The Advanced Train Management System is a train control system under development by

Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American Arms industry, defense and aerospace manufacturer with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta on March 15, 1995. It is headquartered in North ...

for

Australian Rail Track Corporation The Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) is an Australian Government-owned statutory corporation. It operates one of the largest rail networks in the nation, spanning across five states and 39 worksites. ARTC continues to expand the networ ...

(ARTC). The ATMS uses

Global Positioning System The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based hyperbolic navigation system owned by the United States Space Force and operated by Mission Delta 31. It is one of the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) that provide ge ...

to locate and track the position of trains within the ARTC network. In particular the system will be deployed across the

Nullarbor Plain The Nullarbor Plain ( ; Latin: feminine of 'no' and 'tree') is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its no ...

to connect the eastern states of Australia with

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

and

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. ATMS has been proposed as a low cost functional equivalent to

European Rail Traffic Management System The European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) is the system of standards for management and interoperation of signalling for railways by the European Union (EU). It is conducted by the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA) and is the o ...

Outline

ATMS is a rail safe working system based on radio communication. Authorities are issued to equipped trains to allow them to proceed to a specified point. The ATMS compares the movement of an equipped train to the authority which has been issued, and then brakes the train if it exceeds the authority. ATMS does not use

balise A balise ( ) is an electronic beacon or transponder placed between the rails of a railway as part of an automatic train protection (ATP) system. The French word '' balise'' is used to distinguish these beacons from other kinds of beacons. Bali ...

s, such as the ETCS system from

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. ATMS's particular strength is to improve safety and efficiency in remote areas where communications and power infrastructure is limited, such as in deserts. It thus involves a mixture of land-based and satellite technologies for communications and renewable power supplies due to lack of mains electricity in many cases. Excellent following headways on single lines is provided, in excess of what is economically possible with conventional intermediate block signals. The cost of level crossing protection is reduced due to the elimination of the need for track circuits. Trains speeds are regulated according to the speeds along the track and through turnouts (switches).

ATMS system components

ATMS is composed of the following sub-systems:

Implementation

After 10 years of development, ATMS has been implemented on the short

Port Augusta Port Augusta (''Goordnada'' in the revived indigenous Barngarla language) is a coastal city in South Australia about by road from the state capital, Adelaide. Most of the city is on the eastern shores of Spencer Gulf, immediately south of the ...

Whyalla Whyalla is a city in South Australia. It was founded as Hummock's Hill, and was known by that name until 1916. It is the fourth most populous city in the Australian state of South Australia after Adelaide, Mount Gambier, and Gawler, and along ...

railway. The next phase is between

via

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. The Inland Railway is to benefit from a $20m contract for its 1700 km of track.

Track borne equipment

* Controls and detects turnouts aka points * Controls and detects level crossings * Detects landslip detectors * Detects power supplies * Tunnels

Trainborne equipment

Drivers use a touch screen device located in the console – called a Driver Machine Interface or DMI – which provides information on the train’s movement and integrity, authority, target speed location, as well as other traffic, geographic and track features. The DMI enhances a driver’s situational awareness through a 10 km ‘look ahead’ view of work sites and changes in network conditions. A blue column bar represents the train’s length, direction of travel as well as the kilometre post position. The lower green horizontal line represents the train’s movement authority. Once a train has an authority, it can continue to the limit of its authority autonomously even if communications fail. Before moving into ATMS territory, the train communicates with the Network Control Centre (NCC) and the driver enters data via the DMI - digitally connecting the driver, train and NCC in real time. Train crews are automatically advised of speed restrictions, approaching speed limit changes as well as track work locations. When a train is within 10 km of a temporary speed restriction, a yellow braking curve followed by an alert will appear on the DMI. The Location Determination System (LDS) software uses a highly sophisticated dual feed from two GPS antennas to fix the train’s location. The software compares these two GPS inputs then further compares onboard sensors, the tachometer, and the track database to exactly fix the train’s location. Under normal conditions, location reporting to ATMS occurs every 15 seconds. The Train Control & Display (TC&D) software controls train functions such as train integrity monitoring, braking enforcement, driver display management and message exchange between the DMI and AMS.

End of train unit

Timeline

2021

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie-Boulder (or just Kalgoorlie) is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder as the surroundi ...

section

2020

* Inland Railway contract for $30m.

2018

section

2013

Because of delays in the development of ATMS, it was decided to equip the

Tarcoola Tarcoola is a town in the Far North (South Australia), Far North of South Australia north-northwest of Port Augusta. At the , Tarcoola had no people living within its boundaries. ''Tarcoola'' was named after ''Tarcoola'' the winner of the 189 ...

section with conventional CTC signalling.CTC
''

International Railway Journal The ''International Railway Journal'' (''IRJ'') is a monthly international trade magazine published by Simmons-Boardman Publishing in Falmouth, England. History Founded by Robert Lewis and '' Railway Age'' editor Luther Miller as the world's ...

2005

* ARTC -

agreement.

Other systems

ERTMS The European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) is the system of standards for management and interoperation of signalling for railways by the European Union (EU). It is conducted by the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA) and is the o ...

Positive train control Positive train control (PTC) is a family of automatic train protection systems deployed in the United States. Most of the United States' national rail network mileage has a form of PTC. These systems are generally designed to check that trains a ...

(PTC)

References

{{reflist Lockheed Martin Rail infrastructure in Australia Rail technologies