PERMANENT WAY & INFRASTRUCTURE
FCC spokesman Roger Perkins explained: “There has been no indication that existing trains will continue to use the core route once the new Thameslink fleet has been fully introduced; however, the new fleet will be introduced alongside the existing fleet, so the two need to work alongside one another, hence the overlay.”
The next phase of the signalling works is being delivered by Invensys, which won the contract in 2011, including the country’s largest-ever resignalling scheme at London Bridge.
Its subsidiary Westinghouse Rail Systems Ltd carried out the earlier enablement and commissioning works from 2008-11.
Invensys’ rail signalling division has recently been acquired by Siemens – meaning it is part of the same corporation that is delivering the rolling stock.
The importance of ATO for 24tph
Thameslink services will run in ETCS condition, under ATO (automatic train operation) through the core.
Work already delivered under Phase 1 of the Thameslink programme
• 47% more four-car train units since 2006, from 76 to 112, including 26 Class 377 Electrostars with air conditioning.
• Over 14,500 more seats a day in the peak (morning and evening combined).
• Typically overcrowded peak four-car services reduced from 25 in March 2009 to 11 today.
• New routes to Sevenoaks and Orpington, joint with Southeastern (they take over at Blackfriars heading south) with a few services to Gillingham and Ashford International.
• 15tph in the peak between St Pancras and Blackfriars, up from 7-8tph.
• Lengthened platforms at 12 stations on the north Thameslink route as well as the more extensive reconstructions and upgrades of Farringdon and Blackfriars.
• Borough viaduct has been built ready for the 2018 project completion.
Duncan-Santiago told us: “ETCS is not just us complying with a European standard; it gives us a platform, which is the most important part for us, to operate under ATO conditions. It’s that which gives us the capacity, because it gives a consistency of approach for every single train operating under ETCS conditions. It helps to ensure a robust delivery of the timetable through the core, which is the critical part for us. It’s all about getting the customers from A to B and using it essentially like a Tube line.
“Nothing like this has been done to this capacity requirement on a British main line railway, it’s going to be a real ask!
“There will be technical issues to overcome, and the driver-machine interface to deal with. We’ve got guys who have only recently seen a step-up to modern trains, the Class 377s.”
He added: “As an industry, we’ve spent the best part of 20 years training drivers to be cautious to prevent accidents; to err on the side of caution on approaching red lights, for example. But the trains will now have the ability, through ETCS, to compute variations and build a safe buffer between itself and the train in front, and run at the optimum speed.
“The driver stays in the cab, because this is only for the central section and they’ve still got a role to play, both in overseeing the journey and at the platform. It’s a belt-and-braces approach with the overlay of ETCS Level 2.”
‘Material help in making decisions’
He pointed out that FCC is also working with Network Rail on ATSS, the Automatic Train Supervisory System, which is, in effect, an upgrade to ARS (Automatic Route Setting). Duncan-Santiago said: “ARS is rather old- fashioned…it doesn’t take into account the effect of delays on trains, because the system doesn’t make choices to minimise delays across the entire network. We need an upgraded ARS. ATSS would calculate a massive range of possibilities, and what the effects will be on a big network like ours, which with the franchise amalgamation will be about 22% of the rail network in the UK. It will give the signallers material help in making decisions, based on the net result of their decisions in terms of delay
minutes.”
Control will pass from London Bridge to Three Bridges, which will become one of Network Rail’s 14 national centres under the centralisation plan to replace 800 signal boxes.
Three Bridges is also the site of one of the two new Siemens’ depots for its Thameslink trains – the other is at Hornsey in north London. VolkerFitzpatrick signed the construction contract for the two depots in July 2013. Mark Ruddy, Network Rail’s route managing director for Sussex, said: “The new operating centre and train depot will make Three Bridges one of the most important places on the railway in the south east.”
Milestones
Looking ahead to 2018, Duncan-Santiago said: “I’m confident that we’ll get a great train service for customers.
“It’ll be a great way of getting through London without interchanging with the Underground. The key to it is the technology that we’re pushing through.”
He said it was hard to detail the next milestones on the programme because “there’s so many!”
These include getting the train design details spot on with Siemens and the DfT, the work with Network Rail on the ATSS system, and adapting train operations at existing sites ready for the future. “There is so much work to do,” he said.
“The first thing passengers will see is the new trains, then the benefits that arise from having ETCS through the core, then the combination of the two routes – the Great Northern and Thameslink, the roll-out of new trains on the Great Northern, then ATO going live. There’ll be step changes in the timetables to utilise the benefits of each of those and the infrastructure that’s been delivered.”
Ian Duncan-Santiago
www.thameslinkprogramme.co.uk FOR MORE INFORMATION
rail technology magazine Aug/Sep 13 | 65
© Invensys
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