AUSTRALASIAN TIMETABLE NEWS No. 269, January 2015 ISSN 1038-3697 RRP $4.95 Published by the Australian Timetable Association www.austta.org.au TOP TABLE TALK Fast and even faster? Send your selections to Geoff Lambert, the Editor of the Geoff Lambert writes: In last month’s edition of our sister Times at [email protected]. magazine, the Times, we discussed briefly how railways awakened the interest of human society in the concept of The best and worst timetables? “speed”. By the middle of the nineteenth century, books were Geoff Lambert writes: Another survey-cum-annual award being written comparing and contrasting the speeds of trains we have been mulling over for ages is a “best and worst all over the planet. This continued for decades and became timetable” award. We often decry (and sometimes praise) a regular feature in magazines such as the UK-based timetables – not on the service which they portray, but the Railway Magazine. For many years Don Steffee ran an way in which they portray it. What is your “best and worst”? “Annual Speed Survey” in Trains magazine. This became Send your selection to Geoff Lambert at the above address. something of a cause celebre in Australia after the opening To be fair, you should think, not only about how you (the of the Melbourne-Albury standard gauge line—because “curmudgeonly collector”), perceive these timetables, but some of the freight trains on it were the fastest scheduled also how the target audience (the dreaded “customer”) might freights outside the USA. This is hard to conceive of now, perceive them. These days, the latter will surely involve given the parlous state of that track in 2015. phone-app timetables – few people these days look at There has been some debate recently in railfan circles as to “paper stuff”. As with the speed survey, all modes are in the where the fastest trains in Australia now run. The ATA is running for the awards. about to embark on its own Annual Speed Survey to settle We will try to produce these surveys and make our awards in this issue. We need your help in ferreting out these fastest about March or April for the calendar year immediately (and perhaps the slowest?) trains. As with the Steffee preceding, but will accept notable entries from the survey, we will accept entries for speeds of freight, immediate, or even the distant, past. So, this summer, while suburban, intercity and long distance passenger trains on a you are minding the grandchildren at the beach, take along a point-to-point basis (short distance) and on and end-to-end bunch of timetables and a laptop and get to work. Keep an basis. It is perfectly allowable to go “off the rails” on this and eye on the kids, though. to send in your selections for land, air and water by any mode. NEW RAIL TIMETABLES • Sutherland platform working alterations Transport for NSW Passenger WTT • Mechanised Track Patrol and South Coast Hi-Rail 25 January 2015 alterations Transport for NSW / Sydney Trains will introduce a new • Kiama platform working alterations, and Passenger Working Timetable, designated version 4.0, from • Amended consist of Indian Pacific to reflect current 25 January (weekends) and 26 January (weekdays). length. Alterations are: It is believed another new WTT may be issued effective from • Introduction of passenger trains Leppington-Glenfield- 22 February. Liverpool - every 30 minutes every day. The first service departs Leppington at 0506, and the last departs Transport for NSW Freight WTT Liverpool at 2358, • Altered train numbering, stabling arrangements and 25 January 2015 revised train rosters for the majority of Sector 2 and Transport for NSW will introduce a new Sydney area Freight selected Sector 3 services Working Timetable from 25 January (weekends) and • Deployment of a 4 car Millennium set to the Carlingford 26 January (weekdays). line on weekends It is believed another new WTT may be issued effective from • Revised standby train arrangements 22 February. • Stabling of sets at Leppington and Auburn Stabling Yards • Increased Waratah running ARTC WTT 25 January 2015 • Revised crew training train arrangements at ARTC will introduce a new Working Timetable from Campbelltown and Auburn Stabling Yard 25 January 2015. The WTT is on their website at • Minor passenger time alterations on selected services at http://www.artc.com.au/Content.aspx?p=161 various stations It is believed another new WTT may be issued effective late • Altered timing and routing of selected Sector 3 services March. between Homebush and St Marys • Revised running times for Blue Mountain services NSW Country Regional Network WTT NSW Western area (summarised in their Country Train Notice 5-2015). The WTT is on their website at 25 January 2015 www.jhrcrn.com.au/Documents.asp?ID=67 John Holland Rail NSW Country Regional Network will introduce a new Working Timetable from 25 January 2015. It is believed