Rail Express – September 2019

24 RAIL EXPRESSSeptember 2019

OPERATIONS

HOTTING UP

Extreme temperatureswere

experi enced on June 28 in thewest

of Scotland,Wales and England, with

higher temperaturesforecast for

other areas thefollowing day. These

forecasts meant the NR Extreme

Weather ActionTeams (EWATs) were

acti vated, swinging intoaseries of

pre- plannedacti vities, including EWAT

readiness conferences with the NOC

also participating.

EWAT plan sspeci fy watchmen

arelocated at known high

temperaturesites, which each

have specific speedrestrictions for

given temperatures.Warning speed

signs aretaken to sitesbut not

erected untilrailtemperaturesreach

predetermined thresholds. Above a

certainlevel, such as 45°C,ablank et

speedrestriction is imposed.

This looked likely on June 28,

at 14.00,when an advancewarning

forJune 29wasissuedforablanket

50mph speedrestriction on theWest

CoastMain Line south of Bourne

End (Buckinghamshire) from 11.00,

with all points set to normal.West

Midl andsTrains informed the NOC they

maywithdraw allservices south of

Northampton if the 50mph limitwas

acti vated. Asecon dwarning wasissued

at 16.0 0for a20mph blanket speed on

Watfor dtoEuston DC lines.

Other speedrestrictionswere

in place on June 28, in manyplaces

between Dingwall (north of Invernesss),

the Cambrian andMarches lines (Wales),

andinto Cornwall.The NOC sends

out anational summary ofextreme

weather planstoall EW AT teams and

NR executives.

At 14.46 on June 28, TfW’s

1W16/11.10 MilfordHaven to

Manchester Piccadillyhit acow and

came toastand invery hot weather

near Abergavenny. The trainwas

full and, implementing the stranded

passenger initiative, TfW staffsupplied

food and drink to passengers and

the BTPattended asaprecaution.

The train’s air conditioningremain ed

working and no passengerswere in

distress, so no tracksideevacuation

wasrequired–but continuing

assessmentswere undertaken.

After temporaryrepairs, the train

wasterminated 200 minutes late at

Abergavennyat18.02.

Alinesidefence survey wascarri ed

out and no damagewas observed, but

localfarmerssuggested the cattle may

have jumped thefence when startled.

The duty controllerreviewsevery

incident assistedby the support

controller (MarkRobinson on June 28)

andissues the National Situation

Report (NSR)every150 minutes

starting at 08.00.

Davi dWiltshi re explains the

process: “Thisrepeating task differs

from regionalor route logs, as the NSR

is asummary of major incidents and

sent to the NetworkRail executive

team, specific senior managers and

external agencies, such as the ORR,

RAIB, DfT and all members of the

railway group.Region al/route logs

contai ndetails onevery incident and

arewidelydistributed across the

industry,which leads to information

overload potentiallylosing the

network-wide view.”

Half-an-hour beforethe end of the

night shift at 06.30, the duty controller

issues ‘The National Daily Report’ –a

templated 26-sectionreport that

covers the previous 24-hour period

commencingat 02.00. On July15, out

of 23,946 franchised passenger trains,

19,825ranontime, 3,076were deemed

late an d1,045 cancelled or significantly

late,with onlyCaledonianSleepers

scoring 100%.

PRE-FLIGHT CHECKS

The FNPO desk is staffedbyFSDMs

who, in addition to freight, monitor

RoyalMail, charte rservices and

Caledo nian Sleepers. Building on the

experience ofreturningpostal services

to punctual operations,asimilar

approach is nowunderway with the

Anglo-Scottish sleepers.

At 15.00,aconference call takes

place withevery party involved in

delivering these services, which

is known as the ‘sleeper pre-flight

check’. Every detai lwhich could affect

punctuality is checked, including

crewing, empty stock moves, loco

availability,possessions, and any

network issues. Whenarepeating

delaytrend is identified, the cause is

investigated andresolved.

Steve Dexter on the FNPO desk

explai ned freight monitoring: “Every

peri od,the FSDM compilesalist of a

dozen freight services that have just

missed theFreightDeliv ery Metric with

aviewofhelping them pass in the

next period.”

These aremonitoredinreal-ti me

usingacolourcodedsystem ranging

from green(meetingtarget) t opurple

(denoting 20 minutes or more late). The

NOC willtry to positivelyregulatevery

late trains torecovertime andautho rise

adiversionif that helps, subject toroute

knowledgeand gaugeclearance.

In parallel with the passenger

National SituationReport, the FNPO

team issues its ‘NetworkReadiness

Statement–Freight’ six timesaday,

while the night shift sends outadaily

report of significant incidents at 06.00

compiled from thesereports. The

NOC night shift also hasaconference

call with allroute controls at 04.40

to look at what might disrupt the

start of service, and also checksthat

poss essi ons arenot overrunning.

Trackside monitoring equipment can

detect things like wheel flatspots and

incorrectlyloadedwagons. However, this

viewshowsacorrectlyloaded dry-spoil

train at QuaintonRoad (Buckinghamshire)

on May23.

“The NOCisthe onlyoffice

with emergencylocomotive

spot hireauthority”

AEuston-boundCaledonian Sleeper calls at MiltonKeynes on April26, behind No. 92018–sleeper services arecurrentlyint he

spotlight to improve reliability.Note also the Samaritans poster under the station name board.

NOC manager David Burnett (centre) and his team in the incidentroom,gettingready

to deal with anypossi ble disruption that could be causedby the ExtinctionRebellion

protests taking place that dayonJuly15.

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