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Program Management ATO Sector Program

Customer: BLS Netz AG, Dr. Florian Kappler, Switzerland

Project tasks

  • Program Management
  • Project Planning
  • Coordination among all Swiss ATO projects
  • Leading the marketing team to develop and maintain the ATO website
  • Quarterly reporting to the steering board (railway undertakings, infrastructure managers and industry)
  • Coordination with stakeholders, such as the national authority BAV, as well as the industry
  • Supporting specific ATO projects with technical-, operational- and business advisory

Our Approach

In May 2022, the Federal Office of Transport called on the rail sector to align and better coordinate future ATO activities within the Swiss rail sector.

PROSE was commissioned to manage the programme for all Swiss ATO projects. In close cooperation with the ATO core team, PROSE established regular monthly exchanges and jointly identified and developed central cross-cutting topics.

In addition, PROSE also led the communication team and worked with this team to develop and maintain the ATO industry website (https://voev.ch/ato). Furthermore, PROSE initiated an ATO-related conference day that invited and actively involved the industry in ATO developments.

Customer benefit

With PROSE as a partner, the customer benefits from comprehensive expertise in the areas of on-board signalling, ETCS and ATO, both on the line and on the vehicle side. An entrepreneurial approach, in-depth technical knowledge and market knowledge are essential for a successful programme design in the first year.

The customer does not need to develop its own project-specific management resources, as PROSE, as an independent consultant, coordinates the related interests of all project managers.

 

   

Vehicle Authorisation

Customer: various customers

Project tasks

  • Carrying out requirements capture and preparing the safety evaluation, including risk analysis
  • Preparation and management of evidence documents
  • Cooperation and coordination of NoBo, DeBo and AsBo
  • Support in preparing several declarations and dealing with online registers like ERATV or ERADIS
  • Management of the change notification to the ERA or national safety authorities like EBA for changes not requiring an authorisation
  • Management of authorisation applications via One Stop Shop to the ERA for changes requiring authorisation
  • Coordination with the ERA and national safety authority

Our Approach

Vehicle operators or leasing companies make changes to their vehicles for very different reasons, e.g. for obsolescence reasons or to offer passengers a better service by customising the interior and adding features such as sockets or WLAN. In addition to providing engineering services, PROSE supports such projects by taking over the entire approval management process, including communication with all the bodies and authorities involved.

The authorisation process ensures safe rail transport and the best possible interoperability throughout the EU. However, implementing changes to rolling stock presents a significant challenge to operators, keepers, and owners.

At PROSE, we recognise that each railway vehicle is unique. Our team of experts develops vehicle authorisation strategies that address the specific challenges of our customer’s products and needs. From Requirements Capture to One Stop Shop, our experts have the knowledge to guide you through the process. Whether you only need assistance with a single task or are looking for a complete solution, we can provide solutions to meet your particular requirements.

Customer benefit

Modernisations and retrofits guarantee enhanced reliability and superior passenger comfort and open up new applications by integrating new systems. Whilst operators and workshops can focus on their primary tasks, PROSE can handle all the “paperwork” from the engineering and the preparation of evidence documents to the assessment and authorisation phases with bodies and authorities involved. Due to our comprehensive service portfolio, we help reduce interfaces and effort because all services are coordinated and come from a single source.

PROSE ensures that our customers’ railway vehicles comply with the latest standards and regulations. From document preparation to submission, we make sure that vehicle approval hurdles don’t derail your success.

 

      

ECM consulting & support

Customer: various customers

Project tasks

  • Kick-off workshop / training
  • Creating a mapping table
  • Gap analysisand elaboration of suggestions for improvement
  • Advice, suggestions, support on specific topics (as required)
  • Review of documents (e.g. process descriptions, procedural instructions, forms, etc.)
  • Suggestions for improvement

Our Approach

​The customer is supported in understanding and implementing the ECM requirements, whereby a gap analysis determines the maturity level of the maintenance organisation. Basic training on ECM topics can be offered in advance. In the trial audit, documents are checked, weaknesses are identified, and assistance is provided to rectify them. The certification audit starts with a Stage I audit, after which PROSE offers support in implementing the auditor’s comments. PROSE can also inspect the customer’s workshop and identify potential weaknesses before the audit.

