On 10 February 2016, members unanimously agreed on the proposed changes to the RTAA’s constitution - marking a new era in the organisation’s history.

The constitution was last updated in 2007 and need-ed to change to reflect current legislation, and to align with the format recommended by the NSW Fair Trading Model Constitution for Associations. The changes were made following substantial considera-tion from RTAA Committee members and with spe-cialist expertise from a legal professional.

As a result, the new constitution now reflects our current operating model. Key features include:

● The Executive Committee has day-to-day operational control of the association

● The Management Committee has oversight of the Executive Committee’s activities

● The operation of the RTAA is more efficient and streamlined

● Due diligence is implemented in the way the association is run.

An important change is the broadening of the RTAA’s objectives with the primary focus to increase the definition of infrastructure beyond railway track. It also reflects the introduction of various levels of membership as well as giving recognition to the in-creasing number of personal members.

All members were invited to comment and vote on the new constitution. We thank those who made the effort to attend the meeting in person, as well as those who provided their proxy votes.

I am honoured to be serving as the RTAA President for another year. I have indicated that I wish to see a new President coming through the ranks to take over the reins of the RTAA, and I still hold that wish. In the past 5 years as your President, I have led the RTAA through a significant transformational change. Hopefully, this has led to the creation of a modern, forward looking industry association that, not only represents the views of its membership, but brings together the wider rail infrastructure family under the one banner.

The final piece of the jigsaw was achieved on 10 February when we held a Special Meeting to vote on the proposed revised constitution. The motion was carried and the RTAA is now in the best shape it has ever been, with a solid business governance framework, a stable mem-bership base and sufficient equity in the bank to ensure we deliver a great value proposition to our members and industry as a whole.

We are seeing significant changes in our relationship with the ARA as a result of Danny Broad bringing his own style of leadership to the organisation. The RTAA Executive is united in promoting a greater un-derstanding of our respective roles within industry, through working in a collaborative manner with both the ARA and the newly independent RISSB, as well as the other railway industry associations.

In the current climate of ‘infrastructure boom’ in Australia, we need to be working together to ensure that rail is seen as the infrastructure of choice. We can do this by creating a strong political argument based on the cost effectiveness and efficiency gains that rail provides for our

nation. Indeed, the Australian Infrastructure Plan published recently by Infrastructure Australia lists a significant number of rail initiatives as being a priority – so there is much for us to do to deliver them safety and efficiently as an industry.

On the political front, all rail industry associations need to support the ARA to deliver a clear and consistent message to politicians and the public in general. That message includes the promotion of the idea that rail initiatives need to be seen as acorn investments. That is, our generation needs to plant the acorns for future generations to enjoy the benefits of the oak trees that grow.

Our contribution from the RTAA will continue to be built around our Four Key Priorities:

These have been our consistent drivers since the beginning of 2014 and they remain the focal areas where we can contribute towards making the rail infrastructure sector a better environment to work within.

Coming full circle, we will see a number of the significant contributors to the success of the RTAA retire over the coming years. As a result, I have decided to remain as President, subject to the will of the Mem-bers, through this period of transition. However, this means I need to identify a number of keen and younger people to fill the vacant places within the Executive as they arise. If you are interested, then please get in touch – it is a very worthwhile cause to be part of.

Call Us: (02) 9980 5211 Email: secretary@rtaa.org.au Website: rtaa.org.au pg 1

EnGaugeVolume 1 - 2016

In this issue:

President’s Message ............................. 1

RTAA Members Approve Historic Changes

To The Constitution .................................1

Sydney Technical Session

and Networking Meeting ...................... 2

New Members .........................................2

RTAA announces the launch of the Frank

Franklyn Award 2016 ............................ 3

2014 Frank Franklyn Winner’s Story:

My Visit to Europe, 2015 .........................3

RTAA EVENTS 2016 ............................... 4

Watch Discovery Channel Thursday 10

March ......................................................4

President’s MessageDavid Bainbridge - President

RTAA Members Approve Historic Changes To The Constitution

Promoting diversity

Providing national

Sharing grass-roots

Working towards

Thanks to our guest speakers:

Gary Mcgregor A/Director, Strategic Rail Transport, Transport Networks - Freight, Strategy and Planning, Transport for NSW

Howard Collins OBE CE Sydney Trains and

Rob Mason CEO NSW Trains

And our sponsor:

The RTAA challenged leaders from Sydney Trains, NSW Trains and Transport for NSW with the topic of our first meeting for 2016 – ‘The railway falls flat on its interfaces’.

Using the quote from Sir Peter Parker to generate discussion, we asked our guests to provide insight into how interfaces are managed within the context of our local environment while also drawing on their experiences abroad.

The meeting was held at The Westin, Sydney and attracted over 100 registrations. There was a noticeable increase in female attendees which was extremely positive.

The RTAA encourages more women to be involved in technical presentations and events, and would be pleased to hear from anyone who is interested in being a guest speaker at one of our sessions.

The presentation from this event can be accessed via the RTAA’s website: rtaa.org.au/latestnews

The event was sponsored by new corporate members Scott Lister P/L.

