More cable theft

[dowlingm]

IE services bollixed again today according to the RUI tweet machine. Maybe time to give something like this some thought, if the trials prove fruitful?

http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/industry-technology/single-view/view/off-the-shelf-signalling-trials.html
Richard Jones, business manager at Frazer-Nash, believes the system could ‘revolutionise low-cost signalling’ on lines with low traffic densities or where there is no money for conventional modern signalling systems. Another possibility is as a temporary back-up when technical failure or cable theft render main systems inoperable.Wasn't IE going to be rolling out marked cable? I guess that will take a while to make a dent in the existing stock.

[Mark Gleeson]

The vast bulk of the IE network doesn't use copper cable anymore, all fiber optic except for the last 100m or so, even under ERTMS Level3 where you get rid of all line side signals points and crossings are still going to be wired up, so you can't win.

[dowlingm]

Point taken, and it's not just cable of course but crossing gates too, but the closer we can come to smart train rather than smart track the better.

[Kilocharlie]

Even if the signalling cables are fibre, what about the power cables? All those signals and switches need power and I presume that it is the power cables that have been taken as these are most likely still copper.

Most of the KRP cabling is in ducts above ground on the track side. A few weeks a similar occurance happened near Kildare