Train location systems

Location TRAIN SYSTEMS

CLIVE KESSELL

Knowing a train’s location is a vital piece of information in the control of train movements - one that has existed almost since railways were first born.

In the earliest of days, time interval working was used, where trains were dispatched at set times in the hope that the second train would not catch up with the first, but, after a few nasty accidents, something else was needed. Thus, a form of train location system was devised.

Advances in technology over the years have led to a number of systems being developed. These can be listed as: » Absolute Block Working - a train’s location is known to be between two adjacent signalboxes, often several miles apart. » Track Circuits - the rail-wheel device that will detect the presence of a train by the wheels providing a short circuit across the rails. Track circuits can vary in distance and can be hundreds of metres in length, so the train location is only known between the track circuit ends. » Axle Counters - a more-reliable replacement for track circuits. However, they also can often count in and out over a long section of track. » Induction Loops - two wires laid out between the rails, with periodic crossover positions, to give reference locations. They constantly transmit information to and from the train, usually associated

Rail Engineer | Issue 183 | April 2020 with Automatic Train Operation (ATO). » Satellite Tracking - technology derived from military and automotive systems, where a train aerial constantly receives the geographical location and displays this either to the driver or is transmitted onwards to a control office. Does not work in tunnels or other covered areas. » Camera Images -a forward-facing camera ‘compares’ the actual image of a train’s position against images held in a reference data base. The resultant position can be transmitted to a control office. » Acoustic Sensing - A train’s vibration pattern as it progresses its journey is picked up by lineside sensing equipment, usually a fibre optic cable. The resultant change in optical patterns will constantly detect a train’s presence and speed. All of these have strengths and weaknesses. The original requirement of interfacing with the signalling equipment to allow the clearance of signals or the setting of routes is clearly vital in terms of safety, so such devices are invariably SIL4 rated (safety integrity level 4).

There is also a need to ensure that a train is complete (that a coupling has not

broken) and the safety-based location devices achieve this. However, these devices are less able to provide the precise position of a train as it journeys forward.

With the ever-increasing demand both to optimise performance and to make expert judgements on re-timing trains when things go wrong, knowing the exact position and speed of a train at any point in time becomes essential, especially when penalty payments are involved. This requirement has resulted in the adoption of modern technology that feeds performance systems rather than safety applications.

There is also the cost factor. Infrastructure providers and train operators want value for money and, if modern technology systems prove to be significantly cheaper than the traditional detection devices, then they are likely to be adopted.

To try and bring all these factors into a single perspective, the Institution of Railway Signal Engineers organised a webinar in late February, during which suppliers could present their products and vision. It proved to be a fascinating session, if only to demonstrate the difficult choices that have to be made.

Track circuits and axle counters

Track circuits have been around for decades and have progressed from simple DC battery-fed circuits with insulated rail joints, through AC power-fed circuits of 50Hz, 125Hz and 331/2Hz frequencies to provide immunisation from traction systems, to higher-frequency devices that enable tuned circuits to be established and eliminate the need for rail joints.

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Rated as SIL4, they are high up in the list of safety requirements and will be around for many years yet.

However, the variable resistance of track ballast in wet and dry conditions, as well as the vulnerability of the wired connections to damage by on-track machines, make for reliability problems. Richard Hinson from London Underground stated that track circuits were the biggest cause of all failures in the signalling equipment portfolio. This situation, coupled with problems in obtaining spare relays for the older-generation equipment, suggests that track circuits are no longer the favoured system for train location requirements.

Axle counters are the logical alternative. Equally troublesome when first introduced several years ago, design and configuration improvements now make them the system of choice when safety considerations dominate. Early problems with miscounts and the lengthy time for resets to restore normal operation have largely been overcome by the building in of intelligence features that distinguish between a train and an unwanted disturbance. Modern designs are clamped to the rails rather than bolted to them, which would require the rails to be drilled, in an improvement that meets with approval from track engineers.

Manfred Sommergruber from Frauscher described the mechanical strengthening that has been built-in to the company’s latest product (SENSiS) to combat climate change, dirt ingress, flooding, rail hammering effect and deliberate vandalism. Connecting axle counters to the signalling system has been made easier with the adoption of digitisation

Rail Engineer | Issue 183 | April 2020 and the replacement of relay interfaces with a serial data-stream. Not only does this make the device more reliable, but it enables more information to be provided, such as wheel diameter and temperature. Improved diagnostics and the opportunity to use a radio connection are there for the taking, but, if landlines are preferred, connecting all axle counters within an area onto a data ring allows for continuous operation should a cable break occur.

As indicated earlier, both track circuits and axle counters have the disadvantage of only knowing a train’s location between two specific points.

Acoustic sensing

Realisation that pulses of light within a fibre optic cable could detect local vibration and thuds occurred several

years ago. Detecting rock falls was an initial application, but, since then, the technology has been developed to provide a means of detecting trains. An injected light source on to a dark fibre will see a marginal change in the refractive index where any disturbance takes place. The time taken for this ‘back scatter’ to get back to the source enables the distance to be calculated.

