Rex Apr 2020

ISSUE 3 | 2020

W W W. R A I L E X P R E S S . C O M . A U

Building resilient rail

Infrastructure around Australia are responding to severe weather events - SEE PAGE 36 Loram is bringing innovation to Australia

Closing the loop on rail supplies

How digital rail is more than just the systems

PAGE 38

PAGE 44

PAGE 48

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Contents Issue 03 2020

38

4

From the Editor

6

News up front

M A J O R P ROJ E CT S

30 The most expensive railway in the world gets the green light

32

Concerns raised over Inland Rail construction plan

34

Victorian intermodal freight hub seeking a developer and operator

44

46

B E LO W R A I L & T R A C K I N F R A S T R U C T U R E

36

The effect of extreme weather on rail and track infrastructure

38 Loram combining service and production for customer satisfaction

42 Bestech provides precise measurement for effective rail track maintenance

44

Phoenix incorporating sustainability across the rail supply chain

48

46

Going in deep with Manco

O P E R AT I O N S & M A I N T E N A N C E

48

Digital innovation with a customer focus

INTERMODAL

53 ISSUE 3 | 2020

4Tel celebrates 20 years of efficiency

W W W. R A I L E X P R E S S . C O M . A U

S A F E TY & A S S U R A N C E

COVER STORY

Building resilient rail

Infrastructure around Australia are responding to severe weather events - SEE PAGE 36 Loram is bringing innovation to Australia

Closing the loop on rail supplies

How digital rail is more than just the systems

PAGE 38

PAGE 44

PAGE 48

SUPPORTED BY:

How extreme weather events are leading to innovation in the below rail sector.

See page 36.

55

RISSB Column

I N D U S T R Y A S S O C I AT I O N S

55

RTAA Column

56

ARA Column

58

ALC Column WWW.RAILEXPRESS.COM.AU | 3

From the Editor Issue 03 2020 Published by:

Connor Pearce 11-15 Buckhurst St South Melbourne VIC 3205 T: 03 9690 8766 www.primecreativemedia.com.au

Publisher Christine Clancy E: christine.clancy@primecreative.com.au Chief Operating Officer Zelda Tupicoff E: zelda.tupicoff@primecreative.com.au Group Managing Editor (Northern) Syed Shah E: syed.shah@primecreative.com.au Assistant Editor Connor Pearce E: connor.pearce@primecreative.com.au Journalist Brittany Coles E: brittany.coles@primecreative.com.au Business Development Manager Oliver Probert T: 0435 946 869 E: oliver.probert@primecreative.com.au Client Success Manager Janine Clements E: janine.clements@primecreative.com.au Design Production Manager Michelle Weston E: michelle.weston@primecreative.com.au Art Director Blake Storey E: blake.storey@primecreative.com.au Design Kerry Pert, Madeline McCarty Subscriptions subscriptions@primecreative.com.au

www.RailExpress.com.au The Publisher reserves the right to alter or omit any article or advertisement submitted and requires indemnity from the advertisers and contributors against damages or liabilities that may arise from material published. © Copyright – No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the permission of the Publisher.

4 | ISSUE 3 2020 | RAIL EXPRESS

Assistant Editor - Rail Express

Future proofing Australia’s rail network

W

HILE THE RAIL INDUSTRY in Australia benefits from record investment, it is worth remembering that it is also beset by major challenges.

This was most vividly illustrated early in 2020. First, the Gospers Mountain mega fire tore through the Blue Mountains, leading to significant damage to signalling and track on the Main Western Line. Besides the effect of the flames themselves, falling trees brought down powerlines and took out signalling equipment.

After extensive repairs in January, and with electric services beginning to resume, the region was hit by the heaviest rains in 30 years. Dramatic images emerged of the ground underneath the Blue Mountains totally washed away by water, with a NSW TrainLink V Set perilously close.

While these weather events are perhaps the most dramatic of the issues that the rail sector faces, they are by no means the only ones.

Increasing patronage figures on metropolitan railway networks are stretching existing infrastructure. In only a few years, passenger numbers have exceeded all expectations in Sydney, and while Melbourne has added extra services, there are limits to the number of trains that can be sent through critical sections of the network at any one time.

Not only does this strain the manpower needed to staff and operate the train networks, increasing the number of services increases the wear and tear on legacy rail networks, some of which are reaching the end of their life.

Tying these issues together is that the components of the rail network that are most affected – and, in many cases, most at risk – is the below rail and track infrastructure which rollingstock requires to be in good shape to ensure safe and reliable services. As the rail industry saw in February, a lack of attention to this component of the rail industry can have dire consequences.

The deaths of train driver John Kennedy and pilot Sam Meintanis tragically confirmed how fundamental ensuring a high standard of track quality is to safety, the industry’s number one priority. With reports of mudholes and signalling systems hit by fire, the rail industry should collectively redouble its efforts to ensure that Australia has resilient and dependable below rail and track infrastructure, no matter where in the country that may be.

The nation’s independent infrastructure advisory body, Infrastructure Australia, recognised that resilience is a key future imperative not only for the rail industry, but the infrastructure sector as a whole. The theme of its 2020 Infrastructure Priority List, as was the theme of the previous year’s was building the ability for infrastructure to withstand extremes, said Infrastructure Australia chief executive Romilly Madew.

“Compounding issues of unprecedented infrastructure demand, severe drought and other environmental changes, require a focus on our resilience strategies and a consensus on where to invest now for our nation’s future prosperity.”

In this issue, on page 36, we speak with infrastructure managers and operators who are tackling this challenge.

Additionally, suppliers to the rail industry are incorporating long-term thinking into the design of their products and solutions for the rail industry. Furthermore, part of the solution will come from reducing the amount of vulnerable infrastructure along the rail corridor, here digitalisation and advanced signalling has a role to play.

Combining the rail industry’s collective expertise and capacity for long-term thinking will ensure that as rail does more heavy lifting in both the passenger and freight mobility task, the infrastructure that supports the network will be able to play its part.

connor.pearce@primecreative.com.au

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News

National

Questions asked of track quality as investigations and repairs follow derailment

The locomotive and passenger cars were loaded onto trucks to be transported to Sydney.

Transport for NSW (TfNSW) and the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) are managing the recovery effort following the XPT train derailment north of Melbourne on February 20.

The Australian Transport Safety bureau (ATSB) and the Victorian Government’s Chief Inspector, Transport Safety (CITS) are leading the investigation of the incident.

At 6.30am on Sunday, February 23, the ARTC prepared a site with three cranes to lift the trains and carriages.

By 9.15am, the rear locomotive and carriage departed the site. Parts of the train were examined in a specialist Sydney workshop on Monday.

Materials and supplies began to arrive to the site on Monday for repairs to begin. Track infrastructure that will need to be repaired includes 300 sleepers, 20 lengths of rail, 800 tonnes of ballast across roughly 300-500 metres of track.

An ARTC spokesperson said this work will continue throughout the coming days, reflecting the complexities of the recovery.

“Early this week we expect to begin the repairs to the track and signal infrastructure

6 | ISSUE 3 2020 | RAIL EXPRESS

which was damaged in the incident,” he said.

Equipment including sleepers, rail, and signalling equipment will be delivered to the site to repair the rail infrastructure once the XPT is removed.

“The site is being carefully controlled to ensure the safety of all those who are now involved in the site recovery and repair,” an ARTC spokesperson said.

The NSW TrainLink XPT travelling from Sydney to Melbourne derailed near the Hume Freeway at Wallan, roughly 50km outside of Melbourne, just before 8pm on Thursday evening.

The express passenger train was carrying 153 passengers and five crew at the time of the derailment. Two of those crew members – the driver and the pilot – were killed in the derailment.

John Kennedy, the 54-year-old train driver from Canberra, had emailed his friend with concerns about the safety of the North East line in the weeks leading up to the derailment.

The email sent on February 3rd revealed that Kennedy noted his last six Melbourne return trips have been “very late or cancelled

mainly due to train fault issues”.

“Three of the six runs I was down to one engine, on another trip I had no speedo and the only trip without a train fault was disrupted by the big derailment last week,” Kennedy’s email said.

Rail, Train and Bus Union (RTBU) Victoria secretary Luba Grigorovitch said the rail community is angry at the federal government for its failure to invest in a safe and reliable 21st century interstate rail network.

ARTC’s rules allow for trains to continue at normal speeds while under the control of a pilot under such conditions. Operators including Metro Trains Melbourne (MTM) and V/line, however, impose an automatic speed restriction of 25km/h.

XPT services were running on the main line through Wallan for the past two week at track speed of around 100-130km/h.

Grigorovitch said ARTC changed the route for trains through Wallan, moving trains from the main line to a passing loop line.

“A Track Authority notice was issued calling for 15km/h speed restriction on trains entering the passing loop, it appeared that there were a range of likely contributing factors to the derailment,” she said.

“The RTBU believes, however, that if ARTC imposed the same speed restrictions under pilot that are applied by MTM and V/Line, the incident may have been avoided.”

Grigorovitch said the Melbourne-Sydney rail line is known within the industry as the “goat track” because it is in such bad condition.

“For example, sections of the track are full of mud holes,” she said.

Grigorovitch is calling for Australia’s regional and interstate rail infrastructure to be safer.

Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack said on February 21 that no authority in Australia would allow a train to travel on an unsafe track as “the ARTC monitors these things very closely and regularly”.

On site, investigators will examine the track infrastructure, the XPT power cars and carriages, and map the accident layout.

The ATSB will obtain and analyse available information and records, including the train data logger, signalling data, and maintenance records for the train and track infrastructure.

The investigation’s final report can be expected to be released in mid 2021.

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News

National

ARTC considering changes to Inland Rail route Councillors and advisors are calling for the Inland Rail link to be extended to the Port of Brisbane and beyond.

John Fullerton, Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) CEO, said “the current route is not locked in,” at a senate inquiry hearing of the management of the Inland Rail project, held on January 30 in Brisbane.

The ability to construct a public safety model that aligns with the proposed Inland Rail route through the McIntyre floodplain is the main area of concern, Fullerton stated in the hearing.

“There are a number of areas of concern that we’re looking at,” Wankmuller said.

“We’ve finished about 90 per cent of the reference design phase and we’re modifying the reference design.”

Fullerton said ARTC’s main priority is investigating floodplains and “increasing transparency”.

“I get people are scared, and it’s our obligation to [construct] something that is safe,” Wankmuller said.

“This is not just an ARTC program, it is a community program and there is no way we can be successful without community, council, and private sector.”

Fullerton’s hearing follows criticism that the major freight rail corridor will go through one of Australia’s largest floodplains, raised from the rural Senate committee meeting in

8 | ISSUE 3 2020 | RAIL EXPRESS

Millmerran on Wednesday, January 29.

The Inland Rail route will be about 1,700km in length across Queensland, NSW, and Victoria and is scheduled to be completed by 2025.

At the hearing, other areas of Queensland sought to be involved in the project.

Gladstone Region Mayor Matt Burnett is calling on the ARTC and state and federal governments to review and invest in connecting the Inland Rail to the Port of Gladstone.

Gladstone Regional Council has provided its submission to the Senate Inquiry into the management of the Inland Rail Project by the ARTC and the Commonwealth government.

Burnett told the senators via teleconference at the hearing in Brisbane on Thursday that extending inland rail to the Port of Gladstone was a “strategic priority”.

Burnett said it doesn’t have to be Gladstone or Brisbane, because the route alignment can be both, so there is no reason it can’t be both.

“The Australian rail network is an important network, so why not include central Queensland as well,” he said.

“The Port of Brisbane has issues with capacity, costs, and efficiencies, which I believe strengthens our case for the line to come to the Port of Gladstone. The Toowoomba to

Brisbane project is reported at an estimate of $6.7 billion, alternatively the route from Toowoomba to Gladstone is projected at $1.2 to $2.7 billion.”

The Gladstone mayor said there is no doubt Brisbane is a distribution centre but it’s heavily congested.

“Our port has the capacity to grow to more than 300 million tonnes per annum, which is more than double the import and export tonnage currently experienced.”

Burnett said The Gladstone Regional Council is calling on the Australian government to finalise and release the study into the extension of the Inland Rail to the Port of Gladstone.

“The Australian Government should work to align with regional councils and other key stakeholders to invest in the Inland Rail extension to the Port of Gladstone to advance the case for this important piece of regional enabling infrastructure,” he said.

In its Infrastructure Priority list, Infrastructure Australia identified the need to preserve and develop a rail corridor between Inland Rail’s current terminus at Acacia Ridge and the Port of Brisbane, citing a 300 per cent increase in container trade to the Port of Brisbane by 2045.

Alstom to acquire Bombardier Transportation Confirming weeks of rumours, Alstom has announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Bombardier Inc to acquire Bombardier’s transportation unit.

The MoU values Bombardier Transportation at between €5.8 and €6.2 billion ($9.4 to $10 billion).

Henri Puopart-Lafarge, chairman and CEO of Alstom announced the merger of the two rail manufacturing giants.

“I’m very proud to announce the acquisition of Bombardier Transportation, which is a unique opportunity to strengthen our global position on the booming mobility market.”

Although headquartered in Canada, Bombardier’s transport operations are led from Berlin, Germany.

The deal, if approved, could create a European rail champion, a goal which Alstom previously pursued in discussions with Siemens, with whom Bombardier also pursued merger talks.

Puopart-Lafarge acknowledged that the two companies share similar operating areas.

“Bombardier Transportation will bring to Alstom complementary geographical presence and industrial footprint in growing markets, as well as additional technological platforms,” he said.

Bombardier representatives also welcomed the deal’s announcement.

“With a shared commitment to the next generation of green and digital rail solutions, a combined company would benefit from economies of scale resulting into improved investment and innovation capabilities, and a streamlined investment pipeline,” said Eric Prud’Homme, head of external communications at Bombardier Transportation.

In Australia, Alstom and Bombardier both have significant manufacturing operations.

Bombardier manufactures diesel multiple units and light rail vehicles in Dandenong, Victoria while Alstom has a manufacturing base in Ballarat where it produces the X’Trapolis trains for the Melbourne network.

Additionally, Alstom has been confirmed as the manufacturer of new rollingstock for Perth’s Metronet project, and will construct a local manufacturing facility in Western Australia.

Previous merger discussions between Siemens and Alstom drew the attention of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, which noted that a merger would raise competition concerns, however in the field of signalling.Ultimately, the European Commission blocked the proposed deal.

In the MoU announcement, Poupart-Lafarge said that all existing employees of Bombardier Transportation would continue to work for Alstom once the deal is completed.

“We will be thrilled to welcome all the talent and energy of Bombardier Transportation employees.

“We are deeply committed to step up the turnaround of Bombardier Transportation activities and deliver significant value to all stakeholders, particularly our customers,” he said.

“We will also further develop Bombardier Transportation’s historical presence in Québec, drawing on Québec’s well-established strengths in innovation and sustainable mobility.”

Alstom expects that, subject to approvals from regulatory and anti-trust authorities, the deal will be closed in the first half of 2021.

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News

National

Australian group awarded funding for tram batteries

The fast charging batteries could be installed in trams.

A consortium of Australian businesses and research institutions will investigate the production of fast charging batteries for trams.

The group, comprised of the University of Queensland, CSIRO, battery manufacturer Soluna Australia, and nanotechnology company VSPC, will leverage a $1,641,000 grant from the federal CRC-P program to invest $5 million in batteries which could remove the need for overhead powerlines to power trams.

The batteries developed will be fastcharge lithium-ion batteries. VSPC will develop advanced cathode materials, while CSIRO brings expertise and intellectual property for the application of fast-charge batteries in trams and other vehicles such as buses, ferries, and military vehicles.

The team from the University of Queensland Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology will contribute to the characterisation and optimisation of the battery materials. Soluna will then advise on manufacturing and lead commercialisation of the product.

Mike Vaisey, VSPC executive director, said the project could tap into the popularity of light rail.

“This project is a tremendous opportunity to bring together Australia’s technological capabilities – including VSPC’s advanced cathode materials, CSIRO’s battery expertise and UQ’s analytical abilities – to develop new battery systems using VSPC cathode material. Light rail is experiencing a resurgence worldwide as cities modernise, and fastcharge batteries are critical to avoiding the poles and wires of the past.”

Once successful, Lithium Australia managing director Adrian Griffin said that the Australian-developed technology could be in other transport forms.

“The aim is to deliver an Australian product that puts this country at the forefront of battery development … and there’s more to it than trams; successful application of what is currently at our fingertips will lead to myriad other fastcharge applications, many of them not yet thought of.”

New name for Genesee & Wyoming Australia Having completed the sale of Genesee & Wyoming Australia, the freight rail operator is now known as One Rail Australia.

The name change was published by the Australian Business Register on February 18, and follows a change of ownership for the operator.

The company has operated freight rail services in South Australia, the Northern Territory, and the Hunter Valley, and Genesee & Wyoming Australia also previously operated services in Western Australia in a joint venture with Wesfarmers.

Until 2019, Genesee & Wyoming Australia’s US parent company owned 51.1 per cent of the Australian arm of the business. The other 48.9 per cent is owned by a consortium of funds and clients, managed by Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets.

The announcement in December finalised the sale of the US parent

10 | ISSUE 3 2020 | RAIL EXPRESS

company to Canadian investment fund Brookfield Infrastructure and Singaporean investment firm GIC. The transaction’s total value for the entire Genesee & Wyoming business is approximately $8.4 billion.

The Australian portion of the sale had to be completed separately due to Brookfield already owning rail assets in Australia.

Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets and Dutch pension manager PGGM will own the remainder of the company previously owned by Genesee & Wyoming’s US parent company.

According to reports, One Rail Australia will retain the Genesee & Wyoming livery with a new logo.

In the US, Genesee & Wyoming is known for owning a number of short line railroads.

The company also has operations in the UK and Europe.

The company will retain its locomotive’s livery.

Rail projects identified as priority for investment An unprecedented demand for infrastructure has led to a major rail project being added to the Infrastructure Australia Priority List.

Often described as a catalyst for investment, the independent infrastructure body’s Priority List now includes Sydney-Canberra rail connectivity and capacity.

The project joins other high priority rail projects such as Sydney Metro: City and Southwest, priority projects such as Inland Rail and the Beerburrum to Nambour rail upgrade.

