202410 – Pasquale – Signalling Maintenance Schedule Optimisation

The safety, reliability, and efficiency of railway signalling systems depend significantly on effective maintenance strategies which has a direct impact on the safety and efficiency of railway operations.

Maintenance teams at the Public Transport Authority are always on the lookout for new and better ways to improve the performance of the railway. This results in projects that are targeted to improve system reliability and safety through one or combination of below:
– Condition monitoring
– Equipment upgrade
– Improving the operating environment

Consequently, large investments were put towards achieving the above outcomes. The benefit realisation for such initiatives often stops at reliability and safety improvements substantiated by reduced failure trends. However, the existing maintenance practices/ schedule is less often reviewed following these changes and therefore leaves a window for improvement and optimisation.

This paper discusses the approach adopted by Public Transport Authority of Western Australia to optimise the maintenance schedule for signalling assets such as line side signals, level crossings and ATP.