AUTOMAIN project

Reduce possession time by as much as 40%

AUTOMAIN work packages, from requirements through inspection, maintenance, planning and demonstration

Project overview

The high level aim of the AUTOMAIN project is to make the movement of freight by rail more dependable (reliable, available, maintainable and safe) through the generation of additional capacity on the existing network. Through the widespread introduction of automation that is designed to improve the Reliability, Availability, Maintainability and Safety (RAMS) of railway infrastructure equipment and systems, it is anticipated that required possession time (downtime) of the railway could be reduced by as much as 40%. Therefore, the philosophy of the project team is to maintain infrastructure only when intervention is needed, instead of the now common schedule driven maintenance strategies. To achieve a step change, improvements must be made to railway infrastructure maintenance approaches through: Increased reliability — This can be accomplished by means of more effective maintenance, which is achievable by improving inspection and monitoring capabilities. Increased availability — This can be accomplished by reducing possession times, which is achievable by automating and optimising maintenance planning and scheduling, and also by speeding-up maintenance activities. Increased maintainability — This can be accomplished by reducing the time taken to install and maintain infrastructure, which is achievable by identifying tasks that lend themselves to automation and then developing and introducing appropriate technology. Improved worker safety — This can be accomplished by reducing the need for track workers to carry out tasks on or near the line, which is achievable through automated inspection techniques and the development of modular infrastructure. In order to achieve these goals, the project will meet a series of specific objectives and deliver five key innovations. The work will take place within the framework provided by the project management strategy.

Objectives

Five objectives

Objective 1: To adopt best practice from other industries in inspection and maintenance optimisation (e.g., highways, aerospace...). The project will demonstrate how the benchmark possession time for key maintenance tasks can be reduced by up to 50%;
Objective 2: To develop novel track inspection approaches for freight and mixed traffic routes. The project will demonstrate how the benchmark for possession time for track inspection can be reduced by up to 75%;
Objective 3: To research and assess innovations that have the potential to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of large scale maintenance processes (e.g., grinding and tamping). The project will undertake simulations to show how these technologies can reduce the benchmark possession time by up to 25%;
Objective 4: To develop further key technologies that will drive the development of modular infrastructure design. It will be demonstrated during the project that these technologies can reduce the benchmark possession time for installation, maintenance and inspection during the life of the asset by at least 50%;
Objective 5: To develop a new maintenance planning and scheduling tool that is able to optimise the programme of required maintenance activities, taking account of the benefits brought about by other improvements in the AUTOMAIN project. The tool, together with the other individual subsystem level improvements will reduce the overall benchmark possession time by 40%.

Five innovations

Innovation 1: A new methodology for analysing and optimising maintenance processes by applying best practice from other industries;
Innovation 2: Higher speed infrastructure inspection methods;
Innovation 3: Higher speed track maintenance methods;
Innovation 4: Modular infrastructure inspection methods;
Innovation 5: The improvement of automatic maintenance scheduling and planning systems, which focus on scheduling maintenance around the timetable, so as to reduce disruption to scheduled traffic and to increase useful capacity.

Project management strategy

As the project is focussed on specific deliverables, the project is organised in work packages (WP). Each WP provides deliverables within a specific field of research (aimed innovations) or project goal. The objectives of these WPs’ and the relationships between them are shown in the figure below:

Relationships between AUTOMAIN work packages

WP teams will work independently from each other, where deliverables contribute to other WP’s coordination is essential. A system engineering approach has been applied to make a progress analysis from requirements to evaluation possible.

The management structure of AUTOMAIN comprises three levels of decision-making: strategic, executive and technical (the day-to-day level of individual work packages). External feedback from outside experts and the EC Project Officer will be managed through the Strategic and Executive levels.

Opportunity for involvement

The AUTOMAIN project very much would like to put project results into practice or bring them one step further into development. Below you can find invitations to participate in the development of specific innovations.

Invitations

Documents

The numbers refer to the deliverables.