Gold Coast Light Rail Stage 3A has graduated from Priority Initiative to priority project, reflecting the project’s move towards construction.

The report identifies the need for continued investment in rail infrastructure, said Australasian Railway Association (ARA) CEO, Caroline Wilkie.

“The ARA supports the record investment being made by State and Commonwealth Governments into rail. This report highlights the benefits of continuing that investment and that the current levels of infrastructure investment need to be the new norm.”

High priority initiatives include the Network Optimisation Program for rail, corridor preservation for East Coast High Speed Rail,

Sydney Metro West, Port Botany freight rail duplication, corridor preservation for Western Sydney airport and freight rail connections, and a number of other projects around the country.

Adding Sydney-Canberra rail connectivity to the priority list will go towards making rail competitive with other passenger modes, said Wilkie.

“The Sydney-Canberra rail connectivity initiative consists of a range of upgrades to the 320km rail line to reduce the current four hour train journey time to be competitive with road and air options.”

While the projects range from identifying a business case to projects in the process of construction, Infrastructure Australia chief executive Romily Madew highlighted that the nation had a great demand for infrastructure.

“Compounding issues of unprecedented infrastructure demand, severe drought and other environmental changes, require a focus on our resilience strategies and a consensus on where to invest now for our nation’s future prosperity,” she said.

The total infrastructure pipeline is worth over $58 billion, and the Australian Logistics Council welcomed the focus on rail

infrastructure in the 2020 list.

“Infrastructure Australia’s rigorous, independent assessment process means governments, investors and the wider community can have confidence that investing in the projects and initiatives contained on the list will address genuine economic and social needs,” said Australian Logistics Council CEO, Kirk Coningham.

“The National Freight and Supply Chain Strategy, first included on the list in 2016, is an obvious example.

“ALC is pleased the Strategy remains as a high priority initiative on this year’s list, with a renewed focus underscoring the importance of its implementation phase.”

For freight rail operators, the focus on expanding port capacities down the east coast could create greater demand for containerised freight movements and intermodal terminals, said Port of Newcastle CEO, Craig Carmody.

“While IA correctly notes that no Australian port can accommodate the larger, more energy-efficient ships carrying more than 14,000 TEUs, it is also critical to examine the constraints to existing road and rail infrastructure in handling the nation’s current and future trade volumes,” he said.

Increasing speed and capacity on the Sydney to Melbourne line was added to the Priority List.

WWW.RAILEXPRESS.COM.AU | 11

News

New South Wales

Rail freight group meets with Environment Minister to resolve grain concerns Grain lines throughout NSW would have been affected.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAILGALLERY.COM.AU

To resolve a standoff on noise and CO2 emissions from grain haulage, an alliance of grain freight businesses held a roundtable with NSW Environment Minister Matthew Kean in February.

Representatives of Southern Shorthaul Railrod, Pacific National, LINX Cargo Care Group, CF Asia Pacific, Qube Holdings, Aurizon, Manildra Group, NSW Farmers Association, and Grain Corp amde their concerns heard to Kean.

Last week, the group had banded together to protest draft emissions thresholds which would have forced grain movements off trains and onto trucks. The discussion with Kean has allayed fears of the end of grain freight via trains, said Save Our NSW grain lines spokesperson Jason Ferguson and Southern Shorthaul Railroad owner.

“To his credit, Kean acknowledged the importance of allowing older, lighter diesel locomotives to continue providing essential haulage services to farmers needing to transport bulk grain from regional silos to coastal ports like Kembla and Newcastle.”

Kean also reiterated the NSW’s government’s commitment to keeping freight on rail.

“I made it clear to those present that we do not want to see rolling stock taken off tracks

12 | ISSUE 3 2020 | RAIL EXPRESS

and replaced by trucks however we do have a duty to ensure communities are not impacted by extreme noise and air pollution just because they happen to live near rail lines,” Kean told Rail Express.

The draft emissions thresholds would have prohibited the older locomotives used to haul grain. These older locomotives are the only fitfor-purpose solution due to the older tracks – some laid 100 years ago – being unable to hold newer locomotives with heavier axel loads.

“This debate was never about industry resisting the purchase of new locomotives – it was about recognising older, lighter loco classes provide fit-for-purpose haulage services on many regional rail lines,” said Ferguson.

“The minister took our advice about expensive loco emission kit technology causing higher fuel burns and therefore CO2 emissions,” Ferguson.

Due to these discussions, Ferguson expects that the final Environment Protection Licences for Rollingstock operators to take the industry’s concerns into account.

“Just like any vehicle, different types of locos have different noise profiles – the EPA’s original proposals didn’t factor this in. I’m

pleased the minister has,” said Ferguson.

Kean also saw a way forward for both the EPA and the rail freight industry.

“In what are highly technical issues, I believe we found a balance between satisfying the communities concerns whilst limiting the impact on industry,” said Kean.

The discussions were sparked after the grain freight industry responded to draft emissions thresholds put out by the EPA. In an open letter signed by freight operators, farmers, and grain growers, and seen by Rail Express, the industry outlined its opposition to the changes.

The draft standards set a noise ceiling of 85 decibels, a similar volume to a lawnmower, which would rule out diesel locomotives of the type used to transport grain from silos to port.

The 48 Class locomotives which service these branch lines have a low axel load of 12.5 tonnes, and are able to run on the older steel track which are restricted to locomotive axle loads of 17 tonnes.

The letter outlines that rather than improving environmental outcomes, the restrictions on noise, if implemented would force grain to be transported by trucks. The authors write that this could lead to an extra 25,000 B-double trucks on a “conservative” estimate. This would generate a 500 per cent increase in CO2 emissions compared with rail freight.

“In short, proposed new EPA environmental standards for diesel locomotives will significantly increase net [greenhouse gas] emissions in regional NSW,” write the authors.

“This is a perverse outcome.”

Other costs include increased road accidents and fatalities and job losses of locomotive drivers and seasonal silo workers.

Additionally, by forcing grain onto trucks, the cost of exporting grain would increase, placing pressure on farmers’ margins at a time when drought is impacting upon agricultural profitability.

Emissions standards proposed by the NSW EPA also place a restriction on rail freight.

While emissions kits can be installed in diesel locomotives, the cost of installing them would be prohibitive and would increase the consumption of diesel by five per cent, increasing greenhouse gas emissions. The weight of these emission kits can also push a locomotive over the axel load threshold.

RTBU refuses to staff NIF Unless modifications are made to the New Intercity Fleet (NIF), currently being tested in NSW, Rail, Tram, and Bus Union (RTBU) members will refuse to work on the trains.

“Railway workers will simply refuse to put themselves, their workmates, and passengers at risk by allowing these flawed trains on the tracks,” said Alex Claassens, secretary of the NSW Rail, Tram and Bus Union.

Transport for NSW (TfNSW) denies that any fault exists with the fleet, and that instead, traction interlocking on doors is a design safety feature.

The feature will prevent the train from moving while the doors are open, including the guard’s door. Guards and drivers will be able to monitor the platform via CCTV, said a Transport for NSW spokesperson.

“These cameras allow drivers and guards to easily monitor the entire length of the train, even on curved platforms and in bad weather where visibility may be compromised. This provides a more contemporary method for monitoring train platforms which is used around the world.”

Claassens disputes that this new method will be safer and the RTBU would prefer the guard door to stay open after the passenger doors have closed.

“Currently, guards can hear people yelling and keep their eyes on the platform and doors until the train pulls away – they won’t under the new model,” he said.

Dynamic testing of the new fleet of 554

The new fleet is currently undergoing testing in NSW.

Drivers and guards will monitor the train’s exterior via CCTV.

carriages, built in South Korea, is underway on the rail network, with static testing at the Eveleigh Maintenance Facility having been completed.

Concurrently, the RTBU and NSW TrainLink, the operator of the NIF, have been conducting working groups on the introduction of the NIF with health and safety representatives (HSR). Provisional improvement notices issued as part of this dialogue have been responded to, with others subject to review by SafeWork NSW.

In December, Metcalfe Rail Safety published a review of the NIF operating model, commissioned by TfNSW. The review found that risks identified were eliminated or significantly reduced by the train’s design and the procedures required of the model.

“The people on the ground – the train guards, drivers and station staff – know these train aren’t safe. No piece of paper stating otherwise will convince people who know train safety inside and out that this New InterCity Fleet is anything but a danger on wheels,” said Claassens.

“Real experts who work on our trains every single day have seen these trains first-hand. They know that the current design flaw puts commuters at risk because it doesn’t allow train guards to properly monitor people in the moments before the train departs.”

Improvements on rail infrastructure on the Blue Mountains Line from Springwood to Lithgow is currently being carried out to widen the Ten Tunnels Deviation to allow the new fleet to pass through.

Stabling yards at Eveleigh, Gosford, Hamilton/Broadmeadow, Lithgow, Port Kembla, and Wollongong have been completed, and enabling work continues at over 100 stations.

A new maintenance facility at Kangy Angy on the NSW Central Coast is also under construction and is scheduled to open later in 2020.

WWW.RAILEXPRESS.COM.AU | 13

News

New South Wales

Weather destruction floods NSW network with repairs The Blue Mountains in New South Wales was hit with catastrophic weather in early February, heavily disrupting the Sydney Trains and NSW Trainlink network in the region.

Signal boxes and thousands of kilometres of signal wiring needed to be replaced on the Blue Mountains line.

NSW Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Paul Toole said Sydney Trains had secured the track infrastructure and was now working to stabilise the land.

Sydney Trains stated in a social media post that heavy rain has led to land-slips, fallen trees, flooding, and damage to infrastructure.

“It’s been a really tough 48 hours.”

The heavy rain resulted in a land-slip that occurred between Leura and Katoomba that forced the closure of the Blue Mountains line between Springwood and Mt Victoria.

“Re-opening the line is a huge job – engineers need to rebuild the embankment and infrastructure, including earthworks, track reconstruction, signalling and overhead wire repairs; however, we are confident this work will be completed in a matter of weeks, weather dependent,” said Toole.

Toole stated earlier in 2020 that it would be months before part of the Blue Mountains line would reopen again

due to bushfire damage.

Toole said repair work at Leura wasn’t expected to delay reconstruction works taking place further up the line.

“At the end of last year, 25 kilometres of track was significantly damaged by bushfires between Mount Victoria and Lithgow, with thousands of kilometres of communication, electrical and signal wiring lost,” he said.

Engineers developed temporary systems to allow limited rail connectivity and safely operate some freight and passenger services.

Transport for NSW said they are working closely with freight operators to provide alternate routes.

Sydney Trains said that its frontline operational staff from the network and NSW TrainLink have been working on the line.

Sydney Metro’s underground tunnels also suffered from the torrential rain in the CBD. Over a million litres of rainfall flooding has occurred in the 10-year-old tunnel between North Ryde and Chatswood, which relies on pumping methods to eliminate excess water.

The 15 kilometre new metro tunnel features waterproof gaskets to prevent flooding.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the water pumps did not malfunction but the volume of water limited their

Sever weather forced closures around the Sydney Trains network.

effectiveness due to the rainfall in Sydney.

Other services in Sydney were impacted by the flooding, including light rail and infrastructure damage on the Central Coast and Newcastle line.

Tunnelling, trains increase costs of Sydney Metro City and Southwest Reports have surfaced that the Sydney Metro City and Southwest will increase in cost by nearly $5 billion.

The project was initially budgeted at between $11.5bn to $12.5bn but a review by Sydney Metro, reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, now estimates the cost at $16.8bn.

The increase in costs is reported to be due to cost overruns for new trains and systems, tunnelling, and the construction of underground stations.

A Sydney Metro City and Southwest spokesperson said that the project is on schedule and the NSW Government is 14 | ISSUE 3 2020 | RAIL EXPRESS

committed to delivering the Sydney Metro City and Southwest, Metro West, and Metro Greater West.

“This is the largest public transport infrastructure program in the nation’s history.

“North West Metro was delivered on time and $1 billion dollars under budget,” the spokesperson said.

Revenue from offices, shops, and apartments built on top of stations is forecast to increase by $500 million.

The cost of new trains and systems is expected to double to $2.3bn. The rollingstock for the new line will be delivered by Alstom,

in a deal announced in November 2019.

The trains will be driverless, and the French manufacturer will also deliver signalling to the project.

With multiple large and complex infrastructure projects underway at the same time across Australia, demand for the equipment and expertise needed to deliver tunnelling projects has increased, and this is reflected in the project’s increased cost for below-ground construction.

“The final cost of each project won’t be known until services commence,” the Sydney Metro spokesperson said.

Investors, industry push for separate airport rail line The rail industry is awaiting a final decision on how trains will run from the airport, via Sunshine, to the Melbourne CBD.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAILGALLERY.COM.AU

A private consortium involving Melbourne Airport and Metro Trains Melbourne are offering to invest an extra $2 billion to build a dedicated track from the CBD to Melbourne’s west as part of the airport rail project.

IFM Investors, a fund manager owned by 27 superannuation funds, as part of the AirRail consortium, are proposing to build a 6km tunnel between Melbourne and Sunshine, 12km west of Melbourne’s CBD. IFM Investors has written to the Victorian and federal governments to offer a further $2 billion investment on top of the $5bn initially proposed in 2018.

In a letter sent to Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and Prime Minister Scott Morrison, IFM proposed a market-led solution to the new track, calling for a new rail tunnel.

“A project option that includes a tunnel between the CBD and Sunshine delivers the best airport rail solution particularly when compared with a MARL that utilises the Melbourne Metro Project,” wrote the authors of the letter.

The Age reported that federal and Victorian government plans for an airport rail line will involve a route via the Metro Tunnel to Sunshine, with a new track to be built between Tullamarine and Sunshine.

In 2016, a Metro Tunnel business case rejected a 2012 Public Transport Victoria plan to run airport trains through the $11bn metro tunnel, currently under construction until 2025.

The federal and Victorian state governments had previously agreed to a $10bn joint commitment to the Melbourne airport rail link.

A Victorian government spokesperson said in May last year that part of the budget also includes additional tracks between Sunshine and the CBD that would be part of Melbourne Airport Rail Link.

The AirRail consortium, which also includes Metro Trains, Southern Cross Station, and Melbourne Airport, will request that the state government is charged a toll every time a Metro or V/Line train runs through the new rail tunnel for operating and maintenance purposes.

According to the letter, the access payment from regional trains that use the tunnel would recoup an appropriate share of the capital cost of building the tunnel.

IFM has stated it does not wish to constrain regional or metro services due to frequent airport trains and decisions on service, pricing, and timetabling would remain wholly with the Victorian government.

AirRail Melbourne has been ready to

commence construction on the infrastructure project since 2019 and IFM is waiting for the green light to start the build. Australian rail suppliers have also contacted IFM to propose their interest as potential contractors for the project.

In June 2019, the Victorian government announced that Rail Projects Victoria (RPV) will be developing a detailed business case for Melbourne Airport Rail.

AirRail Melbourne proposed in a 2018 blueprint that 20-minute travel times will be expected to the city, using dedicated rollingstock.

“Our ambition is to have a train journey to the airport from the city that is fast, affordable and meets the needs of travellers,” a spokesperson for federal Minister for Urban Infrastructure Alan Tudge was quoted by The Age last year.

SEGREGATED RAIL LINE RECEIVES INDUSTRY APPROVAL Rail industry advocacy body, Rail Futures, has criticised the Victorian government’s proposed plan to run the Melbourne Airport Rail Link to the city via Melbourne Metro tunnels.

The body called upon the Victorian government to build additional tracks between the CBD and Sunshine, where the airport link will join the existing Melbourne rail network.

This would benefit both regional Victoria services and trains to Melbourne’s west.

Rail Futures estimates that soon after the new lines are open in 2025, the new Melbourne Metro (MM) train lines will reach capacity, potentially as early as 2030.

“Notwithstanding this, the state government

appears intent on allocating 25 per cent of MM track capacity between the CBD and Sunshine to Melbourne Airport trains,” said Rail Futures president John Hearsch.

“Once added to the metropolitan network, the Airport line will remain part of it for a very long time. This is bad news for these communities, long denied adequate train services but promised major service improvements once MM is completed.”

Rail Futures is advocating for a separate rail line, similar to the one proposed by IFM Investors, as part of the AirRail consortium.

“The alternative, long promoted by Rail Futures, is an additional express track pair between Southern Cross and Sunshine, supplementing MM and the Regional Rail Link track pair opened in 2015, already operating at near its designed capacity,” said Hearsch.

Population growth in western Melbourne and Geelong is already placing strain on trains travelling from Geelong to Melbourne via Tarneit and Wyndham Vale. Patronage on the line has grown by 131 per cent since 2015.

“Our plan transfers Geelong trains to the new fast tracks between Southern Cross and Sunshine and also provides additional express tracks between Sunshine and Wyndham Vale,” said Hearsch.

“These changes will enable Wyndham Vale to have a full metro-style service and for Geelong to have its long-promised fast trains. Without them, Wyndham residents will have a much less frequent service and Geelong commuters will continue to endure slow journeys and chronic overcrowding, as no more trains could be accommodated between the City and Sunshine.”

WWW.RAILEXPRESS.COM.AU | 15

News

Victoria

$125 million in new rail infrastructure for the Port of Melbourne The investment hopes to reduce congestion at the port gate.

The Victorian government has approved a new on-dock rail to be built at the Port of Melbourne to boost rail’s share of the transport task, currently languishing at 10 per cent of freightcontainers handled by rail.

Port of Melbourne Operations will invest $125 million in new rail infrastructure, which will include new sidings and rail connections to Swanson Dock and Appleton Dock.

The Port of Melbourne will introduce a $9.75 per twenty-foot equivalent unit charge on imported containers and the funds raised from the charge will directly deliver new sidings and connections for the rail project.

Improving rail access to the Port of Melbourne is a legislated condition of its lease, aiming towards a wider push to expand rail freight across Victoria. The Port aims to handle 8.9 million containers

16 | ISSUE 3 2020 | RAIL EXPRESS

annually, which is three times the current throughput.

The Labor Government said in a statement they are “also supporting the Port Rail Shuttle Network connecting freight hubs in Melbourne’s north and west to the port, new intermodal terminals planned at Truganina and Beveridge, new automated signalling for faster rail freight to GeelongPort and improvements in the regional rail freight network”.

