A central traction-power control room remotely controls substations, sectioning cabins and line disconnectors; the dispatcher sees a schematic of the facilities, performs switching operations by computer, and status confirmation returns through a telecommunications cable or fibre-optic link. Equipment status indication is standardized by colour and sound: green - closed, flashing red with a bell - tripped, steady red - acknowledged, orange with a buzzer - ready to close. Similar control centres handle railway traffic, train-announcement and dispatch communications, public-address systems and clocks.
The technical rooms in these facilities are designed in accordance with PKP PLK instruction Ie-116: 19-inch or 21-inch cabinets up to 42 U with 8 U of spare capacity, a lock, sealing provision and door-opening sensor; a filter-and-fan panel with two temperature-controlled fans; a telecommunications power system with a 48 V DC battery providing 8 hours of backup and an electronic bypass; redundant rack-mounted power supplies; dual processors and duplicated switching fabric; and a voice recorder with two mirrored disks and GPS/DCF77/NTP time synchronization. Environmental requirements are +5…+35 °C and 30–75% humidity in rooms free of dust and corrosive gases; system MTBF must be at least 10,000 h, with a 15-year operating life.
Equipment used in this area includes: 19-inch cabinets with enhanced EMC and seismic resistance, chassis, subracks and panels, protected power-distribution units, rack circuit breakers, 48 V DC power supplies and uninterruptible power supplies, meters and network analysers for auxiliary-power systems, signalling relays, solid-state relays for heating and ventilation, OT cybersecurity devices, fibre-optic boxes, terminal blocks and marking systems.
Selection criteria for this area:
According to available descriptions, the PKP network includes 19 remote traction power control centres, 444 traction substations (342 remotely controlled), 363 sectioning cabins (all remotely controlled) and more than 11,100 motor-operated disconnectors. The power dispatcher manages equipment operation and coordinates every entry to a substation and every work activity on the overhead line.
Closed - green light; fault and open - flashing red with a bell; after acknowledgement - steady red; after the fault is cleared - orange with a buzzer (the breaker may be closed); after closing - green. The colour and sound convention is common to traction power-supply equipment.
230 V AC mains with −15/+10% tolerance, 47–53 Hz; a telecommunications DC power system with a 48 V battery providing at least 8 h operation without mains supply, battery life of at least 10 years, positive pole earthed, and equipment operating over 43–57 V DC; electronic bypass for uninterrupted transfer; remote monitoring of the power system via GSM and IP.
The spare capacity allows future expansion without replacing the cabinet during a 15-year operating life; door-opening monitoring and sealing are security requirements for railway traffic-control equipment - every access to the cabinet is recorded, just like entry to a substation or opening an automatic level-crossing system container.