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Lineside phones – Remarkable survivors

Ever since the telephone was invented, it was seized upon by railway companies as a means of communicating to employees at the lineside or involved with train operation. This meant positioning phones at places where staff would likely be working or at signals where trains might be stopped. A whole plethora of phones mushroomed across the railway that contributed to great improvements in railway efficiency.

In those early days, no special telephone instrument had been designed for external use let alone railway applications, so an ordinary desk-type phone, housed inside a wooden case, was used. Very often the phone needed its own power supply which would be a battery in a cupboard underneath the case to energise the microphone and to provide ringing current. These cases frequently became insect colonies and encrusted with dirt.

Phones were used at one’s peril and regular maintenance was needed to keep them in a fit state. Only in later years did purpose built phones in weatherproof cases become available, these being a great improvement for the user.

Operational usage

As operational methods became more sophisticated, so the variety of phones on offer multiplied. A big advance was the invention of central battery (CB) techniques, enabling the phone to be powered from a central source thus obviating the need for a local battery. 50 volts DC permanently on-the-line facilitated both speech and signalling. The introduction of automatic telephony led to external dial phones being developed, again using CB power sourcing. The portfolio of phone types might be summarised as:

»  Central Battery with handset lifted off to call or with a calling push button;

»  Auto Phone with originally a dial but now a keypad;

»  Battery Ringing with either dry or wet cells to provide ringing current, often with code ringing buttons for alerting other phones on the same circuit;

»  Magneto Ringing with either a hand cranked generator for high voltage AC ringing current but latterly using a battery and DC-AC invertor;

»  Selective Ringing for use on omnibus circuits (more than one phone on a single line) to either decode a specific ringing code or generate an individual identity when calling.

More recent additions have been the GSM-R radio telephone and the VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) phone, which are described later. Traditional applications, with many still being needed today, consisted of:

» Point to point circuit, typically between a signalbox and depot, shunting yard, ground frame, etc;

» Signal Post Telephone (SPT) for communicating between driver and signaller;

» Electrification telephone to contact the electrical control room;

» Level crossing telephones for use by staff and members of public;

» Station platform telephones for contacting a control room or signalbox.

Many companies designed and manufactured these phones, often as a proprietary system or as a standard product that mirrored general telecom developments outside the rail industry.

Bespoke designs suffered from early obsolescence risks and the railway got caught out on a number of occasions by buying such products.

A problem of the past 30 years has been the vulnerability of phones to vandalism and a number of design variants have emerged to combat this menace.

The situation today

Lineside telephones remain part of operations culture, with other means of communications still being viewed with suspicion in some quarters. The supply market in the past was dominated by Plessey, Racal and STC but none of these companies (or their successors) are still in the external telephone business.

Alternative supply sources have emerged, the most significant one being GAI-Tronics, a company formed as long ago as 1946. Based in Burton on Trent, it has been part of the Hubble Corporation since 2000 and Rail Engineer recently visited the company’s premises to be greeted by sales manager Harry Kaur and marketing assistant Agnese Upeniece.


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The company has 144 employees, all centrally based, with most of the staff being engaged in design, engineering and manufacture. With this head count, GAI-Tronics is a medium size company and is able to take on a number of apprentices each year, thus doing its bit for local youth.

Whilst the rail sector is important, it is not the only market needing external phones – motorways, oil & gas, shipping both merchant and Royal Navy – all add up to a considerable demand every year.

Network Rail has approximately 32,000 phones at the lineside and a goodly number of these have to be replaced each year, either because of age, or vandalism, or because projects to renew signalling or level crossings incorporate new telephones. The types of analogue phone have been rationalised over time and are now all based around CB or Auto operation, but with a number of configurations being available.

Network Rail is the final customer for all lineside products with Unipart Rail being the GAI- Tronics distributor. If phones are required as part of infrastructure projects, then companies such as Telent, Thales, Atkins, Babcock and BAM all purchase phones as required.

There is a strong requirement for Passenger Help Points for public use on station platforms. These are hands free, incorporate an induction loop, large tactile buttons and raised text including braille, and are positioned to be accessible for wheel chair users. Connection can be made to either the emergency services or to rail enquiries, allowing passengers to access information during their journey.

So what’s in a phone?

The basic components of a lineside phone have remained essentially similar down the years: a metal housing; some electronics to power the transmitter, receiver, and inward and outward calling signals; a handset and a mounting bracket. That said, there are many variations on the theme.

Off-hook calling with CB phones can be a problem if the handset is not replaced after a call. Telephones can be designed to automatically go back ‘on-line’ after a pre- determined time (SPT – seven minutes, Level Crossing phone – three minutes).

Number calling keypads are manufactured so as to protect against moisture ingress. Handsets are made of durable material that can withstand harsh handling and, where vandalism is likely, the handset cord is armoured. Casing doors are now spring-loaded and self-closing. Additional protection can be the provision of a lockable door opened by a BR No1 key or housing the phone in an anti-vandal housing.

Phones are designed for either pole mounting using metal banding strips or wall mounting by screwing through holes in the casing.

For many years, from the late 1960s onwards, the standard phone was the Plessey 745 model, known colloquially as the ‘coffin’ phone because of its shape. This model supplied many markets in addition to rail and came in a variety of types – often needing an additional bolt-on box if there was insufficient space for the electronics of the more sophisticated versions.

Gradually, the 745 was replaced by more modern and better constructed housings, the GAI-Tronics version going under the brand name of Titan. The casings are made from corrosion – resistant cast aluminium and are bought in. Getting good paint adhesion is something of a challenge but the normal colours of grey (for general use) or yellow (for level crossings) can withstand most conditions.

All the design, engineering assembly and testing is done in the Burton factory, giving GAI-Tronic complete control over the quality of its products while helping the local economy.

Lineside phones have to be reliable and robust. They are frequently used when persons making the call are under stress and any ensuing anger or frustration can result in the phone (particularly the handset) receiving rough treatment. This imposes a rigorous test program to prove a design is fit for purpose and GAI-Tronics has an in house environmental chamber as well as employing an external test house to prove robustness of the various designs.

Every production phone is thoroughly tested before leaving the factory. Network Rail also has rigorous test- and type-approval procedures.

To ensure correct usage, telephones must be correctly labelled, both externally to indicate the type of phone and internally to give detail of the operation plus any special emergency numbers. External labels have been standardised over time, typical ones being;

»  A handset silhouette for a general purpose phone and if public usage is foreseen;

»  Black & white diagonal stripes for SPTs;

»  A green background with emergency wording for calling electric control rooms or the emergency services;

»  A black St Andrew’s cross on white background for general operational use.

If the phone has to be used at night in dark conditions, then fluorescent labels and instructions are provided.

Instructions on usage will include site-specific details as to the phone’s location plus how to contact an operator or emergency service.

New requirements and developments

Level crossings are the biggest safety risk on today’s railways. Having reliable communication back to the controlling signalbox is important, particularly for members of the public. For Auto Half Barrier (AHB) crossings, special telephone systems have been in existence for many years. Known as PETS (Public Emergency Telephone System), the system is produced by Bombardier (from the original design developed by Whiteley of Mansfield) and is self-monitoring for any fault conditions.

A variation on a standard CB telephone in a bright yellow casing is produced by GAI-Tronics to complement the signalbox concentrator equipment. An alternative supply base is now available known as KETS (Kestrel Emergency Telephone System) which is based on the Kestrel (Wimborne) SPT concentrator but achieves the same result. Again, GAI- Tronics produces the associated telephone.

User worked crossings are, however, a particular risk and these are often on remote lines with no trackside cabling or power. Past attempts to overcome the problem have been a ‘mono dialler’ public-use telephone connected to a rented BT landline where, by pressing a button, a user causes a pre-determined number to be dialled that connects to the signalbox.

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GAI-Tronics production facility at Burton on Trent.

Remote BT lines can have reliability problems so replacing these with a radio connection is a logical step, but with the premise that phone usage characteristics remain the same. Thus the development of a GSM (or GSM-R) phone for such locations has been a logical step. Often combined with a solar panel and battery to provide power, these radio phones are ideal for use in rural areas. Being connected to the GSM-R national network, the phones can be monitored and interrogated.

Telephony as a technology is changing and traditional analogue circuitry is being replaced by VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). Increasingly prevalent in commercial use, it was only a matter of time before lineside phones adopt this technology.

The first application of VoIP for lineside use has been some SPTs on the Glasgow to Edinburgh line described in issue 119 (September 2014) and for which GAI-Tronics provided the telephones. Whilst such telephones need a local power supply, this is rarely a problem on a main line as S&T power will be available in an adjacent location case.

Being able to connect the phone to the local IP network means the reduction of copper cabling and much greater resilience of routing back to the control centre. Some technical features that VoIP phones offer are:

»  Use of widely adopted open standards – SIP (Session Initiation Protocol, RFC3261) allowing ease of integration into existing systems;

»  Each phone can register with up to four alternative servers, meaning that if connection to the first server is not achieved, it will attempt to register with others;

»  Real time fault reporting and diagnostics;

»  An audio path test to ensure the functioning of the handset.

The technology is still under trial and it will need a lengthy period of operational use before final approval can be given.

Arriva Trains Wales has, for some years, been using a VoIP Help Point linked to the CCTV surveillance system at stations so as to operate over the same IP network.

