Netherlands employs GNSS monitoring for rail

The Dutch state-owned rail company NS Groep N.V. is deploying a real-time remote diagnostics monitoring system. As a core component of NS’ overall real-time monitoring architecture, the system allows railway operators to streamline maintenance costs and provide efficiencies across their fleet by automating manual tasks.

NS in the Netherlands will join a growing number of large rail operators that have implemented GNSS solutions, in this case the Trimble R2M system. Others using R2M include South West Trains in the United Kingdom, Irish Rail, SNCF France, SBB Switzerland and VR Finland.

R2M processes diagnostic data from rail vehicles in real time. It provides a comprehensive view of the overall fleet’s status including specific vehicle faults. The system also identifies potential faults that may arise while analyzing and detecting anomalies in on-vehicle component behavior to identify component issues and the possible impact this behavior may have on the vehicle and overall fleet.

With the R2M software, NS will be able to aggregate data from a range of on-train and wayside sources and provide real-time information to the NS Train Helpdesk to monitor the fleet status. Information will also be available to fleet analysts, work-planning engineers and mechanics to support the operational repair process of NS in real time.