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Scottish Area


GSM-R Strathclyde trial and beyond Jason King, project manager GSM-R with Network Rail, explained that the acronym stood for Global System for Mobile Communications - Railway. The system is a secure digital network and a subsystem of ERTMS, important also in European interoperability issues. It is being introduced for a variety of reasons including obsolescence of existing systems and to address safety issues. National control equipment for the system is housed at central control points but signallers and controllers have terminals (Fixed Terminal Subsystems - FTS) and each driving cab has a Driver’s Control Panel. Great Britain operates with three levels of call - Normal, Urgent and Emergency. The Urgent facility is unique to the UK and has been developed to address fears about the effects on performance of unnecessary emergency calls.


IRO Annual Members’ Lunch 2013


have been correctly set. Tram signals are not controlled by a signaller or from a control room. The trams form part of the signalling system in that they carry equipment to allow signals to be triggered by the movement of the trams themselves. The signalling systems are linked to the traffic light control systems which can then give trams the appropriate priority. Hyde’s talk touched on the demanding environment for LRT operation. Points machines may make several hundred movements per day, for example and local council street sweeping machines often (unintentionally) sweep debris into the points!


The system allows various contacts to be made, including from signaller to driver, driver to driver, signaller to train and group messages, and its use is governed by strict rules and regulations. Various issues had been identified during a trial in the Glasgow area and have been addressed. These included the accidental use of the emergency button by Depot staff, and calls being mis-routed. Much testing has been done on area coverage using Network Rail’s yellow test train.


All new installations are designed with GSM-R integrated and there is a national roll-out plan covering all of Network Rail’s routes except RETB fitted areas, which will be fitted with other communications technology.


North West Area Tram signalling principles


Steve Hyde, principal engineer Light Rail, Mott MacDonald, contrasted the differences between light and heavy rail operating and signalling principles in his talk.


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Hyde explained that light rail transit (LRT) operation is based on ‘line of sight’. The tram driver, like a bus or car driver, is responsible for driving the tram within a stopping distance defined by how far in front of the vehicle the driver can see. This allows LRT vehicles to pull up directly behind one another, meaning there is virtually no limit to track capacity.


This brings some interesting contrasts with the heavy rail approach. Tram signals and points are not interlocked for example. The proceed and points signals are separate and may show conflicting aspects - so even when given a proceed aspect by the tram signal, the driver must check the lie of the points to ensure they


FEBRUARY 2013 PAGE 35


South West Area: Modernising the Western Route – Swindon October 2012


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South West Area: Operations Experience Day – West Somerset Railway, Minehead October 2012


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Valuable opportunities for members to learn and share knowledge


South West Area Towards intelligent level crossings Crossings are a high risk across the world, but in recent years level crossing, communication and road vehicle technologies have advanced significantly. Guest speaker Terry Spicer, managing director of RLX Safety in Victoria, Australia, started his talk by showing a number of hard-hitting TV adverts aired in 2010 in Australia, which brought home the root causes of level crossing accidents and their consequences. Australian Transportation Safety


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Your local IRO Area runs events all year round. There are opportunities to see how others work, broaden your experience and add to your professional development. Visit the website to find out more… www.railwayoperators.co.uk


Board (ATSB) figures between 2001 and 2009 show more than 630 road vehicle collisions at level crossings in the country, and an ATSB study of 87 crossings showed that 80 per cent of fatal accidents occurred in excellent driving conditions,


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Table of 10 – £470.00 per table (Ticket prices are inclusive of VAT @ 20%)


with driver error as the most common cause of collisions.


Our Annual Lunch for Members and Guests will be held at The Mermaid, Puddle Dock, London. On Friday 19th April 2013 from midday. Our guest speaker is the Rt. Hon. Simon Burns, Minister of State for Transport.


The key therefore is how to reduce the range and level of driver errors. One particularly interesting area of research is in Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC), currently being developed by the US Department of Transport (as well as the EU and Japan) in collaboration with all major car manufacturers.


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DSRC is an on-board vehicle to vehicle technology designed to reduce road fatalities. It ‘looks’ at vehicles beyond the one in front and advises the driver, via a human machine interface console on the dashboard, of any sudden brake applications and of traffic approaching at blind junctions. A decision will be made later this year on whether new vehicles will be fitted with this technology from 2015.


Spicer suggested that DSRC technology could be fitted to level crossings and to trains so the system alerts motorists to an oncoming train rather than the existence of a level crossing. He said that in Victoria, the technology is being tested and applied to railways now, rather than waiting until after it has been introduced for road vehicles. There is also potential, according to


Spicer, to use the warning technology as an application on smart phones. This could include alerting pedestrians using a level crossing application, train-to-train applications or a train to track worker application.


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