Accelerated Implementation of Digital Methods in Railway Maintenance (AID)

The rail industry is a relatively complex network of different actors, where the relationships between actors are defined by legislation, regulations and contracts. This can mean that the pace of innovation and change is slow and that it is difficult to take advantage of the benefits of digitalization.

In order to accelerate the development and adoption of digital methods in rail maintenance, the rail industry needs to find a common path with collaborative models and strategies for business models and data governance that stimulate development while maintaining or improving traffic safety. Digitalization has the potential to not only improve efficiency and safety in railway maintenance, but also contribute to more sustainable and customer-oriented solutions.

The aim of the project is to identify the challenges related to the implementation of digital methods in railway maintenance and propose solutions that can help accelerate the development.

The goal of the project is to create a roadmap, framework and models for accelerated implementation of digital methods in railway maintenance together in the railway industry.

The project chooses to focus on opportunities for the use of digital methods in some types of basic contracts for the maintenance of the railway infrastructure. This will result in industry-wide proposals for new, flexible and innovative contract models. Proposals for models that can contribute to the shift that should take place will be verified, validated and anchored within the rail industry. This project will be implemented within seven work packages. Deliverables consist of reports, seminars and scientific publications.

Implementation of digital methods in railway maintenance is expected to lead to increased resilience and robustness of the railway system as well as resource-efficient and sustainable asset management with better planning of maintenance through increased knowledge of the railway system. Results from this project are an enabler to implement many of the results from projects within InfraSweden dealing with digital methods for railway maintenance.

The solutions will be anchored nationally with the railway industry and dissemination activities aim to further spread knowledge internationally. Lessons learned from this project can be applied to other types of maintenance contracts outside the railway industry.

The project's collaboration with the Swedish Transport Administration and railway contractors creates the conditions for lessons to be implemented in the design of maintenance contracts. By also including other actors that are part of the railway system in the form of possible carriers of sensors as well as system suppliers, we bring a broader perspective on what is required for accelerated implementation. Engaging different stakeholders, including need owners and service providers, will be crucial to ensure the effectiveness of the project implementation. The project is led by researchers from the Luleå Railway Research Center at Luleå University of Technology who have extensive experience in digitalized methods for more efficient maintenance of the railway system.

The project is funded by Vinnova / InfraSweden and runs until 2026-09-30.

Participating parties

• Luleå University of Technology (coordinator)
• Swedish Transport Administration
• BDX Rail AB
• Infranord AB
• Nordic Railway Construction (NRC) Group Sverige AB
• Tåg i Bergslagen AB
• ALSTOM Rail Sweden AB
• Vossloh Nordic Switch Systems AB
  

Dissemination and publications

This section will be updated shortly.