Siemens Mobility has been delivering transport solutions in Australia for over 150 years.
Its rich history in Queensland dates back to 1890, when Toombul Iron Interlocking Works was established in Brisbane to manufacture McKenzie & Holland signalling equipment. It was later acquired by Westinghouse and Invensys, that eventually became part of Siemens Mobility in 2013.
As the only trackside railway company to have achieved an Australian Made recognition, Siemens Mobility also has an abundant history of interlocking systems, signalling solutions, and point machines in Queensland. There have been more than 130 installations since the late 1970s across the North Coast line to the west of Brisbane, with many maintained and replaced as models have evolved.
In 2016, with the supply of locomotives to Queensland freight customers, a regional locomotive service centre was established in Mackay to provide dedicated service close to its freight and mining customers, and ensure that they have the local, reliable support they need.
The regional team has progressively grown thanks to a strong focus on customer engagement and service delivery. Within the past year, Siemens Mobility invested in a wheel press that has localised a critical maintenance activity for customers, which has resulted in eliminating the need for long-haul transport from Mackay to Brisbane, saving tens of thousands of kilometres in truck travel and significantly reducing carbon dioxide emissions and costs.
The team has continued to grow to meet the rail infrastructure needs for a growing state. From beginning the first implementation of the European Train Control System or ETCS Level 2 in Australia with the added complexity in a freight network, powering Stage 2 of the new Gold Coast Light Rail and being awarded a contract for the delivery of Hacon software to optimise passenger experience via a new intermodal journey planner by Transport and Main Roads in 2024, Siemens Mobility has established a firm base to support the rail industry in Queensland. This vast experience means Siemens Mobility’s Queensland team has the expertise, specialised skills and industry connections needed to successfully deliver projects in the state.
We spoke to two key members of that team – Craig Ackroyd, Solution Engineering Manager, and Stephanie Lautier, Regional Project Manager, to find out more.
Career highlights
Craig Ackroyd’s career in the rail industry started back in 1982, working for Westinghouse Rail Systems and Invensys Rail, and continued with Siemens after the acquisition.
He’s been involved in countless major projects in various roles including principle design engineering, and engineering management, with his favourite being Roma Street station’s signalling transformation in the 1990s.
“Roma Street was the first Solid State Interlocking (SSI) application in Queensland,” he explained. “Eight interlockings got commissioned and were delivered over the course of a few years.
“As the designer, checker, panel tester and team manager for the Roma Street project, I did the walk out across the bridge and through the tunnels, and a lot of the planning that led to that final moment.
“To be there at the end when it was all commissioned and handed over, to see what we had achieved in action, was very satisfying.”
Another Queensland project that stands out to Ackroyd is the delivery of WESTECT ATP (Automatic Train Protection).
WESTECT ATP was delivered by Siemens Mobility (at the time, Invensys Rail Australia) across the whole of the North Coast Line from Brisbane to Cairns in 1994, to protect 2500 kilometres of the regional rail network, including the Tilt Train – Australia’s fastest train. And while the WESTECT ATP system has reached its end-of-life, the technology remains sturdy.
“That ATP was really before its time, and it’s still current today, so it’s been very reliable and great value for money,” said Ackroyd.
Ackroyd’s colleague Stephanie Lautier agreed that this project was very advanced in terms of safety.
“It was nearly a European Train Control System or ETCS Level 2, which didn’t exist anywhere else in the Southern Hemisphere at the time,” she said.
After WESTECT was commissioned, it remained operational for more than two decades. Onboard hardware started to be upgraded from 2006 to enable the system to continue working for another 20 years.
Lautier, like Ackroyd, has enjoyed a long career with Siemens, starting out more than 20 years ago in software engineering at Siemens France before moving to Westinghouse Rail Systems and Invensys Rail in Australia.
She has been a project manager with Siemens Mobility for the past 11 years and said one of her career highlights is the first time she travelled in the Tilt Train after helping to deliver WESTECT II, just a couple of years after she moved to Australia.
After upgrading the onboard hardware, a Design Acceptance Test (DAT) needed to be executed with an independent tester. The test was done on the Tilt Train, running north out of Townsville in the middle of the night.
“I was on the train in the middle of nowhere with the tester and my tools, sitting down in the cab and trying to measure things,” she said.
“One of the tests was to check whether the system would stop the train in front of a red signal, as it was programmed to do. The tester was asking the driver to accelerate towards the red signal and he didn’t want to because he was scared and he didn’t trust the system.
“We had to make a few phone calls to convince the driver that he was allowed to do this, then when he was ready to do it and accelerated towards the red signal, the system intervened to stop the train 20 metres in front of the signal. He couldn’t believe it!”
Strong relationships
Ackroyd and Lautier both said that one of Siemens Mobility’s advantages is the strength of its relationships with customers and across Queensland’s rail industry.
“Siemens’ Queensland project management office and the entire engineering team have fantastic working relationships with our customers,” said Lautier.
“We have strong communication, and it really helps our projects to flow smoothly.”
She added that knowing a customer well means the team understands what they are looking for, even when they don’t explicitly say it.
“Experience also teaches us to ask the right questions, and to never assume,” she said.
Ackroyd agreed, saying Siemens’ long-established presence in the state has helped to build those industry connections.
“I’ve been working with Queensland Rail since the 1990s and that longevity puts you in good stead and allows you to become closer with the customer because you have that history,” he said.
“The rail industry here isn’t gigantic, and a lot of engineers that have worked for Siemens now work for the customer, and vice versa. We all know each other.”
He highlighted the importance of maintaining a positive attitude and listening to the customer’s needs.
“We want these projects to be fulfilling and even fun to work on,” he said. “You’re not going to get anywhere bashing heads.”
Ackroyd said that when it comes to rail projects in Queensland, Siemens Mobility is always part of the puzzle.
“Sometimes we’ll get queries from competitors or from customers about a project that we’ve worked on previously, and because we did the original install, often-times we have to provide that consultation anyway.
“It’s one of the benefits of having such a long-term, historical base in the state. We have such a deep knowledge of the rail network here.”
An experienced and dynamic team
Siemens Mobility boasts a highly experienced team based out of its Brisbane office, from communications engineers to onboard signalling engineers to cybersecurity and ETCS specialists.
Lautier said the team has a low turnover, which means valuable experience and local knowledge stays within the company.
“People love working here, so they stick around,” she said. “That means when new people come in, they learn from the experience of staff who have been with us for years.
“Craig’s team has a great mix of interns, graduates and very experienced employees, which provides a perfect environment for mentoring. We’ve also got a fantastic internal training department to train people in all our products and processes.”
Ackroyd said one of the factors that encourages staff to stay with Siemens long-term is the opportunities that the company offers.
“As Siemens is a global company, there are great opportunities to travel all over Australia and the world and gain knowledge from projects in other countries,” he said.
“I’ve probably done about 10 jobs in the United Kingdom, one in Spain, one in Portugal, one in Malaysia, one in Thailand, and several in Indonesia and New Zealand.
“We’ve worked everywhere, and that means our young people get to travel around the world to see and experience some great stuff.”
Both Ackroyd and Lautier continue to see a future in Queensland and Siemens Mobility, because of the people.
“The people are great,” Lautier said. “I just had a year’s sabbatical, and when I came back to Siemens eight weeks ago I didn’t even consider going anywhere else.”
