RED Videos: Technology

For over 150 years, trains have relied on lineside signals, but technology is changing the landscape.

Safety critical communications is a vital part of running a railway safely and efficiently. Get it right, and everything runs smoothly. Get it wrong, and there can be damage to the infrastructure, injury, or even worse.

The railway has always needed depots of one kind or another. They are places to maintain trains, to load wagons, clean coaching stock, and stockpile rails and sleepers. With so much kit around, and people to work on it, safety has to be at the top of everyone’s list.

Points, trains and bridges are all assets, but so is almost everything on the railway – including the departures board, the signals and the seats in the carriages. RED 62 explains how all these elements link into a system and what the rail industry does to ensure asset integrity, and avert train accident risk.

This RED 57 programme looks at the risks posed by level crossings. A group of track workers are working in a possession by a level crossing. Errors in the handover between the crossing attendants are exacerbated by the PICOP’s fatigue and the signaller’s workload. These events lead to no signals protecting the crossing, and a very near miss.