Application of Remote Condition Monitoring in Different Rolling Stock Life Cycle Phases

NedTrain is the Netherlands Railway's subsidiary responsible for rolling stock maintenance. The life cycle is 30-40 years where the asset condition is maintained to meet it's performance requirements and is enhanced to meet the customer expectations through it's life. The life cycle costs are roughly 1/3 for the new build investment and 2/3 for subsequent maintenance and further investments. Currently the rolling stock is maintained in fixed maintenance intervals of 3 months with in between service-checks and repairs. A more dynamic and pro-active maintenance approach is required due to the increased complexity of electronics and software, planning of maintenance in short intervals when less rolling stock is required for service and increased customer expectations. NedTrain started an innovation programme that includes remote condition monitoring of the asset condition of individual trains and use of the information to prepare maintenance activities before the train comes in for maintenance. This paper describes the work in progress in three case studies for existing rolling stock, mid-life refurbishment and new build rolling stock

A multidisciplinary, expert-based approach for the identification of lifetime impacts in asset life cycle management

Everyday our lives are dependent on countless physical structures. These assets represent an enormous value for their owners and for society at large. To grasp the full potential of these assets, a deep and thorough understanding of an asset's complete lifetime is needed. Problems with data collection and data quality however limit currently available methods for Asset Life Cycle Management in their potential to deliver such a deep understanding. Therefore, this paper proposes to focus on the identification of lifetime impacts: trends or events that may have a positive or negative influence on the remaining lifetime of the asset. Timely identification of these impacts allows the asset owner to prepare appropriate measures. Based on a literature review and a case study, the paper argues that a multidisciplinary approach employing both quantitative and qualitative information is needed. The Lifetime Impact Identification Analysis (LIAA) method is presented, incorporating technical, economic, compliancy and commercial perspectives on the asset. The method exploits expert-sessions to gather and structure available knowledge into a Lifetime Impact Report. Preliminary test results show that the proposed method is promising to both theory and practic

Investigating maintenance decisions during initial fielding of rolling stock

Successful organizations align technology with their competitive strategy. The challenge is first to make the right and timely decisions when acquiring new technology. Next, organizations must make decisions that help configure the maintenance services to fit the technology they acquired. Ideally, new technology should fit seamlessly with company practices and ways of working. In practice, this is rarely the case and there is misalignment. For maintenance service providers, the problem of fitting maintenance of new capital assets to traditional ways of working is especially important. This paper examines the decisions made by a maintenance service provider to maximize cost efficiency during initial fielding of rolling stock. We explore the different decisions made to design the support organization around newly acquired trains used for passenger service