which is late, they may not be able to take the second train for which they are scheduled,” Mecoli says. “When you are planning on the day you have to react to real-time issues and understand how these will impact the long-term plan. As a result the plan must have a degree of flexibility to minimise the impact of delays and give subsequent
trains that are timetabled the best possible chance of running on time. By having this quick solution available, planners have a better idea of how these disruptions are going to impact the timetable and as a result can provide accurate and up-to-date information to passengers, minimising confusion and disruption.”
Managing maintenance at NTV’s Nola depot
Mecoli says that by offering the possibility to run alternative schedules, the system is helping NTV to identify the solution which works bests. Indeed, it is this flexibility which is crucial to allowing NTV to consistently record high punctuality figures, and will enable it to continue to do so as it adds services in the next few years. IRJ
TrainTracer not only shows the position of every NTV train in Italy, but also a wide range of information from onboard diagnostic equipment.
constructed to the specifications set out by Alstom, the manufacturer and maintainer of the AGV high-speed trains under a 30-year contract which commenced in January 2012. Alstom train life services (TLS) personnel work closely with NTV staff at the depot with four trains undergoing maintenance at any one time. The trains arrive late afternoon with maintenance carried out during the nigh,t before trains are returned to service between 06.00 and 10.00. Work includes external and internal cleaning and toilet servicing by a third party firm as well as various tests. The centre is equipped with ultrasonic wheel inspection facilities and a bogie change station. It can also carry out repairs to damage resulting from accidents or vandalism. Work at the depot is managed by
N IRJ April 2013
TV’s 140,000m2, É90m maintenance depot at Nola, south of Naples, was
Alstom’s TrainTracer remote monitoring technology, which operates in conjunction with Quintiq’s system, and monitors the position of the trains and every system on board. Electric meters and electronic sensors positioned throughout the train deliver a flow of data that is transmitted via GPRS radio to a land-based server which updates every 10 seconds. If a malfunction is detected and action needs to be taken, a red alarm appears on the screen in the control room. At this point staff identify whether the problem is significant enough to call the train to discuss the actions required to correct the fault.
The immediacy of this system allows maintenance teams to analyse the problem and have a plan of action in place and spare parts ready before the train even enters the depot. It also means engineers can understand what is happening onboard on a remote basis with a view to preventing future
breakdowns and problems. Information fed to the Quintiq system enables it to adjust train movements with the aim of minimising disruption.
When a train is out of service, a
reserve train in Florence, selected because of its location in the middle of the network, is available for use. If the replacement train is called out it has to be replaced with another working train. Mr Giuseppe Picco, Alstom’s maintenance director at Nola, says scheduling information is one of the most important factors of a successful maintenance operation. “We have large screens so that maintenance crews can see exactly what stage any train has reached,” he says. “Here it is possible to see where delays are, so trains can be swapped if necessary. Meetings are held twice a day to decide on organisation and procedures, and we try to make everything highly visible.”
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