Excess Baggage

Driving $70 trillion of savings According to a new report from the International Energy Agency, policies which improve the energy efficiency of urban transport systems could help to save as much as USD 70 trillion in spending on vehicles, fuel and infrastructure between now and 2050. With energy consumption for transport in cities expected to double by 2050, transport organisations face a seemingly impossible challenge – to continuously improve safety and service, while reducing costs from their complex infrastructure and asset networks.

Tracking assets Asset management in the rail industry is a hugely complex discipline as it encompasses high volumes of discrete and linked assets – all of which must be managed cohesively to ensure the core objectives of safety, service and efficiency are achieved. Effectively managing a programme which spans overhead lines, tracks, tunnels, ticket machines, barriers, escalators and signalling simply cannot be achieved through traditional CMMS or generalist EAM systems.

Many EAM systems were built primarily to serve industrial and manufacturing industries and while their core objectives - maximising the lifecycle of equipment; increasing operating capital; reducing downtime; improving safety and compliance; and enhancing customer service – might be similar, the specific needs, activities and types of assets of rail organisations are very different. A train company for example has a lot of linear assets such as rail tracks and overhead power lines, the condition of which can vary from section to section. Overhead power lines on railways typically sag over time, and as a result, the train simply won’t attach.

If this situation is allowed to occur, it will not only cause major problems in terms of train punctuality, but the line is difficult to inspect and would cause immense disruption. Through viewing the overhead lines as a linear asset, which is monitored not as a finite entity but as a series of segments, sagging can be tracked and addressed before it become a costly problem.

Train companies have numerous types of vehicle within their organisations which have different engines and parts, and are subject to varying maintenance regimes and individual warranties. Highly detailed information is required on the entire fleet in order to make accurate predictions on engine wear and tear, fuel consumption and punctuality, all of which impact the cost and reliability of a service.

However without a means of tracking this diverse data, cost savings and reliability cannot be optimised. A micro-vertical approach The nuances of the rail industry, combined with the need for large scale efficiencies and service improvements, require highly sophisticated, industry specific EAM capabilities. Such applications must be able to monitor a diverse range of assets, including point, linear, vertical, networked and componentised, in a live environment. These asset types have varying properties as the follow illustrates.

Linear The ability to monitor linear assets in transportation is crucial as railway tracks, overhead power lines, bridges, tunnels and roads are technically classed as one asset, however their condition varies from section to section adding complexity to the process. Point The most straightforward type of asset, this refers to a single, discrete asset such as a shelter or bench. Networked Networked assets rely on each other in order to provide a service.

Signalling equipment and information screens are good examples. Vertical This might be signage or signalling at a particular station which runs off the rail organisation’s core infrastructure. Componentised Component-based assets might be anything from an escalator to an underground train – an asset which is comprised of multiple parts. One of the problems for rail organisations is that, in the past, they have been forced to use multiple solutions to manage their assets as EAM providers typically have niche capabilities which support a specific area or type of asset.

This inevitably presents complexities in terms of integration and maintenance, and quite often leaves gaps which must then be addressed through manual processes. However a new breed of applications not only provide both the breadth and depth to support every type of asset used in rail, but they feed live data into a central system which, using social, analytical, mobile and cloud capabilities, can present the information in a format which is tailored specifically to the preferences of the user.

Crucially, these are ‘off the shelf’ applications designed specifically for the transit industry that require no costly customisation. These new capabilities are being enhanced further through a number of other areas which are gaining momentum in the transport industry. Technological standards are evolving and helping to facilitate a shift from analogue to digital monitoring equipment, improving the speed and reliability of data capture. And the adoption of asset management industry standards and best practice such as ISO 50001 and PAS 55 is strong in this sector, driven in part by the transparency demanded by regulators following privatisation in the UK utilities and transport sectors.

Uptake of PAS 55 is common amongst transport companies and in many cases they have led the charge over their industrial counterparts. In conjunction with the right software, standards such as ISO 50001, ISO 55000 (when available), and PAS 55 provide improved structure, stronger momentum and greater coherency. Adopting this kind of best practice combined with highly specialised capabilities for rail organisations will set the leaders from the laggards in this sector, and undoubtedly generate a proportion of the USD 70 trillion savings earmarked for the transport sector in the coming years.