Resources

2007 – July -Eyre – Signalling of the Southern Suburbs Railway

Author(s):

Date presented: December 27th, 2015

Paul Eyre Project Manager Ansaldo STS / Union Switch & Signal Pty Ltd The 71 km extension of the Perth electrified rail network from Perth through to Mandurah, commonly referred to as the Southern Suburbs Railway (SSR), commenced in 2003 and is due for completion towards the end of 2007. The SSR project is divided into several packages, namely A-G, involving numerous engineering disciplines and various contractor skill sets. Package "A" comprises all new railway infrastructure including earthworks, track and traction overhead works (except for the new bored tunnel and associated systems constructed by Package "F") and all the signalling and communication works. Packages "B", "C" & "D" cover the construction of 8 new stations. Package "E" covers alterations done by Mainroads WA to the Kwinana Freeway to accommodate the new railway line in the median from Perth to Thomas Road. Package "G" covers the train control works for the SSR. Package "A" main contractor and electrical systems subcontractor (Rail Link Joint Venture and ODG) employed Ansaldo STS to do the signalling system design, procurement of all signalling equipment, and testing and commissioning of the signalling system from Perth to Mandurah including the section through the bored tunnel section. Installation of the signalling equipment and "setting to work" were excluded. Package "G" main contractor is Ansaldo STS. Package "G" comprises replacement of the original system installed in 1989 when Perth was electrified by a new Phoenix Train Control System, and responsibility for the design, implementation and testing of modifications to the Phoenix Train Control System to incorporate the new Mandurah line, and design and supply of the Customer Information System for both the new and existing network. The construction of the SSR will be introducing new systems architecture, technology and practices to that previously used by the Public Transport Authority of Western Australia (PTA), the owner and operator of the Perth rail network. This paper identifies some of these innovations, and addresses challenges faced by Ansaldo STS to complete their works under Packages "A" & "G".

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2010 – July – Tan – Rapid Modernisation of Urban Passenger Rollingstock

Author(s):

Date presented: December 27th, 2015

Jason Tan Bach of Eng (Elec.), Bach of Com (Management, HRM) Electrical Engineer (Public Transport Authority) The availability of railcars and the ability to meet the growth in public transport patrons in Western Australia over the long term has been an important topic of discussion in the past few years. While the mechanical and even the traction systems of the railcars may live to their design life, the technology of the auxiliary control and communications equipment on board will become obsolete. This paper discusses the 'RAPID' project that the Public Transport Authority of Western Australia embarked on in order to completely overhaul the communications systems on board their existing 15 year old fleet of Electric Multiple Units. It demonstrates how the project was able to quickly modernise the aging look, feel and control of the railcars with state of the art technology and functionality, allowing the railcars to be available for use to the extent of, and even beyond, their design life.

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2015 – March – Yum amd Mahmood – Practical application of semiformal RAM methodology

Author(s):

Date presented: December 27th, 2015

Kai Yum BEng, BSc, GradDipSig&Comms DEDJTR Tariq Mahmood  BSc (Hons), MEng  Advisian This paper provides a review of the Reliability, Availability and Maintainability Engineering program carried out by the Rail Systems Alliance on the Regional Rail Link Project. It provides an overview of the approach adopted by the Alliance with close partnership with the ARO (V/Line). It presents two practical examples of the application of a semi-formal approach. The paper also discusses the integration of RAM outputs into V/Line’s Asset Management Systems. The paper analyses some practical experiences and lessons learnt.

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2002 – November – Strachan – New Trains for Melbourne – The Customer’s Perspective

Author(s):

Date presented: December 27th, 2015

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2009 – July – Mclean – Insights into Project Delivery Innovation as applied to the MetWest Alliance Project

Author(s):

Date presented: December 27th, 2015

Stuart Mclean Bachelor Electronic Engineering, Hons (RMIT) United Group Infrastructure Ltd The MetWest Alliance project involved the upgrade of the signalling, track and station infrastructure at No 1 Yard, Southern Cross Station. The Alliance delivered the project on time even though the schedule was compressed, within budget and with minimal disruption to train services while working in a high risk environment at one of Melbourne busiest live rail yards. This paper aims to provide an overview of how an alliance works, the challenges faced at MetWest and to share insights on how delivery innovations were achieved which made the project successful.

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1995 – Nov – Wardrop – Train Performance & Train Modelling as an Aide to Signal Design

Author(s):

Date presented: December 27th, 2015

Alex Wardrop TMG International Pty Ltd  

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2012 – March – Szacsvay and Moore – Broken Rails and the Survival of the Track Circuit

Author(s):

Date presented: December 27th, 2015

Paul Szacsvay FIRSE Principal Engineer Signalling R & D RailCorp NSW Trevor Moore FIRSE Signalling Standards Engineer Australian Rail Track Corp Track circuits have always been identified as a means of broken rail detection, and will continue to be needed to serve this function even when their train detection functions can be replaced by communications based location methods or non-contact train detection. The effectiveness of track circuits in detection of broken rails has been the subject of some considerable discussion amongst signalling and track engineers. This paper looks at both sides of this discussion. We hope to provide you with an insight into what risk reduction track circuits can provide and whether this can largely be substituted by improved forms of rail husbandry.

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1998 – March – Duffy, Donald & Huth – Partnering in Practice

Author(s):

Date presented: December 27th, 2015

Mike Duffy MIRSE Queensland RailMike Donald MIRSE Westinghouse Signals AustraliaPaul Huth AMIRSE Queensland Rail This paper reviews the key elements, processes, problems and opportunities which face both the client and supplier as they move from the more traditional but adversarial contract only arrangement to a more open non adversarial arrangement facilitated by Partnering.

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2006 – March – Robinson – Common Law Safety Cases

Author(s):

Date presented: December 27th, 2015

Richard M Robinson, BE BA FIEAust MSFPE Director, R2A Pty Ltd statutory, regulatory and common law obligations have been met. It is primarily a demonstration that all sensible practicable precautions are in place. This means that target risk levels are not strictly relevant. Legally at least, if a business or activity is prohibitively 'dangerous' then it must be stopped. Otherwise the common law principle, the balance of the significance of the risk versus the effort required to reduce it, applies. As such, 'risk' is only invoked to test the value of the possible precautions, rather than the significance of the 'hazard'

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2006 – July – Warhurst & Keys – Epping – Chatswood Rail Link – Radio System

Author(s):

Date presented: December 27th, 2015

Peter WarhurstJohn Keys United Group Infrastructure The aim of this paper is to highlight the unique aspects of the design and engineering required to implement radio communications within the Epping-Chatswood Rail Link. The project was unique in that the tunnel sections were much longer than other tunnel projects in Australia and therefore presented some challenging problems for the design. Although our scope includes the provision of radio coverage for both UHF and mobile telephones, the challenges for UHF (train radio and emergency services) were the greatest and so this paper will focus on that aspect. To meet the radio MTTR specification, it was necessary to locate repeaters in the station and service buildings (rather than the normal tunnel cross-passages), which necessitated some extremely long tunnel sections to be served by certain repeaters. The maximum tunnel section span of 3750 metres required the design of specially engineered radio repeaters and customised leaky feeder cables. The paper describes the processes followed to evolve the UHF radio design and specifications for the radio repeaters and leaky feeders, highlighting the limitations of each of the technologies involved.

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