References
Projects & Publications
In his many years of experience in the railway industry, the founder and CEO Priv.-Doz. Dr. Matthias Landgraf has already successfully worked with partners from Austria (ÖBB Infrastruktur AG, ÖBB Holding AG, Wiener Linien), Switzerland (SBB, BLS), Germany (DB Netz AG), Norway (BaneNor), Sweden (Trafikverket), Denmark (BaneDanmark), the Netherlands (ProRail) and the USA (Amtrak). In addition, he has a large number of cooperations with companies in the railway industry, e.g. Plasser & Theurer, voestalpine Railway Systems, Rhomberg Sersa Rail Group, as well as international research institutions.
THIS IS A PROJECT OF EVIAS
Hallo. Ich bin ein kleiner Blindtext. Und zwar schon so lange ich denken kann. Es war nicht leicht zu verstehen, was es bedeutet, ein blinder Text zu sein: Man ergibt keinen Sinn. Wirklich keinen Sinn. Man wird zusammenhangslos eingeschoben und rumgedreht – und oftmals gar nicht erst gelesen. Aber bin ich allein deshalb ein schlechterer Text als andere?
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CUSTOMER REVIEWS
REFERENCES & PUBLICATIONS
ECONOMICS & Innovation
Increasing traffic loads - innovative superstructure components as balance
Journal: ZEV Rail I 2017
Today’s infrastructure operators need to engage in active asset management in order to be able to use their resources as efficiently as possible. This publication shows how the annual renewal volumes required to sustainably maintain the route network can be forecasted. The influence of innovative components or an increase in traffic can also be taken into account.
Measurement Data-Driven Life-Cycle Management of Railway Track
Transport Research Record I 2020
Infrastructure managers must ensure they invest all available financial resources as sustainably and efficiently as possible. This method combines the technical evaluations with economic and operational considerations by means of annuity monitoring. On that basis it is possible to rank projects by priority. In the case of insufficient budgets, this method ensures that all available resources are invested in a sustainable manner.
Smart Data for a pro-active Railway Asset Management
Conference: Transport Research Arena I 2017
Applying functional knowledge – both IT and railway skills – allows for extracting smart data out of big data for railway asset management. Due to a bottom-up approach this methodology enables both the establishing of net-wide maintenance and renewal demands and the constitution of maintenance and renewal budgets based on a combination of technical and economic evaluations.
Effects of sleeper under sleeper pads on the long-term quality behavior of the track
Journal: ZEV Rail I 2018 IN COOPERATION WITH ÖBB
The aim of the present study is the economic evaluation of a technical innovation. In this case, Under Sleeper Pads for concrete sleepers. For this study, the technical quality behavior of a total of approx. 600 km of track can be evaluated. This makes it possible to achieve a reduction in maintenance requirements achieved through the use of Under Sleeper Pads, whereby an extension of the service life and a reduction in life cycle costs can be achieved.
REFERENCES & PUBLICATIONS
Data Analytics & Prognostics
Fractal analysis as an innovative approach for evaluating the condition of railway tracks
Journal of rail and rapid transit I 2018
The deterioration of ballast and the consequences of weak subsoil increase the need for track maintenance. These problems reduce the service life of tracks, and a higher maintenance budget is required. This paper introduces an innovative method for evaluating the condition of the ballast and the subsoil. Fractal analysis of the vertical track geometry enables infrastructure managers to determine the root cause of track irregularities by quantifying the wavelength characteristics of the common track geometry data.
On-board monitoring for smart assessment of railway infrastructure: A systematic review
Elsevier, The Rise of Smart Cities: Advanced Structural Sensing and Monitoring Systems I 2022 in Cooperation with ETH Zürich
The increased traffic frequency in railway transport imposes higher capacity demands and leads to more frequent damage and more severe deterioration and associated disruptions to service and availability. This publication explores the state of the art of OBM (On-board monitoring systems for in-service vehicles) for railway infrastructure condition assessment, conducting a thorough review of data-processing methodologies, which is further complemented with application examples.
Evaluating the applicability of multi-sensor equipped tamping machines for ballast condition monitoring
Elsevier, Measurement I 2021 in Cooperation with Plasser & Theurer
The importance of a functioning ballast bed implicates the necessity for sophisticated condition monitoring. The tamping unit of a high-performance tamping machine has been equipped with multiple sensors, which measure various parameters during every tamping process. In a novel approach, a set of recorded data is analysed and compared with the prevailing ballast condition, which is evaluated using proven methods. The results verify that the measurements correlate with the condition of the bedding, thus confirming the assumption that sensor equipped tamping units allow conclusions regarding the condition of track ballast.
Fibre Optic Sensing as Innovative Tool for Evaluating Railway Track Condition?
International Conference on Smart Infrastructure and Construction 2019 (ICSIC), Cambridge University
The condition and deterioration of a railway track over time has a major influence on its maintenance demands, service life and consequently its life cycle costs. In a novel approach, we study the potential of Distributed Acoustic Sensing, a methodology relying on the effect of Rayleigh backscattering, for assessing the holistic condition of track and vehicle interaction. This technology uses fibre optic cables, which are already installed in cable troughs alongside railway tracks and used for telecommunication or signalling.
Ecological potential in infrastructure planning and construction
Der Eisenbahningenieur, Eurailpress I 2023 in Cooperation with ÖBB
The article describes the evaluation of ecological potentials for the reduction of environmental impacts in the context of a station reconstruction. The study already takes place in the planning phase of the project in order to determine the most sustainable scenario of the objects and processes examined.
Both the environmental impacts of the production and transport of materials as well as the potential of the circular economy are investigated.
Embodied greenhouse gas assessment of railway infrastructure: the case of Austria
IOP Publishing; Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability I 2021 in Cooperation with Berkeley Univiserity of California
This study assesses life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with the entire railway infrastructure network of Austria, a first detailed study for a country, modelled through a top-down approach.
Railway track is analysed for the first time in detail for a variety of specific boundary conditions using a bottom-up approach focusing on track renewal and maintenance. Mitigation potential can be found in special rail steel production, reuse of materials, use of alternative fuels and efficient maintenance strategies.
Integration of environmental impacts in the public procurement process of railways
Global Railway Review I 2021 in Cooperation wth ÖBB Holding
On the way to climate neutrality, the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) have set themselves the goal of integrating environmental impacts caused by products and services into the procurement process. The model presented here enables the product-specific calculation of the environmental impacts caused in the context of the procurement process. These environmental impacts are monetized and integrated into the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), which means that they are directly incorporated into the procurement process. This creates an opportunity to take climate-relevant aspects into account directly in the procurement process.
Assessment and Recommendations for a Fossil Free Future for Track Work Machinery
Journal Sustainability I 2021 in Cooperation wth Plasser & Theurer
Environmental concerns have led to the introduction of alternative drives in the transport sector. Until now, R&D of alternative propulsion technologies for track work machinery has been widely neglected. This paper examines the possibility of achieving zero direct emissions during maintenance and construction work in railways by switching to alternative drives. The goal is to analyze alternative propulsion solutions arising from the transport sector and to assess their applicability to track work machinery. Research results, together with a calculation tool, show that available battery technology is recommendable for energy demands lower than 300 kWh per construction shift.
SHAPING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE OF RAILWAYS TOGETHER
As Rail Consulting company from Austria, we provide support with data-based optimization of processes in terms of efficiency, cost-effectiveness and sustainability in the rail industry.