The processing by a tracking algorithm has advanced to enable more intelligence to be obtained from the reflected pulses, according to Kevin Tribble from Sensonic, and the latest systems are capable of measuring both train location and speed with interfaces to traffic management systems (TMS) and customer information systems (CIS). Installations exist worldwide, including on Network Rail and London Underground.

Several factors need to be understood for an acoustic system to be deployed: » Fibre location (always assuming a fibre cable already exists and has spare fibres within it) and its installation method - buried, in troughing, laid on the surface; » Calibration as to knowing the fibre to track distances and whether fibre spools exist in joints; » Classification as to train mass, speed and size limits, plus performance variables across the tracks. Ongoing development continues to improve interpretation of the fibre disturbance, resulting in a higher dynamic range that can detect wheel flats, detection of track conditions including

broken rails and, most importantly, which track a train is on. The approach has changed from being quantitative to qualitative, and it is foreseen that acoustic sensing will be able to augment ETCS positioning information. The system clearly has much promise and may be able to fulfil both safety and precise location requirements.

Camera imaging

With many trains now equipped with a forward-facing camera for security purposes, can this camera be used to identify a train’s location? For some time, Richard Shenton from RDS International has been developing the Valise system (Virtual Balise), where the real-time picture is compared to a stored picture, thus producing a location position. Being entirely train-based and with the camera already installed, this offers a low-cost solution to the challenge but there are potential drawbacks to be addressed. To have a full and continuous CCTV picture all of the time would require massive amounts of data to be processed. Instead, the stored picture is reduced to a ‘fingerprint’, containing just the essential information needed for the location algorithm. The reduction is around 1000 times, allowing the whole rail network to be contained in a few gigabytes of storage. The small ‘fingerprints’ allow the live picture to be matched to a stored image in real time on a low-cost computer.

In addition, the fingerprinting process provides the robustness to match locations in changing environmental conditions. Weather conditions, including snow, are claimed not to be a problem

as sufficient similarity exists between real and stored images. Of course, track remodelling would need the stored image to be updated, so an element of re-work will always be necessary.

Trial results for identifying the correct track from a single image indicate the following performance: » Normal daylight including rain - 99% » Night-time usage - 92.5% » Snow in normal daylight - 75% Results from a number of image matches are used to achieve the required level of confidence. For ‘along track accuracy’ the position is within 50cm for 68 per cent of the time and two metres for 99.7 per cent of the time.

Confidence and usage would need to be gained incrementally, starting initially with non-safety situations working up to the possibility of SIL2 applications, such as door closure and speed supervision. Compared with GPS, the system has the advantage of knowing which track a train is on.

Trials are currently underway at a location in the UK and a fuller article on the system may appear in due course. For use of the positioning information outside the train, any such production system would need the means to transmit the location data to where it is needed.

Satellite tracking

With SatNav systems regarded as a normal part of road vehicle equipment, how suitable are satellite systems for train location purposes? Vincent Passau from Alstom gave details of the EU-backed 2020 STARS project (Satellite Technology for Advanced Railway Signalling).

Whilst its prime interest is supplying high-integrity signalling systems, Alstom was looking to use additional technology to overcome some shortfalls in odometry, as used for ERTMS distance measurements. Choices are wheel-based sensors, radar (sensitive to weather conditions), GPS/GNSS (subject to signal availability and multi-path reception), optical rail readers (installation constraints) and accelerometers.

Of these, a satellite-based solution is the most promising, but it needs to have higher accuracy to give Positive Train

Detection (PTD). The outcome would be fewer balises plus more information for ATO stopping distances and on-board passenger information updates.

Hence STARS, with objectives to assure predictable performance, interoperability and alignment with the European Shift2Rail initiative. Assessing GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) accuracy in field measurements indicates there is a gap between the requirements and results, so it is likely that an enhanced odometry solution will be required as well.

Gyrometers and accelerometers would be used to cover tunnels or other locations where a satellite signal is lost. Precise inertial navigation will be needed to cover short-term changes. Large-scale trials are planned in Norway, with the overall objective of contributing to a SIL4 rated computation and data merging.

ATO

It is a given that any ATO system must know the exact location of all trains in the system and have a guarantee of train integrity. Raymond Sturton from Thales gave a brief history of the Seltrac system development, from its initial use of track loops for positioning information to the current deployment of radio using RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags placed in the track together with radio antennae. Axle counters continue to be deployed for secondary detection purpose as well as giving assurance on

Rail Engineer | Issue 183 | April 2020 train integrity. Both track loops and radio tags give reliable positioning but hinder track maintenance.

In the search for a train-centric location system, a future NGPS (Next Generation Positioning System) is being developed using ultra-wideband radio (UWBR) that will be positioned at platforms, junctions and other significant rail features and will dispense with the track tags. This, together with radar and LiDAR devices, will achieve accurate location information. The system has no undercarriage installations and no track-based equipment. Trials are underway on the Flushing lines of New York City Transport. UK applications are planned for an Advisory System for Signallers (ASSIGN) on the Barnstaple and Okehampton branch lines in Devon, and as an interface to TPWS Mk4 on the Hertford Loop test track to give continuous over-speed monitoring.

