufacturer puts its future in the hands of its workforce

A British manufacturer and supplier to the rail industry is pioneering a form of company ownership that benefits its employees.

Building Britain’s Inside Railways Track -|Major August projects 2022

Introduction

Developments on the railway Despite the doom and gloom surrounding much of the mainstream coverage of the rail industry at the moment, there is much to celebrate as well

W

Extreme weather

“It’stimea fascinating in the rail

industry, despite what is being written and said elsewhere

“

e continue to be able to report on exciting developments continue around the construction of HS2, with the historic first tunnel breakthrough at the Long Itchington Tunnel, while work is progressing promptly at the first of five green tunnels at Chipping Warden, some six miles outside Banbury. The latter is using techniques new to Britain, but which have proven successful in similar projects in France and have vastly reduced the environmental impact of the overall HS2 project.

As we know, decarbonisation is key for this government, and so it is great to see continued innovation

by Furrer+Frey with its latest charging technology that could be a gamechanger for not only the light rail sector, where it is currently being trialled, but also for the larger national rail network, and there is also the opportunity to link it other forms of transport, most noticeably buses. Furthermore, it is able to substantially reduce the building costs surrounding new-build light rail schemes in towns and cities, which further helps make the case for such systems.

While electrification is the preferred method of decarbonisation for the railway, it is recognised by some that this is not able to be justified for all routes, and this is where the charging technology could be used.

The vehicles could have their batteries charged under electrification before operating on a non-wired route, with charging stations at the end of the line. The pantograph lowers from the roof, rather than being carried on the train, which means the train is lighter.

The lack of long-term electrification projects for the rail industry has led Rail Operations (UK) Ltd (ROUK) to order tri-mode locomotives, and these are set to revolutionise the rail freight sector. Higher speeds offer the opportunity to operate freight in a different way, while the batteries provide additional power on top of the output from the diesel engine, meaning the locomotive can haul freight on non-electrified lines as well as for long distances under the wires. As the industry awaits policy decisions on electrification, ROUK has taken the bull by the horns and sought an innovative approach to the problem. The first locomotives will arrive in the country in March 2023 from Valencia, where they are being built, and it will be fascinating to watch their introduction.

railbusinessdaily.com

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Image: shutterstock

Of course, the issue of decarbonisation has been brought to the fore by the recent extreme heat experienced in Britain, which brought much of the country to a standstill, including the rail industry.

Nigel Wordsworth spoke to Network Rail group safety and engineering director Martin Frobisher about the issues the railway faced on 18-19 July and how the company is planning to tackle the issue of extreme weather, caused by climate change, over the next few years. This is an issue that cannot be ignored, and Martin and his team are already looking at the impact of more extreme weather and how the railway must deal with the consequences.

We also take a look at the 4LM signalling upgrade on the London Underground network as well as innovative plans to try to tackle the rising temperatures on the deep Tube network. There is a desire to operate more trains, but at the same time there is a recognition that by doing that, the temperatures will continue rising thereby making it uncomfortable for passengers. A trial has recently been undertaken by Transport for London (TfL) and more are planned, however the full implementation relies on long-term funding for TfL being agreed with government, and that is a story which continues to rumble along, as you can read on the Rail Business Daily website.

It’s a fascinating time in the rail industry, despite what is being written and said elsewhere, and we hope you enjoy this issue of Inside Track.

Inside Track | August 2022

Rob Baxter

Image: Network Rail

Building on the East Coast Digital Programme Rob Baxter, non-executive director of RBD Advisory, looks at what can be learnt from the development of ERTMS

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ore than at any other time in its history, the UK needs an efficient, cost-effective and punctual rail service to underpin economic recovery and accelerate our transition to carbon neutrality.

A new approach is needed to pull what is currently an expensive, fractured and manually intensive operating model into something that works for the whole rail network. This new

Inside Track | August 2022

operations-led, data enabled approach could and arguably should be based on principles being developed for the deployment of European Railway Traffic Management System (ERTMS) on the East Coast main line. Development of this new approach would include a pause on current renewals to avoid waste and be facilitated by a migration strategy to an operations-led, data enabled system that would support the final

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integrated operating model in the most costeffective way.

The UK rail industry was privatised over 20 years ago in a particular way that fundamentally changed the relationships between the engineered systems, the socio-political and organisation eco-systems, specifically splitting the operations community between the infrastructure manager and the freight and passenger service operators.

railbusinessdaily.com

Rob Baxter

Cost escalations In one sense the amount of money is and always will remain finite – the Secretary of State’s announcement on the Statement of Funds Available (SoFA) for Control Period 6 (CP6) was exceptional at nearly £48 billion. But set against this there have been substantial historical cost escalations associated with programmes such as the electrification of the Great Western main line.

The combination of the fractured and manually intensive operating model, and the disparate array of standalone systems used to run the railway today make it impossible for either the operators or Network Rail to consistently meet current service demands. The UK railway accounts for 40 per cent of all the railway infrastructure in Europe declared to be ‘congested’.

However, ERTMS was set to change that.

ERTMS, an initiative backed by the European Union (EU), is designed to greatly improve the safety, efficiency and cost effectiveness of trains, and enhance cross-border interoperability of rail transport in Europe.

It does this by replacing signalling equipment with digitised, mostly wireless, versions and by creating a single Europe-wide standard for train control and command systems.

There are two main components to ERTMS. The European Train Control System (ETCS)

railbusinessdaily.com

Rob Baxter, former managing director of Stadler Rail Service UK and business development director at Jacobs, has a demonstrable track record of producing turnaround and transformation plans that result in real, sustainable business improvement. An expert in the challenges of unionised heavy industries with complex, regulated and often governmental stakeholder environments, and having managed up to 1,200 people and a P&L of up to £160 million, key achievements include successful turnarounds at Angel Trains, Network Rail, Jacobs and UK Government projects.

replaces traditional line-side signals with a computer display inside every train cab, which controls the speed and movement of the train, taking account of other trains on the railway.

The second component is traffic management for railway operations.

“

In recent years, the industry has been under increasing pressure to not adversely affect safety while increasing performance and productivity

“

Then, between 1997 and 2002 there was a spate of major accidents that killed 49 people and injured more than 700, which understandably fostered risk avoidance in rail operations in the form of threat-rigidity responses (Staw et al 1981, Meyer et al 1982).

In recent years, the industry has been under increasing pressure to not adversely affect safety while increasing performance and productivity, but the proposals to address these issues have met stiff resistance to change in the operations community that can be characterised behaviourally as ‘any changes to the way we do things now that will have an adverse and severe safety impact’, also described as a state of permanent liminality by academics.

The train operators and Network Rail have been working hard to improve the reliability of their assets, but progress is slow. The operators have argued that physical infrastructure changes planned for Control Period 6 (2019-2024) and beyond should be brought forward to speed up much-needed improvements. However, this would be exceptionally difficult owing to the severe pressure on funding, a lack of capacity and capability in the construction market, and the complexity of the planned infrastructure improvements.

There are now more than 40 ETCS applications across Europe and the UK, but each is bespoke as there is no agreed operational standard. The implementation of ETCS level two on the Cambrian Line in the UK remains the most functionally complete implementation to date (for example, with the inclusion of depot movements and level crossings). We have an ambition to minimise the cost of future upgrades to the existing legacy signalling systems but it is a complex distortion to apply a hardware upgrade to a symptom and expect it to resolve the root cause.

Therefore, it is recommended that the UK railway industry builds on the East Coast Digital Programme (ECDP, Inside Track 8), applying first principles in operations to determine standard and consistent responses to planned and unplanned events that can be unilaterally

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adopted across the whole network, such that the UK railway can then specify the control outcomes required of any future interlocking and/or control upgrade.

The pandemic’s effects on demand combined with the newly established National Rail Contract framework provides an opportunity for the government and the railway industry to optimise network capacity and achieve consistently high punctuality while accelerating progress to carbon neutrality, taking lorries off the roads by increasing rail freight capacity.

This in turn would radically reduce congestion on Britain’s road networks, revolutionising travel in the United Kingdom.

Air gap It is proposed that existing legacy signalling systems are life extended during this period, to create the ‘air gap’ in time necessary to mature the rail operating model for the UK railway and then embed standard and consistent responses to unplanned events, ensuring that planned events are achievable; assured and deliverable timetables. This would have the additional benefit of saving capital expenditure on renewals in the medium term while massively enhancing progression towards carbon neutrality, enabling the railway to become an informed buyer of future signalling upgrades through the creation of standardised control data and rules, thereby minimising the associated costs.

An operations-led, data-enabled migration path away from legacy hardware-based systems will both enable the life extension for the air gap and provide the lowest cost migration path to the desired ERTMS-enabled UK-wide operating model.

Building Britain’s Inside Railways Track -|Major August projects 2022

Image: Network Rail

M ar tin Frobisher

Unprecedented heatwave throws spotlight on climate change challenges Network Rail’s Martin Frobisher talks to Inside Track about how the industry is preparing for future weather events

Inside Track | August 2022

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On 19 July, passengers were advised not to travel due to the temperatures

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K rail companies prioritised passenger safety during July’s extreme heatwave, cancelling services, changing timetables, and introducing temporary speed restrictions.

Network Rail is now assessing the effects of the record temperatures on train performance, and planning for the challenges it may face in future.

It all comes down to the steel rails that the trains run on. Most materials expand and contract when they are heated up or cooled down. Metals, such as the steel in the rails, do so more than most other materials.

When rails used to be made in lengths of around 60 feet (18 metres), the joints between the comparatively short sections gave an uncomfortable ride, the ‘diddledy dee’ people often joke about.

However, those joints also allowed for a degree of expansion in hot weather.

To give a smoother ride, rails are now much longer. As manufacturing techniques have improved, they are now rolled into 108-metre lengths straight from the steel mill and welded together in a factory environment into 216-metre lengths for delivery to site. Once on the railway, they are welded into even longer lengths.

While this makes for a smoother ride, it does mean that each rail will expand a lot more in real terms.

A 500-metre rail will expand by 6cm if its temperature increases by 10 degrees centigrade, a one-mile length (1,600 metres) will expand by 17cm – six inches in imperial units – and that’s a lot.

Other measures were taken too including painting the track white, with pictures of this practice appearing in the national press. This is actually surprisingly effective and can reduce rail temperatures by up to 10 degrees, so bringing it safely under the 59-degree threshold. While the whole network can’t be painted, points and junctions can be treated this way, so moving parts don’t jam due to expansion, as well as known trouble spots.

Hot weather can cause other problems too.

Overhead electrification wires, made from copper, expand and then sag, although later systems fitted with pretensioners are less liable to this.

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And there were problems. All services to and from London Euston were suspended, while all services to and from London King’s Cross were cancelled in advance. On 19 July, passengers were advised not to travel due to the temperatures.

Fire on the trackside caused significant issues on the West Coast main line (WCML) between Euston and Milton Keynes and in one incident, emergency services dealt with a lineside fire caused after 25,000-volt overhead wires which power the train came down in Harrow. Specialist Network Rail engineers were dispatched to assess the damage caused to the cables and immediately start repairing them, but only once permission to do so was granted by the fire service.

High temperatures In the run-up to Britain’s two-day heatwave, Network Rail steeled itself for a range of potential problems – including track-buckling and issues with overhead line equipment (OLE). There was widespread concern that, as temperatures climbed to 40 degrees, infrastructure and assets designed for less extreme conditions would fail.

Fearing for passenger safety, rail companies made the decision to suspend services, or to introduce temporary speed limits.

railbusinessdaily.com

M ar tin Frobisher

The infrastructure manager has announced the launch of a new taskforce led by independent experts to investigate and make recommendations on how the railway can develop its approach to resilience during hot weather following the unprecedented heatwave.

Dame Julia Slingo FRS, a former chief scientist at the Met Office and a worldrenowned expert in climatology, will examine the likelihood of more frequent hot weather events in Britain and how high-quality, detailed and timely weather forecasting can be maximised by Network Rail to mitigate the impact of heat on its infrastructure.

“

That’s why I’ve decided to commission this taskforce, spearheaded by leading global experts Simon Lane, former managing director and CEO of railways in Melbourne and New South Wales respectively, will explore operational standards, policies and practices that could allow services to continue to operate safely and without highly limiting speed restrictions in

Painting rails white helps to reduce temperatures

Image: Network Rail

New taskforce

She recently led a weather action task force focused on equipping Network Rail with a better understanding of the risk of rainfall to its infrastructure.

Sir Douglas Oakervee will investigate options to ensure the railway infrastructure can continue to function safely and reliably during very hot weather.

This will particularly focus on the performance of track and OLE as they are the two most common causes of delays and disruption in hot weather.

“

These measures helped to keep rail users safe, with normal service resuming the following day.

Now, Network Rail is reflecting on lessons learned – including that, while modern assets can function in extreme heat, older infrastructure struggles as temperatures soar.

It has also commissioned reports from a task force of world experts, who will review areas including weather forecasting, engineering, operations, and passenger experience.

extreme heat, and Transport Focus chief executive Anthony Smith will examine how Network Rail communicates with passengers in the run-up to and during periods of extreme weather, as well as in its planning for disruptive events.

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Body

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Building Britain’s Inside Railways Track -|Major August projects 2022

M ar tin Frobisher

Network Rail’s group safety and engineering director Martin Frobisher hopes that these reports will help the industry prepare for future weather events, commenting: “Heatwaves are going to become more and more frequent thanks to climate change, and we simply cannot afford to have a repeat of the passenger disruption we experienced in July.”

Martin acknowledges that, while inconvenient, this disruption was unavoidable, as high temperatures threatened to put intolerable strain on infrastructure. For Network Rail, buckling, which can result in derailments, was a key concern.

Steel rails expand in warm weather, sometimes growing up to 20 degrees hotter than the air temperature. To ensure that expansion doesn’t lead to buckling, track is ‘pre-stressed’; stretched to the length it would reach at 27 degrees, the mean UK summer temperature. This is commonly referred to as the Stress-Free Temperature (SFT).

Well-kept track can reach a temperature of 32 degrees above the standard SFT before buckling becomes an issue. With temperatures set to rise to 40 degrees, however, Network Rail feared that some stretches of track could warp.

An aerial view of the Dawlish sea wall collapse in February 2014

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Heatwaves are going to become more and more frequent thanks to climate change

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Preparing for the worst

Image: Network Rail

Network Rail chief executive Andrew Haines said: “The weather we’ve experienced this week has put a huge amount of pressure on our infrastructure, our staff and our passengers, and with extreme weather events becoming more frequent as our climate continues to change, we’ve got to pull out all the stops to make our railway as resilient as possible.

“That’s why I’ve decided to commission this taskforce, spearheaded by leading global experts, whose considerable experience in their fields both in the UK and across the world will arm us with the guidance we need to make our railway resilient in the face of climate change for generations to come.”

“On the first day of hot weather, we measured rail temperatures on the Midland main line,” Martin explained. “Our findings suggested that we might have some rail stress issues the following day, and we made decisions about the services that would run based on this.

“We were also concerned about the potential for buckling on East Coast main line, which features timber junctions rather than concrete barriers.”

The effect of high temperatures on OLE was another cause for concern, with Martin’s team fearing that some wires could sag.

“East Coast’s OLE was designed for 38 degrees,” he added. “Air temperatures were forecast to exceed that, so we predicted that the wires would sag as they

went beyond the design case. We also suggested that the pantograph could foul wires, potentially bringing down the headspans and leaving passengers stranded.”

Most modern electric trains rely on overhead power for air conditioning, with damage to the system leading to potentially dangerous consequences. Martin explained: “We foresaw a scenario where we were potentially running the East Coast main line at temperatures beyond the design limits for its OLE – and when, in those extreme conditions, passengers were reliant on the same overhead lines to provide air conditioning.

“So, the air conditioning doesn’t work, and you can’t rescue the train from an adjacent line because the headspans have come down. It was a potentially dangerous scenario, and for that reason, we made the decision not to run at the south end of the East Coast.”

Temporary speed restrictions were introduced on the WCML, while, in some areas, stretches of track were painted white – a measure that can reduce rail temperatures by up to 10 degrees.

While these issues would have been manageable in isolation, the combination of over-stressed rails, compromised headspans, and failed air conditioning was a dangerous one.

Image: Network Rail

Safety under pressure

Sensors on the rail measuring the temperatures

Inside Track | August 2022

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Ultimately, swift action on the part of Network Rail prevented derailments, and an isolated case of track buckling in the Vauxhall area was attributed to ballast disturbance and tamping.

Nevertheless, some of the team’s predictions did come to pass.

“In practice, old assets that weren’t designed for 40 degrees struggled, whereas the modern assets were fine,” Martin explained. “The infrastructure performed according to its age and resilience.”

railbusinessdaily.com

M ar tin Frobisher

Tackling the challenges ahead While cancellations and temporary speed restrictions kept rail users safe, Martin admits that passenger experience during the heatwave was “dire”.

“Our next challenge is to look at how we deliver a better experience while ensuring that people remain safe,” he added.

“

In the first half of this century, we’re going to experience flooding, high winds, and hot weather

“

Older fixed termination systems performed particularly poorly, with wires in Glossop drooping so low that they fouled train roofs.

By contrast, Great Western Railway’s more modern electrification infrastructure held up well.

“Great Western has a sprung tensor system, which was designed for 40-degree temperatures,” Martin said. “While it’s been compared unfavourably to slimmer, lighter systems in the past, we had no problems with it during the heatwave.”

As expected, the East Coast main line struggled due to its older infrastructure – including timber junctions and a balanced weight overhead line system.

“There was wire damage on East Coast, so some overhead line works were undertaken,” Martin said.

“But from a safety point of view, there were no track buckles, and no passengers stranded in extreme heat without air conditioning. I’m pleased that we maintained safety.”

The reports Network Rail commissioned in the wake of the heatwave will serve as a road map, both for long-term resilience and better passenger service, with four in-depth enquiries being conducted by the team of industry experts.

Martin said: “We’ve selected people with good international expertise, who can look at the options and present us with some sensible recommendations about how best to cope with extreme weather.”

With their reports due to be published in around six months, Martin and his team are pragmatic about the challenges ahead.

“There’s certainly a strong case for improving the OLE in some areas, but we’re under no illusion about the scale of that project,” he explained.

“Achieving real resilience would require a substantial investment.”

Neither is the solution to pre-stress rails for higher temperatures, which is standard practice in warmer European countries.

Indeed, as extreme weather events become increasingly common, the rail industry will need to invest in its infrastructure.

“Interestingly, the predictions say that we won’t have major problems with coastal defenses until 2050,” Martin added. “Then, between 2050 and 2080, it’s going to be a big thing.

“So, in the first half of this century, we’re going to experience flooding, high winds, and hot weather.

Then, in the second half, coastal erosion will be a major issue, and we’ll require substantial sea defences along lengths of coastline.”

Perhaps the greatest challenge he now faces is securing funding for improvements that may not be required until 2050.

“It’s quite a tricky business case to make, so I think we’re starting the modelling and detailed engineering assessment now,” he said. “Ultimately, it’s about preventing a problem that will occur in the future.”

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Building Britain’s Inside Railways Track -|Major August projects 2022

Advertorial

New COTS solution to drive down signalling costs I

n its bid to reduce cost, increase efficiency and introduce innovation, the UK railway is looking at several different initiatives.

One is the introduction of readily available technology. Known as ‘commercial off the shelf’ (COTS), this aims to use standard products that are commercially available, rather than expensive, bespoke technology.

The other is to learn from other sectors – utilities, power generation, aviation and defence. The railway doesn’t have a monopoly on good ideas, and lessons can be learned from what other sectors are doing, just as they can learn from rail.

As part of this process, Amey, Sella Controls and Network Rail have been working together for the last six years to introduce the latest control technology from safety industries outside the railway to provide a real alternative in the signalling market.

The product is the SIL 4 (safety integrity level 4) programmable logic controller (PLC) range from German supplier Hima, which has been building safety control technology for over 50 years and has systems controlling UK, French and German nuclear plants.

Its PLCs are used in numerous safety applications worldwide – including oil and gas, chemical plants and even amusement parks – with railway signalling applications in many countries. The product has a long and established safety pedigree and provides significant improvements over current signalling technologies, with increased safety and reliability.

Magdalen Road The first UK application of this safety PLC technology has been at Magdalen Road level crossing in Anglia region, where the solution has now been commissioned into trial.

The PLC is easily programmed using standard languages, with no specialist railway-

Inside Track | August 2022

PLC technology introduces competition into the signalling market in the UK and provides a modern digital solution for all suppliers.

Taff’s Well depot On the Cardiff Metro project, the design is following the original and innovative KeolisAmey winning tender solution. This includes Amey installing the safety PLC as part of a cost-effective interlocking and signalling control system for the fully signalled depot at Taff’s Well. The system is currently being constructed for commissioning next year.

The depot installation follows the same modular approach developed for level crossings and uses the latest safety industry components instead of the traditional British Rail-style relays and components currently used on Network Rail.

The control system is also based on standard COTS components and looks like a typical Network Rail display but uses pull down menus and windows similar to a standard computer, making it easier to use.

Future developments

specific training required.

The PLC also has significant diagnostic power, with the ability to provide direct fault-finding information to enhance maintenance.

A direct connection has been provided to standard Network Rail-approved data loggers so that condition monitoring and alarms can be provided direct to the intelligent infrastructure server.

Amey and Sella Controls attended the recent Derby Level Crossing Innovation Day, where the level crossing demonstrator unit was on show.

The demonstrator unit was part of the safety case approach to ensure a prototype was fully tested and working before the trial site design commenced.

The safety case was developed to provide open access to the technology for other signalling suppliers and consultants that do not have a technology of their own. This involves a licence fee and using the applications manuals and safety approach developed by Amey which, together with Sella Controls, forms the core of the system authority that provides and monitors training and competence. Sharing access to the COTS safety

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Amey and Sella Controls have designed numerous future concepts for the PLC, including a replacement FDM (Frequency Division Multiplexing) system, tokenless-block system, safety transmission system (that can be used to enhance the new radio-based Train Protection and Warning System solution) and a universal object controller as a replacement for trackside SSI TFMs (solid-state interlocking trackside functional modules).

The PLC can also work with an off-grid power supply and has been tested with wireless and radio networks in Europe to avoid the need for long fibre runs in rural areas. The low power consumption of the units provides a more carbon-friendly and sustainable solution.

Amey has also developed a digital railway solution using the Hima interlocking, which has been interfaced to the Indra Radio Block Centre using the EULYNX protocol. This is part of an Amey initiative to reduce signalling costs fundamentally by using modular and automatic approaches to simplify design, testing and implementation.

The UK signalling industry can look forward to a modern flexible technology that provides the opportunity to introduce innovation and reduce cost at the same time.

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Signalling

Network Rail’s signalling procurement progress In November 2021, a signalling market study by the Office of Road and Rail (ORR) found that both competition and value for money were being stifled, with Network Rail overly reliant on two incumbent signalling suppliers

Signalling installed as part of Crewe to Stafford upgrades

Two principals In its 2021 study, the ORR stated that Network Rail spends around £800 to £900 million per annum on signalling – more than 10 per cent of its total cost base.

With over 65 per cent of signalling equipment on UK railways due to be replaced in the next 15 years, the report attempted to establish whether competition issues were leading to increased prices.

Inside Track | August 2022

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Network Rail having such a level of dependency on just two principal major providers is not healthy, for the UK or the taxpayer

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etwork Rail welcomed this report, which outlined measures it should take to encourage competition and procure more cost effectively.

After a positive update was released in July 2022, its procurement team is continuing to respond to and address the ORR’s concerns – most recently, by looking to European providers, adapting frameworks, and forging strong, strategic relationships with suppliers.

