Edith Cowan University: MAN6301 Regional Rail Fleet Project Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the Regional Rail Fleet (NSW) project, focusing on the risks associated with the project's development and implementation. It begins with an executive summary outlining the project's scope, which involves replacing the aging regional rail fleet with new trains designed to improve passenger comfort, safety, and reliability. The report identifies potential risks, including political interest, technical design, manpower, financial, and construction period risks. For each risk, the report details potential mitigation strategies and response elements, such as formalizing contracts, conducting market research, and ensuring adequate resource procurement. Furthermore, the report includes a risk management plan that categorizes risks as positive or negative, assessing their impact and providing contingency plans. The recommendations section suggests proactive measures to address identified risks, such as maintaining open communication with stakeholders, conducting thorough market research, and ensuring adequate project planning. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of proactive risk management for the successful completion of the Regional Rail Fleet project, which is contracted to Momentum Trains. The project aims to stimulate the regional economy and provide improved rail services to various regional centers.

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

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Executive Summary
The report is based on the discussion over the various risks that are approaching the project
during the course of the design of the new fleet of trains. These risks might hamper the project
and might lead to improper service delivery. In the present project, the discussion is focused over
the fact that the NSW Government has provided the major responsibility to Momentum Trains
for designing a plan and thus plan for the best technical plan that would be implemented for the
project. The discussed risks also put focus over the project and the ways in which they could
impact the project. The report also discusses about the recommendations that could be applied to
the project in order to mitigate the risk scenarios.

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................2
2. Discussion....................................................................................................................................2
2.1 The Possible Risk Treatments and other Response Elements that are identified..................2
2.2 Risk Management Plan highlighting the Positive and Negative Risks..................................6
2.3 Recommendations towards the Project with Justification.....................................................9
3. Conclusion.................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................12

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1. Introduction
The case study is focused on the works of the NSW Government, which is in the process
of replacing the NSW regional fleet of XPLORER, XPT and Endeavour Trains that have
included the trains that have been 36 years old. The new train would be mainly be built in Dubbo
would be helpful for stimulating the economy of the region and would help in the creation of
various skills and sustainable job opportunities. These services would be for the customers who
travel from the region of Sydney to different regional centres of NSW (Regional Rail Transport
for NSW, 2019). The newly designed trains would help in improving of comfort, safety of
passengers, reliability and accessibility in Brisbane, Canberra and Melbourne.
The project based on the development of the new railway coaches based within Regional
Rail Fleet has been contracted to Momentum Trains. Momentum Trains is considered as one of
the international consortium that comprises of UGL Rail Services, DIF Infrastructure V
Cooperatief and CAF Investment projects. The new railway coaches would include several
features such as comfortable and functional design that would also incorporate spacious buffet
cars, reversible seating and a suitable luggage storage system (New Intercity Fleet Transport for
NSW, 2019). The business development contract that is been executed by Momentum Trains is
mainly responsible for planning, designing the project outlines and also maintain the newly
constructed trains. The project would start in the year 2019 and is thus expected to be completed
by the year 2023.

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2. Discussion
2.1 The Possible Risk Treatments and other Response Elements that are identified
During the work of development of the project, Momentum Trains could incur various
kind of risks in relation to project development stages. The different kind of risks based within
the project are political interest risks, technical risks, manpower insufficiency, financial risks,
construction period risks and operation period risks.
The different forms of risk treatment or risk response elements, which could incur for the
following project are described as follows:
Strategies for Risk Response
Risks Risk Statement Risk Response
Political
Interest
Risks
There could be different kind of problems based
on political interests that could arise within the
project. The officials in the NSW Government
might change, which might lead to changes in
requirements of the present government (Graetz
& Franks, 2016). This would create a problem
for Momentum Trains in the development of
the project.
Mitigate: In order to mitigate the
problems, there should be a formal
sign of negotiation contract with the
present officials for the progress of
the project.
There might be certain kind of corruptions
within the contract based development of the
project. The government might not pay the
instalment for the project within the proper
time.
Avoid: In order to deal with such kind
of situations of corruption,
Momentum Trains should conduct a
proper negotiation contract with the
government officials in order to
properly deal with the progress of the
project.
Technical
Risks
There might be changes in the technical design
of the project. The technicians within the
project might face difficulties during the design
of the coaches.
Avoid: During designing of the
project, the technicians should be
solely responsible for designing a
technical plan for the project.
There might be some changes in the technical
specification of the project (Smith, Merna &
Jobling, 2014). The technical specifications that
Mitigate: The technical designers of
the project should sort out a meeting
and conduct a technical design with

