Station & Tunnel SCADA System
Delivering Assured Design within Budget
The tunnel and station smoke ventilation system for the new Terminal 5 Rail Station and tunnels was required to meet the Safety Integrity Level 2 (SIL2) as well as interface with a legacy control system. Firstco successfully delivered not only the detailed designs but also went on to deliver the solution itself resulting in a significant saving to the project budget.
Background
The extension of the Heathrow Express service into the new station at Heathrow Terminal 5 required extending the existing PLC network and incorporating many new elements into the existing station and tunnel SCADA system. Firstco were engaged directly by BAA to undertake the detailed design of all elements of the elements of the Communications and Controls systems including the SIL2 PLC networks.
Scope
The PLC network uses in excess of 10km of dual redundancy cabling, both copper and fibre, to connect 23 PLCs on a ControlNet network. 18 of the PLCs are configured as hot standby fully redundant pairs and are SIL2 compliant.
The PLCs are networked to 49 purpose built Remote I/O Control Panels giving connection to approximately 2400 digital and analogue I/O points. In addition to the hardwired inputs the system also has 7 different protocol interfaces, providing the control room staff with seamless control of the various third party systems.
A redundant server/client RSView SCADA System brings all of the systems together to provide a fully integrated user interface. The additional control and monitoring required for the new T5 systems have been engineered into the existing Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) to ensure the entire network, now comprising of 53 PLCs, appears and operates as one single integrated system to the operators.
The complete system was designed, installed, delivered, tested and put into operational service without any loss of the revenue service, and with significant savings to the budget.