It concluded that more competition would help Network Rail to make cost savings and outlined five ‘remedies’, intended to address barriers to market entry and expansion. Network Rail made a range of commitments in its response document, published in February.

The report’s findings came as little surprise to Clive Berrington, Network Rail’s group commercial and procurement director. “We’ve been working with the ORR for several years now,” he told Inside Track, “and particularly in the last 12 months or so we have been

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working hard to understand what their concerns are and what we need to do to address those concerns.”

Phil Bennett is Network Rail’s signalling lead and commercial director for digital railway, signalling and telecoms. He explained that his team had already been exploring ways to address the issue of Network Rail’s reliance on Siemens Mobility and Alstom, the two major players in the conventional signalling market.

“The ORR report is a good summary of some of the problems and challenges in the signalling market in the UK,” Phil said. “It’s not the only thing that’s driving our change in philosophy, and it really reinforces things we already knew, and where we want to be.

“In the bigger picture, Network Rail having such a level of dependency on just two principal major providers is not healthy, for the UK or the taxpayer.”

Alstom and Siemens were granted the right to develop and supply conventional signalling systems (Solid State Interlocking, or SSI) after the privatisation of British Railways (BR) in 1993.

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Signalling

According to the ORR report, the two companies will account for 90 per cent of Network Rail’s signalling spend between 2019 and 2024.

“It’s fair to say that, while there are obviously two big players, there are other players that do signalling works for us at a lower level,” added Phil.

Proposed merger A proposed merger between Alstom and Siemens was blocked by the European Commission in 2021. Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said at the time: “Millions of passengers across Europe rely every day on modern and safe trains. Siemens and Alstom are both champions in the rail industry.

Without sufficient remedies, this merger would have resulted in higher prices for the signalling systems that keep passengers safe and for the next generations of very high-speed trains. The Commission prohibited the merger because the companies were not willing to address our serious competition concerns.”

Nevertheless, years of market consolidation have hampered Network Rail’s efforts to address their reliance on these two major equipment manufacturers.

With barriers to entry prohibitively high, it is also unlikely that a new OEM provider will arrive on the declining conventional signalling market.

“Our shorter-term picture is, how do you get a better value from the market you have today?”

Phil said.

Planning ahead In the absence of high-level UK competition, Clive and Phil are looking to Europe.

“When it comes to OEM providers, then it really is about the European level,” Phil said. “The acquisition of Thales Ground Transportation by Hitachi, assuming that goes through, will leave effectively four or five equipment manufacturers at European level.”

These European manufacturers include Hitachi Rail, Thales Ground Transportations (with the latter due to be acquired by the former), and Spain’s CAF Signalling in addition to Siemens Mobility and Alstom.

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Building Britain’s Inside Railways Track -|Major August projects 2022

Signalling

Interfaces and ETCS Although Network Rail is working to attract new entrants, it acknowledges that, from a technical perspective, integrating several different signalling systems is less than ideal.

“In terms of the operation of the railway, and maintenance, you would have one consistent system; that would be the optimal thing,” Phil said. “Economically, though, that makes you dependent on a single supplier, which has got not only value-for-money risk, but also the issue of what to do if that supplier fails.”

These commercial and technical concerns will always be in tension, but Network Rail’s

Inside Track | August 2022

First train runs using the new digital signalling on Northern City line

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We’re seeking to get some diversity into the UK market by embracing European providers

“

For Clive, Phil and their team, the next challenge is engaging these European suppliers.

“We’re seeking to get some diversity into the UK market by embracing European providers and trying to encourage them to come and operate in the UK, because, really, that’s where the competition for Alstom and Siemens is going to come from,” Phil explained.

The Network Rail team is also considering different categories of supplier in a bid to encourage competition. Integrators – companies licensed to design and integrate equipment developed by OEMs – are one potential solution.

“In recent times, they’ve fallen away again due to market consolidation, and maybe some of the challenges of operating technology in such a complex area,” Phil explained. “So, the other thing we’ve tried to do is to create more opportunity for those providers to operate and be effective.”

In the past, efforts on the part of integrators to improve their capabilities have also been stymied

by Network Rail’s relatively short contracts.

“We do operate in five-year control periods and within legislative challenges, and historically we tended to reflect that in our contract lengths,” Phil said. “But that, in itself, then becomes a limiting factor, because you see new suppliers understandably taking time to generate the support in the market and find their feet. Then you come along and you re-tender and there’s a risk they don’t continue.”

When developing their CP7 strategy, Clive, Phil and the procurement team lengthened framework contracts to 10 years, hoping this move will give providers time to establish themselves and their offerings.

“It’s in order to provide a longer horizon for people to grow that capability,” Phil added. “We believe it will make it more attractive for new entrants because it will give them the opportunity to get a return on their investment, but also to develop and mature that capability.”

engineering team recognises the need for multiple suppliers, and a competitive and vibrant signalling market.

“Without that, you won’t get any innovation anyway, you get stagnation,” Phil added.

ORR’s report identified the challenge of interfacing with existing technology as a potential barrier for some suppliers. It also noted that Network Rail favoured turnkey solutions, with a principal supplying and installing systems.

As part of its short-term plan, Network Rail will look to improve interfacing between conventional signalling systems, and to make the market more accessible to integrators.

While larger providers will continue to supply and install systems, measures to ensure ease of interfacing should prevent anti—competitive behaviour on their part - a key concern for the ORR. In the longer term, Network Rail hopes to

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transition to modern digital systems, introducing in-cab signalling technology – the European Train Control System (ETCS). This move will open the market up to more suppliers.

Phil said: “Developing and maturing the ETCS capability, that allows us to access four or five providers rather than two, is the strategic approach. It aligns technically with where we want to go as a country anyway, because of all the additional benefits you get with having a ETCS as opposed to conventional signalling.”

Sustainability In future, EULynx could make interfacing quicker and easier, turning interlockings into modular systems. This European programme is currently in use in Holland and Germany and is one of the initiatives Network Rail is considering that could reduce its unit rates.

Using a combination of EULynx and other initiatives, Network Rail’s Target 190plus research and development programme is looking at the sustainability of the signalling systems on the network and the challenges these bring to the rail industry. It aims to reduce the current whole-life cost of signalling by more than half, enabling the ETCS Long Term Deployment Plan, first published in 2019, to be achieved.

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Signalling

Phil, Clive and their team recognise that implementing these measures will require a joined-up approach.

“One positive we’ve got is that signalling is one of the areas where, even in devolved Network Rail world, there is common agreement up to executive level that we need to do things strategically,” said Phil.

In its response to the ORR report, Network Rail laid out plans to establish a forum that will enable it to strategically steer the signalling market, with input from regions, technical authorities, and other interested parties.

It hopes that this forum will strike a balance between regional and national concerns, making joined-up decisions.

Clive explained: “While there are some complications with devolution, there has also been some healthy tension between the centre and the regions, to work out what the best thing is.

“This is instead of there being some sort of central mandate for the future, which has sometimes happened in the past. Then you don’t get the buy-in from regions.”

Strategic relationships As well as taking a strategic approach to signalling procurement, Network Rail will need to review its practices regularly.

“This isn’t a static position, and we’re dealing with a strategic market that is central to our ability to operate the railway and deliver good value,” Phil explained.

“We’re also dealing with a small number of cross-European suppliers whose own business priorities change – and our demands change in terms of the amount of funding we’ve got and the strategic direction of the country.”

Faced with these challenges, Network Rail must continuously review and adjust its behaviour as it moves into CP7.

One of its key objectives for the next control period is to forge strategic, business-level relationships with suppliers, moving away from the more tactical project-by-project approach it has favoured historically. In doing so, it hopes to guarantee value for money.

Clive stressed that, while signalling needs can be established at a regional level, procurement, and programmes like Target190, are still managed centrally.

“The strategic signalling procurement is run

by Phil and me, following collaboration and agreement with the regions,” he explained. “We’re making decisions at a national level through the executive leadership team and board, so I don’t think signalling devolution has gone too far.”

In CP7, Network Rail will put overarching

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New signalling to give passengers better journeys on Great Northern’s route to City of London

supplier relationships in place. Ordering and management of individual projects will then be carried out by regional teams.

The ORR’s report makes reference to smaller suppliers that offer specific signalling hardware, software or delivery competencies.

According to Network Rail, relationships with these providers will also be maintained at a regional level.

“In setting our strategy, we’ve sought to define where the right boundary is,” Phil explained. “We believe that intermediate level, and indeed minor level, works for signalling is still something that’s locally driven and locally managed.”

Clive and Phil are confident that, with the help of its signalling forums, this devolution will continue to work well, enabling regions to establish their own needs, and to appoint local suppliers when national coordination is not required.

“It’s that central coordination and enablement piece,” Phil added. “Behaving strategically, with local accountability in terms of what’s the right solution for a given scheme, how do you best integrate that into other works and how do you integrate that into the needs of the regional operators?”

Launching procurements These strategic efforts have been recognised by the ORR, which reported on Network Rail’s progress in its July update.

The next step in the process will be the formal launch of signalling procurements for CP7. Phil and Clive hope that their ETCS framework will be ready to publish by the end of the year but have looked to the market when setting time frames.

“They reminded us that August in Europe is a big holiday period, and it would be wrong, if we want European competition, to publish over the holiday,” Phil explained.

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Having published their CP6 arrangements several months after the beginning of the control period, Clive, Phil and their team plan to procure much earlier as part of their strategic approach.

Four or five suppliers will be awarded one of these national frameworks – the number of bidders isn’t restricted initially and Network Rail is taking seven suppliers to the ITT (invitation to tender) stage.

Most regional contracts will continue to run for five years, but they could be extended if necessary.

Looking ahead Network Rail is in contact with the ORR as it prepares to publish these procurements, providing regular updates.

“We update them on a rolling basis about exactly where we are, and have a very good relationship with them,” Phil said. “They understand the challenges that we face, and the difficulties in bringing some of this to life.

“In turn, we recognise that they have a role to do as our regulator, in holding us to account.”

Outlined in its response document, Network Rail’s commitments to the ORR are ongoing. It will publish terms of reference for its signalling market forums in Autumn 2022.

As they look ahead to CP7, Clive and Phil are also conscious of the need to maintain strong ties with their incumbent suppliers.

“We still have a good relationship with Siemens and Alstom,” Clive said. “They do some terrific work for us, and we want to work with them in the future.

“While it is important for us to bring in new players, we recognise the importance of our current suppliers, and the great work they do. This shouldn’t be seen as an indication that they are not doing good work for us, or that we don’t want to work with them going forward.”

Building Britain’s Inside Railways Track -|Major August projects 2022

Level crossings

Linbrooke leads the way at Nether Poppleton The first of the next generation of manually controlled barrier with obstacle detection level crossings has been on trial in Yorkshire. Martin Wright, managing director, rail, at Linbrooke, explains how this new crossing will improve safety on the railway

Addressing unsafe crossing design This project involves converting an automatic half barrier (AHB) level crossing to a manually controlled barrier with obstacle detection (MCBOD) level crossing, with this work designed to improve both reliability and safety.

The previous AHB crossing featured lifeexpired components and so needed replacing. Its design was also such that while there was a barrier across of the road on each side, and whilst this did enable people to escape the crossing if they became trapped once the warning lights began to flash, at the same time it also allowed users to weave between the barriers in an unsafe attempt to save a few seconds from their journey.

Installing an MCB-OD Mark 2 helps combat that safety issue, and the one at Nether Poppleton

Inside Track | August 2022

is the first of its kind on Britain’s rail network.

Linbrooke managing director, rail, Martin Wright explained that with the new obstacle detection the full barriers will come down on both sides therefore blocking access to the railway.

Once the barriers are in place, this technology will scan the crossing to make sure it is clear before automatically informing the signalling that the crossing is clear and trains can proceed.

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Similar technology was originally introduced around a decade ago but has since been finessed and modernised

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etwork Rail has multiple level crossings on its infrastructure, and at Nether Poppleton, on the York to Leeds via Harrogate route, Linbrooke is leading a project which could help Network Rail in its quest to improve safety at these sites.

Similar technology was originally introduced around a decade ago but has since been finessed and modernised so that many of the original issues have been ironed out, which has brought

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about the introduction of the second version of obstacle detection equipment. The contract for the new Nether Poppleton MCB-OD Mark 2 crossing was awarded in April 2021 and, following a trial in August 2021, construction began in April this year, with a four-stage commissioning process due to be completed in October 2022.

Improving safety Linbrooke has taken the crossing through the trial acceptance phases and until full approval there will be a level crossing attendant at the site 24 hours a day, seven days a week to ensure that everything is operating correctly. That practice will cease once full product approval has been received.

As for the Nether Poppleton crossing, it is located not far from a school, while a new housing estate is also being built nearby, and there are also quite a few industrial units in the vicinity too.

This means that the crossing is used regularly, particularly by schoolchildren. By installing the new obstacle detection technology, Martin says that safety will be significantly improved.

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Level crossings

Nether Poppleton crossing before the renewal

First implementation

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The project brings together two different types of technology, and we integrate these

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Installation of such crossings doesn’t take too long. The key challenges are decommissioning the old crossing and recommissioning the new one; this is achieved by closing the road, although access remains for pedestrians for part of the closure.

On one weekend the road and railway will be closed for the decommissioning of the old crossing, after which the road reopens to pedestrians, while trains can once again use the railway. During the following week, Linbrooke carries out all the necessary barrier changes before the crossing is once again closed to both pedestrians and trains as the new equipment is commissioned; and at the end of that second weekend the crossing is complete and opened to both rail and road traffic.

All the signalling equipment is pre-installed.

Linbrooke will prepare the site and carry out all possible pre-installation, which takes three to four months with some of the work carried out at night. The actual de-commissioning and re-commissioning of the level crossing only takes a week.

Linbrooke’s design house is located in Swindon where approximately 45 signalling designers are based. The materials needed are purchased and Linbrooke will prefabricate off-site as much as possible. Installation is then carried out either by the company’s own in-house staff or by sub-contractors.

The Nether Poppleton level crossing project was procured by Network Rail through the Eastern Region S&T framework. Likewise, the planned Welsh project would be procured as part of the framework contract Linbrooke has in the Western and Wales region.

A key part of the Nether Poppleton scheme is that it has been delivered almost entirely under a new initiative known as Agile Client Eastern (ACE). Network Rail’s Eastern Region has been through the reduction in headcount and

Future plans Nether Poppleton may be the first MBC-OD Mark 2 level crossing, but Network Rail is already planning more across its network and will continue working with Linbrooke.

Martin explained that there are more MBC-OD Mark 2 crossings in the pipeline, with one planned for Hatfield and Stainforth in South Yorkshire, and a further two in Wales. Linbrooke is currently discussing the plans for these.

Not only is the Nether Poppleton project about improving safety, but it is also a first in a new way of working for Network Rail which could further enhance the efficiency of Britain’s railway. It is a scheme to keep an eye on.

Linbrooke is the first company to implement this second generation obstacle detection technology onto Britain’s railway. This has been achieved in collaboration with Siemens, which provides the level crossing controller. “The project brings together two different types of technology, and we integrate these and implement them on the railway,” said Martin.

“You have the level crossing controller, which is the signalling equipment itself that needs to integrate into the wider signalling system, and we procure this from Siemens. That needs to integrate with the obstacle detection technology.”

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the divestment of responsibilities to the supply chain, and the Nether Poppleton scheme is the first of the projects to be almost fully delivered under ACE. Linbrooke has taken on a number of responsibilities that Network Rail would usually undertake and these have been delivered smoothly and seamlessly.

Under ACE, Linbrooke’s duties were dispositioned engineering assurance roles which included providing: a designated project engineer, discipline project engineers including civils, engineering and production (E&P), signalling and telecoms, responsible signalling engineer and project lead for ergonomics. For stakeholder engagement, this involved Linbrooke liaising with the local authority, council and residents, ensuring a management/interface with Network Rail and its telecoms teams while the Network Rail operations interface was provided by Linbrooke POIS. The company also managed the Delivering Work Within Possessions (DWWP), entry into service processes and the asset management process.

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Building Britain’s Inside Railways Track -|Major August projects 2022

HS2

Pioneering approach to HS2’s ‘green tunnels’

Looking north, the portal will be roughly in the middle of the image. Access roads have been constructed to make it easier for road vehicles to move around the site and reduce the number of vehicles disturbing the local community

Improving efficency The tunnel is being constructed using a pioneering off-site manufacturing approach that is designed to speed up construction and improve the efficiency of the overall project. This approach will see more than 5,000 concrete tunnel segments manufactured in a factory in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, by Stanton Precast, before they are moved to this site.

The project is applying lessons used during the construction of the latest French high-speed lines with the off-site approach developed by HS2 Ltd’s main works contractor EFKB, a joint venture of Eiffage, Kier, Ferrovial Construction and BAM Nuttall.

Inside Track | August 2022

EFKB is delivering 50 miles of HS2 Phase One (80kms) including 15 viaducts, three green tunnels, 14 miles (22km) of road diversions, 81 bridges, and will excavate some 30 million cubic metres of material. EFKB is interacting with the East West Rail site at Calvert, while part of the project involves the construction of a structure that will eventually enable four-tracking of the railway through Quainton Road if approved by the Department for Transport (DfT).

HS2 green “The tunnels are a

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n the fields where the borders of Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire interact, the first of five innovative ‘green tunnels’ is being built on the HS2 Phase One route between London and the West Midlands.

Construction of the 1.5-mile (2.5km) ‘green tunnel’ began in late May, and on 4 August HS2 Ltd invited Inside Track to visit the site, where by that point 125 metres of tunnel had been constructed.

When complete, the tunnel will be covered by earth and will host trees, shrubs and hedgerows that will blend in with the countryside, while a road will be built across the south end of structure.

first of its kind in the UK

Launching the tunnel in June, HS2 Ltd project client Rohan Perin said: “The Chipping Warden green tunnel is a great example of what we’re doing to reduce disruption for people living close to the railway, and it’s fantastic to see the first arches in position.

“Our trains will be powered by zero carbon electricity but it’s also important to reduce the amount of carbon embedded in construction.

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Image: Paul Bigland

Inside Track visits the site of the first of five tunnels being built using an innovative off-site manufacturing process

“The off-site manufacturing techniques being used will help cut the overall amount of carbonintensive concrete and steel in the tunnel and make the whole process faster, more efficient and therefore less disruptive for the community.”

The tunnel has been designed as an M-shaped double arch and has separate halves for the southbound and northbound trains, with each one of them the height of two double-decker buses.

However, instead of casting the whole tunnel on site, five different concrete precast segments will be slotted together to achieve the double arch.

This involves one central pier, two side walls and two roof slabs, and all 5,020 segments will be steel reinforced with the largest weighing 43 tonnes. Each day 10 segments are put into place by staff who have worked in France on similar structures, and it is hoped that this speed could increase as more staff are trained on the technique. So far 2,622 concrete segments have been manufactured by Stanton, with production beginning in September last year.

HS2 Ltd said that concrete and steel are some of the biggest sources of carbon emissions within the construction industry and that by reducing the amount of both materials needed for the tunnel, this lighter-weight modular approach is expected to more than halve the amount of carbon embedded in the structure.

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It also requires fewer people and less equipment on site, which improves safety and reduces disruption for nearby residents.

Speaking when construction of the tunnel started, EFKB project manager Jeremie Martin, said: “Seeing the first set of precast units being installed is a milestone that the whole team is very proud of. This three-year construction programme will benefit from off-site manufacturing, making the green tunnel build more efficient than the traditional on-site building method.

“The HS2 green tunnels are a first of its kind in the UK. We have designed them as a twin arch ‘M’ shape, which is more efficient than the standard box structure, reducing the amount of concrete required, which is a great example of how innovative engineering design can reduce carbon impact.”

Progress on 4 August. A segment waits to be lifted into place in the tunnel

Image: Paul Bigland

HS2

Diversion The tunnel, the first of three to be built by EFKB, will be constructed in sections, with building due to be complete in 2024. A relief road has been built and this is diverting HS2 vehicles away from the centre of nearby Chipping Warden village, while eventually the plan is to extend the road and take the A361 over the top of the green tunnel.

The main driver for ensuring that this section of the tunnel is completed first is the main road.

Jeremie said: “That is why it is in two sections; the first section we will build a little bit and that then allows us to redirect the main road across it.”

Similar tunnels are being built at nearby Greatworth as well as Wendover

in Buckinghamshire and Burton Green in Warwickshire, and together these will measure more than four miles (6.4km). These tunnels will all have specially designed porous portals at each end to reduce the noise of the trains as they enter and exit the structures, along with small portal buildings to house safety and electrical equipment.

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Building Britain’s Inside Railways Track -|Major August projects 2022

Building by sections Construction of the central section began in late May and is due to be completed in October this year, with construction of the north section due to start in November this year and finish in September 2023.

The excavated area looking north. Once the tunnel has been constructed, the area will be backfilled, with the tunnel around four metres deep, and the land returned to farming, while a road will also be constructed

Construction of the southern section from the south portal to the A361 Byfield Road will begin in January 2023 and be completed in October of the same year.

At Chipping Warden the earthworks are well under way on the northern section with large lorries and construction vehicles busy during excavation of the land before work begins.

Due to weather, earthworks are suspended between November and February as little work can be undertaken because of the typical British winter conditions.

On the EFKB other sites, construction of the Greatworth north section is due to start in December 2022 and finish in July 2024, with the southern section starting in October 2023 and finishing in September 2024; Wendover will be completed in one section starting in August 2023 and finishing in October 2024.

Jeremie says the tunnels are ‘green’ because they are backfilled using material that has been excavated already from the site. Traditionally when tunnels are constructed on high-speed lines there are a lot of people working on site at height, walking between the activity, which isn’t very safe, and EFKB thought it would be good to challenge this methodology – hence the M-shape tunnel. “The big advantage with this is that we can fabricate off-site,” Jeremie explained, “and then we just need to install on site. There’s no casting at the site and that also saves a lot of road traffic.”

Many of the team at Chipping Warden already have plenty of experience in France from a similar structure constructed eight years ago, and although the shape is different here in Britain (the tunnel in France was a single bore), the technology, engineering and design is the same.

Looking north along the southbound tunnel bore. This area will eventually be backfilled using excavated material

Inside Track | August 2022

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Image: Paul Bigland

Tailored landscaping design plans will be developed for each tunnel and thousands of native trees and shrubs that are typical to the local area, such as silver birch, oak, beech and willow, will be planted to create new woodland areas around the portals and recrate the hedgerows and field boundaries on top of the tunnel.

In total some 13,290 segments for the Chipping Warden, Greatworth and Wendover tunnels will be manufactured in Ilkeston, and this is set to create up to 100 new jobs, an increase in the workforce of around 50 per cent, while new production sheds, casting and storage areas are also being built at the factory to accommodate the new work. The factory only opened fully in June, and in order to keep up with the required construction rate of the project, the first 400 to 500 segments were constructed outside the factory using a mould created for the very first one. This work has since transferred indoors, however it is a method Jeremie believes has proved invaluable for the project.

After Inside Track’s visit, HS2 Ltd confirmed that some quality issues had been found with some of the concrete segments. A spokesman said: “We have recently identified quality issues with some of the segments and we are currently conducting tests to determine whether remedial work is needed. No decision has been made yet and we are actively engaging with our supply chain partners to resolve the problem.”

Image: Paul Bigland

HS2

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Image: Paul Bigland

HS2

The southern end of the first section of the green tunnel at Chipping Warden

All elements are investigated when backfilling is undertaken to ensure the structure is behaving as it should. Jeremie said: “When we backfill the structure there won’t be too much stress on the structure, and once the backfilling is complete the structure itself won’t move. When we backfill we have to make sure that it is done level and we have to make sure water isn’t coming back all on one side.”

