REX Mar 2019

ISSUE 2 | 2019

Pacific National’s St Marys Freight Hub A win for Western Sydney and beyond - See Page 40 Infrastructure Australia’s new Priority List PAGE 06 SUPPORTED BY:

LINX making real progress at Enfield PAGE 40

Thales embracing the digital PAGE 44

ISSUE 02

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2019 CONTENTS

From the Editor

NEWS UP FRONT

24 29

06

National

14

New South Wales

20

Victoria

22

Queensland

27

South Australia

28

Western Australia

30

New Zealand

INTERMODAL & LOGISTICS

20

32

Pacific National’s St Marys Freight Hub

36

Combilift servicing midsized intermodal sites

40

LINX making strides at Enfield

OPERATIONS & MAINTENANCE

36

44

Thales embracing digitisation

46

Bombardier signalling for Melbourne’s Metro Tunnel

50

Manco’s rail-mounted elevated work platforms

PRODUCTS & TECHNOLOGY 60 28

52

Sonaray and Beacon Lighting team up for rail

55

TTG helping make more efficient train drivers

56

Infastech boss on rail’s fastening market

ASSOCIATIONS, GROUPS & EVENTS 58 ARA 60 RTAA 64 ALC 65 RISSB 66

ISSUE 2 | 2019

Pacific National’s St Marys Freight Hub A win for Western Sydney and beyond - See Page 32 Infrastructure Australia’s new Priority List PAGE 06

LINX making real progress at Enfield PAGE 40

Women in Industry

COVER STORY Rail Express spoke with Pacific National CEO Dean Dalla Valle about the St Marys Freight Hub, and what it will mean for the freight sector not only in Western Sydney, but on a national scale.

See page 32.

Thales embracing the digital PAGE 44

SUPPORTED BY:

RAIL EXPRESS | ISSUE 2 2019

3

From the editor

Published by:

Oliver Probert Editor - Rail Express

Rail doing its part, but intermodal progress still to come

T

his issue of Rail Express includes a special feature on the intermodal and logistics sector. Getting more freight off roads is of course a focus for businesses within Australia’s rail sector, but it should be considered a need by society as a whole.

Communities living around major ports already feature frequently in the news, making their voices heard about the rising number of big trucks rumbling down their street.

Away from the ports themselves, nobody likes driving alongside an 18-wheeler on the highway. A single train can take scores of trucks off the road, reducing emissions and boosting the overall efficiency of the supply chain.

Despite this, rail volumes continue to struggle at Australian ports.

The most recent report into portside container handling from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission showed the share of containers carried via rail has dipped in Sydney and Brisbane, and stayed the same in Melbourne and Adelaide.

The only major port where rail received a significant increase in modal share was Fremantle, where 18 per cent of containers are now carried by rail, the highest rate in the country.

Overall, rail’s share of container movements to and from Australian ports dipped slightly over the 12 months ending last November, to just 11.4 per cent.

According to the Commission, “the relatively low volumes of containers transported by rail in the monitored ports is due to the high cost of rail operations relative to road transport, especially over short distances, and issues on the reliability of service provision”.

This is despite the fact that “most port authorities recognise the importance of expanding the number of containers being transported by rail”.

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To rail’s credit, it’s doing its part to encourage more freight businesses to see rail as the better option. In our feature, starting on page 32, we speak with Pacific National CEO Dean Dalla Valle about the operator’s St Marys Freight Hub, where construction should ramp up later this year. Around four 600-metre trains will travel between Port Botany and St Marys in Western Sydney each day, once operations begin.

Also servicing the Sydney region is LINX’s terminal at Enfield. We had the opportunity to speak with LINX’s Executive GM for Customer & Business Development, Carlo Cutinelli, about the company’s success getting more and more local freight customers to consider rail for their business – that story is on page 40.

Our feature also includes an interesting look on page 36 at some new straddle carrier technology ideal for midsized intermodal operations from Combilift, an Irish manufacturer which counts Australia among its top export markets.

Get ready for more Rail Express

We’re excited to announce that mid-year Rail Express will move from a bi-monthly to a monthly model. This will mean a new issue every month, starting in July. For our readers it means even more content.

For our commercial partners it means even more opportunities to have your message heard by decision makers in the Australasian rail sector.

If you’re a business looking to get involved, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the team here at Rail Express.

As always, enjoy this issue. For even more content and up-to-date news, visit our website at RailExpress.com.au, and be sure to subscribe to our newsletter, and follow us on your favourite social media platform. oliver.probert@primecreative.com.au

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ISSUE 2 2019 | RAIL EXPRESS

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NEWS

NATIONAL

GREEN BUILDING COUNCIL CEO Romilly Madew has been appointed the next chief executive of Infrastructure Australia, the Federal Government’s independent infrastructure advisor.

Madew was named Infrastructure Australia’s next CEO in January, to assume the role in April, replacing Anna Chau who was acting CEO since Philip Davies left at the end of his three-year term last year.

Deputy prime minister Michael McCormack said Madew’s appointment would bolster IA’s skill and expertise, helping it better assist with planning and delivery of major infrastructure.

“Ms Madew has a proven ability to forge strong working relationships with colleagues and external shareholders in industry, government and the community and I welcome her appointment to this important leadership position,” McCormack, also the federal minister for infrastructure, said.

“Ms Madew’s expertise will help to ensure IA can continue to consult with a broad range of stakeholders to provide high quality advice and strategic feedback, to assist the Federal Government and others with making important decisions about major infrastructure investments.”

McCormack said one of Madew’s first priorities would be overseeing the finalisation of IA’s next Australian Infrastructure Audit, due for release in mid-2019.

Madew has been the CEO of the Green Building Council of Australia since 2006. She has occupied multiple board positions including as deputy president of the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council, the World Green Building Council, and the Sydney Olympic Park Authority.

She won the national 2009 Telstra Business Women’s Award for Community and Government, in 2015 she won the US Green Building Council’s International Leadership Award, and in 2017 she won the World Green Building Council Chairman’s Award.

IA chair Julieanne Alroe said Madew had been a driving force behind Australia’s sustainable building movement.

“Recognised around the world as a

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AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF COMPANY DIRECTORS

Madew appointed Infrastructure Australia boss

leader in the property and construction industry, Romilly is an experienced CEO with expertise in strategy, governance and policy development,” Alroe said. “She has forged strong working relationships with industry, government and community stakeholders through her current role and previous executive positions.”

Alroe said it was “an incredibly important time” for Madew to be joining IA, with the Audit due, and work soon to begin on the next Australian Infrastructure Plan.

Madew said she was honoured to begin a new chapter as IA’s CEO. “Infrastructure Australia has a critical role to play in helping governments prioritise projects and reforms that best serve our communities,” she said.

Romilly Madew’s appointment was welcomed by infrastructure minister Michael McCormack.

“I look forward to growing the organisation’s focus on delivering better outcomes for individual users across transport, energy, telecommunications, water and social infrastructure.”

The appointment was immediately welcomed by Infrastructure Partnerships Australia, which represents industry members.

“The appointment of Ms Madew will add strength to the independent advice of Infrastructure Australia in what is set to be a major year for infrastructure delivery,” IPA chief executive Adrian Dwyer said.

“Infrastructure Australia has enjoyed bipartisan support from both sides of the aisle over the years and it will be important that this tradition continues in the lead up to the election.”

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Australian rail operators ‘get on board’ with the implementation of Project i-TRACE Project i-Trace is an initiative of GS1, a not-for-profit developing global standards for business communication.

THE AUSTRALASIAN RAILWAY Association (ARA) Board, together with operators and suppliers, has agreed on the industry-wide adoption of the GS1 data standards, the most comprehensive and widely used supply chain standards in the world.

This important initiative involves standardising the capture of data relating to all assets and materials in the rail sector using GS1 global data standards.

The objective is to be able to follow a component, part or asset throughout its lifecycle (including maintenance) from procurement to disposal.

GS1 and ARA are in agreement: Keeping pace with technological advancements is key to ensuring the Australian rail industry is prepared for change.

“Around the world there is a realization that the digitilisation of the rail industry is essential. Project i-TRACE is a fundamental building block towards achieving digital capability in the sector,” ARA Chief Executive Danny Broad says.

“The ARA Board is encouraging all of industry - operators, track managers, contractors, suppliers and manufacturers –

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ISSUE 2 2019 | RAIL EXPRESS

to implement GS1 global data standards in their businesses.”

GS1 Australia’s Senior Manager for Freight, Logistics & Industrial Sectors, Bonnie Ryan, told Rail Express 2019 is marked as the year to implement Project i-TRACE. “The message for rail businesses is to get on board so you can take advantage of the many benefits of this initiative,” Ryan said.

A range of industry-wide efficiencies are targeted with the Project i-TRACE plan to standardise rail’s supply chain: • A reduction in inventory write-offs and waste, leading to optimal inventory management.

• Improvements in maintenance and repair operations.

• Improvements in traceability and warranty management which is fundamental for lifecycle tracking.

• A reduction in costs through fewer transaction errors and better data quality.

• The elimination of operational tasks by enabling the automation of manual processes.

Sydney Trains Chief Executive Officer Howard Collins said the introduction of a

new SAP asset management system signals the start of Sydney Trains’ digital journey.

“Project i-TRACE allows us to trace every component from when it’s been manufactured all the way through to installation and to the whole of life performance of that asset,” Collins said.

“My message to all those involved in the rail industry whether you are a small supplier, all the way through to us as a big maintainer, is get on board with i-TRACE.” Rail businesses can subscribe to the Project i-TRACE newsletter at www. gs1au.org/project-itrace-news to keep up to date with the latest implementation news and resources or watch the ‘Time to Get on Board’ video at bit.ly/2ShJElm To ensure rail businesses are compliant with the GS1 global data standards, download the rail guideline from the GS1 website, or for more information about Project i-TRACE, contact Bonnie Ryan, Senior Manager- Freight, Logistics & Industrial Sectors, GS1 Australia, at bonnie.ryan@gs1au. org or Duncan Sheppard, General Manager – Freights & Contractors, Australasian Railway Association, at dsheppard@ara.net.au.

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NEWS

NATIONAL

Trains continue to engross Slow Summer viewers AUSTRALIA’S RAIL INDUSTRY IS receiving positive PR from a rather unexpected source. Three-hour, dialoguefree documentaries featuring footage from the most iconic passenger journeys are transfixing SBS viewers across the nation.

The peculiar genre ‘Slow TV’ began in 2009 when Norway’s national broadcasting corporation showed a sevenhour train journey between Bergen and Oslo, as part of the 100-year anniversary of the Bergen Line.

Bergensbanen – minutt for minutt featured interior and exterior footage from four cameras, along with interviews with drivers, crew and historians, and was watched by roughly 20 per cent of the Norwegian population.

Follow-up documentaries included other iconic train journeys, knitting, animal observations and boat trips, including 2011’s Hurtigruten – minutt for minutt, a 134-hour live event covering the voyage of the ferry MS Nordnorge from Bergen to Kirkenes.

Australia’s SBS network got in on the action last year, producing The Ghan, a three-hour documentary of the journey between Adelaide and Darwin, combining new footage with archival imagery to tell the story of the journey and its history.

The Ghan was an instant hit, with an average of 583,000 viewers reported, and social media ablaze over not only how fascinating a concept Slow TV was, but how interested they had become in the train journey itself.

Viewers were again transfixed by Slow TV on January 6, 2019, with Indian Pacific, the broadcaster’s return to the format.

The three-hour film, this time covering the iconic train trip from Perth to Sydney, again fascinated social media.

“I totally thought this #indianpacific was a gimmick and that I’d only watch five minutes. Half hour later I’m still here and mesmerized by the 300 mile straight,” one Twitter user posted. “Let’s get #SlowSummer a Logie,” another user added. “I’m loving all these interesting facts about different towns along the path of the #indianpacific,” another said.

Three hours wasn’t enough for some viewers: On January 12, SBS ran 17-hour version of Indian Pacific on its secondary

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VICELAND channel.

VICELAND then ran an all-day version of The Ghan on January 26.

KiwiRail gets in on it

This year’s Slow TV from SBS also includes The Kimberley Cruise, a boat trip from Broome to Darwin, All Aboard! The Canal Trip, along England’s Kennet and Avon Canal, and North to South, an epic journey from Auckland to the West Coast of the South Island.

North to South, or Go South as it was called in New Zealand, aired on January 27 with its three-hour version, and February 2 in its 12-hour format.

Viewers travelled on the Northern Explorer from Auckland to Wellington, crossed the Cook Strait on Interislander, took the Coastal Pacific from Picton to Christchurch and crossed the Southern Alps to the West Coast on the

TranzAlpine. In real time, the journey would take roughly 40 hours.

“The return of the Coastal Pacific in December connected the dots between Picton and Christchurch, and increasing numbers of customers are booking the entire journey from Auckland through to Greymouth,” KiwiRail head of tourism and marketing Ahleen Rayner said.

“Worldwide, there has been a resurgence in demand for immersive journeys, and it’s definitely something we’ve seen reflected here in New Zealand.

Last summer we experienced a record tourism season and we’re expecting similar results this year.

“To capture the footage, special cameras were positioned throughout our ferries and trains, including the cabs of our locomotives – meaning viewers also have the unique opportunity of seeing what our drivers see.”

The Slow TV documentary on the Indian Pacific was yet another hit.

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NEWS

NATIONAL

IA adds six rail initiatives to Priority List INFRASTRUCTURE AUSTRALIA’S newest Infrastructure Priority List has been welcomed by the Australasian Railway Association (ARA), with six new or updated rail initiatives included.

Capacity on Victoria’s Cranbourne and Hurstbridge lines, port access at Melbourne, and connectivity on the Gold Coast and in Perth are all new aspects of the latest List, released on February 14.

The List is compiled by Infrastructure Australia, arranging proposals into early-stage ‘Initiatives’, and ‘Projects’ whose business cases have been approved

by Infrastructure Australia, thus recommending them for federal funding.

In all, the ARA counts 54 rail-related projects and initiatives among the 124 on the new list.

“As Australia’s population grows, rail

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infrastructure will increasingly become the backbone to meet Australia’s growing passenger and freight needs,” ARA chief executive Danny Broad said. “To manage the challenges posed in our cities and regions in the long-term, Australia will need to ensure that it continuously invests in rail infrastructure.”

The list is developed using data from the Australian Infrastructure Audit, and submissions from state and territory governments, industry and the community, including more than 100 submissions in the last year.

Not much has changed at the top end of the list produced on February 14. Three ‘High Priority Projects’ have graduated from the list entirely: New South Wales’ WestConnex road project and Victoria’s Monash Freeway Upgrade Stage 2 and

North East Link projects. No ‘High Priority Projects’ have been added, and no railrelated ‘Priority Projects’ have been added or removed from the list.

Six new rail-related Initiatives are included on the new list, however.

1. A new Priority Initiative concerns the duplication of eight kilometres of the Cranbourne Line between Dandenong and Cranbourne southeast of Melbourne, which the Andrews Government has already committed $750 million to deliver by 2023.

