OREANDA-NEWS. Alstom announced today that following the successful testing of TrainScanner predictive maintenance prototype on Virgin’s fleet of Pendolino trains in Manchester, a second investment in a new machine will go ahead at Oxley depot near Wolverhampton in the West Midlands.

This second TrainScanner will represent a significant upgrade in Alstom’s high tech maintenance capability on the West Coast Main Line and demonstrates that the predictive maintenance tool is ready for mainstream deployment across train fleets worldwide.

TrainScanner is part of HealthHub solution. HealthHub is Alstom's predictive maintenance solution which makes it possible to determine the status of rolling stock, infrastructure and signalling automatically, and to identify any components that need to be repaired or changed and the replacement date. The right quantities of materials are delivered at the right time and maintenance staff can operate quickly, increasing fleet availability. TrainScanner automatically analyses the data gathered by laser or 3D camera measurement systems using a diagnostics portal through which the train passes. It collects information on the condition of certain equipment and then predicts its remaining service life.

By having two machines at two depots out of five on the West Coast Main Line, it will ensure that Pendolino trains get a maintenance scan every five days on average. Seeing the same train every five days creates the opportunity to make much more detailed assessments of the condition of the equipment.

“Now we have proven Alstom’s new technology works well, we want to bring a second machine to the UK at Oxley. This will massively increase Alstom’s maintenance capability here in Britain. The investment will also allow Alstom to take its prototype here in Manchester and turn it into a fully industrially designed solution. This will drive down the cost and allow easy deployment of TrainScanner to our customers worldwide,” said Rob Whyte, Managing Director Regional and Intercity, Alstom UK&I.

The new more modular design of the second TrainScanner will be the design that is rolled out to Alstom’s customers worldwide. The system has been upgraded to be much easier to repair, allow the laser and camera units to be calibrated at the factory before delivery to reduce install time, create lighter and simpler ground level boxes to improve reliability and has a rail mounted system, reducing the civil work required needed to build the TrainScanner at the depot by fifty per cent.