With a very slow development of the motorway network in Romania, an increase in fuel prices in parallel with an increase in the number of vehicles year on year, we are challenged to find solutions for the development of transport capacity. By harnessing data and digitising everyday processes, rail can advance faster than other forms of mobility and become the ideal transport solution for both people and goods.
The transport sector is currently responsible for 16.2%- of global greenhouse gas emissions – according to Climate Watch, the World Resources Institute for 2020. Rail transport is responsible for less than 0.5% – according to the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT).
By 2030, the European Commission aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55%, and by 2050 it aims to be climate neutral. As one of the most greenhouse gas-efficient modes of transport, rail can help European countries, and Romania in particular, to reach their efficiency targets faster and continue to meet the needs of urban and inter-urban travellers.
Developing transport capacity means developing operational flows in parallel. Whilst rail may be the best route to Europe’s ambitions, there are challenges that we need to be aware of and prepare for. Labour shortages and rising material costs are pushing budgets and performance indicators to the limit.
Technological advances can support the development of the rail industry through digitisation and big data – replacing personal opinions with statistical information, accuracy and insight. Rail transport has the potential to advance rapidly while maintaining passenger or employee safety and increasing efficiency in freight delivery.
Increasing capacity and optimising operational flows are the ultimate goals. Big data becomes the precious fuel that can get you there, with the following big benefits:
- Manage safety during construction and maintenance
- Increase operational efficiency
- Increased efficiency in project delivery
If ever there was an industry well placed to exploit the benefits of digitisation, it is the rail industry. With employees and assets spread across complex networks both urban and rural, digitising processes allows us to connect thousands of different pieces of information and gain much more real-time control. A major benefit is the impact on safety.
For example, recurring maintenance programmes can be easily planned digitally in advance, allowing participants to better prepare. With the help of a ‘digital twin’ – a digital replica representing assets in the physical world – 3D models allow maintenance teams to identify the location of each asset on site. This is especially important for night work.
They can help determine the working area between machinery and overhead power lines and the location of underground utilities. As a bonus, with models and other project information accessible on mobile devices on-site, managers or supervisors can continue to manage crews instead of making frequent trips to jobsite offices.
Digitisation allows project personnel to operate equipment safely. Automated machine avoidance not only ensures a safe approach between people and machines, it also helps operators of machines with extended booms and attachments (such as excavator buckets) avoid violating the passing lanes.
With assets often hundreds of kilometres apart, identifying problems is time-consuming. With digitisation, these assets no longer seem so remote. Using sensors connected to the cloud (Internet of Things), common problems, such as a point failure, can be quickly identified and resolved. Maintenance crews can be instantly alerted to the exact location of the fault, and the same connectivity can also be used for predictive maintenance, allowing us to replace equipment before it fails.
Rail networks are unusual in their combination of vertical assets (buildings and stations) and linear assets (tracks and other corridors). The digital world can quickly bring them together. Whilst BIM helps with the design and construction of buildings, GIS (geographic information system) is essential for planning and maintenance required throughout operation. To help with phasing and scheduling, BIM and GIS data can now be integrated with scheduling data to give us essential information about where to divert trains while tracks are being repaired or rebuilt.
By digitising each new project from the start, improving operational efficiency becomes even simpler. Through GIS, project data can offer new insights into flood-prone areas, for example, providing designers with precise information that has a major influence on the required structures, orientation and use of materials.
What is the future of the railway industry? Through modelling and artificial intelligence, software solutions and real-time data transmission between train control centres and the trains themselves, the next step is that disparate systems in different countries could be connected through common data environments, massively increasing operational efficiency.
Using connected data in cloud platforms, we can build our next big expansion project in the virtual world before we build the real thing.
By adopting building information modelling (BIM) at the earliest stages of a project, we can also create a digital twin – in this case, a dynamic digital replica of the physical structure – that will provide a powerful digital stream of information from planning to operation.
All stakeholders in the project – architects, engineers, maintenance managers – capture the necessary data around every aspect of the project: base works, track, signalling, bridges, etc. With the digital twin, the as-built asset also becomes the as-maintained asset, which ensures exceptional operational efficiency.
Using LiDAR (light and distance detection) technology, it is possible to digitise existing conditions – with millimetre accuracy – allowing the design process to move forward faster and more accurately. Then, once deployment is complete, the rails that have been laid can be scanned, the measurements fed back into the ‘as built’ digital model, ensuring that this information is 100% accurate.
This means that once the new runway is built, reality capture will quickly provide geometry information, updated daily, informing maintenance teams of any critical changes that may have occurred.
Keep building, Romania!