REGISTER

Robert Meyers

As a result of the decision to electrify the Waterfall - Port Kembla line and subsequent proposals for complete resignalling of the area it became necessary to provide updated communications services to replace the inadequate and unreliable services that existed on that line and to provide centralised communications to the Wollongong Control Centre.

Electrifying the area using 1500VDC traction and resulting interference problems meant the the existing open wire line route had to be replaced by buried cables, while complete resignalling of the 51km section of track and remote controlling of interlockings from the Wollongong control centre required a "rethink" of the communications services required.

Electrification provided both the funding and the impetus to replace and modernise these services.

It is appropriate to mention at this time that some of the technology used while relatively new to the State Rail Authority at the time of planning has been already superseded by technology developments. Increased demands for communications in both voice and data services and reliability demands may also require additional services to be provided in the near future In the light of subsequent experience some of the methods used would also be modified in future projects of this type.

This paper briefly details the communications services available prior to electrification, the services provided as part of the Electrification project and then provides an outline of future communications proposals for the Illawarra and surrounding region.