22 RAIL EXPRESS September 2019
T
HE statistics of around 25,000
trainsaday operating across
20,000 miles of NetworkRail track
every 24 hoursarewell rehearsed, and
the National Operations Centrecould
be described as the heart of these
operations.From its base in Milton
Keynes, the NOC monitors all train
movements ona24/7 basis, split into
apassengerteam and theFreight and
NationalPassenger Operators (FNPO)
organisation.
To getafeelfor NOC operations,
Ijoined the passenger team’s duty
controller David WiltshireonJune28and
the FNPO’s freight service delivery
managers (FSDMs) John Phillips
and Steve Dext er on July 15.
By 07.00, whenIjoined David
Wiltshire, he had already spoken
to every route controller togain
an overvie wofthe network
situation inherited from the night shift,
andwas monitoring every situation
that had the potential to escalate into
serious disruption.
The NOCreceiv es ar ound
100 emailsevery hour fromroute
cont rollers, advising on incidents
ranging from the ridiculous and the
downright tragic, but the policyisn ot
to intervene unless thereisp otential to
affect overall network performance.
On July15at11.02,forexample, a
sombrero-wearing drunkwasreported
on the track in the Sheffield area, while
the tragic suicide ofateenager five
hours later broughtavery downbeat
mood to the office.
Twosuicides occurred on both days
Iwas in the NOC, and the team is sadly
well-rehearsed in liaising with coroners,
undertakers, police and the statutory
rail authorities,such as the Office of
Rail andRoad and the Departmentfor
Transport.This enables local teams to
getonwith servicerecovery without
taking on the sombreprocedu ralThe all-seeing NOC
PhilMarshvisitsNetworkRail’s National Operations Centre, which monitors
the entirenetwork around the clock tokeep passenger and freight services
running as smoothlyaspossible.mechanics of the situation. Thevery
proactivepartnership between the
Samaritans charity and therail industry
wasvery much inevidence in this
sad process.
One area left to the police to
manageist he gr owing problem of
‘Person in precarious position’ incidents,
wheresomebody is posingathreat to
themselves. Thereweretwo incidents
on July15–one nearPotters Bar at
03.45 and one at Abercynon at 21.15
that collectivelycaused around 1300
minutes' delay.
Following the incident atLewishamin March2018, when passengers on a
stranded train opted to open the doors
and climb down onto the trackswhile
the third-railwas st illlive, apolic yof
assessing the risk to passengers on
trapped trainswasintroduced.Trains
arenow held in platforms wherever
poss ible to avoid emergencyor
unplannedevacuations.GOING WILD
The NOC isaone-stop shopforall
route controllers, and uses 34screens
to monitoreverythingthatmoves (or
does not move)using livefeeds from
the TRUSTand TOPS computers, plus
safety criticalsystems like Wheel
Impact Load Detectors (WILD) and Hot
AxleboxDetectors.
The NOC has high-levelTOPS
permissions–suchasthe relocation
facili ty,which is used severaltimes a
day. TO PS knows the location ofevery
main lineregistered item of traction
and rollin gstock but,forexample, an
engineering train mayhave departedOPERATIONS
The NOC’sgoal is tokeepservices
running, which includes deploying
‘Thunderbird’rescue locos when
necessary–such as on April25when
No. 57308wassummoned to the aid
of No. 66423, which hadfailed at
Washwood Heath on the 4V44 Daventry
toWentloog. Therescued train is
seen coming offStAndrewsJunction
(Birmingham) and heading towards
BordesleyJunction.TomStobbsThe ‘Putting passengers first’ notice in NetworkRail’s Quadrant building, Milton
Keynes.All photosby PhilMarsh unless stated“The team is sadlywell-rehearsed
inliaising with coroners,
undertakers and police”
Eastleigh–which hasaTOPSreporting
facility–togotoanengineering
worksite that does not.
When engineeringwork ha sbeen
completed, the emptywagons maynot
return toEastle igh, but theywillbein
the system as being thereand not at
the worksite,which is thereforesuitably
corr ectedby the relocationfacility .This
function is also used whenalocomotive
is mo vedbyroad and is ‘virtually
relocated’when itreappearsonthe
network, and the NOC team sendsafax
confirmation to those involved foran
audittrail.
TOPS also sendsvarious
alerts to theNOC team, such
as seeminglyoverweightor
unregisteredvehicles, usually
caus ed by inputting errors. David
Wiltshire, demonstrating his
expertisegained overa47-year
railway career,said: “Thenet cargo
weight can be confused with the gross
wagonweight,which might have been
erroneouslyinput into thesystem,
which in turn automaticallyassumes
incorrect loading and breaching of the
axle weight limits.”
Occasionally, spoiltrains are
incorrectlyloadedby filling onlyone
side ofawagon. This increases the
axle lo ading on that side and creates
the potentialforaderailment, which
triggersaWILD alarm.Wetspoilalso
does the same, as itweighs morethan
the dryvariety.
On June 28,aWILD activationwas
registered at 06.58 when the 06.12
Liverpool Street to Braintree service
(operatedby EMUsNos. 321329+
321433) activated the Ingatestone
DownMain line WILD withawheelflat
registeringatrack forceof412kN,
which iswell overNetwork Rail’s limit
of 350kN. The trainwasstopped, the
driver advised to proceed at 20mph
to Witham wherethe servicewas
terminated beforerunning empty to
Colchester sidingsforexamination.
Earlier that morning,atrack ci rcuit
failure(TCF) near Bethnal Greenwas
disco veredinsideaplann ed possession
that wasdue to be given up at 04.40.
The engineeringwork wascompleted
to plan and Anglia Control advised
of theTCF, notrelate dtothe works,
andthe morning peak service to
Liverpool Streetwaslooking to be
seriouslycompromised.
The on-site teams discoveredtwo
signalling cables had been crushed
by alength ofrail laid on bearers that
had worn away ,exposing the cables
to the directweight of therail wearing
through the insulation. Anglia Control
reducedMTRCrossrai lservi cestosix
per hour terminating at and starting
from Stratfordwhile temporaryrepairswere undertaken. David Wiltshireasked
if the NOC could help, but given that
Anglia Control had implemented a
soundrecovery plan, further assistance
wasnot requir ed. The NOC investigated
howlongthe droppedrail had been
thereand found it had been leftfor
threeyears, graduallywearing through
the bearers under the vibration from
passing trains.
This demonstrated what the NOC
is about, with local teamsresolving
the immediate problems with train
operators, while the NOC itself
investigated the background. ❯