Tools such as the Remote Management System (RMS) and the Analytic-based Maintenance Service (AMS), developed by Bilerro, enable tasks to be performed remotely to support the operation and maintenance of the equipment on board the train.
Written by Tomás Villameriel, Head of business development at Bilerro.
The recent opening up of the railway sector to the incorporation of new digital technologies has enabled the development and implementation of tools directly focused on train operation and maintenance. Advances in digitization and connectivity bring speed and cost reductions to these fundamental processes, as they allow many tasks that previously required the physical movement of specialized technicians to be carried out from a control center or from the maintenance facilities of railway operators.
This represents a qualitative leap for railway operators, who often cover a wide geographical area and work with a large fleet that they must supply with multimedia content, pre-recorded messages, or urgent communications for passengers. Maintenance personnel find themselves in a similar situation, as connectivity allows them to change equipment configurations or customize them for specific customers directly from the ground. This maintenance task can now be performed more quickly and effectively, freeing up more human resources for tasks that require more rational and specialized intervention.
Bilerro has more than 25 years of experience in the railway sector and an extensive portfolio of projects carried out with national and international clients. This experience makes the company the ideal partner to take on the challenge of digitization in the areas of railway operation and maintenance. In addition, Bilerro has developed a portfolio of proprietary digital tools that enable tasks to be performed digitally and remotely to manage the onboard systems that the company supplies to trains. The two digital tools that currently make up this portfolio are the Remote Management System (RMS) and the Analytic-based Maintenance Service (AMS). Bilerro works with railway manufacturers that supply trains internationally, so both tools are designed to be operational in multiple countries and adapt to the characteristics and regulations of the territory in which they will operate.
RMS: remote equipment configuration and real-time information
The RMS, developed by Bilerro based on digitization and connectivity technologies, is primarily designed to remotely manage and configure the multiple onboard systems that Bilerro supplies to its customers, whether they are maintenance providers, operators, or manufacturers. These solutions include passenger information systems, on-board video surveillance, entertainment systems, software management for train equipment, and even specific systems required by its customers.
Thanks to the RMS, Bilerro is able to collect real-time information on the status and operation of equipment, based on variables and parameters such as controller temperature, operating hours, and the execution status of the various programs within the equipment. In certain projects, this tool collects a large number of variables in real time, which are used to generate a central data repository on which Bilerro performs analytical tasks. These analytical models are also downloaded to the train’s equipment so that, through their real-time execution, they enable the prediction of breakdowns.
This tool is therefore key to the work of maintenance staff and operators. For the former, the ability to view a representation of the status of the onboard equipment of their entire train fleet on a screen is a great help. This RMS functionality allows them to deal with incidents very quickly, intuitively, and remotely, sometimes even before the train operator reports them. Operators, in turn, benefit directly from another essential RMS feature: the ability to upload content in real time, such as specific train routes, which is directly related to the onboard systems supplied by Bilerro, such as passenger information and entertainment systems.
AMS: predictive analytics to optimize maintenance service
The second digital tool that Bilerro makes available to its customers is the AMS, a key tool for maintenance service management. This tool extracts two types of data from the equipment installed by Bilerro. On the one hand, the AMS collects historical data by storing incidents that have occurred to date on each piece of equipment and on each train, enabling a descriptive analysis of incidents based on their type and recurrence. On the other hand, the AMS uses real-time data provided by the RMS to perform modeling tasks with analytical algorithms to predict how many incidents a given piece of equipment will have and when they will occur.
This predictive functionality represents a significant qualitative leap for the maintenance service offered by Bilerro, as the AMS provides all the information needed to predict demand and optimize the management of the necessary resources by deciding in advance which resources will be allocated to work on each incident. This advantage results in efficient internal planning and, in turn, cost savings and greater customer satisfaction. Maintenance personnel, manufacturers, and operators responsible for maintenance tasks can all take advantage of the benefits of the AMS, especially this predictive analytics capability, which allows them to go one step beyond comprehensive maintenance and achieve intelligent maintenance.
Bilerro offers all its customers this portfolio of digital tools through different commercialization models, always aligned with the specific needs of each client. Tools such as the RMS and the AMS demonstrate that Bilerro is an integrator with the capability to develop technological assets with high added value for the railway sector, both from an operational and maintenance perspective. After 50 years of professional experience, 25 of which have been dedicated to the railway sector,
