AUSTRALIA: Wabtec and interstate infrastructure manager Australian Rail Track Corp are collaborating on the development of a set of standards to facilitate the deployment of ETCS technology across the country’s long-distance trunk routes.
Wabtec is investigating the capabilities of ARTC’s Advanced Train Management System, with a view to establishing interoperability between ATMS and ETCS Level 2. The partners intend to work with ‘relevant stakeholders’ to outline a ‘concept for operations’ and to define the standards needed to support interoperability.
Developed for ARTC by Lockheed Martin, ATMS uses GPS satellites for train positioning and public mobile telecoms networks to connect lineside infrastructure, locomotives, and network control. The system supports autonomous train-based location determination, authority and speed supervision, providing enhanced situational awareness for drivers and traincrew.
ARTC ‘recognises the complex challenge of solving interoperability’, says CEO & Managing Director Wayne Johnson. We are pursuing multiple pathways to find a feasible solution that will help to make rail safer and more competitive across Australia. We are excited to partner with Wabtec to actively pursue one of the options.
‘Wabtec was selected to support this project as a rail industry leader with a proven track record of implementing a safety critical train control solution for the entire freight network in the USA spanning over 100 000 km and 21 000+ locomotives.’
Wabtec said the proposed technology would provide software, systems and services for ARTC to unlock productivity, advance sustainability, and enhance the safety of rail operations across Australia’s 8 500 km interstate network. The company’s President of Digital Intelligence Nalin Jain said the project would be ‘a key building block that enables ARTC to transform Australia’s freight rail network’.