Mark Scott, Managing Director, gave a brief presentation. The RTAA welcomes Scott Lister and looks forward to collaborating in the future.

Scott Lister is a global engineering and project management consultancy specialising in the integration and assurance of programs involving technology, processes and people. With the in-house capability to support the most challenging and complex projects anywhere in the world, Scott Lister is a dynamic organisation that promotes accountability and rewards initiative.

Scott Lister promotes an environment that allows people to shine. Positive actions are always recognised at the top of the organisation and clients reap the benefits of this approach on a daily basis.

New MembersThe RTAA also welcomes the following new members:

AustRail Insurance Brokers is a specialist rail division of Insurics Pty Ltd, AustRail has been active in the rail sector since 1995. AustRail’s reputation in the insurance industry allows them to negotiate specialised policies and competitive premiums. The long-term support of specialist rail insurers and reinsurers, in Australia and at Lloyds, ensures the continuity and financial integrity of the insurance solutions offered. AustRail is a long-term member of the Australasian Railway Association.

VicTrack is a state government rail agency that supports public transport and broader government policy by operating commercially. VicTrack provides a wide range of services to help build a better, safer and more connected transport system and a stronger Victoria

Vantage Freight is privately owned and operated company with over thirty years’ experience in the industry. Key sectors include air, sea, import/export, customs clearance, warehousing and cargo.

Call Us: (02) 9980 5211 Email: secretary@rtaa.org.au Website: rtaa.org.au EnGauge pg 2

Sydney Technical Session and Networking Meeting10 February 2016

2014 Frank Franklyn Winner’s Story: My Visit to Europe, 2015 by Thomas Kerr

As the 2014 RTAA Frank Franklyn Young Rail Specialist Achievement Award winner, I had the pleasure of visiting nine different railway companies and suppliers, in five different countries in Europe, over 45 days in 2015. During this time, I attended a three day conference in Salzburg called the OVG. I also visited a number of rail compa‐nies, as suggested by the RTAA, many of them being parent compa‐nies of their Australian counterpart.

My itinerary was based around the OVG Conference in Salzburg. This conference is formed by the working committee on Railway Technolo-gy of the Austrian Society of Traffic and Transport Science and is held every four years. The theme of the conference was “Optimising the wheel / rail-systems technological progress for safety, cost-efficiency and reliability”. Over the three days, 23 papers were presented and two excursions were attended.

The first excursion was near Salzburg railway station by Plasser & Theurer to observe their new hybrid resurfacing machines. These machines were very impressive, environmentally friendly and had exceptional production rates. Both tamper and regulator draw power off the OHW when live, which makes it much quieter and user-friend-ly inter-urban track maintenance. It can then revert back to diesel mode when the power is off.

The second excursion was to a site in Klaus, Austria. Here we were shown a track laying machine in operation. Other aspects of my trip are described below.

Vossloh Cogifer, Reichshoffen: this tour enlightened me the most. I was able to gain a better understanding on how components are manufactured and the variety of components and new technology available. I use many of these components in planning and delivering turnout renewal projects at Sydney Trains, and it allows me to draw comparisons between what I do in practice and what the rest of the world does. Their new forging facility at Kihn was state-of-the art, and the level of effort and dedication put into this facility was impressive.

The Northern Line Service Control Centre located at Highgate, London: one of the busiest lines on the London Tube Network. The unit controls and monitors all the trains operating on the Northern Line. The Operations Manager showed me around the control rooms and briefed me on what functions the facility undertakes to keep the London Underground operating. It was instructive to understand (at a high level) what goes on behind the scenes, and how my work as an Engineer and Project Manager can affect this facility and the customers.

Track Partnership, Walthamstow, London: an organisation formed

by Balfour Beatty and London Underground. This is one of the Track Partnership projects that I had the pleasure of visiting at Waltham-stow, on the Victoria Line. This was a very challenging and complex project. The overhead gantry cranes were one of the best things I inspected with this project. In Australia, considerable mobile plant is used to undertake this type of construction. However, if these types of cranes were installed, it would increase safety on the site and reduce the cost of plant operators. Even though these are ‘horses for courses’ type of equipment, it is good to know what alternative types of practices are available, as a situation may come up in the future where this is the perfect solution.

Pandrol Workshop, UK: one of the world’s leading suppliers of resil-ient rail fastening systems and solutions, and is well known in Austral-ia. My tour consisted of the production, engineering and technology sections of the business, including areas where it was developing prototypes and testing. Some of the new products are very similar to existing products we use at Sydney Trains, but are more enhanced with slight alterations. This leads to increased production rates for installation, increased reliability and cost savings. By learning how these new systems work, it may be possible to build a case to make them more widespread in Australia.

Voestalpine‐VAE in Zeltweg, Austria: is the world market leader in turnout technology for railways, metros and tramways. Sydney Trains has a five year supply agreement with VAE to deliver steelwork and turnout components. I visited the Zeltweg facility and the Engi-neering Manager gave me a tour of this facility. The visit involved a presentation that provided me with an overview of the company and a tour of the site through the various stages of the turnout manufac-ture process, including pre-building of turnouts and also signalling in-frastructure development. The turnout pre-assembly is also fantastic and this has increased my motivation towards using these systems in Australia.

