Over the past years, the outsourcing of railway infrastructure maintenance services has become part of the cost strategy and risk management. The outsourcing reduces initial infrastructure investments, provides specialized expertise and maintenance facilities.
In order to win back market shares and shift the modes of transportation, the European infrastructure managers need to spend more cost efficiently both on renewal and maintenance. It is clear that railways carry the burden of a very costly infrastructure. Modernisation of services is identified as a key element. This also implies a change for the industry with regards to organisation. The European railways are facing major challenges in maintenance and management of the infrastructure. In the last decades the budgets for maintaining and renewing the infrastructure have been reduced throughout Europe, which implies a thorough prioritisation by the infrastructure managers. At the same time the UIC benchmark study InfraCost has demonstrated differences between the European railways in their resource allocation and their output.
Specialists show the importance of using new infrastructure and maintenance development technologies by introducing new railway systems and components with a longer life-expectancy, new construction systems for turnouts for increasing maintenance intervals and life-expectancy. It is also important the design for maintainability, for example by subdividing mechanical and electronic components into modules that could be exchanged easily. Specialists also talk about implementing new maintenance and management systems by condition monitoring devices that measure status related symptoms and automate inspections. Countries such as Sweden, Switzerland and the Netherlands have completely outsourced their rail infrastructure maintenance activities and the conclusion of multi-annual contracts for infrastructure maintenance play a crucial role.
The rail sector has succeeded in improving its safety performance, despite setting out from high initial levels. However, the same does not always apply to infrastructure quality. Where income does not suffice to maintain large, often oversized, networks, the infrastructure service quality declines. Without (common) performance indicators being defined and published, reduced infrastructure quality is not easily revealed. Only at the end of a long period, at a point where speed limits have to be lowered for safety reasons, does the true size of the problem become visible.
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