Difference between revisions of "Connection to Network Rail"

A train approaching Kidderminster crosses the points leading to the adjacent Network Rail track

A convoy of diesel locomotives crossing from Network Rail to the SVR

For a description of the network connection signalling, see Kidderminster station signal box.

The Exchange Line is a short length of track just outside Kidderminster terminus allows the through running of trains between the SVR and Network Rail (NR).

From its opening in 1987, the SVR's Kidderminster signal box worked to Kidderminster Junction signal box, 'over the fence' and operated successively by BR, RailTrack and finally NR. The method of connection between the SVR and national rail was cumbersome, requiring staff on the track for any movement between the two railways. Under this arrangement the SVR's exchange line was designated as a siding.

In 2012 NR upgraded signalling on the adjacent main line, which included the closure of its Kidderminster Junction box and transfer of control to West Midlands Signalling Centre (WMSC) at Saltley.

The SVR took the opportunity to extensively upgrade the connection, with many hundreds of hours of work by NR and SVR S&T technicians. Commissioned in August 2012, to coincide with the mainline resignalling, it installed one of the most comprehensive connections between the national rail network and a private heritage railway in existence. The alterations allow access for passenger- and non-passenger trains coming onto or leaving from the SVR.

As part of the resignalling of the network connection, the exchange line was upgraded from a siding to a running line. Movements can be made from the SVR exchange line onto the NR Down Main, and from the NR Up & Down Mains onto the SVR exchange line. In addition, an incoming or outgoing train may be held on the exchange line awaiting a path, without it affecting trains on the SVR or NR main lines. All such movements are now locked and signalled, controlled by the WMSC in conjunction with the SVR's Kidderminster signal box, which is now a fringe box of the WMSC. Movements do, therefore, require the SVR's signal box to be manned and open.

Kidderminster signal box diagram 2020, showing the network connection.

The upgrade also saw the first non-GWR/BR(W) signal installed on the SVR, in the form of a colour light signal leading from the SVR's exchange line onto either the national network or into the SVR's North Star Carriage & Wagon Works.

On Network Rail's open data TRUST timetabling system the SVR is 'Kidderminster S.V.R.' and the Diesel Depot is 'Kidderminster Tmd (Svr)'. Trains across the network connection are shown on independent sources of live realtime running information.

A description of the work with images can also be found in SVR News 180, on S&T Notes online.

The Severn Valley Railway on the main line

SVR S&T website