IRSE News 135 Jun 08.pdf
IRSE News 135 Jun 08.pdf
IRSE News 135 Jun 08.pdf
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TECHNICAL VISIT TO WEST MIDLANDS<br />
<strong>IRSE</strong><br />
Technical Visit to the West Midlands<br />
by Paul DuGuay and Ed Rollings<br />
(Westinghouse Rail Systems and Network Rail respectively)<br />
Over the weekend of 29 February and<br />
1 March 2008, nearly 70 people attended<br />
the UK <strong>IRSE</strong> Technical Visit to the West<br />
Midlands in the United Kingdom. On<br />
Friday delegates assembled at Network<br />
Rail’s West Midlands Signalling Centre<br />
(WMSC) in Saltley, Birmingham for the<br />
beginning of what was to be an exciting<br />
and informative series of visits.<br />
The afternoon began with delegates<br />
enjoying a buffet lunch (kindly provided by<br />
Network Rail) while overlooking train<br />
movements along the Birmingham - Derby<br />
railway line, through the glazed walls of the<br />
WMSC Mezzanine area.<br />
The proceedings were opened by <strong>IRSE</strong><br />
President, Wim Coenrad recounting<br />
previous <strong>IRSE</strong> trips to the area, including a<br />
visit to Leamington Spa to view the (then)<br />
pilot installation of Solid State Interlocking<br />
(SSI) equipment introduced in 1985. Wim<br />
handed over to Sean Dermody, Network<br />
Rail’s Area Operations Manager, the host<br />
for the day, who outlined Network Rail<br />
operations in the West Midlands and<br />
reminded everyone that WMSC is now a<br />
fully operational installation.<br />
The delegates were then given timetables,<br />
group allocations and a programme<br />
for the visit. The traditional flag distribution<br />
ceremony was then re-enacted with group<br />
leaders, and at this point Sean was keen<br />
to ensure that all WMSC windows were<br />
shut in order that no Cross Country /<br />
London Midland services were disrupted<br />
by rogue hand-signalling! Having been<br />
split into groups, delegates then dispersed<br />
within WMSC to the first of their four<br />
presentations.<br />
West Midlands Signalling Boxes / Control Centres (Feb 2008)<br />
Network Rail – West Midlands<br />
Resignalling<br />
On the Mezzanine floor, Network Rail’s<br />
Graeme Anderson (Senior Programme<br />
Manager) outlined the plans for<br />
resignalling the West Midlands area, and<br />
Geoff Robson (WMSC Project Manager)<br />
explained the background, history and<br />
plans for WMSC.<br />
Graeme described Network Rail’s<br />
signalling aspirations for the West<br />
Midlands, describing the scale of the<br />
proposed work, encompassing 415 route<br />
miles and 38 existing Signal box areas,<br />
totalling approx 3500 Signalling Equivalent<br />
Units. Graeme also spoke about how the<br />
project’s phases would be accommodated<br />
at WMSC and the expectation that this will<br />
be achieved through provision of nineteen<br />
workstations, also explaining how the work<br />
may impact upon existing management<br />
boundaries between Network Rail London<br />
North West, London North East and<br />
Western Territories. Graeme then<br />
described in some detail how the £75M<br />
Leamington Corridor project had been<br />
successfully commissioned on time just<br />
two weeks before the visit.<br />
WMSC<br />
SB / PSB<br />
WC SB / PSB<br />
6<br />
Issue <strong>135</strong> <strong>Jun</strong>e 2008<br />
<strong>IRSE</strong><br />
NEWS
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