Signalling the future of the railways (Oxford Mail 23/08/2010)

[whole diary]

[JayMac]

From the Oxford Mail:

At first sight it looks like just another of the business units that have sprung up around Didcot in recent years. But its location, wedged into the triangle of railway lines just west of Didcot Parkway station, and the small Network Rail sign on the outside hint at its real purpose. This is the Thames Valley Signalling Centre, which will become the ^brain^ of the railway network from London^s Paddington station across Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire to the outskirts of Bristol, over the next few years.

Construction work began in 2008 and it took charge of its first trains at Easter on what is known as the Berks and Hants line, from Southcote junction at Reading, through Newbury to the edge of Westbury, in Wiltshire. Last month it took over the short section of the Great Western main line between Pangbourne and Moreton cutting, east of Didcot, but the tracks surrounding the centre are still controlled from Swindon. At the moment, the operations floor is almost empty, with just one signaller and a shift manager on duty at their desks in a corner of the room but by 2018 it will be a hive of activity when it replaces signalboxes at Reading, Slough, Swindon and Oxford and along the Cotswold Line to Worcester. Control of lines around Bristol, Gloucester and Westbury could also eventually transfer to Didcot.

The staff who operate the centre are enthusiastic about its capabilities. Shift manager Phil Gomersall said: ^Once you^re used to it, it^s a better system, allowing us to handle more trains.^

Rather than the signallers setting a route for each train, much of the work is done by computers programmed with timetable information for passengers and freight . About 80 per cent of services are routed automatically, with the signaller accepting the decision or over-riding it and setting a route manually if necessary, which is also done when extra trains are running.

Mr Gomersall said: ^You have to think 10 minutes ahead of what^s happening and decide what to do, whether to accept the computer^s setting or do it yourself.^

Network Rail^s top regional manager, western route director Chris Rayner, is enthusiastic about the possibilities for the centre.

He said: ^What I want to do is fill this place up. If we put a desk in here, we^ve potentially got half-a-dozen signalboxes out there which we can close. The saving is large. We^ve got vast amounts of signallers out there and to be honest we^re going to need a lot fewer in 10 to 15 years^ time.^ By then, the technology is likely to look very different. Mr Rayner said: ^The scary thing about this stuff is almost as soon as you put it in, it^s out of date.^


The Great Western main line is set to become the first major rail route in Britain to be fitted with the new radio-based European Railway traffic Management System.

The system does away with trackside ^traffic-light^ signals in favour of radio transmitters which send information about the route and speed of a train from a signal centre for display on a screen in the driver^s cab. It will also replace the line^s existing automatic train protection system, to stop trains passing red lights, which will soon become life-expired.

Trials of the UK^▸ (United Kingdom)^s first ERTMS^▸ (European Rail Traffic Management System.) system will start soon on the Cambrian Line between Shrewsbury and the Welsh coast.

[IndustryInsider]

Network Rail^s top regional manager, western route director Chris Rayner, is enthusiastic about the possibilities for the centre.

He said: ^What I want to do is fill this place up. If we put a desk in here, we^ve potentially got half-a-dozen signalboxes out there which we can close. The saving is large. We^ve got vast amounts of signallers out there and to be honest we^re going to need a lot fewer in 10 to 15 years^ time.^

Nice article, Willc.  I could tell it was one of yours after reading the first sentence. 

It's a shame Chris Rayner's ambitions didn't extend to shutting the 'boxes at Ascott, Moreton and Evesham with the current redoubling scheme.  I suspect, in the long run, keeping them for a few years more will turn out to be more expensive - the quote above directly contradicts Network Rail's eventual decision!

[Electric train]

Nice article, Willc.  I could tell it was one of yours after reading the first sentence. 

It's a shame Chris Rayner's ambitions didn't extend to shutting the 'boxes at Ascott, Moreton and Evesham with the current redoubling scheme.  I suspect, in the long run, keeping them for a few years more will turn out to be more expensive - the quote above directly contradicts Network Rail's eventual decision!

It is an excellent article

I suspect the timing is all wrong for the Cotswold redoubling the push for Didcot is to get Reading Panel closed.  The resignalling of the Cotswold line would push the costs up and would have killed it dead also the bazaar way the ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) measure efficiencies on projects is to only do what is remitted if you do other works despite it making good sense, good engineering and to you and me it actually saves money the bean counters and mattress stacker's at the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) don't have minds that work that way; this is the infuriating world I deal with every day.

[IndustryInsider]

Will, did you get a chance to take a look inside the TVSC^» (Thames Valley Signalling Centre - about) as you researched your article?  If so, what were your impressions as a non-railway employee railway expert - if I may call you that?!

