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Technical Meeting Papers

Technical Meetings are held three times per year.
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2022 – November – Fraser – Train Positioning in Tunnels using Ultra-Wideband
By: Aaron Fraser
Date Presented: November 2nd, 2022

Aaron FraserUltra-Wideband (UWB) technology is a radio frequency technology that uses a very large bandwidth to transmit and receive small pulses that are used to calculate precise locations. UWB has been proven to provide industry-leading positioning wit


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2022 – November – Bonassa et al – Tunnel Solutions for Modern Transportation Systems – A Holistic Approach
By: Stefano Bonassa, Giacomo Cernelli, Massimo Orsi, Federico Nardi & Anthony MacDonald
Date Presented: October 21st, 2024

Stefano Bonassa, Giacomo Cernelli, Massimo Orsi, Federico Nardi & Anthony MacDonald Typically, the integration of the Signalling System, Platform Screen Door PSD, Tunnel Ventilation System TVS, Automatic Train Operation ATO, SCADA and other particular equipment, which interact with Signalling in and around the Tunnel, create new requirements to be allocated to innovative signalling systems like ETCS or CBTC.


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2022 – November – Boldeman – Systems Engineering – Myths and Realities
By: Steven Boldeman
Date Presented: October 21st, 2024

Steven Boldeman Within the last decade, Systems Engineering has been used with more and more industries, and has been adopted within the rail industry. This paper discusses the reality of practice for systems engineering in Australia, and in particular for the rail industry. Systems engineering is a relatively new field in Australia for rail and the application of the field to the rail industry is developing and improving as time progresses. There have been hard lessons.


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2022 – April – Wagner – Implementing an integrated system delivery framework to enable successful delivery of complex, multidisciplinary projects
By: Thomas Wagner
Date Presented: October 21st, 2024

Thomas Wagner The aim of this paper is to propose the use of an Integrated System Delivery framework approach for the implementation of complex, multidisciplinary projects. The paper summarises the current spending in the Australian rail market and the industry trends and practices related to the delivery of megaprojects. It looks at traditional design and construction delivery approaches for such projects and investigates their appropriateness compared to the proposed integrated approach. Key changes in approach such as the impacts Covid has had on project teams, common factors that contribute to project failures and the existing use of systems and digital engineering are discussed. The paper provides an overview of the proposed Integrated System Delivery framework for projects and outlines key aspects of the framework that support a new approach to design, construction and implementation phases of complex, multidisciplinary projects.


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2022 – April – Rahman – Reconnecting with Concepts of Collection, Verification & Maintenance of Accurate Geographic Data for ATP
By: Subrina Rahman
Date Presented: October 21st, 2024

Subrina Rahman When presented with a set of flawed input data, the best-case scenario a system designer can hope for is that the system will recognize the flaw and stop working; and in worst case it will keep working with the erroneous data and produce an unpredicted outcome. This is true for simple systems being designed by university students to safety critical complex systems like the Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system currently being rolled across the greater Sydney’s heavy rail network. Only in the latter case, flawed input data could cost lives.  


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2022 – April – Moore – Level Crossings – Controlling the Hazards
By: Trevor Moore
Date Presented: October 21st, 2024

Trevor Moore Level crossings encompass many hazards including the uncontrolled hazards associated with motor vehicles and pedestrians. This paper examines a variety of hazards impacting on level crossing safety. There are also references to incident reports which are a good source for hazards and their consequences.


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2022 – April – McGregor – Motor generators, 240V (MEN) and Isolated power supplies for signalling
By: Peter McGregor
Date Presented: October 21st, 2024

Peter McGregor In NSW country areas we have historically used diesel motor generator sets to provide 120V AC power to operate signalling equipment in the field. With new technologies with electronics/inverters and the drive to use COTS (Commercial off the shelf) equipment we are using 240V commercial generator sets as opposed to the customised (e.g., Lister brand) old style generator sets at 120V AC.  


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2022 – April – McGrath – The “Obsolescence Problem” in Signalling
By: Alex McGrath
Date Presented: October 21st, 2024

Alex McGrath The ‘obsolescence problem’ in signalling is a topic of much discussion and consternation. This paper focuses on the different types of obsolescence and the system elements and forces which drive the ‘problem’, to get a deep understanding of the landscape.


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2022 – April – Lemon – Can ETCS Level 2 help us reconnect the Australian rail networks and offer an interoperable and harmonised future for our railways?
By: Stephen Lemon
Date Presented: October 21st, 2024

Stephen Lemon As a result of Australia’s colonial history the state railway networks have evolved very differently, and whilst differences in track gauge have been largely resolved, there remain major differences between the signalling and train control systems that continue to present significant challenges for interstate and inter-network train operations.