Any uneven loading of material or build-up of water could result in damage to the structure, and this means that the material that will be used, which was mostly excavated from the site, must be investigated and thoroughly assessed before being reused – it’s not simply a case of pushing the material back where it once was around the new structure.

The tunnel segments Inside Track visited will eventually be buried by four metres of material before being returned to farmland use (and the construction of a road), however some sections of the tunnel will be as much as 20 metres deep, although the deepest sections will only be short in length.

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EFKB claims it has been able to bring value engineering to the project through the use of the tunnel design. The HS2 initial design included 428,000m 3 of concrete, 52,500 tonnes of reinforcement and 388,757 tCO2, and this has been reduced to 209,500m3 concrete (a 50 per cent reduction), 41,000 tonnes of reinforcement (a reduction of 20 per cent) and 291,455 tCO2 (a reduction of 25 per cent).

Furthermore, the initial HS2 design was for 60 linear metres per month, 70 operatives per work front and 364,583 operative hours on site.

However, by deploying the M-shape design and construction method, EFKB has been able to

reduce this to 100 linear metres per month (25 linear metres per week), 15 operatives per work front and 46,875 operative hours on site.

Work has yet to begin on waterproofing and backfilling the first tunnel – that is due to commence in the autumn. Jeremie adds that the condition of the first segments is such that the work could start now if necessary, but that is not the plan. He also points out that one tunnel will always be built slightly ahead of the other, in this case the southbound bore, in order to reduce the number of crane movements, thereby increasing safety and improving productivity.

Walking inside the tunnel, the positioning of the single track that will be installed has been lined out, but the emergency access platforms have yet to be constructed. Once the tunnel is built, 30 centimetres of concrete will be poured into the structure above its current steel support and this will house the slab track that is being used by HS2.

Waterproofing work will use a gantry-style crane that will be positioned over the structure, enabling that task to be conducted without disturbing those working on the tunnel structure.

The cast segments are manufactured in Derbyshire and moved to Chipping Warden by road

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Image: Paul Bigland

Backfilling

“

The big advantage with this is that we can fabricate off-site and then we just need to install on site

“

Using the M-shape method is less robust than traditional methods, but as Jeremie explained: “Don’t be afraid, it won’t fall out!”

However, extensive monitoring is undertaken, including monitoring the ground using extensometers for heave assessment, inclinometers for slope movements, piezometers for water levels and surface monitoring points for influence zone assessment. As for monitoring the tunnel structure itself, there are convergence points for absolute and relative movement, crack sensors are installed for pin joints rotation and pressure sensors have been installed over and below the tunnel structure.

Building Britain’s Inside Railways Track -|Major August projects 2022

E a s t We s t R a i l

Innovative East West Rail project running on time

Image: EWR Alliance

Phase one of the major programme to improve connectivity between Oxford and Cambridge is progressing well thanks to careful planning and enablement works

Bletchley flyover rebuild early May

Managment and scope Over the past few years, EWR has undergone changes in both management and scope.

Prior to the formation of The East West Rail Company, the project comprised three sections: a western section, a central section, and an eastern section. Phase one of this Western section (from Oxford to Bicester) was completed in 2015 by

Inside Track | August 2022

“

The East West Rail Company was formed, and started taking on the development of the project

“

E

ast West Rail (EWR) is an ambitious project to improve connectivity between Oxford and Cambridge, involving upgrades to and refurbishment of existing railway, the reconstruction of an old line, and the building of new infrastructure.

Originally managed by Network Rail, this major programme was taken on by the non-departmental body The East West Rail Company in 2015. Now, after years of careful planning and enablement work, phase one is progressing well, with infrastructure between Oxford and Milton Keynes expected to be complete in July 2024.

Buckingham Group and Carillion, working for Network Rail and Chiltern Railways.

Before beginning phase two, Network Rail tendered for a new alliance, selecting Atkins, Laing O’Rourke, and VolkerRail as its partners. Today, the East West Rail Alliance (which also includes Network Rail) is still responsible for delivering the project.

Shortly afterwards, the scope of phase two was refined. Originally covering the line between Bicester and Bedford, it was scaled back to Bicester and Bletchley (with a view to upgrading the railway between Bletchley and Bedford as part of a later phase).

24

“In the midst of this, the East West Rail Company was formed, and started taking on the development of the project,” explained Mark Cuzner, East West Rail Alliance project director.

“Today, they are the project proponent for everything that happens on East West Rail.”

Network Rail is still closely involved in the programme — both as part of the alliance, and as an owner participant.

Stage one under way With a change of management came new terminology, and the project now consists of three Connection Stages. Work on Connection Stage One, which covers the route from Oxford to Bletchley/Milton Keynes, is currently under way. It will involve station and track improvements, the building of new platforms, and the installation of new crossings, improving capacity, safety, and reliability. Electrification was removed from the project’s scope due to funding challenges, but provisions for future electrification are being made.

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East West Rail Alliance has been working on the railway from Bicester to Bletchley since it received a Transport and Works Act Order (TWAO) in 2020.

“I’m proud to say we’ve made very good progress, we’re within budget, and confident about finishing our infrastructure on time,” said Mark.

Securing a TWAO — and by extension, deemed planning permission — was crucial for East West Rail Alliance, which needed to acquire land as part of the project. Its focus in 2020 was completing a range of statutory processes, including submissions to local authorities, and applications for ecology licences.

Secured licences “The project has a lot of ecological concerns, and Natural England will only grant a license if it’s in the public interest,” Mark added.

After securing the necessary licenses and permissions, the partners turned their attention to civil works – including the refurbishment of 23 bridges, and the delivery of five new overbridges, 10 new footbridges, and two new station footbridges. Extensive earthworks were also undertaken at this stage.

“There are a million cubic meters of earthworks required, most of which were delivered in 2021,” Mark said.

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Bletchley flyover box structure drone shot October 2021

Arguably their most significant achievement, however, was the rebuilding of Bletchley flyover, which allows trains to cross the West Coast main line. Concerned about its safety, Mark and his team abandoned plans to refurbish the entire 1960s structure, opting instead to dismantle and rebuild its central section.

“Satisfying the asset owner that the bridge was going to be serviceable — particularly the post-

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Image: EWR Alliance

E a s t We s t R a i l

tensioned elements – became very difficult,” Mark explained. “It would also have been difficult to carry out the amount of inspection required to prove it was fit for purpose.”

Their innovative approach saved six months of construction time and £70 million of taxpayers’ money.

“We completed that work in October or November 2021, which was exactly as per our programme,” Mark added.

Building Britain’s Inside Railways Track -|Major August projects 2022

Challenging project Reflecting on one of the phase’s most challenging projects, Bletchley flyover, Mark commented: “It wasn’t in shocking condition given its age and the construction practices of the time, but it would have been difficult to maintain. In terms of design standards, a lot of requirements have only come in over recent decades.

“It had some very complicated cantilevered piers, with vertical and horizontal post — tensioning strands - and where the strands terminated in the foundation of the structure, there was no access.”

While much of the 605 metre-long flyover was in relatively good condition, Mark and his team found that elements of the joints were life expired, supporting their decision to renew the structure.

“From a Network Rail, asset-owner point of view, this is a structure that goes over the busiest section of railway in Europe,” he added. “Having it renewed was obviously preferable, and we came up with a very innovative solution.”

Informed by Design for Manufacturing Assembly (DfMA) methodology (which reduces production time and cost), the alliance used precast beams, and precast elements to form abutment walls. The result was a protective ‘box structure’, which eliminated the need for separate supporting columns.

This innovative approach meant that much of the work could be carried out during operational hours, saving valuable construction time.

For East West Rail Alliance, the challenges aren’t just technical. Work carried out on various stretches of the railway – including a disused section that runs from Calvert towards Bletchley – has been shaped by environmental concerns.

“The section from Calvert was being used by dog walkers and cyclists, and the natural habitat had

Inside Track | August 2022

taken over,” Mark explained. “It wasn’t a Greenfield site because the railway had a footprint, but there was a lot of habitats there. We had a significant amount to do with ecology and reprovisioning, dealing with 200 badger setts, great crested newts, and 13 species of rare bat.”

Unlike HS2, which cuts through habitats, EWR has taken them over entirely, creating around 23 environmental compensation sites.

“

We had to do around 150 highway interventions before we started the work

“

Track construction could then begin, starting at the eastern fringe of Bletchley, and progressing to Winslow. From Bicester, it moves to the HS2 integration area at Calvert – a 3km stretch where the EWR line passes over HS2 track.

HS2 will build civil works in this area before the alliance moves in to install its own track and railway systems in 2023.

Track construction will then move back to Winslow, before returning, once again, to the HS2 integration area.

“On a project like this, the programme is driven by the track,” Mark said. “If we can meet the requirements of the track programme, most of the other elements will fall into place.”

Track construction is expected to finish in 2023, after which the project’s focus will move to signalling, power, and communication systems. Mark and his team are working towards an infrastructure ready date of July 2024, with tentative plans to have railway services running by December 2024.

Image: EWR Alliance

E a s t We s t R a i l

Mark said: “As part of the project’s development, we built these sites adjacent to the railway, in many cases before the TWAO. We got into private agreements with the landowners so that we could build the sites early, begin reprovisioning the habitat, and avoid delaying works.”

Land has been acquired on a temporary basis, and will eventually be handed back to landowners, who must commit to managing the sites for 30 years. If they decline, Network Rail will take on ownership and management. These sites are part of The East West Rail Company’s broader ecological commitment. “To underpin our green credentials, we made a commitment to 10 per cent biodiversity net gain in the TWAO. I think we’re the first major rail project to make that commitment,” Mark said.

Explaining how these gains will be tracked, he added: “Everything is measured in units, with ancient woodland worth more than a grass meadow.

“We’ve taken our baseline measurement and have to provide our 10 per cent net gain. Our environmental compensation sites are a big part of achieving it.”

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It all adds to the complexity of this ambitious programme. “It seems quite simple, but we’ve got to manage the environment, manage the ecology, and manage interfaces with local authorities,” Mark added.

The first phase of the project also required extensive enabling work, including the preparation of designated construction routes.

“We had to do around 150 highway interventions before we started the work, modifying junctions or building passing bays to allow for construction traffic,” Mark said. “In many cases, the roads are too narrow, and we did a lot to allow for the main construction in 2021.”

With strong competition for funding, cost-efficiency is another key concern, and the project team has found innovative ways to minimise earthworks.

Modern standards Mark explained: “If we were trying to widen a cutting, we would generally just lift the railway slightly – so the vertical and horizontal alignment of the railway has been refined in order to minimise the scope.”

Elsewhere, Victorian embankments pose a risk, and work has been carried out to prevent potential slope failures.

“We’ve had to do a survey of all of the slopes to check they’re safe,” Mark added. “Quite a few have been remediated to ensure they are safe to operate from the railway. Slope failure is a key risk; you can see examples, even in the duration of our project, where slope failures have had a catastrophic effect on the railway’s surface.

“Everything has to be done to modern standards, and to go through a full design assurance process. It also needs to be checked, and all the correct assurance records created.”

Thanks to this enabling work, track construction is now under way. The EWR team has been able to utilise a new, high-output track construction train, owned by Balfour Beatty.

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E a s t We s t R a i l

they can’t, they’ll employ an affiliate of one of the partners,” Mark explained. “We will benchmark the costs, and if we can demonstrate that it’s value for money, we’ll use the affiliate. After that, we’ll go to market and use the supply chain. One of our metrics is to encourage the use of SMEs, and we’ve worked with quite a few.”

The project’s most notable major subcontracts to date have been with Buckingham Group and Murphy and Sons, who delivered the earthworks. Piling and office compound accommodation was delivered

by Volker Rail and Laing O’Rourke affiliates, while SMEs have been brought in to provide landscaping and fencing. Small-scale civil works are, for the most part, delivered by the alliance itself.

“

We know what the challenges are, and we’ve always got a plan

“

“It feeds around and lays sleepers, meaning we can lay 1,200 meters of track a day,” Mark explained.

“In July, we handed over the first section of track access to our track construction team by Charbridge Lane, outside Bicester, and we’ve actually got the first rail of sleepers down in section 2A as well.”

Demand for the train (one of just two in the UK) is high, and the EWR team schedules work carefully.

“Demand for it in the UK is typically at the weekends, or at night,” Mark said. “With this in mind, we carry out construction mid-week, during the day.”

Construction of this section will involve around 100 visits from the train, which is not on site every day, allowing the team to carry out essential preparation work.

Mark explained: “Sometimes we’ll have it on consecutive days, and then we might have a week of delivering ballast and tamping. The programme has to look at all the elements of the work.”

Mark feels confident that the East West Rail Alliance is uniquely well-placed to manage these challenges, having been involved since EWR’s early stages.

Knowledgeable team

Inside Track | August 2022

With safety a priority for the alliance, it also prefers to use its own labour.

Mark said: “We do use agency because of the peaks and troughs but have a significant contingent of Laing O’Rourke directly employed labour on the project. We like to use our own people, because we can take them on a journey around safety culture.

“Network Rail expects a very high standard, and rightly so. As a result, safety engagement with our workforce is something we’ve done an awful lot of work on.”

The alliance has developed rigorous safety management systems, carefully planning and reviewing tasks, running through checklists before high-risk work is carried out, and encouraging staff to report any ‘close calls’ or concerns.

“We’ve got lots of systems in place that are promoting that safety culture, because ultimately it’s the behavioural safety which is the final frontier

Handing over assets To further mitigate risk, the alliance ensures that civil works have been completed before its track team takes over an area.

“We don’t want people re-entering an area where there’s track construction going on to carry out some bridgework or to do some drainage, so we’re very disciplined about completing every single piece of work,” Mark said.

This is part of what Mark and his team term a ‘progressive hand-back strategy’, wherein any assets – including bridges, earthworks, and drainage – are handed over to Network Rail upon completion.

“We’re two years away from the end of the contract, but we’ve already handed over the first assets to Network Rail,” Mark explained. “They will be progressively handed over and go through the ‘network allowed’ process.

“This means that when we reach the end of the project and are approaching entry into service, Network Rail will already have an understanding of those assets and how to maintain them. Its employing people much earlier than it normally would, to ensure that it can receive these assets – which will put it in a really good place to operate the railway.”

It’s another ambitious strategy in a programme already notable for its innovations and progressive approach.

Image: EWR Alliance

He explained: “The team was in place through the development stages of the programme. When we hit the ground in 2020 to do that enabling work, we had people in the team who’d already been working on the project. They understood the area, and the commitments that had been made.

“All that knowledge is in the project team, so they can go and be really effective about the implementation. Continuity of project knowledge through its different stages is a big factor, in terms of efficient delivery. We know what the challenges are, and we’ve always got a plan to manage and mitigate them.”

Mark is a proponent of the alliance approach, adding that it brings not just continuity of knowledge but the right mix of skills to a programme.

“The alliance gives us a multi-skilled team between the four partners,” he added. “We’ve got the expertise to tackle any aspect of the project.”

Network Rail is still a key member of this alliance, and Mark explained the role it plays in the programme today.

“Network Rail is part of the alliance as what we call owner participant, but it is also administering the contract,” he said. “As well as this, we deal with West Coast Route, who will be taking over the infrastructure management. You have The East West Rail Company sitting at high level around the further project development, and they are the project funder — but this project has got Network Rail DNA.” While Atkins has carried out detailed design work, and will also manage signalling, the alliance prefers to self-deliver where possible.

“The alliance will deliver work directly, and if

on projects,” added Mark. “Our safety record on the programme is good, but it’s something we always strive to do better on.”

Track construction carries various risks and is carefully overseen by the EWR team.

“Anyone who goes into that zone must be Personal Track Safety (PTS) qualified,” Mark commented.

“We manage the areas where we’re carrying out the track construction, in terms of who can access them and how we plan the work there, as though we are working on the operating railway. Because if you’ve got railway plant, what we call steel-on-steel, track plant running on rails, or engineering trains running, you do potentially have the same hazards.”

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Freight

Revolutionising rail freight Inside Track talks to Rail Operations UK Limited group president Karl Watts about his company’s role in helping to bring modal shift to Britain’s railways

Electrification There has been much discussion about the need to electrify Britain’s railway, including Network Rail chief executive Andrew Haines stating, on more than one occasion and even to the Transport Select Committee, that there are “no regrets” schemes when it comes to electrification. Despite these claims, they have not been revealed. Infill projects had been thought to be on this list, including such schemes as the half-a-mile linking the North London line (NLL) with the Great Western main line (GWML) at Acton, and the London Gateway branch, but it appears not to be the case.

This has left the rail freight industry facing a dilemma when it comes to decarbonisation, and while it is well documented that one freight train removes 76 heavy goods vehicles from the country’s roads, it is also recognised that the road haulage industry is not standing still when it comes to the green agenda. Rail, on the other hand, seems to be stalling.

On 30 July there were 53 serviceable electric locomotives used by freight operators, with a further 24 bi-mode locomotives available. The vast majority of the electrics were built in the late1980s and early-1990s as replacements for older traction rather than in response to electrification.

Inside Track | August 2022

Testing of the first Class 93 will begin in Valencia in October

Now operators are considering what traction to buy with the first Class 66 diesel locomotive celebrating its 25th anniversary in April 2023.

However, electric traction orders seem a long way off mainly due to a lack of long-term thinking when it comes to electrification and the prospect of more schemes being approved.

When Rail Operations UK Limited began looking at the situation, there was an acceptance that bi-mode traction was required. In eventuality, what has been ordered is the first tri-mode locomotive to be built by Swiss train builder Stadler, which will also be the first tri-mode locomotive for Britain.

The Class 93 may have been announced in January 2021, but the planning began four years ago. Speaking to Inside Track, Rail Operations UK Limited (ROUK) group president Karl Watts made the case for having to buy tri-mode locomotives rather than looking at electric options.

He said: “There are six ongoing electrification projects, but nothing else planned. There have been suggestions for infill schemes but there is no money we understand, that is why you forge ahead with the Class 93.”

The locomotive is an adaptation of the successful Class 68 and Class 88 design already in use in Britain with Direct Rail Services. Both are mixed traffic locomotives, however the former is a dieselonly design, while the latter is a bi-mode locomotive.

30

Image: Stadler

C

ontainer traffic was introduced in the mid-1960s as a recommendation of the Beeching Plan. However, in the 60 years since its introduction, services may have got longer, but they have also got much slower.

These trains are often put into loops whenever possible, making trips between destinations much longer than they need to be. Then there is the issue of traction. Currently the vast majority of these trains are diesel-hauled due to the lack of electrification on much of Britain’s railway.

This includes intermodal trains operating from destinations on the West Coast main line running to Felixstowe, Britain’s biggest deep sea port, must use diesel traction because the last 14 miles to the Suffolk coast, despite many calls from the rail freight sector, remains unelectrified.

Even London Gateway, which opened in 2013, is served by a branch line that is not electrified, despite it connecting to the London to Southend line, which is wired.

The diesel engine fitted to the Class 88 is very much designed to be a last mile mover and is powered at 950hp. These locomotives are also Bo-Bo designs (fitted with four axles rather than six), and this helps with faster speeds, which is a longer term plan for ROUK. Bigger Co-Co designs are limited to 75mph due to the track force they generate; a Co-Co bogie (six axles) is a heavy haul component and therefore weighs more, meaning the track access charge is also more expensive.

Updated design There are, however, major design differences between the Class 93 bogie and those fitted to its predecessor, including centralised suspension on the newer locomotive and the fitting of lateral dampers, which means the ride quality should improve.

But what is the Class 93? The locomotive will have three different power sources, and in electric mode, can run on 25kV AC overhead lines with a power up to 4,600kW. They feature a Stage V 900kW-engine and two Lithium Titanate Oxide (LTO) traction battery packs, allowing them to operate on non-electrified lines. The battery packs provide 400kW extra power to supplement the engine when the locomotives are running in diesel/ battery hybrid mode. The battery modules can also work alone, enabling carbon-free operations.

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Freight

Construction of the first bodyshell has been completed in Stadler’s Valencia factory in Spain, with attention turning to the assembly stage when piping, cabling, traction systems and other equipment will be installed. The first locomotive will also undergo four months of testing at the Spanish site, including using the small test track at the facility.

“

The Class 93s are designed to significantly reduce exhaust gas emissions

“

The Class 93s are designed to significantly reduce exhaust gas emissions for both rail freight and potential passenger transport services, supporting net zero targets in the UK. They will also include efficiency features to minimise energy consumption.

The high-efficiency transformer and the AC traction system with IGBT technology, one inverter per axle, will enable better adhesion control, reduce energy consumption and increase reliability, while kinetic energy is recuperated during braking. The Class 93 is capable of reaching a higher speed than the Class 68s and Class 88s; 110mph in comparison with 100mph. There is also a futureproofing in the design with its innovative hybrid coupler enabling coupling via a draw hook and through automatic coupling.

Suitable project Karl says Stadler was the only train builder that had a product suitable for the British market, while the inclusion of batteries enabled the continued use of the basic Class 88 design, which is already approved for use in this country.

Currently the framework agreement, funded

by Star Capital, is for 30 locomotives, with a firm order for 10, although Karl believes that eventually more than 30 will be built.

Once that is complete, the first two Class 93s are due to be shipped to Portbury Dock in early March and will be moved to Derby for testing and commissioning, which is also expected to take four months and will include trials hauling trains for an unnamed operator.

Iñigo Parra, CEO of Stadler Valencia, said: “This is a project of firsts and illustrates our commitment to green technology and genuine desire to help

governments and businesses around the world de-carbonise their cities, towns and villages. We are delighted to see these locomotives take shape and look forward to continued working with our customer and partner, Rail Operations UK.” Karl described the Class 93 as: “A locomotive of great operating versatility, incredible energy efficiency and packed full of technology, which not only allows us to transform UK train operations but lead the way in UK rail decarbonisation. The locomotive also enables Rail Operations UK to penetrate new operating markets, in particular express freight, previously unavailable using its existing locomotive fleet.”

Meeting the challenge The ROUK specification for the locomotive was challenging – it was expected that the locomotive could haul a 250-tonne express passenger train at 100mph away from an electrified railway, or a 1,500tonne freight train at 60mph away from the wires.

The inclusion of batteries was key to the freight capability. The LTO traction battery packs support the diesel engine rather than acting as something on their own, and boosts the power available from 900kW to 1,300kW.

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Building Britain’s Inside Railways Track -|Major August projects 2022

Improved capability The real benefit in using the Class 93 is on its electric capability, which when operating offers 4.6MW power, which is roughly 6,250hp. This helps with the sectional running times when applying for paths with Network Rail. The ability to accelerate is also key for ROUK and its planned services. The Class 66 is very much a workhorse, but it soon loses power as it accelerates, roughly around 5mph, whereas the Class 93 will see its power drop when it reaches 40mph, which is more akin to an electric passenger locomotive.

“That is the real benefit,” said Karl, who explained the current thinking regarding what services these new locomotives could operate. He added: “Felixstowe to Northampton with 36 boxes has an average transit time of four hours and when you include the lifts and port times you are getting a round trip in 13 hours, so not quite two in a day.

“However, if you have a 900-tonne trailing weight you effectively become an express and you can then deliver two round trips per day.” He says work is currently under way to try to determine what is the optimal train length to deliver such a service, and these are without the faster wagons.

