Dan Holder

Said the following about Northern City Line Project Team:

“In May this year the Northern City Line digital railway team led by Dave Moore, working alongside the GTR and LNE & EM Works Delivery teams, successfully completed a special one-off project to support the introduction of the new GTR class 717 trains for the Northern City Line.

This project involved re-locating the platform starting signals (tunnel signals) and a speed board at four stations: Highbury and Islington; Essex Road; Old Street; and Moorgate. The cab design in the new class 717 alters the drivers view and perspective, resulting in the driver being unable to sight the platform starting signals, causing an operational and safety risk. This problem has delayed the full introduction of the new 717 fleet on the Northern City Line for services to Hertford etc.

These works were completed ahead of time - inception to delivery achieved, cost efficient - in only 14 weeks. This success could not have been achieved without the commitment and enthusiasm of our project team lead by Dave Moore, who worked collaboratively with GTR colleagues, Route Works Delivery and the Route Asset organisation which supported throughout.

This is a first-class example of the business and industry working together to overcome a problem to provide the best service possible for passengers. It reflects how we are Putting Passengers First and as a result GTR are now able to use the Northern City Line platforms fully and continue the introduction of new trains, on a busy London commuter line, with some of the oldest rolling stock on the network.

This work has strengthened the relationships the East Coast Digital team has with the industry and partners.

Background

On the introduction of the 717s it was discovered that the drivers were unsighted to some of the signals that were positioned on the right-hand side when they were fully berthed. To overcome this the trains needed to stop back from its designated stopping point, in some instances by 10m in order to sight the signal.

This led to a number of issues:

• Passengers waiting at the front of the platform would have to move down the platform to reach the first door and would be in the driver’s blind spot. To do this on a crowded platform increases the risk to passenger safety. (See attached Photo)

• The rear train doors could not be opened as half of the rear carriage would still be in the tunnel, causing issues with the passengers within the carriage having to move up the train.

In order to enable the 717s to fully berth it was decided to move the signals from the right-hand side to the left-hand side in front of the driver’s position. To reduce the time that revised operating procedures needed to be in place these works needed to accomplish this in as short a timeframe as possible, thus a sense of urgency and cooperation was required from all the stakeholders.

The project was completed in 17weeks, just before the agreed finish date of May timetable change.

Passenger Benefits

Having undertaken these works the following benefits were realised:

• The trains could fully berth the platforms, all doors available reducing dwell time allowing more efficient of the new stock.

• Removing the driver’s blind spot increasing safety.

• The passengers in the rear carriage are no longer required move up the carriage to exit, thus reducing their frustration.

• The requirement to move down the platform to reach the first door is removed with its inherent risk of rushing on a crowded platform and frustration of the passengers.

• Reduced the overcrowding on the first carriage increasing overall comfort.

• GTR’s revised operating procedures could be withdrawn saving the additional operators costs.

None of the above would have been possible without the collaboration of the team which brought together the different parts of the industry with a single aim to improve the passenger experience on the Northern City Line.“