Comparison with road transport

We are all aware of the research into autonomous vehicles and connected transport, which require accurate location and speed data. Raphael Grech from CAV Spirent made the point “if it moves, it must position”. Driverless vehicles will need highly accurate positioning equipment which cannot be achieved with just a single sensor. So, a combination of GNSS, radar, LiDAR, cameras, localised assets (lane positioning) and cabin sensing will all be needed, as will connectivity between all of them. Synchronising position with other vehicles is essential.

Three factors need to be fulfilled: » Local Positioning - where is the vehicle in relation to local topography?

» Relative Positioning - where is the vehicle in relation to other vehicles and people? » Global Positioning - where is the vehicle location? For the latter, GNSS is the only system available, but it gets taken for granted which can lead to wrong decisions being made. Interference, risk of spoofing, segment errors, multi-path connections, atmospheric conditions and cyber-attacks are all being investigated by the military. KPIs are integrity, continuity, robustness, accuracy and availability. Test methods vary, but they must cover everything. Much use is made of simulation but ‘live sky’ testing must happen at some point.

Receiver design is important - if it cannot see a satellite, then detection will not take place and an inaccuracy of one to two metres is unacceptable. Receivers should ideally receive signals from at least five satellites, which need to have different position angles. Constant monitoring as to how the system is working is necessary.

The complexities of logging the position of autonomous road vehicles to the accuracy required make the train location challenge look easy perhaps, but a lot more money is available for research and development?

Some questions and thoughts

Whilst the ideas and analysis of train location systems proved fascinating, from a customer’s perspective, could it be somewhat bewildering? Maybe a potential purchaser needs to consider what the system actually needs to do? The traditional SIL 4 systems of track circuits and axle counters give information sufficient to set routes and clear signals, but they are of less value when the precise location of a train is required. SIL2 systems, such as acoustic sensing and satellite tracking, give a precise geographic location but may not be able to determine the actual track that a train is on, nor that the train is complete. Camera imaging has the advantage of low cost but an integrity level that would be insufficient for SIL4 applications. Then there is the vexed question of standardisation versus innovation. If a particular technology was selected, would it need to be adopted on a large geographic scale to ensure interoperability?

A wholly train-borne solution makes this problem somewhat easier. Of all the technologies considered, the fibre-based acoustic sensing seems to offer the greatest potential, as it can do both positioning and train integrity with the ability to count wheels and bogies. With more-intelligent algorithms, it should also be possible to detect which particular track carries a train. All of this begs the question as to whether a ‘Track Map’ could be defined but, even if it was possible, it would need to cater for the ‘changing face of the railway’, such as weekend renewal work. It seems likely that a combination of systems will be necessary to fulfil both safety and commercial requirements, much as is happening in the road industry.

The next few years should prove interesting.

HICK’S LODGE

BURTON UPON TRENT

ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCH

A42

CORKSCREW LANE

LEICESTER

PACKINGTON

A42 Signalling – faults and interventions

While the large signalling schemes catch all the headlines, such as the Norwich-YarmouthLowestoft scheme elsewhere in this issue, it is the smaller upgrades and repairs that actually keep the system going. As Paul Darlington explained last month, there are many reasons for the frequent ‘signalling failures’ that disrupt our railway on a weekly basis.

Take the problem of cable theft. Last year, thieves removed cables that run alongside the freight-only Leicester to Burton line where it runs past Ashby de la Zouch and across the A42. They removed the lids of the concrete cable trough and dragged out large amount of lineside cabling.

As a result, a section of line 4.5 miles long had to be taken out of use as the signals no longer worked. Network Rail contracted MECX Group to repair the damage. One theft – three weeks to repair

Two sites were involved. At Hick’s Lodge, 1,200 metres of one power cable and three signalling cables had to be replaced, while, at Corkscrew Lane, 1,460 metres of both power and signalling cable were required.

Network Rail provided the new cables in 500-metre lengths, so these needed splicing before they could be installed in the troughs below the remaining cables that were still in situ. The cables were bundled and tied together and the trough lids were glued back in place.

All of the work was carried out during normal working hours while line blocks were in place. Safety was assured by the use of a protection controller and controllers of site safety (COSS). The whole job took three weeks. The MECX office at Rugby undertook all the planning, and additional staff were brought in from the company’s Cardiff and Crewe offices. Network Rail requested that the team undertake a raft of additional work at the same time, and this was successfully pulled in within the timescale. Buried services

The MECX team doesn’t just have the expertise to replace cables in established troughing. Buried services are also something of a speciality, particularly when they are unidentified. In fact, MECX is often called in when problems with unidentified buried services are starting to affect project deadlines. Timely intervention can swiftly resolve issues by identifying and, if necessary, relocating or removing the offending infrastructure.

In fact, this sort of intervention is becoming a regular source of work for MECX. Bringing in the team to fault find or solve technical problems can allow a contractor to concentrate on the main work and stay on schedule.

