ABB has won all the 400kV power upgrade orders placed to date for the northbound section of the West Coast Main Line. ABB project manager Sarah Hadfield reports on the latest developments including the successful completion of the Rugeley upgrade project.
The West Coast Main Line (WCML), which runs 641 miles from Euston station in London to Glasgow Central and Edinburgh Stations, is the UK’s busiest mixed traffic railway. But over 2,000 passenger and freight train movements each day, and more than 75 million rail journeys each year, were taking their toll on an infrastructure that had not seen any significant investment since the 1960s ' that’s why Network Rail embarked on its West Coast Main Line Modernisation programme ' Europe’s largest wholesale rail renewal scheme.
A key aim of the WCML upgrade programme is to provide 125mph route capability for tilting trains, such as the new Virgin Pendolinos. To meet this need, Network Rail is upgrading its trackside power supplies. ABB has been involved with the WCML since 1999, when we were awarded the contract to build a new 400/25kV substation at Patford Bridge, near Northampton.
RUGELEY
Most recently, we have successfully completed a two-year, £9 million project to upgrade the existing substation at Rugeley Power Station in Staffordshire to provide two new 400/25kV WCML feeder connections. This involved the installation of two ABB 400/26.25-0-26.25kV 40+40MVA SGTs (supergrid transformers) at the National Grid substation. Also included was the construction of a new 25kV compound and associated switchgear, and the provision of 25kV XLPE cables and associated fibre optic pilots.
The Rugeley project proved an excellent example of the value of both advanced planning and a high level of co-operation, liaison and teamwork between ABB and National Grid. These enabled key elements to be completed on-time, including the phased commissioning of the two circuits and reactor changes. Everything was ‘right first time’ within a very tight schedule. And just as important, the planning and organisation helped to establish a fantastic health and safety record, with over 90,000 man-hours completed on site without a single lost-time incident.
NICAP
The team forged at Rugeley has taken this positive experience forward into two new 400/25kV connection projects in Cumbria. In the drive to deliver increased efficiency and maximum value for money, we are defining a common core scope and engineered solution. So, instead of the traditional solution employed at Rugeley, we are adopting a bay solution for the substation protection and automation systems based on National Grid’s standardised NICAP (National scheme for Integrated Control And Protection) philosophy. This will offer some important advantages, including the ability to condense the same functionality into a much smaller footprint, and a higher level of factory assembly and testing to reduce the need for expensive onsite work.