Invensys Rail: Building on tradition

The manufacturing unit at Invensys Rail has a hugely impressive heritage, with production at the company’s Chippenham site dating back to the early 1900s when it first manufactured relays for the UK’s railways. Although the facility is still based there, the picture today is of a vastly different capability. Covering 11,000m2, the site is home to state-of-the-art equipment, techniques and processes, all of which are dedicated to the design and production of a wide range of systems and rail infrastructure equipment.

From those early days, the company’s portfolio of products has grown enormously and now spans over 5,000 individual products and systems. From bespoke items to high-volume manufacture, it includes electronic interlockings, train detection systems, mechanical point machines, colour light signals and relays, with many products being configured to meet the specific requirements of individual customers.

The most space-intensive manufacturing area is for location cases and REBs; as one of the UK’s largest manufacturers, the company has 20 production bays which provide the capacity to build up to 1,500 relay racks or location cases each year. Amongst recent projects, it has supplied REBs and locations for projects such as Reading, Glasgow Central, the Paisley Corridor Improvement Programme and Heathrow Terminal 5. And it will supply Amey with 12 location cases and an REB for the Cotswold redoubling scheme.

Made to order

Since 2008, around half a million pounds has been invested in a pre-wire facility, with capacity increasing to meet demand from both UK and overseas customers. Dedicated provision has now also been established for low-volume, bespoke equipment such as train describers, technician’s terminals and alarm cubicles. For example, between 2006 and 2007, 40 custom-built cubicles were manufactured for use on the Jubilee Line extension, each one built, TC2 and factory acceptance tested to customer specifications. For these projects, Invensys provided engineering support throughout the design and manufacturing stages, developing a portable automated test facility to verify cubicle functionality.

Relays have been at the heart of the manufacturing operation for over a century and the company is the world’s largest supplier of BR930 series products – the range including over 460 variants of mechanical relays for both train-borne and control centre applications. Over a five year period, around 25,000 relays for the WESTPAC MK3A renewal project have been manufactured and supplied to Network Rail. WESTPAC comprises pre-wired units containing a combination of relays which are housed together in a single sealed, or unsealed, chassis. Each unit is mounted on racking within an equipment room, replicating the geographical location of equipment mounted trackside.

The electromechanical unit manufactures a range of equipment including point machines, plug-coupled disconnection boxes, train stops and LED signals, as well as conventional filament signals which have been manufactured and supported for over 50 years. As with all areas, production teams and designers work closely to develop products that incorporate features which optimise manufacturability, serviceability and installation – for example, the introduction of plug-coupled as well as hard-wired options on products such as LED signal heads and point machines.

Scandinavian schemes

A further dedicated electronics unit manufactures advanced solutions and systems, including Sirius CBTC, FUTUR ERTMS Radio Block Centre and European Vital Computer, TBS100 Vital Processing Platform, WESTRACE computer-based interlocking, WESTRACE jointless track circuits and transmission-based signalling systems.

For instance, in 2010 Invensys supplied equipment to two Scandinavian schemes. In Finland, it was awarded the contract to design, manufacture, install and test six centralised WESTRACE computer-based interlockings for the Lisalmi main line project, together with three remote WESTRACE systems to control level crossings, a block interface and a dual local traffic management system which will replace the life-expired existing interlocking and rail infrastructure that is currently in operation. This will be commissioned in winter 2011.

In December 2010, the company completed commissionings on Lines 1 and 6 of Oslo Metro’s T-Bane system on behalf of rail operator KTPAS. With two new WESTRACE interlockings at Jar Station on the Kolsäsbanen (Line 6) and a further WESTRACE interlocking at Holmenkollen, the system controls the new six-car trains which are now running between the station and Oslo. With over 1,500 WESTRACE installations worldwide, the product has been an approved interlocking solution in Norway for over 15 years.

Culture-based safety programme

With Invensys equipment operating in often challenging yet safety-critical environments, quality and reliability are absolutely paramount and, to that end, significant investment continues to be made in both plant and personnel to ensure the quality of all equipment, ensuring it can operate just as effectively and reliably in the heat and humidity of Saudi Arabia as the extreme cold of Scandinavia.

Invensys Rail is an ISO9001 and ISO14001 certified company and has not had a lost-time accident within the manufacturing area for over three years. As an OHSAS18001 certified company, it has an obligation to continuously improve its safety processes and procedures.

The latest initiative is a culture-based safety programme, ‘Stop & Talk’. Managers, supervisors and other leaders are trained to conduct safety conversations and while each of these follows a carefully-planned structure, the aim is to involve everyone working on the front line in production and trackside in taking control of safety for themselves and their colleagues.

So far, more than 250 managers, leaders and supervisors have been trained in how to conduct good ‘Stop & Talk’ conversations, based around nine key steps which include praising good safe behaviours as well as getting the individual or team’s commitment to correct any unsafe acts on the spot. A record of each discussion is kept on a tracking system which enables the company to identify which key safe behaviours have been observed and whether there are any trends in unsafe behaviours.

‘Stop & Talk’ has injected a new sense of impetus in safety leadership by focusing on people’s individual attitudes and behaviours. Each leader is tasked with carrying out two ‘Stop & Talk’ conversations each month, with an overall objective of completing 4,000 by the end of this month. This initiative has been shortlisted for the IOSH SHP Awards for Best Health and Safety Achievement for 2010.

Component obsolescence

Invensys also operates a product life-cycle and component obsolescence management programme and is an active member of the Component Obsolescence Group (COG) which, combined with a subscription to the QinetiQ QSTAR database, assists in the identification of critical components which may become obsolete. A ‘last time buy’ policy is operated for any component identified under this programme and this enables future customer requirements to be fulfilled.

With a clear focus on modern production methods which has seen the introduction of lean manufacturing techniques, the company is now able to respond rapidly to the changing requirements of the market, offering competitive lead times and prices on most of the core product range.

Invensys has a reputation for the delivery of high quality, engineered products and systems. With its ongoing programme of investment in plant, processes and personnel, it intends to continue that tradition, developing and delivering robust, reliable and technically advanced solutions that help rail operators to provide increasingly efficient and safe services to passengers across the world.