The Victoria Line – part of The London Underground Rail Network – was opened 50 years ago this year …so it’s time for a spot of re-wiring.
The trouble is when you’ve turned the power off, 250 metres down a hole, things get pretty dark.
The Victoria Line is one of the more ‘recent’ arteries of the London underground network – which began life in the 1860’s. Back in those days steam engines pulled gas-lit carriages under London’s streets in order to provide a connection between the main termini of overground railways. It’s grown a bit since then – today the network covers 400 km (the third longest in the world); and serves 270 stations.
All that infrastructure takes a lot of maintenance – with the power turned off! Power Saving Solutions have got this one nailed: When the wiring loom needed to be replaced between Highbury and Islington and Kings Cross St Pancras, for example; the problem was to provide sufficient power to illuminate a couple of miles of tunnel, and to run power tools – without choking on the fumes of a generator!
Power Saving Solutions have developed a range of mobile power units they call Hussh Pod. Their Hussh Pod 5/15, for example, is capable of powering substantial lighting and driving power tools for an extended period of time. It offers up to 5kVA and stores 15kWh of usable power in its lithium batteries. That particular unit is small enough to allow its deployment down a ventilation shaft! …where it was then mounted on a trolly to provide the workforce with the power they needed, where they needed it – whilst enjoying, of course, zero emissions.
Power Saving Solutions provide ad hoc power solutions for all main service providers in the Telecoms, Utilities, Construction and Rail sectors. Their Hussh Pods are available in a number of sizes with stored power of between 2kWk – 90kWh. These smaller – emissions-free – units comprise stored electricity in a bank of stable and compact Lithium Iron batteries; and a Multiplus inverter; with recharge being carried out back at the depot.
How do you know when the unit needs to be recharged? One of the things Power Saving Solutions really appreciate about equipping their Hussh Pods with Victron electronics is that they can monitor them remotely, using the free-to-use VRM remote management portal. Not only does this provide them with full monitoring of on-hire units, it allows them to continually check that the solution they have provided for their clients is the right one for them.
Only if you’ve got the power you need, where you need it, can you complete the job on time. And with 5 million passengers a day and a train every two minutes – the less time the contractors have to spend 250m down a hole the better they like it.
