Technical Meeting Papers

Technical Meetings are held three times per year.
Papers are available here for download.
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1982 – March – Sheldon – Communications Aspects of Metrol

Date Presented: December 28th, 2015

R Sheldon SMIREE Communication Section, VicRail The Melbourne Metropolitan Train Control Centre (METROL) has been established to co-ordinate all signalling and communications for the city loop and the suburban network.  The author outlines the design philosophy for the communication system and describes the various sub--systems involved, including the post phone system and the train control telehone system.  Emergency services and Maintenance facilities are discussed and the paper concludes by foreshadowing future developments.


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1976 – Nov – Perry – Sunshine – Rockbank Resignalling

Date Presented: December 28th, 2015


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1993 – April – Page – Safety Engineering WESTECT or What is this Voodo

Date Presented: December 28th, 2015


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1981 – July – Logan – Recruitment Training of Staff – NSW Notes

Date Presented: December 28th, 2015


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1966 – Oct – Moore – Modern Developments in Semiconductor Rectifiers

Date Presented: December 28th, 2015

JR Moore BSc, BE, AMIE Aust AMIEE Resident Engineer (NSW) McKenzie & Holland (Australia) The latest review published in the Proceedings of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, U.K,, indicates that conversion to direct current by means of rectifiers accounts for something like 30% of all the electrical energy generated in the world: and like the latter,it is approximately doubling in volume every ten years.


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1967 – Feb – McCauley – Level Crossing Protection in Victoria

Date Presented: December 28th, 2015

DE McCauley MIRSE In this paper I intend to outline very briefly the history of Level Crossing Protection in Victoria and to describe some of the control problems and principal technical features of the design of flashing light signals and half-boom barriers with flashing light signals (later reffed to as boom barriers). Legislation in the United Kingdom requires the Railways to protect the road user at rail-road level crossings.  In the United States of America legislation requires the road user not to cross the rail unless he can do so safely. In Victoria, the Birtish practice of protecting level crossings was used in cities nd towns.  Today, of the crossings in the Melbourne Suburban Electrified Area, approximately 200 are portected and only about ten are not protected.


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1979 – July – Dawkins – Forrestfield Hump Yard

Date Presented: December 28th, 2015

WH Dawkins Westrail The Forrestfield yard, opened in 1973 centralises the marshalling of loadings for country designations previously performed at Midland, East Perth, Perth and Fremantle yards. It is divided down the centre with standard gauge on the east and narrow gauge on the west. A description is provided of the narrow gauge 'hump"marshalling yard. A total of 7,449 Dowty Oleo retarders are installed over 31 classification sidings for continuous speed control of wagons and buffing speed. Information is provided on the operation of these retarders and on the major aspects of the yard including the control tower, operating console, hump signals, shunt signals, points,track circuits, the automatic route progression system, test panel and the compressed air distribution. A full description is provided on humping and operating procedures.


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1993 – April – Drover Duffy – Signalling in Queensland – Changes Tech

Date Presented: December 28th, 2015


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1978 – July – Wooderson – Brisbane Electrification – Rearrangement of City

Date Presented: December 28th, 2015


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1990 – July – Whisson Nikandros – Signalling for Driver Only Operation

Date Presented: December 28th, 2015


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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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1998 – July – Skilton – Tranz Rail’s National Train Control Centre

Author(s): JT Skilton

JT Skilton Signalling systems within Tranz Rail which require control from a remote location can be classified into three types, Centralised Traffic Control (CTC), remote controlled interlockings in Track Warrant (TW) territory and remote controlled interlockings embedded in Double Line Automatic (DLA) signalling. The CTC systems control the movement of trains in both directions over a single line section divided up into block sections and crossing loops. A field unit is installed at each crossing loop for the purpose of communicating with the control centre. TW control requires all trains to hold a warrant for the section of line being traversed. This warrant is issued to the locomotive engineer verbally over the train radio system and checked for correct reception by reading back over the radio system to the control centre. A selected number of crossing loops within TW territory are fully interlocked and equipped with a field unit which allows the Train Control Operator (TCO) to have full control over motor points and signals. Centralised control of interlockings in DLA territory is used where junctions between main and branch lines occur. Central control is used for movements to and from the branch line and, although it can also be used for signalling along the main lines, the interlocking can be switched to automatic for main line movements.

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1998 – July – McDonald – Today’s Interlocking – A World of Applications

Author(s): Wayne McDonald

Wayne McDonald Computer based interlockings today must be adaptable to the vastly different environments found in the many rail networks throughout the world. This paper overviews some of these environments where one such system, WESTRACE, has been installed and it highlights some of the special requirements essential to suit those locations.  

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1997 – November – Brock, Ebzery & McMurtrie – Homebush Bay Rail Link – Signalling Design and Management

Author(s): Peter Brock, Frank Ebzery & Bruce McMurtrie

Peter Brock, Frank Ebzery & Bruce McMurtrie The construction of the Year 2000 Olympic facilities and the relocation of the Royal Agricultural Show Grounds Homebush Bay requires the construction of a high capacity transport link. Heavy rail is the only transport system that will supply the required capacity. The new Homebush Bay rail Loop will connect Olympic Park and the new Homebush Bay Showgrounds with the rest of the Sydney metropolitan rail networkTrail loop is nearing completion and will be commissioned on the 22/23 November 1997.

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