Why Am I Still Alive

by Brian Hogan

  Photo 29 - The side of the embankment on fire

  After a few weeks of intensive works in isolating each location and removing the ash fill around where the fire was, then smothering the site with clay fill, the fire was eventually extinguished.

  Photo 30 - The fire taking hold on the embankment

  The rest of the lantana vegetation was removed using two D7 Dozers with strong chains attached between them moving transversely across the side of the embankment between the tall trees. The site was then tidied up ready for the drainage works to commence. Once this work was completed revegetation works would commence.

  There were a number of lessons learnt as a result of this incident. But I think I learned them the hard way.

  So Many Broken Rails

  One of the areas where focus was scrutinised through Company performance indicators was in the number of broken rails that occurred over the rail network.

  Each track district had to have strategies in place for early detection of and mitigation measures to ensure broken rails did not occur.However, the mitigation measures were really based upon re-railing for which major periodic funding budgets was minimal particularly for re-railing in Yards.

  Bomaderry Yard, one winter in 1992 was experiencing a broken rail every second day. Its impact was minimal as it was the end of the rail corridor as far as passenger trains were concerned plus generally there were other sidings to use if became out of service because of a broken rail. Track speed was also low, so the risk associated with a broken rail had a low consequence.

  Photo 31 – Bomaderry yard showing Railway Station

  However, it was a broken rail and it was recorded. With that came the corresponding letters to Head Office.

  Broken rails generally occurred in the early hours of a morning when the ambient and rail temperatures were at their lowest.

  On hearing of the sixth broken rail over a fortnight I rang the local Track Inspector and said we need to conduct an inspection together. We met and went to Bomaderry Yard. Upon inspecting the site, it was easy to see which siding the problem as there was fishplates everywhere. Fishplates are the metal plates that fit either side of the web of the rail and are bolted together to hold the rail together. These fishplates were joining the broken rails at every 2-metre spacing. Not bad for track sections which normally had fishplates normally at every 13-metre spacing.

  Photo 32 - Section of Rail removed

  I said, “This section of the track certainly has had quite a number of fishplates applied.”

  Mick replied, “Yes we have had so many callouts lately. My guys are out nearly every second night this winter.”

  I thought the guys would love that. Easy overtime and more money in their fortnightly pay packets. Maybe that was the boss in me coming out!

  I responded, “We need to determine the cause then take steps to stop it occurring in future.”

  Mick very confidently said, “I am sure when we walk the section we should be able to determine the cause”.

  I replied, “Let’s do it and also see how old the rail is as the first measure”.

  Photo 33 – Broken rail

  All rail on the network is purchased with its manufacture date stamped on the web of the rail. It defines what standard was used at the time, place of manufacture, size of the rail, month and year of manufacture.

  I quickly inspected the rail and determined the year of manufacture.

  Sighting along the web of the rail we found stamped on it the manufacturing details. The year stamped on the rail was 1885. The rail was really old. It had lasted 107 years! Well we certainly got our money’s worth there.

  “Well Mick”, I said, “it is certainly time to remove this rail and replace it with new rail. We certainly have obtained its use over the years”

  Photo 34 – Another type of broken rail

  Programming was undertaken to have the track re-railed and old rail was removed with new same size rail. This work was undertaken shortly after our visit to the site.

  Photo 35 - Broken rail secured with a bow plate

  Funnily enough the broken rail incidents at Bomaderry Yard immediately stopped. No more reports to Head Office.

  Phone Calls in the Night

  At nominated locations along the Illawarra line, slip detectors are placed to monitor ground movement particularly during periods of heavy rainfall. These detectors were part of an early warning system to provide advanced notice especially when no one was on site to monitor local conditions. The real time communication from these slip detectors to a central location allow decisions to be made remotely that would ensure the ongoing safety of the infrastructure.

  By way of design, these slip detectors had two levels of warning. The first to advise traffic control that a small amount of movement had occurred, so staff needed to be called out to inspect the site; and the second level which automatically turned the local signals to red which stop all rail traffic be it passenger or freight trains, in the area impacted prior to the incident location.

  Photo 36 - Embankment showing long tension crack

  These signals, when placed at stop, can only have the line re-opened if staff that had been called out inspect the site and give permission to the Wollongong Signal Complex to allow trains to run again. These staff have a defined inspection checklist to go through, including the inspection of the area surrounding the slip detector location and measuring the movement on the detectors to ascertain whether the site is safe or not for trains to run.