Another initiative is the provision of an IP network aboard trains where the internal phone system, used by train crew and catering staff, can be ‘bolted on’ to the train WiFi package. This latter development is outside the scope of this article but watch this space for further updates.

Future usage predictions

With the growth of radio systems both for track-to-train communication and for trackside workers, many predict that lineside phones will soon become a thing of the past. They do, however, remain a corner stone of rail operational practice and the authorities are reluctant to sanction abandonment of SPTs even though trains have been equipped with radio for many years. With the impending advent of GSM-R as a single nationwide system, it is likely that SPTs will only be required at control signals that protect junctions and crossovers.

Equally, technicians attending infrastructure faults invariably reach site by road transport and use GSM mobiles to communicate back to base, even receiving work packages by text or email messages. Coverage of rail routes by the public cellular radio providers is nowhere near 100% but, with the GSM-R network expanding, the associated radio handsets will provide staff with robust radio coverage at the lineside. Even with this, there remains the satisfaction that a lineside phone will always connect to the required end point.

So, the lineside phone continues to survive and, whilst its numbers will decline, the re- assurance that it gives in conditions when radio systems might fail will endear it to the rail operating authorities for many years yet.

A system of systems for operation and control

Essentially, passengers’ requirements have remained largely unchanged since the days of the Train control systems earliest railways; quite simply, they want to travel safely and comfortably and to arrive at their destination on time.

In comparison, the railway itself has changed dramatically, with complex systems now operating to set routes automatically, regulate the movement of trains and control a wide range of sub-systems covering everything from power supply to station air conditioning.

In effect, multiple systems have to work together to deliver the smooth journey that passengers demand. However, in the majority of applications, many are not yet connected and so are unable to exchange valuable information. The industry’s challenge is to make this happen more often and more efficiently, so that the cost and efficiency of railway operations can be optimised with consequent operational and performance benefits to the operating company and the passenger.

Train control systems

On the London Underground Victoria line, for example, Siemens’ train supervision system predicts the position of trains for the following twenty minutes several times a second. This system feeds the algorithms that are at the heart of the automatic train regulation system, modifying train departure times and driving profiles accordingly. This information is then used by the on-board system to drive the train automatically from station to station. It also feeds the passenger information displays, giving passengers the opportunity to modify their journey plans if necessary.

With passenger numbers continuing to rise, it becomes increasingly important to accurately predict demand and to manage the peaks effectively. If the current annual growth rates of six to eight per cent continue, then the West Coast main line will be at full capacity by the early 2020s, making effective management of the network and optimisation of available capacity absolutely essential.

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Technology clearly plays a major part in managing such conditions. Systems such as Communications-Based Train Control (CBTC), for metro networks, and the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) for mainline applications, enable trains to operate at higher frequencies than would otherwise be possible by allowing reduced headway. Both systems use radio to communicate with trackside equipment, with trains being updated almost in real-time with information about the speed at which they can travel and how far they can safely go. This technology enables 34 trains per hour to be timetabled on the Victoria line at peak times; and 24 trains per hour timetables will be possible through the Thameslink core area.

Whilst managing capacity is a constant challenge for railway operators, there is also pressure to manage more effectively the use of fossil fuel to power rolling stock – both in terms of the rising cost of fuel and its impact on the environment. To address this, the UK rail industry is investing £4 billion in a five-year national electrification programme. Siemens
is playing a key role in the Rail Electrification Delivery Group (REDG), which is working closely with Network Rail to address and overcome the challenges of electrification. Initiatives such as new switchgear designs and new overhead line engineering are already being introduced to improve productivity.

Operations and enhancements

Pressure also comes from the growing demand for a 24/7 railway, with a need to keep service disruption to an absolute minimum during renewal, repair and upgrade works. The Victoria line again provides a good example of this as the outgoing signalling system has been gradually migrated to the new one over a period of nine years with minimum disruption caused to the railway as old and new signalling systems operated with old and new rolling stock.

Clearly this approach requires detailed systems engineering, flexible equipment and highly skilled staff – not to mention meticulous planning. The Victoria line upgrade programme proved, though, that manufacturing, designing, installing, testing and commissioning a new system can be successfully achieved, enabling a seamless transition for passengers travelling under the control of the old system one week and under the new system the next.

Very often, these operational and engineering challenges are accompanied by economic ones, with the railway having to make enough money to cover the costs of operation and investment over a sustained time period. Integral to achieving this are factors such as the optimisation of energy use and human and infrastructure resources.

Thameslink

At the Richmond Airport line in Vancouver and MTR’s Kowloon Canton Railway in Hong Kong, Siemens systems were installed to integrate the operation of CCTV, lifts, escalators, ventilation, power distribution and traction control systems in a small number of multi-headed workstations, with operational costs being reduced through a more efficient use of human resources.

Integration is the key

The design of trains and stations is also vitally important, with the latest trains maximising space and passenger movement along their length. Many trains now integrate complex ethernet-based networks of CCTV, passenger alarm, traction and braking systems, air conditioning and ventilation control and there are clearly benefits in also moving towards full integration of systems such as traction, automatic train protection and automatic train operation.

As systems become increasingly advanced, and more trains move towards Grade of Automation 4 (that is, with no employees on board, such as Line 1 of Paris Metro and Singapore’s Downtown line), so the quality of communications with passengers becomes increasingly safety-critical, requiring close integration with CCTV systems.

The move towards ever-closer integration of systems will continue as the industry continues to explore new ways to design trains and control systems that work effectively together as a whole. In doing so, it is helping to deliver reliable, safe, sustainable and integrated systems not only in normal, everyday operation, but also during the major upgrade projects needed to create a railway for the twenty first century.

Written by William Wilson, sales and commercial director at Siemens Rail Automation.

Forensic engineering

Crewe, in South Cheshire, is known for quality engineering, being the home of Bentley cars and the world famous locomotive works. It will be a major hub for the planned HS2 and is also famous for a football team that punches above its weight. However, just a stone’s throw away from the proposed hub and the Crewe Alexandra FC Gresty Road ground, is the home of one of rail’s best-kept secrets.

Based in an office built in 1903/4 by the London North Western Railway for the Electrical Signal and Telephone Department is the Atkins Technical Investigation Centre (TIC). The TIC provides a forensic engineering service to rail – basically it’s a team of specialist engineers who investigate equipment failures in a laboratory setting in order to identify why an issue has arisen.

The TIC covers most rail engineering disciplines and provides an independent investigation service for failed assets and incidents such as level crossing accidents, signalling wrong-side failures and OHLE de-wirements. Its principal focus is on safety-critical and safety-related failures, but the scope also includes significant equipment failures that have caused major disruption or repeat failures, where investigation by technical specialists might help to get to the root cause.

The key to the TIC process is not to have any preconceived ideas of what the cause of a failure may be, but to investigate in a systematic manner and to eliminate all the possibilities using engineering principles in a laboratory setting.

Once the root cause is identified, the TIC will make recommendations to reduce the likelihood of failure. This could include equipment modification, a special inspection notice on all similar assets in the network, or an amendment to a maintenance specification.

Customers and suppliers

The TIC’s customers include Network Rail, train operating companies, metros, tram systems, London Underground, overseas rail (one recent enquiry was from Singapore involving a relay that caught fire), British Transport Police and the Rail Accident Investigation Branch. The TIC has the majority of skills and processes required, but it also uses specialist test houses for metallurgical investigation support and vibration testing.

They also have access to the rest of the Atkins organisation. For example, a level crossing ‘Another Train Coming’ audio device was sent for investigation as it was believed to be announcing in Chinese. With the help of the Atkins project office based in Beijing China, the TIC was quickly able to identify that it was Chinese. The investigation also found that the audio device could be recorded locally with any message.

The TIC also has access to the Atkins design office which is able to support an investigation with detailed circuit analysis or data analysis for computer-based systems.

Typical equipment sent to the TIC for investigation includes: relays, cables, signals, train detection equipment, Automatic Warning System (AWS) and Train Protection and Warning System (TPWS) items and, more recently, the first European Train Control System (ETCS) balise requiring investigation. The cause of the failure was attributed to ingress of salt water.

The scope of the assets investigated has been widened recently to include electrification assets and the Atkins team can be called upon to determine the cause of a de-wirement.

If a fault is caused by a manufacturing problem, the TIC invites the manufacturer (if still available) to witness the tests, provide technical information and offer comments on the report before it goes to the client. Such invitations are standard whenever a manufacturer’s fault is identified and demonstrates Atkins’ independence.

In a recent case, the manufacturer of the faulty signal accepted the invitation and, after witnessing the testing and intermittent fault, voluntarily agreed to alter its manufacturing, quality and maintenance procedures to prevent the failure occurring again.

People and process

The 20 or so strong team at the TIC is made up of engineers with considerable forensic investigation expertise, covering predominantly electrical and electronic applications, but also including mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic and material science domains.

Although these skills are used by Atkins to unravel rail-related safety / performance issues, the know-how and processes can be applied to virtually anything. Electrical and electronic equipment work in the same way, whether on an oil rig, train or submarine. The principles remain the same, so in theory the TIC can test/investigate just about anything that uses electricity and if the specification is available.