“On-dock rail will make rail transport more competitive, cut the high cost of the ‘last mile’ and reduce truck congestion at the port gate – a big win for Victorian exporters delivering goods to the Port of Melbourne.”

Minister for Ports and Freight Melissa Horne said the project will increase the competitiveness of Victorian industry.

“The Port of Melbourne is a vital part of our multi-billion dollar export sector and agriculture supply chain and on-dock rail will make its operations more efficient for Victorian exporters – removing congestion at the port gate.”

The investment will form a part of the Victorian government’s plans for a Port Rail Shuttle Network connecting freight hubs in Melbourne’s north and west to the port.

Chairman of the Freight on Rail Group, Dean Dalla Valle, highlighted the industry’s support of the measure.

“Port of Melbourne must also be congratulated for working closely with government and freight companies to deliver this game changing initiative.”

The project is set to be completed by 2023.

Free Tram Zone distracting from network improvements: PTUA that is commonly seen in many European cities.

“An ambitious approach to public transport priority could boost tram frequencies and capacity in the inner core of the network and thereby ease crowding,” they said.

“Reduced delays to public transport vehicles at traffic lights and the improved service levels enabled would make public transport more competitive.”

The association’s submission also suggested a full roll-out of high-capacity signalling across the rail network would allow higher train frequencies and help to relieve crowding and enable efficient use of existing infrastructure.

“In comparison to highly-performing lines in other cities, Melbourne only achieves comparatively low frequencies on its busiest railway lines due to signalling limitations,” the inquiry stated.

Rod Barton, party leader of Transport Matters Victoria said public transport groups against expanding Melbourne’s free tram network are confusing operational issues with a bigger picture solution.

“Frustrations over the limitations of the existing services should not prevent the committee considering the wider picture,” Barton said.

“There are ongoing complaints that the current free tram zone contributes to overcrowding on inner city trams. Paying

PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAILGALLERY.COM.AU

Members of Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) are calling for the Free Tram Zone in Melbourne to be abolished.

The PTUA said in a statement that they do not support the Free Tram Zone due to overcrowding on services across the Melbourne CBD. This follows the state parliament inquiry into Expanding Melbourne’s Free Tram Zones.

Parliament of Victoria received over 300 written submissions to the Economy and Infrastructure Committee.

The PTUA said in their submission inquiry that the current Free Tram Zone already covers the busiest part of the tram network and urging greater investment in service improvements, instead of extending free transport.

The association said they believe the money spent on providing the Free Tram Zone would be better spent extending and upgrading services across Melbourne.

PTUA wrote in their submission that increasing free public transport will also reduce “the funding available to make much needed improvements to public transport services such as improving accessibility for people with disabilities, increasing frequencies and lengthening operating hours in poorly-serviced areas.”

PTUA said the state government should consider adopting a traffic light priority system

Users are calling for investments to be made elsewhere in the network.

commuters are frustrated when they are unable to board overcrowded trams in the inner city, “Indeed, overcrowding exists across the entire public transport network. This is an operational issue that could be solved by adding increased services or shorter shuttle routes that take passengers to the perimeter of the zone.”

The inquiry into expanding Melbourne’s Free Tram Zone closed submissions on 31 January 2020.

Melbourne tram terminus upgrade complete A newly upgraded tram terminus has reopened in the north of Melbourne.

The tram terminus at Melville Road, Pascoe Vale South will improve accessibility and services on Route 58.

It has delivered new amenities for drivers and has created an improved transport hub at the end of the line in Pascoe Vale South.

The upgraded stop includes a 33m platform that aligns with low floor trams for level access boarding, dual tracks to allow trams to turn around more efficiently and new signalised crossing.

New customer information displays, shelter, seating, improved lighting, and safety barriers were also included in the upgrade.

Melissa Horne, Minister for Public Transport

and Lizzie Blandthorn, member for Pascoe Vale inspected the newly re-opened upgraded tram terminus on Monday.

“Adding a stabling area has made it easier for trams to turn around, which gives passengers on Route 58 more reliable services to and from the city,” Blandthorn said.

Horne said the Victorian government will continue to add services across the network.

“We’re also upgrading tram stops to make them more accessible for all Victorians,” she said.

The state government-funded upgrade also contributes to future running of the new E-Class trams, that are the largest, safest, and most accessible trams on the network.

E-Class trams are being built in Dandenong,

Victoria, by rollingstock manufacturer Bombardier and all 50 trams are expected to be delivered by mid-2020, bringing the total E-Class fleet to 100 trams.

Each E-Class tram can carry 210 passengers and includes audio and visual passenger information, air conditioning, improved safety features, and dedicated spaces for passengers with mobility aids or prams.

In 2017, route 58 replaced route 8 and 55 to meet high demand in the city’s inner west and north-west.

Route 58 currently runs D, B and Z-Class trams.

Construction of the new Melville Road terminus took place from 14 to 22 February 2020.

WWW.RAILEXPRESS.COM.AU | 17

News

Victoria

Government-industry group formed for rail freight in Victoria A joint government and industry group will advocate for the Victorian rail freight sector.

The newly formed Rail Freight Working group will combine government agencies, freight and primary industries to identify rail freight network priorities.

“Our working group will look at the entire freight supply chain – from farm to port – and make it easier for producers to get Victorian goods to the world,” said Victorian Minister for Public Transport Melissa Horne.

Chairing the group will be Victoria’s rural assistance commissioner, Peter Tuohey, and

the group will also include representatives of Victorian Farmers Federation, freight organisations, and Victorian government bodies including the Department of Transport, VicTrack, V/Line, and representatives from ports.

“We’re keen to be involved in this great opportunity to work with government and industry experts to push forward with key rail projects for Victoria,” said Tuohey.

“This new group will give operators and farmers a voice at the table as we continue investing in important Victorian rail freight projects to boost our export power and support

regional jobs,” said Horne.

A number of freight rail projects are currently underway in Victoria, including intermodal terminals, port rail shuttle, the Murray basin Rail Project, and the Shepparton Rail Freight Planning Study. Victorian Minister for Transport Infrastructure Jacinta Allan said that the group will contribute to the growth of rail freight in the state.

“We’re working with industry experts to shape the future of Victoria’s rail freight industry, building its capacity and supporting Victoria’s vital export sector.”

Concern over toxic soil to be dumped at a V/Line rail yard A $172.9 million V/Line stabling yard development could potentially be used as a temporary holding site for contaminated soil with possible carcinogens PFAS and asbestos.

The Wyndham Vale rail yard is set to be occupied by V/Line as a maintenance and storage space to replace the Footscray train stabling site which is being removed as part of the West Gate Tunnel works.

The $6.7 billion project requires 2.3 million tonnes of soil to be relocated offsite.

The 82-hectare government-owned site in Melbourne’s west is being considered by officials following a meeting with Wyndham Council this week.

Luba Grigorovitch, Victorian Secretary of Rail, Tram and Bus Union wrote in a letter to state government officials on Monday that she is “deeply concerned” the toxic soil would pose a huge risk to workers and residents.

Grigorovitch told Rail Express that she is demanding confirmation from the government whether soil would contaminate the air conditioning systems of the GeelongMelbourne trains, which run directly alongside the site.

“Our members don’t want to be operating alongside contaminated soil,” she said.

The new facility is designed to meet interpeak stabling needs for V/Line trains operating on the regional rail network, while also ensuring there is capacity to house

18 | ISSUE 3 2020 | RAIL EXPRESS

additional trains in the future.

The project will involve construction of a stabling yard, driver facilities, and a bypass track connected to the Geelong line, which will allow trains to access the facility without delaying passenger services.

Thirty-eight new VLocity carriages are arriving to the V/Line network early this year and there are concerns that there isn’t enough facilities for the growing network.

V/Line stated in 2018 that stabling capacity would be exceeded by March 2019.

The Age obtained an internal V/Line document under freedom of information laws, reporting that “the rail yard was needed to run a greater number of services on the network and to operate new trains reliably”.

According to the internal document, the lack of maintenance infrastructure will continue to impact on performance and shortages will impact V/Line’s reliability.

A government spokeswoman told the Hearld Sun that if Wyndham Vale was a temporary site it would not disrupt rail operations.

“Transurban and its builder are working with project parties to find a long-term solution to manage the rock and soil from tunnelling – no decision has been made,” she said.

A Department of Transport spokeswoman said operations of the stabling facility will not be compromised.

“While a decision on where to temporarily

V/Line workers are concerned about the plans.

hold soil from tunnelling for the West Gate Tunnel is yet to be made, the land in question is outside the Wyndham Vale stabling facility so if the site was ever used it would not impact the timing or operations of the new stabling facility,” she said to The Age. Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas and member for Werribee said on air during a 3AW interview that it won’t be a long-term containment.

“Any suggestion that there is going to be long-term containment or toxic facility is just nonsense,” Pallas told 3AW. “What is proposed at Wyndham Vale is essentially a short-term place where it is isolated from the environment and if it is ever used– it’s only if you can’t get access to the long-term facility.”

News

Queensland

Final train in NGR fleet enters service The final New Generation Rollingstock (NGR) train has now entered service for the Queensland government.

The 75th train, manufactured by Bombardier, will be used by the Queensland government to provide services to the growing South East Queensland region.

Already, the trains have travelled over eight million in service kilometres, and 150,000 passenger journeys, since December 2017.

“Our highly efficient commuter cars have been performing well, providing passengers in Queensland with a safe and comfortable ride. Bombardier is providing mobility solutions through its NGR and Gold Coast projects, helping the Queensland Government deliver its economic and public transportation development programs,” said Wendy McMillan, president, South East Asia and Australia, Bombardier Transportation.

Maintenance of the fleet will be carried out by Bombardier at Wulkuraka, near Ipswich, for 32 years, where testing and commissioning has been occurring.

“This significant milestone of the last NGR train delivery in Queensland was achieved thanks to close collaboration between Queensland’s Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR), Queensland Rail, Bombardier and our partners,” said McMillan.

“Bombardier has created more than 2,000 local jobs across the industry and supply chain throughout this project.”

The NGR rollingstock had to be modified

in 2019 to revised design specifications in order to meet disability specifications.

According to a statement from Bombardier, the new trains will be one of the most accessible in Australia.

At the time, Paul Brown, Bombardier Australia’s project director for the NGR project, said, “This variation order is an important request from our customer, and we will continue to work closely with them to deliver the NGR project in line with the enhanced specifications set out by the Queensland Government”.

Speaking to Rail Express in late 2018, Brown highlighted that the rollingstock were built to specification.

“Bombardier has delivered those trains within accordance with the contract.”

NGR TO RUN ON NORTH COAST LINE FOR FIRST TIME Queensland’s New Generation Rollingstock (NGR) will be introduced to the Sunshine Coast line for the first time on March 2.

The change comes as Queensland Rail introduces 32 new weekly services across the south east Queensland network.

The services will join an extended inbound Caboolture service to Nambour, and come after 462 weekly services were introduced to the region last year. This increase responds to growing customer demand for rail in Queensland, said Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey.

“Close to 190 million trips were taken on public transport in 2018-19, and after two record years, we’re on-track for another record 12 months when it comes to patronage.”

The new services will be introduced along with other major improvements to rail services in South East Queensland.

“We’re backing commuters with more trains, a $371 million statewide smart ticketing system, more than $357m in train station accessibility upgrades and the largest public transport project in Queensland’s history: the $5.4 billion Cross River Rail,” said Bailey.

In order to deliver the new services, Queensland Rail found efficiencies in the network, better utilising its existing resources, said CEO of the government owned operator, Nick Easy.

“These changes will reduce empty train running across the region by 1,460 kilometres per week – delivering extra services for our customers instead,” he said.

The introducing of the NGR will be enabled with dedicated support facilities.

“The trains will operate 45 weekly services on the line, replacing older train models, and their deployment will be supported by a new NGR stabling facility coming online at Woombye,” said Easy.

Last month, the final NGR entered service.

Alterations to the current rollingstock fleet are underway to comply with disability requirements.

CREDIT: BOMBARDIER

The new and upgraded fleet will be running further throughout South East Queensland.

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News

QLD

Aurizon’s revenue rises to $1.53bn and changes leadership PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAILGALLERY.COM.AU

The UT5 Undertaking was credited as a reason for the company’s revenue boost.

Aurizon Holdings Limited revenue has increased by $73.4 million or five per cent in the 2019/20 first-half earnings before interest and tax.

Australia’s largest rail-based transport business has released a half year report for the period ending 31 December 2019, detailing new growth in the company.

Aurizon stated in the report that the higher revenue is offset by the sale of the rail grinding business.

A spokeswoman from Aurizon said the large sale transaction for the rail grinding business was completed with Loram in October 2019 for $167m with $105m net gain on sale (not included in underlying earnings).

With revenue up five per cent to a total of $1.53 billion, the company’s underlying net profit rose 19 per cent to $268.9m.

The group credited the UT5 Undertaking as a factor that improved revenue. In December last year, Queensland Competition Authority (QCA) approved the agreement that governs access to its rail network.

Aurizon executives stated that the company’s financial position and performance was partially affected by the closure and sale of Acacia Ridge Intermodal Terminal.

Two years ago the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) opposed the sale of Acacia Ridge Intermodal Terminal and commenced proceedings against Aurizon and Pacific National in the Federal Court.

Aurizon and the proposed new owner of the terminal, Pacific National, both filed notices of cross-appeal that will be heard by the full Federal Court later in February.

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Aurizon executives highlighted its full-year earning guidance to $930 million from $880 million. This figure was noted before assumed impacts from the Australian bushfires and the world health emergency, coronavirus.

The coronavirus has delayed the arrival of 66 rail wagons being made in the epicentre of the disease, Wuhan in China.

A spokeswoman from Aurizon said an initial order of 66 wagons have already been delivered and the remaining 66 wagons are planned for delivery in February or March.

“The first batch of 132 coal wagons have been completed by our supplier. The construction of the second tranche of 132 wagons has been delayed due to a slow down of production in China,” the spokeswoman said.

Operating costs increased $13.9m or 2 per cent, which were identified as due to to increased labour costs.

Aurizon’s network operates the 2,670km CQCN, the largest coal rail network in Australia.

Aurizon executives stated in the 2019/20 half year report that 58 per cent of the company’s revenue, a total of $887.5m, was from transporting coal from mines in Queensland and NSW to customer ports.

Operational performance across the network “remained strong” during the first half of the new financial year, according to Aurizon.

Total system availability improved from 81 per cent to 82.2 per cent, and cycle velocity improved 4 per cent.

Aurizon’s executives said the focus has been on the trial and implementation of schedule adherence in the Blackwater system in QLD. Compared to the previous half, the network

delivered an average reduction in turnaround time of 1.2 hours per service and both on-time arrival to mine and to port increased.

Aurizon’s executives said the network is now working with operators to improve the current scheduling process by realigning maintenance constraints to unlock capacity and optimising the weekly Intermediate Train Plan to avoid pathing contests between operators. The report stated that system throughput is expected to increase, in the third quarter of this year.

LEADERSHIP CHANGE Aurizon has appointed Pam Bains to the position of group executive network.

Bains will take up the role from March 9, 2020.

Bains comes to the role as chief financial officer and group executive strategy at Aurizon, a position she has held since December 2016.

Bains will oversee Aurizon’s implementation of the UT5 Undertaking, said Aurizon managing director and CEO, Andrew Harding.

“The new UT5 Undertaking provides long-term regulatory and investment certainty for the Central Queensland Coal Network, Australia’s largest coal supply chain.

In addition, there is major opportunity to drive further improvements in supply chain performance and operational efficiencies for the mutual benefit of industry. Pam is absolutely the right person to unlock these opportunities and grow value for Aurizon customers and shareholders,” he said.

Currently, Bains has been responsible for central finance functions and manages enterprise targets and valuation. Previously, Bains was involved in Aurizon’s initial public offering and listing on the ASX, capital restructuring, and separation of Aurizon’s Network business.

“In her current role, Pam has led the development and implementation of Aurizon’s strategic plan ‘Strategy in Action’ including the implementation of a new corporate structure.

Pam was previously the vice president finance for Aurizon Network and has a deep understanding of the regulatory environment in which the network business operates,” said Harding.

Head of strategy and corporate development George Lippiatt will act as CFO and group executive strategy for Aurizon.

Demolition for Roma Street station begins The Hotel Jen building is now being demolished to make way for the Cross River Rail in Brisbane.

The building will be replaced by the Roma Street station, and is the first of three buildings to be demolished at the site, said Minister for Cross River Rail Kate Jones.

“Today marks a huge milestone for Cross River Rail. This project is crucial to avoiding a bottleneck in the future.”

Jones outlined the impact that this work would have on the Brisbane and southeast Queensland rail network.

“It allows us to run more trains more often across the whole of southeast Queensland. We expect that with Cross River Rail in place, an extra 47,000 people will choose rail instead of road by 2036.”

The Hotel Jen was opened in 1986 as part of the Brisbane Transit Centre, however the precinct is due for an overhaul with the new station, said Jones.

The construction of the station will lead to a revitalisation of the area.

“Construction of the new Roma Street station will create jobs for Queenslanders, and breathe new life into the area which has become underutilised and run down.”

Roma Street will be one of four new

underground stations, which comprise the core of the Cross River Rail project.

At Roma Street, the new line will connect with the existing rail network in the Brisbane CBD.

Councils join push for Brisbane-Toowoomba passenger rail Multiple levels of government are now working to get travellers on trains between Brisbane and Toowoomba.

Three councils between Brisbane and Toowoomba have formed an Alliance

The initiative hopes to increase the frequency and speed of trains travelling between Brisbane and Toowoomba.

to advocate for rail in connecting the two cities.

The Ipswich to Toowoomba Passenger Rail Alliance, made up of the Lockyer Valley Regional Council, the Toowoomba Regional Council and the Ipswich City Council, has also invited industry representatives to join the grouping.

“Toowoomba is Australia’s largest inland non-capital city, yet has no meaningful passenger rail link, so this is an opportunity we cannot miss,” said Toowoomba Regional Council Mayor Paul Antonio.

In the 2018-2019 federal budget, the Australian government committed up to $15 million to a Business Case for passenger rail between Toowoomba and Brisbane. The line would pass through Ipswich and the towns of Gatton, Grantham, and Helidon, before reaching Toowoomba.

