What is possession planning (railway track related)??

Question

Hi guys

can someone give me an insight into what possession planning is or any links to it. I mean possession planning related to rail tracks???

Answer 1

As a railway signaller, I can point to the first answer given as being right. The link I give below is the railway rule book that we use which has been published online.

To read about possessions, click on section T. The major possessions can be found under module T, section 3.

Answer 2

Hi there. I do not think that there will be an actual website with the details. But I can give you a litttle info on it.

As the Name say Possession Planning is where we on the railway plan out the future maintenance on the lines.

These days we have to let the train operating Companies & Freight Operating Companies know up to 3 years in advance of what is planned otherwise we (Network Rail) get fined, if there is an emergency possession and it affect the running of trains then we get a bigger fine (well its realy compensation that goes to the train operating companies) than if we had planned out two years before it happens.

The whole idea of letting the Train operating companies know is that they have to plan for when it takes place as they will run coaches/buses to replace the train service.

Also Possession Planning, lookes at the type of work that has to be carried out. The bigger the job, then more time is needed, and as  lines have between 1 hour & 4 hours where no trains run it is better to get the small jobs done then.

We find that Bank Holiday Weekend are usally the best time to carry out the major work without to much disruption to the network as that is the point where the lest people travel.

The planners then plan to get as much work carried out in one possession as possible, so during that time they might scedual new tracks to be layed and at the same time Signals & Telecom equipment may be changed as well.

Also the palnners look at how many people will be needed and what type of equipment will be required and they make the arrangements for them to arrive on site in time for the signaller to hand over the stretch of line to the manager incharge of the works.

I hope that I have helped.

Joolz

Answer 3

possession is the term used by railway maintenance contractors (or network rail) to indicate that they have taken possession of the track (usually a [signal] block of  track) and no trains are running, or a limited service is running.

so possession planning is going to be planning around how you do the work, (what resources [men, machines, parts]) you need, and for how long, where, how you get to the site. notifying the train operating companies so that they can plan for replacement bus services if necessary, and or plan alternative routes in conjunction with the ToC's

Answer 4

Interesting that only a couple of years ago that the Rule book was considered so private that there used to be a disclaimer on the 1st page that stated" this publication is private and must not be divulged to the public".

And now we have an online version that anyone can see!

Make good use of it...................there might be a time when you CAN'T  get to sleep! LOL!

Answer 5

If I remember right it has to do with taking possesion of the track eg having it shutdown to carry out essential trackside repairs. PP is the planning of said possesion, when is the best time to do it etc that causes the least disruption. It could also be used to  determine if there is more than one issue along a particular length of track and multiple users need to be on site, planned possesions often have say signalling and ops and cable jointers/layers trackside at the same time to cut down on the disruption. Hope this helps. Lo x*x