Pacific National (PN) is Australia’s largest private rail freight operator, playing a crucial role in the country’s logistics and supply chain.
With a vast network spanning across all states and territories, PN transports a diverse range of goods, including bulk commodities like coal, grain, and steel, as well as intermodal containers and specialised freight. Operational efficiency is a key aspect for monitoring and managing rail assets safely. The reliability of the Operations Management Control System (OMCS) is a critical component to maintain PNs safety record.
Scope
Risks
Program Management & Systems Engineering
Wrap
Scope
The PN OMCS upgrade project replaced the existing SCADA platform and RTUs. The new platform used Schneider Geo SCADA Expert and Ovarro Kingfisher RTUs. There is a stark difference between green field and brown field replacement projects. This is further complicated with legacy products no longer supported. PN acted early and their legacy components were not end of life reducing the project risk significantly.
Key risks
The initial assessment and project planning phase identified a number of project delivery risks.
- PN Operator(s) may not readily accept the new SCADA system.
- The existing SCADA system and site assets are aging, and operations are nervous that if systems or equipment are turned off they won’t be able to be turned back on again.
- An operational incident may occur during cutover resulting in extended / unplanned downtime.
Though these risks are specific to this project, they are not uncommon for transitioning legacy critical systems. Especially on very old systems, turning systems off comes with operational and commercial risk. This is fully justified based on local experience and reinforces the need for operational staff on the ground being part of the narrative around identifying hazards, assessing risk, developing control measures, and eventually accepting residual risk produced by the new infrastructure.
Program Management & Systems Engineering
Systems engineering is a crucial discipline in the development and maintenance of complex systems like rail networks. It ensures that all components, from tracks and signals to trains and infrastructure, work seamlessly together to deliver safe, efficient, and reliable transportation.
The V-Model is a common framework used in systems engineering. It illustrates the iterative process from system requirements to system verification to validation.
The OMCS replacement project followed a typical Systems Engineering project format i.e. the waterfall approach. This project was not significant in size in terms of equipment footprint; however, the operational impact is still significant as it is with many automation technology solutions. Some of the more notable elements of the delivery program were:
- Requirements definition
- Risk assessment
- Design workshops
- Function Design Specification development
- Procurement
- Development
- Transition planning
- Implementation
- Acceptance
Expected in a V-model based systems projects, verification of requirements may occur progressively followed by a final audit which is the green light for subsequent build or testing activities. This means for example that initial requirements that exist predesign will mature as design workshops are held and other design inputs are gathered. As designs are verified against the developed requirements various stakeholders develop confidence their “needs driven requirements” are incorporated into either the program or the design. The better this is done and the earlier, the less surprises during user acceptance testing. The ultimate goal is “no surprises” at acceptance stages and although all functionality is tested thoroughly, focus can be made on performance-based testing and less about “how is this system supposed to work?”
After requirements are verified against the design, transition planning can occur. The basis of this type of planning is to identify how each requirement is validated. Validation methods are either Inspection, Demonstration, Analysis, or Testing. Test Plans and Test Procedures are the core components used to articulate that the chosen validation method has been adequately addressed. Though testing artefacts are technical in nature and may not be interesting to read, the discipline of testing at least twice and following an organised and approved testing program lifts confidence levels in the eyes of those preparing to accept the new system.
And with no surprise, when technology does not always perform as expected for new configurations never specifically been tried before, a rigorous process is essential. The sheer volume of tests even on small to moderate sized projects demands that continuity of approach especially as others participate or share the workload. The testing framework, if rigorously applied, creates a platform for regression testing. If something doesn’t go to plan, a patch or a work around is required, and the need to start again is circumvented. This is perhaps one the most important reasons that Systems Engineering is critical for important infrastructure projects; it takes the process and methods of how to do the job out of the daily discussion (assuming everyone knows the process) and diverts focus to meeting the requirements and assessing the impacts of any limitations that are dynamically discovered.
Wrap
The training of Operators and Maintainers was less formal for this OMCS project and was focussed on operational changes from old to new. In other scenarios the system criticality and safety argument may dictate or guide what the acceptance activities would need to be and negate any simplistic approach like this. In this case, if the new system was not planned to be “like for like” this would have heightened concern and warranted a different approach than what was stipulated.
The project concluded November 2024. Ironically feedback included “maybe more training would have been helpful”. The lesson learned is that system engineering projects require a balanced appreciation throughout an organisation. Projects always have budget constraints, and the tail end of projects need adequate funding to ensure customer fulfilment can occur to the level expected, or should I say to the level planned at the beginning. Acceptance planning is an early and critical part of the design of the project.
Upgrade Opportunities Plus
A “like for like” only philosophy would be a missed opportunity on any legacy system conversion. We say conversion because it’s not a version upgrade using a new version of the same software, it’s a new lease of life on a completely different technology platform. This means new features should be considered, and sometimes deprecating existing features that were well loved, but no longer available.
In our case and true to form, the new software and hardware systems did require “like for like” as a baseline, and the project methodology adopted by Parasyn imposed thorough testing. As with many systems, inputs may be exercised and outputs driven for functions that have never been used since the first day they were installed decades earlier. When thorough “retesting” occurs, wiring issues, inconsistent coding in the legacy system, and drawing inconsistencies become exposed. This project rectified some of these common issues and established a new baseline of performance. Although new technologies bring new bells and whistles as Geo SCADA Expert and the new Kingfisher RTUs did in this case, uplift in system integrity and quality came along for the ride.
Some of the opportunities realised were:
RTU’s:
- Utilising the latest versions of CPU hardware compatible with legacy IO
- Coding using IEC61131 languages
- A library-based configuration approach – ensures consistency in sub functions
- Software with modern functionality aligned with Visual Studio
SCADA:
- Improved operator interfaces (Zoom, Pan, Navigation, Alarm Lists etc)
- Multiple Document Interface (MDI) functionality allowing operators to reorder displays
- Adaptable to most common monitor sizes easily allowing use in the field
- Latest software version that is well supported usually with monthly updates
- Increased Cyber Security using certificates and encrypted connectivity
- Stronger and more reliable redundancy
