School: Engineering

This unit information may be updated and amended immediately prior to semester. To ensure you have the correct outline, please check it again at the beginning of semester.

  • Unit Title

    Railway Electrical, Control and Signalling Systems
  • Unit Code

    ENS3237
  • Year

    2025
  • Enrolment Period

    1
  • Version

    1
  • Credit Points

    15
  • Full Year Unit

    N
  • Mode of Delivery

    On Campus
  • Unit Coordinator

    A/Prof Alexander RASSAU

Description

This unit provides students with foundational knowledge of the electrical, electronic, control and communications aspects of railway engineering. It covers signalling, operational telecommunications infrastructure, train control systems, overhead line equipment as well as both train and track power systems. Technical and operational considerations for railway systems, including safety and information security, are also addressed.

Prerequisite Rule

Students must pass ENM2104

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

  1. Investigate the operational and design principles of signalling, Active Protective Level crossing and interlocking systems.
  2. Differentiate and analyse various power systems to support railway operations, including on-board and substations.
  3. Explain and examine overhead line equipment, including its testing and commissioning.
  4. Examine operational communication and IT systems, including train detection and information security.
  5. Use effective teamwork skills to plan, investigate and communicate outcomes of an engineering study.

Unit Content

  1. Principles of signalling: fixed block and moving block, switching, interlocking, minimum system and signal requirements.
  2. Train detection and traffic control systems (TCS): track circuits and axle counters, traffic control systems and functions, train borne systems, active level crossing systems.
  3. Railway communications: principles of rail telecommunication infrastructure, Future Railway Mobile Communication System (FRMCS), information security.
  4. Overhead Line Equipment (OLE): types of OLE, conductor rails, pantograph engagement, electrical clearance, testing and commissioning.
  5. Electrical traction power systems: track circuit theory, typical power systems, railway sectioning, Guided Transport System modelling, insulation, power quality and protection, AUX power, electromagnetic compatibility, earthing and bonding.
  6. Safety assurance: safety analysis, fail-safe electrical systems, information security.

Learning Experience

Students will attend on campus classes as well as engage in learning activities through ECU's LMS

JoondalupMount LawleySouth West (Bunbury)
Semester 213 x 2 hour lectureNot OfferedNot Offered
Semester 213 x 1 hour tutorialNot OfferedNot Offered

For more information see the Semester Timetable

Assessment

GS1 GRADING SCHEMA 1 Used for standard coursework units

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant School Progression Panel.

ON CAMPUS
TypeDescriptionValue
AssignmentTheory concepts and calculations25%
AssignmentAnalysis of rail power systems25%
ProjectLiterature review, investigation into state-of-the-art and identifying solutions (group work, write-up)30%
PresentationLiterature review, investigation into state-of-the-art and identifying solutions (individual work, video presentation)20%

Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005)

For the purposes of considering a request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005), inherent requirements for this subject are articulated in the Unit Description, Learning Outcomes and Assessment Requirements of this entry. The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the support for students with disabilities or medical conditions can be found at the Access and Inclusion website.

Assessment

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. Informal vivas may be conducted as part of an assessment task, where staff require further information to confirm the learning outcomes have been met. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant School Progression Panel.

Academic Integrity

Integrity is a core value at Edith Cowan University, and it is expected that ECU students complete their assessment tasks honestly and with acknowledgement of other people's work as well as any generative artificial intelligence tools that may have been used. This means that assessment tasks must be completed individually (unless it is an authorised group assessment task) and any sources used must be referenced.

Breaches of academic integrity can include:

Plagiarism

Copying the words, ideas or creative works of other people or generative artificial intelligence tools, without referencing in accordance with stated University requirements. Students need to seek approval from the Unit Coordinator within the first week of study if they intend to use some of their previous work in an assessment task (self-plagiarism).

Unauthorised collaboration (collusion)

Working with other students and submitting the same or substantially similar work or portions of work when an individual submission was required. This includes students knowingly providing others with copies of their own work to use in the same or similar assessment task(s).

Contract cheating

Organising a friend, a family member, another student or an external person or organisation (e.g. through an online website) to complete or substantially edit or refine part or all of an assessment task(s) on their behalf.

Cheating in an exam

Using or having access to unauthorised materials in an exam or test.

Serious outcomes may be imposed if a student is found to have committed one of these breaches, up to and including expulsion from the University for repeated or serious acts.

ECU's policies and more information about academic integrity can be found on the student academic integrity website.

All commencing ECU students are required to complete the Academic Integrity Module.

Assessment Extension

In some circumstances, Students may apply to their Unit Coordinator to extend the due date of their Assessment Task(s) in accordance with ECU's Assessment, Examination and Moderation Procedures - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000001386.

Special Consideration

Students may apply for Special Consideration in respect of a final unit grade, where their achievement was affected by Exceptional Circumstances as set out in the Assessment, Examination and Moderation Procedures - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000003318.

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