The biennial Conference on Railway Excellence (CORE) has celebrated technological and other industry developments which have enhanced the effectiveness of rail in supporting economic development and wellbeing around the world.
Held at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre, the premier technical conference in Australasia’s rail industry calendar featured speakers and presentations highlighting the theme of “25 years in motion”.
The event was hosted by the Railway Technical Society of Australasia (RTSA), a non-profit organisation established in 1997 for the purpose of promoting the co-operation of academic, industrial, commercial and governmental groups in relation to the practice and advancement of railway technology and management in Australasia.
Several industry-leading suppliers and manufacturers also took the opportunity to display their latest products, innovations and achievements to the hundreds of delegates who attended the three-day event.
Among them was WA-based Roundel Civil Products, which exhibited its range of high quality engineered products at the conference, with a focus on its HPL polyethylene (PE) applications.
The company is Australia’s leading supplier of corrugated metal pipes and corrugated plate structures for use in road and rail infrastructure projects, such as:
- Drainage culverts and stormwater systems
- Bridge spans and underpasses
- Conveyor, personnel and stockpile tunnels
- Mine portals and decline tunnels
Business development sales coordinator Ray Mann said HPL was a polyethylene-coated galvanised steel with the same steel strength and galvanising weight as used in the manufacture of standard culverts.
“The reinforced PE layer provides considerable additional protection to the underlying galvanising, resulting in substantially increased lifespan of the culverts even in the most aggressive conditions,” he said.
“Unlike other PE-coated steels, HPL has a reinforcement layer within the polymer that provides very high resistance to abrasion, harsh environmental conditions, and localised surface damage.
““Our expertise in on-site manufacture of both HPL and Z600 steel culverts is unrivalled, with 40,000 tonnes manufactured to date in remote locations across the country.”
Roundel managing director Bev Byard said with the company having established itself prominently in freight, it was looking to grow into the domestic rail sector.
“We aim to provide our customers with the highest levels of service, product quality and competitive pricing, while creating and maintaining a team of talented people dedicated to helping our customers succeed,” he said.
Insitutek was founded to transform geotechnics, earthworks and pavement construction in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific region, via insitu testing methods and soil stabilisation.
As company representative Robin Power said at the conference, the aim was to “enable people in civil construction to push forward with confidence”.
“We help clients get clear insight on what’s going on below the surface so they can make better informed timely decisions using our “best of breed” insitu testing methods for geotechnics, earthworks and pavements,” he said.
“The insitu testing is particularly vital for rail because it is all about timeliness and measures everything that’s associated below the rail.
“For example, a client may want to build a new formation for the rail track or want to rehabilitate an existing one. The tools can be used to get an insight of what’s going on at the surface and below it … so the ground conditions and also maybe the ballast as well.
“Then during the construction process, we’ve got another series of tools which we would use to understand how well the construction process is proceeding. For example, from a compaction perspective and how well the compaction has been carried out.
“One of the big things that the equipment that we’ve got brings to the table is much better data flow. So the results are actually captured by the sensors, then the machine actually produces the results.
“And then you can see the results in real time and so that means that you can make decisions right away as opposed to having to wait days, sometimes weeks, to actually get your answers.”
Among Insitutek’s main customers are the Australian Rail Track Corporation and its Inland Rail project, Downer, and also Transport for NSW.
In addition, the company offers a clay soil stabilisation service, delivering sustainable long term ground improvement for cohesive soils (mechanical and hydraulic performance).
Another strong exhibitor at CORE was Position Partners, Australia’s premier provider of positioning and machine control solutions for surveying, civil contracting, earthmoving, mining and building activities.
Among the users of its equipment has been WA’s METRONET, which placed the company’s sensing equipment for work on the Thornlie-Cockburn Link, Perth’s first east-west cross line connection.
The project includes building of the new Nicholson Road and Ranford Road stations, and upgrades to the existing Thornlie, Cockburn Central and Stadium sites.
Market development manager Andrew Jones said during the construction of the rail for the new stations, METRONET installed a series of sensors to ensure that tracks stayed within design specifications while piling works were carried out.
“Probably about 50 or so sensors were used for a period of six to 12 months,” he said.
“With this many sensors, about a metre or so adjacent to each other, we can actually derive some quite sophisticated measurements that meet all the conditions of track bed monitoring and track bed geometry.
“We didn’t detect anything alarming on the specifications, but it’s more around ensuring the operator gets that peace of mind that all is working fine.
“Perhaps more importantly, it’s around the fact that checks didn’t have to be done manually, which would have meant people walking up and down the ballast, and wouldn’t have been ideal.”
Position Partners is also involved in work on the upgrade to the rail tunnel between Geelong and South Geelong and the rail line over the Barwon River, as part of Victoria’s Geelong Line upgrade.
“The tunnel which is one of the oldest rail tunnels in Australia, so they’re worried about the shape of it as work progresses,” Jone said.
“So we’re doing monitoring of the tunnel itself.
“A lot of what we do is more than just sensors. Assets can require sort of bespoke customised systems that we can help with.
“We are experts at finding and customising solutions to suit a project’s requirements and enjoy working collaboratively with our customers for the best outcome.”
Welcoming visitors to the Rail Industry Safety and Standards Board’s (RISSB) stand at the conference was its former products and innovation general manager Jesse Baker, and now its head of higher engagement.
“We are enjoying the conference immensely. From the first day, we’ve had many people come and say hi and ask us questions about what we do and how we can help them,” he said.
“We have a board meeting coming up after the conference, where we’ll consider the work plan that we’re proposing for next financial year.
“So it’s an exciting time; we’ve got projects that relate to new ESG sustainability issues, and projects on there relating to harmonisation interoperability, so there will be some further stakeholder engagement to be put into effect in the coming weeks.”
The work plan is an annual initiative incorporating the rail standards that the organisation hopes to achieve, as well as updates needed on any documents that have previously been published. And it’s flexible enough to enable change as needed.
“We pay careful attention to whatever the issue of the day is, so sometimes that’ll be a new regulatory focus or a new government focus to bring in,” Baker said.
“We take into account all those priorities from all those different agencies and government and then all of that sort of then filters down to describe specific projects that we’re going to be working on.
“For example, we know that there’s lots of railways at the moment exploring new and innovative propulsion technologies for rolling stock, so they will be needing standards.
“It’s no good having hydrogen trains if you can’t charge them up when you get over the border into the next jurisdiction, for example. We’ve got to be prepared ahead of that so that standards are ready for the introduction of these new technologies.”
Baker said it was pleasing that awareness was growing about RISSB and its functions.
“We go to conferences like this, we go to Expos, and there is a level of recognition about what we’re trying to do, but as always, we’d like it to be even more.
“We want to be regarded as the first port of call for standards. If you’ve got a problem that you need solved … and you think think to yourself, that other railways must have solved this problem … call RISSB and see what we’ve got. We’re the agency that provides technical solutions to railway problems.”
The conference concluded with the RTSA Awards dinner and presentation, at which various professionals, engineers, students and graduates were honoured for their work in the rail industry.
Chartered civil engineer Walter Rushbrook was awarded the coveted RTSA Railway Professional Award for having positively influenced some of the most significant railway works inNew Zealand over the past 25 years, including improving the safety leadership, asset management, and technical capacity of rail engineering in New Zealand. He has also assisted in successful business case preparation as well as holding significant roles in many award-winning projects, some of which have been recognised internationally.
