Your Path to Connectivity Evolution
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Marc Winterton, Managing Director (MD) of Park Signalling, discusses innovations and milestones
Addressing the challenges of the rail industry N
ext year Solid State Interlocking (SSI) will be 40 years old. The Founders of Park Signalling were instrumental in the development of SSI, a foundation which has enabled the team to continually develop innovative solutions to help manage system obsolescence and performance improvements. “Roughly about 40 per cent of the rail network is still SSI and if there is a problem on any signalling system in the UK at the moment some of the first people who will be called to solve the fault will be us,” said MD Marc Winterton. “We’ve got a maintenance contract with Network Rail and have some worldrenowned experts in the field, respected within the signalling community.” Park Signalling was formed in 1999 by key staff from Alstom Signalling and since then has evolved into an industry-renowned, highly motivated team of specialists, who together offer unrivalled signalling system knowledge complemented with in-house hardware, firmware and software design and build expertise. “We support electronic and electro-mechanical legacy equipment, and our capabilities include providing problem-solving and performanceenhancing solutions,” added Marc. “In addition, we have designed and developed software and hardware products, which enable improved reliability and availability that leads to superior system utilisation and extends the life of existing equipment. We undertake system upgrades, enhancements and temporary installations, where other suppliers cannot or will not.” It is the innovation side that particularly excites Marc, driven by an environment where colleagues have a voice in making suggestions, and working collaboratively with partners to deliver technology and solutions that improve performance, reduce risk and optimise cost. “As a Unipart Company, there is an embedded culture of engagement and continuous improvement that combines people and process excellence with technology and system solutions to create real differentiation for new and existing customers and industry,” he said. Marc spoke to Rail Director shortly after having supplied five MT04 Technician’s Terminals into Rugby Signalling Control Centre which will enable signalling staff there to monitor and look for faults on the network; and days after the start of a trial with Network Rail for product approval for its Optical
Data Link Module (ODLM). Explaining the latter, Marc said: “This replaces the standard SSI Data Link Module with a physically compatible unit that transmits the SSI signal over optical fibres or copper cable, providing extreme immunity to electrical interference when optical fibres are used in preference to copper cabling. It is a direct plug-and-play replacement for the existing unit that is out there. “For us, it is all about safe delivery, whilst helping customers achieve significant efficiency and cost benefits. A new development we are launching in January is an advancement on our existing Technician’s Terminals which will allow more engineering time in possessions by reducing the online set up of the possession by the signaller.” Another success story for Park Signalling has been its Network Rail-approved Digital Block Controller (DiBloC), which allows a section of single line railway to be controlled without the need for end-to-end cabling or on-board equipment, “The product shares many of the same operational and safety concepts with traditional electric key token machines, which have been in operation on railways around the world for many years,” said Marc. “DiBloC
October 2024
is designed to communicate digitally (optionally wirelessly) through IP-based systems and include provision for TPWS and section signal release. “We see even more potential with this abroad, particularly in the likes of Africa where our version is a safer, more robust system, yet it still has the physical representation that the drivers are used to so there would be no retraining to operate the kit.” As well as opportunities on global rail networks, Marc and the team have got exciting plans for DiBloC outside of rail and are seeing major interest in its application in safety critical industries including tunnelling and mining, where the controlled movement of vehicles on single track routes is critical. Indeed, the product has been an enabler to the safe construction of tunnels supporting the HS2 build project in London, leading to it being shortlisted as a finalist in the Health, Safety and Wellbeing Initiative category at this year’s New Civil Engineering Tunnelling Awards. Park Signalling is part of Unipart Technologies Group (UTG) alongside Comms Design, Instrumentel, MetLase and Unipart Construction Technologies. UTG businesses design, develop and support performance improvement technologies that deliver customers savings in time, carbon and cost in sectors including rail, utilities, aerospace, construction, engineering and manufacturing. “Collaboration between our business is key to Unipart being able to continually deliver performance improvement solutions for the rail industry. “Whether that be with Unipart Rail where we collaborate on hardware and software solutions for global industry products including Track Circuit Assistor, or Comms Design, our radio partners within Radio Electronic Token Block (RETB) signalling systems that we collaborate with in Scotland on the systems that we are rolling out with Telent,” said Marc. “Another example is Instrumentel who provide a range of on-board and lineside condition solutions for conditioning monitoring. At InnoTrans they launched ThermOptic Insight, a new lineside product that measures and monitors the temperatures of different parts of the train’s engine, axels, auxiliary systems and identifiers, using thermal radiometry, optics and AI to detect temperature and wear, and reduce service failures and cost. “We are working in partnership with them to develop a product called GateLock, which is a manufactured gate and post solution with an