While irregular services currently operate between Toowoomba and Brisbane, the narrow gauge line limits the productivity of the line, as does its steepness.

The federal government’s business case

will investigate upgrading the existing line to enable frequent commuter passenger rail services and integrating passenger services in freight corridors.

The trio of councils want the local community to be included in any final decision, said Lockyer Valley Regional Council Mayor Tanya Milligan.

“We want to ensure our local communities are adequately included in the business case, so we’re seeking active involvement from key sectors across Council regions in that process.”

A future rail line would benefit the communities it passes through, said Antonio.

“Faster regular passenger rail between Brisbane and Toowoomba via Ipswich is vital for the future of the wider region, especially in providing reliable access to employment, tertiary education, specialist health services and tourism opportunities.”

Already, Lockyer Valley Tourism are onboard with the Alliance, and the council will be looking for other participants.

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J U N E SPECIAL FEATURE

SUSTAINABILITY & ENVIRONMENT In June Rail Express will launch a new special feature for the Australasian rail industry.

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Internationally, rail has been the beneficiary of a deep and concerted focus on sustainable mobility.

Shifting freight and passengers onto rail will be a key imperative for governments and businesses seeking to rapidly reduce their carbon emissions, in line with internationally agreed upon targets.

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| 2020 ISSUE 3

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While this has led to increased investment in rail services and infrastructure, rail operators have also been compelled to look at how their operations could be more sustainable. In some cases, this has led to the introduction of battery powered trains, or even the exploration of hydrogen as an alternative fuel source to replace diesel.

In Australia, the rail industry is also contributing to reducing the impact of transportation on the environment. Initiatives to limit energy usage on electrical networks are one way that rail operators are reducing their impact on the planet, if not going for renewable electricity, such as for light rail networks in the ACT and Victoria.

Other areas where the rail industry is innovating due to environmental concerns is in the use of recycled materials in rail infrastructure construction. As Australia moves towards a circular economy, there will be more opportunities for the rail sector to avoid virgin materials and turn waste into ballast, sleepers, and concrete.

CONTACT OLIVER PROBERT

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER, RAIL EXPRESS 02 9439 7227 | 0435 946 869 OLIVER.PROBERT @ PRIMECREATIVE.COM.AU

These developments provide an opportunity for innovative rail equipment suppliers to stand out, and in the June edition of Rail Express we will be speaking with those who have embraced the move towards sustainability in the construction and management of rail operations. This will be the time for organisations engaged in this endeavour to have their voice heard.

A U S T RA L IA’ S L E A D IN G B U S I NESS TO B U SINESS RAIL PU B LICAT ION

News

Western Australia

Changes to rail access regime welcomed by industry Western Australian rail operators and infrastructure managers have positively responded to the WA government’s announced changes to the state’s Rail Access Regime.

The changes include: changes to the asset valuation method and a requirement for published standing offers; improved protection from unfair discrimination; better acknowledgement of foundation customers; increases in transparency; and finding efficiencies in the regulatory process by adding timeframes, information provision obligations, and standardising requirements.

The reforms will be implemented in changes to the Railways (Access) Code 2000. Ongoing consultation will continue with stakeholders as the process moves to the next stages.

WA Treasurer Ben Wyatt said that the changes would benefit groups near nonmetropolitan railways.

“The McGowan government has agreed to a series of important reforms to the State’s Rail Access Regime, which will make attaining access to railways easier and quicker, supporting regional communities.”

The state government has been conducting consultations for the past two years and aims to make the Regime more effective as

an alternative to commercial negotiations.

A spokesperson for CBH Group told Rail Express that the company appreciated the government’s commitment to reform.

“CBH welcomes the announcement by the Treasurer that the WA government has approved significant changes to the WA Rail Access Regime to make it more effective, speed up access negotiations, and ensure railway access arrangements are fair for all parties.”

Reviews of the scheme in 2011 and 2015 by the Economic Regulation Authority found that the Regime was not an effective alternative to private negotiations. Unlike access regimes in other states, parties in WA are allowed to negotiate access outside of the access code.

Arc Infrastructure, the manager and operator of freight rail lines in south western WA, similarly appreciated the approach taken by the WA government.

“ARC have been engaged through the entire review to date,” an Arc Infrastructure spokesperson said to Rail Express.

“It’s been a very consultative approach with industry led by Treasury.”

The reforms aim to ensure that more WA

businesses can use the freight network owned by private companies in a cost-effective and timely manner, while encouraging private investment in privately-owned railways. The Access Regime covers the freight rail network in southern WA owned by Arc Infrastructure, the urban network operated by the Public Transport Authority, and two iron ore lines in the Pilbara.

“These reforms will encourage greater use of the rail network and support the efficient movement of freight across the state to support exports, regional businesses and jobs,” said Wyatt.

Arc Infrastructure elaborated on the effect of these changes on their network.

“Our understanding of the proposed changes will mean railway owner will publish (amongst other things) performance indicators and standing offers for rail access,” said the Arc Infrastructure spokesperson.

The Arc Infrastructure spokesperson said that the new regime will provide more transparency for users of the WA freight network.

The CBH spokesperson remained positive about finalising the reforms.

“We look forward to continuing to engage with the government as these important proposed changes are drafted.”

Thornlie-Cockburn Link passes final approvals Construction work on the ThornlieCockburn Link can now begin, with the project passing through the state and federal environmental approvals process.

The project will connect the Mandurah and Armadale lines over 14.5km with new stations at Ranford Rd and Nicholson Rd. Station upgrades will also be carried out at Cockburn Central and Thornlie.

CPB Contractors and Downer will carry out the works, including those works mandated in the final environmental approvals.

Transport Minister Rita Saffioti outlined that the project as a whole has sustainability at its core.

“The McGowan government is strongly committed to sustainable development, and we want to ensure this important project provides the amenities and features the community wants, and that it is delivered in

Environmental approvals along the line have been finalised.

a sustainable way.”

The project sought feedback from the community and submissions raised environmental issues.

To address this, clearing of native vegetation for the project will be done in an environmentally responsible way.

Animals will also be captured and then released by a licenced contractor with advice from the Department of Biodiveristy,

Conservation, and Attractions.

“Environmental and heritage considerations are a key priority for the Thornlie-Cockburn Link and these approvals mark an important step forward for this much anticipated project,” said Saffioti.

Thornline MLA, Chris Tallentire, said that the project will benefit the local community.

“It is important that we meet our environmental obligations for the sustainable delivery of our infrastructure commitments. It is fantastic to see that we have reached yet another important milestone for this project,” he said.

“The Metronet Thornlie-Cockburn Link will bust congestion and provide our local community with greater connectivity with Perth city and the broader metro area.”

WWW.RAILEXPRESS.COM.AU | 23

News

South Australia

Next step for Adelaide network consortia The South Australian government has released an Invitation to Supply (ITS) to the three consortia that were shortlisted last year to run a privatised Adelaide train network.

The consortia are Adelaide Next, a consortium of Deutsche Bahn and John Holland with Bombardier as a subcontractor; Keolis Downer, a consortium of Keolis and Downer EDI; and TrainCo, a consortium of Transdev and CAF. Once the offers from the contractors are received, the SA government will assess the responses and decide on a final contractor by mid 2020.

The successful proponent will be required to improve services in the Adelaide area, and will be judged based on customer satisfaction, integration of trains with other public transport modes, more frequent and faster services, collaboration with customers and stakeholders, and accessibility improvements.

The contract will cover four lines within

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the Adelaide Metro network, including Belair, Gawler, Outer Harbor, and Seaford with branch lines Grange, and Tonsley.

While the successful consortium will operate the network, the SA government will retain ownership over rail assets, set standards for levels of service, set prices, retain revenue, and mandate performance targets for the contractor.

SA Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Stephan Knoll, said that the model will deliver better services.

“We will be capitalising on the vast private sector experience to help deliver better train and tram services while maintaining control of the assets, fares and service frequency.”

The shortlisted consortia already operate services in other states in Australia.

Keolis Downer operates the Melbourne tram network, the Gold Coast Light Rail, Newcastle Light Rail, and a number of bus services in SA, Queensland,

and Western Australia.

Transdev and CAF together operate the Parramatta Light Rail network as part of the Great River City Light Rail consortium.

Deutsche Bahn and John Holland are partners in the Canberra Metro consortium which operates the Canberra light rail.

“The companies associated with the shortlisted proponents have experience delivering better services in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra, as well as in Europe,” said Knoll.

SA hopes to increase patronage on its public transport network, with Adelaide having the lowest rail passenger kilometres per capita, according to the Bureau of Infrastructure Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE).

“We are leaving no stone unturned with our reforms to deliver better and more customer focussed bus, train and tram services,” said Knoll.

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News

ACT

Wire-free, grassed track in Stage 2A of Canberra light rail The extension of Canberra’s light rail will be wire free, under preliminary environmental approval from the Commonwealth government, and onboard energy storage will be fitted to existing light rail vehicles.

The ACT government announced today that the Commonwealth government has decided that Stage 2A of the Canberra light rail project could be assessed using preliminary documentation. This covers the route from the city to Commonwealth Park.

Features of the 1.7km route include wire-free track from Alinga Street station, progressive on the western side of London Circuit and then Commonwealth Avenue, before terminating at Commonwealth Park.

The ACT government is also proposing grassed tracks as the route travels along the Commonwealth Avenue median, said ACT Minister for Transport Chris Steel.

“Running wire-free through London Circuit will mean a narrower track built in the middle of the road, taking up less space as Light Rail will be running in the road median.”

The use of wire-free track preserves heritage vistas along Commonwealth avenue.

“This decision from the federal government reinforces our choice to deliver light rail to Woden in two stages. The process of assessment for Stage 2A means we can get on with the job of extending light rail to Woden sooner,” said Steel.

With approvals gained for the section to Commonwealth Park, the next stage of the light rail project will progress the line to Woden, in Canberra’s south. This section will require more extensive approvals from the Commonwealth government as it passes through the capital.

“We always expected that an extensive EIS process would be required for the more complex stage 2B extension through the Parliamentary Triangle under the Commonwealth environmental approval process,” said Steel.

Wire-free tram track is currently operational in the Sydney CBD’s light rail and in Newcastle on Hunter Street. In Parramatta, grassed track will also be installed, for up to one kilometre.

CURRENT SERVICE EXCEEDS EXPECTATIONS Steel said Canberra’s light rail is exceeding the government’s expectations and is

The light rail service has so far been a success.

ahead of boarding targets by one year.

The ACT government will add extra services, meaning the light rail will move to a five-minute timetable during morning peaks, and a further 155 light rail services will be added every week, taking the total number of light rail services to more than 1,600 every week.

Steel said further improvements are planned as part of the new public transport network the government is introducing in April 2020.

“Light rail has been a huge success, with 3.5 million boardings since it started

last year,” Steel said.

“More than 15,000 boardings are being made every day on light rail.”

These expansion of services will be delivered using the existing fleet of 14 light rail vehicles.

A half hour extension of the southbound morning and northbound afternoon services have started this week.

From April, the current services during peak times will increase from every six minutes to every five minutes and services will commence one hour earlier on Sundays and public holidays from 7am.

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News

New Zealand

Hundreds of millions of dollars being invested in New Zealand’s KiwiRail network The New Zealand Government has announced a further $109.7 million rail investment in Northland rail freight on the KiwiRail network.

This follows the injection of $211m to upgrade Wellington networks and services for Auckland rail.

Greg Miller, KiwiRail Group chief executive, said the Northland investment will enable hi-cube container freight to be transported by rail in the region for the first time ever. $69.7m will be spent on lowering tracks in the 13 tunnels between Swanson and Whangarei; reopening the currently mothballed rail line north of Whangarei, between Kauri and Otiria; and building a container terminal at the Otiria rail yard, in Moerewa.

“Currently 18m tonnes of cargo is moved in and out of the region every year. Of that, around 30,000 containers leave Northland by road. Most aren’t able to fit through the tunnels, but this investment will change that – opening up a whole new market to rail,” Miller said.

“The tunnel work will have a huge impact on how freight is moved in and out of Northland.

“I’m really impressed by the ingenuity of KiwiRail’s engineering staff to be able to lower the tracks in the tunnels – which is a lot less expensive than boring bigger tunnels.”

This is the second Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) investment in Northland rail, following the $94.8m provided to make significant improvements to the Northland Line between Swanson and Whangarei, announced last year.

An additional $40m will be used by KiwiRail to purchase land along the designated rail route between Oakleigh and Northport/Marsden Point.

Miller said works in Auckland have already commenced, and will be completed in about four years.

“The third main adds an extra rail line between Westfield and Wiri in South Auckland, a section of line that is congested with freight trains going to and from Ports of Auckland and Port of Tauranga, and increasingly frequent metro commuter services. For CRL to deliver the level of commuter service Auckland needs, the third

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The funding will improve freight and passenger services.

main is crucial,” he said.

David Gordon, KiwiRail chief operating officer – capital projects and asset development, said work on the Wairarapa Line will start later this year, following the government’s $96m investment announced in 2018. “$70m will be spent on improving the signalling system and track approach to Wellington Station, particularly the area north of the stadium where the Johnsonville, Hutt Valley, and Kapiti Lines all come together,” Gordan said.

A $15m investment in carriages for the Capital Connection service will allow KiwiRail to fully refurbish ex-Auckland Transport carriages including new interiors, seats, and toilets.

DEMAND FOR FREIGHT RAIL OUTSTRIPPING SUPPLY In his address to the Transport and Infrastructure Select Committee on the Land Transport (Rail) Legislation Bill on February 20, Miller explained why 92 per cent of freight in New Zealand does not travel by rail.

“The reason is simple. Our rail lines and our freight systems are so run down that it has taken a huge level of commitment from both the government and from our team to start moving the company into a position where it can return to profit,” he wsaid

to the committee.

The NZ Ministry of Transport stated that the objective of the Land Transport (Rail) Legislation Bill is to implement a new planning and funding framework for the heavy rail track network owned by KiwiRail.

Miller said the draft New Zealand Rail Plan plays an important role in KiwiRail’s turnaround plan.

“The draft NZ Rail Plan lays out a pathway for sustainable planning and funding that will allow rail to play the important role it should in the country’s transport system,” Miller said.

Miller said the group has failed to meet demand into growth due to historic short term decisions that have seen cost cutting resulting in lack of drivers, locomotives, wagons and fully usable track.

“We have had no capacity for market reclamation,” he said.

Miller said to the committee that KiwiRail’s strategy to return to profitability and deliver a good return to our shareholders is threefold. We aim to run more services, get the equipment we need to be able to grow capacity, and put in place the technology that will enable us to track freight, profit, and loss centres.

Miller also addressed road sector concerns, telling the committee the draft New Zealand Rail Plan is a way to return rail to complement road.

“Freight moved by rail results in 66 per cent lower carbon emissions than freight moved by road. Rail freight is not just efficient long distance. Every one of our customers has a lens on the environmental impact and incorporates these benefits into every rail decision made,” he said.

“With increasing freight volumes, growing road congestion and maintenance costs and the need to meet emission reduction targets, rail is a critical part of our transport system.”

This follows Greater Wellington Regional Council’s Transport Committee agreement to reduce transport-generated regional carbon emissions and invest more funding for regional rail on February 20.

Roger Blakeley, transport committee chair said the committee agreed to strategic priorities for the 2019-22 triennium.

One of the key performance measures for these targets is the contribution to a 30 per cent reduction in regional transportgenerated carbon emissions by 2030.

“Contributing to the regional target of a 40 per cent increase in regional mode share from public transport and active modes, [rail] will be the major contributor to a reduction in carbon emissions,” Blakeley said.

KiwiRail welcomed the NZ government’s decision to use the Provincial Growth Fund to invest $9.6m in the Kawerau Container Terminal (KCT).

Miller said KiwiRail’s role will be to build the new rail siding and to run week-day train services beginning in 2021 between Kawerau and Port of Tauranga.

“The siding opens the way for containerised exports to travel directly to Port Tauranga from Kawerau,” he said.

“Export containers from Norske Skog, Sequal Lumber, and Waiu Dairy will underpin the new train service as well as creating capacity for other exporters in the region.

“This is part of road and rail working together in a much more integrated way, improving efficiency and saving costs.”

The project is expected to take about 18 months to complete.

First sod turned on Mt Eden site for Auckland CRL A supplier has been chosen for the tunnel boring machine for New Zealand’s City Rail Link project, as a ground-breaking ceremony begins construction at the southern tunnel portal.

Herrenknecht will supply and build the $13.5 million tunnel boring machine, which will be shipped from its manufacturing site in China later in 2020 to be reassembled at the Mt Eden portal. Tunnelling will begin in February 2021.

The portal at Mt Eden will allow tunnelling to continue to central Auckland, and will open up land in the immediate vicinity for development, said NZ Transport Minister Phil Twyford.

“Not only will CRL boost Auckland’s transport system, it will stimulate urban regeneration with jobs and affordable housing around Mt Eden station and elsewhere along the city’s rail corridors – a completed CRL will double the number of the number of people

From Mt Eden, tunnelling will begin to central Auckland.

Demolition works have begun on the Mt Eden site.

within 30 minutes of central Auckland, New Zealand’s biggest employment hub,” he said.

According to Auckland Mayor Phil Goff the transport project will increase the use of rail in New Zealand’s largest city.

“The CRL will be a gamechanger for Auckland, allowing 54,000 people an hour to travel into the city at peak times. It adds capacity equivalent to three Harbour Bridges

or 16 extra traffic lanes into the city at peak. The TBM will be the star of the show, providing the mechanical muscle required to get the job done as quickly as possible,” he said.

City Rail Link chief executive Sean Sweeney said that the breaking of ground in Mt Eden comes 12 months on from the collapse of rail track, signalling, overhead lines, control system rooms, communications and building works provider RCR Tomlison went into administration. RCR Tomlison’s NZ subsidiary was in partnership with WSP Opus at the time.

“Far from a setback, that collapse was the catalyst for big and rapid change inside the project and we are now celebrating the benefit of those changes – a CRL team that includes the best expertise from New Zealand and overseas that’s ready to deliver the next big step of an outstanding project for Aucklanders.”

As part of the works, the public will be able to name the tunnel boring machine, with the condition that the name be one of a prominent NZ woman.

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Major Projects HS2 HS2 Ltd has unveiled updated designs for its west London super-hub at Old Oak Common, as part of the Schedule 17 submission to the OPDC.

