Infrastructure Australia has just published their 2019 update of its Infrastructure Priority List. I thought it would be fitting for the theme of this blog to analyse that list in a simple fashion with specific focus on its importance for signalling.
Political Support
It is critical for the importance of the Infrastructure Priority List that both major political parties support it. Otherwise is would be hardly worth the effort, or might lose its relevance as soon there is a change in government. (After all, we have a federal election in May this year, so that scenario of a government change could be quite imminent.) The liberal government currently in office has become a converted supporter of the Infrastructure Priority List since Malcolm Turnbull became Prime Minister. Not only did Turnbull publicly committed his reliance on that list for infrastructure planning and funding considerations for priority projects, he also emphasised rail projects on that list much more than his predecessor. Under Turnbull’s successor Scott Morrison it seems that the federal government is still reliant on the recommendations of the Infrastructure Priority List. For example, the Minister for Infrastructure Transport and Regional Development, Michael McCormack, said that the Infrastructure Priority List “will provide strategic advice and guidance to both state and federal decision-makers about the nation’s ongoing infrastructure needs”.
As for the opposition, shadow transport minister Anthony Albanese has been a very vocal supporter of Infrastructure Australia and its Priority List for years, so it is not expected that the importance of the list would fade away under a federal Labour government.
Funding for Priorities Only
The funding support for infrastructure projects, at least for co-funding from the federal government in Canberra, is focused on the Priority Projects and High Priority Projects on the Infrastructure Priority List. Projects which are not on either of those two sub-lists will not receive funding from Canberra as it was recently demonstrated by the federal non-support of the Brisbane Cross River Rail Project.
High Priority Projects
This list currently includes eight projects, including four road projects, one airport project and two and a half rail projects. The two rail projects are:
- Sydney Metro City and Southwest, which will extend the first line of the new Sydney Metro network from Chatswood through the Sydney city centre, underpassing Sydney Harbour and then to the south-west to the sub-centre of Bankstown. Signalling-wise, this project will extend the driverless CBTC solution which is currently implemented on Sydney Metro Northwest, to keep the signalling coherent along the entire line.
- Yanchep Rail Extension in Perth, which is part of the METRONET transport programme of the Western Australian state government. From a signalling perspective, that project will likely be built with more of the conventional fixed-block legacy signalling system. While this is understandable from the perspective of the project itself, it will require wholesale replacement of that signalling system only a few years later when the new Automatic Train Control technology will be rolled out on that line.
The ‘half’ rail project on the list is Brisbane Metro. Half because it will feature rubber-tyre vehicles but on dedicated guideways, not open roads. Paris Metro has such systems for years and use full-blown CBTC signalling for it, so from a signalling perspective we will have to wait and see what the detailed planning for Brisbane Metro will flush out.
Priority Projects
Ten projects were listed as priority projects, half of them being rail projects. Let’s look at them from a signalling perspective.
- Inland Rail, the juggernaut project for freight rail transport in Australia, will streamline and shorten the direct connection between Melbourne and Brisbane. The expected signalling system is the new Advanced Train Management System (ATMS) currently under proof of concept. This has been dragging on for a while (about ten years, in fact), so fingers crossed the technology will have matured on time for this important project.
- The Ballarat Line Upgrade in Victoria will mainly focus on removing bottlenecks of the track alignment itself, while the signalling solution will most likely remain unchanged i.e. conventional fixed-block signalling with the Train Protection and Warning System (TPWS, same as rolled out across the UK) for automatic train protection.
- The Beerburrum to Nambour Rail Upgrade in Queensland will continue to improve the north coast rail line leading into Brisbane. There has been a first implementation of ETCS Level 1 on parts of this rail corridor, so there is hope that this project will see more of that.
- The Thornlie-Cockburn Link is another one of Perth’s METRONET programme. It is sold as a first orbital connection in a network with otherwise radial lines, but it physically connects the Thornlie Line with the Mandurah Line introducing junctions. I clearly understand the argument of operational flexibility, and running trains directly from the new Perth Stadium via the Thornlie to Mandurah will be of great help on game days. But looking forward, that junction on the Mandurah Line may cause a lot of operational headaches once the service frequency on this line will be amped up.
- Lastly, the long-awaited Gawler Line Electrification and Modernisation Project allows to complete the rollout of ETCS Level 1 across the Adelaide rail network.
High Priority Initiatives
29 projects made this third sub-list of the Infrastructure Priority List, and in this post I will just highlight a few items of particular interest for signalling. For those who don’t know how this works, ‘Initiatives’ are projects in the planning stage which have not yet submitted a business case to Infrastructure Australia. Once business cases are in, an initiative is either recategorized as a ‘Project’ and gets listed as a High Priority Project or a Priority Project, or it is kept as an Initiative (as is the case for Brisbane Cross River Rail). There may be a case of projects disappearing from the list completely, but that is not very likely as it would indicate that the previous prioritisation of the initiative was faulty.
