the rail engineer - issue 86 - december 2011

December 2011

i s s u e

86

written by rail engineers for rail engineers available online at www.therailengineer.com

Double Innovation inElectrificationBalfour Beatty Rail’s Air InsulatedSwitch Gear installed on thePaisley Corridor project.

BlackpoolIlluminationsIt would be an injustice not toreport on the new facilities atStarr Gate Depot, Blackpool.

Trans SiberianLandbridgeRussian Railways plan to createa Landbridge and attract freightfrom ships.

Manchester Metrolink20 years of evolution

december 2011 | the rail engineer | 3welcome

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Manchester Metrolink 6TfGM is investing £1.4 billion to upgrade andexpand this iconic network.

Clever Karlsruhe 12The Mass Rapid Transit system has been the subjectof an interesting transportation initiative.

Dubai Metro goes green 14

Dubai is home of the world’s longest fullyautomated passenger metro system.

Blackpool Illuminations 18Terry Whitley reports on the new Starr Gate depotfacilities ready to maintain the new fleet.

Re-Signalling Heritage Style 24

Clive Kessell reports on the signalling challengesfacing the Swanage Railway.

Double Innovation in Electrification 31Balfour Beatty Rail’s Air Insulated Switch Gear isinstalled on the Paisley Corridor ImprovementProject.

Trans Siberian Landbridge 36David Shirres reports as Russian Railwaysimplements its plan to enhance the Transsib tocreate a Landbridge to attract freight from ships.

Signalling products for the seven day railway 40SigAssure, formed in 2008 launches a new productline to the rail industry.

Stations, Surveying January

Bridges & Tunnels, February Electrical/Electronic Systems

in this issue

forthcomingfeatures

It’s a sign of advancing years - just one of thesigns perhaps - that train and tram rolling stockseems forever ‘new’. I came across the latestdemolition of this notion when reading CliveKessell’s article on Manchester’s Metrolink. Thetrams that I recall as new are in fact being retiredthis year! Clive’s article is our cover story and fills inall the details right from the early days through tothe present and forward to really ambitious plansfor the future. For those of you seeing the reallynew trams of today, just remember my words!

In fact Clive has been very busy this month withno fewer than four features ranging from reportscovering both electrification and mechanicalengineering right through to a sunny rompthrough the Swanage Railway. Who can resistthem? Enthusiasts that is. Full of enterprise andsound engineering. More of them next monthwhen we cover the bi-annual conference of theIRSE Minor Railways section.

Bill Reeve’s delivery to the IMechE Railway Divisionended with an appeal for the UK to spend more oninnovation and the classic one-liner: “Standardshave their place but they are for the guidance of thewise and the strict observance of fools!” But withfeet firmly on an insulated doormat, Clive reports onPeter Dearman’s IET Railway lecture where therewas even a mention of converting the Southernthird rail system to overhead electrification.

Staying with the electrification theme andinnovation, Steve Cox and Barry Calder of BalfourBeatty Rail describe their air-insulated switchgearwhich is being trialled in Scotland. The eliminationof SF6 (sulphur hexafluoride) gas as an insulatorand its replacement with fresh air gives asurprisingly large number of efficiency benefits inaddition to helping ozone layers et al.

A couple of months ago Terry Whitley reportedon the roll-out of the Blackpool FLEXITY 2 trams.This month he comes into the warm to show us the

state-of-the-art tram maintenance depot. Themetal-bashing and greasy-rag atmosphere is athing of the past. Even the heritage trams will beallowed in. I wonder what they’ll make of it.

the rail engineer sent David Shirres off to Siberiarecently. It wasn’t a punishment but a press briefingby Russian Railways on the major developmentstaking place throughout this vast country. Thefigures alone are extraordinary; distances; tonnage;horsepower not to mention temperatures andfinance. Add in the little complication of gaugechanges and the logistics of carrying freight fromChina through to the West are formidable. Andthen there’s the prospect of a rail tunnel under theBering Straits.

In a complete contrast and in keeping with ourlight rail theme this month is Paul Curtis’ piece onthe Dubai metro. Dubai, a country awash withcash.....and sand. Here the extremes are what moneycan buy. But there is sound reasoning behindrunning a highly efficient metro as competitionfrom the car is formidable. Fuel costs a third of UKprices and there are 12 lane motorways as a result.

Peter Stanton had a baptism of fire when heresearched his debut article on the Derby andDerbyshire Rail Forum Conference. He had to runthe gauntlet of a vocal but well-mannereddemonstration by protest groups concerned aboutthe failure to win the contract for Thameslink rollingstock. Inside though a number of high-profilespeakers covered subjects ranging from local issuesto Crossrail.

It seems strange to put this edition to bed in mid-November knowing that it’s the last one this year.Still, on behalf of all the production team here atRail Media, can I wish you all a very happyChristmas and a safe New Year - sparing a thoughttoo to all of you who will be working over theholiday period on the various possession works onthe network. See you next year.

Network Rail InfrastructureLimited has completed thepurchase of the assets of the raildivision of Hydrex Equipment (UK)Ltd from its administrators, KPMGLLP. The purchase includes atransfer of employment for all raildivision staff.

Hydrex is the largest provider ofroad-rail vehicles to the railindustry and a key supplier toNetwork Rail and its infrastructurecontractors. Network Rail’spurchase of the rail division ofHydrex business brings to an endan extended period of uncertaintyfor Hydrex’s employees, customersand suppliers, while providingcontinuity of business for thesupply of heavy plant to theindustry.

Martin Elwood, director of NetworkRail’s National Delivery Service, said:“This is not a step that Network Railhas taken lightly. The purchase ofHydrex’s rail division has securedhundreds of jobs while making surewe can deliver as planned ourprogramme of maintenance,

renewals and enhancements acrossthe rail network.

“Our priority in making thispurchase is to ensure continuity ofworks. Once we have set in place a

successful transition we will seekinput from across the industry,including other on-track plantsuppliers, about any impact on themarket place.”

4 | the rail engineer | december 2011 news

Network Rail has awarded the finaltwo major contracts for theredevelopment of London Bridgearea as part of the Thameslinkprogramme. Costain Ltd. will carryout the station redevelopment andBalfour Beatty Rail Ltd. will deliverthe track remodelling.

The station redevelopment willinclude a new concourse at streetlevel, with entrances on TooleyStreet and St Thomas Street,which will provide space foraround 66% more passengers

than the station handles today.Access into and around thestation will also be transformed.Within the contract, Costain willcarry out the detailed design anddelivery of the project.

The track re-modelling at LondonBridge is a vital part of theThameslink programme and isneeded to allow more and longertrains through the centre of thecapital to boost capacity and relievecongestion on this busy route. Thenew, simplified track layout will also

help improve reliability for othertrain services which pass throughand into London Bridge. Under thecontract, Balfour Beatty Rail willprovide detailed design, installation,testing and commissioning of thetrack work.

Costain and Balfour Beatty Rail willcomplete the selection of threedelivery partners to form theLondon Bridge Area Partnership andwork with Network Rail toreconstruct the station andsurrounding infrastructure.

London Bridge contracts let

Network Rail buys HydrexINFRASTRUCTURE

IN BRIEF

Bombardier wins ScotRailScotRail has awarded a three-year

contract worth €17.7 million toBombardier Transportation. The contractextends an existing agreement to 9November 2014 and covers operationalsupport and spare supply for ScotRail’sClass 170 Turbostar fleet.

The fleet - some 177 vehicles in total -is best known for services on theGlasgow Queen Street to EdinburghWaverley route and also for linking bothcities and the Central Belt of Scotland toAberdeen and Inverness.

The contract provides for the supply ofplanned materials in support of thefleet. Bogie overhauls will be suppliedvia Bombardier’s Crewe CRO facility.

Henderson to step downPeter Henderson, group asset

management director, has signalled hisintention to leave Network Rail during2012 after 10 years with the company, topursue other interests.

Mr Henderson is one of the original

board members of Network Rail, joiningin 2002 as it acquired Railtrack. Withover 25 years experience as an engineerand project manager in the transportbusiness, his expertise has beeninvaluable in fixing the broken railwaythat was inherited from Railtrack.

David Higgins, chief executive, said:“Peter was a key member of the originalNetwork Rail executive team in 2002and has played an immensely importantrole in driving the recovery of the railnetwork.”

ScotRail deliversScotRail has delivered on its franchise

commitment to spend £40m on improve-ments by the end of October, 2011.

The train operator’s investmentincluded £20m at stations, withenhancements ranging from CCTV andcustomer information systems to toilets,waiting rooms and shelters. In addition,external funding of around £28m wassecured for station improvements fromTransport Scotland, Network Rail,Regional Transport Partnerships, andlocal authorities.

ScotRail pledged to deliver this £40mprogramme by 16 October 2011, theexpiry date of its original seven-yearfranchise.

STATIONS

december 2011 | the rail engineer | 5news

The final platform extensions whichare needed to allow 50% longer 12-car trains with more seats forpassengers to operate on theBedford to Brighton Thameslinkroute from December werecompleted at Flitwick and Harlingtonstations on Tuesday 15 November.

Over the last four years, NetworkRail has lengthened 41 platforms at12 stations on the Midland main linebetween Bedford and WestHampstead by more than 2½ miles intotal. The longer platforms willenable the busiest trains at thebusiest times of the day to beincreased from eight cars to 12,resulting in a 50% boost in capacity

on those services.Jim Crawford, Network Rail’s major

programme director for Thameslink,said: “The completion of the platformextensions marks a major milestonein the Thameslink constructionprogramme and will allow longertrains to run from next month asplanned.

“As well as more seats and lesscongestion at the busiest times ofthe day, passengers have more tolook forward to next year with thenew stations at Blackfriars andFarringdon opening. This will providea huge improvement to facilities andaccess at these two importantLondon stations.”

STATIONS

Last platform finishedTRAINING

New training centre for York

www.moore-concrete.com

• Bridge Deck Construction

• Station Platforms

• Bespoke Units

STRUCTURAL PRECASTFOR RAILWAYS

MOORE CONCRETE PRODUCTS LTDCaherty House, 41 Woodside Rd,Ballymena BT42 4QH N.I. T. 028 2565 2566F. 028 2565 8480 E. [email protected]

Following on from news thatNetwork Rail plans to cut the numberof signal boxes and control centres tojust 14 (the rail engineer issue 83),proposals for a flagship rail operatingand training facility in York have beenannounced.

The Rail Operating Centre (ROC)will eventually coordinate andcontrol all rail operations on theLondon North Eastern route. Theworkforce development centre willconsolidate services already providedat several different locations into asingle, purpose-built facility.

Robin Gisby, managing director ofnetwork operations for Network Rail,said; “York has a proud railway history

and these new facilities will allow usto continue that whilst providing amodern, efficient service. The ROC isa key part of our strategy to improvereliability whilst driving down thecost of running and maintaining therailway. It will allow us to retain jobsin the city as well as bringing futureemployment opportunities to thearea, which is vital for long termeconomic growth and prosperity.”

The proposed ROC, to be locatedon disused land adjacent to Yorkstation, would be the largest centrein the UK and will enable servicessuch as signalling and traffic controlto be consolidated into acentralised unit.

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6 | the rail engineer | december 2011 light rail

Manchester Metrolink20 Years of Evolution

anchester’s Metrolink first opened inApril 1992, running from Altrincham to

Manchester city centre and on to Bury. Thiswas the first of the second generation lightrail networks to emerge in Britain’s cities andbuilding such systems was, at that time, anunknown quantity.

A consortium, with GEC, Mowlem andAmec as the main players, was appointed todesign, build, operate and maintain this newnetwork. The majority of the first phase wasformed by taking over and linking the BritishRail lines that ran to Bury (1200V DC third-rail side contact electrified) and Altrincham(25kV AC overhead electrified), convertingthese lines from heavy rail to light rail. Newoverhead catenary was installed on the citycentre and Bury line sections whilst theexisting overhead structures and wiring onthe Altrincham line were adapted for 750 Vdc operation.

In the city centre, a spur from PiccadillyGardens to Piccadilly station created a tramlink between the city’s two main rail stations,Piccadilly and Victoria. This city centresection involved developing a street runningsystem, with all the legal and civilengineering challenges that encompassed.

Signalling in the central section was similarin design to systems in Europe, with thefamiliar vertical (go) and horizontal (stop)white bars interlinked with road traffic lightsand track loops for tram detection andrecognition. The former heavy rail sectionswere equipped with new traditional blocksignalling, using only red and green aspectsand ‘train stops’ linked to red signals. Somerepeater signals where installed wheresighting was poor. Operation commencedwith 26 T68 trams and a single depot andcontrol centre at Queens Road, just north ofVictoria station.

Phase twoThe second phase of the network was a

new line to Eccles in Salford. A consortiumcalled Altram, consisting of Serco, Ansaldoand Laing, was appointed to build this line

and included six new T68 tram vehicles fromAnsaldo, which also provided the signalling.The Eccles extension was a very differentdesign, much more akin to a traditionaltramway with some steep inclines, sharpcurves and ‘driven on line of sight’throughout. Construction work began in1997, with the new line subsequentlyopening in 2000 in two stages, first toBroadway and then on to Eccles.

Expanding the NetworkThe success of Metrolink led to demands

for further expansion, using the tramway toopen up new transport links foremployment, leisure and educationopportunities across the region. In early2009 the Department for Transport gave itsapproval for a £575M Metrolink expansionnorthwards to Oldham and Rochdale, east toDroylsden in Tameside and to Chorlton inSouth Manchester, with the provision of asecond depot facility near the Old Traffordtram stop. At nearly 20 miles, theseextensions almost double the size of thenetwork and, when open, are expected totake five million car journeys off local roads

M

Clive Kessellw r i t e r

Phase 1

Phase 2

PiccadillyGardens/MosleySt. Junction.

New track construction onto Rochdale Viaduct.

december 2011 | the rail engineer | 7light rail

every year, increasing the daily passengerjourneys on Metrolink from 55,000 toaround 90,000.