MECX Group CEO Greg Salisbury (below), who recently joined the company, is impressed with what he has found. “The general level of skill and enthusiasm shown by the MECX workforce is truly impressive,” he said. “It is now up to me and my colleagues on the board to set out what the vision and strategy need to be for MECX to fulfil the huge potential it holds, and to deliver on the development plans we have for the business.” How MECX Group has built a reputation for problem solving

Training

Being able to offer such a varied range of activity requires a high level of expertise, so MECX has developed its own training scheme for its employees. It was recognised that maintaining the quality of the signalling resource requires a commitment to investment, focused management, and 360° reviews to ensure staff are correctly allocated training at a point when they are technically capable and have sufficient working knowledge. In the last 12 months, MECX signalling engineers, testers and technicians have completed 2,821 hours of training. Equipment manufacturers have completed bespoke master-class training on specific axle counter variants, while training providers throughout the UK have delivered courses on Basic Signalling 1&2, Electrical Installation and EBI200 track circuits.

To increase skills in areas recognised throughout the industry as requiring focus, MECX Signalling has raised Faulting courses for its testers and technicians, covering both generic faulting techniques as well as equipment-specific methodology.

In addition, working in partnership with Warwickshire College Group, MECX has employed a Level 3 Business Administration Apprentice. Luke joined the team in January 2020 and is already working well, undertaking analytics and backroom support to the engineering teams alongside starting a business modular learning programme at Rugby College. The balance of hands-on working experience and training, with a salary, is a great opportunity for growth of the apprentice, whilst providing a real value output to MECX.

To handle all of this training, MECX has established three training rooms and a board/meeting room at its Rugby headquarters, all of which are able to comfortably seat 12 delegates. Using this facility, group subsidiary PPS Rail is now delivering safety-critical training for both internal and external staff and MECX Signalling is using the same facility to host rail-specific courses delivered by the manufacturers of signalling equipment for its staff.

The facilities are available for use by external companies and can be hired, with or without catering, by the day - a professional and high-quality venue available in the centre of the UK motorway network.

To enquire about hiring this facility, contact Lynn Morgan on 01788 877 270.

MECX Group is a UK based contracting organisation and technical services provider operating across the infrastructure markets of Great Britain, Ireland and Canada.

OUR ACTIVE SECTORS From the maintenance of existing assets, right through to constructing new roads, bridges or even railways; You can be assured that team MECX has the capabilities to deliver all of your project needs! Rail Engineering Transportation Road/Rail Plant Operations Facilities Management Utilities Support Services Training, Apprenticeships & Possession Planning Vegetation Management

HS2 An Analysis of

Despite the government having given the green light for HS2 to proceed, the project remains as controversial as ever. With the media, and even the informed press, reporting regularly on the pros and cons, often with dubious facts presented, just what are the issues that provoke such passionate public feelings?

The Westminster Energy, Environment and Transport Forum recently held a seminar in an attempt to focus on the current situation and the way forward. With an impressive line-up of speakers, Rail Engineer went along to listen in. It proved fascinating, although it soon became evident that political and financial issues were going to dominate, with engineering being almost a secondary consideration.

The Oakervee Review

This recent publication has no doubt influenced the government decision to proceed. Newly elected MP Chris Loder, who, as a career railwayman, mainly with South West Trains, is likely to have more professional knowledge than other MPs, said that he was an advocate of HS2. However, he was increasingly sceptical on how things were developing, particularly as to the rising costs.

Lord Tony Berkeley, well known in railway circles, especially the freight sector, had at one time been a member of the review team, but had recently stepped down, citing concerns as to the ongoing findings. The Oakervee review had been given broad terms of reference. These, which included a study of the business case, interfaces with other lines and cost escalation, had involved meetings with Network Rail, regional leaders, HS2 and HS2 Ltd, the Department for Transport and the Treasury. A large amount of information had been offered up but, with non-disclosure agreements in place, much of this was kept under wraps.

In Lord Berkeley’s view, the projected train service pattern of 18 trains per hour (tph) seemed at odds with revenue calculations that were seemingly based

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Rail Engineer | Issue 183 | April 2020 on 12-13tph. Also, the train speed projections were 360/400kph (225- 250mph), which is higher than the continental norm of 320kph (200mph).

Cost projections had been £32 billion in 2011, rising to £38.4 billion in 2013 and escalating to £55.1 billion by 2019. Now, the Oakervee review of 2020 predicts a cost of £100 billion, and Lord Berkeley asked who in government was really aware of these numbers? Someone must have known, but chose to keep quiet for fear of damaging the project’s prospects. The benefit to cost ratio, originally thought to be 1.1, was now predicted to be 0.6, which he felt was not a good number.

Will HS2 deliver? It certainly will for intercity travel, but Lord Berkeley believes that the benefits for the Midlands and North West are less certain. If costed to the full,

and including associated line upgrades such as Midland main line electrification, Cross Country improvements and the Chiltern line upgrades, the total cost could well be £230 billion over 20 years. Was the Oakervee review entirely independent? Some think not, and Lord Berkeley has become sceptical. However, he did say when asked that, yes, he remains pro-HS2 - but only under the right conditions and providing some realism is brought to the project.