Once a suspected faulty item is received into the TIC it is placed in triage. The item will be assessed for the competency required to carry out the investigation and the creation of a detailed investigation plan before any testing commences.

The testing is carried out in phases: visual examination, non-destructive testing and finally destructive testing, with a review of the findings at the end of each phase. All test parameters are recorded meticulously. While competency and quality processes are now a requirement for most successful companies, such systems have been in place within the TIC for a very long time.

Evidence recording is extremely important as the engineers may be called to provide evidence in a court of law and it is invaluable in supporting the investigation of other similar failures. The TIC has records going back over a hundred years, some of which make fascinating reading including one on the use of radio to communicate with a train in the 1920s!

The TIC is one of very few rail teams in the country to have the necessary Institution of Railway Signal Engineers licences to carry out this often- sensitive and confidential work, and it’s not uncommon for the centre’s findings and recommendations to influence manufacturing practice, safety standards and maintenance specifications, within the rail industry.

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The TIC is located adjacent to the Atkins signalling project office and this helps the TIC engineers maintain their competency with site visits to carry out new works correlation, as well as attending training courses on new systems, so that they are ready when new items are sent for investigation. They also support projects with teams to assist, for example, the commissioning of new complex track circuit layouts.

Investigation examples

A signal kept reverting to and staying at red – a situation which caused train delays and numerous site visits by the local maintainer. During the investigation, the TIC not only identified an intermittent fault that caused the signal to revert to red but also discovered that the interaction between the signal modules was not readily understood by the maintainer, meaning that its repeated attempts to get to the bottom of the problem were fruitless. The intermittent fault was caused by a manufacturing problem.

A box of fire damaged batteries, from a mechanical signal box was sent to the TIC for investigation. After carrying out various tests, it was determined that this new type of battery, produced by a particular manufacturer, delivered a much higher current than the older types.

They also came in a range of different sizes and capacities. If the different sizes are mixed together they can overheat and, if they are not wired up and positioned carefully, a short circuit causing sparks can occur, igniting flammable material nearby.

Although this explanation does sound relatively straightforward, it doesn’t tell the whole story. Before this conclusion was reached the TIC carried out a number of tests, taking care not to prematurely dismiss any possibilities. Did the batteries have any technical limitations? Did vibrations from passing trains move them around? To what extent was the fire caused by human error?

The TIC has been involved with a number of major incidents, such as Ladbroke Grove, Grayrigg and Potters Bar, as the licensed independent engineering investigation team. This independence from maintainers, infrastructure controllers, designers, and equipment suppliers is an important point.

One area the TIC can be of further use to the rail industry is with the acceptance process for new products. It is not unknown for new items of equipment to be installed on the railway only to fail some months later, with safety or performance implications. The TIC may only then be involved to identify the root cause of the failure. Often, the harsh environment of the railway – physical and electrical – can give rise to problems that even the most careful planning and design cannot foresee. The TIC can bring its experience to the process, looking at lessons learnt from similar applications and using simulations to mimic real life at the trackside where equipment is expected to perform reliably for up to 30 years. Getting it right at the outset can prove to be a good investment, saving failures, product recalls and operational delays downstream.

Other services

The TIC also supports projects with immunisation testing and analysis. This involves instrumenting and analysing the area and systems being changed or, for example a new type of rolling stock. The railway system with its legacy products is very difficult to model and sometimes the only way is to go out and measure everything in a systematic and recordable manner.

A recent example for Thameslink was a points installation on slab track and a requirement to check that the machine was holding fast. The TIC came up with a network of void meters, glued to the rail and slab, and connected back to a recording device. This verified that there was no movement of the machine. This was undertaken at the same time as checking for both AC and DC interference with the interface with LUL.

Support is provided to the signalling projects division of Atkins. This includes FRACAS (Failure Reporting And Corrective Action System) and DRACAS (Defect Reporting And Corrective Action System) modelling for major projects. The TIC has also been involved with type approval for the new generation of Atkins computer-based signalling, with both AC and DC testing of the interlocking and level crossing controllers in areas of high electrical interference.

The future

The TIC has all the skills and processes to support other industries and this may include the emerging industry of intelligent transport, autonomous cars and highway monitoring. Motorways are currently monitored by CCTV but, in the future, this may be undertaken by similar technology as RADAR and LiDAR used in obstacle detection at level crossings. Who better to investigate forensically when it fails?

And then there were 4

If you’d stood in the doorway of Lower Mainwood Farm at Ringway a century ago, the view ahead would have been green and agricultural. Try the same today – not that I’d recommend it – and you’d probably be wiped out by a Boeing 747. Wrecking balls have long since razed the farm as part of the development of Manchester Airport, its history now buried beneath the north runway’s tarmac. From modest beginnings in the Thirties, the airport now handles more than 22 million people and 170,000 aircraft movements annually, an expansion which has elevated it to become the third busiest in the UK.

Opened in May 1993, the airport’s railway station acts as a key gateway with around 15% of passengers arriving or departing from there. Not surprisingly, the site it occupies is tight – hemmed in by hotels on three sides – and overflying the middle of it is a bridge carrying the dual carriageway that serves the terminal buildings. Called Outwood Lane, this follows the same alignment as it did when Lower Mainwood Farm was still a going concern.

The station was originally built with two platforms, each able to accommodate two four-car units either side of an island. However, service reliability relied on trains arriving in the right order, a reality which brought knock-on effects at Manchester Piccadilly where scarce platform capacity was often absorbed by trains waiting for paths. The installation of a third platform in 2008 largely resolved this, offering much greater operational flexibility.

May 2009 saw plans announced for a Metrolink route to the airport as part of its Phase 3 expansion project, connecting to the existing network at St Werburgh’s Road. Then, in July 2012, the government announced its support for a fourth mainline platform, creating capacity for more Manchester Airport services via the new Ordsall Chord. This forms part of the Northern Hub scheme, bringing more than £1 billion of investment to the North’s rail network. There has also been mooted the provision of a through route, extending the railway westwards – under the airport – to join the Northwich line, but let’s not go there right now.

In partnership

With the intention of trams and trains sharing the same station, it soon became clear that much would be gained by bringing forward the fourth platform’s proposed 2018 completion date, combining the works with those for Metrolink and thus taking fullest advantage of the access opportunities established. Train operators also favoured this approach as it would further enhance the benefits arising from the North West electrification programme. M-Pact Thales acted as designer and principal contractor, its client being Transport for Greater Manchester but with Network Rail using the same contracting mechanism to fulfil its requirements.

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The chosen design option – driven by physical and operational constraints – involved constructing the three tracks and platforms along the north side of the existing station on land previously occupied by an embankment up to ground level, the railway sitting in a six-metre deep cutting. Immediately beyond this is an airport building, known as No.4, and the Hilton Hotel which served as limits for the potential development footprint.

From Network Rail’s perspective, this package of work effectively formed Phase 1 and was undertaken during the spring of 2014. Delivered was most of the construction activity for  the new platform was delivered (the need to relocate several location cabinets prevented its completion) as well as the associated rebuilding of Outwood Lane bridge to include a new portal for the Metrolink line whilst extending the existing Platform 3 span to accommodate the fourth platform. This involved the lifting-in of 28 reinforced concrete beams and 11 parapet units whilst 118 wagon-loads of arisings were despatched for recycling. A temporary services bridge also had to be assembled.

The need for a 17-day road closure proved a challenge for all concerned due to its impact on airport access off the motorway network. Possession also had to be taken of Platform 3, with 30-hour blockades needed at the top and tail to dewire and then restore the platform’s overhead line. Despite these complexities, 5,000 trains continued to serve the station using the remaining two platforms and the work was successfully concluded ten hours early.

All together now

Phase 2 has involved fulfilment of the track, signalling, overhead line and remaining platform works, together with installation of the customer information system (CIS) and CCTV. Again, the access strategy was subject to discussions with the airport and train operators, the preferred approach being a one-hit winter blockade – a time of year that would cause the least possible disruption to the travelling public. The station was closed from 17 January to 9 February 2015, with Platform 3 further out of service for the previous week.

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Although AmeySersa – delivering the track works – was appointed principal contractor, the project actually adopted an alliance-style hub-and-spoke arrangement with the various firms engaged through Network Rail: Buckingham Group for civils, Siemens for signalling, OCR (Network Rail’s in-house team) for the overheads and Manchester Airport for the CIS/CCTV.

With nothing available close by, the team secured land a mile east of the station through Manchester Airport Group, establishing a compound there in October 2014. This offered sufficient space for offices and materials storage, but would demand a very disciplined approach to workforce management and the provision of minibus shuttles to get them to and from site.

Over the weeks that followed, surveys were undertaken to validate the designs (Parsons Brinckerhoff for track, Mott MacDonald for OLE) as well as regular whiteboard meetings to ensure the robustness of plans for the blockade, with appropriate contingencies. Where possible, progress was made with the installation of concrete bases for the new overhead line steelwork. This took place at Christmas and during the airport branch’s limited Rules of the Route access periods which afford five-hour possessions for four consecutive nights every six weeks.

Hit the ground running

The closure of Platform 3 on Sunday 11 January allowed the team to start work on the careful demolition of a low 300-metre long retaining wall just outside the ballast shoulder, as well as carrying out a deep dig between it and the new fourth platform to make way for the track.

