Contractual Reset and Alliance Transition for the ETCS Program

The European Train Control System (ETCS) package of Cross River Rail — the digital signalling system needed to safely operate trains through the project's new tunnels — was originally procured in 2019 as a fixed price contract between the Cross River Rail Delivery Authority (CRRDA) with Queensland Rail, Department of Transport and Main Roads and Hitachi Rail.

An Independent Review Report in 2020 into the ETCS program recommended the program be restaged, and that the contractual and operational relationship between the parties move to a collaborative model to improve the likelihood of achieving the delivery date.

PCI was engaged to recommend the appropriate contractual direction for the program and a roadmap for resetting the commercial and operational relationship.

PCI's role:

• Assessed the program and the existing contract, and recommended transitioning to an alliance model as the contractual structure most likely to restore trust and deliver the program.

• Supported CRRDA and Hitachi Rail, the incumbent contractor, to align on and execute the new Alliance Agreement.

• Supported re-baseline, restaging of the works and development of a Project Proposal, under the terms of the Alliance Agreement so that it would be able to be accepted by the Owners.

• Coached the leadership and commercial teams to learn and practice alliance principles to make best-for-project decisions together during live commercial negotiations on the Alliance Agreement, a genuinely difficult shift for a team that had operated for years on a risk-allocation, self-protective footing.

• Focused coaching on rebuilding trust as the team moved from an "us and them" contractual relationship to a genuinely integrated one.

Outcomes:

• The ETCS program successfully transitioned from a fixed price contract to an alliance model which was a significant commercial and behavioural shift for a team that had come from a risk-allocation contract structure.

• The program is now delivered as the Sequence Signalling and Systems Alliance, bringing together Hitachi Rail, Queensland Rail. Queensland Dept of Transport and Main Roads and CRRDA.

• ETCS has been installed and is currently being tested on the Shorncliffe line.

• The Alliance will progressively roll out ETCS across the wider South East Queensland rail network over the next 10-15 years.