197911 – Logan – Eastern Suburbs Railway – Part 1: Signalling Design

From the signalling and communications point of view the Eastern Suburbs Railway project commenced in 1967 with the pawing of an Act authorising the construction of a line to Bondi Junction and thence to Kingsford in accordance with the De Loew Cather, and Company report of 1962.

Prior to this a line to the Eastern Suburbs had been sought before 1877 and had been subject to recommendations by Royal Commissions in 1890 and 1896. Dr. J.J.C. Bradfields proposal for a City and Eastern Suburbs Railway received parliamentary approval in 1915. An Act was passed in 1947 for completion of the City Circle and building of lines into the Eastern Suburbs which resulted in site works progressing until 1952 when a recession caused works to cease. No signalling or communications design work had been commenced over this period until it became necessary in 1967.

The fortunes of the Eastern Suburbs Railway are well documented in a newspaper item published in 1965 when the then Labour premier announced that the railway would go ahead (Fig. 1).

The problem facing Signals and Telegraph Engineers in 1967 was what type of signalling to provide on a new line, in an era when automatic train operation with cab signalling was well established, when that line must become part of an extensive suburban system based on the technology of the 1920’s.

The decision taken was to adhere to wayside signals and train stops thus eliminating the need to modify rolling stock and re-signal the old areas of the network, however full advantage would be taken of modern equipment and materials in the form of miniature plug in relays, electronic timing relays, jointless track circuits, solid state remote control equipment and a modern type of train stop mechanism.

In 1973 approval was given for the resignalling of the inner Sydney Area with one Signal Box to control the former Station West, Station East, Wells Street and Illawarra Junction signal boxes and at this time it was decided to control the Eastern Suburbs line from the new Signal Box via solid state time division multiplexing equipment with the aid of train description and automatic platform indicator operation based on the new signal box computer. Prior to 1973 the control of the Eastern Suburbs line was to have been from a signal box on the platform at Central.

The line approved in 1967 was to run from Erskineville to Central thence to Bondi Junction and on to Kingsford and work was progressed accordingly. However in 1976 the Government abandoned the section from Bondi Junction to Kingsford without any site works having commenced beyond Bondi Junction to give the existing arrangement (Fig 2) with a somewhat limited turn back facility at Bondi Junction.

To meet Marketing requirements a decision was reached that the Railway would open in an isolated mode providing a high frequency shuttle service between Central and Bondi Junction with an integrated stage to follow when sufficient double deck rolling stock was available to run all services on the Illawarra lines. The second stage has not yet arrived and a decision has yet to be made when integration will occur.

To simplify operation of the three interlockings under integration the provision of automatic route setting by the Sydney Signal Box computer is currently being investigated.

In the shuttle service mode the turn backs at Central and Bondi Junction function automatically without intervention of a Signalman.

In November 1976 an Eastern Suburbs Board of Review submitted a report to the Government which resulted in provision of closed circuit TV monitoring of stations, the adoption of automatic fare collection to reduce station manning and attract bus/rail passengers, and as part of a cost cutting exercise, the elimination of Woollahra station.

From the time of the adoption of the Board of Reviews’ recommendations the project was expedited to the extent whereby the railway was opened on the 23rd June, 1979, ahead of schedule.