Queensland Rail spends US$34 million on data centre consolidation

One of Australia’s largest rail network operator, Queensland Rail, is consolidating its data centres under a US$34 million (AUD$33 million) infrastructure management initiative.

Queensland Rail, which split from the privatised freight arm QR National last year, is streamlining data centre management, network and end-user computing services.

The latest data centre consolidation involves moving Queensland Rail’s ICT infrastructure from three data centres, currently shared with QR National, into new facilities in Brisbane by June 30 this year. Queensland Rail provides infrastructure and train services over the entire government-owned rail network in Queensland.

By mid this year, Tier 1 data centres located in Brisbane will support state-of-the-art infrastructure and security with proximity to Queensland Rail’s fibre network.

Queensland Rail’s move to outsourcing offers the department flexibility to handle peaks and growth in demand, together with optimal disaster recovery practices.
In other developments, Queensland Rail is offering customer information touch-screen kiosks under a pilot project.

These free-standing kiosks, installed at South Brisbane, Roma Street and Central stations, provide easy-to-access general information. Queensland Rail’s Central station records 65,716 peak hour customer movements a day with Roma Street recording 26,948 and South Brisbane 3,593. Queensland Rail Chief Customer Officer Cathy Heffernan says the self-serve kiosks are another way to provide innovative and flexible information to customers.

“These touch-screen kiosks enable customers to get instant information without the need to speak to station staff or read timetables.”

Among its apps, customers will be able to see timetables, public transport maps and have their journey planned out for them using all forms of public transport.

These touch-screen kiosks also display local attractions, and come equipped with a wayfinder program that helps customers locate and navigate to key amenities around the station using interactive maps. Cathy Heffernan says: “Interactive technology has become integral in our lives with people seeking fast and easy services. For the technology novice, the kiosks are very easy to use.”

During the pilot program, Queensland Rail is seeking customer feedback on the interactive touch-screen kiosks via Queensland Rail’s website, Twitter, and Facebook.