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Author Topic: Thames Valley infrastructure problems causing disruption elsewhere - 2015  (Read 19950 times)
tomL
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« Reply #15 on: January 04, 2015, 15:15:00 »

Not so sure about you optimism about software upgrades. It's going to be mammoth task to upgrade all the trains and the operaing centres simultaneously.

Can't see simultaneous software upgrades being a problem in the 2020s with the technology already making it possible to upload data onto trains wirelessly in a very short space of time.

Most gadgets now use OTA (Over The Air) (Over The Air) updates. No reason this can't be applied here.

Although there is a bit more at stake if something goes wrong...
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TonyK
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« Reply #16 on: January 04, 2015, 19:43:30 »

Not so sure about you optimism about software upgrades. It's going to be mammoth task to upgrade all the trains and the operaing centres simultaneously.

Can't see simultaneous software upgrades being a problem in the 2020s with the technology already making it possible to upload data onto trains wirelessly in a very short space of time.

My thoughts too. Will the 25Kv line have the capability to carry data, like National Grid's stuff has? If so, the train could pull out of Chippenham on Windows 97, and arrive at Bath running 8.1 (with service patch).
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« Reply #17 on: January 04, 2015, 19:50:02 »

If so, the train could pull out of Chippenham on Windows 97, and arrive at Bath running 8.1 (with service patch).

If it's Windows, the train will crash during the update.  Tongue Wink Grin
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« Reply #18 on: January 04, 2015, 20:06:15 »

Not so sure about you optimism about software upgrades. It's going to be mammoth task to upgrade all the trains and the operaing centres simultaneously.

Can't see simultaneous software upgrades being a problem in the 2020s with the technology already making it possible to upload data onto trains wirelessly in a very short space of time.

My thoughts too. Will the 25Kv line have the capability to carry data, like National Grid's stuff has? If so, the train could pull out of Chippenham on Windows 97, and arrive at Bath running 8.1 (with service patch).
If so, the train could pull out of Chippenham on Windows 97, and arrive at Bath running 8.1 (with service patch).

Data is not transmitted over the 25kV cables, the control of the traction system is sent over the internal railway fibre network

If it's Windows, the train will crash during the update.  Tongue Wink Grin

Strange you should mention Windows Smiley one of the ECR's has just had its SCADA (System Control And Data Acquisition, the 'generic' term used for the telemetry control from the Electrical Control Room) top end computers replaced with a Windows 7 based architecture

Apart from a few dc traction ECR's still using 1950/60's electromechanical systems a couple are using a DOS based architecture on 386 computers  Shocked Shocked

There is a National SCADA project underway, which GWEP (Great Western Electrification Program) is part of, to upgrade all the ECR top ends and replace all the electromechanical systems.

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TonyK
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« Reply #19 on: January 04, 2015, 21:07:10 »


Strange you should mention Windows Smiley one of the ECR's has just had its SCADA (System Control And Data Acquisition, the 'generic' term used for the telemetry control from the Electrical Control Room) top end computers replaced with a Windows 7 based architecture

Apart from a few dc traction ECR's still using 1950/60's electromechanical systems a couple are using a DOS based architecture on 386 computers  Shocked Shocked

There is a National SCADA project underway, which GWEP (Great Western Electrification Program) is part of, to upgrade all the ECR top ends and replace all the electromechanical systems.



Nothing wrong with DOS, as an operating system if it does what you want it to do. Much of Windows will be irrelevant padding for railway control system programmes, so why not keep it simple?

By electro-mechanical systems, are we talking about the sorts of things with slow running motors turning eccentric cams to open and shut microswitches to run a sequence of events? I worked in an amusement arcade in Blackpool in the latter part of the 17th century, and had experience of such things in pinball machines and the electric fruit machines. That bit of the machine worked solidly and uncomplainingly, whilst everything else went wrong for a pastime.   Apparently, a similar device controlled the Soyuz that linked with Apollo in the 1970s.
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eightf48544
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« Reply #20 on: January 04, 2015, 23:26:15 »

SCDA? ECR?

