Didcot - CrossCountry 220025 arriving from Manchester.
The Thames Valley Signalling Centre (TVSC) is the grey building with the black Network Rail lettering.

A rail operating centre (ROC) is a building that houses all signallers, signalling equipment, ancillaries and operators for a specific region or route on the United Kingdom's main rail network. The ROC supplants the work of several other signal boxes which have thus become redundant.

Network Rail announced the creation of fourteen[1][2] ROCs situated throughout Great Britain that will control all railway signalling over the British National Rail network. This was subsequently revised to twelve ROCs[3] with responsibilities at two (Saltley and Ashford) being transferred to other ROCs (Rugby and Gillingham respectively).[4]

In November 2016, Network Rail announced that the ROC at Edinburgh would not go into operation with all its functions and responsibilities being transferred to Cowlairs in Glasgow.[5]

Nationally this has meant the redundancy of eight hundred mechanical-lever signal boxes[6] and around two hundred panel and IECC boxes.[7] Some are listed buildings and will be left in situ.[8]

The ROCs are built under private contracts for Network Rail, and will only control the rail routes controlled by Network Rail. Railways in Northern Ireland, various heritage railways and other tramways are not subject to control by a ROC. Ashford IECC still controls the UK stretch of the Eurotunnel Rail Link (HS1/CTRL), which is owned by London and Continental Railways and not Network Rail.[4]

The ROCs function as signalling and control centres with signalling staff, train operating company (TOC) staff and Network Rail controllers all working under one roof. This is meant to enable quick solutions to signalling problems and fewer delays to trains and passengers. Network Rail envisage the twelve ROCs to be controlling the entire network by 2058.[9]

Signalling history

Originally, the early railways employed 'policemen' to time the intervals between trains and to give a 'stop' signal if a train had passed in the previous ten minutes.[10] Developments led to many everyday workings (such as interlocking points)[11] and signal boxes to house the levers that allowed signallers to change the points and signals over a given stretch of railway.[12] These signalboxes were often elevated above the railway due to the locking mechanisms of the signals and points being accommodated on the lower storey.[13] This also allowed the signaller to keep an eye on things from a good vantage point.[14]

At the end of the Second World War, the United Kingdom network was host to over ten thousand mechanical-lever signalboxes.[15] When British Rail was created from the Big Four private railway companies[16][17] under the Transport Act 1947,[18] they began to install power signal boxes (PSB) at strategic locations such as Euston, Crewe, Doncaster, Rugby and Carlisle.[19] The PSBs would remove the necessity for many individual boxes along a particular route and would pass control to one centralized location. Carlisle's PSB took over the responsibility of 44 signal boxes alone in the north west area.[20]

A step on from the PSBs was the IECC (Integrated Electronic Control Centre) system, a forerunner of the ROCs. The first IECC panel was installed at London Liverpool Street in 1989.[21]

After the railways in Britain were privatised in 1994,[17][note 1][22] staff from the then operating company, Railtrack, paid a visit to the Union Pacific Operating Center, USA in 1999.[23] After viewing the facilities and seeing the control they decided that a small number of major operating centres was the way forward for UK operations. Just one centre was approved and built in 2003 at Saltley, near to Birmingham, as part of the West Coast Route Modernisation.[24] However this building was not connected for some time and whilst it was used by Network Rail staff, no signalling equipment was installed until 2006.[25]

European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS)

With the advent of the 'Digital Railway' project,[26] signalling methods such as ERTMS have been adopted as a way forward by Network Rail. There are two components of ERTMS, ECTS (European Train Control System) and TMS (Traffic Management System).

Whereas lineside signals operated by a signaller would control train movements, ETCS will signal trains via a computer without lineside apparatus. In effect, the train creates its own 'buffer zone' through a digital signal transmitted from the cab.[27] An onboard computer on the train will inform the driver of the 'allowable speed and movement of the train.'[28] TMS allows delays to be minimised through a computer running algorithms and deciding how best to return traffic patterns to normal.

These systems mean the removal of traditional signalling infrastructure and the signal boxes that go with them.

