Rail condition monitoring — is the tail wagging the dog?

As rail organisations around the world are increasingly focusing on and investing in condition monitoring (CM), we need to ask ourselves, lIs our condition monitoring tail wagging our strategic asset management dog?r Over the last two decades, the quantity of CM solutions offered and the types of rail assets capable of being condition monitored have increased exponentially. The CM field offers a myriad of opportunities to apply complex solutions to ostensibly simple problems, and solution vendors often captivate us with emerging technologies, regardless of whether they meet our needs. Our challenge is to find the CM solution that best matches our strategic objectives. Railway organisations that exemplify best practice use CM to enable their strategic business objectives rather than to solve lsmall picturer tactical and operational engineering challenges. Leading rail agencies are using selected CM techniques to help them realise corporate objectives, such as lproviding an uninterrupted rail journeyr, rather than applying a range of technologies in an ad hoc manner to solve problems that may prove to be strategically insignificant. This discussion paper explores the challenges and pitfalls of matching rail asset CM techniques and technologies with the strategic intent of rail businesses. Its purpose is to stimulate reflection on whether our strategic dog is truly the master of his technological tail.