Maintenance of Standby Generator Sets for Critical Equipment

The PTA’s (Public Transport Authority of Western Australia) electrified railway network has about 11 generator sets providing back-up supply to critical equipment in signalling relay rooms which are located along the Midland, Fremantle and Armadale Lines. Also, there are an additional 3 mobile generators for the provision of back up supply to passenger stations and railway pedestrian level crossings.

These generators provide back-up supply to critical equipment during the loss of Western Power supply. The generators, together with the UPSs (Uninterruptible Power Supply), are designed to keep the signalling and communication equipment running without interruption when Western Power supply is disrupted due to faults on the Western Power system.

The failure of any of the generators will result in disruption of train services. The generators are required to be maintained to industries’ best practices and standards in order to minimise service disruptions caused by these generators to a reasonably acceptable rate.