Plan signal maintenance testing activities
Overview
This standard identifies the competencies you need to plan signal maintenance testing activities which are normally required following the reinstatement of operational signalling systems or equipment. It includes identifying the operations to be carried out and the timescales, sequence and resources required. The signalling equipment in this standard can be for overground or underground rail transportation systems and can apply to the European Train Control System (ETCS).
You will plan signal maintenance testing using pre-defined plans following operational signalling system reinstatements. If safety, operational, or other factors make this unfeasible, pre-planning is necessary. Should pre-defined plans be inadequate or unavailable, you will develop a new one. You will also address any shortages of technical documentation, equipment, tools, materials, spare parts, or components.
Working with minimal supervision, you will thoroughly understand testing activities, resource availability, and your organisation's operational methods within your responsibility area, enabling informed decision-making and planning to the required standard.
Safety is a key theme; you must practice and demonstrate safe working methods, understanding and implementing necessary precautions to protect yourself and others.
Performance criteria
You must be able to:
P1 maintain safe working practices and comply with all relevant health and safety regulations, directives, and guidelines
P2 identify and source information required for the activity
P3 confirm that the work (immediate and/or predefined) is suitable for maintenance testing
P4 identify health and safety issues and safe working practices and procedures that must be followed
P5 agree and co-ordinate the protection and access arrangements with the relevant authorities
P6 identify the activities to be carried out and determine their sequence
P7 interpret the information available and establish the type and extent of the tests required
P8 establish what resources are to be used
P9 identify the test plans which are appropriate to the work and the equipment to be tested, and ensure that they comply with your organisation's testing procedures
P10 identify any special requirements and incorporate them in the plan
P11 identify where technical documentation, resources, equipment, materials or tools are not available and deal with the deficiency in accordance with your organisation's procedures
P12 identify the interfaces between the equipment to be tested and other operational equipment which may be affected, and also define the limits of testing
P13 ensure that where suitable test plans are not available then arrangements are made for a new test plan to be developed in accordance with your organisation's testing standards
P14 estimate the timescales required
P15 prepare, record and present the plan
P16 identify the necessary tools and equipment that will required, its availability and serviceability, including calibration if required
P17 ensure that all required documentation is complete, accurate, formatted and processed in accordance your organisation's procedures
P18 inform the appropriate person(s) when the plan is completed
P19 address problems within your control and report unresolved issues
Knowledge and Understanding
You need to know and understand:
K1 the relevant health and safety regulations, directives, guidelines, and safe working practices and procedures defined by your organisation, as appropriate to the activity and your working area
K2 the type of information is required and what planning needs to be completed before the work is undertaken
K3 how to establish whether the work is suitable for maintenance testing and which types of test are required
K4 your organisation's procedures that apply where work is "immediate" or where the work is "pre-planned"
K5 what to do if no test plan is available, what a new test plan should contain and what authorisation procedures apply
K6 how to source and interpret the relevant information and documents required for the activity
K7 how to determine the appropriate tests from the information available
K8 the importance of defining the limits of testing
K9 the range of testing procedures/methods that are available and how each applies to different types of equipment
K10 what recording documentation is required by your organisation applicable to the activity and how it should be completed and processed
K11 your organisation's procedures for dealing with a lack of documentation, equipment and materials
K12 what the requirements are to secure the system for test/investigation purposes
K13 how to determine what resources are required for the activity
K14 how to identify, evaluate and respond to activities that cannot be achieved
K15 the relevant reporting lines and procedures that are approved by your organisation the limits of your own authority and responsibility and those of others involved
Scope/range
Scope Performance
Types of signalling equipment on which maintenance testing may be planned could include:
- points
- train control (such as signals, balises or other method of authorising train movements)
- train detection (such as track circuits or axle counters)
- power supplies
- ETCS
- other industry specific signalling equipment
Resources considered during planning, as applicable to the signal equipment being tested, could include:
- documentation (current and appropriate)
- tools, plant and test equipment (calibrated and serviceable)
- materials, replacement equipment and consumables
- communications equipment
- personnel (total required and competence)
- access arrangements
Types of site locations could include:
- trackside
- internal (such as signal box, equipment room)
- areas to which the public have access
- confined spaces
- elevated structures
Plans could be presented using the following methods:
- specific company documentation
- pre-defined test plans
- new test plans