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Press Release – European Train: Europe on the way to InnoTrans 2026
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Smart Maintenance Scheduling and Optimisation
Challenge
Railway operators are manage complex maintenance operations involving multiple fleets, depots, service schedules and resource constraints. The growing amount of operational and maintenance data provides valuable information for planning, but also increases the complexity of coordinating maintenance activities efficiently.
The solution
To address the challenges associated to handling this data, Europe’s Rail (EU-Rail) developed and refined an optimisation‑based scheduling algorithm integrated into the Smart Maintenance Scheduler (SMS).
The aim of this algorithm is to:
- Provide automated long‑ and mid‑term planning for preventive maintenance.
- Optimise operational cost by reducing the number of depot entries, minimising idle time and maximising task grouping.
- Respect all operational constraints, including service availability, depot capacity, manpower, legal requirements and stock limitations.
- Adapt to different project topologies, including projects with one or multiple fleets, one or several depots and cases where units may or may not be interchangeable.
Readiness for Industrialisation and Deployment
The goal will be to use the experience and knowledge of current projects to improve the tool and implement it with new features in another workshop.
The project will build and enhance the business holistic view of a complete maintenance project (includes corrective, preventive and condition-based activities) together with the overhaul scope, based on the solution implemented during the project FP3-IAM4RAIL.
Maturity level
Initial TRL: TRL 3
Current TRL: TRL 7
Expected benefits
The current solution has demonstrated clear potential benefits in terms of cost reduction:
- Maintenance tasks were more effectively grouped, reducing the number of depot entries.
- Working hours were better distributed over time, improving workshop utilisation.
- Non‑productive or inefficient maintenance patterns were reduced.
- End‑of‑contract task accumulation was avoided, leading to more balanced long‑term plans.
The validated solution provides a solid and credible foundation while clearly preparing the path for:
- More complex depot typologies.
- Non‑interchangeable units.
- Long‑distance service constraints.
- Advanced simulation.
Who benefits
Railway operators
Final users
Conclusion
The EU-Rail solution provides a foundation for more efficient and flexible maintenance planning, supporting improved resource allocation and contributing to better service availability and reliability.
Learn more about the project
FP3-IAM4Rail
This solution has been developed within the EU-Rail Flagship Project FP3-IAM4RAIL. The project FP3-IAM4RAIL focuses on seven different integrated demonstrators for rail assets which are key for research and innovation in the rail sector.