Reading Station improvements

[whole diary]

[stuving]

I dimly recall that the junction at the London end was laid some time ago.

Yes, because that piece of track is in its final form and position. At the country end, it won't be final until after the embankment is finished and the new main lines are in place on it.

[SandTEngineer]

You can see the London End connection to Platform No.11 just to the right of the signal cage here (taken on 11 May 2013):

Image (c)2013 S&TEngineer

[stuving]

A very common scenario, and not just at Reading.  The PIS^▸ (Passenger Information System) is picking up on the fact that is an ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock) (Class 5) train, and defaults to the 'non stopping' message.  It might be better to play the 'not in public service' message, to be more relevant to what's actually occurring.     
Paul

Hold on - I don't follow. This was incoming ECS to form the next outgoing service. Surely that never ought to trigger either of these warnings.

Does the system perhaps need to be told explicitly that an ECS working forms a passenger service at a platform? In that case inconsistent information could lead to a warning. In this case realtimetrains never showed the ECS and still shows 1O86 leaving from P5, when it really went from P14A, so presumably the data it feeds on is in some way deficient.

[paul7575]

I think what's possibly happening is that for anything that is coming ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock) into passenger service in the normal WTT^▸ (Working Time-Table), the automatic generation of the 'not stopping' warning can be, and often is suppressed.  The fact that this move wasn't present in RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) suggests it was an out of course working, and they are more likely to be where no-one has thought or bothered or had enough time to manually intervene. 

(The author of RTT has explained in another forum that it doesn't capture all alterations that occur on the day, although by colour coding and italics it will show if a WTT movement did not happen as planned.)

I've seen the announcement error happen frequently at Southampton, where the PIS^▸ (Passenger Information System) has generated a perfectly normal 'next train to arrrive at platform 1 is the xx45 XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) service to Newcastle, then as the unit comes into sight the screens revert to the 'stand clear the next train is not in passenger service' type message.

I think one of the 'insiders' has explained why this happens before in another thread, there could be a better description yet to come...

Paul

[Southern Stag]

The CIS^▸ (Customer Information System) system feeds off Train Describers to play announcements. When a headcode appears in certain TD berths the CIS system will play announcements. For example, if a headcode steps into the TD berth associated with a platform then the CIS might play a 'train now standing' announcement. This relies of the CIS being able to correlate the headcode it sees in the TD berths with what it expects to be there, referencing it to the timetable if you like. If the CIS system picks up on a headcode which it does not expect then it will default to a stand away announcement.

You can see TD's in action on the Open Train Times maps here: http://www.opentraintimes.com/maps/signalling/R2/1 If you watch for a while you should see headcodes moving along, the little black boxes are all TD berths.

[Pb_devon]

STE, in your image in #1951 it would appear the signal on P11 is showing a proceed aspect, even though there's no track!  As the expert, can you explain?  (Or is the long lens deceiving the eye).

[DavidBrown]

STE, in your image in #1951 it would appear the signal on P11 is showing a proceed aspect, even though there's no track!  As the expert, can you explain?  (Or is the long lens deceiving the eye).

I'd have said that signal is for P10, with the out of use overhead signal being for P11.

[Gordon the Blue Engine]

Yes, and the Red is for P12, which is just as well as the points in advance are set for P13.

[ellendune]

I dimly recall that the junction at the London end was laid some time ago.

Yes, because that piece of track is in its final form and position. At the country end, it won't be final until after the embankment is finished and the new main lines are in place on it.

I can confirm that the new track is connected to the junction, albeit that it is only held in place by clamped fishplates at the moment.

[SandTEngineer]

STE, in your image in #1951 it would appear the signal on P11 is showing a proceed aspect, even though there's no track!  As the expert, can you explain?  (Or is the long lens deceiving the eye).

The green is for Platform No.10 at which the HST^▸ (High Speed Train) is standing (remember there is currently a 'kink' in the trackwork at the end of that platform and this is hidden from view by the signal structure leg).  PS: I hope this also solves the argument about the eventual width of the London End of Platforms No.10 and 11.


Image (c)2013 S&TEngineer

[SandTEngineer]

........and just to add that the last S&C^▸ (Settle and Carlisle ) to be installed at the London End will be the missing Trailing Crossover between Platform No.9 and Platform No.10 (just to the platform side of the existing Facing Crossover and below the middle of the HST^▸ (High Speed Train) in the previous photograph).

[paul7575]

Deleted, cos S&T^▸ (Signalling and Telegraph) added a similar photo ^^^

[ellendune]

A useful article from Get Reading

Cow Lane bridges improvements explained

Improvements to one of Reading's most notorious road bottlenecks will simultaneously help improve rail services .

The Cow Lane bridges have, for decades, added to the time it takes for motorists to reach and to leave Portman Road while freight trains have caused delays to passenger services whose paths cross in the same area.

Eighteen months ago, one viaduct was replaced.

And Network Rail is gearing up again for the next major works at Christmas 2014 when a new bridge will replace the northern viaduct leaving traffic to run freely from the Norcot roundabout to Caversham bridge.

The old archway will be demolished over Christmas Day and Boxing Day 2014 and the tracks removed.

The new tunnels, which have been built to the north of the old viaduct, will form the new highways ^ due for completion in summer 2015.

The tunnel which traffic currently uses will be a cycleway and footpath, while the section to the west which is currently boarded off, will provide two lanes and have enough headroom to allow for double decker buses to pass under.

Then, under the new southern bridge which has a wide pavement on the west side, the road will be altered to have a cycleway and a central crossing island.

While the current work goes on, Loverock Road has a temporary one-way system and Network Rail hopes to keep disruption to a minimum.

Spokeswoman Sam Kelly said: ^We understand the current disruption is inconvenient to the businesses along Loverock Road and thank them for their patience during these important works.^

That work, which will take fast lines over freight and stopping services, is the largest structure construction on Western route.

[Pb_devon]

Thanks STE and other posters for the clarification.

[stuving]

I was going to ask if anyone knew what the next step in the Chinese puzzle of platform rebuilds was - the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) site is warning that from 23rd September some West of England services will use a platform too short for an HST^▸ (High Speed Train). However, yesterday I found a new issue of the information sheet (Issue 7 - not on the NR^» (Network Rail - home page) site yet, despite appearing some time after its copy cut-off date) which explains this. (There's also a lot about feedback from some customer organisations and about related changes, such as to the CIS^▸ (Customer Information System).)

We expected P11 to be in use this month, and that will be from the 27th according the WTT^▸ (Working Time-Table), which shows P10 going out of use at that time. Issue 7 puts that on the timeline at "Summer 2013", while the text says nothing - but does refer to phased work starting on P8 and P9 in August which is on the timeline at "Autumn 2013". The WTT shows P8 and P9 still in use in September, though it looks as if P8 may be for turning XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) trains only leaving half being rebuilt. All very confusing.

Finally, what I had not realised is that a temporary P7 will be built over the track of P6, probably using the East end of P7 too, and that is the short one. That means working on the rest of P7 with trains using its track, which is something that has generally been avoided. I guess the track could be temporarily put a bit further out, but not all the way along, and again that has been avoided in other cases. No doubt there's a cunning plan - we'll have to wait and see!

I also note that the new main line embankment is still being referred to in Issue 7 as a viaduct, presumably because that is familiar and the distinction is regarded as just a technical detail.