South Erewash Commissioning
26 Jan 2010
At 03.33 hours on 4th January 2010, Invensys Rail successfully commissioned a new signalling system covering the South Erewash 'Trent Triangle' area (Phase 2b), part of the multi million pound East Midlands Hub and Spoke resignalling and remodelling programme. This follows the successful commissioning of Phase 2A of the programme in October 2009, which covered the Toton Area, and will help deliver increased line speeds, improved performance, greater line capacity and faster journey times across the area.
The latest commissioning, was carried out over a 17 day period which saw five new Solid State Interlockings (SSIs) brought into service, together with modifications to four existing interlockings. The new lineside signalling system is now controlled from East Midlands Control Centre (EMCC) at Derby, where the Invensys Rail team commissioned a new WESTCAD workstation and modified existing workstations.
A PC-based control and display system, WESTCAD provided a cost-effective solution that delivers a number of significant benefits for rail operators. Easy to set up and configure, the system is capable of being networked using an existing LAN or WAN infrastructure. It can drive multiple screens to show various status views, with the display capable of being configured to meet the preferences of each individual operator.
This flexibility and simple reconfiguration allows the control system to maintain the same operator interface during successive stages of infrastructure changes. Modular and future-proof, WESTCAD drives SSIs, relay interlockings and most other interlockings via a suitable communications link.
As a result of the South Erewash work, the centralisation of control at the new EMCC at Derby is migrating further control from the existing Trent Power Signal Box and has allowed the closure of a gate box at Lock Lane. The remodelling of Trent East Junction also allows parallel moves to take place over the junction, as well as the conversion of the existing goods lines to slow lines (Passenger Standard) through Toton and on the high level lines, through Trent South to Ratcliffe North Junction.
In all, the new interlockings now control 173 new axle counter sections, 34 sets of points (some of which were part of a major permanent way remodelling of the Trent East Junction over the Christmas blockade), 99 new LED signals, nine new relocatable equipment buildings and 85 new location cases. The scheme also included five lineside relay fringes which required modifications to be undertaken to adjacent interlockings and train describer systems.
In addition, five level crossings were renewed with alterations having to be made to two existing manually controlled barrier / CCTV crossing locations. As part of the programme new 1024 Westronic systems were also commissioned, under trial, to provide emergency alarms functions from all the adjacent signal boxes as well as remote alarms from all the relocatable equipment boxes and principal supply points. Additionally, and in parallel with the changeover and testing work, the Invensys commissioning team undertook a significant amount of recoveries during the blockade, in order to minimise post-commissioning works.
Commenting on the programme Grant Sparks, Regional Director North, at Invensys Rail said: "This has been a particularly intense programme of work, working alongside other Spoke Contractors, both in terms of the design and development work and then the installation and commissioning over the Christmas blockade. Considering the exceptional snow and ice weather conditions over the whole period, it was a fantastic record for the Hub and Spoke multi-discipline team on the project that there were no injuries or accidents during the period. Naturally, we?re delighted to have delivered such a modern and robust signalling solution for Network Rail which will deliver such significant performance and operational benefits".