Opinion
Until the end of September, three suppliers’ systems are being run as ‘model offices’, to evaluate their qualities and help mould Network Rail’s working practices. Offices at Thales, Hitachi and SSL have been converted into control centres, with simulated signalling set-ups. As with IECC’s (integrated electronic control centre), TM equipped signalling systems can effectively run themselves with automatic route setting. Two other modes of signalling are supplied to allow for assisted and manual operation. Even in manual operation, the signaller can use the system to simulate whatever action he/she is about to undertake, from re- timing to re-routing a train, and check its effect on the rest of the network. Manual route setting is done by exception.
Few limits to pod control Network Rail is working towards a system of operators looking after ‘pods’, controlling wide geographical areas in much the same way as workstations do today.
There will be few limits to what a pod can control, meaning that when traffic is light, a pod can take over a much wider area and allow for a reduction in staff overnight, for instance. Again, this is unlike an IECC, which needs its workstations manned 24/7 and hence
sometimes needs greater staffing levels than the PSB’s it replaced.
TM operators will have a variety of different information screens available to them, configurable to their preferences to allow them to focus on a small section, during an incident, or a wider area. In the Thales system, they can monitor anything from the traditional line view, to train graphs, connection graphs, a network display – showing anything from a region to the whole country – station departure boards and a platform docker that allows great planning for platform occupation. These views can be seen by anyone plugged into the system, including PICOPS if they have a mobile tablet. A benefit that will be more easily recognised by passengers will be the instant updates of train running information, as the system will be linked to CIS across the network. Similarly, an information layer of software will allow Toc systems’ to make use of the same data and even influence it when it comes to issues such as crew hours and fuelling that may affect incident recovery. Network Rail is working on plans to integrate computerised rosters so the system can flag up if a train crew is out of hours. Whether this takes the form of a single system for all Toc’s, or one that can talk
to those with their own and help those without, has yet to be established, but again this will be vital in keeping stock moving in times of perturbation. It is hoped that in many cases,
Toc controllers will be sitting in the same room, and on the same pod in some circumstances, meaning lines of communication will be simpler and reaction to delays much easier. Similarly, for a Toc or Foc covering a multiplicity of routes, such as Cross Country, there will be a much greater ability to plan ahead – so a train delayed in York will have its path worked out through Basingstoke and that path’s effects on other trains.
If it sounds as if dealing with perturbation is the focus of the TM system, that is because it is. Reactionary delays are one of the biggest factors in reliability of train services, given the crowded nature of our network. Advance predictions suggest the implementation of TM could cut those delays by up to 20 per cent by better using our resources and those of the Toc’s. It’s capacity, reliability and economy in one package, and from 2016, we can start measuring its effects in reality, as the first deployments get underway at Derby, Cardiff and Romford.
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Anzeige_88x130_Rail_Professional_Oct_2013.indd 1 06.09.2013 09:58:10
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October 2013 Page 23
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