Customer survey

Transport Focus has been busy getting a passenger viewpoint on HS2 and the organisation’s head of innovation and partnerships, Ian Wright, explained that opinions from all sectors of society were being sought – young and old, disabled and visually impaired - with no implied prejudice in the questioning either for or against the project.

The findings are that, above all, people want ‘barrier free travel’, not in the literal sense but as regards seats, ticketing, luggage, door-to-door and affordability. That said, many people see HS2 as a world-class project to be proud of, where milestones should be celebrated, but that the project team will need to be seen to be listening, to be honest about difficult issues, to keep the information flowing and to improve community involvement. This latter point was taken up by representative questions from around the country, with the general feeling seeming to be that communication, so far, has generally been poor.

Real estate and land acquisition

These days, and unlike in Victorian times when the original railways were built, things always get controversial when land and houses have to be procured to make way for major projects.

Colin Ligman, from independent law firm Burges Salmon, stated that planning, legal fees and environmental issues will likely make up 25 per cent of the total HS2 costs, an enormous figure. He stressed that, while litigation challenges will always occur, the aim should be to achieve peace with the land owners by focussing on the benefits that high-speed rail can offer.

In his opinion, community engagement is essential to bring out the benefits for capacity gains on other lines. However, the Nimby (not in my back yard) brigade are becoming increasingly vociferous, not made any easier when poor ground conditions, contaminated land and the need for providing and accessing depots make the land issues ever more difficult. Above all, investors need certainty and this is not happening with HS2, leaving

people with properties that are effectively ‘off market’ and with compensation values that do not match similar projects in continental Europe.

Engineering and delivery

HS2, despite all the planning and legal challenges, remains a significant engineering project. Alasdair Reisner, chairman of the Civil Engineering Contractors Association, made the point that major projects, such as the Jubilee line extension, the Olympic Games and new motorways, all experienced the same level of dissent that HS2 is experiencing. However, once built, these projects all delivered far more than their stated business case.

Safety is now a major factor and many improvements to safety have resulted from better project and delivery activities. Alasdair saw no reason why HS2 will not further this. Equally, digitisation advances have lagged behind in the construction industry, but HS2 is changing that and, in the process, growing a far more diverse workforce.

The role of academia is important in overcoming some of the technical challenges of HS2, primarily to reduce costs. So said Prof Peter Woodward from Leeds University, who gave details of the new Innovation Centre for Rail that is currently being built. The three major elements of this will be a vehicle test facility, an infrastructure test facility and a system integration innovation centre, all of which will be relevant for HS2 as a gateway into industry. Integrating the people might be as big a challenge as the technology.

Whilst all of this development, as outlined by Alasdair Reisner and Prof Woodward, is commendable, HS2 must not be allowed to become a playground for blue skies development. The engineering of high-speed lines is well understood in continental Europe and elsewhere, so ‘turning the handle’ on proven technology must be the chosen starting position.

Regional views

A second session, led by Meg Hillier, chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, probed some of the other issues. The Northern Power House is increasingly pressing for improved rail links into the major cities of Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and Sheffield, with rail director Tim Wood stating the objectives as ‘economic, capacity, connectivity and speed’. The perception that the North is the poor relation to the South in terms of infrastructure investment may be challenged by some areas in the south of England (and maybe the West), but there are projects like Thameslink that, if pursued elsewhere, would bring enormous benefits.

So how can HS2 help? Tim believes that this, together with a new or improved cross-Pennine route from Manchester to Leeds, could be the catalyst for a new integrated rail plan. An objective of providing an extra 35,000 rail seats and getting 64,000 cars off the road is commendable.

Similarly, Midlands Connect, with an area stretching from Lincoln to Ross-on-Wye and from Shrewsbury to Leicester, needs HS2 to be a major spine, according to Stephen Pauling, head of rail and HS2 at Midlands Connect. Whilst the West Midlands has seen rail growth of 121 per cent, and the East Midlands 37 per cent, in the last decade, east-west connectivity is still poor, with slow journey times and infrequent services. Coventry to Leicester is particularly bad, with only one per cent of travellers going by rail.

Midlands’ objectives are to focus on connectivity to Birmingham Airport and on the Nottingham-Lincoln, Derby-Stoke-Crewe and BirminghamWolverhampton-Shrewsbury corridors, which can all benefit from HS2. The hubs at Birmingham and Toton will be key to all of these, with feeders to all the major towns and cities.

It all makes sense but, when asked if this meant HS2 becoming an open access railway with local services being able

Rail Engineer | Issue 183 | April 2020 to use the line to achieve the desired connectivity, the response was surprisingly vague, with seemingly no real thought having been given, so far, as to train service patterns. It might be good advice for planners from these areas to go and watch how HS1 operates at St Pancras, where the Javelin services into all parts of Kent have revolutionised the commuting experience, with frequent services to even the remotest parts being well patronised. A localised plea came from Tricia Gilby of Chesterfield Council. Made famous by its Church’s crooked spire, the Derbyshire town comes within the Sheffield industrial area, where the linkage to HS2 is seen as significant for promoting growth now that most of the old industries have closed. Electrification of the Midland main line needs to proceed alongside it, so that, when combined with HS2, many local transport links will benefit.

