Progress in the rail sector is underway, but the industry needs to embrace innovation and new technologies to accelerate the pace and meet the needs of growing populations.
That’s the key message from Michael Caltabiano, Chief Executive Officer of the National Transport Research Organisation (NTRO), who warns that despite there being green shoots coming through in the Australian rail sector, more needs to be done at the policy and asset management levels to drive forward effective change.
“We just held our international technical conference, and it was illuminating for us,” Caltabiano said.
“We had presentations from the head of engineering from the Chinese Academy of Rail Sciences presenting, ARTC CEO Wayne Johnson and the chief engineer from Queensland Rail.
“I’m very pleased to say there’s movement in Australia, and I couldn’t have said that five years ago. But to put it in perspective, China built 48,000 kilometres of high-speed rail in 18 years, which runs 350 kilometre-an-hour trains, and this was driven by it being government policy to connect all Chinese cities of half a million people or more with a high-speed rail solution.
“You compare that with Australia, and we still don’t have the policy drivers to connect Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane on the east coast corridor. The Sydney–Melbourne air link is one of the busiest aircraft corridors in the world and the emissions and the economic overlay speak to high-speed rail as the solution.”
However, he does add that change is underway, citing the High Speed Rail Authority’s work on developing the Sydney to Newcastle link and the rollout of electronic train control systems on the Cross River Rail in Brisbane and the Sydney and Melbourne Metros.
“Another change we’ve been seeing is the role of asset owners in rail,” Caltabiano said.
“Using Victoria as an example, in the past, asset owners made the franchisees responsible for the maintenance of the asset, which meant the line of sight regarding the condition of the asset was not there for the asset owners. That’s been corrected now.
“So, there’s now a consciousness that the quality of the below-rail asset is having a huge impact on the above-rail performance. By understanding the performance of the asset and measuring it properly, this will allow us to deliver better maintenance and better outcomes.”
Barriers to change
As is often the case, the path towards change is complicated by a variety of factors. Caltabiano says each state’s individual policies regarding the implementation of rail systems from Federation times onwards is still having a significant impact on implementing projects that cross state boundaries.
“Having different standards in different states means it is incredibly difficult to get interoperability of a rail system,” he said. “Hence, high speed rail has to be completely separate from every other piece of rail infrastructure, delivering a completely different service. It’s the only way to do it.
“The rail space is also heavily regulated. On the one hand, people say that the high level of regulation is critical for safety, and yes, the rail sector has been very good with regards to safety. But that then leads to a natural reticence to do anything different or to innovate, because we might jeopardise safety – however, these are two completely separate activities.
He added that getting that drive for innovation and overcoming the inertia for change is an important part of the future of rail in Australia.
“Part of NTRO’s role is to enable innovation that’s seen to be safe – delivering solutions the rest of the world is using very successfully. This requires a cultural shift just as much as a technology shift. You can present the industry with the evidence, but there’s a cultural environment where it’s not okay to make change, change isn’t going to happen.
“There is movement in this space, with new leaders such as Will Tieppo moving into V/Line and Wayne Johnson taking over at RTC who are embracing innovation to affect change. I think we’re on the cusp of shifting the dial there. Sydney Metro for example is a magnificent, driverless gamechanger for the way in which we think about the rail sector and provision of passenger rail services.
“I’m glass half full in terms of the Australian rail sector, and it is moving to a new place. NTRO is part of enabling that change to happen faster, better and more efficiently.”
At the helm
Positioning itself as an organisation undertaking a systems thinking role that encompasses all of transport, Caltabiano said the NTRO is driven by the end goal of how can Australia’s transport system function more efficiently and safely, while supporting population growth.
One project that the NTRO has partnered in is with improving safety at rural unsignalised level crossings by developing a portable level crossing solution to warn drivers of oncoming trains.
“We partnered with the Australasian Railway Consultancy Services Group and developed the Augmented Level Crossing Warning System,” Caltabiano said.
“We use cameras and sensors with an AI overlay to detect vehicle and train movements to reduce collisions at level crossings, because most level crossings are unsignalised in Australia.”
Message boards warn road users of approaching trains, as Caltabiano said it sometimes isn’t clear that one will soon be passing over the intersection. Earlier this year, the warning system was trialled in New Zealand where it saw a 38 per cent increase in vehicle stopping compliance at level crossings.
“We are also supporting the industry regarding below-rail assets,” Caltabiano said.
“We are addressing questions such as how do you build embankments using sustainable methodologies? How do you introduce a zero-emission philosophy when building the rail system? We’ve got a lot to offer in that space to the rail sector, and we’ve been having discussions right across the board with the rail sector and how to build the network smarter, better and more efficiently.
“We are deliberately looking to solve problems in a different way. We can’t roll out the same solutions that we did 20 or 30 years ago. Society is far more sophisticated, and we have different problems to solve, so that’s why we come through a transport lens, not a mode lens.”
Looking ahead
Moving forward, Caltabiano said that he wants to see a far more deliberate policy stance being taken by governments in order to up the pace of infrastructure delivery.
“We will continue to see change in rail, but I would really like to see it accelerate,” he said.
“What is required are clear government policy positions. So, a definitive approach to building a high-speed rail line from Melbourne to Brisbane, or moving to electronic train control systems.
“Currently, we’re behind, and not just compared to China. The quality of the below-rail infrastructure is poor – you saw it recently in Sydney with the falling overhead cable. We’re behind in getting access to next generation rolling stock, next generation thinking, higher speed, fully autonomous operations, because we haven’t got the assets to support those journeys yet.
“If you look at Japan’s rail network, it operates on three levels. There’s the metro train system, the intercity train system, and the high-speed network, all integrated together. So, at the key locations, all three are layered in an incredibly smart public transport train system with all ticketing done on an app. You turn up, tap your phone and you’re done. That’s the kind of interconnected and innovative thinking we need here.”
With population centres reaching critical points of congestion, Caltabiano said that change needs to happen now.
“We’re growing incredibly quickly as a nation, so we’ve got to get to pace in terms of getting the infrastructure to meet the population growth and NTRO’s priority is to be there every step of the way, supporting that growth,” he said.
“We have taken a deliberate stance of supporting the journey end to end at every point, whether it be design, construction, maintenance, infrastructure measurement or asset performance. At every step along the journey, there is a role for our teams to be involved in delivering those solutions that haven’t been thought of yet – delivering the innovation for the rail sector to enable change to happen safer, faster and more efficiently.”
