Optimizing maintenance decisions in railway wheelsets: A Markov decision process approach

Joaquim AP Braga and António R Andrade

Journal of Risk and Reliability, 2019, vol. 233, issue 2, 285-300

Abstract: This article models the decision problem of maintaining railway wheelsets as a Markov decision process, with the aim to provide a way to support condition-based maintenance for railway wheelsets. A discussion on the role of the railway wheelsets is provided, as well as some background on the technical standards that guide maintenance decisions. A practical example is explored with the estimation of Markov transition matrices for different condition states that depend on the wheelset diameter, its mileage since last turning action (or renewal) and the damage occurrence. Bearing in mind all the possible maintenance actions, an optimal strategy is achieved, providing a map of best actions depending on the current state of the wheelset.

Keywords: Railway maintenance; railway asset management; maintenance optimization; maintenance modelling; condition-based maintenance; probabilistic methods (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:risrel:v:233:y:2019:i:2:p:285-300

DOI: 10.1177/1748006X18783403

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