Ken Kyle, Business Development Director for Rail at Telent Technology Services, reveals how technology and innovation are improving the customer experience on Scotland’s West Highland Line.
The railway in Great Britain is facing some tough challenges, both now and in the years ahead. Despite the huge amounts of money being invested by government (over £40 billion to Network Rail over the next five years alone), it is still not enough. With costs increasing and the income from fares still below pre-COVID levels, economies need to be made and these will only come from innovation, both the application of new technology and through new ways of working.
Innovation can also be used to solve long-standing problems, such as temporary speed restrictions that affect service punctuality. The harsh and remote environment of the historic West Highland Line presents a number of operational challenges to delivering a punctual train service. Telent has been working on the West Highland Line (WHL) for the last 12 years and by adopting the same innovative approach used to deploy RETB, we are developing a variety of solutions to minimise train delays and improve the PPM (Public Performance Measure) on this route. These innovations include:
Enhanced tokens, double exchanges at all token exchange points
Using our experience with the RETB (Radio Electronic Token Block) signalling system, which uses a radio network to send tokens and voice messages to ensure safe train operation on single-track routes, we proposed an enhancement to Network Rail that would deliver significant performance benefits. This was achieved by building more resilience into the timetable for each service, equating to between two and three minutes at either end of the route, leading to an improved PPM.
Remote condition monitoring for rockfall and landslip detection
There are regular delays due to problems with the existing rockfall detection system at Pass of Brander, with warning signals and a temporary speed restriction causing delays to trains. The existing system is life expired with high maintenance costs, poor access conditions and is locally monitored by drivers observing local indicators, leading to false positives. Telent is developing a fully integrated technology-led solution, expanding on experience gained at our purpose-built test and technology development site near Edinburgh. Implementing this technology can help to solve a problem that’s over 140 years old by reducing maintenance costs, advising drivers of any potential cautions through integration into the RETB signalling system and enable direct cautioning to the driver’s cab radio.
Remote condition monitoring for Points Set Indicators
Another innovative idea, this one requested by operational staff on the line, uses remote condition monitoring to report failures at the track points. This will aid response time and reduce delay, as currently a failure is unknown until discovered by the first train to reach the location. The solution provides a fault indication before the next train into section, significantly reducing delay through faster response and advanced reporting. The reported conditions will be presented to the signaller through Telent’s integrated asset management system (MICA) into the RETB operator’s terminal. Telent’s test facility in Edinburgh will be used to develop the system.
Level crossing management system for User Works Crossing to reduce train cautions and improve safety.
Our Telent team is addressing the problems caused by the misuse of User Worked Crossings (UWCs) on the line. Calling on our experience with not just the RETB signalling system but also with UWCs around the country, we are proposing an innovative solar powered ‘green’ solution that will alert Level Crossing and Mobile Operations Managers when gates have been left open, thereby reducing train delay times. The system will record the identity of vehicles used in crossing misuse so that offenders can be traced more easily. The same equipment will also record the numbers of vehicles and pedestrians using a particular crossing, so informed decisions may be made on future developments, such as, knowing and recording misuse and capturing close calls of vehicles crossing without permission; phone status monitoring and enable faulty phones to be identified before any on site testing is carried out thus reducing down time and train cautioning.
Fully automated RETB TRUST, a further enhancement to the current semi-automatic train-reporting system which Telent commissioned on the Far North Line
Using shared infrastructure at the Point Set Indicators, Telent will monitor train departures at the Token Exchange Point and through integration with Telent’s asset management system (MICA) into RETB, will provide a fully automated Train running under system (TOPS) (TRUST) system, which will overcome incorrect reporting due to human error. This will result in improved passenger experience due to accurate reporting of train departure information via CIS (Customer Information System) screens, including performance benefits which will aid delay attribution and reduce unexplained delays on the route.
We have focused these solutions on the challenge of performance improvement on WHL. Certainly, points set indicator monitoring can also improve performance on the Far North Line as well. These examples are just some of the innovations that we are developing to make the railway more efficient, more reliable and cheaper to run. It’s all being done through innovation and integration which will be essential if the industry is to meet its future targets and make customers’ journeys as pleasant and as seamless as possible.
Our on-going commitment to innovation in rail is underpinned by our role as a Strategic Partner to the Rail Industry Association’s acclaimed Unlocking Innovation programme.