Next week, the Rolling Stock Maintenance & Depot Optimisation Congress (28-30 June) takes place at The Hilton London Paddington and online, with case studies from train operating companies sharing how they have improved and streamlined processes to optimise fleet availability.
Day 3 of the Congress is dedicated to optimising fleet depot workshops, and is available to attend in person on a 1 day pass.
In advance of the conference we caught up with two speakers taking part on Day 3 to find out about their presentations at the Congress, the biggest challenges for the industry at the moment and what they are looking forward to the most at the event.
Antti Toivanen, Project Manager, Metropolitan Area Transport Ltd, Helsinki points out some challenges effecting many train operating companies at present.
“The availability of material and material prices getting higher and skilled and motivated personnel are hard to find”, he comments, “passenger numbers have dropped and booming green and ethical values make fleet, track and depot procurements challenging”.
During his presentation Antti will be discussing managing integration of new fleets and adapting depot design and configuration to efficiently introduce new state-of-the-art fleets. Speaking directly from experience, Antti will share insights related to his current project. With rail transport growing in the area he covers, where they have introduced new depots, new fleets, new lines and a new style of maintenance, how are they managing this? What are the important factors to consider?
Gareth Tucker, Professor of Railway Systems Engineering, Institute of Railway Research will be delivering a presentation on methods to make train maintenance more effective through the use of robotics, advanced RMS and predictive maintenance and optimised depot workflow planning.
“There is significant pressure on the rail industry at the moment as we struggle to adapt to the post-covid world and changing travel needs,” he comments.
“As a result of this there is ongoing pressure to improve efficiency. Meanwhile technology that is already being exploited in other industries has the potential to address some of these challenges. Now is a good time to think about how that could be exploited.”
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