Karl confirms that there are potential challenges such as energy consumption. Running trains at 20 per cent faster speeds requires 40 per cent extra energy and so there is a commercial consideration to be considered, but he says the company is working on a new system for a dynamic speed profile whereby intermodal services would be dynamic and not have a prescribed speed. Dynamic head codes could be introduced which would enable the train to operate at variable speeds. An example is that if a Class 93 was running along an empty route at night it would make sense to operate at a lower speed to conserve energy, but when it reached

Inside Track | August 2022

The Class 93 was officially announced in January 2021

an electrified main line, such as the WCML, then the pantograph could be raised and it could then operate at a faster speed, and therefore have a different classification for the service.

A further challenge is likely to be around the EMCs due to the new transformer that will be fitted to the locomotives, rather than that used by the Class 88. The 110mph maximum speed will also require additional testing due to the kinetic envelope those speeds produce, and they will also be fitted with different gearing ratios to the Class 68 and Class 88. There is also a new high-speed pantograph that will be fitted to allow the Class 93s to operate at 110mph; the batteries will also require testing as these are new compared with the existing Stadler design operating in Britain.

The introduction of the Class 93 helps ROUK and the future of rail freight. Karl says the business is very much plugged into the Great British Railways Transition Team (GBRTT) and added that GBRTT and the Department for Transport (DfT) are “talking a good fight” about modal shift and decarbonisation, but there has to be a

breaking point when it comes to action. “We have regular meetings with the DfT and they are very aware of our plans,” he said.

Alternative fuel Nevertheless, talk of decarbonisation by an industry seems at odds when operators are buying traction fitted with diesel engines. Karl is excited by e-fuel and believes it can deliver the same performance as diesel does now, however the challenge is the cost and of course it’s not carbon negative.

As for where else the new locomotives could be used, discussions are continuing regarding a number of opportunities. Karl said: “The specification is a mixed traffic locomotive and that is to de-risk the investment. It’s a fact that some sectors are more lucrative than others, but I want all the Class 93s operating intermodal contracts.”

However, Karl also mentions that specialist services, infrastructure testing and infrastructure monitoring, offering a platform for new technology such as gauging trains, are all possible uses for the new locomotives.

Stadler already has bi-mode products in use in Britain, including the Direct Rail Services Class 88, with which the Class 93 will share similarities

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Image: Richard Clinnick

This means the Class 93 power on diesel is similar to that of a Class 47, which is a mixed traffic Type 4 locomotive.

Performance is key for the Class 93. Timings have already been calculated, with examples including being able to haul a freight train in 66 minutes between Ipswich and Stratford, which compares favourably with the 66 minutes required by a Norwich to London Liverpool Street Greater Anglia service (albeit the GA train calls at four stations over the same section); whereas a diesel hauled intermodal train takes 91 minutes between Ipswich and Stratford without being looped, before heading onto the NLL. These timings are also only using the Class 93’s 75mph capability as, until wagons are capable of higher speeds, the faster speeds will not be possible. Karl says manufacturers are continuing to look at wagons capable of running at faster speeds.

Image: Stadler

Freight

railbusinessdaily.com

“There’s a whole host of things we can point them at,” he added. There is also the possibility of sub-leasing the locomotives, with Grand Union recently issuing consultation documents to the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) for its London Euston to Stirling service, which would use Class 93s. Another option could be TransPennine Express, which currently uses Class 68s and whose network is due to be electrified as part of the Northern Powerhouse Rail, Integrated Rail Plan and Transpennine Route Upgrade plans. The Class 93s will be fitted with electric train supply (ETS) while there will also be provision to fit door controls meaning they can operate with rolling stock currently in traffic.

The bodyshell of the first Class 93 has been completed by Stadler in Valencia

Image: Stadler

Freight

Other uses There is also the possibility that the Class 93s could also open up new routes, with London Gateway to Corby or Felixstowe to Corby cited as such examples. The modelling is based on the characteristics of current freight wagons rather than anything that may be purchased in the future.

Karl explained the significance of the speed: “Bear in mind, as an example, the Class 350s used

by West Midlands Railway. When their speed was

increased from 100mph to 110mph it meant they could be moved from the slow lines to the fast lines. The Class 93 looks set to be a real game changer for the rail freight industry.”

This is not the first time Karl and his business have caused changes on Britain’s railway. ROUK revolutionised rail services in the UK with the introduction of coupling equipment fitted to veteran Class 37s that removed the need for barrier

vehicles and vastly improved the way trains could be collected or delivered following construction, refurbishment or even for their final journey to the scrapyard. Tasks that took hours were reduced to as little as 20 minutes as the Derby-based firm introduced new methods of working.

Now the company is set to do the same to the rail freight sector with the introduction of the Class 93.

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Building Britain’s Inside Railways Track -|Major August projects 2022

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Transforming the Anglian rail network Atkins delivered a £37 million rail improvement programme at Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, last year. Head of project delivery Alistair Porter spoke to Inside Track about the project

Inside Track | August 2022

replacement of the old system, which still relied on mechanical levers and pullies to change the signals and points. Introducing the new system was about improving safety and reliability while also reducing the number of faults that caused train delays.

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The programme was designed to bring this oft-forgotten section of the Anglian railway network into the 21st century

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T

he Anglian rail network is being transformed through the introduction of new infrastructure and a completely new Greater Anglia fleet, and nowhere is this more evident than at Clactonon-Sea on the Essex coast.

When Network Rail embarked on its plans for a major improvement in the rail systems around the Essex town’s railway station, Atkins was appointed as the principal contractor and resignalling partner.

The key element of the programme was to replace the existing signalling system, which was a mix of semaphore and 1950s colour-light signals. These were due for replacement with the system’s lever frame, which controlled much of the equipment, dating from 1891, while other equipment dated from 1958.

Early preparation works began during the winter of 2019 and progressed throughout 2020, despite the outbreak of COVID-19 and the subsequent impact that had on the railway in general.

Alistair Porter, Atkins head of project delivery, says that the programme was designed to bring this oft-forgotten section of the Anglian railway network into the 21st century through the

Client issues The project was planned to take 23 days, beginning on 20 February 2021 and ending on 14 March 2021.

Early preparation works began in the winter of 2019 and progressed throughout 2020. The end of the subsequent 23-day blockade sees the completion of more than four years of planning and delivery of a modern signalling system.

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The £37 million project involved renewing 12 signals, 12 points and 13 new overhead line equipment (OLE) structures as well as installing 6,000 metres of new cabling. There was also 500 metres of new track laid as part of the project with the aim of further improving reliability and minimising disruption.

“The legacy system had to be replaced with modern LED signals, new cables needed to be laid and the renewed points had to be installed that linked to the new signalling system,” said Alistair, who also explained that there needed to be changes to the OLE as a result of the programme.

Two new power systems were installed for signalling and point heaters while the new system needed to be powered and controlled remotely from the existing Alstom Modular Control System at Colchester power signal box, located some 16 miles away.

Client disruption also needed to be minimised, and there needed to be an end-to-end project completion timeline of 11 months. While the 23-day closure was planned, there was a further complication in that while the programme was being set up and commissioned there were three separate national lockdowns due to the ongoing pandemic.

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Alistair added that another key benefit to Atkins’ involvement was to provide an important contribution to the local economy during the pandemic.

Atkins put in place a series of effective and efficient mitigation measures designed to keep the programme moving forward at pace.

The solution

Value for money

Alistair Porter

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We ensured early and robust contractor project decision-making from day one

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There was also a need to work with clients and stakeholders to ensure that the project was delivered successfully during a period when the railway was working hard to encourage people to travel once again.

Alistair said: “We ensured early and robust contractor project decision-making from day one, plus we introduced daily calls with the whole team.

“Understanding how a collaborative approach would produce the best results, we created aligned behaviours and commitment from the start, achieving a ‘one team’ approach, with all company badges removed.”

The Project Speed smart infrastructure delivery methodology was also introduced, and this provided progressive and collaborative assurance for the design and build during the programme.

Project Speed introduced a reduced approval process, creative problem-solving, and an agile and innovative route to finding solutions.

“Working well as an integrated team to deliver the programme, we also assured an aligned risk register, encouraged open and honest conversations and a transparent escalation process,” Alistair explained.

“In tackling the challenges of COVID-19, we shared processes and innovations to ensure workforce safety so we could, as a team, continue

construction without interruption.” Rapid flow testing among the workforce was introduced, with more than 1,000 tests carried out, while thermal camera technology monitored people’s temperatures.

Atkins delivered its element of the programme safely, on time and to budget within 11 months, which is half the time of traditional delivery for such a project. Alistair says this demonstrated value for money as well as minimising passenger disruption.

This major improvement programme, which has been operational for more than a year, now provides a safer, more reliable system for passengers in this area of Essex, while the modern signalling system, developed by Atkins, has helped to reduce the likelihood of faults, significantly reducing delays for passengers as they return to travelling by train after the lockdowns.

The new system also supports a more sustainable, efficient and safer railway and will help reduce ongoing maintenance costs, due to the newly installed equipment’s improved reliability.

Such was the success of the project, it won the Outstanding Teamwork Award at the 2021 National Rail Awards. Alistair said that proves that the project serves as an exemplar to the power of collaboration: “Aligned to industry best practice throughout, the programme had a common incentive to deliver and achieve together and became known as the project everyone wanted to be on.”

Clacton works

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Inside Track | August 2022

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... As a result, this reduces cost to industry. www.risas.co.uk RISAS is the supplier approval scheme owned by RSSB

Tr a n s p e n n i n e R o u t e U p g r a d e

Improved connectivity in the North set to bring benefits to all

Image: Network Rail

First planned more than a decade ago, Network Rail’s Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU) project has undergone various challenges since then but is now on track

A bridge to the future in Huddersfield

Inside Track | August 2022

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TRU project will deliver a reduction in the railway’s carbon footprint and improve air quality

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O

riginally a £2.9 billion project, TRU is now valued at an estimated £9-11.5 billion, with an expected completion date of 2036 to 2041; however the majority of benefits will be realised by the early 2030s.

The aim of TRU is to create more capacity to enable more trains to operate between Manchester, Huddersfield, Leeds and York with up to six fast services every hour between Leeds and Manchester and up to two stopping services for local connectivity.

Network Rail says that journey times are forecast to be 63-66 minutes between Manchester and York, and 41-42 minutes between Manchester and Leeds. Current journey times for these are 78-79 minutes and 56-59 minutes respectively. TRU will

also make journeys more reliable with more trains running on time, says Network Rail.

Stations will be improved across the route therefore creating a better travel experience and more accessible stations.

Furthermore, the TRU project will deliver a reduction in the railway’s carbon footprint and

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improve air quality by saving up to 87,000 tonnes of carbon emissions annually, which supports the government’s net zero objectives.

TRU will also not just benefit passengers, but the rail freight sector too, with Network Rail currently developing a proposal to move more goods by rail, with a suggestion of up to 15 more freight trains per day – this number could remove as many as 1,000 lorries from the road each day, The cost increase came about as a result of changes to the programme’s initial scope, which was gradually widened to include electrification, freight gauge improvements, coordination with Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR), the introduction of digital signalling and station upgrades, all between York and Manchester (via Leeds and Huddersfield).

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Passenger difference “It was more about, show me things that can really make the difference to a passenger,” recalled John Reed, industry programme director for Transpennine Upgrade. “It was all very tightly managed, such that you were getting the best bang for the buck on the route.”

Referred to as Option C, this basic upgrade would see OLE installed along part of the route, in a bid to improve acceleration and journey times.

The wiring would also be suitable for bi-modes – hybrid electric diesel trains that TransPennine Express (TPE) had ordered from Hitachi.

Towards the end of the decade, however, decarbonisation became a national focus, resulting in another change in scope for TRU. “You had the government and the election, and all of a sudden decarbonisation and therefore electrification went from nowhere to the top of the agenda,” John explained.

The Department for Transport (DfT) asked John and his team to work up a fully electrified option, considering how they could make use of wiring to achieve additional line speed, capacity, and performance improvements.

This option, ‘F’, involved wiring the entire route, and was costed at around £5.5 billion.

A revised option, ‘F1’, was worked up in the wake of the 2019 General Election. “You’ll recall that on his first day Boris Johnson talked about TRU and NPR,” John added. “There was a real drive around the question of, what more can we do?”

This update included digital signalling on the section west of Leeds alongside freight gauge improvements.

Inside Track | August 2022

Manchester rail upgrades continue for the multi-billion-pound Transpennine Route Upgrade

“Before this, it had been a very passengercentric route upgrade,” John recalled. “One of the things we did first was look at making it W8A gauge.”

For John and his team, this period was characterised by a sense of optimism – which in turn informed the TRU programme.

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The department committed to a station upgrade fund, and we planned to look at improving accessibility, safety and customer experience

“

With the programme in its early stages, the TRU team is now considering how best to coordinate with a range of other rail enhancement schemes planned for the north of England.

Today, TRU is a major long-term infrastructure programme, geared towards improving connectivity in the North. Its roots, however, can be traced back to 2011, when it began life as an electrification scheme. Measures to improve capacity and journey time were added to this scheme in 2014, but it was paused for several months due to the Hendy Report, which was published the following year.

When the project restarted in 2015, TRU’s objective was to install overhead line equipment (OLE) and deliver some line speed, capacity, and performance improvements for the £2.9 billion of funding allocated. With decarbonisation still low on the agenda, it focused firmly on improving passenger experience.

“Our ambition was let’s make this look and feel like a brand-new railway,” he added. “The department committed to a station upgrade fund, and we planned to look at improving accessibility, safety, customer experience, customer information, facilities, and so on.”

Featuring capacity, line speed, and performance improvements, whole-route OLE, European Train Control System (ETCS) west of Leeds, freight gauge improvements, and station improvements, Option ‘F1’ was costed at around £6 billion.

As these plans progressed, John became increasingly optimistic about the future of TRU.

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Image: Network Rail

Tr a n s p e n n i n e R o u t e U p g r a d e

“We thought it was really fantastic, and there was growing excitement that it was coming together as a genuinely transformative programme,” he explained.

But it was at that point that the DfT asked if TRU could coordinate works with the NPR schemes, in order to minimise passenger disruption.

The TRU team agreed, adding NPR to an updated ‘Option G’. John and his team are currently reviewing the Integrated Rail Plan (IRP) published last November to ensure that their proposals align with the DfT’s programme.

Improving connectivity ‘Option G’ also includes installing ETCS across the whole route, building the railway to W12 gauge, and building infrastructure to accommodate 15 freight trains per day.

“After having done the gauge, we’re thinking about how we could get more freight onto the route,” John explained. “One of the pieces of advice we’re giving the department at the moment relates to how you would go about fitting in an extra intermodal freight train in off-peak hours, and what that would that mean for passenger services.”

TRU’s final option has an estimated value of £9-11.5 billion. This forward budget has been ringfenced by the government and will be authorised when the programme becomes sufficiently mature.

Today, TRU is one of several ongoing schemes to improve connectivity in the North of England. The IRP suggested that it should in fact be treated as ‘phase 1’ of NPR, Network Rail’s ambitious strategic rail programme.

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Tr a n s p e n n i n e R o u t e U p g r a d e

Network Rail completes major rail upgrade in Manchester as part of Transpennine Route Upgrade

Planning ahead John said: “The timetable brings together different schemes, and we’re starting to think about that that in terms of what the railway will look like over the next few decades. In the 2020s, you’ve got things like the Manchester Recovery Task Force service changes in place, and some smaller schemes too.

“In the 2030s, you’ve got TRU, and looking to the 2040s and 2050s, there will probably be NPR, and other big projects.”

The timetable will also serve a strategic purpose, outlining how programmes could help the department to achieve its goals and respond to challenges.

Inside Track | August 2022

“

Obviously electric trains will be quieter in themselves, and the new track won’t bounce around quite as much

“

“For NPR phase 2, there is a committed core concept,” John explained. “A handful of projects come together to fix it, of which TRU is one, and a tunnel from Manchester to Marsden is another. It all builds up.”

This tunnel is expected to shave around 10 minutes off journey times between Manchester and Leeds.

John and his team have identified where there will be options to integrate or interface with other Northern schemes, and where dependencies exist between projects.

They are also developing a regional timetable, which will help them to ensure that around 16 Northern schemes work together effectively. These projects range from the Manchester Recovery Task Force to the Leeds Area Improvement Plan.

“We’re basically trying to create some choices for the department,” John added. “To say this is the capability you’ll have from these schemes; if you want more passenger services, you could do this, and if you want more freight, you could do that.”

While this document is still in the early stages of development, John feels confident that it will offer a strategic overview of rail enhancement in the North.

As John and his team look to the future, survey work, vegetation management, and compound construction have begun on the Transpennine route. Running from Manchester Victoria to York via Leeds and Huddersfield, it includes 76 miles of track, and passes through 25 stations.

With different upgrades planned for different legs of the route, it has been divided into several project areas. On some sections, tracks will be doubled from two to four, delivering capacity and journey-time improvements. Selected stations will be remodelled, and Dewsbury’s platforms extended to accommodate longer trains. Key to the programme’s success, however, is proposed work between Huddersfield and Ravensthorpe – known as W3.

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“That’s our biggest project, and the centrepiece of the programme,” John said. “What we’re doing from Huddersfield through to Ravensthorpe is fourtracking. This scheme has always been in our plans because it means that the fast trains can overtake the slow trains. Without it, the whole thing falls apart.”

With grade-separated junctions and a flyover at Ravensthorpe, the project is set to improve flexibility and reliability in the area and was recently authorised via a Transport and Works Act Order (TWAO).

This TWAO application explored the impact of W3 on local communities – something John and his team are mindful of.

Taking care in design “We’ve passed very close to houses with some of the wiring, and there needed to be particular care and attention paid to the design work,” he explained.

Vegetation and fencing are expected to mitigate the risk of noise, along with electrification. “Obviously electric trains will be quieter in themselves, and the new track won’t bounce around quite as much as the old track,” John added.

The TWAO gave Network Rail permission to acquire land and properties, both temporarily and permanently, as part of W3. Working closely with local authorities has enabled it to minimise disruption to residents.

“We’re incredibly closely linked up with Kirklees and Wyker, because they need to do a lot of work for this as well,” John said. “We’ve got joint project teams and working groups to ensure that it goes smoothly.”

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Tr a n s p e n n i n e R o u t e U p g r a d e

Image: Network Rail

As it prepares to introduce four-track, electrified railway across the route, safety is also a key concern for TRU, which has closed 13 level crossings to date.

One essential crossing in Manchester was recently replaced with an enhanced light detection and ranging (LiDAR) system.

“We’ve tried to help people understand that, when you have four trains on four tracks at 125mph, you don’t necessarily see them coming.

That’s why we’re working very closely with councils and communities,” John explained.

Track upgrades, York to Chruch Fenton

Keeping people on the trains After carrying out passenger research, he and his team identified a need for additional capacity when upgrades begin. As a result, they are investing in diversionary routes, including through Castleford.

“We’ve come up with a package of works that means we can run up to three more trains per hour,” he added. “We want to keep people on trains as best we can.”

TRU is collaborating not just with local authorities, but two alliances, which will carry out upgrades on its behalf.

TRU East consists of J. Murphy & Sons, VolkerRail, Siemens and Systra, while TRU West is made up

of Amey OWR, Bam, Siemens, Network Rail, and Arup. Both alliances were involved in developing TRU and will help to deliver everything from digitalready signalling to electrification masts.

Digital signalling, meanwhile, will be procured centrally, as part of Network Rail’s national framework.

“Network Rail actually is in the process of setting up a whole national framework for digital signalling, because actually, it’s much wider than just TRU,” John said. “And obviously we have an interest corporately, nationally, in having a common system.”

With different projects currently at different stages

of maturity, TRU is still working on a timeframe for the programme, which it hopes will be finished in the mid-2030s. Its package of diversionary routes should be ready as soon as May 2023.

John explained: “Each time we reach a big new capability uplift with the infrastructure, we will package that up with either a timetable change or a change to service patterns, to make the best use we can of it.”

While some start dates are yet to be confirmed, John and his team remain confident that the next several decades will prove transformative for railways across the North of England.

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Building Britain’s Inside Railways Track -|Major August projects 2022

G r e g M o r s e / S i l e b y S PA D

Fatigue and train protection Dr Greg Morse considers the SPAD and near miss at Sileby, recently reported on by RAIB

J

Fatigue first. According to witness evidence, the driver had finished his previous shift early on the morning of 4 May and slept from around 07:00 to something like 11:30. He then grabbed two more hours in the early evening before booking on remotely at 21:30. This meant he’d had about 6.5 hours’ non-continuous sleep in total – not bad for some of us, but less than the average requirement of 8.2 hours cited in the latest ORR guidance.

The driver said he felt fine when he booked on and was no more tired than usual toward the end of the night shift. But Brian Hemingway said he hadn’t been tired at the inquiry into the Clapham accident, which was caused in part by a wiring error he’d made after working almost 13 weeks solid without a break. And in the case of Sileby, note that the SPAD also occurred in the early hours of the morning, when our alertness can be lower due to the daily variations in our ‘body clocks’.

The inquiry into Clapham – led by Sir Anthony Hidden QC – led to the implementation of a set of working time limits, which came to be known as ‘Hidden 18’, after the recommendation concerned (which required British Rail to ‘ensure that overtime is monitored so that no individual is working excessive levels of overtime’). As RAIB pointed out, our knowledge of fatigue risk management has improved a lot since then. Indeed, the Railway Group Standard that incorporated the Hidden limits was withdrawn as long ago as 2007… yet the grinder operator’s fatigue risk management processes – while reflecting some of the good practice outlined in the ORR guidance – still relied (in essence) on the old Hidden criteria.

Inside Track | August 2022

The aftermath of the near miss at Sileby

By the time of the incident, the company did have a fatigue manager and fatigue co ordinator in place, both of whom worked to risk assess shift schedules and produce regular fatigue reports based on actual hours worked. From August 2021, they also started issuing monthly fatigue briefings, some of which referred to wider industry guidance, which included advice on napping during breaks. RAIB noted that the investigation was in fact “a reminder that, under appropriate circumstances, frontline staff may use napping as a mitigation where they have been unavoidably affected by fatigue”.

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RAIB pointed out our knowledge of fatigue risk management has improved a lot

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Hidden rules

Image: RAIB

ust before 05:30 on 5 May 2021, a rail grinding train passed LR477 signal at danger near Sileby.

The signal was red because an empty coaching stock formation was crossing from the Up Fast to the Up Slow on the line up ahead. The grinder ran on for 350 metres, before fouling the junction that the stock train had passed through less than 10 seconds before. Think about that for a moment.

There hasn’t been a fatal SPAD and collision since Ladbroke Grove in 1999, but we could have been 10 seconds from another one. The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) was soon on the ground and its investigation report – now available on the RAIB website – gave us two strands to consider: fatigue and train protection.

While it should never be relied upon to control fatigue, said RAIB, “train operators should ensure that their employees are aware of the role of napping within their wider fatigue risk management systems, including its relative merits as a fatigue countermeasure”.

On the train protection side, the report points out that while the Train Protection and Warning System (TPWS) made an automatic emergency brake intervention, it did not stop the grinder

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Rail Accident Report

Near miss between a rail grinding train and an empty passenger train at Sileby Junction, Leicestershire 5 May 2021

Report 06/2022 July 2022

before it reached a point at which it could strike another train. After the incident, Network Rail commissioned a review of TPWS effectiveness at LR477 signal, and other signals in the area.

It did not account for trains – like the grinder – with less than 7.5%g braking rates, but did observe that the TPWS at the signal was not fully effective even for freights with 8%g braking rates approaching at 60mph. The grinder, travelling at a slower speed and with a higher braking rate than prescribed in the appropriate standard, stopped around 80 metres beyond the conflict point from 53mph.

