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Geometry vehicles are not a new concept in the railway industry, but with the incredible accuracy and repeatability being achieved, and the integration of high accuracy GPS to guide the operation of the vehicle, Arc is quickly becoming a national leader in this space.

The AMV runs on the narrow gauge part of the network three times a year and provides data on the overall health and condition of the railway, and is now also capable of standard gauge testing.

Arc has historically relied on external parties to provide this asset monitoring service, but has brought it in-house to ensure the expertise sits within the business and our people have a better insight into the data, while allowing significant cost savings to be made.

The data provided by the AMV allows Arc to have a much clearer picture of the condition of the network, and enables the business to make data-driven decisions to ensure the short and long term health of this critical State asset.

Senior Asset Engineer Mark Richardson said the commissioning of the AMV represented a step change for the business.

“The AMV has led to a significant improvement in data-driven asset management. By bringing this service in-house, we have upskilled our people and are now getting better quality, more accurate information that informs how we manage the asset. The data alerts us quickly to what needs fixing, and allows us to prioritise and plan our maintenance activity to where it’s needed most, which ultimately makes the network even safer.

“The team worked incredibly hard to commission the AMV within a 12-month period, which is almost unheard of. The AMV began formal testing in April, during the peak of COVID-19 restrictions and intrastate borders being closed, which was an additional challenge the team was able to overcome to get the AMV out on the network,” Mark said.