Running the largest rail network in Australia, with 250km of double tracks, is no easy feat. The “nerve centre” of the tram network — the operations centre, is armed with the responsibility of making real-time decisions to deliver a safe and punctual service for its passengers. 

A major challenge for the operations centre is their on-premise mapping application system, which was end-of-life, had no flexibility or real-time visibility inside or outside the network (i.e., traffic conditions).

Another challenge was that the application provides very little insight into Yarra Trams E-class fleet, which are the largest trams on the network and are found on some of the busiest routes in Melbourne.  

Yarra Trams was therefore looking to leverage IoT technologies to not only gain real-time visualisation of the entire network but maximise their recent Microsoft Azure investment.  

Powered by a robust cloud data platform and the latest hardware,

LAB³ built an IoT solution using Azure Maps that unified datasets across various systems to provide Yarra Trams with rapid, real-time insights into: 

• Tram locations across the network, including E-class trams 
• Live traffic feeds and road conditions 
• Punctuality (i.e., is the service running behind, on-time or ahead of schedule). 

The solution also provides remote visibility of the network to Yarra Trams personnel from anywhere, on any device. This enables other teams within Yarra Trams (i.e., depot or maintenance teams) to also make informed decisions. Such insights were previously accessible to on-site, operations centre staff only.    

Yarra Trams’ operations centre now has real time visibility of the network that will not only benefit the organisation but passengers and road users too. This is because 75% of Melbourne’s tram network is shared with other road users. Powerful insights into the network can help rapidly identify issues or opportunities that in turn has the potential to optimise punctuality for passengers and improve road congestion for drivers.

Since the solution was built to be flexible, Yarra Trams is now looking to capture information across various other data points for the assets in their fleet. Such future insights include:

• Speed analysis by using GPS technology that monitors the speed of a tram to create a safer journey.
• Automatic passenger count to enhance passenger safety, as capacity limits have been enforced since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Traffic light priority by using GPS technology and data feed integration that allows a tram automatic priority at traffic lights.