5REGIONAL RAIL FLEET (NSW) – RECOMMENDATIONS FOR WA
are described within the project might be found
to be inaccurate during the designing and
manufacturing of coaches.
the high level management team of
the company (Takey & de Carvalho,
2015). They should conduct a market
research about the ongoing trends in
the technical aspects of the project.
Manpower
related Risks
There might be insufficient amount of workers
within the team concerned within the project.
These workers might not be available due to
any kind of payment related issues or other
various kind of issues.
Mitigate: The workers who would
work on the project should be hired
on a contractual basis for some years.
They should be told about the salary
related queries in order to avoid future
complications after the start of the
work.
There might be some incompetent workers
within the design team of the project (Vrhovec
et al., 2015) They might be able to understand
about the requirements of the project or they
might perform inaccurate activities for the
project.
Avoid: In order to deal with such kind
of issues within the project, the
project manager and the technical
head of the project should conduct a
certain assessment of each of the
workers who would perform work for
the project. This would help in
understanding the competent workers
within the team.
Financial
Risks
The costs for the resources required within the
project might be escalated due to rising price of
items required during the manufacturing of the
coaches.
Mitigate: In order to mitigate the
risks incoming for the project, the
project manager should decide some
strategies with the project sponsor in
order to deal with imminent costs that
would be required in the future design
stages of the project (Pauw, 2015).
After the progress of the project, there might
occur a financial crisis or financial constraints
over the project (Hopkin, 2018). Hence, in such
situations the project might have to be
completed within the limited budget. This
would thus result in low outcomes for the
project.
Avoid: The project manager,
technical design team and the project
sponsor should communicate among
themselves. They should conduct an
extensive market research about the
present costs required for resources
and should hence plan the future cost
estimation of the project.
Construction
Period Risks
There might be some interruptions in power
supply of the project. Electric failure during the
work of the project would result in disruption in
work of the project (Zeng et al., 2015). This
Avoid: The project team should
consult with the Electric Department
at NSW and thus should sign a
negotiation contract about certain

6REGIONAL RAIL FLEET (NSW) – RECOMMENDATIONS FOR WA
would also put a further negative impact
towards the construction of the coaches.
dealings for the project (Rumane,
2017). They should also ensure that
the electric supply remains constant
and throughout the project.
Absence of proper kind of technical equipment
required for the project might lead to disruption
of the project. The project might abruptly stop
due to such kind of lack of technical
deficiencies for the project.
Avoid: Each of the technical
resources required for the project
should be procured before the start of
the project (Chen & Tarko, 2014). In
case of any lack or deficiency of
resources during the work over the
project, the project manager should be
notified in advance. This would help
in finishing proper execution of the
project without any kind of problems.

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2.2 Risk Management Plan highlighting the Positive and Negative Risks
During the development of the project, a risk management plan would be identified and thus included within the project. The
discussed risk management plan helps in the identification of negative and positive risks that might be incurred for the project.
Risks
Occurred
Risk Implications Type of
Risk
Level of
Risk
Impact of
Risk
Contingency/Mitigation
Political
Interest
Risks
1. The delay in the solving of the
political risks incurred in the
project would lead to several
kind of delay in the project
management scenario.
2. Political instabilities during
the work over the project might
lead to disruption in the project
work (Yeung, 2017). The highest
form of impact would lead to
disruption in the entire work
over the project.
Negative Medium High In order to avoid or mitigate the political
risks incurable for the project, the
project manager and the management
team of the organisation should conduct
a brief meeting with the officials of the
NSW Government (Hirschman, 2014).
A proper kind of contract should be
signed with the officials and then the
project should commence.
Technical
Risks
1. Improper defining of technical
design of the project would lead
to complications in the final
output of the project.
2. Constant changes in the
technical design aspect of the
project would lead to improper
aspects of the project (Islam,
Mouratidis & Weippl, 2014).
Positive Medium Medium In order to mitigate the risks involved
within the project, the technical designer
and project manager should work
together for sorting out a technical plan
for the project (Milosevic & Martinelli,
2016). The technical designer should
focus over the requirements of the NSW
Government and thus should plan some
technical strategies that are to be