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G r e g M o r s e / S i l e b y S PA D

The third strand All well and good. The incident should not have happened, but it did; it was investigated and action is being taken. This is how the rail industry has been learning since its very earliest days, from the invention of the steam whistle after a level crossing collision in 1833 to the adoption of continuous train braking, absolute block signalling and the interlocking of points and signals after (in particular) the terrible accident at Armagh in June 1889, in which 80 people were killed and 260 were injured, many of them children.

Yet Sileby represents something else, something we do not always consider in the silo of our own part of the railway (whatever that part might be). Here, it was the world of track maintenance and that of the train operator – embodied in the metallic form of the grinder and the ECS formation. The risks faced by those two factions are considered by different cross-industry bodies – the Infrastructure Safety Leadership Group (ISLG) and the Train Accident Risk Group. Both are facilitated by the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB), which supports them by keeping a watching brief across the whole system, while offering research potential and guidance.

Sileby is not the only recent fatigue-related SPAD On 21 June 2020, a passenger train passed at red signal at Chalfont and Latimer, and entered an occupied platform before coming to a stand.

RAIB reported that fatigue was probably behind the driver’s loss of attention, adding that the driver also suffered from sleep apnoea (a condition in which breathing stops and starts while you sleep).

The poor quality of sleep in this case may also have been worsened by the onset of diabetes.

Inside Track | August 2022

To Leicester / London

LR475

To Loughborough / Derby

Down fast Up fast

Platform 1

LR477

Route of 6Z08

Down slow Up slow

Sileby Junction

Platform 2

Sileby station

Route of 5P01

N

Not to scale

Track3:layout SilebyatJunction Figure Trackat layout Sileby Junction

Image: RSSB

While the machine had been properly accepted onto Network Rail’s infrastructure, the approvals process “only demonstrates technical compatibility and does not account for integration with the wider system”.

Consequently, the imported risk of signal overruns is not accounted for in any TPWS risk assessment.

In February 2022, Network Rail decided that repositioning the overspeed sensor on the approach to LR477 would solve the problem, but in the meantime it was agreed that a temporary speed restriction would be imposed to mitigate the risk from overrun. RAIB has also recommended that Network Rail develops and implements a process that identifies and accounts for the residual overrun risk associated with the operation of vehicles that have braking rates lower than those assumed when the effectiveness of TPWS is assessed.

The incident

10 Loram UK Ltd (referred to as Loram in this report) is the owner and maintainer of the rail grinding train and operates it for grinding work inside possessions.

11 Both Network is the owner and maintainer thetryrailway including to makeinfrastructure, the picture clearer, the industry’s groupsRail – like the rest of them, covering ofTo thetrespass signalling equipment. freight, and so on – also involve getting the Fatigue Coordination Group is supporting a new pieceempty of workpassenger that will explore approaches right East peopleMidlands round the table in a bid spot issues asof the 12 Railway is to the operator traindifferent involved in the incident. to recording actual hours worked in rail and other they emerge and work towards solutions. safety-critical industries. This will help companies them allfreely is a System Safety Risk Group, 13 Above All parties co-operated with the investigation. identify how they can improve the recording of actual which does exactly what it says on the tin, and Trains involved encourages deep collaboration, drawing the lines hours worked and identify exceedances. In similar 14 Train 6Z08 was formed of rail grinding machine C2101, one of a fleet of three between the individual groups and encouraging vein, RSSB has developed a key performance indicator such machines operated by Loram which are used to reprofile the railhead, (KPI) worksheet, settingofout range of fatigue working parties from each when work increasing eliminatingformed surface cracks and the thereby the lifespan thea rail.

KPIs, methods of measurement and the4). benefits of of one cuts across that of another.

And if ever C2101 consists of five vehicles, including driving cabs at each end (figure maximum permissible whileittravelling outside possessions 55 mph measuring full stop.

This shouldis help companies thereIts was a subject that cuts acrossspeed everything, (89 km/h). review their existing fatigue KPIs and determine how is fatigue.

In 2021/22, where fatigue was identified as a they can improve their measurement of fatigue risk, possible cause in RSSB’s Safety Management based on their own specific fatigue risks.

Intelligence System (SMIS) database, the range of events spoke for itself:

Developing guidance

oad risk for instance, a motorway road traffic R collision; rain operations, in addition to SPADs, train T overspeeds, failures to call, releasing the doors on a train not fully platformed, and TPWS activations; rain dispatch, including dispatching against red T signals; S ignalling, including the incorrect granting of line blockages, moving points undergoing maintenance, incorrectly handing back line Figure 4: Rail grinding train similar to C2101 blockages; Track work, for instance, Report 06/2022 Sileby Junction Limit Boards Possession

incorrect removal of11 detonators within a possession, incorrect placement of board and detonator protection; L evel crossings, including the incorrect operation of level crossings.

Someone once impressed on me that ‘all the answers are in the data’. This alas is not true: what’s in the data is in the data. If it isn’t there, it won’t be, and often – for fatigue – it’s missing.

At the moment, information on fatigue is not systematically collected and shared across the industry. Neither does it map onto particular types of incident, despite often being a significant underlying cause. This all makes any quantitative analysis very difficult.

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At the same time, a new Network Rail Fatigue Standard will be brought in during 2022. ISLG’s Fatigue Working Group has been collaborating to help the contractor community review and implement it. The National Freight Safety Group’s equivalent team has also developed two sets of guidance: for on-call staff, to help them recognise and manage fatigue risk more effectively; and for senior managers, to present known good practice for fatigue risk management.

And so the work to combat fatigue continues tirelessly – in a coordinated fashion. But how do I know all this? It’s all down to the LHSBR. LHSBR stands for Leading Health and Safety on Britain’s Railways, a whole-system strategy through which July 2022 the SSRG and all the groups below it interconnect.

RSSB has just published its annual set of LHSBR reports, covering everything from SPADs to signaller errors, asset integrity to level crossings, health and wellbeing to freight derailments… and fatigue. If you’re involved in safety and wellbeing, it’s required reading. You can find it on the RSSB website along with a host of other tools, reports, guidance documents and the RED series of safety briefing films.

Dr Morse is a Member of the Chartered Institution of Railway Operators and RSSB’s operational feedback lead. His book on the Clapham accident and its context will be published by Pen & Sword later this year. The views expressed in this article are his own.

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Furrer+Frey

VLR and the decarbonisation of UK’s public transport system

Image: Furrer+Frey

The world’s first rapid battery charger for urban VLR has undergone commissioning at Dudley’s Very Light Rail National Innovation Centre

The first Coventry VLR vehicle

Opportunity charging The charging is undertaken by the use of a pantograph that lowers from above, rather than one which raises from the roof of the vehicle, as per conventional design. This is known as ‘opportunity charging’ and it is designed so that an overhead system can charge VLR vehicles, and other vehicles such as buses, either at scheduled stops or at the end of the route they are operating on.

This particular set-up is the first of its kind to be deployed in a rail application and was completed

by Furrer+Frey with the vehicle designers Transport Design International, alongside WMG

Inside Track | August 2022

at the University of Warwick and the Black Country Innovative Manufacturing Organisation (BCIMO), who are building and will operate the Very Light Rail National Innovation Centre.

The new system allows for the use of lighter batteries and is seen as critical to maintaining a high frequency service while also saving the VLR drivers from the manual effort of plugging in and facing lengthy periods charging the vehicles in depots.

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Coventry Very Light Rail forms a key part of our transport strategy

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significant milestone has been achieved by the world’s first rapid battery charger for urban very light rail (VLR) with the start of commissioning at the Very Light Rail National Innovation Centre (VLRNIC) in Dudley, West Midlands.

The commissioning involves the prototype Coventry Very Light Rail testing its automated, rapid charging capability. It is estimated that the adapted 450kW overhead bus opportunity charger can top up the battery powered VLR vehicles in three minutes.

The vision is that the chargers will be used by buses as well as the VLR vehicles, and that the stations will serve multiple bus and VLR routes as part of an electrified public transport network.

The Coventry VLR system is planned to be cheaper and easier to install than a typical metro, through innovations in the design of the vehicle, its traction power and the track it will operate on.

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One such example is for the VLR to use rapid chargers and batteries instead of overhead line equipment (OLE) and a shallower slab track, just 30 centimetres within the road surface. The developers have said that this takes advantage of cutting-edge materials while still making use of standard rail parts to ensure the ease of manufacturing.

Cost savings The use of such infrastructure significantly reduces the construction costs as there is no need to move the various utilities nor is there a need to substantially modify structures to accommodate the OLE. This can have substantial cost savings, especially where conventional light rail systems can cost more than £25 million per kilometre to install, and even as much as £100 million in city centres. By contrast the VLR system is expected to cost around £10 million per kilometre to construct.

The VLR vehicle has been developed to be autonomous, which will allow it to operate at a high frequency, enabling its operator to provide a turn-up-and-go service. It has an innovative turning system allowing it to handle 15-metre radius curves, meaning it can be installed in tight corners in the existing highway.

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The vehicle will also be comfortable internally and will be equipped with low floors, enabling passengers to embark and disembark easily.

Furrer+Frey GB has already adapted the opportunity charger from those that are currently being used by the bus industry to be able to communicate with the software on the VLR, allowing for fully automated charging.

Councillor Jim O’Boyle, cabinet member for jobs, regeneration and climate change at Coventry City Council, said: “This is an important milestone for the Coventry Very Light Rail project, which demonstrates the tight integration we expect to have between Coventry Very Light Rail and our allelectric bus fleet, with both being able to charge at a single site.”

Testing will continue at the VLRNIC before the vehicle is moved to Coventry

Image: Furrer+Frey

Furrer+Frey

Zero emission Cllr O’Boyle added: “The charger is a key piece of the puzzle which, alongside the vehicle’s battery, avoids the need for overhead lines and means the system is zero emission.

“Coventry Very Light Rail forms a key part of our transport strategy, building on our efforts to install more vehicle charge points than anywhere outside London, roll out the innovative

WM on Demand and of course our plans for a Gigafactory.”

Noel Dolphin, head of UK projects at Furrer+Frey, said: “Coventry Very Light Rail is an exciting project for our industry, pushing the limits of new technologies, materials and battery power to deliver something cost-effective for smaller urban areas.

“Our engineers have adapted our All-in-One opportunity charger to communicate with and power the prototype VLR vehicle.

“Transforming the compatibility of these chargers demonstrates how they could form a key part of a cost effective, integrated and multimodal transport system – providing power to both electric buses and very light rail.

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Building Britain’s Inside Railways Track -|Major August projects 2022

Furrer+Frey

charger for the VLR initially, and even that will be oversized for what is initially required; however this is because the team at Dudley wanted to build in some redundancy for the future should the technology be used to operate larger vehicles.

There are also possibilities for heavy rail deployment of charging technology. One example is in the forest around Tübingen, in south-west Germany, where a prototype fast charging station for battery-powered trains has been trialled in partnership with Stadtwerke Tübingen (swt). On 14 October 2021, a train was charged on the rails under real operating conditions for the first time. The Stadler battery train used the ‘Voltap’ fast charging

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It can have batteries, but they can charge on the main line under normal OLE

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“We are very confident opportunity charging will be a major contributor to the electrification of public transport in the UK.” Nick Mallinson, CEO at BCIMO, said: “A key element to delivering lower cost rail solutions, with accelerated delivery times and reduced risk, is to transfer proven technical solutions from other industry sectors. In this example, it was achieved by taking a proven high power electric bus charger and with minor modifications transferring it for use on a very light rail vehicle.

“While the Furrer+Frey charger was procured specifically for the Coventry VLR project, it will remain located on BCIMO’s test track and be available for other vehicle projects that require rapid battery charging.”

Nick added that BCIMO will continue to seek technical solutions in other sectors and transfer them into the emerging VLR sector. The BCIMO was set up to oversee the build, launch and operation of the VLRNIC using funding from the European Union Regional Development Fund, Black Country LEP Growth Deal, West Midlands Combined Authority and the UK Government’s Get Building Fund.

station at Ammerbuch-Pfäffingen station (BadenWürttemberg, Germany) on the 15kV national network. Noel explained: “They have branch lines were you can run an electric train, it can have batteries, but they can charge on the main line under normal OLE, but perhaps the train cannot go to the end of the line and back on those batteries, so we use Voltap as a range extender where you can essentially have an isolated section of overhead line that can switch on when the train is there, charge, and then when the train leaves there is a conductor bar that assists its movement.”

This is similar to the moveable conductor bar (Inside Track 8) recently demonstrated by Furrer+Frey in Wellingborough Yard.

There are many other opportunities for the technology to be applied to the railway too; for instance, there are live tenders ongoing in Dublin for the extension of the DART network and these include options for range extension using battery power ahead of the introduction of electrification. Already there is an order for up to 750 Alstom X’trapolis vehicles, of which an initial order for 19 five-car trains has been placed with Alstom.

The charger, vehicle and test track will continue undergoing extensive testing at the Dudley site ahead of the first full VLR test in Coventry.

The batteries fitted to the VLR vehicles are very small, while the weight of a conventional pantograph, which is usually between 150kg and 200kg, would be far too heavy for the design of the VLR vehicle. Instead the theory is to create a lightweight tram or train that does not put too much weight onto the track, and that is the big selling point for VLR. Noel said: “That means you don’t have to divert utility services, so everything that adds weight is really an issue.

“I’ve got really, really small batteries, small for a bus battery, instead they have contact groups on top. We’ve got the opportunity charger and so rather than just charging in the depot, whenever it reaches a certain point where there’s a charger, like a terminus or where the vehicle stops for three or five minutes, an inverted pantograph reaches down and charges for a few minutes and the train goes off.”

He says that the Coventry team is working with the inverted pantograph idea as the city wants to use the same infrastructure for the VLR as it will for buses that will use the same charging equipment. The only difference required will be additional security protocols for the VLR. Noel explained: “When it’s completely autonomous you just cannot have someone hacking into a charger, so rail has to have a slightly higher level of security in the communication protocols than buses do.”

The charger itself will be a half-a-megawatt

Inside Track | August 2022

The pantograph lowers from infrastructure, rather than being carried on the vehicle’s roof

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Image: Furrer+Frey

Breaking convention

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Of these, 13 will be battery-electric multiple units with the remaining six conventional electric multiple units.

A separate tender has been issued for the charging technology, and Noel believes this would be ideal for range extension equipment using similar methods to the VLR system. But that is by no means the only application that could be used in Britain and Ireland. He said: “I live on the Marlow branch and there are no plans to electrify that, but you could charge a train on the main line and run it from Maidenhead to Marlow. Park it at Maidenhead for 10 minutes under electrification and charge it; but for the moment you have a diesel train that sits there with its engine chugging. “

Decarbonising Scotland Noel added: “With batteries you could charge under the wires and then you might need a charge at the other end. There wouldn’t be the need to fully charge the train and it doesn’t need to carry a whole day’s worth of charge; it could be charged on the main line and then receive a small top-up at the other end; I think that is where branch line extenders are really coming into thought.”

Noel maintains that while longer routes need to be electrified in the long term, it is the smaller routes where there isn’t the justification to fund electrification that the use of alternative power, either battery or hydrogen, is beneficial, although he makes the point that it would be useful if battery-powered trains linked with conventional electrification so the batteries could charge.

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There are also possibilities for heavy rail deployment of charging technology

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velopment

Furrer+Frey

He refers to recently announced plans by the Scottish Government for a new fleet of trains that will feature battery technology. “I think the thing for Scotland is that they have an actual plan. They do plan to decarbonise the whole of Scotland, and they have a real plan to deliver that rather than in the UK, which says we’re going to have decarbonised by 2050, but we don’t know how

we’re going to get there or how it will be paid for, whereas Scotland has a real plan and one that really makes things happen that really makes people invest,” Noel said.

“People grow businesses around rolling programmes, so I think that is good for Scotland.

The big difference it makes is it really has reduced costs, their costs for conventional electrification are substantially lower than England’s and doing something regularly, as everyone always says, is more cost effective.”

A long-term plan Noel travels to mainland Europe for work regularly, particularly in Switzerland and Germany. He says the real innovation is a longterm programme for decarbonisation; indeed the week he spoke to Inside Track, the Swiss government announced its electrification plans that will be in place by 2050. “That is real money that people can invest in, and it’s the same in Germany,” he added.

The hope remains that such planning can become reality in the UK, and that schemes such as VLR can play their part in the decarbonisation of the country’s public transport system.

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16/02/2022 12:16

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Building Britain’s Inside Railways Track -|Major August projects 2022

Tu n n e l s

HS2 makes history as ‘Dorothy’ breakthrough marks new milestone

Image: HS2 Ltd.

First bore of one-mile tunnel under Long Itchington Wood completed on Phase One while work continues on new TSS at Euston

The historic breakthrough at Long Itchington

Inside Track | August 2022

Long Itchington Wood and the neighbouring Ufton Wood are a single block of ancient woodland dating from at least 1600AD, however HS2 Ltd says this is only part of the environmental programme and in the Midlands it has already planted more than 340,000 trees and created 62 new habitat sites for wildlife.

The tunnel is designed to preserve the ancient woodland above, which is classified as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and has complex ecosystems that have taken hundreds of years to establish.

is, quite “ This literally, a ground-breaking moment

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nother month means more milestones for HS2 Ltd, with the first tunnelling breakthrough completed on Phase One of the new railway between London and the West Midlands.

Less than two months after construction of the 2.2-mile Colne Valley Viaduct, which is also Britain’s longest railway bridge, began on 31 May and was witnessed by the former HS2 Minister Andrew Stephenson, a 2,000-tonne Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) named Dorothy has completed its one-mile dig under Long Itchington Wood in Warwickshire.

The 125-metre-long TBM was named after Dorothy Hodgkin, who in 1964 became the first British woman to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and began its journey eight months ago at the tunnel’s North Portal in December 2021 before making its breakthrough on 22 July.

The TBM itself was built in Germany by Herrenknecht then disassembled and delivered to site in early 2021 before being reassembled and put to work.

The Long Itchington Tunnel is a one-mile long twin bore tunnel and is part of HS2’s environmental strategy to protect the nature that surrounds the railway.

There are nearly 400 people working for HS2 Ltd’s main works civils contractors Balfour Beatty VINCI (BBV JV) who have delivered the milestone.

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The expert tunnelling team worked around the clock in shifts operating the TBM, which has installed 790 concrete rings, with each ring made from eight two-metre-long segments.

Significant momentum HS2 Ltd CEO Mark Thurston said: “This is a historic moment for the HS2 project, and I’d like to congratulate everyone involved in delivering it. The 400-strong team, including tunnelling engineers, TBM operators and the construction workers at both portal sites, have pulled out all the stops to achieve this fantastic milestone.

“This milestone demonstrates the significant momentum behind Britain’s new zero carbon railway, creating thousands of jobs and apprenticeships, along with hundreds of opportunities for businesses right across the country, helping fuel our economic recovery.”

Trudy Harrison has replaced Andrew Stephenson as HS2 Minister. She said: “This is, quite literally, a ground-breaking moment demonstrating that we are getting on with delivering on our promises and progressing our transformative plans to boost transport, bring communities together and level up the North and Midlands.

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Tu n n e l s

“As Dorothy paves the way for journeys between Birmingham and London, we continue to strive towards delivering a greener, faster and more direct transport network. And as we deliver alongside our record-breaking Integrated Rail Plan, we’re boosting the economy, delivering more than 25,000 jobs.”

Balfour Beatty VINCI managing director Michael Dyke said: “This is a momentous moment, not only for Balfour Beatty VINCI, but for everyone involved in delivering HS2. Thanks to the hard work and dedication of our team, Dorothy has made history, becoming the first TBM to safely and successfully breakthrough along the route. With Dorothy’s journey now concluded, I am looking forward to celebrating even more milestones throughout the rest of the year and beyond, as we continue to help build Europe’s largest infrastructure project.”

There is a 254-metre-long conveyor at the north portal site which takes the excavated material over the Grand Union Canal, and this removes the equivalent of around 30,000 heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) from local roads, thereby also reducing the noise and congestion from the local community as well as cutting carbon.

Repurposed soil

Now, over the next four months, the cutterhead and front section of Dorothy will be dismantled and transferred back to the north portal, while the bulk of the machine will be returned through the tunnel. Once back at the north portal, teams will reassemble the TBM ahead of its launch for the second bore of the tunnel, and this is due to be completed in early 2023.

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We have big ambitions to reduce the impact on local communities wherever possible

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The TBM is being used to create both tunnel bores and, when the task is complete, will have removed around 250,000 cubic metres of mudstone and soil, which is being transported to the on-site slurry treatment plant where the material is separated out before being reused on embankments and landscaping along the route of HS2.

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The final section will become a ‘green tunnel’, which is also known as a cut and cover tunnel.

This is where a soil roof is built around the tunnel entrance to integrate the portal into the natural landscape.

Before construction of the tunnel could begin, a 250,000m 3 excavation of the Long Itchington site, which measures 1km sq, was required. Excavation was completed in layers, with the material transported and deposited locally to create environmental embankments for the main line.

Further tunnels The Long Itchington Tunnel is part of the Midlands section of the Phase One construction, and this also includes another tunnel being constructed by BBV at Bromford, while there are also 100 bridges, 35 viaducts, 36 cuttings and 70 bridge structures on this part of the route.

The conveyor was built by BBV JV and will operate into next year before it is dismantled and rebuilt at Water Orton where it will form part of a 1,200-metre long conveyor, which will remove hundreds more lorries from the roads every day.

Building Britain’s Inside Railways Track -|Major August projects 2022

Euston works Further south, at Euston, work continues on constructing the railway ahead of its planned opening in the window between 2029 and 2033.

To create space for the new Euston station, HS2 Ltd’s station contractor Mace Dragados JV (MDjv) has excavated a 20-metre deep box that will house a new traction sub-station (TSS). A TSS is used to convert electrical power to a form suitable for a rail system and the one at Euston will enable the relocation of equipment needed to provide services and ventilation for the safe operation of London Underground’s Northern line in the area.

HS2 Ltd explained that connecting the new highsecure TSS, which has been dubbed the ‘sugar cube’ because of its white tiled exterior, to the LU network is a 90-metre-long, 6.5-metre wide tunnel that runs under the existing HS2 construction site.

Constructing the tunnel took some 16 months and involved MDJV sinking a 20-metre deep shaft before creating the underground passage and then coating it with a primary sprayed concrete lining (SCL). Once the waterproofing is applied, the MDjv team then reinforced the tunnel with steel and concrete to provide strength and structure needed ahead of the construction of the new station, which will be carried out above.

MDjv, supported by its principal subcontractors Cementation Skanska, Careys and JGL, introduced innovations to improve the environmental credentials of the works.

These included redesigning the tunnel to lower the carbon impact during construction and through a reduction in the material and water used.

Inside Track | August 2022

Inside the TSS tunnel at Euston

There was also a reduction in vehicle movements and a lower energy consumption that resulted in an overall carbon saving of 140 tonnes, while efforts to reuse material already on site resulted in over 1,000 fewer lorry movements and an associated saving of 76 tonnes carbon dioxide from vehicle emissions.

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HS2 will deliver a capacity upgrade to Euston underground station ticket hall as well as a new bus station

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When the conveyor was launched at the end of June 2022, Alan Payne, HS2 Ltd senior project manager, said: “We’re working closely with our supply chain to reduce carbon right across the project and find construction solutions to minimise disruption around our work sites. It’s initiatives like this that will help us achieve our ambitious target of being net zero carbon as a project from 2035, helping to put HS2 at the centre of Britain’s sustainable transport network.”

