Resources

2007 – March – Baayens – Asset Protection for Heavy Haul Railway

Author(s):

Date presented: December 27th, 2015

Written by A.Baayens Technical Officer Union Switch & Signa Heavy Haul Railways are often owned and operated by bulk commodity producers. Their rail operators are focused mainly on production. Although profit, costs, growth and sustainability are important to the operators, they will be focused and measured daily on productivity which can be simply described as, the number of tonnes of product actually delivered versus the planned tonnes. In boom times operators will be striving to increase planned tonnes and to do this cycle times must be reduced or more train consists operated. The railway is part of a production process. Although not productive in itself, it is necessary for the transport of the bulk product typically between the mine and port. Rail is usually the most efficient means of transporting bulk product over long distances. The railway adds to the unit cost of the product. The factors that affect the unit cost of the product by rail are: · Train crewing costs· The distance required to transport the product· Track gradient· The effectiveness of motive power· The efficiency of rolling stock used· The varying cost of fuel or energy required for motive power· The method of loading and unloading· The maintenance and repair of railway infrastructure and rolling stock· Capital costs· Asset utilisation· Delays in product delivery As the railway adds cost to the production process it is continuously under scrutiny to minimise costs wherever possible. Railways must minimise the cost of railing bulk product and safeguard production against delay and losses. It is vital for the production process to have a continuous flow of product for maximum efficiency and minimal cost. If the flow of traffic on a finely tuned railway is stopped an immediate loss is incurred. It is vital therefore to either anticipate and prevent the cause of disruption, or be able identify and respond immediately to the cause of the disruption.

Read More

2006 – Nov – Welsby – ARTC New Communications System

Author(s):

Date presented: December 27th, 2015

Read More

2011 – March – Morris – Track Maintenance Impacts of Train Detection Systems or Why Ballast Regulators Have Windows

Author(s):

Date presented: December 27th, 2015

Adam Morris BE(Hons), Dip PM, MIEAust, MAIPM Abigroup Contractors When considering railway signalling, track or structures, it is important to consider that each of these are merely sub-systems of the larger system we call the railway. The configuration of any one system can impact on any other and the often fraught relationship between track and signals is certainly no exception. The various train detection systems all impact in different ways on the track and in particular track maintenance activities. The need to supply signalling support to track maintenance is often overlooked in considering the whole of life costs of train detection systems. There can scarcely be a signal engineer or technician without a horror story of the damage wrought by clumsy, unprepared track crews, especially that dreaded combination of ballast tamper and regulator. But is it all their fault? Perway crews know that this equipment is deliberately put in the worst possible location or cunningly camouflaged just to annoy them. This paper examines the impacts between the various types of train detection systems, including track circuits and axle counters and other ancillary track mounted or near-track equipment on track maintenance practices. It also includes a brief commentary on the case for the need to detect broken rails.

Read More

2013 – Oct – Gifford and McPeake – Split Detection and Emergency Power Operation

Author(s):

Date presented: December 27th, 2015

John Gifford FIRSE ARTC Hunter Valley Thomas McPeake AMIRSE ORAH Rail ARTC's Hunter Valley Rail Network in NSW is currently transporting 150MTPA of coal to the Newcastle Ports, with projected increases between 200 - 270MTPA over the next 5 years. The Network sees 1560m long coal trains travelling between 60 and 80kph at 8minute headways. How will ARTC undertake maintenance activities and avoid the loss of train paths and consequential train cancellation at around $1MIL loss to the coal industry per event Points and crossovers in particular are the Achilles heel in terms of reliability and difficulty in obtaining maintenance windows due to combined detection for each point end. Incorrect manual operation of powered points due to failure or to allow the movement of track maintenance machinery is a significant risk for ARTC. There has been a major derailment at Whittingham in March 2010 and many instances of damage to point switch blades due to a train or track maintenance vehicle trailing through the points following manual operation. This paper details the reasons why ARTC needed to investigate, develop and deploy Split Point Detection and Emergency Power Operation for crossovers to improve maintainability and reduce the impact of point failures. It covers the development, risks identified and mitigation measures, the design and the operating procedures for this innovative solution to a difficult operational problem.

Read More

1999 – March – Hickey – Railways at War

Author(s):

Date presented: December 27th, 2015

Michael Hickey B.E., GRAD. DIP, P.M. & I.R., F.I.E. AUST, F.P.W.I. Manager Contract Operations, Rail Services Australia Since early civilisation signalling has been an important and noble profession. Generals, when summoning their troops, used signalling or heralds in various ways to concentrate their forces at the appropriate time or retreat to fight another day.

