Performance based railway infrastructure maintenance : Towards achieving maintenance objectives

The measurement and management of railway infrastructure capacity has received increased attention in recent years due to the pressing need to optimally utilized the existing railway infrastructure capacity and as well create more capacity. In a bid to improve the maintenance function and utilization of the existing infrastructure, some of the infrastructure managers (IM) reviewed their approach to outsourcing of maintenance functions, giving larger responsibilities to maintenance agent called contractors. The growing responsibilities of the contractors are however resisted by some IM due to some unresolved doubts. This paper discusses the outcome oriented approach to maintenance outsourcing; performance based railway infrastructure maintenance contracting with its issues and challenges. A framework is described and performance monitoring tool is proposed to enhance Performance Based Railway Infrastructure Maintenance (PBRIM) contracting as a strategy for improving the effectiveness of maintenance functionJVT