Power to heat railway points during cold weather

A railway contractor had installed temporary rail points as part of a long-term construction project. This allowed trains to run along a single line, while the down line was being maintained.

The contractor installed points heating cabinets to prevent the points from freezing over the winter months. These needed power to operate when temperatures went below 5⁰C.

We installed a 125 kVA generator with auto-start capabilities. The generator was linked to an industrial thermostat that told the generator to turn on when temperatures fell below 5⁰C and automatically switch off when temperatures rose again. We put the thermostat away from equipment that gave off heat so readings accurately reflected the true temperature on the points. We also provided fully bunded fuel tanks, to increase the running time between refuelling, as well as trace heated fuel lines supplied via an RCB protected 240 V supply from the generator. The generator was monitored by our diagnostic software – ARM (Aggreko Remote Monitoring) to ensure it operated in tip-top form.