VABtrack forms the basis for company-wide "Technical Control Centre for Infrastructure", in which system functions are monitored followed by coordinated procedure in the event of malfunctions.

Objective:
Transport company infrastructure is the mainstay of a modern enterprise. In particular in the case of tram and light-rail systems, the infrastructure includes track installations and signalling equipment, power supply and passenger information systems, rail lubrication systems, elevators, escalators, fans and lighting systems. Malfunctions on these components cause considerable operational disruptions. Expenditure for maintenance, repairs and operative malfunction management are substantial items in corporate cost structure. Therefore, more and more companies are calling for solutions for continuous real-time monitoring of their infrastructure systems.

Integrated solution:
In the signalling sector, online monitoring technologies are currently used to monitor point machines, point controllers, signalling installations, level-crossing systems, rail lubrication systems, rail vehicle detection systems and communication systems. The software continuously evaluates existing system data, automatically identifies malfunctions, visualizes a network-wide overview of the status and availability of the infrastructure and generates corresponding messages for the control system, which are distributed by a message manager in accordance with predefined rules. At the same time, all data is recorded and archived. To implement data acquisition and communication with the OCC, special communication interfaces are installed in the infrastructure terminals depending on the medium (radio, copper or fibre-optic cable), and thus access to an Ethernet network is implemented. OCC and decentral infrastructure terminal devices communicate in a client-server network. VPN tunnels ensure the highest safety standards on the communication paths. Special versions of communication interface and server software take care of system integration incl. implementation of all different makes of terminal devices. Status enquiries and fast transmission speeds enable real-time visualization of process sequences. This means that information about system malfunctions reaches the control centre quickly and enables dispatchers to react early in the event of failure or disruptions in sections of infrastructure. Diversions, substitute transportation and messages for the passenger information systems can be managed quickly by the dispatchers. Stored process messages can be activated at any time and played back with a graphical event viewer as a process flow for subsequent malfunction analysis or for documentation of operational malfunctions. The technical status of the systems in the traffic area and the warning or malfunction messages received are visualised on maps for quick central overview. The events are listed in a tabular overview according to chronological registration. Work orders are triggered automatically and current processing status noted. With automated identification of malfunctions, the immediate reporting of the malfunction and its automated documentation, considerable advantages are offered for the entire malfunction processing. In addition to system monitoring, installations and devices are operated centrally in the OCC. Significant time and cost savings can be achieved over manual switch-on on site, especially when point heaters are switched on seasonally or weather-dependently.