ASSETS, INFRASTRUCTURE & INNOVATION
A study carried out at the beginning of the programme found a likely reduction of 3-4% in overall delay minutes as a result of radio failure. But that didn’t capture the secondary performance benefits, which Network Rail says are substantial, but very hard to quantify.
The infrastructure
Underlying GSM-R is FTN, “the glue that holds everything together” as Network Rail puts it. 15,015km of fibre-cable is installed, and virtually all the physical infrastructure is in place, though not all of it is live yet – some is coming online at the same time as GSM-R commissioning in that area (see panel).
It replaces services that previously had to be bought-in, following the long and winding history of British railway telecommunications infrastructure since the sell-off of British Rail Telecommunications to Racal in the mid- 1990s, which through a series of sales and mergers became Thales Telecommunications Services, while Global Crossing (bought up by Level 3 Communications in 2011) owned other parts of the infrastructure.
Palmer said that relying on external third parties was a vulnerability, as Network Rail lacked control of its own destiny.
The other important infrastructure requirement was installing the thousands of radio masts, which required
a huge consultation and
stakeholder management process, although most of them could be built under Permitted Development Rights. Even so, Network Rail undertook to ensure residents, councillors, MPs and bodies like Natural England and English Heritage were aware of what was being done.
Once the infrastructure was installed and following tests in Strathclyde and with the Cambrian ETCS trial, GSM-R could then start going live on the main network.
The roll-out of GSM-R
As of March 2013, 7,231km were operational, meaning the project was 48% completed. The coming go-lives are as follows:
End of June 2013 – 7,494km operational (roll-out 50% complete). Cardiff Re-Signalling Phase 2. Start of July 2013 – 8,789km (58%). ECML and WCML complete. End of July – 9,510km (63%). North west England and south west Scotland. End of September – 10,609km (70%). Remainder of Wales. End of October – 12,657km (84%). Remainder of Scotland and East Midlands. Mid-December – 13,548km (90%). Remainder
of Midlands.
Start of 2014 – 13,666km (91%). Merseyrail. End of January 2014 – 15,108km (100%). Filling in the gaps in northern England.
NRN will be switched off in the north by the end of 2015, and although there is no formal deadline to turn CSR off, Network Rail said it was hoping to do so by the end of this year.
Some TOCs have more to do than others in preparation for using the new system – Southeastern and Merseyrail, for example.
But overall, Palmer said, the benefits are so substantial that the TOCs “are all looking at having it at the earliest possible opportunity”.
Network change and working with the TOCs
Project manager Gary Porter noted that this was much more than a Network Rail project – it had to involve the ORR, DfT, RSSB, ATOC, all the TOCs and the FOCs. “A lot of what has to be done has to be done by our customers,” he said.
Dave Palmer explained that the introduction of GSM-R was a huge challenge because of this, and because of the rules around network change under the Network Code, with the process of formally notifying TOCs, getting their comments and potentially sorting compensation and other arrangements.
He said: “We were placed in a very complex
FTN/GSM-R infrastructure, kit and training progress
• 15,015km fibre cable installed (99%) • 3,233 FTN/GSM-R sites built (94%) • 2,120 FTN/GSM-R sites commissioned (60%) • 5,326 kits installed (69%) • 3,102 cab radios installed (40%) • 7,965 drivers trained (52%) • 2,377 signallers trained (46%) • 2,007 maintainers trained (42%)
Still to come
• Cab installations to go – 2,439 • Radios to install – 4,663 • Drivers to train – 7,232 • Maintainers to train – 2,814 • Signallers to train – 2,809 • Legacy radio removal – 3,949
situation, with a national change of network from one radio system to another, affecting every individual operator and their vehicles, meaning all of their drivers needed to be trained, their maintainers needed to be trained, etc.
“You can’t swallow an elephant in one bite. Trying to get a national agreement with every operator signed off on it before we started on this proved to be not just a virtual impossibility but a real impossibility.
“So two years ago, we had a huge challenge. We were wondering how we would get through this, as was the rest of industry. So we had to reconsider what the implications and requirements of the Network Code actually were.
“It forced us to work very closely and collaboratively with the operators – that was the only way to solve this particular problem, as otherwise we were looking at stalemate, a situation where commercially, Network Rail and the train operators could not converge. Train operators were not going to commit themselves to something until they were certain of every last detail.
“We created a staged process, outside the requirements of the Network Code, and train operators and ourselves worked together to work up this process. It split the country up geographically and in operator layers over that geography, such that we could reach agreements with individual operators in a manner that didn’t compromise the protections that the Network Code offered other operators.
“We took that proposal, jointly with the operators, to the ORR, and got their agreement, in the middle of 2011.
“We got this process working, even though it was technically outside the Network Code.
“The real success story is that not only did we get it to work, and it’s supported every operational introduction of GSM-R since that date, but also that it’s also being talked about as the way of doing programmes with this level of complexity and that are all-embracing in terms of operators in the future, such as ERTMS.”
www.networkrail.co.uk/aspx/6386.aspx FOR MORE INFORMATION
rail technology magazine Apr/May 13 | 211
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