201010 – Thompson – Implementing Metro Signalling Systems to Conventional Urban Railways

This paper is attempting to answer the question of how to move towards a “Metro” style of
rail operation, from the traditional state wide based urban systems of today.

Australia has a rapidly increasing population and current government projections suggest
that by 2050, Australia could reach 33M people #1. This equates to over a 40% increase in
population from today, and further Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane accounts for 45% of
the total Australian population #1. This makes our “big brown land” one of the most major
urbanised population spreads in the world. If the current trend is maintained, the need to
have higher density public transport systems becomes an essential requirement. So, for
rail passenger transport in the major cities of Australia, it is contended that there are only
two realistic options: either build new rail lines with the associated timeframes which are
typically 10 years+, not including land purchases and public consultations. In NSW for example the Parramatta – Chatswood rail project, took over 11 years to open and that was only ½ of the line, #2. The recent suspension of the Sydney metro project again highlights just how difficult it is to build new railways. The alternative and far more attractive option is to “sweat” more out of the existing rail network.

This paper attempts to deal with the “sweat” option and also explains how some other
international railways have solved similar issues and the related implementation
challenges. In essence there is no one single solution to this problem, just good sound
system engineering practices. It is also recognised that new railways will still be required
to service new areas of development and solve the ultimate rail capacity problem, but in
the short term there is much engineers can do: and the writer believes its time for the
IRSE and the rail community to properly debate the real issues of future rail passenger
capacity.

A strategy for rail capacity improvements using modern signalling techniques could prove
very cost effective and allow time to properly consider new rail lines and alternative public
transport systems to meet the ever increasing demand, for what in reality is a four hour per
weekday problem.