Railtrack plc

New technology speeds up Railtrack response time
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date 9 April 1997
source Railtrack plc
type Press release

Railtrack has developed a new computer system that allows staff to act faster than ever before to pinpoint parts of the network that have been affected by incidents.

The £1 million EAZIAL (Easy Access Zonal Infrastructure Asset Log) system works on the basis that a picture is worth a thousand words. Using maps of Railtrack's seven geographical zones together with diagrams of the track, operators can select an area and focus in to see details of track, signal and even points.

This means, for example, that engineers can tell, very quickly, precisely which parts of Railtrack's 20,000 miles of track are controlled by which signals and points and ensure its contractors go straight to exactly the right spot to fix any problems. Previously information was stored in different places across the company and took time to gather together.

EAZIAL will also be used as vital part of the day-to-day management and maintenance of Railtrack's assets, enabling swift access to all the engineering details of every aspect of the infrastructure.

Railtrack's Project Manager Dr Dan Wang, said, "EAZIAL gives us the ability to provide a fast response to any problems affecting Railtrack's infrastructure which means a better service to our customers."

The system will also allow staff all over the country to access information about the company's signalling, civil engineering, electrification, telecommunications assets. It will handle over four gigabytes of data and is used via computer networks but has a stand-alone PC capability.

Containing a photograph library of assets and designed to be a very flexible system for database maintenance, EAZIAL was designed to be used by the non-computer literate person.

Railhub Archive ::: 1997-04-09 RTK-001