HOOP - High Output Overhead line equipment Plant - coming to Great Western

[whole diary]

[chuffed]

News 
 Network Rail 
 
 
 
 
 

 



 By Rhodri Clark
 
Electrification of Great Western rail line to take half the time thanks to German technology
   15 Jul 2013 06:00       

A train packed with hi-tech machinery promises to cut the time, cost and disruption of  electrifying the Great Western line. Rhodri Clark, the first journalist to view the equipment, reports from German
     
Electrification could be achieved in half the time Electrification could be achieved in half the time
 

Passengers on the Swansea to London line would be facing years of delays and travel on substitute buses if the line^s forthcoming electrification followed tradition.

Weekend after weekend, lines would shut for a swarm of orange-clad rail workers to install masts and electricity cables.

With 17,000 new masts required along 235 miles of railway, the work ^ and the disruption to people^s travel ^ would drag on for years.

That would be too high a price to pay, literally and metaphorically, on such an important transport artery.

Network Rail has therefore ordered German manufacturer Windhoff to assemble a pioneering ^factory train^ which will allow it to carry out much of the work on weekday nights, usually with no impact on rail passengers.

Residents of Swansea and Bridgend should be especially grateful for this technology. Without the cost reductions it brings to the electrification process, the future electric trains from Paddington would probably stop at Cardiff.

Stringing an electricity supply above a railway line involves at least six tasks, from creating foundations for the masts which hold up the wires to the final measuring and testing.

The new factory train packs the kit to handle each of those processes onto 23 rail vehicles.

Strung together, these vehicles would be 500 metres long.

In practice, the module that handles piling and foundations will go out first. Modules for erecting steelwork and cables will follow later.

All the materials and components will travel on the factory train too, as will the personnel and their mess facilities. A mobile concrete plant on the train will mix concrete for mast foundations on the spot.

Once the staff have learned the ropes, they should create foundations for 30 masts every night.

The other processes will match that speed.

The cherry on the cake is a safety system which allows the adjacent track to remain open to trains, which won^t even have to reduce speed to pass the construction workers.

^The benefit of this new Windhoff high-output system is manyfold,^ says Robbie Burns, the former Army officer overseeing the Great Western electrification for Network Rail.

^Firstly we^ll be able to build the electrification system reliably, to a higher quality and quicker than before.

^We will be able to operate on one line with passenger trains running in service on the adjacent line, and thus avoid closing the railway and inconveniencing passengers while we^re constructing the overhead line.

^We^re able to do the work with fewer people, and those people will be kept safe by the protection measures on the production train.^

Aiming to start electric services between London and Cardiff in 2017 would be pie in the sky without the factory train, which is expected at least to halve the time electrification takes.

Network Rail is spending almost ^40m on the factory train and expects the investment to pay for itself quickly, after electrification begins in January. Network Rail will not have to negotiate and create road access to scores of places along the railway for delivery of materials and workers.

Pre-mixed concrete starting to set before it reaches the worksite will be a thing of the past. Much less of the time when a track is closed for work will be lost in setting up equipment and materials or clearing them away.

Some of the factory train may also be deployed on the Valley Lines electrification which follows the main line scheme, bringing at least some of the benefits to Valleys commuters and shoppers while the work is undertaken.

Network Rail and its contractor Amey have already recruited some of the 200 workers who will operate and maintain the kit. Although the factory train will be based initially at Swindon, Welsh people are among the early recruits.

Once electrification reaches South Wales, Network Rail will open a depot in Cardiff or Newport, bringing more job opportunities. Some of the men and women who install the masts and wires will transfer to Network Rail^s maintenance teams, using their knowledge from the construction phase to keep the equipment in good order.

 

 

 

Rhodri Clark explains the factory train in action

 

MOST of the factory train is at various stages of construction in the Windhoff factory in Germany.

Last week Network Rail managers saw for the first time the initial modules, for piling foundations for masts, being tested on a disused track near the Dutch border.