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included within the technical project
plan.
Manpower
related Risks
1. Insufficient number of
members within the concerned
team of the project would lead to
complexity of performing of the
task (Boateng, Chen &
Ogunlana, 2015). It would also
result in delay over the project
work and might lead to miss of
deadline for project completion.
2. Incompetent workers would
lead to problems for the
technical team of the project as
they would not be able to
complete the task as per the
requirements.
Positive Low Medium Based on gathering the proper
estimation on the number of people
required for the project, the project
manager would be able to decide about
the best possible measure to complete
the project (Ebert, 2017).
The project manager could also make
some assessments in order to decide on
the best possible measure to decide over
the proper workers who could be
involved within the team.
Financial
Risks
1. The rising price of resources
and the escalating costs incurred
within the project might lead to
complications in service delivery
(Huston, Rahimzad & Parsa,
2015).
2. Financial constraints within
the project would lead to
improper delivery of the project
within the concerned date of
delivery.
Negative High High The project manager should conduct
meetings with the project sponsor. They
should thus decide on some kind of
strategies for understanding the present
market demands (Linnerooth-Bayer &
Mechler, 2015). They would thus be
able to decide the best possible
measures of procuring of items required
for the project.
Construction 1. Interruptions in supply of Negative Medium High Based on the problems that are

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Period Risks power for the project would lead
to delay in service delivery for
the project (Chileshe & John
Kikwasi, 2014).
2. Lack of the entire technical
requirements or shortage of
technical requirements for the
project would lead to delay in
project delivery.
occurring within the project, the project
manager should a meeting with the
Electric Department at NSW. They
should sign a negotiation contract,
which would be able to mention the
proper and legal start of the project.
The technical resources that would be
required for the project should be
procured before the start of the project
(Locatelli, Mancini & Romano, 2014).
In case, there is a shortage of supply of
items for the project, the project
manager should conduct constant review
over each of the items of the project.

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2.3 Recommendations towards the Project with Justification
The risks that have approached towards the project could lead to several problems for the
success criteria of the project. The different kind of risks that have approached towards the
project are of high concern and should be mitigated by taking proper measures that have been
defined within the risks management plan. Some of the necessary recommendations that could
support the proper success of the project are:
Identification of the Issues or Risks – The concerned team involved within the project
should conduct a proper assessment of each of the risks within the project. As per the given
project case, it has been identified that there are financial risks, operational risks, technical risks
and other risks that could affect the project. The project manager should be responsible for
gathering each of the technical details of the project. They should thus be responsible for
conducting surveys or be present during defining each of the critical aspects of the project.
Developing an Action Plan – After the risks have been identified, the project manager
decide over the development of an action plan. This action plan should take into consideration
about the basic details of each of the technical aspects of the project and should prepare
strategies for removing them.
Approval of the Action Plan – After the action plan has been defined, it should be
approved by the steering committee of Momentum Trains and NSW Government. This would
help in keeping a track of each of the recommended changes that would be made for the project.
The political risks incurred for the project could be reduced by having a formal meeting
with the officials of the NSW Government. The issues could be addressed by conducting a
formal meeting and then initiate the project. The technical risks that are incurred within the

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project could be removed by having a proper design aspect of the project. The technical
specification of the project could be removed by specifying the decisions to be taken for the
project before the initiation of the project. The manpower and technical resources that would be
required for the project should be properly estimated during the signing of contract for the
project. The project sponsor would then be able to allocate funds required for the project. The
financial aspects of the project should be taken into consideration and it would be the sole
responsibility of the project manager to ensure that there is a financial stability for the purpose of
completing the project.
3. Conclusion
Based on the supported discussion from the above report, it could be concluded that each
of the described risks within the project should be highly taken into consideration. During the
discussion over the project, the various risks have been identified, which could be incurred by
Momentum Trains when they would initiate the works over the project. The different risks that
have incurred within the project are technical risks, financial risks, construction period risks and
risks based on manpower. These risks are highly crucial and thus should be solved at the earliest.
This would help in completing the works of the project in a successful manner.
The project also discusses about the all forms of possible risk treatments or response
elements that could be identified that could be applied for the project. The project would incur
the best form of measures, which could be applied in order to complete the project. Upon further
consideration over the risks, a risk management plan have been applied for the project. The risk
management plan discusses on the negative and positive risks that have been identified for the
project. The identification of such kind of risks have been able to provide better suggestion and
strategies for mitigating them. The relevant risks identified within the project have been properly