VR FleetCare and EKE-Electronics have agreed on joint product development for advanced bogie and track condition monitoring to enable data-driven maintenance. New analysis and optimisation methods will be developed throughout the agreed cooperation.
Bogies are the most significant components of the rail fleet in terms of lifecycle costs and traffic safety. In addition to creating significant cost savings for the rail fleet owners, data-driven maintenance will enhance safety and the usability of the rolling stock. The predictive maintenance capability will improve reliability of the trains, cost-efficiency and passenger comfort. Train traffic will operate more reliably when it is possible to predict rolling stock malfunctions before they cause disruptions in traffic.
“The interest in condition-based and data-driven maintenance is strong in the rail industry. This cooperation with EKE provides us with new ways to carry out bogie condition monitoring and serve our customers. Our aim is to generate savings of approximately 10–15% with this new method,” says Mikko Alanko, Vice President of Digital Services at VR FleetCare.
A TECHNICAL SOLUTION THAT IS INNOVATIVE ON A GLOBAL SCALE
The cooperation is based on VR FleetCare’s technical rail fleet expertise and fleet maintenance optimisation as well as EKE-Electronics’ experience in train automation systems and remote condition monitoring.
The aim is to develop a system that predicts the maintenance need and optimizes the service program of bogies. Data is acquired from the trains by sensors and sensor gateways and a smart combination of cloud and edge computing is applied for the signal analysis. The solution utilises the Adaptive Anomaly Detector and predictive analytics developed by Humaware, EKE’s British subsidiary, integrated into EKE’s cloud based remote monitoring software Smartvision™.
Sensors and sensor gateways will be installed in bogies of VR Group’s locomotives and electric trains during this year. More extensive results of the development work can be expected next year.
“Both VR and we have great expectations concerning our cooperation. The SmartVision™ software and our sensor technology expertise combined with the analytics of Humaware will make us forerunners in bogie condition monitoring,” says Karl Lönngren, Director, Digital Services at EKE-Electronics. “Our systems related to remote monitoring of trains are currently being deployed in Australia and on the London Underground. We believe that the cooperation with VR FleetCare will strengthen the position of both parties on the international market.
VR FLEETCARE
A multiple-brand rail equipment service-provider, VR FleetCare is a subsidiary of the Finnish railway operator VR Group. We provide our customers with quality railway traffic equipment repair, maintenance and lifecycle services as well as technical fleet expert services in the Nordic and Baltic countries. We are strongly invested in the future, and our operations are guided by continuous development and cutting-edge technologies. With an annual turnover of approximately EUR 200 million, VR FleetCare employs more than 1,000 employees.
