Melbourne Metro Tunnel CBTC transforms Alstom signalling

Melbourne Metro Tunnel CBTC is now in passenger service, with the city’s new cross-city rail link opening under Alstom’s Urbalis Flo system and introducing high-frequency operation on an existing network.

This is reported by the railway transport news portal Railway Supply.

Australia’s first brownfield CBTC installation

This marks Australia’s first brownfield CBTC installation on an operational rail network. Alstom has designed and delivered the communications-based train control solution for Melbourne’s Metro Tunnel Project, which has officially opened for service. The Urbalis Flo CBTC platform allows the network to safely cut headways so that more trains can run more often, supporting thousands of extra passenger trips each week.

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Alstom’s CBTC technology works in sync with conventional signalling on the corridor, while five new stations are brought into service as part of the scheme. Together, these changes are described as the biggest transformation of Melbourne’s railway since the City Loop opened more than 40 years ago and effectively more than double the size of the city’s underground rail network, as outlined in the state’s Metro Tunnel project overview.

Urbalis Flo CBTC, ATO and platform screen doors

Within Melbourne’s Metro Tunnel Project, Alstom has implemented a tailored Urbalis Flo CBTC system along with custom station Platform Screen Doors (PSD) and core component technologies for the Sunshine Signal Control Centre. The station doors support accurate platform stopping, while the control centre equipment underpins operations across the line.

A key technical element is driver-on-board Automatic Train Operation, which enables autonomous train operation while keeping the driver as part of the system. Working within the Rail Network Alliance, Alstom carried out more than 4,000 hours and 70,000 kilometres of dynamic testing on the network before opening. The reported benefits include reduced headway between trains, a more precise train speed profile, improved stopping accuracy at stations and shorter turn-back times.

Pascal Dupond, Managing Director of Alstom Australia and New Zealand, underscores the significance of the scheme, describing it as a signalling project that brings together global expertise and local network knowledge. He notes that the system installed for Melbourne’s Metro Tunnel Project is bespoke to the city’s rail network and engineered to operate in a brownfield environment, which is highlighted as an Australian first.

Urban CBTC technology in Australia and Alstom’s global reach

Work on Melbourne Metro Tunnel CBTC has involved collaboration between Alstom teams in Australia and colleagues based in Thailand, the USA, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Poland, the UK, India, Canada and Spain since the contract was signed in 2017. The commissioning of the system is presented as the culmination of several years of effort and has been delivered in line with the programme and project commitments made to the State of Victoria.

With the Metro Tunnel now open, Melbourne joins Sydney as an Australian city using urban CBTC technology on its rail network, while Alstom is also supplying high-capacity signalling for Perth, as previously covered by Railway Supply. On this basis, the company notes that it is currently the only rail technology provider to have delivered urban CBTC technology in Australia.

More broadly, Alstom positions itself as a strong leader in the global mass transit market, with over 30 years of expertise in communications-based train control.

The Urbalis signalling system is deployed on more than 190 metro lines across 32 countries, including 74 lines that operate in fully automatic, driverless mode, underlining the international experience behind the Melbourne Metro Tunnel Project.

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