University Project Report: Regional Rail Fleet (NSW) Recommendations

This report analyzes the Regional Rail Fleet (NSW) project, undertaken by Momentum Trains for the NSW Government. The project involves replacing aging regional rail fleets (XPT, XPLORER, and Endeavour trains) to enhance safety, comfort, accessibility, and reliability for passengers traveling to regional centers, including Melbourne, Brisbane, and Canberra. The report identifies potential risks, including technical, financial, construction-related, and economic factors, and proposes mitigation strategies. These include avoiding technical complications through senior technician consultation, mitigating financial risks through proactive cost management, and addressing construction risks via negotiation with electric departments. The report also includes a risk management plan detailing risk levels, impacts, and contingency strategies. Recommendations focus on proactive project management to ensure successful project delivery and financial stability.

Running head: REGIONAL RAIL FLEET (NSW) – RECOMMENDATIONS FOR WA
Regional Rail Fleet (NSW) – Recommendations for WA
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s note

1REGIONAL RAIL FLEET (NSW) – RECOMMENDATIONS FOR WA
Table of Contents
1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................2
2. Discussion....................................................................................................................................3
2.1 The Possible Risk Treatments or Responses Elements.........................................................3
2.2 Risk Management Plan..........................................................................................................6
2.3 Recommendations towards the Project................................................................................10
3. Conclusion.................................................................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................13

2REGIONAL RAIL FLEET (NSW) – RECOMMENDATIONS FOR WA
1. Introduction
The NSW Government is in the current process of replacing the existing fleet of the
NSW regional rail that is provided by XPLORER, XPT and Endeavour trains. Some of the trains
that are included within the Regional Rail service include trains that have been providing service
for more than 36 years. The new plans of the NSW Government is to replace the existing fleet of
trains and thus bring in new and advanced model of trains (Regional Rail Transport for NSW,
2019). The new fleet of trains would be built in Dubbo in order to stimulate and thus help in
growth of the regional economy and thus also help in the creation of sustainable job
opportunities. The new fleet of trains that would be built would help in improving of comfort,
safety, accessibility and reliability among the customers who would travel from Sydney to
various centres in NSW and would also include Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra. The
development of the new trains for the region would help in the creation of new job opportunities
for the region and would also help in improving the facilities provided to the passengers. Thus
the generation of the new fleet of trains would help in the improvement of the scenario of NSW
Government and the people.
In the present situation, it has been seen that the NSW Government has put the major
responsibility for the design of the trains to Momentum Trains. The company is considered as an
international consortium that would comprise of UGL Rail Services, CAF Investment Projects,
CAF and DIF Infrastructure V Cooperatief (New Intercity Fleet Transport for NSW, 2019). The
entire contract would also include the factors of financing of the project, designing of the project
plan, building and thus maintaining the new fleet of trains. The new fleet of trains would also
include several benefits such as improved mode of accessibility, improved comfort and enhanced

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mode of safety features. Other kind of modern features would also be included within the design
of the new fleet of trains.
The discussion in the following part of the report would mainly focus on the possible
risks elements that might be incurred during the development phase of the project. Based on the
understanding of the situations of risk, a risk management plan would be included in the report.
This report would thus discuss about the positive or negative risks that would be included within
the risk management scenario. The report would also discuss about the different kind of
recommendations that would be required for mitigating the risk scenarios and thus help in the
proper execution of the risks.
2. Discussion
2.1 The Possible Risk Treatments or Responses Elements
There could be several forms of situations of risks based on the scenarios that are being
created during the design system of the new coaches. The different kind of situations of risks that
would involve within the design of the fleet are – technical risks, financial risks, risks during the
construction period, economical risks and political interest based risks.
Some of the risk strategies for mitigating and avoiding the risk scenarios are described as:
Risks Risk Statement Risk Response
Technical
Risks
There can be some form of risks based
on the construction phase of the bogies.
The design of the bogies might not be
suitable to design due to several form of
complexities within the system (Project
Management Institute, (2017). The
technicians might recommended better
strategies for the design of the coaches.
Avoid: In order to avoid the complications
within the designing of coaches, the project
managers and technical team should consult
with senior technicians and workers who
would be working over the project (Smith,
Merna & Jobling, 2014).
The wiring within the coaches would be Mitigate: In order to reduce the technical

