The speed with which this was delivered was incredible. Any questions were not only answered promptly, but in detail.
Overview
During a series of flooding incidents, SIYTE proved invaluable in helping asset engineers identify how complex drainage and pumping systems interlinked, resulting in the early development of mitigation strategies.
By integrating real-time and historical data, the platform has provided evidence to ensure mitigation efforts won’t impact river levels and enables ongoing monitoring to assure this. The solution enhances decision-making, shifts responses from reactive to proactive, and builds confidence among stakeholders, reducing reliance on manual inspections and train driver reports.
The challenge
Flooding at Chipping Sodbury, on the high-speed route between Swindon and Bristol, is both a frequent and costly event. Closing the line causes extensive delays, with significant resultant cost impact. In 2018, an 11 million litre lagoon was constructed which stores water during storm events to limit flooding on the railway line. Whilst this had a positive impact, this location continued to flood, and a lack of remote visibility of site data made evaluating how flooding develops in real-time challenging.
Before this solution, Network Rail had to rely on train driver reports and then send an engineer to site to assess what operational restrictions, if any, were required. This caused delays in decision-making, and with a complex flood management system spread over a mile, it was difficult to understand and optimise the site.
The solution
Network Rail’s Wales and Western Region have an objective to drastically reduce delay minutes due to flooding within the current Control Period and beyond at Chipping Sodbury. It was clear that improved remote monitoring was required to reduce delays and improve passenger experience.
Before Purple Transform and Central Alliance got involved, sensors to monitor flooding were already installed but, as George Barratt from the Asset Strategy & Planning team attested, data was not easy to obtain, interpret and understand in a timely manner.
George also said, “It became apparent just how complex the operation of the Chipping Sodbury site was: we needed to build an understanding of the whole system and how different assets were interlinked, to improve performance now and into the future. Having all the monitoring data in one, simple-to-understand, user interface was key to this.” This is why the Asset Strategy & Planning team chose the SIYTE Environmental and Situational Awareness platform from Purple Transform.
The impact
On 6th January, flooding on the line through Chipping Sodbury caused the railway to be closed for 6 hours. This was the first time SIYTE could be used in anger. Engineers were able to determine how different drainage systems interlinked and electrical pumps performed during these events, allowing for a more thorough understanding. By comparing historical water level data across different sections of the site, they could also prove that the site did not have adverse effects on surrounding river levels.
While the increased monitoring helps to provide more information and understanding, feeding into long term solutions, it also supports maintenance and operational teams, allowing them to make quicker and safer decisions remotely without the immediate requirement to attend site.
- Delay minutes avoided7,000*
Reported by Network Rail for a SIYTE flood monitoring deployment during winter 24/25.
- Data points every day100m
Readings from water-level sensors, pumps, weather stations and cameras, brought into one live view.
- Systems integrated24
Third-party systems connected, from sensing and pump control to weather and Environment Agency data.