The most expensive railway in the world gets the green light UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has given the green light to High Speed Rail 2 (HS2).

Eight of the UK’s largest cities will now be connected by rail, following Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s approval of the High Speed 2 (HS2).

During a parliamentary hearing on Tuesday, 11 February, Johnson declared the decision has been taken to proceed with HS2 following consideration of the independent Oakervee review.

Johnson told parliament he plans to appoint a dedicated minister to oversee and manage the project to ensure no “further blowouts on either cost or schedule”.

In a statement released by the Prime Minister’s office, a spokesperson said HS2 will become the spine of the country’s transport network.

Grant Shapps, UK Transport Secretary, said the Government is clear the project must reform and improve, with clearer accountability and transparency.

“I’ve been clear that we needed all the facts to decide the way forward with HS2,” Shapps said.

“Fully informed by a comprehensive and detailed scrutiny of all the facts, now is the time to drive HS2 forward, alongside a

30 | ISSUE 3 2020 | RAIL EXPRESS

‘High Speed North’ plan to give the North and Midlands the capacity and connectivity it vitally needs.”

The total HS2 network will be 330 miles (531km). Phase 1 from London to Birmingham and 2a from Birmingham to Crewe is confirmed by Johnson to be constructed, while Phase 2b to Manchester and Leeds will be reviewed.

The project is now estimated at £106bn ($205bn) but was originally expected to cost around £33 billion, making HS2 the most expensive railway in the world.

The first stage of the line was approved in 2017 but was put on hold by the UK Government last year.

HS2 design vision by Alstom.

Under the current plans, the line is due to be completed in 2040 and Johnson has stated he wants to bring the finish date forward by 5 years to 2035.

The Financial Times reported that the China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) had written to HS2 Ltd’s chief executive in January, stating they could complete a build of the line in just five years and at a reduced cost.

The UK Department of Transport executives have held preliminary discussions between CCRC and HS2 Ltd, however UK Government officials said there are no “concrete commitments” that have been made at this stage.

Old Oak Common Station interior view of concourse and platforms.

CRCC has built most of China’s 15,500-mile high-speed network.

Darren Caplan, chief executive of the UK Railway Industry Association, said HS2 could unlock “a new golden age of rail”.

“HS2 will not just boost the UK’s economy and connectivity, but will also enable other major rail infrastructure projects to be delivered too,” Caplan said.

“So we now urge everyone – whatever their previous view on HS2 – to get behind this important project and to work together with the railway industry to deliver the full scheme.”

Supporters say the project is necessary to ease congestion on the core of Britain’s rail network, as current lines share long-distance express, local, and freight services.

The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) said the HS2 line is essential to tackling systemic congestion in the UK transport system.

A spokesperson for CILT said in parallel with HS2 Phase 1 and in advance of HS2 Phase 2b and future HS3/Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) works, the investment is also committed to improve the number and size of trains that can operate on existing routes.

The chair executives of the Strategic Rail Policy Group and Rail Freight Forum said the institute is pleased the project has been given the immediate go-ahead and believes HS2 will benefit rail freight.

“The Institute’s belief is that electric trains carrying goods on the trunk haul, linking with electric-lorries for final delivery to customers in towns and cities, offers an attractive option for

near-full decarbonisation of the supply chain once goods reach the UK,” the CILT executives said.

“The UK is much more densely settled than France and most other European countries, which makes building a new railway more challenging and more expensive.”

The intention is to build the HS2 infrastructure to a continental loading gauge, which is slightly larger than the existing standard British loading gauge.

In addition to specific HS2 trains which will run solely on HS2 infrastructure, there will be rail links onto the existing British network and the trains that run over these links will be constructed to the “standard” British loading gauge the CILT executives said.

The CILT executives said as things stand, HS2 will have a higher maximum speed than other European high-speed lines and the infrastructure will need to deal with the relevant air flows and vortices when two trains pass each other in opposite directions, particularly in tunnelled sections.

“Without HS2, the UK would run out of capacity to cater for growing freight demand and would find it extremely difficult to achieve its target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050, which will in any event be very challenging,” they said.

However, the CILT executives agree that there is pressure to manage costs and to reduce interface risk between the various work packages that have been let for the construction.

“Once the line had been constructed the

effects of a new high speed line on modal shift for inter-city journeys and the creation of new capacity on existing lines for other services can be reviewed, particularly with the pressures of all countries to consider opportunities to reduce carbon emissions from their transport networks,” they said.

The CILT executives said there is a challenge in articulating the actual benefits of HS2, particularly the capacity enhancements, which will benefit users of the existing network and can provide for additional local and regional services. HS2 can also benefit the general public by reducing long distance freight traffic on the road network.

“Delivering the project on time and within budget will be the biggest challenge for the UK Government,” the CILT executives said.

“If the indirect benefits are taken into account, the effective price tag can be reduced.”

The UK Government appointed Douglas Oakervee to analyse the HS2. The review was published alongside the Prime Minister’s approval announcement in February.

The review strongly advises against cancelling the scheme.

“If HS2 were to be cancelled, many years of planning work would be required to identify, design and develop new proposals.

The upgrading of existing lines would also come at a high passenger cost with significant disruption,” the review document stated.

Forecast journey times from London to Birmingham will be cut from one hour, 21 minutes to 52 minutes, according to the Department for Transport.

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Major Projects Inland Rail

Major Construction on the Parkes to Narromine (P2N) project.

Concerns raised over Inland Rail construction plan The Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee has met in Brisbane to discuss concerns over the Inland Rail project.

The Rural and Regional Affairs And Transport References Committee chair, Senator Glenn Sterle is concerned with the future route and construction plans of Inland Rail.

John Fullerton, Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) CEO, said “the current route is not locked in,” at a senate inquiry hearing of the management of the Inland Rail project, held on January 30 in Brisbane. Fullerton’s comment to the committee is worrying Senator Sterle.

“If it’s not locked in stone, then they can come up with more routes,” Sterle

32 | ISSUE 3 2020 | RAIL EXPRESS

told Rail Express.

The Western Australia federal Labor Party (ALP) member said, following the parliamentary enquiry last month, senators on the committee are unsettled with the future direction of Inland Rail.

Federal Labor leader, Anthony Albanese stated in April last year that communities across Central and North West NSW, as well as those on the southern Darling Downs of Queensland, have become increasingly concerned about the lack of transparency associated with the route selection process endorsed by the Government.

“The ALP and I are supportive of Inland Rail, but the project will not go ahead with the money they have now,” he said.

ARTC has stated that its company and the Department of Infrastructure, Regional Development and Cities have been working closely with State Governments, principally through their transport agencies, to

Senator Glenn Sterle.

Opposition leader Anthony Albanese joining Inland Rail route protesters.

progress Inland Rail.

“Over coming months, the Australian Government will be working with each of the New South Wales, Victorian and Queensland Governments to enter into Inter-Government Agreements to progress Inland Rail.”

The Australian Government has committed $9.3 billion for ARTC to develop and build Inland Rail and additional funds will come from a partnership with the private sector.

The total construction cost for Inland Rail is estimated at $10.9 billion and Sterle says at this stage, the ability for ARTC to complete the project is a “grand dream”.

“I have concerns over the planning and consultation, it needs to be done properly and there is a lot of missing funding and information,” Sterle said.

“The community has valid concerns too, including the route crossing through floodplains.”

The project, which will consist of a 1,700-kilometre freight rail link from Melbourne to Brisbane is receiving criticism from rural communities that the major freight corridor will go through one of Australia’s largest floodplains in Southern Queensland.

Sterle led the two senate committee inquiries into the management of the Inland Rail project by the ARTC that were held in both Brisbane and Millmerran, Queensland in late January this year.

Sterle said he has been raising questions, as have other colleagues, on the lack of consultation and the lack of transparency coming from ARTC for the past two years.

Fullerton agreed with Sterle at the Brisbane inquiry that ARTC’s engagement in the past “wasn’t up to speed” and “of course the big issue that would have been the one that was addressed at Millmerran ‘’ is the route potentially passing through floodplains.

Fullerton said to the committee that Inland

Rail will “finalise that (Millmerran) reference design, get further feedback from those communities, go through the EIS process with the Queensland government and develop a design that’s going to meet the concerns of those residents that live along that alignment”.

“The committee believes there is a lot of misunderstanding from the government and ARTC. I’m gobsmacked at the outrageous plans put out on the table in front of us,” Sterle said.

Sterle said the alignment plan to cross floodplains will devaste regional communities.

“My belief since visiting Millmerran and hearing from residents and farmers is that some decision makers have thought it was a great idea to make a half-baked announcement about alignment designs without full analysis on environmental and community impact,” he said.

Larry Pappin, the president of the Inner Downs Inland Rail Action Group, said there has been limited feedback from any consultation.

“The community has generations of experience and knowledge of the area and their input would be extremely beneficial into any route changes or realignments,” he said.

On February 18, Albanese addressed over 200 Queensland farmers and rural residents gathered in Brisbane to protest the proposed Condamine floodplain alignment.

“At the moment it simply is going through the wrong route,” Albanese said to the residents from Darling Downs, Queensland.

Albanese said that residents are speaking up on behalf of their farms and communities and “all they’re asking for is to be listened to”.

“When we do our report we will take all of the evidence that is provided in the Queensland hearings, both here in NSW and in Victoria, to collate what we believe will be the most sensible group of recommendations to put forward to the government, with the hope that we’re all on the same page and that somebody listens and, more importantly, acts,” Sterle said.

A spokesperson from ARTC said the senate inquiry was an important opportunity about the project and share the history, rationale and detail behind the development of Inland Rail.

“This Inquiry will help explain the benefits Inland Rail will deliver to Australians, once it has been completed, and for future generations,” the spokesperson said.

The ARTC spokesperson said the project will improve freight transport efficiency, but like any major infrastructure project, it is not without its challenges.

“I understand in transport there is always going to be people that are unhappy with decisions, but full transparency is what is lacking and what people are asking for,” Sterle said.

Concerns focus on the route’s alignment over a floodplain.

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Major Projects Ballarat

Victorian intermodal freight hub seeking a developer and operator The Victorian government is requesting expressions of interests to develop the intermodal freight hub on the Ballarat to Ararat railway line.

Development Victoria is seeking a developer and operator of the Ballarat intermodal freight terminal.

The Victorian government is requesting expressions of interest (EOI) to develop the hub on the Ballarat to Ararat railway line. The future terminal would be part of the Ballarat West Employment Zone (BWEZ) and comprise of 438 hectares of land within the estate.

The EOI seeks submissions from experienced parties to design, develop and operate the terminal component of the proposed Ballarat Intermodal Freight Hub. There is approximately six hectares of land set aside for the freight hub terminal.

The Intermodal Freight Hub will provide freight and logistics enterprises with access to road, rail and aviation infrastructure within a strategic location, connected to the existing freight network. Through this network, the Freight Hub will be linked to Melbourne,

Ballarat West Employment Zone facility.

34 | ISSUE 3 2020 | RAIL EXPRESS

regional and rural Victoria, Adelaide and the ports of Melbourne, Geelong and Portland.

Development Victoria said businesses located in and around BWEZ have already indicated they would use rail freight transport for inbound and outbound product once the intermodal facility is built.

The Ballarat West Employment Zone (BWEZ) is located on the north-west fringe of Ballarat adjacent to the Ballarat Airport and existing rail infrastructure.

It is proposed that the successful respondent will take on design and delivery risk, demand and operational cost risk, manage the commercial return based on these risks and the services provided.

Operational arrangements are likely to be organised through a lease agreement with VicTrack. Development Victoria is also partnering with Regional Development Victoria (RDV), the City of Ballarat and Freight Victoria to deliver this project.

Federal government funding of $9.1 million was provided in the 2014 federal budget for the development of the facility. Additional funding from the Victorian state government via Development Victoria will be made available if required.

There is some flexibility around the physical configuration of the facility to allow for a rail siding (either linear or loop), and it is expected that the successful respondent will have operational access to the connected rail stub and associated signalling which will be delivered by the state government up to the eastern boundary of the facility, connecting from the main-line.

The civil works for Stages 1 and 1B of BWEZ are complete, with a large percentage of land having been sold.

Development Victoria stated that approximately 18 hectares of freehold land within the Freight Hub stage, adjacent to the Ballarat Intermodal Freight Hub Terminal, is currently subject to negotiations with prospective purchasers. Finalisation of these negotiations is dependent on the final configuration of the Terminal.

Approximately six hectares of land is set

aside for the development and operation of the Ballarat Intermodal Freight Hub Terminal.

MBRP REQUIRED FOR INTERMODAL TO SUCCEED The head of Rail Freight Alliance has publicly said Victoria will only benefit from the proposed intermodal freight hub once the Murray Basin Rail Project (MBRP) is complete.

The $440m MBRP is improving key freight centres in Victoria and encouraging competition and private investment in the rail freight network.

MBRP stated that an increased axle loading will allow higher volumes of product to be safely freighted across the network, allowing trains to carry up to 500,000 more tonnes of grain each year.

Victoria accounts for almost a third of Australia’s total food and fibre exports.

The first stage was completed in 2016 and freight trains have returned to the Mildura line and to the reopened Maryborough to Ararat line.

Freight volumes in regional Victoria are forecast to grow at an annual average rate of 1.5 per cent each year between 2014 and 2051.

The 2019 Victorian Freight Plan has prioritised using rail freight assets better, in order to manage growing freight volumes.

The Rail Freight Alliance (RFA) is calling on the state government to urgently fund the rest of the Murray Basin Rail Project.

Reid Mather, RFA chief executive officer said the entire project will have to start from scratch and revisit stage 1 and 2.

“There is now a big slab of rail lines in Victoria that are exceptionally wrong due to underwhelming upgrades,” he said.

At the completion of stage one, that began five years ago and included carrying out essential maintenance works across 3,400m of rail and roughly 130,000 sleepers in the Mildura freight line between Yelta and Maryborough.

The entire project is intended to convert parts of the Victorian freight rail network’s historical broad gauge to the standard gauge used in most other parts of Australia to enable

Ballarat intermodal freight hub terminal design for EOI.

tracks to have higher axle loads for more efficient intrastate freight transfer.

“Works were meant to be completed by 2018 and certainly won’t be starting this year.

The current network is in grid lock and it’s time to get the bones right,” Mather said.

The RFA chief executive officer said BWEZ will potentially untangle the current grid lock and regional Victoria’s rail network.

“It is a great opportunity to standardise and develop the future of the network,” he said.

However, Mathers said the foundations of the development have to be firmly structured to ensure proper funding is invested to see out the proposed timeline of the project.

“This development will be of enormous benefit to the region and encourage more freight to be shifted to rail, highlighting potential for a fully maintained freight rail network,” he said.

“Unless measures are taken to guarantee certainty that this track will consistently be maintained and a high level of quantity will be able to be transported on the track, congestion across the region will still be an issue.”

RAIL FREIGHT TO BENEFIT THE REGION Neil Anderson, Development Victoria’s property group head said the freight Hub will provide

direct rail access from BWEZ to the Port of Melbourne and export markets, which will minimise freight costs and improve the region’s competitiveness.

“The EOI process for the Ballarat Intermodal Freight Hub has been designed to identify potential freight hub developers and operators, and to gauge the interest levels for involvement in this project. The process ensures the best possible outcomes for the project and the region,” he said.

Anderson said the freight hub terminal aims to improve the connectivity and productivity of freight supply chains in the region that will support local industry and bring new business to the area.

“The Intermodal Freight Hub is a significant part of the BWEZ project, and local businesses have expressed strong support and interest in the project, and the rail freight opportunities it presents,” he said.

Catherine King, federal member for Ballarat and shadow minister for infrastructure, transport and regional development said the BWEZ facility is located alongside existing road and rail infrastructure, enabling the freight hub to connect with more locations.

“A truck will be able to come in straight off the Western Highway and either head in to a manufacturer or connect up with the rail line and deliver products further afield,” she said.

“The prospect of future infrastructure upgrades to the adjoining Ballarat Airport site will open up even more opportunities across the Ballarat region, but this will only come with support from governments at a state and federal level.”

The City of Ballarat stated that BWEZ is considered the Ballarat region’s ‘engine room’ for jobs and economic growth over the next 20 years, with a perceived mix of industrial, wholesale, logistics, construction and other businesses.

Ben Taylor, Ballarat Mayor, said it was very encouraging to see the Intermodal Freight Hub project moving to this next stage.

“The City of Ballarat has worked closely with Development Victoria on this process and we see exceptional value in having an intermodal freight hub located at the Ballarat West Employment Zone, with the site’s access to road, broad gauge rail and aviation infrastructure,” he said.

Respondent registration closes on March 3 and EOI by March 13.

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Below Rail & Track Infrastructure Resilience

The effect of extreme weather on rail and track infrastructure

Documenting the risks that climate change poses to the Australian rail sector, the Australasian Railway Association (ARA) listed six types of impacts. These were: track failures due to extreme temperature days, increased risk of flood and storm damage to track infrastructure, sea level rise flooding coastal tracks, yards and other infrastructure, wind damage to overhead lines, track failure due to decreased soil stability and increased erosion, and increased bushfire damage risk.

During the summer of 2019-2020 the rail industry experienced almost all of these impacts.

In New South Wales, bushfires closed multiple major train lines, including the Main Western Line through the Blue Mountains, the Southern Highlands Line between Goulburn and Macarthur and the Unanderra Line between Moss Vale and Unanderra.

Rail infrastructure owners around the country felt a number of these impacts, and Arc Infrastructure, the manager of the WA rail freight network, was no exception.

“This summer we have seen bushfires in the South West, Mid West (Mogumber) and Kalgoorlie/Esperance cause interruptions to rail traffic, heavy rainfall impacting track infrastructure, and an electrical storm in the Mid West affect signalling and communications infrastructure on the Eastern Goldfields Railway,” said an Arc Infrastructure spokesperson.

Sydney Trains also acknowledged how the weather can impact infrastructure.

“Extreme weather events, such as high temperatures, strong winds, lightning, bushfires, high rainfall, and flooding, can have a significant effect on the performance, efficiency

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CREDIT: ARC INFRASTRUCTURE

As severe weather events become more intense and frequent, rail infrastructure owners and mangers are responding to this new reality.

and operation of Sydney Trains’ infrastructure,” said a Sydney Trains spokesperson.

