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Siemens: Using Artificial Intelligence And Analytics To Build

The Internet Of Trains
Siemens AG is a German industrial conglomerate that manufactures and sells transport
machinery, medical equipment, water treatment systems and alarm systems, as well as provides
financial and consulting services.
In recent years, Siemens has been rolling out its vision for what it calls the “internet of trains”.
This is the on-rails segment of the wider Internet of Things – the concept that devices of all
shapes and sizes can be networked through the cloud and empowered to talk to each other.
With the market for “smart railways” products and services forecast to grow from $11 billion in
2017 to over $27 billion by 2023,1 Siemens is making its play for its share of the cake with its
Railigent predictive artificial intelligence (AI) platform.

What Problems Is Artificial Intelligence Helping To Solve?

All over the world, time and money are wasted due to delays occurring on public transport
networks. If people or goods aren't in the place they're supposed to be at the time they are needed,
then business doesn't get done.
Knock-on effects of this include the fact that people often choose more reliable though far more
environmentally damaging alternatives – air travel – over rail travel, when they can't risk running
late or missing an appointment.
Railway delays can be caused by inefficient scheduling when projected passenger numbers or time
taken between departure and arrival are incorrectly forecast, as well as equipment faults and
breakdowns.

How Is Artificial Intelligence Used In Practice?

Sensors and cameras are used to measure how every part of the transport system is moving and
operating.
This enables a “digital twin” model of a rail system to be built and used to forecast when factors
likely to lead to delays or inefficiencies will emerge, and what can be done to either quickly react
or prevent them from occurring in the first place.
The insights serve three primary purposes. First, they can improve asset availability by ensuring
both that trains are in the right place at the right time, and that breakdowns and faults can be
remedied far more quickly by enabling servicing and repairs to be done more efficiently.
Second, they can optimize energy efficiency across the transport network. This means that energy
usage can be measured and predictions made about when and where power will be needed. This
can reduce the environmental impact of trains – already considered relatively environmentally
friendly – even further.
Energy conservation during train travel can be optimized too – with a better understanding of
what is going on at a macro level within a railway network, trains have to brake less frequently,
conserving energy needed to push them forwards. They can also more reliably travel at higher
speeds, leading to shorter journey times.
Third, asset utilization can also be improved. This means more accurately forecasting of the
number of passengers, or the amount of freight, that will be transported between destinations in a
given time. The fewer train journeys necessary to move all of the passengers or goods, the lower
the environmental impact and financial cost to the operator will be.

What Technology, Tools And Data Were Used?

Siemens calls its connected trains platform Railigent, which in turn connects to Mindsphere, its
industrial Internet of Things operating system.2
Sensors aboard the trains capture everything from engine temperature and rail vibration
frequency to the open or closed state of doors, and image data from external cameras is collected
and processed to identify factors that can cause delay. In one UK pilot project, 300 sensors were
used, generating 1 million sensor log readings over a one-year period.3 Data collected from the
sensors is correlated with breakdown and downtime data.
As well as internal data collected from the train itself, external data such as camera feeds is also
used. This allows the trains to capture images of the track ahead, allowing for faults to be
automatically recognized and the locations where faults will develop in the future to be more
accurately predicted.4 It also improves worker safety by reducing the need for humans to make
manual inspections on active tracks.
The system is designed so that data can either be transmitted from trains in real time using
mobile data networks or, for regions with poor coverage, uploaded when a train arrives at its
destination.
Siemens worked with Teradata's Aster discovery platform to pull insights from the data generated
by the sensors.5 Data can be relayed to control rooms through a dedicated reporting and
visualization platform, or it can be integrated into tools that are already used. Critical reporting
and events can also be sent via SMS.6

What Were The Results?

As Gerhard Kress, director of mobility data services at Siemens, puts it: “Our customers get more
mileage from fewer trains and, therefore, use their assets better while reducing their costs.
Additionally, data analytics can speed up the root-cause analysis, reducing labor time.”
While working with one German rail operator, Siemens managed to predict every single
component failure within the bearings, gearboxes, motors and other mechanical elements.7
A critical result is that Siemens now feels so confident in the accuracy of its forecasting that it is
able to offer its customers uptime guarantees.
It hopes to improve the efficiency of trains to the point where they can be competitive with
airlines, then there will be important environmental gains to be made, too.

Key Challenges, Learning Points And Takeaways

Reducing delays and minimizing environmental impact are the key drivers to the move
towards a smart automated system in rail networks.
Sensor data can be overlaid with operational data such as breakdown and maintenance
reports to give a fuller understanding of factors that cause delays when it is used to train AI
systems.
Increasingly, unstructured data such as visual data from camera feeds will be a key ingredient
in this mix. Image recognition software helps make sense of this unstructured data by turning
it into information that machines can understand and correlate with other data sources.
Notes
1Gartner, Global Smart Railways Market Research Report – Forecast To 2023:
http://garnerinsights.com/Global-Smart-Railways-Market-Research-Report—Forecast-to-
2023
2Siemens, MindSphere – The Internet of Things (IoT) Solution: https://
www.siemens.com/global/en/home/products/software/mindsphere.html
3Teradata, The Internet of Trains: http://assets.teradata.com/resource
Center/downloads/CaseStudies/EB8903.pdf
4Siemens, Railigent® – the solution to manage assets smarter: https://
www.siemens.com/global/en/home/products/mobility/rail-solutions/ services/digital-
services/railigent.html
5Teradata, The Internet of Trains: http://assets.teradata.com/resource
Center/downloads/CaseStudies/EB8903.pdf
6Siemens – The Internet of Trains 2.0

7Forbes, How Siemens Is Using Big Data And IoT To Build The Internet Of Trains:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2017/05/30/how-siemens-is-using-big-data-
and-iot-to-build-the-internet-of-trains