4REGIONAL RAIL FLEET (NSW) – RECOMMENDATIONS FOR WA
complicated that would result in future
challenges of maintaining them. The
electricians might also face some
amount of difficulty in preparing a
technical plan for the coach design
(Young, 2016).
complications in relation to the electrical
design of the project, Momentum Trains
should design a particular strategy for
designing the electric wiring layout plan that
would be implemented within the trains
(Takey & de Carvalho, 2015). The entire plan
should be explained to the technical team
involved within the project and they should
also provide recommendations for the
prepared plan.
Financial
Risks
There might be several kind of
escalating costs that could be incurred
within the project (Kerzner & Kerzner,
2017). These escalation in the costs
might result with the changing pricing
structures of the various resources
required during the project designing
phase.
Mitigate: The project manager and all the
important stakeholders who are involved with
the design of the project should be
responsible for progressing with the project
phases (Huston, Rahimzad & Parsa, 2015).
The cost of each resources required during
each phase should be taken into consideration
and then the resources should be procured.
The budget required for the project
might exceed from the discussed and
required cost of the project. The NSW
Government might not be able to
sanction the exceeded budget for the
project.
Avoid: In order to avoid such situations in
which the cost of the project would exceed
from the estimated cost, the project manager
and the project sponsor should decide in
advance about the needed requirements for
the project (Pauw, 2015). There should be
some form of provisioning of extra budget
that might be required for the project.
Construction
period Risks
The disruption of power supply could be
considered as an alarming factor for the
design of the train structure project (Liu,
Van Nederveen & Hertogh, 2017).
Mitigate: In order to avoid the situation
based on disruption of power, the NSW
Government and Momentum Trains should
discuss and sign a negotiation contract with
the Electric Department (Albert et al., 2014).
They should explain the complexity of the
project, which would thus result in successful
completion of the project.
The resources that would be required
during the project might not be available
in a certain time when it would be
highly needed for the project.
Avoid: Momentum Trains could avoid the
current situation of the lack of resources by
conducting an analysis over the resources on
a timely basis (Chen & Tarko, 2014). The
project manager and other key stakeholders
should look into the intrinsic details of the

5REGIONAL RAIL FLEET (NSW) – RECOMMENDATIONS FOR WA
project and should understand the necessity of
the situation.
Economical
Risks
There might be some situations in which
there would be some kind of financial
crises for the NSW Government who
would fund the entire project (Yeung,
2017). The impact of financial crises
would be such as it might lead to delay
in progress and completion of the
project work.
Mitigate: In order to mitigate the scenario,
the project manager should discuss the total
estimated cost of the project (Linnerooth-
Bayer & Mechler, 2015). The project sponsor
should also consider some extra funds for the
project. This would help in financing the
entire project.
The increase of interest rates and
changes in the taxation system might
hamper the project performance
(Mander, 2014).
Avoid: The Momentum Trains should adapt
to the changing scenarios of interest rates and
the taxation system. This would help in
bringing out positive outcomes for the
performance of the project (Abrahamsson et
al., 2017).

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2.2 Risk Management Plan
The impact of a risk management plan would be helpful for the identification of different risks, the level of risks involved
within the project, the risk impacts and the mitigation or contingency strategies that would be affecting the project.
Identified
Risks
Implications of risks Risk Type Level of Risk Impact of risk Contingency or Mitigation Strategies
Technical
Risks
Based on the improper
defining of project risks,
the roject might incur
several problems that could
affect towards the progress
of the project (Islam,
Mouratidis & Weippl,
2014). This would also
lead to negative outcomes
for the purpose of the
project and the related
outcomes.
Positive Medium High In order to reduce the negative impacts towards
the project, the project manager should have a
proper form of discussion with each of the senior
technicians and other co-workers within the team.
The project manager should also decide on the
best form of strategies that would be implemented
for designing a proper technical plan for the
project.
This plan would be brought under the review of
senior technicians. They would thus be able to
conduct a systematic assessment over the entire
architectural plan and would thus recommend
better solutions for the design aspects.
Financial
Risks
Based on the discussed
financial risks that might
affect the project, it could
lead to downfall of the
project. The financial
instability of the project
would lead to negative
impacts towards the project
Negative Medium Medium The project manager should report the daily
productivity of tasks to the project sponsor. The
costs of the several resources that would be
required for the project should be properly listed
and thus this would help in gaining a financial
estimation of the project.
Each of the necessary costs for the development
of the project should be proper taken into

7REGIONAL RAIL FLEET (NSW) – RECOMMENDATIONS FOR WA
(Milosevic & Martinelli,
2016).
The cases in which the
costs incurred within the
project would escalate
would thus reduce the time
of delivery of the project.
The project sponsor would
have to review the
escalated costs and would
thus have to design a future
plan for the project.
consideration. The future outcomes from the
project should be considered and then compared
with the present investment within the project. A
positive outcome from the comparison would
help in understanding about the positive
outcomes towards the project.
Construction
period Risks
The various discussed risks
within the construction
period would result in
negative impacts towards
the project. Disruption in
the electric power supply
would lead to disruption in
the entire work over the
project (Rowlinson et al.,
2014). Without a proper
supply of electricity, the
technicians and other
workers who are currently
working over the project
would not be able to
proceed with the work
(Verner et al., 2014).
Positive High Medium The project manager, management team at NSW
Government and Momentum Trains should
conduct a thorough analysis over the entire
situations that would occur during the
construction period (Rentzos et al., 2014).
Disruption in such kind of activity would lead to
risks and might disrupt the project. In order to
avoid or mitigate such kind of situations, the
project manager and the management level should
conduct a thorough analysis over each of the risks
based on construction in the project.
They should commit services with the Electric
Department and should also sign a negotiation
contract. This would ensure that the electric
services that would be provided should not
disrupt and thus might not hamper the work over
the project.

