ROLLING STOCK
possible on the front-end interface: among them, a live aerial/map view plotting the position of all trains to within five metres; and, on individual trains, a cab view giving a live view of what the driver is seeing on their systems, or a list of faults and warnings, either live or in log format, plus many more sophisticated views and options.
Flags are set up according to specific parameters, and there are 40,000 pages of technical data in a wiki that engineers can consult and
“We didn’t think the business case was made, at this moment in time, to put an extensive amount of transducers on that traction package, because of its inherent reliability. We’ve basically spent resources on other parts of the train, which were less reliable.
“On the GEC fleet, the traction system is the most unreliable element of the train, in reality, and the most difficult to diagnose, so we effectively took the most difficult and technically challenging element of the train, and put transducers on that. But we’ve got the same interface for the whole Networker fleet – though there’s a slightly different technical view of the train, because on one we’re quite traction-biased, and on the other we’re quite system-biased. That reflects the inherent capabilities of the units.”
The sheer number of transducers produces an astonishing amount of data, measured in terabytes: that’s 1,000 gigabytes, or 1,000,000 megabytes. Jenner said: “The clever part of the system is the automatic filters. We haven’t got to trawl through all that data: by setting the flags on the right things, the computer is doing the work. You can look at an individual transducer and plot the output from it, but we’d only do that if we had a defect that we were struggling to analyse. For the vast majority of the defects, we can easily interpret them at a much higher level.”
Driver’s eye view
The system, as per Southeastern’s specifications, is entirely web-based and device-independent, meaning it can be accessed by anyone at any time.
The team there used this facility to allow RTM to log on for awhile and see the system in action.
Live information comes off the train every seven seconds, with many different views
search online to see exactly what means what when necessary.
Alerts can be emailed to key users, such as driver operations and shunters, while depot staff can get spares ready in advance of a defective train arriving. Overall, Southeastern said, things are just more orderly and everything can be anticipated and planned, instead of people ‘chasing trains’ to find and fix faults.
Jenner explained: “We can use the system in two ways: we can watch it in a passive way, looking for flags and planning our work around that; or if we get disruption, the engineer monitoring the system will be looking at the operational system, Tyrell [at the same time], and he can then investigate which train it is and where it is, and be ready for the driver to call, so he can advise the driver ahead of time. It’s a very dynamic system.”
The Nexala Spectrum interface is intuitive and attractive, making it easy to switch between views and to understand the information presented.
Jenner said: “Collecting the data is only half the problem: knowing you’ve got a problem is ok, but being able to fix it effectively is the thing. We’re trying to improve our first-time fix rate.
“The defect analysis capability in the system is in advance of the test equipment we have in depots. There are obviously individual bits of kit in the depot we can use for specific problems, but in a holistic way, this gives us better diagnostic capability.”
Return on investment
Depot staff suggest that the system means they now spend only half as much time investigating faults and defects as before, meaning more time can be dedicated to repair and other jobs. This ‘planned intervention’ is far more efficient than the previous situation, which the
operator characterised as ‘failure and crisis management’.
Although the precise financial data for the project was not available, Jenner said: “It’s a multi-million pound project, and the business case is built on achieving a return on investment.
“There are a number of savings: the first one is in straightforward performance, which we get straightaway. The second is in reduced materials use – you’re not guessing what’s broken, you know. There’s an added manpower saving: you can either make a saving on that or direct it in a more effective way. What manpower resources you’ve got, you’re ‘spending’ in a more intelligent way.
“We’re seeing a return already: we’re already down that road. So we’re already getting benefits, just months after installation.”
In the next franchise period, Jenner said, Southeastern wants to bring the XDM diagnostic system on the Electrostars “up to the level” of RCM on the Networker fleet.
Cont. overleaf >
Statistics to prove it Southeastern spokeswoman Alison
Nolan
was keen to point out that it’s not just the operator’s bottom line benefiting from remote condition monitoring, but that passengers are feeling the benefits too: “We’re really climbing up with our PPM, the MAA is the best ever achieved on this part of the network by any operator: this is really good news for our passengers.”
Southeastern’s MAA stands at 91.7% as of Period 2: it was 89.1% in the same period in 2011/12, and 89.2% in Period 2 2010/11.
Significantly, when broken down further, the figures show that on Southeastern’s metro and rural services – the part of the network served by the Networkers (and the Class 376 Electrostars) – the MAA for Period 2 was 92.3%. It’s stayed above 92% since the start of 2012.
The 92.3% result outperformed that achieved on the high-speed and main lines, served by the Class 395s and Class 375s – 90.4%.
Nolan said: “The performance figures are reflected in the most recent National Passenger Survey: 83% overall satisfaction is our best ever score. We hope that making these technical improvements will translate into better services for our customers.”
Source: Network Rail / ORR, and Passenger Focus
rail technology magazine Jun/Jul 12 | 55
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