Finances, costs and value

Will HS2 deliver the projected outcomes and benefits? That was the question posed by Lee-Anne Murray from the National Audit Office. Previous reviews in 2013, 2014 and now in 2020 have all established that HS2 is significantly over budget, with no ongoing certainty as to the overall cost. Lee-Anne was concerned that the range of projected costs is huge and still has many unknowns. She feels there is an urgent need to bear down on the contractual costs, in which the civil engineering element looks to be comparatively simple.

IT factors will be crucial, but there is a general lack of transparency between clients and contractors. The rail industry has an unenviable record with scope creep, shown on projects such as GW and MML electrification, which reflects badly on the engineering expertise and competence available.

Phase 2 of HS2 is bigger and more complex than Phase 1, so lessons will need to be learned as the project proceeds. Sustained support will be needed from government, industry and local authorities if the desired level of progress is to be achieved.

One topic that, surprisingly, wasn’t mentioned was the possibility to learn from the construction of HS1, which opened in 2007. It is Britain’s only other high-speed line and it also carries the local Javelin service and some freight. Are there lessons to be learned?

Future direction

So, how important is high speed rail, both with and beyond HS2? Is the UK really going to achieve the successes that have been delivered in other countries? Nick Bisson, a director within the DfT for both HS2 and the Northern Power House, commented that the UK legal system, being founded on an adversarial approach, has created many of the current difficulties. His view is that HS2 is fundamentally an economic project, designed to eliminate the gap in prosperity between the North and the South, where the differences in labour rates between the two are considered to be the worst in Europe.

For this, rail is the most carbon-efficient way of transporting large numbers of people. Coach transport would need dedicated routes on a large scale and electric cars could make congestion worse, unless multi-occupancy rules were instigated.

Rail capacity is maximised when all trains are the same type and run at the same speed (London Underground’s Victoria line being a prime example) and HS2, as currently planned, will permit this. Upgrading existing routes would be very disruptive and would quite likely re-encounter the same capacity problems in the 2030s.

The Oakervee review concluded that HS2 should proceed on the basis that no ‘shovel ready’ alternative exists, adding that phase 2b should also go ahead, but in conjunction with other transformational projects. Nick Bisson was concerned that civil engineering costs in the UK appear to be greater than in Europe, even when all factors are taken into account, so this will need close scrutiny. For the present, phase 1 will commence construction in April and the hybrid bill for phase 2a needs to go through parliament. Phase 2b is still in development but integrating this into other services will be a main factor - it will need more than one hybrid bill.

Some personal thoughts

Whilst this was a very interesting seminar, it was clear that diverging views remain on a substantial scale. Questions from the floor demonstrated that vested interests continue to be pursued rigorously - the City of Lichfield seemed very against the scheme but pleas for additional stations in other areas, such as Calvert, where HS2 will cross East-West Rail, were more sensible.

We must remember than HS2 is just that, the second high-speed line in the UK. HS1 has been operating for well over a decade and has blended into the

environment, just like any other railway. If HS1 were to close, the lives of many people would be adversely affected, let alone risking the huge benefits to continental travel that has resulted. As indicated previously, it would be good if the Nimbys were to spend a few days just studying how HS1 is operated and the benefit that it brings. Even better would be to observe the high-speed operations in France, Germany, Holland, Italy and Spain, to witness what these have achieved.

OK, the escalation in costs is a serious concern and the engineering community in particular needs to sit down and come up with ways on how these can be reduced. HS2 must not become a gravy train and all interested parties need to remember this.

De-scaling the line for lower speeds would seem sensible, but the basic plea must be ‘just get on and do it!’

For those who’ve come across the seas We’ve boundless trains to share

Australia is a huge country. With a land area of nearly three million square miles it is the sixth largest in the world. The long distances result in a rail network of over 20,000 miles of track, with the added complication of three main track gauges (1,067mm - 7,300 miles, 1,435mm - 10,800 miles and 1,600mm - 2,000 miles).

As a comparison, Great Britain also has a rail network of just over 20 thousand miles

of track, but all of it is 1,435mm gauge. The reason the two track figures are so similar is that, despite its huge size, Australia’s population is relatively small. The world’s

sixth-largest country is home to the world’s 55 th largest population that, at around 25 million, is smaller than Nepal and Madagascar. That population is highly urbanised, with

86 per cent living in cities and large towns (40 per cent in Sydney and Melbourne alone) and around 85 per cent within 30 miles of the coast.

This means that there are several thriving urban rail networks with some long-distance (and often single-track) lines in between.

There are also extensive heavy-haul freight lines bringing ores and minerals to the coast. All of this means that there is a demand for railway engineers that the relatively small population can’t fulfil. The major systems therefore need to attract rail professionals from elsewhere - predominantly the UK.