A crane arm swings out from the leading vehicle and grabs a steel tube, which will form a pile.

Nobody is seated in the crane^s cab. The crane is operated by an engineer standing near the tube, clutching the super-sized cousin of a TV remote. Staff may prefer to use the controls in the cab on winter nights, especially when wind and rain drive in from the Bristol Channel.

The grab turns the tube upright, places it in the required position and begins to vibrate it while pushing it into the ground. Normally this will be enough to drive the pile home, but another vehicle in the factory train carries a giant hydraulic hammer, for locations where the pile needs firmer persuasion.

Today the crane arm is working to the right of the train. We have to imagine another track to the left where a London express races by, or heavy coils of steel from Port Talbot move inexorably towards a dock or factory.

What if the crane operator pushed the wrong button on his remote, causing the arm to swing out in front of a passing train?

No chance, I^m told. An electronic barrier will stop the crane swinging to the wrong side or moving one of the tubes out of the vital safety envelope

[TonyK]

I'm looking forward to seeing this example of Four Sprung Duck Technique. Hopefully, it will stick around after the main electrification programme is done and dusted, to continue on a rolling programme until the whole network is electric.

ERIT:

I'm also looking forward to this thread being merged with the similar one in Frequent Posters.

[DidcotPunter]

On test at the Windhoff factory in Rheine, Germany.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23317641

This is the electrification "factory" train. Due to arrive at the new Swindon electrification base in October.

[chuffed]

Coming to a Great Western line near you..love to see one of these on SVB or Phd!

I have moved this to here as I felt it was being swamped by the news out of Waterloo (in the wider picture...no pun intended!) and that it deserved a wider readership.
chuffed

Electrification of Great Western rail line to take half the time thanks to German technology

A train packed with hi-tech machinery promises to cut the time, cost and disruption of  electrifying the Great Western line. Rhodri Clark, the first journalist to view the equipment, reports from Germany
     
Electrification could be achieved in half the time!

Passengers on the Swansea to London line would be facing years of delays and travel on substitute buses if the line^s forthcoming electrification followed tradition.

Weekend after weekend, lines would shut for a swarm of orange-clad rail workers to install masts and electricity cables.

With 17,000 new masts required along 235 miles of railway, the work ^ and the disruption to people^s travel ^ would drag on for years.

That would be too high a price to pay, literally and metaphorically, on such an important transport artery.

Network Rail has therefore ordered German manufacturer Windhoff to assemble a pioneering ^factory train^ which will allow it to carry out much of the work on weekday nights, usually with no impact on rail passengers.

Residents of Swansea and Bridgend should be especially grateful for this technology. Without the cost reductions it brings to the electrification process, the future electric trains from Paddington would probably stop at Cardiff.

Stringing an electricity supply above a railway line involves at least six tasks, from creating foundations for the masts which hold up the wires to the final measuring and testing.

The new factory train packs the kit to handle each of those processes onto 23 rail vehicles.

Strung together, these vehicles would be 500 metres long.

In practice, the module that handles piling and foundations will go out first. Modules for erecting steelwork and cables will follow later.

All the materials and components will travel on the factory train too, as will the personnel and their mess facilities. A mobile concrete plant on the train will mix concrete for mast foundations on the spot.

Once the staff have learned the ropes, they should create foundations for 30 masts every night.

The other processes will match that speed.

The cherry on the cake is a safety system which allows the adjacent track to remain open to trains, which won^t even have to reduce speed to pass the construction workers.

^The benefit of this new Windhoff high-output system is manyfold,^ says Robbie Burns, the former Army officer overseeing the Great Western electrification for Network Rail.

^Firstly we^ll be able to build the electrification system reliably, to a higher quality and quicker than before.

^We will be able to operate on one line with passenger trains running in service on the adjacent line, and thus avoid closing the railway and inconveniencing passengers while we^re constructing the overhead line.