At the same time, Ed Morgan, senior plant and equipment manager for BBV, said: “As we build Britain’s new railway, we have big ambitions to reduce the impact on local communities wherever possible and to reduce carbon across the project.

Our new conveyor does both. We can now move material from our tunnel boring activity and reuse it at other locations along the route. This will reduce construction traffic and ultimately, help us to contribute to HS2’s carbon targets.

“We’ll continue to embrace innovation and adapt our construction methods to leave a lasting positive legacy on the areas we operate in.”

Image: HS2 Ltd.

Tu n n e l s

Andy Swift, HS2 Ltd Euston project client, said: “Our Euston team has been working hard behind the hoardings at Euston to create the space required for us to build HS2’s new Euston station, as well as a better connected London Underground station. The progress to date has been great, moving the existing underground infrastructure with seamless collaboration between contractors and stakeholders, with a focus on minimising community disruption.”

Throughout the tunnelling works, the shaft has been enclosed by an acoustic shed, designed to reduce noise impact on the community and businesses nearby. This enabled 24-hour working, which was required to meet the demands of the programme.

Rob Williams, senior project manager for the TSS at MDjv, said: “The progress we’ve made at the TSS has been the by-product of fantastic collaborative working between HS2, Mace Dragados, our supply chain partners and critical external stakeholders, including Transport for London (TfL).

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“Our one-team approach has allowed us to build a culture and leverage the expertise needed to deliver this complex and highly constrained project, which is essential for the construction of the new HS2 station at Euston.”

Lorena Naylor, TfL lead sponsor, said: “Our team has been working closely with HS2 on the relocation of our TSS to make space for the new HS2 station at Euston. We are also working with HS2 to ensure the heritage features from the original building, including the oxblood tiles from 1907, are salvaged and re-used at other stations such as Oxford Circus. Alongside the new traction sub-station here, HS2 will deliver a capacity upgrade to Euston underground station ticket hall as well as a new bus station.”

Making connections Tunnelling and excavation is now complete at the site, and the team will now be working to construct the below and above ground structures for the new TSS before fitting it out with the necessary equipment and connecting it to the Northern line.

The building will have three storeys below the ground, and four above.

Once the new structure is completed, the existing TSS on Melton Street will be demolished.

That building was opened in 1907 and was once an entrance and exit to what is now the Northern line and was designed by the architect Leslie Green. Seven years after it opened changes to LU at Euston meant it was no longer required as a ticket office and entrance and was instead used to house ventilation equipment for the Underground system. HS2 Ltd plans to carefully remove some of the ‘iconic features’ and tiles and these will be donated for reuse and heritage displays.

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Advertorial

Celebrating Wi-Fi at stations, and remembering Jimmy King Passengers at rail stations across the country can now receive free, fast and unlimited Wi-Fi thanks to a partnership between Telent, Network Rail and Global Reach Technology

The plaque at Glasgow Central station commemorating the life of Jimmy King

Positive feedback And while Wi-Fi is available on many national trains, it is at London’s busiest railway stations – where passengers waiting for a connection often use the time to send an email or catch up on their social media – that Network Rail has recently rolled out free-to-use Wi-Fi. With the help of

Inside Track | August 2022

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Wi-Fi network has been included that enables staff to access information more quickly on their devices

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n today’s world, always on, omnipresent connectivity is less of a luxury and more of a basic requirement for navigating day-to-day life – and our time spent travelling on the country’s trains, and in between railway stations, is no exception.

Much of customer satisfaction and experience when using the rail system is dependent on the availability of free-to-use Wi-Fi – respondents to surveys asking the question are in near unanimous agreement on the importance of internet connectivity.

critical infrastructure specialist Telent, the project was delivered on time and has received positive feedback from customers.

In total, 19 of Network Rail’s managed stations now benefit from the latest Wi-Fi technology, including Wi-Fi 6. This is being used to future-proof the service, and average download speeds are faster than most home broadband services. Logon is simple, with a single click to connect providing continuous coverage across the entire station.

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The service also features Friendly Wi-Fi to filter illegal or harmful content, keeping children and their families safe online.

Frictionless connectivity In addition to allowing passengers to stay connected while travelling, they can now also receive better support from station staff, especially during times of disruption, as a private Wi-Fi network has been included that enables staff to access information more quickly on their devices.

A Pass point network gives staff secure, frictionless connectivity, which Network Rail says has provided an immediate operational benefit as they connect automatically across the station.

Wi-Fi services were identified as a key priority for passengers in the National Rail Passenger Survey in 2019, prompting Network Rail to embark on a programme to install the required infrastructure to deliver high-quality connectivity to station users.

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Advertorial

A life remembered Sadly, towards the end of the project, a much-loved member of the Telent team, Jimmy King, passed away. Jimmy was well known for his commitment to the company and his positive attitude, which made him a true asset in his role as lead systems engineer.

He will be missed by all those lucky to have worked with him.

A commemorative plaque was unveiled on 12 August at Glasgow Central station. Family, colleagues, friends and members of the First Battalion of the Royal Highland Fusiliers, Jimmy’s old regiment, were all present as Jimmy’s life and career were honoured in his home city.

“Jimmy was an excellent mentor and a true friend.

I greatly enjoyed working with Jimmy, especially on difficult projects in which his expertise and

railbusinessdaily.com

Jimmy was an “excellent mentor and a true friend

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Telent was awarded the contract in September 2019 to design, install, test and commission free public Wi-Fi for passengers at 19 of Network Rail’s managed stations. The company was responsible for all elements of the design, including radio coverage, fibre network, telecoms and civil engineering.

The final switch-on at Reading station marked the completion of the project, which was delivered on time and under the original budget, despite the difficulties of working during the pandemic.

Currently, around 400,000 users each month have been recorded, with excellent feedback about the service from passengers.

quality would shine through. Jimmy would provide encouragement and we would have a few jokes to make the world right,” said one of his colleagues, Igor Chernikov.

“Jimmy was a great man to have on the team. He always made time to speak to you and offer technical advice. He also always had a story to tell from his long and varied career and from his life. He is sorely missed,” said another colleague, Neil McComiskey.

“I only really knew Jimmy for a relatively short time, seven years, compared to a lot of people within Telent and most certainly from his Army days. I can honestly say that he was a perfect gent to work with and we certainly batted a lot of things off each other in the time we worked together.

To some people he was a son, brother, husband, Fusilier, ‘Sir’ and a work colleague, but above all he was our friend and he is sorely missed,” said Andrew Carter, Telent’s manager of radio engineering.

His service with Marconi/Telent was exemplary

and he became known as a ‘radio guru’. A member of the radio engineering team, Jimmy was admired by all those who worked with him, both internally within Telent and with its customers, and he always made time to help anyone who asked for his assistance.

Jimmy was involved in a number of projects during his service. These included the West Coast main line GSM-R rollout, a project dedicated to designing and implementing the new GSM-R service when it was introduced on the WCML. The GSM-R network evaluation was a consultation of current network coverage and, with Jimmy’s passion for documentation, provided 7kg of reports into Network Rail.

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He also played a part in the MCA microwave refresh programme, as part of which the overarching microwave network design for Telent to deliver against was created.

Reference system documentation More recently, Jimmy spearheaded a project to install Wi-Fi into Network Rail stations and led the Telent engineering team. Jimmy led by example and others certainly benefitted from his eye for detail and became better engineers for working with him. Continuing his love of documentation, Jimmy produced the Reference System Design on Wi-Fi for Network Rail Stations (160+ pages) for which Telent received a commendation from Network Rail.

His last project was to see the completion of the Managed Station Wi-Fi Programme at his beloved Glasgow station.

Kind permission for a commemorative plaque was granted by Drew Burns, Glasgow Central station manager. This is the first commemorative plaque ever to be permitted at Glasgow Central, a real testament to the high regard in which Jimmy was held.

So, next time you find yourself at Glasgow station, please pay a visit to Platform 15. There you will be able to read the plaque and remember Jimmy King, whose vision brought reliable, fast and safe Wi-Fi to all passengers at the 19 Network Rail managed stations.

Building Britain’s Inside Railways Track -|Major August projects 2022

Signalling

A reputation based on signalling excellence Signal Solutions’ managing director Andy Knight talks about the training his team deliver to signallers around the world

W

ith more than 25 years’ experience and a passion for helping people improve, the team at Signet Solutions are specialists in delivering railway signalling courses and training programmes to the railway signalling industry.

The business has been trading for more than 20 years, building an excellent reputation not only in Britain but across the world in the signal engineering discipline. The fields of expertise include technical training and development, competence assurance and technical consultancy.

European Railway Traffic Management System (ERTMS) and European Train Control System (ETCS), and the business has worked for many years with manufacturers from other countries, particularly Ansaldo, which is now owned by Hitachi, on developing and understanding the needs surrounding this technology ahead of its deployment in Britain.

Signet Solutions has also undertaken training in other countries on interlocking systems that have subtle differences to Britain, although the business tends to operate at the principal level, which is the control systems and interlockings.

“Under the testing functions, it’s at the level that the people are aspiring to become competent in, because we help them to get the underpinning knowledge and the technical practice in a training environment for them to actually then go out and be mentored and then fully signed off within their organisation,” Andy explained.

Supplier of choice

Dedicated signalling “We now run a basic signalling technology course and a development programme for designers, testers and installation staff, but purely in the signalling discipline, we don’t get involved in any other disciplines,” Andy said.

“We’ve done some of our training for operations

Inside Track | August 2022

staff in Network Rail because some of their operational managers need a slightly wider standard of signal engineering and signalling in general.

We’ve done that as well, but it’s really our core

“

We are not a huge company, but we are very focused and operate a very specialised area of trade

“

The company’s mission statement is simply “to be the supplier of choice for advanced signalling training” and it aims to achieve this by offering excellent value for money, aligning training to meet each customer’s requirements, ensuring that each individual trainee’s needs are met, and only employing fully qualified and competent trainers.

Signet Solutions also specialises in bespoke and private courses for clients and is able to reserve courses exclusively at a date and venue, subject to specific equipment requirements. Courses can also be designed to meet a client’s exact specifications.

Managing director Andy Knight, who joined the business in 2001 and was promoted to his current role in 2003, explains that the company is based in Derby on the Railway Technical Centre (RTC) business park in Kelvin House and was formed after British Rail (BR) was privatised in the mid-1990s. Soon the business was providing a significant amount of consultancy work for the West Coast modernisation project due to its vast experience in testing and testing management.

training that we’ve adapted for them.”

Signet Solutions effectively deals with installation, testing and design maintenance staff and also offers a wide amount of fixed or standard courses. Andy said: “An employer can bring a group of people who are going to support a project in anywhere from 12 months to 18 months’ time as well as people who have developed over a number of years to become signalling designers, principles, testers in charge and principles testers.

“I’ve seen people over a 10, 15 even 20-year period as they develop from a graduate to an assistant engineer, to an engineer, to a principal engineer.”

Training has begun on digital systems including

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Developments As ERTMS and ETCS is refined, so new modules are developed that support training for the systems. But that is not the only technical development in recent times for the business.

During the COVID-19 lockdowns, Signet Solutions was still able to deliver its training through the creation of digital training, which meant that work could be undertaken using Microsoft Teams to deliver training to Australia or other parts of the world.

There are nine trainers at Signet Solutions and the business model is simple. Andy said: “We’ve got a level of work that we can delivery pretty consistently. Work can ramp up when projects start and the number of people who need training are released.

“We are not a huge company, but we are very focused and operate a very specialised area of trade into a very focused market segment.”

Training locations can be a mixture too. “We’ve got a very well-equipped centre in Derby where we’ve got most of the required equipment inside the installation, so we’re not weather specific,” he explained. “We’ve got trackside equipment in rooms, we’ve got interlockings in rooms here, so quite a lot of the courses are based in Derby.

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Delivering railway signalling courses and training programmes to members of the Rail Signalling Industry Specialising in Technical Training and Development Different course types: - ETCS and New Technology - Bespoke Courses - Online Courses available - Signalling Design Courses - Signalling Maintenance Courses - Signalling Testing Courses - Off-site Courses

Want to know more?

Contact us today 01332 343585 enquiries@signet-solutions.com signetsolutions.com

Signalling

“But, because of the UK market, we also visit Network Rail depots, we’ve got people who have offices in various parts of the country.

“We send trainers to people who have been identified for training and conduct this locally.

Eventually they’re able to go out in the field if they’ve got through our course and assessment. In that context, we can say ‘this person is ready to be mentored’, and the client can then sign them off as being competent and give them authority to work.

We don’t do that because we’re not their employer.

We take the trainee through a process to a point that we recommend to their employer.”

Bespoke programmes On average the courses tend to be in two-week blocks, and sometimes Signet Solutions can create a development programme for a particular client.

“I think what we’ve done very well over the past two years is prove ourselves to be very reactive to the situation. I’m pleased with being able to offer more online content. We always say we’re small but we’re global and I think we’ve used this to our advantage; we’ve advanced fairly quickly because we’ve been able to adapt to the situation.

“We’ve looked at the way we can deliver the

Inside Track | August 2022

training and development events and we’ve done that really well over the last couple of years. In a way the business has evolved to operate in the environment we find ourselves in, which I’m really quite proud of.”

This ability has enabled the business to expand into the Asia Pacific and North America regions.

“Now we’re coming out of the lockdown situation, even though it tends to change in various parts of the world, we’re being asked to go and do face-toface training,” Andy added.

But, there remains a mixture and even here in Britain key clients such as Network Rail may still require a week online, however, Andy explains that Signet Solutions has developed a new way of working. “We’ve evolved to a better fit, we’ve proven ourselves to be robust, and we’ve carried on delivering,” he said.

“I’m proud of our people and that we are able to adapt to the client’s needs and that we’re attuned to training to what they need. We deliver it in multiple modes now and we find the best one that suits the client.

“We think we offer value and we add value to the people who come and train. We feel we deliver that consistently, and trading for 25 years tends to say we might be getting one or two things right.”

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IRSE presidency In April this year Signet Solutions managing director Andy Knight became the 98th president of the Institution of Signal Engineers.

Andy says his focus for the presidential year will be ‘Shaping the Future’ and this will be reflected throughout his technical visits and designated influential speakers.

His visits to IRSE sections will include Malaysia, South Africa, Indonesia and Australia.

“The work I do for IRSE is because of my passion,” he said. This passion also drives his work ethic – giving people proper development and proper training.

The IRSE has around 5,000 members across most countries, with significant numbers based in Australia and Asia, the Pacific region, Holland, Ireland, France, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore.

Andy concluded: “My role is about how do we improve the institution; how do we keep sections informed and active? How do we support them with the content?”

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C o o l i n g t h e Tu b e

Cooling the Tube – testing begins for state-of-the-art panels

Image:Luca Marino/TfL

Transport for London trials cutting-edge technology at disused London Underground station to reduce platform and tunnel temperatures

The cooling panels installed at Holborn

Temperature change TfL told Inside Track that it doesn’t have specific figures for temperatures recorded at stations. However, a spokesperson explained: “Temperatures in tunnels and stations can fluctuate depending on the outside temperature as the air brought into tunnels and stations by trains is hotter, as well as the trains being warmer from the outside sections.

Inside Track | August 2022

“

Tests are taking place with the aim of reducing platform and tunnel temperatures on the deep Tube network

“

A

t the end of the week in which the UK sweltered in a record-breaking heatwave, Transport for London (TfL) launched the trial of what it calls a stateof-the-art cooling panel at a disused platform at Holborn station on the London Underground (LU) network.

Tests are taking place with the aim of reducing platform and tunnel temperatures on the deep Tube network with the view to installing them at five stations on the Piccadilly line.

“During winter and autumn, temperatures are higher than outside temperatures as the tunnel walls emit heat absorbed by trains and warmer periods.” The trial finished at the end of July.

The large LU network has a mixture of deep Tube and sub-surface operations. The latter is operated using air-conditioned trains first introduced at the start of the last decade and there are now 192 S-Stock trains covering 40 per cent of the network.

Meanwhile on the deep Tube system, there are enhanced tunnel ventilation systems on both the

62

Victoria and Jubilee lines. However, on older parts of the LU network there are fewer ventilation shafts and that has led TfL to introduce a range of station cooling systems including industrial-sized fans and chiller units that are able to pump in cold air.

Further tactics deployed by TfL to help passengers combat the heat include the installation of water points where customers are able to refill water bottles when travelling, and this is in addition to a network of more than 100 water fountains that have been installed around the capital.

Monitoring conditions During hot weather TfL monitors track temperatures and undertakes an enhanced regime responding to air-conditioning faults while also carrying out regular checks on moving parts of track and crossings. Other measures specific to the railway include having response teams standing by and an enhanced focus on stalled trains and times, crowding and customer advice.

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Better equipped The aim of the new cooling panels is to significantly out-perform the existing platform air handling units that are currently installed at some stations on the deep Tube network. Initial results show that the new cooling panels are much better equipped to operate in the unique conditions of the deep Tube environment.

The cooling panel trial was managed by SRC infrastructure manufactured by Direct Engineering/INAL with OCL group chosen as the multi-disciplinary contractor who carried out the installation at Holborn station.

It works by circulating cold water around pipework within a curved metal structure to chill it. It then circulates air, using an industrial-sized fan, through gaps in the panel’s structure, which in turn is cooled.

The panel could also have the additional benefit of halving operational and maintenance costs, compared to existing technology used to manage temperatures on Tube lines.

Previously it has been challenging to lower temperatures on the deep Tube lines because traditional cooling systems have proven prohibitively expensive and difficult to install within the

A close-up of a cooling panel installed at Holborn

“

The cooling panel aims to provide cooler air to passengers waiting on platforms as well as mitigating potential temperature increases

“

The cooling panel aims to provide cooler air to passengers waiting on platforms as well as mitigating potential temperature increases associated with operating an increased number of trains on the Piccadilly line as part of the line’s future capacity upgrade. A TfL spokesperson said: “These higher service levels will consume more energy and lead to higher temperatures.

The installation of new heat exchanger systems is therefore planned as part of the Piccadilly line upgrade to remove the excess heat and maintain platform and tunnel temperatures at an acceptable level.”

The line is also the first of the deep Tube lines that will receive new-build trains from Siemens, and these are due to begin carrying passengers in 2025.

Image:Luca Marino/TfL

C o o l i n g t h e Tu b e

120-year-old tunnels and stations. However, recent tests on a prototype cooling panel in a laboratory environment found temperatures were reduced by 10-15 degrees in the vicinity of the panel. TfL is now keen to see if this can be replicated on the disused platform at Holborn, which mimics the live environment that these panels would operate in.

Any installation remains the subject of funding and effectiveness of the equipment.

The trial is part of the government’s TIES Living Lab programme (Inside Track 7), which is a collaboration of 25 partners focusing on 10 infrastructure, data research and digital demonstrator projects, of which the cooling panels are one, and which is funded in the main by the

Department for Transport (DfT) and Innovate UK. For this project, the DfT and Innovate UK provided some 70 per cent of the costs.

Although initially TfL is investigating the possibility of installing the cooling panels on the Piccadilly line, there could be further opportunities to install them on the Bakerloo, Central, Jubilee, Northern, Victoria and Waterloo & City lines as well.

Further testing The convection cooling system has been designed

by TfL and developed by SRC Infrastructure, which also managed its build.

Following the trial at Holborn station, which was completed at the end of July, and subject to further funding being made available, TfL will explore the implementation of the panels at other deep Tube line stations in the future.

TfL says that further testing will have to take place in a station open to passengers (Knightsbridge) before it can look to potentially introduce them at a further four stations on the Piccadilly line – Green Park, Holborn, Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus.

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Financial and medical benefits, a wide range of complementary and alternative therapies, bereavement grants and welfare advice available in times of need, hardship and distress.

£1.25 a week covers you, your live-in partner and dependent children.

Apply online today!

Transport Benevolent Fund CIO, known as TBF, is a registered charity in England and Wales, 1160901, and Scotland, SC047016.

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Building Britain’s Inside Railways Track -|Major August projects 2022

C o o l i n g t h e Tu b e

Modelling by TfL suggests that these stations (and Knightsbridge) would require cooling to mitigate temperate increases associated with the increased frequency from 33 trains per hour to 36.

TfL says the Knightsbridge trial will be dependent on the results from the trial at Holborn as well as whether funding can be sourced. A second fan will be tested at another disused station, Mark Lane, to see how the grills operate in a dusty environment for six to 12 months, and after that, dependent on its success, the panels will be trialled at Knightsbridge.

said that without assurances of long-term investment services will be cut and improvements, such as the deep Tube upgrade, will be affected accordingly.

Funding has often been provided in six-month periods with short extensions and despite the most recent deals expiring, as this issue of Inside Track went to press, talks were continuing between the DfT and TfL over the latter’s long-term funding.

Image: Shutterstock

TfL could then identify other locations where the panels could make a difference for passengers.

However, it admits that continuing the trial would ultimately be subject to there being sufficient long-term capital funding available. This is currently an ongoing political issue, with TfL’s finances affected considerably by the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw its income collapse following the introduction of lockdown and the subsequent government advice not to travel.

Unlike other major cities across the world, TfL relies on revenue from income generated by fares rather than government subsidy, with more than 70 per cent of funding received that way.

That collapsed in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic. The government has provided around £5 billion in support, but there has been a political battle between the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and Secretary of State for transport Grant Shapps, with the latter wanting TfL to further reduce costs, while the Mayor points out that the funding mechanism was put in place by the outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson when he was Mayor. TfL has

Image: OCL

Capital funding

There are currently 24 trains per hour on the Piccadilly line, but this could rise to 36 trains per hour in the future

Inside Track | August 2022

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TfL claims that without long-term sustained investment from government, only projects already under way or those required to be compliant with safety and other statutory regulations will continue – meaning no new investment by TfL at all in the transport network. Should testing prove successful and funding is approved then TfL plans to identify other locations to install the panels.

The Piccadilly line was chosen for the trial because the frequency will increase from the current 24 trains per hour to 27 once the new air-conditioned Siemens Inspiro trains enter traffic. This frequency uplift means that there will be a train every 135 seconds at the busiest period and represents a 23 per cent increase in peak service.

The upgrade also includes plans for a line-wide resignalling scheme that will enable TfL to further increase capacity on the Piccadilly line to 33 trains per hour before a further increase to 36; and it’s at that point the additional cooling at five stations will be required according to TfL modelling. But TfL points out that the resignalling scheme is currently unfunded.

Paul Judge, TfL project director for the Piccadilly line upgrade, said: “This new technology could play an important role in ensuring we are doing everything we can to protect TfL’s network against future temperature increases, helping to keep staff and customers safe and comfortable.

railbusinessdaily.com

Image: Luca Marino/TfL

C o o l i n g t h e Tu b e

A thermal image of the cooling panel

“The TIES Living Lab project has given us a great collaborative platform for sharing innovative ideas, data and good practice with a range of suppliers. The cooling panel project is supporting the Piccadilly line upgrade, which will see new state-of-the-art trains with more

space, air-conditioning, walk-through carriages and improved accessibility running at greater frequencies on the line.

“By seeking innovative solutions to cool platforms on the deep Tube network, we will be able to support future Piccadilly line train frequency

increases with the possibility that the technology could be used on other Underground lines.”

TfL says that the combination of the current fleet size, which is limited to 86 trains dating from 1974 to 1977, and the current signalling systems restrict frequency to 24 trains per hour during peak periods.

Siemens is building an initial fleet of 94 trains but, subject to securing long-term funding from the DfT, the fleet size would be increased to 101 trains enabling 33 trains per hour to operate.

