KiwiRail puts $3m into software

KENT BLECHYNDEN

NETWORKING: KiwiRail's signal system has components that date from the 1930s through until today, making it very difficult to maintain''.

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KiwiRail is spending $3 million on IBM software it says will improve the speed and reliability of its rail service – including its beleaguered passenger services.

Network general manager Rick van Barneveld says it is "behind the eight-ball" in using systems to manage and monitor its assets.

The Government is spending $500m upgrading the rail network and freight volumes are expected to grow by 75 per cent over the next 20 years.

IBM's software will help KiwiRail pinpoint the areas of the rail network that need the most work, he says.

"We want to know where the most time and resources are going so we can best spend the fix-up money. We need to do that more systematically. You can't fix up all of New Zealand's railway tomorrow but when we fix a bit we want to be able to forget that bit."

The scale of KiwiRail's signal system alone is huge and covers 4000 kilometres of railway track, he says.

"It's got parts and components and designs that date from the 1930s and 50s through until today. That is very difficult to maintain and the information about exactly what bit is where is all on paper. With Maximo it will all be in a system so you can walk up to a signal and the GPS [on a smartphone or tablet PC] will go, `This is where I am', and we'll know where we find the [signal] relay."

Wellington commuters frustrated by delays can expect improved service as a result of the investment, but it will not happen overnight, he says.

"We still have another 10 years of work in front of us to replace the overhead wires ... and [the software] will give us the tools to do the best we can with the amount of funding Wellington can afford. I don't have the tools to do that at the moment."

Some information will be automatically entered into the system in real-time, such as data gathered by railway measuring equipment on the evenness of tracks and the impact of heat stress on them.

IBM New Zealand general sales manager Phill Patton says its business analytics software will present data on how often KiwiRail is maintaining its tracks and how it is managing its assets so it can be read by "the guy working at the line all the way up to the top".

Mr van Barneveld says KiwiRail has been looking to buy asset management and analysis systems since about 2005.

"This sort of systems thinking has been around for 30 years. We are going to catch up."

- © Fairfax NZ News