IRSE Sept 08.indd

CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS
IRSE
which documented the proposed
development of a new automated design
tools to facilitate improvement in the
current design lifecycle for Ansaldo STS.
This project was undertaken as part of the
CQU Postgraduate Diploma in Railway
Signalling by the author.
Lunch was then taken in the foyer of
the Theatre and further networking took
place around the exhibitor’s display
stands.
After lunch, Paul Huth of QR Network
gave an admirable paper on the “Overview
of QR Signalling Principles”. This
informative paper gave an overview of
QR’s signalling principles and systems
used on all the network (but excluded the
standard gauge line between the NSW
border and Acacia Ridge). It is intended
that this paper will form the first part of a
comprehensive set of papers on the same
subject for all the different state and
private railways in Australia and New
Zealand.
The final paper presented by Les
Brearley of Ansaldo STS was called
“Improving Skills to Improve Efficiency”.
The paper looked at differing facets of the
impact of training on the delivery of
business outcomes. Using the most
effective option for particular situations
improves skill transfer with fewer
resources required for both trainees and
trainers.
After the afternoon tea and
refreshment break a panel discussion was
held on the subject of “Mentoring – What
does it mean and why should we do it?”
The panel members were Richard Crooks
(ARTC); Denise Nicholson (Ansaldo STS;
Prue Hodgson( ARTC) with the Chairman of
the panel Session being Les Brearley
(Ansaldo). Much discussion them ensued
with the end view that it was essential and
Two members
observing a Brisbane
suburban
unit in the sidings
at Caboolture.
much information and education was
passed on by the mentors to the younger
members. Mentors must believe in the
programme and value sharing experiences
and knowledge and must be structured. A
strong message that also came from the
discussion was that we must not waste our
skilled people who had retired and every
effort should be made to encourage them
to pass on their knowledge and
experience.
Malcolm Lauder (Connell Wagner) then
gave a vote of thanks to all the presenters
which was echoed with much acclaim by
the members. Finally the acting Chairman
Steve Boshier closed the meeting after
giving each of the presenters a certificate
of appreciation and thanked all the
sponsors for their efforts in making such
an enjoyable and informative meeting.
The Evening Dinner was held at the
“Royal on the Park” Hotel where a convivial
evening was had by one and all. (The red
wine was particularly good.)
The Saturday started (via coach) with a
visit to Roma Street Station which had
been altered to allow a bus interchange
station to be built on the site of the
existing platform 1. This caused
alterations to be made to move the
standard gauge into the next platforms to
allow the Standard gauge trains from NSW
to use the existing platforms as well as QR
trains. This meant that new dual gauge
points had to be laid in and worked from
the existing SSI interlocking. (For a full
description see the IRSE NEWS for
September 2007, Issue 127)
The members then boarded the coach
again and proceeded northwards to
inspect the new works associated with the
doubling of the line from Caboolture to
Beerburram which had been the subject of
the first paper on the Friday morning. The
line hadn’t just been doubled on the
original alignment, in most cases it had
been straightened onto a new alignment
and most of the works were in a “green
field site”. The line is electrified with 25 kV
and new stations were being built. New
Interlockings were inspected and many
pictures were taken of the old and new
together. The inspection ended with a
lunch at “Scott Damien’s on the Lake” in
Caboolture where some of the wives who
had visited Brisbane with their husbands
were able to join. The Meeting closed with
the coach taking interstate members to
the airport and local members back into
Brisbane Central Business District.
Tony Howker
All photos: Tony Howker
Part of the original Installation that is still in use with the new
interlocking at Caboolture. The top of the rack is a Westrace unit
which controls the Westinghouse Radio ATP system and below it
is the Westronic S1 unit connecting the Interlocking to the CTC
centre in Brisbane. Caboolture was originally the first interlocking
on the Caboolture-Gympie CTC commissioned in 1982.
This interlocking was then enlarged when Caboolture became the
terminus of the Brisbane electrified suburban system and the
control was moved to the suburban control centre. When the
doubling works are complete, the new lines and interlockings will
also be controlled as part of the suburban network
The Westronic S1 will then be redundant at Caboolture after 25
years service.
IRSE
NEWS Issue 137 September 2008 29