Goldschmidt Thermit, Wien, Austria: a worksite where they were undertaking the Thermit welding process. Their new Thermit weld kits are more compact, with less parts, and are also used to dispose of the waste from most of the by products from the welding process. I was able to further understand at a fundamental level how grinding works, the phases of grinding, how long it takes and the other tech-nical methods and requirements that go with this type of work. I was very impressed with head repairs and can apply this method to my work at Sydney Trains. This would reduce costs and time with these types of defects rather than installing many closures.

Robel, Germany: are specialists in railway construction equipment and machinery. They manufacture more than 100 different product groups and supply them to over 70 countries around the world. On my visit at Freilassing, I was guided by the Technical Sales Manager.

Plasser & Theurer’s, Linz, Austria: this tour of the parent factory was very interesting. It contained plant that are used at Sydney Trains, such as ballast cleaning, resurfacing and track laying machines.

Call Us: (02) 9980 5211 Email: secretary@rtaa.org.au Website: rtaa.org.au EnGauge pg 3

RTAA announces the launch of the Frank Franklyn Award 2016The RTAA is proud to be launching this year’s Frank Franklyn Young Rail Specialist Achievement Award. The award is part of the rail industry’s celebration of industry achievements ‐ the Australasian Rail Industry Awards night.

Unlike other awards, the RTAA award carries the enviable prize of a trip worth up to $10,000 to attend an acceptable rail exhibition/conference overseas.

The most important criteria for entrants are as follows:

• Age: under 35 years

• Citizenship/nationality: Australian citizen or resident

• Expertise: Demonstrable involvement in the rail industry in a field of specialisation, locally or internationally

• Membership: Personal membership of the RTAA for more than one year or an employee of a corporate member (see our website for the list of corporate members).

For more information, go to rtaa.org.au/new/events/frank-franklyn and download the application form.

The award will be presented at the Australasian Rail Industry Award Dinner on 7 July 2016 in Melbourne.

EnGaugeVolume 1 - 2016

Technical Sessions

The next technical session and networking meeting will be held in Perth on 16 March. Details are yet to be finalised, however the RTAA is delighted to have secured Brett Hughes, from the Department of Transport - Executive Director of Transport Strategy and Reform, to talk about freight policy and strategy.

RTAA is consulting with the other rail bodies to hold joint meetings in Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane over the next few months.

Later in the year we will also be hosting an event in Newcastle and a second technical session and networking meeting is being considered in both Perth and Sydney. Please watch our events page on the website for more details.

Major Events

Women in Rail: This event will be held in Melbourne, in June, and aims to repeat the success of the Sydney event in 2015. The event has already received much interest from a number of companies who are keen to encourage more diversity in the industry.

NAIDOC Week: RTAA will also participate in NAIDOC Week from 3 to 10 July. This is part of our on-going commitment to diversity and the promotion of rail careers to Indigenous communities.

No Tie Dinner: The No Tie Dinner will be held on 10 August. As it is not a ‘Field Days event year’, the dinner will be stand-alone. The venue is being negotiated at present, with a number five star hotels in the Sydney CBD being considered.

RTAA is seeking major sponsors for this event, which attracts around 180 – 200 dinner guests in a relaxed, fun atmosphere. Please contact RTAA if you are interested.

REMEMBER TO DIARISE 1 & 2 MARCH FOR OUR NEXT FIELD DAYS EVENT IN CLYDE, NSW TOGETHER WITH SYDNEY TRAINS/TRANSPORT FOR NSW.

AusRAIL 2016 – Adelaide - 22-23 November 2016 There will be six papers presented during the RTAA Technical Stream. The call for papers closed on 29 January 2016, with submission of abstracts due by 11 March 2016.

The RTAA will nominate 8-9 abstracts for their authors to prepare draft papers. There is no theme for this event at present.

Watch Discovery Channel Thursday 10 MarchLast year the RTAA was approached in WA by Prospero Films “especially as your current charter of increasing diversity into the rail industry through promotion of young, Indigenous and female rail workers is very much in line with our aim of showcasing a broad range of Australia’s rail workers in the television series that will connect in a positive way with our audience”. We are proud to have paved the way for the latest TV series to hit our screens.

Those who subscribe to pay TV will be aware of the great documentaries on the Discovery Channel. This week on Thursday 10 March, at 8.30pm the world premiere of RailRoad Australia will be shown. The series is an eight part, one-hour documentary television series commissioned by the Discovery Channel in Australia and Europe. It is supported by ScreenWest and produced by the West Australian production company Prospero Productions.

The series aims to go behind the scenes of Australia’s vast rail network to discover the men and women who keep this incredibly complex system running to schedule. From passenger trains to mining and freight, and the rail and train maintenance crews who support them – they tell the story of the intricate inner workings of a vital Australian industry.

Call Us: (02) 9980 5211 Email: secretary@rtaa.org.au Website: rtaa.org.au EnGauge pg 4

RTAA EVENTS 2016