High priority initiatives deserving attention from a signalling perspective are:
- Network Optimisation Program – Rail. This is in fact the elephant in the room (or better, on the list) from a signalling perspective.
- East Coast High Speed Rail. This is only for corridor preservation, and I only mention it because it becomes the hype once in a while. In my humble opinion, there won’t be a sensible benefit-cost ratio for decades to come, so don’t hold your breath for this.
- Sydney rail network capacity. In my view, this initiative could clearly include parts of the future Digital Systems rollout, which is an ETCS Level 2 solution with upgrade path to Automatic Train Operation (ATO). If handled strategically, this could be used for potential co-funding of future projects.
- Sydney Metro West. The second line of the Sydney Metro network, from the city centre of Sydney to Parramatta, the second main hub of Sydney’s future “City of Three Cities”. Signalling-wise, I would expect nothing less than CBTC for driverless train operation, as currently established on the first line of Sydney Metro.
- Melbourne rail network capacity. Same comment applies as for the equivalent Sydney programme above. Modern high-performance signalling is the least expensive way to boost rail network capacity, so the argument for it within those initiatives should be a breeze.
- Brisbane Cross River Rail. Well, you will have read all the arguments about Canberra refusing to co-fund a project which is already fully funded by the Queensland state government. Politics aside, the project is earmarked for implementing the new ETCS Level 2 signalling standard for Brisbane, and the initial plan was to add on Automatic Train Operation for operating the platform screen doors in the new city stations along the Cross River Rail tunnel.
- Perth CBD to north corridor capacity. The incumbent state government in Western Australia has been very savvy in tapping into federal funding for their METRONET programme, so I could well imagine that future rollout of Automatic Train Control in CBTC technology on the northern Joondalup line may be proposed within this initiative.
Priority Initiatives
Lastly, 74 initiatives were listed in this category, bringing the total count of the Infrastructure Priority List to 121. As the other sub-lists, this one also includes a few items with future interest for the signalling discipline.
- Advanced Train Management System. Already mentioned above as likely signalling solution for Inland Rail, this initiative is for the gradual ATMS rollout across the entire interstate network.
- Sydney Central Station redevelopment. This includes the arguably most daunting re-signalling task anywhere in Australia, because of the complexity of the track layout there and the massive number of train services affected by disruption of this area. The expected signalling technology there will be the ETCS Level 2 solution currently developed by the Digital Systems programme.
- Several freight rail improvements around Sydney where the signalling will likely remain conventional fixed-block technology, unless it is upgraded with ATMS.
- Western Sydney Airport public transport connection. The most advanced planning here appears to be for the Sydney Metro Western Sydney Airport project, which will connect the future second Sydney airport at Badgerys Creek with the Western Line of the suburban rail network. Further extensions of that metro line are envisaged to connect to Sydney Metro Northwest and the South East Line at Campbelltown. As for the other Sydney Metro lines, CBTC for driverless operation is the hot favourite for signalling fitout.
- Newcastle-Sydney and Wollongong-Sydney rail line upgrades. If this will be about serious capacity increase, an expansion of the ETCS Level 2 programme in Sydney seems quite probable.
- Melbourne level crossings removal. This could well be used as a vehicle for wider signalling upgrades, depending on funding availability and timelines for signalling renewal demands.
- Melbourne Airport to the CBD public transport capacity. There was a lot of press recently about the new Melbourne Airport Link. The application of ‘High Capacity Signalling’ will certainly be a consideration, although it remains to be seen how the network-wide strategy in Melbourne for this will look like.
- Melton Rail Line upgrade. Given that this line branches off the first CBTC line in Melbourne, chances are that the same signalling solution might be expanded on this line.
- Cranbourne Line capacity. There is a logical option to expand CBTC from Dandenong Junction to Cranbourne, but just the infrastructure improvements (duplication of a single line) may provide enough capacity with conventional signalling.
- Hurstbridge Line capacity. This will provide useful infrastructure upgrades with removal of existing bottlenecks which would make the later introduction of High Capacity Signalling much more effective.
- Melbourne-Geelong rail capacity enhancement. At some stage, and it may well be this one, this line will require so much capacity that High Capacity Signalling in some form should be a serious consideration.
- Brisbane to Gold Coast transport corridor upgrades. Regarding rail, the expansion of the ETCS Level 2 solution for Cross River Rail to the south along the Gold Coast Line seems logical. This fits nicely to the following initiative.
- Gold Coast Rail Line capacity improvement. This is about removing infrastructure bottlenecks, such as an intermediate section of single line railway, which would make the introduction of modern ETCS Level 2 signalling much more effective.
- Perth rail network capacity. This could (or even should) be the vehicle for rollout of Automatic Train Control in CBTC technology across the Perth network. Or any other METRONET project improving capacity, although there will be nothing that has anywhere near the effect on capacity that the deployment of CBTC will have.
So there you have it. A very long post to appreciate a very long Infrastructure Priority List. If you want to let me know your views and comments, shoot me an email to media@docfrank.com.au. Thank you for reading, I admire your stamina.
