Re: Train Order working

[mauried@commslab.gov.au (Maurie Daly)]

>Communication problems are a big issue, and not just confined to NR's.
>Indeed NR's are probably the least of their problem, as FreightCorp locos
>don't have mobile / satellite phone communication when their radio systems
>fail.

>IMHO the entire FreightCorp train radio system is a mess. The contract
>should have gone with the proven system from Motorola, not a failure prone
>unproven system from Phillips. 100% communication is achievable with $$$ and
>foresight (two things the railways don't use much of).

>BTW, train orders over the Nullabor are referred to by train crews as
>suicide slips.

>Regards,
>Russ..


Radio Comms systems can be made to work very well ,if the whole system is 
properly engineered from the start , and there are some people within the Rail 
system themselves who have a thorough understanding of the whole subject.
On the Main south , (actually quite a lot )  of the Radio Base Stations 
are located in unbelievably bad locations , which explains why in the main 
that the system still doesnt work,
Ive worked in Radio Comm business for some 30 years now and its not a simple 
task to build a reliable Radio Comm system with 100% coverage .
One of the problems that all Railways seem to have is that they locate their 
Base Stations along the sides of the tracks , rather than as most other 
organizations who utilize wide area Radio Comms (eg the police,ambulance, fire 
) , who put their Base Stations on tops of the highest hills around to get 
maximum coverage per Base Station.
This tends to suggest to me that whoever it is within the Railways who are 
advocating Radio , that they really dont have a good grasp of the subject.

Viktraks Motorola system which is now quite old , works fairly well, but uses 
the saturation principle, ie a very large number of Base Stations trackside to 
get the required coverage.
This makes it an expensive system to implement.


cheers
MD