Possession of the remaining station and the branch back to Heald Green North/South junctions was taken over the following weekend, allowing the rest of the wall and the concrete bases for the old OLE steelwork to be removed. Combined with a 30-hour isolation of the Metrolink route, the opportunity was created to crane in a couple of dozen overhead line structures from car parks adjacent to the railway – a contrast to the conventional installation method using roadrailers.

This allowed an early start to the process of changing over the wires and then taking out the redundant steelwork whilst keeping the wires in the air.

Also lifted in was a cantilevered signal gantry from the Hilton Hotel car park to the end of platforms 3/4. On the face of it, this appears hugely over-engineered for its purpose, but it allows testing and maintenance of the signal heads to take place without the need for an OLE isolation.

Time of the essence

Complicating the track work planning was the route’s curvature, the presence of an overbridge 170 yards off the platform end and the ability to approach the site from one direction only.

Getting the timings right for arrival, departure and movement of the 14 engineering trains therefore demanded a sharp focus.

The track and drainage work proceeded eastwards from the new bufferstop, with the panels mostly brought in by tilting wagons to increase productivity before installation was carried out by a pair of Kirow cranes. In terms of layout, the Platform 4 line joins the existing Down Airport via a single turnout just before the overbridge, beyond which is an existing trailing crossover. To provide a route from the Up Airport into Platform 4, new S&C has been established on the curve approaching Woodhouse Lane overbridge. Whilst this created engineering and design issues, the proximity of booster overlap zones for the overhead line made this the optimum location.

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In parallel with the track activity, Siemens staff were running in cables for the signalling and telecoms equipment. To meet current standards, two RA and OFF indicators have been provided on each of the platforms; previously there was only one. The route’s conventional signal heads have also been replaced with LED units from Unipart Dorman. The scheme has involved a data change to the route’s SSI (Solid State Interlocking) signalling but the most complex aspect has been the associated works in Piccadilly Power Box where wiring into the existing system, given its size, proved quite challenging.

Registering the overhead line to the new track alignment occupied much of the blockade’s final week. The wires were installed under tension using Network Rail’s wiring train, the longest run being around 1,500 metres. Again, this approach was adopted in an effort to minimise the amount of disruptive access needed.
The final weekend saw the whole system brought back into use through testing and commissioning; handback came on the morning of Monday 9 February. Platform 4’s first passengers will arrive in May as part of the new Spring timetable.

Different worlds

“Project by project, the upgrades being made to provide a better railway across the north of England are being completed,” insists Network Rail’s Area Director Ian Joslin. “The new fourth platform at Manchester Airport station is the latest example and will contribute to an improved rail service to the airport.”
And it will need that improved service as work on the £800 million Airport City property development gathers pace over the next 15 years, during which time the intention is to offer new office space, hotels, advanced manufacturing, logistics and warehouse facilities on a site north of the station. The promotional blurb describes it as “a vibrant economic hub”, much as Lower Mainwood Farm was a century before.

Photos: Four by Three.

Finland opts for TETRA

The Finnish Transport Agency (FTA) and Finnish Railways (VR Group) were one of the first to adopt the GSM-R standard for track-to-train radio based voice communication. They rolled out a nationwide network relatively quickly and duly equipped the train cabs.

The system has worked well but is now over 10 years old and much thought has been given as to a revamp or renewal strategy. Two options emerged, firstly to renew with updated GSM-R equipment or secondly to change to another type of radio network.

The decision made jointly by the Finnish Transport Agency as the infrastructure owner and VR Group, the train operating company, has been to prepare a plan for changing to TETRA – Trans European Trunked Radio Application. This comes as something of a surprise since the EU mandates that GSM-R should be the standard for main line train-borne radio in all member states. So why have the Finns chosen to change and does it matter?

No need for interoperability

The standardisation of GSM-R is all about interoperability, allowing trains to cross borders seamlessly without multiple fitment of train- borne control and communication equipment associated with earlier national system designs. However, Finland uses 1524mm (5’) track gauge, which allows through-running with Russia’s 1520mm gauge but not with the rest of Europe, so the question of interoperability with other European states does not arise.

In the early 1990s, when the decision to standardise on GSM-R was made, TETRA was still under development and was considered too risky, both technically and commercially, to adopt for international rail use. Since then, Tetra has become the de facto standard for metro rail systems and for the emergency services of fire, police and ambulance.

Recognising the need to have emergency service cover across its rail network, the Finnish authorities decided to extend their VIRVE TETRA system that became operational in 2002 to parallel the GSM-R network, thus duplicating the radio coverage to a very high percentage of route. Not all tunnels or deep cuttings are covered but this will happen over time.

The TETRA network is therefore essentially already in place and analysis has shown that there is sufficient capacity to have safety-related railway communication on the same network as emergency services, government agencies and the military.

There are three main factors in reaching this decision.

Significant savings can be made, estimated to be €10 million per year. This seems a lot of money but two very high costs can be avoided. Firstly, the GSM-R operation, including the provision of base stations and masts, is provided by a private company. The subscriber fees are much higher than those for the TETRA network. Secondly, the GSM-R network is largely reliant on rented or leased lines to connect its base stations back to the signalling control centres and the cost of these is also substantial.

In addition, the GSM-R operation has increasingly been subject to interference from 4G networks in adjacent frequency bands. This is principally by telecom service providers who are seeking to achieve maximum coverage of their networks and who have adjusted their base stations to give maximum allowed transmission levels so causing disturbance to the GSM-R receivers. This is a problem not confined to Finland but the solution of providing ever more sophisticated filtering equipment is complex.

Lastly, Finland has never adopted ERTMS Level 2 and thus the use of GSM-R as a bearer for the ETCS element does not arise. Mindful that ERTMS does not come about until after 2025, the Finns take the pragmatic view that ,by that time, a successor technology for GSM-R will have been decided and developed, possible ‘LTE-R’, and thus a more suitable bearer network will be built as and when needed.

Looking to the future

None of this is going to happen quickly and an EU derogation is required before the change to TETRA can be made. Since interoperability is very much a cornerstone of EU policy, this is expected to result in some difficult negotiations. The plan shows the change taking until 2018 to complete with much of this time being needed to fit out the various trains and other items of rolling stock.

The Finnish decision should not be read as a precursor to change the European main line rail network to TETRA – GSM-R is too well-established for this to happen. It does, however, highlight the need to speed up the investigative work being done on the future of GSM-R and what will eventually replace it.

The problem of unwanted interference is also something that needs to be resolved in the short term.

Another interesting element is that of outsourcing. It may be financially attractive to have a third party build and operate a radio network in the first place but the subsequent service provision costs, and especially when changes to network configuration are needed, can be astronomical. Remember the old adage “If you don’t own it, you don’t control it”.

Middle East Renaissance

Photo: S-F/ shutterstock.com.

The Middle East has had a railway network for over a century, although development was slow. The Hejaz Railway from Damascus to Medina opened in 1913, extending into the existing line from Istanbul.

However, the First World War halted plans to take the line as far as Mecca and the between-wars politics didn’t help. It wasn’t until the 1960s that Istanbul was connected with Basra in Southern Iraq.

Even then, more wars and disputes got in the way and that line is no longer open for its full distance.

Sudden interest

Now, however, the Middle East is embarking on a remarkable run of railway construction, albeit a bit further south. Involvement from overseas is welcomed fully. His Excellency Dr Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bin Salim Al Futaisi, Minister of Transport and Communications in Oman, recently estimated that around $200 billion was being invested in building more than 10,000 kilometres of railway in the Middle East.

The level of rail investment in the Middle East is quite simply staggering. Major cities such as Riyadh, Jeddah and Doha are building complete metro systems from scratch and as a whole, the region has grand plans to construct and link national rail networks as part of a much wider railway project connecting all of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries forming an international rail network.

Beyond the technical challenges of laying tracks in the desert, the GCC rail project is as much a political exercise as a challenging infrastructure project, as it relies on the cooperation of all member states. With some schemes developing quicker than others, the problem is ensuring it all links up. This very issue was raised at the Middle East Rail conference in 2014. As this year’s event draws near, it is worth considering how the rail initiative has moved on over the past 12 months.

Cooperation between states

The GCC is made up of six member states: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Each of the states is contributing to the project, building a section of the line each. In addition to this, many cities are pursuing plans for new metro networks. Dubai is extending its fully automated metro system. Abu Dhabi hopes to build a light rail network that will link the central business district with the island suburbs surrounding the city.

The total length of the GCC railway is estimated to be 2,117 km, starting from Kuwait, passing through Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE and ending in Oman. Middle East Rail 2015 will discuss and seek to find solutions to some of the growing pains the Middle East is encountering. Seminars will consider the need for harmonisation of safety and technical standards between the countries and the importance of training in creating a skilled rail workforce in the region. The day-to- day challenges, such as how to speed up the cleaning of trains between journeys, will be raised.

Spanish flavour

Saudi Arabia’s railway is developing at an exceptional rate. The SAR project, also known as the North South Railway Network, is a 2,750-kilometre mixed-traffic railway stretching from Riyadh to Al Haditha near the Jordanian border. It also includes a second line from the Al-Jalamid mine to Ras AlKhair on the coast of the Arabian Gulf. The line is already open to freight traffic and passenger services are planned to begin this year.

