As the city of Melbourne grows, traffic and congestion fill the streets as the populous tries to move among its city. In times like this, it is typical to seek new technologies to help solve the dilemma; however, the city of Melbourne has in fact turned to one of its oldest modes of transportation to streamline the way in which the city moves.

In 1854, the Sandridge Line was laid in Melbourne, with several other lines, including the Metro in 1910 following thereafter. While the Metro was considered to be one of the hubs of transportation, trains soon lost their popularity in the 1970s and 1980s, as cars became more popular. However, as the population of Melbourne grew, petrol prices increased and roads become congested with commuters attempting to get to work, thereby causing train travel to experience a renaissance.

To serve the city, Melbourne’s metropolitan train network operates 165 six-carriage trains across 830 kilometers of track, with the train fleet covering more than 30 million km per year and servicing more than 380,000 trips daily, with more than 200 million customers annually.

Working to make this mode of transportation as effective and efficient as possible is Metro Trains Melbourne, which has been operating the Metro since the end of November of 2009. Metro has made it a point to offer a fresh approach to getting the absolute best performance out of existing rail assets while at the same time, readying the network for improved reliability and performance, patronage growth, an increased number of trains and a continued future of infrastructure investment.

COMMITTED TO RELIABILITY

According to CEO of Metro Trains Melbourne, Andrew Lezala, Metro is committed to ensuring that its train service is reliable, clean and safe. Six months into the initial eight-year contract, Metro is working on getting the basics right, and still has a way to go to get the reliability and service punctuality where it needs to be for customers and the Victorian Government who own the assets.

As a way to support the targets of a consistently reliable, frequent and efficient service, Metro Trains Melbourne has made a commitment to reducing its cancellations by 24 percent in its first year of contract; improving its punctuality by 10 percent; and reducing unplanned delays from infrastructure faults by 2011, according to the company’s website.

This work has not come at a low cost for the train line. According to Lezala, approximately two million dollars a day is spent on infrastructure, upgrades and maintenance of the lines.

“We have to find enough signal suppliers and people resources to do all of the work that is needed on the railway,” said Lezala. “To create a better railway, we seek contractors that offer the right quality of work within our time limits and in the right price bracket.”

As more Melbournians use the Metro, it has become apparent that the train schedule’s frequency and reliability needed to reflect the dramatic growth. To address those needs, Metro Trains Melbourne has begun to move its train system towards a metro-style operation, allowing the line to provide more services that will match the growing demand for train travel throughout the city.

“The train timetable has not been fundamentally changed in 15 years,” said Lezala. However, with over 200 million people using Metro services each year, an innovative approach and changes were needed to give everyone more services and better reliability from the existing train system.

“For instance, if there are 19 train services per hour running on a line, there must be a three-minute interval in-between the trains without variation,” explained Lezala.

The Metro train tracks are approximately 830 kilometers in length, but with the older style of operation, some trains were only being used once during peak hours. In order to maximize the capacity at which the track is used, certain trains are to be scheduled to serve the inner region of Melbourne by doubling back to the center of town, in order to serve Melbournians during the highest peaks of commuter times.

“We will move towards more convenient time-tables for our commuters,” said Lezala.

PLANS FOR THE FUTURE

Within the next two years, Metro Trains Melbourne will invest $100 million in rolling stock to improve the reliability of its services. Its shareholders, MTR from Hong Kong and Australian companies John Holland and United Group have given input on methods that will increase reliability and expertise of operating, maintaining and constructing railways from around the world.

“We have an ‘every minute counts’ philosophy,” said Lezala. “We are developing a culture of being on time. As a train service provider, if we are less than reliable or not on time, we are a failure.”

To meet its performance goals, Metro Trains Melbourne relies heavily on the hard work and dedication of its 3,600 employees, who are required to be as faithful and reliable as the train service provider itself.

“Employees can expect a good, fair process, which is why so many of them stay with us,” said Lezala. “People who work on railroads are pretty passionate about what they do. There is a lot of tradition in this railway, and we have a loyal, capable staff.”

According to Metro’s website, they will create more than 200 new jobs in customer service and infrastructure areas, where increased staff levels are needed to facilitate safe and smooth passenger flows at inner city stations. “Melbourne has seen unprecedented growth within the past five years,” said Lezala, and the changes demanded by the population growth were not typical requirements for a train network.

“Every railway is unique, but what truly sets the Metro Trains Melbourne railway apart is our widespread network,” stated Lezala. “We have to incorporate very homogeneous thinking, innovative methods and a uniqueness to continually improve the network, thus we had to do so conservatively and slowly.”

SURVIVING THE SLOWDOWN

“The economic slowdown was a double-edged sword for the Melbourne network,” said Lezala. Because as petrol prices dropped, more people began to use their automobiles again, but at the same time, the economy supported growth in the railway with some people opting for the lower cost of rail as a public transport choice.

“The majority of our supply base has also managed to survive the slowdown,” commented Lezala. “And as we spend more, this will benefit our supply chain.”

As an electric railway, Metro Trains Melbourne is inherently environmentally friendly, but Lezala explained that the train line is doing more to be environmentally responsible.

“We monitor our greenhouse emissions, and try to have efficient station lighting,” said Lezala. “Additionally, we are looking at traction energy, in which we can capture the energy used from our braking system and regenerate electricity from that kinetic energy to propel our trains,” said Lezala.

Currently, Metro Trains Melbourne is developing a better interchange with the bus system that serves Melbourne.

“Our train network is like a spider, with the suburban lines being the spider’s legs,” explained Lezala. “We want the bus network to be the spider’s web. Buses will be key to achieving our growth targets.”

As Melbourne’s Metro system continues to evolve, it is apparent that the train network, one of the oldest in Australia, is not only capable of adapting and changing to meet its customers’ needs; it is also able to transform the way the city experiences efficient public transportation.