Melbourne City is the busiest and most complex railway systems in Australia with 222 stations and services seven days a week, 998 kilometers of track and 226 six carriage trains[1] Projects has recently begun on two editions, like the Metro Tunnel[2] to maximize access for all Victorians and provide passengers comfort in the service from the airport to the CBD with the addition of five new underground stations, and level crossing removal project[3], focus on the elimination of 85 level crossings across metropolitan Melbourne by 2025, in addition to other rail network upgrades such as new train stations, track duplication and train stabling yards.
Conventional signaling systems trust almost exclusively on track circuits or axle counters for detection of trains. The position of trains is determined based on the occupancy information provided by these detectors in the form of block sections, the status of these blocks is shown along the track using signals similar to traffic light which let train drives know when it’s safe to procced. Trains normally down the track on green over red, slowly on yellow over red and must stop on red over red aspect light, if they don’t stop safety devices will trigger the trains brakes. If a train shunt a track circuit, As trains pass the whole block section is reported as occupied, meanwhile the exact position of the train within the block section is unspecified, as it can be occupied the track only by a portion of the train. Any following train must stop by the border of the occupied block section ahead.
What does CBTC means for the millions of daily riders on Melbourne City, CBTC uses existing track space more efficiently safety reducing the space between trains and making room for additional service, the system can adjust train speeds to prevent bunching and recover from delays resulting in a smoother ride and conserving energy. Trains can operate in both directions on all tracks safety, creating greater flexibility to maneuver around work crews and respond to emergencies, since the trains are all controlled centrally service can be adjusted quickly along a single line or throughout the entire system to respond to delays, accommodate crowds for special events and make it easier to prepare the system for severe storms or any possible disaster, CBTC equipment is either waterproof or can be removed easily. CBTC would provide riders with better real-time information allowing for more countdown clocks and better customer applications, CBTC has the potential to save as hundreds of millions of dollars annually by reducing maintenance costs and through automation.
Railway systems around the world are investing in CBTC technology, to give just a few examples are Metro New York Canarsie Line, London Underground SSR Lines, and Beijing Airport are projects that have successfully evolved to the CBTC system. Australia The Metro Tunnel Project will be Melbourne’s first incursion into CBTC. It will be Australia’s first CBTC implementation projected to start operations in 2025.
CBTC system utilizing high resolution train location determination, independent of track circuits; with continuous, high capacity, bidirectional train to wayside data communications; and train-borne and wayside processors capable of implementing safety related functions. CBTC consists of the following primary components: train-borne equipment, wayside equipment, data communication equipment and Automatic Train Supervision (ATS) equipment.
Train-borne equipment consists of one or more processor-based controls and train operator display as well as speed and localization sensors. Controllers have interfaces with train sub-systems and wayside CBTC equipment, Wayside equipment consist of a series of processor-based controllers that can be located centrally or locally, passive transponders and Auxiliary Wayside Systems (AWS) if required. ATS equipment is based on multiple industrial grade computers and human-machine interface devices. A data communication sub-system serves as an interface between the rest of the equipment and consists of ground-based and radio networks.
