REGISTER

Matthew Barber Lead Systems Engineer

BE (Hons), BSci Siemens Ltd.

Increasing operational demands for higher performance and technological improvements have led to the development of increasingly complex metro rail solutions. The complexity and the challenge of implementing such solutions require significant attention to the methodologies applied to the development of these complex solutions. This is essential to ensure that the desired function and performance requirements are delivered. In Australia, railways have developed with special needs not necessarily aligned with their European counterparts. The geographic imperative of European railways has led to increased co-operation in the development of railway technologies and a resulting level of standardisation across solution deployments. This standardisation leads to cost-savings for European rail operators through reduced development and schedule risk, increased competition from suppliers and improved return on investment for railways investing in capability enhancements. Australian railway operators are able to see similar positive impacts by adopting technologies developed for their European counterparts and modifying them for the local Australian needs. Through the application of formal system engineering processes "commercial off the shelf" products can be tailored and deployed as Australian metro rail solutions. This provides the mixture of the benefits of reduced development risk, whilst aligning Australian metro rail solutions with the capability development framework employed in Europe. In turn, this positions Australian metro rail solutions for further cost effective capability enhancements into the future.