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2022 – April – Cox – Trainguard MT Communications Based Train Control
By: Simeon Cox
Date Presented: October 21st, 2024

Simeon Cox The backbone of large cities is their mass transit, supporting the needs of the population and providing a dependable pathway between nerve sites. Over the next 30 years, several Australian capital cities will be approaching ‘Mega City’ levels of population and will need to consider high-capacity metro systems to move their population as they ‘re-open’ following the COVID 19 pandemic. Access to efficient public transport provides greater equity in access to employment and educational opportunities across the population of the city as people return to the office, workplace, and classroom. Since 2006, Siemens Trainguard MT CBTC has been at the centre of high-capacity metro railways operating at GoA2 and GoA4 in cities worldwide.


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1997 – March – Duffy – Signalling Changes for Operational Improvements – Dynamic Speed Indicators

Author(s):
Date presented: December 27th, 2015

Michael Duffy, MIRSE Queensland Rail The initiative for the development of the dynamic speed indicator (DSI) came about as a result of drivers in QR. The idea of the DSI evolved through a number of workshops in QR. The workshops involved representatives of drivers and operational staff statewide, signalling and personnel. The main reasons for the changes in signalling philosophy in QR were: To improve information for drivers as it was found that improving information to drivers is often overlooked in the haste to install signalling. To improve train handling; To ensure the signalling aspects in QR were consistent.

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2011 – March – Taylor – A System for Broken Rail Detection Independent of the Signalling System

Author(s):
Date presented: December 27th, 2015

Rebecca Taylor B. Eng (Hons) Mech Signals Engineer, Public Transport Authority of Western Australia This paper considers the problem of detecting breaks in a rail. It provides a review of types of rail break, which types need to be detected and why their detection is necessary. It also tackles the question of where the responsibility for detecting broken rails lies. Maintenance and management of the rail and track assets are the responsibility of the track maintenance group. Hence detection of conditions relating to the rail must therefore fall within that scope. Further to this, Signalling systems cannot be relied upon to detect all types of rail break. Signalling systems employing communications based train position detection or axle counters have no mechanisms whatsoever for detection of broken rails. This paper proposes a possible system that may be able to provide a better solution for detection of broken rails than traditional signalling systems and can do it independently of the signalling system.

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1997 – July – Rustandi – Technology Transfer in Electronic Railway Signalling System

Author(s):
Date presented: December 27th, 2015

Mrs Lily Rustandi Production Director PT LEN INDUSTRI In the second Long Term Develortment Plan (PJP II), lndonesia is expected to be a self sufficient country,  having tlie pr-oductivity and capability to compcte in the world market in the era of economic globalisation. LEN, a strategic state owned company has the mission to support the national developlnent in the field of professional electronics which includes electronic railway signalling systems. Transfer of technology cooperation is one of the methods chosen by LEN to increase the capability in  electronic railway signalling systems. Exanlining several factors, such as limitation of local budget, availability of loan financing, appropriate electronic signalling technology etc., Indonesia has selected V.P.1 (Viral  Processor Interlocking) from USA/Netherlands, S.SI (Solid Slate lnterlocking) from UK/France and WESTRACE from Westinghouse Signals Australia to provide the electronic railway signalling systems in Indonesia. This paper will present a picture of the technology transfer process experienced by PT. LEN INDUSTRI in cooperatioll with the Signalling Companies from Australia, UK, Netherlands, France and USA.

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2003 – March – McDonald – Signalling the Alice Springs to Darwin Railway

Author(s):
Date presented: December 27th, 2015

Wayne McDonald BE (Elec) FlRSE Westinghouse Signals Australia The Alice Springs to Darwin railway is the largest rail construction project that Australia has seen and is likely to see for a century. This is a Build. Own Operate Transfer project for the Asia Pacific Transport consortium. ADrail is the design and construction contractor and their operating company is Freight Link. This paper reviews the special problems encountered signalling and protecting the level crossings on lhis new railway. A computer assisted verbal train order system meeting the Code of Practice for the Defined Interstate Network, autonomus self restoring points complete with vital LED point indicators at passing loops and constant warning time crossing predictors are being installed in a harsh, remote environment. All site installations operate from conservatively rated solar power supplies. Highly reliable low maintenance systems, appropriate to the area's remoteness, are being deployed. The system can be upgraded for greater control centre automation, train position reporting, maintenance management and driver supervision as the network utilisation demands.

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2001 – July – Dwyer – Advanced Train Running Information Control System

Author(s):
Date presented: December 27th, 2015

Andrew Dwyer Rail lnfrastructure Corporation This paper describes the development, installation and commissioning of the Advanced Train Running lnformation Control System used within the Rail lnfrastructure Corporation, NSW. The paper details the background, control systems requirements, development and installations to date. lnformation on the system design including hardware and software are covered as is interface to other systems including I timetabling, station passenger information, electrical control, overhead power control and train radio.

