Powerbox Australia recently hosted its inaugural Powering Evolution in Rail event in Brisbane, bringing together engineers, project managers, and technical specialists from across South East Queensland’s rail industry.
The half-day program explored current and emerging power challenges across both trackside and onboard rail applications. Presentations were delivered by Powerbox and representatives from international partners including Delta Electronics, Schaefer Elektronik, Premium PSU, Cincon, SFC Energy, and Dunkermotoren, with special guest contributions from Powerbox customers Rapid Power Systems and Hypha, who shared insights into innovative security, monitoring, and communications platforms suitable for railway environments.
Key topics included the future of battery-backed DC power systems, type-approved railway battery chargers, catenary-fed power conversion, high-voltage DC/DC systems, onboard auxiliary power, and the growing shift toward electric linear drive technologies as efficient, low-maintenance replacements for traditional pneumatic systems in rail applications.
A strong theme throughout the session was the growing role of decentralised and resilient power architectures, particularly for signalling, level crossings, and remote telecommunications assets.
Kurt, Jesse, Brant, Ryan and James from the Powerbox Sales and Application Engineering Team on hand for the event.
One of the highlights of the event was Scott Geldard, Director of Hypha presentation on Hypha’s Vehicle-as-a-Node technology and how it can deliver the resilient connectivity rail needs to safeguard people and assets.
The Teams from Cincon Electronics, Dunkermotoren and Premium PSU were all on hand showcasing a number of products and solutions suitable for the Railway Industry. Dunkermotoren's display included a range of both Brushed and Brushless DC Motors, commonly utilised within Train Door systems.
Rapid Power Systems were on hand to display their deployable solar hybrid trailer and solar pole kit solutions, which can be utilised to monitor and protect critical rail assets. On the stand was also an EFOY Pro 2800 Direct Methanol Fuel Cell, which can be added to the Rapid Power systems to offer extended reliability and autonomy. Great for built up environments or even tunnels, thanks to its very low emissions and quite operation.
Delta Electronics Australia Display included a comprehensive range of Eltek DC Power systems and Delta Din Rail AC/DC Power Supply models including Lyte II and Force GT Models. Powerbox is working closely with Delta Electronics to better service the South East QLD market.
The event was held at Lightspace Brisbane. Thanks to John and the team for their support in setting up the venue.
Powerbox would like to thank all speakers, guests, and attendees for making the event a highly productive and collaborative session.
Planning is already underway for future events in other locations as part of our ongoing commitment to supporting the evolution of Australia’s rail networks.
