Siemens’ Mobility Division established its “Rail Innovation Centre of Competence” – the first of its kind worldwide – in the United Kingdom in March 2011. At this Innovation Centre, Siemens will lead the development of new concepts and technologies for the international rail vehicle service business. The demand for these services is ever increasing: The corresponding world market is scheduled to grow by more than three per cent per annum to €35 billion by 2016. The service business accounts for more than one third of the total rail transportation market worldwide. In the UK, Siemens has already concluded a maintenance contract with the operator of each train it has supplied to date. The vehicles manufactured and serviced by Siemens have received several awards in recognition of their outstanding reliability. The Innovation Centre – and thus Siemens customers across the globe – will benefit from the experience gained from the daily service business at the British depots. |
At its first Rail Innovation Centre of Competence worldwide in the United Kingdom, Siemens will now develop modern concepts and technologies to allow condition-based, predictive and preventive maintenance solutions by monitoring the performance of all vehicles in service. This approach enables maintenance technicians to continuously monitor trains, railways and locomotives, along with their performance, while in operation on the line – i.e. also outside the regular service appointments at the depot. Remote maintenance and predictive service improve the vehicles’ safety and reliability. At the same time, these maintenance approaches reduce service costs for the operator because service and repair cycles can be determined more precisely. If the remote measuring data show abnormalities, the Siemens technicians can intervene immediately even before a fault occurs. www.siemens.com |