Wolverhampton Commissioning Braves Freezing Temperatures
08 December 2010
On Monday, 29 November at 04:40, Invensys Rail successfully commissioned the Oxley resignalling project at the end of a nine-day blockade.
The 16-month programme of works involved the decommissioning of Oxley signal box and transferring control of the Wolverhampton to Madeley section of the Shrewsbury line to the West Midlands Signalling Control Centre (WMSCC), under the control of a WESTCAD workstation. In total, 12ml of main lines and loops were resignalled, as well as a 25 siding depot, which stables part of the West Coast Main Line Virgin Pendolino fleet.
This scope of this multi-disciplinary, Type B project covered 81 signal equivalent units (SEUs) and was the first scheme to see the introduction of Invensys Rail's computer based interlocking, WESTLOCK with two trackside interfaces at the WMSCC controlled over the fibre transmission network (FTN). Invensys was responsible for all civils work, using the company's own installation team, as well as managing the Telecoms and E&P subcontractors.
Commenting on the programme Invensys Rail's senior project manager, Matthew Kent, said: "This was a technically challenging project, which contained some complex midweek temporary block working. However, great credit goes to the entire project team who delivered the programme on time, despite some particularly testing conditions which saw temperatures drop to -12°C during the commissioning."
