Presentations and Papers
Summary - Rail Line Capacity in Australian Cities
Presenter: Ray Bartlett
With rail enjoying a new lease of life for both passengers and freight, it must be realised that rail lines do not have infinite capacity. If rail is to be the “Core of Integrated Transport”, it is important that potential capacity issues are addressed before they become too serious.
The capacity of any particular rail passenger line is determined by the capacity of the rail corridor as well as the capacity of the trains that operate on the corridor.
Factors that limit the capacity of a rail corridor, in terms of the number of trains that can operate per hour, include
- the number of tracks on the rail corridor;
- the type of rail signalling;
- “at grade rail junctions
- stations.
The actual capacity of the trains using the line has a major impact on the overall capacity of the corridor, e.g. the physical number of passengers that can fit into a particular type of carriage; the number of carriages per train, etc.
This paper discusses how these factors impact on rail line capacity and uses examples of these restraining factors from the Melbourne and Sydney suburban rail networks.
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