With these increasingly severe and frequent weather events recognised as constituting a new normal, rail network managers and infrastructure owners are having to grapple with what this means for their assets.

BUILDING RESILIENCE In Infrastructure Australia’s Australian Infrastructure Audit 2019, resilience was a key theme. The report acknowledged that although Australia’s extremes have been well known – floods, drought, fires, and cyclones being an almost yearly occurrence – resilience, the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties, was not reflected in planning processes.

Resilience takes a different kind of thinking than had been previously reflected in planning documents. Although methods and protocols to repair damaged infrastructure were established, the data to be able to predict future events was not always available.

“Timely access to evidence that aids the

evaluation of likelihood and consequence can help the planning of construction, maintenance and resilience. However, evidence about the scale of risks, their impacts and the costs of addressing them is often weak or not accessible,” write the authors of the report.

In this context, climate change becomes a compounding factor. The modelling of risks is based upon events that have happened in the past. When events start becoming more frequent and outside the historical range of severity, these models have to be re-evaluated.

“In a rapidly changing environment, risks shift in nature and severity, complicating assessment. This can lead to reactive, rather than proactive, responses to both shortand long-term risks to networks,” write Infrastructure Australia.

The report notes that there is much to be done.

“Australia’s infrastructure sector lacks clear, publicly available guidance on how to manage risk and plan for greater resilience in the future.”

Arc Infrastructure is using research, data, technology, and people to predict and prevent damage to track.

THE RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE OF 2100, BUILT NOW While Infrastructure Australia’s assessment was made for Australia’s infrastructure as a whole, rail itself has some key challenges.

Rail networks are expected to last for up to 100 years, with some track in use today laid in the early 20th century.

The longevity of rail infrastructure presents a critical issue, as the cost of relocating infrastructure has been so high as to be prohibitive. However, as noted in Building resilient infrastructure prepared by Deloitte Access Economics for the Australian Business Rountable for Disaster Resilience & Safer Communities, the increased cost of natural disasters will lead to the replacement of damaged assets becoming equivalent to the entire cost of large infrastructure programs, suggesting that resilience building is a nationally significant infrastructure project on its own.

Within this context, the rail infrastructure being built now has to account for changes

expected to occur in the next 100 years. In the best-case scenario of global temperature rise being kept to between 1.5 and 2O°C, sea level rises of up to a metre are predicted.

The knock on effects of this on rail track infrastructure have been catalogued by the ARA. Sea level rise will directly impact low lying sections of track, particularly those freight lines that carry bulk cargo for export.

Increases in extreme rainfall, leading to flooding, can cause assets to be inundated and landslides. With sea level rising, coastal and inland areas will be vulnerable to inundation, and increased frequency and severity of heat waves will cause track buckling and brownouts and blackouts.

With these risks in mind, the ARA calls for the industry to look at mitigating risks via a long-term program of activities.

Whether collaborative or led by individual organisations, the ARA notes that successful planning will require the embedding of adaptation and continuity into planning, development, maintenance and improvement programs of all major rail infrastructure owners.

Some infrastructure owners are already planning of how to respond to this changed environment.

Sydney Trains, whose network was significantly affected during the summer of 2019-2020, is building resilience into the physical nature of the network.

“In recent years, Sydney Trains has undertaken a number of initiatives to protect the network from weather events.

These include replacing timber sleepers with concrete to reduce the likelihood of significant rail head movement, tensionregulated overheard wiring, improved lightning and surge protection at assets

like control centres and substations and improving advanced weather warning systems,” said a Sydney Trains spokesperson.

These works are part of a $1.5 billion annual program of routine and periodic maintenance across the network.

In Western Australia, Arc Infrastructure is currently looking into how to build in resilience to its network, as Arc Infrastructure CEO Murray Cook, told Rail Express.

“We have an innovative research project underway across our network to prevent the risk of derailment through the use of research, data and technology, supported by the deep knowledge and experience of our people.”

Arc Infrastructure is currently in the process of building a system to predict, detect, and prevent derailments that occur as a result of track section washaways, said an Arc spokesperson.

“In order to predict washaways, we are using various sources of information (including historical track washaway data, historical rainfall data and topographical data) to understand and quantify the potential damage caused by various intensities of extreme weather across our network. This data is then being correlated with realtime rainfall data to generate alarms for probable washaways on specific sections of track.”

So far, the project is being tested on historical events, with results showing that of the washaway events that occurred in February 2017, 47 per cent of the locations were predictable, based on the analysis.

Across Australia, a combination of planning, technological innovation, and consistent maintenance will be required to ensure that the rail netowrks laid down today can be used safely and efficiently in 2100.

Heavy rainfall caused landslips in the rail corridor on the Blue Mountains Line in New South Wales.

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Below Rail & Track Infrastructure Loram

Combining service and production for customer satisfaction Loram is expanding its innovative solutions in track and below rail maintenance in Australia.

In late 2019, global railway maintenance equipment and services provider Loram Maintenance of Way, Inc. significantly grew its contract services operations in the Australian railway industry with its purchase of Aurizon’s rail grinding business and its fleet of Loram rail grinders.

Although Loram and its advanced equipment has serviced Australian railways for over 50 years, its increased scale is enabling its Australian-led operations to draw on its global range of track maintenance solutions, Tom Smith, director business development, told Rail Express.

“Loram has a 122 year history and what it’s rail maintenance service division is best known for is rail grinding but we have a portfolio of other products. Now that we’ve made this acquisition and with our base here, we are now in the process of introducing our other products that have had a lot of success in North America and other parts of the world to Australia.”

Having cemented itself as a market leader in North America, and with global expansion underway in its establishment of a UK-based subsidiary, and now Brisbane headquarters for Australasia and sub-Saharan Africa, Loram is taking its reputation for dependable and productive rail grinding service and combining that with product innovation.

“Loram has experienced significant growth over the years, attributable to keeping a customer focus. Loram wants the railways to be successful using Loram services and equipment – our customers have come to trust Loram. When we finish our grinding, they know the rail is going to be improved and they receive useful reports that show the results and improvement of the rail,” said Smith.

“We are constantly in communication with our customers. They often come to us with a problem and Loram is here to develop solutions. New developments are almost always driven by our customers and the needs that they have.”

RAILVAC One example of where Loram has worked to provide a unique solution is with its

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Railvac excavator. Already in use across North America, Brazil and Europe, the excavation machine combines a powerful articulated arm to breakup compacted material with extremely strong vacuum pumps to remove ballast, clay, mud, water, sand, and soil. The machines have proven their value to railway infrastructure owners and network operators.

“The first Railvac we came up with went to work on a demo. It was supposed to be there 30 days and never left, it’s still on that same railway after nearly 20 years,” said Smith.

What distinguishes the operation of the Railvac is its versatility to work in places that traditional excavation equipment cannot, or has difficulty to complete in available track time. The machine can be used in applications varying from full section undercutting mainline mud spots, to removing all material in the ballast section right to the deck of bridges and tunnels, in yard clean-ups, along platforms, or around

Developed in house, Loram’s Railvac is a proven solution.

other obstacles and reconstruction.

“The Railvac is being used quite a bit in iron ore clean up at the ports and coal clean up at some power plants. It’s an excavating tool that finds limitless uses around a rail network,” said Smith. “Track windows keep shrinking for maintenance, if you don’t have the four to eight hours to go out and fully undercut a section or turnout you can perform work for just half an hour or the time available, clear to let trains run, return and get through the section or turnout in stages rather than all in one go.”

Initially, Railvac was developed for a specific, customer-driven requirement, said Smith. “The Railvac was first thought up because there was a need to remove the ballast without cutting through the cables buried underneath the track. Trying to do that with traditional equipment, even manually with a shovel, you’re going to tear up your cables. That was the first application and is still being used

Railvac can remove heavy materials such as iron mud and taconite.

for that same purpose.”

Other areas where the Railvac has been put to use is removing spillage in grain yards and to clean up areas around car dumpers. What ties these uses together with its other applications is the ability for the Railvac to get into areas that would be otherwise inaccessible.

“It works in places that’ve never been able to be maintained with traditional equipment – along a platform, on a bridge deck – and rather than tear out the panels and scoop up the fouled material , very much disrupting the track, the work can be done in small chunks with the Railvac sucking up everything right down to the floor of a tunnel, or the deck of a bridge,” said Smith.

In one project, on an iron ore railway in Brazil, the excavator was used to fully clean out a tunnel that was otherwise inaccessible to traditional equipment.

“They had tunnels where there were significant speed restrictions due to little maintenance over 40-years, no drainage, just a bunch of broken-up ballast, mud and iron ore dust,” said Smith. “With lengthy tunnels, the excavation averaged about 25 cubic metres an hour. It took some time with the limited track windows, but at the end of the job there was water rushing out of the tunnels that had been dammed up inside.

“The track structure has been engineered to provide stability. Internally there was the understanding there was a serious mud problem, but they had no idea there was that much water dammed up. When you think of the heavier loads being hauled, similar to here in Australia, when

the track shows signs of movement, track slip potential shows the importance of drainage. The study proved the advantages of using the Railvac as it provided the most efficient and effective solution as compared to the alternative options. Most important, now that the tunnel is properly draining and the track is performing as designed, the speed restrictions have been removed,” said Smith.

Currently, Loram is in the process of upgrading and modifying one of its existing Railvac designs for operations in Australia.

FRICTION MANAGEMENT With 50-years’ experience in rail grinding, the rail-wheel interaction for extending rail life is well known to Loram. Optimising the rail life is also influenced with friction management.

Again, listening to customers’ needs, tenyears ago Loram acquired a small company specialising in friction management and has grown that to become a major

supplier to the industry. Today, Loram is able to offer the next generation of friction management systems to Australia.

For decades, gauge face lubricators (Greasers) have been used to lubricate the gauge corner of rails in order to help the wheels roll through a curve, thus reducing gauge-face wear and extending rail life, as Smith explains. Noise reduction is also important through metropolitan areas, a calculated combination of top-of-rail friction modification and gauge-face lubrication can assist in this.

Not stopping there, in addition to the traditional gauge-face lubrication, Loram helped spearhead heavy-haul railroads’ system centric implementation of topof-rail friction modification program as a solution to reduce fuel usage and reduce rail wear. Smith, who himself has a 40-year history within Loram – starting in the rail grinding operations department – and speaks with railways around the world, understands how valuable saving fuel can be. “Fuel is often one of the biggest operating expenses a railway has these days and it is easily quantifiable with Australian heavy haul traffic.”

“The top-of- rail (TOR) friction management is really where a big cost savings for railways can be realised.

Unlike grease, the TOR friction modifier are specially designed such that when applied in very small amounts, the modifier is carried by the train wheels for up to seven kilometres. Loram’s TOR modifiers do not affect tractive effort or braking conditions of a train. The traffic

Railvac has been used in tunnels and other tricky environments.

The equipment is designed to remove ballast and dirt without damaging cables.

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Below Rail & Track Infrastructure Loram

Tracshield automatically dispenses a controlled amount of friction modifier.

and track conditions are analysed and the modifier is strategically applied in very small amounts, maybe every third or even sixth wheel.

“The fuel savings are tremendous.”

In tests conducted by Loram’s customers, savings of seven per cent on fuel have been observed when using Loram’s top-of-rail friction modifiers.

Already, thousands of units have been installed or converted to use Loram’s modifier and greases across North America in the 10 years since Loram has started selling this range of products.

The friction management range comprises three types of top of rail friction modifiers and two types of greases. Friction modifiers consist of a water-based, synthetic, and hybrid modifier and two heavy-haul greases where one has an ECO certification. These are then applied with Loram’s range of application systems and backed up by Loram’s service offering.

Smith highlighted the experience and knolwedge that the Loram’s team has in servicing and maintaining any type of brand of lubricators. Proper maintenance and unit up-time is key to maximising investment. The team understands that it’s

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not just about equipment, consumables and parts, it’s the unique combination of all three categories coupled with field maintenance that provides the winning ROI to its customers. There are many companies that claim to understand this, but Loram live this day in and day out. Each customer has unique operating parameters and as such friction management is not a ‘one size fits all’ application.

With decades of experience in the production of friction management systems, all the way from research and development, through manufacturing, installation, field service and maintenance to analysis, Loram expects to continue to innovate in this field, both in response to the emerging needs of its customers globally and locally in Australia.

Effective lubrication can lead to significant fuel savings.

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Below Rail & Track Infrastructure Bestech

Precise measurement for effective rail track maintenance Overcoming the limitations of manual inspection of rail track wear is simplified with Bestech’s laser profile scanner.

The number of train travellers on major metropolitan railways are growing with annual increase of 3 per cent in Sydney, and almost 10 per cent in Melbourne since 2010, according to Infrastructure Australia and the Australian Bureau of Infrastructure Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE).

The effective maintenance of rail and track is one way that operators and infrastructure managers can safely increase capacity on their networks, as the Victorian government’s submission to the Select Committee on Train Services outlined.

In New South Wales, passenger trips have surpassed the numbers predicted for 2030, with train patronage having already increased by 30 per cent when compared to those in 2011, based on NSW government figures. Meanwhile in Melbourne, Metro Trains Melbourne has added 10,000 more train services in the last 10 years to meet patronage levels of 229.6 million passenger travels in 2019.

These extra services put extra loads and stresses on the existing rail infrastructure which wear them faster. Some of these services are also run on ageing tracks and legacy networks, meaning maintenance has to keep up with the increasing demand, to avoid disruptions or potentially fatal accidents. Traditional maintenance techniques for rail tracks rely on manual inspection to visually detect the wear.

As maintenance managers are looking to improve efficiency on their regular maintenance schedules, this traditional inspection method is no longer feasible or reliable enough.

To meet these challenges, there is a need for a device or system that is able to accurately profile rail tracks and automatically determine their wear and tear.

One way that this can be achieved is to use laser profile scanners.

As a leading sensors and instrumentation

42 | ISSUE 3 2020 | RAIL EXPRESS

The scanners can be arranged as an array to give an accurate reading of the rail profile.

company in Oceania, Bestech Australia supply design and manufacture sensors for measurement of physical parameters.

Bestech has been supplying the Australian rail industry with the scanCONTROL laser profile scanner from Micro-Epsilon for rail monitoring applications.

“The scanControl has been previously used for measuring the wear and tear of the rail head,” said Bestech marketing engineer, Wirhan Prationo. “If the wear is too high, engineers can be notified so essential maintenance should be scheduled. Leaving the track as is could potentially derail the trains running on it, which can be fatal.”

Instead of manual inspections, which can be costly and inaccurate due to their reliance on human operators, scanControl can automatically determine wear and tear on the rail head at high speed. A minimum of two scanCONTROL scanners are required to

measure the entire rail head profile. Mounted onto a measurement wagon, an array of four synchronously operated sensors can record profile data at speeds of up to 100km/h. The collected data is continuously compared with target profile in the evaluation software.

The deviation from a defined tolerance limit is marked on the map, allowing the maintenance operator to precisely locate the location to conduct repair.

“The laser profile scanner from MicroEpsilon is considered one of the highest performing laser profile scanners in its class due to their high accuracy and measuring rate. The sensor head is also equipped with intelligence for solving various measurement tasks such as profile, width, depth, edge, groove, gap, angle, flatness, deformations, and many other properties. It can also be individually programmed by integrators for custom requirement. All scanCONTROL

Using the technology can lead to reductions in time spent in maintenance.

sensors are equipped with Real-TimeSurface-Compensation feature for reliable measurement under rapidly changing conditions. More importantly, the sensors also come with GPS synchronization which allow mapping of the entire railway tracks and fast identification of the problematic location,” said Prationo.

The non-contact profile measurement using laser scanners provides an innovative, time saving solution for rail wear identification as compared with the conventional visual inspection technique.

Customers can manually specify permissible deviation through the user-friendly interface.

The data can be transferred to the cloud software application to create a detailed, interactive map of the entire rail network.

The scanCONTROL profile scanners offer a high precision and resolution scan which allows for up-to-date maintenance programs to be carried out, and directed to those sections of a track which require them most. The laser scanners can record data at a maximum speed of 10kHz at a resolution of 1,280 points/profile in the x-axis and 1µm in the z-axis.

The laser scanners are also designed to withstand harsh conditions and tested to reliably operate within a temperature range of -20 to 70°C and in strong sunlight.

They are also able to withstand vibrations from the wagon or when used in an industrial environment.

Furthermore, the system has been designed with the user in mind, being compatible with image processing tools, said Prationo.

“Each scanControl scanner complies with

the GigE vision standard of the Australian Imaging Association (AIA) which is widely used in image processing and supported by all conventional vision tools. This standard is essential to ensure fast and smooth integration with different image processing software for 3D profile evaluation.”

In addition to applications in the heavy rail sector, scanControl scanners have been used by light rail track maintenance providers. Mounted to a measurement wagon, two scanControl units produced

a profile measurement of tram rails. The laser scanners can be integrated into the measurement system using a free SDK. “The scanners are used to map a crosssection profile of the rail. The measured data can be compared with the stored reference data to automatically recognise wear,” said Prationo.

The data profile can be transmitted to the cloud software applications for a detailed, interactive map of the rail network, where the respective condition of the single section of the rail can be highlighted and reviewed.

In the manufacturing of railway sleepers, the scanCONTROL laser scanners can also be used as part of quality control. The process requires a high-speed, high-precision system with robust design, which the scanCONTROL scanners offer.

The implementation of advanced sensor technology such as the scanCONTROL has proven to deliver effectiveness and efficiency in the rail industry.

“As a leading company in sensors and instrumentation in Australia and New Zealand, Bestech Australia offers not only the product, but also technical support and complete turn-key solutions for test and measurement requirements in the industry.

We have more than 15 application engineers with various background to support you in understanding your applications and offer tailored solutions for your measuring requirements,” said Prationo.

scanCONTROL offers a simple yet effective solution for measuring track and rail wear.

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Below Rail & Track Infrastructure Phoenix The STRAIL system has been used since 1976.

Incorporating sustainability across the rail supply chain An innovative solution to level crossings and sleepers is one step towards making the entire rail supply chain sustainable.

Rail Express finds out.

innoSTRAIL provides safe and easy track access.

