{"id":92891,"date":"2024-07-23T20:59:46","date_gmt":"2024-07-23T10:59:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.railexpress.com.au\/?p=116921"},"modified":"2024-07-23T20:59:46","modified_gmt":"2024-07-23T10:59:46","slug":"revolutionising-level-crossing-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=92891","title":{"rendered":"Revolutionising level crossing safety"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The system is designed to be seamlessly added to the existing\u00a0network. IMAGE: Aldridge<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rail manufacturing specialist Aldridge<\/a> is aiming to improve safety around level crossings with its ITS Wireless Level Crossing<\/a> Controller.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Level crossing safety is front of mind for the rail sector. The industry came together in March for a level crossing roundtable to create a cohesive direction for the sector to improve safety around level crossings, particularly in regional\u00a0areas.<\/p>\n

Rail specialist Aldridge, through its Intelligent Transport Systems division (ITS), is aiming to be at the forefront of this.<\/p>\n

Aldridge can trace its roots back to 1989 where it began as a series of companies called the Aldridge Group. They then acquired a company that had tooling with the ability to manufacture railway signals, thus beginning the company\u2019s foray into the rail space.<\/p>\n

The company prides itself on never compromising on quality to ensure safety. With 25 years\u2019 experience in producing railway crossing components and manufacturing signalling equipment, the company uses best practice to get maximum value out of every project dollar.<\/p>\n

This experience has laid the foundation for Aldridge to develop a new product to improve safety for level crossings.<\/p>\n

WLX System<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

The Aldridge-ITS Wireless Level Crossing (WLX) Controller has been designed in Australia by Aldridge-ITS to provide a low cost, low maintenance, stand-alone solar and battery-powered active level crossing solution.<\/p>\n

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The WLX system is designed to make level crossings safer in remote areas for a fraction of the cost. IMAGE:Aldridge<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The WLX utilises wireless communications and axle counter-based train detection to control type-approved RX5 warning devices and includes data logging and alarm management (local and remote) along with live remote\u00a0monitoring.<\/p>\n

The controller has been designed from the ground up with a design criteria of lower cost, lower power consumption and integration resulting in a reliable and secure level crossing\u00a0system.<\/p>\n

In Australia, the majority of level crossings are in remote regions with low population density and little or no surrounding\u00a0infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Installation of traditional level crossing protection systems is expensive where buried cable routes are necessary. In addition, the lack of infrastructure and a reliable power supply increases the cost of installing a traditional level crossing system.<\/p>\n

The WLX system is activated using an axle counting sub-system for train detection at the Up and Down strike-in point.<\/p>\n

The level crossing operation commences upon detection of a train passing the strike-in point in the direction of the road\/rail interface and cancels once the rear of the train is detected to be clear of the roadway.<\/p>\n

Power is self-sufficient, being derived from solar panels with battery backup. Two standard RX5 assemblies with an electronic bell and appropriate signage are installed at the\u00a0roadway.<\/p>\n

The efficient use of a low-power solution that incorporates secure and redundant wireless communications between system elements eliminates the requirements for the installation of cables.<\/p>\n

The WLX System can be installed and commissioned in five days.<\/p>\n

Rail Express<\/i> had the opportunity to speak with Managing Director, David Aldridge, to learn more about the new technology and what it means for the rail sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we are doing is reducing the price for crossings in remote farming or mining locations, where access is needed to a property over a railway line, but the costs currently associated with existing systems, are exorbitant,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe system can be installed for a fraction of the cost of standard automated level crossing\u00a0systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd our system is bespoke for rail crossings. \u201cIn other words, we have not just grabbed components off a shelf and bolted them together; we have designed every component and manufactured it locally allowing us to have complete control of the manufacturing and the IP.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor example, the wheel flange sensor was designed and built to meet Safety Integrity Level 4 (SIL4).<\/p>\n

\u201cIt includes lightning and surge protection and it\u2019s permanently active, allowing it to monitor all complex rail traffic movements.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause we designed it to be maintenance-free, requiring no adjustments during the normal course of operation, we then tested its integrity by fitting it to a 20-metre test track at our Lidcombe factory.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has now completed 2.5-million-wheel detection cycles.\u201d<\/p>\n

