Enterprise Control Systems strategies for railways

Most industries contend with reliability, availability, safety and cost issues. Similarly, these industries also operate complex, integrated operations. The force of recession has driven many of them to look harder at the performance improvements they can make. In addition to recession pressures, many industries are also suffering from a demographic issue of an aging work-force and the need to function effectively with a slimmed-down organisation. We have gone through the lean operation phase, where processes are simplified and operations are optimised against a minimalist model. The next improvement is to begin to join up the whole enterprise and to deliver an integrated Enterprise Control System (ECS) with advanced data gathering, analysis and sharing solutions. The objective is more efficient use of the business system and this is supported by better use of the available real-time data to manage and improve both assets and processes. The ECS offers a more cohesive approach to raising the efficiency of the railway, potentially with the efficiency benefits typical of other industries. This paper will provide an outline of the strategies required to deliver an enterprise-wide solution and the considerations essential to delivering the desired return on investment from a management perspective.