Technical Meeting Papers

Technical Meetings are held three times per year.
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1995 – Nov – Blakeley-Smith – Short Circuit Testing on the New Kuala Lumpur 25kV Suburban Railway

Date Presented: December 27th, 2015

Andrew Blakeley-Smith BSc(hons), MIRSE MIEAust The Kuala Lumpur metre gauge suburban rail system is being double tracked and electrified at 25kV. The railway authority, KTMB, required tests to be carried out to prove that, under short circuit conditions, the electrification system would not induce hazardous voltages in trackside cables or produce hazardous voltages on t-mdlor between trackside metalwork such as electrification masts rails, exposed metalwork in stations etc. Andrew. Blakeley-Smith & Associates have been advising the Malaysian signalling contractor, Sapura Holdings Sdn Bdh on immunization measures including cable screening, maximum cable lengths and earthing and bonding practices. KTMB's requirement to prove safe operation of the communications system design, together with the immunization measures adopted by the electrification contractor,  ABB-Sapura, provided a unique opportunity to build upon knowledge gained from the original electrification tests carried out in the early 60's in the UK and examine how some of the electrification design changes adopted in Australia in the 80's and the computer modelling carried out performs in practice.


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1996 – Nov – Lutovac – Universal Computer Interlocking System

Date Presented: December 27th, 2015

Dejan N. Lutovac MSc. Electronics, MIRSE Senior Signal Design Engineer Connell Wagner Railway Signalling Division This paper gives a summary of possible areas of improvement of Computer Interlocking Systems (CIS) and proposals to resolve many of the present problems. The solutions are presented in the form of an Universal CIS which could become a standard system, independent of track layout and the country of application. The main contribution is conversion of the operational, functional and safety requirements of an interlocking system into the general interlocking software. The approach is based on a new way of presenting a control table which can be entered as a simple data file and control table conversion into interlocking functions suitable for computer application. An advanced method of screen design showing the layout of a railway station is proposed as well.  


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2001 – July – Szacsvay – Riding the Tiger

Date Presented: December 27th, 2015

Paul Szacsvay B.E. (Elec) M. Admin. MlRSE MIE(Aust) Principal Signalling Engineer Rail Infrastructure Corporation of NSW It took two decades from the introduction of LED (light-emitting diode) technology, for it to develop to the stage where it  first became viable for use in railway signals. In the five years since, manufacturers have made great strides in improving LED colours, light output and efficiency, and LEDs have become a serious competitor for conventional signalling light sources. There is now almost no limit to the signalling applications in which LEDs may be found. As experience grew, the initially belief that LEDs offered an almost perfect signalling light source was tempered by about the idiosyncrasies of the technology. There is a proliferation of quality technical data available on the technology of LEDs and this paper does not go over that ground. Rather it describes the New South Wales experience with the introduction and proliferation of LED signals, the unexpected problems encounted, and the solution found. Despite the problems described, there is no thought of considering a return from LEDS to incadescent light in signals. It concludes by proposing a basic specification for LED signal light sources, to achieve common standard for interfacing and monitoring LED signals.


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1995 – March – Chadwick – Centralised Traffic Control System Chunan to Changhua Taiwan Railway Authority

Date Presented: December 27th, 2015

Marc Chadwick (MTRE, BE elec, Grad Dip Bus) Project Manager Westinghouse Brake and Signal Company (Australia) Limited This paper describes the development of a Centralised Traffic Control (CTC) system for the Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) by Westinghouse Brake & Signal Company (Australia) Limited (WBSA).


