East Coast appoint project Eagle supplier

Train operator East Coast has appointed asset and maintenance management experts Vetasi as its chosen supplier to provide a new system to improve the performance of its trains.

The appointment of Vetasi to implement a new engineering maintenance management system represents a £1.5 million investment by East Coast in its depots.

The new system, called IBM Maximo, will provide more visible and readily-available maintenance and defect information through a windows-based platform that is easier to use and replaces current legacy systems RAVERS and IMACS that date back to the pre-privatisation British Rail era.

Maximo forms a crucial part of East Coast’s “Project Eagle”, an initiative which aims to improve the management and control of engineering processes.

It will complement East Coast’s web-based on-train remote control monitoring system, called Falcon. This provides information on locomotive conditioning and gives advance warning of train component failures ahead of actual faults occurring, thereby improving performance and leading to more reliable services for passengers.

The Maximo system will provide a broad basis for all of East Coast’s train maintenance support functions, as well as offering a more cost-effective and efficient maintenance regime. It will ensure that optimum stock levels are maintained, warranty claims are managed, and access to vehicle maintenance history records and performance are improved, thereby supporting a regime where East Coast engineers are preventing faults rather than reacting to them.

The new system will be installed and tested at East Coast’s maintenance depots at Bounds Green, in London, and Craigentinny, in Edinburgh, over the coming months.

Training will be provided to East Coast’s engineering team, who will be use the system every day, and to industry partners, including the maintenance teams at Neville Hill, Heaton and Polmodie, as well as Wabtec, Unipart Rail, and Rolling Stock Owning Companies.

East Coast Interim Technical Director Jim Hailstone said: “We are really pleased to have appointed Vetasi to install our new engineering maintenance management system, Maximo, which is set to revolutionise the way we manage our train maintenance.

“By using Vetasi, we know we are working with the best, and by using the tried and tested IBM Maximo system, we will be able to improve the management and control of engineering processes. This will boost our efficiency and effectiveness – and it will greatly improve our fleet performance, both financially and for our passengers, by reducing train faults.

“Maximo offers a host of benefits including the ability to interface with mobile devices to aid remote fault-finding and inspections, including via our remote monitoring system, Falcon, which over time will provide much more accurate trend data to track asset and maintenance performance.

“Using both systems will result in a fully joined-up and integrated approach covering all engineering core maintenance management systems that will allow us to move away from previous antiquated systems inherited from British Rail at privatisation.”

Vetasi Projects Director Tony Turner said: “We are really excited at the opportunity to work together with the East Coast team to create the ultimate template solution for Train Operating Companies. We are using the latest release of Maximo 7.5, together with the Maximo Transportation Industry Solution, the CIM Visual Planner Suite and Maximo Mobile Work Manager to provide a totally integrated solution to East Coast’s Asset management requirements.

“There are some challenges in integrating to some of the old legacy BR systems but we are confident that this will provide the basis for a solid integrated solution that will make East Coast the industry leader in their IT Asset Management solution. The template will also meet the requirements of other TOC’s who still rely on obsolete or stand-alone solutions for their Asset Management.

“We really enjoyed working with the ECML team during the tender process and were impressed with their enthusiasm and industry knowledge. We look forward to working with them on this project.”

Vetasi were chosen from the five bidders invited to tender for the contract back in January, from a total of 37 companies who initially expressed an interest.