2. Another new Priority Initiative is for capacity on the state’s Hurstbridge Line. Before last year’s election the Andrews Government targeted marginal seats with a $530 million proposal to build a new train station

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NATIONAL Two major capacity projects for Melbourne’s metropolitan network were added to IA’s latest Priority List.

The third stage of light rail for the Gold Coast is included in the new list.

at Greensborough, and duplicate sections of track along the line.

3. An initiative concerning container terminal capacity at Melbourne was updated to include the neartime landside transport initiatives needed to support capacity growth, “including road and rail access from metropolitan, regional and national networks”.

4. Stage 3A of the Gold Coast’s G:link light rail line was essentially added, listed as ‘Public transport connectivity between Broadbeach and Burleigh Heads’. The Federal Government in November 2018 committed $112 million to the project, and the Queensland Government is progressing with the plan.

5. Transport connectivity between

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“Congestion in our cities and fastergrowing regional centres not only has significant consequences for the Australian economy, but has direct impacts on communities, reducing people’s access to education, health services, employment and other opportunities,” Alroe said.

Citing the forthcoming NSW and federal elections, Alroe urged politicians to avoid making politically-motivated funding commitments, and to trust the independent advisor’s analysis when making budget decisions.

“Infrastructure Australia is urging decision makers to commit to solving any emerging or growing problem by embarking on a feasibility study to identify potential options, rather than a pre-defined project that may not be the most effective solution,” she said.

“Decision makers at all levels will best serve all Australians by continuing to consult the Priority List as a source of informed analysis on the projects that represent the best use of our Sydney Metro City & Southwest infrastructure funding.” will include 31km of tunnels.

One of those decision makers, deputy prime minister and minister for infrastructure Michael McCormack, said the Government was now taking this approach.

“Once upon a time there was a ‘build it and they will come’ sort of attitude,” McCormack said when the new list was released. “There were also the political ramifications and implications and benefits of spending money on infrastructure.

But the fact remains that we need rigour and accountability around what we’re doing, how we’re doing it and where we’re delivering it.”

SYDNEY METRO

Morley and Ellenbrook is a new Priority Initiative, the third of Perth’s Metronet urban rail projects added.

WA’s Government submitted the Morley-Ellenbrook Line for the list in September, and it joins the Yanchep Rail Extension, a High Priority Project, and the Thornlie-Cockburn Link, a Priority Project. Metronet’s Forrestfield-Airport Link was also once on the list, but has graduated.

6. Also in Perth, a new Priority Initiative is to improve the Canning Bridge public transport interchange, to improve public transport patronage and reduce impact on the adjacent road network.

Canning Bridge station is on the Mandurah Line.

Infrastructure Australia chair Julieanne Alroe described the 2019 list as the independent advisor’s “largest, most comprehensive and most diverse” yet.

“With a record 121 nationally significant proposals and a $58 billion project pipeline, the Priority List will guide the next 15 years of Australian infrastructure investment,” she said.

“The 2019 Priority List provides a credible pipeline of nationally significant proposals for governments at all levels to choose from. As an evidence-based list of opportunities to improve both our living standards and productivity, the Priority List reflects the diversity of Australia’s future infrastructure needs across transport, energy, water, communications, housing and education.”

Alroe noted many of the new projects would respond to the challenge of population growth in Australia.

NEWS

RAIL EXPRESS | ISSUE 2 2019

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NEWS

NSW

Road project cornerstone of Abbott’s Warringah campaign FORMER PRIME MINISTER Tony Abbott has pinned his re-election hopes in Warringah to the construction of a road tunnel, defying rising opposition in the seat focused on larger issues such as climate policy.

Tony Abbott is eager to focus voters’ attention on local issues ahead of the forthcoming federal election, telling ABC’s 7:30 Report transport should be the number one issue in the minds of Warringah residents.

“What I’ll be saying to people in the local election is there is really only one issue, and that is transport,” he told ABC. “That’s why it is absolutely critical to get the Northern Beaches tunnel built.”

Abbott’s flagship election project would build a road tunnel under Middle Harbour, connecting to the Gore Hill Freeway and the Warringah Freeway, to better link the Northern Beaches with North Sydney, the Sydney CBD, Chatswood, Macquarie Park and Sydney’s northwest.

Sydney’s Northern Beaches region

does not have a connection to the city’s rail network. Abbott, who made road building a signature of his Government and believes urban rail projects are not the business of the Federal Government, believes the Beaches Link road project can become another lasting imprint of his leadership in Warringah.

“If you look around this electorate there are all sorts of monuments – if you like – to the work I have done as local member,” he told ABC. “I’ve never been complacent.”

Abbott’s primary challenger in his bid to win his tenth consecutive election in Warringah looks to be independent candidate Zali Stegall. Stegall, a barrister and former Olympic skier, says her campaign is focused on bigger issues than what the former prime minister is willing to focus on.

“I think I’m a whole new generation really,” Stegall told 7:30. “I think he is very set in his ways and I think he is really unable, unwilling to change … I don’t think he’s particularly interested in

listening to the electorate and their views and priorities. As I see it there’s a real dissatisfaction with the major parties by the Australian public – the politicians, the party politics, the behind-the-scenes deals, the hidden agendas. People are tired if and really don’t want a bar of it.”

Abbott has urged voters to look past Stegall’s bid to be the ‘anti-party disruptor’, saying she is essentially working for the Labor vote.

“In a seat like Warringah, independents are basically Labor candidates in disguise,” Abbott said. “Over the years I’ve had some quite serious challenges, and I don’t expect it’s going to be any different this year.”

But ABC election analyst Antony Green says Stegall has a real chance to shake things up in Warringah.

“She’s not some fly-by-night candidate,” Green said. “She has Liberal credentials, conservative credentials, and she may appeal to Liberal voters to drive the Liberal vote down under 50 per cent.”

Though he conceded, “it’s still a big ask for her to win a seat like Warringah”.

Former prime minister Tony Abbott has his sights set on another massive tollroad project for Sydney.

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Sydney Metro City & Southwest will include 31km of tunnels.

NEWS

NSW

Musk’s ambitious $1bn quote for Blue Mountains tunnel Tesla founder Elon Musk believes his Boring Company’s tunnel can be a real mass transit solution.

TECHNOLOGY ENTREPRENEUR ELON MUSK says his Boring Company transport loop system could deliver a 50-kilometre underground transit system beneath the Blue Mountains west of Sydney for roughly US$1 billion.

Asked by Independent NSW MP Jeremy Buckingham for a solution to connect Sydney to the western side of the Blue Mountains, Tesla founder Elon Musk tweeted his back-of-the-envelope costings for a tunnel Buckingham said would “open up the west of our state” and help a city which is “choking with traffic”.

“About $15M/km for a two way high speed transit, so probably around $750M plus maybe $50M/station,” Musk tweeted on January 16.

“Sounds like a bargain,” Buckingham said of Musk’s figures. “Could be a game changer to go under the Blue Mountains with a modern link between Sydney and the west. I’ll raise it with the Premier @GladysB, other colleagues, the community, and get back to you.”

Buckingham subsequently tweeted a

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potential route for the tunnel, running from Penrith to just south of Lithgow.

The Boring Company, founded by Musk in 2016, recently debuted its 1.8-kilometre Boring Test Tunnel, featuring retractable wheels Musk says turn a car “into a railguided train and back again”.

The test tunnel is capable of moving vehicles at roughly 120km/h, according to Musk’s statements to the media, but he has said he wants to see speeds of up to 250km/h, at a rate of 4,000 vehicles per hour.

“A variety of vehicles, like normal

A potential route for Musk’s tunnel, tweeted by NSW MP Jeremy Buckingham.

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NSW

“

NEWS

The Boring Company’s tunnel is designed to turn a car into a rail-guided train and back again, Musk says.

If all vehicles were densely seated buses, throughput in excess of 100,000 people per hour per lane is possible, but better to offer a range of vehicles

”

Caption right Caption right

Sydney Metro City & Southwest will include 31km of tunnels.

SYDNEY METRO

roads, from a small car to a densely seated bus,” Musk detailed on December 20. “If all vehicles were densely seated buses, throughput in excess of 100,000 people per hour per lane is possible, but better to offer a range of vehicles and let people decide what makes them happy.”

Musk made headlines in 2017 when he offered to help solve South Australia’s energy woes by building a 100MW energy storage facility within 100 days, or it would be free. Tesla subsequently delivered the battery at a reported cost of $90 million.

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NEWS

NSW

A NSW Parliamentary committee has made 20 recommendations for future transport developments.

Sydney Light Rail: Report details lessons learned the hard way INADEQUATE NOISE MONITORING, the mental health of business owners, and the nature of PPP contracts are just some of the issues emphasised by a Parliamentary report into the procurement and delivery of light rail through the Sydney CBD. Parliamentary committee chairman Fred Nile’s final report into the CBD and South East Light Rail project, released last week, makes 20 recommendations, many of them to ensure future projects do not repeat the mistakes identified over several hearings in 2018.

“With infrastructure projects of this magnitude, a degree of disruption is to be expected,” Nile says. “However, as this inquiry has shown, the impacts of construction have been profoundly experienced by residents and businesses located along the light rail route. Many have experienced excessive noise, dust, vibration and damage to their homes. Some

Light rail construction on George Street in the heart of the Sydney CBD.

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of these issues have been heightened due to construction delays.”

The report indicates residents have frequently been exposed to unacceptable noise levels outside of regular work hours. Nile says this “has been impinging particularly on residents’ lives,” and says “noise has not been adequately monitored”.

“Although alternative accommodation has been offered as a mitigation measure to some residents, the committee understands that this has often been an impracticable option,” he adds.

One recommendation is for Transport for NSW to consider whether the Independent Environmental Representative’s role needs to be expanded to include noise monitoring, or whether a separate authority should be appointed to manage this.

Another is for Transport to review its communication strategy, taking into account concerns raised, and report to the minister

“

It was clear to the committee just how much businesses have struggled since the commencement of construction of the light rail, with some having closed down

”

for transport on any improvements that can be implemented for future projects.

The report questions the effectiveness of the State’s communication not only with residents, but also small business owners.

Business owners along the route have complained the disruption caused by light rail construction has savaged their goodwill and foot traffic – and thus their bottom line.

While recommending the State extends and intensifies its remediation efforts, Nile’s report goes a step further, suggesting the mental health of small business owners has not been properly cared for throughout.

“It was clear to the committee just how much businesses have struggled since the commencement of construction of the light rail, with some having closed down,” Nile reports. “Not only have they endured significant financial losses, their physical and

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NSW

Construction underway at Circular Quay.

in relation to the project’s timeframes and costs,” Nile writes. “It is already delayed by at least a year, and although Transport for NSW would like it to be finalised by December 2019, the official completion date is currently March 2020. There may also be a further two month delay, according to the evidence provided by ALTRAC and Acciona.

“In terms of costs, unresolved claims

for contract modifications, undetermined penalties for delays, and a complex legal dispute between Transport for NSW and Acciona, have raised questions about whether the project will exceed its $2.1 billion budget. This is understandable, given a liquidity facility fund has had to be Sydney Metro City & Southwest established ALTRAC will include for 31km of tunnels.and the department has had to provide $100 million to a contractor to keep the project going.”

SYDNEY METRO

mental wellbeing has also been negatively impacted. This was particularly distressing for committee members to see, and we thank those who came forward to share with us so honestly the affect this project has had on their personal lives.”

The report recommends the Transport and the Small Business Commissioner encourage and support businesses to apply for financial assistance, “even in circumstances where businesses may not meet eligibility criteria”. Another recommendation urges Transport to continue to provide financial assistance until the project is completed, and a pair of recommendations address what steps should be taken to ensure the mental health of business owners is supported – and how this support can be better communicated to those in need.

Crucially, the report also addresses concerns over the effectiveness of Public Private Partnership contracts for significant state infrastructure projects, calling for a review by the Auditor-General at the request of the NSW Government.

“Serious questions have been raised

NEWS

NEWS

VIC

Metro Tunnel borers named

Four tunnel boring machines will be used to build the Metro Tunnel project beneath Melbourne’s CBD.

GROUND-BREAKING WOMEN HAVE BEEN recognised in the naming of the four new tunnel boring machines (TBMs) which will drill twin ninekilometre rail tunnels beneath Melbourne’s CBD. Four TBMs will be used to drill the Metro Tunnel, which will create a new crosscity connection between the Sunbury and Cranbourne-Pakenham lines, freeing up room on Metro Trains Melbourne’s City Loop and the wider network.

Joan is the first TBM, named after Joan Kirner, who in 1990 became Victoria’s first female premier, and Australia’s third female head of government.

The second TBM, on its way to Australia, will be named Meg, after Australian cricket captain Meg Lanning, who recently led the team to victory at the ICC Women’s Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies.

The third and fourth TBMs will be named after wartime military nurse Alice Appleford, and Victoria’s first female MP, Millie Peacock.

Appleford served as a nurse in Egypt and France in the World War I, and was awarded the military Medal for Gallantry. She served within the Australian Army Medical Women’s Service

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ISSUE 2 2019 | RAIL EXPRESS

in World War II, and in 1949 was awarded the Florence Nightingale Medal, the highest honour of the Red Cross.

Peacock became Victoria’s first elected parliamentarian when she won the by-election in Allandale in 1933, replacing her husband Sir Alexander Peacock, after his death.

Each TBM is 120 metres long and weighs more than 1,100 tonnes. The Andrews Government says each is designed to bore through Melbourne’s unique ground conditions.

The four TBMs will be deployed in pairs: two at the new North Melbourne station pit, and two at the new Anzac station pit. The machines will bore away from the CBD, towards Kensington and South Yarra respectively, where they will then be recovered, dismantled, and brought back to their starting points, so they can then drill towards the CBD. “These four massive machines have been named after ground-breaking women who’ve made significant contributions to our state and our country,” premier Daniel Andrews said. “We’re getting on with building the public transport Victoria needs so more trains can run more often to and from the suburbs.”

“

Groundbreaking women have been recognised in the naming of the four new tunnel boring machines

”

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Replacement track to be built for trio of level crossing removals

The Leaders in Energy Efficient Driving Technologies

Carrum is going to have a busy year and I thank residents and local businesses for their patience during construction

Sydney Metro City & Southwest will include 31km of tunnels.

SYDNEY METRO

“

Delivering Performance Built on Trust

”

MAJOR WORKS HAVE BEGUN TO REMOVE three level crossings in Melbourne’s southeast, around Carrum station on the Frankston Line.

Work which got fully underway in February will facilitate the construction of 900 metres of elevated railway, and a rebuilt Carrum station, as part of the Victorian Government’s Level Crossing Removal Project.

Beneath the new elevated rail will be built a new connecting road, an extension of McLeod Road to the beachside of the railway.

Work to build the new elevated rail, station, and McLeod Road connection, will come after a new road bridge was opened over the Patterson River, connecting the communities of Carrum and Broadbeach in late 2018.

