Railways are changing rapidly. This shift involves the use of more digital technologies across the workflows and networks related to railway operations. GIS is poised to play an increasing role in the infrastructure development including the design, planning, operations and maintenance phases of railway operations.
Railways are attempting to operate their infrastructure more efficiently. Trains need to be scheduled more efficiently across networks, particularly with respect to trans-boundary operations as high speed operations move between different countries.
Since maintenance of railway lines can account for 20% of down time for operations, approaches that include maintenance within routine operations more effectively and efficiently are highly desired. The use of GNSS and lidar technologies coupled to railway repair and maintenance machinery can help, providing accurate location and positioning for railway construction and maintenance operations in a timely manner.
In other cases, IT operations linked to GIS functionality is providing advantages, streamling collaboration and sharing of administrative and technical data. Maps can be linked to railway schematic drawings through the use of ArcGIS software.
Terry Bills, Transportation Industry Manager at Esri summed up the challenges of GIS for rail as follows:
– GIS for Rail: Linking Maps to Schematics
– GIS for Rail – Transport In a Changing Time
