Railway infrastructure condition-monitoring and analysis as a basis for maintenance management

Abstract

Average annual maintenance and renewal (M&R) expenditures per 1 km of tracks of advanced railway networks nowadays revolve around EUR (€) 50.000. Estimated cost-savings resulting from the use of a modern condition-based decision-making approach, embedded in a suitable decision-support information System, are reported to range from modest 15 % up to the optimistic 55 %. Most important railway track condition-monitoring methods applied worldwide are described, and a data analysis process used for the M&R management purposes is presented.