ORR grants Network Rail exemption for the removal of TPWS at specified permanent speed restrictions
18 June 2007
ORR/12/07
The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) has granted Network Rail an exemption from the provision of the Railway Safety Regulations 1999 (RSR) concerning removal of the train protection and warning system (TPWS) at certain permanent speed restrictions (PSRs) on plain line curves.
Network Rail’s application relates to some 40% of PSR sites where its analysis shows no safety benefit from TPWS fitment in terms of mitigating over-speed derailment risk.
ORR’s decision to grant the exemption, which has conditions attached, follows six weeks of public consultation on the application. ORR said at the start of the consultation that, following its independent assessment of the case, it was minded to grant the exemption subject to conditions. Almost all consultees, including ASLEF, London TravelWatch, Transport for London, Institution of Railway Signal Engineers as well as other parts of industry, support the proposal.
The exemption allows Network Rail to removeTPWS fitments at those PSRs at plain line curves where the over-speed cant deficiency is less than 11.5°. That is in line with the specifications of the Railway Group Standard 5021, ‘Track System Requirements’.
Notes to Editors
- The Regulations required fitment of a train protection system to prescribed locations on the rail network (including all PSRs where the line speed was above 60 mph, and the speed reduction required was more than one third) and to trains operating on the rail network, by the end of 2003.
- The TPWS fitment programme, completed in December 2003, is widely accepted as a major achievement by industry. It has significantly reduced Signals Passed at Danger (SPAD) risk – down 90% since the March 2001 baseline.
- TPWS seeks to prevent collisions by providing automatic braking if trains pass red signals without authority (SPAD mitigation), or travel at excessive speed on the approach to signals, buffer stops or speed restrictions (speed mitigation). TPWS automatically applies a train’s brakes if it approaches a relevant speed restriction too fast.
- Network Rail submitted a formal application for an exemption from the RSR in respect of certain PSRs. Consultation on the application ended on 2 March 2007. Most responses from consultation supported granting the exemption and in attaching the proposed conditions.
- Regulation 6 of the RSR allows ORR to grant exemptions from any requirement imposed by the RSR and to attach conditions to any such exemptions.
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ORR Press Office – 020 7282 2188/2007
