Johannes Kehrer
Research associate at the Department of Railway Engineering at the Technical University of Vienna
Thomas Hammer
Rail engineer and infrastructure manager at Wiener Linien GmbH. & Co KG
Presentation title:
Benefiting from central data management – From strategic to specific asset management of tram infrastructure
Summary:
In contrast to mainline railway infrastructure, for tram systems rails are usually the critical components to a track’s technical service life. Being subject to both wear and rolling contact fatigue, interactions between various parameters have to be assessed in order to predict the rails’ condition. Based on a central database operated by Wiener Linien relying on open-source software solutions in which railway infrastructure and vehicle operation data is constantly collected and digitalized, an empirical model to both assess the effect of relevant input parameters as well as predict a section’s behavior based on its constraints is to be formulated. Analyses of available condition data as well as empirical statistical data lead to an identification of the most significant datasets that are available and those which are further required, depending on their boundary conditions. Ultimately the project aims to create the input for a systematic life cycle management of tram tracks as well as a tool to compare different track designs based on their LCC.
Speaker Biography:
Johannes Kehrer is working as a research associate at the Department of Railway Engineering at the Technical University of Vienna, Austria since 2014. He studied Civil Engineering Sciences with a focus on Infrastructure management. His research scope is on planning and operations of urban public transport infrastructure. In a research project together with Wiener Linien, he examines potential strategies for life cycle management of tram infrastructure based on condition and infrastructure data.
Thomas Hammer studied Civil Engineering Sciences with a focus on Infrastructure management at the Technical University of Vienna, Austria. Since 2013 he has been working in rail engineering and infrastructure management at Wiener Linien GmbH. & Co KG. In addition to the planning and coordination of track construction sites in the network, he works on the asset-management of the rail infrastructure in Vienna. This includes for example the implementation of an asset management project, to identify the necessary track renewal, so called “Gläserner Fahrweg” (“transparent track”). He also works in other infrastructure management projects and supervises several master and doctoral theses.