Doncaster PSB

This was a significant landmark in the progress of the whole resignalling and track rationalisation project and represented a major step forward in British Rail's drive toward the complete modernisation of the London – Edinburgh East Coast Main Line.

[1] The Doncaster installation was the third major signal box to be commissioned on the East Coast Main Line, the previous two being King's Cross, completed in 1977 and Peterborough in 1973.

In association with the resignalling scheme was a major programme of track improvements to enable trains to run at speeds of up to 125 mph.

A decision was made to carry this out during five weeks' continuous work in the spring of 1979 when the operation of trains through the area was drastically reduced and the Leeds Line was closed for a period of time.

Track rationalisation and resignalling proceeded side-by-side, starting in the Grantham area and working progressively northward, while the new Doncaster signalling centre was constructed on a site south of the station and on the east side of the main line.

Television monitor screens for two of the seven level crossings monitored by closed-circuit television (CCTV) from Doncaster PSB, are inset into the panel itself (Kirton Lane and Rossington) and the other five are mounted on a separate desk console (Daw Lane, Arksey, and Moat Hills on the ECML; Bentley, and Dock Hills on the Leeds Line).

Also on hand in the signal control room are read-out units for the special line side equipment, located at 16 sites, which detect overheating in the axle boxes of vehicles on passing trains.

[2] This is part of Network Rail's drive to introduce twelve national control centres with digital signalling.

York Rail Operating Centre will control all of Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, County Durham, Northumberland and the East Coast Main Line from Kings Cross to Berwick-Upon-Tweed.