[willc]

On the Cotswold Line I do know that the question of going to Didcot was batted to and fro long and hard within Network Rail, hence the long delay in coming to a decision and in an ideal world I'm sure that it would indeed have been next into TVSC^» (Thames Valley Signalling Centre - about) after Reading. Being able to close three boxes and have one signaller sat in front of a bank of screens working a 50-mile route is always going to be the preferred option operationally if the money is there to do it.

Centre itself - once you get inside, the security is like Fort Knox - is quietly impressive. Not much activity at present, obviously, with a handful of workstations in one corner of a large room, with Southcote junction (outside Reading) to the Westbury box boundary the main focus of action, as Moreton cutting to Pangbourne is automatic, so largely takes care of itself. The timetable-driven route-setting on the Berks and Hants was pretty nifty (and would make operating the Cotswold Line very straightforward) and they can zoom in on a single screen to watch complex locations like Theale when shunt moves are taking place, with each ground signal shown on the screen. Technicians were busy building the desks for the Reading area when the photographer and I visited.

[inspector_blakey]

Was I hallucinating several months ago, or did I see an impromptu roof terrace with deckchairs in amongst the air handling units and other plant from the window of a passing train?

[Chris from Nailsea]

One thing I found quite amusing was the use of a Hall and Woodhouse 'Tanglefoot' bar towel as a keyboard mat on the workstation, at http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/resources/images/1397837/?type=display

CfN. 

[IndustryInsider]

Fort Knox security is just what's needed at an important building like that, as well as reliable back-up to power supplies and solid fire prevention measures.  I dread to think of the disruption that'll be caused should one of these signalling centres be immobilised for whatever reason!  Glad to hear you were impressed - I certainly am!

[Electric train]

Fort Knox security is just what's needed at an important building like that, as well as reliable back-up to power supplies and solid fire prevention measures.  I dread to think of the disruption that'll be caused should one of these signalling centres be immobilised for whatever reason!  Glad to hear you were impressed - I certainly am!

Happened at York IECC^▸ (Integrated Electronic Control Centre) a few years ago, the building was evacuated due to a fault on the fire alarm system it had a big impacted the York, Leeds area local train services some impact on the ECML^▸ (East Coast Main Line) however the question was asked what about the Electrical Control Room (ECR) it controls the power from Morgate to Scotland if it had been a real fire the whole electrical system may had to been shut down.  Since then new ECR systems have a remote system not sure what the Slow n Tired (S & T) do for signaling.

[willc]

Fort Knox security is just what's needed at an important building like that, as well as reliable back-up to power supplies and solid fire prevention measures.  I dread to think of the disruption that'll be caused should one of these signalling centres be immobilised for whatever reason!  Glad to hear you were impressed - I certainly am!

Secure maybe - not entirely sure the razor wire on top of very high fences is entirely necessary. And everything is duplicated, backed-up and and disaster-recovery-friendly should the very worst happen.

[IndustryInsider]

Secure maybe - not entirely sure the razor wire on top of very high fences is entirely necessary.

Perhaps that's to keep the staff in? 

[Electric train]

Fort Knox security is just what's needed at an important building like that, as well as reliable back-up to power supplies and solid fire prevention measures.  I dread to think of the disruption that'll be caused should one of these signalling centres be immobilised for whatever reason!  Glad to hear you were impressed - I certainly am!

Secure maybe - not entirely sure the razor wire on top of very high fences is entirely necessary. And everything is duplicated, backed-up and and disaster-recovery-friendly should the very worst happen.

During the hight of the IRA campaign on the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) mainland in the early 60's security around Panel Boxes was beefed up, if you go around the rear of Reading it has wire mesh screens over its palisade fences to prevent devices being thrown into compounds, not much use against a car bomb I know, DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) (HMRI^▸ (Her Majesty's Railway Inspectorate)) place requirements on all Rail operators to provide security measures for vital installations the design for Didcot would have been approved by HMRI

[Tim]

Normal-high fences are to keep people out.  Very high fences are to stops devices (grenades, mortars) being fired/thrown over.  Saw the "peace wall" in Belfast this summer.  The first few meters is a concrete wall to stop people crossing.  Heavy and solid to stop vehicles being driven into it.  The top is steel sheeting to block sniper's lines of sight from adjancet buildings.  The top is wire mesh to stop mortars.  The whole thing is about 3 stores high.  There are plenty of patches on the sheet where the paint has been burn off and the metal rusted as evidence of devices being fired at the wall which failed to make it over.

It seems reaonable to protect a signalling centre from terrorism.   With the degree of protection being proportional to the importance of teh centre.