Eric Baars, Maintenance Consultant – Strukton Systems bv
In control with POSS
The increase of railway transportation, partly due to growing urbanisation and the
competitive advantages of high speed rail, demands higher availability and reliability of
railway systems in general. The community investment and related cost involved require a
consistent and holistic approach from all stakeholders involved, for example railway and
infrastructure operators.
Asset management
They have to adopt and implement an asset management approach in line with formerly
PAS55 and current ISO 55000. In this perspective the maintenance approach need to be
integrated in the total context of the life cycle of the assets and smarter organised.
Over the years Strukton Rail has become more than just a traditional rail contractor.
Based on its experience of railway maintenance, Strukton Rail started early on developing tools and techniques to support maintenance work. In this way Strukton Rail is directly and indirectly active as a system integrator and supplier of products and services supporting the
maintenance of rail infrastructure. For example continuous monitoring: by the POSS®
product line. POSS® remotely and continuously monitors the condition of essential assets in
railway infrastructure and rolling stock. The product line is a valuable tool to support
Condition Based Maintenance (CBM).
Innovation
Following the principle of innovation through collaboration, Strukton Rail seeks international
cooperation through a consortium (Smart DeMAIN) and participation in Shift2Rail. The
participation in In2Rail (Lighthouse project to Shift2Rail) is a first success and meets the
objectives of Strukton Rails Research & Innovation portfolio.
Results from this cooperation will be an important feedback and input for our developments
in for example POSS and contributes to the future intelligent and data-driven maintenance.
The maintenance activities of Strukton Rail enable the development and testing of new
applications and innovations. In this way Strukton Rail is on top of the latest technology and
is an essential facilitator to prevent malfunction assets.
Technology developments
The POSS® system distinguishes itself by its special approach: born out of a unique
combination between years of railway maintenance knowledge and latest technology
developments, the system design focuses on simplicity and reliability. The software focuses
on user friendliness for both the operational and tactical layers in the maintenance
organisation.
For efficient switch monitoring the selection of switches to be monitored is also an important
key issue. The combination of the POSS® technology and the knowledge and expertise of
Strukton Rail, guides clients to the root causes of malfunction of the point machines. By
doing the right things correct the first time, the reliability and availability of your key assets
will improve. The POSS app assists local fault teams with insight into the condition of point
machines to avoid recurrent faults after repair works.
ROI
POSS is an important part for CBM and the return of investment is high due to the
contribution of a significantly higher availability and an optimised maintenance process.
POSS offers you a wide diversity of non-intrusive sensor technology to achieve a maximum
insight into the behaviour of your assets.
Besides providing rail technology Strukton Rail services goes even further. Implementing
remote condition monitoring in existing maintenance strategies always requires a delicate
approach. A large number of experienced maintenance consultants which are able to consult
about the implementation of CBM in general and about improving and optimising
maintenance approaches and/or to give maintenance advice services based on by POSS
generated condition data.
Learning curve
Once invested in CBM comprehensive user training sessions are part of the delivery. These
are given by experienced users to achieve a bidirectional learning curve and avoid the usual
pitfalls.
Strukton Rail can be on various levels in different roles a partner contributing and helping our
clients to get in control and handling future demands on railway systems.