Australia is progressing toward mandatory national rail interoperability standards, with the National Transport Commission (NTC) releasing a discussion paper in June on Digital Train Control Technology (DTCT) Interoperability Requirements Assessment.

The paper explores the scope for the country’s first mandatory rail interoperability standards, focusing on aligning Australia’s use of the European Train Control System (ETCS) Level 2 across jurisdictions.

It proposes the contents of the standard which could impact the definition of trackside and onboard subsystems and explores assurance and governance requirements.

The scope options were informed by both international and Australian experiences of deploying the ETCS.

The ARA is preparing a submission in response to the discussion paper and recently held two industry workshops on the technical aspects and policy aspects of the issue. The feedback from these workshops will be used to help inform the ARA’s submission to the NTC.

Explore the discussion paper

To learn more, download and read the Digital Train Control Technology (DTCT) Interoperability Requirements Assessment discussion paper.