Robin Kühnast-Benedikt
Railway-specific norms and standards: Simplification through digitalization
Post from 17. January 2023
In rail transport, the topic of safety is extremely wide-ranging and complex – this is primarily because the protection of life and limb, of passengers, residents and people involved in rail operations, as well as of resources such as vehicles and infrastructures, is paramount. For this particular reason, the highest demands are placed on processes, people and materials – on complete vehicles as well as on individual components and systems. These requirements are defined by established norms and standards, which, in addition to safety, also have the increase of efficiency, as well as interoperability as an essential goal.
It can be said that the railroad industry is the most heavily regulated industry after the aviation industry. A great number of these standards mainly refer to technical specifications and requirements, especially in the field of maintenance, e.g. EN 15313, which is aimed at the maintenance of wheelsets. Basically, the norms and standards set affect all players in the rail industry – manufacturers of rolling stock and components, as well as operators, keepers and workshops.
Monitoring existing norms and standards requires just as much effort as complying with them. Digitalization can help to virtually eliminate the effort required for this, significantly facilitate periodic audits, and enable a “real” continuous improvement process. Some of today’s solutions for the rail industry claim to support exactly that, among other things. Standardize companies’ processes according to norms and standards, thus ensuring consistency, documentation and traceability. The reality is often sobering after implementation. It is not only important to find a solution that precisely maps the norms and standards that are relevant for the company, but also to find the right partner who deals with the matter on a daily basis and takes this into account when developing the solutions.
How maintenance management systems designed specifically for the rail industry differ from commercial ERP systems.
We will be happy to send you the recording of the webinar from 28.02.2023. Just send us an informal e-mail: railvoice@boomsoftware.com
There are an increasing number of providers on the market who promise exactly that, which is why it is not always easy for companies to make the right choice.
Boom Software AG has developed an approach that shows customers what they get for their money even before the project begins. By offering a pilot workshop together with railroad and digitalization experts from Boom Software, the customer receives a prototype of the solution after a 5-day workshop, which can be tested and evaluated by stakeholders in the company.
Quite a lot of Boom Software’s customers opt for the option of a preceding pilot workshop. The workshop not only offers the customer a decisive advantage in terms of investment security, but also Boom Software in defining customer requirements. This is because in the intensive workshop, the customer’s requirements are discussed in detail and some of them are already incorporated into the prototype, so that feedback from the customer can be obtained at an early stage. Both parties involved – the customer and Boom Software – can thus check whether cooperation makes sense and is good.
The latest customer of Boom Software AG is Railpool Lokservice GmbH. The company plans to carry out a comprehensive and holistic digitalization initiative for the management and maintenance of its own and third-party rail vehicles. This essentially includes ECM-compliant technical documentation, planning, scheduling and processing of maintenance measures for rail vehicles. The Rail Workshop module will make a decisive contribution to the implementation of this digitalization initiative. This is because Rail Workshop stands out as an end-to-end solution for the administration of vehicle maintenance management, as well as maintenance measures in accordance with ECM, TSI and EN standards and specifications.
Even before the official project was assigned, Railpool Lokservice GmbH commissioned a pilot workshop with Boom Software in order to get an even better picture of the ready-to-use solution and the cooperation with Boom Software.
Christoph Engel, Managing Director Railpool Lokservice & Co. KG:
“When selecting software for our comprehensive digitalization project, it was crucial for us that the product comes as close as possible to a complete solution for our industry-specific needs – while providing maximum usability for the user. Boom Software’s solution is tailored to the rail industry, which is a big advantage. We are currently in the implementation phase and are confident that Boom Software will prove to be the right choice.”
Click here to book a workshop.
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