Signalling and Telecoms

Funded by the Strategic Freight Network, with a contribution from Hutchinson Ports UK (HP-UK), a £60.4 million investment to create a new 1.4km loop on the Felixstowe branch line in Suffolk was successfully brought into service on 29 May 2019,...

Automatic Train Operation (ATO) is nowadays a given technology for metro operation and, although it is still in its infancy when applied to main lines, it is often a chosen option for...

There are currently two main technology choices used for railway radio communications, mobile telephone (GSM/LTE) or Wi-Fi. GSM-R private networks are used predominately for main line track-to-train voice and ETCS (European Train Control System) data applications, with LTE/5G likely to be...

The Institution of Railway Signal Engineers (IRSE) appoints its new president at its annual general meeting every year. The 95th incumbent, Transport for London director of engineering George Clark, took up his post on 26 April 2019, joining an honourable...

In 2020, Solid State Interlocking (SSI) will be 35 years old. It was one of the first microprocessor-based all electronic signalling interlockings and is considered by many to be a world beating railway technology. SSI was...

At a recent IRSE section event in Birmingham, Tim Lane, principal strategy and innovation manager, Network Rail Telecom (NRT), gave a presentation on Network Rail’s latest innovations in telecommunications and how these may be applied to future deployment on the...

The safe operation and signalling of single-line railways are crucial as any head-on crash between two trains is potentially catastrophic. Incidents of this nature are thankfully very rare as the systems devised to allow only one train into a single-line...

The tragic accident on the Croydon tram network in November 2016, in which seven people were killed and many more injured, has raised many questions about tram safety. As reported in issue 171 (Jan/Feb 2019), several recommendations were made in the...

It is easy to forget that GSM-R, as the standardised track to train radio system across Europe, has been around for over 25 years. The agreement to use GSM technology rather than Tetra was arrived at back in 1992, with...

The Thameslink north-south rail link across London is nearing fulfilment. Despite the timetable problems back in May 2018, the enhanced capacity on the route is already easing the daily commutes for thousands of people. When it reaches its full potential of...