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1993 – July – Port – Commissioning Work Package as used in State Rail

Author(s):
Date presented: December 27th, 2015

David Port G.M.K. Engineering Pty. Ltd. The purpose of this paper is to explain the procedures developed and being implemented by the signalling discipline in State Rail to control the inspection and testing process. In particular this paper will concentrate on the Commissioning Work Package.

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2012 – Oct – Griffiths – Software Reliability – An Oxymoron?

Author(s):
Date presented: December 27th, 2015

Alena Griffiths MIEAust, CPEng, PhD, BSc(Hons), LLB RGB Assurance Pty Ltd Rarely a week goes by without a major software failure featuring prominently in the news. Some problems, such as the reported "computer glitches" with Virgin Blue's check-in software in 2010, merely result in financial loss. Others, such as the Queensland Health payroll debacle, in 2011, contribute to the downfall of governments. And of course there have also been cases where software unreliability has contributed to unavailability of critical public infrastructure, and in some cases, loss of life. But how vulnerable is the rail industry to software unreliability, and what's the real likelihood that software problems could actually stop the trains (or even crash the trains)? This paper will provide a brief survey of the extent to which modern railways depend on correct software operation. We will show that this dependency extends from customer facing applications such as web-based journey planners and fare sales and collection systems, through to critical service delivery applications such as routing trains, scheduling essential maintenance, and responding to emergencies. Having elaborated the dependence of modern railways on software technology, we will then proceed to discuss the vulnerabilities this presents. We will describe the main reasons why software engineering is different from other engineering disciplines, and hence why reliability of software must be approached differently to reliability of other engineering products. The explanation will range from the science that underpins software engineering, through to the complexity inherent in modern software systems, and ultimately through to social issues such as regulation of the software engineering profession and the psychology of the software development process. In particular, we will consider traditional approaches to reliability engineering and explain why these approaches in general translate poorly to software. Finally, we will talk about how software reliability is being approached in the Australian rail industry today, and provide some suggestions for improving our handling of, and hence reducing our vulnerability to, software reliability issues.

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1997 – March – Bozzolo – Safety Architecture for Railway Applications

Author(s):
Date presented: December 27th, 2015

Daniel Bozzolo Ansaldo Segmalamento Ferroviario S.p.A. This paper aims to offer an overview of the vital computer-based Ansaldo Segnalamento Ferroviario's S.A.R.A. product line, its application, capability, performance as well as its flexibility and scalability in the following Sections. Section 2 describes the major system applications for which the S.A.R.A. product line can be used, some examples are offered in order to demonstrate its versatility and capability of meeting particular customer needs. Section 3 lists the major features offered by the S.A.R.A. product line regardless of the actual application on which it is being used, and discusses system performance. Section 4 describes the S.A.R.A. product line system architecture both functionally and via block diagrams. Emphasis is again placed on the flexibility, safety and availability that is achievable with such architecture. Section 5 gives a quick overview on the software structure related to the Computerbased system that performs all the application functions. Section 6 concludes the paper offering a typical example on the ACC field application relative to the large-size project for Roma - Terminal station. Some key data is presented in order to give a clear idea on the size of the project and the actual capability offered by the S.A.R.A. product line.

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1993 – July – Rasborsek, Fuller, McGregor, Hockings & Szacsvay – Inventing Big Brother Monitoring the Railway Environment

Author(s):
Date presented: December 27th, 2015

John Rasborsek Support Services Engineer, Illawma Region, CityRail James Fuller CTC Engineer, North Region, Freight Rail Peter McGregor Safeworliing Systems Engineer, Signals Standards Greg Hockings Electronic Systems Engineer, Signals Standards Paul Szacsvay MIRSE Engineer for Technical Standards, Signals Standards  

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2002 – April – Samuel – Benefits of Integrated Supervisory Control System For Metropolitan Railway Operations

Author(s):
Date presented: December 27th, 2015

LAURENT SAMUEL HEAD OF THE HONG KONG BRANCH THALES INFORMATION SYSTEMS Technology has progressed to the point where train control functions can now be costeffectively integrated into an architecture that improves the delivery of both operational and engineering services. The purpose of this paper is to inform the audience of the latest developments in integrated supervisory control systems for metropolitan railway networks. It addresses the main differences between the traditional organisation of a metropolitan Train Control Center and the integrated concept. The benefits to the operator, passengers, engineering and external agencies are also dealt with. The major advantages of the integrated approach are: increased efficiency in safety and disaster recovery management through a closely co-ordinated response with all relevant information available to all agencies involved. enhanced passenger information and services through the integration of functions savings in cost for the owner through reduced maintenance support and operational resources improved visibility of operational performance of the network The technology described here is in operational service in various metros around the world. The latest networks to adopt the Thales integrated approach are the Singapore North East Line and Marina Line. Both of these lines are fully integrated systems that demand the highest levels of integrity and safety.

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