Queensland Rail's Six-Year Traction Power SCADA Journey
In 2020, Queensland Rail (QR) announced Parasyn as Development Partner for the Traction Power SCADA System (TPSS) Upgrade project. For QR, the journey began back in 2019, working alongside a Tier 1 consulting firm to develop the concepts and establish the starting point for what would prove to be a six-year undertaking.
Parasyn's approach to advisory consulting for critical infrastructure engagements like this one is shaped by also being an Implementation Partner, one that starts at design and manages technology across the full lifecycle. That implementation perspective sheds light not just on technical risk, but on how to commercially manage a technology project successfully, avoiding the common traps asset owners and operators sometimes fall into.
Building the Business Case
As Principal Consultant, Parasyn's place in the QR project team has been working closely with a wide stakeholder group: validating the suitability of earlier concepts, running workshops to deepen understanding of the business need from a practical, achievable angle, developing detailed technical requirements, developing requirements for how the system should be implemented with greater certainty, managing current and emerging business risk, and factoring in human factors, change management, and other non-technical influences.
After running an EOI stage to gauge vendor interest, technical requirements were finalised. That extensive requirement set became the basis for a full project lifecycle roadmap and pricing estimate used for staging and funding. A number of enabling works were identified along the way to de-risk the next stage, letting QR Engineering prepare new standards and complete existing upgrade and replacement projects, so the TPSS implementation itself could proceed unimpeded by external disturbances or uncertain scope.
As a real demonstration of commitment to Systems Engineering Management Practice, over 15% of the developed requirements are dedicated specifically to how the system is to be designed and deployed. That hands-on focus gives both the eventual technology supplier and QR a shared understanding of how to play in concert. Good technology paired with poor implementation practice damages the reputation of genuinely good technology providers more often than it should, just as good implementation practice will struggle against poor technology. Superior Systems Engineering Management Practice draws out constraints, technical challenges, staging difficulties, and operational acceptance roadblocks before they become unmanageable.
Stakeholder Engagement at Every Level
One of the most important elements of a project that touches a large part of an organisation is stakeholder involvement and support. Parasyn and QR project leaders placed tireless emphasis on making sure stakeholders trusted the process and felt genuinely involved at every point that could affect their area of influence and responsibility. Many workshops were run with wide business representation, technical experts and group managers alike, with reports developed afterward, validated against the broader objectives, approved, and folded into the development-stage solution.
The TPSS Upgrade is a long-term undertaking, and planners with a view of long-term business needs, alongside commercial managers regulating the budgets behind those plans, contributed throughout, validating that the business could genuinely support the developed requirements and the recommendations guiding them.
Where the Project Stands
As QR approaches the implementation stage where a supplier and technology will be chosen, there's a quiet confidence that the business will reach its technical and user adoption goals in a timeframe more ambitious than once thought possible. It's been a genuine pleasure for Parasyn to work with Queensland Rail on this high-trust, high-impact project.