NR set to introduce ETCS on Moorgate line

Network Rail has announced plans to install European Train Control System (ETCS) digital signalling technology on the Northern City Line between Finsbury Park and Moorgate

Speaking exclusively to RAIL, NR’s London North Eastern and East Midlands Route Managing Director Rob McIntosh said the line was an obvious candidate for ETCS due to the type of rolling stock it operates and because its current signalling system is nearly life-expired.

ETCS Level 2 and in-cab signalling will allow trains to be automatically operated through the core section of Thameslink from next year, with a timetable of up to 24 trains per hour being introduced in 2019.

McIntosh would not commit to a timeframe for deploying the same technology on the Northern City Line, but this is the strongest hint yet of which route will be converted to ETCS next under NR’s Digital Railway programme.

“Equipment on the Moorgate line is very much at the end of its life, so we’re going to push ahead and do it as an ETCS scheme,” he said.

“We plan to go straight to market and not go for conventional signalling at all, which is turning a few heads.

“If there’s ever a place where you need ETCS it’s Moorgate, with the Class 717s that GTR has procured coming in ETCS-equipped. It’s a captive railway, so why wouldn’t you take the ETCS from Thameslink and drop it into Moorgate? We’re therefore going to push on with that now.”

For more information, and a full interview with Rob McIntosh, see RAIL 842.