Risk assessment of railway switch failures

Abstract

Railways are becoming the main transportation system in Thailand. The way to manage railway assets are extremely important in order to make the system more reliable. This study presents how the risk of railway assets could be assessed and managed. The process of risk management is based on ISO31000, and the method used to assess the risk is the Failure Modes, Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA). Switches and crossings on the Airport Rail Link city line are considered. The results obtained are not only applicable to evaluate the effectiveness of the current maintenance program, but they can also be used to create a proper preventive maintenance plan in the future.