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1987 – March – Williams – Electrification of New Zealand Railways – North Island Main Trunk – The Project Management Organisation

Date Presented: December 27th, 2015

A.G. Williams Director of Electrification, New Zealand Railways Corporation In December 1981 the New Zealand Governtnent approved the New Zealand Railways Corporation electritying the North Island Main Trunk Railway betwn Palmerston Nortll and Hamilton with a 25kV 50 Hertz system to be camercially operative mid 1988. 'rhe project embraces a range of technical disciplines, both traditiorral to the Corporation and in sane cases new, It also includes sane state ot,the art technology. A number of large civil engineering works were necessary along the route, as well as saw "non-project" operating and route unprovements which were justitiable in their in right, and whilst not being essential to electritication do enhance the completed system. The work was planned in two stages. Stage 1 was the l8lkm tram Palmerston North to Ohakune and Stage 2 the 227km tran Ohakune to Hamilton, See Figure 1. Contracts were awarded in December 1983 tor tne design, supply and installation ot the Stage 1 Signalling, Cmunications, and Traction Overhead, the supply ot Power Supply equipnent and all of tne 22 locomotives required. Separate contracts tor Stage 2 were negotiated with the respective Stage 1 Contractors during 1985. The civil works, including works associated with the main contracts and "non-project" works, were undertaken concurrently with the above contracts by NZK. Except for Cmunications, Stage 1 is now complete on the ground and Stage 2 well advanced. A number of locanotives are also in the country. mtn contracts for ccxrmunications were determined in November 1986 and the Corporation has itselt now taken responsibility for managing and arranging the provision of tne cmunications systems for the electritication project. Because the Corporation's Engineering and operating branch structures and related District & Regional Oftices with separate geographic boundaries were straddled by this large multi-discipline project, the traditional NZK Management structure was not suited tor Implementing the work. The detailed management, co-ordination and control ot the project and integration ot the non-project works was theretore ettected through a specially tom Electritication Project Group, as a division of the General Manager's Ottice reporting direct to the Deputy General Manager. Technical responsibility was retained by NXH Engineering Branches. As a consequence of the NZR organisational changes currently taking place (which are referred toin the next section of this paper), the group is now a separate division of the Freight Winess Group and reports direct to the Group Manager. The structure and staffing of the Electrification Project Group for Stage 1 was largely successful. However to cunplete the project on time it was necessary to significantly overlap Stage 2 with Stage 1. This required considerable extra resources to cope, as well as significant changes to the Stage 1 structure rran carmencement of Stage 2 planning. A partial modification to this new structure was needed recently because ot the termination ot the carmunications contracts by the Corporation. The Project Group is managing the "recovery" and  this has necessitated additional resources and a specitic structure sub-set.


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1992 – Nov – Ratanavaraha – Opening Address

Date Presented: December 27th, 2015

Thavorn Ratanavaraha, B.Eng. FIRSE, FICE (Thailand) Director of the Signalling and Telecommunications Department State Railway of Thailand  


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1986 – Aug – Luber – ZUB100 Automatic Train Control (ATC) System

Date Presented: December 27th, 2015

Brian Luber Since railways were established, many systems have been developed to ensure a safe and economic rail service. A signalling system which has played a major role here is that based on the fail-safe principle - instructions on line ahead are passed to the driver via trackside signals. However, it soon became clear that the best safety equipment is of no use when a driver fails to recognize or wrongly interprets the signal indications. For this reason, different types of transmission equipment, mainly mechanical, were designed to ensure that a train is brought to a standstill after passing a stop signal. Mechanical transmission equipment has, however, two disadvantages - frequent maintenance and its unsuitability for high train speeds. Consequently, Siemens developed an inductive system of automatic train control which has three resonant frequencies and which functions without physical contact during transmission. An additional advantage of this system is that no trackside power supply is required for the line equipment. The first installation employing this principle of operation, known as Indusi, was installed as long ago as 1932 on the Berlin-Hamburg Line. According to the same basic principle, Indusi is still very much in use today, for example on approximately 6,700 vehicles and along 16,000 kilometres of German Federal Railway line. The demand for additional on-board monitoring as well as for a larger volume of transmission data led to the development of our ZUB 100 automatic train control system. In so doing, the up-to-date technology of microelectronics was utilized and the excellent operating experience gained with the Indusi resonance system applied.


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1991 – Aug – Hingley – SSI – Does it Fit?

