Insight into the condition of rail infrastructure and rolling stock is essential to good maintenance. Strukton Rail provides a full and real-time insight into the status of rail systems. POSS is the preventive maintenance and failure diagnosis system developed by Strukton.

Strukton Systems' POSS monitors 3 points, 2 of which are equipped with movable frogs. The blades are equipped with clamp lock drives and movable frogs with HW drives (see pictures on the left). Due to the short headway of the trains the point movements are highly frequent; approx. 300 times a day. The clamp lock and the HW are both powered by 136 VDC. POSS measures the motor current of the point drives, the direction of the runs and the outside temperature. This data is sent via GPRS to the POSS server in the Netherlands. The Serco maintenance engineers have real-time access to the data via a web interface on their pc or mobile devices. 

A second POSS system has been in service at Royal Mint Street Junction since January 2008. This system does not only monitor the 6 points of the junction but also the Alcatel axle counter system. The axle counter data is connected to the local POSS equipment over Ethernet. Through the POSS internet site, the service technicians are alerted in case of an axle counter fault. POSS also gives them
information about the specific problem so that they can go directly to the right location with the right tools and spare parts.

According to Serco’s Program Manager Signalling and Systems, Derek Frend, this reduces the MTTR substantially. Serco foresees a major rise in the importance of condition monitoring. POSS helps them prevent failures and reduce the MTTR. This is an important issue for the year 2012, when Docklands Light Railway will be the backbone of the public transport in the area of the Olympic Games.

Download projectblad POSS Docklands Lightrail.