New information system GERVIS developed by the State Railway Inspectorate under the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Republic of Lithuania will help to prevent railway traffic accidents and facilitate railway operations. Control over railway traffic noise, management of railway transport risk, inspection of activities of economic entities and technical supervision of constructions will be shifted to an electronic basis.
Will predict potential railway accidents
By developing an Information System for the Management and Oversight of Railway Transport Risk (GERVIS), the State Railway Inspectorate under the Ministry of Transport and Communications (the Inspectorate) has introduced a unique risk management module in the European Union. The module automatically processes all railway accident related information, helping to identify the most hazardous railway infrastructure areas and predict potential accidents in the future.
“Analysis of such information will allow us to identify the real causes of railway accidents. Thus we will be able to oblige infrastructure managers to take respective safety measures, such as modernising tracks or putting up barriers at level crossings.
We believe that this will minimise number of railway accidents that cause deaths or financial losses to business,” said Deputy Head of the Inspectorate, Mr. Rokas Milovanovas.
GERVIS automatically determines the level of risk posed by railway system objects. According to Mr. Milovanovas, thanks to the new system inspectors will no longer need to speculate which objects pose the greatest risk to traffic safety and therefore will be able to set their activity priorities more easily.
Eliminates the use of paper documentation
There are over 30 thousand railway constructions in Lithuania. Managers of these objects have obligations to provide the Inspectorate with number of documents and papers. “The GERVIS system will allow us to supervise the objects electronically. The introduction of GERVIS into the public infrastructure alone will save up to 270 thousand LTL (78 thousand EUR),” said Mr Milovanovas.
The GERVIS system will provide all necessary information related to inspections and checks carried out by the State Railway Inspectorate, such as inspection plans, data on upcoming, ongoing and completed inspections.
More importantly, the system will notify the enterprise about the upcoming inspection by sending an e-mail. The system will also provide access to the questionnaires of the upcoming inspections thus enabling enterprises to prepare better for the inspection, which will in turn become easier, faster and smoother.
Developed a railway traffic noise map
The Inspectorate has also developed a digital noise map for the main Lithuanian railway section Naujoji Vilnia – Kaišiadorys which runs more than 30 thousand trains every year. The map shows sound levels caused by train traffic. The data will be used for the development of a Noise Prevention Action Plan.
Public can access the map at the website of GERVIS (www.gervis.vgi.lt) and check whether the sound levels in a specific location near to railway line is compliant with the established health norms. According to Mr. Milovanovas, such information may be helpful when looking for housing or office space and deciding on installing sound insulation during renovation of the building.
Information for public and business
The manager of an open data project under the junior professionals programme “Create for Lithuania”, Ms. Živilė Stubrytė, welcomes the availability of such data for business and public.
“Opening up of the data for public and business is important in two respects,” says Ms. Stubrytė. “First, this is a tool ensuring transparency of activities of government institutions as people can see the basis of decisions taken by the authorities. Second, this data can also be used by businesses for creating added-value and new jobs.
The Inspectorate is pleased with the outputs of the project “Development of Public Electronic Services for the Management and Oversight of Railway Transport Risk” and hopes that the GERVIS system will contribute to the reduction of the administrative burden for operators, like the Information System for State Supervision of Railway Transport did, when the public services provided by the Inspectorate were shifted to an electronic basis at the beginning of 2013. The project has been funded with funds allocated under the Operational Programme “Economic Growth”, Prio-rity 3 “Information Society for All”.
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