Antecedents

Rugby ROC, alongside the West Coast Main Line

York IECC (Integrated Electronic Control Centre) is an example of an early version of a ROC. York IECC was opened in 1989[29] and controlled a large region in Yorkshire bounded by Gargrave, South Emsall, Selby, Northallerton, Cottingley (Leeds), Bramley and the Harrogate loop.[30][31] The ROC, which opened in York on 12 September 2014,[32] superseded the York IECC in January 2015[33] and will eventually control the East Coast Main Line and associated lines in Lincolnshire, Yorkshire and the Humber and the North East of England.[34] This means a King's Cross to Edinburgh train will be signalled by York ROC all the way from King's Cross to the Scottish Borders.[35]

Saltley ROC will become a remote signalling centre of Rugby. The facility at Saltley was opened as a bomb-proof[36] signalling centre for the West Coast Route Modernisation.[37] However, the inability to achieve a workable Traffic Management System (TMS)[38] without lineside signalling, meant an increased budget of £1.4 billion[39] and the building became a white elephant.[40] The structure was slowly integrated into a ROC function with signalling upgrades transferring responsibility to Saltley starting in 2006.[41] Because the interlocking mechanisms are in place, they will be left at Saltley and operated remotely from the Rugby ROC. What Saltley cannot do, that Rugby can, is host the human space needed for the signallers and train operating company (TOC) staff to work together.[25]

Network Rail route map with rail operating centres (ROCs) annotated. This is representational only and is not to scale.

ROC locations

No Region Name Date opened Route Signal ID plate Notes
1 Ashford 1993[4] Kent Responsibility for control of Ashford IECC will be divided between Three Bridges and Gillingham.[42]
2 Basingstoke April 2016[43][note 2] Wessex BEF (Feltham area), PW (Poole to Wool area) and SE (Salisbury to Exeter).[44]
3 Cardiff 24 October 2010[45] Wales CF (Cardiff Area signals), NT (Newport Area signals), PT (Port Talbot Area signals), SC (Shrewsbury to Crewe section) FH (Flint to Holyhead section) CWM (Canton Depot washer) Known as WROC; Wales Rail Operating Centre.[46]
4 Cowlairs December 2008[47] Scotland (West) Was originally opened as the West of Scotland Signalling Centre (WSSC).[48]
5 Derby 3 April 2008[49] East Midlands Was formerly known as the EMCC (East Midlands Control Centre)[50]
6 Didcot March 2010[51] Western TR (Original code now been superseded by), BL (Filton to Westerleigh area), DW (Down Westbury Automatic signals only), FY (Foster Yoman Sidings), HY (Hinksey Yard stop boards), OD (Oxford area), SB (Swindon B ICEE), SN (Slough ICEE), T (Swindon area, Reading area), TRK (Kintbury Crossing), UW (Up Westbury) and Z (Stockley).[52][53] Also known as the Thames Valley Signalling Centre (TVSC).[54]
7 Edinburgh 1976[55] Scotland (East) Originally opened as a PSB, then transferred to IECC in 2006.[56] In updated notices released in November 2016, it was stated that there will now be only one ROC in Scotland at Cowlairs in Glasgow. All functions will be transferred there when necessary.[5]
8 Gillingham 1994.[57] Kent Opened in 1994 as the East Kent Signalling Centre.[58]
9 Manchester 21 July 2014[59] LNW Will control all lines in the north west in addition to West Coast Main Line from Crewe to Carlisle.[60]
10 Romford November 2016[61][62][note 3][63] East Anglia
11 Rugby 13 November 2015[64] LNW
12 Saltley 13 March 2003[65] LNW First ROC Opened in 2003.[note 4] Functions will be transferred to Rugby ROC by 2019.[66]
13 Three Bridges 7 January 2014[67] Sussex
14 York 12 September 2014[68] LNE B[69] Projected last signal box transfer on the network will be to York in 2056 when Morpeth box closes.[34]
The York Rail Operating Centre.