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Since mid-2019, the rail industry has seen a bump in passenger numbers as the flight shame movement has spread from Sweden to Europe, and then the globe.

Rail’s sustainability credentials are well known, in both the passenger and freight sectors. A freight train’s carbon dioxide emissions are one eighth of a truck, and one quarter of a freight barge, according to Ecotransit. Similarly, for a 1,000km journey from Berlin to Paris, a train emits a quarter of vehicle CO2 emissions and a fifth of plane CO2 emissions.

However, rail industry leaders are also recognising that the sector cannot rest on these laurels. The Railsponsible initiative, an alliance of procurement officers at major European rail organisations, aims to turn the entire rail supply chain green.

Their vision to have a “global railway industry where all suppliers have in place good ethical, social, environmental and business practices” is enabled by product innovators who can supply sustainable solutions at each point in the rail lifecycle.

One product putting this into action is STRAIL, distributed in Australia and New Zealand by Phoenix. The level crossing panels are made from a mixture of recycled and new rubber and are manufactured in Germany by rubber specialists KRAIBURG. Andrew Roseman director and

civil engineer at Phoenix explains how the products limit their impact on the environment.

“The goal to being sustainable in rail should be with economy, in material choice, and how materials are made. KRAIBURG prides itself on re-use of material whether it be processing rubber for panels or plastics for the sleepers. Limiting the use of new materials in production ensures a smaller footprint that the product is making on the environment,” he said.

In addition, when they reach the end of their life, the panels can be recycled and then reused in the rubber production process. These qualities make for a sustainable whole-of-life solution, which does not shirk on innovative design features.

“Being re-processed at the end of life essentially closes the loop fully, which is often missed by some products as their recycling is processed by third parties into alternative products, which have less or no demand,” said Roseman.

Able to be manufactured for any range of gauges, STRAIL is a modular system that can withstand high-frequented crossings and extreme weather conditions.

The system has been used globally since 1976 and in Australia for 30 years, with Australia having the largest number of crossings installed outside of Europe. It is designed to be easy to install, enabling

The veloSTRAIL system can benefit pedestrians, cyclists, and wheelchair users.

track maintenance without significant effort. One facet of the product is its corundum-embedded surface and bevelled edges, which maintains high skid resistance through whole of life and reduces noise and increasing comfort and safety for traffic using the crossing.

“The surface provides high levels of skid resistance with STRAIL’s unique process of embedding mineral grit into the panel surface, not just relying on surface texture than can wear down over the life of the crossing,” said Roseman.

Within the STRAIL range, in addition to the eponymous product, are the innoSTRAIL, and veloSTRAIL versions. The larger inner and outer panels in innoSTRAIL, which are independent of sleeper spacing, provide an economical solution. veloSTRAIL removes the flange groove, for the benefit of cyclists, wheelchair users, and pedestrians. The veloSTRAIL system is suitable for train speeds of up to 120km/h and the flangeway element can be replaced without removing the inner panel, improving the sustainability of the system. The veloSTRAIL and innoSTRAIL products also include the patented lock-tight system that ensures position stability in the case of diagonal traffic and prevents gaps from forming between the panels.

In addition to the level crossing

products, STRAIL also produces a sleeper made from secondary raw materials, STRAILway. The product continues the company’s commitment to the sustainable manufacturing of railway products and is 100 per cent recyclable.

Compared with traditional wooden sleepers, the STRAILway does not leak chemicals such as creosote into the environment, and can last for at least 50 years, compared with a 14-15-year life for hardwood timber sleepers. In addition, unlike other moulded sleepers, the

STRAILway is extruded, allowing for any length required, ideal for applications such as bridge transoms and turnout bearers.

Furthermore, the STRAILway sleepers can be handled and processed at site almost like timber sleepers, as they are able to be sawed, drilled, or plated without the risk of exposure to harmful fibres.

For each of their environmentally sound solutions, STRAIL and its partner in Australia – Phoenix Australia – supplies technical installation and maintenance training.

STRAILway can be handled similar to wooden sleepers, and without the risk of dangerous fibres.

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Below Rail & Track Infrastructure Manco Surveying specialist Chrisfil Tesoro removing the surveying markers on the first of two metro railway tunnels deep under Sydney Harbour.

Going in deep Utilising its extensive in-house expertise, Manco Rail was able to provide a unique solution to a challenging project.

Meeting the challenge of increasing rail services in cities where space is at a premium has led to more projects extending the capabilities of what is possible in major rail construction projects.

In Sydney, this has led to projects going underground, with the massive Sydney Metro project, Australia’s largest public transport infrastructure project, being built largely below the city.

According to Bryan Black, managing director of Manco Rail, this presents an opportunity for businesses such as his.

“With the degree of rail infrastructure projects occurring throughout the Southern Hemisphere, there is a real opportunity for rail equipment engineering companies to make a considerable investment in both time and

Sydney Metro will involve rail and track on twin 15.5km tunnels below the CBD.

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capital with innovative, efficiency enhancing plant, that enables contractors to improve productivity and performance by changing from traditional rail construction methodologies.”

While construction-related headlines have been dominated by the movements of the five tunnel boring machines above and below Sydney harbour, constructing a metro line largely underground has required suppliers and subcontractors to transform the delivery of systems to the project.

For Manco Rail, a project such as this fits into the company’s DNA as an OEM with the ability to innovate. Operating extensively throughout Australia and New Zealand, the company has extensive manufacturing facilities at three locations in New Zealand and an expanding operation at Wetherill Park, NSW.

In the case of Sydney Metro City and Southwest, it was these qualities that led the line-wide contractor, Systems Connect to select Manco. A joint venture between CPB Contractors and UGL, Systems Connect will deliver the laying of track, power, communications, and signalling equipment to the project between Chatswood and Bankstown. The project involves delivering rail and track on twin 15.5km tunnels between Chatswood, under Sydney Harbour, below the Sydney CBD, and on to Sydenham. It is here that Manco’s equipment comes into its own.

“Over the years, our equipment has ended up operating in rail tunnels by the very nature that most tunnels interface with a tunnel network of some sorts, whether it be due to terrain or underground stations to accommodate CBD or high density areas,” said Black.

Compounding the standard complexities of installing new track, the project is constrained by having only three major access points for equipment and materials along 31km of tunnels. In addition, gradients in the tunnels are steep, at 4.5 per cent, said Paul Ryan, senior project manager at Systems Connect.

“Construction within this tunnel environment is inherently complex. Access is limited, spaces are confined and grades are steeper. We worked with Manco Rail to custom design equipment that overcomes these challenges,” he said.

The particular equipment that Manco has provided for the Sydney Metro CBD and South West project are rail transfer equipment and sleeper-laying trailers.

The rail transfer equipment consists of two specially converted wheeled excavators equipped with material handling booms,

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automatic rail threading units, and rail carrying dollies.

The sleeper-laying trailers are equipped with a sleeper grab straddle, rail threader trailer, tug units, sonar detection systems, and a track guidance system fitted to the equipment.

Developed over 14 months, the customdesigned equipment lays the rail, spreads it out, places the sleepers, and then pulls the rail back over the top. The process of developing this one-of-a-kind equipment took a blank slate approach, said Black.

“The design and interface of each plant item has involved hundreds and hundreds of design hours. Utilising a highly competent team of young mechanical engineers tasked with starting with a ‘clean piece of paper, and fresh ideas’, brain storming meetings were held on a regular basis, where even the most radical concepts where discussed,” said Black.

“Ultimately, rational thinking prevailed, which – however – incorporated some of the vast array of available technologies, in electronics, motive power, hydraulics, fabrication materials and ergonomics.”

The entire process is radio remote controlled, crucially limiting the number of people in high-risk areas.

The Manco equipment will be used in two stages. First, it will lay the track components.

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mechanical and electrical systems and signalling equipment will be installed.

Afterwards, the Manco track-laying equipment will return, including wheel excavators, trailers, and tugs, to assist with concreting activities, and electrical and mechanical installations.

The confined nature of the working environment demands a sequential process, and Manco’s familiarity with working in railway tunnels led to the company being selected by Systems Connect for the complex project. Past work not only in Australia, but New Zealand, Hong Kong, Thailand, and Malaysia, enabled Manco to be selected as the subcontractor.

What was key in the relationship between Manco and Systems Connect was Manco’s ability to modify and custom design equipment for the particular project. The team collaborated to automate processes wherever possible and combine innovation with safety.

“Ensuring safety and optimising project delivery are priorities for Systems Connect,” said Ryan.

Manco’s extensive experience in rail construction was also important as Systems Connect required rail network certification.

A higher level of testing and compliance requirements were applied to the project, particularly due to the steep gradients in the tunnels. Manco’s previously experience in rail certification across Australia, as well as their

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ability to supply fully certified equipment prior to construction, led to the company being selected by Systems Connect. Manco’s knowledge of the rail sector enabled this requirement to be met.

“All equipment manufactured is designed around specific and well known standards.

Some standards are unique to rail and some to elevating personnel, suspended loads, and general operational safety,” said Black.

“Manco Rail has dedicated compliance officers that are specialists in their particular fields, be it, engineering quality, through to safety and the working environment approved emissions.”

A combination of innovation, safety, and proven capacity has seen Manco rail deliver on this major infrastructure project.

Manco’s extensive experience in rail construction was important as Systems Connect required rail network certification.

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Digitalisation TCMS

Digital innovation with a customer focus Joern Schlichting outlined how Germany’s digital rail program could solve demographic and environmental pressures.

Rather than seeing digitialisation as an end in itself, rail projects are using signalling technology to answer pressing questions.

Driving the digital transformation of industry are four levers – digital data, connectivity, automation, and digital customer access – according to global consultancy Roland Berger.

In the rail industry, these levers are being pulled, however instead of being an end in itself, the move towards digital rail is an enabler of a host of other improvements to services.

These outcomes were on display at the Train Control and Management Systems summit, held in Sydney from February 19 to 21.

While each individual project used its own combination of data, connectivity, automation, and digital customer access, the end outcome was driven by the industry need.

One of these projects is the Australian Rail Track Corporation’s (ARTC) Advanced Train

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Management System (ATMS). Although begun over a decade ago in 2008 with a proof of concept trial, as ARTC operation readiness manager – ATMS, Gary Evans described, the technology has been driven by its outcome and is nearing its first deployment in 2020.

“ATMS will bring improvements in our network rail capacity, operational flexibility, train service availability, transit times, and rail safety, and it will replace trackside signalling by providing precise locations of trains.”

While adopting virtual block authority management similar to other advanced train control systems, ATMS retains the trackside infrastructure.

“Trackside infrastructure is something ARTC does very well and the project monitors the environment, the occupancy of the points, so our system has track circuits over the

switches,” said Evans.

Across the ARTC network of 8,500km of track, interlocking between sections of signalling and track will be centralised.

“It’s a high-fidelity track database, it’s rated to Safety Integrity Level (SIL) 3 and it enables virtual block authority management.

The blocks within which the trains operate are usually a physical block and they are separated by signals, what we do with this system is that we can break it down into virtual, electronic blocks and currently, for the proof of concept we ran about 200m electronic blocks, the ones that we are using at the moment are 500m in length,” said Evans.

The new virtual block system will allow a granularity of control not previously possible.

“In terms of train operation, a train will

speed and speed limits in real time. Using location determination systems onboard the train, the system can alert a driver, operator, and controller if the train is exceeding limits.

Evans summarised the benefits of the ATMS system.

“Improved safety authority and speed level enforcement, improved trackside safety for trackside workers, increased rail capacity, improved service reliability, improving the structure of maintenance costs, more flexibility in the network, and safer management of trains.”

While Australia’s rail industry has been plagued by different technologies and standards in each state, the ARTC regards ATMS as a technology to synchronise rail control and management, for the benefit of the end user.

“ARTC’s customers traverse three states so it’s very important for us to take the lead and ATMS provides us a once in a lifetime opportunity to actually have a harmonised rule set,” said Evans.

Having this in place will allow for further innovations driven by the digitalisation of rail control.

“Future enhancements that we will work through is a path to semi automation or automation of operational systems, and integration with fuel and energy management systems.”

Having data on how a train is travelling will allow operators to more efficiently plan routes while identifying driving behaviours that increase fuel costs.

CREDIT: TRANSPORT FOR NSW

go through a physical block today every 20 minutes. A train that will go through this same infrastructure will probably consume in the order of eight of these electronic blocks but as it is moving through it will report back at 15 second intervals,” said Evans.

“ATMS is rated for four minute headways for 1,800m trains travelling at 115 km/h.”

While the technology in itself is a step forward for the control and management of train systems, the implementation of the ATMS and the use of the four levels of digital transformation is ultimately about delivering a service for the customer, in this case, freight operators across Australia. This has led to ATMS’s unique features. Having to serve a number of freight operators at various points throughout the freight network that stretches from Kalgoorlie to Newcastle, has led to interoperability being a key facet of ATMS. Retaining trackside infrastructure allows for unequipped train traffic to use the system, and the trainborne interface was developed in consultation with operators.

“We did a lot of work with the operators on the driver interface unit. The first one that was put in front of them was a European-style one, which was a dial type set up and we almost had a walkout of the operators because it didn’t give them a lot of information and it required them to be fixated with that dashboard wheras they wanted something that didn’t require that. We worked together collaborative to come up with the current system.”

The resulting interface gives drivers a 10km look ahead, and relays information on train

The newly opened ROC combines digital technology with a focus on the humans operating the system.

For example, rather than running at full speed through a section of track before coming to a complete stop at a signal, freight drivers can be told the optimum speed to travel to reach that signal as it turns green. Looking further afield, ATMS could lead to driveronly operation. In these cases, digital rail is not so much about the technology itself, but the enhancements that can come from its implementation.

“ARTC wants to be an enabler for its customers and not a disabler,” said Evans.

The ARTC is investing in digital rail solution to provide better services for its customers.

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Digitalisation TCMS

Updating signalling can be an enabler for a range of other advances.

DIGITALISATION AS A SOLUTION TO DEMOGRAPHIC, ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES As Australian rail infrastructure managers and operators adopt their local digital systems, international examples provide guidance on the motivations and outcomes of digitalisation programs. Perhaps none are more comprehensive than the digital rail system being rolled out across all of Germany’s 33,000km of rail. Beginning with the trans-European corridor, the Stuttgart S-Bahn and specified high speed lines, Joern Schlichting, head of the ETCS program at Deutsche Bahn (DB), outlined the significance of the project.

“In terms of automatic train operation (ATO) and ETCS, this is the future. That means fundamentally, a new rail system.”

According to Schlichting, Germany’s existing rail control system was performing sufficiently, and not reaching obsolescence.

This made the attractiveness of the business case for adopting ETCS, however penalties within the agreement with other EU member states overcame that.

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“The projected penalties would have been at least €1 billion if we didn’t equip these corridors. So, the German government said if we have to spend €1bn on penalties or equipment, let’s spend it on equipment.”

This presented an opportunity for DB and its rail infrastructure arm, DB Netz to rethink how the adoption of ETCS could be a further enabler for other issues the rail network was facing.

“Why not stop to think about how could we make the best out of it?”

This approach enabled DB to utilise the digital rail technology to confront two critical issues facing the sector – a demographic exodus and a modal shift from road to rail to reduce carbon emissions.

“What we found that is as long as we talked about ETCS as a technology issue in terms of replacing one thing by another thing there was no business case. As soon as we started to think about what the real business drivers are – what are our threats – then we found out our demographic issue is one of the worst,” said Schlichting.

In 2011, DB estimated that in the next 10-

15 years, 50 per cent of mission-critical staff will retire. Replacing this staff cohort with a younger generation would require a rethink of the type of work train operators would be doing, particularly in regards to legacy systems such as interlockings.

“With these old interlockings, we have one maintenance area where we have 18 generations of interlockings, so you can imagine it’s a nightmare for people working there to be able to maintain them.”

Moving to digital systems would overcome this legacy issue and enable a younger, digital-native generation to easily fit into the systems and ways of working.

“Actually ETCS is more of an enabler. ETCS is a tool in order to bring about a completely new redesign of the rail system,” said Schlichting.

The other element that digitalisation could go towards is the relative carbon footprint of transport in Germany. Although Germany has committed to a 95 per cent carbon reduction by 2050, transport has been a sector that has been stubborn in reducing its emissions, falling by only 0.6 per cent between 1990

“language”. Once the system and vehicles are talking to each other in this language, then further technology improvements can be introduced when the users demand it, just like new vocabulary.

and 2018, compared to energy which dropped by 33 per cent. The magnitude of the task is not lost on Schlichting.

“We have to move transport from road to rail, so that means we need to create the capacity, but in the past our network has been shrinking.”

Driven by cost cutting directives, DB has reduced its workforce from 120,000 to 40,000 in the past 15 years and has also torn up tracks and points. However, now the system is required to double passenger traffic by 2030, and cargo traffic by 30 per cent. Digitalisation and the improvement of signalling thus becomes a way to increase the shrinking system’s capacity.

“How can we do this with an existing network that has been shrinking in the past and without having any money at the time for loads of new lines?” asked Schlichting. “Digitising it is the chance to create more traffic.”

At the core of this digitalisation push is the adoption of ETCS technology, common across Europe, which with a focus on outcomes, Schlichting describes as a

DESIGNING A CUSTOMER FOCUS INTO RAIL OPERATIONS In some ways, Sydney Trains is experiencing a similar issue to DB, albeit on a smaller scale, as population pressures and urban development cause more Sydneysiders to use the network. As the acting executive director, Digital Systems Business Integration (DSBI) at Sydney Trains, Andrew Constantinou sees these impacts in the operations of the network.

“Increased patronage effectively translates into our ability to create more services and our ability to create reliable services and that’s where the ROC plays into.”

The Rail Operations Centre (ROC) is a new, purpose-built building in Alexandria, Sydney which has brought together the rail management centre, the infrastructure control centre, security monitoring facility and two signal boxes, covering most of the geography of Sydney Rail. A customer and operator demand for precise, accurate information has led to the streamlining of operations into one centre and finiding a way to simplify communications.

“Part of the scope is to develop a new concept of operations,” said Constantinou.

“We have introduced a new incident management system that took away a lot of those phone calls, and developed a dashboard so that all areas in the ROC can understand what is the mission for that particular incident and who is dealing with what priorities.”

