Brexit related rail disruption

[Highlandspring]

Anyone know whether conversion from lines being TCB to Axle Counter was the result of EU directives etc?

Nothing to do with the EU, everything to do with Network Rail asset management and renewal strategy.

 

[theironroad]

Nothing to do with the EU, everything to do with Network Rail asset management and renewal strategy.

Cheers.

Will be interesting to see what the BTP investigation discovers as to who planted these devices.

 

[Jonny]

Cheers.

Will be interesting to see what the BTP investigation discovers as to who planted these devices.

It depends on fingerprints and/or trace evidence.

 

[edwin_m]

Anyone know whether conversion from lines being TCB to Axle Counter was the result of EU directives etc?

It's likely that the axle counters comply with EuroNorms and the previous track circuits probably didn't. But that wouldn't be the reason to replace them.

 

[whhistle]

If a track sees one train an hour, I guess someone placing this device would just show the signaller the track is occupied?
If so, the signaller clearly knows the train before passed without problem, and the train after hasn't reached that point so I would have thought they would almost automatically be thinking track circuit failure anyway?

 

[theironroad]

If a track sees one train an hour, I guess someone placing this device would just show the signaller the track is occupied?
If so, the signaller clearly knows the train before passed without problem, and the train after hasn't reached that point so I would have thought they would almost automatically be thinking track circuit failure anyway?

As someone said upthread, this device wouldn't have had any effect on anything as it wouldn't work in axle counter areas. Whether the person placing it knew that is for the police to determine.

 

[MarkyT]

Nothing to do with the EU, everything to do with Network Rail asset management and renewal strategy.

The product originated in Germany where it became the standard train detection technology decades ago. Now many companies in different countries produce axle counter equipment. An Indian manufacturer produces their own version, for example, but that has never been approved for use in EU so far, or UK... yet.

 

[swt_passenger]

Anyone know whether conversion from lines being TCB to Axle Counter was the result of EU directives etc?

Adding to earlier replies, axle counters just replace track circuits as the means of train detection. In terms of signalling rules and operation it is still a “TCB area”...

 

[Highlandspring]

The product originated in Germany where it became the standard train detection technology decades ago. Now many companies in different countries produce axle counter equipment. An Indian manufacturer produces their own version, for example, but that has never been approved for use in EU so far, or UK... yet.

Axle counters of one sort or another have been in use in the UK since the 1930s. Their recent widespread adoption is not the result of any specific EU directive but is due to the internal policies of Network Rail.

 

[MarkyT]

Axle counters of one sort or another have been in use in the UK since the 1930s. Their recent widespread adoption is not the result of any specific EU directive but is due to the internal policies of Network Rail.

I think the earliest pre WW2 examples used flange operated mechanical treadle switches and telecoms type relay shift register banks to count and store. They were very much an experimental niche product until solid state electronic techniques became available in the 1960s.

 

[Ken H]

Off topic (sorry) but I am not an axle counter fan. One of the benefits of track circuits was if something metal obstructed the track and short circuited the circuit, then the signals would protect the line. Like in a crash when the derailing train obstructs the other track. or like when Gary Hart managed to drive off the motorway onto the ECML. They can also detect broken rails.