Together, the new connections will allow for the closure of three level crossings: one at Eel Race Road south of Carrum station, and two north of the station, at Station Street and Mascot Avenue.

The new section of elevated rail is expected to open in early 2020.

In the meantime, a temporary rail track will be built alongside the existing track, so trains can continue to run – however Carrum station will be closed during construction, with buses connecting commuters to adjacent stations on the Frankston Line.

Once trains are operating on the temporary tracks, piling works will begin for piers to support the new elevated railway.

Crews are currently relocating underground services such as gas, water and power, and upgrading signalling.

“Carrum is going to have a busy year and I thank residents and local businesses for their patience during construction,” state transport minister Jacinta Allan said. “The removal of three dangerous and congested level crossings will make it safer and easier to get around this beautiful beachside suburb.”

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NEWS

NSW

Early construction underway in Brisbane on the Cross River Rail project.

Labor turns screws over Cross River Rail funding WITH THE UNOFFICIAL FEDERAL election campaign focused on South East Queensland in mid-February, Opposition leader Bill Shorten criticised the Coalition Government for not contributing to Brisbane’s $5.4 billion Cross River Rail project.

Bill Shorten has vowed to provide $2.24 billion to Cross River Rail if the Labor Party wins at the federal election.

The Coalition has argued the project doesn’t need Commonwealth funding, as the Queensland Government – led by Labor premier Annastacia Palaszczuk – has said it will fully fund the venture.

The Coalition has also justified its refusal to fund Cross River Rail with analysis from Infrastructure Australia.

The independent advisor last year said the latest iteration of the project did not meet the necessary cost-benefit benchmark to warrant listing as a Priority Project – a listing which would more directly command Federal support.

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ISSUE 2 2019 | RAIL EXPRESS

But Labor has stuck to its guns at both state and federal levels, saying the project passed cost-benefit testing in the past, and deserved funding long ago.

On Wednesday, Shorten renewed his support for the project, pledging to supply $2.24 billion in funding, and to ensure 770 Queensland apprentices work on its delivery.

Labor’s federal MP for Rankin, Jim Chalmers, criticised the Morrison Government – also on tour in South East Queensland in February to unveil funding for other road and rail infrastructure – for missing the boat on a critical project.

“Morrison is joking if he thinks he can front up to Queensland and ignore the fact he hasn’t put a dollar into our most important infrastructure project,” Chalmers was quoted by the Courier Mail. “Failure to build the Cross River Rail will put a handbrake on the region’s ability to grow, and will put more pressure on already congested roads.”

The Coalition’s minister for urban infrastructure, Alan Tudge, again dismissed any possibility of the party funding Cross River Rail a day after Shorten’s comments.

“There won’t be [funding], and that’s because the Queensland Government has said it’s fully funded,” Tudge told 4BC Drive host Mark Braybrook.

“Our focus has been elsewhere. If they’re fully funding [Cross River Rail], it enables us to be able to put money into other projects.”

“The Premier would argue the reason they’re doing that is because they’re not getting any money from the Federal Government,” Braybrook posited.

“Well, they’ve said that for a long time that it’s a fully funded project,” Tudge replied. “Now, you wouldn’t expect us – I mean, if someone says that something’s fully funded, then you don’t expect someone else to then put money in, because it’s already catered for.”

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PRESENTING THE 19TH ANNUAL

RISSB Rail Safety Conference 2019 Safety in a growth industry 2 – 3 April 2019

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Tom Breen, Head of Health and Safety (Systemwide & Improvements), Crossrail UK GOVERNMENT KEYNOTE Hon Melissa Horne MP, Minister for Public Transport and Minister for Ports and Freight, Victoria OVER 25+ INDUSTRY LEADERS INCLUDING:

Courtesy Metro Trains Melbourne

INTERNATIONAL KEYNOTE

Russell McMullan, General Manager (Acting) – Operations and Assets, City Rail Link Project New Zealand Leila Frances, Chairman, Keolis Downer Todd Garvey, Director Sales & Marketing Australia, Bombardier Transportation Australia Sue McCarrey, Chief Executive, ONRSR Peter Doggett, Chief Operating Officer, ONRSR Julie Bullas, Executive Director, Policy, Reform and Stakeholder Engagement, ONRSR Simon Foster, Executive Director, Technical, ONRSR Peter Wilkinson, Director, Development and Delivery, Rail Projects Victoria Joey Anca, Human Risk Manager, Metro Trains Melbourne Dr Keith Adam, Chief Medical Officer, Pacific National Mark Smith, Director Strategy & Assurance, Transport for New South Wales Cherie Lee, Manager LXRP Value Engineering, Level Crossing Removal Project (LXRP) Nish Sethi, Associate Director Asset Management & Assurance, Transport for New South Wales Dr Julia Pitsopoulos, Director, HFRM Todd Garvey, Director Sales & Marketing Australia, Bombardier Transportation Australia

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NEWS

QLD

Aurizon accepts CQCN undertaking, will work for improvements AURIZON HAS FORMALLY LODGED an access undertaking for the Central Queensland Coal Network which conforms with the final decision of the Queensland Competition Authority, but says it will continue to work with its coal miner customers on a more favourable deal.

The rail operator in mid-February confirmed it would move forward with terms conforming to those set by the Queensland Competition Authority (QCA), despite its continued insistence the terms are unreasonable.

Aurizon owns the Central Queensland Coal Network (CQCN) track used by coal miners to reach export markets, but must conform to the access undertakings

limiting its revenue to levels deemed fair by the QCA. After a particularly unfavourable set of draft terms were announced by the QCA in December 2017 for the next undertaking, known as UT5, Aurizon spent the better part of 2018 challenging the authority in and out of court to secure better terms.

A final set of terms, released by the QCA in December 2018, was slightly more favourable for the rail operator, but still far from its ideals.

Aurizon had until February 18 to respond to the final decision. When the date came, it conceded to accept the terms, but vowed to work with stakeholders on a more favourable agreement.

If such an agreement is reached, Aurizon says it can lodge a Draft Amending Access Undertaking for consideration by the QCA. “An approved Amending Access Undertaking would modify the conforming Access Undertaking to reflect any agreement reached with the industry,” Aurizon said.

19pc profit dip

Aurizon applied the QCA’s final revenue terms to its below rail business for its half-yearly financial reports, and conceded it will have to refund $61 million to customers as a result of the new access terms.

A 19 per cent dip in net profit left it

Aurizon has rallied against what it says is an unfair set of terms regulating access to its Central Queensland railway.

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ISSUE 2 2019 | RAIL EXPRESS

www.railexpress.com.au

FREIGHT RAIL

QLD

NEWS

GE says its Movement Planner solution has helped its customers achieve higher velocity, lower dwell times and improved on-time performances across their networks. Photo: GE

ARTC CHOOSES GE FOR NEWCASTLE

T

he ARTC’s network control site in Newcastle is described as its “nerve centre” for all Hunter Valley rail operations. The system helps move more than 24,000 tonnes of coal per hour, and tens of thousands of coal, freight, grain and passenger trains$227 eachmillion year. in the first half of FY19. with ARTC managing director chiefreflect executive “Today’s financial yearand results John Fullerton said the government-owned track the headwinds highlighted in August operator planned to use Movement Planner 2018 at our full year reporting, as well better plan and optimise rail trafficfinal on the astothe impacts from the regulator’s network,on with made in real time. decision thechanges UT5 Access Undertaking,” managing director Andrew Harding said.

“The Hunter Valley rail network is one of regulator’s final decision the“The busiest and most complex in the … country, included a 6the perlargest cent revenue uplift supporting coal export port in the compared to the said. draft decision,” he world,” Fullerton noted.

“This included increases “As bulk freight demands grow, in railthe operators maintenance andlike the Weighted like ARTC and allowance supply chains the Hunter Valley Average Cost need of Capital.” coal network to be creative in the way they Earnings per share were 11.4 cents, respond so the Australian economy doesn’t miss down 18 per cent. out. That’s why we have conducted a world-wide

Sydney Metro City & Southwest

SYDNEY METRO

The Australian Rail Track Corporation has selected GE Transportation’s Movement Planner solution for its Hunter Valley network control optimisation program.

search to find globally proven will include 31km of tunnels. solutions that will improve Aurizon has said the Queensland our network productivity and Competition Authority’s terms mean a efficiency.” less flexible maintenance regime.

GE says Movement Planner considers multiple factors For the full FY19, Aurizon’s guidance Earningstrain before interest and including schedules, for underlying EBIT remains between taxtraffic-control were down 16 per cent, systems and to $406 $390 million and $430 million. “This million.

Revenue was downto7 per cent, train movements relative accounts for the weather-related events in to $1.46 billion. each other, and then develops North Queensland during January and Aurizon saidtraffic its bulk an optimised planbusiness for the was the track that makes up the Hunter February 2019 ARTC andmanages the cessation of the impacted by the early of the Cliffs trains throughout theclosure network.

Valley rail network. Photo: RailGallery.com.au Mt Gibson contract (end of mine life) in iron ore in WAGE in Technology June 2018, says and Thebusiness Chicago-based in coal, volumes were Planner impacted by supply existing Movement users have reportedJanuary 2019, but remains contingent on majornetwork weatherperformance impacts or changes chain constraints, weather events and improving through close an increased visibility of network operations, no other to operating conditions occurring during protected industrial action. work with its customers. higher velocity, lower dwell time across the 2HYFY2019,” the said. Control “In addition, costs increased to “Through thecompany ARTC Network network, and improved on-timedue performance Aurizon’s above rail coal higher maintenance activities in bringing Optimisation program, thehaulage Movement Planner across their networks. remain rollingstock back into service andgroup in executive volumes solution will within allow usthe to previously improve transport Jonathan Vandervoort, ARTC advised guidance of 215-225 supporting futureValley, growth capacity and efficiency, andmillion provide better for the Hunter saidvolumes,” the operator had tonnes. the company service performance,” he said.  developed asaid. strong focus on driving and

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NEWS

QLD

40km of major washouts on Mt Isa Line Queensland was hit by an historic rainfall event in late January/early February.

RECEDING FLOODWATERS IN Queensland’s northwest allowed Queensland Rail crews to begin assessing the full extent of damage to the Mt Isa Line in late February, with early reports showing damage across 307 kilometres of track.

Queensland Rail chief executive Nick Easy updated the public on the state of the Mt Isa Line on February 20, saying early assessments showed extreme erosion at 204 sites, including roughly 40 kilometres of major track washouts and 20 kilometres of track scouring.

“Work is underway to confirm required repairs and expected recovery timeframes, taking into account optimum use of all industry resources, plant and equipment.”

The Mt Isa Line was closed in early February when northern Queensland was hit by an historic rainfall event. A Pacific

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ISSUE 2 2019 | RAIL EXPRESS

National freight train was stranded on the line, and Easy said work was continuing at Nelia – 50 kilometres east of Julia Creek – to assess the full extent of work required there.

“While ground conditions still aren’t dry enough to accommodate the heavy machinery required for Pacific National to recover the train and wagons, we are hopeful that – weather conditions permitting – Pacific National can commence this process late this week.”

An exclusion zone of 20 metres has been established around the train, and fencing will progressively be arranged around the site, Easy said.

19 of the train’s wagons carrying zinc concentrate, and two carrying lead concentrate, have sustained damage, according to Easy. Assessments are being made to identify potential impacts.

Elsewhere, crews continue to get a

solid idea of damage done. 71 bridges have been inspected and 16 confirmed as damaged. 100,000 cubic metres of ballast or fill is estimated to be required to repair damaged track. And QR has already had 10,000 sleepers delivered to Hughenden and Cloncurry in anticipation of repair works.

“All available resources are being mobilised to undertake repairs, including engineers and track teams from South East Queensland, to ensure we return the Mt Isa Line to full operation as soon as possible,” Easy said.

As for a timeline, he reiterated his statements from last week. “At this stage Queensland Rail believes the line can be fixed earlier than the 6-12 months that has been suggested and reported,” he said.

“We will continue to keep stakeholders and the community informed of these plans and timeframes.”

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SA

NEWS

Albanese continues fight for more trams in Adelaide Radio in Adelaide in January. “If we’re going to deal with urban congestion, if we’re going to move people around our capital cities, then public transport is the key.”

The former deputy prime minister commended the continued work done on the North-South Road Corridor project, but said “light rail really does make sense for Adelaide”. “[Light rail is] a very efficient way of moving people around. Adelaide has enormous advantages with its wide streets.

It’s a well-planned city. [Trams] can coexist with traffic and this occurs, of course, in many places – particularly the world’s largest tram network in Melbourne.”

Adelaide, once home to several tram lines, has since 1958 featured just the Glenelg Line which, recently extended, connects the CBD to Glenelg in the southwest.

Under the AdeLINK plan the Glenelg Line would be incorporated into WestLINK, creating a line between Henley Beach and Glenelg via the CBD, complete with a spur line to the airport.

Along with WestLINK, there would be PortLINK, EastLINK, ProspectLINK and UnleyLINK, all connecting with the

proposed CityLINK tram running in a continuous loop around the CBD. “Here in Adelaide though you have the prospect of a progressive rollout, so it can be done in an orderly way,” Albanese said during the January 3 interview.

“The fact is that the current Federal Government allocated almost $200 million in its last Budget – not announced but allocated – so the money is there to at least commence the rollout of these projects. The planning work has been done. And I think that would be a very positive thing in terms of improving the liveability of what is already a great city to live in there in Adelaide.”

Albanese went on to accuse the Marshall Government of opposing a good decision Sydney Metro City & Southwest on political will include grounds.

31km of tunnels.

“The concern is that essentially the Marshall Government, it would appear, just opposed a whole range of good initiatives because they were from the other side of politics,” he said.

“And I think what people want to see, particularly when it comes to infrastructure and transport issues, is projects that aren’t the whim of one side of politics. They just want things to be done.”

SYDNEY METRO

SHADOW TRANSPORT MINISTER Anthony Albanese has urged South Australia’s Marshall Government to reevaluate its resistance to light rail in the state’s capital.

Anthony Albanese has for some time been a strong advocate of the AdeLINK project, a proposed network of as many as five tram lines radiating from a city circle line, to connect Adelaide’s CBD to surrounding suburbs.

AdeLINK currently sits on Infrastructure Australia’s list of Priority Initiatives, meaning it is counted by the independent advisor as a potential candidate for federal funding, pending a successful business case.

Labor was, prior to last year’s state election, committed to AdeLINK, and the recently-opened City Tram Extension was built, in part, as a precursor to the larger project.

But the Steven Marshall-led Liberal Party stood firmly in opposition to AdeLINK before the vote and, since winning the election, has maintained its stance. Now Albanese is urging Marshall to reconsider.

“I think the State Government needs to have a rethink,” Albanese told FIVEaa

Anthony Albanese addressing last year’s AusRAIL Conference in Canberra.

www.railexpress.com.au

RAIL EXPRESS | ISSUE 2 2019

27

NEWS

WA

The WA Government has vowed to get more people on Perth’s trains.

