U.S. supplier Nexala lands Irish Rail technology contract

Nexala, a subsidiary of Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Trimble that supplies rail vehicle lifecycle management technologies, will be deploying its R2M real-time remote diagnostics monitoring system on Irish Rail’s CAF 29000 fleet of commuter rail DMUs.

R2M, said Nexala, “allows railway operators to streamline maintenance costs and provide efficiencies across their fleet by automating manual tasks.” With the on-board Nexala Control Unit (NCU), communications and R2M software rolled out on the CAF 29000 commuter fleet, Irish Rail will be able to aggregate data from a range of sources, including door control units, alarm concentrators, fuel systems, TELOC data recorders, and Train Management and Diagnostic System (TMDS) on-board computers, and transmit them to a data center where maintenance personnel can monitor the fleet in real time. In addition to real-time monitoring, the Nexala system “also provides reporting and trend analysis functions, giving the maintenance teams greater visibility into the overall health of their fleet and allowing them to plan for maintenance accordingly,” Nexala said.

The new project follows the implementation of the Nexala R2M system on Irish Rail’s Hyundai Rotem InterCity Class 22000 DMU fleet, “which has seen significantly improved performance and reliability since the introduction of the Nexala system,” the company said. “This initiative was the first in the Irish Rail industry where a comprehensive real-time data, transmission and analysis system had been retrofitted to a complete fleet of trains, delivering real-time information to the Irish Rail control center. Although the original objective for using the Nexala diagnostic system was to improve operational efficiencies and fleet performance, as the project progressed it also delivered broader cross departmental business benefits such as fleet safety, driver performance, timetabling data, and infrastructure and energy analysis.”

“Nexala’s real-time remote diagnostic system was successfully rolled out across our InterCity Class 22000 fleet in 2013. This has resulted in significant maintenance savings, incident prevention and recovery, and improved operational efficiencies,” said Peter Smyth, Irish Rail’s chief mechanical engineer. “We look forward to equipping the CAF 29000 commuter fleet so we can experience similar benefits as the implementation on the InterCity Class 22000 fleet.”

“Our fundamental focus is to provide solutions that drive agility, improve efficiency and provide better visibility into railway operations to maximize productivity,” said John O’Sullivan, CEO of Nexala. “We look forward to working with Irish Rail on the new project.”

Nexala describes itself as “providing an integrated suite of on-premise and software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions for large transport operators and global train and component manufacturers that manage the lifecycle of rail transport vehicles from operation through maintenance and repair. The Nexala R2M system combines shore-based software and on-board equipment to deliver fault alerts as they occur for effective condition-based maintenance. Communicating with the maintenance depots in real time, the system allows for efficient fault diagnostics and work scheduling by maintenance teams. In addition, by analyzing irregularities of individual components and their behaviors across the entire fleet, the R2M system allows preemptive maintenance actions to be performed to avoid future failures.” Nexala has operations in Ireland, United Kingdom, France, Belgium and North America. Nexala’s customers include Southwest Trains, Eurostar, SNCF, Irish Rail, the Go-Ahead group, Abellio, Siemens Transportation, Alstom and Greater Anglia among others.

Trimble, founded in 1978, describes itself as “applying technology to make field and mobile workers in businesses and government significantly more productive. Solutions are focused on applications requiring position or location—including surveying, construction, agriculture, fleet and asset management, public safety and mapping. In addition to utilizing positioning technologies such as GPS, lasers and optics, Trimble solutions may include software content specific to the needs of the user. Wireless technologies are utilized to deliver the solution to the user and to ensure a tight coupling of the field and the back office. Trimble’s Railway Solutions combine the latest in GPS/GNSS, optical, imaging, scanning and monitoring technologies with customized software and wireless communications, enabling users to quickly and accurately capture the data needed to provide clients with actionable deliverables to maintain and construct railways as well as manage rail transport vehicles. Trimble’s solutions use integrated processes and workflows for complete railway and rail vehicle lifecycle management—from the planning, design, construction and maintenance phases of the railway to the operation, maintenance and repair of rail transport vehicles. The solutions can streamline operations to keep railway projects on time and costs on target.”