I like relays you can hear them working!

As my cousin says who works on ITSO cards, "Never Trust Electronics"

Still not sure that software upgrades will be easy even with OTA (Over The Air). Think of a Vomiter on the Penzance Aberdeen run.

Not sure how many control centres that will go through, which will presumably have to be upgraded simultainiously (overnight). What happens to any night trains will they all have to stop and reboot at the same time? Needs thinking about.

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ChrisB
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« Reply #21 on: January 05, 2015, 09:35:39 »

Back on topic....

Journeycheck text has signal problems twixt Oxford & Paddington....
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TaplowGreen
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« Reply #22 on: January 05, 2015, 11:15:14 »

Back on topic....

Journeycheck text has signal problems twixt Oxford & Paddington....

...........it's a New Year but some things stay the same.............

Cancellations to services between Slough and London Paddington Due to signalling problems between Slough and London Paddington some London bound relief lines are disrupted.

Impact:

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed or revised. An estimate for the resumption of normal services will be provided as soon as the problem has been fully assessed.
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Red Squirrel
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« Reply #23 on: January 05, 2015, 11:26:26 »


In aviation circles, it is said that the main advantage of a twin-engined aircraft over a single-engined model is that it doubles the chances of engine failure...


In some aviation circles, maybe. I think it was David Learmount of Flight International who, when asked why he preferred to fly in four-engined airliners, replied 'Because there are no five-engined airliners'.
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Things take longer to happen than you think they will, and then they happen faster than you thought they could.
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« Reply #24 on: January 05, 2015, 12:22:54 »

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed or revised. An estimate for the resumption of normal services will be provided as soon as the problem has been fully assessed.

Back to normal now and limited disruption anyway of around 5-15 minutes on relief line services.  Can't see any cancellations as a result, though Langley, Iver and West Drayton, Hayes, Southall and Ealing stops were removed from some trains (and inserted into the next train 15 or so minutes later), mostly in the London bound direction.
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« Reply #25 on: January 05, 2015, 16:05:50 »

The service has worsened since the previous post, with about a dozen cancelations and many trains serving only part of the route. Some of the problems are signalling related but most seem to be due to a person hit by a train Sad

edit to add, latest reports suggest that the victim fell from a bridge onto the railway and was not struck by a train, still very sad no matter what the exact circumstances
« Last Edit: January 05, 2015, 17:55:45 by broadgage » Logged

A proper intercity train has a minimum of 8 coaches, gangwayed throughout, with first at one end, and a full sized buffet car between first and standard.
It has space for cycles, surfboards,luggage etc.
A 5 car DMU (Diesel Multiple Unit) is not a proper inter-city train. The 5+5 and 9 car DMUs are almost as bad.
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« Reply #26 on: January 05, 2015, 16:54:27 »

The service has worsened since the previous post, with about a dozen cancelations and many trains serving only part of the route. Some of the problems are signalling related but most seem to be due to a person hit by a train Sad

Woman found injured at lineside at Wantage Road, lunchtime today  Sad Service was reportedly 11:36 Padd - Cheltenham

http://www.heraldseries.co.uk/news/11702388.Person_hit_by_train_between_Didcot_Parkway_and_Swindon/?ref=mr
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ChrisB
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« Reply #27 on: January 05, 2015, 17:17:31 »

See other thread - Not hit by train, but fell from bridge & not hit by train
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DidcotPunter
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« Reply #28 on: January 05, 2015, 18:26:00 »

Correct - subsequently read update on another forum.
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BBM
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« Reply #29 on: January 05, 2015, 20:11:47 »

Points failure now at Twyford, it seems that at least a couple of trains have been stuck on the Mains for about 30 minutes so far, and it would appear from Twitter that Reading West MP (Member of Parliament, or Mile Post (a method of measuring the railway in miles and chains from a starting point - usually London), depending on context) Alok Sharma is on one of them...
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