Abstract
Railways are becoming the main transportation mode in Thailand. Thus, maintaining the optimal service level to passengers is one of the significant issues that need to be addressed. This makes the way to manage railway assets extremely important, especially with the essential assets on a railway network such as switches and crossings (S&C). This study presents how the risk of switch and crossing failures could be assessed and managed. The process of the risk management is based on ISO 31000, and the method used to analyse the risk is the Failure Modes, Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA). In detail, the switches and crossings on the Airport Rail Link city line (ARL), Thailand, are considered as a case study. The interview data from six experts, engineers and technicians who are responsible for the maintenance of S&C were used to determine the risk of each S&C component. The results show that the point machines, check and wing rails are the most critical components of S&C in the case study, and the least critical components are heel blocks, slide chairs and closure rails. Based on these findings, it is suggested that the current S&C maintenance program of the ARL may need to be improved. The priority of the inspection and maintenance activities of each S&C component could be adjusted according to the risk evaluation results presented in this study.
Highlights
Failure Modes, Effects and Critical Analysis (FMECA) is the method applied to assess the risk of switches and crossings (S&C) failures in this study
The results show that the improper position of switch rails and the failure of point machines are likely to be the failure modes that are difficult to detect
Switches and crossings are the essential assets on a railway network
Summary
Railways have a major influence on the social development and the economic growth of the country. The benefits of railway systems are about the travel time saving, but it can help reduce air pollution, the number of road accidents and social inequality These are the reasons why recently there are many railway construction projects happening in Thailand. There are many advantages to have a substantial railway network, railway assets, such as trains, tracks and signalling systems are required to be maintained and managed properly in order to obtain the optimal service level. This is because if one of these assets fail. The inspection and maintenance strategies of these assets are needed to be planned efficiently
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