Railway Safety looks to “Futuro”

Predictive maintenance: GCF project funded

It is called “FUTURO – Photonics for Railway Infrastructure” and it aims to develop, for railway lines, a safe monitoring and predictive maintenance system based on AI and Machine Learning. The project has been funded under the Collabora&Innova call by the Lombardy Region, a scheme that – through ERDF 2021-2027 funds – supports complex R\&D projects with the goal of fostering major strategic investments for the development of product and process innovations.

Around this innovative project worth more than €4 million – the only one of its kind in the rail mobility sector – GCF Generale Costruzioni Ferroviarie S.p.A. has brought together a high-level partnership able to leverage the best expertise tested in the aerospace, photonics, advanced composite materials, digital and electronic systems, avionics and, of course, railway safety sectors. Partners include the Politecnico di Milano – Department of Aerospace Science and Technology (DAER), Lamiflex SpA, Blu Electronic Srl, Optical Sensing Technology Srl, and SysUp Srl.

The ambitious mission: to build a high-tech “demonstrative” railway infrastructure in which diagnostics and maintenance planning – both track and catenary – will be fully assisted and guided by a predictive diagnostics system. This will consist of super-sensors installed along the line and a framework capable of reading, in real time, the health status of the infrastructure from the operator’s control room or the relevant maintenance units, and above all predicting when maintenance measures will be required.

The cornerstone of the entire project is NeuRAIL System, the predictive railway diagnostics framework conceived, developed and tested over the years by GCF’s Research & Development Division. Synergy with the Politecnico and the industrial partners will allow valuable know-how, especially in the aerospace field, to be transferred to railways, introducing solutions typically designed to address and resolve critical issues in aviation into the rail sector.

Elisa Duca, Head of Product Development in GCF’s R\&D Division, highlights the qualitative leap of the Futuro project: “New composite fiber optic sensors will be developed, able to withstand hostile environments and measure parameters at critical points of both track and catenary. A specific ultra-low-power acquisition system will be designed for the railway context, ensuring continuous monitoring, data acquisition and remote transmission. An Energy Harvesting system will be created to guarantee full energy autonomy by exploiting available alternative sources (solar, wind, kinetic). Finally, the data processing system currently used by GCF will be redefined to implement new AI and ML models and to meet the cybersecurity requirements set as objectives of the project.”

On one hand, the data collected will enable the assessment of the infrastructure’s current condition and allow “on-condition” maintenance; on the other, long-term data storage and the spatial-temporal depth achievable at the central hub (Big Data) will make it possible to build prediction models based on real operating conditions of the network and to develop prognostic tools.

The Futuro project has a duration of 27 months and, thanks to the Lombardy Region funding, aims to reach TRL 7 (Technology Readiness Level), the NASA-designed standard for evaluating technological maturity. In its final phase, the pilot system will be installed on a real Lombard railway infrastructure to demonstrate its effectiveness in terms of safety. 
Expressions of interest have already reached GCF from major railway and metro infrastructure managers in Lombardy: Ferrovienord, ATM, and RFI, all of which already operate advanced diagnostic systems developed by GCF.

“The funding obtained,” comments Mattia Baraldi, Head of GCF’s Technology Divisions, “allows GCF to launch new, fruitful collaborations in the region and new internal development lines to design monitoring systems specific for the railway, tramway, and metro sectors, which can also be deployed internationally, confirming GCF’s leadership role in developing advanced predictive diagnostic systems for transport infrastructure, with a special focus on railway track and electric traction.”

“FUTURO - Fotonica per l’infrastrUtTUra ferROviaria"

It is an R&D project funded by the Regional Programme under the European Regional Development Fund 2021/2027 of the Lombardy Region PR FESR 2021-2027 and implemented with the support of resources from the European Union, the Italian State eand the Lombardy Region, in accordance with Regulation (EU) No. 2021/1060 and subsequent amendments and additions. Articles 46, 47, 50 and Annex IX.

Leader: GCF - Generale Costruzioni Ferroviarie S.p.A

Partner:

-Politecnico di Milano

-Sys Up S.r.l

-Optical Sensing Technologies S.r.l.

-Lamiflex S.p.A

-Blu Electronic S.r.l.

{ampz:ampzshortcode}