Rail News Home Internet-Digital May 2017 Rail News: Internet-Digital In April, the company launched its digital rail services division.Photo – Siemens By
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Associate EditorRailroads constantly are on the hunt for strategies to trim their operating costs. As the industry continues to creep into the digital era, predictive analytics may provide another way to do just that.By using sensors to continually monitor assets, railroaders may be able to fix components before they fail. That could significantly curtail maintenance expenses — not to mention boost efficiency and safety, say suppliers who tout the strategy.
Siemens is one supplier hoping to capitalize on the predictive analytics trend. The company
last month launched Siemens Digital Rail Services, a business unit with a stated goal of "digitalizing" the U.S. rail industry. Each year, trains generate billions of pieces of data; Siemens' aim is to help railroads make sense of that information and take action where appropriate."Data is the new currency," said Siemens spokesman Bob Bartels during a conference call announcing the new division. The challenge is finding a way to comb through that data and transform it into usable insights, such as warnings when wheels, brakes or other major components need to be replaced. Enter Railigent™, Siemens' cloud-based industrial data analytics platform.The platform uses real-time monitoring to provide insight on a train's state and location. In addition, Railigent employs data analytics to perform root cause analysis and remote vehicle and infrastructure diagnostics. In the future, Railigent also will feature cybersecurity services, according to Siemens. The platform is connected to Mindsphere, the company's Internet of Things (IoT) operating system. The overarching idea is to move away from "reactive maintenance" — that is, performing repairs after equipment fails — and focus instead on prediction-based maintenance. With this strategy, rail operators could one day boast 100 percent availability of their trains, Siemens officials claim."Predictive maintenance means that components are replaced when they are actually close to failure and not when the manual suggests. This means expensive components are used optimally, lowering total spend on parts and minimizing labor costs associated with maintenance," Siemens officials wrote in a whitepaper titled "The Data Opportunity."Siemens Digital Rail Services, which is part of the Siemens Mobility Services division, is based in Atlanta, where the company will continue a long-running relationship with the
Georgia Institute of Technology. The two entities have forged a nearly 20-year-old partnership aimed at "pursuing manufacturing innovation through software," Siemens officials said.Siemens has installed a module on one of the Charlotte Area Transit System's light-rail units to gather data on overall performance.Photo – Charlotte Area Transit System
The digital rail division's data analytics and applications center is housed on Georgia Tech's campus. Siemens aims to harness the school's "intellectual horsepower" to improve manufacturing design and automation, said Simon Davidoff, who heads the new digital rail division.