The Permanent Way Summit organized in Beijing by the M.O.R. and the China Railway Association on October 23, will attract the attention of the local railway industry on the latest technologies available for railway infrastructure management. Several important M.O.R. executives, including Mr. Kang Gaoliang, General Director of the MOR Permanent Way Department, as well as the Leaders from the local Railway Bureaus and CARS will attend the Summit.

IBM and MERMEC Group will jointly present a technical paper on their “Smart Management Platform for Railway Infrastructure”. Actually, the new Chinese Railway Networks will incorporate million of sensors that will verify all aspects of rail operation from train speed to brakes needed to be replaced. Building these intelligent Rail Networks will require a high-powered, integrated system that can collect, manage and analyze an enormous amount of data flowing in from the tracks, through the trains and stations, and across the maintenance process.
The “Smart Management Platform” presentation will introduce RAMSYS, a decision support system for maintenance and renewal planning, and MAXIMO, a linear asset management system. The focus will be on the greatest priorities of today and tomorrow for railway authorities: safety and preventive maintenance.

As matter of fact, smarter capabilities and greater insight can help prevent accidents before they happen. Sensor-based early detection of potential equipment failures provides a more optimal predictive maintenance scheme, and various monitoring capabilities for rail infrastructure such as tracks and trains can reduce disruptions to passenger and freight service.

Working on such a kind of projects demands a unique set of products, skills and services. IBM and MERMEC Group (www.mermecgroup.com) can jointly offer these skills and put the products and services into action.