Rail Systems

Client Requirements

As well as providing project support at a strategic level, our design team boasts management ability across all aspects of major and minor signaling project.

This additional service feature helps us work more effectively with installation and testing & commissioning teams – so we can ensure that the ‘downstream’ activities are completed safely and efficiently.

Members of the XRAIL team are also well versed in many contract methodologies. Amongst others, XRAIL can support your technical requirements in:

• NEC contract management
• technical bid support
• signalling design programme management through P3
• signalling design management in small or large organisations
• process management

Sub-Contract Management:

Our design team has proven experience in managing design sub-contracts, both in the UK and abroad. As a result, we have access to greater resources and can offer clients an enhanced working capacity; we also give clients the added benefit that all work is reviewed by XRAIL, thereby ensuring every piece of work meets our standards of accuracy and presentation.

Increasingly, organisations are benefiting from the expertise of foreign contractors. Many technology specialities reside overseas in places like Toronto, Canada, and there is a number of major design houses in India, with whom we have strong links. Because of our close association with these companies, we trust them to help deliver our clients’ high expectations.

XRAIL maintains a high level of interface with our sub-contractors, providing mentorship on technical levels, through training, guidance and close supervision.

1. Design

We offer turnkey solutions to ensure works involving signalling modifications or new installations are progressed and controlled.

Because of this, our clients can be confident their projects will be completed as they expect.

• Signal Design Production – 1.1.150C
• Signal Design Checking – 1.1.150C and 1.1.160
• Signal Design Approvals – 1.1.150C and 1.1.160
• London Underground CAT ‘S’ Approvals
• Signal Scheme Designs – 1.1.150A

We provide a complete solution, or a combination of solutions, including:

• High level scheme designs
• Guidance on site verification (wire-counts and correlation) strategies
• Fully prepared, checked and approved designs with London Underground CAT ‘S’
• Automatic signalling
• Controlled signalling – simple and complex junctions
• Overlap calculations for safe train operation
• Journey time analysis – headway calculations
• Pre- and post-commissioning support

Our designers work on a variety of systems, including:

• London Underground assets – mechanical interlockings to CBI Systems
• Various ATP, ATO and ATC systems
• CBTC – Thales-based CBI system
• Westrace and DTG (Distance-to-Go) – Invensys
• CBTC – Bombardier EBI Lock CBI System

2. Assurance

A thorough and systematic process of safety assurance is essential to ensure that systems or equipment achieve acceptable, or tolerable, safety levels before they enter use.

XRAIL offers design assurance and design risk assessments both on our own designs and to complement designs supplied by a client.

The typical design assurance elements we can provide:

• Signalling design compliance
• Conceptual design statements
• Design check certification
• Designer risk assessments
• Hazard analysis
• Failure mode and effect cause analysis (FMECA)
• Project assurance plan
• Safety case support
• Signalling design acceptance assurance

3. Implementation

System Integration

System integration entails successfully bringing all sub-systems together so they function together as a whole.

The route to successful integration begins at the start of the development lifecycle, through the creation of appropriate interface specifications to define and control the way in which the sub-systems will operate together once they have been commissioned. This is achieved firstly by maintaining these interface specifications as the design and development of each sub-system evolves; and secondly through the development of procedures to test the behaviour of each system, both on its own and within the overall system.

XRAIL has a thorough knowledge and experience of the gamut of railway systems. This gives us the broad range of skills necessary to establish the root cause of any latent problem within a sub-system which could affect the overall performance of that system.

Implementation/Test Commissioning

XRAIL delivers a range of Installation and Testing system activities. We employ Institute of Railway Signal Engineers (IRSE) licensed competent engineers to undertake your safety and non-vital Installation and testing requirements.

We can provide IRSE licensed staff to undertake:

• Installation – Signal / Communication Equipment Rooms and Wayside
• Installation Supervision. Post Installation Check-Out Management
• Functional Testing
• Principle Testing – Off-site and On-site
• Factory Acceptance Testing for CBI Testing
• Software-based Testing
• Testing Strategies and Test Plan production.

Our highly respected partners can also extend the following services to ease your integration on-site to other systems:

• Permanent Way, Civils, HVAC and LVAC, Fibre Optics, CCTV, PA and Customer Information.

4. Bringing into Service

This is one of most exciting and nervous time of the project, when you are ready to bring your years of hard work into play. Bringing your system into services is when all your Design, Installation and Testing is now near complete and it needs that one last push to make it go live.

XRAIL can support you bring your system into service by:

• Your reviewing your design still matched what you intended to commission.
• From a client perspective making sure “you are still getting what you paid for”.
• Developing a commissioning strategy – All the more important for renewals when you have to take into consideration that you have run a service in the morning.
• Making sure you are ready with your Asset Management Strategy.
• Ensuring your Configuration Management System is in place and be ready for you to transfer it to Operations and Maintenance.
• Developing your Maintenance and failure Strategy and trial your deployment to respond to a failure.
• Providing technical support staff for on the night commissioning.

There is nothing like being prepared, so let XRAIL help you be prepared and be ready.

Operations & Maintenance

XRAIL provides the highest levels of operational and Maintenance support, through its people. Our consultants who have decades of experience in running a Railway can tailor your requirements during your Operational and Maintenance Phase, ensuring your customers receive a continued service of a world-class journey.

Our Operational Services include:

• Current system performance review and improvement,
• Assessment review and preparation of operations rules and procedures,
• Operational concepts preparation,
• Stakeholder management,
• Supplier liaison,
• Operational specifications preparation,
• Tender review and operational readiness expertise,
• Day to day operational skills coaching,
• Operational upgrade and renewals planning expertise,
• Trade union relationship development,
• Day to day efficiency reviews and recommendations,
• Timetable review and planning, operational security expertise,
• Management event planning and leadership.

Smart Innovative Maintenance

With the growing requirement to provide a more SMART intuitive ways to maintenance on the railway, XRAIL consultants who have been on the ground ‘getting their hands dirty’ knows it too well what it means to create a balance between maintaining your assets when required than just maintaining it regularly.

The increase of available tools and tried and tested methodologies, XRAIL can support you in:

• Review and developing maintenance strategies of existing and new maintenance methodologies.
• Develop Innovative maintenance techniques
• Develop and deploy Remote condition monitoring for your Systems – Allow you to predict and prevent before your system goes down.
• Provide technical experts to undertake your maintenanceWords