OPTIMISATION OF POINT LIFE CYCLE COSTS THROUGH LOAD-DEPENDENT MAINTENANCE

Abstract

An increasing traffic demand and competition between the traffic modes force the railway operators to improve their economical results. Thisou can be achieved primarily by reducing costs and by keeping a high standard in service and quality whereby an increase of attractiveness for potential customers can be realised. Especially the German Railways, while preparing itself for going public, demands for a higher relevance of the financial result. Both infrastructure managers and railway operators have to consider that cost reducing actions are most effective when having a high impact on the life cycle costs (LCC) of the railway system and its compo-nents. Maintenance costs of railway infrastructure are such cost drivers. Track sections owned by the German Railways are categorised depending on their load per week for determining the time intervals of preventive maintenance of the infrastructure devices such as points. Unfortunately, there are only 3 cate-gories. Such a rough classification is far from condition based maintenance and therefore includes optimi-sation potential. This paper summarises the results of simulation supported evaluations of cost savings which can be realized by a more load than time dependent maintenance of points. A track section north of Hanover, Germany owned by the German Railways is taken as an example to compare the current situa-tion with an alternative point maintenance concept based on the recordings of the vehicle crossings. The study points out the possible reduction of scheduled inspections and shows cost savings under the premise of a constant system availability and safety. The examinations underline the need for load-dependent maintenance of points as a step towards more cost-efficient preventive maintenance of railway infrastructure and therefore a decrease in whole-life costing (LCC).