Derailers within a depot

[Trains4Sale]

Looking for the standards/regs for placing derailers within a depot. My understanding is that they are in place as part of depot protection to protect a work area i.e., four foot, servicing/maintenance areas or working below sole bar level on a train within the depot.

 

[ComUtoR]

I would say that it will be part of the TOC/FOC safety case and then identified on a depot by depot basis.

I had a quick check of the 'standards' and barely found any reference to derailers only some specific compliance requirements.

 

[Trains4Sale]

I would say that it will be part of the TOC/FOC safety case and then identified on a depot by depot basis.

I had a quick check of the 'standards' and barely found any reference to derailers only some specific compliance requirements.

Thanks. I also checked the standards but found reference only to points etc. Rail alliance (NWR/Babcock) are building Cadder depot. I question the way the points have been placed. It is only my opinion, but I think the points should be placed so that depot protection can be put in place to create safe work areas, however my facilities disagree and say that they are intended to derail a runaway heading toward a mainline.

 

[ComUtoR]

Safe work areas can be created using other means. They may have been placed in addition to other means of depot protection. All the ones I know of on my patch protect the running line. I don't doubt that they would have undertaken a risk assessment. Potentially there is a greater risk of derailing into an adjacent safe area. I would ask your facilities for a breakdown of all the depot protection being provided.

Derailer
A device attached to a rail that will, when in its effective position, cause the derailment of a vehicle. It is used to guard against unauthorised movements.

 

[DaveTM]

There are derailers at Littlehampton depot on all three shed roads (but not on the sidings roads parallel to the shed roads). The yard is very nearly flat (as those who have been gapped have found out, releasing your brakes doesn't let you roll either forward or backward onto the juice). Whether you leave the shed or sidings you have to pass LH11 ground position signal before you reach the mainline. So I can only assume the deraillers were provided for the safety of people working inside the shed, rather than to protect the running line (which is 25mph approaching a terminus station with good visibility).

 

[aleggatta]

Derailers at Brighton are placed to protect the shed, and are part of the shed depot protection system. I would have thought that protecting the exit from a depot would not be done using a derailer, rather using a set of trap points. I guess ultimately their use depends on how they have been set up to be controlled. If linked to the signalling system only then I can see the case for them being used to protect depot movements. If linked to specific depot protection equipment then to protect the worksite?

it was always quite funny how… regularly some train preps resulted in derailments outside the shed, simply from fitters who forgot they weren’t scotched when carrying out brake tests!

 

[edwin_m]

I was recently involved in a new depot project where it was planned to have derailers protecting against unauthorised moves into roads where work might be taking place. Clipping points can achieve the same thing if the layout allows the unauthorised move to be diverted somewhere harmless.