We reviewed the maintenance practices for over 50 passenger trains to confirm their continued use and reliability in revenue service.
- We reviewed maintenance practices on a fleet of modern passenger EMUs (Electrical Multiple Units). Our job was to audit the practices of the various vehicle subsystems being conducted by the contracted maintainer and identify any gaps that could lead to premature failures or reliability issues.
- Maintenance practices were prioritised based on the risk impacts to safety and reliability.
- We witnessed maintenance crews carry out activities, audited their process and identified other aspects that could be enhanced or optimised.
What we did
- There was concern from the passenger vehicle operator about reliability issues that could impact passenger services.
- Multiple systems of units and vehicles were assessed and scrutinised.
- Feedback was documented and raised with stakeholders.
- We rapidly deployed a team of experienced rolling stock professionals to effectively scrutinise and assess maintenance practices based on subject matter expertise and provide an independent opinion with oversight of industry trends.
Specific competencies:
- Technical Maintenance plans
- Door Systems
- Communication and electrical systems
- Traction systems
- Carbody and passenger braking systems
This project was conducted by Brendan Johnson, Jeremy Kelly, Stuart Brown, Steve Muscat and Michael Horgan.
How we did it
We collaborated with multiple stakeholders to define a successful outcome and ensured that vehicles could continue to reliably operate with minimal impact to the community.
We had access issues to contend with, including vehicle availability, volume constraints given the number of vehicles to assess, as well as location issues as the fleet was dispersed around the state.
We used an app to consistently complete inspections and prompt the inspector on the steps to follow to ensure a consistent and repeatable review process. The app could take photos, make notes and flag follow-up tasks as required.
The outcome
This project is ongoing however, one outcome is that we will provide the vehicle operator with assurance of the reliability of their fleet.
The community will also benefit from increased reliability and service availability.
The current government are subsequently are not tarnished by poor commuter services.