VR FleetCare and FTIA embark on condition monitoring campaign in Finland

VRNYT 12/13. VRTrack varautuu talveen ja raiteiden kunnossapitoon. 22.11.2013. Kuva: Laura Oja 2013, VR group photo archive/Laura Oja

VR FleetCare and the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency (FTIA) will embark on a the biggest condition monitoring campaign of railway points in Finland to date. As part of a new agreement announced on Tuesday, VR FleetCare and the Finish infrastructure manager will focus on the remote condition monitoring of up to 300 points.

With the new deal, the companies want to move away from reactive railway point maintenance to more optimised and preventative maintenance. The utilised measurement technology was developed together with Finnish hardware and software development company Vire Labs Oy.

Preventing failures of point turning machines should help reduce disruptions to train traffic in Finland, where condition monitoring is of particular importance due to the harsh weather conditions for much of the year. During winter, snow and ice accumulate around the points, causing it to malfunction or even break.

“We have worked hard to find smart solutions that work. With regard to the condition monitoring of points, we have made gradual progress, developing a cost-effective solution that is also easy to install to the railway network without causing traffic interruptions,” says Sami Kalevirta, Head of Digital Services at VR FleetCare.

“We are looking forward to deploying the state-of-the-art condition monitoring system in maintenance and ensuring punctual traffic,” Marko Lehtosaari, Specialist at the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency, added.

Intelligent Rail Summit

Interested in condition monitoring and asset management? Join is at the upcoming Intelligent Rail Summit, which will take place on 16-17 November in Konstanz, Germany.

During the event, expert speakers from various fields will discuss the utilisation of data and what it means for the monitoring of rail infrastructure? Stakeholders will also share insights on what data means in the context of infrastructure condition and maintenance.

Technical site visit

One of the highlights will undoubtedly be the technical site visit on November 16 to SBB’s location in Winterthur, Switzerland, where the first acoustic monitoring solution has been installed.  More information on the site visit will follow up soon.

Do you want to join the site visit? Please note that there are only a limited number of seats available to join the site visit. The site visit can be added to your registration at the registration form.

Further reading:

Author: Nick Augusteijn

Chief Editor, RailTech.com

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