In this case, the digital systems that were built into the ROC had to be designed with the end user in mind, the rail operator, and to minimise disruptions on the network.

“It really starts with bringing all your people together. We started with seven design principles and I focus on the top two – collaboration and communication – because if you can build a high-performing control room floor that fosters good communication and good collaboration, you start ticking the other boxes which are underneath it,” said Constantinou.

While individual controllers’ roles were driven by the train systems they were operating, the human demands of communication were paramount.

“We looked at what communication happened. So what communication happened face to face, on the control room

floor, over the telephone, and through various subsystems?

“We did that two-fold. We did that in normal mode and we did that in degraded mode. That gave us an idea around who spoke to whom and when did they speak to whom,” said Constantinou.

Ahead of designing the space, Constantinou’s team conducted a role matrix to see where the patterns in operations were, particularly in degraded mode.

With the Sydney Trains network compressing from 15 lines across the suburban network into six in the CBD, getting those critical staff together would be key for functional communication.

“We were able to say 50 roles in network operations were similar and should be sitting next to each other,” said Constantinou. “We quickly worked out which ones were the more critical to operations, which of those roles needed more supervision, which should be configured in a way that they have more supervision around them, and that led to a functional link analysis to understand if there were any functional commonality in the roles.”

With these findings, operations staff were then given a VR headset so that they could inspect the draft design and see how it fitted with their behaviour.

“We set up outside every control centre with a basic fit out where people would come in and put on the masks. They would walk around the desks and the control room floor and we would take every comment down to see how we could respond to it,” said Constantinou.

Following this was trial runs in defined scenarios, such as a tree falling over a rail corridor and a train colliding with the tree.

“You can see the phone calls that go in from the driver to the area controller and the different colours are typically people who would’ve been located in different control centres,” said Constantinou.

“They would’ve, through situational awareness, overheard the conversation because they’re sitting at the right proximity, or they would’ve been able to swing around and talk to these people.

“If you start doing the maths, it’s all the way from a two minute to a 10-minute saving threading through that scenario, so it’s good to know we can save time,” said Constantinou.

At the newly designed ROC, which opened in mid 2019, data, connectivity, and customer access came together, however with the outcome determined by the end user, not the technology itself.

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Intermodal 4Tel

Celebrating 20 Years 4Tel was founded in March 2000 by Derel and Sue Wust as a telecommunications consultancy and has since grown into a leading transport software company.

Now celebrating 20 years of operation, 4Tel has evolved to be a multifunctional software and hardware business with business across many transport sectors in Australia and internationally.

After 20 years in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Derel drew on his skills to create a business that now employees over 50 staff. Throughout the years, Derel and the management team - Mark Wood, Graham Hjort, Tony Crosby, and most recently, daughter Joanne Wust - have expanded 4Tel services into sectors such as heavy rail (above and below rail operators), light rail, ports, ferries, mines, coaches/buses, and government transport agencies. With the expansion into different sectors, 4Tel’s suite of software has expanded immensely.

4Tel’s journey started with a goal for creating software that would digitise administrative processes, which led to improvements in the way clients manage their transport networks, primarily through the “simple” function of tracking moving assets. With the commissioning of 4Trak in 2008, 4Tel has enhanced productivity for major transport and logistics organisations across Australia. 4Trak gives staff the ability to optimise operational decisions faster through greater network-wide situational awareness, and provides simplified communication paths to remotely located assets and personnel. Knowing the real-time location of trains, vehicles and staff in the rail corridor allows operations staff to monitor delays and issues for better management, customer service delivery, and report on the network performance through automated reporting.

4Tel’s has an overall goal of “protecting people and assets”, and following this, the team has delivered a suite of innovative software.

This portfolio has expanded to include the following: • HORUS is the all-seeing eye of the rail corridor. 4Tel first looked to artificial intelligence and machine learning for enhancing its 4Trak location assurance for multi-track territory. Having achieved that far quicker than expected, the team was exposed to many new opportunities in detecting hazards both in the corridor and the health of the infrastructure.

The family business has reached a significant milestone.

• 4 PTW is a work-on-track access application that improves the process of securing track access, reducing voice communication errors, enforcing accreditation, and increasing the productivity capability of network controllers.

Application versions include TfNSW’s & John Holland Rail’s Country Regional Network ETW App, and ARTC’s eTAP App. • 4Port – a port network management software application that enables operators to monitor and record large sets of data regarding truck movements and container lifts for stevedoring operations.

• 4PIDS is a passenger information display suite which includes station display screen interfaces, station staff app, customer help and information displays, back office systems and output to third-party app developers or government agencies.

• 4Site which is a system which communicates with remote infrastructure to check and report on their operating health. What has resulted from the use of this software is that clients have been able to better utilise field staff and reduce the risk of repetitive and dangerous field inspections.

• 4Trip which is a comprehensive transport planning software solution for creating and managing service running timetables, including the ability to day-of-operations amendments.

• 4LRMS is 4Tel’s Light Rail Management Solution. This SCADA system is used for

signalling control of a modern metropolitan light rail network.

This list of innovations joins a suite of over 23 intellectual property proprietary systems.

In 2012, JHR was awarded the Operations and Maintenance contract for the New South Wales CRN and 4Tel was sub-contracted to design, construct, and commission the train control systems. Since then and together with JHR, 4Tel has created many technological enhancements: • The TMACS electronic authorities to digitise previously paper-based train orders. This enhancement has improved the safety and efficiency of train operations without needing to add hardware to any rollingstock.

• Proximity reminder system which utilises the onboard ICE radio to warn a driver of a train or hi-rail vehicle of an approaching authority limit. This improves the driver situational awareness and has proven to reduce the likelihood of an out of authority event.

• The track work application ETW, which digitised track worker access to the network.

The app is interlocked into the control system so that both the protection officer and the network controller have a single source of truth regarding the location and information of the worksite.

With these achievements in only 20 years, 4tel is looking towards continuing to provide innovative digital solutions to the rail sector in Australia and around the globe.

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Safety & Assurance RISSB

The National Operations Publications In its ongoing efforts to standardise rail safety, RISSB has released a new resource for industry.

Last month RISSB reached a milestone in its work towards harmonising rail operations throughout Australia with the online publication of a set of documents that contain safe working instructions for Rail Transport Operators (RTOs) – The National Operations Publications.

The National Operations Publications webpage contains both the Operational Concept for the Australian Rail Network (the Concept) and the National Rules Framework (the Framework).

The Concept contains seven fundamental operating principles and provides the highest level of incident prevention for all RTO’s: The seven principles are: • R ail traffic must maintain safe separation via an appropriate method of signalling; • Before any rail traffic is allowed to start or continue moving, it must have an authority to move that clearly indicates the limit of that authority; • Rail traffic and other transport modes must be separated, or the interface managed; • Rail traffic must be prevented from moving if the infrastructure’s integrity is suspected to be in an unsafe state; • Rail traffic must be prevented from moving if the rail traffic’s integrity is suspected to be in an unsafe state; • Rail traffic must only operate on compatible infrastructure; and • Safe separation must be maintained between people and rail traffic.

Rail Safety National Law requires RTO’s to demonstrate consideration of risk in all rail operations, that consideration includes the application or exclusion of risk controls. RISSB recognises that in a risk-based co-regulatory environment, every RTO has their own list of hazards and a unique risk profile and to that end, RTO’s implement operational rules.

The National Rules Framework consists

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Based on seven fundamental principles, the Publications attempt to provide high standards of incident prevention.

of rules based on the seven fundamental operating principles, which are nationally applicable within the Australian rail industry.

Each rule within the Framework has been mapped to one of seven fundamental operating principles providing RTOs with a logical progression for hazard and “top events” identification.

The Framework provides industry with a nationally consistent approach to the creation of risk-based operational rules and procedures.

The National Rules Framework: • Incorporates nationally applicable rules to cover rail operations and alignment to specific roles within rail operations; • Contains content derived from the Australian National Rule and Procedures to ensure each rule meets the intent of a set of rail operation principles; • Incorporates new technology to ensure that it is captured in the Framework; and • Demonstrates traceability to the associated risks for which the rule is providing guidance on mitigation.

In the coming months, RISSB will continue to refine the Framework by: • Reconvening the National Rules Advisory Group; • Consulting with senior executives of RISSB members; • Conducting industry workshops to identify opportunities for harmonisation; • Identifying and drawing upon on those rules and procedures, which currently remain, within the ANRP and can be refined to a

nationally applicable; and • G aining commitment from its members, to move towards national harmonisation and interoperability.

The following diagram illustrates the conceptual relationship and traceability between documents within the National Operations Publications and those within an RTO’s network rules.

Members seeking to help refine the Framework, or requiring assistance in the training and application of the Framework within their organisation, should contact RISSB for further information.

To access the National Rules Framework and the Operational Concept for the Australian Rail Network, RISSB members should visit www.rissb. com.au/products-main/national-operations.

Industry Associations RTAA

Wearing a commitment to safety In its column, the RTAA outlines its current intiatives in rail track innovation and safety.

Welcome to 2020! Last year ended on a high note with the AusRAIL Plus Conference and Exhibition in Sydney attracting over 7,500 visitors and delegates. The RTAA held its own technical stream as part of the AusRail program with a strong line up of excellent presentations on track construction and operation, asset maintenance, turnout, safety, and rail head management.

The RTAA Yellow Tie Dinner was the highlight of the conference with a record attendance of over 1,350 guests. A new addition this year was the silent auction of the RTAA One Less Dress. This one-of-a-kind dress was made by Erika Barnes from over 50 yellow silk ties for the rail safety cause with proceeds from the auction donated directly to the TrackSAFE Foundation. Gary Davey of JMD Railtech Group provided the winning bid.

The One Less Dress was officially unveiled at JMDR’s Sydney Office on 13 February 2020.

The new decade promises to be a big

Dilip Goyal, Danny Broad, Erika Barnes, and Gary Davey.

one for the Australian rail industry. This year the RTAA has returned with new vigour and enthusiasm for the year ahead and is focused on working collaboratively with public and private entities as well as other technical societies to make rail more inclusive for everyone, grow our national footprint, promote knowledge sharing, foster collaboration, and be sustainable.

To support this focus, we have elected a new and diverse leadership team comprised of amazing men and women working in rail • Thomas Kerr – president • Jonathan Barnes – vice president • Orla O’Sullivan – vice president • Kieran Navin – treasurer • Abbie Thomas – secretary • Laurena Basutu – marketing manager We’ve planned some great events and initiatives for this year beginning with the RTAA Annual Dinner co-hosted with RTSA. Pete Church, head of rail delivery at Transport for NSW will be the function’s special guest.

The RTAA returned this year with new vigour and enthusiasm.

Also, nominations for the Emerging Rail Specialist Award are now open. This award has evolved from the Frank Franklyn Young Rail Specialist Award, which was first established in 2008 in honour of the great Francis Gustave Franklyn who passed that year. Francis was the chief civil engineer in NSW, for eight years through the 1980s, was the RTAA vice president and is an Honorary Life Member of the RTAA. The new award has developed out of a need to be more modern and relevant to today’s audience and environment. It recognises and encourages the contribution of emerging rail specialists in the early stages of their career within the rail industry and attempts to be more inclusive by not making age a limiting factor. The winner of the Emerging Rail Specialist Award will be presented at the Australasian Rail Industry Awards (ARIA) on 2 July 2020 in Melbourne.

For more information on RTAA activities, events and initiatives in 2020 contact: businessmanager@rtaa.org.au or follow the RTAA on social media Twitter: @RailTAA , LinkedIn: @Rail Track Association Australia – RTAA and Facebook: @RailTAA.

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Industry Associations ARA

ARA receives latest industry gender diversity figures CEO of the Australasian Railway Association (ARA) Caroline Wilkie talks about how far gender diversity has come in the rail industry.

The ARA has just received the results of the 2018-19 Gender Diversity survey of the rail industry. The results are encouraging in that they show an improvement in gender diversity since the last survey, but there is still more to do to meet national workforce averages.

The ARA last conducted this survey two years ago for the 2016-17 year. Survey data was collected at the organisational level to report on employees throughout rail and its supply chains. All information was deidentified with only high-level aggregated data made available.

The results show: • Women make up 27 per cent of the rail workforce, a 6 per cent improvement from 21 per cent reported in 2016-17; • Women hold 22 percent of managerial positions, up from 19 per cent in 2016-17 but substantially lower than the national workforce average Women’s participation in rail has improved overall, Wilkie says.

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of 39 per cent; • W omen make up 21 percent of the full-time workforce – up from 18 per cent in 2016-17, but well below the national full-time workforce average of 38 per cent; • Women make up 60 per cent of the parttime workforce – up from 56 per cent in 2016-17 and substantially higher than the national average of 25 per cent; • Women make up 25 per cent of the casual workforce – well below the national average of 56 per cent; • Women made up 31 per cent of new appointments around the same level as in 2016-17; 28 per cent of all promotions, up from 20 per cent in 2016-17; and 25 per cent of resignations, down from 29 per cent in 2016-17.

From these figures we can conclude that improvements have been made in women’s level of participation in rail overall, in

Caroline Wilkie, ARA CEO.

management and full-time work since the last survey, but still lags well below national averages on women’s employment in these categories.

The survey also asked about women’s representation on governing bodies.

Women made up on average 16 per cent respondents of governing bodies. Ten per cent of respondents indicated that they have set targets to increase women’s representation on their governing bodies.

A key issue then is what has caused these improvements.

Eight-six per cent of respondents have formal policies or strategies in place that specifically support gender diversity. Over half of all respondents have specific recruitment policies or strategies to improve the gender balance in their organisation.

Seventy-four per cent of respondents have formal policies for flexible working arrangements, and the availability of flexible workplace arrangements increased considerably for respondents in rail from 2016-17 to 2018-19.

Improving gender diversity in the rail workforce has been an increasing focus of rail companies in recent years. The reasons are

The ARA is working on a strategy with four focus areas to support gender diversity in the industry.

varied. For some it is about recognising that it is the right thing to do, and that a workforce should represent the society in engages with, whilst to others is about improving organisational performance.

For many rail operators it is necessary to address the impacts of an ageing and male-dominated workforce in an era of skills shortages and for others it is about being perceived as an “employer of choice”, recruiting and retaining talented employees.

The significant growth that the Australian rail industry is now undergoing provides the perfect opportunity to advance this change, and companies are taking advantage.

In 2017, the ARA developed a Women in Rail Strategy in collaboration with member companies to support gender diversity in the industry. The strategy has four focus areas.

The first is related to the attraction and promotion of women in rail. Under the premise that “You can’t be what you can’t see,” during 2019 ARA gathered and publicised on our social media channels a number of empowering stories of how women and men working in our industry promote gender diversity in their spheres of influence.

The second is improved networks. The

Women made up on average 16 per cent respondents of governing bodies. Ten per cent of respondents indicated that they have set targets to increase women’s representation on their governing bodies.

ARA has been hosting a number of Women in Rail lunches to member companies and their employees, offering opportunities to hear from experts and industry leaders while offering networking opportunities. These have been well attended and offered women new networks.

The third focus area is retention. The link between the mentoring programs and staff retention has been well established.

In 2019, ARA piloted a Women in Rail Mentoring Program, offering mentoring and leadership support to over 40 women working throughout the industry and around the country. The program review received extremely positive feedback, and the program is being held again this year.

The final area was National Benchmarking.

The ARA conducted a gender diversity survey in 2016-17 to collate diversity data to provide a greater understanding of the nature of gender diversity in rail.

A full report and summary Report Card is available at ara.net.au Many rail organisations are at different stages along the diversity and inclusion journey, and while much of the responsibility and initiatives are at an employer level, the ARA is seeking to support its members where it can provide value at a whole of industry level.

The ARA will take the results of the survey and engage with member companies to inform the next iteration of its strategy.

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Industry Associations ALC

Summer events show need for resilience focus Kirk Conningham, CEO of the Australian Logistics Council, outlines how the effects of this summer will continue to be felt in the freight rail sector.

Australian Logistics Council CEO, Kirk Conningham.

It is reasonable to say that many Australians have experienced a challenging beginning to 2020, and the flow-on effects are likely to affect our industry in a variety of ways over the months ahead.

The bushfires that burned through vast swathes of the continent had a devastating impact on families, local communities, and businesses. The immediate scale of the tragedy is recorded in lives and homes lost and understandably, that is where the initial focus of recovery efforts has been.

Yet in some respects, that is only the beginning of the story. With the fires now extinguished and the immediate physical threat having passed, it is becoming apparent that recovery efforts – and the cost of those efforts – will be significant.

These costs will include significant repairs that will have to be undertaken to repair damaged transport infrastructure.

Throughout the early weeks of this year, ALC has been participating in regular industry discussions convened by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Transport,

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Infrastructure and Regional Development, Michael McCormack, which are focused on providing industry advice and assistance to the federal government in shaping its recovery response to the fire crisis.

What was already a difficult beginning to 2020 is now being further compounded by the challenges associated with the coronavirus.

As in the case of the fires, the initial focus is on protecting lives through containment and quarantine efforts. Yet, as with the fires, once the immediate threat is contained, there will be significant economic effects to consider.

Australia’s freight rail sector plays a crucial role in getting imported freight to customers, as well as transporting Australian products to the point of export.

The disruptive effects of an episode like the coronavirus have obvious flow-on effects across the whole supply chain – and these will need to be managed effectively and responsibly.

Over recent weeks, experts have warned that the ongoing restrictions on the movement of goods and people in China – our largest trading partner – are likely

Natural disasters will have an ongoing impact on Australia’s freight networks.

to adversely impact Australia’s agricultural exports. The effects are also being felt in other export sectors, including minerals and resources.

On the other side of the coin, restrictions on the departure of vessels from China means those importing goods to Australia – and road transport businesses which supply them – are also likely to feel a slowdown.

Improving the resilience of Australia’s supply chains to withstand the effects of natural disasters and international events was clearly identified in the National Freight and Supply Chain Strategy released last year.

It was a theme echoed in the 2020 Infrastructure Priority List released by Infrastructure Australia in February.

The updated list placed a renewed emphasis on enhancing the capacity of national infrastructure to cope with disruptive events – whether they be as a result of natural disasters or through other unexpected events such, as global epidemics or terrorism.

The early part of 2020 was a powerful demonstration of why our governments must join with industry in acting more urgently to address that challenge.

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