Categories: Project Engineering
London Underground are planning to introduce modular P&C (S&C) to their network.
Traditionally, complex railway junction layouts have been hand built “in the hole” on site. Modular rail Switches and Crossings (Points & Crossings in LU terminology) is a method of constructing large layouts away from a build site, breaking it down into manageable sections (modules), transporting to site, and reassembling/installing. The problem is how to transport these modules to site and then install them.
The solution that Network Rail used was to fit the modules on tilt deck wagons for transportation by rail, and install with heavy duty rail cranes. This has worked well for Network Rail, but London Underground wishes to use this system on many parts of their E2 gauged railway – the sub-surface lines (not the deep “tube” lines) which involves unloading and installing inside the severely constrained tunnel environment. The solution also has to travel outside of the LU network to the module factories to pick up the P&C; this of course meant that any solution has to be able to operate on both NR and LU infrastructure with their often different, and sometimes opposing, engineering standards.
Tribe Engineering have provided LUL with consultancy services to assist in the requirements capture for the production of Project Requirements Specifications (PRS) and the Technical Requirements Specification (TRS) that have been used to go to the market to purchase a solution.