Read More

2008 – July – Tapsall – Change in Mindset to Promote Better Delivery

Author(s):

Date presented: December 27th, 2015

Robert Tapsall, Construction Manager Trackstar Alliance, MIRSE With great vision, QR embarked on their first Program Alliance to gain long term support and commitment from the rail industry suppliers in order to ensure delivery of their Capital Works program would be achieved. This paper will briefly describe the Alliance framework, development of Alliance culture and the benefits of the Alliance delivery model which the Trackstar Alliance has successfully implemented to date. In an environment of innovation and creation of best value, Trackstar has been instrumental in bringing about savings to QR in scheme design and implementation of new techniques with a reduced drain on QR's key resources. This paper will describe some of these innovations with a particular focus on signalling and the role signalling engineers can take in delivering better outcomes.

Read More

2006 – March – Barker – Using Independent Railway Safety Investigations to Help Manage Risk

Author(s):

Date presented: December 27th, 2015

Phillip Barker, MIRO, Dip TSI. Senior Transport Safety Investigator Australian Transport Safety Bureau   A greater understanding of safety related occurrences can assist railway operators and railway managers to prioritise resources to manage risk. Before you can manage a hazard it helps to understand how accidents and incidents are occurring. Implementation of corrective action, policy development and planning comes from a process of risk assessment. Given that occurrences pose a safety and financial risk to railway operators and managers, a program of analysis to look at the range of contributing factors, should form part of any safety management system. This should lead to greater safety and potential gains in efficiency. This paper will briefly outline the general process adopted by the ATSB to analyse occurrences. The status of the National Rail Occurrence Database will also be outlined.

Read More

2007 – July – Weerakody – Innovative Project Delivery Solutions

Author(s):

Date presented: December 27th, 2015

Don Weerakody MIRSE, MIEAust, MIET Public Transport Authority This paper outlines two signalling projects recently undertaken by the Public Transport Authority of Western Australia (PTA). Each of these projects dealt with unusual circumstances, resulting from acts of vandalism. They both required innovative solutions as the approaches normally employed were unsuitable. The Boom Gate Motor Protection Project is a solution to level crossing failures caused by vandals hanging on the boom arms at level crossings as they are returning to the upright position. This causes the boom motor to trip and the boom remains in the down position. The crossing remains in this state for some time or until a technician arrives and resets the boom motor circuit breaker. This leads to prolonged closure of the level crossing and encourages motorists to drive around the boom gates. This project addresses this problem, and also allows provision of other features such as enhanced monitoring of the level crossing equipment. The Track-Based Transmission System for Signalling Project was implemented due to the theft of aerial line circuitry over a 5.5km section of track between Armadale and Mundijong. Direct replacement of the existing signalling infrastructure was not possible due to damage to the poles and the unavailability of appropriate aerial line cable in a short space of time. The railway reserve for this section also falls under the protection of state and federal environmental protection legislation enacted after the original installation of the signalling equipment. Re-instatement of the existing system using cables would have caused an unacceptable impact to the local ecology due to the trenching required. The Boom Gate Motor Protection is in operation at two level crossings and is being progressively installed at all urban level crossings. The Track-Based Transmission System for Signalling is successfully in operation on the Armadale to Mundijong railway.

Read More

2003 – July – Portela – Enhancing Train Visibility

Author(s):

Date presented: December 27th, 2015

Lionel Portela B.E (Elec.) Project Engineer TVS, ALSTOM Australia – Transport Enhancing train visibility in Dark Territories in the NSW metropolitan rail network has occurred through a series of control system projects commissioned by the Rail Infrastructure Corporation NSW, State Rail Authority IT & T and ALSTOM Australia. This paper describes the development, installation and commissioning of the various SigView control systems used to enhance train visibility in the Blue Mountains. The paper provides details on each stage of the process, beginning with the initial objective of providing signalling indications in the Dark Territories through to the provision of Train Describer systems some of which are currently in use.

Read More

1998 – Nov – Chadwick – BTR Rail WESTRACE Tools

Author(s):

Date presented: December 27th, 2015

Marc Chadwick BE, GradDipMgt, MIRSE Manager, Product Development, Westinghouse Signals Australia Industry and its customers are jointly seeking lower costs, faster delivery, higher quality and greater consistency. All this in the face of the ever increasing shortages of skilled personnel in our profession, a problem that is going to get worse before it gets better. This paper presents the tools that have been developed by the BTR Rail Group Conlpanies for use in WESTRACE Interlocking applications to help satisfy these demands.

Read More