8REGIONAL RAIL FLEET (NSW) – RECOMMENDATIONS FOR WA
On the other hand, the lack
of proper resources
towards the project would
lead to stoppage of various
services. This would in
turn hamper the
productivity of work and
would thus result in
delayed service delivery.
The resources that would be required during the
project should also be procured on an early basis.
The project manager should review over the
resources that would be required during the
project. They should maintain a daily record over
each of the resource that is used or the stock
exceeds of each of the resources. This would thus
ensure that there is no lack or shortage of
resources that might be required for the project.
Procurement of resources in the proper time
would thus help in continuous service delivery of
the project.
Economical
Risks
The risk based on financial
instability would lead to
several forms of negative
impacts towards the
project. The project might
get delayed or it might also
lead to incomplete project
delivery (Kreimeier et al.,
2014). Whenever a project
would be performed and
would be in the design
stages, the financial crisis
towards the project would
lead to negative impacts
towards the project. The
lack of funds towards the
project would lead to
Negative High High In order to mitigate the challenges faced due to
economic risks within the project, the
management and other higher authorities should
ensure that there is no stoppage of services. The
cost of different resources that would be incurred
for the project should be proper assumed.
The project sponsor should conduct an
assessment over the entire costs that would be
incurred for the project. The current costs
incurred for the project and the resources required
should be properly assumed and then the
resources should be procured within the proper
time.
The company should also adapt to the changing
scenarios of the taxation and the increase of
interest rates. This would help in understanding
of the scenarios and thus would adjust themselves

9REGIONAL RAIL FLEET (NSW) – RECOMMENDATIONS FOR WA
stoppage of services as the
resources required for the
project cannot be procured
(Giloth, 2018). The
technicians and co-workers
who would work for the
project would need to be
provided with a proper
salary in order to motivate
them with the project (Qin,
2016).
Instability in the conditions
of taxation and increase of
interest rates would lead to
several kind of changes
towards the project. This
might be a confusing factor
towards the proper
execution of the project.
to those kind of changes.

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2.3 Recommendations towards the Project
The risks that might approach towards the project would be able to lead to several
problems based on measuring the success criteria for the project. The different risks that have
been discussed within the report should be taken on a high priority basis and thus several
recommendation strategies should be taken into consideration. The different recommendations,
which could support the project are:
Identify the risks or issues – The concerned team that would be involved within the
project should be able to conduct different risk assessments over the discussed risk of the project.
The discussion in this report focuses over the financial risks, technical risks, economical risks
and risks during the construction period. The project manager would hold the major
responsibility of gathering sufficient requirements and thus make proper analysis over the
systems. Each of the technical details of the project would be taken into consideration. Different
surveys could be conducted and thus the critical aspects of the project should be discussed
properly.
Development of an Action Plan – After the proper identification of risks, the project
manager and the management team at the organization would decide on the best kind of factors
that could be applied to the organisational strategies. The action plan would also include the
basic details in relation to the technical design of the project, the financial analysis over the
project. The managerial team at the organisation would also design such kind of helpful
strategies that would help them in taking proper action against the scenarios of risks.
Approval of the Action Plan – After the design of the action plan has been confirmed
and made, the managerial team at the organisation should review over the entire plan. They

11REGIONAL RAIL FLEET (NSW) – RECOMMENDATIONS FOR WA
should thus approve the action plan and thus help the team to train the workers in working over
the scenario.
The financial risks involved within the project could be discussed between the project
manager and the project sponsor. They should also have a formal meeting with the steering
committee at NSW Government and Momentum Trains. These kind of meetings would thus be
ensuring that the work of the project would be progressing in a safe manner. The need of proper
resources within the project should also be analysed properly. The project manager and the other
stakeholders involved within the team should take the sole responsibility on taking care for the
need of resources within the project. The consideration of each of the issues involved within the
project should be highly considered and thus the best possible measures would be taken for
mitigating the involved risks within the project.
3. Conclusion
Based on the discussed conclusions drawn from the report, it can be concluded that the
described risks should be discussed properly. The risks should be highly measured and the
likelihood and the impacts of the risks would be measured. The different risks that have been
identified are based on financial instability, economic crisis, technical risks and also the risks
during the construction period. The risks that are defined within the report are highly crucial and
thus should be removed on an urgent basis. The risks that are highly crucial should be taken into
high consideration and thus the different people at the management level should take proper
measures in order to mitigate the risk scenarios. The discussion over the implementation of new
fleet of trains would be considered to be highly important. These new fleet of trains would be
helpful for improving the comfort of the passengers. Hence, the concern over the risk scenarios
should be taken into consideration in order to improve the scenario of risks.