With thousands of industry representatives descending on Melbourne for the biggest rail event in the southern hemisphere, AusRAIL PLUS, the spotlight will turn to the future of the industry.
A major theme that appears to be emerging across the event is the transition from legacy systems to digital leadership.
And it’s no wonder, as Jeff Sharp, Principal Industry Consultant (Asia-Pacific region) for Hexagon’s Asset Lifecycle Intelligence division explained that the need for integrated, data-driven solutions has never been greater.
“Rail is a very conservative sector, naturally, because safety is so critical,” he said.
“Unfortunately, that means that operators are facing numerous challenges because of their use of legacy systems.”
Sharp said one of the biggest challenges comes from disconnected data.
“You have data sitting across different siloes and operators are struggling to get a holistic view of where things are at,” he said.
“If you’re requiring someone to log into five or six different platforms just to get all the data available to them, it can become a major headache. You’ll also find different divisions or departments within an organisation will have their own systems, and they are not connected to each other, so they are making decisions without seeing each other’s data or understanding the impact of those decisions.”
He said this can lead to all kinds of problems, from maintenance getting done in the wrong order to incomplete ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) data being reported.
“As an example, maintenance might be planned for 12 months ahead for a Sunday – but there’s a big football game scheduled for that day that the operational team hasn’t told maintenance about.”
Sharp said operators need to remove these siloes, for better outcomes when it comes to efficiency, safety, sustainability and more.
This is where software solutions such as Hexagon’s Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) and Asset Performance Management (APM) come in.
These solutions provide customers with a visualisation of their data, contextualising it so they can make better decisions.
“With all the data they need at their fingertips, operators can become aware of potential issues before they become a major problem,” Sharp said.
“They can carry out preventative maintenance, ensuring less disruption to rail schedules and avoiding safety incidents.
“You can use the data available to you to improve efficiency and therefore reduce energy usage and extend the life of your assets – which is a major sustainability benefit as well as saving operators’ money.”
Sharp sees EAM as a “foundational” solution, allowing operators to link their three-dimensional CAD (Computer-Aided Design) models, LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), GIS (Geographic Information System) data and more.
Meanwhile APM is particularly suited to high-risk or critical assets.
“It allows operators to understand the criticality and the risks associated with those assets, bringing in sensor or IoT (Internet of Things) data or SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) data.
“Using this, you can understand the health of an asset and carry out predictive modelling based on the trends that machine learning has detected.”
Hexagon provides support to customers interested in transitioning away from legacy systems, every step of the way.
If an operator wants to try the technology in one area of their operations before rolling it out more widely, Hexagon can also facilitate that.
“With a lot of potential customers, we’ll build a business case, show them the benefits of our solutions – and then measure and prove those benefits,” Sharp said.
“It’s a great way of ensuring you create champions for the technology within a business – and that helps to create cultural change.”
