Remote maintenance support in the railway industry

Railway vehicles are complex systems that contain elements associated with a complete range of engineering disciplines. From the workings of a modern traction motor to the dynamics of vehicle suspension, to the control systems for signalling and train safety, different expertise is required to address and solve maintenance issues repair faults and prevent them reoccurring. This paper describes how augmented reality (AR) technology has been developed to address the need to assist maintenance staff at a remote location faced with a system fault, and where expert advice is sought either from co-workers at the maintenance headquarters, or from the system supplier. The collaborative work achieved so far by Tecnalia and NEM Solutions, within the EU funded project ManuVAR [1], demonstrates how time and resource dedication to maintenance tasks can be reduced through the use of AR technology, asset availability can be increased, and in addition AR footage can be used at a later date for training purposes or for feedback into the product or system lifecycle.