In 2011, Network Rail forecast that 40% of the then remaining 845 signal boxes would be closed by 2017. Progress on this has been slower than anticipated and, by the end of 2017, 137 signal boxes that were due to close were still open.[46]

Benefits of the ROCs

Whilst the drive for the ROCs has been one of signalling upgrades, there are other benefits and detractions to the scheme. Around four thousand staff will lose their jobs over the course of the implementation programme leaving two thousand signallers in the ROCs.[70] The benefits of centralised control will be that the train operating company (TOC) staff will work alongside the Network Rail staff to allow cohesive problem solving such as resolving late running and last-minute platform changes. Network Rail have said that "The ROC is a key part of our strategy to improve reliability whilst driving down the cost of running and maintaining the railway."[71]

Hacking and safety

In 2016, it came to light that Network Rail had been hacked four times up to July 2016. As most of the rail network in the United Kingdom is analogue, it would not affect anything, but Network Rail have an aspiration for the digital rail Traffic Management System to go live in 2018. An online security company, who were not commissioned by, or working for Network Rail, discovered the hacks and declared that whilst the hacks were "probing and not disruptive," they could well be full of malicious software in the future.[72]

Network Rail responded by saying that

"Britain has the safest major railway in Europe... safety is our top priority, which is why we work closely with government, the security services, our partners and suppliers in the rail industry and security specialists to combat cyber threats."[73]

In 2017, Ian Prosser, the chief inspector of railways informed the Transport Select Committee that not enough had been done to alleviate the possibility of the ROCs becoming a single point of failure. Prosser highlighted higher workload on signallers and the contingencies needed in the event of a natural disaster disabling one of the ROCs.[74]

Acronym confusion

ROCs are mostly referred to as rail operating centres.[75] Even in Network Rail's own documentation they are sometimes referred to as railway operating centres.[76] Some of the railway press have referred to them as route operating centres[77][note 5] and even regional operating centre.[78][79]

This issue is further clouded by Network Rail having another ROC, the Railway Operational Code[80] and the signalling industry in the United Kingdom having a Remote Override Control.[81]

Notes

  1. ↑ This date refers to the privatization of the infrastructure under Railtrack. The train operating companies would not see final privatisation until 1997.
  2. ↑ This is a projected opening date and so the actual date of opening may vary.
  3. ↑ Romford was supposed to open in November 2015. The delay in opening has been unspecified.
  4. ↑ Originally opened as the West Coast Route Modernisation Control Centre (WCRMCC), then as the Network Management Centre, then as IECC and finally moved to ROC.
  5. ↑ Whilst this is a direct quote from an interview, the interviewer does not make use of a [sic] modifier to correct this error.