The MPact-Thales consortium, made up ofLaing O’Rourke, VolkerRail and Thales UK,was appointed to design, build and maintainthe new lines plus an additional 0.4kmextension off the Eccles line to the newMediaCityUK development in Salford Quays.

2009 proved a landmark year as in May,the Greater Manchester Integrated TransportAuthority (GMITA) and the Association ofGreater Manchester Authorities (AGMA)formally agreed to create the GreaterManchester Transport Fund, with aninvestment programme of over £1.5billion in15 major public transport schemes includingfurther Metrolink extensions.

The MPact-Thales (MPT) contract wasextended to cover design, construct andmaintain responsibilities. Separate contractswere also let for the replacement andextension of the signalling system with a newTram Management System (TMS) from Thales,62 new trams from Bombardier, and thereplacement of the existing Ticket VendingMachines and provision of new ones for theextended network.

Complex constructionConstruction of the extensions is a major

capital programme, with each of the lineshaving their own, differing characteristics: • Oldham and Rochdale - 22.5 km of tram

track running along the route of theformer ‘Loop Line’ railway between Victoriaand Rochdale rail stations.

• Oldham town centre extension - A 2.4 kmline into the centre of Oldham, replacingthe temporary Metrolink route on the oldrailway line which bypasses the towncentre.

• Rochdale town centre - A 1.1km line intoRochdale town centre, providing aninterchange with the new bus station.

• Manchester Airport - A 14.5 km branch offthe Chorlton line on new track viaNorthern Moor, Baguley andWythenshawe to Manchester Airport.

• Chorlton - A 2.7km line branching off theAltrincham line at Trafford Bar and runningalong a disused railway formation (the ex-Midland main line into ManchesterCentral).

• Chorlton to East Didsbury - Extending theChorlton line by 4.5km from St Werburgh’s

Road to East Didsburyalong the disused railway

formation. • MediaCityUK - A 0.4km spur from a

triangular junction near Harbour Citystation on the Eccles line.

• Droylsden - A 6.3km line running from theexisting Metrolink stop at ManchesterPiccadilly to Droyslden and including anew underpass at Great Ancoats Street.

• Droylsden to Ashton - 3.9km of track, parton street and part segregated, connectingthe town centres of Droylsden and Ashton-Under-Lyne.

The new MediaCityUK spur opened inSeptember 2010 and the new line to StWerburgh’s Road in Chorlton opened in July2011. The remaining routes will open inphases up to 2016.

Plans are underway for a second Metrolinkline across Manchester from the Deansgate-Castlefield stop to Victoria to provideflexibility and capacity for the extendednetwork. Subject to successfully obtainingTransport and Works Act powers, it isenvisaged construction will take placebetween 2013 and 2016.

3 stages ofChorlton rebuild.

Future tram stopat Rochdale RailStation.


Major renewal programmeAlso in 2009, the then GMITA embarked on

a £100million investment programme toupgrade parts of the existing network andso improve Metrolink. This renewalprogramme saw the city centre tram tracksreplaced, resulting in a temporary closure ofthe city centre section while work wascompleted. This closure presented an idealopportunity to carry out furtherimprovements in this busy section,including:• Widening the Piccadilly Gardens tram stop

to give more room and better shelterfacilities for passengers

• Heightening and rebuilding St Peter’sSquare stop to give improved access andlevel boarding for double-length trams

• New street finishes across the city centrenetwork, including Yorkstone paving,granite, and exposed aggregate concretewith granite banding, delivered inpartnership with Manchester City Council

• New finishes at Piccadilly Gardens,Piccadilly Place, High Street and ShudehillMetrolink stops

• Installation of a new passenger informationdisplay system and ticketing machines.

StagecoachProjects wasappointed as themain contractor for most of the work butwith Balfour Beatty being responsible for thetram stop rebuilds and refurbishment.During the closure the tram systemoperated in two sections: St Peters Square toAltrincham/Eccles and Victoria to Bury. Theoverall work was anticipated to take aroundthree months.

Work began in August 2009 but the jobwas not without its challenges. A safepathway was needed through the citycentre site for Altrincham trams to get toand from the Queens Road depot foressential maintenance. This was achieved byensuring one track was available throughoutthe entire period, allowing vehicles to bemoved through the works section at the endand beginning of service every three days.Trams were otherwise “outstabled” duringthis period.

Major renewal work also took place on theAltrincham and Eccles lines, includingreplacing the electrical overhead line systemand some of the supporting structures onthe Altrincham section. Other work includedextensive improvements to stops, building a

replacement tram stop at OldTrafford and laying in connections to boththe new tram depot site in Old Trafford andthe new Chorlton line. The triangularjunction for the new spur to MediaCityUKwas built while the track layout at Cornbrookwas remodelled both to accommodate thenew MediaCityUK line service and to providegreater operational flexibility.

Upgrading the operations andrenewing the signalling

In addition to the construction of all thenew lines, a new Tram Management System(TMS) is being rolled out to provide anintegrated solution for the entire networkand bring a number of passenger benefits,such as increased service frequencies andreal-time passenger information displays.

The ex-British Rail block signalling systemon the Bury and Altrincham lines will bereplaced with line of sight operation toachieve consistency across the network.With a maximum permitted speed of80km/h on the ‘open country’ sections, the

Rochdale Viaductunder construction.

(Left) triangularjunction atMediaCityUK.(Right) A preproduction mock-up of a T-68Metrolink vehicleon display in 1990.

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ability to stop quickly and easilywill be safeguarded by magnetictrack brakes. Improved slip/slidecontrols prevent skidding andthe unwanted generation ofwheel flats.

Key to the new signalling andcontrol arrangements is theability to know where trams areat any given time. This isachieved using periodic ‘hard’track loops plus a system of‘virtual loops’ created from aseries of low power ‘MESH’

radio beacons installedalong the routes. Thebeacons continually ‘talk’to the trams and eachother, allowing control tomonitor the position ofeach tram. Thisinformation is used totrigger the anticipated callfor junctions, with the finalcall made after thepreceding ‘hard’ loop ispassed.

This new signalling systemwill permit closer headways,resulting in a more frequentservice, as well as providingreal time service information.Disseminating real time

information to the newpassenger information displays and publicaddress facilities requires a robusttelecom/data network. The original Siemens36Mbit OTN (Open Transport Network) ringsystem is being replaced with a High Speed1Gbit Ethernet LAN. This is an industrystandard product and will give improvedflexibility and security.

Contract Management and the FutureIt has been a busy few years for Metrolink

in Greater Manchester. A Metrolinkpartnership with Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB)has created a unified, integrated Project and

Programme management team to overseethe construction of the new lines, which isvery successful and will continue for theremainder of the modernisation andextension programme.

To ensure the safety management andchange control processes are properlyanalysed and approved in accordance withROGS Regulations, an independent‘Competent Person’ has been appointed.

In more recent times, RATP Dev UK, asubsidiary of the French state-ownedcompany which runs the Paris Metro, hastaken over the operational contract to runGreater Manchester’s Metrolink networkfrom Stagecoach plc. The Metrolink system -trams, track and associated infrastructure -will continue to be publicly owned byTransport for Greater Manchester.

New trainsTo date a total of 62 new M5000 Flexity

Swift trams have been ordered fromBombardier to serve the expandingnetwork. Each has a distinctive yellow andsilver colour, making them strikinglydifferent from the older T68 fleet. The first ofthe new trams entered service in December2009, running between Piccadilly rail stationand Eccles. More trams continue to arrive ona phased basis.

Approval by Greater Manchester’stransport leaders has been given to ‘retire’Metrolink’s oldest trams and in September,the Greater Manchester Combined Authority(GMCA) agreed to order 12 more M5000s inorder to replace these T68 vehicles, whichhave been in service since the networkopened in 1992.

These are certainly exciting times. Whencomplete, Manchester’s Metrolink systemwill stretch across the conurbation to reachnew passengers and open up new publictransport opportunities. Greater Manchesteris investing £1.4 billion to upgrade andexpand this iconic network which willalmost treble in size, becoming the largesttram operation in the UK.

Top, new tram atPiccadilly Gardens,(bottom) new St.Werburgh’s RoadStation.

To most, RATP symbolises the successful Paris metro, bus andtram operator. Many in the UK will not be aware however thatthe RATP Group is now the fifth largest public transport operatorin the world and since 1 August this year took over fromStagecoach, through its RATP Dev subsidiary, the contract tooperate the expanding Metrolink contract on behalf of TfGM.

Stagecoach decided to exit the contract and after manymonths of negotiation and satisfying TfGM of theircommitment, RATP Dev are delighted with their acquisition.

“We wanted this operation for a number of reasons” says RATPDev UK’s Chief Executive Paul Matthews. “This is a tremendouslyexciting time for Manchester and we wanted to both share inthe success of Metrolink’s growth but more importantly offerour global expertise to assist TfGM meet the challenges of thatgrowth as a true partner”. “We also wanted to balance ourtransport portfiolio in the UK which had been built on buses,with a successful tram operation which Stagecoach haddeveloped and hopefully acting as a springboard to further tramgrowth for us.”

The team in Manchester is lead by Managing Director, ChrisColeman who is very focused on the dual responsibilities ofeffectively planning for each phase of the extensions andmaintaining a high quality operation for existing customers.“RATP Dev is committed to quality and whilst I am proud of whatour team does day in and day out, there is always more we cando, particularly in areas of managing headways, cleaningstandards and customer communication in the event ofdisruptions”. The experienced local team has recently beenjoined by a specialist from RATP’s operation in Paris to assist withthe extensions and accessing further expertise as required fromelsewhere in the Group. Manchester also hosted a visit recentlyfrom RATP’s tram operations specialists from Paris and Florence.

Metrolink RATP Dev Ltd, the company holding the contractwith TfGM, employs 466 staff including experts in areas such asrolling stock maintenance, signalling and all aspects associatedwith the tram system infrastructure. The next challenge will beopening up the second tram depot at Trafford Park foroperational service in the New Year.

The new Metrolink operator

RATP Dev, working

in partnership

with TfGM to deliver a

world class tramway

for Manchester.

RATP Dev operates and maintains metros,

tramways and rail systems worldwide.


or several years, the mass rapidtransit (MRT) system in the German city

of Karlsruhe and its surrounding region hasbeen the subject of an interestingtransportation initiative. Continuousexpansion of its network, with constantlyincreasingly passenger numbers, has provedthe “Karlsruhe Model” to be a success.

A total of 19 mass transit companies,including the Karlsruhe public-transportauthority (VBK), have merged to form theKarlsruhe network of MRT companiesknown as Karlsruher VerkehrsverbundGmbH (KVV). With its MRT network of 685km, the KVV is the third-largest publictransport network in the German state ofBaden-Württemberg. In addition to the linesoperated solely by the urban rapid-transitsystems, the MRT network also includes 178km of Deutsche Bahn lines that are also usedby the KVV.

Ballastless trackSince 2003, RHEDA CITY ballastless track

has been installed in the Karlsruhe urban-transport network. For the recentconstruction of the south-east tramextension, this system used synthetic fibreconcrete for the first time. The new 2.2kmsection, popularly known as the “CultureLine”, will connect the southern part of

Karlsruhe with the east ofthe city and will also providegood tram access to theKarlsruhe Music Academyand the National Theatre.This resulting new publictransit network will thereforealso have benefits for thosewho live outside the newresidential areas in the easternpart of the city. The extensiveuse of turf tracks will furtherenhance the attractiveness ofthe Karlsruhe city landscape.

The conventional version ofthe RHEDA CITY track system,used until now in Karlsruhe, hasfeatured continuous

longitudinal steel reinforcement in the trackconcrete layer. This application for urbantramways was developed from the basicoriginal RHEDA system, the first ballastlesstrack system in Germany, that had beeninstalled in the Westphalian train station ofRheda in 1972 by Professor Josef Eisenmann.

As reported in issue 84 of the rail engineer(October 2011), RAIL.ONE GmbH tested theuse of synthetic-fibre concrete in the trackconcrete layer for the first time on thenetwork of the Berlin Public TransportAuthority (BVG) in 2010. The success of thistest application was one of the reasons thatVBK decided to use the RHEDA CITY systemwith synthetic-fibre concrete for its plannednetwork expansion and for the new tramstation at Gottesauer Platz. The new RHEDACITY system will replace existing cross-sleeper tram tracks that were installed flushwith the street surface.

Benefits of synthetic-fibre concreteSubstituting synthetic fibres for steel

reinforcement does not alter the basiccharacteristics of ballastless track. It does notaffect the system of free crack formation but,at the same time, the synthetic fibresdetermine the distribution of cracks in thetrack concrete layer. Rosenberg Engineering

Offices played a key role in development ofthis new concrete mix design followingextensive preliminary laboratoryinvestigations and a great number of tests.

Using a synthetic-fibre concrete layeroffers numerous benefits over conventionaltrack design. The space available for trackconstruction is often severely limited,particularly in an urban situation or onheavily used traffic arteries. These spacerestrictions force construction companies toinvest in time - and cost-intensiveconstruction methods.

The use of synthetic fibres can reducethese costs. In Karlsruhe for example, 16.5tonnes of steel reinforcement werepreviously used in each kilometre of RHEDACITY track. With the new synthetic fibreconcrete, only 2.8 tonnes of fibres are usedper km. These fibres are added directly in theconcrete mixing plant, which means nologistics and no space requirements forrebar on the construction site. Likewise, thisreduction in the use of heavy, steelcomponents considerably improves thetransport budget for the entire system. Inaddition, the lack of continuous longitudinalreinforcement allows significant time gainsin installation of the track panels, reducinglabour costs on the construction site.

Earthing and signallingThere are other benefits too. Trams are

usually powered by direct current whichrequires any steel installation to be earthed.The use of synthetic fibres eliminates theneed for these measures, with appreciablecost savings.