Customer benefit

The customer is accompanied on the path to successful certification of ECM functions in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2019/779. The organisation’s existing knowledge on these topics is brought up to date. The organisation is enabled to meet the requirements and pass the audit with the certification body.

Moreover, support in the daily ECM challenges regarding:

  • Risk management according to CSM-RA
  • Competence management
  • Documentation process
  • Supplier management
  • Audit plan
  • Definition of Safety Critical Components according to Article 4
  • Interface definition and information flow between the functions
  • Independent delta assessment in order to improve the internal procedures and processes

Why support by PROSE? For saving time and money by becoming more efficient and due to lack of know-how.

 

      

Digitalisation Maintenance Instructions

Customer: SBB Historic, Switzerland

Project tasks

  • Research: Review of the old maintenance regulations for each vehicle
  • Expert interviews: Ensuring the transfer of expertise to supplement/correct the old maintenance regulations
  • Documentation: Creation of maintenance plans for each vehicle
  • Release: Incorporation of customer feedback and internal release of the maintenance plan

Our Approach

PROSE supports the client in creating maintenance plans for the first 14 traction units and 3-4 coach fleets. These can only be partially derived from old regulations and thus completed and adapted accordingly and transferred to a digitalised maintenance concept. A significant proportion of the maintenance work is carried out voluntarily by associations. This particular situation must be taken into account in the concept development. PROSE also provides relevant support for introducing the ZEDAS maintenance software on the customer side.

Customer benefit

The client receives a digitalised, standardised and consistent maintenance plan landscape for the vehicles to ensure the safe, standard-compliant and efficient planning and implementation of maintenance measures using in-house, association and external services.

The logic and conceptual design of the maintenance plans, regardless of whether they relate to steam locomotives, electric locomotives or multiple units, will be aligned accordingly, thus creating content, processes and documentation specifications that are much easier to understand and can also be communicated to volunteer maintenance staff to ensure safe rail operations.

The implementation already considers European standards for safe maintenance and their functional allocation in the organisational development. This will ensure a gradual expansion of the client’s maintenance services towards a modern, digital maintenance organisation.

   

Vehicle procurement – Manufacturing Supervision, Quality Control and Factory Tests

Customer: various customer

Project tasks

  • Acceptance of the welded car bodies / bogie frames
  • Paint inspection and acceptance
  • Intermediate acceptance of main electrical components
  • Intermediate acceptance of interior fittings
  • Factory acceptance/customer acceptance

Our Approach

By regular participation in the vehicle acceptance tests and constant coordination with the team of the vehicle manufacturer, PROSE checks the quality of the production. The customer is permanently kept up to date by the acceptance team regarding the progress of the production as well as possible complications or deadline postponements. He immediately receives the results of the production controls and acceptances and can follow up changes, modifications etc.

The dates for the acceptance of components, intermediate assembly stands and vehicles ready for delivery follow the production plan but are also handled operationally and flexibly in order to be able to react to specific occasions. In this way, control of the construction process is always ensured and there is the possibility of intervention in the event of difficulties such as quality slumps, scheduling, supply, or capacity problems.

Customer benefit

With manufacturing supervision, the manufacturer’s quality assurance process is checked and monitored in addition to the product quality, because every vehicle has gone through this process before it is presented for factory acceptance. Continuous construction supervision ensures consistent quality at a high level.

      

Specifications for emission-free power supply for construction sites

Customer: SBB AG, Switzerland

Project tasks

  • Review and evaluation of the requirements from the specification sheet
  • Discussion and agreement of the commented requirements in a workshop
  • Identification of the requirements that require a risk assessment
  • Creation of a risk assessment
  • Transfer of the requirements into a requirements management system (ReqSuite®)
  • Individual assessment and binding of the requirements

Our Approach

PROSE has drawn up a questionnaire based on these specifications in the sense of “Does a manufacturer have sufficient information? Are the requirements sufficient for the product to be used by SBB”. PROSE checked and evaluated the requirements from the existing specification. The annotated requirements specification was discussed and agreed upon together in a workshop and the requirements requiring a risk assessment were identified. Subsequently, a risk assessment was prepared. The requirements were transferred from the developed basis into a requirements management system (ReqSuite®). The requirements were evaluated individually and given a binding nature in order to evaluate offers received in the subsequent call for tenders.

