The digital dawning at Crewe means the end of service for some venerable icons of the railway network. The inexorable march of digital technology has consigned three more examples of the mechanical railway to memory. Signalling for the Basford Hall yard complex has finally transferred to a remote modern centre that isn’t even in the same county.
Goods operations at Basford Hall will benefit immediately from a multi-million-pound upgrade. Principally, intermodal traffic will feel the benefit of renewed control systems, signalling and track infrastructure. That will also benefit the ever-busier West Coast Main Line.
New digital dawn for Crewe
All traffic is now benefitting from what’s been called a “once in a generation” overhaul of the signalling system serving one of Britain’s busiest railway junctions. Six different routes all converge on Crewe, and the Cheshire town is also home to a vast railway infrastructure, historically including engineering works and yards.
Network Rail’s £190m (€223m) investment in Crewe has seen improvements to track, lineside equipment and digital signalling installed at Basford Hall freight depot and the lines which connect it to the West Coast Main Line. Systems went live on Friday 3 January, with full control of the new signalling successfully switched to the impressive Rail Operating Centre in Manchester, 40 miles away (64km).
Cool signals and hot rails
The switchover represents the culmination of a two-year project. However, it also meant the last levers have been pulled at the three traditional electro-mechanical signal boxes. They have all been retired from service and replaced by the latest digital technology already directing trains across much of northwest England.
65 new LED signals and gantries have been installed, along with 24km of new signalling power cable. There’s a big upgrade in communications, with a brand new network of 30km of fibreoptic cabling connecting everything together. Five kilometres of new drainage has been installed. Finally, just in time for the forecast cold spell, 74 sets of points have been upgraded, including heating systems.
Freight benefits from the new era
Freightliner UK will immediately benefit. Much of their intermodal operation is routed through Crewe. “Basford Hall is one of our big hub locations,” said Louise Ward, Freightliner safety and sustainability director. “It’s the point where we join freight trains which are going on to London and where we split trains which are going up to the North of the country. This major investment will make sure that freight and people get to where they need to be, when they need to be there.”
“This major investment, using the latest technology, benefits both freight and passengers, getting goods and people to where they need to be more smoothly and reliably,” said Christian Irwin, Network Rail’s North West and Central Region Capital Delivery director.“[This] is the start of a new era for the way we signal freight and passenger trains through Crewe – one of the busiest junctions on Britain’s railway.”