Elimination of longitudinal steelreinforcement in the track concrete layerfurthermore prevents any undesirableinteraction between reinforcement steel andthe track signal systems. Until now, andparticularly in cases of mass detectors andtrack circuits, it was necessary to electricallyinsulate the longitudinal reinforcement steelfrom the other system components. This isno longer required.

F

KarlsruheClever

(Above) Completedtram track withsynthetic fibres, atGottesauer Platztram station,Karlsruhe.


Track construction In the pilot project in Berlin, the synthetic

fibres were directly added to the concrete inthe ready-mix lorry before pouring the trackconcrete layer. In Karlsruhe, however, thesynthetic fibres were mixed directly into theconcrete at the factory. This involvesmanually adding the bundles of fibres tothe fresh concrete, as the final componentin the concrete mix, through a specialopening on the mixing plant. At this stage,the concrete must have already attained thenormal consistency of freshly mixedconcrete although the addition of thesynthetic fibres will have an effect on thatconsistency. This ensures that the concretecan be processed on the construction sitewithout delay, and it prevents possiblemistakes such as in calculation of the fibreamounts per vehicle and in manual dosingof fibres for in-transit mixing.

On the construction site, the freshly mixedconcrete can be poured by concrete pumpor chute into the completely assembled andadjusted track panels. There is no differencebetween working with the synthetic-fibreconcrete and normal, every-day concrete.The Karlsruhe project has confirmed thatsynthetic-fibre concrete is well suited for usein the track concrete layer. Proper curing ofthe concrete is important as, if the correctpost-treatment is not carried out, thesynthetic fibres might not bond correctlywith the concrete matrix. Shrinkage crackscould arise which could possibly impair thelong-term performance of the concrete layer.

The VBK in Karlsruhe is the first publictransport company in Germany to usesynthetic fibre concrete in its MRT networkas standard. So far, the results of thispioneering approach are more thansatisfactory.

Thanks go to Hans-Christian Rossmann,Systems Engineer at RAIL.ONE GmbH, toTorsten Rosenberg, Rosenberg EngineeringOffices, and to Volker Meier, Officer forMaintenance and Project Management, forthe Karlsruhe public-transport authority(VBK) for their help in preparing this article.

(Left) Concretingthe track panel with

synthetic-fibreconcrete.

(Below) No need forcontinuous

longitudinalreinforcement.


ubai is home of the world’s first 7 starhotel in the Burj Al Arab, the world’s

tallest building in the Burj Khalifa Tower, andthe world’s longest fully-automatedpassenger metro system. Dubai doesn’tknow the meaning of anything less thanworld class so when the rail engineer heardthey had opened their second metro line,the Green Line, it seemed like a goodopportunity to take a look and see justexactly how an Emirate with a population ofonly 2.2 million moves people around a cityagainst competition from 12 lanemotorways and cars that can be filled up fora third of the price of that in the UK.

The Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) hasappointed Serco Middle East to manage andoperate the system under a 7 year licence to2014 with an option to extend for another 5years to 2019. The RTA is responsible for allpublic transport in Dubai including theMetro, buses, taxis and water taxis, whichputs them in an ideal place to integratetransport journeys throughout the city,taking traffic off the road and easingcongestion. With oil being one of the UnitedArab Emirates greatest assets, the car-dependent population has needed somecoaxing to use the Metro. However the RTAseems to be winning this battle andconverting more and more users on amonthly basis with over 100 million journeysbeing made since the line opened in 2009.

Red LineThe Dubai Metro was opened by his

Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid AlMaktoum, ruler of Dubai and Vice Presidentof the UAE, at 9 seconds and 9 minutes past9pm on the 9 September 2009 (09:09:0909/09/09). The Red Line, running for 52.1 km

from Jebel Ali in thewest to Rashidiya nearthe airport in the east,was initially opened with just 10 stations. Afurther 18 followed in 2010 and the last one,Jebel Ali station itself, in March 2011. 24 ofthe 29 stations are elevated alongside the 12lane motorway of the Sheik Zayed Road,four are underground in the business districtand one is at street level. In its first full yearof operation, the service transported 30million passengers

Constructed by Dubai Rapid Link (DURL),which is a consortium made up of Japanesecompanies including Mitsubishi HeavyIndustries, Mitsubishi Corporation, ObayashiCorporation, Kajima Corporation and theTurkish company Yapi Merkezi, the projectstarted in 2005 and was largely completed inunder 4 years.

The aim of the RTA was always to getpeople out of their cars and onto the publictransport system, so two giant park-and-ridecar parks were built at Rashidiya andJumeirah Islands, each having 3,000 spaces.

Serco Middle EastTwo years prior to the Metro opening,

Serco Middle East was made responsible forrecruiting and training the 2,200 workers itwould take to run, operate and maintain theRed Line. An additional 800 workers havenow been added for the new Green Linetaking the workforce to over 3000employees. Around 50,000 training hourshave been delivered to staff at all levels ofthe business.

Chris Rayner is the new Managing Directorof the Dubai Metro. A former Western RouteDirector for Network Rail and ManagingDirector of CTRL, Chris explained he had

wanted to work abroad since a holiday inThailand in 2010. The Dubai Metro hasoffered him the chance to be directlyresponsible for 3,000 people from 28 differentcountries speaking many languages. Chriscommented, “We have key performanceindicators based around punctuality andperformance to hit, and the RTA set theirstandards high with nothing less than 99%being acceptable. I’ve only been in the post afew months but I am very proud of the teamand every worker, how they have pulledtogether to give us a metro system that isbeing hailed as world class. The quality of our

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workers’ accommodation is like a 3-star hoteland they are paid a wage which means theycan send up to 90% of their wages home. Thechallenges for us are in keeping the Metroefficient, increasing the patronage of themetro and being able to hand it back to theRTA when the contract ends.”

Green LineFollowing on from the success of the Red

Line, the new Green Line was inauguratedon 9 September 2011 and currently runsover 17.6 km from the inland Etisalat depot,up to the coast, and back inland again toHealthcare City. A further 4.9 km on to AlQusais and Creek will be added later. Built inthe same style as the Red Line, it has twointerchanges with the latter at Union Squareand Khalid Bin Al Waleed. Union Station isnow reputed to be one of the largest metrostations in the world, covering 25,000 squaremeters on two levels. 12 of the 16 stationson the Green Line (18 when it is extended toCreek) are elevated, while six areunderground as is 7.9 km of the route.

With the opening of the Green Line, DubaiMetro now covers 70 kilometres and takes in47 stations, nine of which are underground.

Air conditioned depotsThe Red Line has two maintenance depots;

Al Rashidiya Depot, the main depot hascapacity to park 45 trains and Jebel AliDepot, the auxiliary depot has capacity topark 24 trains.

Al Rashidiya Depot, which covers 170,000square feet, has the facility to carry out bothlight and heavy maintenance. Green Linehas one depot at Al Qusais which is 30%larger and has more space available to carryout both light and heavy maintenance.

Robin Chen, the Rolling Stock and DepotsManager, explained, “The rolling stock,supplied by Kinki-Sharyo of Japan, consists ofan initial 44 five-car sets followed by a furthereighteen. Each train is made up of onecarriage set aside for Gold Class passengers,each with 18 superior leather seats, and withseparate partition for women and childrenonly, and the remaining four carriages areSilver Class for the general public. Eachcarriage has three doors per carriage

allowing, even in peak time, plenty of roomfor people to access and leave the train andall with allocated space for wheelchair users.Since then, The RTA has ordered and receivedanother 17 trains for the Green Line.

Each 85.5 meter long train has 142 seatsand can comfortably accommodate 643passengers. They can carry up to 897passengers at peak capacity and arestructurally designed for a maximum of1,150. Trains are fitted with passengerinformation displays in Arabic and English,the signage shows route maps and CCTVmonitors every carriage.

With Transport Police present throughoutthe stations and trains, passengers feel verysecure. Visitors will notice how remarkablyclean the trains are and the RTA have gone forlimited advertising opportunities inside thetrains and stations rather than bombardingtheir customers with advertising messages inany available space. With trains operatingevery 3 minutes and 45 seconds during peaktime and every 5 minutes off peak, you neverhave to wait long to get on board.”

The air-conditioned maintenance depotsare fitted out with the best equipmentavailable and employ 600 people. Each daytrains start themselves at a pre-determinedtime, run through pre-operation checks andthen make their way first to the yard andthen out onto the network. At the end of theday they run back to the depot, go througha maintenance check and then powerthemselves down to conserve energy. Thecurrent maintenance routine happens every3 days, 2 weeks and 3 months on every set,regardless of how many kilometers it hascarried out operationally.

MaintenanceJohn Barlass is the Engineering and

Maintenance Director. John explained thatcurrently the company responsible forbuilding the Metro was carrying out Level 1and 2 maintenance tasks as, under the buildcontract, it has to make sure that it is handingover a snag-free metro system. Level 3 and 4maintenance is undertaken by Dubai Metro.

John, a former London MidlandEngineering Director and OperationsDirector for Alstom Transport, commented

that because the system is so new it hasn’treally had any real tests yet.

The biggest challenges are making surethe system copes with temperatures as highas 113-117 °F from May through to August,and keeping the points and track clear ofsand and dust. When a sand storm blows upit just rolls across 70km of open desert fromAbu Dhabi and covers everything.

Operational control centreThe state-of-the-art Operations Control

Centre oversees train movement using aThales control system. The entire DubaiMetro system is controlled and monitoredby 27 people working 12 hour shifts andmanaged by former Manchester Metrolinkemployee Steve Staley. Large wall displays

show the exact location of every train set onthe network across the Red and Green lineswhile the CCTV cameras are monitored byDubai’s transport police. CCTV in stations,trains, depots, track-side and sub-stationsand Emergency Call Points (ECP) on stationplatforms & trains, intrusion alarm systemsand a smart card operated access controlsystem are all controlled and monitored viathe Operational Control Centre.

StationsMark

Smith,Dubai Metro’s

Stations Manager,explained that each station

has been designed with atheme around Fire, Earth,Water and Wind. Khalid Bin AlWaleed station is one of twowhere the Red Line meets upwith the Green Line over a

three level station. Mark is very proudof all his staff that run the stations, from theticket clerk to the barrier assistants - everyone of them has either been trained incustomer service or they have a naturaldisposition to serve. And with 200 retailoutlets about to become available on thenetwork, Mark and his team will becomeeven busier very soon.

The 47 stations have been largely built to astandard design, keeping build costs down.Also, Dubai Metro launched the world’s firstinitiative of station naming rights in 2008.The RTA now has 21 stations already namedand it raised a significant 1.8 billion Dirhams(£310 million) in doing so.

With 100 million passengers in 2 years,3,000 employees, 87 train sets, 47 stations ofwhich 21 are named for the next 10 years, 3maintenance depots, 2 lines and a high-techoperational control centre, Dubai has builtnot only the longest fully automated metrosystem but also one of the most technicallyadvanced systems in the world.

The story is not yet over. The two-stationextension of the Green Line to Creek iscoming soon. The Al Sufouh Tram Project isalready being constructed by Alstom andBelhasa Six Construct LLC and there is animpressive mock-up of a station and tram atthe Jumeirah Beach Walk. There is also talk ofPurple and Blue metro lines to connect theexisting Dubai International Airport with therecently-opened Al Maktoum InternationalAirport. the rail engineer will no doubt haveto go back to Dubai again in the future…


Thanks to Fiona D’Cunha of the RTAand Leilani Parungao and Ali Fahmiof Serco Middle East For helping tomake this article possible.

w www.rta.ae

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Stations are basedon a singlestandardised design.


he Tyne & Wear Metro opened in1980 and now has a 48 mile long

network connecting Newcastle uponTyne, Gateshead, South Tyneside,North Tyneside and Sunderland.Ninety two-car sets were built inBirmingham by Metro-Cammell which,having entered into service in 1980, arenow 40 years old.

As part of the £350 million Metro: AllChange modernisation programme, anew passenger information system(PIS) costing £1.7 million was installedin the train fleet. This was to provideclearly audible, pre-recordedannouncements along with textmessages displayed in carriages to aidhearing-impaired passengers.

New PISMetro owners Nexus selected

Interalia Communications to installthe new audio-visual system. Mindfulof the need for simplicity andreliability, Interalia in turn chose touse a 5-port unmanaged Ethernetswitch from industrial datacommunications specialist Westermo,model SDW-550, in the onboardcommunications network whichshares data between the PIS and theCCTV system.

The SDW-550 is a ‘plug & play’ DIN railmounted 5 port unmanaged industrialEthernet switch with 5 10/100 Mbit TX(copper) ports. It is manufactured to ahigh industrial specification whichallows it to even be connected intoCAT3 cable. The switch is tri-galvanically isolated with up to 2.8Kvisolation between interfaces and thepower side, and a 1.5Kv betweeninterfaces with a wide 9.6V to 57.6V DCinput power range with polarityprotection as well as being able toaccept power from two sources.

DelightedAll 90 cars have now been fitted with

the new systems, and both theoperator and passengers have reactedfavourably to the improved quality ofthe information available to them.Organisations representing travellerswho are blind, partially sighted, deaf orhard of hearing have complimentedNexus on the work they have donewhich has transformed the passengerexperience for many of them.

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Improvements

light rail

Blackpool

ssue 84 (October 2011) of thismagazine included a report on the

world launch of the new BOMBARDIERFLEXITY 2 tram at Blackpool. That articlewas based around the new tram readydestined to be used on the network fromStarr Gate, at the south end of Blackpool’sPleasure Beach, north to Fleetwood.

Project investment was split into threecontracts: replacing the remaining 8km oftrack, building a brand new tram depot atStarr Gate and purchasing 16 new tramsfrom Bombardier Transportation.

New depotIt would be an injustice not to report on

the new depot facilities built to house andmaintain the new fleet. The design conceptwas specified by Blackpool Council and thedetailed design and build was carried out byVolker Fitzpatrick. The style can be likened toa newly-built shopping complex, with wave-effect all-glass frontages to separate thestabling and maintenance sheds. It certainlybears no resemblance to other light-railmaintenance depots and is a world awayfrom the metal-bashing, greasy-ragatmosphere of the UK resort’s ageing RigbyRoad base.

