Regional signalling centres on the mainland British railway network
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66130 is seen passing the TVSC/ROC at Didcot with an MoD service from Bicester. The ROC is the building on the left with the black Network Rail logo
A rail operating centre (ROC) is a building that houses all signallers, signalling equipment, ancillaries and operators for a specific region or route on the United Kingdom's main rail network. The ROC supplants the work of several other signal boxes which have thus become redundant.
Network Rail announced the creation of fourteen[1][2] ROCs situated throughout Great Britain that will control all railway signalling over the British National Rail network. This was subsequently revised to twelve ROCs[3] with responsibilities at two (Saltley and Ashford) being transferred to other ROCs (Rugby and Gillingham respectively).[4]
In November 2016, Network Rail announced that the ROC at Edinburgh would not go into operation with all its functions and responsibilities being transferred to Cowlairs in Glasgow.[5]
Nationally this has meant the redundancy of eight hundred mechanical-lever signal boxes[6] and around two hundred panel and IECC boxes.[7] Some are listed buildings and will be left in situ.[8]
The ROCs are built under private contracts for Network Rail, and will only control the rail routes controlled by Network Rail. Railways in Northern Ireland, various heritage railways and other tramways are not subject to control by a ROC. Ashford IECC still controls the UK stretch of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (HS1/CTRL), which is owned by London and Continental Railways and not Network Rail.[4]
The ROCs function as signalling and control centres with signalling staff, train operating company (TOC) staff and Network Rail controllers all working under one roof. This is meant to enable quick solutions to signalling problems and fewer delays to trains and passengers. Network Rail envisage the twelve ROCs to be controlling the entire network by 2058.[9]
^"Operations Expenditure Summary" (PDF). Network Rail. p. 10. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
^Minnis, John (2012). "Railway signal boxes, a review" (PDF). English Heritage. p. 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
^"Rail operating centre officially opened in Manchester". Network rail. 21 July 2014. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
^ abRhodes 2015, p. 102.
^Allen, David (7 December 2016). "ECML signals part three; north by north east". Rail Magazine. No. 815. Bauer Media. p. 77. ISSN 0953-4563.
^Carr, Collin (13 November 2015). "Network Rail opens Rugby operating centre". Rail UK. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
^"Wholesale closure of almost every signal box on the network". Rail Engineer. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
^"End of the line for 38 signal boxes". Express and Star. 7 August 2012. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
^"Ergonomics at the heart of new signalling in the ROCs". RTM. Rail technology magazine. 1 September 2014. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
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