The requirements specification was then converted into a format that SBB could import into its requirements management system (Polarion®).

Customer benefit

The client received a specification sheet with comments and a supporting questionnaire that allowed him to formulate the requirements more precisely and comprehensibly. Testing, evaluation and identification of requirements that require risk consideration contribute to quality assurance and minimise potential risks in the project. The risk consideration and the binding nature of the requirements enable better preparation for the tender, which improves the quality of the incoming offers. The conversion of the requirements specification into a compatible format for SBB’s requirements management system ensures a smooth integration and use of the requirements by the customer.

 

Support with Assembly Line Layout – PRIMA Mid-Life Overhaul

Customer: AKIEM, France

Project tasks

  • Project Management
  • Concept & Development
  • Workshop Layout
  • Industrial engineering of mid-life overhaul of railway equipment

Our Approach

Akiem decided to transfer production to an industrial partner during the construction and commissioning of Akiem Technik’s site in Ostricourt as part of the PRIMA Mid-Life Overhaul (MLO) project. It is important that Akiem has an efficient industrial production facility in order to be able to ramp up production of mid-life operations on PRIMA locomotives in 2023 at the earliest. It is, therefore, necessary to set up an effective industrial production in the partner’s workshops.

We provided Akiem with our expertise and knowledge of workshop layout, and made sure they had the support needed at every stage of the process. The aim was to define all the production resources required for this modernisation project, and to ensure that the customer met their production rate targets. Keeping efficiency in the workshops and delivering productive solutions.

Customer benefit

PROSE has a long experience in assisting realisation and implementation of industrial layouts in the context of mid-life overhaul of rail vehicles. We can ensure the optimised flow of vehicles by developing the workload plan per workstation and the balancing of the workstations. The supply chain aspect and the management of logistics flows are integrated into the overall study. Making sure our customers get the best solution possible.

 

   

Assistance to the project owner for the renewal of contracts for the regional interurban public transport network

Customer: Région SUD , France

Project tasks

  • Project management
  • Provision of techno-commercial advice

Our Approach

Background: In the context of the evolution of the future scope of scheduled services, and considering the adoption of the Law of 24 December 2019, “Orientations des Mobilités”, the Transport Organizing Authority (AOT), the Southern Region defines its service offering.
The Region needed to strengthen these capacities in the face of the procedures for renewing contracts for the regional interurban public transport network in the Alpes de Haute-Provence region and the reorganisation of the Regional Express Lines in the areas concerned.

Approach: PROSE joined forces as a consortium to respond to this call for tenders. The consortium, led by the company Trans-missions, is made up of PROSE for its expertise in rolling stock, but also Tractebel for the infrastructure part.

Customer benefit

PROSE is supporting the South Region in the preparation, development and negotiation of a new operating agreement with SNCF Voyageurs. Our profound expertise in rolling stock empowers us to provide valuable advice for enhancing the terms of the operational monitoring contract. We focus on critical aspects such as reliability clauses, availability assurances, and proactive obsolescence monitoring. In the field of maintenance, PROSE’s expertise is made available for an accurate assessment of the advertised costs.

In the pursuit of the opening of regional passenger rail lines to competition, PROSE provides technical assistance on the new calls for tenders to come., Our technical expertise is poised to address critical areas, including:

  • ERTMS installation
  • Rolling stock maintenance
  • Sustainable development
  • Technical sizing of maintenance and siding sites, etc.

 

   

ATO GoA2 over ETCS and national Class B Systems Requirements Capture and Approval Risks Analysis

Customer: Nederlandse Spoorwegen, Netherlands

Project tasks

  • Vehicle Authorisation Management and Strategy
  • Operational concepts
  • Automatic Train Operation (ATO)
  • Requirements Analysis
  • Roll out Concept

Our Approach

PROSE analysed possible risks in the homologation and deployment of ATO GoA2 over ATB via STM-Module and analysed the requirements for ATO out of the TSI CCS and TSI OPE. Through analysing project risks concerning existing standards, approval processes and the target architecture, PROSE provided an in-depth analysis proposing a vehicle authorisation approach that covers the overall system level and the changes to the technical and operational subsystems. Besides an approval concept, PROSE provided a roll-out approach for ATO that mitigates safety risks related to Human-Machine-Interface.

