Rail needs “single pane of glass” view, so why doesn’t it have one yet? (Guest blog by AVEVA)
For the rail industry to transform its operations and provide a “single pane of glass” view, it’s imperative that the sector gets better at integrating its many complex systems, multiple suppliers, and multi-regional coverage, in a way that is most cost-effective and minimally disruptive.
Doing this needs the rail ecosystem to pull together operational systems (telecommunications, signalling, traction, controls, etc) which unveils the capability to recognise patterns found in large data sets.
The prize for doing so is vast. Quicker, better decisions to help with planning and operations, information that can be shared with suppliers and passengers and a better experience all round.
Its about trust and action
By combining the data into a single system pulling in information from various sources, it provides a place for data issues to be resolved, creating one version of the truth both inside and outside the control centres. However, to achieve complete unified operational visibility of rail data, managed by the right people the data also needs to be trusted and actionable.
For data to be considered ‘trusted and actionable’ it needs to reflect physical assets in real-time and the data must also be accurate in the context of the operations and equipment. Once this is achieved, AI and machine learning algorithms can be applied to automate the identification of anomalies, supporting common use cases such as condition-based and predictive maintenance (to make trains more reliable), as well as many others.
Truth leads to integration
Once there is an operational System of Record (SoR) delivering a common truth that is trusted, it becomes much easier to integrate with other businesses’ SoRs (health and safety, Planning and Scheduling, Ticketing, etc.). Getting this data into a separate operational store also provides a cybersecurity and performance buffering layer between real-time critical systems, business systems, and suppliers that need the operational data.
In AVEVA, we support rail firms with a digital platform that provides operational visibility in real-time and integrates multiple data sources, across the entire value chain. By consolidating multiple streams of data into a single location (one version of the truth), the incorporated self-serve tools enable the rail industry to make better decisions. We have demonstrated that once this has been integrated, our solution allows advanced analytics to be easily layered for quick benefits and incorporated into workflows for maintenance, IT, operations, and business systems.
Our systems are deployed in leading railways, such as SNCF, ProRail and Network Rail, to accelerate their digital transformation, bringing the industry closer to Mobility-as-a-Service.
To learn more about our transportation solutions, please visit https://www.aveva.com/en/industries/transportation/
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