UK: Redundant lineside signals have been removed from the Northern City Line into London’s Moorgate terminus, which has become Network Rail’s first commuter route to operate using ETCS Level 2 cab signalling alone.
Govia Thameslink Railway’s Great Northern services on the 6 km mostly underground line linking the East Coast Main Line with London’s financial district have been using ETCS since November 2023, but the lineside signals remained in place until the weekend of May 17-18, when Siemens Mobility took the final step to switch off and remove the legacy infrastructure.
‘This cutting-edge programme is bringing our railways into the 21st century and beyond’, said Rail Minister Lord Peter Hendy. ‘Digital signalling is not only more cost effective, but even safer and more resilient than traditional signalling. This technology, which is as advanced as it gets, could reduce delays by up to a third’.
East Coast Digital Programme pilot
An ETCS Level 2 pilot scheme on the rural Cambrian lines in Wales went live in 2011, and Level 2 is also in operation in addition to lineside signals to support automated operation on the Thameslink core between London Bridge and St Pancras International.
The upgrade of the busy Northern City Line forms part of the £1·4bn East Coast Digital Programme which will see ETCS introduced across 160 route-km of the 200 km/h East Coast Main Line between London and Grantham. The branch was selected to pilot the deployment as it has a captive fleet of ETCS-fitted Siemens Mobility Class 717 EMUs and renewals would allow the removal of life-expired signalling and mechanical train stops dating from before the former London Underground line became part of the national rail network in the mid-1970s.
‘The learnings we have had from delivering a no-signals railway in the heart of London are what will enable us to deliver a railway transformation on the East Coast Main Line and then nationally’, said Ed Akers, Industry Partnership Director, ECDP, at Network Rail.
Testing is currently underway with an ETCS overlay on the existing signalling over the 29 km between Welwyn Garden City and Hitchin, which will be the first section of main line to operate with ETCS. Preparatory works are also underway between Biggleswade and Peterborough.
‘The Northern City Line has been a crucial pathfinder project for the wider East Coast Digital Programme’, said Alejandro Moreno, Market Director Rail & Transit at ECDP systems integration partner AtkinsRéalis.
‘We have established a proven template for digital railway transformation. The knowledge gained from this project will directly inform our approach to simplify and accelerate the next digital signalling implementations, such as the Transpennine Route Upgrade, serving as a model for future renewal schemes across the rail network.’