Another substantial development is the 950-kilometre Landbridge Line between Jeddah and Riyadh. But in terms of sheer publicity, both of these projects struggle to detract attention away from the 460-kilometre Haramain High- Speed Rail Line, which from next year should be transporting pilgrims between the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. Around two million pilgrims make the expedition each year, putting a substantial strain on the roads between Mecca, Medina and Jeddah.

Riyadh [online]

The first of 36 train sets being built by Spanish manufacturer Talgo was shipped from Barcelona to Jeddah in December last year. The 300 km/h trains are specially designed to cope with desert running where temperatures can reach 55oC. These challenging conditions require the trains to be covered with special films and coatings designed to keep sand particles out.

The entire project has a Mediterranean tone. A consortium of 12 Spanish companies was awarded the €6.7 billion contract in November 2011 for phase two, while a French/ Chinese consortium is delivering the project’s first phase. Spanish operator Renfe and infrastructure manager Adif are both connected to the project alongside engineering firms OHL and Ineco. Adif sees the project as an opportunity to demonstrate its abilities on a global platform.

Saudi Arabia will be relying on Renfe’s experience of running high-speed rail services as the line’s operator. Renfe will also be responsible for recruiting staff and building maintenance depots in both Mecca and Medina.

UAE growth

Another GCC member making strides with its national rail network is the United Arab Emirates (UAE). For the GCC network to work, all members need to be onboard. The UAE is building a 1,200-kilometre line from the border with Saudi Arabia to the border of Oman.

Trial freight services are already in operation on phase one of the line between Shah, Habshan and the Port of Ruwais. The line will soon be used to transport seven million tonnes of granulated sulphur a year for the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC). An official announcement for the phase two contracts is imminent. This length of the line will complete the section of the railway in the Abu Dhabi emirate. Like the Haramain High-Speed Rail Line, Etihad Rail has also enlisted the help of a European rail market leader, with Deutsche Bahn contracted to run the line’s freight activities.

Other than a surprisingly-modern narrow-gauge tourist railway transporting tourists to and from the Al Hoota Cave near Muscat, Oman is currently railway-less. The Al Hoota Cave railway system was designed by British company Severn Lamb, which is now developing an ‘ultra-light rail’ system for Turkey. A national railway system is planned and the Government of Oman is confident it can begin work soon and meet deadlines to connect it up to the wider GCC system.

Of all of the GCC projects, Oman is expected to be the most expensive per kilometre due to the mountainous terrain between Muscat and the Emirates border. In total, the network will stretch for over 2,000 kilometres and include 20 stations. As well as connecting Muscat and the UAE, the railway will travel south to the ports of Duqm and Salalah and to the border with Yemen.

New networks

Dubai is a record-breaking city, boasting the world’s tallest building – the 2,716-foot Khalifa Tower – and the world’s longest automated metro. Dubai’s infrastructure planning is geared towards the arrival of the World Expo in 2020 – the first time the event has been held in the region. This includes doubling the length of the Green Line and building 21 new stations across the entire network.

Among its accolades, the Dubai Metro was also the first urban rail system to be built in the Middle East. Over the next decade, many more will start to appear on the Arabian Peninsular. Abu Dhabi is proposing to construct a metro line and two new light rail lines, the first phase of which should be completed by 2017.

ShadowPP EtihadR 3782 [online]

A year ago, Prince Khalid bin Bandar broke ground on Line 4 of Riyadh’s new £15 billion metro system, which will include six automated lines and 25 stations, some of which feature incredibly lavish exterior designs. The project is a ‘who’s who’ of major international rail companies. Siemens, Alstom, Bombardier, Strukton, Ansaldo STS, Bechtel, Parsons and Systra are all involved. Saudi Arabia’s second city, Jeddah, is also developing an urban rail system. Design contracts were awarded last year and the entire system is scheduled for completion in the early 2020s.

Elsewhere, Qatar has created a single body, Qatar Rail, to manage the country’s rail strategy. Plans for long-distance, freight and strategy. Plans for long-distance, freight and metro systems are all being handled by the organisation. Qatar’s main line rail network will connect Doha with the Saudi Arabian border and support high-speed services. A second line will then also link Doha with Hamad International Airport and Bahrain.

Exhibition and conference

In 2014, more than 3,000 people attended Middle East Rail. Launched in 2007, the show has grown to become the largest of its kind in the Middle East region. In 2015, the exhibition and conference in Dubai expects to attract 6,000 attendees, more exhibitors and put more focus on the GCC and North Africa. Last year marked the beginning of a three-year partnership with the National Transport Authority (NTA) and Ministry of Public Works in the UAE.

The opening keynote address this year will be given by His Excellency Abdulla Belhaif Al Nuaimi, the UAE’s Minister of Public Works, who holds a PhD in construction management from the University of Reading.

For international rail suppliers, it is an opportunity either to try and crack the Middle East or to further existing relationships. For the region itself, it is an opportunity to tap into the hundreds of years of railway expertise from countries like the UK as it did 120 years ago. Rail Media will be there, so pop onto stand K64 in Dubai and talk to the team from Rail Engineer.

Flash of inspiration

It’s an odd fact that some of the best inventions are based on the simplest of ideas. We might look at some brilliant new solution and wonder why no one thought of it before. But then, perhaps they did?

Sometimes the real trick in problem solving is in bringing together old ideas. A valuable new addition to Network Rail’s arsenal of plant machinery makes use of a very old technique… with some added oomph!

Nothing added

Forge welding has been used to join metals for millennia. Blacksmiths since ancient times have been familiar with the technique of heating metal parts to a high temperature and then hammering them together. In today’s techno- speak we might term this a solid-state diffusion process.

Importantly, the result is a welded joint that comprises only the original metals, with no fillers or bridging materials. Since the industrial revolution, this method has been superseded for convenience by gas and electrical welding – processes that add material. This added material may have different physical and chemical properties to the metals it joins.

The welding of railway lines might seem to be a modern idea, but continuous welded rail (CWR) has been used in the USA since the late 1890s. Here in the UK, though, it didn’t find favour until the 1960s. Welding techniques and the rails themselves have improved steadily over the past five decades, but alumino- thermic welding remains the most popular method. Molten iron produced by an exothermic chemical reaction is cast into a ceramic mould that surrounds the rail ends. In other words, metal is added to fill a gap. An advantage is that no complex or heavy equipment is required, but great care needs to be taken to eliminate voids and slag inclusions. Even a perfect alumino-thermic weld has properties that differ from those of the rails themselves.

Saving time

The time available for track maintenance and renewals is ever-more- constrained by the drive to increase capacity on the rail network. Accordingly, in Control Period 4, Network Rail made a commitment to order ten Mobile Flash Butt Welders (MFBW). Finance came from the £220 million seven-day-railway fund, established to support schemes offering substantial improvements in network availability.

The MFBW equipment uses an electric current to heat up the rail ends which are then hydraulically pressed, or forged, together. Sean Heslop is Network Rail’s programme manager for rail services (Network Operations Delivery Services). As he puts it: “It used to take up to four shifts to fix a defective rail because of the time it took to weld and stress the new sections of rail in the short midweek possessions that were available.”

Rails are normally delivered to site in 216 metre lengths where they have to be stressed – stretched to the length they would be at 27°C – and welded together to form CWR. “We knew there was a piece of equipment out there that could deliver this work in a fraction of the time,” said Sean. “But there were a lot of problems with older types of MFBW. They couldn’t do the stressing job and there were also issues with them interfering with the signalling and telecommunications systems.” The equipment was also large and difficult to transport. With Network Rail undertaking approximately 60,000 welds per year (2012 figure) there is clearly a need for MFBW equipment that is self- contained, fast to operate and easy to move from site to site.

Road/rail

The MFBW solution now being adopted by Network Rail marries the latest K945 flash butt welding head developed by Holland Company of Illinois, USA, with a modified Doosan DX170W wheeled excavator. An on-board Marathon Electric Magnaplus three-phase generator, powered by a Deutz V6 diesel engine, provides the electricity for the boom-mounted welding head.

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The vehicle’s rail controls are managed through the GOS ‘Rail Safe’ Canbus system which controls the rail lighting (four white and four red LED sets) complete with auto directional switching, auto horn sounding when the machine starts to move, speedometer, extra boom services and extra working lights. GOS Engineering, based in Blaenavon, is also responsible for fitting the Holland welding equipment and its computerised control system.

The first machine was delivered in 2012 and four are now in service. Another six machines are undergoing approvals.

Added stress

Flash butt welders have been used on the UK rail network for about 15 years, but the key advancement now is in the ability of the new equipment to stress the rails as they are being welded. Using the new machines, up to 600-metres of track can be re-railed, stressed and welded in a single eight-hour possession. Previously the whole operation could take up to four shifts.

Stressing and welding can be accomplished in-track, from the lineside, or from adjacent lines. Safety check-valves fitted to the boom cylinders even allow the MFBW to be operated under live overhead lines. The three-piece offsettable knuckle boom also allows rail welding to be undertaken with the adjacent lines open to traffic.

When stressing is involved, there is a waiting time of just eight minutes from completion of the stress weld – primarily the time taken for the rail weld to cool to below 400°C. With the alumino-thermic welding process, this waiting time is 30 minutes.