References

  1. ↑ "Operations Expenditure Summary" (PDF). Network Rail. p. 10. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  2. ↑ Minnis, John (2012). "Railway signal boxes, a review" (PDF). English Heritage. p. 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  3. ↑ "Rail operating centre officially opened in Manchester". Network rail. 21 July 2014. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 Rhodes 2015, p. 102.
  5. 1 2 Allen, David (7 December 2016). "ECML signals part three; north by north east". Rail Magazine. No. 815. Bauer Media. p. 77. ISSN 0953-4563.
  6. ↑ Carr, Collin (13 November 2015). "Network Rail opens Rugby operating centre". Rail UK. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  7. ↑ "Wholesale closure of almost every signal box on the network". Rail Engineer. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  8. ↑ "End of the line for 38 signal boxes". Express and Star. 7 August 2012. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  9. ↑ "Ergonomics at the heart of new signalling in the ROCs". RTM. Rail technology magazine. 1 September 2014. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  10. ↑ Wolmar, Christian (2008). "2". Fire & Steam. Atlantic Books. p. 49. ISBN 978-1-84354-630-6.
  11. ↑ "John Saxby". Grace's Guide to British Industrial History. Grace. 4 December 2014. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  12. ↑ "Railway signal boxes granted grade II listed status". BBC News. BBC. 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  13. ↑ Minnis, John (2012). "Railway Signal Boxes - A Review" (PDF). English Heritage. p. 9. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  14. ↑ Smith, Mike (2003). "Signal Boxes". Goods and not so goods. MyWeb. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  15. ↑ Paton, Graeme (20 February 2016). "End of the line for signal boxes after 150 years". The Times. No. 71838. p. 20.
  16. ↑ "Railways Act 1921". Railways Archive. RA. 16 August 1921. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  17. 1 2 "Why not nationalise the railways". BBC News. 11 July 2013. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  18. ↑ "Transport Act 1947" (PDF). Railways Archive. HMG. 1947. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  19. ↑ "Euston Signal Box". Westinghouse Brake & Saxby Signal Co. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
  20. ↑ Le Vay, Benedict (2014). Britain From the Rails. Chalfont St Peter: BRADT. p. 299. ISBN 978-1-84162-919-3.
  21. ↑ Scroggins, Danny (3 March 2015). "The British Power Signalling Register". BPSR: 34. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  22. ↑ "The Great train sell-off - whodunnit?". BBC. BBC News. 20 October 2000. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  23. ↑ Rhodes 2015, p. 3.
  24. ↑ "West Coast Route Modernisation Still Faces Tough Choices". Railway Gazette. 1 September 2003. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  25. 1 2 "National operating strategy unveiled". Rail Engineer. 6 October 2014. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  26. ↑ "ERTMS - a reality check". Rail Engineer. 28 August 2015. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  27. ↑ Quine, Adrian (25 April 2015). "Changing the signals on Britain's Railways". BBC. BBC News. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  28. ↑ "ERTMS Online" (PDF). Network Rail. p. 3. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  29. ↑ "IRSE News" (PDF). IRSE (199): 13. April 2014. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  30. ↑ Jacobs, Gerald (September 2006). Railway Track Diagrams - Eastern (Third ed.). Bradford-On-Avon: Trackmaps. pp. 18, 19, 20, 36, 37, 41, 42, 43. ISBN 978-0-9549866-2-9. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  31. ↑ "Network Rail chairman Rick Haythornthwaite opens new signalling attraction at National Railway Museum in York". The Press. 28 October 2009. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  32. ↑ Knowlson, Laura (13 September 2014). "£25m rail operation centre opens in York". York Press. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  33. ↑ Barnett, Ben (13 September 2014). "Britain's largest rail signals hub is completed in York". Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  34. 1 2 Rhodes 2015, p. 71.
  35. ↑ "Network Rail's biggest ROC opens in York". RTM. Railway Technology Magazine. 16 September 2015. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  36. ↑ Hodgson, Neil (5 April 2002). "New rail control centre is bombproof, but late". Liverpool Echo. Archived from the original on 20 February 2016. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  37. ↑ Paul DeGuay; Ed Rollings (June 2008). "Technical visit to the West Midlands" (PDF). IRSE. p. 9. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  38. ↑ "The signal for change". Rail magazine. Bauer Media. 23 March 2011. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
  39. ↑ Ford, Roger (1 November 2000). "ECTS level 2 replacs flawed vision". Railway Gazette. RG. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  40. ↑ Mitchell, Ian (June 2012). "Midlands and North Western Section" (PDF). IRSE News (179): 22. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  41. ↑ "£350 Million investment in signalling gets underway". Network rail. Network rail. 11 October 2006. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  42. ↑ "Route Specification 2014 Kent" (PDF). Network Rail. 2014. p. 30. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  43. ↑ Bave, Jessica (21 August 2015). "Network Rail chief executive tours Basingstoke training campus". Basingstoke Gazette. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  44. ↑ "Signal box prefix codes, B".
