Industry courts next wave of engineers

Rail put its best foot forward in a bid to win the hearts and minds of emerging engineers during the Monash Institute of Railway Technology's (IRT) industry-student engagement afternoon on 10 September. Hosted by the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Professor Elizabeth Croft, and IRT director Ravi Ravitharan and his team, the session featured five-minute presentations by more than a dozen pro­fessionals speaking directly to engineerIng students on career pathways and opportunities within rail.

20 Years of IRT-Instrumented Revenue Vehicles

The Monash Institute of Railway Technology (IRT) is celebrating 20 years at Monash University. Throughout 2020, we’ll be taking a look at some of the fundamental changes IRT helped to bring to the railway industry. The first of these is the Instrumented Revenue Vehicle (IRV), also known as Instrumented Ore Car (IOC) and Instrumented Coal Wagon (ICW) programme, which began in 2002 and is still delivering and expanding to new areas today.

People still needed to shape railways

Professor Hannes Gräbe, chair in railway engineering at the University of Pretoria in South Africa, delivered the 2019 lecture in railway engineering honouring the 40-year contribution of Dr. Stephen Marich to the railway industry. The lecture has been hosted every year by Monash Institute of Railway Technology (IRT) in Melbourne since 2014.

Recycled-waste sleepers enter first metro trial

NEARLY 200 SLEEPERS MADE from primarily a mix of recycled plastic have been incorporated into track in inner-suburban Melbourne. In a first for metropolitan rail in Australia, the composite product unveiled on the network on 24 June is being trialled by Public Transport Victoria (PTV) in collaboration with Monash University's Institute of Railway Technology(IRT)

Plastic sleepers under test by QR

Plastic raillway sleepers produced by a Mildura, Victoria, manufacturer are being tested by Queensland Rail (QR) as part of its plan to roll out alternatives to traditional infrastructure.Integrated Recycling has developed the Duratrack composite

Remote Track Inspections using Drones

With over 40,000km of track, Australia has the sixth largest railway network in the world. Current railway track inspections involve costly and occasionally dangerous practices, which are especially difficult in remote areas, but developments by

"Don't save yourself into trouble"

Increased operational demands are being placed on railroads. These demands come with financial constraints, Dr Robert Fröhling, principal engineer in the technology management department of South Africa's Transnet Freight Rail, tells an audience

Do old track standards still measure up in today’s railways?