4Tel has been named a finalist in the ‘Safety Leadership Program’ category in the annual Rail Safety Awards by the Rail Industry Safety & Standards Board (RISSB).
The submission highlighted a significant operational milestone achieved by 4Tel in January 2025, when the Country Regional Network (CRN) exceeded 250,000 Electronic Authorities issued by Transport for NSW’s computer-based Train Management and Control System (TMACS).
The TMACS Electronic Authority solution designed by 4Tel is used on all Train Order lines on the NSW CRN, representing 93% of the operational track.
Electronic Authorities replace the use of voice for ‘safety critical communications’, with secure data messaging eliminating the risk of communication errors and the need for the driver to manually record the authority details on a paper form. Other key safety benefits are the automatic delivery of Proximity Reminders and Out-of-Authority alarms direct to the ICE train radio in the locomotive driver cab to improve driver situational awareness.
An independent Functional Safety Assessor determined that Electronic Authorities contributes to improving the safety for Train Order Working on the CRN by 30%.
4Tel successfully delivered Electronic Authorities into train control operation in 2015 and this year celebrates a decade of operational use on the CRN. TMACS Electronic Authorities has proven to be a safe, reliable and efficient solution, with 99.9% of all Train Orders issued using Electronic Authorities.
In a post on 4Tel’s LinkedIn page sharing the news of the 250,000+ milestone for Electronic Authorities, Iaen Hodges, Standards Development Manager at RISSB, commented:
‘A simple system providing additional benefits including:
- Reduction in NCO verbal phone time,
- Improvements in location assurance,
- Improved safety critical communications,
- Reduction of SPAD/PAE occurrence with in cab alerts warning for end of authority,
- Reduction of SPAD/PAE consequences with in cab SPAD/PAE alerts,
- System check to confirm track reservation availability,
- Fundamental safeworking requirement built into system,
- Improved authority security with system holding security code until released by RTC,
And more!!!!!!’
In addition to the safety benefits, Electronic Authorities dramatically reduced the workload of network controllers, with time efficiency savings of roughly 95% of an equivalent voice train order system.
As a result of ongoing success and demonstrated benefits, plans are now underway to implement Electronic Authorities on other Australian rail lines.
WATCH our video to learn more about Electronic Authorities: https://youtu.be/fdfJOS1JW8s
READ our case study: Implementation of Electronic Authorities across the Country Regional Network – 4Tel