A stone’s throw from BlackpoolInternational Airport, the two main sectionsof the Starr Gate depot could indeed bemistaken for aircraft hangars. It has changedthe resort’s skyline in this area and the newdepot is fenced to ensure a tight securitycompound, including CCTV linked directlyto the council’s own system.

A process of commissioning, training andchecking over the new equipment tookplace prior to the launch date. In June, aheritage tram and a modified Balloon carwere at the depot traversed all of the roadsunder power to ensure that clearances werewithin limits.

OutsideOn the approach to the depot gates, a

tram is detected by a transponder thatallows the driver to open themautomatically. They then close again as thetram passes through a security beam. Theroute on entering the depot is via thesanding plant, supplied from a nearby silo,to fill the eight sanding boxes on the newtrams which are also fitted with automaticwheelslip detection.

The washing plant is next. A transponderin the track recognises the type of tramapproaching, and the washer’s brushes areset up accordingly, whether for a double orsingle-decker, long or short tram. Lower andhigher brushes will ensure the car is cleanedunderneath and on the eaves at the top. Twofinal rinse arches use deionised water. It isenvisaged the trams will be washed everyday, given Blackpool’s particularly hostileclimate of salt, sand, seawater and wind.

InsideMoving inside the building, the stabling

area is a vast hall that can accommodate 14of the 16 new trams, two on each road - it isassumed 2 will be undergoing maintenanceat any one time. The entire fleet willtherefore be stabled undercover, again animportant part of the battle against the

elements. Internal cleaning andminor repairs will be carried out within thestabling area. If further work is required thetram will move to the workshop.

The maintenance area of the depot housesall the usual kit associated with maintenanceand repair of vehicles, including an eight-tonoverhead Goliath crane for moving bogiesand two turntables for moving bogies out ofthe depot after removal to a storage area.There are also two remote-controlled three-tonne overhead monorail hoists for movingroof equipment around the building. Thishigh-tech maintenance side of the depothas six berths, with inspection pits, morethan enough for just the new trams but it isenvisaged that work will also be done on theheritage fleet.

A set of 12 mobile jacks can lift an entirenew tram and, with some minormodifications, can also lift the heritage fleet.At the moment it is a long and laborious taskto lift heritage vehicles at Rigby Road.

The lifting jacks are manoeuvredalongside the vehicle and a square bar is‘plugged in’ to the side of the tram. The jacksall then lift simultaneously, operated from asingle control panel, and can work invarious combinations, giving maximumflexibility.

I

w r i t e rTerry Whitley

18 | the rail engineer | december 2011

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The Future of UrbanTransport

The BOMBARDIER* FLEXITY* family has become the benchmark for urban mobility in many countries around the world. The FLEXITY 2 tram is based on Bombardier’s successful FLEXITY trams and has been created to incorporate outstanding, proven features in one single tram. Bombardier Transportation is very proud that Blackpool Council and Lancashire Council have placed their trust in its latest development to revitalise the town’s tram system.

A Beck & Pollitzer depot protection systemis a key-based system that ensures allmovement operations are protected on site,and includes isolation of the overhead linewhen this is necessary for work on the trams.

The Hegenscheidt underfloor wheel latheis designed for both the modern andheritage fleet and can turn the wheels onthe six axles of a FLEXITY 2 tram in just eighthours. The wheel profiles are already inputinto the machine’s database so there is noopportunity for error.

There are other facilities including a shoresupply when the overhead line is isolated,power points to charge vehicle batteries,automatic front doors and key-operated

bollards.

Housed between the stabling andmaintenance sheds are the main offices andcomfort facilities for the Bombardier staff whowill initially commission and carry outmaintenance on the trams, and for BlackpoolTransport operational staff. The depotbuilding has LED lighting on the outside thatgives a spectacular appearance to the depotand will blend in with the start of theilluminations at the south end when on show.

The depot and its immediate area are theonly part of the tramway to be fullysignalled. Electronic signals give permissionto leave the depot and indicate to the driverwhich way the electrically-operated pointsare set. A driver wanting to leave the depothas to create a request with the transponderby using his keypad to go either on to the

main line or the new headshunt,and the gates are then opened.The area is signalled andprotected from any conflictingmoves.

New trackWork on the tramway’s track

modernisation by contractor BAMNuttall will be completed ready forthe launch of the new system inApril 2012.

The Tower to Gynn Square section,one of the trickiest because of the

paved track, was completed inthe winter and trams are nowoperating between PleasureBeach and Little Bispham.Relaying of the street-runningtrack in Fleetwood is finished.

The layout for passengers atStarr Gate has also changedl.Instead of trams dropping offtheir passengers and pickingothers up from the same stop,then going round the turningcircle, there will be arrival anddeparture platforms and thetram will simply reversebetween them.

The street-running section around theMetropole Hotel has been moved onto itsown easement to help reduce trafficcongestion problems. New platform-styletram stops along the whole route are atvarious stages of completion.

Automatic priorityThere is some track work still to complete,

essentially from the Blackpool boundaryheading north and 12 new signal-controlledcrossings are being installed at highwayjunctions north of Little Bispham, providingautomatic tram priority. Transponders areset in the track on the approach to junctions,and there are antennae and control boxesfitted to the trams. As the tram approachesthe junction, the equipment detects thevehicle and changes the signal in its favour.The first part of the system was completedat Little Bispham and contractors areprogressively working north towardsFleetwood.

The entire retained heritage fleet, about 40sets, has also been fitted with the newcontrol boxes. Every tram now has a uniquenumber, which enables the system to detectwhich vehicle it is.

More powerMuch of the electrical infrastructure has

been replaced. The system is beinguprated from 550V DC to 600V DC to takeinto account the more powerful trams andmore intensive operation. In Fleetwood thenew OLE is nearing completion andplanning permission has been granted fora new substation at Fleetwood Ferry. Adouble substation has been built at thenew depot to supplynot only its ownpower but also the overhead linesbetween Starr Gate and the PleasureBeach.

With its new depot, and new trams,Blackpool has moved from the heritage tothe modern world. But those illuminatedtrams will still be there to delight tourists asthey have for decades.


The new depot isfitted out with allthe latest workshopequipment.

22 | the rail engineer | december 2011 feature

he pages of your favourite railwayengineering magazine are always full of

the goings-on of the major rail infrastructurecontractors. Balfour Beatty, Carillion, BAMNuttall, May Gurney, Murphy and others –they all feature regularly. The likes of QTS,Story Rail, Stobart Rail and TazikerInternational have their moments under thespotlight too.

So it is a pleasure, for a change, to look atthe work of one of the smaller contractors.Straddling the English / Scottish border atCarlisle, TCB Rail & Groundworks is well-placed to cover all of the UK. Although onlyformed in 2010, the founder members haveover 30 years combined practical andmanagerial experience within the railindustry. The company specialises in alltypes of contract work which vary in sizefrom small to large, offering a friendly,reliable and professional service where clientsatisfaction is paramount.

In short, TCB offer all the standard buildingservices that are complicated by the need toundertake the work on a live railway. Sodrainage, block paving, asphalt laying, wallbuilding and roofing are all undertakenusing a PTS certified workforce. Additionally,the more specialised fields of track renewals(re-rail, stressing, sleeper changing) can alsobe accommodated.

Track replacementTCB tend to work on behalf of a larger

contractor, who themselves are working for aneven larger one or for Network Rail. Anexample of this was a recent track renewal jobnear Oxford. Murphy had been contracted torefurbish a bridge for Network Rail. The trackand ballast had to be removed from the bridgedeck so that it could be re-waterproofed. Thetrack then had to be replaced. Murphy askedMcGregor Railway Services to remove the oldtrack, and they turned to TCB.

Once the blockade was in place, the railswere cut and dragged clear of the bridge.The concrete sleepers were removed using aRRV and stacked ready for reuse. Anexcavator removed the ballast and loaded itinto two wagons.

After the waterproofing was complete, theprocess was reversed and the ballast,sleepers and rails replaced and the trackrestressed. Murphy arranged for a tamper togo through, and then to finish off TCBdressed everything up and tidied the site.

Station refurbishmentReplacing a roof and resurfacing some

hard standing are jobs done every day onfactories, supermarkets and communitycentres all over the country. But on a liverailway, when it is a station that is beingrefurbished, there are added complicationsthat require a specialist such as TCB.

Meadow Well station on the Tyne & WearMetro was opened in 1982 as Smith’s Park.Thirty years later, renamed and having beenthe target of frequent vandal attacks, a major

refurbishment was needed. The roofs overboth platforms were to be completelyreplaced and the platform surfaces brokenup and relayed with the mandatory tactilestrips.

Working to an agreed design, TCB installedelegant new roofs in Metro’s colours. Theasphalt platform surface was removed andreplaced along with tiles for the tactile strip.The whole job was completed on budget,and on time.

Down the drainCan Geotechnical were carrying out

embankment stabilisation works at Hastings,East Sussex. New drainage was needed tocarry the water away from the embankmentto stop further problems in the future andTCB Rail and Groundworks were asked byRailway Drainage Limited to carry out thatphase of the project.

Devegetation was the first thing to do,along with building an access road throughthe heavy vegetation. Once this wasunderway, TCB started to dig back and installthe pipe work and aqua chambers, as well asto build a head wall and concrete pad for thedrainage and for the water to disperse intoan existing water course. The project wasbased on a 4 week programme but TCBhelped to get this down to a 2 weekinstallation with no incidents or accidents orany effects on the job.

All of these jobs, looked at in isolation,sound quite routine. But without companiessuch as TCB Rail & Groundworks, the routineoften wouldn’t get done.

T

Smallbut indispensable

TCB Rail andGroundworks iswell placed tocover all of the UK.

Based in Carlisle, T.C.B. Rail & Groundworks specialises in work

within the rail sector, covering the whole of the UK.

Contingent Labour (Track)

Contingent Labour (Building Works)

Contingent Labour (Civils)

On Track Protection & Warning Services

Drainage Trough route Installation

Platform Works Station Upgrades

Concrete Works Cable Pulling

Duct Installation Block Paving

Fencing + General Rail / Civil work

We specialise in

We carry out work in

T.C.B Rail & Groundworks Ltd

47 Ruthella Street

Carlisle, CA2 7PB

call: 07938 581857

email: [email protected]

www.tcbgroundworks.com



Re-SignallingPHOTO: ANNA METCALFE

Swanage Stationon the day ofopening in 1885.

uch has been written about newsignalling schemes on Network Rail,

London Underground and elsewhere. Thewonders of modern electronics andcomputer control make fascinating readingeven if the cost creates considerable adversecomment on occasions.

Main line and metro railways are not alonein having challenges for controlling an ever-increasing growth in traffic. The UK’sheritage railways are the most prolific in theworld and there seems no stopping theemergence of new schemes for thereinstatement of abandoned lines. However,these railways have to conform to thesignalling rules for what are generallyclassified as Light Railways, which, whilerestricting speed to a maximum of 25mph,nonetheless demand safe systems ofoperation and control.

The Swanage Railway is typical of thechallenges that such lines face. Starting withnot much more than a long strip of brownfield land, the rebuilding of the railway sothat trains could run again took many years.Sorting out the signalling requirements wasperhaps an even more significant projectand the IRSE Minor Railways section visitedthe railway on the 15 October to see whathad been achieved.

The Wareham to Swanage RailwayOpened in 1885, the line connected the

country town of Wareham with the Dorsetcoast resort of Swanage with a passing loopand station at Corfe Castle. Flourishing formany years, particularly with holiday seasidetraffic, it gradually succumbed to growingcar ownership and eventually closed inJanuary 1972. The local population hadfiercely resisted the closure and efforts to getthe line re-opened began almost at once.However the demolition contractors movedin quickly and the line was dismantled fromSwanage as far as the Furzebrook sidingsserving Wytch Farm Oil field, some 2 milesfrom Worgret Junction near Wareham. Thisstub end has proved to be fortuitous in thata mainline connection was retained.

The station buildings at Swanage andCorfe Castle were left although increasinglysubject to dilapidation. The preservationsociety had a daunting task but an ally wasfound in Dorset County Council who realisedthat a re-instated railway might offer asolution to the growing traffic problems inCorfe Castle and Swanage. The CountyCouncil bought the track bed and thus theroute was now secure.

Swanage station was refurbished and by1979, track was relaid to Herston on theoutskirts of the town. Sidings and the oldengine shed enabled small steamlocomotives and ex BR coaches tocommence a short shuttle service. In 1988,the line was extended to an entirely newstation at Harmans Cross where a loop wasprovided for run round purposes.

The big leap forward came in 1995 whenthe line extended to Corfe Castle andbeyond to the park & ride at Norden. The

railway became part of the transport systemfor the district carrying local travellers andholiday makers as well as enthusiastswanting a steam train ride. Additionallocomotives and rolling stock were obtainedbut the lack of signalling limited the numberof trains that could be operated.

Signalling the LineInitially the run round loops and siding

connections were operated by groundframes and hand points. A train staff wasinitially used for the single line control, butthis is limiting when more than one train isin operation. The passing loop at HarmansCross was time consuming to operate and itwas decided that proper signalboxes wouldbe needed at Harmans Cross, Swanage andCorfe Castle. A heritage railway must bemindful of the image it is trying to portrayand thus electronic interlockings and colourlight signals are not generally used even ifthey could be afforded.

The gradual modernisation taking place onNetwork Rail throws up redundant equipmentand our heritage railways make good use ofthis. Mostly it comes free of charge but withthe railway paying for delivery to site. A wholevariety of signalling equipment can beobtained this way ranging from lever frames,circuit controllers, electric locks, relays, pointrodding, signal posts / arms and level crossingequipment. Some railways have obtainedcomplete signalbox structures. Getting thebits is not normally the problem; designingthe circuits / mechanical layouts, installing andtesting the equipment and getting itcommissioned to the required safetystandards is where the time, professional skillbase and finance are required.

