In the railway sector, ‘digital twins’ could be used across several different engineering, planning, and operational aspects, such as monitoring physical assets (rolling stock and infrastructure), monitoring train movements and providing information about passenger behaviour on-board trains, in stations or on platforms.
Asset utilization
On-time performance
Mean distance between failures
Energy consumption
Maintenance costs
Safety incidents
A twin isn’t just a visual 3D model of the line. Each element within the model – every section of track, every switch, signal, and siding – is also a data repository. By selecting an element, users can see what it is made of, its specifications and tolerances, details of when it was last maintained, data that shows its importance to operations
It is therefore clear that digital transformation improves a passenger’s experience of the railway and the quality of services a rail system can provide. Technology is advancing now at a pace that allows the previously unimaginable to become routine, and for us to harness levels of data we could previously only have dreamed of.
[Digital twins] are helping us develop an even greater understanding of our passenger movements and the infrastructure that underpins the rail network, helping us to clearly see how we can make journeys better for our passengers.
— Richard Thorp, Engineering Director, HS11
Benefits of digital twins
Connected workforce.
Operations, maintenance, headquarters whilst reducing the number of communications from the moment a fault was reported to it being fixed.
Maintenance based on data, not miles.
Condition-based anticipation of service needs.
Preventative maintenance.
By spotting track issues earlier, major disruption can be avoided, and delays minimised.
Remote monitoring.
Reduces in-person track inspections, saving labour and travel along the network.
Automated monitoring.
Allows continuous checking at no additional cost. Avoiding major disruptions and reducing service delays by repairing issues before they impact services.
Digital examinations.
Repetitive review (anytime, any number of times, ML, AI) of faults in a controlled environment.
AI maintenance review.
Automatic, 24/7, instant, and accurate.
Virtual simulation.
Scenarios to service trains more cost effectively—simulating changes such as train fleet maintenance regimes, scheduling strategies, depot capacities.
Evaluate proposals.
Reliable estimates with data and simulations to support proposals, be flexible with project changes and consider limitations, and then monitoring delivery implementation.
Whole–of–life management.
Optimise design plans, capture design v as-built changes, model to make forecasts, considering end-of-life options.
... sensors have been installed on each switch to measure things such as the time of a swing to graph the smoothness of its swing motion, motor current drawn and so on. Over time, they help to build a picture of what ‘normal’ looks like. As soon as a switch trends away from normal or a certain variable passes a set threshold – for instance a switch takes too long to swing open – operators can react and create a maintenance plan designed to prevent any downtime. This process change is already helping to significantly improve performance across the line.
— Ronald Powell, GM Rail & Transit, SNC-Lavalin2
Nextspace digital twins
Nextspace’s platform provides the data interoperability that brings multiple technologies together in one data model for analysis and visualisations to help teams understand complex situations at a glance—more informed and faster decision making.
30% fewer
fewer unscheduled depot stops through precise maintenance planning
15% reduction
in maintenance costs by eliminating unnecessary work like premature part replacement
100% fleet availability
through elimination of unplanned downtime3
50% reduction
reduction of track geometry defects
57% reduction
in fault-related communications4
Citations
- “HS1’s digital twin trial gives a glimpse of the future of railway” by Richard Thorp, Global Railway ReviewVisit link
- “How digital twinning is making Canada’s trains run on time” by Ronald Powell, Global Railway ReviewVisit link
- “Maintenance intelligence for rail vehicles” by SiemensVisit link
- “Empowering the rail industry to leverage digital solutions to improve performance” by Gerard Francis, Global Railway ReviewVisit link
Industries
When implemented correctly, digital twins deliver significant ROI. This is why more industries are building digital twins into their core asset and operational management processes.
Our platform
Data-first digital twins built on Nextspace are customizable and extensible. Our platform helps you integrate, federate, and futureproof valuable data.
Recommended reads
There’s so much information out there, so we’ve collected our favourites
By
JP Romero
for
Venture Beat
Every company today is data-driven or at least claims to be. Business decisions are no longer made based on hunches or anecdotal trends as they were in the past. In this environment, data quality is a necessary conversation.
By
Xylem content team
for
Xylem
A case study from Xylem with quantified ROI from the implementation of Xylem smart wastewater technology for the City of South Bend, Indiana.
By
Barbara Frei
for
Schneider Electric
An interview with Kaishi Zhang focused on data interoperability relating to industrial automation
By
Global Infrastructure Hub Content team
for
Global Infrastructure Hub
Report on a digital twin developed to understand the structural health of a 47-year-old pumped storage station (first operational in 1974), and determine if the asset could continue to operate safely into the future.
By
Nancy White
for
PTC
The title of the article says it all – eight benefits, briefly outlined.
By
Digital Twin Consortium
for
Digital Twin Consortium
The Digital Twin Capabilities Periodic Table (CPT) is an architecture and technology agnostic requirements definition framework. It is aimed at organizations who want to design, develop, deploy and operate digital twins based on use case capability requirements versus the features of technology solutions.