Customer benefit

NS benefits from PROSE’s in-depth analysis and concept as an independent second opinion and the adaptation of experiences gained in other ATO projects. Due to the extensive overall system knowledge, PROSE was able to consider all relevant subsystems of railway operation and technology and deliver an NS-aligned approach.

Leadership Coaching and Strategy Consulting Digital Interlocking

Customer: SBB Infrastructure, Switzerland

Project tasks

  • Leadership Coaching
  • Strategy Consulting
  • Stakeholder Management

Our Approach

PROSE is carrying out the leadership coaching and strategy consulting for the SBB project manager “EESA 3.1 – Industrialised Rollout”. The leadership coaching was conducted between the poles of the rollout implementation, defined in the directional decision, and the call for tenders, which had to be prepared concurrently. On the one hand, the time constraints associated with the implementation were addressed, which led to good progress in the conceptual and content-related work. On the other hand, the strategy consultation dealt with prioritising the tender contents, whereby the implementation of innovations and the inclusion of essential rollout requirements were subordinated to securing the contract.

Customer benefit

In addition to more minor and continuous further developments of concepts, significant successes were also achieved in some areas. From a project management perspective, the following topics deserve special attention:

  • Publication of EULYNX Baseline 4.1 with the necessary adaptations for Switzerland.
  • Concluded procurement of a proof-of-concept platform for the Object Controller to demonstrate software separation, security features and a reference implementation of the Rail Safe Transport Application (RaST).
  • Results of the first iteration in the study, “Expandability using the example of the Dagmersellen – Emmenbrücke line”, showing a cost-saving potential between 50% and 75%.
  • Make-or-buy workshop with infrastructure management

Alternative forms of operation for the Appenzellers Rack railways

Customer: INFRAS, Switzerland

End customer: Canton of Appenzell A.Rh. and St. Gallen

Project tasks

  • Actual state analysis and screening of the available information including inspection of the three railway lines
  • Description of the state of the art in the market
  • Investigation of Automation possibilities
  • Development of a cost and benefit analysis
  • Creation of a final report including evaluation and recommendation for all three railway

Our Approach

As a first step a state analysis and screening of the available information including inspection of the three railway lines was carried out. Then a target system architecture was described using state of the art available technology. Various automation possibilities were developed and assessed. On top a cost and benefit analysis was carried out. All findings were collected in the final report including evaluation and recommendation for all three railways.

Customer benefit

Thanks to PROSE’s structured approach INFRAS received a well-founded result from a broad diversified analysis of the technical possibilities and economic effects of automation of the railway operation of the three lines. During the project the client received an overview of the possibilities as well as of the current state of the art on the subject of automated and autonomous driving operation. PROSE therefore develops a concrete recommendation and the magnitude of the necessary investments in the introduction of automated railway operations.

 

 

Advice on the implementation of ECM Regulation 779

Customer: SBB CARGO, ECM2 strategic fleet management, Switzerland

Project tasks

  • Leadership coaching of the responsible head of strategic fleet management
  • Expert mentoring of the executing project employee
  • External workshop organisation for team development
  • Stakeholder management with management level, HRM, standards and regulatory bodies
  • Methodical tool development in the area of competence management
  • Strategic organisational development regarding structure and process organisation
  • Strategic knowledge management in quasi-governmental organisations

Our Approach

In a first step, the safety-relevant (ECM) activities were separated from the availability-relevant activities and documented in an external workshop. A competence matrix of the fleet management employees was created in several project work steps. PROSE then developed a target matrix on the basis of the content of the impending leap in standards from 2011/445 to 2019/779, whose delta on the actual situation can be used as the basis for strategic employee development and represents the comprehensive and detailed proof of competence in the forthcoming safety audits.

Customer benefit

The Head of Strategic Locomotive Fleet Management (ECM2) receives a comprehensive and detailed overview of the area of activity of his department and is in a position to document, reference and thus prove the ability to carry out these processes at any time and at the appropriate level in an audit-capable manner. Externally, this department achieves competence suited for the forthcoming re-certification to the new 2019/779 ordinance landscape. Internally, it serves as a practical example of the implementation capability within the framework of the CargoFit programme. Furthermore, process-related and competence oriented dependencies between the ECM2 activities will be established: safety, availability, system engineering and regulations are clearly documented and located.

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