PREDICT-MAINTENANCE

Project description

The project is designed to address the various disturbances and potential damages to railway systems, specifically Overhead Contact Lines (OCL) and substations. These disturbances have direct impacts on the availability of the asset. As maintenance costs increase and resources become limited, the demand from Infrastructure Managers (IMs) and Railway Undertakings (RUs) for initial prevention measures to prevent service failures is rising.

By implementing this project, several advantages can be obtained. These include the prevention of serious disorder occurrence in advance, reduction of repair time and maintenance cost, and organizing repairs when the impact on operations is limited. The project also aims to save exponential costs from failures, optimize spare part inventory, extend the life cycle of aging assets, and enhance system availability.

Today, the approach of preventive maintenance for the railway system is commonly accepted. However, with rising maintenance costs, limited resources, and aging systems, we need to find more efficient ways of maintaining the systems. This includes studying the early detection of system faults and their corresponding methodologies. This will enable preventative maintenance based on the systems’ actual needs. If these measures are not implemented, the railway system may face challenges in the future.

Project objectives

The objective of this project is to provide systematic guidelines for predictive maintenance for Overhead Contact Lines (OCL) and substations. The report will focus on identifying types of warning signs or symptoms found in OCL and substations that lead to faults or defects. It will also identify solutions or measures corresponding to the signs identified, along with the amount of time before possible defects occur.

The project will also study potential technologies that can be applied, which are currently available on the market. It will include case studies on the technology adopted in different countries. Throughout this project, the UIC experts’ group will pay close attention to the inputs from Infrastructure Managers (IMs) and Railway Undertakings (RUs). Interfacing with the Rolling Stock (RS) side will also be a part of the tasks to be done during the project.

If the project is not undertaken, there could be several issues. These include an increase in maintenance costs and less effective resource planning for maintenance tasks. Therefore, the implementation of this project is crucial for the efficient and cost-effective maintenance of the railway system.

Project members