M

december 2011 | the rail engineer | 25feature

Harmans CrossTo operate a reliable two train service

required this location to become a fullysignalled passing loop. The signalbox hasbeen sited on the Up side just north of thestation and was a new construction intraditional L&SWR style. Sound foundationsensure that the structure can withstand themechanical stresses associated with leverpulling. The frame came from Gunnersburyand is of Stevens manufacture with 22 levershaving lever locking, i.e. the locking tappetsare directly operated by the levers’movement. Underneath is the usual mixtureof cranks and pulleys secured to a beddingplate. A partitioned area forms the relayroom and power supply. Old style shelfrelays control all the vital circuitry.

The box has two Tyers electric key tokeninstruments for the single line sections toSwanage and Corfe Castle. When the box isopen, tokens are exchanged with the driversin the normal way. However, if only one trainis in operation, the box can switch out forlong section working between Corfe Castleand Swanage using Tyers No 6 TabletInstruments. A ‘King Lever’, released by CorfeCastle and Swanage, enables Harmans Crossto switch out by clearing Up and Downsignals for the Down platform. The king lever,when finally reversed, frees the tablet to beextracted and handed to the driver for thetrain to proceed. The king lever then preventsany untoward operation of levers until thebox re-opens whence the process is reversed.

Other levers connect the rodding to theloop points and their facing point locks ateach end of the station. There are twosidings used to store rolling stock notneeded for the day’s service. Signals areupper quadrant distant, home and startersplus disc signals to control shuntingmovements. The distant signals are pulledonly when the box is switched out. Thesignal arms are mounted on lattice posts,which were fabricated by Swanage Railwayvolunteers. The box was started in 1995 andcompleted in 1997.

SwanageA signalbox had existed here but was

demolished when the section from CorfeCastle became ‘One Train Working’ towardsthe end of BR operation. When the linereopened, ground frames controlled thereinstated run round loop and sidings. Thiswas adequate at the time but very limiting,with no direct access to the bay platform forpassenger trains. Thus the decision wastaken to build a new signalbox, this timesited on the Down side as insufficient spaceexisted at the original box location becausethe land was leased out by the Council.

Box construction followed a similar patternto the one at Harmans Cross, with the samehigh standard for mechanical and electricalinstallation being achieved, but with aWestinghouse A2 frame of 40 levers fromBrockenhurst B. This type of frame has catchhandle locking where the tappets are

moved by both the pulling and release ofthe catch handle when the lever is reversed.Tyers key token instruments control theworking to Harmans Cross but when thatbox is switched out, a Tyers tabletinstrument controls the working to CorfeCastle. Two king levers allow the box to beswitched out with both Up and Downsignals pulled off for the main platform, atablet being in use for long section workingto Corfe Castle. This arrangement is theminimum facility for operating a single DMUtrain service in the evenings.


Corfe CastleA signalbox was provided at Corfe Castle

for the line opening in 1885. This waslocated on the Down platform and had 11levers. Of timber construction, it lasted untilthe 1950s when it became unstable and wasreplaced by a 12 lever frame located in theold Porters’ Room within the main stationbuilding on the Up platform. This continuedin use until the line closure when the roomwas locked up. Fortunately the demolitioncontractors failed to find the frame and itremained in situ. When the re-laid linereached Corfe Castle in 1995, all trains to andfrom Norden used the Up platform and thussignalling was not needed. By 2005, theincreasing train service demanded that thepassing loop should become operationaland the frame was restored, re-locked andbrought back into use with either tabletworking to Swanage or key token workingto Harmans Cross. One train working with atrain staff was used for the short section toNorden where the loop exists only forengine run round purposes.

A vision to restore a signalled mainlineconnection at Worgret plus the increasingnumber of charter trains arriving from thenational network meant that the Porters’Room signalbox was inadequate. Thedecision was made to build a new signalboxon the site of the original one and equip it sothat it could remotely control the loop atNorden and its adjacent level crossing aswell as providing the interface to themainline signalbox - currently at Warehambut eventually to be at Basingstoke.

Contractors were engaged to build thebox foundations but the main structure hasbeen done entirely by volunteer labour. Theframe is a 32 lever Westinghouse A3 stylebeing made up of recovered equipmentfrom both Brockenhurst A and Broadstone.Both had been stored in wet conditions forsome time and the steel levers were very

rusty, an emery machine being needed tobring them back to mint condition. Theunderside locking area has a mass of cranks,rodding, pulleys and wires that exit underthe platform face - not the easiest of placesto work. A relay room accommodates all therelays, wiring and power supply, all installedto a very high standard. On the operatingfloor are three single line machines: a tabletmachine for long section working toSwanage, a token machine for working toHarmans Cross and a new ‘No Signalman’machine for the short section to Norden.

Summary and Future PlansSignalling the Swanage Railway has been a

major achievement. Most of the work hasbeen done by volunteers with no previoussignal design or installation experience. Theenthusiasm and dedication are aninspiration for all. There is more to dohowever. The track was extended fromNorden to meet the remaining branch line atMotala where opposing pointsprotect movement betweenthe Heritage Line andNetwork Rail, thus allowingcharter trains to runthrough under specialarrangements.

Dorset County Council iskeen to establish a regular‘Amenity Service’ fromSwanage to Wareham. Thiswill entail running a DMUtrain beyond the presentNorden station up to themain line at WorgretJunction and into Warehamstation. Network Rail, in theprocess of designing theresignalling of the DorsetCoast line, were prepared toinclude a signalledconnection to the Swanagebranch for a cost of £3million. Such is thedifference in costingbetween the commercialrailway and the heritagesector! Fortunately, thecounty council has agreedto underwrite the cost. This

will provide the junction control signals andalso signals down the branch to enable atrain to be clear of the main line even if thesection to Norden is occupied. The exactarrangements for the necessary tokenworking are still being worked out.

The loop at Norden must remain as the parkand ride service is key to the heritage railwayincome. The points and signals may bemotorised and the adjacent level crossingequipped with full barriers and CCTVsurveillance, all to be controlled remotely fromCorfe Castle box. Wareham station does notcurrently have a bay platform so occupation ofthe main line by Swanage trains will need tobe a slick operation. A bay might be providedif the service is a success. All of this has still tohappen but 2013 is the aim.

Thanks are expressed to Mike Walshawand Mike Whitwam who not only have donemuch of the work but also gave their timefreely to show us around this amazingresurgence.

Brittania ClassLoco 70013 OliverCromwell arrivingat Swanage on acharter train fromLondon Euston on15 October 2011.

Inset, New CorfeCastle signalboxon down platform.

Plug in signallingrelays in CorfeCastle relay room.

december 2011 | the rail engineer | 27electrification/power

Criticallectrified railways have been aroundsince the 1890s and the predicted

advantages of efficiency, speed andcleanliness have largely been realised. Butwhat has been learned about electrictraction and infrastructure since that timethat can make today’s electrificationschemes easier to implement and bettervalue for money? The annual IET Railwaylecture on 3rd November was given by PeterDearman, Head of Network Electrification inNetwork Rail and a long term railwayman.Peter presented an analysis on howelectrification has developed over the yearsand outlined the critical factors that willimpact in the future.

The UK in retrospectBritain’s first railway electrification scheme

(Volks Railway at Brighton being anexception) was introduced by the LondonBrighton & South Coast Railway in 1909(pictured right) using overhead linetechnology at 6.7kV 25 Hz AC for theirLondon suburban lines. This should have setthe scene for the future. However the rivalLondon & South Western Railway, havingseen the Manchester to Bury line of theLancashire & Yorkshire Railway electrified onthe 1200V side contact third rail system andbeing influenced by the adjacent DistrictLine fourth rail top contact system, opted fora 660v third rail system for its suburban linesout of Waterloo. The first sections opened in1915. The First World War stopped both thesesystems being enlarged although piecemealexpansions continued when peace came.

The two railways became part of theSouthern Railway under the Grouping of1923 and the SR took the decision tostandardise on the third rail system. TheLBSC overhead system was dismantled andthe lines converted. With the benefit ofhindsight this was the wrong decision andthe railways of Southern England have hadto live with this legacy ever since.

Nothing much else happened in the rest ofthe UK during the depression years, whichmay have been fortuitous as Britain wasspared the multiplicity of different systems

that emerged across Europe. Eventually, theLondon & North Eastern Railway embarkedon the electrification of the Liverpool St toShenfield and Southend suburban line andplanned for its cross Pennine route fromSheffield to Manchester. These were toemploy the 1500V overhead line DC systemwhich was finding favour in France and hadpreviously been used by the North EasternRailway for a freight line. Again, warintervened but eventually both projectswere completed by the early 1950s.

The emergence of 25kV 50Hz overheadsystems in the 1950s was to prove agodsend, for the system allowed almostunlimited power as well as being much

simpler in terms of distribution and control.All UK schemes since then have adopted thisstandard except for some Southern Regionexpansions using third rail. The rate of rollout has been poor compared to Europe withonly the West Coast, East Coast and somesuburban lines being converted.

System pros and consWhilst the third rail system is supposed to

be cheap to install (it not requiring theerection of masts and gantries), the need forfrequent substations and sectioning cabins,AC feeder cables and rectifiers to obtain theDC power, and complex controlarrangements makes the system far morecostly than one would think. Couple thiswith the limited amount of power that can

be safely extractedfrom the system andthe large losses thatare incurred by bothinfrastructure andtraction make it anunattractiveproposition.Although visually lessintrusive, a power railat ground level isalways a safetyhazard.

1500V DC overheadis better but suffersfrom the same

weaknesses ofneeding rectification and limited poweroutput. All remaining UK lines of this voltagehave since been converted to 25kV.

E


analysis

a

A District Line D Stock leaving EalingCommon Station.

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28 | the rail engineer | december 2011 electrification/power

So is 25kV the perfectanswer? It has become aworld standard but theconfiguration of the systemfrom the 1960s era is in needof modernisation to a)improve the loss factors, b) tointerface the system withmodern grid practices and c)to make the mechanical partsof the system more reliable andless susceptible to damage.

25kV Design todayThe railway is now busier than ever with

more trains being run, each of themconsuming more power than previousdesigns. The electrification system needs tosupply this power demand but given that thevolts and amps cannot be varied, the onlymeans of delivering improved efficiency is toreduce the impedance of the system therebyminimising losses. In earlier times, boostertransformers and return conductors werenecessary to minimise interference intoadjacent copper telecommunications cables,both railway and third party owned. Thisworsened the impedance of the system andthe electrification engineer installed thesedevices somewhat grudgingly. With thewidespread use of fibre cables, thisrequirement has gone away and thusbooster transformers no longer form part ofa modern 25kV design.

The grid supply system has to be part ofthe efficiency enhancement challenge. Inthe 1960s the fault current on an overheadline short circuit was limited by grid poweravailability and technology. A new design of4Ω supply transformer has allowed asignificant lowering of impedance withconsequential rise in fault current from 6kAto 12kA. This has necessitated thedevelopment of high speed circuit breakersbut the energy levels under fault conditionsare very high. The single phase railwaysystem has never been popular with the gridsupply companies as it tends to unbalancegrid conditions. To minimise this, the powersupply points are now normally located at400kV grid access points rather than 132kV.In turn this allows greater distances betweenfeeder stations, which, whilst fewer of themare needed, the impedance of the systemfrom that supply point is worsened. Itbecomes a trade off between lessequipment but lower electrical efficiency.

To get more power from the system, theuse of auto transformers in a 25-0-25kVconfiguration (sometimes referred to as50kV) has some advantages and is almostuniversally used on today’s high speedlines. However in practice, faults and shortcircuit conditions are found to be morecommonplace and the effects are worse.

The way forward for supplying power isthe advent of the ‘smart grid’ plus a muchcloser relationship with the power supplycompanies. The traditional approach ofhaving large generating capacity from asmall number of fossil fuelled powerstations is on the way out, with only nuclearenergy being used for such stations in thefuture. The growing use of renewableenergy sources, be it wind, solar or tidal, willmean a much more distributed series ofsupply points. Coupling this to intelligentnetwork control will lead to cost andreliability benefits. Train energy demand isdependent on the number of trains and thespeed at which they are travelling. Somemeans of using stored energy for highdemand periods makes sense and this iswhere renewable sources, with theirinherent battery storage systems, will comeinto their own.

Electrification work taking place on theAirdrie-Bathgate project.

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Losses and Train DesignThe business case for electrification needs

a re-think. The price of diesel fuel is now aninhibitor but this in itself is not enough.Electric traction pricing must becomecheaper and, to achieve this, system lossesmust be reduced. An AC system should becapable of having losses of between 3-5%.The worst situation is with the ex-SR thirdrail DC network. This legacy from the pasthas often been examined for conversion to25kV but the cost has always been toohigh. However the energy equation is suchthat a new study is underway and theresults are looking more hopeful. With thewide availability of dual voltage traction,the changeover can be renewal led,probably working from the extremitiesinwards so that removal of all the third railkit can be achieved on a line by line basis. Itwill take many years to happen but it seemsto be feasible

Trains are now heavier and more powerhungry, which is the reverse to what hashappened in the air and automotiveindustries. The analogy is that applyingthe train design trend to cars, a Ford Focuswould weigh 4 tons and have a fuelefficiency of 12.5mpg. Improvedpassenger facilities such as airconditioning are only part of the problem.Crashworthiness is a major factor and thestandards need to be challenged. Theadvent of TPWS and the declared futurewith ERTMS has almost eliminated the riskof collisions, although it is acknowledgedthat level crossing road vehicle crashesstill pose a threat. Traction drives and air

conditioning systems need to be mademore efficient. Bogies are still reminiscentof a Sherman tank. Take a look atShinkansen and see what can be done.

The Future and more questions The first thrust must be to get better

control and distribution of the electricpower transmission network with energymanagement being done properly. Equally itis recognised that overhead lineinfrastructure must be made more reliable.Instances of the wires being brought downare far too numerous and a better designwill emerge for the forthcoming GW and NWprojects based upon best European practice.

