commissioning & opening new rail
TRANSCRIPT
Commissioning & Opening New Rail
Systems
Duncan Cross
Deputy Director: Operations, London Overground
A View Based on Personal Experience
• My experience– Freight railways in the UK
– Freight terminal development
– East London Line
– Crossrail
Overview
• Concepts
• Starting
• Who What When
• Integration
• Operators Trials
• Case Studies– East London Line
– Crossrail
Concepts• Write down in as much detail
how you expect the railway to
operate– For the East London Line there
was one 50 page document
– For Crossrail there are 15
volumes of operations concepts
• Preferably before
construction commences
• Helps in 2 areas:– Gives designers and builders
an operations specification
– Helps you plan in the early
stages of what to test and
commission
When to Start
• Plan early – Crossrail the Trail Operations planning started in 2014 and the
Commissioning planning started in 2013, before all the construction
contracts had been let, in preparation for a first phase opening in
December 2018
• Preferably as part of the construction planning process
• Should not be viewed as construction float to be given
away if the build phase doesn’t go to plan
• Its the only opportunity to test without customers and away
from the glare of publicity
Who
• Really depends on the stage of
the process– Engineering led for commissioning
stage
– Operations led for trials
• Early involvement of operators
and maintainers
• Don’t forget the paper railway –
assurance and evidence can
delay entry into service
• Think about the public message,
especially if railways are new
Systems Commissioning
• Systematic way of bringing all the railway systems together
and testing the integration
• Needs to be a logical sequence of bringing systems
together
• Required for assurance and probably contractual payment
• Don’t overlook the operators role at this stage, often need
drivers, controllers, signallers to assist with tests
• Consider the safety environment a different set of
operations rules may be required to allow tests to run,
whilst systems are being brought together
Operators Trials
• Important to include in opening
programme
• Only opportunity to test plans
before passenger operations
• Good method to hone
contingency plans and give staff
confidence in the new railway
• Final opportunity to test
everything works as it should
• Consider volume tests for reality
• Don’t forget maintenance,
important to test the hand over
and hand back between
operations & maintenance
What• Needs a detailed plan(s),
– Training on systems and handover
– Competence
– System familiarity – drivers, stations
staff, control centres
– Contingency tests
– Emergency exercises – train and
station evacuation
– Mileage accumulation and
experience especially where rail is
new
• Determine what success looks
like
• Test scripts to help focus each
trial
• How will assurance be delivered
to enter into service (collect the
evidence)
When to Open?• Public events
– Need to be programmed into
opening schedules
– More than just ribbon cutting,
opportunity to get potential
customers used to the concept
of railways
– Consider education where rail
is new
• Benefits of a ‘soft’ opening
allows passengers to get use
to the new railway in smaller
more manageable portions
• Grand Openings require
precision and absolute
certainty every thing will work
Contingency
• Plans need flexibility and a realisation sometimes the
railway isn’t as complete as you like– Ask what could go wrong and what contingency is in place,
– Workshop during the planning phase,
– Maintain flexibility
• Delays don’t mean you cant start meaningful trials
• Needs a change mechanism and a pragmatic approach,
• Keep one eye on the assurance regimes
• Plans should be seen as a prudent measure rather than an
admission of failure – railways are complex systems and
often don't commission in the neat way we planned
ELL Trial Operations
• Originally planned as 8 weeks
because of delays in
construction reduced to 4
weeks
• 30 Separate Trials and Tests
– Covering faults and failures
– Degraded operation
– Alarm tests
• Set piece train evacuation
with emergency Services
• Operator familiarisation
• All took place whilst the
railway was being finished
Section of East London Line Programme
Crossrail
• By comparison current programme
shows 3 months of Trial Operations
– Large scale emergency evacuations
– Already identified over 50 tests and
trials of the system
– Interface arrangements are included
– Driver familiarisation 300 drivers to
train
– Station staff training at 9 new stations
• Also included is a contractual period of
approvals
• Significant number of opening events
to be planned into the Trial period
Conclusions
• Start to plan early, no firm
rule but the large the project
the earlier the start
• Make the plans flexible and
able to easy change without
loosing benefits
• Involve the operators and
maintainers at an early stage
• Don’t let this important phase
become construction float,
ring fence within the overall
programme