As part of Arriva North’s new train strategy, 4 new stabling roads have been built at Siemens Ardwick depot to house some of the new £500m fleet of trains.
Zonegreen have installed their New Generation Depot Personnel Protection System (DPPS) on the stabling roads, where at least 16 vehicles will be housed. As part of Arriva Trains North’s new strategy. This follows on from the firm installing their original DPPS at the depot when it was constructed in 2006.
Zonegreen’s flagship technology has protected staff at Ardwick since the maintenance depot and sidings were constructed in 2006, using the latest technology to automate safety procedures and remove the margin for human error. Following the recent modifications, undertaken by main contractor, Spencer Group, Zonegreen’s New Generation system has been integrated with the existing infrastructure to provide a safe working environment.
Staff working on the new stabling roads are protected via a signalling interface, which prevents routes being set if personnel are logged on to the DPPS. Train movements can only be activated when no one is working on an individual road or on to the existing fuel road that is used to access the new installation. Once a route has been set, post-mounted beacons are activated to warn people of a potential vehicle movement and staff are no longer permitted to log on.
Christian Fletcher, Zonegreen’s technical director, said: “The new stabling facility at Ardwick has allowed us to demonstrate just how adaptable DPPS is to the changing needs of rail depots. Our New Generation system has been designed to suit the new layout, allowing us to maintain the safest working environment possible, whilst giving Siemens the flexibility and confidence to move vehicles around efficiently.”
Zonegreen has also installed a new Depot Manager PC in Ardwick’s control room. It displays the status of DPPS, including the signalling slotting system and provides the names of all personnel logged onto the sidings roads.