In the latest of his features looking at various facets of railway operations, Network Rail North and East Route operations director Chris Gee details some of the aspects of the diverse signalling arrangements and the signalboxes which control train movements over the Harrogate loop line between Leeds and York.
All photographs: Chris Gee
Northern Class 170 units are the mainstay of services on the loop these days, along with the occasional Class 150/2 or Class 158.
As operations director for Network Rail’s North and East Route, my area of responsibility stretches from North Derbyshire/Nottinghamshire, through North Lincolnshire, Yorkshire and County Durham to Northumberland and briefly into Cumbria. Within that broad area is an eclectic mix of signalboxes of different ages and differing methods of operation. These range from the modern 2014-built Railway Operating Centre in York to some real gems in beautiful locations, such as Kirkham Abbey signalbox.
The methods of signalling range from the more common absolute block and track circuit block signalling through to token-less block, one-train working and no signaller token working. I still have lots of lever frame ‘boxes, complete with block instruments and bells, along with NX (entrance/exit) panel power signalboxes and modern Visual Display Unit workstations in our most modern railway operating centre.
I took on this role in April 2017 and at the time I inherited 135 signalboxes across the North and East of England. In that time, we have delivered a programme of re-signalling and re-control as part of our continued modernisation of the rail network and that number of operational signalboxes has now reduced to 104, while at the same time the number of workstations in York ROC has grown from seven to 14, because this is where the majority of railway operations has migrated.
In general, the railway industry evolves over time. This is what leads to the mix of types of signalling that we have. It isn’t affordable or practicable to completely re-signal vast swathes of the network in a small period of time, and not all of it needs renewing anyway.
Therefore, a pa
