Acmena provides key requirements management services to support the development and delivery of High Capacity Signalling technology for the Melbourne Metro Tunnel program.

Incorporating twin 9km tunnels and five new stations under Melbourne’s CBD, the Metro Tunnel project will create a new end-to-end line from Sunbury in the city’s west to Cranbourne/Pakenham in the south-east. As part of the $11b program, next-generation High Capacity Signalling (HCS) will be used in conjunction with a fleet of new High Capacity Metro Trains (HCMT) to enable the new lines to run at maximum capacity.

Delivered by the Rail Systems Alliance (RSA), the High Capacity Signalling project is a significant work package and critical to the Metro Tunnel Project’s overall success. To manage program integration, engineering and deployment risk more effectively, the delivery agency, Rail Projects Victoria (RPV) has mandated the use of systems engineering principles throughout the project lifecycle, including the robust management of requirements and associated inputs at all levels.

High project complexity demands a robust requirements management solution

As part of this strategy, Acmena was engaged in 2019 to provide requirements management and DOORS Next specialist services to the project. Through the provision of these services, Acmena has led the development of new management processes for specific requirements and their relation within the defined hierarchy of requirements.

This has been realised through the delivery of a major update to the project requirements management plan and the introduction of a set of subordinate work instructions used by project teams.

Delivering value by enhancing project requirements capability

Acmena is also responsible for producing key requirements management reports for RSA, including the Requirements Traceability Report and Baselining Gap Analysis. Working closely with both internal and external project stakeholders, Acmena has been responsible for enhancing the project’s requirements framework. It has also optimised the use of IBM DOORS Next on the project in addition to its traceability reporting and has developed and delivered supporting online training modules.

Acmena is also acting as a key interface with the client and requirements management representatives from other packages to ensure that the use of the program requirements framework and the management of interfaces remains as consistent as possible.

The project is currently developing a HCMT test track and is aiming to establish all requirements inputs for the High Capacity Signalling System’s first software release design in 2021 with Acmena continuing to provide key requirements management expertise to support these activities.