200703 – Baayens – Asset Protection for Heavy Haul Railway

Heavy Haul Railways are often owned and operated by bulk commodity producers. Their rail operators are focused mainly on production. Although profit, costs, growth and sustainability are important to the operators, they will be focused and measured daily on productivity which can be simply described as, the number of tonnes of product actually delivered versus the planned tonnes. In boom times operators will be striving to increase planned tonnes and to do this cycle times must be reduced or more train consists operated.

The railway is part of a production process. Although not productive in itself, it is necessary for the transport of the bulk product typically between the mine and port. Rail is usually the most efficient means of transporting bulk product over long distances.