Another challenge will be the raw materialto be used. The world’s copper supply isexpected to be exhausted in 15 years. Quitewhat will replace it is an unknown althoughrecycling existing copper infrastructure willbecome more important. Convincing thefreight operators to use more electrictraction may be difficult as wiring sidings isnot a practical option. Again some form ofon-board energy storage technology willlikely be the answer.

The whole industry has to look atelectrification on a unified basis. PeterDearman must be thanked for thisfascinating insight into the electrificationdebate.

Shinkansen500 series.

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Steve Cox and Barry Calderw r i t e r s

Balfour Beatty Rail

n 22 October 2011 Balfour Beatty Rail,working alongside Balfour Beatty

Engineering Services Traction Group,installed the Paisley Gilmour Street TrackSide Cabin as part of the Paisley CorridorImprovement Project in Scotland. To look at,this trackside cabin is no different frommany others on the UK Rail infrastructure.However, inside it is a different story. Hiddenwithin this unit is the state of the art BalfourBeatty Rail Tracfeed Air Insulated Switchgear(AIS) that is being trialled at this site.

The Tracfeed AIS has been designedspecifically to meet the requirements of25kV railway applications and is derivedfrom conventional 3-phase switchgear. It iscommon for 25kV switchgear used forrailway applications to be insulated with SF6(sulphur hexafluoride) gas and thisequipment is known as Gas InsulatedSwitchgear (GIS). However, since the KyotoProtocol came into force on 16 February2005, industry across the Europeancommunity and other industrialisedcountries has been committed to reducingthe green house gas emissions that causedamage to the ozone. SF6 is one of the six

main gases identifiedin the protocol.Balfour Beatty Rail’sAIS thereforeprovides NetworkRail, and the railwayindustry in general,with a valuablealternative means ofachievingenvironmental andsustainability policyobjectives.

Air insulated busbar chamberAdditional benefits of the Balfour Beatty

Tracfeed switchgear, when compared to itsgas insulated switchgear equivalents, is thatthe busbar chamber is also air insulated thuseliminating the need for 24 /7 monitoring ofthe insulating gas pressure. Particularly inthe winter months, a drop in temperaturecan cause low-gas-pressure alarms to beactivated. These are always a cause forconcern as, if the gas leaks out of gasinsulated switchgear, the bus bars will fail asthe insulation is lost. Of course the leakinggas will also cause an environmentalincident.

Air insulated switchgear is also generallyeasier to extend for future capacityincreases when compared with gasinsulated equivalents. There is no need tode-gas and then re-seal and re-pressurisethe bus bar chamber if extending thesystem. The new Balfour Beatty Rail airinsulated system is modular, metal clad andextendable. Each switchgear panel consistsof a bus bar compartment, a combinedcable connecting and circuit breaker highvoltage compartment, a circuit breaker

truck, an integrated pressure relief channeland a low voltage compartment. The lowvoltage compartment is located at the topof the operating side of the panel andhouses the protection relays and controlequipment.

The vacuum interrupter is mounted on aretractable circuit breaker truck which islocated inside the high voltagecompartment. By rolling the circuit breakertruck in or out, a gap in the main currentpath is created or closed, therebyperforming the function of a disconnectorswitch. Rails located in the panel guide thetruck when it is moved between thedisconnected or operating positions. Thefixed contact system to the bus bar isprotected against direct shorts whilst in theretracted position by an automaticallyoperated shutter system.

O

in ElectrificationDouble Innovation

(Above) AirInsulated SwitchGear CircuitBreaker controlpanel. (left) AirInsulated SwitchGear beinginstalled on thePaisley CorridorImprovementProject.

Air InsulatedSwitch Gearfactory acceptancetesting.


Internal faults involve arcs and would leadto a pressure increase in the affected panel.To prevent this, an integrated pressure reliefchannel runs along the top of all of thepanels to vent any excess pressure andprotect against the mechanical or thermaleffects of such arcs.

Easy maintenanceAn important feature of the Balfour Beatty

TracFeed TAC switchgear is that allequipment can be accessed from the frontand the circuit breaker truck can also bewithdrawn from the panel completely formaintenance.

Outgoing circuitsare directly earthedby earthing switchesmounted on thecubicle’s steelstructure by means ofinsulators. Theseswitches are motoroperated by a springdrive with thecapability of

emergency hand operation and areinterlocked with the correspondingdisconnectors. A separate, fully ratedelectrical earth connection is provideddirectly to the structure.

Importantly the new switchgear is fullycompatible with most protection devicesand SCADA systems.

The complete trackside cabin wasassembled in Scotland at Balfour Beatty RailEngineering Services’ factory at Huntly Road,Glasgow. Situated close to the project, thisprovided an excellent environment for theNetwork Rail and Balfour Beatty engineeringteams to develop and deliver this innovative

new design which is a first in the UK. BalfourBeatty provided a “one stop shop” toNetwork Rail for the design, manufacture,integration, installation and testing of theequipment as part of the overall PaisleyCorridor Improvement project.

Tunnels tooThe fitting of electrification equipment

within the spatial constraints of the UK railscivil infrastructure, some of which originatesfrom Victorian times, has been a perennialproblem for electrification engineers. BalfourBeatty Rail has, over a number of years,developed special techniques, expertise andproducts that allow the most complextunnel electrification projects to besuccessfully completed.

The introduction of a new scissor crossoverinto the Midland City Line at Midland Roadsituated under the heart of the City ofLondon within the Kings Cross North Tunnel,is a case in point. A special wiringconfiguration had to be developed to allowthe crossover to be integrated into theexisting 25kV electrification equipment in

Two 25kv SectionInsulators beinginstalled tomaintainseparation fromthe mainlineelectrical sections.

The OverheadCatenary Systemgeneralarrangementillustrating the twodifferent electricalsections.


the tunnel. The new crossover allows trainsusing the St Pancras sub surface station tobe turned around when an overhead lineisolation is in place at the southern end. Thisproject was undertaken as part of anoperational upgrade associated with theThameslink Improvement Programme.

Design evaluationDuring the design phase of the project a

number of possible options forelectrifying this new piece of infrastructurewere evaluated against operationalperformance, constructability and wholelife costs. The analysis established that, forthis particular project, a reduced-heightsemi-flexible conductor-based wiringsystem demonstrated the greatest costefficiency for delivery while meeting theperformance specification and constructionprogramme requirements.

Physically fitting the electrificationequipment into the confined tunnel profile,while ensuring conformance to mechanicaland electrical clearance standards, was thepredominant challenge of this project whilstat the same time ensuring electricalindependence of the main through roads.

A clearance study, using various CADdesign tools and numerical analysis wasundertaken to assess the chosen OLEsupport configuration and ensure that thenecessary electrical and mechanicalclearances were maintained. This exerciseconsidered the positioning of supportingequipment in conjunction with the vehicleand pantograph gauges that operate on thisroute. It involved 3D modelling of the wiringconfiguration and additionally, followingnumerical analysis, a number of 2D crosssection slices were developed through thearea of the crossover depicting the wires andpantographs in their relative operationalpositions.

Electrical sectioning was achieved byemploying two 25 kV Section Insulators onthe crossover wires. A special arrangementwas chosen for this application to improvethe along-track positioning of theequipment while ensuring that electricalclearances to the pantographs passing onthe through lines were maintained.

The crossover wires for thescissors are auto-tensioned usingspring tensioning devices which complywith the spatial envelope available and wereeasily mounted to the tunnel soffit.

Dynamic stabilityTo provide dynamic stability, the overhead

line equipment arrangement directly abovethe crossover was supported vertically at thehigh load points of the section insulator. Inaddition, supports were added to theopposing side of the crossover to counteractany imbalance. This support configurationallowed the system to be adjusted on site toachieve equilibrium and a level contact wireprofile which provides efficient currentcollection at the contact wire pantographinterface.

The structural integrity of the tunnelsurface was tested at pre-constructionphase to verify that the new electrificationequipment could be introduced onto theexisting civil infrastructure.

Construction commenced in June 2011.The Balfour Beatty Rail construction teamused two 24 hour weekend trackpossessions for the installation of thesupport equipment, tensioning devices andbonding of the new equipment. A third 58hour weekend possession was used to run

the new contact and catenary wiresfor the crossover and the installation of thetwo new section insulators. Verification ofthe installation prior to section proving wasachieved by manufacturing a track-mountedcrucifix gauge that had been uniquelymodified to incorporate the electricalclearance and kinetic vehicle tolerances.

The key to the success of this technicallycomplex and challenging project was thedepth of experience within the BalfourBeatty Rail engineering and constructionteams that worked closely and in harmonywith Network Rail’s Thameslink project team.The result was a successful project, deliveredon time and to budget.

Doug Lee, Balfour Beatty Rail ProgrammeDirector, National Electrification, stated that,‘We are committed to innovation andtechnical development to ensure thatNetwork Rail’s objectives for the futureelectrification of the UK rail network are fullyachieved in a cost effective manner.’

Terminationarrangement of the

Spring TensioningDevices used to auto

tension the newcrossover OLE wires

mounted to the tunnelsoffit.

(top right) Checkingelectrical clearance of

newly installedsteelwork using rail

mounted pantographgauge.

Assessing theposition of the

section insulatorsagainst a passing

electricalpantograph gauge.


solution

ny railway lineside structure, andany other building for that matter,

is only as good as its foundations.Because they can’t be seen, buried asthey are in the ground and usuallycovered by the structure itself, they canbe forgotten. However, out-of-sightdoes not make them out-of-mind,particularly when trying to installequipment in tricky locations.

Carillion had just that problemrecently when required to install OLEmasts along a stretch of the GreatEastern line for Network Rail. Screwpiles seemed to be the way to go, sothe project team contacted specialistsFLI Structures, members of the HaleyGroup.

Bespoke solutionFLI were contracted to design,

manufacture and install 20 OLE basesconsisting of mast, tie and strutfoundations. The project presented FLIwith several challenges. Firstly, most ofthe foundations were to be installedbehind potentially fragile Victorianretaining walls and the brief was toavoid any surcharge on these walls.Secondly, the ground conditions werechallenging with a high water tableand running sand in some areas.Thirdly, available space was verylimited behind the retaining wall toposition the foundations, especially as

the foundations had to avoid retainingwall footings, adjacent footpaths andfences. Finally work was to be carriedout in possessions during day / nightshifts, in a built up area where noiselevels had to be minimised. Screwpiling did seem to be the best, andprobably the only, solution.

The FLI team designed a range ofbespoke screw pile foundationsolutions to cater for varying gantryspans and loads. Groups of screw pileswere selected, with pile diameters upto 219mm, installed up to 7 metres indepth. Steel grillages completed theinterface between piles and the OLEstructures. A large amount of flexibilitywas built into the steel grillages toallow the site teams to overcome anyissues with buried obstructions andservices. This was especially importantwhere bases for an overhead gantry areinstalled on opposite sides of the railtrack as each side has differing physicalconstraints.

FLI installed the screw piles usingRRVs with torque motor attachments.The installation process was quiet asdriven impact hammers were notrequired, therefore reducing section 61issues. The retaining walls wereunaffected.

SuccessAs Tony Parker, Sales Manager at FLI,

commented, “Our success was basedon understanding and solving siteproblems efficiently, and providing safesolutions for our installers. With astrong focus on innovation, we are ableto supply foundation solutions tosupport a wide range of structures inTelecoms, Railway, Highways, Civils andRenewable markets. We takeexperience from each site and use thisknowledge to continue to lead the wayin the Screw Pile foundations sector”.

FLI’s success on rail sites has beenrecognised by Network Rail and BirseRail, who have both presented FLI withtheir product innovation awards.

A

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For deeper thinking visit www.murphygroup.co.uk

At a major rail terminal like London Waterloo, keepingservices operational whilst modernising the station isessential. Murphy used its experience in stationinfrastructure to create 120 different ticket barriersacross 19 platforms. The 200 metre barrier, thelongest in Europe, was completed in just 4 months.As Principal Contractor we carried out all designand installation and managed a large number ofcontractors, ensuring teamwork and commitment allround – a collaborative approach we also bring to civils,

building, stations, electrification, bridges and structures,tunnelling, and underground construction.

For more than 60 years, Murphy has been buildingandmaintaining the infrastructure of the nation. We continueto break new ground with the design and construction ofhigh-profile projects across a range of key industries. Fromnational tunnelling, power and rail projects to major waterand wastewater contracts, pipelines, and process plantconstruction; with Murphy, the thinking is always asimportant as the delivery.

How do you install Europe’s longest ticket barrierwithout disrupting 100 million ticket users?

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Breathing life into infrastructure

111170 Rail Ad_RE_A4_Layout 1 19/09/2011 13:58 Page 1


Landbridgesia has many railways, but the TransSiberian is the only line which links

eastern Asia to western Russia without achange of gauge. Although its potential toattract freight from ships has beenrecognised since the end of the Soviet era,the Trans Siberian Railway (known as theTranssib) carries only a tiny proportion of allcargo from eastern Asia to Europe.

This is now likely to change as RussianRailways (RZD) implements its plan toenhance the Transsib to create a“Landbridge” and attract freight from ships.The multi-faceted plan includesinfrastructure improvements, new lines,traction and rolling stock, portenhancements and improvements tocustoms processes. It all sounds veryinteresting, so the rail engineer was sent toSiberia to learn more.

The world’s longest railwayThe 5,772 mile long Transsib, running from

Moscow to Vladivostok, is the world’slongest railway. Its construction in just 13years, from 1891 to 1904, was a remarkableachievement which included constructingbridges across many substantial rivers andthe crossing of extensive mountain ranges,all in one of the coldest and most remoteenvironments on earth.

There was no economic rationale for therailway at the time. It was built for politicalreasons to hold together a vast nation andprotect its eastern borders. Indeed, whenopened in 1904, it was soon used to movetroops for the Russo-Japanese war. Russialost, one reason being the lack of capacity ofthe original single line railway.

