MODERN DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEMS AND NEW CONCEPTION OF MAINTENANCE OF RAILWAY VEHICLES: PILOT PROJECT ON RAILWAYS IN BIH

Abstract

The condition of railway vehicles is an important factor for railway safety because there is always a risk that a vehicle can slip out from railway lines; also, a damaged vehicle can lower the quality of passenger and freight transport. As a result of accidents in rail transport, there is a huge damage to vehicles and infrastructure, as well as temporary closing of railways, which leads to high costs. The existing regulations envisage a visual inspection of the railway vehicles based on the human factor and the subjective assessment of the condition of the vehicle. Such a practice is not sufficiently reliable. To be able to control train status, its mass and technical conditions of vagons, train companies' directions develop measuring stations that dynamically control railway vehicles. The application of such systems enables the implementation of a new concept of maintenance of railway vehicles according to condition. This paper presents a survey of related work in this area, and describes the system in use in Railways of Republika Srpska (ŽRS).