Site of western entrance to Metro Tunnel.

Arden station.

Metro Trains Melbourne

One good example is Melbourne Metro. The state capital of Victoria, Melbourne has a population of five million (19 per cent of Australia’s total). It has an extensive metro railway system - Metro Trains Melbourne - with 15 lines (plus an events-only line to Flemington Racecourse) operated by 220 six-car trains running on 600 miles of track and serving 219 stations.

Metro Trains Melbourne is a joint venture between MTR Corporation (60 per cent), John Holland Group (20 per cent) and UGL Rail (20 per cent). The same group also owns Metro Trains Sydney, which has run the services in Australia’s largest city since 2019. Metro Trains Melbourne has run the franchise since November 2009, initially for eight years but this has been extended until 2024.

After a poor start Metro had recovered its reputation enough that it won the franchise extension in 2016 and is now working hard on a number of projects, for which it needs people.

Projects division

The Projects Division was developed to help build Melbourne’s enhanced rail infrastructure. Set up to be an agile and flexible division to respond to government agendas and changes, it is pivotal in shaping Melbourne’s future as Metro shifts to a stronger focus on its passengers due to pace, volume and complexity.

With the franchise in place until 2024, Metro has a secure future with the opportunity to develop longer term views,

The new Metro Tunnel will take three of the busiest lines under the centre of the city (route shown in blue) and will include five new stations.

but it recognises the critical need for collaboration to keep people moving while it is building tomorrow’s network. The Projects Division is split into three portfolios:

Metro Tunnel

Under RPVP - the Rail Projects Victoria Programme - three of the busiest train lines are being routed through a new twinbore tunnel. The A$11 billion (£5.5 billion) Metro Tunnel will create a new end-to-end rail line from Sunbury in the west to Cranbourne/Pakenham in the south-east, with high capacity trains and five new underground stations. The two new 5.6- mile tunnels will free up Melbourne’s biggest bottleneck and enable 39,000 more passengers to use the rail system during each peak period.

The Metro Tunnel Project is broken up into three work packages: » The Tunnels and Stations Public Private Partnership (PPP) » Rail Infrastructure Alliance (RIA) » Rail Systems Alliance (RSA).

Level crossing removal

MTM’s Level Crossing Removal Team (MLXRT) is working with the state government to remove 75 level crossings across Melbourne. The removal of these level crossings will make communities safer and less congested and create thousands of jobs. Victoria’s biggest ever programme to remove level crossings started in 2015, with the majority already planned, underway or completed.

The level-crossing removals are being completed by four alliances, the North Eastern, North Western, Southern and Western programme alliances, with key MTM employees embedded in these programmes of work supported by broader MTM.

In addition, the LXRP is extending the Mernda line and building three new stations, as well as doubling the Hurstbridge line. Franchisee and third-party projects

MTM is the network operator, but it works closely with a variety of third parties to perform maintenance on the track and deliver projects and upgrades.

The franchisee projects team delivers a wide range of nominated projects on behalf of DOT (Department of Transport) and other state agencies, while the third-party team (Metro Site Access) manages general access to the MTM network by other organisations or agencies.

Both project teams work closely with DOT to align with the Network Development Plan and deliver on government commitments.

Current projects include: » Flinders Street Station Upgrade Project ($100M) » Melbourne Underground Rail Loop (MURL) Stage 2 ($134M) » Rolling Stock Cascade ($50M) » Platform Gap Mitigation Project ($24M) Various third-party works including: » Westgate Tunnel Project » Victrack Pedestrian Crossing Upgrades

The level crossing removal programme involves some complex and heavy civil engineering.

Recruitment

All of this work needs people - trained, skilled and experienced people. And that’s a resource that Australia doesn’t have, or at least not in sufficient numbers. So MTM has developed a reliable and tangible recruitment strategy to tackle the industry’s lack of current and future resources and build a diverse and inclusive workforce to deliver on contracted MTM projects.

Naturally, MTM’s first target was domestic, with recruitment drives in Brisbane (Queensland) and Perth (Western Australia). For these, MTM partnered with Engineers Australia (EA), the largest and most diverse professional body for engineers in Australia with around 150,000 members embracing all engineering disciplines.

MTM has also looked to recruit internationally. It has worked with EA contacts in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, China and the Middle East, and will be visiting the UK in the middle of May. Hong Kong-based MTR, MTM’s part owner, already has a base in the UK - it will be the operator of the new Elizabeth line (Crossrail) in the UK when that opens next year - and is a partner with First Group in South Western Trains. The company Excavations for the new State Library station.

also has personal contacts - Network Rail’s group director of Network Services, Nick King, spent four years as MTM’s general manager for Network Operations between 2014 and 2018.

Taken with its excellent people initiatives - performance management, compensation reviews, succession planning - and its strong policies on diversity, wellness and mental health, MTM hopes that a number of UK-based railway engineers and managers will be sufficiently tempted by the chance to work in Australia’s growing market that they will make the move.

To find out more,visit about a career with MTM, visit mtm-careers.com and see the advertisement on the next page.

