• • • EDITOR’S CHOICE • • •
Protecting the connected railway
Advanced enclosure systems will play a critical role in the UK rail network’s coming digital revolution, says Paul Waring, business development manager for rail at Rainford Solutions
London’s brand-new Elizabeth Line. That was an impressive operational debut for what is the UK’s most advanced railway. More than 60,000 communications and control
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assets are dotted along and around the route of the Elizabeth line, connected by over 250km of optical fibre, six different radio networks, and countless kilometres of copper cable. Under Network Rail’s Digital Railway
Programme, advanced technologies like these are set to become “business as usual” for the industry from 2027. The case for the digital railway is compelling. Reliable connections between trains,
infrastructure and control teams will boost capacity and safety, for example though “moving block” signalling that allows trains to share the same section of track while keeping them a safe distance apart. Connected devices will help passengers and staff
to get their jobs done, on trains, at stations, in depots or out across the network. Remote monitoring technology is also seen as a
key tool in the industry’s efforts to increase safety, capacity and reliability on the railway while driving costs down. Fixed “trackside IoT” sensors can perform an array of functions, from detecting obstructions on the line to assessing the condition of the wheel bearings in passing trains. IoT technologies are getting more sophisticated
too. The industry wants its sensors to perform a proactive role, collecting data on the performance and health of assets over time and using that data to predict and prevent failures.
A generational shift Delivering this digital vision will require significant infrastructure investment. The UK rail network is currently covered by multiple communication systems, for example, including the GSM-R network used for operational purposes and patchwork of 3G and 4G systems run by the country’s mobile network operators. The GSM-R system, which cost more than £500
million to install, will reach the end of its design life in 2030. And the mobile companies are busy upgrading their existing networks elsewhere to use the latest 5G technology. 5G standards also provide the foundations for the
Future Railway Mobile Communication System (FMRCS), a proposed global standard for operational communications and the likely successor to GSM-R.
electricalengineeringmagazine.co.uk ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING • JUNE 2022 5
n an otherwise unremarkable Tuesday in late May 2022, 130,000 people became the first fare-paying passengers to travel on
A tough case to make Whether installed for communications, control, or monitoring purposes, much of the digital railway’s new hardware will require enclosures to protect sensitive equipment from sun, rain, dust, and damage by rodents or insects. Those enclosures need to be physically
secure, to prevent theft or malicious damage, but they also need to be easy to access, so maintenance staff can complete essential tasks quickly, easily, and safely. And enclosures may need to perform all those functions for three or four decades with little, or ideally no, maintenance attention. The industry has dealt with these issues
before, but the digital railway will bring extra challenges. Many digital installations will involve the integration of multiple asset types and sub systems into a common communication network, for example. More equipment inside an enclosure
makes thermal management more complex and may increase the risk of attempted theft or malicious interference. Because technology is continually evolving, and different digital systems may be deployed at different rates, the combination of equipment installed in an enclosure may change significantly over its working life.
Next generation protection As the rail industry finalises its technical specifications for next-generation equipment enclosures, specialist providers are already hard at work developing innovative solutions to meet the sector’s needs. The latest designs combine years of experience
in the development of high-reliability enclosure systems with advanced structural and thermal analysis techniques. Modular systems, meanwhile, allow enclosures
to evolve as requirements change, upgrading a unit from passive to active cooling, for example, or providing segregated access for different equipment. The same approach also makes it easier to meet the rail industry’s requirement that individual panels, or even an entire enclosure, can be quickly and safely replaced without taking equipment offline. Every site, every combination of equipment and
every digital deployment plan creates a unique set of enclosure requirements. To meet those requirements, the rail industry needs enclosure suppliers that can consult with end users to design the most appropriate solutions. It needs those suppliers to offer flexible, high
quality manufacturing capabilities and short lead times. Above all, it needs its enclosure suppliers to be aligned on a simple goal: reliable, long-term protection for its equipment.
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