OPTIMIZATION OF THE CONSERVATION OF RAILWAY INFRASTRUCTURE FOR URBAN TRANSPORT.

Soltel has begun work on a new R&D project called OPTIRAIL. The project aims to develop an intelligent asset management system for the conservation and preventive maintenance of metro and tramway infrastructure, integrating monitoring techniques using onboard devices. This will allow for continuous monitoring of track components during train operating hours, rather than being limited to off-peak service.

The data obtained through this system will be managed by an expert system, including predictive models and BPM technologies, to optimize maintenance activities in accordance with the international standard ISO-55000, reducing costs and increasing the safety and comfort of users.

The project is subsidized by the CDTI and supported by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, with aid co-financed by ERDF funds through the “Smart Growth Operational Programme 2014-2020” and CDTI's own funds, within the framework of the FEDER-Innterconecta programme.

Soltel is participating in this project as part of a consortium led by AZVI, which also includes AGC Market View Services and Rovimática. The Andalusian Association for Industrial Research and Cooperation is also involved in the project as a research organization.

Metro maintenance aims to preserve service in safe and efficient conditions, while minimizing operating and maintenance costs. While this is vitally important, other aspects that advanced management must prioritize include: the social and public service dimension of the metro, including user perception of the service, and the positive environmental impact of its use compared to urban transport using combustion engine vehicles are two good examples. Current maintenance management models do not make these valuable aspects of the infrastructure visible. This project will address, using innovative techniques, the integration of so-called "externalities" into maintenance management systems, such as social benefits, avoided emissions, time saved for users, etc.

Techniques will be developed that make aspects of the operation "visible" to management that were previously hidden. These include the development lines also present in this OPTIRAIL project:

Condition monitoringThe improvement and integration of auscultation and control techniques, the development of which will allow extensive and low-cost monitoring of track elements.

Intelligence and data analysisIntelligent processing of big data allows for the extraction of valuable information and the inference of relationships for management. This is achieved by using both historical data and monitoring data. This increases the capacity for decision-making and the scope of those decisions. Furthermore, the big data processing, management, and inference generation systems will allow this project to introduce, in a completely novel way, the value of externalities into maintenance decisions.

OPTIMIZATION OF THE MAINTENANCE OF RAILWAY INFRASTRUCTURE FOR URBAN TRANSPORT

Soltel has begun to work on a new R&D project called OPTIRAIL. The goal of this project is to develop an intelligent asset management system for the conservation and preventive maintenance of railway infrastructure for both metro and tramrail, integrating auscultation techniques by means of on-board devices. This way, the railway elements will be monitored continuously during the train working hours, instead of being limited to scheduled inactivity times.

Data obtained by this system will be managed by an expert system, including predictive models and BPM technologies, to optimize maintenance activities complying the international norm ISO-55000, reducing costs and enhancing users’ security and comfort.

The project is financed by the CDTI and supported by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, with a grant from FEDER funds through the “Operative Program for Intelligent Growth 2014-2020”, in the framework of the program FEDER-Innterconecta.

Soltel participates in this project within a consortium led by the company AZVI, along with AGC Market Services and Rovimática. The Association of research and Industrial Cooperation of Andalusia is also in the project as a research body.

The Metro maintenance intends to preserve the service in secure and fluent conditions, reducing as much as possible maintenance and operation costs. Despite this has a vital importance, there are also other aspects that an advanced management needs to include among its priorities: the social and public service dimension of the metro, including the user's perception of the service, or the positive environmental impact that produces its use instead of combustion engine vehicles are two good examples. Current maintenance management models do not make these value aspects of the infrastructure visible. This project will use novel techniques to introduce so called externalities into maintenance management systems, such as social benefits, avoided emissions, time savings, etc.

We will develop techniques to make visible for the management those exploitation aspects that are not yet being considered. Among those techniques we highlight:

Condition monitoring: The improvement and integration of auscultation and control techniques, which will allow an exhaustive and low cost monitoring of the railway elements.

Intelligence and data analytics: The smart processing of massive data to get information and infer valuable relations for the management, using both historic data and current data provided by the auscultation system. This increases the capacity to make decisions and the very scope of these decisions. Additionally, massive data processing and management systems and inference generation systems will help add externalities to maintenance decision making, in a completely innovative way.