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In brief

28/11/2017

 
Two level crossing removal contracts awarded

JOHN Holland has been awarded a $170 million contract to remove two level crossings in Melbourne in alliance with Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR), Metro Trains and the Level Crossing Removal Authority.

The North West Program Alliance will initially remove the level crossings at Camp Road in Campbellfield and Skye Road in Frankston. This will involve lowering the rail under Camp Road and building a rail bridge over Skye Road. The alliance will then start planning works for the removal of other level crossings in Melbourne’s north-west as part of the additional works package.

Chief executive officer Joe Barr said the level crossing removals would deliver “significant safety improvements to the community to relieve prolonged traffic congestion and provide a more efficient public transport network”.

Construction for the first two level crossings is scheduled to start in coming months and be completed in 2018.

Sydney Trains to upgrade telecomms

SYDNEY Trains is upgrading its telecommunication with a package from equipment and software company Ciena which will support efforts to improve speed and reliability on the network and provide a reliable data network.

Ciena’s 6500 Packet-Optical Platform will help improve services across the system with a faster, low-latency and reliable data network which will support critical passenger safety measures that ensure trains operate at safe distances.

Key points of the upgrade include:
  • By investing in both 100G transport and Optical Transport Network (OTN) switching solutions, Sydney Trains fulfils its focus on building a network that enhances support of customer safety and critical train operations.
  • Sydney Trains has various sites along its network that have different traffic requirements. The flexibility of Ciena’s 6500 Packet Optical Platform supports these end-to-end services and various system configurations, including deployments over long distances and fibre types such as aerial.
  • This network upgrade aids Sydney Trains to transition from an SDH legacy network and lays the foundation required to support future high-capacity service requirements.

A spokesperson for Sydney Trains said passenger safety was a key focus for the organisation.

“Ciena’s 6500 Packet Optical Platform satisfies these elements of our operations, addressing all the requirements we need to upgrade our system in one solution,” the spokesperson said.

Queensland joins national safety regulator

THE Australasian Railway Association (ARA) has congratulated the Queensland Government on joining the National Rail Safety Regulator (ONRSR).

“Queensland joining ONRSR is an important step in the establishment of a national rail safety regulator – something the rail industry has called for over the past decade,” Danny Broad, chief executive officer of the ARA, said.

“It is great for industry to have ONRSR as the rail safety regulator in all Australian states and territories.

However, after more than a decade of discussion there is one missing piece of the jigsaw.

The ARA said a national regulator must be just that and called on Victoria to move from the current service level agreement to join ONRSR. “In doing so, Victoria needs to bring light rail and all tourism and heritage operations under ONRSR, not the Victorian safety regulator,” Mr Broad said.

“ARA members want a truly national rail safety regulator without any additional cost of regulation.

“It is critical Victoria follow all other jurisdictions and join ONRSR to maximise the efficiency and effectiveness of ONRSR.”

Alstom delivers the 200th Coradia Polyvalent

TRAIN manufacturer Alstom has celebrated the delivery of the 200th Coradia Polyvalent train, which went to the Grand Est region in France.

At Alstom’s manufacturing plant at Reichshoffen, Alsace, France, the celebration drew together Philippe Richert, president of the Grand Est region; former minister Mathias Emmerich, executive vice-president of performance for SNCF Mobilités; and Jean-Baptiste Eyméoud, president of Alstom in France. The 200th train delivered to Grand Est was one of 34 trains ordered to date by the region.

After three years of operation, the total number of Coradia Polyvalent trains delivered to date has travelled more than 27 million kilometres, with a level of reliability that surpasses the benchmark set by SNCF. The 30 Grand Est Regiolis trains currently in commercial operation have travelled more than five million kilometres.
​
Since 2009, the Grand Est region has ordered 34 Regiolis trains worth more than €300 million ($447m): 24 suburban trains (TER Alsace) and 10 regional trains (TER Lorraine). By 1 January 2018 this fleet will be extended by 19 more trains of the same type, called Coradia Liner.

