Centralisation of signalling infrastructure

You are here: Home > Forum > Miscellaneous > The real thing (anything else rail-oriented) > Centralisation of signalling infrastructure

Page 1 of 1

Centralisation of signalling infrastructure 22/05/2019 at 09:15 #118430
Richard42
Avatar
45 posts
As a SimSig player, but without a "proper" railway background, can I ask what is probably a naive question?

There seems to be ever more combining of signalling centres into yet bigger ones. Thinking about other industries with large, safety critical systems, they have redundancy built in - does signalling? If York IECC (for instance) has a massive outage, is there a geographically distinct centre that can step in?

Log in to reply
Centralisation of signalling infrastructure 22/05/2019 at 09:56 #118431
Sacro
Avatar
1171 posts
Not that I'm aware of, some areas in years gone by had "slave panels" at some locations that could be used in an emergancy.

Also York IECC closed in December, it's all at the ROC now!

Log in to reply
The following user said thank you: Richard42
Centralisation of signalling infrastructure 22/05/2019 at 12:12 #118433
GeoffM
Avatar
6274 posts
The problem is not so much technical (yes, it's feasible) but humans. Maintaining a group of qualified signallers (etc) near to a back-up location is hugely expensive, and transporting local signallers to that remote facility is likely to take longer than fixing the problem.

The failure rate of a large signalling centre for more than an hour is incredibly low, so all combined, it's not a viable thing to do. Yes, it's massively inconvenient over a wide area for an extended amount of time while trains and crews get back into position after the failure, but when you consider a lone signaller in a mechanical box getting locked in the bog (true story) can also bring a line to a complete standstill, is it actually that much different?

SimSig Boss
Last edited: 22/05/2019 at 16:56 by GeoffM
Reason: Clarification now I'm more awake

Log in to reply
The following user said thank you: Richard42
Centralisation of signalling infrastructure 22/05/2019 at 14:02 #118434
Peter Bennet
Avatar
5355 posts
A few years ago Kings Cross box was evacuated for 2 days due to a fire in an adjacent building site and a service of sorts was operated from FPK using the panels in the relay rooms along the line.

Peter

I identify as half man half biscuit - crumbs!
Log in to reply
The following user said thank you: Richard42
Centralisation of signalling infrastructure 22/05/2019 at 14:33 #118435
Edgemaster
Avatar
332 posts
GSM-R radio terminals allow fairly seamless failover to adjacent areas, allowing other signallers to contact, and if necessary stop trains in the area in an emergency.
Twitter
Last edited: 22/05/2019 at 14:33 by Edgemaster
Reason: None given

Log in to reply
The following user said thank you: Richard42