A Case of Location, Location
11 Oct 2011
Following an arson incident at Hickleton late on Thursday 21st July 2011, a trackside location case, which had been commissioned in May as part of the Moorthorpe resignalling programme, was completely destroyed, causing severe disruption to passenger services.
The vandalised case was removed and a replacement manufactured, pre-wired, delivered, installed, tested and commissioned. Incredibly, this was all achieved in just over 100 hours from the fire being reported , a seemingly impossible feat which was made possible by the dedication, commitment and expertise of everyone involved.
At 22:50 on Thursday 21st July, the loss of three SSI modules was reported by Network Rail, the cause being identified as a fire at the Hickleton location case (24/33). An immediate assessment was made of the extent of the damage, resulting in the case being deemed to be beyond repair.
At 05:00 on Friday 22nd July Invensys Rail was notified of the damage, with Network Rail requesting that the company mobilise as quickly as possible to replace the destroyed location case. Following the loss of the case, passenger trains were being delayed, and were cautioned through the 12 kilometre stretch of railway between Swinton Junction and Moorthorpe Junction.
A recovery plan was agreed at 12:00 on Friday, with Invensys Rail undertaking to manufacture, supply, test, install and commission the replacement location case, and IMDM (Sheffield) taking responsibility for clearing the site and preparing it for the arrival of the replacement case. The team agreed that the new case would be commissioned in time for the railway to return to normal operational service by 06:00 on Tuesday 26th July – allowing just 90 hours to deliver the project.
To help expedite the process and ensure clear lines of communication between all parties, a small project team was assembled with key members from Network Rail, Invensys Rail and IMDM. An email chain was established to provide each member of the team with regular progress updates against the agreed plan.
In the face of such a challenging schedule, the team welcomed one piece of good news – the fact that an on-site inspection had established that the tail cables were undamaged (having been away from the heat of the fire) and so were capable of being re-used. A further 16 cables were tested and removed, as was the damaged location case, in preparation for its replacement. All this work was carried out in a ‘rules of the route’ possession to avoid further disruption.
A temporary 650v generator was delivered to site, with a Network Rail Incident Response vehicle used as a site office.
In the meantime, Invensys Rail had mobilised two teams to manage the project. At its manufacturing plant in Chippenham, the company’s pre-wire team were working around the clock to prepare a replacement location case for despatch to site, whilst in York, a project team was assembled at the company’s regional office to manage the logistics of the installation, testing and commissioning.
Just 72 hours from the initial project meeting, the replacement location case left Chippenham, with a factory test certificate, for delivery to site at 20:00 on Monday 24th July. By 21:30 all of the tail cables were wired back up and a disruptive possession was agreed from 22:00 to allow testing work to take place.
Signalling was then handed back to York IECC at 04:45 on Tuesday 25th July, over an hour earlier than planned and just over 100 hours since the arson attack itself. In total, the incident generated 1,350 minutes of delay every 24 hours up to and including the time when it was returned to service.
In summary, Invensys Rail’s programme of work was as follows:
Friday 22nd July
Plan created and agreed
Parts required for recovery phase assembled
Resources identified and assigned
650V test plan agreed
Site security arranged from 22:00 Friday to 10:00 Tuesday
Signalling signed out of use on RT3187
22:00 – Site security cover begins
Saturday 23rd July
Site prepared for delivery of generator
Incident van moved to site
23:00 – 08:00
1. Sign into possession at 00:01
2. Disconnect and Lock off 650V Signalling Supply
3. Disconnect power cables
4. Deliver Generator to site
5. Lock off supplies to and from Location 24/33
6. Test three core power cables
7. Connect generator at Hickleton HABD 24.39 to feed towards Bolton on Dearne
8. Reconnect power towards 24/04
9. Identify each of the tail cables
10. Controlled disconnection of four data link and ten tail cables
11. Insulation and continuity test four data link and ten tail cables
12. Disconnect MET
13. Bag up all cables
14. Prepare Location for lifting
15. Tidy site
Possession given up 07:45
Sunday 24th July
Complete any outstanding testing
Monday 25th July
Old Location case removed (am)
Site lights and toilets delivered
Site passed across to Invensys Rail
Replacement location case delivered to site, cut over, through tested and booked through into use
Tuesday 26th July
Tidy site
Recover incident van, toilets etc.
Commenting on this extraordinary project, Network Rails' Programme Manager for LNE, Rod Moorcroft said: "We are simply delighted, and couldn't have done this without Invensys Rail. The combined project team, including Network Rail maintenance and investment staff as well as our colleagues at Invensys Rail and IMDM was absolutely determined to achieve a speedy restoration of normal signalling. I am very grateful to all those who put in additional hours over a weekend and Monday night in order to get this job done in a very quick time indeed. The dedication of all of the staff really showed and there was an air of quiet determination on site on Monday night as the location was lowered into place!”
Echoing Rod’s comments, Invensys Rail’s Project Delivery Director, Rob Cairns said: “Having only recently been awarded the accolade of Network Rail’s Supplier of the Year for 2011, this project really demonstrated our commitment and determination to meet Network Rail’s needs, however challenging the circumstances. There was a great spirit amongst the whole project team, which helped deliver such an outstanding performance”.
The location case at Hickleton had been installed in May 2011 as part of the Moorthorpe resignalling programme - which had seen Invensys successfully commission the resignalled areas of Hickleton, Moorthorpe Station and South Kirby (representing around eleven and a half miles of track, a large proportion of which is bi-directional). The Type B Network Rail project covered 52 Signalling Equivalent Units and saw the transfer of both the Moorthorpe and Hickleton signalling control areas to a new WESTLOCK computer-based interlocking at York IECC, as well as lineside renewals and the installation of a number of new Relocatable Equipment Buildings and Location Cases.