Rail Engineer was recently invited by Network Rail to view an MFBW machine in action on the High Marnham test track. The time-saving benefits were obvious, but Bob Hervey, Network Rail’s project manager for the MFBW programme, was keen to highlight the other important benefit.

“Flash butt welding offers better performance and fatigue strength than alumino-thermic welding,” he commented. “Because no material is added, the rails and the weld are homologous. With no resultant hardness differences and the virtual elimination of inclusions and flaws, these welded joints can be bent and flexed in the same manner as the original rail.”

Forged

Using the MFBW, the stressing and welding process itself takes just two minutes, meaning that a defective rail can be changed in less than one hour. Once the rails have been aligned and clamped in the welding head, a pulsed AC current of typically 600-700 Amps (800 Amps peak) is passed through the rail ends to heat them. When the rail end temperature has risen to 800- 900°C, hydraulic rams bring the rails together with a typical force of about 40-50 tonnes (100 tonnes max). It is this movement that can be used to simultaneously provide the rail stressing.

During the forging (or ‘upset’) process, a further 27mm of rail length is lost. The excess metal is squeezed outwards and this flashing is trimmed off when still soft by a shear die that closely corresponds to the rail profile. Once cooled, the railhead can then be ground to a perfect finish.

Unclipped

The maximum rail pull for stressing is 900-metres of unclipped rail. Working alongside the MFBW on the High Marnham test track was a Rosenqvist CD501 high-output clipper. This self-propelled machine, produced in Sweden, is designed to work with Pandrol Fastclips and SHC clips. It will unclip or re-clip 900-metres of rail in 25 minutes. By hand this would take an eight-man team about two hours to complete.

Working together, the MFBW and clipper machines make an impressive team, typically giving a completion time from burn-in to fully stressed and clipped up of less than two hours.

The Holland computerised weld management system calculates the required starting rail gap and tonnage required to achieve the correct degree of stressing for a given rail temperature and rail profile. Sensors within the weld head measure distance, current, voltage, temperature and pressure in order to control the welding process. There is continuous monitoring and recording as the weld progresses, plus an analysis of the completed weld. The results are stored in a database and historical weld data can be viewed either as a full report or a one-line summary.

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Pull back

There is an alternative method for stressing the rail, which Bob Hervey was keen to show us during the High Marnham demonstration. It offers a further saving of time when replacing short lengths of rail, as only about 90-metres of rail needs to be unclipped. The freed rail is then barred into the four foot to form a loop. Cut lengths of scaffold pole act as runners to reduce the manual effort involved. The loop creates the rail end gap needed for the stressing and welding process. Again, the on-board computer system calculates the exact gap required. As the weld is made the unseated rail is pulled back into position with the correct tension.

A key feature of the butt welding process is the need for one rail to move. The technique cannot therefore be used for welding within switches and crossings, but it is suitable for all other rail welds.

Network Rail has negotiated terms and conditions with the trade unions so that its own staff can run and operate the MFBW machines rather than making use of contractors. Two teams of five men are assigned to each machine, geared to delivering seven shifts per week from a base of 250 shifts per year.

Simple is best

The MFBW initiative makes use of a simple idea, albeit with a high degree of precision and control. As Bob Hervey put it: “The craftsmen who fashioned medieval Samurai sword blades would recognise the principle of what we’re doing.” Simple in essence perhaps, but Bob cannot hide his enthusiasm for the benefits of this system, not only because of the time and track access savings it provides, but also because of the increased performance of the welds themselves.

“Even the worst flash butt weld is superior to the best alumino-thermic weld, which we’ve been relying on for the past 50 years,” he said.

In view of the 60,000 alumino-thermic welds undertaken each year on the network, the deployment of these new MFBW machines seems set to revolutionise rail welding within the UK.

ERTMS: A new player emerges

There is no shortage of articles on ERTMS (European Rail Traffic Management System) and its component parts of ETCS (European Train Control System) and GSM-R, the radio transmission medium. The ongoing work of system design, software verification, resolution of problems, fitment challenges and operational performance all need to be recorded and made available to infrastructure providers and train service operators for the greater good of all.

With the supply base within Europe having been consolidating for some years, it is unusual and refreshing to record a new manufacturer entering this market. This is Hitachi which has emerged as a potential significant contributor to the ongoing business.

Hitachi and its history

The company is well known as a Japanese supplier of industrial and commercial electronics and, more latterly, as a builder of traction and rolling stock. In the UK it has built the high-speed Javelin trains for the domestic services on HS1 and has won the contract to supply the new Intercity Express Programme (IEP) rolling stock for the Great Western and East Coast main line high speed services.

It may surprise some to learn that the company has been developing an ETCS-type product for the past eight years. Predominantly this has been for the Chinese market, the system being known as CTCS 3 (Chinese Train Control System). It is equivalent to ETCS Level 2 but without some of the sub-set requirements. The product combines both infrastructure (including the all-important Radio Block Centre – RBC) and on-board equipment.

To date some three RBCs and 40 on-board systems are in use. Hitachi’s equipment is interoperable with that from other ERTMS suppliers which have also entered the Chinese market, both Ansaldo and Bombardier competing against the CTCS specification.

One might ask, “Well, what about Japan?”

The Japanese railways do not use ETCS, having recently developed their own digital ATP (Automatic Train Protection) system for high- speed lines. They also have a system known as ATACS, which is broadly equivalent to the elusive ETCS Level 3, and does not require traditional train detection equipment such as axle counters or track circuits.

At present only one route of 30km and 16 trains is in operation, this being commissioned in 2011. JNR and Hitachi jointly own the design, but it is not until 2017 that the next line will be equipped. Europe may well look at this system as an incentive to regenerate interest in Level 3 since little progress has been made over the past 20 years that the concept has been around. The proving of freight train integrity (train completeness) has been a stumbling block but in Japan only passenger trains will operate on the initial routes, thus not overcoming this difficulty.

Hitachi is therefore far from being a new boy in the train control and communications business and believes that it can bring a useful contribution for the benefit of all.

Entry into the UK

As many suppliers know, entering the UK rail business is not easy. Prospective organisations have to demonstrate technical capability, quality of product, financial stability, safety compliance and that the offering is fit for purpose. Often this involves demonstrating the system on a test track or designated section of railway.

To date, the Cambrian line is the only commissioned ERTMS system in the UK so it was logical for Hitachi to use this route for product evaluation. Concentrating firstly on the on-board side, a Class 97 locomotive has been fitted with Hitachi equipment including the EVC (European Vital Computer), odometry, balise readers and GSM-R radio communication.

The work was carried out by RVEL at Derby before the loco was moved to Machynlleth for the trials. Network Rail insisted upon testing being done at night so as to minimise the risk of new equipment detrimentally affecting day-to-day operation. The ‘start of mission’ and ‘establishing a session’ were successful and a number of test runs have been made that proved the integrity of the onboard system as well as testing interoperable compatibility with another supplier’s ETCS infrastructure.

The next step has been to move the locomotive to the ENIF (ETCS National Integration Facility) on the Hertford loop where four suppliers are testing their infrastructure designs for interoperability (issue 117, July 2014). The first phase of testing only employed one type of on-board equipment, supplied by Signalling Solutions Limited, on the Class 313 test train. Thus, having the opportunity to see how another manufacturer’s train equipment will perform is welcomed by all. Comparisons can also be made on the size and construction of the on-board configuration. These collaborative industry tests are ongoing.

Expanding usage and the IEP factor

Hitachi has its longer-term sights on bringing its complete portfolio of products into the European arena but, for the moment, the emphasis will be on the on-board equipment. Getting one locomotive fitted is an important starting position but expanding this to other traction units is essential.

The UK opportunities in the short term are limited but recently a contract has been won to equip two Class 37 diesel engines owned by West Coast Railways based in Carnforth. The raison d’etre is the intention to run dining car trains on the Cambrian line for which an ERTMS- fitted locomotive is required. Since the Class 37 is essentially similar to the Class 97, much of the design work will have already been done. The actual work will be carried out at Barrow Hill locomotive heritage centre, where a useful expertise is being built up in equipping of trains with electronic equipment.

The provision of the new IEP trains for Great Western and East Coast is a major contract for Hitachi and will have many spin-off implications. One obvious one is the provision of on-board ETCS equipment for the fleet and Hitachi will supply this via the Agility Trains facilities contract. The first of these trains is about to arrive in Britain and, as part of the testing programme, it will run on the Old Dalby test track. By 2016, this line will also be equipped with ERTMS Level 2 infrastructure, thus enabling testing of the complete ETCS package.

Much more main line testing will be required before the trains enter service and this issue of Rail Engineer describes some of the logistical challenges when rolling out ERTMS.

Hitachi ERTMS Track Screeen Jan15 [online]

Mobile equipment packaging

One adverse criticism from the Cambrian line equipping of Class 158 diesel units was the considerable space requirement needed for the ETCS equipment. Providing 19” racks on a train where space is limited was something of a challenge, with the result that passenger and luggage space had to be reduced.

The Hitachi package does require the same overall cubic area but the various modules are capable of being split up and distributed along the train wherever space is available. Thus some components may be under seats, others in overhead racks, as well as the driver machine interface (DMI) in the cab.

For a locomotive, only a single ETCS equipment cabinet is required, the two cab units being wired into that.