^We^re able to do the work with fewer people, and those people will be kept safe by the protection measures on the production train.^

Aiming to start electric services between London and Cardiff in 2017 would be pie in the sky without the factory train, which is expected at least to halve the time electrification takes.

Network Rail is spending almost ^40m on the factory train and expects the investment to pay for itself quickly, after electrification begins in January. Network Rail will not have to negotiate and create road access to scores of places along the railway for delivery of materials and workers.

Pre-mixed concrete starting to set before it reaches the worksite will be a thing of the past. Much less of the time when a track is closed for work will be lost in setting up equipment and materials or clearing them away.

Some of the factory train may also be deployed on the Valley Lines electrification which follows the main line scheme, bringing at least some of the benefits to Valleys commuters and shoppers while the work is undertaken.

Network Rail and its contractor Amey have already recruited some of the 200 workers who will operate and maintain the kit. Although the factory train will be based initially at Swindon, Welsh people are among the early recruits.

Once electrification reaches South Wales, Network Rail will open a depot in Cardiff or Newport, bringing more job opportunities. Some of the men and women who install the masts and wires will transfer to Network Rail^s maintenance teams, using their knowledge from the construction phase to keep the equipment in good order.

 
MOST of the factory train is at various stages of construction in the Windhoff factory in Germany.

Last week Network Rail managers saw for the first time the initial modules, for piling foundations for masts, being tested on a disused track near the Dutch border.

A crane arm swings out from the leading vehicle and grabs a steel tube, which will form a pile.

Nobody is seated in the crane^s cab. The crane is operated by an engineer standing near the tube, clutching the super-sized cousin of a TV remote. Staff may prefer to use the controls in the cab on winter nights, especially when wind and rain drive in from the Bristol Channel.

The grab turns the tube upright, places it in the required position and begins to vibrate it while pushing it into the ground. Normally this will be enough to drive the pile home, but another vehicle in the factory train carries a giant hydraulic hammer, for locations where the pile needs firmer persuasion.

Today the crane arm is working to the right of the train. We have to imagine another track to the left where a London express races by, or heavy coils of steel from Port Talbot move inexorably towards a dock or factory.

What if the crane operator pushed the wrong button on his remote, causing the arm to swing out in front of a passing train?

No chance, I^m told. An electronic barrier will stop the crane swinging to the wrong side or moving one of the tubes out of the vital safety envelope

Edit note: Topics moved and merged here, in the interests of clarity and continuity. Chris.

[chuffed]

I had already put an article about this on the wider picture yesterday, and moved it earlier this evening to Frequent posters as it had got swamped by all the 'hot' news out of Waterloo. Can I suggest to duty mods that they have a look and edit these posts. I won't be offended if mine get deleted !

[DidcotPunter]

Sorry Chuffed - I did a quick scan of the forum and didn't spot your post.  Mods please merge or delete my post.

[TonyK]

I think it merits its own thread. It's a cracking piece of kit, and I can't wait to see it in action - hopefully later this year. It would be good to hear reports of progress and see a few piccies.

[Thatcham Crossing]

This was also featured in a report by Paul Clifton on BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) South Today yesterday (Monday 15/7).

[paul7575]

This was also featured in a report by Paul Clifton on BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) South Today yesterday (Monday 15/7).

As linked to in the other 'HOOP' thread that's also running at the moment: 

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=12669.0

I'm wondering why this thread was started in the 'frequent posters' section anyway, there's nothing unusual or contentious about the subject matter is there?

Paul

[Chris from Nailsea]

The two topics have now been moved and merged here. 

[eightf48544]

I think it merits its own thread. It's a cracking piece of kit, and I can't wait to see it in action - hopefully later this year. It would be good to hear reports of progress and see a few piccies.

Hope it's not too noisy as it going pass my house at least twice, have do some very drastic pruning to see it in operation.