WA spending to advertise public transport

“

We all know Perth people love their cars but there are times when driving can be frustrating

”

28

$1.25 MILLION WILL BE SPENT TO ATTRACT more people to Perth’s public transport network, with motorists urged to take a break from driving by catching the train or bus.

Premier Mark McGowan and transport minister Rita Saffioti say recent data showed a decline in public transport use, which began in 2013, was reversed in the McGowan Government’s first year, with a 0.74 per cent increase in overall patronage reported in 2018.

Patronage is still far below what the State Government would like, however.

“Prior to 2013, total patronage on our network had nine years of consecutive growth,” McGowan said.

“Since then, the ongoing decline in public transport use across our suburbs has meant more cars are on our roads. Cars are crucial to the lives of so many Western Australians … however our public transport system is of a high quality and with a host of new Metronet projects underway, public transport is going to be an even bigger player as our city continues to evolve.”

Metronet is the McGowan Government’s collection of urban rail projects, including new rail lines and extensions, new stations,

ISSUE 2 2019 | RAIL EXPRESS

level crossing removals, new rollingstock and more. It has received federal funding at various stages so far.

“Metronet will transform public transport across our suburbs, connecting people to jobs, entertainment and services,” the premier said. “I’d encourage anyone who hasn’t used Transperth services in a while to consider how they can make their own journeys easier using our existing services.”

The advertising campaign will look to attract new and lapsed users to the network, which reportedly receives satisfied or very satisfied feedback for around nine in every ten passenger trips. “This campaign is about encouraging people to give buses or trains a go when a car doesn’t stack up,” Saffioti said.

“We all know Perth people love their cars but there are times when driving can be frustrating.

In 2018, we finally saw an end to the decline in Transperth patronage but we still have a way to go to get back to previous levels. This campaign investment was an election commitment, and is about getting people back on board public transport and to help increase fare revenue back to the State.”

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WA

NEWS

CBH credits network investments for bumper year GRAIN COOPERATIVE CBH GROUP says significant investment in its network has already started paying off, with a $128 million surplus recorded in the 2017-18 season off the back of a bumper harvest in the nation’s west.

While growers in eastern Australia suffered through drought conditions, CBH’s 4,000 West Australian growers have reaped the rewards of a 13.3 million tonne harvest, with the cooperative delivering $95 million in rebates, or up to $10.50 per tonne.

CBH chief executive Jimmy Wilson said growers were enjoying a bumper crop while also benefiting from strong grain prices. He said the result was also evidence of the co-op’s focus on improving service for growers while reducing costs.

“The full year results confirm that our transformation is progressing well and that CBH can continue to deliver low cost outbound costs & good marketing and trading results for growers,” Wilson said.

“We also continued to optimise our storage and handling network, investing significantly to improve the service and efficiency of our sites, make our fees even more competitive and deliver tonnes to port when its most needed.”

In the 12 months ending September 2018, CBH invested $212 million into network capital and maintenance. This included an extra 650,000 tonnes of

CBH uses WA’s regional rail network to move much of its grain to export markets.

permanent storage in the network, 1.1 million tonnes of new emergency storage, and 24 projects to enhance throughput.

“We remain committed to reducing paddock to port costs for our growers and working towards our goal of removing ongoing costs of more than $100 million from the business,” Wilson said.

“In addition, we are continuing the elevated work pace on the Network improvement to deliver an optimal supply chain and help keep our growers internationally competitive.”

SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

CBH spent $212 million on network capital and maintenance in the 12 months ending September 2018.

www.railexpress.com.au

New operations boss

CBH appointed Ben Macnamara its new general manager for operations on February 18.

Macnamara, formerly the group’s general manager for planning, strategy and development, took over from David Capper, who recently told the group he was moving on after five years at the helm.

Macnamara joined CBH in 2014 as a commercial and business development manager. Wilson said Macnamara’s deep understanding of the network and its future requirements would be invaluable, as the cooperative continues to reshape its network.

“At CBH we are solely focused on operating the lowest cost possible outbound logistical supply chain and providing the most effective service for our growers,” Wilson said. “Ben has worked closely with the Operations team, particularly as part of the Plan-Build-Operate model that oversees our network investment, and he is well placed to lead the division forward.”

On the departing Capper, Wilson spoke of CBH’s operational achievements in the past five years: growing export capacity, commencing a new network strategy, delivering its largest harvest and export, and reducing fees.

“CBH would like to recognise David, as I am sure would the growers of Western Australia, for his dedication and service,” Wilson said.

RAIL EXPRESS | ISSUE 2 2019

29

NEWS

NEW ZEALAND

KiwiRail continued its recovery from the Kaikoura earthquake, which struck in 2016.

KiwiRail revenue up 12pc NEW ZEALAND’S NATIONAL RAIL operator KiwiRail has posted improved financials for the first half of FY19, with overall revenue up 12 per cent on the previous year.

KiwiRail chairman Greg Miller said on February 20 the company was making good progress shaking off the impacts of the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake, which inflicted substantial damage to infrastructure on the South Island’s Main North Line.

“It will take some time to get back to where we were before the Main North Line was closed following the quake but we are seeing increased demand in this result,” Miller said.

Following the reopening of the Main North Line, KiwiRail reported 30 per cent growth in domestic freight revenue in the first half of FY19.

This was bolstered by 15 per cent growth in forestry revenue, 8 per cent growth in bulk freight revenue and 8 per

30

ISSUE 2 2019 | RAIL EXPRESS

cent growth in tourism revenue.

The state-owned operator reported an operating surplus of $16.3 million, up 7 per cent year-on-year for the first half.

“KiwiRail has overcome enormous challenges in the past two years and there are still increased cost pressures resulting from increased regulation, compliance and committing to future investments that will pay back in the long term,” Miller said.

“What this result highlights, however, is that we are ready to embrace growth and invest in our next phase of development.”

Miller said getting more freight on rail would be crucial for the continued development of both KiwiRail and New Zealand as a whole.

“The more freight we get onto rail, the fewer trucks we have on New Zealand roads which increases safety for everyone, reduces carbon emissions and means less road maintenance for taxpayers.”

Acting chief executive Todd

“

It will take some time to get back to where we were before the Main North Line was closed following the quake but we are seeing increased demand

”

Moyle agreed.

“New Zealanders are increasingly seeing the benefits rail delivers in our cities, in growing regional economies and in making our roads safer,” Moyle said.

www.railexpress.com.au

NEW ZEALAND

The state-owned operator disclosed a 450-wagon purchase from a Chinese manufacturer in February.

450 wagon purchase

In the fortnight prior to announcing its financials, KiwiRail disclosed it had ordered 450 rail wagons from a Chinese manufacturer.

In a short statement on February 8, the operator detailed it had entered into a contract with CRRC Qiqihar Rolling Stock Co. for the construction of 450 flattop rail wagons.

The operator did not say how much the contract was worth, only that it was disclosing the purchase under the Crown’s SOE continuous disclosure rules for transactions of more than $50 million.

It said delivery of the wagons is expected prior to the 2019 peak freight season.

In FY18 KiwiRail launched a strategy to deliver future rollingstock, citing “decades of underinvestment in its assets,” and noting “many of its trains and wagons are at the end of their useful lives”.

KiwiRail acquired 150 new wagons in FY18, and said in its annual integrated report it was targeting the acquisition of 235 heavy wagons in FY19.

www.railexpress.com.au

Meanwhile, the operator says the first stage of planning is complete for a 20-kilometre rail spur to Northport at Marsden Point.

Workers have spent the last three months drilling into hills, land and coastal areas north of Auckland to understand the challenges of building what would be the country’s first new significant branch line in over half a century.

Moyle visited Northport on January 31 to see workers completing the last drilling of the first stage of exploration works. He said stage two

would begin later this year. “This is not an easy job but it is a real signal of the Government’s commitment to boosting regional economies through rail,” he said. “Our investigations have focused on areas where the most significant engineering works would be needed.”

The next planning stages include further work along the route to advance the design of the line and prepare for the next phases of the project.

“Concurrently we are looking at how we can upgrade the North Auckland Line between Auckland and Oakleigh,” Moyle continued. “The tunnels on that line are old, low and narrow. We have had two significant derailments on the line in recent months due to a lack of funding for maintenance. It has been unable to carry passengers for the past year and freight options are restricted. This is the result of low freight volumes on the line and KiwiRail needing to spend its limited capital where the most freight flows.”

Miller said an efficient supply chain would be critical for Northland to respond to significant agricultural and horticultural investment. “What we are seeing now through the Provincial Growth Fund is a renewal of regional rail and an acceptance of the wider benefits rail brings to regions such as taking trucks off the road, reducing road maintenance costs, improving road safety and producing fewer carbon emissions,” Miller said.

“There is a long way to go in Northland but we are heartened by what we have found so far.”

SYDNEY METRO

First step towards Northport spur

NEWS

KiwiRail is a statutory corporation reporting to the New Zealand Government.

RAIL EXPRESS | ISSUE 2 2019

31

INTERMODAL & LOGISTICS

Pacific National targets intermodal shift with St Marys Freight Hub Rail Express speaks with Pacific National Chief Executive Officer Dean Dalla Valle about the company’s future St Marys Freight Hub for Western Sydney, the intermodal shift from road to rail, and the role of port operators managing growth.

P

Western Sydney. Once up and running, it will compete directly with Qube’s Moorebank Logistics Park for Sydney’s container volumes.

Speaking exclusively with Rail Express, Pacific National CEO Dean Dalla Valle says the proposed St Marys Freight Hub is a unique opportunity not only for Pacific National, but for the freight and

logistics industry as a whole.

“The proposed St Marys Freight Hub is located within Sydney’s biggest catchment area for many of the country’s largest national distribution centres and warehouses which service Western Sydney – one of the most populous and fast-growing regions in Australia,” Dalla Valle says.

“Our St Marys proposal aligns perfectly

PACIFIC NATIONAL

ENDING LOCAL AND STATE government planning approvals, Pacific National aims to start work this year building a state-of-the-art intermodal freight hub at St Marys, in Sydney’s western suburbs.

The development will facilitate the introduction of much-needed container rail shuttle service between Port Botany and

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Works planned to get the hub up and running include upgrades to rail sidings, construction of hardstand areas for container laydown and storage, and rail and vehicle loading and unloading areas.

Terminal facilities like a wash bay and forklift repair area, an office building, a fuel storage area, a container shed, parking for staff and visitors, heavy vehicle bays, and reach stacker and forklift parking bays are also slated for construction

Road-to-rail in Western Sydney

At this stage, Pacific National expects three to four 600-metre trains between Port Botany and St Marys each day.

“A single port shuttle freight train equates to taking 40 B-double trucks off Western Sydney’s already heavily congested motorway and road network,” Dalla Valle says.

“Rail has become a much more viable option to freight importers and exporters due to the improved efficiencies and technology that has made the rail business more cost competitive.”

Dalla Valle says a modal shift will be imperative to sustain market demand and growth in the region, while bringing some respite from the enormous pressure on Sydney’s heavily congested road networks, particularly between Port Botany and the rapidly expanding cities of Paramatta and Penrith.

“Rail transportation offers a competitive

LEFT: Pacific National CEO Dean Dalla Valle (left) with ACFS Port Logistics CEO Arthur Tzaneros and St Marys Freight Hub Project Director Leigh Cook.

BELOW: The Australasian rail industry is working to get more containers off roads, and onto trains.

ARTC

with the NSW Government’s freight and ports plan to establish a network of intermodal freight terminals in Greater Western Sydney to help drive modal shift from road to rail – thereby helping to ease traffic congestion – and facilitate the operation of efficient port shuttles to and from Botany.

“St Marys is located within close proximity to the key industrial and commercial estates of Eastern Creek, Erskine Park, Wetherill Park, Arndell Park, and Marsden Park; not to mention the future Western Sydney Airport at Badgerys Creek.”

Sitting within a large 43-hectare site, the freight hub’s 10-hectare footprint fronts Christie Street, Forrester Road and Lee Holm Road in St Marys and is a stone’s throw from the M4 and M7 motorways and Great Western Highway. Importantly, the site provides direct access to the T1 Western Rail Line allowing for a 58-kilometre shuttle run between Port Botany.

Pacific National says the site’s size and surrounding land uses are compatible to provide an effective buffer to noise-sensitive residential zones further afield.

The first stage of the proposed freight hub development will support 60 full-time construction jobs. When operational, the hub will create 150 new full-time jobs in Western Sydney – 20 reach stacker and forklift operators, 10 administration roles, 100 truck drivers, and 20 train drivers.

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INTERMODAL & LOGISTICS

ABOVE: Government spending on rail infrastructure around Port Botany will enhance the effectiveness of St Marys.

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and economic solution transporting imported containerised freight from port to freight hubs within 90 minutes,” he says.

“With up to five train services each day, Pacific National will rail a total of 300,000 containers between Port Botany and St Marys each year, removing between 70,000 and 80,000 trucks from Sydney’s busy road network.

“It will on average reduce truck travel distances by 29,000 kilometres each day or 10 million kilometres each year, notably on the M4 and M7 motorways and Great Western Highway.”

That type of shift will be even more important, Dalla Valle notes, as Sydney’s population grows from its current mark of around five million, to the forecast eight million over the next 40 years.

“Demand for freight services will only continue to rise and improving rail freight operations is the only solution to unlock productivity and to meet the growing demand for services,” he says.

Development on the waterfront will be critical to effective growth as well, Dalla Valle notes. Patrick – the stevedore that once shared a parent company with Pacific National – recently became the first Port Botany terminal operator to have funding committed by NSW Ports for improved rail access.

The port ownership group has committed to similar projects at the Hutchison and DP World terminals at a later date.

“Port infrastructure investment is imperative to maximise throughput at Port Botany and to ensure that NSW import/export gateways flow with the least resistance and are not constrained by inadequate systems or imposed inefficiencies,” he says.

ISSUE 2 2019 | RAIL EXPRESS

“NSW Ports are playing a critical role liberating capacity through investment in rail and port infrastructure and this is a very positive step in achieving the NSW Government’s plan to create a network of intermodal freight terminals in Western Sydney, to increase rail freight volumes and improve supply chain efficiencies to accommodate growth and improve export capability for NSW.”

Dalla Valle embracing role

Dalla Valle, who before joining Pacific National spent forty years at BHP Billiton, including as its President for Coal and its Chief Commercial Officer, has fully embraced his role as an advocate for rail since joining the operator in May 2017.

He is the chair of the Freight on Rail Group (FORG) of Australia, an industry body which also includes operators Aurizon, Genesee & Wyoming Australia, Watco, Qube, and SCT Logistics, along with the ARTC and Arc Infrastructure.

He issued a clear and decisive statement in that role ahead of a meeting of Australia’s transport and infrastructure ministers last November.

“To develop polices to deliver new innovations and efficiencies, the rail freight sector is simply asking for an equal policy playing field,” Dalla Valle said.

“This can only be achieved by a new era of closer collaboration between government agencies, which regulate rail networks, and private companies which operate on those networks.”

