Network Rail Electrical Safety Delivery Programme
In recent years, we have provided extensive support to the Network Rail Electrical Safety Delivery Programme in the development of high-level requirements and frameworks to enable compliance with legislation such as the Electricity at Work Regulations (EaWR) 1989 and supporting processes and solutions to improve electrical safety. We developed a comprehensive set of Electrical Safety Principles that are mapped against the requirements of the EaWR for all disciplines, including contact systems, distribution, AC and DC electrification systems and LV systems. This allows legislative requirements to be incorporated through implementation of the agreed Electrical Safety Principles via related Network Rail standards. The framework we developed utilised an innovative tiered structure which mapped principles to both the Network Rail standards and legislation.
We have supported Network Rail in developing the new standard for Working on the Operational Railway with Overhead Electrification, NR/L3/ELP/25000. This included:
The development of a new process and documentation related to the categorisation of work and identification of electrical risk;
Formalising risk assessment outputs;
Implementation of the required control measures.
We have developed the first set of detailed process representations which have proven key in clearly communicating the requirements of the standard, removing areas where potentially conflicting interpretations exist around existing requirements. In addition, we were extensively involved in developing the supporting Electrical Safety Documentation and introduced a formalised process for electrical risk assessments, including the development of a risk assessment template and site visit requirements. We have also developed a range of material required to undertake training, pilot trial and field trial testing.
Navitas Engineering is also supporting Network Rail with the Single Approach to Isolation DC project, which was created to provide an update of the Conductor Rail Electrical Working Instructions. The scope covers the restructuring and process mapping of four Routes that cover the majority of the DC conductor rail network in the UK. The related Conductor Rail Electrical Working Instructions comprise three different sets of Electrical Working Instructions – NE/L3/ELP/3091 (Southeast, Wessex, Anglia & LNW(S)), NR/L3/ELP/27051 (LNW(N) Liverpool Area) and NR/L3/ELP/27052 (LNE Northern City Line), with a fourth standard, NR/L3/ELP/27115 – covering isolation planning for Wessex & Southeast Routes.