A new signalling system would be designed to enable further timetable enhancements allowing a maximum of 36 trains per hour, which is the level the Victoria line currently operates at. This requires a further eight new trains but means an additional 21,000 passengers could use the Piccadilly line every hour during peak periods.

There are a further three TfL demonstrator projects included in the TIES Living Lab programme: the cooling panels project, a new generic template for signalling equipment rooms, and the digitalisation of cable route management systems. More information on the TIES Living Lab programme is available here: tieslivinglab.co.uk

Levelling up and cooling down T

he temperature on the London Underground has significantly increased over the years – in fact, it was once considered a place to cool down in London!

With the Piccadilly Line Upgrade bringing more passengers and trains to the network, SRC Infrastructure was responsible for the development and proving of a new approach to cooling the Tube network.

Through innovative engineering design, SRC developed and tested a more efficient, cost-effective and sustainable solution to cooling the Tube that could potentially be rolled out throughout the underground network.

SRC used a manufacturer from Chesterfield to produce the cooling panels, levelling up the manufacturing industry in the North of the UK by introducing this new and innovative technology. railbusinessdaily.com

Anthony Adamson, portfolio delivery manager at SRC Infrastructure, said: “After years of being a Londoner and commuting on the Tube, I am delighted to be part of this brand-new tech solution designed to cool the airflow on platforms which will vastly improving the travel experience for passengers like me.”

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SRC infrastructure supports both public and private sector clients throughout the UK by offering bespoke advisory, consultancy and managed services from engineering to project management.

As the company approaches its 20th anniversary in the coming months, it is expanding and diversifying quicker than ever,

working on many exciting projects like this in the rail industry.

Having recently launched a new website, SRC is also focusing on growing its digital presence – it is very active on LinkedIn, which it uses as a platform to provide an insight into the projects it is working on, the company’s culture and available vacancies. SRC is constantly looking for ambitious individuals to join its team and work on similar, innovative projects, so anyone interested in finding out more about SRC and keeping up to date with its projects should follow it on LinkedIn!

Building Britain’s Inside Railways Track -|Major August projects 2022

Tr a c k

Driving railway innovation William Mainwaring, CEO of Sicut Enterprises Limited, discusses how an innovative sleeper made from recycled plastics reinforced with glass fibre can help improve performance, reduces cost and improves sustainability within the track infrastructure

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fter key priorities for safety and performance, for its next budgetary control period, the UK’s rail regulator, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), has charged Network Rail with delivering asset sustainability as its third priority. The ORR demands that “assets must be planned and managed to deliver their greatest value over the course of their operational lives”.

This ORR priority, combined with a separate commitment made by Network Rail to the Department for Transport to deliver against PAS 2080:2016 and its Environmental Sustainability Strategy, offers a significant opportunity to embrace new products and materials. Carbon modelling of the track infrastructure has shown that sleepers offer the best potential for immediate impact.

This drive for value and sustainability represents a golden opportunity for Sicut Enterprises, whose proven railway sleeper technologies utilise recycled plastics to turn today’s waste into tomorrow’s track infrastructure.

Outstanding value

Inside Track | August 2022

part of Network Rail Product Acceptance (PA); for the latter some 6,000 sleepers have been installed since Sicut secured a framework supply agreement in 2020. Full Network Rail PA was granted earlier this year and the Sicut sleepers are now the preferred alternative to softwood and hardwood sleepers for Cat 2 – 6 plain line track and in tunnels.

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Sicut’s technology is extensively proven in both the laboratory and track to international, European and US standard

“

By turning waste plastic into a railway sleeper, which unlike other sleeper material does not degrade under load or in the environment over an extremely long service life, the Sicut Composite Sleeper represents both outstanding value and the lowest embodied carbon.

To deliver these benefits, sleepers made from recycled plastic must of course deliver the required performance and safety in track and for a very long time, and like other new and safety critical components this takes time to evaluate. Sicut has spent the past 10 years successfully testing and proving its products within the European track infrastructure, building on two decades of experience in North America on both heavy haul and transit networks.

As a result Sicut’s technology is extensively proven in both the laboratory and track to international, European and US standards, and has also been independently tested in according with ISO 12856:2020; EN 13481; EN 13146 standard including approximately 50 years of simulated track testing in the laboratory.

Full Network Rail DfR, CSM, HAZID and RAM assessment processes have been followed as

As well as being the only recycled plastic composite sleeper to secure PA from Network Rail, Sicut Composite Sleepers have also been granted an EBA General ‘Licence and Deutsche Bahn (DB) approval, following a five-year

66

laboratory and DB track trial process in Germany and Swedish Transport Authority approval after a five-year track trail programme with Trafikverket.

As a result, Sicut Sleepers have also now been successfully installed with a wide range other European mainline infrastructure operators including ADIF (Spain), OBB (Austria), Infrabel (Belgium) and ProRail (Netherlands). The Sicut composite sleepers and bearers are also widely approved in the public transport sector, eg London Underground, the DLR, Hamburg Hochbahn, Rhinebahn, SL Stockholm and many more. Indeed, Sicut composite sleepers are now in use in more than 20 countries across the globe.

Other advantages Track managers and asset owners report several advantages of the Sicut sleeper, including ease of use, increased durability and ability to withstand poorer track bed/wetter/dirtier ballast conditions without failure and improved manual handling due to them being lightweight and requiring no creosote.

railbusinessdaily.com

Tr a c k

Network Rail banned the use of creosote last year. Creosote was classified as a Category C.B carcinogen by the European Chemicals Agency (as well as a persistent, bio accumulative and toxic substance and for health and safety and environmental reasons).

Other advantages reported include that they are ideal for spot replacement with softwood and hardwood sleepers for track refurbishment, that a standard sleeper can be used for all baseplate designs including guard/check rail baseplates, with a fastclip option too, and that there are no risks associated with electrical conductivity including for use with third rail, signalling and E&P. Further advantages include that they can be short ended and even chamfered on or off site. Due to site constraints in the King’s Cross Gasworks Tunnel project, completed by Network Rail in 2021, Sicut sleepers were shortened and chamfered before being built into panels for installation in the tunnels. As a result of this project, and a subsequent review of performance, the Sicut sleeper is now Network Rail’s preferred option in tunnels, where timber had previously been the only option. The use of pre-fabrication for faster, lower risk installation combined with the reduced risk of sleeper damage during handling, transport and installation and greater resistance to tamper damage during installation and maintenance, are also seen as benefits on the trackside.

Lack of material degradation Analysis has shown that the long service life of the Sicut sleeper leads to a reduction in disruptive possession, due to increased time between renewals, which increases capacity and improves safety. The lack of material degradation over time also leads to minimum maintenance through life and reduced maintenance interventions; base plate shuffle and spike hole elongation, common in wood sleepers, are now a thing of the past.

Network Rail’s whole life cost benefit analysis, using 2019 pre-pandemic unit rates, comparing the Sicut sleeper with hardwood calculated an annual saving of £40 to £57 per sleeper installed over a 50-year asset life, which equates to £2,000 to £2,850 per sleeper or up to £4.4 million per kilometre – very much in accordance with the ORR priorities. Due to higher installation unit rates, a similar study by Transport for London in 2016 identified savings of over £3,500 per sleeper. Saving for S&C bearers are even higher.

Significant savings were also calculated when compared to concrete sleepers and bearers.

While performance and quality always come first, sustainability remains at the core of Sicut’s philosophy.

railbusinessdaily.com

Against environmental and sustainability targets, such as those governed by PAS2080:2016, independent analysis has shown that using Sicut sleepers in place of traditional hardwood or concrete sleepers can offer a substantial reduction in whole-life embedded carbon of as much as 1,200 tonnes CO₂e per km. and these GWP calculations do no capture other environmental savings such as land and water use these saving that can be delivered today without any further research and development.

Sicut highlights that, assuming a rate of 650mm sleeper spacing, there would be a need for eight deliveries of 200 sleepers for the composite product compared to 24 deliveries of 65 sleepers for concrete per kilometre. This results in a reduced transport and logistics burden for customers, improving value, reducing risk and further reducing CO2e. Having a lower profile than a concrete sleeper might also result in up to 400 tonnes less crib ballast per km during installation, which further reduces carbon and increases value.

Even at the end of their life, Sicut has been able to demonstrate that its products can all be either re-used (in track or other infrastructure applications) or recovered and returned to the manufacturer for 100 per cent recycling into new products. Sicut believes that in so doing it delivers a circular economy that actually works, and unlike more commonly promoted circularity models, such as ‘bottle to bottle’, material entering the Sicut cycle is then locked away in an effective application for decades rather than days or weeks, before finding its way back into

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the recycling chain and keeping the plastic out of landfill and oceans indefinitely.

A positive impact Noting the challenge faced with plastic recycling globally, using Sicut composite sleepers creates an effective use of more than 125 tonnes of waste plastic, which is the equivalent of around six million waste plastic bottles, per kilometre. Network Rail alone owns and operates 32,000km of track.

Hence, with the enormous volume of railway sleepers replaced around the world annually this means that a meaningful impact can be made to plastic waste proliferation, and quickly.

Furthermore, using recycled plastic railway sleepers instead of hardwood, still common on most networks, enables track asset owners to help with global targets to reverse deforestation signed up to at COP26. For context, the average life of a hardwood sleeper in track is now less than 20 years and, in some cases, less than 10 years, yet the time it takes for tropical hardwood to grow to maturity is much greater than 100 years. The continued use of hardwood timber within the track infrastructure is simply not sustainable.

For the UK and European market Sicut manufactures its sleepers and S&C bearers in Middlesbrough, in the heart of the UK’s Northern Powerhouse. It also has a manufacturing facility in Kansas, USA, for supply to the North American market and is developing plans for new facilities in Australia and mainland Europe over the coming years. Its aim is to use local waste to supply local markets.

Building Britain’s Inside Railways Track -|Major August projects 2022

Dublin Metrolink

Major MetroLink Project to go before planning board

Image: Irish government

Patrick Clipperton reports on an exciting plan to help improve connectivity in Dublin through the introduction of a long-planned project

Tara Street

T

he Irish Minister for Transport Eamonn Ryan has recently confirmed that the Dublin MetroLink Project will be placed before the Irish Planning Board – An Bord Pleanála – in September this year.

This will be achieved via a Railway Order (planning) Application for the next steps of the project, which itself was first mooted more than 20 years ago. The Preliminary Business Case was presented to the Irish Cabinet following preparations made by the National Transport Agency (NTA) and Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) with expertise and support from Jacobs/ IDOM, the appointed specialist consultants.

The project itself has a history dating back to 2001 when new Metro lines were envisaged in a report by the then Dublin Transport office (now the NTA). In 2005, two joint venture competitors were shortlisted to deliver the Dublin North project, as it was termed at that time; however, the plan was shelved due primarily due to the subsequent recession.

In March 2018 the NTA announced a revised Emerging Preferred Route plan for the project, which by now had been re-branded MetroLink in place of the Metro North Railway, with a consultation invitation to all interested and competent companies – civil works companies,

Inside Track | August 2022

joint ventures, train builders, small/medium sized suppliers, and equipment specialist solution suppliers, to join a project consultation session to learn of the overall project requirement, the envisaged time plan, the potential or preferred

technical solutions for the planned route, including tunnels and all stations, the rolling stock requirement, the potential vehicle control solution and other system support solutions including power and monitoring and management.

The planned stations with brief additional detail: Station

Station-type

Estuary (P & R)

At grade

Seatown

Elevated

Swords Central

Elevated

Fosterstown Plaza

Elevated and at grade

Dublin Airport

Underground

Dardistown

At grade

Northwood West

Underground

Ballymun Village

Underground

Collins Avenue (DCU) Underground

Underground

Griffith Park West

Underground

Glasnevin

Underground – IR

Mater Hospital

Underground

O’Connell Street

Underground – Luas

Tara Street

Underground – IR, Luas, DART

St Stephens Green

Underground – Luas

Charlemont

Underground – Luas

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railbusinessdaily.com

Dublin Metrolink

Locally what followed was the establishment of a series of public consultations, set up to encourage and engage local authorities, interested organisations, local agencies, and the population in general to appreciate the overall plan, the target locations, the work required and the project’s potential impact, and to receive comments and observations on the project.

The 2018 consultation produced a further consultation in 2019 termed Preferred Route, assessed in detail by Jacobs/IDOM to evaluate the concerns raised in the public consultations.

A further separate detailed consultation took place during April and May 2020 regarding Albert College Park Tunnel Intervention Shaft.

The fully segregated MetroLink route will run for 19.4km (12 miles) with 16 new stations of which 11 stations will be constructed underground. The estimated number of trains required has been suggested as 40, and these would be delivered in six-coach formations measuring 60 metres in length, with end and central door evacuation design. The train fleet would be powered by the overhead line electrification (OLE). A single tunnel design will be adopted for the below ground construction.

When operations commence, the service plan

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is expected to have trains every three minutes during the peak periods and is targeted to increase the frequency to 90 seconds by 2060, with the route carrying almost 20,000 passengers per hour in either direction. The train control solution is expected to be a fully automated, Communications-based Train Control (CBTC) driverless solution, running in the single bore tunnel and offering an end-to-end journey time of only 25 minutes. The new stations will also feature platform screen doors.

The supply/work packages have initially been identified as: M101 Enabling and advance works; M405 Permanent way and OLE; M420 Power distribution; M421 Communications; M460 Automated fare collection; M500 Rolling stock and operations (PPP): 1- Rolling stock and depot and OCC fitout 2- Signalling and platform screen doors 3- Operations and maintenance.

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The civil works packages may still need to be identified and quantified to match the new route length from Estuary to Charlemont, compared to the original dream of Estuary to Sandford.

Early project cost projections suggested a total of €3 billion. Most recent estimations suggest a range from €7.16 billion to €12.25 billion. A median indicative capital delivery cost of €9.5 billion is estimated. One quarter of the cost is to be financed

by Public Private Partnership (PPP) while three quarters of the cost is to be financed through the Exchequer. Much will depend on the efficiency of the planning process and the procurement process.

Transition opportunities Analysis of the expected costs and benefits of the MetroLink project will deliver benefits approaching €13.7 billion over a 60-year period, which well exceeds the expected project costs.

The key reasons driving the MetroLink project are to address and provide greater transition opportunities and hugely improved transport integration opportunities across Dublin and its growing population, with areas such as Swords, Ballymun, Glasnevin and Fingal all seeing their populations growing rapidly.

Building Britain’s Inside Railways Track -|Major August projects 2022

S econd half 2023: Commencement of procurement process.

2025: Construction commencing. arly 2030: Commencement of passenger E traffic.

The MetroLink project is described by the Minister as: “A once-in-a-generation project that is going to massively transform the public transport system in our capital lifetime.

“This project in various guises has been on the table now for two decades, but the government’s decision on the MetroLink Preliminary Business Case marks a significant milestone. Now this exciting transport megaproject starts to become a reality. We are giving the green light to a transport system that will be integral to the city and the country’s sustainable development in this century, and into the next.

“MetroLink is hardwired to our climate ambitions. It will provide over 1 billion carbon neutral, fully electrified passenger trips by 2050.

Over 175,000 people and 250,000 jobs will be accessible to the stations by foot alone. By interchanging with other public transport systems such as DART and Luas, MetroLink connects to more than a million people in the Dublin area, and more across Ireland,” he added.

Inside Track | August 2022

Glasnevin

“

MetroLink connects to more than a million people in the Dublin area, and more across Ireland

“

The MetroLink project will also provide improved access for this increase in population through the introduction of better transport links to employment and business opportunities and access to educational, leisure and health facilities.

However, the key feature will be the full integration with existing transport services including Iarnrod Eireann (IE) main line rail, the Dublin Area Rapid Transit (DART) and DART+ services, the Luas tram services and the bus and BusConnect services.

Any new transport solutions will certainly be designed to address the changing environmental and climatic conditions and MetroLink is clearly expected to be carbon neutral thus improving the quality of the urban environment, supporting the expected shift from private cars to more sustainable travel and thus support the government’s policy drive to decarbonise the transport sector.

The government’s plan is to provide a frequent, safe, sustainable alternative to the use of private cars and to deliver a substantial benefit to the Irish economy by encouraging people to use public transport.

Continuity for the progress of the MetroLink project itself is now essential in order for the timeline to be maintained.

Currently this timeline is foreseen as: S eptember 2022: Submission to An Bord Pleanála.

Image: Irish government

Dublin Metrolink

Chief executive of the NTA Anne Graham said: “MetroLink is about providing a frequent, reliable and sustainable alternative as part of an integrated system that can be used to encourage people from their cars and onto public transport.”

As can be realised, expectations and excitement will be rising in the supply industry following the COVID-19 pandemic, which created delays of more than two years, with companies preparing for the various work and supply packages of the MetroLink Project, looking at potential partnering opportunities, solidifying existing working agreements and examining the opportunity for hugely increasing local content now the submission to the An Bord Pleanála is imminent.

Such is its importance, MetroLink is listed as one of the strategic investment priorities in the National Development Plan (NDP) 2021-203 and is aligned with the Climate Action Plan 2021.

Metrolink in numbers

16 100 million 250,000

stations

passengers per annum by 2060

15,000

peak passenger demand for MetroLink per direction, per hour, by 2060

jobs within easy reach of the route

20 €13.7 billion

trains operating each way initially

benefits to the economy over 60 years

€9.5 billion 175,000 credible cost estimate

growing population within easy walking distance of the route

19.4

kilometres in length

Source: Irish government

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4LM

4LM modernisation programme on track for success

Image: Shutterstock

The world’s largest signalling upgrade aims to modernise the four sub-surface lines of the London Underground and involves resignalling, replacing old points and crossings, and introducing new rolling stock

There were 192 trains ordered as part of the 4LM project

Indeed, parts of the railway are now almost 160 years old and were designed for original train lengths, meaning considerable infrastructure work was required to accommodate the new fleet, and depot adaptations are ongoing.

“

Between March 2019 and March 2022, CBTC was successfully installed in six of the 14 migration areas

“

D

ubbed ‘the world’s largest signalling upgrade’, 4LM is a hugely complex programme to modernise the four sub-surface lines (SSL) of the London Underground: Circle, District, Hammersmith & City, and Metropolitan.

It involves the resignalling of these lines using communications-based train control (CBTC), the replacement of old points and crossings, and the introduction of new rolling stock – all with a view to reducing journey times, increasing train frequency and improving reliability and the passenger experience.

Reliable performance The rollout of the new air-conditioned rolling stock was completed in 2018, which provided a very real customer benefit. Since 2015 the focus has been on the rollout of CBTC. With the Circle line complete, customers are now starting to experience journey time and reliability improvements.

Chris Hobden, Transport for London (TfL) 4LM project director, joined the programme in 2009.

Speaking to Inside Track, he outlined his team’s achievements to date, including the introduction of a new fleet of 192 trains, which he says are performing reliably.

These modern air-conditioned S-Stock trains are longer than their predecessors, making adaptations to both depots and infrastructure necessary.

Inside Track | August 2022

With the new trains now in service, work has begun to install CBTC across all four lines, which are divided into 14 migration areas. An alternative to traditional signalling systems, CBTC pinpoints a train’s position more accurately, improving safety and efficiency, and allowing it to run in Automatic Train Operation (ATO). Thales was tasked with delivering this signalling and control upgrade after a series of re-tenders.

Between March 2019 and March 2022, CBTC was successfully installed in six of the 14 migration areas, and all legacy signals removed or ‘bagged’.

“We’ve got CBTC in operation in the core area, which means we have completed the Circle line,” said Chris.

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This migration process has not been without challenges, and data communication system issues caused an initial spike in poor reliability.

Recalling the introduction of CBTC in migration area point five, Chris explained: “The performance was far better than anyone expected. When we moved into areas one and two, and for a couple of months, it was pretty good.”

Addressing issues However, a range of issues followed, with trains unexpectedly failing to communicate. “If a train is going through Finchley Road and loses communication, it’s very difficult operationally,” Chris said. “You’ve then got to take it out of service and drive it at about 5mph to Neasden depot. And when that happens in the peak, it’s exceedingly disruptive.”

Thankfully, the 4LM team were able to address these issues and they have not reoccurred on the same scale since, with spikes in poor reliability after each introduction usually lasting around a week.

“When you have a novel product, you tend to have some bedding in issues,” Chris added.

He stresses that the process of introducing CBTC is a complex one, involving a range of moving parts.

“As each migration area comes in, it’s not just about the technical delivery of a project at that stage,” he said. “It’s a system of people and process and the technology.”

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4LM

4LM migration areas Chesham

SMA 13

Chalfont & Latimer

Amersham

Watford

Chorleywood Rickmansworth

Croxley

Moor Park Ruislip Ruislip Northwood Manor Northwood Hills Pinner Eastcote Ickenham North Harrow Ruislip

Uxbridge Hillingdon

West Harrow

Harrowon-the-Hill

SMA 9 Northwick Park

Upminster Upminster Bridge Preston Road

7

Rayners Lane

Wembley Park

SM

South Harrow

Hornchurch

Neasden

SM A

SMA 14

Elm Park

Dagenham East

A 8

Sudbury Hill

Becontree

Finchley Road Marlborough Rd (Disused) Lords (Disused) Great Edgware Baker Portland Road Street Street

Swiss Cottage (Disused)

Paddington Royal Oak

Paddington

North Ealing

King’s Cross

Bayswater

SMA 3

Barbican

Ladbroke Grove

Moorgate

Latimer Road

Liverpool Street

Notting Hill Gate

SMA 0.5

SMA 11 South Ealing

Ealing Common Acton Town

Northfeilds

SMA 10

Hammersmith

Chiswick Park

West Ham

Aldgate East Aldgate

Shepherd’s Bush Market Goldhawk Road

High Street Kensington

Kensington (Olympia) West Kensington

Mansion House

SMA 5

Cannon Street Blackfriars

Gloucester Road

Turnham Stamford Ravenscourt Barons Brook Park Green Court

Earl’s Court

Gunnersbury

West Brompton Fulham Broadway

Kew Gardens

Mile End

East Ham Upton Park

Whitechapel

Wood Lane Ealing Broadway

Stepney Green

Bromleyby-Bow

Upney

Plaistow

Bow Road

Farringdon

SM A

Westbourne Park

1

Park Royal

Euston Square

SMA 2

6

Alperton

Barking

SM A

Sudbury Town

Dagenham Heathway

South Kensington

SMA 4 Sloane Victoria St.James’s Square Park

Monument Tower Hill

Temple

Embankment Westminster

Parsons Green

SMA 12

Richmond

Putney Bridge East Putney Southfields Wimbledon Park Wimbledon

Working in collaboration Chris and his team worked closely with Thales, which fitted equipment in the signalling rooms, and carried out their own civil and asset installation.

Inside Track | August 2022

Collaboration – often between past and current contractors – is crucial to the project’s success. As part of the CBTC rollout, passenger and engineering trains alike were fitted with new signalling equipment – a process requiring the involvement of the contractor, Bombardier, previously responsible for signalling.

“

We had to have EV Superhighway in and working. It is in and it is working

“

Reliability is carefully monitored by the project team, and their upgrades have already delivered tangible benefits. In September 2021 there was a runtime timetable improvement, shortening the journey time along the north side of the Circle line.

A similar improvement will be achieved on the south side of the Circle line this September.

These benefits have been delivered by the new CBTC, which reduces headway without compromising safety margins.

New infrastructure has been rolled out to support the CBTC systems – most notably, 46 signalling equipment rooms, or ‘mini data centres’, which were provided by London Underground. Around 300 square metres in size, each secure facility features dual power supply, and security and environmental control. TfL has also provided the primary cable route management system.

