Page 258 - 360.revista de Alta Velocidad - Nº 5

Jiménez, Pablo Lorenzo. Zamorano, Clara Isabel. Escobar, Adrián. Escobar, Jorge.

methodology for measuring them, is defined in the standard UNE-EN 13.848.

The parameters used to determine the geometric quality of the track are the following:
gauge irregularities, longitudinal and cross level irregularities, alignment irregularities and
twist irregularities.

3.2 Asset Management

A basic tool for managing railway infrastructures is the asset management policy they follow.
Efficient management results in an increase in the life cycle of the different elements,
besides of a reduction in the costs associated with that life cycle. This type of management
should foresee maintenance needs, to cover them before they limit circulation or pose any
risk. Therefore, in order to optimize maintenance, it is necessary to have tools that allow
to anticipate the needs.

In 2010, the UIC issued a guideline document for the application of asset management
policies (available in Adif, 2011). This document explains briefly the steps to follow for
the implementation of the system. Some aspects to watch are the definition of an asset
strategy, and the data that will feed it, which is the asset information. The basic data that
should be available for each asset include the following:

• Instalation date
• State

• Failure history and performance / security impact
• Maintenance and renewal history and plans

• Maintenance and renovation unit costs
These data are introduced in LCC (Life Cycle Cost) tools, which aim to optimize maintenance
and renewal decisions, providing a forecast of all activities to be carried out annually.

3.3 Maintenance costs

The costs associated to the maintenance are necessary to feed the LCC tools. Obviously,
knowing these costs correctly will allow us to fine-tune the optimization process and obtain
a correct forecast.
On the subject of costs, it is worth noting that more than 50% of the maintenance costs due
to traffic are allocated to track, according to Larsson & Gunnarsson (2001), in their analysis
of the Swedish network.
It is clear that an improvement in the procedures followed in maintenance, seeking a better
knowledge of the infrastructure, and the prognosis of the problems that will occur, should
result in a saving in the costs incurred, and therefore in the canons passed. This is in line
with Article 30.1 of Directive 2012/34/EU, which states that "managers shall be encouraged
to reduce the costs of making infrastructure available and the amount of access".

4. Methodologies for estimating direct costs

The levying of charges and the principle of direct costs have led to a need for research in
order to develop a methodology to calculate these direct costs, for each type of traffic.
4.1 Previous experiences

256 360.revista de alta velocidad