  At Stanwell Park, just south of the station, slip detectors were placed to record movement of this high embankment site where small amounts of movement had previously occurred and where lateral movement more than 3m in total had occurred since first being monitoring commenced. Construction works were proceeding to install large vertical piles, embedded into the solid bedrock many metres below, such that if the rest of the embankment continues to fail it would not take the track, which runs across this slip area, with it. The embankment as a result would end up becoming a steep cliff face. The embankment at this location was more than 30 metres high.

  Photo 37 - Base of the embankment and tension crack

  For me this was one of the higher risk sites we had on the Illawarra line at the time. The tension cracks were opening up more and more on a weekly basis. The embankment was very high in nature, and so the instability of the site had to be resolved as quick as possible. Further there was one house in close vicinity of the embankment which was of a concern.

  This newly constructed brick dwelling which was close to the fault site, was inhabited by a family that had just recently moved in. The railways were in the process of arranging resumption of the property as with the local movement, serious impact to the house would result. This neighbour was aware of our visits and inspections as well as the works that were being undertaken to make the site safe. This neighbour had built their dream home with views over the ocean and did not want to move even though the local area does become unstable during periods of heavy rain and ground movement is constantly occurring. Minor land movement were even occurring within their property.

  On one particular night, in the early hours when one should be sound asleep, I received a phone call that the alarm had been received from the slip detector at the Stanwell Park site. Trains had been stopped until the site could be declared safe. The site had gone immediately to a level 2 alarm, bypassing the first level completely.

  I immediately thought of the residents in the house adjacent. I rang the State Emergency Services and asked them to vacate the residents until an inspection had been carried out to confirm that the site was safe. This the State Emergency Services arranged during the early hours of the morning.

  I kept in contact with the local staff to ascertain the actual conditions on site.

  After a short period of time I again contacted the staff on site after they had had time to make the inspection and determine the risks associated with the alarm going off.

  I asked, �
��Hi Joe just ringing to see if you have finalised your inspection at Stanwell Park”.

  Joe replied, “Hi Brian, yes we are just finishing the inspection now”

  Joe went on to say, “The sea side slip detector rod was fully extended meaning that it showed a lateral movement on the site of over 300mm in one instance”.

  I responded alarmingly, “That is not good. Has the site actually moved by that amount?”

  Joe stated, “From our inspection the site is safe. The slip detector cable had been severed hence the alarm was activated”.

  I responded very relieved, “Is there any sign of why the cable had been severed?” Joe stated, “From our investigation and discussions with other work groups who were seen in the area the previous day, it appears that a backhoe working nearby had traversed the detector site and in doing so must had clipped the detector cable.

  Photo 38 - Pier walls installed later

  With the detector cable being damaged, during that evening with the colder weather the cable must have snapped and broke, setting off the alarm”.

  My thought of the embankment failing and the impact on the house was unfounded. However, as the reason for the alarm was not known at the time of the first phone call in the night, it was determined by me to err on the side of safety. Those residents need to be advised and removed from the site.

  The disappointing outcome from this event was even though I thought the right decision was made on the night, the residents voiced their concern to the Local Member regarding being removed from their premises in the middle of the night regardless that it may or not have been a false alarm.

  Another report to be filled out. Such is life.

  Now You See It, Now You Don’t

  Many years ago, whilst in the position of Structures Engineer, and managing the Metropolitan structures infrastructure, I became involved in the pedestrian footbridge which was located at the southern end of Redfern station. That is right the southern end, not the northern end. There were two footbridges at Redfern Station. One at either end.

  The steel footbridge had been in operation for several years and was subject to regular inspections by the steel inspector on a regular basis. His reports were scrutinised on each inspection and as such high priority works were planned and carried out. The lower priority works were scheduled for when more funding was available.

  On one occasion, after the steel inspector’s report was received, I read his information with interest. The report stated the footbridge was in a very poor state with excessive rust and corrosion evident. It also stated that some of its structural members had either shown signs of full corrosion or were rusted away completely.

  What a predicament.

  This footbridge was used by many commuters on a regular basis at this heavily patronised railway station.

  I organised for a further design inspection and analysis to quantify the extent of the concern provided by the steel inspector in his report. The Steel Design Engineer was called in to assess the report and to engage a consultant to also inspect the footbridge. The consultant advised in his report that ‘the footbridge was in such a poor condition, from his design analysis, that he could not work out why it had not already collapsed!”

  Now my predicament was getting worse.

  I needed to make a decision for the future use of this footbridge. Do we repair it, replace it or just remove it completely?

  I asked him to clarify with the consultant his results and his recommendations. Were his figures correct as the footbridge was currently open and being used by thousands of train passengers every day. This he did.

