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

Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology corporation with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It ...

for Australian Rail Track Corporation ( ARTC). The ATMS uses

Global Positioning System The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite sy ...

to locate and track the position of trains within the ARTC network. In particular the system will be deployed across the Nullabor Plain to connect the eastern states of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

with Perth and Western Australia. 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 balises, such as the ETCS system from Europe. 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 is a small city in South Australia. Formerly a port, seaport, it is now a road traffic and Junction (rail), railway junction city mainly located on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf immediately south of the gulf's head and about ...

to Whyalla railway. The next phase is between

via Adelaide to Melbourne. The

Inland Railway Inland Rail, also known as Inland Railway and previously Australian Inland Railway Expressway, is a railway line under construction in Australia. Once complete, it will connect the ports of Melbourne and Brisbane along a new route west of th ...

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

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* 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 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 sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area includ ...

section

2020

contract for $30m.

2018

- Whyalla section

2013

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

- Tarcoola section with conventional CTC signalling.CTC
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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 (PTC)

References

{{reflist Lockheed Martin Rail infrastructure in Australia Rail technologies