Railway Equipment

Service hub to remotely monitor US locomotives

Siemens announced on Aug. 9 that it is establishing a new locomotive service center in New Delaware, Delaware, to remotely monitor the operation of US-made Siemens locomotives.

Siemens Digital Rail Services staff based at the 4000m2 facility will remotely collect and analyse information from over 800 data points on each locomotive every day.

The site will monitor in real-time the operation of more than 140 diesel and electric locomotives for customers including Brightline in Florida, Amtrak, Maryland Transit Administration, Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, and Illinois Department of Transportation.

Siemens will gather data on the condition of equipment, operational metrics and environmental conditions, which is streamed automatically and continuously from the locomotive. This data can then be used to help diagnose fleet issues and develop predictive maintenance regimes so issues can be identified before they become a problem.

Siemens is already monitoring Amtrak’s fleet of 70 ACS-64 locomotives using its Smart Cockpit software, which helps to analyse and flag any issues that might require technical attention. Siemens staff review flagged items and recommend actions, which are then relayed directly to depots along the Northeast Corridor.

Siemens said the data collected from these locomotives has been used to design and implement ACS-64 fleet software updates.

Article from:

http://www.railjournal.com/