Since then the line has been progressivelydoubled and electrified. Electrification ofthe line commenced at 3,000V DC in the1930s, and from the 1960s at 25kV AC withthe final section completed in 2002. As aresult, 24% is still electrified at 3,000V DCand there are three locations where thevoltage changes.

The 2,687 mile Baikal Amur Mainline (BAM)railway branches off the Transsib to the northterminating at the Pacific port of SovetskayaGavan. This line was started in the 1940s butwas only fully completed in 1991. It was builtas a strategic alternative to the Transsibwhich runs close to the border with China. Itis a largely single-track railway with only the913 mile western section electrified, andmost of its route is built over permafrost.

Other significant branches off the Transsibare the Trans-Mongolian and Trans-Manchurian lines. The Trans-Mongoliancrosses the Gobi Desert to the Chineseborder where there is a rail link to Beijing,

while the Trans-Manchurian also providesa route to China. From1901 to 1935 it wasoriginally part of theTranssib, with Chinaagreeing to a routethrough Manchuria whichreduced the distance toVladivostok by 700 miles.

The Russian Transsibroute, avoiding Manchuria,opened in 1916. Japaninvaded Manchuria in 1935and promptly changed thegauge to standard. At theChinese border bothroutes still change gaugefrom Russian 1520mm to1435mm standard gauge.

Some say that Russia chose its broadgauge for defensive reasons. Indeed thebreak of gauge caused Hitler’s troopssignificant logistical problems. Today,however, it is a significant barrier to cross-border freight transit.

Transsib freight today Transsib frequently carries 71-wagon, 6,000

tonne freight trains which are over a kilometrelong. It is a crucial transport link which handles50% of Russia’s imports and exports. Itsimportance is highlighted by the fact that theTrans Siberian Highway was only fully pavedin 2010. Domestic freight is primarily oil, coaland timber. In 2010 the Transsib carried748,544 TEU (Twenty Foot Equivalent Units) ofcontainer traffic with domestic, import, exportand transit traffic being respectively 66.3%,16.8%, 14.4% and 2.4%.

Although still a low percentage, transittraffic is 78% greater than it was in 2009 as aresult of RZD’s initiatives to promote theTranssib as a Landbridge. With a freighttransit time of typically 15 days betweeneastern Asia and Europe, about half that byship, RZD believe that Transsib freight is anattractive option. As an example, since 2008Globaltrans has been running four containertrains a day from the port of Vostochny onthe Sea of Japan with goods from Japan,China and Korea. TransContainer, asubsidiary of RZD, operate further regularservices between China and Europe over theTranssib.

Transsib vs. Container ShipsThe 21,000 TEU transit traffic on the

Transsib compares with 13.5 million TEU onships from eastern Asia to Europe. Thecomparison table explains why Transsibcontainer transport costs are higher thanby ship. The Transsib Landbridge istherefore best suited for time sensitivecargos, particularly since ocean carriersintroduced extra-slow steaming to reducefuel costs. As an example, Transcontainer’s2010 Annual report shows that 17% ofRZD’s transit cargo is auto parts for which areduction in transit time would reduceinventory costs.

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David Shirresw r i t e r

Trans Siberian

Ermak Locomotive.PHOTO: DAVID SHIRRES

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Transsib in seven daysIn 2009 RZD adopted the “Transsib in

Seven Days” project as part of their strategicplan. This will require £1 billion to be spenton track improvements by 2015, and afurther £900 million invested in the BAM andTranssib to:• reduce choke points in the eastern part of

the Trans-Siberian to e.g. additional andlonger loops

• develop railway freight hubs on the borderwith Mongolia, China and North Korea toincrease throughput where there is achange of gauge

• upgrade rail infrastructure at ports ofNakhodka and Vostochny, close toVladivostok

• modernise and upgrade containerterminals to international standards

• reconstruct the Russian section of theTrans-Manchurian railway with a newborder terminal at Zabaikalsk for thechange of gauge with an annual capacityof 500,000 TEU.

In addition, port capacity is beingenlarged. A recently completed projectincreased Vladivostok’s capacity to 600,000TEU per year.

Currently, Transsib trains travel 700 milesa day at 50 mph, taking 9 days fromVladivostok to Russia’s border withBelarus. The trains require an inspectionevery 450 miles, 24 locomotive crewchanges and 4 locomotive changes. Oneplanned operational improvement ischanging wagon examinationmethodology so that the complete trainreceives a thorough examination at awagon depot prior to departure, allowingtrain inspections to be done every 1750miles. This technique was used on a testtrain in 2009 which travelled fromVladivostok to Moscow in just less than 7days, covering 845 miles per day.

Freight trains are generally restricted to 50mph on the heavily trafficked Transsib.Another objective of the 7 day Transsibproject is to increase daily travel distances to940 miles by 2014 through improvedoperations, track renewals and better rollingstock permitting higher speeds to 62.5 mph.

Until recently, customs clearance, even fortransit cargos, could take up to 5 days. RZDhas developed new IT systems to facilitatecustoms inspections and give theircustomers real time consignment tracking.Electronic goods declarations, together withcustoms agreements with trading partners,have reduced clearance times to a matter ofhours.

The ErmakBetween 2008 and 2015, RZD plan to

purchase 7,500 new locos and modernise afurther 4,000. For Transsib and BAM in2010/11, this includes purchasing elevenT2M7A diesels, re-engining 56 diesels and theconstruction of 103 Ermak 3ES5K freightlocomotives by Russian train-makerTransmashholding, Russia’s largest train

builder employing 57,000 and with aturnover of £1.5 billion, which entered into aco-operation agreement with Alstom in 2009.

The Ermak is a 12,300 hp locomotive madeup of 3 x 25kv Bo Bo AC locomotives thatoperate as a single unit with no pantographon the middle unit. It has regenerativebraking, can operate in multiple with alocomotive at the rear of the train and hasmicroprocessor traction drive that takesaccount of gradient profile to minimiseshock load on couplers. Cab heatingprovides a constant temperature of 16 Ceven in Siberian winter conditions.

WeightAxle loadOne hour ratingContinuous duty ratingOne hour tractive effortContinuous duty tractive effort Maximum speed in operationLength over buffers

288 tonnes24 tonnes9,840 kW9,180 kW696 kN634 kN110 km /hr52.5 metres

3ES5K Technical Characteristics

Fuel

Transsib Landbridge

Distance travelled by one tonne of railfreight on a gallon of diesel = 246 miles(Network Rail figures).Transsib distance is half that of Ship so fuelcosts per tonne only slightly higher than forships.

Ship

Assume 1 TEU = 10 tonnes.Typically 7000 TEU ship burns 200 tons andsails 600 miles per day = 0.01 miles pergallon for 70,000 tons of cargo.Distance travelled by one tonne shippingcargo per gallon = 700 miles.

Handling Stages- excludes toand from Port/Railhead

From Japan & Korea• Port of Origin• Russian East Coast

Port• Gauge Change -

EuropeRailhead

From China• Railhead• Gauge Change -

Russia• Gauge Change -

Europe• Railhead

• Port of Origin• Destination Port

Ship - Landbridge Container Shipping Comparison

InfrastructureCosts

Rail Infrastructure Maintenance None, other than Ports

Transit Issues Customs at multiple border crossings.Potential theft from containers.Different rail networks.

No unauthorised access to containers.Pirates are a hazard.

Trans Siberian

(Above)VladivostokContainer Port.

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New LinesThe construction of new rail lines creates

further opportunities for Transsib freighttransits. In 2008, work started to reconstructa 40 mile rail line from Hasan, nearVladivostok, to the North Korean port ofRajin where a new container terminal isbeing built. Rajin is a North KoreanEconomic Special Zone and is leased toChina, which otherwise has no other accessto the Sea of Japan. Freight trains areexpected to start running on this new line atthe end of 2011.

In the West, Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine andRussia have agreed to undertake a feasibilitystudy to build a 350 mile broad gauge linefrom Košice in Slovakia to a newinternational container terminal in Vienna.This line is expected to be completed by2016 at a cost of €4.7 billion and willeliminate the need for transhipment at theRussian border due to the change of gauge.

In 2009, a 195 mile line between Bam inIran and Zahedan in Pakistan was opened toprovide a rail link from Europe to India. In2013, this will be joined to a rail link betweenthe Persian Gulf and the Baltic Sea with thecompletion of a 235 mile rail line betweenAstara and Qazvin on west side of Caspian

Sea. The new line is the result of anagreement between Iran, Azerbaijan andRussia, and will be connected to theTranssib.

A rail project still under consideration isextending the BAM railway to SakhalinIsland with a tunnel to Japan. Even more

ambitious is the idea for a rail connection tothe United States through a Bering Straittunnel. New rail links in Russia and Alaskacould offer the intriguing possibility of afuture train journey from London to NewYork via the Transsib.

Transsib’s bright futureIt is always good to see more freight

carried by rail, but few in the UK wouldconsider rail capable of capturing trafficfrom ocean going ships. RZD expect to dojust this. Although almost all traffic betweeneastern Asia and Europe is currently carriedby ship, RZD’s strategy is to make theTranssib Landbridge increasingly attractivefor time sensitive cargos. Implementation ofthis strategy will require significantinvestment in infrastructure, traction androlling stock, so it will be interesting to see ifthis presents any opportunities for Europeanand UK suppliers.This article was written following a press trip

to Vladivostok and Irkutsk organised byRussian Railways (RZD) whose assistance inthe preparation of this article is greatlyappreciated.

In the ever more complex world of railway control systems, Invensys Rail provides a unique level of integration and optimisation of advanced traffic management, SCADA, station management, traction and tunnel ventilation.

Our integrated Control Centre solutions have been successfully installed for major clients such as Oslo’s T-Bane, Singapore’s Downtown Line and other schemes in the UK and Spain.

Whether you’re looking at ERTMS or traditional interlocking, you can rely on us to provide a turnkey solution, proven to work seamlessly, in a reliable and safe manner.

Our reputation is assured thanks to the well known rail signalling companies Westinghouse, Dimetronic & Safetran, that together make up Invensys Rail.

Find out how we can help you succeed, visit www.invensysrail.com or call +44 (0) 1249 441441

What makes our Control Centre solutions special?

Proud to be Network Rail’s Supplier of the Year 2011


n November 2008, SigAssure UK wascreated by a team of railway signalling

engineers who were convinced that therailway industry in the UK was entering a newand exciting phase - one that required newproducts and processes, supported byinnovation, to deliver cost savings in the wholelife cycle of a project and the railway system.

Jump forward to May 2011 the newcompany was mature and confident enoughto be able to offer a new product line to theindustry in the form of the SiG brand.

Everything SigAssure has been expectingto achieve and be part of has alwaysreverted back to Safety and Innovation, and

it is these two factors that make being arailway signalling engineer such a challenge.So the company is very pleased to be able toannounce the first three products createdfrom the ethos set in 2008, combined withthe knowledge and passion all thecompany’s staff has for the improvementsrequired in delivering signalling systems inthe UK.

With Modular Signalling, Modular S&C andPlug & Play initiatives now firmly in place asa way of achieving cost savings goingforward, SigAssure believes it has inventedand developed the base line for achievingthese requirements.

Modular Technology Interface System(MTIFS)

The ability to install, on site, signallingequipment that requires no further testing,checking and the minimum of site effort andskills to make it ready for commissioning hasbeen a constant challenge for the SignallingEngineer. There are national initiatives,supported by Network Rail, that require thisability to be provided by design and thisshould be considered the standard in thefuture. SigAssure are pleased to be part ofthe improvements in the efficiency ofsignalling system build and testing activitieswith the PCIU and TCIU products.

The Plug Coupler Interface Unit (PCIU) isdesigned to replace the standard signallingdisconnection box. It meets the requirementto bring plug-coupled cables into a centralpoint for disconnection and this is its mainachievement. The Plug Couplers need to be

secure away from tampering, vandalism andunsafe acts of disconnection so the IntegralSupport LockForm (ISLF) systemaccompanies the PCIU in all track sideenvironments to act as its support into theground or a structure as well as providingthe security against unauthorised access tothe couplers. This has all been achievedwhilst maintaining a universal modularapproach, and also the ability to install andconnect - ‘Plug & Play’ without the need forbolting systems and complex cableterminations.

The PCIU is designed to interface cablingto all types of signalling equipment currentlyin use on Network Rail infrastructure. Asealed unit, there is no requirement to testits electrical connectivity & integrity on site.

Traditionally signalling equipment ispurchased and put together on site eachtime, no matter how standard the item is,which is time consuming and open tointerpretation of quality or technical mistakes.The costs associated with the installation andtesting of traditional disconnection boxes isdisproportional to the cost of the equipment,and inefficiency continues to be a large costimplication in a project life cycle. Whencombined with the 30 year requirement tomaintain, renew and disconnect these itemsof equipment for track renewal works, andinefficiency generated by the process andtheir design, then there has always beenroom for improvement.

The key to the revolutionary aspects of theMTIFS range of products is that they aresupported by an assurance system. The

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Signalling productsfor the seven day railway

(Lead) Changeoverof signallingequipment can bedone live at thePCIU.(Inset) PCIU can beinstalled quicklyand cablesattached.


product is not purchased as a ‘bag of parts’that requires installation on site, and thentested to prove quality and compliance, butinstead they are provided as the finisheditem. Built, assembled, wired, tested, labelledand accompanied by their applicationdesign that has been checked forcompliance at all levels of the process. Theonly effort that remains is to bolt the unit onsite and plug the cables in, with a finalconfidence test of the equipment inquestion as per the Signalling TestingHandbook stipulations. There is no room forquality issues, no need to test the product asit is a sealed unit with a certificate of testprovided, and if failures do occur, a newPCIU can be inserted within seconds withoutthe need to attempt a site repair. The faultyitem is covered under warranty, withSigAssure UK making the necessary repairs.