He said it was concerning government policies were geared towards helping roll-out heavier and longer trucks at a time when Australians want safer roads and less traffic congestion.

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“As a case in point, the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator recently approved the roll-out of a 105-tonne 36.5-metre B-Quad truck on select routes between Victoria and Queensland. Don’t get me wrong: I see the obvious freight productivity benefits, but how much bigger and heavier do we want trucks on our roads to get? What’s the upper limit?”

Dalla Valle said while the trucking industry had been successful in extracting major concessions in efficiency, productivity and road access, the rail freight industry had become “tangled in nests of technical jargon. As an example, he noted NSW freight train drivers can be subjected to up to 18-months of extra training to operate on a similarly configured rail corridor in another state or territory.

“In stark contrast, a NSW truck driver can move from operating a semi-trailer for a year to handling a B-double or road train in just two days at minimal cost with immediate access to thousands of kilometres of road across every jurisdiction in the country,” he said.

Parkes: Memphis, Tennessee

BELOW: Dalla Valle with ACFS Port Logistics CEO Arthur Tzaneros at St Marys.

PACIFIC NATIONAL

Dalla Valle says St Marys will operate not only as an intermodal hub for Western Sydney, but as an interconnector for the company’s other major NSW development, on the future Inland Rail route in Parkes – a city he says could one day mirror the Northern American freight capital of Memphis, Tennessee.

Parkes, already home to the Elvis Festival and The Dish, will one day be the grand intersection between Australia’s major north-south and eastwest railways. Parkes Shire Council is developing a National Logistics Hub at the junction, and within it, Pacific National is building an intermodal site

capable of handling up to 450,000 containers each year.

The terminal is designed to receive freight trains 1,800 metres in length.

“Once the Melbourne to Brisbane Inland Rail project is complete, regional enterprises can use Parkes as the launching pad to haul goods and commodities by rail more efficiently between the ports of Botany, Brisbane, Melbourne and Fremantle,” said Dalla Valle.

In the future, Pacific National’s St Marys Freight Hub will facilitate regional trains from Parkes to be broken into 600-metre port shuttles to better access stevedoring terminals at Port Botany.

NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro recently moved to establish a ‘special activation precinct’ at Parkes to help streamline development of the National Logistics Hub. Dalla Valle said this was part of a trio of good ideas at play.

“Parkes Shire Council’s National Logistics Hub, the Australian Government’s Inland Rail Project, and the NSW Government’s Special Activation Precinct, three great ideas,” he said.

“Companies like Pacific National will have the added investment confidence to help create the largest freight and logistics precinct in inland regional Australia; akin to the major freight hub of Memphis in the interior of the United States of America.”

Pacific National has committed an initial $35 million to develop its Parkes logistics terminal.

“Pacific National is proud to be part of Parkes.

Terminal construction is currently generating about 40 jobs, while the future terminal will have a workforce of 100 people,” Dalla Valle concluded.

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ABOVE: Caption left

Machines tailor-made for midsized intermodal sites Lifting equipment provider Combilift has a long history of research and development, and marketleading innovation. Jarad Wilson tells Rail Express about a pair of machines ideal for Australia’s numerous midsized regional intermodal sites.

C

OMBILIFT WAS ESTABLISHED IN Ireland by cofounders Robert Moffett and Martin McVicar in 1998. Since its inception it has grown to sell 40,000 units in 85 countries including Australia, which over the last 17 years, has become Combilift’s fifth-largest export market.

“Combilift has set the benchmark for the mass production of customised innovative products,” McVicar, now the company’s managing director, said at the opening of a new 46,500 square metre, purpose-built facility in Monaghan, Ireland in 2018. “Mass customisation is the new frontier for both the customer and the manufacturer as customers are increasingly expecting products to be tailored to their requirements.”

Margins are tight even for Australia’s largest intermodal operators, and for the nation’s midsized regional terminals, this is magnified even further.

“The issue in the market is equipment used to load and unload trains tends to be designed for larger scale operations with a higher capacity,” Jarad Wilson, Combilift’s Straddle Carrier Production Manager in Asia Pacific,

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explains to Rail Express.

“This level of capital and operational cost can be prohibitive for midsized operators who only need to be able to load or unload one or two trains a day.”

Much of Combilift’s success has been built on the mantra of ‘customer-based innovation’.

Wilson says this approach has helped the company develop and refine a pair of products ideal to Australia’s midsized market: the Combi Intermodal Straddle Carrier, and the Combi Xpress Straddle Carrier.

Combi IMSC a real alternative to forklifts and reach stackers

Combilift’s Intermodal Straddle Carrier, or IMSC, was initially designed to respond to a midsized Dutch intermodal terminal, looking to unload trains quickly. “The IMSC design draws on existing straddle carriers, but aims to fill this space in the market,” Wilson outlines.

“This is the only machine of it type currently in the Australian market for midsized operations.

It’s a simple piece of diesel hydraulic lifting equipment, without the capital expenditure, and

“

Combilift has set the benchmark for the mass production of customised innovative products

”

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operating and maintenance overheads often required by a higher-capacity product. It fits in a niche space and really suits Australia’s midsized regional intermodal terminals.”

The IMSC is designed to be ideal for handling containers between a terminal’s rail siding and its storage/transport lane, while offering strategic advantages over a reach stacker or forklift.

“Traditionally in many states reach stackers and forklifts have been used to load and unload rail,” Wilson explains. “These have a very heavy footprint because they’re counterbalanced; they have a very heavy load on the front axle, because the load is positioned out in front of the machine.

“What this means is the pavement and the ground conditions needed when you’re using a reach stacker or forklift for containers has to be very heavy duty. This can mean millions of dollars of excess spending to set up even a midsized operation.”

The rubber-tyred IMSC, by contrast, does not rely on counterbalanced lifting and thus requires a less-heavy-duty pavement on which to operate.

Wilson says the wheel load on each corner of the IMSC wouldn’t exceed 30 tonnes during standard operation – roughly a third of what you could expect from the front axle of a reach stacker performing the same task.

“We can help clients service a rail siding with a lot less investment in infrastructure at that location,” he says. “Rather than putting down large areas of reinforced pavement all the way along the length of your siding, this machine allows an operator to perform the same task with minimal investment. Particularly in the regional centres, this very much has a place in the market, and there’s a lot of interest in it.”

Additional benefits of the IMSC include a fully-enclosed driver compartment with air conditioning, positioned high off the ground for excellent visibility.

Wilson says the IMSC is generally lower cost to operate than a forklift or reach stacker due to a lower fuel and service cost. As the machine is lighter and typically performs a straight-line operation along the train it spends less time making direction changes and reversing movements. Simple and robust diesel-hydraulic systems mean it can be serviced and maintained by local technicians, cutting down on maintenance costs. The lack of sharp turning and tyre scrubbing also leads to significantly reduced pavement maintenance costs.

ABOVE: The Combi IMSC in operation over a rail siding.

FAR LEFT: The Combi IMSC does not rely on counterbalanced lifting, and thus requires less-heavy-duty pavement.

LEFT: The Combi XC is ideal for long distance ‘pick and run’ operation.

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ABOVE: Caption left

Combi XC for high speed, long distance

Another niche requirement often seen in midsized operations is what Wilson calls ‘pick and run’ container movements. In this case that niche is filled the Combi Xpress Straddle Carrier, or XC. The XC is based on Combilift’s SC3 Straddle Carrier, which Wilson says has globally become the industry standard, and most popular straddle carrier for operators handling containers away from major ports.

“The SC3 has been in play since 2010, leading the market,” Wilson says. “Building on that, we’ve developed the Combi XC.” The XC is a high-speed machine, ideal for an operation where containers are required to be carried longer distances, more efficiently. It boasts a high loaded travel speed of 25km/h, and is capable of loading and unloading transports, and stacking containers 2-high.

Wilson says the machine is ideal for long runs. “If you’re doing long runs, maybe taking a container from one end of the terminal to another, this machine is ideal for that. It’s a fast, maneuverable straddle with a high mounted cab for excellent vision – in Australia it’s another unique product offering.”

Like in the IMSC’s niche, the XC is offered as an alternative to counterbalanced equipment.

“The XC has a reduced wheel loading, because once again it’s not counterbalanced, and the load is distributed around the machine,” Wilson says. “The machine itself is again lighter, because it doesn’t need a counter weight, making the running cost quite low, especially in a higher speed operation.”

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The ramp-friendly Combi XC can operate on compacted stone, bitumen and light concrete.

While this makes it ideal for midsized operators, Wilson notes the XC also has its place in larger operations, where portside straddle carriers are commonplace.

“It has a place in operations ranging all the way up to major seaports, for running containers longer distances. A portside straddle carrier is much heavier and more expensive to run – so for ports looking to move containers longer distances, this is the ideal solution.”

Contact: jarad.wilson@combilift.com

ABOVE: The Combi Xpress Staddle Carrier, or XC, boasts a high loaded travel speed of up to 25km/h.

BELOW: Th e Combi XC is based on Combilift’s popular SC3 Straddle Carrier (pictured).

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Australasia’s largest dedicated bulk handling conference & exhibition MELBOURNE

1-3 APRIL 2020 IN CONJUNCTION WITH

Media partners AUSTRALIA

Association Partner

AUSTRALIA

REVIEW

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INTERMODAL & LOGISTICS

A startup’s mentality, a century’s experience Rail Express spoke with port and logistics company LINX Cargo Care Group, about the young company’s long history, its Enfield Intermodal Terminal operation, and the state of Australia’s freight market.

L

INX CARGO CARE GROUP (LINX CCG) was formed in 2016 through the break-up and sale of ASX-listed logistics giant Asciano. In what amounted to one of Australia’s largest corporate takeovers, Asciano was divested into three businesses: Patrick, Pacific National, and LINX CCG. Majority-owned by global alternative asset manager Brookfield, LINX CCG says it aims to provide a formidable network of ports and logistics expertise, with assets

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strategically positioned throughout Australia and New Zealand.

Divisions of LINX CCG include bulk-logistics and warehousing business LINX, along with New Zealand forestry logistics business C3, forestry handling and processing business Pederson Group, automotive transporter Autocare, and Victoria’s second-largest port, GeelongPort.

LINX’s Executive GM for Customer & Business Development, Carlo Cutinelli, says the company combines the mentality

of a startup, with the rare advantage of more than 100 years of port and logistics experience.

Opening his conversation with Rail Express, Cutinelli echoes the mantra of the Group’s CEO Anthony Jones: “We organize everything for you, planning right through to execution.”

“We’re about partnering with our customers and offering them tailored solutions,” Cutinelli says. “We’re a diverse group. We can offer a number of services

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across our businesses. Hard commodities, soft commodities and containerised, we package up our suite of services for our customers, and let them decide which ones they want to take advantage of.”

Cutinelli’s 17 years of experience in the sector includes past senior roles at Pacific National, Toll Holdings, and SCT Logistics. For LINX, he’s helped spearhead a push to grow intermodal operations in Western Sydney, where the company last year took on operations at the NSW Ports-owned Enfield Intermodal Terminal.

Container movements at Port Botany are forecast to rise from two million teu (twenty-foot equivalent units) in 2011, to seven million teu in 2031. Without a significant increase in the share of containers arriving at or leaving the port via rail, Infrastructure NSW has said the port risks seeing a four-fold increase in truck traffic in that timeframe.

NSW Ports says intermodal terminals like Enfield, and the associated services offered by companies like LINX will be crucial to driving more freight off roads, and onto rail. Since taking over at Enfield, Cutinelli says LINX has seen much early success.

“We’ve had a lot of traction, and a lot of customers have come onboard since we took over.

We’re running daily services into all the stevedores at Port Botany, we’ve got sub-tenants on our terminal site, and we recently signed up ACFS as the empty container park operator at the site.”

While throughput at Enfield is strong, there is still room for growth.

“There’s some areas we’ll probably expand in the short- to medium-term [but] from a ground rent point of view it’s nearing where we want it to be,” Cutinelli explains. “But capacity wise, it’s still got a lot of room to grow so far as the rail port shuttle goes. The terminal’s capacity is 300,000 teu per annum . We’re not near that, but we’re well on the way to getting there.”

NSW Ports and other businesses are building up warehouse and logistics operations in the vicinity of Enfield, to further harness this growth potential.

Cutinelli says LINX is eager to be an active supporter of NSW Ports in its push for more and better rail access at Port Botany.

“We’re very much supporting them, and we’re talking to a lot of exporters further up-country – some as far out as Central West NSW – and trying to encourage them towards any road to rail conversion,” he explains. “Then they can harness that by going through Enfield via rail to Port Botany.

“On top of that we’re talking to businesses in our catchment area, around Enfield in Western

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ABOVE: The Enfield terminal is operated by LINX on behalf of NSW Ports.

ABOVE: Carlo Cutinelli is LINX’s Executive GM for Customer & Business Development.

LEFT: LINX Cargo Care Group operates rail shuttles between Port Botany and its intermodal terminal at Enfield.

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PHOTOGRAPHY: CREDIT

ABOVE: Caption left

Sydney. We’re actively talking to the wharf cartage providers and transport providers, and engaging with the beneficial freight owners, to try to get them to convert from road to rail to reduce congestion.”

Encouraging demand, then meeting it

Despite the enthusiasm from NSW Ports and local residents to see fewer trucks around Port Botany, Cutinelli is unsure legislation or other regulatory interference is required to force more containers onto rail. Given appropriate investment in proper infrastructure, he says rail should be seen by more customers as the better option, without market interference.

NSW Ports in November 2018 announced a $120 million project for new on-dock rail infrastructure at Patrick’s terminal at Port Botany.

This, the company said, will be followed with similar projects at the port’s two other terminals.

Additionally, the Federal Government has committed $400 million to duplicate the final 2.9 kilometres of single track on the railway into the port.

“Once that is done it puts us on a really good

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path to increasing the rail growth versus road growth in regards to container volume share,” Cutinelli says. “It’s similar to the Inland Rail project. Once we make the commitment to build this capacity and access, I don’t believe legislation is needed at this point in time. I think the rail efficiency will play its part once the infrastructure is laid down.”

The other major effort is convincing the freight sector that rail is as reliable as road. “I think we’ve come a long way to improving the reliability of rail,” he says. “That’s not just LINX, it is industrywide work to improve the profile of rail.”

While there’s a lot of talk around the country about new intermodal developments, Cutinelli says with the right approach the industry can avoid oversaturating the market.

“There’s a lot of talk about a lot of intermodal terminals around the country, but the beauty of it is the volumes and the beneficial freight owners will determine which ones get up, and which ones don’t,” he says.

“From the LINX perspective, we’re very much driven around where our customers go.

The terminals going up are the ones where

ABOVE: Unloading operations underway at Enfield.

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“

Once we make the commitment to build this capacity and access, I don’t believe legislation is needed at this point in time. I think the rail efficiency will play its part once the infrastructure is laid down

”

providers like LINX partner with the customers, the exporters, to build those terminals and offer those services.

