Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI), Italy

RFI Uses Intergraph® Solutions to Develop Interoperable Rail Network

Geospatial Database Supports Italian Company's Effort to Modernize Infrastructure

train The Challenge:

Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI) S.p.A. manages Italy’s railway infrastructure. RFI plays a central role in Italy’s deregulated market, identifying the location of new railway lines and implementing plans for their construction. RFI manages more than 28,000 km of rail tracks, 2,700 passenger stations, and 1,380 km of tunnels. The transport company has 36,000 employees managing the circulation of 9,200 trains daily.

With such a large infrastructure to manage, RFI is undergoing a technological evolution to achieve a modern, safe, and interoperable network. This includes developing advanced technologies for building railway lines and automating processes. RFI wanted to build and quickly implement a geospatial database as defined by video along the tracks. It also needed a better way to manage maintenance of trains and the crews working on them.

The company is also transforming from one that focuses on processes to an organization that is more service oriented. To do this, new sets of rules and procedures were required to identify roles, processes, and the correct management flow. RFI wanted a way to better inform customers of potential impacts to railway infrastructure and train circulation. Improving the accuracy and delivery of data would allow RFI to react to critical situations and resolve potential problems.

The Project Objectives:

Define a methodology to integrate and manage the geographic database
Develop systems with standard technologies for the achievement of maximum interoperability and modularity
Achieve complete integration between cartographic data and business management systems (maintenance and traffic control)
Manage data in a sustainable way

The Solution:

The company had an existing relationship with Intergraph® Italia, which had developed solutions to support RFI in making decisions related to business processes, strategies, and opportunities. RFI selected Intergraph to integrate geospatial data into its system, both for existing processes and to leverage it for use in the future. The main objective of the project was to integrate a “territorial” view into the system to support all management and maintenance processes of RFI.

RFI realized immediate benefits after implementing the geospatial data. Presenting processes and assets in a geographic context enables the company to improve analysis related to the railway network. For example, streamlined data assists operators not only in technical controls, but also with maintenance schedules and rail line diagnosis. The GIS data also provides the ability to produce complex and thematic maps that are easily understood.

The Intergraph solution is based on standard technology that meets RFI requirements: a three-tier architecture based on a Web platform, with the use of Web services according to open Geospatial Consortium (OGC®) standards. A major factor in the selection process was the ability to integrate several platforms. Another key factor was the ability to support the complete life cycle of the project, starting from the design to delivery and support. Intergraph also offered substantial experience with similar large enterprise systems across the world, including involvement in all of the software implementations.

Intergraph Italia developed technology to provide a real-time video system, record natural phenomena (lightning) impact, and manage railway line faults. With the video system, cameras placed onboard diagnostic trains analyze the entire rail twice each month. Intergraph developed a process to transform these videos into a database. The solution provides easy access by Web interface to the data with a simultaneous geographic view. The system monitors and logs rail line modifications and evolutions. The video recognition technology also validates and updates the geographic database.

The Intergraph solution to record natural phenomena uses architecture linking the RFI data processing center with the Italian Air Force. The data is presented in measures (geographic location, and intensity and date of lightning) and forecasts (wind intensity, direction, and temperature).The information is available on a server of the Italian Air Force and is updated every five minutes. With the lightning measures, RFI can better plan rail insulations and react to possible damage. The forecasts allow decision makers to take adequate countermeasures and determine correct action plans. With the forecast indicators, it’s possible to identify:

Rail overheating because of high temperature
Trains’ difficult circulation because of snow
Landslide alert because of rainfall
Freight trains’ difficult circulation because of intense winds

The third process enables the management of maintenance of fleet vehicles and work teams. The Intergraph solution uses GPS devices onboard trains to indicate a train’s location and permits it to be monitored as it moves along the rail line. The train’s routes can be traced and movements mapped during a particular time period. The maps can also be used to assign the nearest mobile crew to repair rail line problems.

The Future:

By 2009, RFI plans to complete advanced technology guidelines for building railway tracks and optimizing the circulation of trains. As geospatial data is integrated across the enterprise, its value will increase. The continuous acquisition and storage of railway data, use of commercial geographic data, and use of multimedia data (videos) to create an integrated and multimedia database will support RFI’s transformation into a service-oriented organization.

“The project grows year by year in business areas that aren’t already covered by GIS processes,” said Luigi De benedictis, project manager for RFI S.p.A. “The core architecture is now completed and stable and can provide value-added services.”

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