  45. ↑ "Westminster comes to Network Rail Wales". Network Rail. 26 October 2012. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  46. 1 2 Allen, David (25 April 2018). "Signalling changes in North Wales". Rail Magazine. No. 851. Peterborough: Bauer Media. p. 69. ISSN 0953-4563.
  47. ↑ "Putting the Paisley Corridor into the WSSC". Rail Engineer. 29 May 2012. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  48. ↑ "Route Q" (PDF). Network Rail. March 2010. p. 13. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  49. ↑ "Rail Control Centre is Unveiled". BBC. 3 April 2008. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  50. ↑ "East Midlands Route SRP" (PDF). Network Rail. p. 55. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  51. ↑ Mitchell, Ian (April 2010). "IECC and E10K on the Western" (PDF). No. 155. Institution of Railway Signal Engineers. p. 3. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  52. ↑ https://sacuksprodnrdigital0001.blob.core.windows.net/sectional-appendix/Sectional%20Appendix%20full%20PDFs%20March%2023/Western%20Sectional%20Appendix%20March%202023.pdf
  53. ↑ "Signal box prefix codes, T".
  54. ↑ Crossley, William (23 August 2010). "Signalling the future of the railways". Oxford Mail. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  55. ↑ "£150 million in eight stages serving over 23 million passengers a year at Edinburgh Waverley". railway people. 4 December 2006. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  56. ↑ Mitchell, Ian (26 March 2014). "RIF to ROC in Scotland". Rail Engineer. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  57. ↑ Glasspool, David. "Gillingham". Kent Rail. David Glasspool. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  58. ↑ Williams, Alan (December 2011). "A Signalling Solution for East Kent" (PDF). Signalling Solutions. Modern Railways. p. 2. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  59. ↑ "Manchester ROC officially Opened". Rail Express. Mortons Media Group. 22 July 2014. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  60. ↑ Rhodes 2015, p. 56.
  61. ↑ "ERTMS - the future of signalling is here" (PDF). Network Rail. July 2014. p. 8. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  62. ↑ "ROCs to cost £70 million". Rail (803): 18. 22 June 2016. ISSN 0953-4563.
  63. ↑ "Romford ROC nears Completion". UMC. 10 April 2015. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  64. ↑ "Rugby ready to roll". Network Rail. Archived from the original on 20 November 2015. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  65. ↑ "Bomb-proof hub to control area's trains". The Free Library. Birmingham Post. 13 March 2003. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  66. ↑ Crow, Bob (16 May 2013). "REORGANISATION OF WEST MIDLANDS SIGNALLING CENTRE - NETWORK RAIL" (PDF). RMT3bridges. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  67. ↑ "Rail operating centre opens at Three Bridges". Crawley and Horley Observer. 7 January 2014. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  68. ↑ "Biggest railway control centre in the country opens in York". Network Rail. 15 September 2014. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  69. ↑ "Signal box prefix codes, Y".
  70. ↑ "4000 jobs to go in Network Rail signalling revolution". Railnews. 21 July 2011. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  71. ↑ Verster, Phil. "Delivering a better railway for the North East, Yorkshire and East Midlands". Network Rail. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
  72. ↑ Dean, James (13 July 2016). "Threat to passenger safety as hackers infiltrate rail network". The Times (71961): 16. ISSN 0140-0460.
  73. ↑ Boyle, Emma (13 July 2016). "UK rail network attacked by hackers four times in a year". The Independent. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
  74. ↑ "ORR warns that ROC risks 'not yet adequately assessed' by Network Rail". www.railtechnologymagazine.com. 27 January 2017. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
  75. ↑ "Our plans for an operating centre in York get the go-ahead". Network Rail. 24 May 2012. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  76. ↑ "York Operating Centre". Network Rail. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  77. ↑ Clinnick, Richard (13 May 2015). "Inside Three Bridges". Rail Magazine (774): 49. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  78. ↑ "Deltarail Completes Pioneering Edinburgh Signalling Control Installation". Delta rail. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  79. ↑ "A new state-of-the-art signalling centre that will control large parts of railway operations across Sussex has been formally opened". The Spencer Group. 15 January 2014. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  80. ↑ "Railway Operational Code". Network Rail. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  81. ↑ "Remote control standby arrangements" (PDF). RSSB. June 1988. p. 1. Retrieved 18 November 2015.

Sources

  • Rhodes, Michael (2015). Resignalling Britain. Horncastle: Mortons Media Publishing. ISBN 978-1-909128-64-4.
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