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Gioconda sees potential in market growth
Visitors to the Gioconda stand were given the chance to win a Kindle Fire device if they used the company’s HD and 3D virtual reality signal sighting tools on display to help them reach accurate answers. Also on offer were tutorials on Gioconda’s G-RAST – Route Assessment & Sighting Tool – now in the final stages of a major upgrade to Version G-RASTx. Gioconda’s presence at Infrarail was strengthened by a presentation by Managing Director Simon Gardiner as part of the Rail Engineer technical seminars. This covered signal sighting with automatic form creation, signal immunisation, constructability, driver briefing and transferring models to training simulators, and included references to the company’s work on projects such as Thameslink, the North West electrification programme and the Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme. “We’ve won more contracts for signal sighting than our competitors over the last 12 months,” said Simon Gardiner. “The government’s investment in railway infrastructure provides a massive potential for growth and we are actively positioning ourselves to be a major source of signal sighting services for the HS2 project.” Gioconda’s latest successes include £600,000 worth of new contracts with Network Rail, Amey and Atkins. Around a dozen projects will see the company combine HD video footage of hundreds of miles of track covering more than 500 signals in England and Wales for signal sighting and driver briefing requirements. The projects, to be carried out between now and 2014, include providing signal sighting software for Network Rail, which is working on WMSR (Western Mainline Signalling Renewals) to be delivered between May and September this year. Network Rail has also commissioned a driver briefing
programme to help drivers handle changes following Phases 1 to 5 of the Cardiff Area Signalling Renewals. To be delivered between June this year and 2014, the programme will incorporate a combination of virtual reality 3D modelling and HD video. A similar exercise has been commissioned by Amey for
drivers following the Harrogate Area Signalling renewals programme. Other new contracts include providing driver briefing packages for Phase 2 of the Newport Area Signalling Renewal, the East Suffolk Line, Stalybridge Relock and Recontrol and Fareham Life Extension for Network Rail, and Stourbridge to Hartlebury Area Resignalling for Atkins. Back at the exhibition, the “judge the distance” competition was won by Birmingham University railway systems engineering student Hongsin Kim. She was one of 72 entrants who used Gioconda’s HD and 3D virtual reality signal sighting tools to accurately work out distance. Hongsin will be presented with her prize at the university.
14 INFRARAIL 2012 SHOW REVIEW SafeBox powers ahead
Shown on the Henry Williams stand was the SafeBox signalling power distribution unit, which is currently awaiting Product Approval by Network Rail. Designed from first principles with input from engineers, installers and maintainers, SafeBox is claimed to be the most robust, safest, quickest and easiest for installation and maintenance. Henry Williams believes it is the biggest step forward in signalling power distribution since the advent of the transformer, offering strength, electrical insulation and proof against vandalism, flood and impact. Henry Williams has also launched a range of Class II DNO (Distribution Network Operator) non-metallic enclosures. As well as mitigating the risk of accidental electric shocks due to vandalism or cable theft, the cubicles are themselves unattractive to thieves and resistant to vandals. They also possess anti-graffiti properties, cost less than GRP cubicles and offer a 50-year lifespan.
Henry Williams’ new SafeBox signalling power distribution unit. LED light wins innovation award
A response to a challenging London Underground lighting need won M.J. Quinn Integrated Services the trophy for innovation at this year’s Infrarail Awards. The company has developed and supplied an LED system claimed to be the world’s first 360° fire-resistant tube for deep level stations. Meeting a very demanding specification, the LED light offers a service life three or four times that of a conventional fluorescent tube. It will also help London Underground to reduce its carbon footprint thanks to its lower energy consumption. And with a 24 V DC power supply rather than 50 Hz AC, it is also free of the flickering that characterises systems using industrial frequency. An additional innovative feature of the new light is an integral
photo-luminescent strip that retains a safe level of emergency lighting for four hours in the event of a power supply failure – sufficient in most situations to allow a station to be evacuated.
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