Aerial view of the work at Arden station.

Shaping Melbourne Australia

Are you interested in joining the project team at Metro Trains Melbourne (MTM) that is involved in multibillion dollar city-shaping infrastructure projects? Did you know? Metro Trains Melbourne is part of the MTR family, with global reach across Europe, Asia, Australia and the Middle East.

Can you bring your wealth of experience to help us support the delivery of Melbourne’s two largest rail infrastructure projects?

THE METRO TUNNEL PROJECT The A$11 billion Metro Tunnel will untangle the city loop so more trains can run more e ectively across Melbourne. The Metro Tunnel scope includes twin nine-kilometre rail tunnels, fi ve new underground stations as well as new high capacity signalling. The Metro Tunnel Project is being delivered in three work packages, with a programme-level team assisting each package. The three work packages are: Rail Systems Alliance, Rail Infrastructure Alliance and the Tunnels and Stations Public Private Partnership.

> KEY METRO TUNNEL PROJECT ROLES:

Delivery Manager – Systems Lead the business change required to support Victoria’s ‘Big Build’ Infrastructure Program, specifi cally relating to the Metro Tunnel Project (MTP). You will ensure the safe delivery of the MTP Systems, a team of over 100 people and a turnover of over A$50m, acting as the alternative Alliance Leadership Team (ALT) for MTM, supporting the Project Director.

Enabling Services Manager Responsible for the e cient and e ective support to the Rail Projects Victoria Programme (RPVP). This roles provides key leadership across a range of programme-level disciplines which include: fi nancial governance, legal, commercial and fi nancial risk management, programme planning, control systems, stakeholder and communications and people management.

Operations & Maintenance Readiness Manager Provide a line-based focus to the various O&M team members across the MTP packages and High Capacity Metro Trains. The line-based focus will comprise full line trials prior to revenue service and managing the change impact of the MTP across the line and the wider business.

Senior Engineer – Train Control & ATS As a Subject matter expert in Train Control systems, including Automatic Train Supervision (ATS), and their interface to signalling/ CBTC and other network control systems, the role is responsible to review designs relating to the proposed systems and changes to existing systems.

THE LEVEL CROSSING REMOVAL PROJECT

The Level Crossing Removal Project (LXRP) was established by the Victorian Government to oversee one of the largest rail infrastructure projects in the state’s history. LXRP is part of the Major Transport Infrastructure Authority and our projects fall under Victoria’s Big Build. Central to the project is the elimination of 75 level crossings across metropolitan Melbourne by 2025, in addition to other rail network upgrades such as new train stations, track duplication and train stabling yards.

> KEY LXRP PROJECT ROLES:

Programme Delivery Manager – LXRP Responsible and accountable for the delivery of Projects within the Level Crossings Removal Portfolio (LXRP). They shall ensure that the Program Managers, Project Managers, Engineers and the other team members involved in the LXRP Projects achieve the goals within the safety, time, cost and quality parameters determined for the Projects.

Project Manager – Signalling To provide e ective project management of LXRP signalling requirements, drawing together MTM’s needs as a client and assisting the Department of Transport ensuring OH&S, quality, cost, time and scope parameters of the projects are adequately set out and achieved.

Melbourne: Australia’s sporting and culture capital.

D e p e n d a b l e

C a r i n g M a k e A D i f f e r e n c e

OUR VISION Connecting people and places for a growing Melbourne

OUR MISSION We work smarter every day to be Australia’s most respected city railway

Deliver a great passenger experience Deliver a great passenger experience

O U R F O U R S T R A T E G I C F O C U S A R E A S Empower and engage our people Empower and engage our people

Support rail transformation

Be a sustainable business long termBe a sustainable business long term

Z e r o H a r m

OUR FOUNDATION Safety – Our goal is Zero Harm, because every injury is preventableOur goal is Zero Harm, because every injury is preventable

> FURTHER CAREER OPPORTUNITIES ACROSS BOTH MTP AND LXRP:

» Project Engineer – Overhead Line » Project Engineer – TCMS » Project Engineer – Signalling » Supervisor – Signalling » Technical Lead – Commissioning and Completions » Senior Project Engineer - Structures » Track & Civil Design Review Engineer » Signalling & Overheads Design Review Engineers » Maintenance Planning Specialist » Senior Systems Assurance Engineer » Human Factors Advisor » Senior Systems Engineer / FRACAS Engineer » Project Engineer – OCS / ICT » Design Review Engineer - Traction Power » Occupation / Possession Planners & Managers » Rail Safety Coordinator / Advisor & Rail Safety Managers » CBTC / PSD Experts » Delivery Manager – Disruptions

INTERESTED?

If what you’ve read resonates with your values, experience and career aspirations then we want to hear from you.

Successful candidates and their families will be o ered sponsorship and be provided with relocation assistance as part of the MTM’s Global Mobility Framework. To register your interest, contact Kyle MacLean (Talent Partner) on kyle.maclean@metrotrains.com.au with your CV and contact details, or for more information, see:

mtm-careers.com

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