Camlin Rail’s Managing Director Paul Fleming discusses the operational complexities in railway maintenance and how Camlin Rail’s next generation solutions are helping to transform the future of railways.

Railway networks worldwide are facing growing operational challenges, driven by increasing demand, ageing infrastructure, and the ever-present need to optimize costs while ensuring safety and reliability. As global transportation systems move towards digital transformation, railway operators are exploring innovative ways to manage their assets and maintain seamless operations.

Camlin Rail is at the forefront of addressing these challenges. By providing advanced monitoring solutions for both fleet and infrastructure, Camlin Rail empowers network rail infrastructure owners, OEMs and train operators to overcome the operational complexities of modern railway management. Our cutting-edge technologies enable smarter, data-driven maintenance practices, ultimately maximizing network availability and reducing the likelihood of in-service failures.

The McKinsey Report, ‘The rail sectors changing maintenance game’ revealed that moving towards condition-based monitoring, enabled by advanced analytics, will see efficiency gains by 10-15% and that the global maintenance market can save up to EUR 7.5 billion per year.

Maximizing Maintenance Resources

One of the critical issues faced by railway operators is how to optimize the use of their maintenance teams while ensuring rolling stock remains in peak operational condition. Manual inspections, which have traditionally been a standard practice, are labour-intensive and can only be conducted during certain periods, often at night during non-operational hours. This not only limits the amount of time available for inspections, their quality and consistency but also increases safety risks for the maintenance personnel working under these conditions.

Camlin Rail’s TrainVue system offers a solution that dramatically changes this approach. By inspecting trains during revenue service at full line speed, TrainVue allows rail operators to monitor rolling stock without removing it from service. The system captures detailed images of critical components, such as bogies, roof and pantographs, at full line speeds. These images are then processed using machine learning algorithms to detect potential issues, enabling maintenance teams to address problems before they escalate into costly failures. The images are time stamped and correlated with the train (asset) which allows the railway to keep an extensive digital record of asset condition as well as track and trend the condition of components.

TrainVue reduces the reliance on manual inspections and allows maintenance teams to focus their resources on specific areas of need, improving overall efficiency. This technology supports the growing demand for more services while ensuring that fleet health is continuously monitored without disrupting regular operations.

Monitoring Fleet Health with Increasing Demand

As rail networks expand to accommodate growing passenger numbers, fleet health monitoring becomes more critical. Operators must find ways of delivering more services without compromising safety or reliability. The traditional approach to fleet maintenance often involves taking rolling stock out of service for inspections, which can reduce capacity and cause delays for passengers.

Camlin Rail’s PanVue system, the world’s first intelligent 3D pantograph monitoring system, provides an innovative and cost-effective solution to this problem. Adopting a fully automated machine vision system based on stereo vision, PanVue captures detailed 3D images of pantographs and alerts operators if any components (contract strip, pantograph head, horn structure & uplift) fall outside of their specifications. By automating these inspections, PanVue helps to optimize maintenance schedules and ensures that trains remain in service for longer periods, reducing the strain on workshop capacity. It can be flexibly deployed either wayside or portal configuration – or a combination of the two.

Camlin Rail’s insights platform (that enables access to roof, bogie, side of train and pantograph data) solution provides real-time insights into rolling stock condition, allowing the infrastructure owner, train operator and OEM to move towards a condition-based maintenance strategy. This proactive approach reduces the need for unscheduled maintenance and helps operators understand the performance of different pantographs, manage risk and maintain a higher level of service and availability.

Rail operators across Europe, North America and Asia have successfully PanVue and we are proud to have ongoing partnerships with the world’s largest railways.

Inspecting Infrastructure Without Impacting Services

Inspecting railway infrastructure, such as overhead line equipment (OLE), can be just as challenging as monitoring fleet health. Traditionally, these inspections have required either manual checks or halting services to perform them, both of which can disrupt operations and inconvenience passengers. Overhead line equipment failures can cost infrastructure owners millions per day and cause serious passenger delays.

Camlin Rail’s CatVue system, a train-borne solution, offers a way to inspect OLE in real-time during normal operations. The system monitors OLE conditions, such as height and stagger, and detects any impacts on pantographs. Automated alerts are sent to maintenance teams when an issue is identified, allowing for quick corrective action. This system reduces the risk of sudden infrastructure failures and enhances safety without interrupting the flow of services.

Creating Workshop Capacity for Growing Fleets

As the demand for rail transport increases, operators are expanding their fleets to meet this need. However, this growth places additional pressure on maintenance workshops, which must find ways to handle the increased workload. Limited workshop capacity can lead to bottlenecks, with trains waiting for inspection or repairs, reducing fleet availability.

Camlin Rail’s solutions help alleviate this pressure by reducing the frequency of manual inspections and enabling real time, in-service monitoring of rolling stock. By utilising systems like TrainVue and PanVue, operators can perform much of the inspection work while the trains are still in service, freeing up workshop space for necessary repairs and overhauls. This ensures that workshop capacity is used more efficiently, and that fleet availability is maximised.

Reducing the Risk of In-Service Failures

In-service failures are a major concern for rail-operators, as they can lead to significant disruptions in passenger services and costly delays. Preventing these failures requires a combination of proactive maintenance strategies and real-time monitoring of both rolling stock and infrastructure.

Camlin Rail’s wayside monitoring systems, provide operators with continuous insights into the health of their assets. By leveraging advanced machine learning and data analytics, these systems can predict potential failures before they occur. This approach enables operators to address issues proactively, reducing the risk of unexpected breakdowns and improving overall network reliability.

Furthermore, Camlin Rail’s automated reconfigurable power systems ensure supply continuity during extreme fault conditions. These systems keep trains running even in the event of power disruptions, minimising the impact on passenger journeys and maintaining service reliability.

A collaborative approach to a Sustainable Future

Camlin Rail’s commitment to driving sustainable efficiencies and operational performance is highlighted by their collaborative projects with industry leaders. A recent project saw the national rollout of Camlin Rail’s TrainVue system in the Netherlands, a project undertaken in partnership with Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS), CAF Digital Services and Arcadis. This project has revolutionized fleet inspections by integrating cutting-edge technology into the Dutch railway network.

CAF Digital Services’ LeadMind platform seamlessly integrates with Camlin’s TrainVue system and is being deploying across 10 strategic locations in the Netherlands. The collaboration has created a nationwide inspection network that enables in-service inspection of bogies and pantographs. This innovative solution has not only improved the safety and reliability of NS’s fleet but also reduced the frequency of manual inspections, freeing up resources for other maintenance tasks.

The success of this project highlights the potential for collaboration between industry stakeholders to deliver more efficient, safe and sustainable rail services. As rail networks continue to adopt digital transformation, partnerships like this will play a crucial role in shaping the future of global rail transportation.

Down the Line for Rail Networks

As railway networks worldwide face increasing operation pressures, the need for smarter, more efficient maintenance solutions becomes ever more necessary. Camlin Rail’s fleet and infrastructure monitoring technologies provide operators with the tools they need to address these challenges head-on, empowering them to optimize maintenance resources, monitor fleet health and inspect infrastructure without disrupting services.

With innovative solutions like Camlin Rail’s TrainVue and insights platform, it is paving the way for a future where rail networks can operate at peak efficiency, minimising downtime and maximising availability. By reducing reliance on manual inspections and enabling real-time, in-service monitoring, these solutions not only improve operational performance but also contribute to a safer, more reliable transportation system.

Article: Global Railway Review