Sustainability On track for a sustainable station
How can active energy management solutions help rail operators achieve significant energy savings and prepare for a sustainable future?
R
ail station infrastructure is changing rapidly. As train operating companies are taking advantage of greater ownership and more responsibility than ever before, the implications are huge, making it more important to think long-term and invest today, for tomorrow.
As consumer gravitation towards public transport grows amid soaring petrol prices, there are currently 40 per cent more passenger journeys than 10 years ago and the increasing popularity of rail travel means that 50 per cent more trains run today than under the former British Rail.
As such, efficiency is becoming an increasingly important focus as the UK’s rail community unites over the next ten years to fix the CO2
mistakes of the past
50 years, as well as reducing its operating costs to the same level as its European counterparts.
In a bid to drive improvements, recent new arrangements agreed between the DfT, Network Rail, the ORR and ATOC have given franchisees greater responsibility for station operations, along with increased length of ownership. Constituting one of the biggest shake-ups to the UK rail sector in modern times, this provides major opportunities for train operators and their suppliers to improve the value from stations by reducing industry costs, thus improving the passenger experience and extending commercial opportunities.
Scope for improved efficiency is huge And so, the onus is on the station infrastructure to invest in sustainable technology in order to maximise revenue generating potential, with operating costs high on the agenda. To place this into context, it is reported that operating costs for the UK railway are 40 per cent higher than its counterparts in France, Holland, Sweden and
Switzerland.The scope for improved efficiency is huge and inevitable.
It would seem then that the UK rail industry is on the verge of an energy efficiency revolution. The view of the energy challenge ahead is clear: the industry needs new solutions, new thinking and new companies to lead it into an era in which more is achieved while consuming much less.
The approach required is multiple and complex. It needs a much more cohesive,
March 2013 Page 49
efficient collaboration between the key stakeholders, including estates, facility, security and IT managers. Requisite levels of business efficiency involve system dynamics, across platforms and providers, like never before. To place this into context, in a typical railway station, each energy system is independent and requires its own design, installation and management. An inherent disadvantage to this scenario is the wasted time and money dedicated to multiple vendors, redundant supervision, and excess cabling and devices. The result is costly downtime, higher operational expenditures and increased obstacles to
achieving energy efficiency. As such, there is a need to fit everything together to deliver maximum results.
New architecture Fortunately then, the market has responded with a highly intelligent innovation to negate this common issue; an active management architecture from power plant to plug.
Set to revolutionise the future of modern railway stations, this new architecture provides a complete solution to this issue. Unique to the market, it unites the separate entities of the rail station, including power management,
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