In another example of Aldridge\u2019s \u201cGround Up\u201d approach, the WLX controller utilises the latest micro controller technology (ISO 26262 ASIL D) with a Texas Instrument chipset designed for IEC 61508 SIL 3 Safety-Critical Applications.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe micro controller provides advanced integrated safety features and is companioned with a multi-rail power supply designed to supply micro controllers in safety critical applications,\u201d Aldridge said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe integration of this micro controller technology into the WLX controller has significantly reduced the cost of the system while maintaining functional safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen we needed to work out how to get the signal from the sensor without using cables, so we designed our own radio system. The WLX radio system is also a bespoke, proprietary radio system specifically designed for this application.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a 900Mhz ISM, Broad Digital Spread Spectrum with 20-channel Frequency Hopping, Forward Error Correction (FEC), AES128 security encryption and dual antenna diversity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finally, Aldridge recognised the need for a management system that allows it to monitor the performance of any WLX Installation both locally and remotely.<\/p>\n

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The system can provide data for remote monitoring and reports on vehicles and trains. IMAGE: Aldridge<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The system integrates a range of safety features to support users and ensure the system is operating at an optimal level of safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe WLX can provide email alerts on any system faults and warning messages, back to base monitoring and a web server for remote monitoring, generating system reports with multiple sites managed from the server,\u201d Aldridge said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe server can manage maintenance records and integrate with existing control room monitoring equipment. It provides vehicle and train analytics, monitoring of vehicle compliance, integrated video camera with analytics support, and a systems manager for maintenance staff.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Aldridge-ITS WLX is Australian designed with all components manufacturedlocally.<\/p>\n

The company has also begun exporting globally. It is 51 per cent Aboriginal owned, managed and controlled and Aldridge was awarded the 2023 Australian Indigenous Exporter of The Year. Being locally built means that Aldridge understands first-hand the challenges of maintaining 100 per\u00a0centreliability.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe understand that much of these systems are operating in harsh and remote areas of the country so we ensured we designed a system that could stand up to those challenges,\u201d Aldridge said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why all WLX components are housed in lockable stainless-steel weatherproof cabinets and there is an option for integrated video camera surveillance and anti-pole climbing security to ensure the equipment is not vandalised.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo further minimise the risk of any disruption, we utilise forward and reverse facing warning lights at the level crossings so that if one unit goes down, then there is a second unit on the other side to warn\u00a0users.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aldridge\u2019s system eliminates expensive installation and maintenance and can be delivered for a quarter of the price, with uncompromising safety, performance and reliability and is already operating at multiple sites in Australia.<\/p>\n

WLX is scalable for multiple track operations and it\u2019s even possible to include type-approved gates. WLX can be installed and commissioned in 5-7 days whereas existing systems can take six to eight weeks to be up and running.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe system can be installed much faster than existing automated systems with only four poles to be installed,\u201d Aldridge said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a matter of fact, you can install one system a day. After all it is simply four poles in the ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are beginning to get a lot of interest from overseas now and so we are gearing up to really roll it out.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe make it in Sydney, and we ship from our factory fully tested. We are excited to really grow this product in Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n

The post Revolutionising level crossing safety<\/a> appeared first on Rail Express<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\"
The system is designed to be seamlessly added to the existing\u00a0network. IMAGE: Aldridge<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rail manufacturing specialist Aldridge is aiming to improve safety around level crossings with its ITS Wireless Level Crossing Controller. Level \u2026 <\/p>\n

The post Revolutionising level crossing safety<\/a> appeared first on Rail Express<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":1,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[165,163,2537,10906],"tags":[5721,10376],"class_list":["post-92891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry-infrastructure","category-rail-industry-news-australia-new-zealand","category-signalling","category-signalling-communications","tag-level-crossings","tag-rail-express"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=92891"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92891\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92892,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92891\/revisions\/92892"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=92891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=92891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=92891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}