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Jeanette Aitken BE MEngSc Aitken & Partners, Consulting Engineers This paper describes a method of improving the determination of train positions that is particularly applicable in areas where track circuits are not available. The method uses multiple GPS antennas for position and heading determination. One of the key problems with standard GPS solutions is the difficulty in resolving the track that the train has taken at a junction. Parallel tracks may lie within the resolution ambiguity of standard GPS and DGPS position measurements. We propose that attitude determination be used to determine the path that the train has taken at a track junction. The document then explains the equipment and methods that were considered best for solving these problems.
Mr. Rodrigo Alvarez MEng CEng MIET Titan ICT Consultants Mr. Juan Roman MEng Titan ICT Consultants A general trend in modern Train Control Systems is the use of increasingly similar hardware platforms to implement different applications. More and more, the on-board equipment needed to deploy a mass transit CBTC system is, if not effectively the same, at least equivalent to the equipment used for ETCS Level 2 rollouts. A similar process is taking place trackside, with Eurobalises being adopted for CBTC and Zone Controllers or Interlockings being revamped into RBCs. It is mostly at the application level where these systems really begin to differ, as if CBTC systems were about to become a series of customised ATO applications on top of what basically is a generic ETCS-like ATP system. This integration tendency begs a question: what will happen with the radio layer? Today, nearly all ETCS Level 2 systems use GSM-R as their radio carrier technology, with a few anecdotal instances of TETRA usage. At the same time, nearly all CBTC systems use radio networks based on IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi). The main reason for this difference is historical – with GSM-R being developed by European authorities as part of the ERTMS specification, and Wi-Fi being chosen as a "cheap and dirty" unlicensed band solution for railways that are mostly underground. This paper explores the forces that underpin the trend to move away from those radio layers. It also identifies LTE as a technology that seems to be, according to current market trends and to technical reasons, the obvious successor to GSM-R and the best alternative to replace Wi-Fi in safety critical applications. The paper finally presents some of the integration challenges that train control system engineers will face in the coming years in trying to make the transition from their current radio interfaces to the latest radio carrier technology around, and how enhanced capabilities of the radio layer may open the box for oncoming innovations in Train Control Systems.
Tom Deveney Dip. Communications Engineering RMIT FIRSE National Rail Corporation This paper provides an overview of the "Australia Wide Augmented Radio Environment" (AWARE) communications system being implemented on the new NR class locomotives. National Rail have developed a locomotive communications system which can accomodate the various features employed by the rail authority train radio networks over which National Rail operates.
Paul Furniss BEng (Hons) CEng MIET Australian Rail Track Corporation The In Cab Activated Points System is a system which provides the Train Crews with a window of opportunity when approaching a crossing location to operate the points reverse in a controlled manner to allow the train to enter the crossing loop without the need to stop. A self restoring points system exists on the Trans Australia Railway between Port Augusta and Kalgoorlie which provided considerable benefits at forty four crossing loops when it was introduced in 2000 by ARTC. The In Cab Activated Points System is an enhancement to the self restoring system so that a train movement into a crossing loop is as efficient as practicable. This paper will review and describe the system components that have been used to provide the function of remotely reversing the points at the crossing locations across the Nullabor from within the locomotive cabs. The components to be described are the ground based systems at the loop end equipment huts, an air interface, and the train borne locomotive systems. A current project status is also provided.
PN Dean MIRSE Westrail In 1950 the majority of the Westrail system was single line, operated under the rules applicable to the Train Electric Staff System or the Train Staff and Ticket System. The Southdest District was no exception, being entirely single line. The main traffic in this area was general goods between Perth and Bunbury, together with coal from Collie to various destinationa. Considerable grain traffic was also carried to Bunbury for export. At about this time, the service between Perth and Brunswick Junction was beginning t o over-tax the signalling system and proposals were put forward to convert from the Electric Staff System to C.T,C., controlled from Perth. Equipment was subsequently purchased for this project and installation commenced at Armadale, working towards Pinjarra in stages.
