Bender: A new generation of rail signalling power monitoring systems | RailBusinessDaily

Electrical signal power systems keep the rail network safe and operational – and they, in turn, must be protected. That’s where Bender UK’s intelligent insulation monitoring and earth fault location technology comes in, as Technical Director Mumtaz Farooqi explains in this Guest Writer article.

Electrical systems power the UK’s rail infrastructure, keeping trains moving and passengers safe. And it’s crucial that these systems (which support everything from trackside equipment to signals) don’t fail. Outages can lead to delays and even penalties.

By identifying faults as early as possible, infrastructure managers can avoid potentially costly outages. And, when it comes to insulation monitoring and fault detection, Bender has been leading the way for 20 years. Working closely with Network Rail, it developed the first rail signalling power monitoring system. Today, the company is synonymous with power systems monitoring for rail, and has installed over 1500 units in signalling power supply across the UK network. Many more have been fitted in other trackside applications.

And these solutions have evolved with the industry. In 2019, Network Rail released a new standard relating to insulation monitoring and fault location systems for signalling power systems. The standard, NR/L2/SIGELP/27725, changed the requirements around granularity of the measured insulation resistance values to a feeder or cable level. This would narrow down the fault location to a smaller target section, supporting the maintenance engineers to preplan repair of faults.

At Bender, we responded by enhancing our rail signalling protection solutions. The result was the RS4 range, which succeeded our RS3 range and has been approved for use on the network.

We didn’t design these next-generation insulation monitoring and fault detection systems alone. As ever, our team worked closely with Network Rail, ensuring that the technology met its requirements.

And, because the RS4 range is multi-tier, infrastructure managers can choose which level of insulation monitoring they require, based on the criticality of the route.

On critical sections, they can deploy RS4 Tier 1 – the most advanced solution, which delivers enhanced remote fault identification and location to the smaller cable sections and switchgear level. NR/L2/SIGELP/27725 Tier 1 compliant, this tailorable system enables users to detect and locate earth faults to the interconnecting cables and within FSPs and location cases. Its sensitivity means it can be used to support predictive maintenance, reducing boots-on-ballast and preventing downtime.

It’s also compact and cost-effective – so much so, that we’ve been retrofitting it to existing systems across the rail network. Today, it’s enabling engineers to identify, locate and respond to issues more quickly than ever. It also offers a more comprehensive overview of cable health.

The mid-range RS4 Tier 2 is compliant with NR/L2/SIGELP/27725 Tier 2, and can be easily upgraded to Tier 1. It offers insulation resistance measurement to the individual feeder level, which can then be upgraded to Tier 1 to divide the system into smaller sections where needed.

Finally, the Tier 3 solution offers integrated insulation monitoring and earth fault location, utilising tried-and-tested technology from previous variants. This system monitors overall insulation resistance of the system and identifies faulty feeders at 100KΩ.

All three tiered systems can also be used with Bender’s portable fault location kit, which helps to pinpoint the fault in a faulty section.

These systems are in use across the country, enabling infrastructure managers to detect, pinpoint and address faults before they lead to outages. On one site, a Bender system recently detected a fault that we were able to establish was the result of cable theft. Engineers located and promptly addressed the issue. And, when a lower-level fault was detected just days later, they took action again.

Elsewhere, we recently detected a fault during the commissioning of a Bender system. This was traced to a connection fault in the last FSP on that feeder.

Our solutions monitor systems remotely, notifying engineers when an issue is detected. Rather than watching a screen, they’re free to carry out other tasks, safe in the knowledge that they will be alerted if a fault occurs.

And, if they need support, they can turn to us. Bender’s experts often take on an advisory role, helping teams to locate and address faults. As a new generation of engineers joins the rail industry, this support is proving particularly important.

As is the data our solutions provide. This granular information helps organisations to gain a holistic understanding of their systems’ health. They can look at the performance of equipment across their routes, and assign budget accordingly.

Indeed, when it comes to rail signalling protection, Bender’s team are the experts. We’ll continue to build on two decades of learning, innovating – not just for innovation’s sake – but because it really benefits our clients. And, while we’re currently looking to leverage innovative new technologies, our priority remains clear – to keep the UK rail network moving.