How to Leverage Changes to SIGELP 50000 for Maximum Impact
In December 2023, improvements were made to Network Rail’s Safe Working and Maintenance on or near Signalling Power Distribution Equipment above 175 V AC standard, NR/L2/SIGELP/50000, known as SIGELP 50000.
This standard governs the maintenance of lineside signalling power supplies on Network Rail infrastructure.
The updated standard means that maintenance engineers can use Insulation Monitoring Devices (IMDs) in place of periodic inspection and maintenance activities. In a step change improvement, IMDs continuously monitor and report back on the health of signalling power systems. This data is fed into a closed-loop management system, giving real-time insights for proactive maintenance.
Previously, the work to assess the condition of the lineside signalling power asset required breaking down and testing systems every five years before carrying out any renewals, interventions and improvements. However, the process is resource-intensive and poses safety risks to maintenance staff, while results may be inaccurate due to a range of environmental and physical conditions. This periodic testing regime also requires equipment to be dismantled, tested and reassembled, which increases the risk of faults, and only provides a snapshot-in-time assessment of the condition.
Improving Rail Maintenance Through Recent Changes
Improvements to SIGELP 50000 come at a crucial time for rail maintenance and operation managers. The drive to modernise maintenance practices in CP6 has challenged the industry to do more with less. Resource tightening comes in the context of the railway’s ageing infrastructure, increased traffic and a greater pressure to meet safety and reliability KPIs in the new control period.
This has led to a growing appetite among engineers for automation solutions that facilitate compliance to standards, and they are open to partnering with providers who fully support them with setup and operation.
An IMD can be installed during white periods or rules of the route, even on a critical junction or close to urban hubs. This eliminates the need for costly possessions. Once fitted to the signalling power system, the IMD continually monitors the signalling power system for faults or potential faults. It removes the safety issues associated with road travel and ‘boots on ballast’ and provides a remote solution. As a result, maintenance engineers and asset managers can achieve compliance with standards and regulations more easily and save on maintenance and signal supply failure costs.
Getting the Most from the Changes with CableGuardian
There are differences between different IMD products in the market which can impact your ability to maximise ROI following changes to the standard. Some key differences include:
Comprehensive monitoring: IMDs like Viper Innovations’ CableGuardian, which monitors not only insulation resistance but also capacitance, voltage and current, give a complete picture of an asset’s health reducing unnecessary maintenance
Pinpoint fault detection: CableGuardian’s unique spread-spectrum time-domain reflectometry (SSTDR) technology identifies core-to-core faults within metres, speeding up repairs and reducing cost and service interruption
Real-time analytics: Advanced features of CableGuardian offer real-time insights. This supports predictive maintenance. CableGuardian easily integrates with systems like Network Rail’s RADAR for smarter asset management
Proven reliability: CableGuardian’s strong track record on the UK rail network supports high performance, minimising service disruption and extending asset lifespan
To overcome roadblocks to implementation, managers will also benefit from selecting a supplier that can provide expertise, design, collaboration, training and field service assistance throughout a project’s lifecycle. CableGuardian by Viper Innovations supports comprehensive remote monitoring, and this is necessary to get the most out of these changes. This includes providing real-time insights into system health and performance. Changes to the standard cut the need for on-site inspections and allow managers to respond to incidents more quickly.
The CableGuardian system is fitted across the UK rail network. Viper has worked closely with Network Rail and the wider supply chain to progress changes to the SIGELP 50000 standard. CableGuardian builds on Viper’s cable testing systems, which have helped the subsea industry for years, by uniting insulation resistance and conductor monitoring technologies in a single platform.
CableGuardian is the only power-monitoring system for the railways to incorporate SSTDR alongside its advanced insulation monitoring technology, allowing engineers to pinpoint the location of cable and equipment failure on live systems. This technology reduces the delay per incident, saving days or weeks tracking down a fault, and removes the need for diagnostic missions, which significantly saves on cost.
Maintenance engineers and asset managers benefit from greater asset insights and can make earlier interventions to prevent system failures. The system is already integrated into RADAR, but operators can use the CableGuardian system online portal to access and analyse both real-time and historical data, generate reports, and track trends to optimise maintenance strategies and extend asset lifespan.
Partnering with Viper for Success
Viper Innovations offers expert support, guidance and assistance at every stage to make the transition to automated signalling system maintenance significantly more straightforward.
This includes:
Comprehensive support throughout the lifecycle, from knowledge development, specification, design, installation, testing and commissioning into maintenance monitoring and reporting, allowing maintenance teams to focus on their core responsibilities
Simplified installation based on easy-to-install design and integration capabilities, reducing disruption during switchover
Close collaboration with operators to create efficient specifications and optimise designs
Team briefings, full documentation and ongoing support to allow maintenance staff to operate CableGuardian independently
Extended coaching and support throughout the lifecycle
CableGuardian’s simple-to-understand interface makes data interpretation and system operation simple without the need for specialist technical expertise
CableGuardian offers the industry’s best solution for rail asset managers who need to comply with the updated SIGELP 50000 standard. Viper’s IMD market offering is the only solution available that is specifically designed for railway circuits, with a proved pedigree of preventing failures in the field.
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