Drives & Controls June 2022

28 n COMMUNICATIONS June 2022 www.drivesncontrols.com CC-Link IE helps keep HS2 on track at Euston T he new High Speed Two (HS2) railway line currently under construction will use Euston station as its main London terminus for connections to the Midlands and north of England. The number of seats out of the station during peak hours is set to double. To support this increased capacity, the station is being enlarged to include 11 new 400m-long platforms. To meet the electrification requirements of the expanded station, the telemetry system for the rail network’s electrical supply also needed to be upgraded. When the Stockport-based automation specialist Sella Controls was asked to upgrade the substation control system, it suggested using Tracklink RTUs (remote terminal units) developed in partnership with Mitsubishi Electric. These use a PLC to process signals from field devices, as well as reporting data to Scada systems in control rooms. Because of the extensive size of Euston station, the new control system uses an unusual framework. Unlike smaller stations which only need a single RTU, Euston’s electricity generation, transmission and distribution system is split into multiple substations for effective power distribution and control. A master RTU links to remote I/O panels for each substation. In the event of a power loss, the main controller can perform auto-reconfiguration procedures. “An RTU is typically a single panel deployment within a substation,” explains Sella’s project manager, Jay Sampat. “However, depending on the structure of the railway terminal and its substations, some I/O can be remote. An example is Euston terminus, which comprises Euston Concourse, Euston East, EustonWest and the newmaster location at Barnby Street station. While this type of set-up is needed to successfully cover the entire infrastructure, it makes inter-substation communications particularly challenging.” To ensure fast, reliable data transfer between the substations, Mitsubishi suggested using CC-Link IE. This open industrial Ethernet technology offers gigabit bandwidths and uses a token-passing technology to provide real-time, deterministic communications. This minimises latency and jitter, facilitating the transmission of large volumes of data without congestion. To ensure a responsive control system, CC-Link IE was combined with a Mitsubishi Electric iQ-R modular PLC to form the building block of the RTU. A GOT 2000 HMI was also incorporated into the master RTU panel to maximise visibility and accessibility. “The industry-leading functions of CC-Link IE were crucial to creating a high-speed telemetry system that can also address future data loads,”points out John Browett, general manager of the CLPA (CC-Link Partner Association), the global organisation that develops and promotes the CC-Link family of networks.“The network that has been created is highly responsive and can be easily modified or upgraded as needed.” “The set-up developed is unique, marking the first application of CC-Link IE for railway traction power control to deliver inter- substation connectivity,”adds Chris Elliott, business development director for rail at Sella Controls.“We look forward to setting up more cutting-edge control systems like this across the country soon.” The new telemetry system is now helping to ensure reliable traction power infrastructure at Euston station.“We are extremely proud to see our open network technology, CC-Link IE, being used to support this large-scale infrastructure project,”says Browett.“As railways continue to advance and incorporate new technologies, we are well-positioned to deliver cutting-edge connectivity solutions to help realise reliable and accessible networks.” n The CC-Link IE industrial networking technology is being used in an unusual application linking substations that will control traction and electrical power for the HS2 railway link at its southern terminus at London’s Euston station. The Gigabit-capacity Ethernet-based network is intended to ensure reliable operations at the station. Euston station will act as the southern terminus for the HS2 railway line now under construction The large scale of the HS2 terminal at Euston requires multiple substations and RTUs connected via CC-Link IE