Equipment configurations are able to be adapted to the particular rolling stock constraints and this is important for the forthcoming retrofit programmes. These cover the National Joint ROSCO Programme (NJRP) for passenger trains, the freight fleet, the engineering ‘yellow fleet’ trains and also charter and heritage trains that are allowed to operate on the national network.

The GSM-R data radio is part of the ETCS provision and will need to be procured for any retro-fitting of rolling stock in the UK. These will work alongside the existing GSM-R voice radios. Data radios will be obtained from one of the usual train radio suppliers. It is anticipated that GPRS (packet switching) will be in use by the time Hitachi-fitted trains are in fleet service.

Operational demonstration and training

At Hitachi’s London office, a full demonstration facility is available. Driving a train under ERTMS conditions is surprisingly easy and follows the now-familiar presentation of a speedometer with the maximum speed displayed as a coloured band around the outside edge and the movement authority shown on the screen ‘planning’ area.

The simulator retains lineside signals, primarily to demonstrate a typical ETCS overlay environment. Encountering a double-yellow aspect will therefore prepare the driver to slow down as the speed ‘band’ reduces on the ETCS DMI.

The trains will be capable of working in Level NTC (National Train Control) with existing AWS/TPWS (Automatic Warning System/Train Protection & Warning System) installations. It is likely that the cab console design will incorporate a screen for a driver advisory system as trains will not necessarily be driven at the maximum permissible speed if pathing conflicts ahead are to be avoided.

Obtaining system approval

Achieving all the necessary safety and performance verifications can be a slow and complex process but Hitachi is making good progress in this respect. To date, the Network Rail System Review Panel has given approval for testing of Hitachi ETCS equipment under controlled conditions and this opens the way for the retro-fitting of equipment to passenger stock, which will be managed by the ROSCOs (Rolling Stock Companies).

On the freight side, Hitachi is pre-qualified, along with five other manufacturers, for the 1012 freight locomotive retrofit tenders covering 20 different classes. The contracts will be let via Network Rail with the work being carried out at approved contractor premises.

Still to be agreed are i) how the National Supply Chain ‘yellow plant’ on-track machines will be equipped, there being many different types and ii) how to equip the charter and heritage trains for which the scope has yet to be published.

Internationally, discussions are ongoing for Hitachi to join the international UNIFE and UNISIG consortia as a European supplier. The main design resource remains in Japan for the present but application design teams will be created in countries where contracts are won. The UK team is currently expanding because of this.

As the international roll-out of ERTMS builds momentum, so the supply base will both consolidate and expand. Hitachi, as a new signalling player, is now delivering and inputting its technical expertise and knowledge back into the industry. This is all part of the process and is to be welcomed for the efficiencies and new thinking that can be brought.

Batteries included

Electric multiple unit number 379 013 looks perfectly normal. It may be a tad cleaner than a few around the network and the interior is suspiciously immaculate. It may have a few more yellow-jacketed folk crawling over it on occasions. But otherwise, there’s nothing to differentiate it from any other of this rather handsome Electrostar class made by Bombardier.

The lights are bright. The doors open and close. In the brisk East Anglian air of mid-winter it is comfortingly warm inside with the gentle click of heaters and the background hum and hiss of air conditioning. It can be seen trundling up and down between Harwich and Manningtree as a perfectly normal train on a normal passenger train service. (And that’s Harwich as in ‘Harwich for the Continent’ proclaimed by the famous LNER holiday posters– leaving Frinton for the incontinent.)

To the fare-paying passenger there really isn’t anything out of the ordinary. It starts and stops normally. It makes EMU-type noises. It trundles effortlessly along at 60mph. Their journeys are uneventful.

But, having expended over a hundred words extolling its normality in an article which is meant to address railway engineering, there must be something odd about this train.

Added IP

The only clue that there is something unusual going on is the position of the pantograph. As the train goes on its daily routine, the pantograph is… down.

It’s an EMU, running under the wires and yet it is not connected to the overhead power supply – and there’s no third rail either!

There is another clue though and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out what it means. Emblazoned on the sides of the unit are the words, “batteries included”. What else do you need? Perhaps we should have started there.

Yes, this is an EMU with added IP. It’s an IPEMU – Independently Powered EMU. And the independent power comes from eight tonnes of batteries positioned under the frame of the motor car. Unit 013 has been quietly running in passenger service since 12 January this year as part of proving trials to validate the whole principle of independent power using battery technology. So far it has proved itself to be eminently… ordinary.

Passenger expectations

The idea of sticking batteries in a train isn’t exactly new. London Underground uses battery locomotives. Battery trains were used in ammunition dumps to avoid the possibility of sparks. But none of the applications so far have addressed that minor issue of passenger comfort and passenger expectations in the twenty-first century. The punters want to be warm (or cool), they want good lighting, doors that open, toilets that flush, air-conditioning that works and they couldn’t care less what powers it all. The draw on power in a modern train is considerable and a class 379 EMU is one of the heavier users of power – hence its selection for the trial.

We’ll come on to the actual engineering in a moment, but it’s worth looking at why this train exists at all. Why bother? What’s the point?

Well, there is little point if all the train can do is sit in a station and spin its air-conditioning fans. It needs to do considerably more. The aim of the current exercise is to have a unit capable of sustaining all the hotel loads and to do a round trip of at least 30km without running out of puff.

With that sort of performance being a reality, a number of intriguing scenarios start to play out. Non-electrified branch lines linked to an electrified main line can benefit from electric stock and even from through services. Sections of non-electrified railway that link electrified lines can become part of new through services. Depots no longer need to be wired.

Unit maintenance can be carried out without the need for isolations or special overhead precautions. Routes which are prohibitively expensive to electrify because of infrastructure constraints can be partially electrified with the dead sections no longer an obstacle to electric trains.

Risks and gains mismatch

In the past, perhaps the easy solution – and indeed the only solution bearing in mind previous battery capabilities – was to build, run, maintain and fuel diesel units. But about 66% of diesel units are more than 20 years old which means that there is a bow wave effect for replacement. What to do? Build more diesel units? Or perhaps keep building electric units which have the capability of being modified to take an independent power source?

This whole exercise is not about a special build of special units. The exercise on the Harwich branch has involved an ordinary EMU – so ordinary that hardly a new hole has been drilled in it. As we’ll see in a moment, this has been more about ‘hole drilling not being permitted in someone else’s train’ rather than a desire not to drill. It’s been a good discipline though.

The current structure of the railways is not sympathetic to the development of an independently-powered train. After all, looking at who gains and who takes the risks reveals a complicated and awkward mismatch. The company that might gain from a new passenger flow will have a finite franchise length. The maker of batteries will need to spend a great deal on development work. A rolling stock manufacturer needs a firm contract. The testing of trains to full approval involves a huge number of interfaces.

Who is likely to take up the challenge and take the risks – in the off- chance that the idea is practical? After all, this isn’t part of a normal gentle evolutionary process often found in the development of a product. This is a step change – certainly for the railway industry.

Cross-industry collaboration

The whole exercise has been an example of macro cross-industry collaboration with rolling stock ownership, maintenance and operation all lying with separate companies.

It’s been where Future Rail, in a collaboration between Network Rail and RSSB, has been able to deliver the project by supporting the whole industry – both the supply chain and those that operate the trains on a daily basis.

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As David Clarke, director of innovation at the RSSB, puts it: “Research is relatively inexpensive, but the costs involved at the next stage of piloting and demonstration can be vast. And this is true in any industry. What we are about is de-risking innovation through demonstration.”

The trial running of the IPEMU in passenger service has been the culmination of a complex process coordinated by the project team which has representatives from Network Rail, RSSB, DfT, Bombardier, Valence, Abellio Greater Anglia and Future Rail.

After some initial work on the concept, vehicle performance simulations were commissioned along with battery performance design and testing in parallel with detailed stock conversion design. A Class 379 was selected as it was only four years old and already had dual-voltage capability. Network Rail let a contract to Bombardier for this part of the work along with the physical conversion which was followed by performance testing at Bombardier’s test track in Derby and then at Old Dalby.

Existing timetabling

The limitations have been formidable. The remit is to produce a train capable of delivering a passenger service to an existing timetable. This means that the range needs to be at least 50km (30 miles) travelling at speeds generally between 60mph and 100mph. The acceleration should emulate that of an existing DMU – something like 0.5m/s2 so that it can keep up with existing timetabling.

Incidentally, the acceleration of the Harwich EMU was certainly respectable although obviously fairly restrained for an EMU. The expectation from an EMU seems to be much greater than for a DMU. Diesel acceleration is accompanied with a great deal of noise and general fuss. Take away the noise, and diesel acceleration isn’t quite as impressive.

The duty cycle is pretty demanding too. 30km on batteries followed by 50km on OLE.

The achievements so far? James Ambrose, principal engineer working for Network Rail and the guy project managing the whole exercise, is upbeat: “The range has been 77km (48 miles). Speeds have been as-planned, as have all the other parameters, with the battery life still on- track to deliver five years – which ties in with the normal EMU heavy maintenance overhaul schedule.”

How many batteries?