ElectricTrain do you know if we a getting indivdual wire/post per tack (4), headspans or girders to hold wires.

[Electric train]

ElectricTrain do you know if we a getting indivdual wire/post per tack (4), headspans or girders to hold wires.

I am not certain you will see the HOOP through Taplow, the Hayes (Stockley Park to Maidenhead electrification is a Crossrail project the HOOP has been purchased for GW^▸ (Great Western) electrification which is West of Maidenhead.  To the outside world it all looks to be one railway, lift ain't that simple, both projects have their deadlines to meet, DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) have said they want electric trains running between Reading and Oxford by the end 2015!!!!

Headspan is almost certainly out of favour for all new electrification, my guess it will be a mix of masts with cantilevers, portals and things called twin track cantilevers, the current requirement is for what is called "mechanically independent registration" which basically means if their is a rip down on one road its does not effect the other roads, also with headspan if a span wire in insulator parts company the contact wire goes out of registration then there is high risk that whole lot can come down across all roads when a pan get ensnared

[DidcotPunter]

...DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) have said they want electric trains running between Reading and Oxford by the end 2015!!!!

Looks like Network Rail and their contractors (Amey?) will need to get a move on then! Most of the civil engineering required for electrification clearances between Reading and Oxford is either complete or under way - though the station footbridges at Goring and Cholsey are still to be replaced. Also I thought that the Reading flyover wasn't due for completion until 2015.

There are a few foundations in place west of Pangbourne and a load of electrification and signalling components stored at Moreton Cutting east of Didcot. Foundation locations have been marked out for much of the way between Didcot and Tilehurst.

I will also be interested to see what electric trains DfT plan to run by the end of 2015. The class 319s originally mooted for the GW^▸ (Great Western) suburban services won't be refurbished by then and if transferred in their current form will go down like a lead balloon. I have my doubts if these will be used as they'll take up too many paths on the main lines with their 100mph top speed - not much better than the turbos.  What's required is 110mph performance like the class 350s on London Midland. Perhaps the new dual-voltage units recently ordered from Bombardier by Southern will end up with us but I would have thought that would depend on the Desiro City units for Thameslink being delivered - and they aren't due until 2016.

Headspan is almost certainly out of favour for all new electrification, my guess it will be a mix of masts with cantilevers, portals and things called twin track cantilevers, the current requirement is for what is called "mechanically independent registration" which basically means if their is a rip down on one road its does not effect the other roads, also with headspan if a span wire in insulator parts company the contact wire goes out of registration then there is high risk that whole lot can come down across all roads when a pan get ensnared

This appears to have been installed at Reading New Junction and around Reading station.  Headspans are used in the new depot sidings but speeds are low there.

[IndustryInsider]

DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) have said they want electric trains running between Reading and Oxford by the end 2015!!!!

End of 2016 I think you'll find.  That might make all the difference in terms of stock cascades!

[Electric train]

DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) have said they want electric trains running between Reading and Oxford by the end 2015!!!!

End of 2016 I think you'll find.  That might make all the difference in terms of stock cascades!

I think initially F(a)fT wanted 2015 which I think was Politically driven even 2016 is tight but I'm sure the project team will get something working.

Headspan is almost certainly out of favour for all new electrification, my guess it will be a mix of masts with cantilevers, portals and things called twin track cantilevers, the current requirement is for what is called "mechanically independent registration" which basically means if their is a rip down on one road its does not effect the other roads, also with headspan if a span wire in insulator parts company the contact wire goes out of registration then there is high risk that whole lot can come down across all roads when a pan get ensnared

This appears to have been installed at Reading New Junction and around Reading station.  Headspans are used in the new depot sidings but speeds are low there.

Headspans as I said are out of favour for new electrification they are not a complete no no, depots and sidings headspans offer the most cost effective means and there will always be areas on the running line where headspan may still be installed the Route Electrification Engineer will want some convincing though that headspan is the best choice