5.3 Flooding, Weather & DC Emergency Switch-Off

5.3 Flooding, Weather & DC Emergency Switch-Off

Because the conductor rail is at ground level, water, ice and snow change the risk on DC lines quickly. When something goes wrong, the actions in Handbook 17 decide how the electricity is removed and how a person can be rescued.

---

Flooding and Standing Water

The PTS handbook warns: take care with liquids, because they will become live if they come into contact with a conductor rail, and keep clear of flood water. HB17 makes it a rule that you must not step into flood water that may be in contact with the CRE, shoe gear or associated live train equipment, and you must not direct a jet of water or any other liquid onto them.

Water on the track is rarely pure: it carries dirt, minerals and metal dust that make it conductive. Water touching a live conductor rail can make the area around it dangerous, and you cannot see where the danger stops.

---

Reporting Damage and Defects

If damage or a defect will affect the safe operation of trains, report it to the signaller first. Then make sure the following are reported to the ECO (HB17 section 3.2):

• damage to cables, cable routes or connected equipment;
• flashovers or electrical explosions seen or heard in any electrical equipment;
• any leakage of oil from a cable or cable oil tank;
• damage to a conductor rail, or burning, smoking or excessive flashing of conductor rails or their cables;
• a broken or parted rail or a broken conductor rail;
• a broken or defective bond, or a broken or defective insulator;
• equipment or debris in contact with the conductor rail and running rail.

---

Winter Weather

• Ice and arcing: ice on the conductor rail head stops collector shoes making good contact, causing heavy arcing and flashing. Keep well clear of a conductor rail that is arcing.
• Snow: snow can hide the conductor rail, insulators and ramps. If you cannot see where the conductor rail is, do not walk there; treat any hidden rail as live.
• Slips: frost and ice make sleepers, ballast and rail heads slippery, and a fall near a conductor rail is far more dangerous than elsewhere. Network Rail uses de-icing treatment trains and conductor rail heating at some locations to reduce ice.

---

Communicating with the ECO

You can contact the ECO directly or ask someone else to do it for you; if you call on someone else's behalf, get the necessary information first. HB17 section 5.2 says you must state:

• your name, job title and employer;
• the line or lines concerned;
• the location, for example the nearest bridge, station, signal, block marker or other structure;
• the telephone or radio call number you are using.

The PTS handbook adds that in conductor rail areas the location can be given by the nearest mileage post, the nearest hookswitch or track isolating switch number, the nearest signal post number or the nearest bridge number. If the ECO gives you a message identification number, quote it every time you speak to the ECO.

---

Emergency Switch-Off

An emergency switch-off is carried out by the ECO when it is essential to switch off the supply immediately because someone is in danger from live CRE, without first blocking the line to DC electric trains. The ECO switches off the electrical section affected and the abutting section or sections either side.

You must immediately contact the ECO (or arrange for this) if you become aware of any incident or accident requiring, or likely to require, the electricity to be switched off, such as a derailment, a fire on a vehicle or train or at the lineside, a person in contact with or in danger of contact with the CRE, or an emergency evacuation of passengers from a train.

When you contact the ECO you must first say "This is an emergency call". Then tell the ECO:

1. the reason you want the electricity switched off;
2. whether any person is in danger from live CRE;
3. whether short-circuiting bars have been applied;
4. whether the emergency services are waiting to give assistance.

If you are not at the site, relay information between the ECO and the site. Stay in contact until you are assured that the electricity has been switched off or other arrangements have been made. The ECO decides who is the person in charge of electrical emergency (PICEE), who identifies themselves to people arriving on site, tells the emergency services about the CRE and which parts are switched off, keeps passengers clear of the CRE if they leave a train away from a platform, and before the electricity is restored warns everyone, makes sure they are clear, and removes short-circuiting bars and materials.

---

Short-Circuiting Bars

A short-circuiting bar deliberately connects the conductor rail to the running rail so that the circuit breakers trip. It is dangerous equipment and HB17 section 6.3 strictly limits its use. You may apply one only if all of these apply:

• you cannot contact the ECO directly or through another person to get the electricity switched off;
• you are competent to use it;
• a person is in danger through contact with the CRE.

You must not use a short-circuiting bar where there is a guard board between the conductor rail and the adjacent running rail, or a yellow plastic shroud under the conductor rail. Before applying it, make sure there is no conductor rail section gap between where you apply it and the section that needs to be switched off. Treat other parts of the conductor rail as live until the ECO says otherwise. Leave the bar in place until it is no longer needed, tell the ECO as soon as you have used it and exactly where, get the ECO's permission before removing it, and tell the ECO when you have removed it.

People trained to use a short-circuiting bar are taught to connect it to the running rail first and then place it on the conductor rail, so that the bar is never live in their hands, and to remove it in the reverse order. A PTS holder who has not been trained must not use one.

---

Rescuing a Person from the CRE

HB17 section 7 says you must make sure the CRE is switched off before you attempt to rescue a person who is within 300 mm (1 foot) of it, unless you are sure about all of the following:

• the person is alive;
• you cannot get the CRE switched off at the time;
• you can pull the casualty clear with non-conducting gloves or other dry insulating material;
• you can stand on dry non-conducting material;
• you are not using metal objects.

The PTS handbook tells you not to approach someone in contact with a live conductor rail until the ECO has assured you the electricity is switched off. If that is not possible immediately, attempt a rescue only if you cover your hands with, and stand on, something dry and non-conductive; never use anything metallic or wet.

---

Planned Isolations and the Conductor Rail Permit

• Planned isolation: the COSS must not allow work that needs an isolation to start until the COSS has received a conductor rail permit (CRP) from the authorised person (AP). The COSS explains the limits of the isolation and any hazards on the CRP to everyone before work starts, keeps the CRP until the group has finished, and then returns it to the AP. A lost CRP is reported to the AP, who issues a duplicate.
• Temporary isolation is granted under Network Rail instructions, only to someone trained in them; a local isolation can only be taken where a local isolation instruction exists.
• Isolation does not stop trains. Train movements need separate protection.
• Track isolating switches and hook switches may only be operated by someone competent, with the ECO's authority, and the ECO must be told immediately when they have been operated.
• Short circuits: if asked to examine the conductor rail for a short circuit, treat it as live throughout, because the ECO may try to restore the supply at any time, and do not remove the object causing it until the ECO says it is safe.