Counter-intuitively, the batteries are not large. The basic building block is a 3.2V lithium ferrous phosphate cell manufactured by Valence. Each one is about 3” long. There are 12 cells connected in series to make a row. 33 rows are then connected in parallel to give a 38.4V battery. 20 batteries are connected in series in a pod to give 768V. Two pods are connected in parallel to make a 768V module and finally, three modules are connected in parallel in a 768V battery raft. Two of these rafts are slotted neatly under the frame of the motor coach in a space formerly occupied by auxiliary batteries, giving about 450 kW.hrs of capacity. Do the maths. There are an awful lot of batteries!

Why are the basic batteries so small? It’s all to do with heat dispersal. Too big a battery would lead to more heat being generated and the need to engineer a way of getting rid of it. This has weight and space implications – neither being available in the limited envelope of the train.

Free your mind…

Despite the doubts and doubters, despite the industry structure, it has been proved that independent power using batteries is a practical proposition. In March of this year the updated Route Utilisation Strategy will be published. It will acknowledge that IPEMUS could be used on some parts of the network, so avoiding costly electrification schemes and promoting new patterns of passenger services.

Free your mind of previous restraints.

Branch lines might need just 100 metres of electrification at the buffer stop ends to recharge batteries. Electrify just the heavy gradients. Through electric trains between Manchester and Cardiff – not impossible. Retain a core electrification unit that drip- feeds schemes piecemeal across the network instead of having peaks of expenditure followed by famine. The prospects are intriguing and, despite its seeming normality, the IPEMU is just the start…

Thameslink

To succeed, major railway projects must be thoroughly and painstakingly planned. Following a protracted bidding process, contracts are let which usually prompts an intense period of activity, often involving significant change to the infrastructure. When finished, the scheme usually tends to merge into our everyday railway psyche to become the norm, complying with our everyday expectations and standards.

However, there is one project that, although it never seems to end or to merge into our psyche, still continues to amaze by nature of its complexity. It is, of course, Thameslink which started way back before privatisation.

This £6.5 billion project continues to challenge the skills and resilience of the most able railway engineers. Rail Engineer has followed this project for some time, the last article appearing last summer. A recent meeting with Chris Binns, Network Rail’s head of engineering for the project, revealed some fascinating developments since that last report.

The eyes of the world

Chris started by outlining a recent conversation with his team. In the past, the Thameslink scheme has been likened to ‘open heart surgery’, but the team didn’t agree with this analogy because the patient is asleep when such surgery takes place. The consensus was that the work is more akin to rebuilding Wembley Stadium whilst there is a football match underway, watched by a capacity crowd. Given events over Christmas and the subsequent media reaction, it is an understandable comparison.

London Bridge station, used by more than one million passengers per week, is one of a number of key focal points of the project. Many of the passengers are able to benefit from the use of the newly constructed terminating platforms, Numbers 10 to 15, as the project moves to the next stage of one of the biggest station redevelopments that the capital has ever seen.

The space below the platforms will eventually provide the station with an expansive new concourse area that will extend across the width of the station with lifts and escalators serving all 15 platforms. Costain is the principal contractor for this work, and Chris explained that the completion of all six terminating platforms allows the development of the new concourse to start with the construction of the new ticket office on the south side of the station at street level.

Concourse demolition progressing

The newly-constructed terminal platforms also give the travelling public a first glimpse of what the station will look like when finished. The concourse, however, will have to remain behind hoardings for some time before it can be appreciated by the travelling public. Demolition contractor Keltbray is now removing Platforms 9 and 8 and their supporting archways. A haulage road has to be maintained under the completed platforms until all the demolition is completed, limiting the amount of finishing work that can be carried out on the concourse area.

On the same path as Platforms 9 and 8, situated at the west end of the station, is the newly constructed Station Approach Viaduct, cast in-situ with precast beam decking. This structure, plus the additional 40-metre-long steel-decked West End Viaduct structure built by Costain, is designed to link the existing network with the new and unused 350 metre pathway which includes Borough Market viaduct. This pathway is designed to eventually carry an additional two dedicated Charing Cross tracks in 2018.

Thinking ahead

The West End Viaduct structure is supported on concrete piers founded on piled foundations that were constructed underneath the Jubilee Line ticket hall when the line was extended in the 1990s. Chris explained that all they had to do was to drill through the existing piled columns and reinforce them to comply with current standards. No additional piling was necessary or disruption to the ticket office. It just emphasises the importance of forward planning and how necessary it is to ensure that the project succeeds.

Network Rail Thameslink Programme, London Bridge, Engineers at work 28.12.14.

Skanska has also carried out strengthening work on three bridges between Waterloo East and London Bridge during 2014, which involved closing Charing Cross station. The work included the removal of a bridge girder to accommodate new S&C and realigned track. On an adjacent bridge, longitudinal timber beams were removed and the deck reconstructed and waterproofed. This essential work was required to help comply with Route Availability level 8 standards and to create a proposed track alignment required by the service requirement of 24 trains per hour between Blackfriars and St Pancras stations.

An even more intense period of work started on 20 December and continued for 16 days without a break, finishing on 5 January 2015. This was made possible by the suspension of the Southern and Thameslink services calling at the station. More than 1,000 engineers worked over 11,500 shifts, renewing track, signalling and power supplies. Chris was pleased to point out that no significant accidents were reported during this intense period of work. Details about the signalling installations and power supply are covered in a separate article in this edition of Rail Engineer.

Not only was a high level of safety maintained throughout this Christmas period, but the project delivery team was also busy monitoring over 320 milestones, ensuring that all the key activities were completed within the time allocated. So, although there was serious disruption to trains when the station reopened, along with much adverse publicity, this was primarily due to operational problems – getting trains through the modified and very constrained stage layout. The engineering work carried out was, in fact, completed on time and in accordance with the project plan.

New track layout

Balfour Beatty Rail carried out the S&C and plain line track renewal work. It installed 20 S&C units during the 16-day blockade and completed around 400 track welds. In addition, 45 new S&C units for the low level works units had previously been installed along with the renewal of more than 7,200 metres of plain line. The track design was standardised and installed using Kirow cranes and the tilting wagon system. The project had invested in an additional eight tilting wagons, boosting the national fleet by 33% in order to secure resources for this work and future key weekends.

From London Bridge station eastwards to Bricklayers Arms, close to Millwall football ground, the railway formation is supported
on masonry arches, metallic and brick arch structures. In order to keep loadings within acceptable limits, rather than use the large Kirow 1200 (125 tonne capacity) rail cranes, BalfourBeattyRailusedmuchlighterKirow 250 (25 tonne capacity) cranes working in tandem. To further reduce the loading, a new lightweight lifting beam was developed so that Kirow 250 cranes, lifting in tandem, now have the capacity to lift a concrete bearer FVS switch panel without using props, thus speeding up installation.

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Creating space for the dive-under

The significance of much of this track reconfiguration work is that it has cleared the way for the construction of the Bermondsey dive-under. Bricklayers Arms junction, near New Cross Gate, has been remodelled, severing the Up and Down Sussex Fast lines and the Down Sussex Slow, which means that Southern’s trains to the London Bridge terminating platforms are temporarily constrained to use the three-track Bermondsey Spurs.

Also, de-construction work on Platforms 5 and 6 means that Southeastern’s Charing Cross trains will no longer stop at London Bridge station.

This arrangement is planned to last for 20 months and will be followed by similar non- stopping arrangements for the Cannon Street services when Platforms 1 to 4 at London Bridge are demolished. The reward will be a four-track dive-under for Charing Cross trains that will be able to stop at London Bridge station’s new platforms 6 to 9, and then travel over the Borough Market viaduct and on to Charing Cross. Thameslink trains will enjoy two dedicated tracks that will go over the dive-under in the same direction toward London Bridge station andthenewPlatforms4and5,butthat’sa while off yet.

Skanska is the principal contractor for the dive-under construction, which is a significant undertaking in itself. Already in 2014, using 500 and 250 tonne cranes, Skanska has lifted in tandem three large steel span sections onto four previously-constructed reinforced-concrete piers. Then, 28 precast concrete L-shaped units were fixed onto the steel structures secured by 1000 shear studs that were welded on site.

This work took place alongside the brick arched viaducts carrying six main lines. It forms the start of a transitional structure that will eventually span from the existing brick viaduct to the Bermondsey dive-under. There are around 35 arches on each of the dive-under lines that must be demolished and track slewed before the dive-under can be constructed. The plan requires Skanska to commence demolition of the arches carrying the newly-severed Up and Down Sussex Fast Lines in June, with the dive-under box to be completed in 2017.

Network Rail Thameslink Programme, London Bridge, Engineers at work 28.12.14.

Further afield, fitting out work in the Canal Tunnels situated between Kings Cross and St Pancras has now been completed along with the necessary track connections into the respective main line routes. Final testing will take place in 2015 but the tunnels will not go live until 2018.

Siding work and gauge clearance work to Bridge 184 at Peterborough is complete to ensure that all will be ready to receive the new Class 700 Siemens trains that are currently travelling at 100 mph on test tracks in Germany.

Retaining expertise

The longevity and complexity of this Thameslink project demands a very high level of commitment and ability from all its engineers involved. There could be a concern that this highly-skilled and very-experienced engineering team may start to get restless and look for new challenges as those associated with the Thameslink project start to ease off. Chris Binns’ response was immediate – he doesn’t want to lose that talent and experience so work is already underway to look at where the Network Rail Thameslink team can best be re- deployed afterwards.

Meanwhile there is still plenty to keep them all occupied until 2018.