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Friday, 06 January 2006

Press release: STS Signals’ Rapid Response to Signal box Fire (photos attached) Photographs courtesy of www.derby-signalling.org.uk

When a serious fire at Alrewas signal box destroyed the telephone concentrator, Network Rail expected months of disruption to traffic while waiting for a replacement. STS Signals responded to the urgent request by delivering a replacement in just 6 days.

During the early hours of Sunday 23rd October 2005, a passing police patrol reported that Alrewas signal box was on fire. The signal box is a LNW Type 4 structure that fringes to Derby Powerbox on the South Staffordshire line. Once the fire service had attended and doused the flames, the box was found to be extensively smoke damaged and the heat had taken its toll on much of the internal fixtures. To the astonishment of all concerned, however, all the signalling equipment was found to operate correctly and the life of the box was saved – but the telephone concentrator needed to be replaced urgently.

Refurbishment of the signal box was quickly underway, and Network Rail approached the UK ’s leading supplier of non-blocking telephone concentrator equipment, STS Signals in Wimborne, Dorset to supply a replacement CONCEPT 16 ‘Mini-Concentrator’. STS Signals’ rapid response team managed to manufacture and test the new system within six working days, and enabled the Network Rail installers to meet their refurbishment deadlines.

The STS Signals CONCEPT 16 Telephone Mini-Concentrator system has been designed to meet the exacting requirements of Rail Administrations, especially when working in an electrified environment.

Based on the well established CONCEPT 32 design, CONCEPT 16 shares many of the same approved components, and is particularly valuable where smaller numbers of lines are required and space is at a premium. The CONCEPT 16 system is used to control up to 16 remote telephones via a single control point from where each telephone may be called individually.

29 January 2006
STS Signals awarded 10 Concentrator systems order for LNW territory

Network Rail has awarded a significant contract to STS Signals’ Wimborne division to provide replacement telephone concentrators as part of the London North West territory signalling renewals project.

The contract is for the replacement of life-expired Signal Post Telephone (SPT) systems with a cost effective, genuine non-blocking concentrator solution that offers high reliability and improved maintainability with full engineering support.

Ten concentrator systems will be delivered to locations across the West Midlands area from North Wales via Liverpool, Crewe and Manchester to Sheffield in support of the Network Rail renewal programme.

STS Signals’ have created a unique solution to the problem of replacing the life-expired “Protowire” telephone system used by Signallers to communicate with trackside phones. Their new ‘1306 Series’ of keyboards provides a space efficient replacement when used in conjunction with the established CONCEPT 32 concentrator range.

Phil Tait, STS Signals’ General Manager, said: “We are delighted to receive this contract and are looking forward to working together with Network Rail to deliver cost effective solutions for telecom renewals projects”.

The new contract continues STS Signals’ success on the West Coast Main Line, where recent telecoms renewal projects from Warrington to Carlisle have been implemented successfully in conjunction with Siemens Transportation Systems.

04 May 2006
NETWORK RAIL & telent AWARDS CONTRACT TO STS SIGNALS FOR RENEWAL OF COLCHESTER SIGNAL POST TELEPHONE SYSTEM

Network Rail and prime contractor telent Enterprise Services have awarded STS Signals a major contract to renew the SPT telephone system in the Colchester and East Anglia region, on one of the busiest commuter and freight lines into London’s Liverpool Street station.

The contract is part of Network Rail’s major investment programme and is designed to increase the reliability of communications between train drivers, trackside workers and signallers based at Colchester Power Signal Box.

The scope involves the replacement of the existing life-expired concentrators at Colchester PSB and remote sites at Manningtree, Ipswich, Stowmarket, Diss and Norfolk. The new networked system will have a capacity in excess of 650 trackside telephones and a Public Emergency Telephone (PETS) system at 20 level crossings covering a 60 mile route between Colchester and Norfolk.

Commenting on the contract award, Phil Tait, STS Signals’ General Manager, said: “We are delighted to have been awarded this contract and to be part of the significant investment being made by Network Rail South East Territory”.

When the project is completed in early 2007, signallers at Colchester will be able to communicate conveniently and easily, using proven STS Signals’ CONCEPT 32 network concentrator equipment with custom-designed control panels to suit the constraints of the signal box. All STS Signals’ systems are manufactured in England and provide a cost effective, genuine non-blocking concentrator solution that offers high reliability and improved maintainability with full engineering support.

STS Signals also designs, manufactures and repairs a wide range of electro-mechanical products for railways applications. Products include signalling relays, concentrators for trackside telecoms, Train Protection Warning System and Automatic Warning Systems. The Company also provides ad hoc solutions to specific problems encountered by railway customers.

STS Signals is part of the STS International Group, which also includes STS Defence, STS Switchgear and STS Motors.

Further information available from:

Phil Tait , General Manager

STS Signals Ltd, Unit 2, Stone Lane Industrial Estate, Wimborne, Dorset , BH21 1HD

Email: phil.tait@sts-international.co.uk

Tel: +44 (0) 1202 888 402