another new WTT may be issued effective late There are a number of alterations to freight trains in the March. RAIL AND TRAM NEWS Aurizon: Bauhinia line electrified • The In-Train Communications Equipment (ICE): the Electrification of the Buahinia line from Rangal south to design, and supply of 704 units for train operating Rolleston mine, 107 km, part of the Blackwater coal network, companies to install on their motive power units was completed in late December 2014. • Support for both routine and emergency operations • Seamless coverage across the entire Interstate and Galilee basin railway Hunter Valley Rail Networks The Queensland government is giving the Indian • Dual redundant communications media – NextG as conglomerate Adani more time to finalise a rail deal for its the primary medium and Iridium satellite as the massive coal mine in the Galilee Basin. In November Deputy secondary media Premier Jeff Seeney announced a tight timetable for locking • Communications interoperability with non-ARTC in a final agreement with Adani, which would see the train control areas Queensland government taking a temporary minority share • in the 300-km rail line. Mr Seeney has now said the Both voice and data communication support deadlines were flexible. Some industry observers have services, at agreed service levels questioned whether Adani can meet its own deadline of • GPS tracking beginning construction work on the rail line in the first quarter • A communications backbone for data-centric train of 2015. Adani was yet to secure mining leases for its management systems. proposed Carmichael coal mine. A Land Court hearing is scheduled to run for five weeks from 30 March. Around 1024 Telstra Mobile sites form part of the communications network along ARTC’s network. Telstra QR CityTrain: Significant closedown provided an additional 81 radio sites along the rail corridor Between 25 and 29 December, trains between Strathpine comprising 70 macro base stations and 11 radio fitted and Caboolture were replaced by buses. Works were carried tunnels. out for the new Petrie to Kippa-Ring line (Moreton Bay rail Geoff Lambert writes: The predecessor of the NTCS was link), a track slew at Petrie, stormwater drainage work at “CountryNet”, invented by John Aitken and set up in NSW by Lawnton, Petrie platform modifications, Gympie Road bridge Freight Rail in 1996. This used a mixture of GPS, in-house straightening and noise barriers installation. radio, Telstra CDMA and Optusnet satellite phones, Broadbeach Monorail re-opened coordinated on the locos by a DOS computer. The Broadbeach Monorail from Jupiter’s Casino to the Oasis When ARTC took over the NSW lease it inherited this Shopping Centre, 1.3 km, re-opened from Saturday system. From that time, until about mid-2013, there was a 20 December. It had been closed since February for safety “public front-end” (CTRLS) to this system where users could upgrades. It originally opened in 1989. It is operated by the track trains across NSW. It had no train control functions, it Oasis Shopping Centre. The monorail is close to the was merely a tracking system. Railfan photographers who southern terminus of the new Gold Coast tramway. knew the address of this “dark site” used it to chase trains. ARTC: Communications system ARTC decided to migrate this system to a more modern, On 1 December the ARTC completed conversion of its train nation-wide version based on Telstra’s NextG network and communications system to a digital radio system, when the its Iridium low-orbit satellite phone service. The introduction last two analogue transmitters were turned off. This of this service was almost infinitely prolonged, but is now in completes a seven year project. The NTCS project place. ARTC have hinted that they might make the NTCS leverages the Telstra NextG mobile network and provides Train Tracker (4TRAK) publicly available, but this has not yet 100% coverage with the assistance of satellite happened. It is available to locomotive crews and managers communications. The project was funded by the Federal of rail operating companies – but they can only follow their Government. While the physical network, including mobile own trains. communications towers and satellites, has been in place For further information on both CTRLS and NTCS, see my since June 2010, the retrofitting and testing of ICE (In-cab article “Watching the Trains Go By” in the February 2012 Communications Equipment) units across the locomotive issue of the Times. fleet and multiple operators have been completed. Currently 900 trains with ICE units operate across the country; 704 ARTC: Hexham Relief Roads project units were supplied by ARTC as part of the NTCS project. completed The NTCS solution also provides a reliable, high speed data The Hexham Relief Roads were brought into use in early network to support existing and future data intensive December.