Luigi Rossi PSM, BEng (Civil), MIEAust

Executive Director, Asset Management Engineering & Project

Delivery

Public Transport Services

Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure

Government of South Australia

Australasian Railway Association

Telecommunications and Train Control

Conference 11 August 2014

● Unprecedented complexity, managing an interface of 11 sub-

projects, 9 lead contractors and more than 100 sub-contractors.

● Safety, environmental and stakeholder impacts accomplished in the

context of significant vegetation clearance, drainage upgrades, and

a national freight service which remained operational through the

long and restricted worksite during construction.

● The program was delivered via a comprehensive interface

management plan, the utilisation of purpose built machinery,

engineering solutions based on a sound understanding of existing

geotechnical conditions and the successful working relationship

between hundreds of technically experienced design engineers,

project managers and contractors.

South Australia

35.9km

21.5km

21.9km

35.9km

● Goodwood Junction Upgrade

● Seaford Rail Extension

● Two new railway stations at Wayville and St Clair

● Track upgrades on the Noarlunga (now Seaford) and Belair lines

● Electrification of the Noarlunga (now Seaford) and Tonsley lines

● Signalling and Communications

● New electric trains and Automated Train Protection System

● Tonsley Park Public Transport Project

● Marion Pedestrian Crossing

● Tenders called for electrification of the Gawler line to Salisbury

Rail Revitalisation in 2012-14

Interface management

Possession management of the rail corridor

Safety assurance and legistation

● Strict National Rail

Safety Law

● Stringent safety regime

in the rail corridor

● Each project developed

its Safety Case

● Access for the public,

contractors and

maintenance work was

strictly controlled

● Awareness of electrical

safety for staff,

contractors, service

providers

● Public awareness

campaign extensive

Stakeholder management

● Residents, businesses,

contractors, public

transport providers, the

Australian Rail Track

Corporation and local

councils all had

diverging priorities,

different access and

environmental needs

and budget constraints.

Email and social media brings a new age

of consultation and public interaction.

Program and interface management

Day by day staging example

The only way in which this program was able to be delivered was:

● via the implementation of a comprehensive interface

management plan

● the utilisation of purpose built machinery

● engineering solutions which were based on a sound

understanding of existing geotechnical conditions

● the successful working relationship between hundreds of

technically experienced design engineers, project managers and

contractors

Strategic joint leadership team

Strategic joint leadership team

Station upgrades

● Hallett Cove Beach before and after.

166 km of track upgraded

● 300 000 guage convertible concrete sleepers ordered and track

upgraded on Belair line, followed by Gawler and later Noarlunga.

Materials recycled and donated

Duplicating the Tonsley Junction

enabled us to donate the

turnouts that we replaced to

allow the SteamRanger to

contruct an additional passing

loop at Middleton

Adelaide Showground Station

First electric railcar delivery – 19 July 2013

Goodwood Junction Upgrade

● Trains on the interstate line used to give way to passenger

trains, causing significant delays to both freight trains and road

traffic.

● The upgrade consists of a 615m underpass for the electrified

Seaford line to go beneath the Belair line and ARTC freight line,

with a 12m wide bridge deck constructed across 65m of the

underpass.

● Realignment of the ARTC freight line and Belair passenger line

● 1 in 100 year flood capacity for Brown Hill Creek channel and

significant stormwater and sewer improvements.

● Pedestrian crossings upgraded to activated crossings, and a 3m

shared use path has been incorporated.

● Community input into landscaping resulted in significant trees

being designed around, and a community wildlife (nesting box)

project established.

Goodwood Junction Upgrade

Seaford Rail Extension

Installation of a new signalling system

● A new state-of-the-art Seaford line signalling system was fully commissioned

on 12 December 2013. The new Tonsley line signalling system was fully

commissioned on 24 April 2014.

● The new lineside signalling features low energy LED signals which greatly

improve driver visibility, a computerised signalling system to improve reliability,

and fibre optic communications to ensure compatibility with the new overhead

electrification system. It includes new computer controlled equipment and

running optic fibres for South Australia’s Broadband Research and Education

Network (SABRENET), linking major research and education sites in Adelaide.

● A new train control system is being installed across the entire network, as well

as a train protection system for Seaford and Belair line trains.

● The biggest challenge with the installation of the new signalling system has

been integrating it with the existing network that was built around 30 years

ago. This system is still in operation on the Gawler, Belair and Outer Harbor

lines.

The Challenge: Award a contract to Invensys and Siemens in Oct 2012

for completion in January 2014.

Installation of a new signalling system

Installation of a new signalling system

● Communications play a critical and significant role in any railway

as it is fundamental to the safe, efficient and effective operation

of the railway. The new, highly advanced fibre optic backbone

network that has been built carries numerous networks over it,

for example:

– Signalling

– Passenger Information

– Traction SCADA

– CCTV

– Alarms

– Signalling Power SCADA

●

● The network has redundancies, thus allowing the railway to

operate unimpeded during faults in the communications system.

Signalling and telecommunications

● Safety and teamwork was critical to the success of the Rail

Revitalisation program. The importance of constant liasion between

the various project teams cannot be underestimated and was

paramount to it's success.

● Safety was constantly monitored and improved upon whenever

there were any incidents (of which there were very few, and

because of this approach they were then only very minor). We are

very proud of our safety record.

● In addition it cannot be stressed enough the importance of liasing

effectively and constantly with the railway operators in order to gain

safe access to the rail corridor.

● Through collaboration and determination we were able to overcome

these challenges and achieve our objectives.

Overcoming the challenges

Adelaide’s first electric passenger service