Train Order Working

BDA · Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2003 9:29 am

What does everyone think of this monstrosity ? It is easy to see where RAC thougt that there was money to be saved on infrastructure......a few signals , and a few, very few point motors.I can see value in its use west of Parkes where the traffic volumes are low.But Orange East fork to Parkes and Dubbo was stupidity.When the wheat season gets into full swing and Train Order Control Orange (TOCO) has a couple of dozen trains in the system watch the delays mount up.Its easy to be frustrated doing crosses that should take ten minutes but cost you two and a half hours, all because ten trains try to contact TOCO at the same time and he/she can only talk to one train at a time.The other nine plus trains have to sit and rot because of a flawed system.The real answer should have been Centralised Traffic Control (CTC)...oops Single Bi Directional Rail Vehicle Detection System.Aint that a mouthful!

Alco King · Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2003 1:38 pm

I think you are quite right with you opinions about TOC. Although it is a very good system it has its flaws as you mentioned. At the moment there isnt much rail traffic opperating out towards Dubbo and the system is already conjested. If only we lived in the perfect world and the railways were how they should be!

I Don't Chase Trains I Drive Them.
Nothing Beats Being Paid to Gunzel.

insideinfoman · Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2003 4:15 pm

Train order working was introduced to save money.
The fact that it does not work very well is not regarded as an important problem by RIC.
The fact that it depends upon the GPS navigation system means that it could fail if the US military decide to degrade the accuracy of the civilian version of GPS (ie turn on Selective Availability).
Using GPS for a safety critical application is asking for trouble - senior management has been warned but choose as usual to take risks. These kind of risks are called "an acceptable level of safety".
The Senior Project Manager who is in charge of the project is kindly known by some as "The Fossil" since his ideas are somewhat dated.
Quite afew younger engineers have fallen foul of this individual and his management by bullying and abuse is notorious. Being one of the "Old Mates" he has been protected against accusations of incompetance or an inability to understand what his underlings are up to.
No wonder there are problems with this system.

BDA · Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2003 8:58 am

His ideas are somewhat dated ? If he had been using his head instead of his date the very obvious short comings with the system should have been blatently obvious.My gut feeling is that SRA wasted too much time and money on the Train Radio and Train Order system,the project started and stalled three times, and god only knows how long it took to organise the satelite link.It sounds to me like someone had to justify their budget and their position.Honestly half the budget spent on this ststem would have put CTC to Parkes and Dubbo and most of the delays would never have occured. I can remember once being stuck with the Ghan at Orange East Fork for nearly four and a half hours and an engine change because of this useless system.And you really have to wonder when TOCO rings you up to find out where you are because the GPS has failed.It is doubtful that ARTC would throw good money away using this system anywhere else . ...If only the tax payers knew where their money was wasted.