In brief

21/11/2017

 
Bombardier moves HQ in Berlin

BOMBARDIER Transportation will relocate its global headquarters within Berlin. The company’s new headquarters will emphasise collaboration and be located in the Eichhornstraße 3 building at Potsdamer Platz, in the heart of the German capital.

Laurent Troger, president of Bombardier Transportation, said: “Our new global headquarters is a fundamental part of our global transformation plan to make Bombardier Transportation a more agile and competitive organisation. Creating the most innovative and best-performing mobility solutions, in an increasingly competitive and digital environment, requires more active collaboration between and among our teams.

“Our new headquarters will be a catalyst for innovative ways of working and will play a major role in leveraging the benefits of the strong teamwork we have between our departments and business units, as well as customers and partners.”

In the new office about 250 employees will benefit from an optimised workplace providing an increased number of spaces for collaboration while ensuring personal productivity and a very high degree of flexibility supported by the right set of digital tools for a paper-light approach. Colourful open spaces will signal various zones, each dedicated to various types of work: workstations in open and closed environments for focused work, lively areas for interactive collaboration, dedicated socialising spaces and quiet zones for relaxation and reflection.

Moving the corporate headquarters to one of Berlin’s most iconic and historic sites underscores the company’s enduring commitment to the city and the wider European rail market.

Helping hand needed in bushfire aftermath

RAIL memorabilia with an estimated value of half a million dollars was among the casualties of an unseasonably early spate of bushfires in New South Wales.

As 86 individual fires burned across the state in the second week of September, volunteers at the Richmond Vale Railway Museum in the Hunter Valley lost a significant part of their rolling stock collection and on-site infrastructure.

Museum chairman Peter Meddows said the destruction was “devastating”.

“I’m nearly in tears now,” Mr Meddows said during one television news interview. “We’ve worked so hard.”

While neighbouring houses survived, the museum suffered $500,000 worth of damage to:
  • three stainless-steel passenger cars;
  • a fully restored 100-year-old brake van;
  • 10 of16 restored non-air hoppers (wagons which once carried Hunter Valley coal);
  • about 2.5km of track;
  • a bridge on the link to Pelaw Main; and
  • “a lot of older stock stored ready for restoration” (including all unrestored general freight vehicles and almost all unrestored non-air hopper wagons).

Despite the disappointment, Mr Meddows said the group would eventually recover. “We will rebuild; we will keep going. We won’t give up.”
In the short term, however, the loss of the track will be particularly debilitating as it will prevent any vehicles being run.

Mr Meddows said all offers of assistance would be welcomed. “We’re going to be looking for support from anybody who would like to help us: corporate, personal – the whole thing.”

In a statement issued later that week, the museum board said: “We wish to thank the emergency services for their efforts in fighting the Richmond Vale fire, which has caused significant damage to the museum collection despite their work.

“The museum site is now off-limits and under the control of Fire and Rescue NSW due to the presence of hazardous materials and will not reopen until that control is relinquished. Museum members and members of the public are advised that security has been posted at the museum’s access road to control admission and that police will be patrolling the area.”

The board said the losses meant the museum’s rail operations would be “suspended pending gradual track rehabilitation”.

“An announcement about other aspects of the museum’s activities will be made as soon as access issues are resolved.”

The board said it also wanted to thank “the many members of the public, kindred societies, rail industry organisations and community leaders who have expressed their sympathy and support in this devastating event”.

In the fire’s aftermath, the museum’s annual general meeting, which was scheduled to have taken place on-site on Saturday 16 September, was relocated to a church hall in nearby Kurri Kurri.

The organisation was formed in 1979 to preserve the railway and mining heritage of J&A Brown and the Hunter Valley in general.

It can be contacted through the museum’s website, www.richmondvalerailwaymuseum.org, or by telephone on +61 2 4937 5344. Details of planned fundraising events will be shared via Facebook as details are finalised.
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Track+Signal team

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SALES
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