Future of steam trains in doubt as railway signals face the axe
Britain's steam trains are facing an uncertain future as Network Rail pushes ahead with plans to abolish traditional railway signals.
One-hundred-year-old steam trains will need to be piloted by laptop if they are to continue operating on the mainline under cost-cutting plans to abolish traditional 'traffic light' signals.
Trials are underway to determine whether digital screens and software can be fitted into the cabs of steam engines and historical diesels as part of the push to eliminate lineside lights.
Should the so-called European Train Control System (ETCS) prove to be incompatible with steam, iconic locomotives including the Flying Scotsman and Royal Scot face being confined to minor lines and preserved railways.
In order to assess the challenge, ETCS equipment has been installed in Tornado, a steam train that was completed by enthusiasts in 2008 based on a design from the late 1940s.
If what is essentially a new-build locomotive is unable to accommodate the technology, time may be up for more venerable engines such as the Flying Scotsman, which was built in 1923 and is the oldest steam engine still active on Britain's main lines.
While ETCS already features on a handful of routes, Network Rail aims to extend it across the entire railway, arguing that it will cut the maintenance bill and maximise hourly capacity compared with relying on red, green and amber signals.
Network Rail said it aimed to ensure that steam and heritage diesel trains, which contribute £600m annually to the economy, can still ran. However, a source at the firm said the trials were exploratory and provided no guarantee of them being able to do so.
The source said: 'If we prove the concept with Tornado and it works properly, then we are in a better place to understand costs and feasibility for future deployment.
'But who will pay for that when there is a totally non-standard fleet of steam engines owned by a variety of different people is absolutely not certain.'
The national rollout of the new signalling technology will start on the southern end of the East Coast Main Line from King's Cross station to Edinburgh and is likely to next be extended to the West Coast route between Euston and Glasgow and the Great Western line from Paddington.
Under ETCS, rather than look out of the cab for signals, drivers will monitor a screen displaying a target speed and a distance until they have to slow down or speed up.
The system will utilise an in-house mobile phone system that allows drivers to talk to signallers, with the trains themselves automatically braking if driven too fast or going through a virtual red light, delivering an improvement in safety.
Boxes between the tracks will inform a train of its location by sending a signal when it passes over them.
Development of the technology will also help to add more trains per hour, Network Rail said. Trains will be evenly spaced out in the most efficient pattern, much like aircraft coming into land.
Tornado took part in night-time trials this week on the ETCS-fitted line between Shrewsbury and Newtown in mid Wales, seeking to overcome challenges around electrical supply, braking, the configuration of the engine and the difficulty of operating a screen in a noisy, dusty and often wet open cab.
Test trains were run by West Coast Railways – the biggest steam operator on the main line and the firm behind Scotland's popular 'Hogwarts Express' – which has itself faced a battle for survival after the rail regulator outlawed the 1950s-era carriages its customers prefer.
Rob Morland, electrical engineer at the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust, which owns Tornado, said the engine had to be fitted with a second steam turbo-generator, a new alternator and a third battery bank in order to power the ETCS system.
Network Rail said it was too early to comment on the outcome of the trials.
A Deltic loco – regarded as Britain's most iconic diesel – will undergo the same tests on the line later this year.
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