Connected lighting and Crossrail – connecting London

Project overview

Crossrail is the UK’s largest ever single public infrastructure development and currently Europe’s biggest construction project.  The new high-frequency, high-capacity railway covers 118km of track, the boring of 42km of new tunnels deep beneath London, and the construction of new stations in central London and Docklands.  The Crossrail tunnels are twice the diameter of existing Underground tunnels and are being intricately weaved through the capital's congested sub-terrain, snaking between the existing Tube network, sewers, utilities, and London’s hidden rivers at depths of up to 40 metres.  Around 200 million passengers will travel on Crossrail each year and the project will boost London’s rail capacity by ten per cent. 

Intelligent, Energy-Efficient Connected Lighting Control 

Delmatic are providing connected, intelligent, secure and energy efficient networked control and management of lighting within front-of-house, back-of-house and external areas at the key central London and Docklands stations.

Connected controls 

The systems will provide networked lighting management throughout each station including Dali switching, dimming and monitoring within front-of-house and back-of-house areas.  Energy-efficiencies achieved through digital dimming, presence/absence detection, and daylight-linking in naturally lit areas are coupled with operational efficiencies gained through real-time management and monitoring.

The connected systems link with other services including the UPS network, fire alarm and BMS systems – sharing information and linking systems through DALI and open protocol communications.

The Delmatic systems integrate with the UPS network to provide emergency light monitoring and testing via the Dali protocol as well as comprehensive monitoring of normal and emergency lighting across each site.  The systems also integrate with the BMS, forming a key part of the energy-management systems throughout the stations and supporting Crossrail’s goals to deliver energy-efficient, sustainable solutions for London’s transport network.

To guarantee openness and future-proofing, the Delmatic systems use ISO International Standard communication protocols:  the Dali open protocol for switching, dimming and monitoring of Dali luminaires, the LonWorks open protocol for communication between all items of network hardware, as well as BACnet protocol for sharing data with other services. 

A Complete DALI Solution 

Delmatic are supplying a complete Dali solution comprising a range of Dali lighting control modules as well as Dali devices including Dali presence detectors, Dali photocells and Dali switches.

The Delmatic systems use a single network cable for the connection of Dali ballasts and drivers as well as Dali devices such as switches and sensors, halving the extent of cabling compared to other systems which require two buswires – one buswire for ballasts and another buswire for devices.

The Delmatic systems enhance sustainability not only through energy efficiency but also through operational efficiencies including real-time management and monitoring.  Systems log the number of hours each lamp has been in operation and generate optimised relamping plans which avoid the premature replacement of luminaires (with the associated environmental and disposal issues) by ensuring that lamps are retired at the optimum point.  The systems also monitor individual lamp operation and highlight lamp and ballast failures in real time.

The systems incorporate distributed intelligence such that local operations continue even in the event of nonoperation of central and system outstations.

Emergency Monitoring and Testing

The lighting systems play a crucial role in station security – and ensuring the safety of every person who uses or works within the station.  The Delmatic lighting management systems integrates with the central battery network at each station and monitors the performance of the emergency light lamp and ballast, highlighting any failures in real time:  special smart routines monitor lamp performance and compensate for any loss of illumination through lamp failures

Design That Makes An Impact …Without harming the Environment

London has a glorious railway design history that stretches from the Brunel-designed Paddington station of the 1850s, through Charles Holden’s Tube stations of the 1920s and 1930s, to the recent revival and revitalisation of King’s Cross and St. Pancras International stations:  in the same way, the new Crossrail stations will create a transport legacy for London.

Crossrail has stated that the ‘architecture, look and feel of our stations will be something to be celebrated’.   The aim is to create buildings that ‘work’ as a major transport hub at the same time as offering a comfortable and attractive environment for passengers and other building users.

The state-of-the-art stations, designed by some of the UK’s best known architects in conjunction with world-class engineering firms, take inspiration from the past and the architectural legacy and heritage of the local area but have a fresh, modern and sustainable twist.

The station designs maximise the use of daylight and natural ventilation, and incorporate energy efficient materials and systems including energy efficient escalators and, of course, intelligent lighting control systems.  The trains and network have also been engineered to maximise efficiency using lighter trains, regenerative breaking, gentle inclines on approach to stations to boost braking, and subtle descents to assist acceleration out of stations.

Crossrail has made a public commitment to doing “everything possible” to minimise energy consumption and the environmental impact of the network at every stage from construction through operation.   The Delmatic connected systems play a key role in minimising energy consumption and carbon emissions, and support Crossrail’s goals to deliver energy-efficient, sustainable solutions for London’s transport network.

Sustainable design

Delmatic systems are designed and manufactured to last for many years which, in itself, significantly reduces their embodied energy and environmental footprint.  Delmatic are the only supplier in the building controls field to offer a lifetime upgrade guarantee which states that any generation of system can be upgraded to latest technology.  This enhances sustainability by reusing a large part of installed equipment, and Delmatic estimate that in the order of 95% of a module is reusable or recyclable.

Design and Development

Delmatic won the framework contract with Crossrail Limited to provide Dali Lighting Control Systems for the seven new central London Crossrail stations and are now part of the design team for each station, working closely with the station electrical and mechanical contractors to develop both the lighting system application and integration with each station network.

Equipment is being supplied during 2015 with the system commissioned and set into operation for early 2016: the system will then be run under a caretaker maintenance programme during the two year run-in period prior to the Crossrail network opening in 2018.

Unique BREEAM criteria

The design process has included the development of a unique set of criteria using the BRE’s Environmental Assessment  Methodology (BREEAM) for underground stations, enabling the project team not only to objectively assess Crossrail’s environmental performance but also leave a benchmark for future projects.  Crossrail stations will achieve BREEAM ‘Very Good’ ratings for the station buildings and will be the first underground railway stations in the world to be rated under the scheme.

Delmatic – the experts in controls for transport infrastructure projects

The awarding of the Crossrail contracts to Delmatic follows Delmatic’s appointments to supply lighting management systems for the major interchange stations at King Abdullah Economic City, Jeddah and Makkah (Mecca) on the Saudi Arabian Haramain High Speed Rail networks, the supply of controls for the stunning new Western Concourse at London’s King’s Cross station, and the completion of the nine stations on the Mecca Metro network and the thirty-seven stations plus EEPs, Depots and Command Centre on the Dubai Metro network.

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