Date Presented: December 27th, 2015

Phil Hingley, C. Eng., MIEE, MIRSE GHD - Transmark This paper describes the management of the risks inherent in adapting the UK developed system of computer-based interlocking for the signalling of the Eastern Harbour Crossing of the Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway Corporation.


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1984 – Nov – Selfe – Australian National Dry Creek – Crystal Brook CTC

Date Presented: December 27th, 2015

KC Selfe Chief Engineer, Teknis Systems Division, Teknis Consolidated Pty Ltd The Dry Creek - Port Pirie C.T.C. System controls the section of the Australian National Northern Standard Gauge Line between Dry Creek and Crystal Brook and the section of Standard Gauge Crystal Brook to Port Pirie, along with entrances and exits to the Crystal Brook to Wallaroo Standard Gauge and the Snowtown to Brinkworth Broad Gauge. The system comprises eleven field stations at passing loops and a communications interface field location at Salisbury and office facilities at Mile End. The main bearer provided is a 600 ohm pole line between Salisbury and Port Pirie with a full duplex, 4 wire, carrier channel, providing an alternate path to Port Pirie, which is back fed to the pole line automatically under pole line fail conditions. All communications traffic between Salisbury and Mile End is via carrier channels. The telemetry, communications equipnent, processor and ancillaries and mimic display drive equipment were supplied by Teknis Systems. The mimic diagram, manual control panel and console and all installation and commissioning were carried out by the Signals and Conununications staff of Australian National.


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1987 – July – Paramsothi – Adelaide Signalling Project

Date Presented: December 27th, 2015

S. Paramsothi S.T.A. B.Sc. (Eng.), C. Eng., M.I.E.E., M.I.R.S.E (Aust) This paper serves as an introduction to the many technical papers which will follow. It. deals with some aspects of and the background to the project.


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202503 – Afshar – CBTC Signalling System & Emerging Technologies

Author(s): Parisa Afshar

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202503 – Moore – Signal Design Report: What Is It and Why Do We Need It?

Author(s): Trevor Moore

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2004 – July – Modernisation of KTMB’s Signalling & Telecommunication Systems

Author(s):

The total route length of KTMB’s network amounts to approximately 1670 km and is mainly single track except for about 150 km of electrified double track sections around the capital city, Kuala Lumpur, for commuter services.

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2001 – March – Garrett – Brisbane Airport Rail Link Project – Overview

Author(s): Mike Garrett

Mike Garrett Airtrain Citylink is a Queensland company formed specifically to undertake the development and operation of a rail link between Brisbane Airport and the city of Brisbane on a build, own, operate, transfer (BOOT) basis. See attached Figure 1. Airtrain's shareholders are Colonial Group Staff Superannuation Scheme, Airtrain Trust (4 superannuation funds), Hyder Investments, GIO Australia, CDC Projects, Transfield & 26 smaller investers.

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2001 – July – Stepniewski – Blacktown’s VDU Signalling Control System “Sigview”

Author(s): Richard Stepniewski

Richard Stepniewski Alstom's VDU Control System, called SigView, was successfully commissioned at Blacktown, in two stages as part of the Blacktown Resignalling Project: - Stage 1: control of Blacktown and Quakers Hill in December 1999. - Stage 2: control of Richmond Line and Quakers Hill in March 2000.

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2000 – March – Furness & Clarke – Maintaining for Reliability

Author(s): John Furness & John Clarke

John Furness & John Clarke ABB Engineering Construction are responsible for maintaining various components of the Victorian Rail system on behalf of the newly franchised businesses. The transition from publicly owned railway authority to private industry, specialist maintenance provider has required considerable change at both the organisational and individual staff levels. The process has also uncovered a number of deficiencies in the pre-existing maintenance structure and practices that do not meet the needs and performance requirements of the new Operators. ABB are currently developing and planning for new procedures and practices, etc ,where necessary, to meet our client's expectations for continuos improvements in the overall railway system reliability to achieve and exceed the new performance benchmarks

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