“So there’s a lot being talked about, but we’re very much behind the scenes talking to our customers, looking to partner with them, and having a go at what they want.”

LINX around the country

LINX has a strong presence in the Riverina region of southwestern New South Wales, centered around a major transport hub connecting the region’s exporters with the Port of Melbourne.

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“We’re looking at expanding our footprint in the Riverina, in Griffith, from a rail terminal perspective, and we’re currently servicing that region’s exporters through to the Port of Melbourne on a daily basis – four-five times per week,” Cutinelli says. “That’s something we’ll look to grow, to increase that rail share.”

Elsewhere, the company is looking at expansion in other states, Cutinelli says, to “replicate the Enfield model”. “In the short-term WA’s on our radar, and in the longer term we’ll look at places like Brisbane and any other sites that come up,” he concludes.

ABOVE: Cutinelli says continued investment in portside rail access will help terminals like Enfield succeed.

BELOW: While there are a lot of prospective intermodal developments around the country, only the most viable will receive support from freight customers.

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OPERATIONS & MAINTENANCE SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Embracing digital transformation in rail How does a multinational tracing its roots as far back as 1893 adapt to the digital age?

Rail Express spoke with Thales digitisation expert Michael Livingstone about how the company is driving change through big data, machine learning, and artificial intelligence.

A

S THE AUSTRALIAN DIRECTOR OF Thales’s Guavus business unit, Michael Livingstone helps businesses discover how digital can bring them tangible benefits. Through workshops and business process modelling, Guavus evolves concepts into actionable steps, driving a digital transformation not only for Thales’s clients, but within Thales Group as a whole.

For what is a highly technical and at times mystifying subject, the gist of Thales’s digital push is quite simple: take more than 100 years of experience in industries like defence, transportation, aerospace and security, and enhance them with modern-day, data-driven analysis.

“Thales is both the provider, and potentially the customer, for each of our optimisation programs,” Livingstone tells Rail Express.

Once a Silicon Valley startup, Guavus over the last decade became a pioneer in real-time big data processing and analytics, and was acquired

by Thales Group for more than US$200 million in 2017.

At the time Thales CEO Patrice Caine said, “The application to Thales’s core businesses of Guavus’s technologies and expertise in big data analytics will strengthen our ability to support the

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digital transformation of our customers, whether in aeronautics, space, rail signaling, defense or security.”

That mentality is consistent with what Livingstone and his team are doing today in the Australian market.

“We’re looking at how we take our long institutional memory and apply that to this new digital footprint,” Livingstone says. “And for our clients, that means looking at new and emerging opportunities in their industries, too.”

Guavus was one of a series of key acquisitions made after Thales set out on its digital journey more than four years ago. Other recent additions include encryption specialist Vormetric, driver advisory system provider Cubris, and digital security firm Gemalto.

Livingstone says opportunities for digital change both within and outside of Thales may lie in core processes, customers, suppliers, employees, or assets, but he says all are built from a strong understanding of current business practices.

“Historically there’s simply been an overwhelming amount of data for people to consider,” Livingstone explains. “In fact, in the past there’s been so much data there was very little

ABOVE: Digitisation can benefit passenger rail operations in many ways, from timetable optimisation, to predictive maintenance.

RIGHT: Thales aims to leverage its digital progress across all of its sectors, including ground transportation.

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motivation to collect more.

“There’s no point collecting real time data to analyse for an outcome of control, if that’s going to take three days. You need to be able to analyse the data, make the decision, and exercise the control in a time factor that is effective.

“That’s where the advancement in computer capability comes in, and the development of those analytics platforms themselves. Today, data generated in real time can be analysed in real time. That’s something that couldn’t have happened in the past.”

This combination of advancements in hardware, software, and the emerging fields of machine learning and artificial intelligence, are the core drivers of digital change.

Livingstone says there are plenty of opportunities for the rail sector to apply these sorts of technologies. “Digitisation is helping get more capacity on rail infrastructure,” he says.

“Analytics and smarter signalling can create an increase in capacity, better scheduling, and improved availability, all the while maintaining safety requirements.

Then there’s predictive maintenance for both rollingstock and track, which can help an operator become significantly more efficient, and achieve a significant rise in network availability despite reductions to maintenance costs.”

Thales has success working with clients to enhance predictive maintenance through digital applications.

“The projects we’ve seen to date have seen some very significant benefits in terms of availability and overall cost. And we continue to work with our partners on the best outcome, because any analytics platform can be refined, more data can be captured, and layers of context can be built to give a greater degree of accuracy in terms of predictions.”

better understands traffic flows, and the flow of people, and can minimise jams through optimisation of things like traffic lights.

“All of that is a data and analytics problem,” Livingstone explains. “We want to be able to see how things work in real time, and then what we can do to improve on those processes, how we can get predictive on those processes.

“The transportation industry is moving more towards autonomy and the use of analytics in transport and logistics, and like in other sectors, the end user is expecting more services to be attuned to them as an individual: ‘I want to understand where my train is, why it’s late, when it’s going to be here, and what are the alternatives.’

One key area Livingstone believes rail transport can see immediate benefits from digital development is security and safety.

Traditional CCTV systems, he says, require more eyeballs as they grow, and still rely on the effectiveness of a human observer to catch unusual events, such as a person behaving in a suspicious manner, or experiencing a medical emergency.

“Once you consider the digital progress made in this field you can ask, ‘do we need to capture footage at all?’ The answer is probably no.

“If you can instead look at people moving around a train station as objects, then by using machine learning you can understand how people flow through that space. When the system then sees something unusual – for example an object enters the area and remains stationary for an unusual period of time – then you can engage CCTV and potentially security staff to focus on that area.

“In this way we can use data analytics

“

The end user is expecting more services to be attuned to them as an individual: ‘I want to understand where my train is, why it’s late, when it’s going to be here, and what are the alternatives.’

”

and technologies that don’t identify individuals, to observe an environment objectively, and then the technology that can actually identify people only needs to be used when an abnormality occurs.”

The large-scale analysis of a flow of individuals through a train station of course has added benefits, beyond just security and safety.

“We can use this knowledge to get the most out of our assets. In ground transportation we generally have a greater influx of passengers over time, and a limited capacity,” Livingstone says.

“Using real time analysis, we can engage with commuters through visual and audio alerts and their devices to better optimise this flow, as it happens.”

Contact: ThalesGroup.com

Smart Cities: Big data in action

A key digitisation concept for public transport is how rail can best fit into the concept of a ‘Smart City’.

“There’s a lot of focus at the moment on Smart Cities,” Livingstone says. “It’s a broad topic, and there are different applications; it can range from a rubbish bin in a park telling the city when it’s full, to tracking your pet.”

From the perspective of public transport, Livingstone says a Smart City helps its residents become more engaged with the city itself. It helps them take better advantage of public transport, and drives more people towards it. On top of this, a Smart City

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OPERATIONS & MAINTENANCE

Bombardier CBTC to ease congestion in Melbourne Rail Express spoke with Bombardier Transportation’s Head of Rail Control Systems for Asia Pacific, Gregory Enjalbert, about the cutting-edge signalling technology the company is providing for the biggest public transport project in Victorian history.

T

HE PRINCIPAL BENEFIT OF THE $11 billion Metro Tunnel currently under construction beneath Melbourne’s bustling CBD is to create capacity on the network by removing three lines out of the congested City Loop.

To achieve this, the Metro Tunnel project will create a new end-to-end rail line from Sunbury in the west to Cranbourne and Pakenham in the south-east.

The project scope includes twin nine-kilometre rail tunnels, five new underground stations and highcapacity signalling.

To maximise the efficiencies of this new route, an advanced communications-based train control (CBTC) system will be installed on the line and in

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the new tunnel.

The high-capacity system will enable trains to safely run closer together and enable more than half a million additional passengers a week across Melbourne’s train network to use the rail system during peak periods.

In December 2017, the Victorian Government selected a team of Bombardier Transportation, CPB Contractors and Metro Trains Melbourne (current rail operator) to partner in an Alliance with Rail Projects Victoria ¬– forming the Rail Systems Alliance (RSA).

The Alliance will deliver a signalling and rail control solution and system integration for the Metro Tunnel Project, under a $1.1 billion

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“

CITIFLO gives you more time. This essentially provides you with extra time, and therefore gives the operator more flexibility

”

contract. Roughly $310 million of work belongs to Bombardier, primarily to deliver its Bombardier CITYFLO 650 CBTC system.

Rail Express sat down with Bombardier’s Head of Rail Control Solutions for Asia Pacific, Gregory Enjalbert, to discuss how CITYFLO will transform Melbourne’s network into a “turn up and go” rail operation.

“Our globally-proven CITYFLO solution, already in use in cities like Madrid, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur, is designed to be installed on new lines, or onto existing services with minimal disruption. The solution covers the full range of operating modes and is designed for moving block, advanced metro operations and automated people movers,” Enjalbert said.

“I think the key point for this project is to create a corridor where you will have more reliable and more frequent transportation, that can carry a lot more people.

“Our CITYFLO 650 solution reduces the headway between trains, whilst maintaining safety, meaning trains can run closer together – so operators can increase their capacity.”

The Metro Tunnel Project will be Melbourne’s first foray into CBTC. It will be Australia’s first brownfield CBTC implementation with a targeted completion in 2025.

CBTC is a method of signalling where the position of a train is established by direct communication between the train and track.

Traditionally, as a train passes signals on a network, that train is considered to be occupying a fixed stretch of railway at a time, and no other train is allowed to enter that block.

CBTC allows for what is known as a ‘moving block’, where the area of track reserved for the train is constantly moving. This facilitates a shorter headway – the minimum allowable, safe distance between two trains moving in the same direction along a railway – and thus allows for increased capacity.

Enjalbert, who is based in Bangkok and spoke with Rail Express on the sidelines of the InnoTrans Conference and Exhibition in Berlin late last year,

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says the shorter headways facilitated by CITYFLO 650 not only allow for more frequent services, but also for a more efficient maintenance operation.

“By reducing the headway between trains, CITYFLO essentially provides extra time, and therefore gives the operator more flexibility,” Enjalbert explained.

“There is more time for maintenance, so operators can increase the availability of their systems.

“One of the bottlenecks in traditional systems is in the timing for maintenance. By having more flexibility, we can give the customer – in this case Metro Trains Melbourne – more opportunity to maintain the trains.”

The system also gives the operator more flexibility in terms of how the trains are to be operated.

“How many trains do you want to have? How fast will they go? How will they accelerate and decelerate? CITYFLO can help our customers manage this safely and accurately,” Enjalbert said.

The contract, much like the other aspects of the Metro Tunnel Project, has also placed an important emphasis on local jobs, including new apprenticeship and training opportunities. There’s also been a major focus on collaboration.

ABOVE: Bombardier Transportation’s Head of Rail Control Systems for Asia Pacific, Gregory Enjalbert.

LEFT: The CITYFLO solution is already in use in cities like Madrid, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur.

RAIL EXPRESS | ISSUE 2 2019

47

OPERATIONS & MAINTENANCE

“

By having more flexibility, we can give the customer more opportunity to maintain the train

”

“The interesting thing about the RSA is the term, ‘Alliance’,” Enjalbert said.

“It has been a very collaborative approach from the beginning in terms of bringing the key rail players together, everyone putting their best solutions and technologies on the table and allowing Rail Projects Victoria to make an explored and educated decision on who their partners will be to deliver this mega project.”

“This whole process, which has taken a couple of years in totality, has been great in terms of getting to know our partners very well and developing the solution progressively, to a level where the customer was very comfortable with the technology. We could also build up our resources during this time, with regular workshops and other activities.

“We’ve built a larger project team – more than 220 people work across the Alliance, based in our Melbourne office – and we have this interaction of 2½ years to start working from. The Alliance has established good leadership and a strong and diverse pipeline of skilled people, which includes young cadets through our partnerships with local universities.”

OPTIFLO includes modules for training, help desk, repairs, spare parts, technical support, infrastructure management and more.

Its deployment on the Metro Tunnel will include the advanced EBI Tool Maintenance and Diagnostics Centre, designed to provide intelligent data analysis and predictive functionalities to prevent failures.

ABOVE: Melbourne’s Metro Tunnel project will create a turn up and go service.

LEFT: Construction is already well underway in Melbourne’s CBD on the Metro Tunnel.

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ISSUE 2 2019 | RAIL EXPRESS

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OPERATIONS & MAINTENANCE

Rail Mounted Elevated Work Platforms: New technologies setting new trends Rail Express spoke with Manco Engineering Group Managing Director Bryan Black about technological progress in the field of rail mounted elevated work platforms.

T

HE MARKET PLATFORM FOR elevated work platforms (EWPs) on road rail vehicles has undergone significant development over the last decade.

First, the new AS7502 Road Rail Vehicle Standard, since being adopted by most network operators, has made compliance more demanding for road rail vehicle manufacturers as a whole.

Second, there has been significant evolution in the market for truck-mounted EWPs in general, used away from the rail corridor for all types of overhead construction and maintenance.

Bryan Black, Managing Director for rail and road/rail equipment manufacturer Manco Rail, tells Rail Express his company has made it a priority to stay on top of this progress, and at the cutting edge of the rail mounted EWP market.

“For example, the old concept of operating an EWP on track with the need of stabiliser legs is outdated,” he says. “The old way means poor productivity, and added difficulties with stabiliser

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ISSUE 2 2019 | RAIL EXPRESS

BELOW: Manco’s new 300kg SWL telescopic and jib truck mounted EWP also features a wide rotating basket similar to the self-propelled.

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leg lengths on varying ballast profiles.

“Another important recent change is the elimination of a secondary or backup driver in the vehicle cabin once on track.”

Black says the productivity gains of a oneman operation are backed by a high degree of total operational safety, due in the main to the requirements set out in the new AS7502 standard and amendments to AS1418:10 that covers elevated work platforms.

Additionally, Manco is ensuring all of its road rail vehicle mounted EWPs can travel safely on track at a maximum safe working load, with full EWP working geometry, with movement controlled from the EWP. Black says the ability for platforms on Manco’s vehicles to maintain an elevated position, offset from centre of track, during travel, is a real production advantage in overhead wiring construction and maintenance.

While his company offers both truck and self-propelled models of EWPs, Black notes clients should consider a significant number of operational advantages and disadvantages of both truck and self-propelled specifications.

“Operators need to carefully consider their real long-term benefits for both configurations before embarking on their capital expenditure,” he says.

Truck-mounted EWPs

Black says firstly, truck mounted EWP technology can provide: • F ull track travel mode from the platform without operator in the cab and at all boom angles and offsets • I ndependent and quick “no fuss” travel to track location without the need for a low bed transporter • Significant

additional carrying capacity for tools and components (up to 2,000kg on some models) • H igh track speeds available up to 25km/h (6km/h with boom offset and elevated) • S hort wheel bases to facilitate track access at road crossings • N ew high clearance rail modules • No need to have a secondary trailer for tools, slings and attachments • F ully failsafe brakes on all wheels “The only real disadvantages over the self-propelled option,” Black states, “can be the higher capital cost, and the inability – unless using a 4 wheel drive cab and chassis – for track access other than at road crossings.”

