e-Maintenance of Railway Assets Based on a Reliable Condition Prediction

Abstract

To ensure a strong position within the transport market sustainable economical decisions and the implementation of new methods and techniques for achieving higher process efficiency are necessary for the railway infrastructure managers. Starting from a primarily time scheduled maintenance an improvement of the rail infrastructure asset maintenance can contribute to this aim, especially when considering that maintenance is a cost driver in the operation of railway systems. e-Maintenance for railway infrastructure is such a concept. Implemented in a reliable way it gives the infrastructure managers a better idea about the asset condition, reduces the number of maintenance activities to be taken manually and therefore the risk for maintenance workers in the track bed. Mandatory for an efficient e-Maintenance concept is a reliable condition diagnosis and prediction.