18 | the rail engineer | october 2010
feature
Scotland’s IP network is currently managed from Edinburgh IECC.
connection of new devices and associated disconnection if devices are no longer required. It is also possible to monitor traffic levels as well as performing remote diagnostics if the system appears to be operating abnormally.
Usage and future aspirations The drivers for this IP provision have been mentioned and the resultant LLPA system is described on the next page of this issue. Remote Condition Monitoring is also seen as a must for future reliable railway operation (see Issue 71, September 2010) as this enables equipment to be monitored on a continuous basis with the objective of spotting potential failures before they actually happen. The E&G line, linking Scotland’s two main cities, is a key route and carries a frequent and commercially
important train service. It was chosen as part of a national RCM trial whereby power supplies, point heaters, signalling equipment including interlockings, electrical plant and potentially many other items of infrastructure could all be monitored for hour-by-hour performance. Since the RCM loggers come with an IP
port as standard, the need for IP connectivity was crucial. With a high density of loggers at all the major junctions on the route, providing a local IP network was the
obvious approach. The data is transferred into Network Rail’s corporate IP network at Edinburgh for onward transmission to the RCM management centre locations at Sevenoaks and Tunbridge Wells. The intended future transfer to IP of CCTV, station help points and customer information systems will mean a big saving in private circuit rental costs for both Network Rail and ScotRail. Using IP for applications such as signalling and power control is a longer term goal but trials are already proving it to be a practical proposition. More difficult is the future of the SDH transmission network as part of the FTN. Whilst this will be used to support GSM-R in the foreseeable future, it will become possible to structure GSM- R over an IP/Ethernet network. This may be tested sooner rather than later and will depend to some extent on the radio manufacturers producing equipment with a standard IP port. The SDH transmission capacity will remain very valuable for many railway telecom and data applications where the more traditional equipment - the ETD trunk dialling network, for example - is designed for this type of interface. The emergence of IP is nonetheless going to impact on future transmission thinking. The technology however is only part of the debate - winning over the hearts and minds of other engineering disciplines that IP is right for their applications may be a greater challenge.
Many thanks to Ian Findlay and Robert Gardner from Network Rail, Glasgow for their help in producing this article, and to Cisco and Alcatel for additional technical assistance.
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L2/L3 Switch
Largs Marina Switch Shawlands d Myre
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L2/L3 Switch L2/L3 L2/L3 Switch L2/L3
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Core layer
Unused access point Access layer
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‘First mile’ layer (End device connected)
Transmission route to RCM centres
L2/L3 Switch L2/L3 Switch L2/L3 Switch CSC
Tunbridge Wells
MPLS Infrastructure Servers IM Intelligent CSC Sevenoaks External Services Gateway
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Glasgow Central Signalling Centre
West of Scotland Signalling Centre
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PHOTO: ANDY FORMAN
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