Self-Propelled EWPs

Black says Manco Rail’s design engineers have acknowledged some customers have a preference towards self-propelled EWPs, commonly referred to as MEWPs.

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As a result of this, Manco Rail has selected the same prime mover base as used by two other well-known manufacturers, Rail Products from the UK and Neotec from France: the well proven Manitou 160ATJ +, featuring a 400kg safe working load as a prime base unit.

With the Manitou base all three manufacturers have designed variations for their track drive options. In Manco Rail’s case, four epicyclic hub motors with oil immersed failsafe cone brakes have been used to enable ease of transfer of track gauge widths. In addition, as a further safety feature Manco engineers have included external “quick change” failsafe tread brakes on all wheels.

Like other manufacturers, Manco offer an extensive range of options like trailer attachment, on board generator, compressed air, piped for water , panning units, extra working lights.

Black says key features of the self-propelled EWPs are: • Excellent on tracking capability • Off track performance on rough terrain ground • Lower capital cost than truck-mounted EWPs • Proven base unit with the Manitou • Excellent working platform and load capacity “Today’s technology in rail mounted elevated work platforms show a rapid progression for improved productivity in a very safe working environment,” Black concludes.

“Both configurations are key requirements in competitive and cost effective situations for either construction or maintenance on rail networks.”

ABOVE: Manco’s new RailBoom 400 features additional failsafe tread brakes on all wheels.

“

Operators need to carefully consider their real longterm benefits for both configurations before embarking on their capital expenditure

”

To discuss further, contact Bryan Black at bryan@manco.co.nz, or Ryan Black at rblack@mancoeng.com.

RAIL EXPRESS | ISSUE 2 2019

51

PRODUCTS & TECHNOLOGY

Partnership lighting the way in rail A partnership of LED lighting specialist Sonaray and energy solution provider Beacon Energy is providing bespoke lighting solutions for the rail sector.

S

ONARAY SAYS ITS SERVICE AND technologies strive to provide operators and infrastructure owners with the most efficient lighting solutions. Sonaray “We’re working together because Sonaray has worked with industrial companies around the world, and Beacon specialise in energy auditing,” Sonaray Australia project manager Alex Poon tells Rail Express. “Rail is a high energy consumption industry, so we aim to partner together as a rail solutions provider.”

Beacon Energy Solutions, a division of ASXlisted firm Beacon Lighting, aims to be the most trusted provider of renewable energy solutions for clients eager to minimise their impact on the environment, and reduce energy costs.

Beacon’s CEO Glen Robinson says the move into renewable energy solutions made sense.

“With the Beacon brand already leading the way in energy-efficient lighting, expanding into solar power and energy efficiency services was the perfect opportunity to offer our commercial clients renewable energy solutions, to reduce both

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ISSUE 2 2019 | RAIL EXPRESS

long term operating expenses and impact on the environment,” Robinson says.

Sonaray’s parent company, Dascom, was formed in 1986, and in 1995 partnered with Japanese firm Citizen Electronics to develop new LED lighting technology. Today all Sonaray lighting products use CITLED LED chips, valued for their compact, lightweight design, and long service life, making them efficient and environmentally friendly.

Sonaray itself was formed in 2008, as

ABOVE: One example of the technology Sonaray says is ideal for the rail sector is the off-grid solar light range.

LEFT: The off-grid solar light range can provide up to 17 hours of continuous light with a range of optic controls.

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Dascom’s registered brand in lighting, and opened headquarters in the United States and Singapore in 2009, in Germany and Melbourne in 2012, and in Malaysia in 2014. Today, the company offers a complete line of LED lighting solutions, designed for quality, clarity of light, and energy saving operation.

On top of supplying its own award-winning product range, in Australia Sonaray offers lighting consultation, design and audits, lighting simulations, customised lighting engineering, and distribution.

It specialises in commercial and industrial environments, where optimal ambience and performance are essential. Key verticals include airports, warehouses, manufacturing facilities, and transportation.

For rail, its primary innovations include dust reduction lighting systems, vibration-dampening lighting systems for lights constantly on the move, optical lens control systems designed to reduce glare and direct light with minimal loss (i.e. light pollution), and a range of off-grid solar lights, perfect for sites with little access top grid power,

or operators seeking extra efficiencies.

Sonaray’s off-grid solar light range incorporates a 3-screw, easy-install design.

Rugged, waterproof and impact-resistant, the all-in-one solar lighting devices can provide up to 17 hours of continuous light with a range of optic controls. Sonaray also markets the product in a portable mode, with a heavy concrete base that can be moved via forklift around a worksite.

Poon says the off-grid solar light technology is already in action on Australian rail sites, where it is valued for its reliability and mobility.

“Very often in rail you will access a lot of remote areas,” he says. “Stations, facilities, are often in the middle of nowhere, and power is far away, or too expensive to get onsite. So the all-inone solar light and battery is a great solution for them from a cost perspective.

“Often their site is huge, so even if they have a number of fixed lights much of their site will be dark at night. The portable solar light can give them mobility – they can take the light to an area that they want, leave it there for, say six months, and then pick it up and move it again.”

“

Rail is a high energy consumption industry, so we aim to partner together as a rail solutions provider

”

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Combining the resources of our respected journalism team and our unparalleled industry contacts and affiliations, Rail Express provides extensive, comprehensive and balanced coverage of breaking news and trends in key areas like infrastructure, investment, government policy, regulatory issues and technical innovation.

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PRODUCTS & TECHNOLOGY

Providing real-time advice to make drivers and networks more efficient An Australian-developed driver advisory system aims to improve the efficiency and capacity of railways without the need for expensive track or rollingstock upgrades.

T

HE ENERGYMISER SYSTEM, from Australian firm TTG Transportation Technology, uniquely combines both energy efficient driving advice with schedule optimisation. It has helped operators on five continents reduce energy costs and emissions by up to 15 per cent, and improve on-time arrivals by 10 per cent, and reduces operating risks by enhanced situational awareness.

“Energymiser does three key things, it keeps trains on time, it reduces energy use, and via its real time junction and line scheduling capability, it reduces network delays,” TTG Group Managing Director Dale Coleman tells Rail Express.

“The timekeeping aspect is particularly important on congested rail networks, where small delays to trains can propagate throughout the network and cause congestion. Energymiser can replan dynamically to minimise the impact of disruptions.”

The Energymiser Driver Advisory System (DAS) can be retrofitted into any cab or carried as a portable device by a train’s driver. Connected via GPS and the mobile data network, the DAS advises the driver to help run the train precisely to an optimised timetable.

The DAS communicates with a central server housing trip logs, timetables, temporary speed restriction information, track data and train characteristics. Webbased reports can then be generated for performance analysis, benchmarking and administrative purposes.

With over 4,000 units deployed on diesel and electric passenger, freight, heavy haul and very high speed trains, Coleman says Energymiser has become a worldleading solution for rail operators “given our solutions are proven in the full range of rail operations”. It’s used on trains travelling up to 320km/h, and on trains up to 2.5 kilometres long, weighing up to 22,000 tonnes.

“Energymiser has been deployed or has been trialled around the world on many

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types of railways, including bulk railways in Mauritania and Queensland, freight railways in New Zealand and the UK, and passenger railways across the UK, Ireland, France and Spain, and in trials in China, India and Europe,” he says.

A civil engineer by trade, Coleman has over 48 years’ experience in the rail, engineering and mining sectors. Over the last 35 years he has worked in technical and management roles across the rail sector, specialising in both project management and consulting and in the development of railway operational planning and asset management software.

He says Energymiser was designed to configure precisely to a customer’s requirements. The system can integrate with existing traffic management systems including TMS, ETCS and ATO, as well as on train integration into TCMS. Energymiser is the only DAS product that has been fully integrated into ATO. In terms of service options, Energymiser’s DAS-Lite system provides realtime advice and punctuality relative to the last timing point, based on limited route data.

Then there’s Energymiser DAS, which given detailed route data can provide enhanced real-time advice to further reduce emissions and energy consumption, operation and maintenance costs, while improving on-time running, rail capacity and safety.

Finally, the Connected DAS, or C-DAS, can receive real-time timetable updates from Traffic Management Systems to respond to incidents on network, improving recovery time and reducing congestion.

“Our recent focus has been on using C-DAS to smooth the flow of trains on congested rail networks such as the busy passenger networks in the UK,” Coleman says.

“Random delays to trains can sometimes result in interference between trains, particularly at junctions. If a train encounters a restrictive signal, delay increases. We are using Energymiser to monitor the progress of trains in real time.

ABOVE: A TTG Transportation Technology DAS in action.

“Central scheduling systems detect when trains will interfere with each other and calculate small adjustments to the individual train schedules to resolve any conflicts.

The adjusted schedules are sent back to the trains, and the on-board Energymiser units calculate updated driving profiles and advise the driver how to drive to the new plan.”

Meanwhile in Spain, Energymiser is integrated into the train control systems on high speed passenger trains to provide efficient automatic train operation between stops. And in France, Coleman says TTG is investigating how small changes to the schedules of many trains can reduce the peak electricity demand of the rail networks, and are working very closely with SNCF on the next generation of digital train operation optimisation.

“The future is focused on automation, digitalisation and energy-efficiency, to provide real-time coordination of trains on busy networks, to reduce costs and improve efficiency, and we are proud of the role our products are playing,” Coleman concludes.

Contact: admin@ttgtt.com.au

RAIL EXPRESS | ISSUE 2 2019

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PRODUCTS & TECHNOLOGY

Tailor-made fastening solutions from a local-owned supplier When he acquired Infastech Engineered Fastening in 2017, Glenn Heffernan saw real opportunity in niche areas of Australia’s manufacturing and infrastructure sectors. Two years on, he reflects on the growth of the company, and what it can offer the rail sector.

G

LENN HEFFERNAN JOINED Infastech Australia as its financial controller in 2003, and became managing director in 2011. US multinational Stanley Black & Decker bought the Infastech group of companies in 2013.

Heffernan acquired Infastech Australia through a management buyout in September 2017. 18 months on, he’s very happy with the move.

“I saw a brighter future for the company, and a great opportunity to service the manufacturing industry in Australia,” Heffernan tells Rail Express.

“When everyone else was looking at doom and gloom for the Australian manufacturing industry, I saw an excellent opportunity in niche markets and decided to focus my energy on servicing them.”

Among those markets, Heffernan saw rail and rollingstock manufacturing as key opportunities for a company like Infastech.

“We saw the expansion of the rail industry around Australia with the growing population,” he recalls. “And for us that was very broad: the construction of track and overhead infrastructure, railway stations, carriages, really the whole range.”

Heffernan’s outlook for rail has stayed positive since originally making that prediction.

“I think as the population continues to grow there will be a lot more money spent by governments on passenger rail,” he says. “Over the last decade it was all about regional and freight rail construction, but as our population grows and our roads get more choked up, there’s a huge opportunity for public transport in general, trains in particular.”

Heffernan’s thoughts on the manufacturing sector are positive as well.

“Manufacturing over the last couple of years has had a bit of growth in Australia,” he says.

“It definitely hasn’t deteriorated, or shrunk any further. The outflux of manufacturing we had going to other countries has slowed down from what I’ve seen, and local manufacturers are using their knowledge and expertise to do things a little differently, and I’m proud to be supporting them.”

As the exclusive distributor for Stanley Engineered Fastening (part of Stanley Black

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“

We’re no longer a global company, which makes us agile and very, very customer focused. For us, as a local company, decisions are made locally. They’re made quickly. And they’re all to service our customers

”

BELOW: Glenn Heffernan with Infastech Australia Marketing Manager Carly Stone.

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LEFT: Fastening noses and hydraulic hoses distributed by Infastech Australia.

BELOW: Heffernan says Infastech can offer solutions for manufacturing and maintenance businesses all across the rail sector.

& Decker) covering Australia and New Zealand, Infastech Engineered Fastening offers a range of fastening solutions that are ideal for both the manufacturing and maintenance of wagons and rollingstock, as well as numerous track applications, such as turnouts and transoms.

Another of Infastech’s key points of difference is its capacity to provide tailored solutions to unique problems. Heffernan says Infastech leverages its own engineering department to directly overcome obstacles for its customers.

“We try to help customers with their problems rather than just getting them to buy from a catalogue,” he explains.

“We’ll go and look at a customer’s production line, work out where their problems are, and work closely with them towards a solution We even design our own application-specific fasteners and design, build and install customised production tools. This gives our customers the flexibility to have the perfect turn-key package for their new project rather than settling for second best.”

Heffernan speaks highly of Infastech’s former owners, and maintains strong relationships with them globally. He explains, “Infastech Engineered Fastening’s new status in Australia as a local business means it can adapt to customers faster and more effectively, while still having access to the support and resources of a giant like Stanley.

“We’re no longer a global company, which makes us agile and very, very customer focused,” he says. “Sometimes at a large multinational change can be slow, but things happen very quickly around here these days.

“For us, as a local company, decisions are made locally. They’re made quickly. And they’re all to service our customers.”

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RAIL EXPRESS | ISSUE 2 2019

57

INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS

Taking on the skills challenge In his exclusive column, Australasian Railway Association Chief Executive Danny Broad discusses the next steps to respond to the national rail skills crisis, and unveils appointees to the ARA’s first Youth Leaders Advisory Board.

I

N THE PREVIOUS ISSUE OF RAIL EXPRESS I reported on the publication of the report Skills Crisis: A Call to Action which describes the skilled labour crisis facing rail unless urgent intervention is undertaken to address market failure.

The BIS Oxford Economics (BOE) Report recommends the establishment of a heavy hitting taskforce to provide the mechanism for cohesion between jurisdictions, industry and the education sector to drive the necessary ‘fit-for-purpose’ skills and training reforms, working cooperatively with rail industry companies.

A clear action plan is laid out in the BOE Report which is available on the ARA website. It will be no easy task, but the formation of such a taskforce is urgently required.

The intention of the Australian government is that rail industry skills and capability issues will be considered through the National Rail Plan (NRP). The Department of Infrastructure, Regional Development and Cities (DIRDC) is currently working with key rail stakeholders to develop the NRP to be provided to the Transport and Infrastructure Senior Officials Committee (TISOC) for endorsement in March 2019. DIRDC plans to facilitate the skills and capability issues through engagement with other Australian Government agencies responsible for these matters including the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science and the Department of Education and Training.

This alone, or indeed the Government’s VET review will not solve the skills and training issues in rail in a timely manner. As highlighted in the recommendations in the BOE Report, separate and urgent remedies are required for rail.

Unfortunately, rail reform does not fit into the province of one sovereign government, as is the case in New Zealand or the UK. Rather VET responsibilities fall to eight State and Territory Governments to manage. In addition, reforms required in rail training extend beyond VET to broader tertiary training needs, where Universities become Commonwealth responsibility.

