Paisley Corridor Improvement Project Successfully Completed
03 Feb 2012
One of the busiest commuter routes in Scotland, the Paisley Corridor carries over 1.3 million passengers every month and lies between the Inverclyde and Ayrshire routes that connects to Glasgow Central.
Against a background of steadily increasing passenger numbers, Network Rail, together with Transport Scotland, commissioned the Paisley Corridor Improvement (PCI) project in 2009 to support additional services on the Glasgow to Inverclyde and Glasgow to Ayrshire lines.
A combined signalling renewal and enhancement project, PCI spans both the Paisley and Shields interlocking areas and the project includes major P-way enhancements - with a new third track laid between Gower Street and Arkleston Junctions and a conversion of the Arkleston to Paisley Gilmour Street section from two to four track. This is all designed to enable increased services to operate in the Inverclyde and Ayrshire Areas.
The track between Cardonald and Gower Street Junctions has also been reconfigured to provide crossovers between the existing two tracks and the new third track. Similarly, new crossovers have been installed at Arkleston and Wallneuk (just outside Paisley Gilmour Street station) to offer full operational flexibility over all lines and in both directions, with bi-directional signalling applying throughout.
The scope of Invensys Rail’s activity encompasses the delivery of all design, installation testing and commissioning of the signalling, telecoms, E&P and associated signalling civils works to enable the construction of the new track.
Carried out over a two year period, the work involves the re-control of the Ayrshire and Inverclyde Remote Relay Rooms with signalling control transferred to the West of Scotland Signalling Centre (WSSC) at Cowlairs. It also includes the replacement of all life-expired signalling equipment at Shields and Paisley with a WESTLOCK interlocking solution, necessitating close collaboration with Balfour Beatty Rail who delivered the P-way, OLE and civils work.
The earlier stages of the programme saw an extension to the Elderslie Freight Loop as well as the construction of two new platforms at Glasgow Central. An integral part of the programme, platforms 12 and 13 provided additional capacity to accommodate the growing number of passenger services at Glasgow Central - the UK's busiest mainline station outside London.
Commenting on this aspect of the programme, Campbell Braid, Senior Project Manager at Invensys Rail, said: "The success of these early stages was due to an exceptionally strong collaborative approach taken throughout by Network Rail, Invensys and the other major sub-contractors. Delivering such a complex project within the main station area, without any disruption to the adjacent working railway, was a great team effort and a reflection of both the commitment and professionalism of everyone involved."
Two main project commissionings subsequently took place: in July 2011, for the Shields interlocking programme and then December 2011 for the Paisley interlocking works.
Over the weekend of July 16th-19th 2011, Invensys successfully commissioned and signed into operational use the Shields Interlocking. The main commissioning works were carried out over a single 75 hour blockade, which featured the implementation of a WESTLOCK computer-based interlocking.
The final major commissioning, Stage 8, was successfully completed over the Christmas period of December 25th to 30th 2011, and involved major P-way remodelling, the re-control of the remote relay rooms and the implementation of the Paisley WESTLOCK interlocking.
The main Paisley commissioning was carried out over one major blockade of 129 hours and involved the implementation of a WESTLOCK system covering the Paisley Interlocking Area, controlled from the WSSC. Ten remote relay rooms and three level crossings covering the Inverclyde and Ayrshire Signalling control area were also re-controlled, resulting in the closure of Paisley Signalling Centre.
The project team now turns its attention to the close out of the remaining P-way stages, completion of the recoveries and project close out.