Presentations

Deliverables

Planning and scheduling

D5.1 Planning and scheduling tool for optimised maintenance D5.2 Tool in operation for demonstration of results WP 3&4 More information about these innovations: Francois Ramond, Work package Leader: francois.ramond@sncf.fr Frederico Grasso-Torro, Technical University of Braunschweig: grasso@via.ing.tu-bs.de

Maintenance innovations

D4.1 Improvements analysis for high performance maintenance and modular infrastructure D4.2 Optimised maintenance activities like, grinding, tamping and other maintenance processes D2.2 Lean Analysis of Track Maintenance Process Points of mutual interest: Link & Effect Model, Maintenance Between train and Infrastructure scorecard: Christer Stenström (christer.stenstrom@ltu.se) Capacity model: Stephen Mayowa Famurewa (stephen.famurewa@ltu.se) LCC Model: Arne Nissen (arne.nissen@trafikverket.se) Tamping: Burchard Ripke (burchard.ripke@bahn.com) Grinding: Matthias Asplund (matthias.asplund@trafikverket.se) S&C: Björn Lundwall (bjorn.lundwall@vn.vossloh.com)

Inspection innovations

The deliverables referred to can be found in Documents.

News and events

Final project events in France, UK, Germany and Netherlands by Henri Olink — last modified Jan 17, 2014 05:33 PM The AUTOMAIN project is now heading towards its finish Februari 1st 2014. We very much would like to share our project results with you. These sessions are planned: Paris, UIC headquarters, France on January 9th 2014. Please contact Andrea Demadonna (UNIFE, Andrea.DEMADONNA@unife.org) for further details. Milton Keynes, Network Rail headquarters, UK on January 22nd 2014. Please contact Kevin Blacktop (Network Rail, kevin.blacktop@networkrail.co.uk) Braunschweig University, Germany on January 27th. Focus on planning & scheduling. Please contact Frederico Grasso Torro (TUB, grasso@iva.ing.tu-bs.de) Utrecht, ProRail headquarters, Netherlands on January 29th. Please contact Matthijs Doesburg (ProRail, matthijs.doesburg@prorail.nl) AUTOMAIN National Workshop SNCF, UNIFE, UIC, and the AUTOMAIN Consortium hosted the AUTOMAIN National Workshop in Paris on January 9th, 2014. AUTOMAIN is a FP7 funded project aimed at increasing railway capacity in order to make a modal shift from road to rail more attractive. The project has developed a set of innovations in the field of infrastructure inspection, maintenance and planning of maintenance. The event gave participants the opportunity to be informed on the most promising inspection and maintenance measures to optimise and automate in order to reduce the possession time by 40% and discuss with the AUTOMAIN experts. Workshop highlights: Overview of AUTOMAINHighlights of the main resultsFocus on high-speed inspectionFocus on high-speed maintenanceFocus on planning & schedulingObservations and discussion about Lean Analysis in a railway environment To register for the workshop and find more information on the programme and the venue, please fill in the registration form available here. InnoTrans 2012 The AUTOMAIN project will be showcased from 18 to 21 September 2012 at InnoTrans 2012 (UNIFE Stand 103 in Hall 4.2). During InnoTrans 2012, AUTOMAIN is organizing a Breakfast and Presentation. The event will take place on Wednesday, 19 September from 10h00 to 11h00 at the UNIFE booth, Hall 4.2, Stand 103. The event will feature a short presentation on the progress of AUTOMAIN project. This is a great opportunity to meet and discuss with some of the project partners. The full UNIFE stand programme can be viewed here. Register for Innotrans 2012 Registration deadline: 10 September 2012 We look forward to seeing you at Stand 103 in Hall 4.2.

Contact

In the three innovation sections "inspection", "maintenance" and "planning" you will find the email addresses of involved AUTOMAIN specialists. In case you need further information you can contact the AUTOMAIN project manager Henri Olink (henri.olink@prorail.nl).