PITTSBURGH — Wabtec will work with the Australian Rail Track Corp. to help develop interoperability of the country’s rail system, the two companies have announced.
Wabtec will work to develop the interoperability standard between ARTC’s Advanced Train Management System and European Rail Traffic Management System 2, also used in Australia.
“ARTC recognizes the complex challenge of solving interoperability, and 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,” Wayne Johnson, CEO of ARTC, said in a press release. “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 United States spanning over 100,000 kilometers and 21,000+ locomotives. The Australian Government recognizes the importance of rail interoperability as a priority, and we will continue to work with government and other key stakeholders to deliver systems and software solutions that enhance the nation’s rail system.”
ATMS uses Global Positioning System and public cellular networks to connect track infrastructure, locomotives, and network control. It enables autonomous train-based locating, authority and speed supervising, and increased crew situational awareness.
“This project will be a key building block that enables ARTC to transform Australia’s freight rail network,” said Nalin Jain, president of Digital Intelligence at Wabtec. The project will provide software, systems, and services for the approximately 8,500-kilometer network (5,280 miles) of government-owned track operated and maintained by ARTC in five states. ARTC does not operate trains, but provides access for operating companies. More on ARTC is available at its website.
In your WIKI map link’s horizontal slide show thread, it shows a lot of standard gauge planning progress, but not in my lifetime…lol!
In the article title, I thought the word “interoperabilty” meant encouraging and assisting Australia to conform all their RRs to 4′ 8 1/2″/1435 mm standard gauge. After reading the article, apparently NOT, as there was no mention of that. sigh
Seriously. You’d think that would be more of an issue, no? Australia has THREE major track gauges. And they’re relatively evenly distributed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_gauge_in_Australia#:~:text=The%20three%20main%20railway%20gauges,taken%20place%20since%20the%201930s.