Prioritized Rail Corridor Asset Management

Abstract

Seldom do railroads have the resources to maintain their infrastructure at such a level to ensure steady-state performance. More often they are faced with the decision of which maintenance actions should take priority, so that optimal safety and reliability are maintained under the burden of constrained resources. The option of additional resources is rarely feasible. Given these current operating realities, more and more railroads are finding that the solution lies in utilizing information technology to work more efficiently. By harnessing the vast amount of existing rail corridor data into a prioritized plan, and then assigning the work and monitoring the execution and results with software tools, many railroads are attempting to do more with less. The strategy, we define as Prioritized Rail Corridor Asset Management, not only results in steady-state asset performance under constrained resources but can even improve the asset condition and provide a positive return on investment. This paper describes an information system developed to facilitate a Prioritized Rail Corridor Asset Management strategy. The enterprise-scale solution requires combining Optram's Railway Infrastructure Management (ORIM™) information system with MRO Software, Inc. (MROI) strategic asset management information system (MAXIMO®). ORIM integrates existing rail corridor data sources with a linear model of the track network to continuously generate a prioritized work plan. The prioritized work plan is linked to MAXIMO where staff, materials, and equipment are managed. The results combined with an effective execution facilitate a Prioritized Rail Corridor Asset Management strategy.