Rail operators aiming to stay ahead of the competition in the light rail industry must take steps to optimize their processes; these steps may include integrating their asset and works systems into one cross-organizational and process-spanning information and management system as well as seeking ways to visualize their multi-source data in a single map view.
Verkehrsgesellschaft Frankfurt (VGF), the public transport agency for the city of Frankfurt/Main in Germany, serves 324,000 commuters on most workdays through its nine underground lines and 10 tram lines. They recognized the need to streamline their operations several years ago. Some of the goals they sought to meet included:
- Centralizing information and maintenance systems
- Adhering to corporate and industry standards
- Avoiding redundant data
Linking to existing systems to centralize data
Using HxGN Mass Transit, VGF was able to link to their existing maintenance management system. The tools in HxGN Mass Transit enable VGF to visualize their rail infrastructure assets on a map, track their status through their lifecycles, and manage the asset data in an accessible way. At low training costs, both experts and non-experts can easily handle the data and expedite administrative responsibilities such as maintenance, route documentation, investment planning, and facility management.
The graphical representation of routes within HxGN Mass Transit also allows them to more efficiently perform route management. The infrastructure data, which is often spread across multiple business systems and in various formats, can be displayed in a single map view in HxGN Mass Transit. VGF’s non-GIS users have access to intuitive GIS-function tools to perform area, range, and distance queries.
Maintaining corporate and industry standards
The HxGN Mass Transit interface lets you create your own step-by-step workflows that are easy to use. It can even be configured to accept only valid data that meets both corporate and industry standards. VGF also required that an Infrastructure Data Management for Transportation Companies (IDMVU) interface be implemented – the most important standard within the German-speaking transportation community. The workflow within HxGN Mass Transit allows VGF to manage their network model as well as the data and equipment for all the stops.
Avoiding data redundancy
The HxGN Mass Transit reporting tool provides executive management with various types of essential data. This data may include information about tickets issued, which may be sorted by sales volume or by city district, or it may include weather, construction project, and other traffic data for deriving accurate updates on travel conditions. VGF can then use the reporting tool – which accesses the same, single database – to give the public easy access to information on traffic and rail/road conditions.
VGF uses the intuitive GIS functionalities and unique algorithms that HxGN Mass Transit offers to visualize the spatial dependencies of all their light rail assets and networks in a map display and combine it with their maintenance management system to create a central system for all infrastructure data. It comprehensively provides all the information that is essential to planning scheduled maintenance, assessing the need for external service providers, and monitoring resources. This streamlined system enables VGF to optimize their network processes as well as share relevant railway information across the enterprise, with the public, or with government agencies.
Learn more about optimizing light rail operations with HxGN Mass Transit.
