Plasser & Theurer : InnoTrans 2026 - Highlights: Smart data analysis

Unlocking machines’ full potential with smart data analysis

Beyond service

We have been building track construction and maintenance machines since the 1950s. Back then, innovation largely meant mechanizing track maintenance. Today, the focus has shifted to digitalizing the individual work steps through assistance systems and services.

When it comes to track maintenance machines, faults during operations and maintenance can quickly lead to a chain reaction and impact machine availability. This is a risk that every business wants to avoid. With our Analytics-as-a-Service offer and flexible service agreements, we help our customers manage this risk and get the most from their machine fleet.

Data: the key to knowledge

Optimizations based on maintenance data. Values from the Machine Maintenance Module of the Plasser DataMatic are used to determine service and maintenance intervals more precisely.

Anyone who wants to learn a foreign language needs the basic building blocks: vocabulary, grammar, and sentence construction, followed most importantly by practice, practice, practice. Learning to “speak” with a machine, i.e. understanding how to operate and service it, is no different. You need the right vocabulary (data), knowledge of grammar and sentence structure (domain knowledge and expertise), and lots of practice (experience and assessments of fleets and machines from around the world under various operating conditions).

Collecting telemetry data has become part and parcel of machine operations. Plasser DataMatic also lets users record important data points from maintenance activities. We make it possible to process set maintenance tasks and document them in their entirety. This creates a full overview of the steps performed, as well as any maintenance activities that are scheduled for the future. It makes the painstaking, often incomplete process of paper records a thing of the past, and prepares the data entered for further processing. An excerpt of the machine’s complete maintenance history? A plan for the next upcoming servicing? A list of every problem that’s arisen? All just one click away. This gives you a clearer picture of everything that happened in the past, along with complete and continuous documentation.

You can therefore plan maintenance interventions precisely and document them accurately. The recorded data also forms the basis for further analyses, in order to make operations and maintenance even more efficient. Recalculating the operating parameters based on the operational profile unlocks insights into how maintenance intervals will develop in future.

Data analysis: the perfect job for a chatbot?

Having data is one thing, but we also need to know how to process it further and understand it. Chatbots based on artificial intelligence have become an essential part of modern industry. Training a chatbot to understand sentence structure and grammar is relatively simple. Taking specific machine and application-related conditions into account follows more human-like thought patterns. What’s missing is the “experience” of how to correctly interpret data sets and circumstances. With our Analytics-as-a-Service offer, we have successfully fed the essential human component into data assessments and visualizations. We work closely together with our customers to solve problems that they experience every day. Our data specialists then translate complex situations into visualizations that are easy to understand and are tailored to the customer. They have access to experts from the entire Plasser Group and can apply our broad-based expertise to data analyses.

The operating profile of a tamping machine. By using intelligent control sets, users can analyse hierarchies of detailed operating conditions. This overview also helps uncover areas in need of improvement.

Why do I need this? My system works perfectly well already.

Health checks show the actual distribution of values from a defined period. This makes it possible to derive trends across multiple periods.

When an engine is running well, such as on a car, it is often hard to tell whether it is operating efficiently or if there are any signs of problems ahead. Having this info would help keep the engine running optimally throughout its service life. By comparing operating profiles, users can make comparisons across machines and fleets, before taking any necessary measures for maintenance and operations. We also use comprehensive analyses of a machine to determine whether and where there is room for improvement. To do so, we analyse machine data to determine the status quo, and provide customers with information about the results, along with recommendations on how they can exploit the full potential of their machinery.

Reports like these are already being used in India, where they are helping the state railway to optimize fleet operations and organize maintenance more efficiently. Similar applications can be found in Europe and Australia.

Better planning through continuous support

When faced with a flood of information, the first question that arises is often how to use it effectively. We provide support here with the corresponding data preparation, subsequent recommendations for action, and comprehensive service agreements. The specific scope of support is determined together with the customer. This lets us respond to specific needs and offer an all-in-one package that makes maintenance more efficient and easier to plan.