05.02.14
Siemens beats ‘technical, logistical and meteorological’ challenges to commission signalling
Several resignalling schemes have been successfully commissioned over December and January, Siemens Rail Automation has announced.
On 8 December a new TD (train describer) was signed in to use at London Bridge station – the final contract milestone for 2013 on the Thameslink programme.
The Victoria Interlocking Renewal Programme was commissioned on 27 and 28 December, where Siemens replaced life-expired geographical route relay interlockings with three relay-interfaced Trackguard WESTLOCK interlockings, which are computer based, at Victoria Area Signalling Centre. A variety of additional signalling infrastructure improvements were also carried out, including the replacement of old signals and route indicators with LED equivalents.
The signalling system was signed back into use at Thames Valley Signalling Centre on 30 December, completing stage J of the Reading resignalling programme. This work covered the resignalling of the Oxford Road and Southcote Junction areas to the south of the station. It saw two new trackside interfaces added to cover the resignalled area, as well as train detection largely converted to axle counters, the majority of signals to lightweight units and point remote condition monitoring added.
And the Phase 1 of the signalling programme at GNGE was commissioned on 3 January, covering the area between the northern fringe with Gainsborough Trent Junction signal box and the southern fringe with Lincoln West solid state interlocking.
Paul Copeland, managing director of Siemens Rail Automation UK said: “The winter commissioning period is often a particularly busy one and this year’s was no exception, with a variety of technical, logistical and meteorological challenges for our teams to face.
“However a recurring theme across all the commissionings and one of the critical factors in our successful delivery, was the extremely positive impact that our close working relationship with colleagues in Network Rail had on the programmes. We’re looking forward to continuing this work throughout 2014 and into Control Period 5.”
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