Andrew Blakeley-Smith BSc (Hons) MIEAust MIRSE Andrew Blakeley-Smith & Associates Railway signalling technology has evolved over the years from the primary discipline of the mechanical engineer to the electrical engineer to the IT/computer science engineer. The design philosophy and hardware underlying analogue communications links is very familiar to those with, or exposed to, a telephony background but does not seem to have been adequately covered in most electrical engineering courses. There are still many analogue links forming essential, and even vital, components of signalling systems. Some of these links, in service for many years, from the author's experience, have never been tested and commissioned properly and fail when relatively minor configuration changes are made. System testing is often prolonged because new communications bearers are not tested systematically. Effort is then mistakenly put into reconfiguration of the equipment at the ends of the bearer, perhaps because the digital interface is better understood. This paper covers some telephony history and basic principles, some elementary transmission line theory that may have been forgotten (or passed over as no longer relevant or a black art) and discusses, from experience, some practical testing strategies that do not need a truck full of expensive and difficult to drive test equipment.
Mr Brett Baker BE MBA MIRSE Project Manager Connex New Rolling Stock Project The approach adopted to the procurement of the New Rolling Stock for the Connex Network in Melbourne has proved to be an efficient process allowing the first train to be delivered to Melbourne earlier than anticipated and then to be safely introduced into the Network for further testing. Testing is progressing well at the time of producing this paper with the major milestone in the procurement process, the entry into revenue service of the first trainset, also expected to be completed on time.
Andrew Kitto BEng Elect (Uni of SA) Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) Australian Rail Track Corporation is the owner and manager of the interstate rail track on behalf of the Commonwealth Government. Responsibilities include managing and developing the asset, and providingopen access to rail operators, for the purpose of facilitating the development of the rail industry. This paper describes ARTC's project to implement a new generation safeworking system that utilises modern technology to control trains, and other users, over its network. Performance based specifications for a Communications Based Safeworking System (CBSS) were developed a couple of years ago. ARTC conducted a Registration of Interest process from which a small number of Consortia were invited to tender. Tenders were received in July 1992. At time of writing, ARTC has analysed tenders for the CBSS project, and is about to make recommendations to the ARTC Board. Consequently, the project can only be described in functional and conceptual terms at this stage. The details of design are either yet to be developed or are subject to the confidentiality associated with the current stage of the tender process. This paper will describe in functional and conceptual terms the CBSS system.
Geoff Meers, B. Surv, D.U.R.P. M. Sc, MIS (Aust) Manager (Road Use Data Analysis) Queensland Transport Road safety outcomes in Queensland and across Australia have improved notably in the last 30 years. Queensland's collaborative and strategic approach to managing road safety has helped us to make significant improvements. Queensland's per capita road toll is now one of the lowest in Australia and has remained below the Australian average since 1998. This paper outlines the management of road safety in Australia and provides more detail on Queensland's approach. It provides evidence that a collaborative approach that focuses on achievable, cost-effective initiatives gives the best outcomes.
P. J. Gavan Manager, Communications V/Line When the train radio communiations service requirements were examined it was shown that they formed two distinct groups. There was a demand for local services within the immediate vicinity of trains and for a long range service for communication with train control that could be patched to other fixed locations as well. The characteristics of each group were dissimilar and there was a further requirement that both channels of communications should be open at all times. To meet the total demand, two distinct services were provided, viz a Local Train Radio System and a Control radio network.
In this paper, we would like to introduce an innovative proposal based on the research conducted by the Hitachi Rail Innovation team to further improve the existing available tablet application, particularly
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I started in signalling more than 30 years ago at British Rail, where I learnt how to design interlockings, initially in relay circuits, and then by programming Solid State Interlockings. This work sparked my interest in safety critical syste
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This paper offers a detailed FRMCS integrated migration strategy as a preparatory guide for current GSM-R users, particularly Rail Transport Operators (RTOs), as well as for projects in the planning and developmen
The Public Transport Authority of Western Australia (PTA) is currently building a new mobile radio and backhaul transmission communications network across the Perth metropolitan electrified railway network.
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Cybersecurity is a hot topic worldwide with regular attacks being performed against multiple domains.