Track Interface Unit (TIU)The Track Circuit Interface Unit

(TCIU) completes the range of couplerinterfacing, where its specific task is toallow track circuit dis-boxes to bereplaced with plug coupler benefits.Based on the PCIU design, andcompletely compatible with all formsof the ISLF™ system, with particularattention on the ability to mount theTIU safely to the track system itself - anovel and innovative solution aligned tothe requirements of the nationalModular S&C project.

The benefits of the rail mounted TCIU isto allow all the normal time consumingtrack circuit installation effort to beeffectively undertaken before thepossession, whilst the p-way is beingprepared in the factory or adjacent to theworksite. This idea will offer significanttime savings, as required from thesignalling fraternity in the quest for ‘8 hourS&C’ works.

System benefits The new SigAssure system of PCIU, TCIU

and ISLF offers many benefits over currentpractice:• Universal design, caters for all types of

signalling equipment,• Speedy and effective site installation - no

risk of quality issue affecting efficientproject time,

• Achieves the requirements of plug & playstandards and the need to plug-coupler allsignalling,

• A full assurance system on offer, nomanagement time on site,

• The sigMALP can transport each itemwhere traditionally they are installed inremote locations,

• Allows quick disconnection, re-connectionto assist track renewals,

• Cable damage and theft issues can berectified much quicker, thus decreasingtrain delays,

• No need to fault find on site, simplereplacement on site as a result of being asealed unit,

• Completely secure from tampering andvandalism,

• Use as a switched item to allow re-

controlling of equipmentwithout expensive re-testing,

• Can be retro-fitted to assist CAPEXmaintenance renewals,

• Detailed and site specific designsolution is provided with each unit.

The MTIFS, PCIU & TCIU is shortly toundergo first system trials withNetwork Rail, and is already beinginstalled as part of other Network RailNational Initiatives, as part ofproduct acceptance. These productsmay well become the industrybenchmark for the future ofefficient, off site assured signallingconnectivity systems.

Developing such a new systemcannot be undertaken in isolation.SigAssure UK is therefore gratefulfor the support and partnershipassistance received from ABConnectors, PELI products, SmartPrint & Labels and VortokInternational in the creation ofthe products featured here.

e [email protected]

(Top) CompletedPCIU with finalcables attached.

(Middle) Differentsize couplers tocontrol main andhunt signals.

(Bottom) ISLFwithout PCIU fittedat Network Railtrial site, Leicester.

Point your device at www.rail.co


Efficiency &Opportunity

Railway EngineeringClive Kessellw r i t e r

ill Reeve is the latest Chairman of theIMechE Railway Division (formerly the

Institution of Locomotive Engineers) so he iswell placed to give a critical view of theengineering element within the rail industry.the rail engineer went along to hear hisChairman’s address.

Bill started his career as a rolling stock BRsponsored student, holding various T&RSdepot posts once qualified. He then becameinvolved with the train-load freight businessand gained an insight on railway financesthat most engineers never get tounderstand. Following a spell at the SRA, Billis now the Commercial Director forTransport Scotland, a senior civil servantwith a considerable cheque book. There isno better person, therefore, to give therailway engineering community some hometruths and to challenge the present situationwith engineering costs.

Why are costs high?The starting point is that UK rail costs are

about 1.8 higher than the European norm.Why should this be? In 1980, engineeringcosts were about half of the total railwayoperating cost base - Civils 20%, M&EE 24%and S&T 6%. In the BR business led railwaywhich Bill joined, a direct connectionbetween revenue and cost was established.If a scheme was to proceed, it had to pay itsway. Notable achievements between 1981and 1987 were the reduction of realmaintenance and overhaul costs in RegionalRailways from £102 million to £44 millionallied to the introduction of Sprinters which

reduced the fleet size by 55%. Theintroduction of Radio Electronic Token Block(RETB) signalling in Scotland for the FarNorth line cost £400,000 to provide andsaved £500,000 in operating costs duringthe first year. The Public Service Obligationgrant fell in real terms from £1.3 billion in1983 to £650 million in 1990.

A culture of economy made business andengineering managers understand theirobjectives. Trainload Coal was BR’s mostprofitable sector and it charged itscustomers what the business would bear.With revenue of £249 million and fullyallocated costs including infrastructure of£89 million, it provided a contribution of£160 million to general rail funds.

Intermodal freightThe situation with Intermodal freight was

very different. The road rate price for movinga container 250 miles was £240; to competewith this, rail had transhipment and deliverycosts at loading / unloading points of £140,leaving a maximum of £100 cost for movingthe container. The only way to make this paywas for a train of 48 containers, less than thatmeant a loss. Regrettably with infrastructureunable to handle efficient train lengths or9’6” containers, this scenario could often notbe realised.

With the coming of EWS and a policy ofreducing costs and aggressive marketing, anupsurge in rail freight occurred. The adventof the Class 66 freight loco was a majorfactor in cost reduction. However, separatingmanagement of cost from revenue was nota winning formula and even the profitablecoal business went through a period of loss.Railtrack’s estimate for enhancing routes to

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Stop Boardmarking the startof the radio tokensection at RannochStation on the WestHighland Line.

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take 9’ 6” containers was upwards of £650million. With the annual Intermodal turnoverof £150 million, this was a poor investment.To get 9’6” containers from Felixstowe, theUK’s biggest container port, to the WestMidlands and the North West viaPeterborough needed gauge widening workcosting £180 million. Via London was only£30 million and was also an electrified routeall the way. Unsurprisingly, the chosenoption was via London.

Privatisation = increased costWith privatisation, the rail scene changed

completely. Government support rose from£1.6 billion in 1999 to £4 billion in 2002.Many examples of disconnected thinkingbetween project teams and actual needcould be cited. Two such instances were:

On the WCML upgrade at Warrington, atrailing crossover needed to be renewed.The standard called for UIC specified rail tobe used in place of the former 113lb rail.This meant a new track geometry, whichwould not fit the existing space so aremodelling programme had to beplanned. The cost would have beenenormous. When a more detailed analysiswas undertaken, it emerged that thecrossover was never used.

A power upgrade was needed on theSouthern network when the new Electrostartrains were introduced as they are 14%heavier than the previous 4CIG and 4VEPstock. The perceived power requirement forthe Brighton area increased from 10MW to22.5MW, which was found to be wayoverstated when the predictions werecompared with actual measurement. Thewhole scheme had originally beenestimated at £100 million but escalated to£1.2 billion before being scaled back to £652million. If the engineering of the wholesystem, including the weight of the newtrains, had been properly specified in thefirst place a true cost of between £100-200Mwould have resulted.

The lessons slowly learned were thatproject teams must understand the value ofthe traffic, be given incentives aligned to thewhole railway business, challenge standardsif existing ones are inappropriate and realisethat measurement beats modelling.

Controlling costsThe cost problem affects all disciplines. The

cheapest provision of a new siding is whenthe connecting points are hand operatedand is most expensive when they arecontrolled by a computer-basedinterlocking. The emerging cost of ERTMSschemes could increase still further the costof providing new rail connections and thusnew business. Interoperability problems andsoftware management, even the space andpower consumption of on-train equipment,are looking to be expensive ongoingliabilities.

A key test for technology will be whether itcan achieve the same reductions in overallcost that previous signalling introductionssuch as RETB secured 20 years earlier. Eventhe basics of erecting new signals seem toresult in mammoth civil engineeringstructures - Network Rail uses the picture ofa new signal gantry replacing a simple postas an illustration of what must not beallowed to keep happening.

‘More electrification’ is a frequent call, yetthe costs for achieving it have soared. Theaverage BR scheme cost around £430,000per single track km (stk), with the best beingachieved on Leeds North West at £281,000.The forecasts for future schemes currentlyrange from £600,000 to £996,000 per stk. Theinitial estimate for the Edinburgh - Glasgowelectrification was > £1 million per stk!

Train brakingTrain braking systems are another

anomaly. As a former President of the IRSEonce said “it’s brakes that stop trains, not

signals”, yet the signalling system is SIL4whereas a traditional friction brake is SIL0. Ifthe UK were to adopt magnetic track brakesfor main line trains (they are mandatory inGermany above 140kph and are often usedon metros and light rail in the UK) theensuing confidence in a much improvedbraking system would result in capacity,journey time and performance advantages.

Had they been fitted to the trains involvedin the Clapham and Southall accidents,analysis suggests that there would havebeen 60% less kinetic energy in the formerand the latter would have been avoidedcompletely. Magnetic brakes are alsobeneficial in combating adhesion problemsduring the leaf fall season, as has been theexperience of Tyne & Wear Metro stockwhen running on Network Rail track.

Some answersEncouraging signs are emerging. In

Scotland the new Class 380 trains with 23mcarriages are, at 168 tons, lighter than the179 tons of the earlier 20m Class 350. Theyalso have better acceleration and lowerstation dwell times. Also, the Airdrie-Bathgate line was let on a fixed pricecontract and was delivered on time andbudget. It took 6 years from inception toopening and many innovations wereneeded to keep the cost to the contractuallimit as the project team recognised thecriticality of the fixed price.

Maybe innovation is the key, althoughBritish spending on this is poor compared tocountries such as Japan which spends twicewhat we do. The new Stephenson Award forPractical Engineering Innovation is awelcome move but, to qualify for the award,any idea must have a net beneficial impacton rail cost and/or revenue. As Bill Reevesaid, “Standards have their place but they arefor the guidance of the wise and the strictobservance of fools! Above all, rememberthat good engineering can delivercompetitive advantage.”

DC SubstationSystems.PHOTOS:ULTRA ELECTRONICS

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The Challenge of

erby and DerbyshireRail Forum once again held their annual

conference in the Derby Conference Centre,a truly historic railway location; the trainingschool in the art deco building opened bythe LMS in 1938. The conference alwaysattracts speakers of stature and this year wasno exception.

The programme participants consisted ofSir David Higgins, Chief Executive, NetworkRail; Sir Roy McNulty who chaired the RailValue for Money study; Terry Morgan,Chairman of Crossrail and Teresa Villiers,Minister of State for Transport. Come theday the Minister was unable to attend butwas ably replaced by David Horne, the newManaging Director of East Midlands Trains.

The conference was well supported bymembers of the Forum and guests while thisyear attracted some new attention fromthose protest groups concerned about thefailure to win the contract for Thameslinkrolling stock by Bombardier. There wastherefore a vocal but well–manneredgathering of protesters on the pavementoutside the Conference centre. Thosearriving were very firmly reminded of thestrength of local feeling and the concern forthe future of rolling stock manufacture inDerby.

The sessions were chaired by Colin Walton,the UK Chairman at BombardierTransportation.

Sir David HigginsFirst on the podium was David Higgins

with a very up beat message aboutNetwork Rail. He opened with the verypositive news that Network Rail wasplanning to build a new “Depot” in Derbyon land currently owned by the Company.This was naturally well received by thegenerally local audience and helped toreinforce the role of rail in the City.

The presentation continued toemphasise the enormous amount of workthat would be required on the railwaysystem over the next 30 years in the lightof the explosive growth in business, bothpassenger and freight. He challengedsuppliers to step up and meet thisdemand while Network Rail improved itsefficiency and performance. Referencewas made to the organisational changes,particularly in the investment area withearly firming up of scope and avoidanceof client requirement changes as schemesdevelop. He concluded that NetworkRail’s plans for control period five wouldbe a great opportunity for suppliers and apositive period for the rail industry intotal.

Driving of InnovationSir Roy McNulty had been invited back

following his speech the previous year andwas clearly pleased to be back in Derby.He emphasised the findings of his studyand the level of savings that he felt couldbe achieved. He expressed confidence thatthe industry could deliver and that figuresof 30% should not alarm rail professionals.He expected the creation of “An enablingenvironment” and the “Driving ofinnovation.”

David Horne brought an air of real localinterest having already filled the position ofdeputy to Tim Shoveller, the previousManaging Director of East Midlands Trains.He entertained the conference with hisviews on the need for value for money andproceeded to tell us how East MidlandsTrains had examined the views of itscustomers, as well as potential customers.It was interesting to hear that the perceivedaverage rail fare was twenty eight poundswhereas in fact the actual is around fivepounds fifty pence!

East Midlands trains had adapted theirmarketing strategy to set budget faresaround the level suggested by focus groupsas reasonable and has also tackled theperception that it was never actuallypossible to obtain the bargain tickets online!David referred to the use of reality showcharacters such as Jedward and StaceySolomon in a tactic to connect with youngerpotential customers!

CrossrailFinally we were treated to an excellent

presentation from Terry Morgan, which gavea real insight to the Crossrail works and setthe project in scale with nationalinfrastructure developments. As well as thecurrent public route alignment it wasinteresting to hear that a route had beenprotected on to Ebbsfleet.

He emphasised that this was not just a CivilEngineering project - it was a RAILWAYproject. The tunnel boring will be asignificant undertaking with orders for eighttunnel boring machines being placed, sadlynot available in the UK. The work for thesemachines can be put in context as welearned that the Crossrail tunnel bore is 6.3metres against the 3 metres of a tube tunnel!

Naturally there was particular interest inrolling stock procurement and we learnedthat there was an intention to procure rollingstock relatively early with a plan to bring it intoservice on Great Eastern and Western lines. Wealso heard about the tunnelling academy atIlford and how it was intended that other thanrail projects would benefit from this essentialskill development facility.

Finally it was good to hear of theenvironmental credentials. Spoil will bebrought by rail from the tunnelling to aterminal at Northfleet whence it will be usedto create an artificial island in the Thamesestuary for the benefit of birdlife. Werounded off by hearing the positive news thatCrossrail was anxious that the project shouldbenefit SMEs and that they should makeevery effort to become involved and makeCrossrail aware of what they could offer.

The day ended with a valuable networkinglunch and I am sure participants went homewith the feeling of an event with muchvalue. Derby and Derbyshire Rail Forum canbe well satisfied with an excellent day!

D

Today’s Railway

the rail engineer - issue 86 - december 2011

Documents

rail industry

new eet

new productline

rail engineers available

rail engineerashby house

small printthe rail

trans siberian landbridge

createa landbridge