From Construction Sites to Research: GCF at the Forefront of Railway Innovation

A Smart Diagnostic System for the Railway of the Future

The railway of the future depends on the ability to turn data into decisions. This is the vision behind the project awarded by Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI) to GCF – Generale Costruzioni Ferroviarie, lead partner of a consortium bringing together industrial, scientific and academic expertise. The objective is to develop an advanced analytical system designed to support the maintenance and diagnostics of Italy's national railway infrastructure.

"This recent contract award is a particularly significant recognition for GCF because it acknowledges the wealth of expertise we have built over more than seventy-five years in the railway sector," commented Giuseppe Brecciaroli, CEO of GCF S.p.A. "Today, alongside our well-established capabilities in railway construction and maintenance, we are strengthening our commitment to research and technological innovation, developing solutions that help make railway infrastructure safer, more efficient and more sustainable. Being selected by RFI for such an important project confirms our ambition to be not only a leading industrial contractor, but also a partner capable of contributing to the technological evolution of Italy's railway system by bringing together field experience, scientific research and digital transformation."

Predictive Maintenance: Turning Data into Decisions

At the heart of the project is the development of an advanced algorithm capable of processing and interpreting data generated by the railway infrastructure, transforming it into valuable information to identify early signs of deterioration and support maintenance planning. The initiative goes beyond software development: it aims to implement an increasingly predictive maintenance model, capable of anticipating critical issues before they develop into failures or service disruptions, thereby improving the safety, reliability and efficiency of the railway network.

"The distinctive feature of this project," explains Elisa Duca, Engineer in GCF's R&D Division, "lies precisely in the integration of different areas of expertise. GCF's experience in the construction and maintenance of railway infrastructure, together with the development of innovative diagnostic platforms such as Neurail, will be combined with scientific research and the most advanced data analysis methodologies through collaboration with outstanding partners such as the Politecnico di Milano and Vossloh."

The project effectively brings together industrial, scientific and academic expertise within a collaborative model that today represents one of the most effective ways of accelerating railway innovation. This approach enables the rapid transfer of technical knowledge gained in the field into the development of digital tools designed to support operational decision-making.

An Algorithm Developed in the Field

Another defining feature of GCF's commitment is the determination not to develop a "laboratory algorithm" or a technology with no practical application, but rather to create a tool developed in close collaboration with RFI's technical specialists and tailored to the real operational needs of railway infrastructure management. Throughout the project, continuous interaction with railway infrastructure experts will ensure that operational experience and available data are transformed into reliable, transparent models that can be effectively applied to maintenance processes.

The new algorithm will make it possible to analyse vast amounts of information generated daily by diagnostic systems, sensors and historical maintenance records, identifying correlations and anomalies that are difficult to detect using conventional methods.

In other words, data will become a genuine decision-support tool. As Mattia Baraldi, Director of GCF's IS Technologies, Telecommunications, R&D and Advanced Technologies Divisions, explains: "The objective is not to replace the expertise of maintenance engineers and technicians, but to make it even more effective by enabling earlier identification of deterioration phenomena and allowing maintenance activities to be planned on the basis of objective evidence. Achieving this requires the integration of railway, engineering and scientific expertise. It is precisely through the combination of these different skills that solutions capable of driving the evolution of railway maintenance towards increasingly predictive models are created."

This new contract confirms GCF's development strategy: that of a company which not only builds and maintains railway infrastructure, but also contributes to designing the technologies that will shape its future. A path that further strengthens the Group's position as a trusted partner not only in infrastructure construction, but also in research, innovation and the digital transformation of the railway sector.

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