“You’d expect there to be 150km of cable route management,” said Chris. “By the time you’ve crisscrossed the railway, provide a level of redundancy, and woven your way around all the existing infrastructure, it’s worked out to be about 235km of cable route, all of that installed in engineering hours.”

S-Stock trains were sent to Derby Litchurch Lane where Thales, in collaboration with Bombardier, installed signalling equipment on board the trains.

There was a concern that this could create reliability issues due to the invasive nature of the works, but that proved not to be the case. “All three parties sat down and agreed to work together. They did and it went well,” explained Chris. This work was invasive and involved stripping the trains and re-assembling them once the equipment had been fitted.

TfL successfully handled the fitment of its older engineering vehicles, employing a team to strip down and reassemble them.

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The Vehicle Control Centre (VCC) software for engineering vehicles (EV) proved challenging.

“We originally wanted something called EV Superhighway, which was to allow trains to run in among passenger services without impacting the timetable,” Chris said.

“We wanted that for SMA2. We got the ability to run EVs in test closures around then, but we deferred EV Superhighway until SMA5.”

While the team could work around their track programme in earlier migration areas, the complexity of Earls Court’s geography meant that EV Superhighway was essential in SMA5.

Passenger service “We had to have EV Superhighway in and working. It is in and it is working,” Chris added.

“We now have to make sure it stays working with every migration area that we proceed on to next.”

Ultimately, Chris and his team prioritise passenger service, with EVs often the last to be tested in a new migration area.

“The railway exists for our customers and so the priority must be to get the passenger service reliable,” he said. “We need EVs to be reliable because they can’t do the maintenance [if they’re not] and because if they’re running in customer service hours, they could disrupt that as well.”

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4LM

The Hammersmith control room opened in 2018

Robust simulations Running alongside these physical tests is an operational simulator, known as an ‘Opsim’.

“Opsim has become robust and helpful, because we can really test the functionality on there quite satisfactorily,” Chris said.

“But you still need to do the tests on the ground to get the physical attributes all checked out. And all of that creates an assurance pyramid that gives the ability to sign off.”

The sign-off process itself is similarly rigorous, involving a safety letter from Thales, and approval from an independent Safety System Review Panel.

Only when these steps have been completed can consent to operate be given.

This technical sign-off process runs in tandem with an operational countdown. “From a business point of view, we run a series of ‘T-minus’ countdown reviews, which asks is the business ready to receive this? Are the operators trained and the briefings in place? Is everything coming through at the right point in time?” Chris said. “Then you’ve literally come up to the ‘Go Live’ weekend with your technical sign-off and your business acceptance.”

Inside Track | August 2022

When systems have been signed off and the business acceptance received, trains can begin to run. The first journey is made without passengers; if it goes smoothly then a ‘soft start’ with passengers takes place. Chris added: “That soft start helps us all get a little bit bedded in. But from Monday morning, it’s the full morning peak.”

“

The systems did work, and we did run a train through those steps in a very controlled way

“

For the 4LM team, guaranteeing both reliability and safety is key. Once installed, systems undergo a battery of tests, including Post Installation Checkout Testing (PICO) and Local Correspondence Testing (LCT). Finally, system tests can take place, usually over the course of a 54-hour weekend closure.

“We probably had 17 closures for the first area,” Chris explained. “We’re now down to far lower numbers and need to improve that further.”

For the 4LM team, a successful launch is one that goes largely unremarked upon by rail users.

“If we deliver this and no one notices, we’ve had success,” he said.

Having successfully installed CBTC in the programme’s core area, Chris and his team are now focusing on the east end of the District line, known as SMA6 and SMA7. TfL runs side by side with Network Rail through this migration area but has managed to minimise any disruption. “We do run parallel to Network Rail and so you’ve got the high voltage overhead lines,” Chris explained. “You’ve also got very different access arrangements, for example, we’ve tried to avoid putting any infrastructure on Network Rail land, because that generates PTS (personal track safety) training.” The team has also had to contend with cable fires and theft in this migration area.

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Indeed, every section presents a unique challenge, making it impossible for them to take what Chris terms a ‘cookie cutter’ approach. In SMA8, integrating different software is proving particularly complex.

“At SMA8, we’ve got the interaction between the Thales Jubilee line software and the Thales depot software,” Chris explained. “One was developed in Canada, one was developed in Portugal, and ours was developed in Canada too, but has to interface with those systems.

Ambitious results “There are subtle differences, given the years that they’ve been in service, and you’ve got points where the train needs to travel through shared areas with overlapping control. That whole level of control integration is a real challenge.”

Despite the complexity of the interface, initial tests have yielded positive results. “10 July was the first time that we saw those three systems actually work together, and that’s a relief,” Chris added. “It took us most of a Saturday to go over the system and set it to work, because we had quite a lot of teething issues.

But the systems did work, and we did run a train through those steps in a very controlled way, so that’s positive.”

While 4LM’s ambitious programme continues to progress, resignalling works are now running around three-and-a-half years behind schedule – largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As lockdown measures came into force in March 2020, all construction activity was put on hold, freeing up trains for essential workers.

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He attributed this success to strong teamwork, adding: “We were blessed with a very competent team, a team who absolutely knew each other before the pandemic, and were determined to make this work with a common goal.”

TfL’s current forecast suggests that signalling upgrades will be completed between spring and autumn 2025.

The pandemic caused a significant drop in revenue for TfL, which has warned that without government support, service cuts and delays to work may be necessary. Discussions between TfL and the Department for Transport are ongoing, after the government’s latest funding package expired.

“

It was an amazing achievement because we then went live in SMA3 in March 2021 While some upgrades could be deferred in a ‘managed decline’ scenario, 4LM will continue.

The project has been descoped in several migration areas, but due to unjustifiable technical risk, rather than funding issues.

In SMA10, SMA11, and SMA12, the 4LM team had planned to install what is known as ‘Overlay’. Existing interlocking would remain, and feed taken from that to drive trains. Chris said: “Overlay has been done before, but I don’t think

The introduction of the new system is enabling service improvements across the network

Inside Track | August 2022

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it’s been done on this scale. I saw it as fraught with technical risk, given how difficult we found the core.”

Chris undertook an evaluation of the benefits, establishing that improvements to runtime and performance would be minimal. It was therefore decided that CBTC would not be installed in the project’s outer reaches, including Wimbledon and Richmond.

While he remains conscious of the wider funding issues, Chris has no doubt that the 4LM programme will continue to progress. “We have looked at what we have to do going forward, and we’ve looked at the business case for this,” he said. “We’ve got assets on the ‘Met’ that are life expired, or close to, and would have to be replaced anyway. We’re in contract to deliver this, from a business case point of view. It should continue and that’s why it’s in the managed decline scenario.”

Image: Transport for London

Competent teamwork

The final S-Stock train is delivered to Transport for London. These are now all in traffic and have all been retro-fitted with the new signalling systems

“

“There were ongoing inspections to ensure that works left in that transitory state were not unsafe,” said Chris. “Our motivation in the business was to provide a service for key workers.”

Chris and his team found themselves working from home and software development and simulator testing continued remotely. Physical system testing was soon able to commence on specially rigged trains, with plastic curtains used to divide cabs into sections. These social distancing measures could take up to five hours to implement.

“It was an amazing achievement because we then went live in SMA3 in March 2021, having effectively done the last phase of the system testing under COVID,” said Chris.

Image: ransport for London.

4LM

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Advertorial

Reviewing Network Rail’s condition management of depot plant assets

Frazer-Nash is a leading systems and engineering technology company with over 1,000 employees working from a network of nine UK and four Australian locations. Its consultants apply their expertise to develop, enhance and protect its clients’ critical assets, systems and processes.

“

Involving multiple stakeholder perspectives is one of our unique value propositions to industry

“

W

hen not carrying passengers up and down the country, trains in the UK are maintained in specialised depots. These depots are full of complex plant and equipment, which are relied upon to keep the transport systems safe and reliable. If depot plant fails, trains may not run – resulting in potential impact on rail users, and disruption to the rail network.

Most depot premises are actually owned by Network Rail, with operators typically leasing their facilities. Joined-up thinking of depot asset lifecycles, maintenance, and renewal is therefore essential.

Asset management Recently, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) in the UK needed assurance that Network Rail, as an asset owner, was operating an effective asset management system ensuring the depot plant was maintained, renewed, and upgraded to support the operation of rolling stock and delivering customer service and value.

As specialist consultants within the field, a team from Frazer-Nash’s Transport and Technology group recently carried out a review of depot plant asset management systems, delivering a report to the ORR that provided a view of the effectiveness of the asset management system in Network Rail and whether it put customers first.

Inside Track | August 2022

The in-depth review made four recommendations, suggesting that Network Rail build an improved understanding of the condition and potential of depot plant assets beyond short-term needs, to support its decision-making in renewal and investment where needed. In some instances, Frazer-Nash recommended that Network Rail should reinstate existing or improve upon practices that had been part of the organisation’s activities in the past, such as assurance audits and technical engineering support.

The report further recommended that Network Rail should maintain a general understanding and overall knowledge of asset condition and asset remaining life to determine future short, medium

80

and long-term rolling investment within a strategic, tactical and operational context. These practices should incorporate effective ways and means of capturing risks and taking advantage of new opportunities with internal and external stakeholders, including the Department for Transport, local authorities and other business partners.

Carl Waring, principal consultant within Frazer-Nash’s Transport and Technology sector, commented on the commissioning of the report: “We were delighted to be involved in such a high-profile piece of work.

Complex problems solved “This project was complex and involved engaging with a number of actors and stakeholders that make up the overall delivery of the railway service with the consideration of the management of depot plant in mind. Our experts within the rail sector are well-equipped to deliver this comprehensive insight to the ORR, and by extension, Network Rail.

“Dealing with complex problems involving multiple stakeholder perspectives is one of our unique value propositions to industry. Ensuring the safety of ageing equipment and systems is one of our key strengths at Frazer-Nash. Our team has won awards previously for our work within the rail sector, and we look forward to working with the ORR again in the future.”

railbusinessdaily.com

LAUNCHING SEPTEMBER 2022

Image: Network Rail

Climate

Managing flood risks on the railway in the face of a changing climate Leading solar camera, telemetry and software development company Vision Link is playing a key part in keeping the railways running as the industry faces the growing challenge of climate change

Damaging floodwater Increased rainfall inevitably leads to an increased risk of flooding. Flood water can have a devastating impact on rail infrastructure, damaging track, electrification and signalling assets. Even if flooding doesn’t stop trains from running, rising water levels above rails can mean trains are forced to reduce their speed to prevent damage, which in turn causes delays.

Most recently, the Cambrian line between Welshpool and Newtown was closed for six weeks following Storm Franklin on Monday 21 February 2022, with Network Rail and AmcoGiffen engineers working night and day to fix more than 33 areas of washouts – the result of unprecedented levels of flood water.

Inside Track | August 2022

The washouts happened after the River Severn flooded, with the water rising 3.9 metres above the normal level – just 9cm lower than the highest ever recorded level. It took 10 days for the river to fully recede before engineers could move in to repair the railway. Initially, it was thought just 12 areas of ballast had been washed away, but further investigation revealed 33 severely impacted locations across a half-mile stretch of railway.

“

The Cambrian line between Welshpool and Newtown was closed for six weeks following Storm Franklin

“

W

ith climate change projections showing increasing average and maximum daily temperatures, drier summers, wetter winters, sea level rises and increased rainfall, Britain’s railways must now prepare to face these challenges.

Continued weather event impacts have highlighted the need for improved resilience of assets if Network Rail is to deliver the service required to run the railways to the expected standards.

One way Network Rail is managing flooding risks is by monitoring the water levels of rivers, culverts and other water sources located on or close to rail assets. Modern camera technology can be used to monitor the operational condition of trash screens and flood gates on rail culverts remotely, with the major benefit of not having to deploy staff to the site.

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One company that is adopting this technology on the railway to great effect is Vision Link, one of the UK’s leading bespoke solar camera, telemetry and software development companies. The firm specialises in the design, manufacture, installation and maintenance of intelligent, cost-effective solarassisted camera and telemetry systems.

The cameras are battery-powered and automatically recharge during the day, year-round, using a solar panel. This facilitates simple installation without the need for any external power, Wi-Fi or hard-wired connections.

Solar-powered, rapid deployment camera technology Vision Link’s systems are typically used for monitoring remote assets such as trash screens and water culverts for the Environment Agency, local authorities and more recently, Network Rail. The firm’s hi-tech cameras and telemetry solutions come equipped with a fully integrated water level sensor, meaning Vision Link can measure telemetry data and record water level readings every 15 minutes.

“These cameras are solar powered and very easy to deploy,” explained Vision Link managing director Patrick Fletcher-Jones.

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“We develop all of our software and manufacture everything in-house. There are other companies that offer camera systems, but they don’t have the integrated level sensors, they can’t support multiple camera heads and they don’t offer the solutions we can offer. Our competitors would need to deploy multiple camera heads, whereas we can install many on one head and operate them via a smartphone app.”

Once installed at a watercourse, Vision Link’s cameras will regularly send images and record water level readings. If these rise above a certain level, the telemetry system will switch the camera to an enhanced mode where it will update images more frequently and it will send alerts out to the user.

Vision Link can supply fully integrated cameras and level sensors in one package. These can include either single or twin camera head systems incorporating a hi-resolution level sensor. The fully integrated level sensor allows water levels to be measured with millimetre resolution in realtime and then be displayed within Vision Link’s fully integrated management portal. These can then be monitored via the firm’s web page or using its smartphone applications.

Supporting flood prevention on the rail network Vision Link’s cameras are currently used by Network Rail for the monitoring of water levels of water culverts on the rail network. Managing and monitoring blocked trash screens means a field team will only be tasked with clearing the build-up when needed, allowing Network Rail to target its resources more effectively.

“What is unique about Vision Link is that we’ve got a fully integrated level sensor, which means users of the cameras don’t have to keep checking,” explained Patrick.

“If there’s a problem, the user can set an alert level from our web portal and it will trigger a warning using our smartphone app with an alert, similar to an alarm clocking sounding.”

railbusinessdaily.com

Image: Network Rail

Climate

One major benefit of the camera and telemetry systems is the reduction in track downtime. Where previously it could take hours for an inspection to take place, engineers can now reduce track downtime to just 20 minutes, since it can all be done remotely rather than travelling to the site.

The technology Vision Link’s Engineered Water-Level Telemetry System is a standalone solar-assisted GSM-based system that records water level readings every 15 minutes. These systems automatically send telemetry data from the water culvert back to the server via their own GSM interface, switching automatically to an enhanced polling mode when a preset water level is reached, informing the user of the event.

LoRa (long range) water level sensors are used in conjunction with the telemetry systems and fully integrate with Vision Link’s camera system technology, meaning current water level readings can be added to existing camera telemetry. Data from the level sensors are sent to the camera via a low-powered radio link.

Visionlink has been a preferred supplier to the Environment Agency for several years and first began working with Network Rail after a collaboration between the two organisations involving a flooded

83

rail culvert in Parbold, West Lancashire. Since then, the company has been expanding its offering with Network Rail and now services a variety of locations in the North West and beyond.

Maintaining GDPR compliance and supporting community engagement Vision Link has worked closely with the Home Office to develop software in-house that is fully GDPR compliant. Anyone who is captured via the camera automatically has their face obscured and any vehicles captured will have their licence plates automatically blurred.

Images can also be made available to members of the public, such as flood groups or members of the council, via a free community app that Vision Link has developed.

“The community app also provides the flood alerts,” Said Patrick. “So, this is a direct interface into the environment agencies. We receive real-time information, and we can show Network Rail any areas where potential flooding may take place.”

When asked what has helped Vision Link achieve its status as a leader in solar camera technology, Patrick praised the company’s in-house delivery: “Like many companies, we’ve suffered supply chain issues in the past – however, a major strength for us is our in-house capabilities. For example, we’ve sourced a different type of microprocessor and copied the code over to our own microprocessor to run our software on. This has played a huge role in keeping our lead times down.

“We are an ISO 9001-approved company and manufacture our own circuit boards, with the electronic design and CAD work also delivered in-house.

“A big part of our job is staying ahead of the curve and understanding what the problem is and then putting in place a plan to mitigate it so that we know the components we are working with,” Patrick added.

Building Britain’s Inside Railways Track -|Major August projects 2022

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Manufacturer puts its future in the hands of its workforce A British manufacturer and supplier to the rail industry is pioneering a form of company ownership that benefits its employees

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stablished in 1986, Rowe Hankins, a British-based manufacturer of electronic sensing equipment for the rail industry, has become an Employee-Owned Trust (EOT).

Launched by the government in 2014, EOTs provide a clear framework for employee ownership and offer significant tax advantages for both buyers and sellers. All employees of a company must be included in the arrangement, and the trust must own more than 50 per cent of the company’s shares. The Rowe Hankins EOT owns 95 per cent of the shares. This has helped the company create an inspired workforce, who are motivated by their collective interest in the enduring success of the company.

A strong track record

Inside Track | August 2022

Alex Emmerson (left) and Mark Nolan

“With our UK manufacturing base, Rowe Hankins can work to assist with obsolescence replacements, upgrades in relation to any trainborne AC and DC circuits and the development of new sensors. As we go further into the digital sphere, the company is in prime position to assist and develop cutting edge systems to help our partners achieve their goals economically and in an environmentally friendly way.”

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EOTs boost morale, productivity and pride in the activities of the company

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Rowe Hankins specialises in innovative trainborne and wayside products and systems for the world’s railways. Working closely with rolling stock manufacturers, fleet operators, track owners and infrastructure contractors, its experienced engineers have a long and successful track record of providing a high level of service to rail projects worldwide.

Explaining the move, Rowe Hankins chairman Laura Crawford said: “It is a proven fact that EOTs boost morale, productivity and pride in the activities of the company and therefore the innovation, quality and customer service delivered to our clients.”

With a global reputation for quality, reliability and innovation, Rowe Hankins designs, manufactures and supplies a diverse range of products. Working with a number of major original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), rolling-stock companies, train operators and governments worldwide, Rowe Hankins provides a semi-standard range of products that can be modified to fit any appropriate application.

Engineering director Alex Emmerson explained: “Building on the presence of the company over the past 36 years, we are now working closely with many partners in the design and development of new systems for projects.

“These include speed and direction sensor systems for CBTC and ETCS digital signalling systems.

Recently, Rowe Hankins has developed an intelligent wheel flange lubrication system that lubricates the train wheel with a biodegradable fluid. Being intelligent, the system knows where the fluid needs to be applied automatically and economically, saving wear on the wheel, the

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rail track and, most importantly, protecting the environment. This system is already in operation on Alstom’s Class 345 trains that are running on the newly opened Elizabeth line.

Transformation Sales director Mark Nolan added: “Rowe Hankins has made some changes to the company that will allow and promote a positive and forward-thinking approach to product, service development, client partnerships and innovation.

“With our new management structure and with the EOT in place, it certainly looks like it’s ‘full steam ahead’ for our company and our growing products and project services.

“I look forward to working with our existing clients, that we have served for almost 40 years, and our expanding partners globally. OEMs, servicers and overhaulers can have a partner that delivers, not just for now, but for decades to come.”

Rowe Hankins will be showcasing its product range and launching its new independent four-channel speed sensor and tachometer at InnoTrans in Berlin at the end of September.

railbusinessdaily.com

Innovate Design Deliver Rowe Hankins specialise in innovative trainborne and wayside product and systems for the worlds railways. Working closely with rolling stock manufacturers, fleet operators, track owners and infrastructure contractors our experienced engineers have a long and successful track record of providing the highest level of service to rail projects worldwide.

Products & Services • Geartooth Tachometers & Speed Sensors • Magnetic Encoders

• RCBO’s & Circuit Protection • Intelligent Friction Modifier and Lubrication Systems

• Signalling Approved Non-Intrusive • AC & DC Earth Leakage Units Current Monitors (Primarily for • Product & Project Design and wayside signal proving and logging) Consultancy Services

Get in touch! +44 (0) 161 765 3000 | sales@rowehankins.com www.rowehankins.com Connecting the Global Rail Network

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Hall 2.2 | Stand 230B

A n d F i n a l l y. . .

Remarkable discovery at HS2 site Archaeologists uncover remains of Coleshill Manor and a moat on the HS2 site at Coleshill in Warwickshire – one of the best preserved late 16th-century gardens ever discovered in England

The excavation of Coleshill Manor and gatehouse

that it was also a status symbol. Built using fine ashlar masonry, well-carved stone blocks, the gatehouse is a square stone building measuring about 10 metres by 10 metres with two angular towers. The gatehouse is thought to have been built around the late 14th century before being pulled down in the 17th or 18th century.

Michael Court, HS2 Ltd lead archaeologist, said: “HS2 has given us an unprecedented opportunity to discover, excavate and study this incredible archaeological site all the way from the West Midlands to London. Our investigation at Coleshill Manor gives us a fascinating insight into the history of this site.”

Image: HS2 Ltd.

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he fascinating history concealed below parts of the route of HS2 between London and the West Midlands continues to be displayed to the general public.

One display involves the excavation of a 16th-century manor, an octagonal moat and gardens in Coleshill, Warwickshire, discovered

by HS2 archaeologists in early 2021. During preliminary investigations, the existence of the gardens and manor house were picked up by air photography. The excavations were undertaken

by Wessex Archaeology for LM (a joint venture of Laing O’Rourke & J. Murphy) on the HS2 site.

HS2’s archaeological team began preparing for the specialist excavations and, as a result, Wessex Archaeology has been carefully excavating the site now for over two years.

The impressive garden has been compared to those found at Kenilworth Castle and Hampton Court Palace. Spanning 300 metres end to end, archaeologists have uncovered well-preserved gravel paths, garden pavilion foundations, geometrically organised ornaments and planting beds. Recently, the team have been excavating a medieval gatehouse that sat at the entrance to the manor house inside the medieval moat.

The existence of a gatehouse at the site was referred to in a 17th-century will, but it was only when excavations took place that its existence was confirmed. Not only was the gatehouse a defensive feature for the manor, but it is believed

The team working on the site for Wessex Archaeology have also uncovered more details.

Richard O’Neill, regional fieldwork manager at Wessex Archaeology, said: “The excavation of this impressive site is one of the most thorough investigations that has ever taken place on a medieval manorial site.

“The gatehouse is part of a much wider landscape that has been subject to very painstaking archaeological investigation and this adds to its importance, as we can better understand what other buildings and activities the gatehouse was once associated with.”

Image: HS2 Ltd.

A once-in-a-career opportunity

The excavated site at Coleshill Manor and gatehouse in Warwickshire

Inside Track | August 2022

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The house was owned by Sir Robert Digby.

Experts now believe that after marrying an Irish heiress, he built his home in the modern style, along with huge formal gardens, designed to show off his new wealth and status.

At the time of the finding, Wessex Archaeology project officer Stuart Pierson said: “For the dedicated fieldwork team working on this site, it’s a once-in-a-career opportunity to work on such an extensive garden and manor site, which spans 500 years. Evidence of expansive formal gardens of national significance and hints of connections to Elizabeth I and the Civil War provide us with a fascinating insight into the importance of Coleshill and its surrounding landscape.”

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Fitzgerald, Rail & Construction Equipment Services are specialists in Engineering and Construction of machines and equipment for the railway infrastructure, maintenance and repair, upgrades and overhaul to RIS-1530-PLT, part-sales and heavy haulage transport.

Operating from depots across the UK, FPS are the largest maintainer of Road rail equipment in the UK. We have built up an outstanding and enviable reputation for delivering quality work and professional service. Our business is built on a foundation of strong service and customer focused solutions.

E: sales@fitzgeraldplant.co.uk T: 01633 860693

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