  He again responded, “The bridge can fail at any moment”.

  Now remember this footbridge has access from every platform at Redfern and it crosses the ten tracks from one end of it to the other. It was also the main access route for the rail facilities which were located on either side of the station.

  Now the crunch. What made it worse was the timing of the problem being detected.

  At this time the NSW Government had just announced the relocation of Paddy’s Markets from its current site at Flemington to Eveleigh Workshops whilst its current site at Flemington was being upgraded, meaning this footbridge then became the main access route for the relocated markets. More pedestrians would be using this footbridge.

  With the increase in public usage from the market patronage, the footbridge would certainly collapse under the extra pedestrian weight if it had not already.

  It is amazing how much responsibility one had back in those days. The problem was mine to solve. Not bad for a 30-year-old Engineer!

  I was given the task to come up with a solution.

  I looked at whether temporary repairs could be undertaken to strengthen to structure. This was to include welding or bolting additional support steel plates etc. onto the existing structure to strengthen it. I was advised by the designers there was not enough good steel to weld the new plates to, to affect the repairs.

  Maintenance dollars were very low at this time and had been for many years, so whilst the bridge condition was known, insufficient funds had been available in the past to affect the repairs that were previously identified. This meant no major rehabilitation repair works were carried out over the previous years, so it was now in the state it as currently existed.

  After much thought I directed the footbridge be immediately demolished. Safety was more important than keeping it opened.

  This was a hard task as well as it required emergency possessions over the ten tracks, two tracks at a time to allow for the crews to come in at a scheduled time and remove the footbridge with the OHW power turned off. These were not planned possessions which should be programmed for six to twelve months in advance but emergency possessions which would be required not in weeks’ time, but now. Not only now but a string of possessions, one after the other for almost consecutive nights within a two-week period.

  Operations were not impressed and stated they would not provide the necessary possessions. You have not followed the correct protocols for timely notice. Further it is one of the busiest train movement sections in the Network.

  I said, “Okay, that is fine. You can now take responsibility for whatever happens with the footbridge”.

  They changed their minds very quickly when I stated that there was a high possibility that the footbridge could collapse onto a train – at any moment!

  Further it meant someone had to advise the Government some weeks prior to the relocation of Paddy’s Markets that this access point would not be now available. The Government had been publicising this as the new entry point which provided easy access to the new Paddy’s Market location.

  I was sure this might be the last decision I ever made.

  Just as well we have an internal communications area that looks after items like that. Whatever they did they were able to sell the fact that this access point was about to disappear.

  The footbridge was demolished quickly over a period of a few weeks. The access to the markets became a longer walk from the northern end of Redfern station but the safety of the public was maintained.

  Interestingly enough a new footbridge has never been built on this site some 27 years later. If you look closely, some of the existing footings can still be seen at the southern end of Redfern station.

  Don’t Stop the Train

  As part of my duties when I was the Project Manager for the Sydney South Region, it included being on call 24/7 for any emergencies. When the phone rings at 2am in the morning you know there is a problem!

  Because the telephone was in the next room I remember vividly standing in the dark, answering the telephone and being on line for quite a while, shivering one cold winter’s morning as I took the call.

  Although it does not happen all the time, you knew in periods of extreme weather conditions the calls would come. So, whether it was high temperatures, heavy winds, cold winter nights or periods of heavy rains, the calls would certainly occur.

  On
this particular morning in November, the call came in at 2am when there were ongoing period heavy and gusty winds. It was always my Electrical Maintenance Engineer that would call with the news! He was up and wide awake. I was still waking up.

  A large gum tree, approximately 35 metres tall, outside the rail corridor had fallen due to the windy conditions. Because of its height, its path, when it fell was right across the rail corridor and the overhead lines which the electric trains use for their power supply.

  That wasn’t the worst of it.

  Not only had it brought down the 1500V overhead lines but the Melbourne to Sydney XTP train travelling past Campbelltown station had been caught in the path of the tree as it fell. It had run into and was now tangled up in the overhead lines which were brought down on top of it.

  Staff were on their way to cut and remove the tree as well as to repair the overhead. However, the XPT was currently trapped with a full passenger count on the train. The Chief Executive was asking questions and wanted to know the estimated time for completion of temporary repairs to allow the detraining the passengers. He wanted information now and updates at least every hour.

  For us it was a matter of what we were going to do to restore the services quickly after the tree had been removed. The morning peak for this line was only hours away. The trains had to run to the scheduled timetable otherwise you would read it in the media almost immediately.