SIGNALLING & TELECOMS
The UK’s fi rst experiment with ERTMS – the installation of ETCS signalling on the Cambrian line – has not gone without a hitch. We get a passengers’ view from SARPA’s Gareth Marston.
F
our-and-a-half years and £95m after the initial announcement in 2006 that
the Cambrian line from Shrewsbury to the west Wales coast would pilot the UK’s fi rst European Rail Traffi c Management Sys- tem (ERTMS), it went into operational use on passenger services.
The change-over to the more modern sig- nalling system had been hit with delays over that time, but fi nally in October 2010 a short 35km stretch of the line went live, followed by the whole 218km line at the end of March 2011. It has all been done under Network Rail’s Early Deployment Scheme, allowing issues to be resolved on ‘contained’ stretches of track before wider roll-outs.
European Traffi c Control System (ETCS) equipment has been installed on 24 of Arriva Trains Wales’ Class 158s, operating from Sutton Bridge Junction near Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth and Pwllheli, which have also had a recent ‘as new’ refurbishment (see page 196). The equipment is also installed on some of Network Rail’s former Class 37 locomotives, which have now become Class 97.
Drivers receive their instructions in- cab through the Ansaldo-installed ETCS system, replacing RETB and TCB signalling with technology ranked at ERTMS/ ETCS Level 2 (on its 0-3 scale), using Network Rail’s GSM-R radio and fi xed telecoms network. Train detection and data transmitting is provided by 96 axle counters and 346 eurobalises, and it is all controlled from the new signalling centre at Machynlleth.
Network Rail has called the installation of 190 | rail technology magazine Apr/May 11
ERTMS on the Cambrian the “next frontier for Britain’s railway”; but what do passen- gers think so far?
Gareth Marston is chairman of the Shrews- bury to Aberystwyth Rail Passengers As- sociation (SARPA) and had initial con- cerns about the effect on passengers of the switch-over to ERTMS on March 28, 2011.
He told RTM: “The teething problems we had in the fi rst couple of weeks are certain- ly fewer and further between; I think the consensus is that it is settling down now. It’s been annoying for passengers, but it is settling down, it seems. Having said that, I was on a train that was 35 minutes late yesterday as a knock-on from it! But I’ve travelled today without trouble.
“A lot of the problems were being caused by axle counter failures and other track prob- lems – it’s a little diffi cult to know exactly which problems were down to ERTMS, and which were due to unrelated faults. But there’s certainly been times when drivers have actually had to stop in the middle of the section and re-boot the computer, for example.”
Hopes that the new signalling system would result in big increases in service frequency and punctuality have not materialised yet.
Marston said: “It’s not delivering anything for the passenger at the moment beyond what we had before, that’s certainly true. Once the whole thing settles down further, they can maybe re-look at the timing pro- fi le of the Cambrian. One of the things we’d hoped to get out of any additional services would be the solving the problem of fre- quent missed connections at Shrewsbury
by a minute or so; that’s one of the biggest issues we have.
“We’re hoping that once they’ve re-calcu- lated the schedule with the ERTMS profi le, it might squeeze a couple of journey-time savings out, which means those connec- tions could be made more often at Shrews- bury. That’s an angle we’re pursuing.
“We also want to ensure the additional passing loops are actually used to run extra trains.
“The Secretary of the Institute of Railway Signalling Engineers is one of our mem- bers, so he has a real technical interest in it all, but on the whole most of our members are most interested in the effect it’s having on passengers. It was presented to us that we would be getting benefi ts off the back of being the guinea pig, so to speak. That’s how it was sold to us – years ago now!
“But it’s two years late, there’s restrictions in place, and no extra trains yet –our hope for now is that it speeds journey times up slightly.”
There is no doubt that lessons will be learned from the installation of ERTMS on the Cambrian line. All new rolling stock procured for the British rail network will be fi tted with ERTMS equipment, or at least be made ready to have it installed, though it could be decades before every main line switches to the system. Depending on pro- gress, the fi rst major line to make the switch could be the Great Western, the Brighton main line or the Midland Main Line.
FOR MORE INFORMATION Visit
www.ertms.com and
sarpa.info
Magnus Manske
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