Augmented Asset Management in Railways

Railways are the backbone of modern transportation infrastructure, and managing railway assets is a complex process that requires a significant investment in resources, technology, and expertise. Augmented asset management is an emerging concept that leverages advanced technologies such as AI and digitalisation to optimise asset utilisation, reduce costs, improve operational efficiency, enhance and safety. Asset management in railways is increasingly focused on optimising its operations, reducing costs, and improving safety. Asset management plays a critical role in achieving these goals by ensuring that rail infrastructure and rolling stock are well-maintained, reliable, and safe. One of the major trends in asset management in railways is the adoption of enhanced analytics and predictive maintenance techniques. By leveraging data from sensors, monitoring systems, and other sources, rail operators can identify potential issues before they become major problems, allowing them to schedule maintenance more effectively and minimise downtime. AI Factory/RAILWAY (AIF/R) is a concept and a novel technology platform developed from years of research conducted. The vision of AIF/R initiative is to contribute to the achievement of sustainable, human-centric, and resilient operational excellence in the railway industry through the utilisation of digital technologies and Artificial Intelligence (AI). AIF/R has a special focus on aspects of: (a) enablement of mechanisms for sharing of data and models between mining stakeholders; (b) development of a toolkit for enhanced context-aware needs-based information-driven analytics; (c) development of mechanisms for the achievement of necessary cybersecurity; (d) development of new innovative business models; (e) enable a digital platform including AI-based.