Opposition Shadow Minister the Hon Anthony Albanese MP has committed to establish a Strategic Rail Industry Workforce Development Forum, “... tasked with developing strategic responses to the skills issues facing the industry and building productive working relationships across the industry and with

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ISSUE 1 2019 | RAIL EXPRESS

TAFE and other training providers. The resulting skills development strategy will not only aim to boost the national training effort, but also to ensure that the training is fit for purpose.”

Young Leaders Advisory Board (Y-LAB)

Attendees at our AusRail 2018 Conference in Canberra last November would recall some of the terrific presentations made by many of our younger industry professionals.

As I announced at our Gala Dinner, the ARA has prioritised engaging the younger demographic in our industry and reaching out to promote rail as an exciting place to work.

To harness the ideas of young talent in our industry we have appointed 8 talented under-35 year old rail professionals to our inaugural Young Leaders Advisory Board (Y-LAB). The Y-LAB will report into the ARA Board, providing a younger perspective on Board priorities as well as tabling new ideas and opportunities for the rail industry.

This is an exciting new initiative to formally engage the future leaders of our industry.

Our industry is changing fast, with over $100 Billion forecast investment in new projects over the next 10 years, and with new technologies being introduced, we need to engage the future leaders of our industry in key decisions. We are excited to do this through the formation of Y-LAB. The eight appointed individuals represent the diversity of roles and segments of the rail sector, bringing young engineers, planners, compliance and general managers from rail operators, manufacturers, suppliers, contractors and consultants to the table.

There was extensive interest for this initiative from throughout the industry, with almost 50 applications from across Australia and New Zealand through expressions of interest applications.

In recognition of the excellent quality of these applications we have appointed eight members of the Y-LAB and 4 Reserve Y-LAB members.

Y-LAB begins work at its first meeting in midMarch, where it will consider two key priorities on the ARA Board agenda; skilled labour shortages over the next 10 years and the promotion and branding of our industry.

ARA Chief Executive Officer Danny Broad.

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Abdul Jamal

Jamie Ross-Smith

Liam O’Shannessy

Tegan Ball

Amy Lezela

Jessica Ghaleb

Mike Groves

Neysa Arland

The 2019 Y-LAB appointees are: • Neysa Arland, Control Communications Manager, Transdev Auckland • Tegan Ball, Program Manager, Principal Workforce Planner, Queensland Rail • Jessica Ghaleb, Track and Civil Engineer, Jacobs • Mike Groves, Infrastructure Maintenance Engineer, Network Rail Consulting • Abdul Jamal, Design Engineer, John Holland Group • Amy Lezela, Head of Engineering, Rolling Stock, Metro Trains Melbourne • Liam O’Shannessy, General Manager Maintenance and Operations, Downer (on secondment to Yarra Trams) • Jamie Ross Smith, Commercial and Compliance Manager, Unipart The four Reserve Board members are: • Toby Briggs, Operations Manager, Martinus Rail • Jane Gillespie, Senor Consultant, Arup • Charlotte Moss, Project Engineer,

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Bombardier • J osh Steed, Team Leader Vehicle Services, SNC Lavalin An Advisory Group made up of ARA Board members; Anna Squire of ARUP, Rene Lalande of Transdev Australasia and Julian Sharp of CPB Contractors has been instrumental in establishing Y-LAB, reviewing the expressions of interest, appointing the inaugural Y-LAB and will support Y-LAB to ensure it is an asset to our industry.

Project i-TRACE

Around the world there is a realization that the digitilisation of the rail industry is essential. Project i-TRACE is a fundamental building block towards achieving digital capability in the sector.

Project i-TRACE involves standardising the capture of data relating to all assets and materials in the rail sector using GS1 global data standards. The objective is to be able to follow a component, part or asset throughout its lifecycle (including maintenance) from procurement to disposal.

Using a common, standards-based approach to identify and mark materials

is critical across a range of areas. It will improve efficiency, lower costs and deliver better customer service by achieving more consistent object identification.

These benefits include improved maintenance and repair operations; reducing costs by automating operational procedures and improving traceability which is fundamental for lifecycle tracking The Board of the ARA has agreed on the industry-wide adoption and implementation of GS1 global data standards, and 2019 is all about delivering on this important initiative.

A growing number of rail organisations have commenced on their digital journeys under Project iTRACE and are reaping the benefits that this initiative can deliver.

The ARA and GS1 Australia are now encouraging all relevant rail organisations in Australia to ‘Get on Board’ project iTRACE, and to make 2019 a year of implementation of GS1 global data standards in their businesses .

For more information see ara.net.au/key-issues/ project-i-trace

RAIL EXPRESS | ISSUE 1 2019

59

INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS

CREDIT: ARA / INFORMA AUSTRALIA

RTAA striving for rail’s success In his Rail Express column, RTAA President Thomas Kerr talks through the Association’s ongoing contributions to rail in Australia.

F

OR THOSE WHO ARE UNFAMILIAR, the Rail Track Association Australia (RTAA) is a voluntary, not-for-profit organisation, dedicated to pursuing and promoting the interests of rail infrastructure within the Australian community. With a proud history which began in 1973, the RTAA brings together owners, contractors, consultants, manufacturers, suppliers, academics, research and development personnel, regulators and individuals who are part of the Australian rail community. Membership is invited from individuals, corporations, government bodies, tertiary education and institutions.

Between 1973 and 2001, the RTAA organised thirteen highly successful rail conferences at three yearly intervals. These conferences were held in major locations in Australia and New Zealand and were well supported by the rail community.

Fast forward to 2019, and the RTAA continues to promote the interests of rail within the Australian community. This is done by focusing on four key priority areas: • Broadening the appeal of rail to women,

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young people and Indigenous people.

• Being truly national through the Rail Industry Field Day, technical and networking events and other RTAA activities.

• Promoting the establishment of Australian Rail Infrastructure Standards.

• Promoting ‘grassroots railway knowledge’ retention from our generation to the future generations.

One of the key priorities currently in the spotlight is promoting grassroots railway knowledge and appealing to the younger audience.

With a skills shortage in the industry, this is a priority the RTAA is heavily focusing on. In 2019 the RTAA will be implementing a number of initiatives to further progress the strong headway made in 2018 in this high priority area.

The Frank Franklyn Award continues its success this year and in 2018 there were eight outstanding entries, indicative of the railway infrastructure expenditure and scope of projects being undertaken. 2019 submissions are now open and already shaping up with stellar

ABOVE: A crowd gathers at the last RTAA Field Day.

ABOVE: RTAA President Thomas Kerr.

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submissions. The first prize for this award is up to $10,000 to attend an international rail conference of the winner’s choice. The award is aimed at all young rail specialists and is announced at the Australian Rail Industry Awards (ARIA).

Further to the Frank Franklyn award and as part of the RTAA’s ongoing commitment to sharing grass roots knowledge and connecting the generations in the rail industry, the RTAA is proud to have initiated an industry first webinar series, ‘Pearls of Wisdom’. The series features interviews with some pivotal

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RTAA members who are also senior figures in the rail industry covering career highlights, changes in the industry during their tenure and their advice for the upcoming generation looking to forge a career in rail. Filmed and edited entirely by students and young rail professionals, the series will be unveiled later this year exclusively to RTAA members through the RTAA website.

The RTAA recognises the value of capturing this history to share with future generations and the contribution these members have made to the rail

industry during their careers.

In addition to all of the above, the RTAA sponsors two University events annually – MUGS (Mechanical Undergraduates’ Society) and UWAYE (University of Western Australia Young Engineers). Both events encourage and foster industry relationship with RTAA corporate members and young engineers fast approaching career decisions.

Last but not least, the RTAA will be hosting a number of Technical and Networking Events throughout the year in capital cities, whereby the aim will be to connect young rail professionals and students with seasoned rail professionals for mentoring and advice.

Should you wish to speak or collaborate at one of our events or be included in any of the above initiatives and kept up to date with all things RTAA, contact the Business Manager at businessmanager@rtaa.org.au to be added to the mailing list.

ABOVE: The RTAA has made broadiening the appeal of rail to women one of its four key priority areas.

BELOW: The next RTAA Field Day will be held in April.

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INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS

Making the Right Investments in Freight Rail Australian Logistics Council CEO Kirk Coningham OAM discusses the upcoming Federal Budget.

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funding that will support a review of regulations in the key areas outlined above, to help ensure the National Rail Plan now being developed can finally deliver a consistent national regulatory framework for the freight rail sector.

ALC’s submission also calls for another reform intended to enhance productivity in the freight rail sector.

The Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator (ONRSR) was established in 2012 to encourage, enforce and promote national rail safety. ALC supported the creation of ONRSR, just as it supported the establishment of the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) in the road space around the same time.

However, there is an important difference between the current activities of ONRSR and the NHVR. The NHVR’s mandate also allows it to play a role in monitoring and enhancing productivity in the heavy vehicle sector.

ONRSR, while playing an important role in national rail safety, does not currently have a formal role when it comes to the productivity and efficiency of rail operations.

ALC believes ONRSR could make an even more valuable contribution if its remit was expanded to incorporate a focus on productivity. Consequently, we have called upon the Federal Government to provide funding in the Budget to undertake a review of ONRSR’s responsibilities, with the intention of also providing ONRSR with a productivity mandate.

Together with infrastructure investments such as Inland Rail and duplication of the freight rail line at Port Botany, these regulatory reforms will help drive greater safety and efficiency in the freight rail sector – and allow rail to properly share in the growing national freight task.

ALC

HE FEDERAL BUDGET ON 2 April will be the last prior to the expected release of the National Freight and Supply Chain Strategy. Our industry has invested heavily in time and effort to help government build a national strategy that delivers. We are hoping this effort is reflected in the budgetary support that will be essential in transforming the strategy into action.

Accordingly, ALC’s pre-Budget submission to the Federal Government put forward specific recommendations to invest in critical infrastructure and to pursue regulatory reform initiatives that will enhance the performance of our supply chains – including recommendations that have a direct bearing on the freight rail sector.

The first of these relates to the development of a too-long awaited National Rail Plan.

Back in 2015, a Draft Freight Rail Policy Objectives Discussion Paper was published by the Federal Government.

The Paper contained a recommendation that any national reform work focussed on freight rail prioritise: • Harmonisation of all aspects of rail safety laws between states; and • That where economic benefits exist, moving towards a single set of laws across jurisdictions governing environmental regulation, workplace health and safety, workers’ compensation and drug and alcohol testing.

The need for such reform has not diminished in the four years that have since elapsed – but there was little in the way of progress until the second half of 2018, when the Federal Government confirmed it would be developing a National Rail Plan.

ALC’s pre-Budget submission calls for the Federal Government to allocate

ABOVE: New Australian Logistics Council CEO Kirk Coningham.

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INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS

RISSB’s Priority Planning Forum: Building next year’s Work Plan RISSB chief executive officer Paul Daly discusses the development and goals of next year’s Work Plan.

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RISSB urges everyone in the rail industry to take advantage of RISSB’s Priority Planning Forum, and tell us what you think are the important products you need RISSB to start next year

RISSB

HE RAIL INDUSTRY AND SAFETY Standards Board (RISSB) works to develop and deliver a suite of products and services which benefit our funding members and the wider rail community.

However, RISSB does not develop products in isolation, and every year sets it Work Plan based on the strong collaboration with, and the wishes of, the industry stakeholders.

The first step in developing our work plan for the coming year is the Priority Planning Forum (PPF), our annual invitation to industry stakeholders to help us determine which proposed products will have the biggest positive impact on the rail industry, and which should receive RISSB development priority. Over the past three years RISSB has worked hard to restructure the PPF process to ensure that as wide a section of industry as possible has the opportunity to propose projects, and then rank them.

Submissions for new Standards, Codes of Practice, Guidelines and Forms have been received from all across the industry, this year in record numbers, and have been posted on the RISSB website for the past two weeks for industry to read and ask questions. This information period is about to close and the important ranking period is about to begin.

So how can industry get involved in the ranking of the submissions?

It’s as easy as logging onto the RISSB website, heading for the PPF section, and placing the projects in order of importance, with the top project being the most important and the last project being the least important.

Once the ranking period is closed, RISSB will analyse the results and establish its new projects for the 2019/20 financial year.

The ranking process is open to anyone with an interest in the development of RISSB

ABOVE: RISSB chief executive officer Paul Daly.

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products, with all rankings contributing to the overall results.

The PPF is a very important process in the co-regulation system that the rail industry enjoys and is one of the few opportunities where industry stakeholders have direct input into the production and development of product.

RISSB urges everyone in the rail industry to take advantage of RISSB’s Priority Planning Forum, and tell us what you think are the important products you need RISSB to start next year, and as always, if you have any questions on the PPF, check out our website or give us a call.

The two-week ranking period commences on March 18 and will end on March 31.

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WOMEN IN RAIL

Last chance to nominate for Women in Industry Awards Rail businesses and individuals have until March 29 to nominate for one or more of the 2019 Women in Industry Awards, with opportunities in safety, manufacturing, engineering and more.

The Women in Industry Awards are a great opportunity for individuals and businesses.

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HE WOMEN IN INDUSTRY Awards return on June 6, 2019 at The Park in Melbourne, and as a recent addition to event organiser Prime Creative Media, Rail Express will proudly take part in the event for the first time.

The awards seek to facilitate a higher level of network integration and development opportunities for women in industrial and transport markets, and to acknowledge and celebrate outstanding achievements within those markets.

Categories at the 2019 awards include: Social Leader of the Year: Recognises those individuals who have significantly effected positive change within their local or regional community.

Rising Star of the Year: Recognises individuals who show significant promise within their chosen industry or who have reached new goals at the start of their career.

Business Development Manager of the Year: Seeks out Business Development Managers who have created

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new growth opportunities which allowed their organisation to expand and generate greater revenue.

Industry Advocacy Award: Recognises of individuals who have helped shape a positive view of their industry and/ or helped to create a policy change which benefits those working in the sector.

Safety Advocacy Award: Highlights those individuals working actively to improve safety for their industry.

Mentor of the Year: Recognises those individuals who have demonstrated a commitment to developing female talent within their organisation and wider industry.

Excellence in Manufacturing: Recognises an individual who has thought ‘outside the box’ to implement an outstanding personal contribution to their manufacturing business and the wider manufacturing community.

Excellence in Mining: Recognises individuals who have made a positive contribution to one of the many facets of the mining industry.

Excellence in Engineering: Recognises an individual who has shown leadership in engineering, technological excellence and innovation.

Sponsorship opportunities still available If you represent a business committed to celebrating the achievements of women in the mining, manufacturing, engineering and transport industries, there are still opportunities available to sponsor the Women in Industry Awards in 2019.

Sponsorship benefits include: Promoting corporate values as an equal opportunity employer; with progressive policies encouraging women in management Networking among peers and influencers in mining, manufacturing, engineering and transport Extensive media coverage and exposure through editorial and advertising .

For more information on the nomination and sponsorship opportunities available, visit: womeninindustry.com.au

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